Chapter seven hundred and eighty ninth court staff
On June 20th, in the Huangji Palace, all the officials looked gloomy and gloomy.
This was the emperor's first court meeting after returning from Tianjin, and the atmosphere was very different from the past. All the officials had heard yesterday that the emperor wanted to imitate Li Zhi's reform.
What civil servants were most worried about before was that things would come to this point. Li Zhi was very successful in carrying out reforms in one town and six provinces, but after all, he could only carry out reforms in his territory. The lords controlled by Li Zhi were mainly Shandong and Henan.
, the rest are "overseas territories". Outside Shandong and Henan, the gentry in other provinces are safe.
But if the emperor wants to carry out reforms, it will be terrible. Once the emperor gives the order, the whole country will change. If we really follow the emperor's instructions to equalize land taxes and hold courts, the gentry in the world will lose their wealth and wealth in one day.
fundamental.
If you look at the miserable appearance of the gentry in Li Zhi's territory, you will know how depressed the gentry will be after the equalization of land.
The gentry would never watch their entire good life being taken away by the emperor in one fell swoop. Although the emperor Zhu Youjian now has complete control of the capital, the civil servants can no longer threaten the emperor with personal safety, but the civil servants are not
There is absolutely no bargaining chip. All the officials in the world are members of the gentry, which is the force that actually controls the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, the gentry has 160,000 Jiangbei troops in Huai'an.
Even if the civil servants risked being beheaded by Zhu Youjian, they still had to stop the emperor from equalizing land and taxes in the court.
While the officials were whispering to each other, the officials from Honglu Temple sang a cappella: "The Emperor has arrived!"
The civil officials stopped talking and stood in their respective positions. With all the officials kneeling in obeisance, Zhu Youjian walked into the Huangji Hall with great ambition.
Unlike the previous days when he walked up to the throne without looking sideways, Zhu Youjian walked very confidently today. After entering the Huangji Palace, he first stopped on the royal road to observe the kneeling civil servants, and then scanned the hall.
, then slowly walked to the throne.
The "virtual emperor theory" was extremely popular in the late Ming Dynasty. The gentry believed that the emperor was a scourge and should be punished and ignored. This kind of speech deeply affected the Chongzhen court. In the past, Zhu Youjian said it was more unpleasant and he was just a civil servant.
A memorial tablet provided.
But now that Zhu Youjian has taken control of the situation in the capital and found a way to change the Ming Dynasty, he is completely different. Today's Zhu Youjian is truly a king who turned the tide.
With a flick of the front of the dragon robe, Zhu Youjian sat on the dragon chair.
"Pingsheng!"
The officials also noticed that the emperor's aura was different from before. They looked at each other on the ground for a while before getting up with heavy faces.
The officials of Honglu Temple sang loudly: "If you have something to report, go to court, if nothing happens, leave the court!"
Although the officials of Honglu Temple started the morning court, Zhu Youjian had a majestic air today. The civil servants were obviously hesitant, and no one spoke for a while.
Zhu Youjian looked at the dignified civil servants, stroking his beard and saying nothing.
The court fell silent, and no one stood up to break the silence for a long time.
The officials of Honglu Temple didn't understand what was going on, so they shouted again: "If something happens, report it quickly! If nothing happens, leave the court!"
Finally, Yu Qingdao, the Minister of Household Affairs, stepped forward to take the lead.
"Your Majesty, I heard that Your Majesty wants to equalize the land tax?"
Finally someone stood up. After hearing Yu Qingdao's words, all the officials looked at the emperor to see his attitude.
Zhu Youjian met the eyes of the civil servants and nodded.
Wang Chengen, who was standing next to Zhu Youjian, shouted loudly: "The emperor has an order. From now on, the land tax will be equalized throughout the Ming Dynasty, and the officials and gentry will pay for it together! Set up courts to suppress illegal tyrants! Protect patents and safeguard the interests of craftsmen!"
Yu Qingdao didn't bother to listen to anything about patents. When he heard the words "officials and gentry all pay for themselves together," his face turned red with anxiety.
"Your Majesty, this is ridiculous!"
After hearing Yu Qingdao's words, Zhu Youjian's face darkened and he looked at Yu Qingdao.
Wang Chengen shouted angrily: "Yu Qingdao, do you know what the crime of disrespect is?"
Yu Qingdao was worried and said: "If you want to take away my family and life, how can I still be obedient? Our ancestors in the Ming Dynasty have a legal system where the scholar-officials and the emperor rule the world together. Now the emperor is bewitched by the Tianjin Li thief and wants to take away our scholar-officials."
Fundamental interests! Don’t you know that dogs will jump over the wall when they are anxious, let alone scholar-bureaucrats?”
Zhu Youjian looked at Yu Qingdao and frowned.
Wang Chengen looked at the emperor and saw that the emperor had no intention of backing down. He sneered and said to Yu Qingdao: "Yu Qingdao, what do you mean by this? Are you saying that if the emperor equalizes the land tax, the gentry will rebel?"
Yu Qingdao snorted coldly and said: "Students have been living in poverty for decades, but one day they will be named on the gold medal list and gain fame. What do they want? It is nothing more than to become a superior person, and for someone to bring their land to contribute. From then on,
No more hunger, poverty and poverty. Today, the emperor can seize all the benefits of the scholars with just one word. Who will hang their hats and study the books of the saints in the future?"
"If the emperor acts like this, the scholars in the world will not agree, and the Jiangbei army will not agree!"
Zhu Youjian couldn't stand hearing this anymore. Yu Qingdao also jumped over the wall in a hurry. He was openly threatening himself with Jiangbei Army's rebellion.
Zhu Youjian put his hand on the armrest of the dragon chair and said: "Yu Qingdao, do you know that the rebellious words you said can be punished by the whole family?"
Yu Qingdao obviously took the risk and cursed loudly: "The emperor colluded with the Li thieves, did not distinguish between loyal and treacherous, good and evil, and put the butcher's knife on the scholar-bureaucrats in the world, then all the scholars in the world will rebel! If the emperor really wants to seize the scholars,
I am afraid that if you have the right to tax exemption from Sichuan to southern Zhili, people will rebel against you, and the world will no longer regard you as the leader!"
Although Zhu Youjian took control of the capital, these scholars were obviously not accustomed to the new situation.
This Yu Qingdao still used the same skills as before to confront Zhu Youjian. He felt that with the support of the Jiangbei Army in the south, the civil servants were not afraid of the emperor anyway. If the 160,000 Jiangbei Army and the 80,000 New Army were to fight, Jiangbei would probably
The strength of the army is even better. So what if the emperor controls the capital?
In recent years, it has become increasingly obvious that Jiangbei's army has separatist control of Jiangnan. Apart from paying taxes to the court, the south is basically no longer under Zhu Youjian's control.
This was not caused by Li Zhi. In fact, in the original history, many places in the Ming Dynasty were actually separated. For example, Zheng Zhilong and the Zheng family separated Fujian. After the Manchu and Qing Dynasties entered the customs, Zheng Chenggong relied on Fujian to fight against the Manchu and Qing Dynasties in history.
In 1998, they once attacked Nanjing. From the end of Chongzhen to the Nanming era in Fujian, the Zheng family had the final say. The emperor had no control over anything except tax collection.
Another example is Zuo Liangyu in the original history, who actually ruled the Huguang area and ignored the imperial court at all. At that time, Zuo Liangyu gathered hundreds of thousands of thieves and became the de facto "King of Huguang".
At the local level, Zuo Liangyu obtained the military supplies he needed by forcibly collecting money from the people, just like collecting taxes. At the central level, Zuo Liangyu formed an alliance with the Donglin Party, and even sent hundreds of thousands of troops to attack Nanming after the Donglin Party lost power.
The imperial court raised the banner of the Qing Dynasty.
During the Chongzhen Dynasty, the transformation of local warlords into vassal towns has always been an obvious trend. Although Li Zhi's time travel has changed history, this transformation into vassal towns has not changed.
It was precisely by relying on the strength of Jiangbei Army that Yu Qingdao had the confidence to challenge Zhu Youjian.
However, the existence of Jiangbei Army cannot threaten Zhu Youjian. Seeing that the Ming Dynasty is sinking little by little, Zhu Youjian now finds his way in Tianjin and has to stand up to save the Zhu family's world. He is no longer as worried as before.
of the emperor.
"Yu Qing is being disrespectful. Drag him down with a hundred imperial staffs!"
