Taihedian, today is the first time that the former General Mingwei, the general of Hejian and the current member of the household department, Yang Hongzhang, went to the court. Originally, the addition of a petty official like this was insignificant to the bigwigs in the court, but this one is different, not only that he is brave and good at fighting, and in the face of the Qing army, he has repeatedly won more with less, and has captured Haoge and Yue Tuo one after another, scaring Dolgon, but also because he is in the dungeon but his words are amazing, but the emperor even accepted his words and gave him the Jinshi background, not to mention, he was directly promoted to a member of the household department, and he actually had to collect taxes on the nobles and important civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty!

This is a big thing, the nobles of the Ming Dynasty don't have hundreds of thousands of taels or even hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in their accounts every year, if they follow Yang Hongzhang's method, wouldn't they have to hand over tens of thousands of taels of silver to the imperial court every year. So almost all the people opposed Yang Hongzhang, and even sent someone to burn down the house where Yang Hongzhang had not lived for a day, and it was probably planned to burn Yang San to death together. It's just that I don't know why he escaped, and now he is still standing alive in the hall. And looking at him like a young man who has just experienced this kind of thing, what is strange is that even the emperor Zhu Youzhen doesn't seem to know about it, sitting calmly on the dragon chair and watching the courtiers kneel and get up.

Bingli eunuch Wang Chengen saw everyone standing up again, stepped forward and shook off the dust: "There is a morning play, nothing to retreat!" ”

When the words fell, the originally noisy impeachment point suddenly quieted down, and everyone from Xue Guoguan and Yang Sichang to the bottom looked at their noses and noses one by one, and some stood behind, although they didn't speak, the afterglow of their eyes was staring at Yang Hongzhang who was in court for the first time. Most of them looked at Xue Guoguan and Yang Sichang and others.

Yang Hongzhang did not disappoint most of him, and after Wang Chengen finished speaking, about five breaths later, he saw him stride out of the column and come to the center of the hall to salute the emperor Zhu Youzhen on the dragon chair, and then took out a piece of music from his sleeve and said: "Minister Yang Hongzhang has a book to play!" ”

Those ministers who were afraid of not squinting in the face finally had a reason to tilt their bodies and look in the direction of Yang Hongzhang.

But seeing today's Yang Hongzhang, with a delicate and immature face under the brand-new official robe, most people are very disdainful, and they probably say in their hearts that they don't know who is making such a fuss, just such a yellow-mouthed boy who has no foundation in the court but wants to learn from Shang Ying and Wang Anshi. There is no need to be an off-the-field means at all, and a few random people can make him lie down on this tide hall.

"Your Majesty, the courtiers ask the imperial court to increase the number of officials in the Zhao and Song dynasties, and the standard of the court should be based on the Zhao and Song dynasties." Yang Hongzhang did not squint, and read seriously to the chapter.

In an uproar, the noisy hall immediately resumed, obviously they were mentally prepared, but they didn't expect that this person actually wanted to increase the income for the officials, this was stupid by a fire, and he was ready to stammer with the adults in order to survive? Xue Guoguan, Yang Sichang and the others couldn't help but look back at the young outsider, and then looked back at the young emperor on the dragon chair. It's just that what disappointed them was that the expressions of the two people were normal, and Yang Hongzhang looked even more serious and began to quote scriptures.

"Your Majesty, the current court officials' salaries are too low, taking a first-class official as an example, the annual salary is only a thousand taels, and each adult's entourage, family members, and servants are as few as dozens, and as many as hundreds, why is this a Yang family? The dignified first-class members can't support their families, where can they still be loyal to the country? I have thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, with a population of 20,000, and only half of the country during the Zhao and Song dynasties, but the officials are several times that of my Ming, so I implore the emperor to increase the number of officials from now on. ”

Zhu Youzhen on the dragon chair looked unhappy when he heard this, glared at Yang Hongzhang, and then turned his gaze to Xue Guoguan, Yang Sichang and others in the front row: "Xue Aiqing, Yang Aiqing, are the officials of the DPRK and China so difficult today?" ”

Xue Guoguan and Yang Sichang, who were named, glanced at each other, and both saw worry on each other's faces, today's emperor is a little weird, and today's Yang Hongzhang is even more eccentric.

Xue Guoguan was the first to stand up and answer: "Your Majesty, Lord Yang is right, now the court has lowered the salary for officials, there are four wives and concubines in the minister's family, six children, two daughters have been married, three sons have started a family, there are five grandchildren, a total of seventeen people, and there are thirty-two servants and guards in each house, a total of more than ninety. The cost of three meals a day needs several taels, plus clothes for the four seasons and human contacts, a thousand taels of silver is definitely not enough for half of the expenses. ”

Yang Sichang and Xue Guoguan are in the same mood, he doesn't know what Yang Hongzhang is going to do, but if he mixes up the water, no matter whether he can increase the amount of money in the end, the emperor will definitely not be happy if he wants to spend more money, and if the emperor is unhappy, there will be nothing to do with Yang Hongzhang. Sooner or later, kick this yellow-mouthed child off the tide hall.

It's just that before he could speak, Yang Hongzhang spoke again: "Your Majesty, Lord Xue is still like this for the first-class officials in the court, not to mention other people, so the minister implores the emperor to increase the number of civil and military officials, as for the standard, let's turn it over first." ”

Zhu Youzhen didn't speak with a blushing face, Xue Guoguan, Yang Sichang and others didn't speak, but some officials of the fourth or fifth grades moved when they heard the news, they got the hints of the bigwigs alive, or out of their own interests, they came out of class and said: "Your Majesty, the ministers seconded the proposal!" ”

"The minister seconded the proposal!"

…

"Yang Hongzhang, today's world is difficult and the treasury is empty, as a foreigner, you don't think about how to solve difficulties for the imperial court, but at this time, what is your intention to propose a salary increase for civil and military officials?" Emperor Zhu Youzhen stood up from the dragon chair and looked very angry.

"Your Majesty, please listen to what the minister says, the minister thinks that Lord Xue Guoguan and others naturally have a way to make money, otherwise this city of Beijing would have been starved all over the wilderness. Lord Xue, are you right? Your Excellency, you must have more or less industries to support your family in this city of Beijing, right? ”

"Yang Hongzhang, what does it have to do with you and the court, don't talk about it here. Even if you all have an estate, it's a legitimate business, and you don't need to worry about it here. Xue Guoguan saw that Yang Hongzhang's words were about to get to the point, and he hurriedly came out to scold.

Hearing this, someone immediately stood up and accused Yang Hongzhang: "That is, are you a member of the household department still supervising the illegal operation of officials?" ”，

"That's it, that's it, it's a dog!"

Listening to everyone's accusations, Yang Hongzhang was not annoyed, but took a few steps forward, got closer to Xue Guoguan and said to him: "Lord Xue, how many shares do you have in Linlang Pavilion?" ”

"Sancheng!" Xue Guoguan was very uncomfortable with Yang Hongzhang's provocative eyes, and immediately replied. But then he felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't change his mind when he said it, so he turned his head and secretly glanced at the emperor on the dragon chair, Zhu Youzhen is Hu didn't notice him, so he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Your Majesty, Xue Guoguan, a scholar of the Cabinet and a scholar of the Ministry of Ministers, is bullying the monarch!" Yang Hongzhang shook his robe, stood up straight, arched his hand in the direction of Long Yi, and said loudly.

"Presumptuous! Just a child's mouth, yellow teeth, where are you in the court? Yang Sichang on the side saw Yang Hongzhang like this, and finally couldn't help but scold. He and Xue Guoguan have always been in the same spirit, not to mention that he himself has a lot of industries in Beijing, if Yang Hongzhang is allowed to play on this kind of thing, it is not a good thing after all.

Yang Hongzhang didn't pay attention to Yang Sichang, but turned to Liu Yuliang, the secretary of the Criminal Department: "Lord Liu, may I ask what crime should be committed by the important ministers of the court and the central government for bullying the king?" ”

"This, it should depend on the severity of the plot, the light is exile, and the heavy is ......" Liu Yuliang couldn't go on, because bullying the king can be big or small, and as a cabinet minister, he often fights with the emperor, and there is always a place where he doesn't go. If it's just for Xue Guoguan, it's okay, but if this kid takes this opportunity to hit a blockbuster, how should he deal with it?

"Your Majesty, Lord Liu, and Gonggong Cao visited Beijing City in the past few days, and found that Lord Xue's mansion was large-scale, costing 100,000 taels of subordinates, and a total of eight industries in Beijing City, with an annual income of more than one million taels." Yang Hongzhang said and took out another book, and then found Xue Guoguan's industry in the capital and read it out one by one.

"Yang Honghongzhang, the old man, those are serious business, how can you take it to the court to slander the tiger." Xue Guoguan began to feel weak, he didn't expect that a kid in his early twenties would touch his old bottom in just a few days. The key is that she doesn't believe that Yang Hongzhang is untargeted, and it is a waste of time to talk here and there.

"Lord Xue, you are doing serious business, and the lower officials naturally can't take care of it, but when the emperor persuaded him to donate last year, it is said that the adults were in tears, saying that there was no money left over from the four walls of the family, and in the end he still asked someone to borrow a hundred taels to pay the errand, but is there such a thing? Obviously, the family has millions of dollars, but he coaxed the emperor's family to be surrounded by four walls, is this considered a bully. Lord Liu, ladies and gentlemen? Is this a deception? ”

Hearing this, everyone looked at Yang Hongzhang with strange eyes, scolding his mother in his heart, saying that this kid is such a bastard, how can he take such a thing as persuasion to donate seriously. At the beginning, it wasn't to say that his family was in poverty, not to donate less. Now I didn't expect to be used by him to go online. They must not approve of Yang Hongzhang for this kind of thing, otherwise the account book of the donation on the day will be taken out, and every one of them can be passed.

Xue Guoguan just wanted to refute, but Yang Hongzhang continued: "Your Majesty, the minister and Gonggong Cao also learned that this Linlang Pavilion often holds auctions, and some strange treasures collected are auctioned on the spot. It is said that all the adults present participated in the auction, and some of the original auctions of some rare antiques, literati calligraphy and paintings were all elegant things.

But it is said that an auction of items from the palace is held every month. A few days ago, the minister had the honor to see what eight treasure glass bottles were auctioned in Linlang Pavilion, and later the minister asked Gonggong Cao which lady this thing was given by the emperor, and how did he actually take it out for auction? Gonggong Cao couldn't answer, and later Gonggong Cao told his ministers that in the past five years, Linlang Pavilion has auctioned at least more than 30 treasures in the palace, and I have a list here, including the time and price of the auction, as well as the final buyer. I also asked the emperor to send someone to investigate, if these treasures were rewarded by the emperor, it would be fine, at most I would issue an order to reprimand the ladies or royal relatives who flowed things out.

If someone in the palace secretly colluded with Linlang Pavilion to steal it, and Linlang Pavilion knew that this was a treasure in the palace and blatantly took it out for auction, the minister asked the emperor to treat Lord Xue to despise the king! ”