Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 121 The State Sends a Wife, the Emperor Makes a Great Aspiration

Gui E was very surprised.

these days.

Because he did not listen to the secret advice of other officials and enforced the law too strictly in regulating the discipline of monks and nuns, many officials looked at him with disapproval.

There are even more cynics.

Or they may be polite on the surface, unwilling to take the initiative to get close, and avoid others if possible when they meet.

but now.

It was rare that Wang Yangming and Zhang Fujing, two high-ranking officials who had recently been on the rise in their careers, took the initiative to get close to him.

Gui E was naturally very happy.

What's more.

He also greatly admired some of the things done by Wang Yangming and Zhang Fujing.

"I have admired you for a long time, but I didn't expect to meet you here."

Gui E bowed.

Wang Yangming smiled slightly: "When we saw the great changes in the capital, we already wanted to get to know you!"

"I think it must have taken a lot of courage for you to make such a big change in the capital. I admire you."

"I don't deserve your admiration."

"I just hope that the merchants and common people will not scold me too harshly."

Gui E said with a somewhat embarrassed smile.

"I can tell."

"The merchants, the common people, and the monks are all very afraid of you."

Zhang Fujing said with a smile.

Gui E smiled but said nothing.

"It's getting late and colder. How about we find a place and have some hot wine together?"

"Anyway, we are all strangers, living here as officials. Now that we have met by chance, we might as well get together."

Wang Yangming proposed at this time.

Zhang Fujing said happily: "That's exactly what I meant!"

Gui E smiled and said, "Then it is better to obey than to be respectful."

then.

The three of them walked towards a restaurant, talking and laughing.

At this time.

It was gradually snowing.

The three people wearing black hats and official uniforms gradually disappeared in the silver curtain.

Soon.

The three of them went to a private room in a restaurant and sat down.

They all understood each other well and didn't order any entertainment activities.

The main reason is that the three of them are officials who care about the country and the people, and they are all reformists, not lifeists. They also have their own political reform ideas that they want to share and exchange, and they need to find like-minded people.

Therefore, the three of them needed an environment without other people present so that they could drink hot wine to warm themselves up and talk.

Wang Yangming sat in the upper seat with his back to the window, and after sitting down, he couldn't help coughing a few times.

Zhang Fujing sat down directly on the seat to the left of Wang Yangming, put his hands on the table, and glanced at the rustling snow outside the window.

Gui E did not sit down immediately, but took out a silk handkerchief and wiped the chair and table.

Zhang Fujing smiled slightly when he saw this: "Censor Gui likes cleanliness."

"My mother's teachings cannot be changed. I am making fun of you."

Gui E said with a smile.

Wang Yangming said: "Why are you talking about these things? Let's just talk about the current situation. Your Majesty wants to reshape the currency law. What do you think?"

Gui E looked at Zhang Fujing.

Zhang Fujing was already pouring himself a glass of wine, saying, "Of course it is a rare good policy! The rare thing is that it requires the court to use gold and silver as capital, and be willing to release the money to the people and let them circulate it."

"It can be seen that His Majesty truly loves the people like his own children!"

After Zhang Fujing finished speaking, he stood up, held the wine glass in both hands and said, "Let me first toast to His Majesty!"

Zhang Fujing then drank the hot wine in his hand.

Wang Yangming and Gui E nodded slightly, then stood up and bowed towards the Forbidden City across the heavy snow curtain, and then drank it all in one gulp.

"Since the destruction of our dynasty's treasure notes, there has been no real currency in our dynasty."

"Some places had to mint copper coins privately, but according to the ancestral system that banned the use of copper coins, this was a violation of the national law."

"But the court can't really intervene."

"After all, merchants and civilians rely on it for daily transactions, and the government also relies on it to collect taxes."

"Some places, because of a lack of copper and distrust of banknotes, simply returned to the days of bartering, which caused trade routes to decline greatly and made it increasingly difficult for the government to collect commercial taxes."

"In some mountainous areas, there was a lack of exchangeable materials and no money to circulate, so no merchants were willing to bring in salt to sell. As a result, local people had to rebel because of the lack of salt, just to rob salt."

"I saw all this with my own eyes when I was the governor of southern Jiangxi."

Wang Yangming had served as a local official for many years and was indeed well aware of the disadvantages of currency circulation.

Gui E, who had been a county magistrate in the local area, was also deeply touched after hearing this:
"The country has been in existence for more than 150 years, and the population is growing. Many people no longer have land to farm, and can only sell their labor."

"But labor must be exchanged for money so that you can buy food, salt, meat and medicine as needed."

"But right now, money is scarce everywhere, so merchants can only hire laborers who need the goods they have."

Zhang Fujing nodded: "That's why I said that Your Majesty is rare, and is a truly powerful Holy Son of Heaven!"

"That's beyond doubt."

"But in fact, the late emperor was never stingy with the people."

"However, just like the disaster relief funds for Lianghuai before, even if Your Majesty is willing to give millions of taels of silver to the common people, not much will reach the people. Instead, it will help the local tyrants to oppress the common people."

"When I was the governor of Nangan, the late emperor also gave me a lot of military pay."

"But to be honest, more than half of these military salaries have been lost."

"You can also say that I am withholding military pay."

"But in fact, paying tribute to superiors is secondary. After all, not all the superiors are corrupt officials. In fact, most of the money is used to make up for the deficits of various government offices."

Wang Yangming spoke at this time.

Zhang Fujing, who had no experience as a local official, looked at Wang Yangming with curiosity:

"Make up for the shortfall?"

Wang Yangming nodded: "It's necessary to make up for it!"

"The tax grain retained by the various government offices was in serious deficit, causing many members of the royal family to be in arrears with their salaries."

"This is also the reason why many of Prince Ning's clan members were willing to follow him after he rebelled."

"In addition, many clerks and yamen runners are also in arrears of salary, and many students are also in arrears of food."

"You think."

"After the military pay from the imperial court arrives, if I don't make up for the shortfall, don't give enough rice to the royal family, don't give enough benefits to the clerks, and don't give enough food to the students, what will be the consequences?"

"The consequence is that an ordinary rebellion by bandits will turn into a rebellion involving members of the royal family, students, and clerks!"

"How can we suppress the rebellion and fight the war?"

"It will only turn out that the bandits know about my military order before it leaves the government office, and my army has already reached the bandits' lair, but the food and fodder have not arrived yet."

"So we have no choice but to deduct military pay to make up for the deficit!"

"But according to our ancestral teachings, I should be skinned."

After Wang Yangming said this, he couldn't help but cough again, and said with a smile: "Please forgive me, because I was exiled to Guizhou for many years, and I was fighting bandits in the south for many years, so my health is not as good as before."

"It doesn't matter!"

"Sir, you should drink tea."

Gui E said this and asked someone to come in and change the tea for Wang Yangming.

Zhang Fujing remained silent.

He looked as if he was thinking seriously.

The complexity of the local situation was beyond his expectations.

He also didn't expect that sometimes the officials in power withheld military pay not for themselves, but in order to better suppress the rebellion and better protect the country and the people, so he had no choice but to make the soldiers and civilians suffer.

But where exactly does the problem lie?

This is where he has to think.

"The problem is that there are too many drawbacks in the money law!"

“Without a lot of money in circulation, taxes can only be paid in kind.”

"Thus, it is easier for those in charge of taxes and transportation fees to embezzle them privately."

“Take food, for example.”

"The people in charge of grain and grain transport could arbitrarily sell the tax grain privately on the pretext that it was moldy or eaten by rats or worms, and then swallow it up with silver, thus causing deficits."

"besides."

"Since there was no official currency in circulation, if money was really needed for transactions, it could only be used as gold, silver, copper and cloth, which were naturally suitable for making coins, especially silver."

"But most of these are controlled by the big families, so they are more willing to see the serious shortage of money in the world. In this way, the silver in their hands will naturally be more valuable, and they can exchange it for a large amount of food from the people."

"This way, they would have to pay much less tax, and even the cost of smuggling would be reduced a lot." "So, the big families in the world are not willing to reform and solve the problem of money shortage."

"But if the great evils of the world are not reformed, even if the new emperor is a benevolent ruler who loves the people, even if the next emperor is also a benevolent ruler who loves the people, he can only watch helplessly as the military pay and disaster relief funds he subsidizes are swallowed up more and more seriously, and then watch helplessly as the national treasury becomes more and more empty. At the same time, the military and civilians become more and more embarrassed, and then watch helplessly as the national situation declines day by day."

Gui E started talking at this time.

As he had served as a local official, he knew clearly how clerks and wealthy families exploited the people and embezzled taxes and grain, so he could have such an understanding.

After Gui E said this, Wang Yangming nodded and smiled, "This is why Your Majesty wants to reshape the currency system first."

"No wonder your majesty only did this in Shuntian Prefecture first."

"According to what Zishi said, the wealthy families are the least willing to support the reform of the currency system. Only by reforming the currency system in Shuntian Prefecture first can the court have enough strength to deal with the counterattacks of the wealthy families. After all, Shuntian Prefecture is under the feet of the emperor."

Zhang Fujing said at this time.

Wang Yangming nodded and said, "This is where your majesty is being cautious."

And then.

Wang Yangming added: "The most important thing in reshaping the currency system is whether the court can provide enough rice, cotton, salt and other materials to stabilize prices."

"Because once new money comes into the market, the big players will inevitably drive up the prices of these necessities, thereby achieving the goal of absorbing a large amount of new money."

"It's not a problem."

"Although the grain seized from Lianghuai was used to relieve the disaster, and the storage in the fifteen warehouses of the capital was needed to support the civil and military officials of the whole court and the expenses of the palace, there is still a large amount of grain seized from the Kong family entering the capital. A lot of private salt from Lianghuai has also been seized, and it is not a problem to transport it to the capital to deal with this matter. What's more, there is also grain for the imperial court."

Zhang Fu said respectfully.

Wang Yangming smiled slightly and said, "That's right, Your Majesty has been prepared for this."

The three were chatting.

The last batch of refugees transported to the capital by Zhang Fujing were also brought to Xia Yan, the governor of Gyeonggi Province, by the censor Jiang Rubi.

"This is the last batch."

"Apart from the children, they are basically unmarried or widowed women."

Jiang Rubi asked Xia Yan to sign the bill and then said.

Xia Yan nodded, and then temporarily placed the victims in the new shacks that had been built in advance.

The next day.

New Year's Eve.

Xia Yan also numbered these people, and then called all the unmarried men in Gyeonggi Province to draw lots by number.

"It's fate. Whoever catches the other will take him/her home to be husband and wife. They will farm and live together, and then they will be registered as one household."

The officials under Xia Yan also gave orders to these men.

Wei Changgui was also among these men, standing in line, and he drew lots shyly and curiously along with the other men, and he also glanced at the group of women standing together.

These women all had pale faces and thin bodies, with dry yellow hair. It was hard to tell who was beautiful and who was ugly. Even if you didn't look carefully, you couldn't tell the difference in age.

Lu Xiaoya was among these people.

She didn't know that she was transported here by the government troops to marry the people here.

At the age of fourteen, she had some understanding of what being a couple meant.

But since all her family members have died, she no longer cares about it.

For her, as long as she didn't die at the hands of bandits or starve to death, she would be very lucky.

of course.

What Lu Xiaoya didn't know was that this was indeed a blessing for her.

Because in her situation, most people, even if they don't die, will become slaves of wealthy families or fall into prostitution and become playthings of others.

At this time.

The women who were older than Lu Xiaoya and had more experience and knowledge all started laughing happily because of this.

Because they thought that if they were taken to Beijing, they would be sold as slaves.

It didn't take long for Lu Xiaoya to notice someone walking towards her.

She raised her head.

Then, she saw Wei Changgui walking towards her.

This made her blush uncontrollably.

Wei Changgui just said with pity: "I picked your number, come home with me."

Lu Xiaoya was at a loss.

A soldier from Lianghuai pushed her and said, "Go ahead! What are you waiting for? This guy looks very heroic. It will be your blessing to follow him in the future!"

These words made Lu Xiaoya even more shy, and her face felt like it was burning.

"I have a younger sister, her name is Xiulian."

"My name is Wei Changgui. I am a soldier of the Imperial Guards. I am a sergeant in the patrol team. Our captain is Zhang Bin. We often call him Brother Zhang. He has killed Tartars and can pull a three-stone bow. He and I live in the same courtyard."

Wei Changgui talked about nothing.

Not a moment later.

He took Lu Xiaoya to his home.

"elder brother!"

Xiulian was pasting couplets at home. When she heard Wei Changgui's voice, she immediately ran out of the yard. However, when she saw a woman following Wei Changgui, she immediately stopped smiling, dropped the bowl of paste in her hand to the ground, and her whole head seemed to be filled with paste.

"She is your sister-in-law!"

Wei Changgui said this with a smile, then picked up the bowl of paste on the ground.

After Xiulian understood what was going on, she pulled Lu Xiaoya into the yard, then into the house, and then asked her to sit on the kang.

Lu Xiaoya sat on it and rubbed her patched knees with her hands.

From time to time, he looked here and there.

Afterwards, she took the initiative to tidy up the unmade bed. Then, seeing a hole in a pair of men's trousers on a stool, she took out the scraps of cloth she had picked up before, threaded the needle and thread that Xiulian used for practice, and then spread the men's trousers on her patched knees and started to mend the trousers.

"what's your name?"

"Where are you from?"

"How did you get here? Are you here with the Emperor as well?"

Perhaps Lu Xiaoya didn't understand the foreign dialect, or perhaps she was too focused on her studies and seemed to really treat herself as her own home, so she didn't say anything.

Seeing this, Xiulian jumped from the kang to the ground and ran out:
"Brother, this sister-in-law is dumb. She doesn't speak and only knows how to work!"

"Just know how to work hard!"

Zhang Bin's words were heard from outside the courtyard at this time.

He has borrowed a loan from Heungmyeong Bank and built a new house in Gyeonggi Province.

Wei Changgui rented Zhang Bin's house, which meant he was both his neighbor and his tenant.

and.

Zhang Bin got married a long time ago after he built the house with a loan, and his wife is now pregnant.

Therefore, he began to have infinite longing for being a father and always liked to tease Xiulian, thinking that if his child was a girl in the future, she would be as cute as Xiulian.

Wei Changgui just smiled and continued chopping wood.

But at the same time, he couldn't help but look inside the house. When he saw Lu Xiaoya sewing seriously, he suddenly felt very relieved. He couldn't help but smile again, and his eyes became much gentler, which was very different from the look in his eyes when he killed the Hanlin official in the past.

"Changgui, come to my house tonight and have a New Year's Eve dinner together. It will be lively. Invite your new wife."

Zhang Bin entered the yard, holding a piece of meat and a bundle of fireworks.

Wei Changgui did not refuse.

He knew Zhang Bin's temper and couldn't refuse. Moreover, today was a special day and he also wanted to make it more lively.

Xiulian looked at the fireworks in Zhang Bin's hand curiously.

Because it is New Year’s Eve.

In every household of the royal guards in Gyeonggi Province, big red lanterns were hung high and couplets were posted on the walls, creating a patch of red against the white ground.

"This is all due to your majesty's virtue!"

Xia Yan, who came to Gyeonggi Province for a special inspection on this day, looked at the peaceful and harmonious New Year's Eve with a sense of accomplishment, and couldn't help but sigh to Fan Jizu who came with him.

Fan Jizu said: "Your Majesty should know how peacefully the more than 200,000 refugees he brought into the capital are living now."

Xia Yan nodded.

"Let's set off the fireworks!"

When Xia Yan and others returned, it was already dark, and when it was midnight, Zhang Bin started setting off fireworks in the yard.

Xiulian couldn't stop smiling as she watched the fireworks.

Lu Xiaoya couldn't help but smile and secretly glanced at Wei Changgui.

She really didn't expect that she could have a full stomach, spend a happy New Year, and have a peaceful home.

"Brother, look, these fireworks light up the sky!"

The moment the fireworks burst, Xiulian jumped up happily.

at this time.

Forbidden City, on the back hill.

Princess Yongchun also happily watched the fireworks all over the city, jumped up and down, and said to Zhu Houcong who came here with her:

"Brother, look, the fireworks in the whole city are blooming."

"Yes!"

Zhu Houcong smiled, and then said thoughtfully: "The first year of Jiajing has really come! I hope that in the new year, there will be no more famine in the world!"

(End of this chapter)