The leakage of the Qianqing Palace began to escalate. First, the eunuch Li Guang committed suicide by drinking poison out of fear. Then the factory guards found a large amount of gold and silver treasures, land deeds, house deeds, etc. from Li Guang's house. Of course, the most important thing was that He made a list of bribes, which clearly listed the civil and military ministers who sent money to Li Guang from all over the court.
Emperor Hongzhi was furious and ordered a thorough investigation of the matter. Suddenly the whole capital was in turmoil and everyone was in danger, especially those civil and military ministers who had bribed Li Guang.
Four-wheeled carriages were walking rapidly through the streets and alleys of the capital. Inside were anxious civil and military ministers, who were moving desperately.
The houses of the three cabinet ministers, the house of Jianchang Bo Shouninghou, and the house of Ning Bo Zhou Yu, mother-in-law of the Empress Dowager Zhou, had a large number of visitors almost every day, and all of them came with only one purpose.
That is to ask the elders of the Three Pavilions, the Zhang brothers, and Zhou Yu to write to Emperor Hongzhi to advise him not to make this matter a big deal. We will turn it into a major issue and turn it into a trivial matter. Let's expose it this time.
According to the original history, Emperor Hongzhi did not investigate the matter thoroughly at the suggestion of the Zhang brothers and let it go. Because the involvement was so extensive, hundreds of civil and military ministers were implicated, ranging from ministers to princes to local officials. If there is a thorough investigation of the important military and political officials, I don’t know how many of them will lose their hats.
Wang Yue, the famous trilateral ruler in history, was impeached by the imperial censor many times because of Li Guang's case, and finally died of anger and anger.
It can also be seen from this that these civil servants in the Ming Dynasty were just piss-cats. If they caught these military commanders and nobles, they would fight to death. Even this Wang Yue was actually a civil servant, but he was in charge of the three The censors went crazy and impeached Wang Yue every day.
As for the civil servants involved in Li Guang's case, these censors selectively ignored them, especially when Emperor Hongzhi did not pursue them.
However, due to the arrival of Liu Jin, the time-traveling butterfly, and the Li Guang case, Emperor Hongzhi did not listen to the advice of the Zhang brothers, but continued to strongly order Xiao Jing to continue to investigate the case thoroughly. This made the entire civil and military circles of the government and the public The ministers were all panic-stricken and on tenterhooks.
No one knows what Emperor Hongzhi will think or do. The list is already in the hands of Emperor Hongzhi. Just relying on this, Emperor Hongzhi can justifiably clean up the people on the list.
Emperor Hongzhi also followed up on this matter and once again brought up the issue of privately opening a salt farm. This time, although some civil servants in the Manchu Dynasty came out to object, their voices were already very low, and there were also people who came out to speak for Emperor Hongzhi. .
Why are private salt farms allowed to be built? A salt farm can receive two million taels of tax money every year. This is a good thing that benefits the country and the people, and should be strongly supported.
Some people even denounced the shortcomings of the salt policy, bluntly saying that neither the court nor the people received actual benefits from the original salt policy, but only enriched the salt merchants. They believed that Emperor Hongzhi's move was meaningful in changing the existing salt industry situation, and the court could With the tax money received, the common people could also eat cheaper salt, and Emperor Hongzhi was given the title of an eternal sage, comparable to Yao and Shun.
Therefore, after several court discussions, the matter of privately opening salt farms was officially announced to the world in the form of a newspaper. The original situation of salt and iron being exclusively owned by the court began to change.
The imperial court allowed private individuals to open salt farms, but the rules were very rigid. Anyone who opened a salt farm must pay a tax of two million taels of silver per year before being allowed to open a salt farm.
It can be said that Emperor Hongzhi played this move extremely beautifully.
By using the Li Guang case to firmly grasp the handle of the civil and military ministers of the DPRK and China, smart people will know what to do. Your handle will fall into the hands of Emperor Hongzhi, and Emperor Hongzhi can deal with you at any time.
Therefore, at this time, if we still oppose the proposal from Emperor Hongzhi, of course the proposal to allow the opening of private salt farms will not be proposed by Emperor Hongzhi himself.
He could just find any official to propose it, but everyone knows that this is actually what Emperor Hongzhi meant.
So smart people know what to do at this time. Many officials from the Jiangnan area were originally the most resolutely opposed to it, because the opening of private salt farms seriously damaged the interests of salt merchants and big families in the Jiangnan area.
What they like most is to maintain the current situation and maintain the existing order, so that they can rely on salt to fill their brains and make them as rich as the enemy.
But now, even if they know this, they still have to agree to Emperor Hongzhi's proposal, because is their own black hat more important or the interests of the interest groups behind them?
They knew very well what to do. If it were something that Emperor Hongzhi wanted to promote wholeheartedly, if it were in the past, everyone could spit on Emperor Hongzhi's face and then understand nothing. Emperor Hongzhi, who only believed in the literati, would obediently accept it. Everyone
You can also gain a reputation as someone who dares to speak out.
But things are different now. Emperor Hongzhi activated the power of factory guards and allocated hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to factory guards to strengthen their power.
Emperor Hongzhi had a lot of information in his hands, and he had a gap with the civil servants. He no longer believed in the civil servants as before, because he knew the true face of these civil servants.
The case of Li Guang has firmly grasped the tails of a large number of officials. To jump out at this time like before is simply to seek death.
There is no doubt that your own life is more important than anything else. As for the interests of the interest groups behind it, you can no longer care too much about it.
The last case of theft of official warehouses has not ended yet, and now there is another case of Li Guang's bribery. The officials from Jiangnan have suffered a serious blow, and they have a sword hanging over their heads, and they will take away their little ones at any time.
Life.
This is politics!
The former Emperor Hongzhi trusted civil servants and did not use the power of factory guards. Therefore, what he saw in his eyes was that there were virtuous officials everywhere in the government and in the wilderness. He thought that all the princes in the government were upright people and capable ministers.
.
Therefore, he listened to the suggestions and arrangements of these civil servants in everything. In addition, he was weak-tempered and a good old man, so he was properly arranged by these civil servants, and the civil servants lived a very comfortable life.
Especially those officials in the Jiangnan area. On the one hand, they rely on the current system to serve the interest groups behind them, making sure that the salt merchants are well fed. On the other hand, they can continue to consolidate the power of Jiangnan Shilin in the court.
, this was also an important reason why the Donglin Party was able to dominate the government in the late Ming Dynasty.
Because of the influence of Liu Jin's time-traveling butterfly, subtle changes occurred.
Emperor Hongzhi, who reused factory guards, obtained a large amount of information. Any decision-making was based on a large amount of information, so he also saw a lot of things clearly.
He no longer blindly believed in civil servants, and began to slowly put emphasis on military officers and nobles, so there was a series of huge changes in the following.
Emperor Hongzhi, who didn't have much scheming, was actually able to make such a move in seconds. Relying on Li Guang's case, he successfully realized his intention that was impossible to implement at first.
The news soon spread throughout the Ming Dynasty with Zhuan Bao, and the salt merchants in the Jiangnan area were wailing, and they all saw that their good days were coming to an end.
The beginning of privately opened salt farms means that the existing salt and iron system will gradually undergo dramatic changes, and they will lose the basis for their survival.
As for some people who have the strength and have not been involved in the salt industry, they are happy that they can finally get their hands into the hugely profitable industry of salt.
The military generals and nobles group, the gentry and wealthy families in the north have been coveting this for a long time. They have been suffering from no chance, and now the opportunity has come.
However, the mandatory requirement of paying two million taels of silver a year to set up a private salt farm also made everyone hesitate. This amount was simply too large.
This is also an important reason why officials from the Jiangnan area agreed, because they felt that no one could make money after paying two million taels of silver to open a salt farm, unless the salt was sold at sky-high prices.
Once the private salt farms are sold at sky-high prices, they have no way to compete with the salt merchants behind them. Price is very important. Now that competition has been established, at the market level it depends on whose price is cheaper, and ordinary people will not care so much.
, they only care about price.
This is also a political game. We can agree to your proposal, Emperor Hongzhi, but the rigid requirement of two million taels of silver is also a condition, a condition they strive for.
They believe that even if someone is able to get involved in the salt industry, they will never make a penny in it, and they will ultimately be able to maintain their existing interests.
It was different when Liu Jin was a time traveler. With the introduction of the policy, Liu Jin also applied to the court for a private salt farm as soon as possible. Two million taels of silver were also given in one box on the same day.
Sent to the treasury.
This made the salt merchants and officials in Jiangnan slightly dumbfounded, and then they became nervous. Liu Jin, a troublemaker, would never do anything good in the field with him in it, and everything before would be overturned.
Let Liu Jin enter the salt industry, who knows what will happen.
However, before they could recover from this incident, the news that Liu Jin and Prince Zhu Houzhao would use their own money to build the Qianqing Palace for Emperor Hongzhi once again spread throughout the capital.
On the one hand, everyone lamented the strong financial resources of Liu Jin and Zhu Houzhao, but at the same time they were also talking about the new Qianqing Palace that was announced. The new Qianqing Palace will be built with cement and blue bricks, which is completely different from the original Qianqing Palace.