"Zhu Youzhen!"

"Slash!"

On the first day of the fifth month of the 22nd year of the Apocalypse, with the order of the supervisor and beheading officer, one hundred and seventy-six principal officials of Yanshan led by Wang Kejian and others were pulled to the entrance of the vegetable market and beheaded.

In addition to these 176 officials, more than 3,600 officials were beheaded in various places, and the remaining more than 30,000 officials and their 230,000 family members were sent to Lingbei.

Of the nearly 3,800 officials who were beheaded, they were charged with:

1. Over the years, the government has embezzled taxes from the prefectures, counties, and towns under its jurisdiction, lowered the tax revenue of the imperial court, and embezzled no less than 6 million taels of official silver from various projects in the form of collusion between officials and businessmen.

2. Over the years, in collusion with the gentry in various places, the hidden field endowment, swallowing the autumn grain, from the thirteenth to the twenty-first year of the Apocalypse, repeatedly falsely spread the drought in the south of the Yangtze River and underpaid the field grain, and after the investigation of the three divisions, the total underpayment of the field grain was not less than 40 million stones.

3. When collecting taxes, they should set up a name and collect a variety of taxes such as water foot money, food money, treasury money, and god and Buddha money, so as to exploit the people and fill their pockets.

Fourth, under the severe drought, officials at all levels filled their pockets with disaster relief funds, and local officials supervised grain in name only.

Local bureaucrats lied about the disaster and falsely received relief grain, and found out that more than 34,600 people had embezzled less than 100,000 taels of silver, more than 3,200 people between 10,000 and 10,000 taels, 19 people between 12,000 and 20,000 taels, 12 people between 20,000 and 100,000 taels, and 7 people with more than 100,000 taels.

Five......

Six......

Seven......

Adding up one by one, the handles and details of the Yanshan officials of Li Demao and Zhang Maocai have simply been turned upside down.

After more than two months, more than 30,000 officials were implicated, including 17 political envoys in the two capitals across the country, including Li Demao, the political envoy of Anxi, Zhang Maocai, the political envoy of Beiting, Wang Kejian, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, Zhang Xiaocun, the waiter of the Criminal Department, and Wang Zhi, the waiter of the Ministry of War.

In total, local corrupt officials embezzled more than 90 million stone of grain, more than 56 million taels of gold, silver and copper, and more than 100 million 670 taels of grain.

Officials at all levels used these greedy silver to buy land and mansions, so that when Jinyiwei and the three divisions cooperated to confiscate, the results obtained did not satisfy Zhu Youzhen.

"Singing ......"

"Hooray, hooray, hooray!"

On the first day of the same month of May, at the same time, when the Caishikou was beheading officials, the voice of the mountain shouting long live came from the Imperial Palace of the Forbidden City.

More than 3,000 Beijing officials inside and outside the country gathered, just to complete the great court meeting that was not held on the Zhengdan Festival.

Of course, there is nothing in the pilgrimage, and the most important thing is the people who worship in this pilgrimage.

"Flat ......"

In the Imperial Palace, as soon as Zhu Youxiao, who was already thirty-eight years old, opened his mouth, the ministers in the palace led by Zhu Youzhen and Zhu Ciran got up one after another, and at this time they saw the appearance of the emperor who had been absent for several years.

Zhu Youxiao's beard was not dense and somewhat sparse, and although he was busy with carpentry, he rarely basked in the sun, so that his skin was very fair.

With fair skin, a sparse beard, and a slightly obese body, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is an enlarged version of the Wanli Emperor.

"Li Chang Gung ......"

"Your Majesty, the minister is in ......"

At the beginning of the court meeting, Zhu Youxiao, who was wearing a crown robe, called out Li Changgeng and asked, "How is Zhang Li Yu?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, among the more than 39,000 officials involved, 3,802 were beheaded, and the rest were all exiled." Li Changgeng opened his mouth to explain:

"In addition, more than 54,600 local gentry were arrested and all of their family property was confiscated."

"The number of people involved in this case is not less than 400,000, except for those who are extremely heinous and need to be beheaded, the remaining criminals have been exiled to Lingbei."

Li Changgeng first said the results, and then talked about the results:

"As a result of eucalyptus, the imperial court seized a total of more than 764,300 taels of gold, more than 4 million taels of silver, and more than 23 million taels of various treasures."

"In addition, there are more than 64,000 mansions and villas, more than 27 million acres of land, 927 boxes of rare treasures, more than 73,000 stores, and more than 2 million stones of grain and beans."

"The above many acres of houses, gold and silver treasures, totaling more than 264 million taels of silver."

Li Changgeng reported the answer, but this answer was jaw-dropping.

With a total of less than 90,000 officials and gentry, their family assets can reach more than 264 million taels of silver, which is almost the tax of the Ming Dynasty for three years.

In the Wanli period, this is the tax of the eight years of the Ming Dynasty.

This group of people had not been officials for more than 20 years, and as a result, each of them had accumulated no less than 5,000 taels of silver, and even the local gentry and landlords did not have as much as them.

For a while, everyone couldn't help but sigh, that is, even Zhou Yanru, Wen Tiren and other old-fashioned officials felt that the current Yanshan was inferior to Donglin back then.

At least Donglin and their eating appearance will not be so ugly, more than 200 million taels of silver, how many years will this have to be eaten......

"The fields were distributed to the local people, the stores, mansions and villas were handed over to the imperial store for sale, the treasures were sent to the interior, and the grain and beans were handed over to Datong and Taiyuan as disaster relief grain."

"The gold is deposited in the financial department, and the silver and all kinds of coins are handed over to the household department."

Zhu Youxiao didn't wait for Zhu Youzhen to speak, so he sat on the dragon chair and announced his thoughts to the public.

Zhu Youzhen didn't feel strange that he suddenly had his own opinions, but was very determined.

However, Li Changgeng, who was the secretary of the household department, hesitated a little, and only after glancing at Zhu Youzhen did he respond: "The minister is ...... ordered."

"How about the issuance of national bonds?" Zhu Youxiao saw Li Changgeng's movements, but he didn't show any uncomfortable expression, but asked him about the national debt.

"Up to now, the treasury bonds have been issued for a month, and the Qi State has taken the lead in purchasing 2 million taels of treasury bonds, the people of the country have purchased more than 3.6 million taels of treasury bonds, and the officials have purchased 1.62 million taels of treasury bonds."

"As of yesterday, more than 7.27 million taels of treasury bonds have been sold."

After Li Changgeng finished speaking, many people couldn't help but look at Zhu Youzhen.

They didn't expect Zhu Youzhen to be so generous to support Daming's national debt, after all, Qi Guo has to pay millions of taels to Daming every year to buy machinery, and it is really surprising to take out an extra two million taels.

"The treasury bonds are the treasury bonds of the dynasty, and the treasury will also pay 1 million taels of silver to buy the treasury bonds."

The internal treasury and the treasury do not interfere with each other, this is the rule set by Zhu Youjian, but after the emergence of the national debt, the royal family can also give money to fund the court in disguise.

It's just that Zhu Youxiao opened his mouth, and the ministers couldn't sit still.

"Father, the son is willing to pay 100,000 taels of silver to buy treasury bonds."

Zhu Ciran stood up to speak, which made the other officials look embarrassed, so they could only stand up and say:

"Your Majesty, the minister is willing to pay 10,000 taels of silver to buy treasury bonds."

"Your Majesty, the minister is willing to pay 20,000 taels of silver to buy treasury bonds."

"Your Majesty, the minister is willing to pay 5,000 taels of silver to buy treasury bonds......"

"Your Majesty......"

The emperor, the king of Qi, and the crown prince have given out silver, and the hundred officials are a little uncourtier.

After all, who can stand on this imperial palace, which official is not a big man with an annual salary of more than 1,000 taels of silver?

Usually I am so happy to take the money, but now the court does not support the national debt, isn't that a slap in the face of the court......

So, in just a few minutes, the ministers of the palace opened their mouths to buy treasury bonds.

Due to the large number of people, Zhu Youxiao could only ask Li Changgeng to count after the court meeting.

"Your Majesty, the minister has questions about Zhang Liyu!"

After the discussion on the national debt, the question of what to call is still here.

The person who stood up was Liu Hunt, a student of the first phase of Yanshan, who was once squeezed out of the Zhang Li faction in Yanshan to serve as the governor of Qin, and it was impossible for him not to take revenge when he came back this time.

Like him, there are also a large number of officials above the temple.

"As one of Zhang Liyu's masterminds, why didn't Cheng De sentence him to death?"

Liu Hunt questioned the emperor, but Zhu Youxiao, who heard the words, looked at Zhou Yanru, the secretary of the Criminal Department.

In this regard, Zhou Yanru, who felt the emperor's gaze, stood up and replied to Liu Hunt:

"Chengde has no money to spare, and Jinyiwei searched for his home from top to bottom, but he just found 800 acres of rice fields in his hometown, a courtyard of six divisions, and more than 5,000 taels of wealth when he was an official."

5,000 taels of silver, 800 acres of rice fields, and six separate courtyards......

It sounds like Chengde is a corrupt official, but Chengde's previous official position was the right capital of Zhengerpin, with an annual salary of 2,000 taels of silver.

This bit of family property is not too much for an official like him.

Most of the officials who are also positive and second-grade basically have more than 10,000 taels of wealth.

Therefore, these things paid attention to prove that Chengde was not corrupt, and when the ministers in the palace heard it, although they all felt unbelievable, they still stood up and said:

"Your Majesty, although Chengde is not corrupt, but as the right capital of the Imperial Palace, he didn't notice that there were so many corrupt officials in the world, and he couldn't escape the crime of covering up."

The official who stood up was also one of the officials who had been persecuted by the Yanshan faction, and now the wall is pushing everyone down, and everyone wants to return the humiliation they once had.

"For the crime of covering up, he should be cut down, and the Criminal Department has already stripped Chengde of his position."

Zhou Yanru knew that King Qi wanted to protect Chengde, so he sentenced Chengde to the crime and sentence separately.

"Isn't it a sin that His Majesty is not strict?" Another person stood up and questioned Zhou Yanru.

"His majesty is not strict, and he has cut off the scattered rank of Chengde Zheng Sanpin Zhiyin." Zhou Yanru talked eloquently, but soon another person stood up and asked:

"Isn't it a sin to persecute loyal and good generals?"

"Chengde did not persecute loyal ministers and good generals." Zhou Yanru refuted the person who stood up, and said to Zhu Youxiao:

"Your Majesty, the three divisions will investigate, and Chengde's remarks on many persecution officials of Zhang, Li, Wang, and Zhang are all left behind, so Chengde did not persecute loyal ministers and good generals, but the four of them persecuted without authorization."

"Even so, that Chengde can be regarded as sitting idly by!" Another official stood up, which made Zhou Yanru feel a little tricky.

He couldn't help but look at Zhu Youzhen, but Zhu Youzhen was indifferent.

It was Zhu Ciran, listening to the bad things that people in his ears kept saying about Chengde, he couldn't help but stand up and say:

"Father, the son thinks that Chengde is guilty, but the crime is not death, you can confiscate his family property, cut off his ranks, and official positions to show warning."

Zhu Ciran came out to stand in line, which made many people who wanted to impeach Chengde throw a mouse.

After all, Zhu Ciran is the prince, if the prince and the king of Qi don't want to die of virtue, then no matter how much they impeach, it will be a waste of words.

Therefore, after Zhu Ciran stood up, no one in the palace impeached Chengde anymore.

Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao also made a decision: "Since this is the case, let's do it according to the prince's words." ”

"However, it is a fact that His Majesty Chengde is not strict, and he has been thinking about it for two years in prison, and there must be no mistake."

"Minister, Commander......"

When Zhou Yanru heard this, he immediately took a breath of relief, thinking that he could solve the problem of Chengde, a hot potato.

"Something to play, nothing to retreat ......"

Zhu Youxiao opened his mouth to ask the hundred officials, but the hundred officials looked at each other, obviously except for this incident in Chengde, the others had nothing else to play.

Seeing this, Honglu Siqing hurriedly rang the bell and sang: "Scatter the ......"

"Hooray, hooray, hooray......"

As soon as the sound of striking the bell and scattering the dynasty appeared, the officials shouted long live, and Zhu Youxiao also got up and walked to the back door of the Imperial Palace.

Seeing this, Zhu Ciran followed, and Zhu Youzhen walked to the back door unhurriedly.

As for the ministers, they dispersed in turn, and they were very satisfied with the result of this disposal of Yanshan.

Although Yanshan is still a big force at the moment, many courtiers still believe in Jin Xuan and Yan Yinshao.

As long as Yanshan does not take the initiative to oppress the parties, the peace above the temple can still be guaranteed.

Therefore, after the dispersal, many officials chatted happily, but Jin Xuan and Yan Yinshao, who are the leaders of Yanshan at the moment, felt a lot of pressure.

"This is a family dinner, let's relax."

A quarter of an hour later, when Zhu Youxiao's voice sounded, at this moment he was holding a baby less than a year old, looking at everyone in front of him with a smile.

This is the Qianqing Palace, and the people who sit in the palace are Zhu Youxiao, Zhu Youzhen, Zhu Ciran, Zhang Yan, Zhu Shu'e, Zhu Shuchang, Fan Guifei and the crown princess Zhou.

In addition to them, the most important person in this palace is the emperor's eldest grandson, Zhu Heyin.

The princes and grandsons of the Ming Dynasty, except for the first generation, all have their own characters.

Zhu Yuanzhang not only named his son, but also formulated the rules for naming future generations, and each branch drew up two crosses.

Zhu Di's characters are "Gao Zhan Qi sees the right, Hou Zai Yi Changyou, Ci He Yi Bozhong, Jian Jing Di Xianyou".

The Ci character generation is followed by the word generation, and the naming rules for the character generation are also set by Zhu Yuanzhang.

The first criterion for naming the prince of the Ming Dynasty was to respect the "Five Elements Mutual Birth Theory", that is, the five elements between father and son must be a "mutual birth" relationship.

For example: Zhu Di and Zhu Gaochi father and son are wood to make fire, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Zhanji father and son are fire and earth, Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Qizhen father and son are native gold, Zhu Qizhen and Zhu Jianshen father and son are gold and water, Zhu Jianshen and Zhu Youzhu father and son are water and wood. A perfect fit, no deviations.

Therefore, when it came to the generation of Zhu Ciran and his son, the name was naturally to be born of fire, so it was named Zhu Heyin.

Speaking of which, after Zhu Ciran got married, Zhu Youzhen not only never saw his niece and daughter-in-law, but also did not see his niece and grandson.

Meeting in such an environment today, he felt a little unspeakably strange.

"Does my brother want to hug Brother Yin?"

Zhu Youxiao saw that Zhu Youzhen had been looking at Zhu Heyin, and couldn't help asking.

However, Zhu Youzhen shook his head and smiled: "Grandpa hasn't hugged enough, how can there be any reason for uncle to hug." ”

When Zhu Youzhen said this, Liu Ruoyu had already ordered someone to serve the meal.

The dishes, a full thirteen dishes, are dazzling.

In terms of royal status, if it was before, it would definitely have to prepare twenty-eight roads, but now although the drought has subsided, it has not passed after all, so everything is simple.

Zhu Youxiao watched the food come to the table, so he handed Zhu Heyin to his daughter-in-law Zhou, and started the family banquet with his own move.

"Didn't Zhongxian and Wang An come back?"

Zhu Youzhen looked around, but he didn't see Wei Zhongxian and Wang An, so he was a little puzzled.

However, Zhu Youxiao paused in this regard, and then hesitated again and again before saying:

"Zhongxian and Wang An went home in March and went to recuperate."

As soon as Zhu Youxiao's words came out, the atmosphere at the dinner table suddenly froze.

Zhu Youzhen didn't expect that he didn't receive news about this kind of thing, it seems that his brother deliberately concealed it.

What is he afraid of? Afraid to clean up Wei Zhongxian by yourself?

Indeed, if he knew, then Wei Zhongxian might have to be put into Zhang Li Eucalyptus this time to end it together, after all, there are not a few silver and silver who are greedy for ink.

Now that his brother has the heart to protect him, he doesn't have to force it.

Anyway, Wei Zhongxian is a eunuch after all, and the family property is easy to put on hold after death, so just let Zhu Ciran find an excuse to take it back when the time comes.

However, since he wants to enjoy his old age in peace, there is always a price to pay.

"Treasury bonds are a good protégé to make money, so you can let Zhongxian buy some."

Zhu Youzhen opened his mouth to speak, which made Zhu Youxiao breathe a sigh of relief.

Listening to the meaning of his words, Wei Zhongxian's life was saved, and the money could be saved at least in front of him.

It's just that his younger brother needs to take out the silver taels with the slave and maid to tide over a difficult time for Daming.

"I'll have someone tell Chung-hyun about this."

Zhu Youxiao saw that Wei Zhongxian could be protected, so he took the initiative to take this responsibility, and Zhu Youzhen also told Zhu Youxiao about his interesting story in Nanjing.

During this period, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but talk about the days of the people in Jiangnan.

"The people of Jiangnan, although they live in prosperity, but this prosperity does not belong to them at all, they just work to get by, and finally go home with a tired body."

"I have seen many people who have come to Nanjing to work for a year and a half, but when they finally return home, they can't even pay for the journey."

Zhu Youxiao sighed and spoke, and by the way, he talked about the acres of land this time:

"This harvest of more than 20 million acres of cultivated land, I think many people will be benefited."

"It's just that these lands are nothing compared to relocation."

"The national policy of my younger brother Qi Guo Fatian has spread all over the south of the Yangtze River, and many people are rushing to Qi State."

"The number of people I saw and heard on the way back to Beijing this time alone is probably no less than 300,000."

Zhu Youxiao spoke, and Zhu Ciran also interjected when he heard this:

"The news given by the Migration Department seems to be 670,000, but most of these people are people who have been affected by the disaster."

"Leave them in Daming, and the imperial court will have to come up with millions of stone rice and wheat to wait for them to resume production."

"Moving to the Qi country is good for both the Qi country and the imperial court."

Zhu Ciran is a people-oriented concept of governance, and in his opinion, relocation is not a bad thing, and as for the so-called "Qi State Threat Theory", he mostly laughs.

With the size of the Qi State, if you want to cross thousands of miles of sea and threaten the rule of the Ming Dynasty, it will probably be a hundred years later.

Not to mention the vast territory of Qi State, it is not so easy to integrate internally.

In Zhu Ciran's view, without two hundred years of hard work, it would be difficult for the Qi State to pose a fatal threat to the Ming Dynasty.

As long as the Ming Dynasty stops immigrating to the Qi State, the millions of people in the Qi State will soon be assimilated by the local natives, and the local ethnic contradictions are enough for the Qi State to drink a pot.

"That's right, uncle!" Zhu Ciran suddenly opened his mouth and asked Zhu Youzhen;

"I heard that the Fran machine people have ceded the North and South Asia Merica, so isn't the Qi State now without an opponent in the North and South Asia Merica?"

Zhu Ciran's words attracted the attention of many people, including Wang Tiqian and Liu Ruoyu, who were standing at the door.

In this regard, Zhu Youzhen drank a glass of wine and said with a smile:

"It cannot be said that there are no opponents, at least there are no less than 10 million natives in Central and South Asia."

"It takes at least two or three generations of hard work to assimilate them."

"Back then, the Zhou royal family divided the Qi State as a screen domain, and it took a hundred years of hard work for the Qi State to clean up Dongyi."

"This was the case in the previous Qi country, and I am afraid that the future Qi country will also be like this."

Zhu Youzhen's words were slightly profound, he was telling Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Ciran that the goal of Qi was mainly inside.

At least when the two of them were alive, it was impossible for Qi to solve the internal population problem, even if the Ming Dynasty had always insisted on immigration.

"My brother gave 2 million to buy treasury bonds this time, will the Qi country be affected?"

Zhu Youxiao was a little worried about the problems of Qi State, he didn't want Qi State to be too strong, and he didn't want Qi State to be too weak.

Qi is too strong, he is worried that Qi is a threat to Daming, Qi is too weak, he is afraid that his younger brother will not have a good life.

He was very contradictory, but in the face of his contradiction, Zhu Youzhen comforted him and said:

"Two million taels naturally has an impact, but right now, Xia Yunyi and Yang Bingwen have begun to lead troops to take over all the places left by Franco."

"When the machine is sent to Qi in the new year, I think that with the gold, silver and copper mines of Qi country, it can produce no less than 10 million taels of gold and silver every year."

Zhu Youzhen's words are actually a bit conservative, with the strength of the Qi country, if he continues to immigrate, and then assimilate the local race, and use machines to develop silver mines in the Americas, it will not be a problem to mine gold, silver and copper mines worth 20 million taels a year at all.

However, mining so much gold, silver, and copper ore in a sparsely populated situation is not a good thing, and it will only accelerate the collapse of the silver standard and plunge the Ming and Qi kingdoms into inflation.

The annual output is 10 million taels, which is already the amount of silver that Zhu Youzhen thinks Qi and Daming can digest.

After all, Daming himself produces more than nine million taels of gold and silver every year, and the two together are twenty million taels.

Such a huge amount of gold and silver mining had to rely on the help of the feudal lords of the Lesser Western Ocean, Levia and other places to help digest it.

"In that case, then I don't have to worry about it......"

Hearing Zhu Youjian say that Qi Guo's annual income could reach 10 million taels, Zhu Youxiao breathed a sigh of relief.

He has always felt that he is ashamed of Zhu Youzhen, if the Qi State can be strong and can not pose a threat to the Ming Dynasty, then the current situation can make Zhu Youxiao feel better.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao picked up the fast son, sandwiched the meat and vegetables and put them in Zhu Youjian's bowl:

"My brother is emaciated, let's eat more."