Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 174 What should come is still here

Xiyuan, Hall of Mental Cultivation.

After Zhu Youtang had breakfast in Qianqing Palace, he took a jade chariot to this place where government affairs were handled.Now the life has been fixed, and the most important work of the day is to deal with the affairs of the two capitals and the thirteen provinces.

Liu Jin has already lit sandalwood here, and the study room has sorted the memorials that need to be processed into categories, and put the memorials in fixed positions in order of priority.

After Zhu Youtang sat down in front of the treasure case, he began to deal with today's government affairs, and he is now at the helm of this imperial aircraft carrier.

"Many counties in Guide Prefecture, Henan Province have suffered locust plagues and reduced production. Please the imperial court reduce half of the tax on this year's summer grain!"

"Shaanxi's Kuizhou Mansion has died, and the number of emigrations is increasing day by day. Please ask the imperial court to reduce or exempt half of this year's summer grain tax!"

"Many counties in Yanzhou Prefecture, Shandong Province are affected by drought and locust plagues. Please ask the imperial court to reduce all taxes on this year's summer grain!"

"Caozhou Mansion in Shandong Province was damaged by floods, and countless people's houses were destroyed. Please ask the imperial court to reduce and exempt all taxes for this year's summer grain!"

……

As the summer grain harvest is imminent, some local officials have appealed for summer tax relief, mainly in natural disasters such as drought, flood, and locusts.

Although the officials of the Ming Dynasty lived on the salary of the imperial court, there were not many officials who were concerned about the imperial court's decree to reduce or exempt grain taxes.

Once local officials successfully request tax exemption for the local people, they will definitely be praised by the local people, and even officials and gentry with a large number of acres of land will give umbrellas to the people, thus gaining a good political reputation.

For example, when Li Ang, the governor of Jiangxi Province at the time, was the magistrate of Qingzhou, Shandong Province, when there was a local disaster, tens of millions of stones were distributed to the hungry people in Qingzhou to survive the famine.

Obviously these are the generous tributes of the imperial court, but in the end the credit will be attributed to the local officials, and the local officials are never tired of exaggerating natural disasters.

Of course, as long as the imperial court agrees to reduce or exempt local taxes, there will be a lot of room for rent-seeking, and there may even be situations where the imperial court exempts taxes and local governments collect taxes as usual.

Especially in some areas where land annexation is serious, the imperial court generally reduces or exempts local taxes to resume production, but in fact it is the wealthy gentry group who benefit the most.

That's why, under the double temptation of fame and interests, local officials are never tired of asking for food tax relief, and there have even been cases of fake disasters.

In the original history, the tax and food in the first year of Hongzhi suddenly fell from 2600 million shi to more than 1900 million shi. It was precisely because Hongzhi obeyed the memorials of local officials and exempted taxes.

Zhu Youtang is naturally sympathetic to the people at the bottom, but he knows that it is impossible to abuse good people, not to mention that it is difficult for the exempted tax to fall into the hands of the disadvantaged, and the Ming Dynasty needs agricultural tax to maintain the normal operation of the court.

If he agreed to reduce or exempt taxes with just a slogan, then Daming's finances would only get worse and worse, and in the end he would be unable to do anything.

For example, the suppression of bandits in southern Jiangxi actually requires financial support, so money cannot be obtained out of thin air, so the most important food tax must not be lost.

Fortunately, Wan An and Liu Ji are very familiar with the tricks of local officials, so there will be no major mistakes in entrusting these memorials to them for drafting.

In addition, the candidate for Hubu Youshilang has been pending.

Since Liu Zhong, the former right servant of the household department, has already gone to the local area to serve as the governor of Huguang, the position of the right servant of the household department is planned to be held by the thirteen department doctors of the household department, but there is no one among the thirteen doctors who can make him shine.

It's just that you don't need to be too anxious. You have good meat in your hands, so you don't need to worry about people who don't work hard at all.

Zhu Youtang knew that he still needs to pay attention to the local disaster situation, so he ordered Liu Jin: "Pass down my oral order, and the Ministry of Households will make statistics on the reduction and exemption of disaster situations in various places over the years, and report it in a booklet to submit to me!"

"Observe the order!" Liu Jindang said, accepting the order.

In the afternoon, a memorial from Gannan arrived on the desk.

Seeing Wang Hua's memorial, Zhu Youtang had a more detailed understanding of the process of suppressing bandits in Southern Jiangxi this time, and it is undoubtedly very easy to protect Wang Hua with this victory.

Even if Wang Yue couldn't clear Wang Hua of the charge of embezzlement of military pay, but with Wang Hua's record this time, he only needed to find a name to help Wang Hua wipe it off lightly.

He was just slightly surprised that the hero who suppressed the bandits this time turned out to be Wang Shouren.

Before turning back the time to the war in southern Jiangxi, Wang Hua chose to trust his son Wang Shouren to help him wipe out the bandits in Damaoshan after realizing that the matter of military pay was set up by Jiangxi governor Li Ang and Jiangxi chief envoy Xu Huai.

Except for the eight scribes transferred from the government yamen, Wang Hua personally recruited the other [-] clerks in the Gannan governor's yamen, and only four clerks who can know the core decision-making.

On the way back to Ganzhou, Wang Shouren realized that the governor's office in southern Gansu had internal support, and every major move of them was known in advance.

In view of this, he deliberately took the four suspected scribes to draw a map near Damao Mountain, and then Ganzhou pretended to be a bandit to attack them.

The two insiders really fell for it, and when they faced the "rogues" and were about to deal with them with a knife, Dang even exposed his identity as insiders.

After Wang Shouren eliminated the spies in his team, he chose to pardon the crimes of the two spies, and let them go to the old lair of Damaoshan to send false information and find out the truth inside.

The four sides of Tai Mo Shan are dangerous, and the only side is accessible.Because the thieves set stones and rolled trees to keep them away, the rogues did not retreat, and the officers and soldiers did not dare to approach them. This is one of the reasons why they have been unable to take down the rogues.

Because the two nephews brought false information, they mistakenly believed that the Ganzhou new army wanted to destroy their branch stronghold in Xiannvzhai, so they lured a team of people to support them.

Wang Shouren had already personally led troops to set up an ambush, and after capturing this group of troops, he ordered a group of officers and soldiers to put on bandit clothes.Taking advantage of the twilight to go up the mountain, pretending to be a thief who just returned from the Fairy Village.

When the thieves guarding the mountain saw Wang Shouren and others going up the mountain, they didn't suspect that they were officers and soldiers in disguise, and the historically accurate information made them paralyzed.

After the officers and soldiers crossed the danger, they pulled out this dangerous pass, so that all the new Ganzhou troops behind could cross the danger safely.

Although the thieves soon knew that they were approaching the city, the new Ganzhou army were all selected and strong soldiers. Wang Hua and Wang Shouren led the army into the stronghold.

Facing the new Ganzhou army that fell from the sky, only a few of the thieves fled from the narrow back mountain road, 500 people were killed, and nearly 2000 people cried and begged to surrender.

It was Wang Shouren's two-pronged strategy of counterintuitive and deceitful crossing the sea that wiped out the most powerful gangsters entrenched in Ganzhou and achieved the first great victory of the Hongzhi Dynasty.

With the largest group of rogues being suppressed, the remaining small groups of rogues are no longer a concern, and it is only a matter of time before the rogues in southern Jiangxi are wiped out.

In the early morning of the next day, after a fire burned down the stockade in Damaoshan, Wang Hua led the team back in triumph.

On the return journey, Wang Hua realized that the area to the south was too large.This place is far away from the county seat, which is really not conducive to the management of the court, so he couldn't help showing a pensive expression.

After all, he was an official from the Hanlin Academy, and soon thought of adding a county seat to strengthen governance and make this place a real place of kingship.

"Father, you have to honor His Majesty on behalf of your child this time!" Wang Shouren was very excited about this action to suppress bandits, his eyes were bright and authentic.

Wang Hua was thinking about setting up a county, and asked casually after hearing the words, "Why?"

"I don't want to be a saint, I want to be a man like Wang Yue, who will lead troops out to fight against the Tartars and become a prince!" Wang Shouren set a new goal, looking determined and authentic.

Wang Hua didn't expect that his son wanted to lead the army to fight again, so he glanced at his son lightly and said, "Wang Yue has a reputation. If you really want to become Wang Yue, then stay at home and study hard for the exam!"

Although he is the number one scholar, he also knows the difficulty of obtaining fame.

If my 16-year-old son wants to be admitted to Jinshi, he will have to study hard for at least ten years to have a chance, and he just has the chance.

"I can take the merit test, but I'm going to get a military job now, so you have to show my merit this time!" Wang Shouren expressed his position confidently like a newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers.

After thinking twice, Wang Hua decided to report the whole story to the emperor.As for whether the emperor wants to give his son extra rewards, whether to grant his son a military position, it depends on the son's good fortune.

In fact, after this battle, he also saw the military talent in his son.

What they don't know is that the matter of Wang Hua's withholding of military pay is fermented by the court, and now the court has entrusted Wang Yue to find out the ins and outs of Jiangxi's withholding of pay, and Wang Shouren will also meet his idol.

The time quietly came to the middle of May, and the West Garden was already a lush royal garden scene.

Apart from occasionally riding a horse in the northwest of Xiyuan, Zhu Youtang often came to this newly built Tingchao Pavilion to sit by the edge of the Daye Pool and fish.

The blue sky and white clouds are reflecting on the mirror-like lake, the summer waves here are slightly rippling, and the fish in the water are swimming happily by the clear lake.

The fish resources in Taiye Pond are very rich, and the eunuchs will feed them in the fixed waters here every day, so it has become an excellent fishing spot.

Zhu Youtang became more and more proficient in handling government affairs. After handling the memorials every day, he would occasionally come to the fishing place in the gazebo next to Tingchao Pavilion, and sit on the soft couch to fish.

The wooden buoy sank, and with the force of Zhu Youtang's wrist to lift the fishing rod, a three-finger-sized crucian carp leaped out of the water and landed on the open space next to it.

Chen Kun, who was wearing a third-rank official uniform, caught the frisky crucian carp with quick eyes and hands, and said flatteringly: "Your Majesty, you are really good at fishing, and you are already the fifth one!"

"It's not that my skills are great, but that the resources here are good!" Zhu Youtang said lazily when he saw that the fish he had just cast was moving again.

The entire Taiye Pond is surrounded by Xiyuan, and this water area is a no-fishing area, so it is very difficult for him not to catch fish now.It is also for this reason that the interest in coming to fish has not diminished.

"Weichen's house is on the side of the Pearl River, but being able to fish like His Majesty every time you move your buoy is really a master of fishing!" The middle-aged official wearing a fifth-rank official uniform next to him seemed to be flattering.

Zhu Youtang saw that the harvest was good, so he told Liu Jin next to him: "The waiter will take two of them back to Niu Mengmeng, and let her use them to feed Xiaohua!"

"Observe the order!" Liu Jin didn't know where Niu Mengmeng got his blessings. This kind of favor made him feel a little jealous, so he said respectfully and authentically.

Zhu Youtang put away the fishing rod, took a sip of the tea just made by the maid next to him, looked at the middle-aged official in the fifth-rank official uniform, and asked, "Wu Yu, a member of Shandong Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs?"

"The humble minister is here!" Wu Yu hurriedly responded authentically.

Zhu Youtang carefully examined this motivated household member Wailang, put down his teacup and asked calmly: "Do you really think that the disaster situation reported by Shandong Yanzhou Prefecture this year is tricky?"

"I have reviewed the Yuze records of various prefectures and counties in Shandong over the years, and I think that the drought in Yanzhou Prefecture this year may be untrue!" Wu Yu looked serious and authentic when faced with the question.

Zhu Youtang turned his head to look at Chen Kun, and asked seriously, "Chen Qing, what do you think?"

"I saw Wu Yuanwailang's summary, and I also thought that Yanzhou, Shandong might be tricky! Now that the Yellow River has an engineering supervision, I think it can be used as a pretext, and Wu Yu can make an unannounced visit to find out the truth!" Chen Kun greeted Zhu With Yutang's gaze, he immediately expressed his plan.

Knowing that this matter could indeed be verified by sending someone down, Zhu Youtang asked earnestly, "What do you think of Shandong Governor Qian Yue?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, I have no relationship with this person, and I don't know what his character is like?" Chen Kun knew that he had little qualifications, so he couldn't help but bitterly said.

Zhu Youtang thought for a moment, then made a decision and said: "Qian Yue was promoted from the inspector of Guizhou to the governor of Shandong at the beginning of this year. It's just that this person's morals are not clear, so no one knows what he did this time! You and Tuntian Silang of the Ministry of Industry Liu Yuyu, a member of the Communist Party of China, secretly went to Shandong Yanzhou Mansion, and His Majesty gave you two the right to act cheaply, and investigate the actual situation of the disaster in Yanzhou, Shandong!"

"The minister leads the decree, and he must live up to His Majesty's grace!" Wu Yu, a member of the Shandong Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs, knew that this was his opportunity, so he expressed his position respectfully.

Chen Kun saw that Zhu Youtang was still fishing here, so he took Wu Yu to say goodbye and left.

Zhu Youtang looked at the driftwood on the lake and began to think about the important province of Shandong.

In the history of the Ming Dynasty, there were many plagues in Shandong. One was the flood of the Yellow River, and the other was that more people died of starvation. The main reason was that land annexation was more serious than other areas.

To solve the problem in Shandong, in addition to harnessing the Yellow River, it is more important to deal with the issue of land annexation.

Yanzhou Prefecture?
Isn't the Confucius family in Qufu there?

It seems... interesting!

Zhu Youtang suddenly thought of Confucius in Qufu, Shandong, and a smile appeared on his face.

It's just that what was supposed to come finally came. The next morning, he rode from the northwest, and the pond newspaper was quickly sent to Xiyuan and handed over to Zhu Youtang.

When Zhu Youtang saw the newspaper from Datongtang, his face was full of melancholy.

(End of this chapter)