349 [Carrying the wild sword to the Ministry of Finance to ask the crime]
Zhejiang officials should feel lucky that they only encountered Wang Yuan. The generals in the northern border towns were really unlucky.
The closer to autumn, the stricter Zhu Houzhao's military management became.
Chen Yuan, the commander of Shaanxi's Xingdu Sidu, received kickbacks for buying horses (tea-horse trade). He was discovered by the emperor's confidants who sent him to inspect, and he directly reduced his position to the people and recovered the stolen money!
In the past, this would have been nothing more than a salary penalty, and at most he would have been demoted.
Zhu Houzhao was very effective in managing the army in the border areas. A large number of vacant soldiers were filled, important guard posts were able to conduct drills every five days, and military pay was distributed to the soldiers to the greatest extent possible.
It’s just that I don’t have enough money and food...
The first thing Wang Yuan did when he returned to Beijing was not to go see his wife and children at home, but to rush directly to the Hubu Yamen with a knife.
This year's new candidates, some of whom are already interning at the Ministry of Household Affairs, were stunned to see this situation.
"Is this Mr. Wang?"
"Other than him, who would dare to go to the Ministry of Finance with a knife?"
"What kind of knife is that? It's so long."
"I have seen Japanese swords in the south, but I have never seen such a long Japanese sword."
"This sword is taller than a person, how do you unsheath it?"
"Hey, did you make a mistake? We are still talking about knives at this time."
"Otherwise, how dare you go up and block it?"
"..."
Shi Jie, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, came out to welcome him, but turned a blind eye to the wild sword in Wang Yuan's hand. Instead, he asked: "Why did Wang Shilang come to the Ministry of Finance with a sword?"
Wang Yuan dragged the sword and walked away, discarding the scabbard on the ground. As he walked, he said: "Your Majesty has written a letter and ordered me to hold the sword and ask Shi Shangshu why the food and salary he asked for has not arrived? If he can't raise the food and salary, let me give him to Shi Shangshu."
Cut it off with one knife."
"Then you go ahead and chop it down," Shi Jie stretched out his neck, "The Ministry of Household Affairs does not have enough money and food, and a clever woman can only cook without rice."
Wang Yuan sneered: "Since I became the governor of Hangzhou, the customs and silver in northern Zhejiang have increased tenfold. At the end of last year, 300,000 taels of silver were shipped to Beijing for storage. There is also Hangzhou Customs, although it has only been initially opened to the sea. At the end of last year, it also shipped five hundred thousand taels of silver."
Ten thousand taels of silver went to the Ministry of Household Affairs. Could it be that the three hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver were embezzled by Shi Shangshu?"
Shi Jie Gui said: "Silver is needed for disaster relief in various places."
Wang Yuan was extremely angry: "If I don't go to Zhejiang, I won't have these 350,000 taels. Will the life of the Ministry of Hubu be difficult?"
Shi Jie sighed and said, "Without Wang Shilang's money, it would be difficult to provide relief for the disasters in many places."
This Qingliu could not be frightened, and Wang Yuan was too lazy to pretend. He pointed at a Hubu officer and said: "Pick up the scabbard of my sword."
The assistant officer quickly picked up the scabbard, ran over and handed it to Wang Yuan.
"Go in and talk." Wang Yuan sheathed his sword.
Shi Jie led Wang Yuan back to his office, where he sat there, looking like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water.
Wang Yuan took the tea brought by the clerk and chatted with Shi Jie: "Last year, a lot of money was used to build the seaport. This year, the tax money from Zhejiang Beiguan can be handed over to the Ministry of Household Affairs at least 400,000 taels. The tax money from Hangzhou Customs can also be handed over to the Ministry of Revenue.
I can hand over two hundred thousand taels to the household department."
"Really?" Shi Jie finally lost his temper.
Wang Yuan asked: "Why did I lie to you?"
Shi Jie said angrily: "I have been in charge of Beiguan in Zhejiang, but I have been corrupted to this extent. In previous years, the tax money was less than 30,000 taels, but when Wang Shilang went to Zhejiang, he could turn over 400,000 taels!"
Wang Yuan smiled and said: "How can a small chief of Beiguan embezzle hundreds of thousands of taels by himself? From the local government to the capital, there is just corruption at every level. I don't know how many people I have offended by this time of rectifying Beiguan."
Shi Jie actually held up his hand and said, "Shilang Wang is dedicated to serving the country. I admire him very much."
Wang Yuan added: "The tax revenue at Hangzhou Customs will increase a lot every year. It is estimated that within ten years, it will be able to turn over one million taels per year."
"One million taels?" Shi Jie couldn't believe it.
Wang Yuan said: "This is the money that will be distributed to the localities and then to your Majesty."
Shi Jie was from Northern Zhili and had been working as an official in the north. He had never been to the south. He had nothing to do with the maritime interest groups. At this moment, he asked: "One switch has a million taels, why not open more
Where?"
"Hahahaha," Wang Yuan couldn't help but laugh, "Shi Shangshu, last year I only opened in Hangzhou, and you stood up to oppose it. How can I afford to open more?"
Shi Jie was a little embarrassed. He was opposed to opening up the sea, but he just took it for granted, thinking that there would be a hundred harms but no benefit. Now he heard that a customs office could raise taxes worth millions, and he himself was the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, so how could he not think otherwise?
If this Qingliu had been the Minister of Household Affairs, he would probably have become a staunch Kaihai sect!
Wang Yuan suddenly changed the topic and asked: "Shi Shangshu has delayed paying the food and salary, is he trying to force His Majesty to return to Beijing?"
Shi Jie didn't say anything, so he acquiesced.
This bad idea was collectively thought up by the ministers.
Doesn't the emperor want to lead the expedition himself? The food and salary are not enough. It depends on how you conduct the expedition yourself. You will have to come back obediently when the time comes.
Wang Yuan asked again: "Shi Shangshu, with your Majesty's character, will you give up fighting because of insufficient food and grass? Since it is useless, why should you withhold food and wages? If because Shi Shangshu does not pay food and wages, your Majesty's personal expedition will be defeated, and another earthen fort will be built
After all the changes, is Shi Shangshu worthy of being a sinner?"
Shi Jie began to sweat on his forehead. The words "Tumu Fort Incident" were too persuasive.
Historically, Shi Jie originally planned not to pay a cent of his rations, but after Zhu Houzhao urged him repeatedly, he could not withstand the pressure and paid half of the rations. Zhu Houzhao used this half of his rations to personally fight with the little Mongolian prince and even beat him.
Won a great victory.
Fortunately, he won the battle at that time, and Zhu Houzhao was in a happy mood and did not pursue the case, otherwise Shijie would have been thrown out of office and imprisoned.
"Alas," Shi Jie also opened the skylight and spoke frankly, sighing, "Your Majesty asked for too much, asking for a million taels of silver. I gave half of it, and I tried my best. If it hadn't been for the three taels that Wang Shilang got,
With 150,000 taels of tax money, the Ministry of Revenue is now unable to reveal the blame."
Wang Yuan said: "Shi Shangshu has patrolled the border towns, so he naturally knows how corrupt they are. Your Majesty wants to rectify the border troops in one year. Can you not spend a lot of money?"
Shi Jie smiled bitterly and said: "Then we will allocate another 200,000 taels. There is absolutely no possibility of more. If your Majesty and Wang Shilang are still not satisfied, they will chop me to death with one knife."
"Two hundred thousand taels will do," Wang Yuan said. "In half a month, I will lead 6,000 soldiers to go on an expedition. Shangshu Shi will help me raise some food and grass."
"Is there really going to be a war?" Shi Jie said seriously.
Wang Yuan said: "Whether we can fight or not depends on whether the little Mongolian prince will invade south. He made a large-scale invasion southward the year before last. Last year he did not do anything. It is very likely that he will go south again this year. If the little Mongolian prince wants to come, he must send troops in the autumn, which is the earliest.
September, October at the latest.”
Shi Jie worriedly said: "Your Majesty has never fought in a war, can he... be able to handle it?"
"I don't know," Wang Yuan said, "I guess your Majesty himself has no idea, so he wrote many times to urge me to go north. Your Majesty personally leads more than 10,000 soldiers (Baofang Border Army), and Zhang Yong also controls more than 10,000 border troops.
I will bring another 6,000 people there, and the local guards can also send out tens of thousands, so the Ming Dynasty has at least 50,000 or 60,000 troops. If the enemy does not underestimate the enemy and rushes in, and holds the city and waits for the opportunity, coupled with His Majesty's personal expedition, no general will dare to neglect his duty.
You can still fight the little prince in Mongolia."
Shi Jie asked: "What if the Tatar army exceeds 100,000?"
"Then you can defend the city with peace of mind," Wang Yuan said with a smile: "If Your Majesty is not here, I will still dare to take risks. Your Majesty personally marches, I don't dare to mess around, I can only focus on defending the city, looking for fighters to eat up the enemy's small force.
."
Shi Jie thought of Wang Yuan's previous achievements and said with emotion: "With Wang Shilang here, I feel a little more at ease. Without Wang Shilang, I really don't know how your majesty would fight. His actions almost scared the whole court to death."
Wang Yuan stood up and said: "Shi Shangshu, I'll leave it to you to provide food and fodder for six thousand soldiers. I only have half a month to prepare. I haven't seen my son since he was born. I also want to return to Beijing as soon as possible to be with my wife."
May your son live a peaceful life."
Shi Jie said: "I will carry the food and fodder for the six thousand army. I will leave it to Wang Shilang to handle the war. I must protect His Majesty's security."
"I'm just trying my best." Wang Yuan said goodbye with his hands in hand.
Shi Jie personally sent Wang Yuan out of the Hubu Yamen. This turn of events stunned everyone and they wondered how the two of them reconciled.
How to reconcile?
Silver!
Last year, the Ministry of Revenue had an extra 350,000 taels of tax money, and Wang Yuan also promised that it would get another 250,000 taels this year, and the tax money seems to be increasing year by year. As the extremely poor Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Shi Jie must follow
Wang Yuan builds good relationships, this is the God of Wealth!