Wang Chengen, who was wearing a scarlet python robe, looked at Li Zhi, whose face was as heavy as water, and bent down and bowed.
"Wang Chengen has met Duke Jin!"
Now Li Zhi is the Duke of the country and holds a very important position. Even Wang Chengen, the eunuch who is the chief of etiquette and the eunuch Bingbi, must bow to Li Zhi when he sees him, otherwise he will go beyond the rules of etiquette.
Li Zhi nodded, pointed to the carved and cushioned rosewood chair in the secondary hall with his hand, and said, "Sit down, Your Majesty!"
Wang Chengen sat down, looked at Li Zhi's Duke's mansion, and said with a smile: "The Duke's mansion is quite impressive."
Li Zhi said with a smile: "If the standard is not built to a higher level, some people will have no respect for me. So I spent a lot of money on this palace."
Wang Chengen nodded and secretly said that Li Zhi is really rich now. I heard that Li Zhi won millions of taels of silver and millions of stones of rice from Japan. The exact number is unknown. Nowadays, it is said that Li Zhi is as rich as any other country.
, no exaggeration at all.
"Our family is here this time under the emperor's order to discuss with the Duke of Jin the case of King De Zhu Youshu. No matter how wrong King De is, he is still a prince and should be handed over to the court for disposal."
Of course Li Zhi knew Wang Chengen's purpose. When he heard this, his face sank and he said: "The prince's life is precious, isn't my life precious? Zhu Youshu assassinated me twice. If I didn't kill him, wouldn't it be wrong?
Is he considered weak by everyone in the world? How many people are going to swarm in and assassinate me?"
Wang Chengen raised his hand and said: "Don't worry, my lord, the evidence provided by the prince is conclusive. King De will not be able to escape the punishment of being demoted to a commoner. But the prince killed the prefect Zhan Kejian and Juren You Yipeng, and coveted the prince.
Even the villains will be shocked."
Li Zhi said calmly: "No, if I don't kill Zhu Youshu, other princes may assassinate me at any time in the future. I won't be able to sleep at night."
Wang Chengen saw that his good words were not making sense, so he pretended to be angry and said: "After all, the Duke of Jin is just a prince. What qualifications does he have to interrogate and deal with the prince without permission? Is the Duke of Jin going to commit rebellion?"
Li Zhi said calmly: "Even if he is charged with causing rebellion, I will kill Zhu Youshu."
Wang Chengen opened his mouth, seriously there was nothing he could do against Li Zhi.
Now Li Zicheng and Li Dingguo are in Henan, and Huguang is making a lot of noise. More than 100,000 border troops have been transferred to the south by the emperor to suppress the bandits. The imperial court only has the troops and horses of the Beijing camp guarding the capital, and it really has no power to suppress Li Zhi. Now
When dealing with Li Zhi, we can only have a good talk and discuss the matter.
Like Zhu Youshu, who assassinated Li Zhi twice and was caught by Li Zhi. Li Zhi wanted to kill someone, so Wang Chengen could only negotiate with Li Zhi. Pressuring Li Zhi with the charge of rebellion was just a test. If Li Zhi didn't submit, Wang Chengen would have no choice but to negotiate with Li Zhi.
How dare not intensify the conflict between Li Zhi and the court.
After thinking about it, Wang Chengen sighed and said, "My lord, please tell me directly what conditions are required to release King De."
Li Zhi looked at Wang Chengen, pondered for a moment, and said, "It's not impossible for me to let King De go."
After a pause, Li Zhi said: "It's just that, I will be at risk of being assassinated again in Tianjin and Shandong at any time. Therefore, I asked the government offices in the two places to abolish all the yamen, policemen, and archers in the execution rooms. These
The government servants, policemen and archers were all driven out of the government offices due to corruption and self-respect. Their funds were handed over to me, and I will hire 'policemen' to maintain public security and law enforcement in Tianjin and Shandong."
Wang Chengen's face darkened when he heard Li Zhi's words.
As expected, Li Zhi opened his mouth again and wanted to use this assassination to expand his power in Shandong and Tianjin.
Nowadays, Li Zhi only has judicial power in the two places, but no law enforcement power. The cases decided by the court are not caught by the limited enforcement capabilities of the judicial police, and in the end they often rely on Huben divisions to enforce them. Today, local security is still controlled by local officials and police officers.
, these people not only still bully the good, but also often act contrary to Li Zhi's court.
If Li Zhi wants to completely control the order in Shandong and Tianjin, he must obtain law enforcement power.
Li Zhi said calmly: "Only if I personally come to control the security of the two places, I will believe that no one will dare to take the risk to assassinate me."
After a pause, Li Zhi continued: "Moreover, if law enforcement power is handed over to those corrupt officials, the people will be unlucky. If it is handed over to me, I will choose capable and honest people to suppress the bullying tyrants and ensure that the people
live and work in peace and contentment.”
Wang Chengen thought for a long time, and finally did not bargain with Li Zhi, but said: "This matter is of great importance. Our family cannot agree to the Duke of the country, so we still have to petition the emperor."
Li Zhi nodded and said, "That's how it should be!"
Wang Chengen said no more, bowed his hands to Li Zhi, and strode out of the Duke's Mansion.
####
In the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Youjian heard Wang Chengen's statement and said nothing. He held a "one or two" banknote issued by Li Zhi and rubbed it carefully.
This banknote is very well made. First of all, the material is made of high-quality mulberry paper. Secondly, there is a watermark on the paper. The printing uses five-color overprinting. The banknote is full of various colorful patterns, and a few extremely small lines are printed on the front of the banknote.
Small fine print. If you want to forge such banknotes, you need to invest at least one to twenty thousand taels of silver to make paper, engravings and molds.
Compared with Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes, Li Zhi put more effort into the anti-counterfeiting of banknotes.
However, for those who are interested in counterfeiting banknotes, one or twenty thousand taels of silver is not impossible to obtain. To prevent banknotes from being counterfeit, violent means must be used to protect them.
Therefore, it is natural for Li Zhi to want law enforcement rights in Tianjin and Shandong.
The law enforcement power in the two places is not in the hands of Zhu Youjian. The local administrative law enforcement is controlled by civilian officials who protect each other. In fact, Zhu Youjian did not lose anything by ordering the transfer of law enforcement power to Li Zhi. The only problem
Yes, Li Zhi will use this law enforcement power to strengthen his control over the two places and become bigger and bigger.
Wang Chengen raised his hands and said, "Your Majesty, if you exchange King De's life for the law enforcement rights of the two places, Li Zhi is too generous."
Zhu Youjian put the banknotes on the table and asked: "How much money does Tianjin and Shandong spend on security personnel such as yamen and police officers in a year?"
Wang Chengen raised his hand and said: "I checked the account books of the transfer department. There are now more than 45,000 security personnel employed by local officials in the two places, which costs 830,000 taels of silver a year. These funds are directly from the local land tax.
What was directly used in the book never passed through the hands of the imperial court."
Zhu Youjian smiled and said: "Li Zhi wants to grow bigger, so we can take advantage of the opportunity to grow bigger! As long as we can take the opportunity to grab some money to raise troops, we are not afraid that Li Zhiwei will not lose his power. I decreed to Li Zhi that the local officials will maintain public security
The personnel can be laid off, but three-quarters of the 830,000 taels of silver saved will be turned over to the Ministry of Revenue's warehouse. The remaining one-fourth will be left to Li Zhi to handle matters."
