Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 193: The Zhu clan showed favor, clearly distinguished between rewards and punishments, and gave the prince consort a task!
Zhu Houcong waved his hand and told the Jinyiwei not to take any action yet.

then.

Zhu Houcong turned around and looked at Princess Yongfu: "What do you want to say, sister?"

"I, I choose to believe the Prince Consort!"

After Yongfu answered with gritted teeth, he couldn't help but hold the handkerchief in his hand tighter.

"Really?"

Zhu Houcong asked.

Princess Yongfu hummed.

Zhu Houcong looked at Duan Yuhong and Shen Xueli.

"Lu Bing!"

"Chen is here!"

Duan Yuhong couldn't help but close her eyes and grit her teeth.

Shen Xueli shed tears of joy.

"I'm asking Duan Yuhong why she wrongly accused the prince consort!"

"If beating doesn't work, try other means!"

As Zhu Houcong said this, he asked Princess Yongfu to enter the palace with him.

"Yes!"

"Your Highness!"

"what!"

"Your Highness, why don't you choose me? I'm just a little stricter!"

Duan Yuhong screamed and complained.

……

……

Zhu Houcong brought Princess Yongfu to Wu Dongqin.

Zhu Houcong asked: "Do you know the inside story?"

"Know!"

Wu Dongqin replied with clenched fists.

Zhu Houcong asked again: "Does it have anything to do with the prince consort?"

Wu Dongqin shook her head.

"Who does that concern?"

Zhu Houcong asked.

Wu Dongqin said, "Slave, I only heard Ms. Duan and a eunuch talking about the old man in secret."

"Mr. Ge?"

Zhu Houcong then looked solemn.

This actually has something to do with the cabinet minister?
Although, Zhu Houcong had already suspected that his sister's request for reward was not just because her servants were greedy and took advantage of her weak character, but it might be related to the outer court.

However, after Zhu Houcong learned that it might be related to the cabinet ministers, he still felt mixed emotions.

Because disciplining cabinet ministers is a very important and serious matter.

After all, the cabinet ministers themselves are very complicated. They are not only the emperor's close ministers, but also important leaders of the outer court.

Princess Yongfu also frowned.

She also didn't expect that the people in her princess mansion were actually related to the elders in the cabinet; and that an elder from the outer court would actually place spies in her princess mansion!
She grew up in a prince's palace, and in the more than a year since she followed her brother Zhu Houcong to Beijing when he became emperor, she encountered more complicated things than in her entire life.

Therefore, this forced her, who had always had a simple mind, to refresh her cognition again.

……

"It was the elder who told us to do this."

"I am a relative of the Chief Justice Wen Jing, and he told me to listen to the Lord."

"In fact, he had known the elder in the inner study hall long before he was sent to Prince Xing's palace."

"He said that the elder cabinet had ordered that Your Highness should ask for it first, because Your Highness is the Emperor's elder sister. From the selection of the consort, it can be seen that the Emperor cares a lot about this elder sister. So as long as Your Highness asks for it, the Emperor will find it difficult to refuse. Then, once the Emperor has opened the door, they can instigate other relatives of the Emperor to ask for it!"

"This will allow more royal relatives and even local princes to take the money from Jiangnan in large quantities, reducing the chance of it turning into silver dollars and flowing into the hands of the common people in the future."

"He told me not to worry too much, saying that I knew His Highness's personality best, so I just did what he asked."

outside.

Duan Yuhong couldn't stand the beating, so she confessed the truth.

Zhu Houcong had someone bring the roster of the princess's mansion and put it in front of Wu Dongqin, asking her to identify which people in the princess's mansion had followed Duan Yuhong in being disrespectful to the eldest princess and had private contact with outsiders, and which people had suffered injustices and beatings for the eldest princess.

Wu Dongqin also pointed them out one by one.

Zhu Houcong therefore walked out with the list and heard what Duan Yuhong said.

"Lu Bing!"

"Chen is here!"

"Immediately arrest the eunuch named Wen Jing from the inner court!"

"in addition!"

"Huang Jin, according to this list, except for Duan Yuhong, drag out all those marked with a cross and beat them to death!"

"For those who tick the box, all will be rewarded with silver dollars ranging from fifty to one hundred silver dollars according to their ranks, and two pieces of silk, and one more man of their family will be exempted from military service!"

After Zhu Houcong said this, the Jinyiwei, amidst the cries of begging for mercy and thanks, followed Huang Jin's instructions and took out the unruly servants from the princess's mansion.

The Ming Dynasty was a world with strict hierarchy.

Zhu Houcong could not challenge the order and rules of this world, so naturally he did not need to show too much humanitarian care to some of his servants.

What's more...

In his opinion, as household slaves and people at the bottom of the palace, they obviously need to abide by the rules in order to protect themselves, but they still dare to challenge the rules. To be lenient with them will only aggravate the evil of their nature!
Therefore, Zhu Houcong believed that he only needed to clearly distinguish between rewards and favors, severely punishing those who did not abide by the rules, but rewarding those who abided by and upheld the rules.

In short, although he is mean, he is not ungrateful.

Subsequently.

Zhu Houcong looked at Duan Yuhong again.

At this time, Duan Yuhong had no choice but to shout: "Your Majesty, please spare my life. I will never dare to do it again!"

Zhu Houcong simply ordered: "Beat him to death, confiscate his property, and kill all his nine clans!"

"Yes!"

"Your Highness, save me!"

"Your Highness, save me!"

Duan Yuhong was dragged out, and she kept shouting as she was dragged out.

Princess Yongfu didn't say anything, she just hid in the house and covered her ears. An hour later.

Snapped!
clap clap!

Followed by a series of beating sounds.

Duan Yuhong and others were beaten to death in the endless dark cell of the imperial prison.

"I have long felt that there is something wrong with this princess training system, but I have been preoccupied with the affairs of the previous dynasty these days. I also feel that a system that has been in place for hundreds of years must have its reasons, and it is not good to change it without a serious investigation. But now that I think about it, although some of these problems may not affect a large number of people, they are life-threatening problems for those affected!"

"It was my negligence!"

"Huang Jin, tell the Imperial Household Department that there will no longer be any female historians for teaching and guiding people, and the consort does not need to notify the princess when he sees her."

Zhu Houcong brought Princess Yongfu and her husband Shen Xueli back to the palace, mentioned the princess training system, and then gave instructions to Huang Jin.

Huang Jin nodded in agreement.

Princess Yongfu and her husband Shen Xueli were delighted when they heard this.

Zhu Houcong said to Princess Yongfu and her husband Shen Xueli: "As for the reward, I plan to change it into a low-interest loan to you, with an annual interest rate of one-third of thirty."

"Your Majesty, the reward was given by Madam. I don't need it anymore."

Princess Yongfu said.

Zhu Houcong said with his hands behind his back: "Since my sister has submitted the petition, I cannot really give her nothing. After all, all the royal relatives in the world are watching. But I cannot give her directly, as this will ruin the country's plans. If I just give her a low-interest loan, it will not ruin the country's plans, but will help the country's plans!"

"You should understand, Prince Consort, that if I lend you 500,000 silver dollars at a rate of 1 in 30, what is the point of lending it out at even 1 in 20?"

After Zhu Houcong said this, Shen Xueli bowed and said:
"Your Majesty is wise! This will be a great help to farmers!"

"After all, the people of the world have been short of money for a long time, especially in the north!"

"But there are many times when ordinary people really need money. For example, when they need to go far away, such as to the county town to buy a working ox, they can't really bring a big bag of rice with them, so they can only borrow money, and the interest rates offered by the gentry are extremely high!"

"That's right!"

"So, I will give you a low-interest loan, but I won't give you a reward directly. My dear Prince Consort, you should prepare for this."

Zhu Houcong said.

"Yes!"

Soon after this, the Forbidden City fell into night.

As promised, Zhu Houcong set up a banquet in Qingning Palace to entertain Princess Yongkang and her husband Cui Yuan, as well as Princess Yongfu and her husband Shen Xueli.

Princess Yongkang was the second daughter of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty and the aunt of Zhu Houzhao.

And his son-in-law Cui Yuan was also conferred the title of Jingshan Marquis by Zhu Houcong in May last year, and was in charge of the clan affairs, because he did not agree with Mao Cheng's proposal to have Zhu Houcong enter the capital through Dong'anmen with the ceremony of crown prince when welcoming Zhu Houcong to the throne.

of course.

Zhu Houcong extended such favor to him with the intention of getting him to support his reform.

And now.

Zhu Houcong summoned him and Shen Xueli to see him to discuss the land survey and verification.

Since it was a casual banquet, it was not particularly sumptuous and was similar to a family banquet.

After eating some frosted rabbit specially prepared in the palace and two bowls of water chestnut rice porridge, Zhu Houcong first mentioned to Princess Yongkang and her husband Cui Yuan that there would be no more teaching female historians.

They were both very happy.

Zhu Houcong then said to the two of them, "I intend to let my uncle and Shen Fuma be responsible for the land survey and verification in the future. What do you think?"

Cui Yuan and Shen Xueli were both shocked.

"You all know that the current land survey in the southeast is in the charge of the noble Wuding Marquis Guo Xun and the troops I have assigned to him."

"But the matter of reviewing the land survey cannot be handed over to him, nor can it be handed over to local officials, lest local officials collude with local tyrants and deliberately say that the land survey was wrong."

"In this matter, we can only send you, the royal relatives, to lead the students of the Imperial Academy."

Zhu Houcong said.

Cui Yuan couldn't help but say at this time: "But the prince consort cannot interfere in government affairs."

"This is not a government matter. This is a temporary assignment. I will return after reviewing it. It is just like asking you to perform sacrifices on my behalf."

"After all, according to the system of land survey established by Taizu, land survey is conducted only once every ten years. This is equivalent to asking you to go to the local area for review once every ten years, and you don't have to stay there for a long time."

"It is precisely because you do not stay in the local area for a long time and do not usually get involved in political affairs, so letting you lead the students of the Imperial College can better guarantee the results of the survey."

"Besides, you are the royal family after all. You will rise and fall with the royal family. If I let you review it, I'm sure you will be more serious and I will be more assured."

"Besides, given your noble status, it would be difficult to bribe the local tyrants."

"This way, the imperial court will be able to reward you with additional titles every ten years, giving you the opportunity to make progress!"

Zhu Houcong said.

After listening to Zhu Houcong, Cui Yuan understood what the emperor meant and felt that what the emperor said made sense. It seemed that only people like them were suitable to do this. This also made him feel that this would make the princes-in-law of his consort no longer afraid of civil officials. He was quite happy about this and thought that even if a nationwide land survey was required in the future, he would have to support it!

Shen Xueli was even a little excited because he felt that he could finally continue to do something for the court.

"Your Majesty is right. As long as the imperial edict is issued, I will not dare to disobey it and will review it carefully!"

Cui Yuan replied first.

Shen Xueli followed up and said, "The same goes for me."

"Well, since my uncle is in charge of the Imperial Clan Court, he can select some Yibin who are of suitable age and have good counting skills to come to the capital. Then we can participate in the review together. By the way, we can also see whether the Yibin selected by the local officials and the royal palace have carefully selected those with good character and appearance."

Zhu Houcong said.

Cui Yuan bowed and said yes.

Letting civil officials collect taxes, nobles lead the official army to survey the land, and royal relatives review the land was a strategy that Zhu Houcong had thought of long ago.

No matter which group these people who were paid by the emperor belonged to, they had to work. Even though they were royal relatives and could not be directly responsible for government affairs, they still had to do some temporary tasks.

Zhu Houcong was also learning from the civil servants.

Because the civil officials had long creatively asked the nobles and relatives to perform some temporary sacrificial activities.

In the Ming Empire, which ruled the world with rituals, there were many sacrificial activities every year, so the nobles and relatives of the emperor would basically have a turn to participate in a sacrificial activity and would not receive salaries in vain.

That night.

Zhu Houcong asked the Imperial Household Department to write down his intention in a handwritten note and have the Secretariat deliver it to the Cabinet the next day.

That night, he went to the Western Six Palaces and came to Wanpin, who was one of the nine concubines taken in by Zhu Houcong.

"Blessings to your majesty!"

Wanpin bowed to Zhu Houcong.

Zhu Houcong smiled slightly, sat on the couch where Wanpin usually sat, dismissed the attendants, and said, "You should know why I am here."

"I know this."

Wanpin replied and had to make tea for Zhu Houcong herself.

After Zhu Houcong took the tea, he asked, "Did you find anything?"

Wanpin replied, "There is a person named Qu Cuixiang who is acting suspiciously!"

(End of this chapter)