Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 158: Those who deceive their master are not worthy of being buried in the imperial land, Ming Dynasty Practical Politics School
When Shen Xueli saw the eunuch coming to see him, his heart tightened.

He has also heard some rumors about him these days.

Shen Xueli just thought that he was being bullied by those officials who were still angry about him because he was too serious when reviewing the Yellow Book.

Therefore, when the eunuchs came to find him, he could not help but think that the inner court also believed the rumor and came to investigate him for participating in the selection of the prince consort even though he knew that there was a serious illness in the world.

"The imperial decree has been issued to re-select a consort. After investigation by the Imperial Guards, it has been found that all the rumors about you were fabricated by others, so the Ministry of Rites has summoned you to the Internal Affairs Bureau to participate in the election again."

But after seeing him, the eunuch preached like this.

After hearing this, Shen Xueli half opened his mouth.

I was very surprised.

After he went to the Internal Affairs Bureau again to participate in the election, he learned from reading the newspaper that it was the people from the Internal Affairs Bureau who deceived the emperor in the selection of the son-in-law.

Moreover, Tang Chang, whom he had helped before, actually framed him and accused him of being the main person who bribed the Internal Affairs Bureau.

Shen Xueli also learned from the newspaper that after being investigated by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, it was discovered that Tang Chang was actually a clerk from Suzhou. He was married and even a widower whose wife had just committed suicide.

This made Shen Xueli gasp in amazement.

at the same time……

He couldn't help but curse: "There really aren't many good eunuchs! How dare they interfere in the matter of choosing a consort for the princess!"

Literati and scholars have always had a natural hostility towards eunuchs.

Even though Shen Xueli was upright and loyal, he was no exception.

especially……

He has not come into contact with many eunuchs now, so naturally he will instinctively be hostile to them.

"Your Majesty is truly wise and insightful!"

"So he was so careful and had long been on guard against the possibility of a traitor bullying the princess."

"The princess is lucky to have such a wise and compassionate king."

Shen Xueli also learned from the newspaper that the emperor was very concerned about the selection of a son-in-law. Not only did he personally inquire about it, he also asked the Jinyiwei to investigate secretly.

This made him see the emperor's cautious, wise and family-oriented side, and he sighed.

It's not just Shen Xueli.

This incident made both the court and the public more respectful of Zhu Houcong.

Because we have to admit that the reason why princesses suffered a lot and the selection of princes-in-law was manipulated in the past was actually largely because the emperor himself did not care enough and was not cautious enough about the matter.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness!"

Wu Yipeng, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, was also deeply moved after receiving Zhu Houcong's commendation order.

This made him even more certain that his choice was correct and that the emperor was indeed wise and upright and would not blindly favor the eunuchs.

Princess Yongfu was also very grateful to Zhu Houcong after learning the true situation of Tang Chang and Wu Jinghe.

She knew that her younger brother really cared about her lifelong happiness, just as he said.

"Thank goodness for your Majesty this time!"

this day.

When Zhu Houcong came to see her, she smiled and said to him, "It's just that your majesty's wedding date may have to be postponed again."

Zhu Houcong smiled and said, "It's okay. We can't rush my sister's marriage just because we are in a hurry to establish a queen and choose concubines."

Princess Yongfu smiled after hearing this.

This incident taught her a lesson.

It made her, a young girl in love, realize for the first time that human hearts are more complicated and evil than she had imagined.

This reduced her initial curiosity and desire to get married, and she even began to feel pressured and worried that she would be deceived.

The poems by candidates such as Tang Chang that Cui Wen brought with her also began to make her feel nauseous.

Zhu Houcong naturally had no time to care about the girl's thoughts. All he could do was try his best to make his royal family happier.

And he had to spend more time on reforming the empire.

Not only did he learn the details of Tang Chang, Wu Jinghe and others from Lu Bing, he also learned the content of the conversation between Wang Qiong and Wang Yangming from Lu Bing.

"The Ming Dynasty does not lack people to be officials, but it lacks people who can really be officials."

"The adjustment of the silver exchange rate in the southeast and the return of the fire consumption to the public cannot be achieved by relying on poor scholars, because no one knows whether those who oppose this will take any countermeasures."

"They are trying to manipulate even the selection of a prince consort, let alone something that affects their interests?"

After learning about these things, Zhu Houcong expressed his concerns to the Prime Minister Liang Chu when discussing matters in front of the cabinet ministers.

"We don't know how they will respond, but we know the next reforms and what is most critical for us."

Liang Chu spoke at this time.

Zhu Houcong looked at Liang Chu: "What is the most important thing?"

"Return to your majesty and give me a white list of taxes and services!"

"The Yellow Book has been destroyed because of the review system of the Imperial College students, and the system of checking the Yellow Book has become meaningless."

"The Yellow Books in many places were forged and forged, and the Yellow Books of the whole country stored in Nanjing Xuanwu Lake were also tampered with, and even eaten by rats and moths, and no one corrected it."

"This led local officials to simply make up their own tax and labor book when collecting taxes, so it was called the tax and labor white book."

"This tax and labor service register is the register that truly records the current land area and population situation of each prefecture, state, and county. It is the real basis for taxation."

"So, whether it's adjusting the silver conversion ratio or returning the fire consumption to the public, we need to use the tax and labor service white book as a reference."

Liang Chu was worried that Zhu Houcong was not clear about the specific details of taxation at the grassroots level, so he answered carefully.

Zhu Houcong nodded after hearing this and said: "Remind Zhu Xizhou to take care of the tax and labor service register!"

"Your Majesty, I have already reminded him before he left the capital."

Yang Yiqing replied at this time.

Zhu Houcong added: "But we cannot rule out that since they were able to make a large number of clerks disappear from the household register in a short period of time, they could also make a large number of tax and labor registers disappear as well."

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

"If that's the case, then we can only postpone the reform of converting silver into silver and returning the fire consumption to the public."

"We had no choice but to survey the land and population in the southeast first and create a new register."

Yang Yiqing replied.

At present, the Jiajing Dynasty only completed the survey of farmlands in the capital, namely Shuntian Prefecture, last year, and there was no nationwide large-scale survey.

Of course, a nationwide land survey is not realistic at present.

Even the land survey proposed by Yang Yiqing now only surveyed some areas in the southeast, which was like butchering an ox, step by step. Zhu Houcong stood up, put his hands behind his back, paced on the carpet and said: "Governors should plan ahead and be mentally prepared."

"I have heard this saying: It is better to say that the officials have the final say than I do in the imperial court, and it is better to say that the clerks have the final say than the bureaucrats do."

"As the saying goes, officials come and go, but clerks remain. Whether many things in the court can be accomplished and done well often depends on whether the clerks are willing to cooperate."

"These clerks are so powerful! One of them forced his wife to death, secretly changed his place of origin, and almost became my brother-in-law!"

Zhu Houcong turned around and walked back, saying a few words.

then.

Zhu Houcong sat back, pressed his hand to let the ministers sit back, and said with a smile:

"Some people also say that it is not so much the clerks who have the final say in this world, but rather the wealthy families who have the final say, because the clerks in this world are mostly from the ranks of the public servants, and most of them are the sons of wealthy families who are public servants."

"In this case, if I want to collect more money from these wealthy families, it is equivalent to asking them to voluntarily give me more money."

"Would they like it?"

"Of course I don't want to!"

Zhu Houcong began to answer his own questions, and then he spread out his robe and said:
"So, if we want to do this well, we can't use their people!"

"We must use the court's own people! People who sincerely want to make the country prosperous!"

"Your Majesty said so."

"If the big families in the southeast are sensible, the reform will stop at adjusting the silver exchange rate and returning the fire consumption to the public."

"If they don't know what's good for them, we can only re-survey the southeast, adjust the silver conversion ratio and the fire consumption to be returned to the public, and completely replace their people!"

"Just follow the example of our great ancestor and train the sons of the military to form the land surveying team, and send them to the countryside to do the land surveying! Then select young people from the Imperial Academy who are virtuous and have the ambition to pass the test for review!"

Yang Yiqing echoed at this time.

As far as Yang Yiqing can remember, there was only one successful survey of land in the world in hundreds of years.

That was the land survey during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang first established the garrison system, and then set up garrison schools in each garrison. After they had been trained, he sent the sons of military personnel to serve as the land surveying team, and directly skipped the clerks in the local government offices to carry out the land surveying.

Even the review, which was to check whether the military children in charge of the land survey had accepted bribes or committed fraud, was done by students selected from the Imperial Academy.

In this way, a thorough and successful census of land and population was truly completed in hundreds of years.

thus.

Only Yang Yiqing would say this at this time.

Zhu Houcong said: "Then prepare first. Wang Yangming went to Wang Qiong for help because he lacked a border. Internal reforms need good officials. We can't also go to Wang Qiong for recommendations. We can directly set up a school to train ruling officials."

"It just so happens that the provincial examinations across the country have just ended."

"So, issue an edict of grace."

"Among the failed juren, if they pass the second list twice in a row, if they are children of military personnel, they will be given the title of juren as an exception and selected to attend the school. After graduation, they can be granted the same status as jinshi and directly appointed as officials!"

"in addition!"

"All the students of the Imperial Academy who have registered and participated in the Yellow Book Review, if they are Gongjian, will be granted the title of Juren and selected into the school. After graduation, they can be granted the title of Tongjinshi and then be appointed as officials! If they are Jujian, they will be selected into the school and after graduation, they can be directly granted the title of Jinshi."

"Among the military children, those who pass the second list once can be directly selected into the Imperial Academy because their ancestors have fought for the country!"

Zhu Houcong did this in order to admit more people who were very eager to become officials and had some ability, especially military scholars, as an exception, in preparation for the possible future land survey in the southeast.

In addition, there are students of the Imperial College who have voluntarily signed up for the review of the Yellow Book.

Because he was on the second place in the provincial examination, it means that he took the examination more than once, and his perseverance and desire to improve were very high.

Being able to make the second place list also shows that the writing skills are not too bad among the students.

Reviewing the Yellow Book is a tough job, a tough job that offends people, and now it is purely voluntary labor with no benefits.

Therefore, if a student of the Imperial College is willing to sign up for the review of the Yellow Book, it can only mean that this person truly cares about the national interests of the Ming Empire and does not care about personal gains and losses.

Such students naturally deserve special treatment.

All the ministers in power had to kneel down and praise him sincerely: "Your Majesty's kindness to scholars is as great as a mountain. We, the ministers, thank Your Majesty for your great grace on behalf of the scholars of the world!"

Zhu Houcong's edict was indeed a favor. After all, for many scholars who ranked second on the list of provincial examinations, it was not because of their low level but because of the limited number of places.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong's decree was equivalent to increasing the number of juren candidates.

Zhu Houcong named the school the Daming Practical Politics School.

As the name suggests, it is a place to cultivate officials' practical administrative capabilities.

This is because most of the scholars who passed the imperial examinations had good attainments in classics but lacked practical experience.

After making this decision, Zhu Houcong returned to Qingning Palace.

On the way back, Huang Jin said, "Your Majesty, Cui Wen wants to see you!"

"He still has the nerve to see me?"

Zhu Houcong's face darkened and he said, "Pass on my decree. He will be beaten to death, his entire family will be executed, and then cremated. Such a person who betrays his master cannot be buried in the imperial land!"

Huang Jin couldn't help but agree solemnly after hearing this.

Cui Wen was punished, and Tang Chang and others were also sent to the Three Courts for interrogation.

Hua Wei, a clerk from the Ministry of Revenue, and other clerks involved in the incident were also sent to the Three Judicial Departments for interrogation.

In addition, the Jinyiwei went to the southeast to arrest Hua Bangrui, who was in collusion with Tang Chang.

Let’s talk.

At this time, Hua Bangrui only received a letter from Tang Chang that he had passed the preliminary selection for the prince consort, and he didn't know anything else, so he was very happy.

What made him even happier was that at this time, a raging fire was burning in the Jiage warehouse in Yingtian Prefecture.

Because it was he who secretly asked the clerks here to start the fire.

Jiageku is where local government offices store tax and labor service books, and all tax and labor service blank books are kept here.

He did this in order to prevent Zhu Xizhou from representing the court and joining forces with poor scholars to implement the new policy of modifying the silver exchange rate and returning the fire consumption to the public.

Zhu Xizhou was also beside him at this time, and he was gritting his teeth, grabbing the collar of the Yingtian prefect, and shouting: "You have ruined the country's affairs! You deserve to die! I have warned you again and again!"

The other officials of Yingtian all knelt down and said, "Please calm down, Governor! We have been busy with the provincial examinations recently, so we have been negligent."

Hua Bangrui couldn't help but laugh secretly.

But this time.

Jinyiwei Zhu Qi came over to him and grabbed his shoulders:

"Hua Bangrui! We are under the Emperor's order to capture the criminal. Come with us!"

(End of this chapter)