Chapter 881 0876 [Governor Qingtian and the Royal Flag]

Even if the superior farts, the subordinates will try to figure out the angle, volume, and smell of the fart...

Zhu Ming said that Gong Xiu, a meritorious official who joined the army with his whole family, should be sentenced as he wanted, but his sons should not be implicated.

The emperor's intention was to give him a lenient sentence, but it must be within the legal standards.

So, someone secretly helped Gong Xiu make a decision.

First, he was asked to hand over the gifts he received and the land given by others, and actively return the stolen goods to seek lenient treatment.

Then he was asked to make meritorious contributions while serving his sentence and confess everything he knew.

After a series of operations, he was finally sentenced to exile, and his property in Jiangxi was confiscated. Then the Gong family's mines in Yang County were confiscated, and he was deprived of the earldom he was awarded last year.

Although he was exiled to Hehuang, his second son was a garrison commander there, and he was actually sent to his sons to live in old age.

When investigating his sons, the results of the investigation must be honest, loyal and brave.

Afterwards, Zhu Ming also promoted Gong Xiu's eldest son and second son by one level of military rank as compensation.

There is no way, this bastard is too special.

At that time, Zhu Ming started an army in Jinzhou and could not take care of Yangzhou for the time being. Zhu Guoxiang started an army in Yangzhou with only more than 2,000 people under his command, and Gong Xiu directly brought several hundred people to join.

This is already considered a shareholder. If the punishment is too ruthless, many veterans will complain.

For the generals in the army, you can't be too indulgent or too cruel, you must grasp a degree.

And those civil officials, but they don't have such good treatment.

Because the land tax in Jiangxi was messed up by them!

According to the confession of Xie Dan, the left governor of Jiangxi, he didn't mess around for corruption.

The main reason is that the gentry clan power in Jiangxi is too stubborn, and many big clans have people in office. They didn't resist openly, but only resisted secretly, making it impossible to implement the land tax, and even the land survey was anticlimactic.

But the court has a death order, and officials at all levels must report.

So the grassroots officials fooled the county officials, the county officials fooled the prefectures, the prefectures fooled the province, and the province fooled the court.

In the whole province of Jiangxi, only a few local officials completed their tasks, most of them fooled around, and some even took the opportunity to embezzle and accept bribes.

The governor and the provincial procuratorate were at a loss. If they urged the progress, the prefecture and county officials could only mess around. If they did not urge the progress, the prefecture and county officials would keep delaying.

Gradually, everyone began to give up and report to the court that the reform was successfully completed.

In fact, Zhai Ruwen's relative Xie Dan, as the left governor of Jiangxi, did not embezzle too much money and was relatively an honest official. But he helped the local officials fool the court, and he had to cover up the civil unrest, otherwise the actual situation in Jiangxi would be exposed.

...

Imperial meeting.

"The case in Jiangxi is still under trial," Zhu Ming took out a secret memorial he had just received. "This was sent by Li Bing, the new left governor of Jiangxi. He said that the gentry in Jiangxi were too stubborn and intermarried with each other. Taking advantage of this major case, the big families should be split up. If the families are not split up and relocated, not to mention the land tax, even the land survey will be difficult to implement in Jiangxi."

As the prime minister, Liu Yu was the first to receive the secret memorial and read it.

As he read it, Liu Yu admired Li Bing very much. Because Li Bing also suggested that the Zhang family should be split up first.

The Zhang family of the current queen, the Zhang family of the retired prime minister, the Duke of Gan, Zhang Gen!

Zhao Quan was the second to read the secret memorial. After reading it, he remained silent and handed it to Zhang Shuye next to him.

One by one, no one spoke after reading it.

There are too many officials from Jiangxi. Not only do they intermarry with each other, but they also intermarry with big families from other provinces. Once the big families in the province are split up, not only the queen's family will be involved, but also countless officials.

Zhu Ming asked with a smile: "What is the Prime Minister's opinion?"

Hearing this, Liu Yu almost cried, and regretted being this lousy Prime Minister.

Unless Liu Yu strongly opposed this, no matter whether he agreed or not, as long as this decree was issued, he would be criticized by countless officials.

Because it is impossible for people to scold the emperor, they can only scold him as the Prime Minister!

Of course, Li Bing, who initiated this matter, will definitely have a bad reputation.

Liu Yu replied: "This is indeed the best time to deal with the situation in Jiangxi, but we should still act prudently."

It seems that he said something, but it seems that he said nothing.

Incredibly correct nonsense.

Zhu Ming glanced at Li Hanzhang, Qian Chen, Meng Zhao, Bai Chongyan and others, but this group of old friends did not dare to speak carelessly at this moment.

If the Queen's family was not involved, they could still speak out in support.

But now the Queen's family is also involved, so what should I do if I offend the Queen and the Prince?

In silence, Chen Dong suddenly stood up: "I support the splitting and relocation of the Jiangxi clans!"

Zhu Ming smiled and praised: "Excellent."

Liu Yu hesitated, struggling in his heart, and finally sighed: "I support it too."

"I second the motion." The other important officials also followed suit.

In addition to the cabinet members, those who came to attend the imperial meeting included the heads of the Tongzhengyuan, the Supervisory Yuan and the six ministries.

After Zhang Gen and Xiao Chu retired, no Jiangxi officials could attend the imperial meeting.

On the contrary, there were four Jiangxi officials in the left and right assistant ministers of the six ministries and the temple ministers of each temple.

As long as they were not afraid of offending the queen, those present had no psychological burden to take action against Jiangxi!

Ju Ming asked again: "Li Bing is a man who dares to take charge. He wrote two secret memoranda, one exposing the civil uprising and the other advocating the dismantling of ethnic groups. He became the left governor of Jiangxi. I am very relieved about what will happen next. But He is too inexperienced and may not be able to control the situation. Which of you is willing to go to Jiangxi to take charge? "

"I would like to go to Jiangxi to supervise this matter." Wei Liangchen, censor of the right capital of the Inspectorate, stood up.

In the last major national corruption case, Wei Liangchen was almost implicated by his younger brother. Since then, he has been more diligent and cautious in his work. Even Wei Liangchen, a classmate and friend of Qin Hui, deliberately kept his distance.

Since I have decided to be a lonely minister, this trip to Jiangxi is an opportunity to make meritorious deeds.

"good!"

Zhu Ming expressed great admiration for Wei Liangchen and said: "I will confer Wei Qing the title of Prince's Young Master and immediately go to Jiangxi to serve as the governor of Qingtian."

"I will never disgrace my order." Wei Liangchen bowed straightly.

He himself is the censor of Youdu, and now he has been awarded the title of Prince's Young Master, and has obtained the qualification to join the cabinet. Even if you are just dawdling from now on, as long as you don't make any mistakes, you can make it into the cabinet within ten years.

Wei Liangchen was probably less than fifty years old when he entered the cabinet!

Qin Hui was extremely envious, but he didn't dare to take on such an errand.

Because it offends people so much, it will definitely become the target of public criticism.

Wei Liangchen dared to stand up because he was doing the right thing and was not afraid of criticism from any official.

If Qin Hui is allowed to do it, someone may find out the reasons and crazily impeach him one day.

Ju Ming warned: "Hunan is vast and sparsely populated, and it is close to Jiangxi. The wealthy families in Jiangxi will keep some in their hometowns and move some to Hunan. The freed land in Jiangxi will be sold to local tenants who have no land or little land at a low price." To make a profit, do not divide the land directly. Let the tenants pay an additional land tax every year to offset the debt. It is best to repay it in five to eight years. "

Wei Liangchen asked: "How to deal with the debts of the landlords who moved out and the tenants who redeemed their land?"

"Debts that have been owed for more than three years will be voided. Debts that exceed the legal interest rate will be voided," Zhu Ming said.

Are there any landlords who don’t lend money at usury?

Even though the Ming Dynasty had strict control, landlords could circumvent the law when lending money at usury.

Now with the support of the imperial governor, the tenants must collectively accuse the landlords of usury in order to escape their confinement.

All debts can be canceled!

Ju Ming added: "I will give you a king's command flag, and you can mobilize the garrison and Cao army in Jiangxi at will."

Wei Liangchen was overjoyed: "With the army in hand, if I can't manage Jiangxi, I will come back to see your majesty."

…

After the meeting, Ju Ming got off work early and went straight to Queen Zhang Jinping's yard.

"The officials came so early?" Zhang Jinping asked in surprise.

Ju Ming was a little embarrassed to say it, so he organized his words and said, "I have something important and I need to ask my wife for help."

Zhang Jinping had a premonition that something big was going on and hurriedly asked: "What is it?"

Zhu Ming elaborated on the situation in Jiangxi and added: "The gentry in Jiangxi are so intertwined that it is extremely difficult to even clear out their land. It has not been completed nearly ten years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. This time, with the major civil uprising, it is time to split up the large migrant families. Zhang As a relative of the emperor, I should set an example. I will write a letter to my father-in-law, and I'd better write one to persuade the Zhang family to split up and move to Hunan."

"The country is bigger than the family, as it should be." Although Zhang Jinping was a little unhappy, she was still willing to listen to her husband.

Twenty days later, before Wei Liangchen arrived in Jiangxi, private messages from the emperor and empress had arrived at the Zhang family.

Zhang Gen, the Duke of Gan, was in poor health and had been bedridden from time to time in the past two years.

After reading the letter from his daughter and son-in-law, Zhang Gen sighed: "It's hard to disobey your orders."

He invited all the elders of the clan to come over, and before he could finish speaking, every branch and clan reacted violently.

It was just that he felt that the emperor was ruthless and that as a relative of the family, he still suffered losses.

Although according to the number of acres of land in my hometown, if I move to Hunan, I can get the same amount of compensation, or even get some more as compensation. But can land and land be the same? There is mature farmland here in Jiangxi, and if you move to Hunan, you still have to cultivate wasteland. Moreover, the land there is vast and sparsely populated, so it will definitely be difficult to recruit tenants. Maybe the Zhang family will have to farm their own land.

Zhang Gen patiently persuaded with coaxing and intimidation: "Other provinces can all divide their land into acres, but Jiangxi is struggling to even own land. Now there is even a popular uprising, and the emperor is already furious..."

"This time, the censor of Youdu came to Jiangxi to supervise the affairs, and he brought with him a royal order flag that could mobilize the army. The governor Wei Liangchen was pushed into a panic. He really wanted to kill someone."

"I am very familiar with Wei Liangchen. He was a student of the former Song Dynasty and planned to rescue the current emperor. The emperor was put in charge of Guizhou, and he advocated following him thousands of miles away. He followed the emperor all the way to Guizhou, and then to Jin Dynasty. The state surrendered when the emperor occupied Hanzhong."

"Such a person really dares to attack our Zhang family. If he can't open up the situation in Jiangxi, I'm afraid the Zhang family will be the first to suffer!"

The elders of the Zhang clan looked at each other.

As soon as Wei Liangchen's resume was laid out, they were all frightened.

So what if the Zhang family has a duke and a queen? Wei Liangchen is the true confidant of the emperor!

Zhang Gen said: "The imperial court has decreed that when each tribe splits up and migrates, half of the tribe can be left behind. Let us decide by drawing lots which family will move and which family will stay. I will also participate in the drawing of lots. If I win, I will also raise it." Go to Hunan.”