Without money, what is the point of being a traitor?

Chapter 721 Re-entering the Harem
The food at the Court of State Ceremonial was notoriously bad, but Zhu Houzhao's meal was not from the Court of State Ceremonial.

Pei Yuan found the taste delicious and decided to eat it all by himself.

There were three glasses of wine on the tray next to me.

Pei Yuan pondered that, given his relationship with A Zhao, it shouldn't have reached that point yet.

So they picked up the cups one by one and drank them.

After Pei Yuan had eaten and drunk his fill, he was too lazy to go to Fengtian Hall anymore.

Together with these insects, we cannot save the Ming Dynasty.

He got up very early today and was slightly tipsy. The warm sun shone through the window, and Pei Yuan unknowingly dozed off in the Huagai Hall.

After feeling a slight chill and sneezing a few times to recover, I realized that the sun was already quite late.

The young eunuch guarding outside the hall quickly peeked in for a look.

Seeing that Pei Yuan had woken up, Fang said with a fawning smile, "His Majesty came to see Commander Qian after the court session. His Majesty said that Commander Qian had made meritorious contributions this time and did not allow us to wake him up."

"They said they would wait for the commander to wake up and then go to the Qianqing Palace to give a report."

Upon hearing this, Pei Yuan paused for a moment before responding.

It was probably because Pei Yuan mentioned the previous time he stayed overnight at Hongde Palace that morning that Zhu Houzhao subconsciously had a precedent to follow, and did not specifically examine the matter of allowing Pei Yuan, an official from outside the palace, to enter the inner palace.

Last time, Zhu Houzhao was increasingly worried about the cowrie shell issue, and felt as if the sky was falling, so he wanted to see Pei Yuan immediately. This allowed Pei Yuan to break the rules and enter the inner palace at night.

Although this matter is significant, it didn't need to be handled so hastily.

All I can say is that setting a precedent is a very subtle psychological game.

Pei Yuan rubbed his face, straightened his official robes, and asked the young eunuch, "When did His Majesty dismiss the court?"

The young eunuch quickly and respectfully replied, "It was only a few quarters after the court session ended."

Pei Yuan looked at the sun, estimated the time, and realized that the first grand court session of the new year would not be easy to handle.

He then remarked with emotion, "His Majesty has it tough too."

After saying this, he said to the little eunuch, "We, as subjects, should be more understanding."

The young eunuch thought to himself, "I just graduated from the Imperial Library. What does this have to do with me?"
But he said sheepishly, "That's how it should be."

Pei Yuan then muttered to himself, "His Majesty has just finished dealing with state affairs and is exhausted. He should have just rested for a while. Let's wait a bit before we talk."

The young eunuch thought about it and realized that it really didn't seem like a big deal.

His Majesty's order was for Pei Yuan to see him as soon as he woke up, but there's a lot of flexibility in that; it's just a matter of treating it as if he slept a little longer.

Seeing Pei Yuan casually toss over a piece of silver, the little eunuch quickly caught it and didn't say anything more.

Pei Yuan had already realized from Li Zhang's account that the palace was just a huge makeshift operation.

As long as nothing goes wrong and you can fool the most important people, there's plenty of room to maneuver with the others.

Back when Zhang Heling was brazenly raping palace maids in the harem, only one eunuch who had previously passed the imperial examinations went to report him to his son, Emperor Hongzhi.

Didn't everyone else pretend not to see and remain silent?
Pei Yuan whiled away the time before saying to the young eunuch, "This commander will now go to the Qianqing Palace to see the Emperor."

The young eunuch quickly led Pei Yuan out of the Huagai Hall and towards the inner palace.

Upon arriving at Qianqing Gate, the young eunuch recounted the Emperor's summons.

This place is relatively close to the Qianqing Palace. After the guards and the supervisor verified that Pei Yuan was not carrying any weapons, they immediately let him pass.

When Pei Yuan arrived at Qianqing Palace, he looked around but didn't see anyone he knew.

I immediately felt a pang of regret.

He's gone south this time, and he doesn't know when he'll be able to return to Beijing.

He had been intimate with Empress Xia the last time, and was in the throes of newfound pleasure; otherwise, he wouldn't have taken the risk.

After the young eunuch went to report, Zhu Houzhao immediately ordered Pei Yuan to be summoned inside.

Pei Yuan entered the Qianqing Palace obediently and immediately bowed deeply, saying, "Your subject Pei Yuan greets Your Majesty."

Zhu Houzhao, who was looking at something, looked up at Pei Yuan and said, "Pei Qing, please rise."

First, he had someone offer him a seat, then looked at the eunuchs on his left and right and said, "You may all leave now."

The matter to be discussed this time is no less important than the previous cowrie shell incident. Zhu Houzhao learned from that experience and decided not to keep anyone by his side anymore.

After everyone left, Zhu Houzhao felt somewhat awkward and didn't know how to start the conversation.

He and Pei Yuan were discussing passionately behind the palace, but when the Ministry of Works presented a series of royal projects such as the Leopard House and the Taisu Hall, Zhu Houzhao could no longer remain calm.

Because he really did have such a plan.

Although Zhu Houzhao wanted Pei Yuan to help him figure out how to squeeze out some money to solve this problem, well…

Zhu Houzhao changed the subject and asked Pei Yuan, "Throughout history, reforms have always been difficult. Even Liu Jin's attempts to implement his policies encountered many obstacles. We are now trying to implement the Single Whip Law in Shandong, but we don't know how likely it will succeed."

Pei Yuan pointed to the foundation laid by A Zhao before he died and immediately said, "Your Majesty, now many officials and common people speak ill of the reforms and are indignant. The main reason is that the previous reforms ruined our reputation, and people subconsciously resist them."

"But what they can't do well, we might not be able to do poorly,"

Pei Yuan analyzed for Zhu Houzhao, "The most difficult part of reform is communicating between the top and bottom. Many times the methods are good, but the implementation may not be as we wish."

"If the ideas of those above go against the interests of those below, they will either be obstructed openly or covertly, or they will be deliberately over-implemented, which will arouse strong dissatisfaction among the people."

"The final result is often that those who have vested interests suffer losses, while the group that benefits from the reform is also strongly dissatisfied, and in the end, it will all come to nothing."

Zhu Houzhao understood Pei Yuan's meaning.

He interjected, "Just like Wang Anshi's Green Sprouts Law, which originally involved lending money and grain to farmers during the lean season, and then having them repay the loans at a lower interest rate after the harvest."

"As a result, when this new law reached the local level, local officials deliberately over-implemented it, either forcibly imposing loans on the people or arbitrarily raising interest rates to extort them, ultimately turning a good law into a bad one." Upon hearing this, Pei Yuan first said, "I have a slightly different opinion."

“Wang Anshi was not the kind of incompetent court official who would propose impractical and impractical methods. On the contrary, he had served as a local official for nearly thirty years before entering the court. Did he not know what those lower-level officials and clerks would do?”

"He proposed this method precisely because he anticipated that his subordinates would do this."

“Wang Anshi was pragmatic and direct. What he wanted was to immediately change the impoverished state of the Song Dynasty and to immediately come up with such a sum of money to solve other problems. So he was aiming at the result and did not care about the process or means involved.”

"His goal is to siphon money from the imperial court, which is why he can't do things well."

Zhu Houzhao felt he had been pointed out, but remained silent.

"The Single Whip Law that we are promoting in Shandong can take advantage of the current special time to avoid the trouble of communicating from top to bottom, and directly explain the contents of the reform to the beneficiaries, while sharing the benefits with the people."

Then, Pei Yuan explained the current situation in Shandong to Zhu Houzhao in detail.

In short, the deeply entrenched bureaucracy was to be removed and replaced because of its involvement in the suspected rebellion of the Dewan clan.

Newly appointed officials, before a clear outcome was reached in the De Fan case, dared not collude with these suspected rebels who had failed to prove their innocence. Even if they weren't afraid of losing their official positions, they were afraid of losing their heads for no apparent reason.

This stripped away the protective shell that local officials used to safeguard local powerful clans.

Then, the power of Luo Jiao's influence in the countryside could be used to explain the benefits of the Single Whip Law to the people and seize the right to interpret the reform from the local officials.

This would greatly reduce the possibility of the reforms being deliberately misinterpreted.

Subsequently, by separating "power" and "profit," a clear distinction was formed between the merchants responsible for exchanging grain and money and the clerks who actually collected taxes, thereby reducing the exploitation of the local people.

Zhu Houzhao felt even more confident in the reform after hearing Pei Yuan's clear and concise explanation.

Pei Yuan then summarized, "By utilizing the Ministry of Revenue's financial plan, we can not only promote the circulation of paper money and reduce our dependence on silver, but also take the opportunity to strengthen the border towns and make ample preparations for the Little Prince's invasion."

"It can be said that the dilemma can be resolved, and both sides can be satisfied."

Zhu Houzhao was delighted and said, "That's excellent, that's excellent!"

After saying this, he sighed and instructed Pei Yuan, "We can't be careless about this matter; we still need to think about it more carefully."

"Back when I and Liu Jin were implementing reforms, we came up with some good methods that would benefit the country and the people. Unfortunately, they were met with disapproval and avoided by everyone."

"Local officials were also affected by this, fearing that they would be criticized, and dared not implement the new law. In the end, it was a big fuss, and the decree was not even implemented in Beizhili."

Pei Yuan was not worried about this.

He subtly hinted to Zhu Houzhao, "Your Majesty, I believe that the implementation of this Single Whip Law might actually garner widespread support."

Zhu Houzhao became interested and quickly asked, "What do you mean?"

Pei Yuan said confidently, "Whether this method is good or not, in the end, it is up to the scholars to decide."

Zhu Houzhao cautioned, "Scholars won't side with us; they all have silver in their hands."

Pei Yuan was not influenced by Zhu Houzhao, and continued, "As for the scholars, those who have the most say are naturally those who have passed the imperial examinations and taken up official positions."

Zhu Houzhao further cautioned, "The officials won't be on our side either; most of them are also quite wealthy."

Pei Yuan said, "But Your Majesty may not know that there is another special group of people in our Great Ming Dynasty. That is, those who have official ranks but are waiting to be appointed."

"These people were mainly officials granted official privileges or those who donated their wealth to the government. They were somewhere between officials and ordinary scholars, and their influence was neither too high nor too low, and their numbers were enormous."

Zhu Houzhao asked curiously, "How huge is it?"

Pei Yuan replied, "In the early years of the Zhengde reign alone, there were more than 33,900 officials with official ranks but no vacancies."

Zhu Houzhao stared wide-eyed, dumbfounded, and asked, "How much?"

Pei Yuan replied again, "There are over 33,900 people."

Pei Yuan continued, "These officials with ranks but no real positions mostly live very poor lives, relying on the meager salaries given by the court to make a living. Many of them even have to borrow money from the capital to survive."

"But this group of people are indeed the beneficiaries of the Single Whip Law."

Zhu Houzhao was somewhat confused. "These people? How could they benefit from this?"

Pei Yuan took a different approach, saying, "Your Majesty should not forget that these reserve officials also receive salaries from the imperial court. A large portion of their salaries comes from Ming Dynasty banknotes."

“Even those officials, including those in low-ranking government offices, lived very hard lives. Some low-ranking officials even had to rely on their wives to do sewing and mending to make ends meet. Similarly, a large portion of their salaries was paid in Ming Dynasty paper money.”

Pei Yuan then asked, "Does Your Majesty know how many redundant officials there are in the court?"

Zhu Houzhao did not answer.

Pei Yuan continued, “I have heard that the court has made a review of this matter and concluded that ‘there are thousands of redundant officials in various government offices.’ Therefore, we can infer that the number of redundant officials supported by the court must be enormous. Some of these redundant officials, even those in lucrative government offices, do not actually receive any benefits. A large portion of these people rely on the court’s salary to make a living.”

Zhu Houzhao's expression was not very good.

Pei Yuan asked, "Does Your Majesty think this is a bad thing?"

After saying that, he answered himself, "It is indeed a bad thing, but at this time, it becomes a good thing."

"These reserve officials, officials in low-ranking government departments, and redundant officials in various ministries and temples, although they were previously regarded as useless parasites, actually constitute the vast majority when considered as a whole."

"There are only so many benefits, and the beneficiaries are always a minority."

"Compared to those high-ranking officials who are in the spotlight, these idle officials are not doing so well. Therefore, they are very sensitive about their meager salaries. The only reason they can persevere is to rely on luck and hope that one day they will rise to prominence."

"Our Single Whip Law reform will undoubtedly drive up the value of the Ming Dynasty's paper money. In other words, if we simply divide the official group into two parts, the total number of people who actually benefit from the reform far exceeds the number of people who suffer losses."

Zhu Houzhao understood Pei Yuan's meaning, and he was also very certain that once the Single Whip Law was implemented, the price of the Ming Dynasty banknotes would rise rapidly.

For officials who relied on their salaries, a large proportion of which consisted of paper money, this could mean an increase of two or three times their income.

If the government's reforms included providing double or triple salaries, who wouldn't like such reforms?
This reform is fantastic!
However, Zhu Houzhao still didn't understand, saying, "These people have no power, so what's the use of having so many of them?"

(End of this chapter)