The end of the Ming Dynasty swept the world

Chapter 777

In the early morning of the next day, it was Yumen who was in charge of politics again.

When the officials came to the imperial gate, they saw the prince sitting on the imperial couch in the middle, and Ding Yi sitting on the side.

Since Ding Yi came to Beijing, the prince seldom went to court. It is said that he often slept late in Duanben Palace, had fun with court ladies and eunuchs, and did not care about political affairs.

Ding Yi painstakingly persuaded Zhu Cihong to fish for three days, dry the nets for two days, and go to the court every few days. After the court, Zhu Cihong didn't care about things, basically just watched from the sidelines, and didn't know what he was thinking in his heart, but His expression towards the officials was very angry, with resentment all the time.

It seems that up to now, Prince Zhu Cihong is still thinking about the surrender of Li Zicheng by all the officials, and he is brooding.

But what made him even more angry was that the officials wanted to appoint Wang and Yongwang as emperors, but fortunately, there was no news about the appointment of Wang and Yongwang. For some reason, Zhu Cihong sometimes wished that they would never be found again. Just a younger brother.

As soon as the officials took their positions, Lu Daqi, Minister of the Household Department, followed Ding Yi's wishes and said that the prince would change the officials' salaries and listen to everyone's opinions.

When the officials heard this, their expressions changed drastically. Some people thought that their income would be cut again.

After all, Chongzhen wanted to do this and forced them to donate.

Unexpectedly, Ding Yi was talking about a salary increase, almost doubled.

Immediately, all the officials praised, everyone sang, and there was an endless stream of flattery and flattery.

Then Zhang Zhang Jinyan, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, will use the imperial decree to name the world and post it in the prefectures and counties.

However, the specific implementation date shall be counted from the peace of the world.

Now the ministers are even more anxious, some people wish they could immediately persuade Ding Yi to be the emperor.

Fortunately, the whole court knows Ding Yi's thoughts now. Ding Yi will not do this before the world is pacified and slaves are cleaned up.

When the world is pacified, Jiannu is destroyed, and the prestige reaches its peak, it will be unstoppable.

Everyone was happily discussing about the salary increase, when Zhang Shen, the censor of Zuodu, suddenly spoke up.

He said that the imperial court often failed to defeat Jiannu and bandit soldiers in the past, because of lack of pay, the sergeants did not do their best.

Now the prince wants to raise his salary, so where does the money come from?

"My lord, please check the grain fields all over the country. Officials and gentlemen will pay for the grain together." Zhang Shenyan said bravely, and knelt down without daring to raise his head.

As soon as this remark came out, the audience exploded again, and many officials in Jiangnan and other places with a lot of money cursed.

Someone even wanted to rush up and beat Zhang Shenyan.

This scene was often seen in the Chongzhen era.

Back then Wu Weiye said that when the Qing soldiers entered the pass, Linqing was guarded very well. He suggested that the courtiers all donate money. Each person donates a little, and tens of millions of salary can be donated. He was immediately mobilized and attacked, scolded bloody, He was also beaten on the spot.

This scene was almost repeated this time. As soon as Zhang Shenyan said it, all around attacked, and all the officials were going crazy.

We were robbed of money by Li Zicheng just now, and now we are forced to pay taxes?What international joke are you making?
Just as the officials were yelling wildly at the same time.

Sudden.

"Bang" there was a loud bang in the arena, and everyone jumped.

All the officials looked up, but it was the prince Zhu Cihuang who was furious and overturned the imperial couch.

There was a dead silence all around.

Everyone looked at Zhu Cihong in horror, even Ding Yi also looked at him in horror.

"You used to go to court in front of my father like this? To insult in public, insulting the gentlemen, is this how you read sage books? Ah—ah——" Zhu Cihong sternly said.

"Your Highness, calm down." Ma Shiying quickly knelt down.

"Your Highness, calm down." All the officials bowed down in unison.

Although everyone knelt down, all expressions on their faces were indifferent, obviously not paying attention to the prince.

Looking at their expressions, Zhu Cihong thought about what his uncle Gong Yonggu and his brother-in-law Ding Yi said to him last night, and the more he thought about it, the more angry he became.

He stood up tall, his thin body trembling with anger: "Officials and gentry, the matter of paying food for one body was proposed by this palace."

"The imperial court suffers from military disasters year after year, the bandits are hard to destroy, the frontier army is useless, and they have been defeated repeatedly. Don't you know why?"

"It's just no money, no money, no money." Zhu Cihong yelled frantically, pointing at all the officials: "At the beginning, the emperor asked you to donate money, and everyone pretended to be a deaf ear. Later, when the bandit army entered Beijing, take a look." Your virtues, are you worthy of your father and Daming?"

All the officials bowed their heads one after another, not daring to refute.

If Ding Yi hadn't been there, maybe someone would have stood up and scolded each other.

But everyone heard clearly that it was the prince who proposed it, and the prince is really hateful.

It is really not a thing to persuade Li Zicheng to kill hundreds of officials before, and then persuade Ding Yi to kill all officials, and now they have to make all the officials pay taxes together.

All the officials hated Zhu Cihong even more.

Seeing the silence all around, and finally quieted down, Zhu Cihuang breathed a long sigh of relief, suddenly felt that he had the demeanor of an emperor, and he said happily: "Come one by one, ministers, you all stand up and talk."

Wang Duo, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, stood up first, and said loudly: "I second the proposal, and I would like to set an example."

"The minister's family has [-] acres of land, and all of them are willing to pay taxes."

The officials glared at it, and many people cursed in their hearts, because some people have tens of thousands, or even 10,000+ acres.

"Over a thousand mu, the tax is [-]%, but the tax is heavy, and the minister has no objection?" Zhu Cihong said.

"It's good for me to keep a thousand acres, and turn over the rest to the court." Wang Duo thought to himself, yesterday the prince made it clear that we should hand it over, can we not?

There was another curse all around.

I just heard about the salary increase, and now everyone suddenly feels that it is not good.

"Are you willing?" Zhu Cihong asked again.

"Of course I am willing." Wang Duo said bravely: "I think very clearly that there are still a few officials with a lot of land in the world, and most of the officials in the provinces are poor. As a minister of the six books and a cabinet minister, I should set an example , if the minister is not good enough, someone in the world will take his place."

"It's good that you understand." Zhu Cihong called Qing directly, and the expressions of many people at the scene changed drastically.

The dialogue between the monarch and his ministers is obvious. What do you call it? How many officials are there in the capital Tianduo?You can kill them all. Many officials from the following provinces want to go to Beijing to replace you.

Then the Bing, the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Households, and the Ministry of Punishment spoke one after another, stating that Ma Shiying also had a lot of land at home, with thousands of acres, but he was willing to pay heavy taxes.

After the six ministries made their statement, the officials also understood that they had two choices, those with a lot of land should either pay heavy taxes, or keep only [-] mu.

Most of the people at the scene are under [-] mu, and they have to pay [-]% tax, which is still affordable.

If there are soldiers in the family, they can exempt [-]% of the tax.

But at this time, who wants to serve as a soldier at home, but in the future, they will rush to let their family members serve as soldiers.

So Zhu Cihong asked again, among the ministers, who has any objections?

No one disagrees.Objections are also reserved.

At this time, Ding Yi said: "This king believes that there is still room for improvement."

The ministers looked at a loss.

Zhang Shenyan was also dumbfounded, didn't he say that last night?
Ding Yi said solemnly: "The officials in the capital are still the best officials in the world, elites."

"It would be unfair to treat people the same as officials all over the world."

"In my opinion, officials in the capital can temporarily exempt [-]% of the tax."

If Zhang Shenyan said this first, everyone would curse again.

But now it is suddenly possible to reduce [-]% from the heavy tax, and the effect is completely different.

"My lord is holy." Guang Shiheng was the first to cry.

All the officials were full of flattery again, but everyone didn't understand that Ding Yi meant 'temporarily'.

The six ministers and Zhang Shenyan's faces were blackened by Ding Yi, and the six of them cursed secretly in their hearts, this Ding Yi is much more cunning than Emperor Chongzhen.

We do the wicked, and he takes care of the good.

Of course the crown prince Zhu Cihong was not reconciled, but he couldn't refute it, because this was what they discussed last night, to deal with the officials of the world first, and then deal with the officials in Beijing.

Ding Yi really doesn't like the few acres of fields in the capital now.

How many people and how many fields are these Beijing officials in front of us.

The good fields in the Ming Dynasty were all in the hands of the clan and nobles.

Of course, win over them first and attack others.

Moreover, a notice was given today, giving them the opportunity and time to sell the land at a high price.

Then Ding Yi continued to discuss with the ministers.

Zhang Xin, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, proposed that Song Yingxing be the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, but he was not a minister of the auxiliary government and would not enter the cabinet.

The ministers were in an uproar again.

Who is Song Yingxing?Damn, a lot of people don't know each other.

Song Yingxing's biggest official was the magistrate of Bozhou, Fengyang Prefecture, Nanzhili (Zhengwupin).

This kind of local officials can be said to be inconspicuous in the capital. In the past, the court councils did not meet, and they were directly dealt with by the official department, and then reported to the emperor.

Song Yingxing went to Haozhou last year. When he arrived in Haozhou, he found that the local government offices were razed because of the war, and all the officials ran away.

He reluctantly did the meeting and built another academy. (This man likes building academies and imparting his knowledge).

Then I felt bored, so I resigned this year and returned to my hometown in Fengxin, Jiangxi.

Now this fifth-rank official suddenly jumps to Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry in one step, and the officials are of course in an uproar again.

But with the example of the prince getting angry just now, the officials still didn't dare to make noise.

Guang Shiheng was the first to dissatisfy, and jumped out to ask: "A local official of the fifth rank, suddenly become a minister? I am afraid that the officials of the fourth rank and third rank in the world will have objections." The implication is that he is not convinced, Song can do it, and I can do it too.

Zhang Xin said coldly: "Song Yingxing knows how to make guns, understands agriculture and utensils, and his works are profound and comprehensive. The so-called art has specialization, and professional people do professional things."

"If Master Everbright has confidence, the Ministry would also like to recommend you as Minister of the Works Department."

Guang Shiheng's face turned red immediately, of course he didn't dare to say that he could do a good job.

"Zhang Shangshu's words are good, professional people do professional things." Ding Yi praised at this time.

The ministers were silent.

"Those who are capable must break the rules and be promoted. Not only Song Yingxing, but all future officials will have the opportunity." Ding Yi's old routine started again, and he threw a big candy first.

Sure enough, there was a commotion among the officials, and many people secretly became excited.

Song Yingxing's matter was unanimously approved soon.

After all, the six ministers are now on Ding Yi's side, and other officials have nothing to do if they want to object.

Then the court discussed a few more matters, and the prince Zhu Cihong proposed one after another that the future land tax system, commercial tax, the collection and expansion of local officials, and the garrison of soldiers and horses, everything will cause an uproar. The more the officials listened, the more panicked they became .

In particular, Zhu Cihong's proposal to cancel all kinds of messy taxes and increase business taxes shocked the entire court.

But the most commercially developed city is not the capital city, but Jiangnan and other places.

Ding Yi is still the same old saying, the business tax of the Beijing officials should be slowed down, and we will talk about it later, first appease the Beijing officials.

His current enemies are still the nobles and local classes in the south of the Yangtze River, so first stabilize the Beijing officials and use them to exclude the prince.
Anyway, after the end of the Yumen hearing today, all the officials and the gentry all over the country hated the prince Zhu Cihong, and he proposed all the policies.

On the contrary, Ding Yi, the king of Zhenbei, knew all the officials in the capital, and made many decisions to postpone for a while, and for a while.

Soon the news spread in the capital, that the crown prince hated all the officials to a certain extent, he couldn't eat everyone's blood, drink everyone's flesh, and kill all the officials.

It's all right now, not long after, more persuasion documents from all over the country came to the capital like a flood.

Officials all over the world said that the prince has no virtue and the prince is wise.

After today's court meeting, tomorrow will officially enter the reform process, because all the policies are proposed by the crown prince. If the reform is successful, it will be the credit of Ding Yi in the future. If it fails, it will require the use of troops and a lot of blood. The prince's fault.

(End of this chapter)