Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 306 The New Songjiang Prefect
Zhu Youjian agreed to Wang Chengen's proposal, and the most urgent task now is to immediately select an official to serve as the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture and the city shipping department.

After all, today's Songjiang Prefecture is the most important center of foreign trade in the Ming Dynasty, and tens of millions of silver dollars of goods come in and out every day, so the post of prefect of Songjiang Prefecture cannot be suspended for a long time, otherwise the entire Songjiang Prefecture will be in a leaderless place. It will become chaotic, and it will cause great losses to the court.

"Who is the current Prime Minister of Songjiang Mansion?" Zhu You asked with a sullen face.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, Tong, the Prime Minister of Songjiang Mansion, has just submitted his resignation letter." Wang Chengen knew the thoughts of Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian. At present, all the rules of Songjiang Mansion's opening of business are Zhu Youjian who spent nearly half a month when Wu Jiayin was the prefect of Yingtian It was taught, and it would be difficult for ordinary officials to manage the business of Songjiang Mansion easily. Now that Wu Jiayin died, it is not easy to choose an official who is familiar with business and trade, so he can only be selected from the officials of Songjiang Mansion. After all, these officials They all followed Wu Jiayin to create a world in Songjiang Mansion.

However, when Zhu Youjian heard Wang Chengen say that the Prime Minister of Songjiang Mansion had also submitted his resignation letter, he became even more angry for a while. Moreover, he personally taught him the knowledge about economic and trade reforms, but he never expected that Wu Jiayin would end up being assassinated after finally waiting for Wu Jiayin to make a name for himself in Songjiang Mansion, and now even the Songjiang Mansion Prime Minister would also resign.

Zhu Youjian looked at Wang Chengen with a frosty face, and Wang Chengen was also a little uneasy. He was an official who followed Zhu Youjian to the south and had no property in the south. Now he also relied on Songjiang Prefecture to open a port in the Huangpu area of ​​Songjiang Prefecture. He has three shops of his own and has made a lot of money, so he does not hope that the newly prosperous business in Songjiang Prefecture will be dimmed because of the killing of the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture.

"The opening of the port in Songjiang Prefecture benefited the most from the imperial court and the merchants who opened shops in Songjiang Prefecture, while those who lost the most were these local gentry families, especially after seeing the huge profits brought by their recovered fields after the port was opened. In the end, it will inevitably arouse the jealousy of these local gentry big families. Wu Jiayin's Qingzhang Tianmu has already angered them. Now that Songjiang Prefecture has become prosperous after the opening of the port, they will naturally hate it even more. If you are an official, you know how powerful the local gentry are, so you naturally dare not be an official."

When Wang Chengen said this, Zhu Youjian sneered: "This Songjiang Prefecture is not as good as before. The annual income of being the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture is no less than one million silver dollars. It is impossible that there are no officials who are unwilling to be this official. They convene the cabinet ministers to discuss and recommend At the same time, the Metropolitan Procuratorate is strictly investigating the sudden death of Wu Jiayin, the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture, and Dongchang should also be investigating secretly."

……

At this time, on the ground of Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture, there are row upon row of shops on both sides of Huangpu, and high-rise buildings along the river have even begun to be built. The Central Bank of Ming Dynasty has also set up its own foreign exchange headquarters here, where Yingyang, silver, gold and other currencies are collected. , put silver coins into the sea, etc.

The two sides of Huangpu, which were already extremely noisy, were now more lively than before. Everyone gathered in the nearby teahouses and restaurants to discuss the sudden death of Wu Jiayin, governor of Songjiang Prefecture.

At this time, Lu Renchang, a local eunuch, was also gathering in a teahouse with Xu Erlu, a doctor of the Ministry of Industry, who had become an official. I want to resign, but the imperial court is afraid that a new magistrate and magistrate will be appointed immediately, and I don’t know if this new mansion will return the land that should belong to us to the imperial court. Looking at these shops in our How can it not make people angry that the fields are earning a lot of money every day!"

"It goes without saying that we are not opposed to the imperial court opening a port here. Now that the water transport has been cut off, business is not as easy as before. It is true that we must rely on this port opening and sea transport to restore the former prosperity. But the imperial court We shouldn’t have taken all our land. These official lands have been our family property for decades. How can we just take them away? Wu Jiayin didn’t hesitate to take them away by force. He deserved his death! However, you said , the imperial court will not find out the clues here." Xu Erlu asked.

"So what if you find out, you are the grandson of Mr. Xu Ge. His Majesty has always valued Mr. Xu Ge. Even after moving south, he did not forget to praise Mr. Xu Ge. He even gave you the false title of Minister of Guanglu Temple. You are still afraid of the imperial court. I can’t do anything to you, and besides, this is a matter of investigation without evidence, as long as the officials of the world know that we are not easy to mess with! Wait for the new prefect to arrive. If the new prefect arrives, he is willing to help us take what belongs to us The fields were returned to us along with the shops on the fields, and we naturally let him be the magistrate, earn a lot of money, get promoted and return to Nanjing, if he is still unwilling to help us, then we can only have another prefect who died suddenly gone."

As Lu Renchang said, he whispered in Xu Erlu's ear: "I have already contacted Li Tianjing, Zuo Tongzheng of Nanjing City, and Li Tongzheng has promised that if the cabinet recommends him as the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture, he will definitely fulfill our wishes. Elder Fu Fange was once a student of Elder Lingzu Xuge, so whether this matter can be accomplished depends on you, Mr. Li Tongzheng, walking around for this Li Tongzheng."

"It's easy to talk about!" Xu Erlu agreed to Lu Renchang's proposal.

……

On this day, six cabinet scholars, Fan Jingwen, Gao Hongtu, Ma Shiying, Qi Biaojia, Liu Zongzhou, and Song Yingxing, gathered at Fengtianmen. Also present at the meeting was Shi Kefa, who had been promoted to the chief inspector of ceremonies. The eunuch Bingbi, the supervisor of rites and the admiral of Dongchang, explained the purpose of this court meeting.

Of course, before coming here, the six cabinet scholars had already known the news of the sudden death of Wu Jiayin, the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture, from various channels, so when Wang Chengen said the purpose of the court discussion, none of the six showed much surprise.

"Your Majesty, Songjiang Mansion is no less important than Yingtian Mansion and Fengyang Mansion in the various Ming mansions. You should be cautious when selecting officials from Songjiang Mansion. Zuo Tongzheng and Li Tianjing know about money, law and business, so I suggest that you appoint Zuo Tongzheng Li Tianjing was transferred to Songjiang prefect and city shipping department to ensure that the commercial port of Songjiang Prefecture can continue to be maintained."

Fan Jingwen, the chief assistant of the cabinet, first expressed his suggestion. He didn't know who was more suitable to be the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture. Among the officials of the third and fourth ranks in the Manchu Dynasty, there were only a handful of officials who really understood business and trade. He could only rely on the son of an old friend. Xu Erlu's suggestion recommended a quota.

Zhu Youjian was also not familiar with this Zuo Tongzheng Li Tianjing, but at this time Wang Chengen whispered in Zhu Youjian's ear: "Your Majesty, according to the people in Dongchang, this Zuo Tongzheng Li Tianjing and Shanghai Township Eunuch Lu Renchang The relationship is very close, I think that Mr. Fan Ge is afraid of being used."

Zhu Youjian nodded without saying anything, and then asked the other cabinet scholars: "Do you have any objections to the people recommended by the chief assistant?"

Gao Hongtu and Qi Biaojia shook their heads.

But Zhu Youjian laughed: "In this case, according to the first assistant Fan Gelao's play, Zuo Tongzheng Li Tianjing was appointed as the magistrate of Songjiang Prefecture and the secretary of the city ship. !"

(End of this chapter)