() Zhu Youcong, who was married after the ceremony, has really calmed down a lot. The most obvious thing is that during this period, he never left the house or took a step, so he stayed in the small courtyard all day long. He came to Luoyang when he had nothing to do.
Emperor Chongzhen, who was just living for a living, seemed to be depressed because he lost his powerful help. He spent the whole day in the palace drinking wine to soothe his sorrows without paying attention to state affairs. Just as the scholars couldn't figure out whether these two scourges were caused by common confusion or confusion.
When he was pretending to be planning some conspiracy, bad news came that Tao Qianzhi, the Minister of Household Affairs, ran away with his whole family!
Whether Tao Shangshu can escape or not is not really a big deal. Anyway, no matter how many talented people there are in Donglin, he can still securely control the court and fight to the death with the increasingly powerful imperial party sycophants. But there is a problem.
The reason is that this guy is not honest. When he ran away, he took away the franchise fee that everyone paid this year, which is tens of millions of taels of silver! . . .
If this is just a trivial matter, we can still get away with it if we just conceal it a little. After all, the results of last year's dividend distribution are there, and now no one who has joined is willing to quit. Not even Wen Tiren and other scourges of the Zhejiang Party are willing to quit.
Did you sneak in through connections in a roundabout way? If it doesn't work out, just say that you want to expand the scale, so the dividends in the first quarter of this year will be used as capital investment. This way, not only will your reputation be exposed, but you can also develop more members. As for that little gap?
, can’t we secretly get it back by adding some taxes in the name of the emperor? But who has such a big mouth to leak such important information? The speed of its spread is even more staggering. Almost on the same day, south of the Yangtze River,
The vast area, including the yamen sweeping the floors in Qiongzhou Prefecture, all know that let alone dividends this year, they don’t even expect to get their principal back!
"Master Fu, please come up with something quickly, otherwise I really don't dare to go back!" Zhang Ruitu, who had escaped from Nanjing, was crying and helpless in the Yamen of the Ministry of War in the capital. They said that the scholar's rebellion failed after three years.
Because they were not forced to a dead end, the combined power of those low-ranking officials in the south of the Yangtze River who had thrown in all their belongings should not be underestimated...
"What can I do? What can I do? I said at the beginning that the cunning rabbit has three holes, don't put all the eggs in one basket. But you just refused to listen and insisted on putting all the money there. What else can you say as long as there is that fat family?
In the entire Ming Dynasty, no one dared to take Luoyang's idea! As a result..." The place of discussion was moved to the Ministry of War not because Fu Zonglong could replace Han Xu as the leader of Donglin, but because it was safer here, at least those troublemakers did not dare to rush
Come in.
Fatty? Yes! That’s the little fatty from that family. Why do you think this scourge is getting married? Well, even if he is old enough to marry a wife, he shouldn’t just ignore everything all of a sudden. This will make it very difficult.
Adapted. Shi Fenglai also hated that fat guy for letting someone slip away from him, but after all, now was not the time for a quarrel, and he hurriedly comforted him: "Brother Fu, don't talk about this. Let's discuss how to fill this hole."
!”
"Fill it in? What are you going to fill it in with?" Wen Zhenmeng got very angry when he heard this. Even though those guys who can't even name their products don't have any wealth, the franchise fee they collected this year included
90% of it was raised by them. Added together, that's really not a small amount.
"Then why don't we find someone to tell them that we don't want their filial piety in the past few years, and allow them to be appropriate when doing things for the court..." Lai Zongdao's method is very good and it is not difficult to implement. Anyway, it is time to collect
It's not the officials who have the final say on how much taxes to pay? Moreover, Jiangnan and other places are not in the north. Without the people of the White Lotus Sect to spread rumors, how can those mud-legged people know about the court's policies? Isn't it just a deficit of tens of thousands of taels for each family?
, as long as you have the ability, you can earn it back in less than half a year.
"Everything else is easy to talk about, but what about the leader who makes trouble?" Zhang Ruitu didn't bother to object to exploiting the people. He was worried that if he couldn't appease the guy who yelled the loudest among the gang, he wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
The whole thing calmed down.
"Caught!" Of course it won't work to go out of your way to accuse a group of people of different crimes. But it would be much easier to punish only one person. Jiang Dejing was quite straightforward in his words and actions, and said decisively: "Brother Wu Hua, please tell me.
Who is manipulating all this behind the scenes? I will go back to the Ministry of Punishment immediately, I don’t believe I can’t find any evidence of his crime!”
"We can't catch him! We can't catch him!" If that person was really so easy to deal with, Zhang Ruitu wouldn't have a headache. Hearing this, he quickly stopped him and said, "Brother Ruoliu, the person who led the trouble was none other than Zhou Fengxiang, who was demoted to Xin'an. He is a representative of
Ma Chengzu and others invested more than ten years of military pay reissued by the imperial court, which is a total of five million taels! If he is arrested, it will not force the officers and soldiers to rebel? Is this a consequence that you and I can afford? "
"You...you even dare to accept this money?" Fu Zonglong was dumbfounded. It is easy to talk about punishing Zhou Fengxiang who had offended the emperor and was demoted to that smelly place. But now there is that damn fat man in the North of the Ming Dynasty.
Unless the cabinet agrees with the emperor's imperial approval, he, the Minister of War, cannot even call a pawn. If he offends the most capable officers and soldiers in Jiangnan, who will support him if something happens in the future?
"I... I did this out of good intentions!" Zhang Ruitu's starting point was correct. The scholars originally knew that they needed obedient armed forces to get things done, otherwise they wouldn't have had to go to great lengths to control the Beijing camp in the past few years.
They had it in their hands, and Zhu Youcong's rapid rise made them understand the truth that political power comes from the barrel of a gun. The reason why they agreed to Zhou Fengxiang's participation this time was not to give the officers and soldiers face and hope to help them make some money.
Can we better win over the morale of the military in the future? Who knew something like this would happen?
"How about..." Shi Fenglai hesitated for a long time, but still held back his heartache and suggested: "Let's find a way to return his money first, and then discuss other matters?"
"Brother Yuwang, this is five million taels. Where can you get it in such a short period of time?" If it had been before the year before, let alone five million taels of silver, there would have been three more Zhou Fengxiangs. With the money of these people here,
It would be easy to return the strength. But now that everyone has just paid the franchise fee, how can there be so much extra money? Even if he is willing to give up the land of the farm, Fu Zonglong doesn't think those soldiers and gangsters will be interested.
"No... not five million taels!" Zhang Ruitu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and then struck everyone: "Including dividends, we have to give them seven million taels!"
"What? At this time, they are still thinking about those dividends?" No wonder the predecessors said that civil servants and military officers have different paths. At such an urgent moment, we scholars will only work together in the same boat. How can we add insult to injury like those warriors? The amount just now is already
It's scary enough. Now that we add the interest, even if Laizongdao is willing to post the hundreds of thousands he just brought back from Japan, it still won't be enough!
"Actually..." It is always easier for people to unleash their potential in times of crisis. Jiang Dejing suddenly said in shock: "Whether it is five million taels or seven million, it is not difficult to solve it!"
"Brother Zhongbao, why did you say this?" This is not a big deal. How could Donglin Yingcai be so frightened that he was talking nonsense? Who really has the ability to collect seven million taels in such a short period of time?
Do you need to use this deceptive business as a treasure?
"As long as Brother Wenqi is willing to help, this matter can be easily solved!" Jiang Dejing did not take everyone's questions to heart. He believed that his method could not only solve the current problem, but he might also be able to make a fortune.
"Me?" Wen Zhenmeng never thought that he would be so capable, and he felt a little flattered when he saw people focusing on him.
"Now the emperor is far away in Luoyang, and three of the five cabinet ministers of the imperial court are also accompanying him. If something happens, shouldn't you, the left minister of the household department, make a decision on the spot?"
"Brother Zhongbao means that..." Jiang Dejing didn't need to explain the rest of the words. Everyone took a breath. This guy was so frightened that he took the courage of a leopard. He actually dared to attack the treasury.
The idea came.
If you had asked scholars a few years ago where the Ming Dynasty had the least money, they would have pointed at the national treasury and giggled. Zhang Juzheng only deposited four million taels of silver into the national treasury after more than ten years of reform, and Wanli continued to collect mining and commercial taxes for decades.
, the internal money left to Emperor Taichang when he closed his eyes was only this amount. After Tianqi came to the throne, there was only expenditure and no income. When Chongzhen became emperor, the treasury was just a decoration. But it is different now. Since Luoyang
There is a little fat man with money inside and the national treasury is full of money. Not to mention, they have brought back tens of millions of taels from Liaodong this time! If they can really get some money from there, they can survive the current crisis.
Can it still be considered a thing?
"My lords, this strategy may not work!" Huang Daozhou, who had been sitting in the corner to make up his mind, was really frightened by these words. No wonder the general came to me a few years ago and asked me to sneak into the core class of the Donglin Party to investigate.
Let's explore their movements. These scourges are really brave. They actually set their sights on the national treasury.
"Oh? What do you think of Youxuan?" He invited Huang Daozhou, who had only been involved in social affairs for 40 years, to participate in the meeting, not because of his literary talent and good character, but because he hoped that he could directly discuss the matter with him.
, Kong’s knowledge helped everyone check for omissions. Now that people finally spoke, Fu Zonglong had to listen carefully.
"There is no need to explain where the national treasury silver came from. I just want to remind you, sir, never to anger the fat man in Luoyang just for this trivial matter in front of you!"
"The money that went into the treasury has nothing to do with him?" Jiang Dejing said this without confidence. Everyone knows that the fat guy doesn't follow the rules. Don't think he is sitting at home for fun now, but what if because of
No one dared to bear the consequences of this trivial incident.
"Thank you Youxuan for saving your life!" Wen Zhen and Meng Li bowed to Huang Daozhou, and then explained to everyone: "This thing really can't be done. That Jian Cheng said when he returned home, there are some in the treasury
20% is the military expenses he has temporarily stored! Those are all secretly marked. If there is only one ingot missing, he will dare to demolish the homes of all the officials in my household department!"
"Isn't it just a mark? Can't you just pay a little more attention and pick him out slowly?" The national treasury bank was the last hope, and Jiang Dejing didn't want to be scolded by the scholars.
"I can't choose!" Wen Zhenmeng said aggrievedly, with a cry in his voice: "I had already compared them carefully when they were put into the warehouse. How could there be any hidden marks? All the silver coins were the same, only bearing the Tatar mark.
!”
"Shameless!"
"Jian Ren!"
"Disaster!"
"..."
All the polite insults fell on Zhu Youcong again, but this time the scholars really didn't accuse the little fat man unjustly. He was indeed a bit too shameless, and he actually judged the heart of a gentleman with the heart of a villain,
This approach is simply to treat the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty as thieves and guard against them!
"How about..." It seems that we can't embezzle secretly, and there are also hidden dangers in doing so. If the emperor is unclear one day and needs to audit the accounts, won't he have to use some tricks? In this case, let's just be honest.
Jiang Dejing changed his mind and said cautiously: "Should we follow the old method and report some disasters and ask the imperial court for relief?"
"Master Jiang, this method may be successful!" Huang Daozhou did not object, because he had already thought of a reason for the two scourges in Luoyang to go south, and this excuse was provided free of charge by the Donglin Party members. (To be completed.