Beijing Baoquan Bureau makes new coins, and the copper materials are shipped to Tianjin by sea.
Since the opening of the sea in Hangzhou, Tianjin has been booming with smuggling. Mainly Japanese and North Korean merchant ships secretly went to Tianjin to buy cotton cloth. After being bribed, Tianjin health officials turned a blind eye to this.
Money making in Beijing was a great success. Wang Yuan asked the School of Physics to set up a machinery manufacturing factory. It specialized in manufacturing coin making machines for the imperial court. First, it expanded the scale of Beijing Baoquan Bureau, and secondly, it was extended to Nanjing Baoquan Bureau, and then to Kunming and Xi'an.
Plan to build four major minting bases in China.
At this time, Zhu Houzhao urgently summoned Wang Yuan to go to the cabinet to discuss national affairs as a bachelor of Hanlin Academy.
Disaster relief!
The climate in the past two years has been very strange. Taihu Lake actually froze, heavy snow fell in Guangdong, and the entire Han River was frozen.
As we have said, the climate during the Zhengde period was far worse than that of Jiajing and Wanli, and the average temperature was close to that of the late Ming Dynasty.
Not only that, droughts also occurred frequently, and the record of droughts during the Zhengde period was far greater than the number of floods.
The winters were cold and the summers were dry, and the people were miserable.
Last winter, there was widespread snowfall in the south. This year, many provinces suffered from severe droughts, and there were floods in the Jianghuai River basin. The word "people cannibalize" appeared in the memorials of the Jianghuai local officials, and the cabinet and officials in the six ministries were overwhelmed.
Zhu Houzhao's plan for the Northern Expedition was delayed again. Not to mention sending troops to fight, there was not enough food for disaster relief!
At today's cabinet meeting, not only all the cabinet ministers were present, but even the six ministers were present.
The disaster was too serious for the cabinet to bear, and six ministers were needed to share the pressure.
Mao Cheng, the Minister of Rites, was the first to speak: "Since Your Majesty came to the throne, disasters have occurred frequently in the world, which is a warning from heaven. In the winter of the fourth year of Zhengde, there was heavy snow in Chaozhou, Guangdong, and the snow was many feet thick. In the winter of the eighth year of Zhengde, Taihu and Dongting Lakes
Tough ice, Yingchun Township has been frozen for more than ten miles from the ancient bamboo ferry to Puxi Port. Some people were frozen into ice sculptures while walking, and they were not broken until July of the following year..."
Zhu Houzhao was impatient and interrupted: "What do you want to say?"
Mao Cheng knelt down and prostrated: "Your Majesty, please issue an edict to sin against yourself, sacrifice to the mountains, rivers and grain, and pray for forgiveness from heaven!"
Zhu Houzhao did not get angry on the spot, and said calmly: "If you just want to say this, you can get out today. I am inviting you to discuss disaster relief today."
Liang Chu then knelt down and said: "What Mao Shangshu said is true. This spring, His Majesty did not return from his southern tour, nor did he preside over the sacrificial ceremony. He was afraid of angering God, so floods and droughts will come to the north and south of the Yangtze River. Even if Your Majesty does not issue an edict to punish yourself, you should still
Sacrifice to the mountains, rivers and crops, reflect on oneself, and diligently cultivate government affairs."
Wang Qiong suddenly said: "In the past few decades, the coldest period should be the sixth year of Hongzhi. At that time, the sea water at the mouth of the Yangtze River was frozen into solid ice. If the cold weather was the emperor's fault, did the late emperor also make some big mistake?
?"
Yang Tinghe, who had been silent all the time, suddenly stared at Wang Qiong. He hated Lu Wan the most, and wanted to kill Wang Qiong the most. Because Lu Wan was just bad, Wang Qiong was both capable and naysayer, and had troubled Yang Tinghe many times.
various plans.
The goal of the Qingliu people is obviously not to provide disaster relief, but to use the disasters in various places to force the emperor to stop running around and sit in the Forbidden City and obey orders!
Zhu Houzhao was very satisfied with Wang Qiong's performance and asked Huang Ke and Li Hao: "How much food can Huang Shangshu, Li Shangshu, the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Works provide for disaster relief?"
Huang Ke said: "Taicang's money and grain are not enough. Please transfer the newly minted money from the internal transportation warehouse and Tiantai Treasury."
The new money created by Wang Yuan was nominally given to the Ministry of Revenue, but in fact it went into the emperor's inner palace and was managed by the inner transport treasury and the tiantreasury treasury respectively.
Li Hao said: "The Ministry of Works cannot make the final decision in the warehouse of the Ministry of Works, and in the past two years I have not been allowed to check the accounts. I really don't know how much money the Ministry of Works has."
The Ministry of Works has its own small treasury, but embezzlement by the internal government has become increasingly serious. The Ministry of Works has actually lost its power to audit accounts, let alone use the money in the small treasury. For example, the eunuch Zhang Yong once used the money from the Ministry of Works directly.
Move to your own home.
Zhu Houzhao scratched his head and asked Wang Yuan: "What is Erlang's proposal?"
Wang Yuan suddenly said: "I would like to establish a new treasury under the Ministry of Works. The money in the treasury will be used exclusively for the construction of various projects, including repairing rivers and dams during floods. From now on, only part of the income of the Ministry of Works can be paid into the Wuziku and Guangjiku.
, Guangyingku.”
The three warehouses, Wuziku, Guangjiku and Guangyingku, are nominally under the Ministry of Works. The inputs of the Works Department must be handed over to the three warehouses for safekeeping. In fact, they are operated by eunuchs. The Accounts Department is responsible for the accounting and the Works Department is responsible.
It's just an inspection, but now it's not even allowed to be inspected.
As soon as Wang Yuan said this, Li Hao immediately cast a grateful look, while the other ministers looked at Wang Yuan in surprise.
Yang Tinghe was the first to support him and said, "I think what Shilang Wang said is reasonable!"
"I second the proposal!"
"I second the proposal!"
All members of the cabinet and the six ministries agreed, and they all wanted to take back part of the financial power from the eunuchs.
No matter how fierce the quarrels are with each other, civil servants are still civil servants and are very united at this time. Well, this is because during the Zhengde period, there was no real party struggle, so I won't make you agree and I oppose it.
Zhu Houzhao stared at Wang Yuan for a while with strange eyes, then suddenly smiled and said: "That's right!"
If Zhang Yong knew the truth, I'm afraid he would be furious. He made friends with Wang Yuan many times and showed his kindness many times, but he actually got such a reward. I guess Zhang Yong will snitch on Wang Yuan in the future, and he must be angry anyway.
.
As for what Zhu Houzhao was thinking?
Zhang Yong and Wang Yuan teamed up to trick Xu Tai to death. Didn't you know that you were the emperor? Zhu Houzhao actually knew very well and thought that Zhang Yong and Wang Yuan had colluded.
Now that Wang Yuan has taken the initiative to draw a clear line with Zhang Yong, Zhu Houzhao was surprised, but also felt a little relieved. What he wanted was Wang Yuan to be his lone minister!
Wang Yuan's words united the civil servants.
But this atmosphere of unity was instantly broken by Liang Chu. The old guy said: "Your Majesty, since the opening of the sea in Hangzhou, the pursuit of profit has become more and more popular in the Huaihe River and Jiangnan areas. The good land does not grow food, but has been planted with cotton.
As a result, the fertile land is short of food. The Jianghuai disaster did not cause people to eat each other. It was all caused by the lack of food in several provinces. Please advocate the maritime ban again and destroy the cotton fields to plant rice instead!"
Wang Yuan was dumbfounded. I just extended an olive branch, and you actually backhanded me with a knife!
Yang Tinghe was also a little speechless. He had discussed it with Liang Chu. Taking advantage of this catastrophic disaster in many provinces, he should first restrain the emperor from running around, and second, disturb Wang Yuan by opening the sea. Any goal achieved would be a victory.
But we have to be a little more flexible. Wang Yuan just regained the financial rights from the Ministry of Industry, and it would be too shameless to cause trouble now.
Yang Tinghe likes to be harmonious as an official, ostracizing those who are uncooperative and accepting those who are cooperative. He was preparing to accept Wang Yuan, and even wanted to drag Wang Yuan into Qingliu, but Liang Chu did something completely wrong!
Wang Yuan didn't bother to defend or refute. Whoever dared to talk about the sea ban would be furious. It should be Huang Ke, the Minister of Household Affairs.
As expected, Huang Ke spoke up: "Mr. Liang Ge, the Ministry of Household Affairs is already short of money. After the sea ban, you will provide Taicang with more money?"
Liang Chu asked: "Money is more important or people are more important?"
Huang Ke sneered: "Then for this disaster relief, don't ask the Ministry of Household Affairs for Taicang silver!"
Wang Yuan suddenly said: "Your Majesty, when I opened the sea in Hangzhou, I expected that cotton would encroach on fertile land. Therefore, there are regulations that when merchant ships from various countries replace their navigation documents, they must transport enough grain. This can be called 'opening the sea'.
"Made in China". Nowadays, Hangzhou has a Changping warehouse with a large amount of grain storage, which can be transferred to the nearby Jianghuai River for disaster relief. In addition, the Ming Dynasty Navy has just come to report and has acquired three large islands overseas. The three islands are all fertile and can be transported
Disaster-stricken refugees go overseas to reclaim wasteland and give them food and seeds. Firstly, it can solve the problem of the refugees, and secondly, they can grow a large amount of food overseas to make up for the fertile land occupied by cotton in Jianghuai and Jiangnan."
Zhu Houzhao smiled and said: "This is a very good idea. Erlang will talk about it later."
Wang Yuan said: "Please expand the policy of opening up the sea and open the seas of Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and Tianjin!"
"No!" Liang Chu objected strongly.
Yang Tinghe frowned, neither objecting nor supporting.
Liang Chu strongly opposed the opening of the sea because his Liang family was in Guangzhou. Banning the sea would be beneficial to the Liang family's smuggling. What the hell does this have to do with Yang Tinghe, a Sichuan native? Banning the sea would not benefit Yang Tinghe, but opening the sea would increase the central government's finances.
Regarding income, Yang Tinghe did not express his position, which was purely to give some slight favor to his political ally Liang Chu.
The most powerful person to open the sea is the emperor. Customs tax revenue must be distributed to the inner treasury and the Ministry of Industry. These factors used to go to the inner treasury. Zhu Houzhao was eager to fully open the sea. He suddenly smiled and said: "As Erlang said, then we will
Open a few ports.”
Mao Ji, who had already joined the cabinet as an assistant minister, immediately admonished: "Your Majesty, please think twice. Opening the sea will cause hundreds of harms and no benefits..."
"Shut up!" Zhu Houzhao scolded sternly.
Those who opposed the opening of the sea immediately fell silent, thinking about how to sabotage this matter. Several ports were opened at a time, and various mistakes would always occur. They would just jump out to stop it when the time comes.
The next step is to recommend candidates for disaster relief. Several provinces were hit by disasters, and several capable ministers had to be sent to take charge.
Yang Tinghe was responsible for recommending candidates for disaster relief in the Jianghuai area. Wang Yuan did not compete, but recommended candidates for disaster relief (drought) in Shaanxi. Since one should not avoid relatives when recommending talents, he directly recommended half of his own teachers.
Xi Shu was promoted due to his meritorious service in Guizhou. At this time, he was already the censor of the right capital and was patrolling Huguang. If the disaster relief was effective and Wang Yuan's operation was successful, he would probably be promoted to the censor of the left capital.
Wang Yuan had no idea that Xi Shu, who had helped him, was also very famous in history.
If Wang Yuan hadn't flapped his butterfly wings, Xi Shu would have risen to the rank of Minister of Rites in four or five years, with the title of Crown Prince Taibao. Jiajing also planned to make Xi Shu a cabinet minister, but it had already been approved by the court. As a result, Xi Shu received the appointment.
He died suddenly of illness before.
If Xi Shu had not died early, what would have happened to Xia Yan?
In Jiajing's mind, Xia Yan was Xi Shu's replacement. If Xia Yan could not ascend to power, how could Yan Song ascend to power in history?
It can be said that Xi Shu's unexpected death from illness created the traitorous minister Yan Song.
No matter what, Wang Yuan took advantage of the catastrophe in various provinces to directly achieve three goals. First, to draw a clear line with Zhang Yong, help the Ministry of Work regain financial rights, and ease relations with the civil service group; second, to expand the sea and transfer refugees overseas.
, speed up the pace of overseas colonization; third, take the opportunity to promote your mentor Xi Shu and enhance the strength of your own faction.
Yang Tinghe was not at a disadvantage either. Although the emperor did not issue a criminal edict, it seemed that he would not leave Beijing again in the near future. In addition, in the Jianghuai area where the disaster was most serious, the person in charge of the disaster relief was Yang Tinghe's confidant. After the incident was completed, he could promote another confidant.
Even Jin Gui and Yang Yiqing each sent their confidants to provide disaster relief, and everyone just shared the cake.
The disaster that caused so much suffering to the people turned into a political deal in the court.