Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1324 Cotton Prices Fall
The political structure of the Kingdom of Jin made Hauge subject to the domestic Han gentry and warlords from all over the country.

After ten years of development, while the strength of the Jin Kingdom has increased, the strength of the domestic Han gentry has also grown rapidly, gradually forming a political ecology similar to that of the Sui Dynasty and the early Tang Dynasty.

The domestic gentry and warlords are even bigger than the Guanlong nobles.

Hauge's face was gloomy. Meng Qiaofang, Han Chaoxuan, and Kong Wenkui couldn't deal with Hauge, but Hauge's anger needed to be vented.

"Is this the same situation in other counties?"

Yu Yin nodded, "The farther away from Chang'an, the more serious the situation."

Hauge twitched his cheeks a few times, "According to the estimates of the Ministry of Households, how much has the grain reduction this year, is the grain in the whole Guanzhong enough to last until next year's wheat harvest?"

"According to my estimate, the reduction in grain is about [-]% to [-]%. The imperial court may need to put the stored grain accumulated in recent years on the market, and also need to find a way to obtain a batch of grain from the Ming Dynasty to barely survive until next year's wheat harvest."

Food has always been the weak point holding back the development of the Jin Kingdom. Now the price of food has doubled, and there will be more than half a year until next year's wheat harvest, and the price of food will definitely soar upwards.

In recent years, Guanzhong has been gradually recovering, and the court of the Kingdom of Jin saved a little every year to save a little military rations. When Hauge heard that all these were put on the market, there was still a shortage, so he was so angry that he couldn't speak.

At this time, on the road in the distance, a group of people and horses carried an official sedan chair and came quickly to the edge of the Wei River.

The sedan chair stopped a mile away by the river, and an old man in the magistrate's robe ran out of the sedan chair, rolling and crawling.

The yamen servant helped him to run not far from Hauge, the old man broke free from the yamen servant, and trotted in front of Hauge in panic, he didn't dare to look at Hauge on the horse, and knelt on the ground as soon as his knees softened, He said in a trembling voice, "Kong Chenggang, magistrate of Lintong County, pay homage to Your Majesty!"

Hauge had no place to vent his anger. It was unfortunate for Kong Chenggang. Cabinet scholars like Meng Qiaofang and Kong Wenqi couldn't move, but it was still necessary to kill a few county magistrates and kill the current atmosphere.

"Come on! Take him down for me, put him in death row, and let him go!"

Hauge roared, and several guards immediately got off their horses and held Kong Chenggang, who was paralyzed, his face turned pale, kowtowed like garlic, and begged for mercy, "Your Majesty, spare me, Your Majesty spare me."

Hauge ignored him, and urged his horse to run past him, followed by Yu Yin and others and the guards, heading towards Lintong County.

There are also large cotton fields along the way. Men and women are wearing bamboo hats that shade the sun, picking cotton in the fields, and their faces are full of joy of harvest.

When Hauge came into the county seat, he went straight to the county government office, ordered someone to bring out the county policy, then asked the guards to dispatch troops, and asked the officials to check the booklet.

Since the loss of Sichuan, the Manchu ministers in the court have been completely suppressed by the Han officials and gentry, and Hauge's power has also been emptied by the cabinet.

Food is the lifeblood of the Kingdom of Jin, and Hauge will not allow them to shake the foundation of the Kingdom of Jin.

This point should be the consensus between Hauge and the officials and gentry of the Kingdom of Jin, cotton three wheat seven, this is the result of the initial discussion, but now it has become cotton seven, or even cotton eight, it is absolutely impossible.

Regardless of whether Meng Qiaofang, Han Chaoxuan, and Kong Wenkui knew about this situation, it was an excellent opportunity for Hauge, who had been an emperor for ten years and had gone through many ups and downs, and was already familiar with political struggles, to consolidate his power.

This time the cabinet must be responsible for the dereliction of duty. Although it is impossible for Hauge to dismiss several prime ministers in the cabinet, it is still no problem for him to seize their handle and run a few Han officials and gentry.

In this way, the swarm of cotton planting can be suppressed, and the planting of cotton can be controlled within the acceptable range of the Kingdom of Jin. Second, Hauge can use this to regain some power from the cabinet.

After the army was transferred to Lintong, Hauge successively arrested two relatives of Kong Wenzhuan and confiscated the family property, and then continued to patrol Weinan County eastward.

As a result, before Hauge arrived in Weinan County, the county magistrate Meng Fandiao hanged himself, and Meng Qiaofang's brother-in-law also committed suicide at home.

In Chang'an City, the residence of Yongping King Meng Qiaofang, several prime ministers in charge of the Jin Kingdom's government gathered together.

Meng Qiaofang glanced at Han Chaoxuan, a little displeased, and said, "President Han, isn't Yu Yin one of yours? How could such a big matter go directly to the emperor without letting us know first."

Han Chaoxuan said: "My lord, he is now the Minister of the Household Department and the Prime Minister. How can he belong to me? Moreover, Yu Yin actually mentioned this matter in the cabinet. He only got involved with the emperor because of a dispute with Minister Kong."

Seeing Meng Qiaofang looking at him, Kong Wenzhuan hurriedly twisted his body, and explained: "I can't blame me for this. Who knows that the people below are so bold that they don't take the imperial court's order seriously. Let the matter be suppressed, wait for the next season, and let the people below grow wheat, but Yu Yin thinks that it must be investigated, otherwise the wind of planting cotton cannot be suppressed, he is making a fuss out of a molehill, so I fought with him."

Kong Wenzhuan became more and more annoyed, "Everyone works in the cabinet, and there are usually many disputes. Who knew he would report the matter to the emperor."

Han Chaoxuan sighed, "Actually, with our current status, who cares about the money, it's too late for us to keep Dajin and our status, how can we tear down the stage by ourselves!"

They are in high positions, and what they are most afraid of is that the people below will cause trouble and implicate them, so it is unlikely for them to instruct their family members to plant all the fields into cotton.

However, the people below disregarded the order of the Jin Kingdom court and wantonly replanted cotton fields. They said that Han Chaoxuan and the others did not know, and that was certainly impossible. , got it in hand.

It's just that they didn't expect that the people below were too bold, took [-]% of the share, and were not satisfied, and expanded the cotton fields to [-]% to [-]% of the share.

Meng Qiaofang said angrily: "It is impossible for us to instruct the people below to plant [-]% to [-]% of the cotton, but after all, we have divided up [-]% of the share and robbed the people of the cotton field. Now the emperor seizes this opportunity and insists on saying We instigate, and we can't argue with a hundred words!"

Han Chaoxuan frowned, "Didn't the prince have already dealt with the aftermath, the emperor can't do anything to us!"

Meng Qiaofang said: "The emperor can't do anything to us, but now the emperor is standing on the ground of morality, but he can deal with the people below. If the emperor continues to mess around, our hearts will be scattered. The key now is to solve the problem. The emperor cannot be allowed to continue his east tour."

In the past ten years, several prime ministers have been able to become the tumblers of the Jin Kingdom's political arena. In addition to the fact that they first united to fight against the Manchu forces in the court, and then suppressed Hauge together, there was no internal dispute. Another reason is that each of them has a In addition to private soldiers, gangs have more than ten thousand tenants and are powerful, so their political status in the court is stable.

Now if Hauge is allowed to manage the people below, it will cause turmoil among the people below, thinking that several prime ministers cannot provide them with political asylum, and that will shake the foundation of several prime ministers.

Meng Qiaofang hoped that this matter would be resolved as soon as possible, and hoped that Hauge would not hold on to it. Right now, the planting of cotton and wheat fields in the Kingdom of Jin should be re-planned. He did not want to cause too much turmoil.

After he finished speaking, Han Chaoxuan and the others nodded, and said a few words to each other. Finally, Han Chaoxuan said: "Then we can only compromise, use a few Manchus, let the emperor go back to Chang'an first, and settle this matter."

Kong Wenkui said disapprovingly: "There is a hole in the middle of the court, where is there room for people?"

Meng Qiaofang frowned, "If you don't have one, squeeze out a few and get through the current crisis first. If this continues, it will not benefit anyone! Prime Minister Kong, you are responsible for this matter. You are too slow to respond. Your Ritual Department will let you Come out with a position of servant and a position of chief executive!"

Kong Wenkui turned his head away unhappily after hearing this, and made no objection, which was regarded as acquiescing.

Several people were discussing how to free up some seats and let Hauge go back to Chang'an first, but at this moment, an official rushed over, he tripped over the threshold, and the Usha on his head fell to the ground It was far away, but he got up and rushed into the inner hall without even picking up his hat.

Several elders were discussing, when Han Chaoxuan saw that someone broke in, he was his disciple, he was the prefect of Chang'an, and he couldn't help scolding, but the official who came in said tremblingly: "My lord, Xiangguo, the price of cotton has plummeted."

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(End of this chapter)