Jiajing Chengming

Zhou Yong was panicked and knelt down hurriedly: "Minister, please allow me to report that in fact, the area around Jizhou and Changping has always consumed Huai salt. I was afraid that I would embarrass you, so I lied and said it was Hejian salt! Please forgive me for my crime of deception."

"According to the court's regulations, only Hejian salt can be sold here. Why did you change to Huai salt?"

Yan Song asked.

Zhou Yong replied: "First, Huai salt is cheaper, and second, Huai salt is mostly controlled by wealthy and powerful families. The Hejian salt merchants are weak and naturally cannot compete with them."

"Get up."

Yan Song waved his hand.

then.

After Zhou Yong stood up, he said to him, "You go meet these wealthy merchants and tell them that I will not send troops to arrest them or confiscate their property, but they must pay taxes and accept the fine. The salt voucher is used as proof, and the fine is five dou of grain for each voucher. This will save both sides' faces, and there is no need to fight to the death. As long as they can give me a good report in front of Your Majesty, I will turn a blind eye to them."

Zhou Qiyong bowed and said yes.

Not two days later.

Zhou Yong then went to Yan Song and said, "Minister, they are willing to pay the tax and accept the punishment, but the price of grain is high now, so they only want to pay two dou of grain per head."

"Sandou!"

"It can't be any lower, otherwise we will have no choice but to raid their homes, no matter who is behind them."

Yan Song said in a deep voice.

"Yes!"

Within a day, all the wealthy merchants who sold Huai salt agreed to Yan Song's request and paid the fine grain in the form of three dou of salt for one yin.

Yan Song also got a lot of food because of this.

But the wealthy businessmen were not happy about this.

The wealthy merchant Bai Cang found the Ministry of Revenue Inspector Bai Qi and told him about this matter, saying, "Yan Fenyi is asking us to pay grain in the name of our illegal sale of Huai salt. We dare not refuse, but this way, we will not be able to take advantage of the court's large-scale construction of the border wall to earn more official money."

"Yan Fenyi knows his limits and did not report the illegal salt sales of the wealthy and powerful families directly."

Bai Qi replied with a smile.

Shirakura echoed, "He knows his limits, but he is too naive to think that we would be willing to take less profit just because he is a minister."

"Yes, whether he can give an explanation to the court or not, what does it have to do with us?"

"Does he really dare to break up with the Ministry of Revenue?"

"He should know that it is precisely because he was not elected by the bureaucrats and gentry that he was unable to obtain grain from the Ministry of Revenue and only received silver dollars. Therefore, he must be dismissed! Only if he is dismissed will the bureaucrats and gentry let him go."

Bai Qi echoed and sneered as he spoke: "He actually wants to save himself!"

"So, I say he is still a little naive. He is still thinking about struggling and keeping his official position!"

"Little did they know that based on his relationship with Zhang Fujing, the bureaucrats and gentry in the world would not tolerate him, otherwise they would not have transferred him to Nandu long before Yang Xindu retired!"

"He is a man who really wants to be an official!"

Shirakura also continued.

At this time, Bai Qi instructed Bai Cang, "Then you should write to the Censorate and accuse him of imposing extra penalties to enrich himself!"

"At that time, the Ministry of Revenue will ask Your Majesty to punish Yan Fenyi for the income from their own silver tribute. Yan Fenyi is a sensible person. I believe he will understand the intentions of the bureaucrats and gentry and resign on his own initiative."

"it is good!"

"Your Majesty, according to the report of the Censorate, the salt merchant Bai Cang reported that the governor of Jiliao, Baoding and other places, who was also in charge of military affairs and grain and salaries, Yan Song, was fined extra in order to raise grain and fodder."

Royal study room.

Zhu Houcong learned about this matter through Gui E, the minister of the Imperial Study, that day.

Zhu Houcong asked, "What does the Ministry of Revenue think of this matter?"

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Revenue discussed the matter and thought that the court had allocated funds to Yan Song to raise grain, so why did they impose a fine on him for no reason other than the price of salt? Therefore, they believed that Yan Song was fined without reason and should be ordered to file a complaint."

Yang Yiqing replied.

Zhu Houcong was upset after hearing this: "This Yan Song, is this how he works as an official? He has money to raise grain, but he still imposes extra penalties on merchants. He really only knows how to plunder merchants when he encounters problems."

Yang Yiqing replied, "But Yan Song was appointed by Your Majesty after all. If he punishes merchants for no reason and ruins the court's salt policy because of his incompetence and desire to enrich himself, it will only damage Your Majesty's dignity and give officials all over the country a reason to refuse Your Majesty's special appointment. So in my opinion, it is best to follow the Ministry of Revenue's wishes and order Yan Song to submit his report."

"Then do it."

Zhu Houcong also frowned slightly after saying this.

He was indeed worried that Yan Song would do something that would harm business and benefit himself. Therefore, he did not speak for Yan Song openly, but deliberately added a hint of disappointment to his tone after Yang Yiqing's words.

After all, he knew that Yan Song was indeed a greedy person in history, and he also liked to do things like infringing on the interests of businessmen.

Snapped!
After Yan Song received the imperial edict, he slammed the table with his palm.

His face was terrifyingly gloomy.

Of course, he did not look unhappy because Emperor Jiajing did not trust him and asked him to testify.

He looked unhappy because the wealthy businessman Shirakura reported the matter to the court.

This made Yan Song realize that he had been tricked by these people.

Yan Shifan, who was following Yan Song, came over and asked, "What happened to father?"

Seeing that Yan Shifan was almost as tall as himself, Yan Song softened his expression and handed the imperial edict to Yan Shifan:

"Look, this is a good opportunity to test your intelligence."

"Yes!"

Yan Shifan took the red-inked draft and began to read it.

Yan Song couldn't help but asked with a smile after a while: "Shifan, what do you think?"

"Do you think that the Cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue are quite considerate of your father, so they only let your father file a petition and explain himself, instead of believing the words of a merchant and sending people to investigate directly?"

"Father, I don't think so!"

Yan Shifan replied with a serious look.

Yan Song was stunned. He looked at Yan Shifan and said with a smile, "Then tell me about it."

"I feel that these are the honest officials in the court who are relied upon by the bureaucrats and gentry of the world. They do not want you to continue to be an official, and want you to resign voluntarily!"

"The cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue are not sympathetic to you. They are just afraid of the emperor's majesty and dare not express their attitude directly. They may be pretending to be fair in order to guess the emperor's intention, or they may be afraid of the Qingliu and do not want to cause trouble."

Yan Shifan replied.

Yan Song laughed in surprise and asked, "Then how do you think your father should report it?"

"They are targeting my father because they are targeting Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty allowed my father to ascend the throne by special appointment. If he had not been promoted by the court, the Qingliu would naturally have obstructed my father in every possible way."

"Father didn't want to disappoint His Majesty, so he had to impose a grain tax on merchants, but the Qingliu refused to give up and insisted that father lose his official position. Father didn't want to stop being an official, but he also didn't want to be targeted by the Qingliu after he became an official. After all, the Qingliu were backed by the bureaucrats and gentry of the world."

"So, for now, we can only keep quiet and use other reasons to explain, such as saying that my father is the governor and has the right to deal with it at will, and that because the border grain supply is insufficient, additional punishment is also a temporary expedient measure that must be taken."

Yan Shifan replied.

Yan Song nodded: "It is right to do so, but it may make His Majesty angry."

"What father said is true, but whether or not we can calm down depends on the clean officials in the court."

"In short, it all depends on what they want in order to allow my father to continue to serve as an official."

Yan Shifan said.

Yan Song nodded, and touched Yan Shifan with a smile: "My son has really grown up and understands the world!"

Changping is not far from the capital, so Zhu Houcong quickly received the copy of Yan Song's reply presented by Yang Yiqing of the cabinet.

"Your Majesty, Yan Song wrote a memorial to defend himself, saying that the salt profits are quite high nowadays, and merchants are eager to come. In a day, they all compete to pay grain to the government to repair the border walls and city walls and to provide for the salaries of the vassal states. Your Majesty has granted me the power to deal with it at my convenience. I will be accommodating and use the profits of business to help the government in its urgent needs. There should be nothing that is not allowed, so please understand your Majesty!"

After Yang Yiqing reported, Zhu Houcong asked, "What does the Ministry of Revenue think?"

Yang Yiqing replied, "The Ministry of Revenue said that since the time of Xiaomiao, when the silver was paid and the government opened the market, salt merchants no longer had to pay taxes to the border. Yan Song's punishment violated the laws of our ancestors, and it violated the country's major plans to collect taxes from merchants. It was called raising grain, but in the end it was an act of recklessness that violated the court's laws!"

"Yan Song did something wrong."

"I gave him the right to dispose of it at his own convenience, but I did not allow him to arbitrarily seize the profits of merchants. He filed a complaint in black and white, so how could he voluntarily accept the punishment?"

"The Ministry of Revenue is not covering it up and is also being cleaned up!"

Zhu Houcong said in a bad tone, and then threw the memorial on the table: "He abused the constitutional power and punished merchants in this way, which is indeed not conducive to merchants selling salt in the border towns!"

"How does your cabinet intend to vote on this matter?"

Zhu Houcong then asked about Yang Yiqing. (End of this chapter)