When the Jin Yiwei strode out and informed the officials standing outside that they were entering in order from low to high, everyone thought they were entering from high to low. When Huang Bodang was about to enter after tidying up his clothes, he suddenly remembered that just now
That sentence.
"Enter in order of rank from highest to highest." Then he coldly told the ninth-rank officials to enter first. However, those officials were a little confused when they heard that they were the first to enter. However, His Majesty's instructions must not be ignored.
The officials quickly walked in carefully together.
As soon as more than a dozen people entered the hall, they saw a person sitting in the hall, with handsome features and a somewhat majestic expression. Naturally, they were a little nervous and excited as they had probably never seen the face of the Holy Lord in their lives. The guards in golden clothes beside them threw their faces.
Looking away, they hurriedly knelt down and shouted to the top: "The villain joins Your Majesty."
Zhu Ling, who was sitting upright in the hall, looked at the kneeling people and saw that their official uniforms were all a bit worn and not as new as they were, and one or two of them had many patches on their official uniforms. He didn't know who they were.
Knowing that His Majesty was coming, I did this on purpose; I am still as poor as I am, but when I think about the second possibility, I really overthink it.
In the late Ming Dynasty, Shandong was already a place of extreme social and economic prosperity. Cities like Jining were quite prosperous, and Linqing on the Grand Canal was even more prosperous. However, at this time, the central part of Shandong Province, Taishan and Yimeng
The areas around the mountains and the southwest are quite poor.
But this side of Cangzhou belongs to Beizhili, and although its prosperity is relatively average. But in this period, no matter how poor they are, these officials are not very poor. Since ancient times, we have only seen people starving to death in the fields and unwilling to rebel.
Yes, but I have never seen officials rebel without money.
He coughed slightly, and suddenly his eyes became serious, and he was a little angry. He stared at the officials below. The officials who had been kneeling for a long time didn't know what was going on. His Majesty didn't say anything, so they naturally
They didn't dare to get up. But their intuition made them feel quite frightened.
"Why do you eat the common people?"
Suddenly, Zhu Ling above said this. The servants kneeling below suddenly felt their hearts pounding, and their eyes moved rapidly. They didn't know what happened. Why did they suddenly ask about this without any warning?
? Not only them, but Wang Jiayan and others on both sides also showed doubtful eyes.
"I heard that you levied agricultural taxes in Cangzhou until the 20th year of Chongzhen. Do you know what year it is now?"
The neither light nor serious words fell on them, but they were like being weighed down by a thousand pounds of rocks, making them breathless. To be honest, although there was indeed an increase in agricultural taxes, it only extended to 19 years.
, how come it was suddenly increased to twenty years? If His Majesty hadn't lied to them, or it was just now that Mr. Zhou couldn't help but tortured them and told them all.
Did Mr. Zhizhou mean that it was added to twenty years? Why don't you communicate with them?
More than a dozen people have different motives and thoughts at this moment. Everyone has their own calculations in their hearts, and they are all thinking about how to answer His Majesty's question. But without exception, they are all in a horrified mood at this time.
, I dare not answer this question casually. If I say the wrong thing, it will be a crime of beheading.
The people kneeling in front had suffered a disaster. If His Majesty asked again, they would be the first to answer. Therefore, the people kneeling in front were already trembling a little and swallowed several times.
Seeing this, Zhu Ling knew that the atmosphere was about to heighten, so he immediately softened his expression and said, "Maybe I have spoken too harshly. Even if the taxes are increased, it is still an order from above and has nothing to do with you petty officials, but is that so?"
"Yes, yes, your Majesty is considerate of the little people. I would be very grateful."
The dozen or so petty officials kneeling in the hall immediately responded. His Majesty was giving them face like this, and they hurried down in fear. Even though they were just petty officials, they had already understood many things about people and the world.
If it weren't for His Majesty sitting above him at this moment, they wouldn't be so frightened.
"Since it is mentioned above, doesn't it mean that the collection lasts for more than twenty years? Maybe it doesn't last for more than twenty years?" Zhu Ling asked again in a gentle manner, but his inexplicable words contained something else.
meaning.
Naturally, the officials below heard it. His Majesty wanted to bring death to the magistrate! He secretly increased taxes for twenty years, not counting the twenty years he had collected. He actually wanted to increase them. Such a crime is not only a capital crime.
.
I'm afraid it will be a house raid anyway.
"What your Majesty said is absolutely true. Na Ma Kui imposed excessive taxes on the people and was hated by the people to the extreme. Although the young people have the people in their hearts, Ma Kui is so powerful that there is nothing they can do to him. Today, Your Majesty is visiting my Cangzhou. It is my Cangzhou.
It is a blessing to the people, and it is also the savior of the little ones!" The young official suddenly stood up and said with tears in his eyes. If Zhu Ling hadn't been sober, those words would have made him fly.
"Then are other states and counties also in such a situation? To put it bluntly, I have not come down to sympathize with the people since the day I ascended the throne. It is true that I saw it today. My coming to Cangzhou is not just for a temporary rest. I have a big purpose to rectify my situation.
Regarding the administration of officials in the Ming Dynasty, perhaps I was too impatient, which made the court uneasy in those years."
"But I am just too impatient. These days, I am slowly thinking about how to revive the Ming Dynasty. I am asking you today because I want to know more. Please don't hide it. Honesty is the greatest loyalty to me and the court.
"
Zhu Ling's sincere words really showed a different attitude than before, which surprised Wang Jiayan and Wang Guoxing standing on both sides. They had never seen His Majesty remain calm under such anger, and even
Having said a bunch of touching words, these low-ranking officials may have long been grateful to His Majesty in their hearts.
Sure enough, when those few officials heard His Majesty speak such sincere words to them, they no longer had any evil thoughts in their hearts, and naturally fell into Zhu Ling's trap, also because the one sitting on them was the Ninth Five Supreme Being. If it was
No matter how reasonable what a little kid says, they may not be able to listen.
"I don't dare to hide it from Your Majesty. This is indeed the case in several surrounding prefectures. The situation is only worse than Cangzhou." A minor official wiped away his tears and expressed his inner pain into words. And another minor official said it.
The official also added: "In fact, since last year, many state officials have been unable to collect taxes, and even the trials of many cases have been unable to proceed."
"Tell me more about it." I suddenly felt that the situation in Shandong was even worse than that in Beizhili. I thought I could rest here for a while and had the idea to take a look around, but I didn't expect the problem to be so big.
"Your Majesty, let's just talk about Yanzhou. The county offices of Teng County and Yi County in the south have been repeatedly attacked by bandits. The county offices there have long lost authority and cannot handle cases, let alone collect taxes. According to what I heard,
It is said that seven out of ten households there are involved in the footwork game, and the Jiushan area east of Teng County is the base camp of many desperadoes."
When a petty official heard what he said, he was afraid that his words would be snatched away by others, so he quickly interrupted and said: "There is a very big gangster there, named Wang Jun. I heard that he is a martial arts master and a big landowner."
The man kneeling behind became anxious and immediately said: "Reporting to your Majesty, in the northeast of Yanzhou, there is a place called Manjiadong by the locals, with a radius of three hundred miles. There are many gangs gathered there, and the government
I led people to suppress bandits more than once, but not only did I not succeed, my entire army was wiped out almost every time."
"Aren't the people in the surrounding states and counties in dire straits?" Wang Jiayan, who was listening on the sidelines, was also frightened. There were such rampant bandits in Shandong, the hometown of the sage Confucius, and he couldn't help asking.
"My lord, you don't know that in some places around you, not only the government has soldiers, but also powerful people. For example, in Zouxian County, Haoqiang Yuweixin has a private army of more than 800 people. Their combat power is fully capable of fighting the border troops.
I still remember Liu Junxue, a famous person in Jiaxiang County, who had a volunteer force of more than 30,000 people when the slaves were attacked, which was very powerful."
"So, a celebrity has more soldiers than I have in my army?"