Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 134 Ye Xianggao Enters the Pavilion

"Zuo Ye Xianggao was appointed as a bachelor of the Zhongji Palace, joined the cabinet as the chief assistant, and rewarded and bestowed a hundred pieces of money..."

"Long live……"

Under Chengtian's sect, as the eunuch read the decree, an old official over sixty slowly bowed and sang thank you.

Immediately afterwards, one hundred gold coins were rewarded, and the old official took the gift money and handed it to a small official behind him.

At this time, the eunuch also said with a smile: "Old Yege, Long Live is waiting for you in Wenhua Palace."

"Thank you..." The old minister bowed slowly again, and it was not difficult to guess his identity when he got here.

This person is Ye Xianggao, known as the only prime minister in the late Ming Dynasty, and now he is joining the cabinet again, just to stabilize the crumbling Ming Dynasty.

Reminded by the eunuch who read out, Ye Xianggao wore the imperial bullfighting uniform and walked back to the Wenhua Palace, which he was very familiar with.

Passing through the Zuoshun Gate, he looked at the Wenhua Palace in the distance and the farther East Palace. He didn't know what he was thinking, but he just walked towards the Wenhua Palace after a few seconds.

When he crossed the Golden Dragon Bridge and arrived at the gate of the Wenhua Hall, dozens of officials from the cabinet, six ministries, and six departments were already waiting for him here.

"Old Ye Ge..."

Everyone bowed one after another, but Ye Xianggao was not happy, but felt that the burden on his shoulders was heavier.

He can clearly see that the current situation in the court is very different. The Qingliu who were once suppressed are high-spirited, while the officials of the five parties of Qi, Chu, Zhejiang, Xuan, and Kun who were once arrogant are honest and honest.

The situation has changed...

Ye Xianggao sighed in his heart, and then bowed in return, not favoring any party, but walked into the main worship hall behind the Wenhua Palace after bowing.

Here, he met a familiar eunuch.

"Old Yege, you're here? Let's go and let us know Long Live..."

Wei Zhongxian's smiling face seemed to have changed from when Ye Xianggao left, but Ye Xianggao couldn't tell what had changed.

"Old Ye Ge, long live please..."

Not long after, Wei Zhongxian turned back and continued to compliment Ye Xianggao with a smile on his face.

Ye Xianggao nodded slightly, then bowed in return, and then walked into the main hall of worship, and led by Wei Zhongxian to the side hall of the main hall of worship, and saw Zhu Youxiao who was sitting in the hall dealing with the memorial.

"Like...too similar..."

Looking at Zhu Youxiao in front of him, Ye Xianggao was in a daze for a while.

He seems to have seen the young Emperor Wanli he saw when he was the concubine of the left. No matter in terms of body shape or face shape, the two of them are very similar...

"Old Ye Ge, please take a seat."

Zhu Youxiao closed the memorial and woke up Ye Xianggao who was still in a daze.

Hearing the words, Ye Xianggao bowed in return, and then sat on the chair brought by the eunuchs, sitting in it with his head down.

"Old Ye Ge, this time I invite you to return to the court and rejoin the cabinet, it is for the court and me, so if you have anything to say, you can say it with peace of mind, and I will do everything I can."

Zhu Youxiao's attitude is very serious, just because he has heard too much about Ye Xianggao from Emperor Wanli, and he also knows that Ye Xianggao is the most suitable cabinet minister for him at present.

Ye Xianggao was also very grateful to Zhu Youxiao's Lixian Corporal, so he bowed and said:

"I once served Emperor Xian in the cabinet for eight years. At that time, the ministers drafted all the memorials required by the cabinet and Emperor Xian. Even if Emperor Xian wanted to implement a new law, he had to send an envoy to announce it to the minister."

"If there is any disagreement, the ministers will try their best to fight for it, and Emperor Xian can mostly obey it, and will not forcibly draw up any orders."

"Long live, you are humble, humble and polite, and trust your ministers, but rumors will inevitably lead to disputes that are difficult to decide, so you should treat the imperial edict with caution, and order the ministers to draft and report everything."

"This is natural!" Hearing Ye Xianggao's words, Zhu Youxiao nodded happily. After all, for him, compared with Sun Ruyou and Fang Congzhe's coercion, and Liu Yixiu's political views, Ye Xianggao's ideas are not too much at all. .

"In addition, I heard that Wansui listened more to His Highness Fifth Highness's advice on side affairs, forgive me for speaking bluntly..." Ye Xianggao opened his mouth, and Zhu Youxiao's heart skipped a beat.

"His Highness Fifth Highness's idea is good, but using strong medicine for a long illness will only bring the court into another situation."

Ye Xianggao bowed to Gao and expressed his thoughts, but Zhu Youxiao was only silent for a few seconds after hearing this, and then said:
"My younger brother will definitely not harm me. There are more than [-] brave soldiers and horses in the court. If the court can't afford so much money and food, I would have ordered to wipe out the captives!"

"I didn't mean that..." Ye Xianggao tested the emperor's trust in Zhu Youjian with a few words, and then turned the topic around and said:
"What His Highness the Fifth Highness has done is indeed a good thing in my opinion..."

After expressing his position, Ye Xianggao continued:
"I'll do the math, even if the Imperial Horse Supervisor works together in the north and south, the annual income is only more than [-] million taels, but right now the [-]th Battalion of the [-]th Guards in Beizhili has nearly [-] soldiers and horses."

"With so many soldiers and horses, the required military salary is based on the salary given by His Royal Highness, and the North and South Fields of the Royal Horse Supervisor are struggling to afford it."

Before Ye Xianggao finished speaking, Zhu Youxiao said:

"Don't worry about this, my brother will solve it. If it doesn't work, the internal funds will also be transferred. Right now, Ji Town's soldiers and horses have been abolished, and Liao Town has also gone to the empty quota. The situation is very good."

"To tell you the truth, Ye Ge, I am already preparing to transfer troops from the three towns in Shanxi to aid Liao in May."

"With the soldiers and horses of these three towns, plus the main and guest soldiers of Liao Town, and the Six Guards who are about to cross the sea, the old slave can only retreat to the mountains."

Zhu Youxiao is full of confidence, which comes from his trust in Zhu Youjian.

However, from his words, Ye Xianggao also knew one thing.

That is the current emperor, which is different from the previous emperors. The most different point is that there is a prince who is training soldiers and horses outside.

Although the prince has not yet been crowned king, the military talent he displayed is enough to make people look sideways.

Ye Xianggao learned about the [-]th Guards Army and the [-]th Battalion from the letters of Sun Ruyou, Fang Congzhe, Liu Yixiu and others.

And when he arrived in Tianjin, he had already secretly visited the Sixth Guards Army and the Dagu Camp. It has not been tested in actual combat.

There are hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses like this, and it is not empty. It can be said that the central power of Ming Dynasty has reached a peak since the Zhengde period.

Such a situation is very good. With these soldiers and horses, the consolidation of the imperial power can be guaranteed, and as long as the imperial power is consolidated and the central force is strong, then the localities will not dare to obey.

Why did places like Jiangnan and Huguang dare not be so obedient and obedient during the years of Hongwu and Yongle?It's not that the emperor really has the power to handle them.

Therefore, for Ye Xianggao, it can be said that it is much easier to serve as the first assistant of the cabinet this time than he was the first assistant of the cabinet under Wanli before.

If the power of the imperial power is enhanced and can compete with civil officials, then it means that as long as there is an obedient cabinet and six ministries, the emperor's orders can basically reach the localities.

It is one thing whether the local government can do it or not, but it is another matter whether the order can be conveyed to the local government.

Therefore, Ye Xianggao roughly understood Zhu Youxiao's intention to ask him to join the cabinet.

To put it bluntly, I just want to become a mouthpiece between the imperial power and civil servants.

But this kind of microphone is different from the Wanli period. During the Wanli period, the Zhejiang Party was the dominant party. Even if Ye Xianggao wanted to help Wanli, he was powerless.

But now it is different, the current civil servants are divided, and the originally powerful Zhejiang Party has become weak, and only the four parties of Qi, Chu, Xuan, and Kun can compete against Donglin.

Therefore, the situation has become that the imperial power and the civil servants are equally powerful, but the civil servants are divided into two parts on the surface, but in fact there are many idle parts.

In this way, in certain matters, Ye Xianggao has more space to operate.

Thinking of this, he dared to bow to Zhu Youxiao and asked: "Long live, do you just want to transfer the soldiers and horses of the three towns to aid Liao?"

He wanted to ask Zhu Youxiao where his next move would be, but it was absolutely impossible for Zhu Youxiao to tell Ye Xianggao directly that he planned to solve the matter of the three towns in Shanxi with his younger brother, so he could only say :

"Is it feasible to allocate the land tax to miscellaneous items?"

It's time to move the business tax...

Ye Xianggao's heart skipped a beat when Zhu Youxiao said a word, then he kept silent, weighed the apportioned operating space in his heart, and said after a while:

"If the apportionment is small, it may be successful."

"How much is too much? How much is too little?" Zhu Youxiao asked with a frown, while Ye Xianggao was silent for a few seconds before speaking:

"As much as [-]%, as little as half."

"No more?" Zhu Youxiao continued to ask, but Ye Xianggao shook his head.

The two of them seemed to be guessing riddles, but they were actually discussing the possibility of reducing the land tax and increasing miscellaneous income.

But Ye Xianggao also gave the answer. The amount of Tian Fu is too large. In Ming Dynasty, there are more than [-] million Shitian Fu Zhengliang every year.

The average share of one achievement is seven or eight hundred thousand taels, and the half achievement is three or four million taels.

This amount is very small, and even later generations can see that with the population of Ming Dynasty and the flow of silver, it is impossible to reduce the burden on the common people, and it is impossible to increase the tax of the court.

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao was silent for a few seconds before speaking:

"If Liao Xiang's additional distribution is shared equally, how much miscellaneous items can be shared equally?"

"Last year, there were more than [-] million taels in the Liao Dynasty, and all of them were sent from the land tax. In my humble opinion, I am afraid that I can only share about [-]% of them..." Ye Xianggao responded.

Twenty percent, that is about [-] million taels. This is the biggest concession made by the local gentry when there are [-] guards and [-] battalions in Beizhili.

The reason for making so much concessions is that most of the gentry have many acres of land, so as long as some land taxes are waived and they are used to collect miscellaneous items, there is no need to increase the land taxes.

Although this approach will pay hundreds of thousands of taels of extra tax in disguise, but the emperor has already said that it is impossible for them not to cut their flesh.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao also said:

"Since that's the case, let's share it equally. I'll leave the details to Ye Ge."

"This is a matter of my duty..." Hearing what Zhu Youxiao said, Ye Xianggao breathed a sigh of relief.

He was most afraid that the emperor would think that with an army of more than [-], he could ignore the power of the gentry and start wielding a butcher's knife to collect taxes.

If we do that, within three months, the whole world will be turned against us, the food supply will be cut off, and the Shuntian Mansion will be full of hungry people.

But this also shows that the emperor is very calm in government affairs, which makes Ye Xianggao somewhat relieved.

"If the Taipu Temple is transferred to the Yuma Supervisor for combined management, what does Elder Yege think?"

Suddenly, as soon as Zhu Youxiao opened his mouth, Ye Xianggao's heart tightened immediately.

"Long live, I'm afraid this can't be achieved..."

Taipu Temple, this is a government office with financial management functions and financial resources. As the institution responsible for horse administration and animal husbandry in the Ming Dynasty, the important financial resources of Taipu Temple are horse households, pastures and horses and other horse administration resources.

Horse households refer to households who raise horses. These households were officially grouped together by the Ming Dynasty government to share the mandatory task of raising horses. horses or according to the number of fields.

Those organized by households were exempted from other corvees, and those organized by fields were exempted from taxes and grains on the fields. Through exempting grain and exempting labor, the material basis for raising horses in the interior was realized.

According to the records of the Taipu Temple, during the Hongzhi period, the Taipu Temple had more than [-] horse breeders and more than [-] million mu of land.

This is still the situation a hundred years ago, and now perhaps the fields in Taipu Temple have increased a lot, and this is just fields, and there are also pastures.

The pastures of Taipu Temple are generally provided by the imperial court to horse farmers from all over the country, and the pasture land of Taipu Temple is more than [-] million mu.

With such a large number of fields and pastures, Taipu Temple will naturally not be poor.

Since the second year of Chenghua began to have a stable silver income, in the fourth year of Chenghua, the Taipu Temple built a Changying warehouse dedicated to the silver of the Taipu Temple.

At first, Changyingku’s silver income was not much, only more than [-] taels per year, but it increased to [-] taels in the Zhengde period, and more than [-] taels in the Jiajing period.

After Longqing was switched on and off, Changyingku’s highest income was [-] taels, and although it fell back, the annual income remained between [-] and [-] taels.

These silvers belong to horse administration resources and are only allowed to be used to buy horses in principle, so they are called "horse price silver".

This is just the tip of the iceberg, because with the implementation of the policy of exchanging taxes and servitude for silver, the management of horse administration resources in Taipu Temple has also changed from the management of horse households, horses, pastures and other physical objects to the management of currency, including the change of horse administration resources. , the levy of horse price silver and so on.

The silver deposits in the Changying warehouse reached more than [-] million taels during the Jiajing and Longqing periods. As the main source of national fiscal revenue, the Taicang warehouse managed by the Ministry of Households had an annual revenue of more than [-] million taels. The silver in the warehouse is only two to three million taels, which is too shabby compared with Changying Treasury.

Therefore, after Zhu Youjian rectified the imperial horse prison, Zhu Youxiao also knew that Taipu Temple was tricky.

Only the original Yumajian, which covers an area of ​​more than [-] million mu, can reach an annual income of [-] taels of silver after the rectification, while the Taipu Temple, which occupies [-] million mu of fields and pastures, is still only [-] to [-] taels a year. two silver?

This tax...is like fooling ghosts, so Zhu Youxiao raised the idea of ​​handing over the Taipu Temple to his younger brother for rectification.

However, Ye Xianggao's direct refusal was tantamount to a blow to Zhu Youxiao.

Previously, he had been working on the guards, and those problems were related to Xungui, and on Xungui's side, the British Duke and a group of young nobles were on his side, so he was able to abolish the Shuntian and Yongping prefectural guards. .

But now we are attacking civil servants. Without the Huaibei Great Hunger case as a threat, it is impossible to directly hand over the Taipu Temple to the Yuma Supervisor for management.

How many tricks Taipu Temple has, perhaps even the officials in charge of him don't know.

They did not have so many of their own people, and a large number of local landlords and gentry invaded the fields and pastures of Taipusi, so the actual acres of fields and pastures of Taipusi were a problem.

If the Taipu Temple is handed over to the emperor in this way, for civil servants, if the emperor wants to investigate, it means that they themselves have sent their lives to the guillotine.

Even if Zhu Youxiao promised not to pursue it afterwards, it is impossible for Wenchen to believe him.

This is the basic problem why Taipu Temple cannot be transferred to Yumajian by Zhu Youxiao.

If this problem is not resolved, Taipu Temple will be firmly controlled by civil officials.

Zhu Youxiao was silent for a few seconds, and then after thinking about it, he said:

"At the very least, the Taipu Temple has to pay the price of the horse to Donggong, otherwise it will be difficult to collect horses with the imperial horses in charge of the north and south fields."

"If I can solve this problem, I can give Wansui and the person in the East Palace an answer tomorrow." Ye Xianggao still has means.

For him, it was difficult for Taipu Temple to hand over power, but it was not difficult for Taipu Temple to supply horse price silver.

The so-called horse price silver is nothing more than the silver taels for buying horses. Because the Taipusi horse farm has been damaged, it has long been unable to raise war horses independently.

"Since that's the case, Elder Ge should go to the Wenhua Palace to get acquainted first."

Talking to Ye Xianggao was too exhausting, so after getting what he wanted, Zhu Youxiao asked Wei Zhongxian to see him off.

Wei Zhongxian stepped forward to bow, and Ye Xianggao also got up and returned the salute, and then withdrew from the main worship hall, and went to Wenhua hall to familiarize himself with government affairs.

However, after Wei Zhongxian sent him away, he turned back and bowed to Zhu Youxiao:

"Long live, why don't you just let His Highness Fifth send troops to take over the Taipu Temple?"

"It's not that simple..." Zhu Youxiao frowned slightly, and didn't explain to Wei Zhongxian, but he understood everything in his heart.

Now that the Seventh Guards Army is about to go to Liaodong, apart from the Beijing Camp, there are less than [-] people left in Beizhili, including the Sixth Guards Army and the Twelve Battalions.

The Taipu Temple is a trivial matter, and Zhu Youxiao didn't think he could get it at first, but he just mentioned it casually.

The most important thing right now is to wait for the Sixth Guards to return from Liaodong after adjusting the soldiers and horses of the three towns of Taiyuan, Datong, and Xuanfu, and then to rectify and abolish the three towns.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao picked up the memorial, opened it, and frowned.

[It is the afternoon of the day at Hongguangbao in Ningxia, where the smog is so great that falling ash flakes are like melon seeds, and the time is over. The sun will sink into red and yellow, and the outside is like cooking smoke. Thirty-five feet into the ground and two feet seven feet]

Looking at the memorial sent by the inspecting censor, Zhu Youxiao understood that this censor was secretly mocking the courtiers.

"Which person handed over this memorial? Dismiss him and tell him to go home and farm!"

Snapped……

Zhu Youxiao threw the memorial to the ground, and Wei Zhongxian picked it up obediently when he heard the words, and then ordered someone to deal with it.

However, just as he was walking out of the main worship hall, Wang An passed him by.

The two looked at each other deeply, didn't say anything, just nodded slightly.

After missing it, Wang An entered the Lord's Hall of Honor and bowed, and then handed in his resignation again.

"Long live, please agree with the mind of the servant, and transfer the servant to the south field of the Yumajian."

Wang An knelt deeply on the ground, and this appearance made Zhu Youxiao's brows that had just stretched out wrinkle again:
"What? Is it because I was mean to you that you can't stay in the capital any longer?"

Zhu Youxiao used my self-proclaimed name, so it can be seen that he was very angry, but Wang An still bowed to the ground without saying a word.

"Humph!"

Zhu Youxiao picked up the memorial and did not respond. He lowered his head and dealt with the memorial, but looked at Wang An who was kneeling on the ground from time to time, feeling displeased.

Finally, after a quarter of an hour, Zhu Youxiao threw the memorial in his hand on Wang An's back like an explosion, and angrily said:
"Get out! The farther you get out, the better!"

"Thank you long live Long En, please take care of the dragon body..."

After getting a response, Wang An could only stand up tremblingly, using his numb knees to support himself to stand up, then bowed deeply, turned and left.

Looking at the back of Wang An's departure, Zhu Youxiao only frowned slightly, without much emotion.

After all, Wang An mainly served his father, and he didn't have a deep relationship with Zhu Youxiao. For him, keeping Wang An was because of his younger brother's face and Wang An's good work.

Now that Wang An is going to leave, if he can't keep it, he will simply not stay. The only problem is who will leave Wang An's position.

In Zhu Youxiao's mind, the best candidate for this position is actually Wang Chengen, so Zhu Youxiao saw his honest appearance when he was under his younger brother's hands, and used him as a eunuch who was similar to a microphone. just.

But Zhu Youxiao couldn't bear to ask his younger brother to give him people, and it was true that there were not enough people for the Yumajian, so he put it on hold.

Just as Zhu Youxiao was thinking, familiar footsteps sounded. He looked up to the door, but saw Wei Zhongxian walking in.

Although he was a little worried about Wei Zhongxian's defection to Concubine Li Kang and not helping him, but now he is the emperor, so Zhu Youxiao closed the memorial and said:

"Zhongxian, who do you think is better for the position of eunuch Bingbi and supervisor of ceremonies?"

"This... this... slaves dare not..." Hearing Zhu Youxiao's question, and seeing Wang Anshu leaving just now, Wei Zhongxian immediately figured everything out.

He may not be good at politics, but he is definitely not a fool.

Wang An left and was driven away, and now the inner court is the biggest!

Wei Zhongxian vented from the bottom of his heart, but his face was full of panic, and he even knelt down and said:

"Wang Zhangyin, Bingbi Supervisor, is very fair. The servants admire him extremely, and they absolutely dare not..."

"I asked you to recommend a few people, not to say good things about Wang An here!" Zhu Youxiao raised his hand and patted the table angrily, and Wei Zhongxian bowed to Zhu Youxiao when he saw that Zhu Youxiao was angry:
"Li Chaoqin, Liu Ruoyu, Li Yongzhen, and Wang Tigan are not bad..."

"Then let Li Chaoqin be the eunuch in charge of ceremonies, Liu Ruoyu as the admiral, Li Yongzhen as the eunuch, and Wang Tiqian as the eunuch of Bingbi." After Zhu Youxiao finished speaking, he closed the memorial:
"You go and handle this matter and get back."

"The servants lead the order..."

Wei Zhongxian slowly exited the main worship hall, and then the hall became quiet again.

(End of this chapter)