Red Mansion Jia Lan: Do you want to run away tonight to visit your relatives? Chapter Ninety-seven: After the court meeting, I was dejected and chatting with the First Emperor, who had some thoughts.
Chapter Ninety-seven: After the court meeting, I was dejected and chatting with the First Emperor, who had some thoughts.
The emperor's words made the ministers tremble. The person who just came out and offered to donate his salary was Wang Ding, the censor of Zuodu. This man has a reputation of integrity. In the past, he would not even accept money from Bingjing, Tanjing and others. The emperor
Knowing that his life was hard, he often gave him money.
Wang Ding only accepted it, but changed hands and donated it back to his hometown in Guanzhong in the name of the emperor to set up a charity village to relieve the poor.
At this time, when all the ministers heard the words, they all made small calculations. Could it be that the emperor had something behind his words and that the two men were actually singing a double act?
Now when they heard the emperor talk about his salary, they suddenly realized it. Thinking of the methods that the emperor had always used against corrupt officials before and after he succeeded to the throne, and thinking of the all-pervasive embroidered guards, they all broke into a cold sweat and went to work one after another to express their intention to donate.
In March, a porridge shed was set up in Shenjing to help refugees.
The Minister of Household Affairs on the side almost couldn't help but laugh. He was originally thinking about the salary of officials, but suddenly he didn't want to be such a bad person.
It is not easy to live in the capital. The salary of many capital officials, excluding the cost of renting a house, makes life very difficult.
In addition, the revenue of the state treasury has been deteriorating in recent years. If I hadn't shamelessly forced the emperor to use the inner treasury, I would have barely been able to afford the salaries of all the officials in the capital.
After some discussions, the ministers only came up with a way to donate for disaster relief. In addition to hundreds of officials, the imperial court also issued a document to mobilize nobles and gentry from all over the country to donate food for disaster relief. Even the emperor said that he would only eat one meal a day to save food for the victims. p>
"Alas..." After the ministers exited, the emperor looked at the empty Yangxin Hall and sighed, rubbed his brows, looked at Zhu Sidao in the audience, and smiled bitterly.
"It is less than a hundred years since the founding of our country, but it is already in its final days. I wonder if I will personally ring the death knell of Jingyang in my lifetime!"
Zhu Sidao stepped forward quickly: "Your Majesty, please don't say such depressing words!"
The Jingyang Bell is on the Jingyang Tower in the imperial city. It will not be rung casually unless there is a national crisis. In the late Ming Dynasty, when the capital was trapped, Emperor Chongzhen rang the bell himself. After waiting for a long time, no minister came to court. It was really a mess.
The end of the world.
"I have never slacked off for more than ten years since I took the throne. Although the cabinet has changed, it is a normal rotation. It is not like the previous Ming Dynasty Sizong who changed his position fifty times in ten years. Moreover, Taizu Shengming, except Yuan Fengsu, Liang Er
As the king of guarding the frontier, our dynasty has not had clan troubles like the previous Ming Dynasty since its foundation. But I don’t know why the treasury is so empty after only a hundred years!"
The emperor sat slumped on the throne. In the past, he had always been tough, even when facing the emperor. Only in front of the teacher Zhu Sidao did he reveal his inner feelings.
"Every time I read history, I found that although the early Song Dynasty had a weak reputation, the Song Dynasty raised millions of troops. During the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, there were more than 800,000 forbidden troops. However, there was always an endless flow of supplies, and there was no shortage of supplies.<
/p>
Our dynasty defeated Youyan, relying on the natural dangers of Juyong, and without the troubles of Xixia. Even if the four kings and nine sides plus the troops in the capital camp were included, there were many guards in the world, but they only had a million soldiers. However, our dynasty had no troubles from the clan and no troubles.
I am very incomprehensible to the expense of redundant troops, due to my diligence and frugality, and my annual income is several times that of Taizu Taizong, yet I am so impoverished.
Chief Assistant, teach me, why did we end up in such a predicament?"
As the emperor spoke, he stood up and walked to Zhu Sidao.
Zhu Sidao cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, the tax record in the world is always the same. Nowadays, those who earn twice as much every year have paid taxes as they were for generations. This is why they have changed every time since.
During the Qingming Dynasty, when the officials were in charge of the Qingming Dynasty, there were no more than 10,000 officials in each province, but now the number has reached 20,000. As a result, there will inevitably be more officials and more supplies. In addition, the emperor is determined to wipe out the northern border and imposes several additional taxes. The summer and autumn taxes are
The number has increased several times during the Han and Tang dynasties, so the people's livelihood is in dire straits and urgently needs to be restored, so it is the veteran minister who strongly advocates that your majesty rest with the people."
"I understand what the first assistant said. I think I am not as frugal as Wen Jing, but I am not a person who loves success. But it is not the beginning of the Han Dynasty anymore. The past ten years of recuperation and recuperation are not without results, but the problem of the treasury always needs to be solved.
of."
Zhu Sidao was silent. What the emperor said was very realistic. The national treasury now only has less than one million taels of reserves. Once the world changes, it will be a disaster in an instant.
It's just that the matter is big, and some things cannot be pushed forward by him alone.
Seeing that the first assistant was silent, the emperor guessed something. He knew the teacher's concerns and sat back with some disinterest.
Suddenly his eyes saw a memorial lying on the side of the imperial case, and he raised his eyebrows and asked: "If I remember correctly today, it should be the day when the Shuntian Prefecture releases the results in the autumn, right?"
"Back to the emperor, today is the day. The results should have been released by now." Dai Quan on the side responded.
The emperor's eyes flew across the front of the hall to the outside of the hall, as if he was looking down at the divine capital.
After a while, he asked Dai Quan to hand Zhu Sidao a memorial on the imperial case: "This time the Jieyuan of Shuntian Mansion is indeed beyond my expectation."
Although Zhu Sidao himself was not born in Jieyuan in the provincial examination, he was the first Chuanlu in the second class of the imperial examination, and his literary skills were not inferior to those of the first class. He took the memorial in confusion, thinking that he was just a Jieyuan, what could the emperor marvel at?
of?
But after reading the article in the memorial, he sighed and murmured to himself: "The sky is my heart, my heart is the sky..."
After being stunned for a moment, he quickly came back to his senses, smiled and handed over his hands: "The twelve-year-old Xie Yuanlang is comparable to the famous prime minister Yang Wenzhong of the previous dynasty. It is a great joy, and it shows the achievements of our dynasty's education. Congratulations, Your Majesty,
Congratulations, Your Majesty!"
The emperor smiled and said: "In the past few days, this is the only thing that can make me feel a little happier. I thought that the child of the Jia family was just a little smart. After reading this article, I realized that this child is very perceptive and has some insights.
."
Zhu Sidao stroked his beard and smiled and said: "After the Wu Xun of Rongguo Mansion, there was actually such a seed of reading. Based on this article alone, we can conclude that this person is definitely not a person who cheats on others. I think the "Enlightenment of Sound and Rhythm" was indeed written by this person.
It’s true.”
"Well... this article was prepared by Shuntian Prefect in public for Jia Lan to answer. There is absolutely no way it is false."
"Yes, although Sheng Hong has an old relationship with Wu Xun, he has never been involved in it. Moreover, he has been serving as an official in the southeast for many years. It is impossible to have anything to do with the Jia family. It is precisely for this reason that your Majesty simply promoted him to the Yin of Shuntian Prefecture.
.
During this Yellow River disaster, it was this person who made arrangements early for the refugees to come to Shenjing, and immediately returned to the government office after the autumn period to arrange follow-up matters, which shows that this person is capable and the emperor has a keen eye."
Listening to Zhu Sidao's praise, the emperor felt a little happy. When he was young, this master had always been strict with the princes, and he often felt embarrassed in front of him.
Thinking of his childhood, the emperor couldn't help but recall another master, with a faint look of nostalgia in his eyes.