After a while, I saw a team of royal guards escorting boxes of luggage into the meeting hall. From the looks of it, it looked like there were books inside.
When Ma Shiying saw it, he was immediately overjoyed. He immediately left his seat, hurried over, stared at the boxes of luggage and asked, "Could it be a copy of the farm's account book?"
If this is the case, at least he has the legal basis for doing things, and then he can start doing things without any worries.
Wang Dehua and Li Ruolian also gathered around curiously, and even Ruan Dacheng and Chen Yuanyuan, who had always been silent, left their seats.
If there was a backup in the capital, all problems would really be solved!
But who would have expected that the Jinyiwei commander Liu Fuming, who was leading the team, shook his head and said, "No!"
After finishing speaking, he took out a letter from his arms and presented it to Ma Shiying with both hands: "This is written by your Majesty himself, please act accordingly!"
When Ma Shiying heard him say that it was not true, he was immediately shocked and a little depressed. But who knew that before his mood changed much, he heard his next sentence and was immediately surprised again.
If you act according to the plan, what does that mean? It means that the emperor has an idea, and it should be a good idea!
With this in mind, Ma Shiying immediately tidied up her clothes, and then respectfully received the emperor's autographed letter. Not through an imperial edict, but through a private letter, so there was no need to place an incense table to receive the edict.
Li Ruolian, who was standing next to him, naturally heard what Liu Fuming said, and asked with a little curiosity: "Then what is in here?"
When his superior asked questions, Liu Fuming did not dare to neglect, so he quickly reported: "Return to the commanding officer, here are the details of the tax account book here in Jiangnan!"
"???" When Li Ruolian heard this, he felt doubt on his forehead.
In his mind, since the things came from the capital, they must be related to the rectification of the place. However, he could not figure out what the use of the tax account details was.
Confused, he turned to look at Wang Dehua, only to see that Wang Dehua also had a confused look on his face.
Fortunately, this was the emperor's arrangement, so the two of them did not blurt out: "What's the use of this!"
The emperor's arrangement, on their side, must be used even if it doesn't work!
So, the two of them looked at Ruan Dacheng and Chen Yuanyuan, one was a talented man from Jiangnan, and the other was a talented girl from Jiangnan, and wanted to check with them to see if they knew.
However, when they looked at Ruan Dacheng, they saw Ruan Dacheng shaking his head with a wry smile.
When they looked at Chen Yuanyuan, they saw Chen Yuanyuan covering the mouth of the cherry with her hands and lowering her head in shame.
"Wonderful, wonderful!" At this moment, Ma Shiying's surprised voice suddenly sounded in the lobby. Everyone looked around when they heard the sound, only to see Ma Shiying looking up at them, pointing at the letter, and said with a smile, "That's really great.
That’s wonderful! Haha…”
His good mood surprised Wang Dehua and Li Ruolian, who had worked together for so long, as they had never seen him before!
Ruan Dacheng and Ma Shiying were good friends, and he knew Ma Shiying's temperament very well. Seeing him looking so ecstatic, he couldn't help but feel very curious, and quickly asked: "What's the plan, so clever?"
"Hahaha..." Ma Shiying still laughed for a while, and then said to Ruan Dacheng and the people in the lobby, "Your Majesty, let us reversely distinguish the ownership of the grain fields based on the local tax payment details!"
These people present are all smart people. There is no need for Ma Shiying to explain in detail. Just by saying this, they all understood immediately.
As stipulated by the imperial court, apart from the exemptions for officials and gentry, the grain fields were subject to tax and service. Based on this, if taxes were not paid, it would definitely not be theirs.
If they still dare to say that it is theirs, it means that they do not pay taxes, but as local squires and nobles, they know the law and break the law, and the crime will be increased. The crime can even be different according to the size of the land for which they did not pay taxes, as in Jiangnan
The squires and nobles here are definitely guilty of serious crimes!
In this regard, they have been here for so long, and they naturally know how much grain fields the gentry and nobles in Jiangnan have!
Therefore, after Ma Shiying finished speaking, several people in the meeting hall looked at me and I looked at you. Suddenly, they all understood each other and laughed together.
Similarly, they laughed very freely, and all the grievances they had felt before were wiped away. They even thought about the dumbfounded expressions on their faces when they found out that they had done this, and they laughed even more happily.
stand up.
After laughing for a long time, and finally laughing heartily, Ma Shiying said to Ruan Dacheng: "Your Majesty also told me that the official land will be taken back to the imperial court. There are a lot of them, and they will all be rented out to the hermit houses that have been cleared."
For farming, the land rent is at least half cheaper than what they rent from the local gentry. When we start measuring the land again and registering it, your Political Affairs Department must publicize this matter as soon as possible!"
"Your Majesty is so kind!" Ruan Dacheng praised first, and then immediately assured him, "Since the last incident, things at the Department of Political Affairs and Communications have been going very smoothly, and the people are also very welcoming of our methods. I believe it is
No problem!”
There are so few entertainment programs these days. The performances at the Department of Political Science and Communications do not charge money, so every venue is packed!
Therefore, Ruan Dacheng has this confidence.
After Chen Yuanyuan heard this, she quickly said: "Then I will also make a pop song immediately to spread the word!"
In terms of publicity effect, let alone the popular songs produced by Chen Yuanyuan, they are also used to this name, which has the greatest impact.
It is an easy-to-understand and catchy tune. Once you listen to it, you can hum a few lines and it will quickly spread among the people.
After being happy, the people in the meeting hall lost all the unhappiness that had slowly appeared before, and began to discuss the details with smiles on their faces.
After a long time, the discussion came to a conclusion. Ma Shiying issued a military order and began to mobilize the army, mainly garrisoning Yingtian Prefecture and Zhenjiang Prefecture.
Now that Zhang Xianzhong is gone, the pressure on his side regarding the bandits is almost non-existent. Therefore, all military forces can be mobilized to escort this land measurement.
In addition, Ma Shiying, in the name of imperial envoy, ordered the prefects of Yingtian Prefecture and Zhenjiang Prefecture and all the magistrates under them to gather for a meeting.
In addition, all the squires and nobles from the areas under the jurisdiction of these two prefectures, mainly those with meritorious status, must also be present.
As soon as the news came out, not only these two mansions, but the whole Jiangnan, everyone who heard the news was shocked.
Everyone knows that according to what Ma Shiying did in Fengyang Mansion, in addition to suppressing thieves, he also checked hidden households, re-measured the land, and registered it.
Today, Zhang Xianzhong's gangsters have been eliminated, at least in the state capitals under the jurisdiction of Southern Zhili, there are no large groups of gangsters anymore. The investigation of hidden households has been done before, and a large number of hidden households have been cleared out.
Now that we are about to take action, I am afraid that we have to do the third thing, which is to re-measure the land and register it.
As mentioned before, for the ancients, grain fields were the most important asset. Everyone, whether they were officials, gentry, common people, or nobles, valued land most.
The cleanup of Yinhu has already dealt a severe blow to the local gentry and nobles. It is absolutely impossible for them to spit out the grain fields now.
For this reason, after receiving the notice, they began to ask for advice one by one to see how to deal with Ma Shiying.
"This damned Ma Shiying is going to attack us, but what should we do?"
"It doesn't matter. I heard that all the land account books from previous years are gone. What does he use as proof?"
"But if he is going to take action, he must have proof, right?"
"I heard that it was the factory guards who encouraged him to do it forcefully! Another theory is that he forged the land account books for such a long time!"
"How can this work? What should we do?"
"..."
Some squires are helpless when facing this kind of situation, and there is no point in being anxious. However, there are squires with greater energy, but they still have countermeasures.
"If you really dare to force it, let the tenants stop it, unless they arrest everyone, arrest us all, let's see if they have the courage!"
"Yes, that's right. Also, aren't there people in the local government? If Ma Shiying, that bitch, forges the land account books, let them come out to testify, and then we will all impeach him. See how dare this Ma Shiying, who has no descendants, still dares to do so.
Don’t dare to mess around!”
"Okay, please invite more respected people, including those from the Metropolitan Procuratorate in Nanjing City, the six ministers, etc. Although they have no real power, their official positions are real. Let's see if Ma Shiying still dares to show the forged Tianmu account book!
"
"..."
Compared with them, Xungui was even more convinced that Ma Shiying could not have real land account books, so the path they took was similar to that of powerful and energetic country squires.
On the one hand, they organized their manpower to prepare to prevent Ma Shiying from forcefully coming here; on the other hand, they were nobles themselves and even had iron certificates, so they could also prevent Ma Shiying from forcefully coming here. If they were forging land account books,
They could even expose it on the spot. What's even more sinister is that they also recruited a group of elderly people.
In the Ming Dynasty, elderly people with long lifespans were clearly subsidized and respected very much. Moreover, you could not scare or move such elderly people. If you were not careful, they would stretch out their legs and die! If such a thing happened, then
Because humans and gods are angry, Ma Shiying's position as an official is probably over.
After all these measures and emergency preparations, the nobles of Nanjing City and the local gentry of Yingtian Prefecture and Zhenjiang Prefecture rushed to the imperial envoy's camp to meet Ma Shiying for a while.
It is a coincidence that the weather here in Jiangnan was originally rainy, but on this day, it turned out to be sunny.
"The weather is nice!" Ma Shiying was in a good mood when he saw it and went to the lobby.
"The weather is nice!" Xu Wenjue, on behalf of Wei Guogong, said to a group of nobles around him and entered the lobby to wait.