On the second day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, as usual, there is a court meeting. Strangely enough, Zhu Yousong, a fat man with a excrement-making machine, suddenly went to court on a whim, which surprised the officials.
Even Ma Shiying, a flattering master who thought he was very familiar with Zhu Yousong's temperament, was extremely surprised. Originally, the master secretly stuffed a few Yangzhou thin horses into the palace, and added a Kunqu opera troupe composed of prostitutes and young girls. In addition, the old horse gritted his teeth and allocated 800,000 taels of silver to repair the Forbidden City. , and then imitated Adou and his ancestor Jiajing who had followed him for a long time.
From now on, I no longer care about Shu, and the king does not go to court early.
Zhu Yousong was very foresight and knew that he was not the material to be a wise king, so he simply let go and let his ministers do what they wanted. He didn't care whether his ministers maintained their status or regained their lost territory. This life of drunkenness and dreaming in the wine pool and meat forest was just the end of it. As for the heroic words and lofty ambitions after the Battle of Yangzhou, Zhu Yousong had long forgotten them in Java as time went by. Four months has passed, which is too long for Zhu Yousong. Long enough to forget everything he said.
Zhu Yousong came, and after the ministers bowed down, they did whatever they wanted. Everyone has known Zhu Yousong's temper for a long time. Moreover, now that Ma Shiying is in power and has a lot of troops, the manure-making machine is just a decoration. Everyone knows this. So how is it on weekdays, how is it today? What's more, even an idiot who is thinking about whether to postpone his memorial can think that Zhu Yousong is going to the Three Treasures Hall for no reason. God knows whether this guy is short of money or wants to recruit women.
So after getting up, when the eunuch sang a fat promise, "If you have something to do, go to court, if nothing happens, leave the court." After that, no one came forward to speak for a while.
After a moment of silence, Ma Shiying looked at Shi Kefa opposite, and the latter nodded slowly. Ma Shiying then nodded towards a wretched guy in the station.
"Your Majesty, Yang Qiying, has something to report!" After giving the salute, the wretched guy endorsed and said: "Since the move to the south, your Majesty and all your ministers have worked hard and worked hard, and the border officers and soldiers have been working hard. Although they have gone through countless dangers, they have been able to protect the country and the country. It is special." Not easy. "
Most opening remarks are like this, full of flattery. Then the conversation changed, and this guy began to criticize the current situation: "Although the Qing captives have not moved southward for the time being, internal troubles are endless in our court. Training Wu Yi's army and restoring the local garrison are the top priority and the most urgent task. However, He has wasted money and food, even hollowing out the national treasury without being able to replenish it. How can we continue like this in the long run? I ask all ministers to open up their voices and discuss ways to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. I hope to get good strategies and relieve the worries of the court." After speaking, Yang Qiying said: He made a bow and slowly retreated.
¡°Obviously, this guy just played a role in attracting others.
Sure enough, before Yang Qiying could return to station, the Minister of Industry stood up. First, a bunch of water conservancy projects that need to be repaired are listed, followed by a batch of artifacts that need to be built. The meaning behind the words is just one thing: I beg you to allocate funds. If he is not given funding and construction, there will be no guarantee that the next rainy season will come, and those river banks will burst and floods will occur.
The Minister of the Ministry of Industry has gone back, and the Minister of the Ministry of Official Affairs has come out again. This guy indignantly represented the Ming officials who were owed wages for a full year and confidently asked the court for their wages. It is pitiful to say that some of the officials below are already "living on porridge" or "selling their children, hair, and daughters."
Before the Minister of Libu finished speaking, the Minister of Hubu jumped out and cursed. As the financial steward of the Ming Dynasty, the Minister of Household Affairs had the most say in the poor financial situation of the Ming Dynasty. Want Dai Lu? Okay, I'll give you the key to the treasury, and you can take whatever you like. Don't blame me if you can't get it. I won't ask for more if you get it. How about we change positions? The left and right ranks are about the same.
The big guys in the imperial court have taken the lead, how can the younger ones below lag behind? This person jumped out to accuse the person from the Ministry of Works of making false claims for profit, and the person from the Ministry of Household Affairs was full of money.
In an instant, the quarrel in the court turned into a pot of porridge. See what that means, I won't be able to stop for a while.
Zhu Yousong, who was sitting on the dragon chair, was a little stunned. It is said that he came to court on a whim today, but he definitely did not want to listen to these ministers' complaints and quarrels. Yesterday, Zhu Yousong was dining and found that there were no meaty dishes on the table, and he was immediately displeased. The guy who called the imperial kitchen was scolded.
The eunuch in the imperial kitchen said with a sad face that it was not his fault. In fact, the amount of money allocated to the imperial kitchen was only this amount, and they never deducted a cent. What's more, he still owes a lot.
Then Zhu Yousong searched around, and the eunuch in charge of the inner treasury sadly told him that there were less than 20,000 taels left. It's only September now, and it's unclear whether we can survive the new year. Therefore, Zhu Yousong went to the palace today to think about adding some income to his internal treasury. By the way, the donation that Ma Shiying made is said to have a lot of income, so you can collect some of it, right?
Unexpectedly, the situation unexpectedly changedThis is what happened. Zhu Yousong was greatly disappointed, thinking that if he didn't leave, someone else might jump out and shout about cutting royal expenses. So I endured it and sat there for a while. He said he had a headache and left in a hurry.
After Zhu Yousong left, the noise in the court suddenly died down. The opponents who were quarreling with each other a moment ago all let out a sigh of relief, but looked at each other, nodded, and smiled knowingly.
Not only them, but also big guys like Ma Shiying and Shi Kefa are like this. reason?
The ministers of the Ming Dynasty had a glorious tradition and even their fate to be against the emperor. At first, when Ma Shiying supported Zhu Yousong, his foundation was unstable, and there was opposition from both the government and the public, so he had to continue to support Zhu Yousong.
Now the situation is different. As the chief minister of the dynasty, he has completely controlled the situation. Coupled with the change of mentality, Ma Shiying naturally changed his position. Then he embarked on the inevitable path of all the chief ministers of the Ming Dynasty to oppose the emperor.
Seeing that the God of Plague had left, Ma Shiying let out a long sigh. After lamenting the passage of time, he smiled and said: "My ministers, let us put aside our disputes and focus on the country, the country and the country. Let's talk about increasing revenue and reducing expenditure."
His old enemy Wang Feng shook his beard, obviously disagreeing with what Ma Shiying said, and said angrily: "Mr. Ma Ge is not busy. The day before yesterday, thousands of scholars gathered at the Hongwu Gate to denounce the abuses of donations.
¡°I believe that this matter is the most urgent matter"
Unexpectedly, Ma Shiying glanced at him disdainfully, as if looking at a dead dog. Then he turned his head indifferently. Before the old man Wang Feng could get angry, Ma Shiying's younger brother, Yushi Yang Qiying, jumped out.
"Mr. Ma Ge, I thought that increasing revenue and reducing expenditure was a difficult task for a while, but now we should focus on reducing expenditure. As far as I know, I have been a general since Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, and I have done light corvee and low tax in order to support the people.
Since the implementation of the One Whip Law, the imperial court only collected broken silver in taxes and fees. Governments in various places widely collected fire consumption silver to make up for the fire consumption. The amount, which is several times the regular tax, is unknown. This is disturbing the people and harming the government. The imperial court has issued a strict decree to prevent the collection of fire consumption. "
Yang Qiying¡¯s words were like throwing a huge stone into the calm lake, causing an uproar immediately. Many of those standing in the court have experienced themselves outside. Including the chief minister Ma Shiying himself, all have served in local governments. So everyone knows what fire consumption is. To put it bluntly, it is a gray income that takes advantage of the imperial court's loopholes.
Now, Yang Qiying has a red mouth and white teeth. As soon as the upper lip touches the lower lip, the heat is eliminated. Isn¡¯t this a great way to make money? There are three things that people hate most in official circles: one is sworn hatred, one is blocking people's future, and the third is blocking people's way of making money. I don¡¯t know if this Yang Qiying took the wrong medicine, which made it difficult for local officials all over the world.
So as it should be, Yang Qiying was attacked by a group of people. Some defended the local officials, while others directly attacked Yang Qiying for his ulterior motives. Of course, there are always a few stupid green censors who don't know what's going on. In order to gain fame, they stand on Yang Qiying's side without hesitation and start fighting with those people.
Ma Shiying watched with cold eyes. When the noise was over, he coughed and shouted loudly: "Quiet! There is so much noise in the court, where is the decency?"
After calming down, Lao Ma pondered for a moment and said: "The harm caused by fire consumption is several times that of Zhengfu, so it should be eliminated as a matter of course."
The people below, including the old man Wang Feng, were all anxious. Without the fire consumption, how could they, the officials in the capital, get the ice and charcoal to respect them?
"However, the concerns of all ministers and workers are also very serious."
With such a turn of events, those who were eager to jump out to argue retreated back, not knowing what Lao Ma was trying to do.
But when he saw Ma Shiying twirling his beard and pacing for a long time, he suddenly stopped and said, "I have a plan, please listen to it. I thought that as time passed, prices soared. But my colleagues still received the Dai salary prescribed by Hongwu. In fact, it was Inappropriate. It should be noted that in the early years of Hongwu, rice was only six qian per stone. What is the price of rice now? One tael and six qian. Therefore, prices should be re-evaluated and new Dai standards should be set."
kindness? What does this mean? Just now we were talking about increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. Now why are we talking about increasing Dai's salary? Internally and externally, this not only fails to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, but also increases expenditure.
When most people were surprised, Ma Shiying said again: "But where does the increased Dai Lu come from? I believe that the standards for fire consumption in various places should be drawn up, collected uniformly, and controlled by the imperial court."
With a ping of the nose, the hall exploded.
This is not over yet, Ma Shiying continues to bombard everyone's nerves: "Recently, with the help of consultants from the National Development and Reform Commission, based on the calculation of two yuan for fire in various places, the seventh-grade county magistrate will not issue discounts, and the annual Dai salary will be regarded as one One thousand four hundred and forty taels"
A certain robe is even patched.The censor twitched his mouth, leaned forward and fell to the ground. The colleague next to him pinched the person and called the imperial doctor. Before the imperial doctor came, the censor jumped up and said: "Mr. Ma Tong's proposal is very good! It should be implemented immediately!"! .