Chapter 154: Your Majesty the Emperor, do you care about your son-in-law’s misbehavior? (Please subscribe!!) "How is this going?"
Zhu Yuanzhang confirmed again and again that this mountain of memorials was true!
"Didn't I finish all the pressed memorials yesterday? Why are there so many piles after this night?"
Hear Zhu Yuanzhang's inquiry.
Wang Zhong hurriedly came over and explained, "Your Majesty, I don't know what's going on. I asked the young eunuch on duty at night and said that these were sent here this morning, and they were all urgent memorials from five hundred miles away. Involving Shandong/Shanxi/Henan and other places!”
"Shandong, Shanxi, and Henan." Zhu Yuanzhang muttered and suddenly raised his head, "They are all from the north. Could it be that Bei Yuan invaded?"
Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang took three steps and two steps at a time, came to the Long Case, picked up a memorial and started to read it.
Um! ?
After reading the first memorial, Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned. Then he picked up another memorial, and his face gradually became gloomy after reading it. Then he quickly finished the third, fourth, and fifth memorials on the Long Case. .
At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang's face became increasingly difficult to look at.
"Your Majesty, has something happened? You must pay attention to your health!"
Wang Zhong said cautiously.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not answer, his eyes widened with complex expressions such as anger, surprise, and confusion.
The good news is that it is not that Beiyuan came over, and the Ming Dynasty did not suffer any shortcomings.
Bad news, this matter is related to that boy Ouyang Lun again! The stacked memorials are all written by the chief envoys of the three provinces of Shandong/Shanxi/Henan and the chief officials of the states under their jurisdiction. The content of these memorials is very similar, that is, the participation of the right chief envoy/consort Ouyang Lun of Northern Zhili connived at the merchants in the territory. Going to various places to rob people.
In some places, entire villages were taken away, and those who were not taken away also took the initiative to relocate to Beizhili. In a short period of time, this became a trend, like a flood, and officials everywhere could not stop it.
The chief envoys from all over the country knew that Ouyang Lun was now favored by the emperor, and it was useless to go to Ouyang Lun directly. Therefore, they wrote a memorial to complain to Zhu Yuanzhang. The meaning was also very clear, Your Majesty, your son-in-law is doing such nonsense, do you care?If you don't care about it, then they can't care about it either. Don't come to settle accounts with them over this matter in the future.
In order to achieve the effect, the chief envoys of Shandong/Shanxi/Henan also had a tacit understanding to ask their prefects and officials/gentry/celebrities who could write memorials to Zhu Yuanzhang to write memorials to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Normally, these memorials must be filtered by Zhongshu Province first, but who is the Prime Minister of Zhongshu Province?Hu Weiyong!When he saw so many people impeaching Ouyang Lun, he was already happy. As long as they were participating in Ouyang Lun's performance, he didn't stop them all and had them all sent to Zhu Yuanzhang! This is what Zhu Yuanzhang saw when he came to the Hall of Supreme Harmony! In a short period of time, Zhu Yuanzhang thought about a lot of things in his mind. Naturally, he could clearly see Hu Weiyong's little tricks, but he had no time to pay attention to it now.
How did Ouyang Lun make the people run to Beizhili like crazy?
Moreover, these memorials say that many people now curse him, Zhu Yuanzhang, as a dog emperor, and praise Ouyang Lun as a good official!
Zhu Yuanzhang had not been scolded before, he had heard even worse scoldings than this, but this time it was different. The people were comparing him to Ouyang Lun.
When did Ouyang Lun, a corrupt official, become a good official in the eyes of the people, and the emperor himself became so unpopular?
People, you are so confused! "Where's Jiang Yu! Go and get Jiang Yu for me!"
Zhu Yuanzhang's voice was like the roar of thunder.
Wang Zhong was so frightened that he hurriedly called for help.
After a while, Jiang Yu followed Wang Zhong into the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
"Your Majesty, Commander Jiang is here."
"Your Majesty, Jiang Wei, has met with you."
Zhu Yuanzhang was sitting on the dragon chair, staring at the memorial on the dragon case. When he heard the two voices, he slowly raised his head, looked at Jiang Yu with a gloomy look, and said extremely calmly: "Tell me, what is going on?"
Just meeting Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, Jiang Wei immediately lowered his head, feeling extremely nervous. He had been with Zhu Yuanzhang for so many years, and he knew Zhu Yuanzhang's character very well. The calmer he was, the more anger he felt in his heart at the moment.
Jiang Wei knew very well that if he didn't answer well next, he would probably be the first person to suffer in this incident.
At this moment, Jiang Wei suddenly envied his former commander-in-chief Mao Xiang. He was now the big boss in Yong'an Mansion, but he lived a life of trembling and walking on thin ice. In the past, he could always take Mao Xiang out to deal with anything he encountered. , now that he is in command, no one can support him anymore, he can only face Zhu Yuanzhang directly.
Of course, before he came, he had already inquired with Wang Zhong clearly about what made Zhu Yuanzhang angry.
"Your Majesty, this happened so suddenly. The news about Jinyiwei also arrived following the memorials from various places." Jiang Wei paused and saw that Zhu Yuanzhang did not speak, then continued: "According to the reports from Shandong/Henan/Shanxi, According to the news from Jin Yiwei, the root of the matter lies in an announcement issued by Beizhili."
"What announcement?" Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and asked in a deep voice.
"North Zhili's First Five-Year Plan." After Jiang Wei finished speaking, he quickly took out a brochure from his sleeve and handed it over, "Your Majesty, this is the transcript of the plan."
Zhu Yuanzhang took the book and read it. After reading it, his face became solemn, "This '[-]st Five-Year Plan' is similar to the '[-]st Five-Year Plan'/'[-]th Five-Year Plan' previously released by Yong'an Mansion, except that the scope has been expanded to the entire Beizhi." After being subordinated and adding several new projects, why did it cause riots in the three surrounding provinces?"
Jiang Wei quickly explained: "Your Majesty, it is precisely because there are too many projects to be built in Beizhili. In the past, Yong'an Prefecture built roads, and the internal labor force in Beizhili plus court corvee was basically enough. But now it has been expanded to the entire Beizhili. Several state capitals need to build roads/bridges/walls, etc., and suddenly there are not enough people!”
Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily: "Since Beizhili is sending people, then contact the Ministry of Industry/Ministry of Households to recruit corvees! According to the agreement reached between the court and Ouyang Lun, we have to make a lot of money this time. Why do we still cause riots among people? You guys This group of guys who fail to achieve anything but fail!"
"Wait a minute, did you force the corvee force to cause the people to complain, so they all called me a dog emperor!?"
Hearing this, Jiang Wei couldn't help but smile, "Your Majesty, actually this happened because of the corvee service."
"Beijing Zhili needs people to build roads. The government does not recruit workers, but first determines the contractor. This time, a number of conditions were put forward for the contractor, one of which is to have a construction team of no less than 500 people. Those businessmen who were quite contractors could not recruit people in Yong'an Prefecture or even in the whole of Beizhili, so they set their sights on the three surrounding provinces. They drove hundreds of miles to the three provinces to publicize and talk about the wages of Yong'an Prefecture. /treatment."
"Your Majesty, you also know that wages in Yong'an Mansion are the highest in the entire Ming Dynasty. An ordinary worker can earn four taels of silver a month, and food and accommodation are included. He has eight days of normal rest. Overtime work to meet the deadline is not included."
"But when you do corvee labor, you don't have to pay a penny for your wages. You also have to spend your own money to eat. There is no time to rest. Compare the two items."
Having said this, Jiang Wei did not continue talking.
Zhu Yuanzhang also understood instantly, as if he had been hit in the head, angry but speechless.
"Don't the people know that they serve as corvees to build the country and that it is their duty?" Zhu Yuanzhang whispered.
"Your Majesty, there are indeed many people who understand this truth, but the people are not balanced in their hearts, and they all say, "What did they say?"
"It is said that the imperial court only regards them as a tool to make money, and all the money they make is taken away by corrupt officials. It is different in Yong'an Mansion. The people there can spend money to be exempted from corvee, and all the money they make goes into their own pockets!" Jiang Wei finished. , quickly comforted: "These words are said by those unruly people, your Majesty must not take them to heart."
"What else can the people say!" Zhu Yuanzhang's face was gloomy.
"He also said that Your Majesty has long forgotten that he was also a common people in the past, and now in order to make money, he doesn't care about the life and death of the common people."
giggle-
After hearing these words, Zhu Yuanzhang gritted his back teeth.
"Your Majesty, the common people do not understand the court's good intentions. As long as the officials explain carefully, they will definitely be able to explain it clearly." Jiang Wei said quickly.
snort! !
Zhu Yuanzhang snorted heavily, "Explanations will be useless!"
"Ouyang Lun's petty profits have driven them crazy. Without Zhu Yuanzhang, how could they have the stable life they have now!"
"They actually called us a dog emperor and didn't care about their life or death! What's even more annoying is that they actually praised Ouyang Lun as a good official. They are really blind!"
To be honest, Zhu Yuanzhang is angry and aggrieved now.
He punished corruption/reduced taxes and exempted taxes so that the people could recuperate and live a better life. Wasn't it just to make the people of Ming Dynasty live a better life? But now he is called a dog emperor, not even a corrupt official! It’s amazing if you can’t feel aggrieved/angry! Zhu Yuanzhang felt angry in his chest, but he didn't know how to let it out.
Send troops to suppress those people?
Then he is not a dog emperor, but a coward/tyrant.
Don't be angry. Don't be angry. We have to calm down, otherwise it will be equivalent to admitting that Ouyang Lun is better than us.
"Jiang Wei, do you Jin Yiwei have statistics on how many people went to Beizhili?"
Facing Zhu Yuanzhang's inquiry, Jiang Yu quickly replied: "Your Majesty, the preliminary estimate is 10 people."
"10 people is not too much." Zhu Yuanzhang muttered.
You must know that every time a large army conquers, at least 10 people must be summoned. Looking at the entire Ming Dynasty, the number of corvees is in millions, and [-] is really not many.
"Your Majesty, I am talking about one hundred thousand strong laborers. Adding in the families of these strong laborers, the number of people going to Beizhili will reach one million!"
Ho! Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang's brows jumped again and again.
100 people! !
This is equivalent to two state capitals with a medium population! !
No wonder the chief envoys of the three provinces wanted to write memorials to refer to this boy Ouyang Lun. He was poaching here and there, and he was clearly plundering the population! ! "It's bullshit!"
"The Ming Dynasty has a vast territory. Is it possible that only Beizhili can live in it?"
"One million people are pouring into Beizhili. Is Ouyang Lun scared to eat? Add to that millions of people, Ouyang Lun will be supplied with a huge amount of food every day when he opens his eyes. How will he feed himself? The people don’t have enough to eat and directly rebel, how will he respond then?!”
Zhu Yuanzhang shouted angrily.
Jiang Wei raised his eyes and said cautiously: "Your Majesty, I heard that Ouyang Prince Consort has set up a fishing team, and has also established seafood markets in various prefectures in North Zhili. A large amount of fresh seafood is put in every day. It is completely acceptable. To make up for the food shortage."
Forehead. Zhu Yuanzhang's face condensed, slightly embarrassed, and he snorted again, "Even if he has food/seafood to eat, but these 100 million people have poured into Beizhili, where do so many people live? Those who work can live in work sheds , but what about their family members? Most of them are the elderly, children and women. It’s too late to build houses now. When winter comes, I don’t know how many people will freeze to death!”
"If he is really dead, I will depose him as the chief minister and then behead him in public to comfort the people of the world! He brought this on himself!"
"Ahem." Jiang Wei coughed twice, "Your Majesty, I heard that Yong'an Prefecture started building new cities very early, and the prefectures and counties under Yong'an Prefecture have also built new cities. Many local people have bought houses in the new cities. The houses in the old city have become vacant. The local government has specially opened a special area for renting houses in the 'Temporary Mission Hall'. The price is very affordable. You can rent a room for about [-] Wen and one tael of silver. A small courtyard suitable for a family of three.”
"And whether it is a single-room house or a small courtyard, they are all equipped with coal stoves, which are uniformly supplied by the government. The prices are also very reasonable. People should not freeze to death."
"." Zhu Yuanzhang glared at Jiang Yu fiercely, "You are the only one who knows more, you are very smart! Don't I know that?"
"At first, I didn't believe what those memorials said, thinking that these were the private actions of the merchants in Beizhili. But now it seems that this is a robbing war carefully planned by Ouyang Lun! The three people in Shandong/Shanxi/Henan The local officials really didn’t slander him!”
"Everything is so thoughtful, this guy must be behind it!"
The more Zhu Yuanzhang talked, the more angry he became, even more angry than at the beginning. He attracted millions of people to go to Beizhili, and also made the people think that Ouyang Lun was very good, and he, Zhu Yuanzhang, became the dog emperor.
What is the nature of this?
Seriously damaging the dignity of the Ming Dynasty, what is Ouyang Lun going to do! Is the next step to hold high the banner of rebellion? With Ouyang Lun's current prestige, all he needs to do is raise his arms and the Northern Zhili people may be surnamed Ouyang Lun instead of Zhu! Zhu Yuanzhang definitely couldn't accept this.
Even if this person is his biological son-in-law, it won't work.
As the emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang's first priority was to stabilize the Ming Dynasty. The people were the basic base, and Ouyang Lun must not be allowed to be so willful.
"Wang Zhong."
"The minister is here."
"Go to Zhongshu Province and ask them to draw up my decree, severely rebuke Beizhili's behavior, and ask Wu Jingzhi/Ouyang Lun to handle the matter properly. If there is any neglect, they will be severely punished!"
"Yes!"
(End of this chapter)