It's said to be a cart, but it doesn't even have a carriage. It's just a mule dragging a wooden frame.
A middle-aged man was sitting on the carriage driving a mule, with a large wooden box and bulging linen bags tied behind him.
For more than three hundred miles, the middle-aged man drove a naked bicycle for six days without any hurry. He could already see the city wall of Beijing in the distance.
Suddenly, a caravan caught up with them. The leader clasped his fist at the middle-aged man and said, "Zhang Zhixian!"
The middle-aged man returned the gift and smiled.
The leader of the caravan asked: "What is loaded on Zhang Zhixian's car? The wheels are quite deep in the soil."
The middle-aged man said: "Some things are not worth mentioning."
"That's not gold and silver treasures!" the caravan leader sneered.
The middle-aged man stopped talking and didn't bother to defend himself.
"catch him!"
Gradually arriving outside the south city, the leader of the caravan suddenly shouted loudly, and his entourage rushed over and dragged the middle-aged man out of the car in front of the officers and soldiers guarding the city.
"Bold, I am the imperial court... uh uh!"
As soon as the middle-aged man scolded him, his mouth was gagged and his hands and feet were tied.
The officers and soldiers guarding the city were stunned, and then asked: "What are you waiting for?"
The leader of the caravan explained: "Master Jun, we are good citizens of Qingyuan County, Baoding Prefecture. This man is Zhang Yue, the magistrate of Qingyuan County. This guy caused a lot of resentment in Qingyuan Fish and Meat Township, and the people wanted to skin him and eat his flesh. Now, while this guy is in Beijing and has passed the exam, I want to report it to the Ministry of Officials!"
The officers and soldiers guarding the city were amused. They pointed at the mule cart and said, "This is a broken cart. Do you think it is a corrupt official?"
The leader of the caravan said: "This guy will pretend to be clean and honest, even though his mule and cart are in shabby condition, and his boxes and pockets are full of gold and silver treasures."
"Hmm..." Zhang Yue struggled to defend, but couldn't speak at all.
The leader of the caravan shouted: "All the elders in the capital, come here and make a certificate. I will send this corrupt official to the Ministry of Civil Affairs!"
More and more spectators gathered at the gate of the city. Even the officers and soldiers guarding the city did not dare to offend the public, so they could only let them into the city and go straight to the officials. Soon they passed through Zhengyang Gate and arrived at Daming Gate. There was another commotion. , the gatekeeper officers and soldiers had to go to the official department to report.
Officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs arrived in an instant and shouted away the onlookers. Only the caravan leader and Magistrate Zhang were allowed to enter the inner city.
Lu Wan, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Mao Cheng, the left minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and many officials of the Ministry of Personnel were all alarmed by this incident. Because it was so abnormal, the county magistrate went to Beijing to report on his work, but was tied up by the common people and turned to the Ministry of Personnel for reporting. .
According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, you are not allowed to report any grievances beyond your level. Regardless of whether the grievances are true or not, those who report them above your level will be sent to the army.
What's more, this person is still being sued by the people!
But then again, the "Laws of the Ming Dynasty" only stipulates that if you have an injustice, you are not allowed to complain. The person in front of you is not complaining about injustice, but reporting official corruption, and it seems that he will not be sent to the army.
Chang Lun has just completed the formalities and received the documents from the Ministry of Personnel. He can go to Zhejiang to take up his post at any time.
Hearing the noise outside, Chang Lun ran over to take a look curiously. He saw that the officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs had already come in carrying boxes and bags, and Zhang Yue was tied up and thrown in front of the hall.
Mao Cheng frowned and said: "How can you insult an official of the imperial court like this? Please untie him!"
Lu Wan also said: "Untie it."
Zhang Yue, the magistrate of Qingyuan County, regained his freedom. He stood there long and calm, and only said: "I am not a corrupt official."
The caravan leader sneered: "You can tell whether you are greedy or not by opening the box."
"Open the box!" Lu Wan ordered.
The wooden box was locked and violently opened on the spot.
Lu Wan and Mao Cheng went over to search in person, looked at each other, and left with gloomy faces.
The doctor from the examination department also came to check, and immediately said angrily: "Send this unruly man to the Ministry of Punishment!"
The Criminal Department is not far next door, and we arrived in a blink of an eye.
The leader of the caravan was lifted up and dragged away. He shouted anxiously: "You officers are protecting each other, but I don't accept it!"
The examination director shouted: "Let him go and let him come and see for himself!"
The man rushed over immediately and found that the box was full of books. He threw them out one by one and searched the bottom of the box, but did not find half a tael of silver.
Immediately afterwards, the guy opened the linen bag again and poured out all the soybeans for the mules.
"How could this happen? How could this happen?"
The leader of the caravan sat on the ground in despair, and then wailed: "Master, you have killed me, why did you send me to the capital for such a good thing!"
Zhang Yue slowly picked up the books and put them all back into the wooden box. He also took out the local examination documents, handed them to the doctor of the examination department and said: "Zhang Yue, the magistrate of Qingyuan County, has passed the examination in seven years."
The doctor of the examination department took it and took a look. The local assessment was "competent" (first class), and it also came with a comment from the Baoding magistrate, "Incorruptible as water, and loves the people as a son." The doctor of the examination department laughed and said: "Zhang Zhixian is indeed an upright official! "
Zhang Yue was a Jinshi in the second year of Zhengde, but failed in the examination in the third year of Zhengde.
Because he was appreciated by the academic envoy, he was recommended as the magistrate of Xingtang County. He only served as an official for one year, and he made the local gentry so happy that they raised money to buy him an official position and transferred him to another place. Later, he was transferred to Guofucheng. Qingyuan became the county magistrate. After two years of service, he forced the local gentry to raise money to buy the official position.
As a result, Liu Liu and Liu Qi came to kill, and Zhang Yue led the soldiers and civilians to defend the city. Therefore, he was highly appreciated by the Baoding magistrate and served as an official in Qingyuan for six years. Only now did he come to the Ministry of Personnel to report on his work.
Historically, Zhang Yue became a well-known upright official because of what happened today, and was promoted to the head of the Nanjing Household Department, responsible for managing the lucrative Huai'an customs. He eliminated the accumulated abuses at Huai'an Chaoguan, causing "the anger of heaven and the resentment of people". , he was promoted to the prefect of Changde before his term of office expired, and directly started working with King Rong in Changde.
At this point, Zhang Yue's official position has come to an end. Although he has passed the examination and achieved excellent political performance, he has been working around various places, serving as a prefect until his death. How could he be just a civil servant and offend countless powerful people?
Chang Lun had been waiting at the entrance of the official department. After a long time, Zhang Yue came out with his mules. He stepped forward and said, "I admire how honest Zhang Zhi County is!"
Zhang Yue replied: "May I ask who you are?"
Chang Lun said: "I, Chang Lun, the magistrate of Qiantang County, named Mingqing, have not yet taken up my post."
"It turns out to be Changzhi County," Zhang Yue said, clasping his fists. "I, Zhang Yue, am named Huode."
Chang Lun smiled and said: "Brother Huode, I will take you to meet someone!"
Unable to tolerate Zhang Yue's refusal, Chang Lun took him away and asked someone to take care of the mule and bookbox at the Ministry of Personnel.
Wang Yuan was checking the files at the Ministry of War, and soon after Chang Lun was notified, he came in with Zhang Yue.
"Ruoxu, something strange happened in the Ministry of Civil Affairs just now..." Chang Lun recounted the situation and introduced: "Brother Huode, this is Wang Yuan, Wang Ruoxu, the right minister of the Ministry of War!"
Zhang Yue stood in awe, bowed in obeisance and said, "I have met Wang Shilang!"
Wang Yuan smiled and said, "Have you ever heard of me?"
Zhang Yue said: "Who in the world knows the name of Wang Shilang?"
"Sit down," Wang Yuan asked casually, "Can a generous man know the fate of the sea?"
Zhang Yue asked back: "Does Shilang Wang want to change water transportation to sea transportation?"
"You really dare to think about it," Wang Yuan said happily.
Zhang Yue said: "Sea transportation is naturally convenient, but there are two difficulties that need to be solved."
Wang Yuan asked: "What are the two difficulties?"
Zhang Yue talked eloquently: "First, how to deal with the problem of drifting thousands of miles at sea? Second, tens of millions of soldiers and civilians rely on water transportation for their livelihood. After switching to sea transportation, how to solve the livelihood of these people?"
"Open-minded and wise!" Wang Yuan immediately knew that this person was capable of getting things done.
Ministers have always opposed grain shipping. One of the reasons is that the risks at sea are too great. This kind of risk comes not only from natural disasters, but also from man-made disasters!
You can do the trick of drifting along the Cao River. You can float on the sea for such a long time and there is no way to supervise you along the way. I'm afraid your boat will capsize many times a year. The grain transport officer will swallow more grain than is shipped to Beijing.
Secondly, there is the question of the livelihood of the military and civilians through water transport, which is a business that feeds millions of people.
Wang Yuan asked again: "Does Huan De approve of opening the sea?"
Zhang Yue spoke straightforwardly and did not hide anything: "I am from Jiaodong and grew up by the sea. I think there are benefits to opening up the sea, but one thing must be paid attention to. The benefits of opening up the sea for mutual trade cannot be fully exploited.
Well, some should be divided into households and departments, and some should be divided among the three local bureaus, otherwise it will be impossible to open the sea."
"Who told you that all the profits from opening up the sea come from internal funds?" Wang Yuan said with a smile, "But what you said makes sense. The profits should be shared."
Internal money is the private property of the emperor. Not to mention future generations, even officials in the middle and late Ming Dynasty thought that all the money Zheng He got from his voyages to the West was taken away by the emperor.
Wang Yuan had been searching for information during this period and found that Zheng He's profits had to be turned over to the state treasury.
That stuff is really profitable!
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty, Huang Fu, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, told the emperor: "During the Yongle period, when Beijing was built, Jiaozhi was conquered in the south, and the desert was conquered in the north, there was a lot of money in the treasury. But in recent years, there has been no major construction work, no military campaigns in the north and south, and the money is only
It’s just enough. If there’s a big disaster, what should the court do?”
These words asked the emperor to find ways to make money, implying that he would continue his voyages to the West.
Only two months later, Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty ordered Zheng He to return to the West to earn some money and return it to replenish the national treasury.
The fatal flaw of Zheng He's voyages to the West was that the government had a monopoly on ocean trade and was unwilling to give profits to private maritime merchants.
Wang Yuan felt that Zhang Yue was quite talented and asked: "If you open the box in front of the official hall, your name will definitely spread throughout the capital. I am afraid that you may be promoted to two levels."
"Eating the emperor's salary and being loyal to the emperor, that's all." Zhang Yue is neither sad nor happy. He is already in his forties and is much calmer than Chang Lun and Gui E.
Wang Yuan asked: "Are you willing to follow me to open the sea in Zhejiang and only give you a seventh-grade official position?"
Zhang Yue was silent and thought hard for a long time, then asked: "Wang Shilang really wants to open the sea?"
Wang Yuan did not deny it.
Zhang Yue asked: "If I go to Zhejiang, what position will I take?"
Wang Yuan said: "The head of the Zhejiang Nanguan Engineering Department specially raised wood for me to build a ship!"
There are only two six-department divisions in Zhejiang, one is the Beiguan Household Division, which is responsible for supervising grain and collecting some commercial taxes; the other is the Nanguan Industrial Division, which is responsible for collecting timber and collecting timber taxes.
Although the chief officers of these two departments are only in the seventh rank, they are so rich and rich that it makes people jealous.
Therefore, the imperial court has long stipulated that the term of office of the head of a branch is one year and cannot be re-elected multiple times, in order to prevent long-term retention in office from exacerbating corruption.
Moreover, they are basically all new scholars who are sent to the local area to be the director of the branch. After all, the green heads do not dare to be greedy so much. For example, Wang Qiong, the Minister of the Ministry of War, his first position was the director of the Zhejiang Nanguan Engineering Department.
.
After Zhang Yue considered it carefully, he nodded and said: "I would like to follow Wang Shilang!"
Yes, I have to go to the emperor again to ask for an official.