Traveling through the Ming Dynasty, as soon as you open your eyes, you will die

Chapter 88 Court Debate

Chongzhen was also shocked after listening to Shi Kefa's introduction to the anti-donation and tax movement in the south, and the various tragedies in which people colluded with bandits and massacred gentry and landlords in order to obtain land. His eyes moved involuntarily, looking at the ministers, and his hands clenched tightly into fists.

And every time he looked at someone, his head would be lowered deeper and deeper.

All the ministers knew that this was Chongzhen's old habit and he was looking for someone to take the blame.

This time, the propaganda and promotion of the New Deal in Jiangnan caused too much trouble. No one can bear this responsibility.

Chongzhen originally thought that San'er's new policy was to win over people's hearts and publicize it in Jiangnan, hoping that the people in Jiangnan would support him to tide over the difficulties.

At that time, Chongzhen believed that, except for Zhili, everyone was no longer under his control, so why not give away favors for nothing?

Unexpectedly, he listened to his son again. In order to make the New Deal that had won people's hearts known to the world, he agreed for the first time to take responsibility and sent out armed workers to carry out official documents printed by the cabinet and go to various places to promote it.

In order to increase efforts to win over people's hearts and restore their reputation. In those days, stamping jade seals on official documents was the happiest thing for him, because in his opinion, every time he stamped a jade seal, his good reputation as a benevolent and virtuous saint would be increased by one point, and every time he stamped it, it would be strengthened a little bit. , for this reason, his jade seal was covered with smoke.

As a result, the real power holder of the second imperial court in Nanjing came today and explained the situation in the south after the military workers entered the south. He was dumbfounded. Only then did I know that things were getting serious.

Luo Binggong immediately stood up and faced Shi Kefa. In fact, he was telling Chongzhen: "Shi Mingbu, you can't say that. Today, the Holy Emperor is in the court. In order to save the world and show compassion for the people, he issued the jade seal official document to the world. What's wrong with this? Isn't it wrong to be considerate of the people?"

Chongzhen opened his mouth and withdrew his gaze looking for the scapegoat.

This time, I personally agreed, or I personally used the jade seal on more than 10,000 official documents. I caused the trouble by myself. The evidence is conclusive. Who else are you going to blame.

Shi Kefa replied: "The emperor is considerate of the people and is right to implement the new law, but your royal guards should not do that and completely corrupt Jiangnan. Your crime is unforgivable. You should be punished."

Lu Mou stood up with a smile: "I confirm that the Jin Yiwei, who is in charge of me, did not make a mistake. The anti-donation and tax resistance trend in Jiangnan has nothing to do with me, Jin Yiwei."

Luo Binggong felt warm in his heart. Something happened, and the father was thinking about how to find someone to take the blame; but the son took the initiative to step forward, put his arms around him, and took the blame for his minister. Why is there such a big difference between father and son? Are they still biological father and son? If they are biological children, why is there such a big gap in moral character?

Shi Kefa endured his anger and asked: "Your Majesty, if there were no martial arts teams such as the Beijing Jinyi Guards to go out and stir up confusion, how could there be this anti-donation and anti-tax trend that is corrupting Jiangnan? Such a heartbreaking tragedy?"

Then he faced Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, King Ding violated the ancestral system and interfered in politics, disrupted the tax-burdened areas south of the Yangtze River, and shaken the country's foundation. His intentions are evil, and he should be punished for his crime."

The literati of the Ming Dynasty, from the day when the party struggle began, had to add a clause of treason to the impeachment of any enemy. Not even the eunuch who has no control will be spared, let alone the others? It's as if my impeachment has no soul if you don't get a rule that you are treasonous and rebellious.

Therefore, when Wei Zhongxian was about to hang himself, he said something full of contempt and disdain for Dong Lin: "As for those Dong Lin, even the charges of fabricating people are so boring. They will never be as good as me."

Chongzhen frowned. It was not because he was suspicious again, but because subconsciously, he had become seriously dependent on his third son. Subconsciously, anyone who says his third son is not good is annoying.

No matter what his father thought, Lu Mou still smiled and said to Shi Kefa in a calm tone: "Violation does not violate the ancestral system, I will tell you later. I want to ask you first, the people in Jiangnan are resisting the anti-donation and anti-tax trend. Land rent and land tax? What donations and taxes are they resisting?"

Just as Shi Kefa was about to open his mouth, he was suddenly choked.

Lu Mou glanced at him contemptuously, "What's wrong with the national hero? National hero, you have touched my interests and purposes, and I will respond accordingly."

Turning to face Chongzhen and all the ministers in the palace, Lu Mou said loudly: "The people of Jiangnan are resisting the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes. They are resisting the three rates. They are resisting the additional burdens in addition to the stipulated land rent and labor payment."

The emperor and his ministers all nodded in recognition.

"Father, I am impeaching the officials who stayed in Jiangnan. They deceived the superiors and deceived the subordinates. They disobeyed the imperial edict. They used the name of the emperor to force the people to enrich themselves. They caused trouble in Jiangnan and shaken the country. It is a capital crime to overthrow the Ming Dynasty."

If you want to kill me, I will kill your whole family. Shi Kefa suppressed his anger and retorted in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, please don't accuse me of false accusations. The ministers who stayed in Nanjing devoted themselves to governing the south of the Yangtze River for the country. What crime is there?"

Lu Mou sneered: "The emperor's new policy is to follow the teachings of the saints and lighten the corvee and pay less taxes. It is to deeply love the people and reduce the burden on the people. Is this right?"

This cannot be said to be wrong: "The emperor behaves like a saint by frivolously performing corvee and underestimating gifts and caring for the common people. This is what a saintly king does."

"In this case, why didn't you implement the new policy when it was sent to Nanjing on March 10th? In June, the summer tax was collected and the old law was still implemented. Are you disobeying the edict and disrespecting the emperor? Resisting the edict and disrespecting the emperor, If you despise the emperor, should you kill him?"

Shi Kefa was speechless at that time.

Lu Mou ignored him and turned to face Chongzhen again: "Father, the reason why Jiangnan is in such a situation is that Jiangnan stayed behind, resisted the decree and disrespected the decree, deceived the people, continued to collect three salaries, continued to collect exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and only then did the people know that Father After the emperor cherished the benevolence and sacred heart of the people, he spontaneously started to resist donations and taxes. If they received the imperial decree and immediately implemented it without collecting those taxes, where would the resistance to donations and taxes come from? What kind of donations and taxes were the people resisting? What tax is it?”

The hall fell into silence, and Shi Kefa was speechless.

In the main hall, two voices suddenly came out: "Okay, the prince said it well."

Everyone looked at it, but it turned out that it was Lu Mou who was a die-hard man, the British official Zhang Zhi, and the Minister of Household Affairs Qian Tonghe.

The two of them applauded together, just to have something to say. The British extended their hands openly and respectfully, asking Qian Tonghe to speak first. If you are stupid and talkative, let the literati do it.

Qian Tonghe stood up and saluted Chongzhen first: "Your Majesty, at the beginning of the year, the Emperor made a new rule. In the court, ministers are not allowed to impeach each other. If there is an impeachment matter, write a report and submit it to the emperor for review and decision. I dare not disobey the decree. I will not impeach anyone. , I only talk about the pros and cons of the new deal."

These words were fair and peaceful, but they also contained a gun and a stick, telling Shi Kefa that you violated the rules and disrupted order. According to the regulations, the censor who strictly enforces temple discipline should stand up, drag this person out, and spank him.

He is not impeaching, but he is inciting violence.

After being reminded like this, the picket censor finally remembered, yes, what else can he do to this guy who impeached his own family and rewarded the young prince with food until his death? He should go out and give him a good beating first.

Chongzhen also thought about this, and in his heart he wanted to take out the guy who wanted to kill his precious son and give him a good beating to relieve his anger. But then he thought that if he beat someone from Nanjing and spread the news, it would be another cruel excuse.

So he waved his hand to stop the censor who was eager to try: "The new rules of the court have not been communicated to the left-behind. Shi Aiqing does not know about it. Anyone who does not know is not guilty."

Shi Kefa really didn't know that there was this new rule. It was just two years since he left the Beijing court, and it was really incredible that there had been so many changes in the Beijing court.

Quickly thank the Lord for His grace.

Qian Tonghe smiled calmly, not doing anything wrong for himself. The purpose of coming out to give Shi Kefa a blow and suppress his arrogance was achieved.

"I will not talk about the pros and cons of the new deal for now. I will talk about the emperor's violation of the ancestral system and allowing King Ding to participate in politics."

Then facing Shi Kefa: "I would like to ask the Ministry of Military Affairs, what is the ancestral system?"

When Shi Kefa was asked this question, he was a little caught off guard and couldn't help but look at his deputy Chen Que.

Chen Que smiled and said nothing.

(End of this chapter)