Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 128: Add one thousand knives to Liu Jin's salary and make nine clans pay for food!
Fahui was shocked after hearing this.

"Why did you go to prison?"

"How come there is new food?"

then.

Fahui asked repeatedly.

As a Buddhist, he was totally unable to remain detached from the world at this moment, and his whole mind became extremely uneasy.

"It's a long story! To put it simply, the Jiangnan and Huguang gentry sold themselves out!"

"So, no one cares about Liu Zhu's fate."

"The emperor can naturally deal with him for legitimate reasons, without having to care about the opinions of the southern gentry such as the Jiangnan gentry and the Huguang gentry."

Li Zhaohe replied.

Fahui immediately brushed off his sleeves and said with a smile: "This is really ridiculous. How can you sell yourself out?"

"But it is what it is!"

"The southern nobles competed to sell grain and cotton cloth to the court. Aren't they selling themselves?"

"Worse than a bitch."

"Even prostitutes who sell their bodies will complain about their grievances, saying they have no choice. They almost kneel down and beg the court to buy more of their own."

Li Zhaohe replied.

Fahui stopped smiling and said, "How could this happen?"

"The benefits given by the court are too great!"

"For example, in previous years, Jiangnan only sold one million pieces of cloth smuggled overseas each year. Now the imperial court is directly buying three million pieces, which means they can earn three years of smuggling profits in one go. Who can afford this?"

After Li Zhaohe said this, he started asking.

As a northerner, he was envious of the wealth and profits obtained by these southern nobles.

"This Majesty is so cunning!"

At this time, Fahui couldn't help but say this.

Li Zhaohe said: "So, run away quickly!"

"The emperor's move is a plan to remove the firewood from the bottom of the pot. It can be regarded as temporarily pulling the southern nobles to his side. Naturally, he can free up his hands and concentrate on us northern nobles, especially us big families in the capital."

"I'm afraid that after he has interrogated Liu Zhu and Yuan Yin, he will immediately send people to search for us. After all, the capital is the emperor's territory. The Jinyiwei may not have enough power in other places, but they are more than enough to confiscate homes and exterminate families in the capital. So, if they really want to take action, we will be unable to escape even if we have wings!"

"But there are so many fields and grains."

"There are also people, shops, houses, gold, silver and treasures."

"Give up everything?"

"How can I be worthy of my past masters?"

"Even if you want to leave, you have to transfer these industries first, right?"

Dharma wisdom path.

Li Zhaohe couldn't help stamping his feet and said, "How can you be so materialistic when you are a person who has left the world?"

"If you throw these things away, you can earn them back!"

"But if you don't let go now, you will only be burdened by these goods!"

"For example, if you really want to transfer these industries and start selling off the temple fields at a low price now, it will only make the factory guards and government officials keep an eye on you in advance and guess that you are leaving the capital forever. I'm afraid that they will be ambushing you before you even leave the capital city!"

"I try to be careful and only transfer to people I know."

Fahui said.

"Fine!"

Li Zhaohe couldn't persuade him any further and had to leave.

It was now mid-February of the first year of the Jiajing reign.

The first batch of new grain purchased from Huguang was indeed transported by land to Nanxin Warehouse.

As a result, the Food Bureau set up several more grain stores, so that almost every district in the capital had a managed grain store.

This allowed most of the people in the capital to still eat cheap food, and also allowed the new money issued by the court to continue to flow back to the court in large quantities.

As a result, food prices have gradually stabilized or increased slightly.

Lu Huai now feels much more relieved.

Now, after finishing work every day, he would take his newly paid wages and household receipts and go to the government-run grain store to queue up to buy grain.

Moreover, because a lot of grain had just arrived from Huguang, and each household could only afford less than one dou of grain per day, he could basically queue up before dark every day to buy affordable grain.

Naturally, Lu Huai was not worried about waiting in line in vain.

The price of grain gradually stabilized, which was a very happy thing for Zhu Houcong.

Because it means his new policy of reshaping money laws is progressing smoothly.

But this does not mean that Zhu Houcong would allow the wealthy to speculate in grain. He needed to make these people feel the pain.

Therefore, as Zhu Houcong had mentioned before, he chose to personally interrogate Yuanyin and Liu Zhu in the Wenhua Hall.

Although the three judicial departments would not dare to do anything unfair under his nose, their judges would choose to delay or pretend to be neutral to keep such a major case unresolved.

no way.

Who can blame the fact that most of the current bureaucrats are still conservative and protect rituals?

They were indeed not very willing to reform, and were even opposed to it. Although the reality prevented them from directly opposing it, they still dared to engage in passive resistance or pretend to be incompetent so that the emperor could not tell whether they were truly incompetent or just pretending to be proactive.

Zhu Houcong has just ascended the throne and has not trained enough people of his own, so he cannot do anything to them for the time being.

This also means that Zhu Houcong needs to put more effort into it.

Only when his own base is strong enough can he relax a little.

When Monk Yuanyin learned that he was being interrogated by the emperor himself, he immediately turned pale with fright.

He knew that this meant that the emperor was very dissatisfied with his slander of the Jinyiwei and wanted to protect his own son, so he wanted to interrogate him personally.

Therefore, after being brought before Zhu Houcong, Yuanyin began to tremble: "I, the humble monk, kowtow to the emperor."

"You said you were ordered by Jinyiwei Wang Jing, do you have any evidence?"

Zhu Houcong asked.

Yuanyin's forehead began to sweat. For a moment, he felt as if thousands of sharp arrows were shooting at him from the direction where Zhu Houcong's voice came from. His whole body was numb and he didn't know how to answer.

Yuanyin herself felt strange about her feelings at the moment, and wondered if this was the so-called divine power?

"say!"

Zhu Houcong said in a low voice.

"Maybe."

"Or maybe not."

Yuanyin's teeth started to chatter.

Zhu Houcong continued to ask: "Is it true or not?" "I don't know."

Yuanyin was about to cry, and all she wanted was for Zhu Houcong to stop asking.

Zhu Houcong said: "You don't know, but you still falsely accuse me of being a Jinyiwei. Who gives you the courage?"

Yuanyin did not answer. He was trying his best to give himself courage and told himself not to give out the person behind him.

Zhu Houcong said: "You burned my food and falsely accused my Jinyiwei. This is the crime of treason. If you don't confess, you will be the main culprit and will be executed by slow slicing!"

"The burning of grain has nothing to do with me, Your Majesty!"

Yuanyin replied quickly.

Zhu Houcong asked: "Is there any evidence to prove that it has nothing to do with you?"

Yuanyin didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Zhu Houcong said: "Since there is no way to prove it, then it should be considered treason!"

"Sentence him the same punishment as Liu Jin, but increase the fine to 5,000 knives. Recruit an expert in anatomical analysis from among the famous doctors I summoned to the capital to do this. Let them practice their skills and then share the food with the hungry people."

Zhu Houcong said at this time.

Yuanyin was so frightened that she kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty, please spare my life. I am not the principal offender!"

"I slandered the Jinyiwei because Monk Fahui asked me to do so. He said that if we monks were caught, we should confess that it was the Jinyiwei who asked us to do so, so as to muddy the waters."

Zhu Houcong then asked about Fahui's relevant situation, and then sent someone to arrest Fahui.

Simultaneously.

Zhu Houcong then asked Liu Zhu: "He has no evidence, why do you conclude that my Jinyiwei is untrustworthy? Do you not trust the Jinyiwei, or do you not trust me?"

"I naturally believe in Your Majesty."

Liu Zhu replied.

Zhu Houcong said: "No, you don't believe it! You only believe in yourself! That's why you dare to refute my imperial edict with an unsubstantiated fact and force me to admit that the Jinyiwei cannot be trusted."

"Whether the Jinyiwei is trustworthy or not is not up to you to decide, it is up to me to decide."

Zhu Houcong added.

"Your Majesty is right. I was confused and I regret it very much. I am willing to take the blame."

Liu Zhu also cooperated very well.

Both Yuanyin and Liu Zhu were very cooperative when Zhu Houcong personally interrogated them.

The reason is not that Zhu Houcong was so good at judging, but that he was the emperor. He might not have the power to overturn the table against a class, but in this era, he could overturn the table against an individual at will.

Just as Chongzhen was helpless against the interest groups behind Yuan Chonghuan, he could directly order the execution of Yuan Chonghuan himself.

If Zhu Houcong wanted, he could indeed deal with the two people in front of him at will.

After all, he has the right to interpret the law.

He can try cases however he wants and sentence them however he wants.

Yuanyin and Liu Zhu both understood, so they cooperated.

Zhu Houcong then asked Liu Zhu: "Are you also involved in the case of burning grain?"

When Liu Zhu heard Zhu Houcong's question, he couldn't help but fall silent.

"answer!"

Zhu Houcong's tone became stern.

Liu Zhu couldn't help but shudder.

He now wanted to deny it to avoid bearing greater sin, but he was also afraid that after he denied it, the emperor would know that he was lying and would punish him more severely.

But then he thought that it didn't matter whether he did it or not. What mattered now was to give the answer that the emperor wanted, so that he could hope that the emperor would show leniency.

Therefore, Liu Zhu replied, "It should be considered that they were involved, because the monk Fahui had a close relationship with Li Zhaohe, the nephew of Li Wenzhenggong of the previous emperor. They had been conspiring to burn grain for a long time and asked me to help keep an eye on everything in the Six Departments Corridor. I agreed, but I really didn't know they would burn grain on the night of the Lantern Festival."

The answer Zhu Houcong wanted was indeed the one given by Liu Zhu.

"So you are refuting me on their behalf, not on behalf of the people of the world?"

Zhu Houcong also asked with a smile.

"My lord is guilty!"

"I am sorry to your majesty, to my ancestors, and to the people of the world!"

Liu Zhu kowtowed repeatedly.

Zhu Houcong couldn't help but laugh and said, "I forgive you, your ancestors also forgive you, and the people of the world will forgive you even more, because you are exercising the power of sealing and rejecting in accordance with the system!"

Liu Zhu breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this.

He couldn't help but think to himself: "This is the answer that His Majesty really wants to give himself."

"However, I can only forgive you for not trusting the Jinyiwei and abusing the power of sealing and refutation."

"You are participating in the burning of grain and acting as an informant for the rebels. You cannot do that."

"If you burn grain, you must pay for it. You must pay ten times as much. If your own grain is not enough, your nine clans must pay for it."

"In addition, during the joint trial of the three judicial departments, you induced the Jinyiwei to control the person being tried and favored the person being tried. This is not an upright act."

"Serving as the spy for the rebels is disloyalty, and assassinating the Jinyiwei is disrespectful, but you are considered an accomplice, so you will not be sentenced to death, but your official position will be removed. Just like the Song Dynasty, all your writings will be destroyed, and you will be exiled to Liaodong like the common people. Go there to open up wasteland and experience the hardship of farming. Perhaps you will understand how serious a sin it is to burn grain!"

After Zhu Houcong finished speaking, he said, "Draft the decree just like this!"

"Yes!"

Liu Zhu also thanked him with tears in his eyes.

Now he can only be thankful that he is alive.

But what made him uncomfortable was...

All nine clans of his will have to pay compensation for grain!
And they have to pay ten times the grain!
This is simply sucking the marrow out of his family!

His clansmen will hate him to death for this, and I’m afraid they won’t let him celebrate the New Year or worship their ancestors.

Zhu Houcong then returned to Qingning Palace.

At the same time that Zhu Houcong returned to Qingning Palace, the Jinyiwei also began to send people to arrest Fahui and Li Zhaohe.

Fahui is now dealing with his temple property and selling it to wealthy families in the capital at crazy discounts.

However, Fahui's actions did attract the attention of the Jinyiwei in advance, causing them to send people to keep an eye on him, and the Jinyiwei also specifically informed Zhu Houcong of this matter.

Zhu Houcong ordered the Jinyiwei and the eunuchs in the inner court to send people to buy Fahui's property to use as palace property, and for this purpose he asked the Jinyiwei to take action later.

Fahui was eager to deal with his temple property, so he didn't care about so many things. He even sold the assets of powerful bureaucrats who did not belong to his temple in essence but were only managed by his temple at a low price to people in the palace.

After Fahui converted the silver he received into the silver exchange bills of the underground bank, he took his servants and concubines and left the city in a carriage, thinking happily:
"It is true that the timid will die of starvation and the bold will die of gluttony in this world. The Jinyiwei is not that powerful. I am afraid that Zhu Houcong will neither be able to catch me nor get my money this time."

But just as Fahui was thinking this proudly, he heard his servant come running over and say:

"Master, there are guards blocking our way ahead!"

(End of this chapter)