Jiang Mian stood up silently and handed a memorial to Yang Tinghe.
Yang Tinghe took it and looked at it. His head was as big as a bucket. It was actually "Please Change the Cotton Method" written by Wang Yuan.
Mao Ji was so angry that he blew his beard and stared: "When the ministers discussed adding cotton classes, he said to reform the salt law; when the ministers discussed changing the cotton laws, he said to introduce cotton classes. Either way, he was the one who said it, inside and out.
He is a good man, but this thief is so treacherous!"
Wang Qiong suppressed her smile and couldn't hold it in any longer.
Yang Yiqing was also speechless. Everyone in the court, including him, was fooled by Wang Yuan.
This matter originated from Ouyang Zhong's "Suppression of Cotton", which caused the officials to clamor for an increase in cotton tax. Some people with ulterior motives pointed the finger directly at Wang Yuan, and even planned to take advantage of the situation to attack the physics school, and even intended to rally
Opposed to all sects of psychology.
Many Xinxue disciples who are officials in the court have a sense of depression that the storm is about to come.
Unexpectedly, Wang Yuan suddenly had a stroke of genius and directed his attention to reforming the salt law.
The salt method was countless times more important than the cotton method. Yang Tinghe was suddenly defeated, and the whirlpool of public opinion shifted. Wang Yuan and the Xinxue factions jumped out of the predicament instantly.
It wasn't over yet after he jumped out, but he was kicked back again.
Yang Tinghe wanted to continue stalling until no one paid attention to reforming the salt policy. But Wang Yuan did not give him a chance and even took the initiative to bring up the issue of cotton tax.
Everyone knows that Wang Yuan's factory has the highest output. Once the cotton tax is increased significantly, Wang Yuan will suffer the greatest loss. This is equivalent to Wang Yuan ruthlessly stabbing himself for the sake of the imperial government.
On the other hand, Yang Tinghe was still hesitating about whether to reform the Salt Law.
Compare the two and make a decision!
Wang Qiong said: "The whole court is criticizing it. If we don't change it, all our cabinet ministers will be dead."
Yang Yiqing didn't say anything. He was only the second assistant. How could he be afraid of having the first assistant?
Yang Tinghe sat there for a long time, and said with waning spirits, "This Wang Ruoxu wants to put me on the fire."
Looking through the history books, Yang Tinghe was really not a master of political fighting. Just after Zhengde's death and before Jiajing arrived, he suddenly made an effort to overthrow his main political opponents. After Jiajing ascended the throne, he made many mistakes.
Yang Tinghe always thinks too much. He wants power, benefits, and reputation. How can there be such a good thing in the world? He is a powerful minister but has no courage. He is a treacherous minister but cherishes feathers. As a minister of the country, he must be constrained by factions.
, which made his operations during the Jiajing Dynasty difficult to understand.
In the final analysis, Yang Tinghe's political goals are unclear.
When Liu Jin was there, Yang Tinghe's political goal was to defeat Liu Jin; when Jiang Bin was there, Yang Tinghe's political goal was to defeat Jiang Bin. There were two big villains standing there, and the civil servants naturally followed him, and the internal conflicts among the civil servants also
Can be pressed down.
After Jiang Bin's death, Yang Tinghe's political opponent became Wang Yuan, but Wang Yuan often gave in and was unwilling to engage in any head-on conflict.
As a result, Yang Tinghe didn't know what he should do, and the civil servants who united around him also automatically divided.
"Do we want to reform the salt law?" Jiang Mian asked.
Yang Tinghe said bitterly: "If you don't want to change, you have to change."
Yang Tinghe is a very shameless person, and he must maintain his impeccable clean image. But he has been disappointed by not changing the salt law. Now Wang Yuan takes the initiative to ask for an increase in cotton taxes, which is stepping down on Yang Tinghe from a moral level.
Go down.
How dare Yang Tinghe pretend to be dead?
But now that he supports the reform of the salt law, he is like a dumb man eating Coptis chinensis because the reputation that should be lost has been lost. Even if the salt law reform is successful and Yang Tinghe accumulates political achievements as the chief minister, all the officials will attribute the credit to Wang Yuan.
.
Yang Tinghe felt so tired. He wanted to lose face, but Wang Yuan had no shame. How could he continue to enjoy this political fight?
A normal civil servant would be so frightened that he would resign from time to time if he was impeached a few times. As for Wang Erlang, he must have received thousands of impeachment memorials since he became an official. This guy is still shamelessly happy.
.
He has been impeached thousands of times but has not yet been dismissed from office. If replaced by ordinary people, he would definitely be a traitor and a sycophant. Yang Tinghe is not afraid of such enemies at all. However, Wang Yuan has mixed reputations, with many people hating him, many people praising him, and there are countless real people who are loyal to him.
His achievements are close to his heart.
What's even more disgusting is that Xinxue suddenly emerged and its ideas spread rapidly. The disciples of Xinxue are all supporting Wang Yuan and "bewitched" many middle and low-level officials and young scholars with the help of public opinion!
Yang Tinghe wanted to point his finger at Wang Yuan's nose and curse: "Young people don't respect martial ethics and bully me, an old man in his seventies. Traditional civil servants must abide by the rules. If you abide by the rules, you will lose. If I use my strength this time, I will lose."
The impeachment memorial will tell you to get out!"
Don't be ridiculous, it's true.
Wang Yuan's factory was so big that it directly aggravated the food shortage in Shandong and Jiangnan. This incident alone could cause Wang Yuan to lose his official position. Because officials were not allowed to do business, even if they were run by domestic servants, it would become a fatal weakness when it grew bigger.
It's a pity that Wang Yuan didn't follow martial ethics, turned a blind eye to the impeachment memorial, and didn't even bother to pretend to resign. The emperor always covered it up and condoned it.
This time, Wang Yuan even took advantage of his own political weakness and took the initiative to operate on himself. Due to emotions and reasons, Wang Yuan should have done this a long time ago, but when he actually did it, he received praise and suppressed Yang Tinghe morally.
It's like a villain who changes his ways and gains praise from society, but puts down ordinary people who dare not do good things.
How can there be such a stupid reason?
Sitting in Wenyuan Pavilion for a whole morning, Yang Tinghe suddenly said to Yang Yiqing, the second assistant: "The evils in the salt administration have been deep, and new laws must be reformed. Before the reform, ministry officials need to be sent to inspect the salt administration to prevent profiteers from taking the opportunity to cause trouble."
Yang Yiqing nodded and said: "That's exactly what it should be."
Yang Tinghe asked: "How about ordering Yang Dan, the deputy chief censor on the left, to supervise the salt affairs of the Huaihe River and Huaihe River?"
"But..." Yang Yiqing suddenly paused, looked at Yang Tinghe with a strange look, and then said with a smile, "But. The Lianghuai Salt Admiral has a very important responsibility, doesn't it need to be approved by the court?"
Yang Tinghe said: "No, I think Uncle Yang Jin (Yang Dan) can do the job."
Yang Yiqing asked Wang Qiong again: "What is Dehua's opinion?"
Wang Qiong sneered: "You two have already agreed, so why should I say anything?"
The first assistant and the second assistant reached a deal in this way, and political enemy Wang Qiong chose to watch from the other side.
…
Wang Zhai.
Yan Song shook his head and said with emotion: "This Mr. Yang Ge wants both fame and profit. Does he really treat the world as a fool?"
"Other than that, what else can he do?" Wang Yuan said with a smile.
The left deputy censor, Yang Dan, was the one who took Wang Yuan on horseback and paraded through the streets with hairpins when Wang Yuan was the top scholar in high school. At that time, Yang Dan was just the Yin of Shuntian Prefecture.
The executor of the behind-the-scenes deal that Yang Tinghe and Yang Yiqing had just reached was Yang Dan, who was appointed as the Salt Admiral of Lianghuai.
Corruption in the salt administration is rampant in various places, and the imperial court must send people to inspect it from time to time. The officials are too young to be inspected. Only those at the level of imperial envoy and minister can achieve results during inspections. Therefore, "Admiral of Salt Administration" is also commonly known as "Admiral of Salt Administration"
"Xunyanbuyuan", the bureau specifically refers to the six ministers, and the yuan specifically refers to the censor of the Duchayuan.
On the surface, Yang Dan was sent to inspect the Lianghuai salt affairs, but in fact he was to provide information to the hoarders.
That is, before the Salt Law is officially reformed, those hoarders who speculate in "salt futures" should quickly make money through collusion between government and businessmen, so as not to be suddenly trapped by the new Salt Law.
Moreover, they only help the hoarders protected by Party Yang and do not care about the life or death of other hoarders.
Just like Wang Yuan is not afraid of leaking news about the new salt law, Yang Tinghe is not afraid of leaking news. If other hoarders want to get out of their trap, they must have the cooperation of officials from the Salt Transportation Department, and Yang Dan, who is sent out, can just suppress the Salt Transportation Department. In addition to
The hoarders protected by the Yang Party and other hoarders have no chance of getting salt from the Salt Transportation Department. If they can't get the salt, they can't get out of the situation!
The second assistant, Yang Yiqing, agreed to help because he also had interests involved.
Yang Yiqing grew up in Guangdong and took the imperial examination in Guangdong. Some of his tribesmen were involved in maritime trade. At the same time, he was originally from Yunnan. His son returned to his hometown and occupied a lot of fertile land. However, his main family business was in Zhenjiang, and he also made a lot of money by supporting hoarders.
.
When Yang Dan inspected the salt affairs, he naturally took care of the hoarders supported by Yang Yiqing.
Yang Dang and the hoarders he covers, as well as the hoarders covered by Yang Yiqing, can make a huge fortune again because of this government-business operation.
The hoarders who were attached to other powerful people could only look on stupidly, hating Yang Tinghe to his core.
In fact, they should hate Wang Yuan more, but internal traitors are always more hateful than external enemies.
The new salt law has not yet been implemented, and the hoarders have already split within themselves, making it impossible for them to unite to resist the new salt law.
Although Yang Tinghe's operation was selfish, it was actually conducive to the implementation of the new salt law and could alleviate a lot of resistance to reform.
In fact, even if the new salt law is implemented, hoarders will still make money, and they will make more money than retail investors. But they can no longer control the market, reap profits, buy and sell short, and must participate in physical transactions.
This is equivalent to turning a group of financial people into traders!
Yang Tinghe's method of play would offend many powerful people, but it could unite his own factional officials. He finally shrank his strategy and no longer forced more people to support him, but only focused on maintaining his own base.