Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 118 Act with vigor and determination to enforce discipline!
The twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month in the sixteenth year of the Zhengde reign.

The capital city had heavy snowfall all day yesterday.

That day, the ground was covered with silver during the day.

The militia organized by Gui E were wearing grey cotton coats issued by the City Supervision Office and sweeping snow on the street.

"You must sweep carefully! As long as you sweep clean, you will be given New Year's money tomorrow and everyone can go back home to have a good New Year."

Gui E looked at these militiamen, encouraged them, and made it clear that he would give them New Year's money.

After hearing this, the militiamen swept even more vigorously.

The rustling sound of sweeping the snow gradually became louder than the crunching sound of stepping on the snow.

Soon.

These people were all sweating and smoke was coming out of their heads.

The Ministry of Revenue did not give Gui'e much funding, only some grain and coal.

This situation is not surprising.

Generally, no department would be willing to give the money in its own treasury to other government offices.

Not to mention that Gui E was only responsible for cleaning the city streets, regulating business order and preventing diseases through work-for-relief.

Even if the imperial court wanted to launch a large-scale military war and needed various departments to raise money for the military pay, central ministries such as the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Works, and the Ministry of Revenue would quarrel over who would pay.

It is worth mentioning that the Ming Dynasty did not have a dedicated treasury. The six ministries, the Censorate and other government offices all had their own legal financial revenues, so naturally the financial power was not unified. Therefore, when a war was needed, the emperor needed to ask the various government offices to come together to raise money.

Back to the topic.

Therefore, the civilian workers in his city supervision department now even pay the rent for the place they rent with their own money.

However, things are different now. The emperor has given Gui E a way to earn his own funds.

He also followed the instructions of the cabinet chief Liang Chu and submitted a memorial requesting an imperial decree to regulate the atmosphere in the capital.

Zhu Houcong naturally agreed and gave him full responsibility for the matter.

Gui E dared to promise benefits to the militiamen he had recruited in order to mobilize their enthusiasm.

After Gui E said this, he came to the most clever and reliable team of militiamen he had selected these days and waved his hand: "Start the action!"

These militiamen immediately divided into small teams, and under the leadership of a military officer, they broke into various brothels and theaters.

Like the Five Cities Military Division, although Gui E was the highest leader of the City Supervision Division, the ones who actually led the teams to carry out their missions were lower-level military officers drawn from various guards in the capital.

After all, these militiamen also need a certain degree of drill and discipline training, and although these military officers are not well educated, they are more than capable of managing the militiamen.

Let’s talk.

Monk Zhitong, the abbot of Dajue Temple in the western suburbs, has been very worried recently because the imperial court is going to try out a new currency in Shuntian Prefecture.

In order to relax and get more information from relevant officials to see if there is any way to stop this, he went to Ning Meir, a famous prostitute whom he had kept for many years.

When the people from the City Supervision Bureau, under the guidance of the spies, rushed into the brothel where Ning Meir was, Monk Zhitong was fiddling with Ning Meir's belly while asking her, "How are you learning poetry from Master Gu these days?"

"Master Gu was very satisfied, but he was not hard enough and didn't last long."

Ning Meir said as her face became increasingly flushed.

Zhi Tong smiled and said, "You vixen, it seems that I, the world's number one lecherous monk, will have to sacrifice my life to satisfy you."

Zhitong then added: "But you still have to serve Master Gu well. He is the lecturer beside the emperor and may be able to influence the national policy of promoting the new official currency this time!"

"You should find an opportunity to tell him that I am your biological brother whom you found after being kidnapped for many years. You have prepared 100,000 taels of silver to redeem yourself, and then marry him. You are only willing to be his concubine in this life!"

"I just need him to see me."

"If he agrees, I will give you the indenture and 120,000 taels of silver. Take this money and return to Jiangnan with Master Gu in the future. You can keep 20,000 taels of silver for yourself. It will be enough for your lifetime!"

As Zhitong was speaking, there was a bang and General Mu Qing rushed in with the militiamen from the City Supervision Office.

"Damn, you bald asses are so rich that you have to give the bitch 120,000 yuan when you export!"

Mu Qing said something after he came in.

Min Zhuang stared at the pale monk Zhitong and Ning Meir under him and swallowed his saliva.

They all stared at it.

Zhitong was so frightened that he stood there in a daze and immediately hid the tools used in the crime.

Mu Qing patted the man on the head and said, "Why are you still standing there? Take this monk away!"

The militiamen finally reacted and dragged Monk Zhitong under the bed.

Monk Zhitong finally came to his senses and asked, "What are you doing? Who are you? Who asked you to come?"

"We are from the City Supervision Department, and we have been ordered to enforce discipline."

Mu Qing took out the card with Gui E's name and official seal and said, "Come with us and meet our Imperial Censor Gui."

"Let me slow down!"

Monk Zhitong stretched out his hand to stop Minzhuang from taking further action, then rubbed his temple and said, "Isn't your Gui Yushi in charge of sweeping the streets? Why is he in charge of this too?"

"You can go ask our Imperial Censor Gui!"

As Mu Qing said this, he ordered the militiamen to drag Monk Zhitong down by force.

Zhitong shouted: "I am a monk from Dajue Temple, and I have many friends in the court. What you are doing is inappropriate!"

Mu Qing ignored him and only took away the certificate of ordination that Zhitong had left here.

Not long after Gui E arrived here, he also saw monks such as Zhitong being captured by his people from various brothels. This made him very happy because these were the sources of funds for his City Supervision Office.

As long as enough of these monks were arrested, he would no longer have to look at the Ministry of Revenue for money.

This hard job of his that doesn't even allow him to take a break during the Chinese New Year will suddenly become a lucrative job.

In this way, the military officers and militiamen under his command will actively work with him.

"Don't let any one go!"

"We must investigate and arrest them seriously and earnestly!"

"Whether everyone can live a good life, and whether your families can live a good life, depends on how many bad monks, nuns, and Taoists you catch!"

"Because it's said above that once they are caught, the lightest punishment, if they just violate the alcohol ban, is a fine of 1,000 taels of silver. If they visit prostitutes, stay with prostitutes, or keep mistresses, they will be fined between 3,000 and 10,000 taels of silver, depending on the circumstances!"

"When the time comes, 60% will be used for company affairs, 30% will be used as salaries and rewards for everyone, and 10% will be used as additional subsidies and pensions for those in need in the company."

Gui E spoke loudly while looking at the military officers and militiamen who were actively capturing monks and guarding the prison cells of the City Guard.

These military officers and militiamen became more active in their search.

Regardless of the severe cold in the 39th solar term, it can freeze people to the point of peeling off their skin.

For them, now is not about carrying out the mission, but about moving money home.

A nun wearing a paddy field dress was dancing in front of a rich young man with a special way of playing in a brothel. She gradually took off her paddy field dress while dancing and said:
"Sir, is my wooden fish big? Do you want to knock on it?"

The rich young man immediately rushed over and hugged the nun and said, "You are truly my living Bodhisattva!"

However, at this moment, people from the City Supervision Office rushed in and took the nun away on the spot.

For a moment, the nun only hated herself for being bald and not being able to cover her face with her long hair. She had to lower her head, fearing that others would recognize her.

She was a nun from Yunci Temple, a famous nunnery in the capital, and she came out to earn extra money for her own nunnery.

Even though this was a secret known to everyone, she still wanted to cover it up, thinking that no one had known about it before, so she was still embarrassed.

"We'll pay the fine!"

"I just ask the censor to show mercy and return our certificates to us."

After the monks and nuns were arrested, they cooperated very well and expressed their willingness to pay the fines. They also begged Gui E to return their certificates of ordination to them.

"Returning the certificate of ordination is a different matter."

"The court gave you the certificate of ordination and exempted you from the military service because you have the obligation to abide by the rules and regulations, pray for the country and guide the people to be good. But you did not do so and violated the court's rules. The court can only revoke your certificate of ordination and judge you unfit to be monks and nuns."

"After you have corrected your behavior, go to the authorities and pay the money again to get your certificate of ordination!"

Gui E spoke to these people.

After hearing this, the monks and nuns had no choice but to accept it.

The court's actions naturally caused a great sensation in the capital.

Many monks and nuns who were lucky enough not to be caught also began to visit the homes of powerful officials, complaining that this incident had a huge impact on the image of Buddhist temples, and hoped that the powerful officials who were on good terms with them could prevent this from happening.

Because of various interests behind the scenes, many officials did begin to impeach Gui E for being too strict in enforcing the law and for opposing the rectification of the social atmosphere. This fact could easily affect people's views on Buddhist temples, causing a lot of controversy and being detrimental to the stability of the country.

"His Majesty!"

"I accuse the Imperial Censor Gui E of using the pretext of rectifying social practices to harshly criticize monks and nuns and amass too much wealth, causing serious damage to the incense supply to government temples, and the people of the capital are also quite panicked!"

"So I ask your majesty to stop Gui'e's banditry!"

At the last court meeting in the 16th year of Zhengde, Zeng Sizong, the Left Censor of the Ministry of Rites, was the first to step forward and point the finger at Gui E, criticizing the new policy of rectifying discipline.

Wang Jun, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, also stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, I heard that in just two days, because Censor Gui enforced the law too strictly and collected too much money, he even falsely accused monks and nuns of being corrupt, which led to some monks and nuns committing suicide. This has aroused public anger, so I also think that Censor Gui should be in charge of this matter."

Zhu Houcong noticed that it was mainly officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Department of Rites who criticized this matter.

of course.

This is not surprising.

Because monks and Taoist priests have always been under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites, just like members of the royal family need to bribe the Ministry of Rites to arrange their names, the bribery of monks and Taoist priests to gain status in the Ministry of Rites is also the main source of income for the Ministry of Rites.

Historically, an official in the Monks and Taoists Records Department of the Ministry of Rites could once be sold for 30,000 gold.

It can be seen that managing monks and Taoists can bring a lot of legitimate and illegitimate income to the Ministry of Rites.

In addition, many official temples in the suburbs of Beijing were also managed by the Ministry of Rites.

Therefore, the Ministry of Rites will definitely care more about this.

After all, what Gui E is doing now has indeed affected their source of income.

Zhu Houcong then asked the Minister of Rites Mao Cheng: "Grand Master, what do you think about this matter?"

Mao Cheng knew that the emperor would ask him.

So, he thought ahead.

He could neither betray the Ministry of Rites, nor offend the emperor even though he did not support the court's actions.

Therefore, he felt that he needed to openly oppose it along with the officials of the Ministry of Rites and the Department of Rites, but he also had to give the emperor a sense of his own point of view, which was not too reasonable and foolish.

And let the emperor achieve his goal of refutation.

in this way.

The emperor and the people in the Ministry of Rites would only feel that they were stupid, but would not hate themselves too much and prevent themselves from retiring smoothly.

"Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, Imperial Censor Gui's original intention was good, but he is still young and not experienced enough. In fact, the worse the discipline is, the more it is not advisable to rectify it too strictly. Because the stricter the discipline is, the more people will think that the discipline of the country is really bad, and then they will question whether the country's fortune has reached its decline."

Mao Cheng said this at this time.

(End of this chapter)