Chapter 879 0874 [The First Peasant Uprising in the Ming Dynasty]

Is it easy for the Minister of Works to make money?

Very easy.

Not easy.

Because this official position is too high, it is just a decision-making one.

Specific affairs are handled by special people, and it is difficult for Qin Hui to intervene personally.

He does not trust the Wang family, and even if he trusts them, he will not let the Wang family make money. Because if he does so, the money will definitely go into his wife Wang's pocket.

He also thought about letting his brother Qin Zi make money, but as Qin Zi's official position became higher and he was transferred to a faraway place to serve as an official, it gradually became uncontrollable.

Qin Zi has his own ideas. He is also a Jinshi and a brother.

Partnering with Qin Zi is more likely to cause conflicts.

Qin Hui really dare not use the other brothers of the Qin family. He knows the morals of those brothers too well. Once given the opportunity, something big will happen!

There is no one available in his own family or his wife's family, so he can only choose outsiders.

Last year, Luoyang was under major renovation and construction, and projects were one after another. Qin Hui had many loopholes to exploit. He chose a calm and steady doctor from the Ministry of Works to make some money from the project, and his method was extremely secretive, so it was impossible to find out by checking the accounts.

Qin Hui did not dare to mess around with the Yellow River control project because Zhu Ming always sent people to watch it.

But the Fengli Canal, the largest water conservancy project in Shaanxi, has been dredged and expanded in the past two years.

Qin Hui colluded with Zheng Yinian and embezzled from material procurement to get some project funds. Moreover, both of them were timid by the emperor, and they only dared to make small moves for the time being, and mixed in the large accounts, which was also not easy to be found out.

He was already cautious as much as he could be, otherwise it would be impossible to get tens of thousands of strings after accumulating for several years.

In the former Song Dynasty, Qin Hui's behavior was definitely a model of integrity!

This year, Qin Hui became a little bolder. He got a confidant a lucrative job, responsible for building the treasury warehouse outside Luoyang City - building river embezzlement for several miles along the river, demolishing people along the coast, and building various warehouse facilities and city walls.

That was his absolute confidant in the Ministry of Works. The quality of the riverbank, warehouse, and city wall would definitely not have any problems.

They were not fools. If they dared to cut corners when building the national treasury, they would not be able to pass the acceptance inspection at all, and they would lose a lot of heads at that time!

But they could still make money from it.

Qin Hui did not think of making too much money. According to the specific construction situation, he would get three or four thousand strings of cash per month, and sometimes he could only get one or two thousand.

Of course, if the filial piety money in a certain month was too little or too much, Qin Hui would also check the accounts. He even went to the construction site in person to understand the situation on the pretext of supervising the project to prevent his subordinates from messing around behind his back.

…

"Alas, another natural disaster!"

Zhu Ming had a headache when he saw this kind of memorial, and he wrote a "yes" on the cabinet's draft.

Before the beginning of autumn, there was a major earthquake in Sichuan, and the plank road in northern Sichuan was damaged. Then there were heavy rains for several days, and the water levels of the Yangtze River and the Han River rose sharply. Just after the flood, there were several autumn rains, which caused floods again.

The specific Sichuan disaster report documents have not been delivered until now.

The local officials are responsible for the disaster relief work, including the post-disaster repair of the plank road and river embankment. They are nothing more than applying for tax reduction and exemption next year, and allocating some funds for post-disaster reconstruction.

Zhu Ming finished reviewing all the memorials and found that there was no random discussion of the earthquake.

Zhu Ming was very satisfied with this and finally stopped the idea of ​​heaven and man communicating with each other.

In this earthquake in history, Zhang Jun, who was in charge of Sichuan, wrote a letter to Zhao Gou. He asked Zhao Gou to write a prayer in person and then offer sacrifices and pray in Sichuan to appease the local military and civilians. At that time, Sichuan had heavy taxes to support heavy troops. After the earthquake, there was almost a mutiny and civil unrest.

Zhao Gou replied: "The heavy rain and earthquake must have been caused by the heavy troops in Shu, excessive exploitation and great public resentment. You just need to appease the people with good governance. What's the use of offering sacrifices and prayers?"

Let alone other things, Zhao Gou was very rational in terms of feudal superstition.

Mainly because Song Huizong was too outrageous, Zhao Gou was very averse to religion, auspiciousness, and the connection between heaven and man. During his reign, a large number of Buddhist temples and Taoist temples were demolished, and those that were not demolished were all subject to heavy taxes.

Just when Zhu Ming was about to get off work, an official from the Tongzhengyuan hurried over to ask for an audience.

"Your Majesty, Jiangxi has made a secret report. The seal of the memorial says "civil rebellion."

The newly appointed recorder last year changed his face when he heard this, and hurriedly took out the paper and pen that had been packed.

Zhu Ming's expression was also very ugly. What the hell was it that there was a civil rebellion in the second year of his accession to the throne?

The memorial was written by Li Bing, the prefect of Ji'an, claiming that hundreds of farmers in Yongxin County were making trouble. Due to the improper handling of the county magistrate, more than ten farmers were beaten and injured, and hundreds of people were arrested and thrown into prison. After the contradictions intensified, some mobs incited the uprising, sneaked into the county town, killed officials and rebelled.

Then they wiped out the two big families and dragged thousands of people to kill Ji'an Prefecture City.

Ji'an Prefecture had 500 garrison troops, who rushed to suppress the rebellion upon hearing the news. They defeated the rebel army in one battle and captured the chieftain alive.

Seeing this, Zhu Ming's lungs were about to explode.

Thousands of peasants rebelled, how much public resentment must this have caused?

Then, the prefect Li Bing gave a detailed account of the cause and effect.

He said that he was transferred to Ji'an at the beginning of the year, and about five months after he took office, someone secretly sent a letter to the government office and threw it directly into his backyard.

The letter anonymously reported the former prefect Yan Qi, saying that he colluded with the big families to randomly survey the land during the process of allocating land tax. The big families' land properties were often concealed, and these land properties were counted on the heads of small and medium-sized landlords. In addition, some people reported to the Provincial Administration and the Provincial Procuratorate, but the officials sent by the province to investigate were perfunctory.

Li Bing felt that the matter was serious, so he secretly sent people to investigate.

But he was a new official and did not have many confidants. The local officials were not trustworthy, so he only sent a few loyal servants to visit.

Because of the autumn grain collection, the investigation was delayed.

In addition, the governor went to Jinling for a meeting, and when he came back, he asked the prefectures and counties to organize immigration. The news of immigration spread and was exaggerated by people with ulterior motives. In addition, there were problems with allocating land tax, which led to many people being falsely taxed. So some people went to the county government to make trouble, but the situation was intensified by the clerks and yamen runners, and finally led to this civil uprising.

"Call the ministers of the cabinet to discuss the matter!"

Zhu Ming's face was as black as ink.

The ministers didn't know what happened, and some of them had even gone home after get off work.

I came to the council hall in a daze, and as soon as I entered, I saw that the emperor's face was not right.

Zhu Ming patted the memorial and said, "This is a secret memorial from Li Bing, the governor of Ji'an, which was sent directly to me without going through the Jiangxi Provincial Government and the cabinet. You can take it and read it slowly!"

The secret memorial system was created by Zhu Guoxiang to prevent officials from concealing the truth at all levels.

Prime Minister Zhai Ruwen was the first to read it, and after reading it, he passed it to Deputy Prime Minister Liu Yu, and began to get restless.

Yan Qi, who violated the rules when the land tax was distributed, was a descendant of Yan Hui. He had a friendship with Zhai Ruwen when he was in Shandong, and could barely be considered to be from Zhai Ruwen's faction.

The Left Provincial Government of Jiangxi was also from Zhai Ruwen's faction.

Zhai Ruwen was already cautious enough, and he did not take a penny after being promoted to Prime Minister. But those guys he promoted would not be obedient, and they were getting bolder and bolder.

The secret report was passed down, and two or three more people read it.

Zhai Ruwen couldn't sit still any longer, so he took off his official hat and put it on the table. He knelt down and kowtowed, saying: "I don't know people well, so I request to retire and return home."

The ministers who hadn't read the secret report were all shocked.

What could make the prime minister resign?

Soon, Chen Dong also finished reading the secret report. He didn't request to resign, but stood up and bowed: "The Supervisory Office is also responsible for this matter. The censors must assist in the acceptance of the land tax. The entire Ji'an Prefecture has problems, but the patrol censors helped them get away with it. Please transfer the relevant censors to the Dali Temple for review."

"The Ministry of Personnel is also responsible for the failure to supervise." Meng Zhao stood up.

When the official positions were changed after the major case, Pan Lianggui was supposed to be the Minister of Personnel and Meng Zhao was the Minister of Punishment. But in the final appointment, the two positions were still exchanged.

There was no other reason, Meng Zhao was a real one of his own, and his qualifications were deep enough.

Pan Lianggui's qualifications were insufficient, and it might be difficult to convince the public.

Zhu Ming remained silent, waiting for everyone to finish reading the secret report.

Although there have been civil unrests since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, those were during the transition from the old dynasty to the new dynasty.

This is the first time that a large-scale uprising has occurred since the world was stabilized. Although there were people secretly inciting, the scale of several thousand people was definitely a case of the government forcing the people to rebel!

The county magistrate who directly intensified the conflict has been killed by the rioters.

The big family who colluded with the prefect to measure the land illegally was also wiped out by the rioters.

But why did the governor and the censor shirk their responsibilities and why did they not report it until now? There are even signs of covering up.

If it weren't for the secret report of the prefect of Ji'an, Zhu Ming would still be in the dark.

The nature is extremely bad!

Zhu Ming looked at Zhai Ruwen: "Retire. Confer the title of Grand Master and return to your hometown in glory."

Zhai Ruwen just expressed his attitude just now. He really doesn't want to retire. He still has to assist the holy monarch to restore the prosperity of the Han and Tang dynasties!

Zhai Ruwen was like a deflated ball, he knelt down with a droopy face and said: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace."

Liu Yu had no expression on his face, but he was cheering in his heart.

He finally got rid of Zhai Ruwen, and he could finally be the prime minister.

Zhu Ming said again: "The Inspectorate, the Ministry of Justice, and the Dali Temple will dispatch officials to Jiangxi, and the three judicial departments will jointly investigate this matter."

"As you wish!"

Chen Dong and Pan Lianggui accepted the order in unison.

"All provinces across the country should review the land tax system to see if there are any cases like the one in Jiangxi," Zhu Ming continued. "For local officials who have not been transferred yet, I will give them a chance to correct their mistakes. If they have been promoted and transferred, they can also turn themselves in to reduce their punishment. As for the newly appointed local officials, if they do not conduct a thorough investigation, they will be blamed for their predecessors. If the problems of the predecessors are found, the current local officials will have no faults."

After that, Zhu Ming ordered: "Li Bing, the prefect of Ji'an, has made contributions in suppressing civil unrest and reporting major cases in secret. He will be promoted to the Left Governor of Jiangxi!"

When these words came out, all the ministers were shocked.

From a small prefect, he was promoted directly to the Left Governor of Jiangxi?

This is to encourage officials to send secret reports to the emperor, and to encourage officials to report their predecessors.

Zhu Ming also said: "Vice Prime Minister Liu Yu was promoted to Prime Minister. Minister of Revenue Fang Mengqing was appointed as Cabinet Minister. Right Assistant Minister of Revenue Bai Chongyan was promoted to Minister of Revenue."

After the imperial meeting ended, Zhai Ruwen left in despair.

The Left Governor of Jiangxi was his in-law, and he was recommended by Zhai Ruwen. It was obvious that there was a big problem this time. The former Ji'an prefect was also an old friend of Zhai Ruwen, and he was the culprit of this case.

The two dared to make trouble in Jiangxi, and they must have relied on Zhai Ruwen's power.

They disrupted the first national policy of the Ming Dynasty, "dividing the land tax into land", and aroused the first real peasant uprising since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhai Ruwen was the prime minister, who else would take the blame if he didn't?

At least, the emperor gave enough face. When Zhai Ruwen retired, he was given the title of Taishi, and no form of punishment was given.

Qin Hui looked at Zhai Ruwen's hunched back, and an inexplicable fear rose in his heart.

He had a vague premonition that one day in the future, he might also be investigated.

But can he stop?