The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty

His Majesty the Emperor suddenly held a court meeting.

This sudden change frightened all the court officials and left them confused.

After all, this was the first time that Emperor Zhengde had taken the initiative to hold a court meeting since he came to the throne.

This also means that something big must have happened, otherwise Emperor Zhengde would never have made such a big splash and mobilized troops!

With uneasiness in mind, all the court officials, big and small, entered the palace one after another and rushed to the Wenhua Palace.

Han Wen, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, is now in a panic, because His Majesty the Emperor has directly ordered that all officials of the fifth rank and above of his Government Office must come to participate in this court meeting.

According to common sense, court meetings are attended by the highest officials in charge of various ministries and temples, to discuss national affairs together and then implement them.

When Zhu Houzhao heard this, his face looked a little better.

"Zhang Zongxian, if you really want to talk about it, the responsibility of the Ministry of Revenue is a small matter, but the failure of your Metropolitan Procuratorate is a big deal!"

They finally understood why the little emperor was so angry this time!

"When the time comes, I, the emperor, will take the blame, and you corrupt officials will not be able to think of anything better. You are all prepared to be infamy for thousands of years!"

However, the good times did not last long, because after the Civil War, civil servants and gentry controlled the government, and the current situation corrupted the government. The Salt Transportation Department itself was the real power agency in charge of salt administration, and corruption and bribery were endless, so that by the Hongzhi period, the Transportation Department Officials have become "people who don't want to do anything", and no one wants to be an official in the Salt Transportation Department.

"General Constitution!"

Aren’t you talking about “people becoming rich”?

"Korean!"

"The scholars of the Ming Dynasty had a habit of having good names and attaching great importance to names, and even sought fame and reputation. Therefore, Yunsi became a place that scholars avoided, and the phenomenon of "people who like themselves are not happy to live there" appeared, and even aroused suspicion and avoided slander. "

This secret memorial naturally comes from the wild man Tang Hao.

"Your Majesty, be careful!" Ma Wensheng finally spoke, "All the temple supervisors are involved in the matter of transporting the Secretary. Our Ministry of Personnel is responsible for the selection of officials all over the world, and we are also guilty of negligence!"

This also means that the conflict between His Majesty the Emperor and him, the chief minister of the cabinet, will become more and more serious!

There is no room for relaxation when there is a discord in ideas, just like the current situation with Yunsi!

Zhu Houzhao walked for a long time with his hands behind his back, and then surrendered his eyes to General Secretary Zhang Fuhua.

At this moment, even Zhu Houzhao felt his face red and hot, so he targeted the loyal and virtuous ministers of Hongzhi Dynasty!

"If the Marquis of Zhongshan doesn't investigate, he won't know that Yunsi has been corrupted to this extent, and I won't start to investigate the matter. Everyone will live in peace and continue to collude for profit, right?"

"What? After we went to the salt field one by one, they were all guilty of money. They couldn't open their mouths and couldn't say anything. What?"

Then, in the memorial, he calculated in detail the income of the kitchen owner from this hard day's work. One pot of salt boiled for three hours can get four kilograms of salt. The highest price it can sell is only twenty wen. Excluding the firewood used to cook the salt, it costs five kilograms. Wen, after excluding the commission of five Wen from the government officials, they can still have ten Wen left. After deducting the cost of food preparation, one pot of salt can earn up to five Wen, two pots of salt is ten Wen...

"Your Majesty, I am guilty, please punish me!"

This is the transfer salt envoy department, and there is one transfer envoy in the capital, from the third grade. Knowing the same person, from the fourth grade. There is one deputy envoy, from the fifth rank. There is no fixed number of judges, starting from the sixth grade. It belongs to the Experience Division, with one person experiencing it, from the seventh grade. There is one governor, from the eighth grade.

"What do you, the chief minister of household affairs, do for a living?"

The content in the secret music is shocking and makes people despair!

Han Wen had no idea what was going on, so he had no choice but to pick up the secret music. After hurriedly reading it, his heart sank to the bottom.

First, the Salt Transportation Department has long been in ruins. With Ye Qi's success, the salt administration has rapidly deteriorated. The imperial court has taken the lead in collecting money. What do the officials of the Transportation Department have to fear?

As a result, the entire Salt Transportation Department has become a battleground for various forces to participate in seeking personal gains. Even if there is an upright and honest person to be an official of the Transportation Department, he would not dare to handle official duties and become the target of public criticism.

Squeeze, exploit, suck blood and eat flesh, break bones and suck marrow!

If this Zato Yanding is really a cat or a dog, Han Wen will definitely question the authenticity of this content!

However, it just so happens that he is not a cat or a dog, but the Marquis of Zhongshan of the Ming Dynasty!

"Punishment? What are Mr. Zhang's crimes? What are your crimes?"

But the little emperor was extremely dissatisfied with his way of handling it!

The Salt Transportation Department of the Ming Dynasty was finished, and if he didn't find a solution in time, he, the Minister of Household Affairs, would also be finished!

"I, the emperor, and my Marquis of Zhongshan have indeed committed "heinous crimes"!"

First, the national wealth should not be more important than salt. The imperial court attaches great importance to the selection of officials in the transportation department, and "must choose honest and capable officials." Second, the transportation department "will be disturbed by divisions" and the power of salt affairs is very specific; third, the current situation People's estimates of the career prospects of officials in the Transportation Department are also relatively optimistic.

"However, salt is a source of profit, and there are many greedy people who are obsessed with the lack of salt officials. Just send special personnel to investigate."

"I want an explanation. If not, I will let the Marquis of Zhongshan handle it on his own!"

No, then Tang Hao, the Marquis of Zhongshan, has already left Beijing, so why are we still causing trouble?

"You three should also take a look!"

Moreover, the Marquis of Zhongshan, in an extremely disgusting way, severely swollen the faces of the emperors, generals and ministers!

Zhang Fuhua sighed secretly after hearing this. It was really helpless for him to take the blame for his predecessor even though he had only been the president for a few days.

Killing is what this butcher and executioner is best at!

Liu Jian, the old chief assistant, took a deep breath and quickly stepped forward to snatch the secret memorial from Han Wen.

It is a commonplace to say that the salt administration is corrupt.

Therefore, that is to say, as long as you go to the Salt Transportation Department, you will definitely join in with those corrupt officials, otherwise it will be difficult to move forward, and the second point is clearly pointed out that it is extremely difficult to be promoted.

Upon hearing this, Han Wen breathed a sigh of relief, immediately knelt down to accept the order and left in a hurry.

The Changlu Salt Farm is right on the coast of the Bohai Sea, right at the door of the capital, and right under the eyes of the Ming Emperor. These salt farm households live a life worse than death, but the emperors, generals, ministers, and ministers of the Ming Dynasty also have They clamored about "Hongzhi ZTE", "the emperor is a saint and his ministers are virtuous", and "the people are prosperous"...

In fact, after Hongzhi, all the scholars regarded the Salt Transportation Department as a fearful career. The reason is still related to the dirty reputation of the Salt Transportation Department and the heavy responsibility and light power.

"Do you want to listen to what you're saying?"

Will Zhongshan Hou handle it on his own?

How else would you deal with that damned reckless man?

Now His Majesty the Emperor has named the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs to participate collectively. To put it harshly, the target of this court meeting is very likely to be his own Ministry of Household Affairs!

In fact, he was going crazy right now.

Han Wen trembled and immediately knelt down to apologize.

"Liu Jian!"

What a "Hongzhi ZTE"!

Liu Jian first explained why the Salt Transportation Department became what it is today, and officials avoided it for fear of getting involved in this filthy place. Finally, he left a sentence, which was equivalent to directly stating that the Salt Works Zaohu's life is miserable because of these "money-greedy people".

The contents of this secret memorial are enough to put the entire Ming Dynasty Salt Transport Department beyond redemption!

There is no great righteousness for the family and the country, and there are no articles by saints and saints. What is left is just an ordinary and desperate day of a salt farm farmer.

"Old minister, I sincerely request your Majesty to issue an order to summon the officials of the fifth rank and above of the Transportation Department to return to Beijing to report on their work, and also order the Metropolitan Procuratorate to investigate the officials of the Transportation Department and the Salt Road Censor in the past ten years, and suspend all the officials from their posts for review to eliminate the abuses of the Transportation Department. !”

Liu Jian took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and then explained in a deep voice: "Your Majesty has clearly learned that after the orthodoxy, the officialdom gradually became dim, and the Salt Division where Li Su was located became "particularly dirty." The head of the Transportation Division Most of them are defeated by ink, "it is under their control to gather, disperse, and relieve emergencies, but because businessmen are running around, there are few who are unmoved."

The Yunsi Yamen has a high rank and a large number of employees because the Yunsi, which is responsible for producing and hoarding salt, has become the core organization of the Ming court's salt profit-making system. Salt profit is one of the pillars of the Ming Dynasty's finances, and salt affairs are extremely complex. That's why this situation occurs.

Although the grade of the salt transportation bureaus in various places is slightly lower than that of the three bureaus, they can still compete with them, forming a "four bureaus" standing side by side, each with their own specialties. The status of the transportation bureau is not inferior to that of the vassal yamen. .

"The Department of Salt Transportation is rotten, rotten to the core. If we continue to use the old system and just arrest a few corrupt officials and kill them symbolically, then what is the point of the imperial court resuming grain payment? Sooner or later, the Ming court will You corrupt officials have been kicked out of your nest and your country has been stolen by foreign barbarians!”

"They say that the salt policy is corrupt, that the salt farm's production capacity is insufficient, open your eyes and see clearly why the salt farm cannot produce salt!"

You have to get up before dawn to prepare food. After preparing the food, you rush to the beach to boil salt. This day, you have to boil two pots of salt, and one pot of salt takes three hours. That is, the kitchen household has to start from Working until dawn until late at night!

Aren't you talking about "Hongzhi ZTE"?

When selecting officials for the Transportation Department, the imperial court only looked at the integrity of the virtuous and did not pay much attention to the order of character and seniority. "Testing the most", "Xunliang" and "Integrity" have almost become fixed standards for officials to take up positions such as transportation envoys. In the early Ming Dynasty, In the year of Yunshi, there were also many virtuous ministers and officials, and the atmosphere was very good.

Han Wen led a group of ministers, lieutenants and other household officials and walked into the Wenhua Hall fearfully. Immediately after he finished his salute, the little emperor threw Tang Hao's memorial directly into his face!

"Very good!"

To put it bluntly, everyone knows that the officials in the Yunsi are all corrupt officials. The Yunsi has also become a place where filth and evil practices are hidden, and is regarded as a "smell of fishy smells." The scholar-bureaucrats defend the official. And avoid it for fear of not being able to catch it.

There is no way, the little emperor's words are too heartbreaking.

However, now the abscess was directly opened by Tang Hao, the Marquis of Zhongshan.

Zhu Houzhao got really angry in public for the first time, and there was no standard of etiquette in his words.

Moreover, during the Chinese New Year, the nap has not even ended yet. Do you want to behave like this?

After working so hard, working from dawn to dusk all day long to cook salt, and suffering from the smoke and fire, I could only earn ten cents in the end. Even if I did this every day, it would not be enough to pay the salt tax!

Ma Wensheng is different from Liu Jian. He is an official, so he naturally understands what the little emperor is thinking at this moment.

As soon as he knelt down, the household officials also knelt down on the ground, not even daring to breathe.

The old chief assistant Liu Jian looked gloomy, not because he was scolded by the little emperor, but because he was an official. When something happened, his first thought was not to reform the past, but to stabilize the government.

As soon as these words came out, all the ministers fell to their knees on the ground, cold sweat broke out on their foreheads.

Ma Wensheng still remembered that he had discussed this matter with Wang Hao, whom he was optimistic about, and Wang Hao believed that there were two reasons for this: first, the Transportation Department had many shortcomings and involved many interests, and "movement would lead to failure"; second, the Transportation Department officials , in particular, although the envoys have a high rank, their power is limited, and even with good governance, it is difficult to be promoted.

"Han Wen, I give you one last chance!"

"With you as the imperial envoy, the Metropolitan Procuratorate will fully cooperate and immediately rush to the Changlu Salt Field to investigate the corruption case in the Transportation Department."

"This is the Changlu Saltworks. It is right at the gate of the capital, right under my nose. Such crazy and evil deeds are happening. What about the other Salt Transportation Departments? What other crazy things will they do if the emperor is far away? What happened?"

When Emperor Taizu Gao established the Ming Dynasty and became the King of Wu, he established the Salt Transport Department in the Huaihe River. After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the system of transporting salt envoys was quickly extended to Zhejiang, Changlu, Shandong, Fujian, and Hedong. " All transfer envoys are in charge of affairs, so as to listen to the Ministry of Household Affairs." The internal hierarchy of the yamen is clear.

"Motosuke!"

As soon as these words came out, the whole court was in an uproar.

Aren’t you talking about “the king is the sage and the minister is the virtuous”?

"Han Wen, you, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, are really good!"

Even so, the little emperor was still yelling and scolding, and even had the idea of ​​​​putting Han Wen and all his followers in jail!

I can't help it, it's so annoying!

No matter what you say about those salt farm households, they are also the people of the Ming Dynasty and the people of Zhu Houzhao!

As the emperor and father of the people in the world, Zhu Houzhao asked himself that he was not a good emperor, but he had not done anything harmful to nature since he took the throne, right?

Well now, the savage sent a secret report to Zhu Houzhao, the Ming Emperor, whose face was swollen, and even brought his own father, Emperor Hongzhi!

In other words, Tang Hao, a savage, slapped the faces of Emperor Hongzhi and the Jin gentry of the entire dynasty on purpose!

"I'm asking you something!"

"Otsuka Zai!"

"Don't blame me for not reminding you. It's best to leave immediately, otherwise the Marquis of Zhongshan will kill everyone. You, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, don't do it. Go home and farm!"

"Your Majesty, calm down, I am guilty!"

"In order to ensure the revenue from the salt tax, the imperial court established the Salt Law Road, and ordered the censors and other officials to supervise the salt affairs. The Yunsi Yamen "obey the orders of the salt patrol censors or salt law ministers." What did these salt road censors do? ?”

However, the further back they looked, the uglier their expressions became.

Therefore, His Majesty the Emperor, there is no need to get angry in a hurry. We just need to catch those "money-grubbers". There is no need to make a big fanfare or mobilize troops. What a big deal!

However, after Zhu Houzhao heard this, he became angry with the old chief minister in public for the first time!

So there is nothing to say, just use the knife.

Not only are these officials from the Transportation Department and the Censor of Salt Road now required to be investigated, but an accountability system is also required. Those guys in the past would not even be able to escape safely!

Anyway, the Marquis of Zhongshan, Tang Hao, is already in the Changlu Saltworks. If he doesn't take action and continues to argue here, that reckless man will probably massacre all the officials of the Changlu Transportation Department!

Liu Jian and Zhang Fuhua also realized this truth, so they immediately echoed it.

"That's why the Transport Secretary is so dirty. In addition, the examination results are abnormally heavy. Officials such as Transport Commissioner have no authority internally, no official reputation externally, and heavy responsibilities on their shoulders. Naturally, their positions will be despised by most scholars."

The six major salt transshipment departments are all affiliated to the central Ministry of Revenue. However, because the mountains and rivers are far away, the Ministry of Revenue cannot form long-term supervision over the Transportation Department. Even the Changlu Salt Fields, which is right under the nose of the capital, has already rotted to this point. It is conceivable that And I don’t know what the other five major salt transport departments are like.

Tianguan Ma Wensheng and General Xian Zhang Fuhua also hurried forward, and the three true kings of the court began to watch together.

In the early days of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the official of the Salt Transportation Department was a position of real power that everyone was vying for.

It’s okay if everyone already knows some things, so why do you need to say it in public?

You, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, are shameless, but we civil servants and officials are still shameless!

Looking at the signature of the secret memorial, Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao, Han Wen understood one thing.

The little emperor sneered and said: "You are not wrong. The one who is wrong is the Marquis of Zhongshan, and the one who is wrong is me, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty!"

Zhang Fuhua also saluted the little emperor, and then hurriedly followed.

This time, His Majesty the Emperor gave the Ministry of Revenue and the Metropolitan Procuratorate a chance to remedy the situation.

But the premise is that that reckless man named Zhongshan Hou hasn't started to kill Changlu Yunsi yet!

So, now they are competing with Tang Hao for time!