On the early morning of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, after the fifth watch, civil and military officials scattered throughout Nanjing rode horses and carriages to the Forbidden City in the East City.
In the first month of the year in Nanjing, the air was frosty and the wind was bone-chilling. Officials huddled outside the right gate of Chang'an, asking each other about the latest news in the past two days.
The night before yesterday, Boss Zhu sent troops to raid the entire city. Any officials who came to the capital to give accounts and carried blank account papers were captured on the spot and escorted back to the pro-army Duwei Mansion for trial.
I heard that the morning court session was canceled yesterday because Boss Zhu was busy interrogating the prisoners all night long and was unable to do anything else...
Morning court resumed today, which means that the trials of more than 300 prisoners have been completed.
So how will the emperor deal with them and their chief officials? Will the various ministries of Zhongshu be implicated? How will the Korean Guild respond?
These three issues became the focus of discussion among officials.
However, it has only been a short time since the incident occurred. Everyone only knows that the Korean father visited Liu Bowen yesterday. Other than that, they don’t know any exact information. There are different opinions and guesses.
Until the sky was dim, Hu Weiyong's simple but not low-key donkey cart slowly drove to the right gate of Chang'an.
All the officials rushed forward to greet Prime Minister Hu.
"Hu Xiang."
"Good morning, Mr. Hu."
"Okay, good morning everyone." Hu Weiyong clasped his fists, looking as friendly as ever.
"Hu Xiang." The haggard-looking Li Tai, Shangshu of the Ministry of Finance, crowded in front of him nervously.
He knew that Hu Bu would not be able to escape his involvement this time, but he still hoped that the emperor would punish him with a small punishment and give him a way to survive.
"Uncle Chengyi, have you agreed to help?" Li Tai looked at Hu Weiyong expectantly.
Hu Weiyong slowly shook his head, cutting off his last chance of luck.
Li Tai's body swayed and he was about to fall to the ground.
Hu Weiyong supported him and whispered: "Cheer up, it will be your last chance to defend yourself later."
"Hey." Li Tai nodded, gritted his teeth, and forced himself to stand.
Hu Weiyong looked around at the officials again... of course mainly civil servants, and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, please relax, the responsibilities will be shouldered as they are, and you will not be implicated."
After a pause, he said slowly: "Of course, if the relevant personnel of the Ministry of Household Affairs are involved in such a big mess, the truth is that they have no choice but to exterminate the relatives out of justice. You must also be mentally prepared."
"Thank you, Prime Minister Hu." A few people felt as if they were bereaved, and most officials breathed a sigh of relief.
At this time, melodious and solemn bells rang in the imperial city, and the right gate of Chang'an slowly opened.
"Okay everyone, let's line up to go to court." Hu Weiyong said to everyone.
"Yes." Then the officials were quickly divided into civil and military ranks. The civil officials were led by Hu Weiyong, and the military officers were led by Cao Guogong. They walked neatly into the right gate of Chang'an in two columns.
~~
Someone may ask again, tax accounts are managed by the Household Department. Even if the emperor wants to check, he will only check the Household Department. What do people in other yamen worry about?
This is a gift from Boss Zhu’s wonderful financial system.
Ordinarily, a country's finances should follow the "two lines of revenue and expenditure." Simply put, the tax collector only collects taxes, and the national tax revenue goes to the national treasury, and then it is distributed according to the needs of various places. It is strictly forbidden to collect and spend at the same time.
This is not some advanced financial thinking, this is how the Song Dynasty did it.
Although Boss Zhu is invincible in many aspects, he has a shortcoming and a strong point. His biggest shortcoming is the financial aspect. He actually naively believes that taxes and grains should be collected from the local area to the capital first, and then distributed by the household department.
When you go to various places, you take off your pants and fart, which also wastes people's energy and increases losses.
So he made a smart decision to continue the Yuan Dynasty's practice of central government taking control and local governments taking charge of revenue and expenditure. He felt that this would be efficient, save time and effort, and avoid corruption by people in the Ministry of Household Affairs.
To put it simply, after the county collects the taxes, it is directly responsible for the distribution. Of course, the distribution plan is formulated by the Ministry of Household Affairs.
For example, Linhuai County collected 5,000 shi from all taxes and grains. It first retained 500 shi as county office expenses and paid wages to the people below. Then it sent 1,000 shi to the nearby garrison to provide them with military pay; within the county
Although the inn is under the control of the Ministry of War, as long as it is in the county, the county must be responsible for the expenses, so another hundred dan will be given; if there is a palace in the city, 1,800 dan will be sent to the palace as the cost of building the palace...
In a word, as long as the expenses of the imperial court and local government within the county are directly allocated by the county, there is no need to send them to the capital.
So those sent to Beijing may only have a mere two thousand stones, and not all of them are for the Ministry of Household Affairs. There are a bunch of yamen such as the Transport Treasury, the Nei Treasury, Taipus Temple, the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Rites, Taichang Temple... and so on.
, everyone will get a share. The one who ends up in Taicang may be less than a thousand dan.
This kind of chaotic financial system, coupled with the blank accounting paper that can be filled in on the spot, is simply amazing. Experienced veterans can play tricks and everyone is guaranteed to be satisfied...
But the result of both rain and dew is that everyone has daddy on their buttocks, and they will naturally be worried if something goes wrong.
~~
In the Huagai Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang was sitting on the throne, waiting for the officials to come to court.
The prince stood aside depressed. He originally planned to supervise the Kongyin case. But he failed because the person who was reviewing the case was someone he could not supervise.
"What's wrong? You're not allowed to try this case, why are you so uncomfortable?" Zhu Yuanzhang paid great attention to his son...well, his eldest son's mental health.
"Father, it is actually more appropriate to let your son come." The prince nodded and said, "If you try it yourself, there will be no room for change in many matters."
"I asked you to come, hum, but in the end we gave you a lighter sentence?" Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily: "We can't refute your face, and in the end we all got the advantage of those bastards!"
"How could it be possible? I will judge impartially." The prince shouted, Qu Dao.
"Don't think we don't know. It wasn't you who was causing trouble that night. How could we only capture so many people?" Zhu Yuanzhang said with a chuckle.
"It's nothing." The prince smiled guiltily and refused to admit it: "But after all, it is necessary to punish the minority and warn the majority. Even if there is a major blood change, it will be done in batches. If one pot is served, there will be a big problem.
It’s a mess.”
"What kind of trouble is this?" Zhu Yuanzhang sneered and said, "You just let Mr. Song and the others lead them into a ditch. You feel like you can't do it without those scholar-bureaucrats. Boss, they are just bluffing you. To put it bluntly,
, those local governments are just tax collectors and have no other role.
"Now that they have turned this whole thing into a mess for us, Jiba, do we still need to keep them?"
"If we replace them all, do we have so many officials to fill them?" The prince said helplessly: "Even if the officials grow from the ground, they still have to sow in spring and harvest in autumn."
"What we have trained in Guozixue is enough." Zhu Yuanzhang snorted.
"Aren't they going to use it to clear out the parents-in-law?" the prince asked rhetorically.
"After the parents-in-law are cleared, there will be many people." Boss Zhu said.
"The Qing Dynasty hasn't started yet. Will it be finished in three to five years?" The two men began to argue.
"Your Majesty, Your Highness, it's time to go to court." At this time, Eunuch Wu reminded him softly.
"Okay, I can't defeat you, so I'll go to court first." Boss Zhu raised his hands in surrender.
