prosperous age

Chapter 865 954 Don’t block people’s way of making money

"You take this letter to see Zhang Jiayin. Danyang is under his rule and he has asked him to secretly arrest Xing Fang. You must witness his execution with your own eyes."

Zhang Jiayin's courtesy name was Xiao Fu. His first name was Shan, and later his name was changed to Juelaishan. He was a native of Chongqing Prefecture in Sichuan. He was a Jinshi in the 29th year of Jiajing and was awarded the title of county magistrate.

Since Nao Fang hid back, it was natural for Zhang Juzheng to take action.

Speaking of the past few times, Zhang Juzheng was also very helpless when he failed to catch anyone.

The people around Shao Daxia, from housekeepers to servants, are mostly disabled and ugly people. They are all unable to survive and are taken into the family to work. Therefore, these servants are loyal to him.

In fact, if you want to arrest someone, you must first know his whereabouts, and using time to instigate the servants around him is undoubtedly the best way.

But he happened to meet such a strange person again, and the people around him couldn't even talk about it.

As a merchant from the south of the Yangtze River, Xing Fang was a forthright man, decisive in his actions, generous in his actions, and a chivalrous and righteous person. However, this kind of person just didn't do his business properly and insisted on getting involved in playing politics.

After the others left, Zhang Juzheng still sat there thinking.

Executing a criminal is not a trivial matter. Even if he is the chief minister of the cabinet, he does not kill people casually.

Unless you send someone to assassinate you without using the power of the government.

As for the people the court needed to contact secretly, Zhang Juzheng had already made plans in his mind.

He didn't plan to make any detours, but wanted to directly have a showdown with the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, asking them to give the green light to this case after executing Xian Fang in Jiangnan.

As for the reason, Zhang Juzheng naturally had it already.

After Gao Gong lost power last year, Xian Fang decisively chose to switch to someone else. This person was none other than Li Wei, the grandfather of the current Emperor Wanli and the father of Empress Dowager Li.

Ning Fang used the same methods as before and spent nearly two months bribing Li Wei's housekeeper. Finally, one day, the housekeeper arranged to meet with Li Wei.

Li Wei was greedy, but Shao Daxia was generous, so he had a good impression of him. Knowing that he was a Jiangnan merchant, he introduced a business deal to Shao Fang.

How could a relative of the emperor engage in a loss-making business?

Mafang originally wanted to get closer to Li Wei, so he had no intention of making money from it.

He handled the business personally, and gave all the benefits to Li Wei, which made Li Wei regard Nafang as a close friend for a while.

With the relationship between Empress Dowager Li and his father, Zhang Juzheng was a little timid when dealing with Xian Fang.

After all, Zhang Juzheng was unwilling to offend Empress Dowager Li, and Feng Bao also reminded him of this.

However, seeing that Xing Fang was so good at dancing, Zhang Juzheng was determined to get rid of Xing Fang.

Fortunately, the opportunity finally appeared. Li Wei introduced the business to Nao Fang, and he got all the benefits. However, Nao Fang could not lose too much, so he simply cut corners in the subsequent business transactions.

In the end, something happened, and there was a problem with the goods he handled.

Because the case involved relatives of the emperor, the court naturally would not handle it publicly. Empress Dowager Li directly approached Zhang Juzheng, the chief assistant, to deal with it.

With the intervention of Zhang Juzheng, Li Wei was sentenced to a light sentence. Although the punishment was not severe, it also achieved the purpose of "knocking on the mountain and shaking the tiger" for other relatives of the emperor, so that they did not dare to act recklessly.

But Zhang Juzheng would naturally not be polite to Shao Fang, the "culprit".

Precisely because it involved relatives of the emperor, Zhang Juzheng was confident that he could persuade Chen Yisong, Ge Shouli and others to relent, secretly arrest Xian Fang and then execute him directly without going to court for questioning.

Because when dealing with Li Wei, everything had been clearly explained, and Xie Fang must be one of the criminals involved.

And Chen Yisong and others also knew that in order to preserve the royal face, it would be inconvenient for this person to be brought to court after being caught.

Of course, Li Wei's case also involved Chen Hong, the eunuch in the palace. After discussing with Chen Hong, Xian Fang chose to please Li Wei and save the country to please Queen Mother Li.

But now that something bad has happened, Feng Bao will not let this opportunity go easily.

Chen Hong didn't get any favors and was sent to Nanjing to wait for death. He was completely out of power and unable to recover.

Because these matters needed to be kept secret, Empress Dowager Li directly handed over to the chief assistant Zhang Juzheng to handle them, and even Wei Guangde was not sure about it.

I just know that Li Wei did something bad and was punished.

That was the biological father of the Queen Mother. After Chen Hong was expelled, Wei Guangde knew some of the reasons.

But Wei Guangde naturally didn't like him either.

Wei Guangde didn't know that Zhang Juzheng had already sentenced Xian Fang to death. He was currently listening to Lu Bu passing on the gossip from various yamen today.

"Wait a minute, you said someone from the Metropolitan Procuratorate denounced the loss of ships and grains during shipping?"

Lu Bu was still talking about the news he heard, but was suddenly interrupted by Wei Guangde.

"Yes, sir."

Lu Bu quickly stopped talking and replied.

"Who's saying that?"

Wei Guangde asked.

"There are many people who say this. It seems that Yushi Bao Xiyan is the most active. There are also similar words from the Sixth Section. Jia Sanjin, the Huke, is the main supporter in the matter."

Lu Bu said.

"Help me pay attention to this matter these days and see who dances happily."

Wei Guangde gave an order.

He didn't pay attention to Zhang Juzheng's words in the past two days, but the news from Lubu today reminded him that Caosi was still determined to transport grain by sea.

At this time, Wei Guangde suddenly slapped his head and kept saying: "I'm careless, I'm careless."

Yes, it was only at this time that Wei Guangde suddenly discovered the mistakes he had made in the previous official transfer.

After the Ministry of Household Affairs decided to transport 120,000 dan of grain by sea every year, he thought the matter was settled, so he did not prevent Wang Zongmu and Liang Menglong from being promoted.

Now Wang Zongmu has been transferred to Nanjing, and Liang Menglong is the minister of household registration. Both of them are officials who strongly promote maritime transportation.

But now, they have all been transferred out of their places. If they want to maintain food and sea transportation in the future, they will have to depend on the wishes of others.

"Do the Caosi people really intend to use this incident to start another discussion about shipping grain?"

Wei Guangde was a little unsure, but he was no longer what he was in the past. He wanted to nip all risks in the bud.

Governor of Water Transport? hehe.

Wei Guangde remembered that the yamen that Liang Menglong was originally transferred to was the Nanjing Criminal Department, and it was he who changed his position to the Minister of Household Affairs. At that time, Wei Guangde only did it on a temporary basis. Now it seems that what he did casually at the time has become more useful now.

Maybe I've noticed it subconsciously, but I just didn't think about it carefully.

Wei Guangde thought in his heart. Wang Zongmu was promoted to Nanjing and became minister. Naturally, it would be difficult for him to be demoted and go back to be the governor of water transportation, but Liang Menglong could.

He was appointed as the Governor of Water Transport with the title of Minister of Household Affairs, which was also common practice in the imperial court.

Afterwards, Wei Guangde sent notes to Shu Ao, Da Dongguang, Zhou Shouyu and others from his hometown in the Sixth Section and the Metropolitan Procuratorate. One was to ask them to pay attention to the officials in the Yamen who were opposed to grain and shipping, write down their names, and also inquire about their next steps. Are you planning to file a memorial together? I want to stop shipping.

Since Wei Guangde came to power, he has not done much. Most of them are arranging his subordinates. What really involves national policies is the opening of moon ports and the resumption of maritime transportation.

The opening of Yuegang was because Xu Jie and others were in power at that time. He did not have much say and did not participate much. As a result, the trade volume of Yuegang has been restricted.

At the beginning, Emperor Longqing wanted to make a lot of money through Yuegang, but after that, the inner court could only receive tens of thousands of taels of silver every year, so his thoughts faded away.

However, Wei Guangde knew very well that it was not that sea trade was not profitable, but that the tariffs were not paid in full and were severely restricted.

With so many ships going to sea every year, how can we increase our income?

Now, those families who got the ship's bow have made huge profits from Yuegang's sea trade. The families who did not get the ship's bow before or who only got one through a partnership with others have actually been dissatisfied for a long time.

Although Wei Guangde also controlled a fleet and was conducting East Ocean transactions with his acquiescence, which could be said to be very profitable, Wei Guangde was not a short-sighted person and would not kill the opportunity to open a sea for his own selfish desires.

Wei Guangde still takes care of the importance of making money for himself and the long-term stability of the country.

Opening the sea so that the people of Ming Dynasty can open their eyes to the world as soon as possible is more important than anything else.

Opening the sea not only earns a huge amount of money and solves the domestic silver shortage, but most importantly, it can increase the court's income so that it will not be unable to afford it due to the empty treasury during the war.

Why the conquest of Jianzhou Jurchens in Northeast China failed in the late Ming Dynasty was actually the main reason why the national treasury was empty.

In the Battle of Saarhu, the Ming court had actually exposed its lack of food and wages, which forced it to send troops at an unsuitable season.

In the Battle of Songshan in the last years of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen also continued to issue orders to urge the war because of the difficulties in the treasury. This led to Hong Chengchou making fatal mistakes in his command. Hong Ji seized the opportunity and annihilated the last mobile power of the Ming court in one fell swoop.

After the Battle of Songshan, the Ming Dynasty could no longer organize a large army to fight against the bandits or Houjin. The Ming Dynasty's border army, which had been guarding northern Xinjiang for two hundred years, was completely wiped out in this battle.

In fact, after the Battle of Saarhu, if the Ming court had not been financially strapped and mobilized the wolf soldiers and white pole soldiers from the southwest, Zhejiang soldiers from the south, Datong archers and other main forces of the frontier army to encircle and suppress them, the Jianzhou Jurchens would have had the same chance of becoming powerful. tiny.

But because of lack of money, Shengsheng turned an encirclement and suppression war into the most taboo tactic for military strategists.

Continuously dispatching domestic elite troops and generals to attack separately, Hou Jin seized the opportunity to defeat them one by one, and his good cards were completely destroyed.

The Ming Dynasty either did not have good soldiers, or it had no money and could not send troops.

In the following days, news continued to spread between North Korea and China about the loss of seven ships and nearly 5,000 kilograms of grain by sea. Many officials actively or passively participated in the discussion.

There are both supporters and opponents, and there is no distinction for the time being.

Cabinet, after the cabinet discussed recent government affairs today, Wei Guangde intentionally mentioned this matter.

"I don't understand. This is just the second time the imperial court has transported grain by sea. The loss of five thousand shi has been magnified infinitely. Compared with river transportation, this loss is insignificant.

However, there has been a lot of talk in the whole court recently about how risky shipping is, the winds are high and the waves are rough, and there is no way to save the ship once it capsizes.

Look at the past few years, which year the Cao Army did not suffer heavy losses on the canal. "

Wei Guangde said this deliberately to Zhang Juzheng. He knew Zhang Juzheng's mentality at this time.

At that time, the imperial court decided to try sea transportation, and it was Gao Gong who pushed for it. He was worried about the safety of grain and was helpless about the safety of rivers, so he decided to try sea transportation, hoping to find a way to solve the problem of grain security in Beijing and border towns.

After Zhang Juzheng came to power, his most concerned thing was to deny Gao Gong's decision.

Although Gao Gong had already resigned when the final attempt was successful, the decision was made by Gao Gong after all, so Zhang Juzheng did not want to continue the grain transport strategy.

"Don't be too excited about Shandai. The losses in this grain shipping are indeed not small. Let them discuss the following discussion. Don't you often say that you are not afraid of others saying it, but you are afraid of others not speaking?

If you argue, the result will be determined whether it is good or not. "

Zhang Juzheng said warmly and comforted that he also wanted to test Wei Guangde's determination. If he was not very determined, he would still try to modify it.

"But some people don't want to argue with peace of mind. Behind the scenes, I heard that there are many foreign ministers meddling in the affairs of the DPRK."

Wei Guangde looked at Zhang Juzheng and sneered: "The families of Shandong Fu Xizhi, Caosi Yu Yiguan and others have heard that they have been very active in the capital recently, claiming that their masters are worried and plan to file a memorial.

Just submit the memorial directly. What's the point of wandering around the capital to persuade other officials?

I heard that these people are very generous and use money to open the way everywhere. I have asked people to collect evidence, and I am still considering whether to hand it over to Mr. Ge and let the Metropolitan Procuratorate take care of it. "

Wei Guangde took the initiative to provoke this matter today, of course he came prepared.

Officials from Caosi, Shandong and other places intervened in the matter. They persuaded Yushi and Kedao, who had a strong relationship with the water transport, to speak out for him. They also lobbied other officials with a say in Beijing, which made Wei Guangde feel uneasy.

If they really had the right to speak, there would be no need to continue this debate.

Fortunately, most officials understand the true meaning of this debate and are not in a hurry to express their opinions. Instead, they sit at home and wait for people to come to ask for advice.

Well, take the opportunity to make a little fortune.

After all, living in the capital is not easy.

Wei Guangde didn't want to block the way of people and money, so he simply sent someone to observe their movements quietly and keep records.

Many of these people are related to Zhang Juzheng and are either his disciples or close friends.

Wei Guangde believed that what he said to Zhang Juzheng today would be passed on to them to stop.

Otherwise, Wei Guangde doesn't mind handing the matter over to the Metropolitan Procuratorate. With the selfless Ge Shouli here, these people won't be able to get away with it.

Sure enough, after hearing what Wei Guangde said, Zhang Juzheng knew that Wei Guangde had not taken any action before and was actually collecting evidence.

Thinking about it, the sources of contact there are complicated. It is difficult to get through the minds of a few high-level people and let them suppress the people of their own faction. Maybe they have to offer benefits to get them to speak up.

Rather than going through all the trouble and thankless work, it is better to go straight to business and use the Metropolitan Procuratorate to suppress them and silence their mouths.

At that time, as long as you open your mouth, everyone else will be silent, because as long as you help speak, it means taking away the benefits from others.

What's more, Wei Guangde has delayed the matter for these days. The people who should be met have been met, and the gifts that should be given have been given out. Those people will soon figure it out when they come down.

Mr. Wei Ge did not stop them from getting rich.

In the end, after the money has been spent, people still remember Wei Guangde's good things behind his back. Who can I blame?

(End of this chapter)