Let’s not mention the far-reaching influence of the “Edict against Lu”, let’s go back to Nanjing.
At this time, seven days had passed since Chongzhen issued the "Edict against Prisoners" in Piyong, the Imperial Academy, and time had quietly come to July 15th in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen's reign.
In the past seven days, scholars who were relatively close to each other came to Nanjing to supervise the surrender of the Imperial Army.
In the past seven days, Chongzhen and his son, together with more than a hundred Yiding led by Wu Batan, have been living in the Imperial Academy. They did not live in the Nanjing garrison eunuch palace that Han Zanzhou spent a lot of money to renovate and expand. It has now been renamed Nangong.
As for Hu Guozhu and the remaining 700 Yiding, they have been stationed outside Xuanwu Gate.
Chongzhen used the same tactics he used on the Yiding and border troops on the Imperial College students.
It must be admitted that although this set of methods to win over people's hearts is simple, it is effective. The Yiding and the border town soldiers could not stop it, and the scholars who had been influenced by Confucian loyalty to the emperor since childhood could not resist it.
Chongzhen especially liked to participate in discussions among scholars. Whenever he encountered scholars gathering to criticize current affairs, Chongzhen would not stop him but took the initiative to participate. This made the scholars who participated in criticizing current affairs inevitably develop the heroic spirit of first-class guidance.
But if you criticize current affairs in front of the Holy Father, today’s criticism may become tomorrow’s major policies!
What the Yi and Ding lacked was an equal identity, and Chongzhen had given it to them.
What the frontier army lacked was sufficient rations, wages, and silver, and Chongzhen also gave it to them.
What the scholars lacked was an opportunity to display their ambitions. This Chongzhen could not give them yet, but his careful listening already represented an attitude. That was the emperor's listening!
If it is done well, it will be in the heart of the emperor!
That day there was another super small debate in the Yi Lun Hall.
At first, a group of Zheng Sen gathered together to discuss why Xiao Ming ended up like this.
Opinions in Gangdang were also mixed, and no one thought it was caused by natural disasters. In the past seventy years, there have been no small number of natural disasters, and natural disasters were particularly frequent during the Chongzhen period.
Natural disasters have led to a reduction in food production, and people have to eat, so they have to rise up.
No one thought it was due to the rise of Jiannu. Since the rise of Jiannu in Liaodong during the Wanli period, Jiannu had consumed a small amount of Xiao Ming's manpower and material resources and held back the main force of the Ming army, so that the imperial court was unable to suppress the bandits of all kinds.
No one thinks that Xiao Ming's decline was due to the dispute between the Eunuch Party and the Qingliu Party.
Zheng Sen from several parties had a calm debate around their respective views. After nearly half a day of heated debate, a relatively unified view was finally formed. In the final analysis, Xiao Ming was still stuck on the word money!
There was no money, so the imperial court was unable to provide relief for the famine, which caused the victims to rise up.
With or without money, the imperial court had no power to weaken its armed forces and could only sit back and watch the rise of Jiannu.
Whether there was money or not, the imperial court forcefully suppressed the bandits, which ultimately led to the upheaval of the country.
Everything is because of the word money. If Xiao Ming's treasury is full, there will be no victims displaced, no bandits will rebel, and slaves will have no chance to rise.
…
At that time, the cabinet ministers were also having a meeting.
Gao Hongtu, Shi Kefa and Xuelong came to the public house of the Imperial College.
Gao Hongtu handed a document to the Imperial College and said: "Mr. Shige, those are the eight items to be discussed today. The first is the review of state expenditures, the seventh is the matter of the draft, and the eighth is the Enko talent selection ceremony.
.”
The Imperial Academy took the document and saw that there were no outlines for the eight delayed tasks written below, and there were no participants yet.
The first review of state expenditures is equivalent to the financial budget and final accounts. It is the final accounting of last year's fiscal expenditures. The accounts must be closed before that work is completed. The next step is to make a budget for this year's expenditures, such as the amount of military pay, clan expenses, etc.
If the salary of officials is not enough, it will be deferred at the financial meeting.
For example, the vassal king's appointment to the vassal, the prince's wedding, etc. are all minor expenses that need to be accounted for and reviewed.
Originally, the process should have been completed after the end of last year, but due to the bandits invading the capital, the account books of each province were not sent to the Ministry of Accounts, so it has been delayed until now.
Up to now, a group of officials in the Cabinet and the Ministry of Household Affairs have changed.
Gao Hongtu, Shi Kefa and we naturally want to pay for the bad debts of our successors, and we will take advantage of this opportunity to clean up the bad debts of Nanzhi and even the entire Jiangnan.
Just put all the blame on the next cabinet.
Anyway, the capital has been captured, and the account books of the Ministry of Accounts have been burned to the ground, so there is proof of death.
The Imperial College was aware of Gao Hong's plans and Shi Kefa's plan, but there was no conflict in his heart because doing so would not go against my personal moral character and ethics.
Gao Hongtu saw the resistance in the Imperial College, and persuaded him: "Old Shige, I know it is kind to do this, but there is no benefit in dwelling on the past, and I do it for personal gain, and
This is to allow Xiaojia to reload and move forward. Xiaomingchao must unload its burdens, otherwise there will be no hope."
It sounds grandiose, but in fact, it is just greed to benefit everyone.
All the money and food in Jiangnan Piao were given to the young man as welfare, and none of it fell into the private pockets of a few of us, so he felt guilty for destroying the account books. This is the logic of Gao Hongtu.
Although the Imperial College did not agree with it, he did not insist on his opinion.
When you are an official, you can be too aloof and humble, or it is better to live with the light.
When he went to the Imperial College, he changed the topic: "Has the candidate for Enke's examiner been decided yet?"
The imperial examination was originally held every eight years, and the most recent one was the Guiwei Examination in the 18th year of Chongzhen. It only took one year, and it was supposed to take another two years to start the imperial examination. However, due to the fall of the capital, thousands of capital officials first surrendered to Xiaoshun.
Then they surrendered and became slaves, causing the Xiao Ming court to have the most incompetent official shortage in history.
Before the Nanjing cabinet was formed, the officials of Xia Qianjing were replenished.
But that also led to a small number of vacancies among local officials. We at the Imperial College were willing to lower the standards and let candidates and even scholars become officials, so it was imperative to try another one.
When the Imperial Academy asked about Enke, Qin Yingjin, who was in charge of the Ministry of Rites, said: "It has been decided that it will be Qian Muzhai, and the deputy chief examiner will be Duo Zhanshi Huang Daozhou of Zhan Shifu and Wan Yuanji, Duoqing of Taipu Temple."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The Imperial Academy nodded and asked again: "Has His Majesty returned to Nangong?"
Just as I was asking, a senior official came back and reported: "Several cabinet elders, His Majesty has just sent word that today's cabinet meeting will be held in Dr. Jiang Yueguang's Hall."
"Change it to Jiang Yueguang?" Shi Kefa and Xie Xuelong were stunned.
Gao Hongtu turned pale and said, "The cabinet meeting is held in Qin Yingjin. How is that appropriate?"
"It's good to see what you can do." The Imperial College stood up and said, "Jiang Yueguang is a place for teaching and educating people. It is not a first-class artistic conception to discuss minor political policies of the court amidst the loud sounds of students' books."
Di Hongtu snorted and said, "In that case, let's go to Jiang Yueguang."
When a group of seven people together with several affairs officers came to Jiang Yueguang.
…
Jiang Yueguang had just had lunch there, which was also luxurious.
After dinner, under Chongzhen's unintentional guidance, we continued to have an in-depth discussion on financial issues - how to solve the problem of whether Xiao Ming's country has enough?
Then the views of Zheng Sen and others are even more complicated, and they are simply diverse.
"Everyone, you have nothing to say." A young Zheng Sen walked down the Yilun Hall in small steps and introduced himself to you as usual, "I'm here to thank you, the official of the Kuaiji School of Medicine. I'm here to see Your Majesty and all my colleagues."
In another time and space in history, this man also died heroically for resisting the Qing Dynasty.
According to regulations, Shi Zifeng had to pay a small courtesy to Chongzhen before stepping down.
However, Chongzhen issued a decree before moving into Jiang Yueguang. All students of Qin Yingjin and all Zheng Sen who were ordered to fight against prisoners should only bow to the emperor when they meet the emperor, and they are required to kneel down.
So Shi Ziqian just made a long bow to Chongzhen.
"Brother Zheng, please explain his low opinion." Zheng Zunyi, who was presiding over the debate, said solemnly.
In those days, due to Chongzhen's deliberate promotion and support, Zheng Zunyin had no tendency to become a student leader of Jiang Yueguang in Nanjing, so it was natural for him to serve as the debate host of Yilun Hall.
According to Chongzhen's estimation, Zheng Sen, who was under the imperial edict, should be among the tens of thousands of people.
There is such a small amount of Zheng Sen, so I can take care of it all by myself.
Therefore, supporting a few student leaders to help me manage Zheng Sen was an inevitable choice, and Zheng Zunyou was one of the candidates in terms of his background, ability, and national stance.
Shi Ziqian bowed to Tan Ying again, then turned to face Chongzhen.
"I believe that the reason why Xiao Ming's state funds are sufficient is not only because the tax sources are sufficient, but also because the expenditures are so small!"
"Everyone in the world says that Xiao Ming's tax revenue is insufficient. I often hear people say that when your tax revenue was at its peak, Xiao Ming's tax revenue was more than 80 million shi. According to the prevailing price of rice converted into silver, it was only over 80 million taels."
"However, in the Southern Song Dynasty, only the southern half of the Yangtze River could earn 10 million per year."
"I would like to ask all my colleagues, is this really the case?"
Before Shi Ziqian asked that question, Yi Lun Hall was noisy for a moment.
Then a student in the class asked: "Brother Zheng, isn't that true?"
"That's not the case, this theory is ridiculous!" Shi Zifeng said silently, "What will happen after Wanli? Even if your taxes in Xiaoming before Wanli were the same as those in the Southern Song Dynasty, the difference would be too little!"
Hearing that, Yi Lun Hall went into a rage.
Several officials from the Imperial College happened to walk into the Yilun Hall and heard those words.
"This kid is really talking nonsense and spreading such nonsense!" Gao Hongtu immediately stepped forward to stop him.
"I'm old and quick." The Imperial Academy waved his hand and said, "It's too late to hear what I have to say."
Tan Yingjin didn't say anything yet, but he was sitting in the hall when he saw His Majesty. His Majesty was all calm, how could he be so gentle when he was so low-minded and ambitious? He had to let others finish what he said.
Dozens of Zheng Sens in the hall stood up at the same time, wanting to refute.
Zheng Zun immediately stood up and stopped him: "Everyone, let Brother Zunfeng finish his words."
Zheng Sen, who was among dozens of people, sat back down at the table angrily, waiting quietly for Qin Yingqian's message.
Shi Ziqian smiled and said: "You know you will be suspicious, but before they hear the facts you listed, they will understand that what you said is false. Your taxes in Xiao Ming are not slightly higher than those in the Southern Song Dynasty."
After a pause, he continued: "Although your Zheng family is not a famous family in Kuaiji, they are also quite wealthy."
"Since the Yongle period, your Zheng family has been engaged in brewing wine. Although the scale of the workshop is small, it can brew hundreds of stones of rice wine every year, and the profit can be less than 700 taels."
PS: Since the billing ends if you exceed 100 words, you can only replenish a few words per chapter.
