The praise of Kuixu, the new governor of Shanxi, by the merchants only lasted for half a day. Early the next morning, notices were posted in all yamen and bustling streets throughout Taiyuan City. The imperial court vigorously cleared up the deficits of Daozhou and counties in Shanxi. Local officials who have money and grain transactions or money and grain stored in local official warehouses are required to deliver all the money and grain within half a month. Once the time limit has passed, all money and grain will be confiscated, and all prefecture, state and county officials will be dismissed from their posts on the spot and transferred to Australia.
As soon as the notice came out, the whole Taiyuan City immediately exploded. The common people clapped their hands and waited to see the excitement. After all, they had never seen such a severe method of clearing up deficits. What everyone was talking about was how many officials there would be this time. If you are dismissed and investigated, even if you are not investigated and transferred to Australia as an official, it will be miserable.
A group of wealthy businessmen and gentry were anxious and anxious. They had always had close relations with local officials, and most of them had money transactions with local officials. Officials used various methods to make money, and many of them were closely related to local gentry and merchants, such as excessive borrowing. To release, to gain profits from deductions, to embezzle treasury items privately, to trade for interest, to misappropriate empty warehouses, to buy premium silver, to pay off people's debts, to turn shortfalls into nothing, to mix official losses into people's debts, etc., all must be borrowed from merchants. Jin gentry.
Merchants and gentry can naturally profit from it. With such collusion between officials and businessmen, money exchanges are naturally close. It is also common to borrow money and grain to help officials cover up their deficits. Now the imperial court suddenly launched a large-scale inventory of the deficits, and dismissed all officials on the spot and transferred them to Australia. How could they not be anxious?
With such a large-scale and vigorous liquidation of the deficit, God knows whether they will be implicated. All the gentry and merchants were uneasy. They were worried that they would not be able to recover their money, and they were also worried that officials would bite them and the court would investigate their culpability. These officials are not as loyal and trustworthy as the Shanxi merchants.
The most alarming thing was the officials from all prefectures and counties who Baba dared to come to see Zhenwu. After the news came out that the court wanted to thoroughly investigate the deficit, they were all placed under house arrest in Taiyuan City. Naturally, they complained endlessly. year. Who doesnĄŻt have a shortfall on his hands? They were just unlucky people playing drums and spreading flowers. What gave them some peace of mind was that Zhenwu had already said that as long as they could make up for the shortfall, they would be exempted from prosecution.
However, a group of state and county officials are still indignant. As the lowest-level officials, they have to take care of the government officials above them and the provincial officials, and their annual contribution alone is thousands of taels. In a prosperous and large county, it can even cost tens of thousands of taels. Is it possible that all this money has been wasted?
Ma Qi, Wang Tuan, and Kuixu, who were in charge of checking the deficit, had no time or thought to listen to the complaints of state and county officials. Instead, they were busy dispatching soldiers, seconding accountants, and arranging supervisors without touching the ground. Divide prefectures and counties and prepare to go to various places as soon as possible.
The whole city of Taiyuan was busy, but Zhenwu quietly left the city early in the morning and set off for Xi'an.
Xi'an. The first of the four ancient capitals, the ancient capital of thirteen dynasties, the former capital of Qin, Han, Sui and Tang. It was once prosperous for thousands of years. Although it is no longer prosperous now, it is still an important military town that maintains the security of the northwest. Among the Eight Banners garrison of the Qing Dynasty, only Shengjing, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Jiangning, Jingkou, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, There are ten places in Guangzhou, Jingzhou, and Xi'an. From this, we can see Xi'an's military status in the northwest region.
By garrisoning heavy troops and accumulating grain and grass in Xi'an, they can attack Huguang by going south and enter Sichuan by moving west. They can also frighten Shanxi and Shaanxi. Therefore, the imperial court's garrison strength in Xi'an has been increasing unabated. The troop strength also gradually increased to 8,000. Among them, 5,000 were from the Eight Banners of the Manchu and Mongolian armies, and 3,000 were from the Eight Banners of the Han Army.
Zhenwu went to Xi'an with the intention of focusing on Xi'an. Using Xi'an as the largest military base and firearms production base in the northwest is not only to deter the two lakes, Sichuan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan, but also mainly considers the need to stabilize and consolidate the northwest. Junggar is not worthy of such caution. The most important thing is Russia. If you want to seize the territory of Central Asia from the polar bears, there must be a protracted small-scale war. It is impossible not to prepare for a rainy day.
Taiyuan is more than 1,400 miles away from Xi'an. Zhenwu was still riding fast and did not notify the local officials along the way. However, the officials along the way had already learned about Zhenwu's arrival in Taiyuan. When they saw the cavalry of the brigade blocking the road, they naturally guessed that Zhenwu's driver had arrived, and they all Come and greet me.
Although Zhenwu was in a hurry, he still had to meet these local officials who rarely saw the beauty of the sky at noon or at night. Even so, he still did not delay his trip and arrived in Xi'an ten days later.
Lai Du, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, E Hai, the Governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi Province, Xi'an General Xi Zhu, Shaanxi Governor Chuo Qi, Xi'an Deputy Governor Barbu and other Shaanxi officials who had already received the news led officials of all sizes in Xi'an and all the gentry in the city to greet them ten miles away. Holy drive.
Zhenwu has never liked these occasions of welcoming and sending off, but considering that this is the first time he has visited Xi'an since taking the throne, Shanxi has a deficit in inventory.?I am afraid that the news has also reached Xi'an. If they look at it, the officials of all sizes in Xi'an will immediately become panicked and have no choice but to be patient and swagger into the city. Just entering the city is a waste of half a day.
After entering the city, Zhenwu moved directly into Mancheng of Xi'an and stationed himself in the General's Mansion in Xi'an that had already been vacated. After taking a short rest, he ordered: "Inform Laidu, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, Ehai, the Governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and Xi Zhu, the General of Xi'an. , Shaanxi Governor Chuoqi and four people came to see him."
Zhenwu's actions in Shanxi and his methods of clearing up Shanxi's losses have long been spread to Xi'an. All the officials, big and small, are anxious outside. Lai, the Minister of Punishment, is in a state of confusion. He is Zhenwu's first-hand man. However, in order to support Kuexu in river control, he privately allowed Kuixu to withhold more than one million yuan in disaster relief money and food. He originally thought that the emperor was far away, but he did not expect that Zhenwu would actually come to Xi'an in person. Although Kuexu had already The money was transferred through the 'Four Constants', but he was still very uneasy.
The Governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, E Hai, was promoted by Kangxi. He was also quite uneasy. The Governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi was not well-known among the governors of the Qing Dynasty. He could even be said to be the poorest, but he was the most powerful military governor. , is responsible for the barrier to the northwest of the capital, and has a very important position. He has always been the most trusted minister of the emperor and serves as the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi. Youdao was once the emperor and a courtier, so he was naturally a little worried.
General Xi Zhu of Xi'an was calm. He was a veteran, and the Eight Banners soldiers in Xi'an were trained very strictly, so he had no burden at all. He was quite satisfied with Zhenwu's instigation of the new imperial guard army and the increase of the Green Camp soldiers' pay to be equal to that of the Eight Banners soldiers. dissatisfied.
The guards who heard this came out to deliver the order. Lai Du, E Hai and the other four people did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly followed the guards into the hall. They knelt down respectfully and said, "Slaves Lai Du, E Hai, Xi Zhu and Chuo Qi respectfully greet the Holy Annals." .Ą±
Zhenwu glanced at the four people and said with a smile: "No courtesy, I will give you a seat."
As soon as the four people sat down, he asked slowly: "Shanxi's disaster relief has caused quite a loophole, how about Shaanxi?"
When Zhenwu opened his mouth and asked about disaster relief, Laidu, the minister of the Ministry of Justice who was in charge of disaster relief in Shaanxi Province, stood up and knelt down. He consciously took off his turban and kowtowed, saying: "Back to the emperor, this servant has fulfilled the divine grace and neglected his duties. He has spent money and food on disaster relief." A small part was intercepted by Shanxi and was only transferred a few days ago. Although it has been transferred to various prefectures and counties, the supervision is not effective, which is a neglect of duty. I pray that the emperor will punish the crime."
Seeing that Laidu told the truth truthfully, Ehai and Chuoqi dared not sit down. They stood up and knelt down and said: "I also committed the crime of neglect, and I sincerely pray to the emperor to punish them as well."
Xi Zhu, the general of Xi'an, has been in the officialdom for a long time. When he saw this situation, he knew that sitting alone was too eye-catching. Although this matter had nothing to do with him, he still knelt down without saying a word.
Seeing Xi Zhu kneeling down, Zhenwu couldn't help but glance at him and said, "Xizhu, what does this matter have to do with you?"
"Uh." Xi Zhu couldn't help but was stunned, why did he ask about him in the first place, someone who was fine? He replied hurriedly and truthfully: "Back to the emperor, everyone else is kneeling. It's quite disrespectful for me to still sit down."
Slick, Zhenwu cursed secretly, and then said: "This matter has nothing to do with you, get up and sit down."
"Slave, thank you for your grace." Xi Zhu glanced at the three of them and then stood up, but he was worried for the three of them. The governor of Shanxi and the chief envoy all met a good end, and Kuixu was also dismissed. The censor of Zuodu, Cha Yuan.
Sure enough, as soon as he sat down, he heard Zhenwu say in a deep voice: "I have repeatedly issued orders not to misappropriate disaster relief money and food. Is it possible that my orders cannot reach Shaanxi?"
Laidu was slightly startled when he heard this. Are you going to Ehai and Chuoqi in Shaanxi? He couldn't help but secretly complain. If he didn't do it well, he might be in trouble. E Hai and Chuo Qi even complained, secretly thinking that even if they wanted to make use of the topic, they didn't have to be so obvious. The nature of this question had completely changed. It went from being negligent to being disobedient.
At this time, Ehai couldn't care about Lai Du anymore. He took it out first and then kowtowed: "I am a servant who works diligently and conscientiously. I don't dare to be negligent. All the disaster relief matters are arranged in an orderly and thorough manner. Now, During this disaster relief, the money and food supplies were more than the slaves and others expected. Money and food were allocated one after another. Shaanxi Province has received more than one million silver, and there are also interest-free loans from the "Four Constants" for relief. The slaves and other people are actually Unexpectedly, there will be more than one million yuan of security silver, pension silver, and harm elimination silver in the future, so I made a slight mistake, and I sincerely pray that the emperor will understand clearly."
Chuoqi also kowtowed and said: "This servant made an unintentional mistake. I sincerely pray that the emperor will understand clearly." On the contrary, Lai didn't know how to reply, so he simply kowtowed without saying a word.
This reply was really watertight. Not only was it reasonable, but it also flattered Zhenwu. Zhenwu nodded slightly and said: "It was an unintentional mistake, and I didn't do it for myself. Ehai and Chuoqi wrote He was fined for three months and Laidu was demoted three levels to remain in office.?? (To be continued)
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