Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 478
"Shang Shu, you are back..."

"Um……"

In mid-May, when the Northeast of Daming was rumbling for the people to migrate independently, while the Southwest was preparing for war, and the country was in full swing because of King Qi's preparations for the vassal state, Bi Ziyan also returned to the mansion with a day's exhaustion.

His mansion is not big, it is only considered to be in the middle and lower part of Nanxunfang, with less than a quarter of the land (245 square meters), but there are eight people, big and small, living there.

Two maidservants, a cook, a groom, and a steward, plus his original wife and six-year-old child.

In addition, there is a carriage for him to go up in the stables in the backyard.

In terms of its status as the second-ranked household secretary and a scholar of the Martial Arts Hall, such a courtyard does not match his status.

"Where are the madam and the young master?"

When Bi Ziyan returned home, when he didn't hear his family's voice, he glanced curiously at the in-charge, and the in-charge immediately responded after hearing the words: "Madam took the young master out to play, maybe he won't come back until dinner."

"Hmm..." Bi Ziyan took off his black gauze cap, revealing his gray hair and sweat under the net scarf.

He ran towards Bi Ziyan, seeing him, Bi Ziyan forced a tired smile on his face.

"If you keep working hard, even if you finish everything, it's hard to say what the result will be."

"The Chief Secretary's office in the three provinces outside the customs plus these railways, and the various expenditures, I am afraid that the Ministry of Households will have to increase the budget of millions of taels of silver."

When the income of the people has not increased, they wantonly release water and release a large amount of silver. This can be said to indirectly force the people to go into debt.

They all had a fluke mentality, thinking that they were just greedy a few times, and Jin Yiwei probably wouldn't be able to find out. However, they happened to meet Lu Wenzhao who wanted to improve his performance in front of Zhu Youjian.

If Zhu Youxiao had Zhu Youjian, no... even if he had Zhu Jianshen's means, then the Yanshan officials would not feel so uncomfortable.

"Although there is a balance, Brother Long also knows that the Ministry of Finance already owes the Finance Department 400 million taels of silver."

He walked back to the bedroom in the backyard, and the two maidservants followed him and changed him into a Taoist robe, washed his face before leaving, and he walked to the main seat in the meeting hall and sat there. "The Doctrine of the Mean", but the mind is not on the book.

"How many students from outside Yanshan signed up this year?" Cheng De asked calmly, and Li Demao also showed distress: "About 21."

"When His Highness returns to Beijing, I will ask His Highness."

As the feudal vassals grow stronger and their needs increase, the number of people they migrate will also continue to increase, and among them, the needs of Qi are the largest.

"Hmm..." Bi Jiwen is used to his father's style of thinking about the common people. Besides, he really can't ride a bike now. What he wants more is to let his father take him out on a bike, just like other children, sitting in the back row , I was taken out by my father to ride a bicycle to blow the wind.

The child hugged Bi Ziyan's leg, and Bi Ziyan nodded and responded with a smile.

"His Highness is the only one who noticed this, so he appointed village officials. Even if there are only two people in each village, they can still control the entire village in the name of the court."

The same is to catch corruption, Sun Chuanting is different from Lu Wenzhao, Sun Chuanting advocates killing or exile, while Lu Wenzhao advocates the recovery of salary and salary, dismissed as common people.

"Jin Xuan has been sent to Qi State. With his temperament, I am afraid he will manage Qi State very well."

"Um……"

"You are sure that you can resign, but are you sure that the people below can resign?"

Cheng De's words are deafening, but Zhang Maocai questioned:
"It is true that what you said, Yuan Sheng, is reasonable, but since you have said everything, Yuan Sheng, His Highness was the first to discover and attempt to control the village, so His Highness will be aware of our intentions immediately."

"In the past, Jinyiwei would not investigate villages, but at most market towns, because their strength is insufficient, and the villages cannot embezzle too many things."

Once this standard is met, the tens of millions of taels of overseas gold and silver will be enough to feed the household department for ten years.

In terms of finance, Zhu Youjian knows Daming better than Bi Ziyan and the others, so Bi Ziyan and the others only hope that the current Daming has reached the standard that Zhu Youjian can release money in his mind.

"Shangshu, Dong Shilang is asking to see you."

It's just that he also knows that his father is very busy, and he is busy every day until late at night...

To put it bluntly, the money owed to the Department of Finance by the Ministry of Households is the silver reward for the Milky Way and the pension for Tian during the Northern Sweepstakes and the War of the Feudal Domains.

"This year's Enke, how many students from Yanshan are participating?"

Bi Ziyan explained that Bi Jiwen also left in a sensible manner, and the manager had already gone to prepare tea for the guests with the maid.

"Since someone wants them to be promoted, let the students selected from the 21 people stay in Beijing."

"What can I say, what His Highness decided, are you sure you have the ability to bring it back?"

"This booklet was handed over by the Ministry of Officials. Since the first month of last year, Lu Wenzhao has arrested more than 4000 officials, and [-]% of them are my Yanshan officials."

Having said that, if Yanshan officials were not corrupt, then Lu Wenzhao and Sun Chuanting would not be able to catch Yanshan's style.

"How much tax was paid by the state last year? Townships contributed more than [-]% of direct and indirect taxes to land taxes and imperial stores."

Most of the rewards this year were issued with overseas gold and silver. Although these silvers will not cause inflation, Bi Ziyan is still planning to return the money just in case.

He didn't understand why his minister wanted to mention that person, maybe it was because he had worked with him for too long, and after hearing the news in the capital recently, he expressed his feelings?

So Bi Ziyan and the others are all thinking, when is the standard that Zhu Youjian said...

The financial department has tens of millions of taels of silver, which is known to everyone in the capital, but with Zhu Youjian's explanation, everyone also knows that the financial department's silver cannot be used casually, otherwise Daming will surely fall into inflation.

The manager looked at the "Doctrine of the Mean" in his hand, and couldn't help asking: "Shang Shu, you seem to have read this "The Doctrine of the Mean" for half a month, right? Don't you want to change it?"

As he spoke, Chengde stretched out his hand and put it on a booklet on the tea table next to him.

"..." Hearing Bi Ziyan's words, the chief was silent for a moment.

For Bi Jiwen, Bi Ziyan has no high hopes, but only hopes that he will grow up healthy.

Can Chengde blame Lu Wenzhao for this kind of thing?
Maybe many officials in Beijing are blaming, but Chengde and the others don't.

"Me?" Chengde came back to his senses, and then sighed:

It is impossible for Bi Ziyan and the others, like Zhu Youjian, to foresee that a more serious drought will break out in a few years, and there will be tens of millions of mouths waiting to be fed. Therefore, many of Zhu Youjian's policies are conflicts for them. of.

Returning the government to the emperor is something that all Yanshan School students do not agree with.

However, Bi Ziyan didn't think there was anything wrong with it. After the groom took over the document, Bi Ziyan looked at it for a while, and then he closed the document and said:

"The value of these things is only ten million taels, but more than 2 students fell down, and the average share of them is only 500 taels."

The four of them sat in their positions, and the tea on the table had cooled down, but no one drank it.

He is like this, so why not Li Demao and others.

"The Four Books and Five Classics begin with the doctrine of the mean, all because of familiarity with "The Doctrine of the Mean", you know the foundation of being a person and doing things."

It is unimaginable that the four principals of Yanshan are sitting in the meeting hall of an ordinary house in an ordinary official workshop, even a little small.

"father!"

Most of the students who did not pass the Enke can only listen to the arrangement of the official school and go to the industrial area to be a skilled worker.

Bi Ziyan and the others still don't know when Qi State will begin to migrate people, but it is foreseeable that once Zhu Youjian, who has the most wealth and power, starts to invest resources in Qi State, the development speed of Qi State will be Very scary.

Therefore, I am afraid that the household department will have to live in two years.

Originally, the household department had a balance of 1000 million taels last year, but after the war ended, the household department owed the Finance Department more than 400 million taels.

Cheng De gritted his teeth and said this sentence, both in and out of his words were hating iron but not steel.

"Go and play, father and Dong Shilang have something to talk about."

Lu Wenzhao doesn't care how much you have been corrupt, as long as you are corrupt, even if you are just a small official with a salary of 15 taels, he will bring you to justice and let the people above see him doing things.

"That's right, besides, if the payment of taxes is postponed for a day, the foundation of the country may be damaged." Xiao Daogui also hesitated.

"It's a village, it's a market town..."

"500 taels to buy the future of a Yanshan official, is it possible that my Yanshan official is so humble?!"

"father!!!"

It was Bi Jiwen, also in the fifth year of Tianqi, Zhu Youjian gave him a half-month vacation before he got it by accident, so he was considered old-fashioned.

Looking at Dong Yingju's back, Bi Ziyan couldn't help sighing: "Seeing that although brother Long is seventy-three, his body is much better than mine, which is sixty-two..."

"That's 47 people choose [-]..." Hearing this, Chengde knew in his heart that this was his Highness trying to weaken the Yanshan faction's power in the court.

Zhang Maocai spoke of Zhu Youjian's arrangement with Qi Guo with a solemn expression, while Xiao Daogui also said with a headache:

Cheng De asked everyone, and Li Deyu frowned when he heard the words: "The upper-level power can determine the middle-level power, and the middle-level power can determine the lower-level power, but if there is no support from the lower-level power, both the middle-level and upper-level power will collapse..."

"The ruling power of the dynasties of the past dynasties can only control the country, provinces, prefectures, and counties, while the control over market towns and villages is very weak."

Zhu Youjian is here, so the emperor is destined to be the mascot, but Zhu Youjian is gone. The first thing he will do is to consolidate the imperial power, and then return the power to the emperor.

"That's right..." Bi Ziyan leaned on the armrest: "It's because of this that I admire the kind of person who is not rigid in the face of small things, who is as stable as Mount Tai in the face of big things, and has an open mind to others."

"We could have united with Governor Huang, but in our capacity, Governor Huang might not meet him."

Hearing what he said, Bi Ziyan also looked at the in-charge, and the in-charge responded with a bow:

"Mother and Cook Li went to the backyard to prepare today's meal."

Although these common people were allocated to the feudal kingdoms of the vassal kings, and each kingdom had no more than [-] people, but for Daming, this was just the beginning.

Bi Ziyan asked, Bi Jiwen replied, the communication between the two was simple and straightforward, and Bi Ziyan also hugged him when he heard the words: "Go out today, what do you know?"

If things go on like this, it's hard to say that Daming's life will become better.

"Where's my mother?"

"In this case, let's not fight for it for the time being. This object is just a pastime in our hands, and it is indeed a life for the people." Bi Ziyan shook his head when he heard the words, and looked down at Bi Jiwen:

It's not that Bi Ziyan has no children, but his eldest son died young, and with his busy schedule, he never had time to ask for a second one.

Hearing this, Dong Yingju also nodded slightly, and said with a serious face: "I heard that Wanzai and His Highness are planning to open three more railways targeting the three provinces outside the customs."

When Bi Ziyan said this, his eyes were vain and absent-minded, and the person in charge who has served him for more than 30 years can naturally see it, so he can't help but wonder:

"Huh?" Bi Ziyan looked up at the man who had served him in charge since his youth, then looked down at the "Doctrine of the Mean" in his hand, and then said: "This "The Doctrine of the Mean" can never be finished .”

"Speaking of which, how do you pull it? Is it a threat to call all Yanshan officials to resign? Or a collective rest?"

"Therefore, if you have a bit of Taoist spirit, you can aim high and achieve great things with an open mind."

Zhu Youjian has been worried about this, and he is worried about the rampant counterfeit currency dealers in the market, so he has not released Tianqi Tongbao.

After a long time, Li Demao said with an ugly face: "We didn't do this at all. Your Highness knows it well, but why would you use such means to retaliate against us?"

"Of course they don't want to!" Li Demao said excitedly: "Since they are not willing, then we can put officials from Yanshan in."

For most Yanshan students who can lead troops to fight and rule the country, it is difficult for them to bear an "incompetent" emperor sitting on top of them.

It's a pity that most of Yanshan's students come from poor backgrounds. For them, a few hundred taels of silver is already what their parents and grandparents could earn for several generations.

"Hundreds of officials competed with the common people, but many common people failed to grab it."

Zhu Youjian knew very well what the Yanshan faction wanted, either to be the emperor, or to sit in the seat of Prince Qi's mansion in the capital and never move for the rest of his life.

For Ming Dynasty, the population migration not only lost the population, but also lost the salt tax, tea tax, wine tax and various direct and indirect taxes associated with these people.

"Of course, in a place where you can't embezzle too many things and your salary is very low, even the Yanshan students like me shy away from it. Those selected from the 21 students outside of Yanshan will be willing to do it." A village official?"

"These places that they don't like are places that Da Ming has entrusted with important tasks, and they are also the top priorities of Da Ming."

Since Zhu Youjian classified officials as officials, for Daming, most of the graduates from Enke were officials, but their grades were different.

Bi Jiwen thought so, but there was a sound of footsteps, and the groom in charge of the door came to the courtyard and bowed:

Bi Ziyan's words are inside and out, and the person he is talking about is actually only one person in the entire Ming Dynasty hall.

"Understood?" Chengde took a sip from his teacup, and then said:

"You can't ride it right now, I'll buy it for you when you're one foot taller than a bicycle."

"It's the middle of the month today, and it's time for the new products to be put on the shelves in the Imperial Store, but today's bicycles are only on the shelves of a thousand, and they were sold out early."

"I came here this time because I wanted to discuss with Lord Shang Shu whether to dissuade His Highness, and ask His Highness and Long Live to postpone the construction of these three railways."

"Yes! The imperial store is full of people today, and many people are buying bicycles. Father, when will our family buy bicycles? There are also clocks and thermometers. I think other uncles have them in their homes."

I didn’t think so when there were natural disasters and man-made disasters. After all, Daming was facing hungry people at that time, but now most of the people who migrated from the feudal lords were people from the hinterland of the Central Plains and the coastal areas. These were real tax contributors.

This is his second son, Bi Jiwen, who was born in the fifth year of Tianqi and is six years old this year.

As soon as Bi Jiwen heard his father's question, he immediately started talking non-stop.

Although the ten taels of silver per person handed over by the vassal king to the household department is enough to cover the taxes of these immigrants for several years, in the long run, Daming is still losing money.

Similarly, as the groom left, Dong Yingju, who was wearing a Taoist robe, soon walked into the courtyard of the Bi Mansion. After following the groom into the meeting hall, he sat in the first place on the left and took out a paper. Book, bowed and said:
"Shang Shu, this is the tax document estimated by the various divisions of the Ministry of Household Affairs this year. According to this document, after collecting the autumn tax of the State Dynasty, there should be a balance of 200 million taels of silver."

"Ah..." Bi Ziyan sighed, put the documents on the table beside him, and said sadly: "I'm afraid we can't stop what His Highness has decided."

In response, Li Demao from the Ministry of Officials also handed over his hand and responded: "About 26 people, but after the difficulty is increased, it is estimated that there will be less than [-] places."

After a long silence, Bi Ziyan picked up the teacup and said this, and Dong Yingju saw him serving tea to see off the guests, so he got up and bowed consciously, and then left the courtyard.

"Choosing the best to stay in Beijing? This is not a good thing. If they stay in Beijing and get promoted in the future, wouldn't it be right for me to wait..." Xiao Daogui stood up, but Chengde raised his hand to signal him not to get excited, but to take care of himself said:
"Staying in the capital seems to be able to control power, but can it really be controlled? Let me ask you, what is the third chapter 2 of "Yanshan Politics"?"

"If we can control the township, it will be stronger and stronger than controlling the government."

"Captain Huang is loyal to His Royal Highness. When he traveled thousands of miles in the past, all the ministers in the court doubted that he would separate himself. Only His Highness believed that he would not. With such trust, Governor Huang would not be willing to join us in persecuting His Highness." Li Demao analyzed, but he also noticed Cheng De who had not spoken.

Cheng De thought about the [-] officials who were arrested, and could only target Enke.

Thinking of this, Cheng De had a general understanding of His Highness's plan to deal with Yanshan, but he also knew how to crack it:

"How much assets did the 460% officials confiscate? Gold and silver, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and houses and villas totaled only 67 million taels, and the confiscated fields were only [-] mu."

"What's dismissal and resignation? How did the Zhejiang Party threaten the imperial court? It was nothing more than a delay in the arrival of food from the south to Beijing."

Dong Yingju didn't directly call Bi Ziyan by his nickname because he was 12 years older than Bi Ziyan. If he called Bi Ziyan by his nickname, it would be equivalent to making Bi Ziyan call him his brother.

Just as Bi Ziyan finished expressing his emotions, a child's voice came from behind the screen wall in the courtyard, and then a child wearing a tiger's head cap and red clothes ran out from behind the screen wall.

"Huh?" Zhang Maocai and Xiao Daogui looked at Li Demao in confusion, and Li Demao also explained:

In this regard, only Li Demao can understand Chengde, he said with a smile: "I understand, Yuan Sheng, your move is a conspiracy!"

"Bring it in..." Hearing that it was Dong Yingju asking to see him, Bi Ziyan carried Bi Jiwen on his lap back to the ground, which made Bi Jiwen feel disappointed.

"They don't know the villages and towns we put them into, so they can only complain about the imperial court. The low salary of village officials is not a problem for us, but it is a place we can take advantage of."

"Eh……"

And because of financial problems, even if it is an official of the lower ninth rank, if more than 8 people are recruited at one time, it will add more than 80 taels of expenditure, so Enke is destined to become more and more difficult.

"Brother Yuan Sheng, don't you have anything to say?"

"Although the spirit of Confucianism is in the world, this "Doctrine of the Mean" has a bit of the spirit of Taoism."

"According to Yuan Keli's attitude, he is going to divide the approved officials into three parts, some will be transferred to the three provinces outside the pass, some will be enriched inside the pass, and the last part will be transferred to the southwest, and enter Burma after Hong Chengchou pacifies Burma."

"If it was possible, then Lu Wenzhao wouldn't have caught so many moths in my Yanshan Mountain!"

With the warm summer wind, his sighs blew towards the official office in the capital, and at this moment in the official office, Cheng De was also meeting Li Demao, Zhang Maocai, Xiao Daogui and others.

Of course, this is not to belittle Zhu Youxiao, but Zhu Youxiao's ability is indeed not worthy of the emperor in their hearts.

"What you said doesn't seem to be what you are doing."

"Since the development of my Ming Dynasty, there are a total of more than 3 market towns and villages, and about [-]% of the people in the Ming Dynasty live there."

"If all the students outside of Yanshan choose the best, then the place where they work is the capital, the provincial government, and the county government, and where is the place where our people get a job?"

The former will kill people, otherwise they will be forced to stay away from their homeland, and the latter will at least give Yanshan face.

If it is based on the population, then Daming would not even think about releasing these tens of millions of taels of silver, because since the success of the various vassals, Daming has moved nearly 40 people out.

Li Demao's words expressed the aspirations of the other three people. As for the revenge they said, it might be Zhu Youjian's promotion to the feudal clan.

"Instead of blocking it, it's better to ask His Highness if you can allow the gold and silver from the Finance Department to enter the market."

"But what if we let more than [-]% of the country's rural market towns delay paying taxes and land taxes for one day? What will happen to the court?"

"It's easy to join the WTO, but it's hard to get things done."

"As long as we propose to increase the salary of village officials, a large number of village officials from Yanshan will support us."

Li Demao looked at Chengde: "In this way, although we lost the prefectures and counties representing the power of the middle class, we gained the townships and towns of the lower class power, and the power of the middle class and the upper class was lifted up by the lower class power. Therefore, once the lower class power collectively Strike, the middle and upper floors..."

The words are full, Li Demao doesn't say anymore, but Zhang Maocai and Xiao Daogui have understood Chengde's thoughts, and they looked at Chengde with hot eyes, but Chengde also put down his teacup, looked up at the ceiling, and sighed:

"I don't want to threaten His Highness, I just want His Highness to stay in Daming and lead Daming towards the equalization of rich and poor that he wrote in the textbook..."

　Afternoon update around 05:30
　　
　
(End of this chapter)