Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

After the first set of reform details was read out, the officials in the court looked at each other, and there was a solemn look in each other's eyes.

Whether it was the abolition of the Wei Suo system, the newly formed Yongning Army, or the Ming Navy, it was enough to surprise them.

What shocked them most was that the Yongning Army was actually under the control of the Ministry of War. This was actually a change to the Ming Dynasty's long-standing power to command and mobilize troops, and had also been the core point of contention among civil and military officials for more than two hundred years.

This time, the reform clearly stipulated the ownership of the troops. The Yongning Army would be under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, while the Huben Army and the Imperial Guards of the Governor's Office would be independent of the Ministry of War.

Although the Yongning Army, which has the largest number of soldiers, is under the control of the Ministry of War, it is also under the control of the Marshal of Army. I don’t know whether the emperor will appoint a new Marshal of Army after Zhang Shikang resigns as the Marshal of Army. Otherwise, the change is almost equivalent to no change.

Although they were shocked, the officials in the court did not kneel down to refute or protest as they had done in previous years.

After a moment, the court automatically calmed down.

Next, Wang Chengen read out another four detailed rules for the reform. These rules all revolved around the adjustments to the treatment of royal family members, meritorious officials, and officials discussed during the court meeting a year ago, as well as the reform of the household registration system, disaster relief, and the abolition of the corvee system.

It was a completely improved version of the original plan proposed by the court. The basis was still the same as that proposed by Zhang Shikang, but after more than ten days of discussion by the cabinet, it was slightly modified based on the actual situation of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, Zhang Shikang also read these revision suggestions. After he felt that there were no major problems, Emperor Chongzhen agreed to announce them to the world.

After all the reform details were read out, the court suddenly became as noisy as a vegetable market.

The military system reform had little impact on the civil servants. After all, the current emperor had given full military power to the Marshal of Army and Horse, and their say on how the Marshal of Army and Horse made changes had no final say.

But the other four reforms shocked them even more, especially the one about raising salaries for officials.

The detailed rules not only explained the reasons for the salary increase, but also listed the extent of the salary increase for officials at each level. The most important thing was that the increase was quite large. The most important thing was that the detailed rules stipulated that salaries would no longer be offset by in-kind payments, but would all be paid in silver.

Those who could stand in the court were almost all officials who had been screened many times by the factory guards, and were all incorruptible and extremely poor.

The increase in salary given by the court made them extremely happy. They had studied hard for ten years, experienced ups and downs in officialdom for another ten years, and had been poor for most of their lives. Now happiness came too suddenly.

Several elderly officials even fainted on the ground, which made Zhang Shikang laugh and cry.

What surprised the officials even more was that the court actually reduced the salaries of royal family members and noble relatives.

You must know that the royal family and the nobles share the same fate as the imperial court. Unless absolutely necessary, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty never treated the royal family and the nobles harshly.

The current imperial court undoubtedly has no shortage of money, but the current emperor has still greatly reduced the treatment of royal family members and noble relatives.

Many officials with some insight secretly glanced at Zhang Shikang.

They all understood that if the current emperor really had such courage, the Ming Dynasty would not be what it was before.

Most of these reforms were initiated by Zhang Shikang.

As a result, they found themselves increasingly unable to understand Zhang Shikang, who was a nobleman and a top nobleman in the imperial dynasty.

Not only did he reduce his own salary, he also offended all the nobles and relatives behind him.

What is this person doing?

Zhang Shikang saw many people looking at him, so he glared back.

If Zhang Shikang was afraid of offending people, he would not have killed so many people.

Perhaps because he saw that group of miserable civil servants were too happy, Zhang Shikang said quietly in the court:

"My Lords, please do not forget the last item of the salary increase details."

The last item of the detailed rules for officials' salary increase was that after the announcement of the rules, any official who was found to have embezzled 100 taels or more would have his skin peeled off and his skin stuffed with straw and hung at the door.

If this ancestral rule is not formally mentioned, most officials will almost forget it.

"Thank you, Lord Marquis, for the reminder. We officials are all thinking about the country. If anyone dares to take bribes or break the law, I will impeach him myself." The Minister of Revenue Hai Zhongqi refuted on behalf of the civil servants present.

After that, he turned to the many civil officials in the court and said:

"My dear colleagues, your majesty has raised our salaries, which relieves us of our worries.

From now on, when you are doing administrative work, do not lose your original intention and forget the teachings of the saints. It is not worth it if you bring shame to your family for the sake of money!

We thank your Majesty for your grace!"

After Hai Zhongqi finished speaking, he was the first to kneel on the ground, and the other civil officials also bowed down one after another to express their gratitude.

The nobles and relatives felt very uncomfortable. They had to thank others when their salaries increased, and they also had to thank others when their salaries decreased.

After Duke Yingguo Zhang Zhiji and Duke Dingguo Xu Yunzhen bowed first, the rest of the nobles and relatives also knelt down to express their gratitude.

However, the nobles and relatives were not too depressed. First of all, there was no point in being depressed. They could not afford to offend either the emperor or Zhang Shikang.

Secondly, the nobles did not live on salaries, and thirdly, Zhang Shikang had promised them that he would lead them to engage in maritime trade to earn more money.

Zhang Shikang and his people cannot be offended. Just look at what happened to the founding heroes in Nanjing.

Just after reading out the rewards for the Imperial Guards, the emperor expressed his extreme disappointment with the nobles of Nanjing.

Not only did he order the stripping of all Nanjing nobles of their titles, he also killed them. Several Donglin scholars including Zhang Shenyan were even sentenced to death by slicing in court.

The Nanjing nobles accounted for half of the nobles of the Ming Dynasty. They could be stripped of their titles or killed at will.

The nobles in the court even felt a little lucky for a moment. Fortunately, they had backed down at the beginning, otherwise the outcome might not have been as good as that of Nanjing.

Zhang Shikang's nephew looks happy and cheerful, but he is really cruel when it comes to killing people!

After the court meeting ended, as soon as Emperor Chongzhen left, the civil and military officials in the court became noisy again. They talked about the recent reform, but more about the happy event of salary increase.

Some officials even expressed their gratitude to Zhang Shikang, but in the end they only got a cold eye from Zhang Shikang.

Zhang Shikang still liked their unruly look.

The most important thing is that he is a super powerful official. Due to his status, even if Brother Chongzhen trusts him, he still has to draw a clear line between himself and the civil servants.

This person should not be arrogant.

The only lesson history teaches mankind is that mankind never learns.

But Zhang Shikang was self-aware.

All the civil and military officials walked out, and a group of nobles and relatives unconsciously surrounded Zhang Shikang, with Taining Marquis Chen Yanzuo at the forefront.

"Nephew, when will your maritime trade business start?"

Because Chen Yanzuo had a son, Chen Tao, in the Imperial Guards and was also granted the title of Earl for his merits, he had long since lost all resentment about being deceived by Zhang Shikang into donating silver.

On the contrary, looking at the fate of officials in the capital and then the fate of the nobles in Nanjing, he felt that he had turned a disaster into a blessing.

But now all his shops have to pay commercial taxes, his family’s fertile land has been confiscated, and his salary has been reduced.

Chen Yanzuo, who is an expert at making money, is almost going crazy with the desire to make money.

But the domestic business was like that, and no matter how much it was expanded, it wouldn't be able to expand much further. On the contrary, it was the maritime trade that Zhang Shikang had told him about before.

Chen Yanzuo sent people to the southeast coast to conduct research and found that Zhang Shikang's nephew was not lying.

The profits hidden in maritime trade are simply incomparable to what he could gain by opening a few more shops in the country.

Originally, several other colleagues and relatives wanted to pull him to work alone, but Chen Yanzuo sternly refused and warned them that if they wanted to live well, they should just get on board and work together.

Of course, Chen Yanzuo was able to become the businessman with the biggest business among the nobles in Beijing thanks to his shrewd mind.

The maritime trade business seems to have huge profits, but the risks involved are definitely not small. These risks include not only the frequent shipwrecks, but also competitors.

He had already found out clearly that most of the competitors in maritime trade were unethical and would rob you at will, and if things went wrong, you would end up losing both your people and your ships.

There are not only pirates overseas, but also colonists from the Netherlands, France and other countries. These opponents are not something that a single household can fight against.

Chen Yanzuo told several nobles who were familiar with him that only by relying on Zhang Shikang, a powerful figure, could they safely get a share of the maritime trade.

Chen Yanzuo could see that Zhang Shikang's eldest nephew ate everything but never suffered any loss.

Therefore, Chen Yanzuo finally got the chance and immediately asked Zhang Shikang about maritime trade.

Zhang Shikang had too many things to do, but fortunately, maritime trade was one of the things he had to do first, so he asked:

"My dear uncles, please tell me what preparations you have made in the past year.

After all, whether you can get a boat ticket or not can't just depend on your mouth, right?"

……