Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 104: Establish the State Taxation Administration and deal with the Kong family!
Shandong’s biggest problem is not the gentry, but the saintly family that has lasted for a thousand years.

at this point.

All officials know this.

Zhu Houcong himself knew it well.

He knew that Wang Yangming's boat had an accident in Shandong, and the only one who dared to do this was the Kong family.

In fact, Zhu Houcong did not have to wait for the Shandong gentry to tell him the truth before he could know the situation behind it.

Therefore, while Zhu Houcong was using the imperial examination as a tool to deal with the Shandong gentry, he was also preparing to deal with the Kong family.

Instead of just sitting and waiting for the Kong family to demonstrate to the court.

Although he could not deploy enough Jinyiwei backbones to Shandong, and could not strengthen the control of Jinyiwei in Shandong in a short time, it did not mean that he could not do anything.

these days.

He has been carefully studying the resumes and relevant information of local bureaucrats in Shandong.

even.

Zhu Houcong had a detailed look at the memorials they had submitted to the Hongzhi and Zhengde dynasties, as well as the poems, songs and various articles they had written.

And therefore.

Zhu Houcong learned that there were officials among the local bureaucrats in Shandong who could be used to keep himself informed of the situation in Shandong and provide some important information.

among them.

The ones who are most worth using are Shu Sheng and Cai Tianyou.

Because both of them were military successful candidates.

The two men's families had hereditary military officer positions in the garrison, which was equivalent to their families having a stable job provided by the Ming Dynasty court.

Compared with civil servants of other registered households, their families are more closely tied to the political interests of the Ming Empire, and naturally their loyalty is much more reliable.

This is true.

After investigation, Zhu Houcong found that these two people were much more active in impeaching civil servants for corruption when they were serving as censors than other civil servants.

This is certainly related to the correction of the two people's ethics, but fundamentally it is related to the degree to which the interests of the Ming Dynasty are closely tied to it.

of course.

Because these two people were too active in impeaching their colleagues for corruption, their careers were not smooth and they were both sent to serve as officials in local areas.

In the Ming Dynasty, being sent as an official outside the capital meant demotion, and the speed of promotion would be much slower.

Naturally, this also shows that these two people need to improve now.

Therefore, based on their backgrounds, performances, and the actual circumstances, Zhu Houcong decided to give them the power to make secret reports, allowing them to monitor the Shandong officialdom and the people for him first.

Besides.

Zhu Houcong has begun to summon the heads of the Southern School Kong family to Beijing.

Even if he cannot abandon Confucianism now and still needs to respect Confucius, and then treat Confucius' descendants with courtesy, there are alternatives to these descendants of Confucius, and it is not necessary to have the Northern School of Confucius.

For Zhu Houcong, as long as there is a substitute, the target will be much easier to deal with.

Just as if you don't take the office, there are plenty of people who will take it; if you don't want to be a Yansheng Duke who listens to the court, there are plenty of descendants of sages who are willing to be a Yansheng Duke who listens to the court.

However, in the final analysis, it was a matter of dealing with the family of Confucian saints who held a high status in this era, so the most important thing was whether the problem of the Kong family's influence on imperial power in Shandong could be completely solved, whether the army was strong enough, and whether they possessed the most powerful force in the world.

After all, no one knows how much support the Northern Kong family has behind the scenes.

Anyway, as far as Zhu Houcong knew, the Northern Kong family had long been marrying ministers and nobles in the court and border officials in the nine frontiers.

Zhu Houcong then came to the inner garden parade ground and reviewed the battalion of soldiers trained by Zhou Shangwen.

After going to Lianghuai, this battalion of soldiers fought a battle with bandits and servants of wealthy and unscrupulous merchants. They saw blood and their practical combat experience was greatly improved.

When Zhu Houcong came to review the work, he also clearly felt that they had made significant improvements in spirit and energy.

The military schools who were originally from the Mighty Camp during the Zhengde Dynasty and the militiamen who were selected to join this elite camp when they accompanied the emperor to the capital have now become well-matched.

When these people looked at Emperor Zhu Houcong, they all had burning eyes and pursed their lips in concentration.

Because Zhu Houcong had been asking Huang Jin and Zhou Shangwen to educate them ideologically so that they would know what the emperor's grace was.

Therefore, these officers were very excited when they saw Zhu Houcong. Some even had tears in their eyes, while others were eager to charge into the battlefield and kill the enemy for the emperor right away.

In addition to reviewing the troops, Zhu Houcong also practiced riding and archery with these officers.

Now he also practices horse riding and archery when he has free time, so although he is not very good, he can ride a horse and whip it, and pull a seven-bucket bow.

of course.

Zhu Houcong would also practice firearms when he had nothing to do. In order to improve the level of firearms, he specially summoned Liu Tianhe, the prefect of Huzhou, to Beijing on the grounds of his superb medical skills.

Because Liu Tianhe was not only an expert in medicine, he was also a famous firearms maker in history.

He was the one who developed the three-barreled gun.

In this life, Zhu Houcong asked Liu Tianhe to develop the three-barreled gun, a firearm that was very popular among cavalrymen in advance.

Also.

Since the purge of the inner court, it has been difficult for Zhu Houcong to let the outside court know what he is doing in the Forbidden City, so the outside court does not know that their emperor has begun to participate in military training.

Although the troops directly controlled by Zhu Houcong are not many, their equipment is the best.

The troops directly controlled by Zhu Houcong.

Just not much in name only.

Actually.

In addition to the elite force of 10,000 people that he asked Zhou Shangwen to train.

There are also 20,000 soldiers in Gyeonggi Province under the name of patrol team.

And he had Wu Wendi recruit 30,000 fugitive soldiers from border towns in Jizhou and Liaodong in the name of recruiting border warriors as the Governor of Ji and Liao.

Although Zhu Houcong, like Zhengde, paid sufficient wages to the border towns, there was a serious problem of corruption and embezzlement, so many military households still fled due to lack of wages and food.

Or escape to the outside of the Great Wall and become a slave of the Tatars.

Or they could flee into the interior and become slaves of wealthy families.

and so.

Zhu Houcong asked Wu Wendi to recruit escaped military households, which was easy to recruit.

Moreover, these military households were basically veteran frontier soldiers who were skilled in riding and shooting.

As long as the pay is paid, we can recruit them to fight.

Since Zhu Houcong now has enough troops, he is naturally not afraid of too much chaos when he deals with the Northern Zong Kong family.

But for Zhu Houcong, there was a deeper purpose in dealing with the Kong family.

He wanted to prepare for the future reorganization of Jiangnan by dealing with the Kong family.

The largest powerful family in Shandong is the Kong family.

But there is not just one wealthy family in Jiangnan. Some of them are big wealthy families that control large amounts of silver and land.

Therefore, for Zhu Houcong, dealing with the Kong family was a pilot project before he dealt with the big families in Jiangnan.

Zhu Houcong also knew this well.

The most direct way to deal with a powerful family like the Kong family is not to use military force.

The troops are only to guard against other hidden dangers.

Clean up the Kong family.

In order to increase tax revenue.

It can allow imperial power to be transferred down to below the county level.

This will enable subsequent reforms to proceed smoothly.

to this end.

After reviewing Zhou Shangwen's troops, Zhu Houcong summoned Xia Yan and instructed him:
"After the students of the accelerated training classes of the various guards in Gyeonggi Province graduate, let them all go to study at the Xingming Academy that I asked Ye Tingfang to establish!"

Xia Yan bowed and said yes.

Zhu Houcong then summoned Huang Jin and told him:
"Inform Ye Tingfang that after these students in the crash course come to the academy, they will first learn a skill together with the orphans in the academy, which is tax auditing and accounting."

"The textbooks will be the ones I asked the old officials from the Ministry of Revenue and local households who were arrested and imprisoned for corruption in disaster relief to compile according to my requirements!"

"I have reviewed that set of teaching materials. They are very good and can be used!"

"Let those old officials use this teaching material to teach them in groups for a month."

"Whoever teaches them in a month will be forgiven!"

When Zhu Houcong was arresting criminals suspected of embezzling disaster relief funds, he also arrested many officials who were skilled in tax and grain accounting and put them in prison, and had already allowed them to continue to contribute their values.

Let them prepare to set up professional taxation and auditing teams in the future.

Zhu Houcong is now further implementing this idea.

Huang Jin did not dare to delay and hurried to carry out the matter seriously.

Let’s talk.

Ten days later.

Zhu Houcong actually received the secret report from Cai Tianyou.

According to Cai Tianyou, he encountered great difficulties in collecting taxes in the prefectures, counties and districts under his jurisdiction. Many local hereditary clerks who were related to the Kong family not only pretended to obey his orders but also harassed the poor scholars who were preparing to go to Beijing for the imperial examinations.

Zhu Houcong immediately understood that this was a counterattack by the Kong family, so he began to play the cards he had planned for a long time:
"Somebody come!"

"Inform the cabinet!"

"Establish a Cabinet-level National Taxation Directorate!"

"Yang Yiqing was reinstated as Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace, Junior Tutor and Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, and Minister of Personnel, and concurrently in charge of the National Taxation Administration;"

"Establish a cabinet-level finance department!"

"Fei Hong was reinstated as Grand Secretary of Wenyuan Pavilion, Junior Tutor and Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and concurrently in charge of the Ministry of Revenue."

(End of this chapter)