Chapter five hundred and thirty eight: the sky is falling
As soon as Zhu Yougui arrived, the scene suddenly became deserted. After all, there were not many people who could talk and laugh happily in front of the emperor. So everyone could only cough dryly, or lower their heads to hold teacups without drinking, looking thoughtful.
Zhang Yanling thanked him on behalf of his brother. He also knew in his heart that in the past, the construction of Chidao was just Liu Chengfeng's nonsense, but now, the Chidao has been related to the military and political affairs of the imperial court.
Nowadays, many Chi Roads have been repaired. These Chi Roads have brought great convenience to the court. Whether it is transmitting official documents, transporting disaster relief food, or even dispatching troops and horses, a lot of schedules have been shortened. Sometimes, when disasters are like fire,
The benefits of arriving one day early were huge. More importantly, through these roads, the imperial court had great influence on the local area.
Control has been strengthened. In the past, many local officials were actually local emperors. Under their rule, they were the ones who dominated the sky. Even the imperial decrees may not be effectively implemented. But it is different now. Due to the shortened schedule, local officials
It has become much more difficult to fool Shangguan or the court at will.
With so many benefits, the imperial court could no longer take it lightly. In fact, the Chi Road from Nantong Prefecture to Lianzhou had not been completely completed, but the construction of a Chi Road from Liaodong to the capital had already begun.
This kind of Chi Road is different from the previous Chi Road. It requires a wide and smooth road, and can shorten the time as much as possible. It can allow the horse-drawn carriage to pass quickly with slight bumps, so it requires a lot of craftsmen.
In fact, it was not that the imperial court did not want to repair the former Chidao, but the Ming Dynasty had never had a treasury surplus since the founding of the country, because there was no commercial tax, and it could not levy food from scholars. The main source of tax for the imperial court came from those who only had a few acres of land.
Ordinary people in Susukada, although they work hard, don't really have much money, and coupled with layers of deductions, they simply can't make ends meet.
This was also the biggest problem facing the Ming Dynasty. For various reasons, the court could not collect taxes from the wealthy people. Even some people who were so rich that they could rival the country were unwilling to give any cents to the country and instead levied taxes.
The target is a group of poor people at the bottom. The final result is that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
And these wealthy people are often members of the gentry class. Even if they are not, they are all sheltered by the gentry class. They use various pretexts. Once the court wants to touch their interests, these people who have the right to speak can't help but speak out loudly.
It was the imperial court that exploited the people and even incited the crowd to fight against the imperial court.
There is no way for the palace to deal with this situation. Since the gentry class has nothing to lose and will never give in, it can simply let trustworthy people enrich the treasury, and the only trustworthy people around the emperor are a group of eunuchs. These eunuchs
Under this background, he was immediately reused and assigned to various places in the world as guard eunuchs. The only duty of guard eunuchs was to collect money for the palace, such as collecting salt and iron taxes.
Regardless of whether these guarding eunuchs are good or bad, although the bad things they did are hard to describe, the eunuchs have one advantage. It is precisely because of this that the most direct reason why eunuchs became big in the Ming Dynasty. The power of eunuchs comes from
in the palace,
All appointments and dismissals of likes and dislikes come from the emperor, so in the eyes of the emperors, the ministers safeguard their own interests, while the eunuchs safeguard the interests of the palace. If a minister is excessively corrupt, he will not be punished at all.
Turn it over to the internal treasury,
But no matter how greedy a eunuch is for money, he still has to send money into the palace obediently. Under the pressure of the ministers, the emperor has to pay attention to the eunuchs, and when these eunuchs get there, if they want to make enough money, of course they cannot
They may be targeting a few ordinary people, not that they are very kind, but they really don't take the small amount of money of a few ordinary people in their eyes. The eunuchs' target is the rich, and only by exploiting and blackmailing the rich can they
Turn over the necessary funds to the palace on time.
These wealthy households are often deeply involved with scholars and officials. The interests of both parties are completely opposite. One wants to extract money from them, and the other wants to preserve their own wealth. The final result is that the two parties are incompatible with each other.
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All in all, these are all problems caused by the insufficient annual revenue of the imperial court. If the annual income of the imperial court is sufficient and wealthy households and scholars are willing to pay taxes, although this kind of thing is still inevitable, it can at least be alleviated.
It was only during the Hongzhi Dynasty that the problem became more and more serious. The biggest problem was that Zhu Yougui was an emperor who was close to the gentry, which caused the local guarding eunuchs not to dare to mess around, thus reducing the number of people in the palace. If it were not for Jubao
Lou has greatly alleviated this problem, but I am afraid that Zhu Yougui is still having a headache about the court's revenue and expenditure.
Now that the number of concubines is increasing rapidly, Zhu Yougui naturally has the spare time to build Chidao. The construction of Chidao is not only beneficial to the court, but also benefits a lot to the scholars, farmers, industry and commerce in the world.
Zhang Heling presided over the construction of Chidao, and his status naturally began to become more prominent. If this matter is completed, there will be inevitable benefits in the future.
Zhu Yougui seemed to be particularly good-tempered today, and then greeted many of the royal relatives, which made the slightly embarrassing atmosphere a little better.
Unknowingly, it was noon, and the eunuch came to report that the banquet had been held at the empress's side. I don't know when it would start here. This noon lunch was not something everyone went to in a swarm. The women ate together, and the men ate together.
When you go to the other side to eat, there are clear winding paths and strict rules.
Zhu Youcheng stood up and said, "Let's eat.
He hit his head, and everyone followed him to a palace, where a banquet table with wine had already been set up, filled with fruits and dishes. Eunuchs and palace servants were shuttled between the banquets, some carrying copper basins.
Some were holding drinks, and everyone was sitting on the floor. Zhu Youfang sat at the top. The palace meal ceremony began. Liu Chengfeng and
Zhang Yanling sat at the same table. The two drank a few sips of wine. Then they called the dancers from the room department to come in and dance in the hall. The musicians in the corner also played and sang. Under the cheerful dance music, everyone
Gradually he relaxed a little, and even Liu Chengfeng's mood became a little better, smiling and laughing with this trillium.
Zhu Yougui drank a few sips of wine, and his face suddenly turned a little red. In fact, Zhu Yougui didn't drink much. He didn't have any preferences. It seemed that nothing could arouse his interest, so he drank a few glasses of wine.
His face couldn't help but become a little rosy and a little drunk.
, Zhu Yougui raised his glass and said: "I have been in the country for fourteen years. Today is the queen's birthday. Hundreds of officials came to congratulate me, and all the royal relatives also went to the palace to celebrate. I am overjoyed. Although the monarch and his ministers are different, today is a great joy.
On that day, let’s put aside the differences between monarch and minister, come and get drunk with me!”
Everyone stood up one after another, picked up their wine glasses and said modest words together. Under the influence of alcohol, everyone couldn't help but become bolder, and several bursts of laughter inevitably came from the hall.
But at this moment, a eunuch quickly ran toward the palace with his robe lifted up. There was a bit of eagerness on the eunuch's face. He finally arrived at the door of the palace out of breath, and was about to break in, but was stopped by the man on duty outside.
Several eunuchs stopped him.
The eunuchs looked at the eunuch with a sinister look, with sneers on their faces. Someone shouted, "Xiao Anzi, are you blind? Don't you know that His Majesty is entertaining guests here? It's really unreasonable. You dared to do so without even informing me."
Are you going to die if you wander around randomly?"
The eunuch's face showed some panic, and he quickly said: "Kunning Palace..., something big happened over there in Kunning Palace. I want to see His Majesty immediately. If something happens..."
When he shouted like this, it was so shocking that the eunuchs who were blocking him couldn't help but change their expressions. "That's where Kunning Palace is."...The other side of Kunning Palace is the Queen's Empress' side. Something happened to the Queen Empress. Is this okay?
So one of the eunuchs hurriedly said: "Go in quickly and report it. If anything happens, the Za family will take care of it."
Although he was pretending, he was actually trying to make a good deal. Such a big thing could be reported directly without the need to report it. Not only would His Majesty not blame him, but he would only be punished if he took his time after the big thing happened.
The eunuch named Xiao Anzi heard what he said, but without saying anything, he stumbled into the inner hall. The inner hall was already in a mess and full of joy, but suddenly such a eunuch broke in, leaving everyone confused.
water.
The rules in the palace are extremely strict, not to mention that the current emperor has the strictest control over the eunuchs. At this moment, some people unexpectedly broke in, which really made everyone a little confused.
Zhu Youzhu couldn't help but be slightly startled. He recognized this Xiao Anzi. Xiao Anzi was the eunuch of Kunning Palace. Zhu Youzhu often visited Kunning Palace. Of course, he had an impression of it. His somewhat drunken face couldn't help but turn a little red.
He became gloomy and couldn't help but asked: "An Tongshan, are you blind? Didn't you see that I am here to entertain guests?"
Xiao Anzi hurriedly fell to the ground, too frightened to express his anger. He finally regained his composure, and then Qiqi Ai Ai said: "Your Majesty, something happened... something big happened... Kunning Palace is over there",..."
When he said this, his voice was extremely hoarse, and the rest of his words were a little unclear.
Zhu Yougui suddenly lost his composure...
Something happened...
What could happen to Kunning Palace, let alone something big...
Zhu Youzhu quickly asked: "What happened? Tell me quickly! Come on, give him some cold tea."
The eunuch beside him quickly handed over tea to the little Anzi, who took a sip and then felt better. He said seriously: "Your Majesty, there is joy in the wine in Kunning Palace..."......
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Chapter 2 has been delivered, feel free to give me some monthly tickets. (To be continued)