Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 198 Kill all the traitors and hypocrites! Reduce rent and interest!

"Lord Huian Liu Jian?"

"A final copy?"

"Liu Jian passed away?"

The court officials were horrified.

At this time, Huang Jin had already recalled Liu Jian's last words.

"Many of the ministers in the court are gentlemen in name only, but in reality most of them are wolves. They take it as an honor to deceive the emperor and plot rebellion, and they take it as a shame to be with the emperor and love the people."

"Inconsistent words and deeds, hypocritical and cunning, disrespectful and incestuous."

“That’s why there are so many hypocrites!”

"I am extremely disappointed with the scholars and officials of the world, so I will not stop your majesty from severely punishing the treasonous nobles in the south of the Yangtze River. I also beg your majesty to use strict laws to punish all the hypocrites in the world. No matter whether they are old scholars or veterans, if they are not killed, the world will not be clean and upright!"

……

After Huang Jin finished reading, many court officials were stunned.

Some ministers who had just stepped out to plead for Jiang Mian began to tremble and could not help but move their feet back, fearing that the emperor would use the dying words of the two prime ministers to punish them as sympathizers of the rebel party.

"You all asked me not to kill Jiang Mian, but according to Lord Huian's last words, if I don't kill him, it won't be enough to make the world clean and upright, and it won't be enough to let the light of the true gentlemen in the world be seen!"

"You are all pleading for the traitor today. It seems that you are all hypocritical and disloyal as Lord Huian said!"

Zhu Houcong stood up at this time and suddenly said in a deep voice.

At this time, Zhang Fujing, the Minister of the Dali Temple, stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, I think what Huian said is absolutely right!"

"In any case, Lord Huian was the Prime Minister of two dynasties. He is a model of gentlemen in the world and truly represents the public opinion of gentlemen in the world. Therefore, if Your Majesty really wants to treat the literati with courtesy, you should treat gentlemen with courtesy and follow their advice, rather than simply indulging the scoundrels among the literati, which will only ruin the reputation of the literati among the people of the world!"

"As the saying goes in the late Yuan Dynasty: 'There are too many officials and too few people. If we beat them three times a day, how can we not fight back?' If we really allow the number of hypocrites in the literati circle to continue to increase, when the common people no longer trust us literati and officials and only hate us literati and officials who only treat them harshly, I am afraid that by then, people will be everywhere fighting against the people, and the Ming Dynasty will be destroyed one day!"

"In my opinion, Jiang Mian is a hypocrite! These people are also hypocrites. If we kill them, the world will not rebel!"

"But if we don't kill them, the world will surely see more rebellious people because of the grace of drowning!"

After Zhang Fujing said this, Zhu Houcong looked at Mao Ji and asked, "What do you think, Prime Minister?"

Mao Ji wanted to pretend to faint right now, but he didn't dare to do so in front of an emperor like Zhu Houcong, so he could only grit his teeth and say:
"Your Majesty, according to the eight discussions, there are discussions on relatives, discussions on old acquaintances, discussions on virtue, discussions on ability, discussions on merit, discussions on nobility, discussions on diligence, and discussions on guests."

"Jiang Mian is not your Majesty's relative, nor is he your Majesty's old friend, so he is not included in the discussion of relatives or old friends."

"It is needless to say whether Jiang Mian was a virtuous man or not. He had already planned to kill the king, so he could hardly be called a virtuous man. As for his ability, he did not show his talent during his time as a cabinet minister! After all, it was Zhang Fujing who pointed out the drawbacks of the grand ceremony, and it was Yang Yiqing who pointed out the drawbacks of the money law;"

"As for discussing his achievements, he did not make any achievements before or after he became the Prime Minister;"

"If you are discussing your case, he is not a person who holds a hereditary official title;"

"He has been diligent in discussing matters. He has not been to as many courts as his counterparts in the cabinet. He cannot be considered diligent."

"The late emperor did not praise him."

"It can be said that he is not among the eight."

"On the contrary, the two dynasties' Prime Minister Liu Gong is among the eight deliberations. Your Majesty cannot but respect his opinion."

"Therefore, Jiang Mian cannot be forgiven, and neither can those who make suggestions on behalf of the traitors!"

Mao Ji knew that one day he would have to retire and become the chief minister in the opposition, so he still had to maintain Liu Jian's authority.

After all, he didn't want his dying advice as the prime minister of the previous dynasty to be thrown away by the new emperor if there was a change of dynasty in the future.

"Just as Yuan Fu said, even if we consider this matter as the favor of the Eight Councils, Jiang Mian is not worthy of it!"

"Besides, even if we talk about the Eight Discussions, how can a traitor who spied on the palace and had the intention to kill the king not die?"

"What Huian said is also true!"

When Zhu Houcong got to this point, he said:

"Therefore, those who intercede for the traitors will be imprisoned, and the three judges will be reappointed. The traitors and those who sympathize with them will all be sentenced to death!"

"Punish Jiang Mian's entire clan in Donglai!"

"Order his confession and charges to be published in a book, and attach the advice of Lord Huian, as well as my sacred edict. All future monarchs and ministers who disregard the dignity of their ancestors and forcibly overturn his verdict will be regarded as unworthy and incompetent monarchs and disloyal and treacherous ministers. All virtuous people in the world can raise an army to punish them! This book will be distributed throughout the country and engraved on the stele forests of various schools and academies. This book will be named "Records of Awakening from Delusion" to clear out false words and correct people's hearts!"

Minister of Justice Yan Yishou, Left Censor-in-Chief Li Kun and others knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, please show mercy! Although Lord Huian was the prime minister of two dynasties, this man has misled the late emperor. His words should not be listened to!"

"presumptuous!"

Zhu Houcong shouted, "How could the two previous emperors be so wise and powerful that they could be misled by Lord Huian? Lord Huian, as the prime minister of two dynasties, only represents the wisdom of the two previous emperors! If you slander Lord Huian, you are slandering the two previous emperors!"

"It is indeed a great rebellion, it is not unjust to kill him, drag him away!"

"Yes!"

Anyway, Liu Jian is dead now, and Zhu Houcong doesn't care about the consequences of flattering Liu Jian.

He can't just allow the civil servants to use Liu Jian to deal with him as the emperor, but not allow him to use Liu Jian to deal with these civil servants, right?

Yan Yishou and others were completely desperate.

But they really didn't expect Liu Jian to do this.

The ministers who had not yet stood up could not help but sigh that the emperor was so resourceful that they had no way out.

After all, when the next emperor takes the throne, even if he is an easy-to-control monarch, they will not be able to cleanse Jiang Mian. You know, one of the reasons why many conservative civil servants are not afraid of failure is that they believe that the world will still be dominated by conservatives in the future. The emperor who comes after him will most likely become a conservative monarch who is not actively innovating, and may even hand over all power to the conservative monarch, so that they can restore their reputation as conservative civil servants.

But now, once such an order is issued to the world, it will undoubtedly make it very difficult to restore Jiang Mian's reputation in the future.

"Your Majesty really hates me to the core!"

"Woo!"

After learning of this decree, Jiang Mian burst into tears on the spot.

And Mao Ji is now deeply afraid of Zhu Houcong.

After all, he didn't know whether Zhu Houcong would use cruel and harsh means to deal with him that he could not imagine if he offended him.

Therefore, although Mao Ji wanted to be conservative and be a prime minister, he knew that the emperor wanted the prime minister to do something and make achievements, and was only willing to show great favor to the prime minister who made achievements, so he had to take the initiative to ask for permission:

"Your Majesty, lending to the royal family is to help the people and to promote the effect of reducing interest rates among the people. Therefore, please issue an imperial decree to strictly prohibit the royal family from lending at the original market interest rate after receiving low-interest loans, or even colluding with the government to crack down on private lending, in order to monopolize the lending market and exploit the people with higher interest rates. In addition, if the governor encounters royal family members, nobles, or even eunuchs lending at low interest rates and it is illegal, they can be arrested first and then reported."

"allow!"

Zhu Houcong was very welcoming to Mao Ji's initiative to ask the civil service bureaucracy to supervise the royal family and noble officials.

After all, he didn't want these royal relatives and noble officials to do anything wrong when lending at low interest rates.

However, in Zhu Houcong's view, killing Jiang Mian and others was meaningful, at least it would force his successor Mao Ji to work more seriously.

"Helping the people reduce their interest rates is to promote the benefit of their livelihood, not to really take away their benefit."

"The same is true of land reclamation. It was originally intended to relieve the suffering of the common people and curb annexation."

"Therefore, the cabinet issued an order to have the Southeast Governor Zhu Xizhou divide the people in the land that has been surveyed into five categories according to the number of acres of land and population. Odd households are not included in the fifth category, but are listed as households for support."

"The silver from the annual fire consumption will be allocated to the poorhouse in proportion, so that the poorhouse can provide regular subsidies to these poor households."

"In addition, the fifth-class households will be exempted from unpaid taxes and levies before the first year of the Jiajing reign, and the fourth-class households will have their taxes reduced by half."

"In addition, the rent of the official land measured after the first year of Jiajing was reduced to the same tax as the land of the common people, so as to avoid the fact that no one would be willing to cultivate the official land after the price was raised."

"In short, one of the tasks this year is to ensure that rent and interest reductions occur on a large scale, so that the people of the country can breathe a sigh of relief and save some money. This way, more children from poor families can afford to go to school, culture and education can flourish, and there will be more loyal and courageous people."

After Zhu Houcong said this, Mao Ji immediately bowed and said, "Your Majesty is kind and loving to the people, and your plans are far-reaching. Heaven should be moved, and all the people should also be moved to tears for such a loving monarch and father!"

As Mao Ji spoke, he choked up and was about to cry.

Although there was an element of deliberate showmanship in his words, he also sincerely felt that the emperor before him valued the common people of the world very much, and he did not bear a grudge against the people of Nanzhi because of the unrest caused by the scholars and people of Nanzhi. Instead, he continued to show kindness and make concessions to them.

In Mao Ji's view, no matter how reluctant this emperor was to give up power to the literati, at least he was focusing on the right path. Even if he did not give up on reform, he would not let the world become too bad, and perhaps he could really make the Ming Dynasty truly revive.

"And if rent and interest reductions are to be effective, it may not only require the governor to supervise the royal family and noble officials."

"After all, the ones who are really affected are the local tycoons and wealthy families, especially those temples and Taoist temples that use the names of Bodhisattvas, immortals and gods to lend money to the common people!"

"So we have to make this happen, and also prevent them from deliberately ruining my plans!"

"I intend to use the local financial resources that will be increased after the fire consumption is returned to the public to increase the salaries of local officials. In addition, by increasing the number of local officials, we cannot always have to send troops to maintain public order, which will cost more."

"What does the Prime Minister think?"

Zhu Houcong now had a very detailed understanding of the Ming Dynasty's official system, and knew that the biggest problem with the Ming Dynasty's official system was not only the problem of corruption, but also the problem of too few middle and lower-level officials.

The latter leads to serious erosion of grassroots power by local big players!

This is related to the fact that Zhu Yuanzhang initially established the Ming Dynasty in a small government model.

He even initially gave the power to levy taxes directly to private grain officials without allowing officials to participate.

Even the grassroots judicial power was proactively delegated to the people, allowing village elders to resolve disputes and conflicts among the people first, and then report those that could not be resolved to the county. County magistrates and other officials were strictly prohibited from going to the countryside, which meant that Zhu Yuanzhang had already allowed gentry to govern themselves.

Therefore, if Zhu Houcong wants to succeed in reducing rent and interest and let the people really enjoy the benefits of rent and interest reduction, he has to increase the salaries of local officials, make it more difficult for local officials to be bribed, and at the same time increase the number of local officials to prevent low-interest loans from failing to reach the countryside.

Mao Ji replied, "Your Majesty, this is a wise policy, but the fire consumption silver is limited, so how much to increase the salaries of local officials and how many local officials to increase must be carefully considered. It cannot be implemented all over the country suddenly, nor can it be decided suddenly."

"I know, we can start with a pilot program in one province."

Zhu Houcong replied.

Although the provincial administrative agencies of the Ming Dynasty were called the Provincial Administration Commission, the Censorate, and the Military Command Commission, they were often referred to as provinces in normal times. This was mainly influenced by the Yuan Dynasty, and people all over the world were accustomed to using this abbreviation to refer to the provincial administrative regions.

After Zhu Houcong said this, he looked at the "Kunyu Wanguo Quantu" posted on the wall and said, "When Huguang is prosperous, the whole world is well-fed. The foundation of the world is food. Since Huguang is the main grain producing area of ​​the current dynasty and it is also my hidden dragon place, let's start with a pilot project here and let the governor of Huguang try to do this first."

Mao Ji agreed, and therefore drafted an imperial decree ordering the governor of Huguang to come to Beijing.

A month later, when the governor of Huguang went to Beijing, Guo Xun was also escorted to Beijing.

Zhu Houcong therefore summoned Guo Xun and asked him, "How dare you withhold the military pay of my Mighty Camp? You are so bold."

"I know the crime!"

Guo Xun went directly to visit the man lying in the tunnel.

Zhu Houcong snorted, "It's fine if you just embezzle money, but why don't you let the civil servants sue you first before I send the Jinyiwei to deal with you?"

"Because I know that Your Majesty wants to continue to reform the Ming Dynasty, for example, he wants to thoroughly survey the land in the world! Therefore, I need to make sure that the ministers who are willing to reform the system for Your Majesty can also gain the favor of the military schools, to prevent villains from using the reform to stir up resentment among the soldiers, and then blame the resentment on the officials who reformed the system, and then use the military to resist the reform!"

Guo Xun replied.

Zhu Houcong thought of several military mutinies in the early Jiajing period and nodded, looking at Guo Xun with a serious expression.

(End of this chapter)