Chapter 215: Expelling from fame and reprimanding the minister (two in one)
Jiangpu County Health Officer Ren Li believed that he was a member of the gentry and had no fear of Yan Song. After he had scolded Yan Song on the Qinhuai River in Nanjing and was romantic enough, he took a batch of spices obtained through smuggling and prepared to go to Suzhou for distribution. Sell.
When Ren Li arrived at the pass in a four-wheel-drive carriage with a large amount of goods and the beauties he bought at the Qinhuai River, the customs officer from the Jiangnan State Taxation Bureau came to Ren Li and said: "Bring the dental plaque! Load the car What kind of goods!”
This student, Ren Li, had long been dissatisfied with Yan Song's setting up checkpoints on the cement road from Nanzhili to Suzhou to collect lijin. He also saw that the police officer from the National Taxation Bureau was just an ordinary military attache. The word "WARNING" on his chest made him feel even more dissatisfied. It's no different from the yamen servants in the government.
But such a lowly military attache dared to be so arrogant in front of a high-ranking military officer. Ren Li became angry, jumped out of the carriage immediately, and kicked the police officer directly:
"You bastard! Ren is a scholar, a disciple of Confucius and Mencius, and a junior student in a government school! You are just a small military attache, and your future will be nothing more than guarding the gate. How dare you block my way!"
Ren Li shook his head as he spoke. In his opinion, wearing a scarf on his head meant that he was superior to others. Even if these despicable warriors in front of him wanted to talk to him, they should kneel down and talk to him, just like his father. When he was the seventh-rank censor, the military attache of Qianhu who ranked fifth rank would kneel down and reply to his father, so he couldn't help but curse in his heart: "Are you blind? Didn't you see the scarf on my head?"
"Although he is a small military attache, he is the seventh-rank general and the official of the Ming Dynasty. You are just a scholar, with less than eight talents, and your ambition is just to buy a prostitute. Who gave you the courage to beat my father-in-law? The man of the door!
Ordinary people are as afraid of officials as tigers and wolves, but you and other students are very strange. When you see officials, you dare to do the following! Come, according to the rules, beat the court official and give him sixty sticks! Take him down! ”
Yan Song happened to be passing by at this time and happened to see this scene. He didn't bother to ask who the student was and just relied on the law.
"Wait!"
When Ren Li saw that Yan Song was wearing a scarlet civil official robe, he shouted first, and then directly raised his hands and said: "Student Ren Li has met this gentleman, but the student is a scholar, and the gentleman is also a civil servant. If this is the case, why should the gentleman?" By supporting a warrior, do you intend to let Shilin say that you value martial arts over literature?”
"I only know that you broke the rules and hit the court official, but he didn't hit you!"
Yan Song didn't expect that this man was scolding Ren Li behind his back. After saying that, he ordered the people around him: "Beat him to death later!"
The police officer next to Yan Song used to be a member of the Jinyiwei system, so he naturally knew how to beat him to death, so he nodded: "Don't worry, sir!"
At this time, two police soldiers came over and caught Ren Li.
Ren Li started to feel a little scared at this time, and said with a stern look: "My lord, the student's father is the imperial censor. If you beat the student, aren't you afraid that your father will seek revenge on you?!"
"I have always been upright and not afraid of powerful people. Don't say that your father is my father. Even if your father is the elder, I still have to act according to the rules. However, you can tell me who your father is. I happen to be your godson. ”
After Yan Song said this, Ren Li's steward hurriedly came over: "This master is offended! Our young master is ignorant of the world and has offended you. Please forgive me and be accommodating. This is a money order from the Royal Bank for five hundred taels. You Let’s see if we can spare our young master a beating.”
"In the fifth year of Zhengde, the Anti-Corruption Law proposed by the Sanfa Division and approved by His Majesty clearly states that anyone who bribes his superiors for more than five hundred taels will be sentenced to five years in prison! Take this old housekeeper down! Confiscate his bribe money!"
As a result, Yan Song got five hundred taels in vain, and even arrested the housekeeper of the Ren family to work as a free labor force.
Ren Li was furious when he saw this, but he couldn't refute, he just gritted his teeth and said: "Okay, what an upright and upright Mr. Qingtian!"
At this time, the steward of the Ren family knelt down and kowtowed, begging for mercy: "Master, please have mercy on me! I have no intention of bribing you, I just want to compensate our young master for the money he gave to the gatekeeper just now!"
"In this case, according to the compensation regulations, you should also pay one thousand taels of compensation. A seventh-grade civil and military official was beaten by the common people. According to the law, if the common people want to be exempted from guilt, they must pay one thousand taels of silver and another five hundred taels!"
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After Yan Song said this, the housekeeper only paid another five hundred taels.
Ren Li was released as a result, but Yan Song had no intention of letting Ren Li go. He continued to point at the Ren family's fleet and asked, "What kind of goods are you transporting?"
"Replying to the lord, it's spices." People are not prohibited from doing business in the southern Zhili area, so the steward of Renli replied truthfully.
"Spices are luxury goods and should be taxed three times. The estimated value of so many cars of spices has already exceeded one hundred taels. They cannot be passed through customs tax-free. Mr. Hu, who is guarding the customs, asked you to count the experience documents you closed. The calculation must be accurate and not too much. The levy will result in no profit for the merchants, but it must not be levied less, so that the court will have no money to maintain the road. Do you understand? ”
As soon as Yan Song said this, Hu Zongqi, the gatekeeper, stood up and said, "I understand!" Immediately, he brought a group of gatekeepers to do the accounting and went directly to the old housekeeper to ask for the account books.
At this time, Ren Li raised his hands angrily upon seeing this and said: "Sir! These are all for the benefit of the people, and they are a way for the scholars and others to make a living. I hope that you will treat us and the scholars preferentially and exempt them from tax collection!"
"You sell spices to the people at high prices, causing the people to go bankrupt just for the sake of luxury. You are doing harm to the people. How can you deserve the word "people's benefit"? The purpose of heavy taxation is to prevent the people of our Ming Dynasty from falling into this luxury. ! You can’t refuse to pay! If they resist the tax, they will be taken away directly!”
Yan Song gave such a forced order, and Ren Li had no choice but to admit defeat.
At this time, Yan Song saw a beautiful woman sitting in the carriage and asked: "This beauty has a charming face and half-dressed clothes. She does not look like a girl from a good family. Who is she?"
"If you like the famous prostitute that the student bought in the Qinhuai River, you can give it to your Majesty. I would like to ask your Majesty to allow the student not to pay the luxury tax this time." This ceremony completely forgot about the prohibition of bribery that Yan Song said before, and also He naively wanted to make a deal with Yan Song.
"I have already issued a strict order. In order to clean up the academic style, the students in the prefectures and counties of South Zhili are not allowed to visit prostitutes when they travel to various places. In order to insult the literary style of scholars, you dare to commit crimes despite being polite and have your reputation revoked. Take the scarf off his head!" Yan Song suddenly lowered his face and shouted.
Ren Li didn't expect that the official in front of him would suddenly take off his kerchief to remove his honor. He couldn't help being shocked: "My lord, you are, who are you?"
"You should have guessed that I am Yan Song, the governor of Nanzhili, and I am also in charge of academic affairs. You used the pseudonym of "Xishan disciple" in newspapers to throw dirty water on me. I couldn't bear to block the scholar's way of speech, so I didn't put you in trouble. No matter what, you can't be arrogant and lawless To travel around the world with prostitutes from the Qinhuai River! You are a member of the clan, and you should devote yourself to learning, immerse yourself in books, or study in the world, but you rely on your own fame, not to mention business, but you dare to take prostitutes home. ! How bold!”
As he spoke, Yan Song took the ceremonial scarf from the people below, then rode away, and ordered: "Immediately order the chief officials and academic officials of all prefectures and counties to go to the governor's Yamen to discuss matters. I have given repeated orders to clean up the academic style." , but in Nanjing City, there are still students who are romantic, how do they do things? ”
Ren Li was dismissed from his career by Yan Song, which made the Jiangnan gentry even more resentful towards Yan Song, but they could not do anything about Yan Song, because Yan Song was now pursuing a purge of etiquette and a purge of literary style, which were all advocated by the civil servants and gentry themselves. Yan Song now just asks them to strictly abide by it, so no one dares to object openly.
The gentry in the south of the Yangtze River complained endlessly, but they could not express their objections, so they had to secretly contact the civil servants in the capital to transfer Yan Song. Just like in history, when Shanghai Rui was the governor of Yingtian, he supported the people and rectified the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River and was promoted to Nanjing as a idle official soon after. Same.
However, Zhu Houzhao had no intention of transferring Yan Song.
Zhu Houzhao was relieved that Yan Song was in charge of Southern Zhili. He believed that only a cunning official like Yan Song who was the governor of Southern Zhili could compete with the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River.
No one expected that Yan Song would take advantage of the opportunity of the chief minister of the cabinet to carry out spiritual civilization construction in the central court, and launch an activity to restore the etiquette system in the southern Zhili area, punishing a group of officials, gentry and wealthy businessmen so that they would not dare to spend extravagance at will.
Officials in other provinces also began to follow suit and initiated activities to restore ritual systems within their jurisdictions.
Wang Hua, the chief minister of the cabinet, did not expect that the spiritual civilization construction he advocated would really be of such practical significance. A movement to restore etiquette and purge social customs gave the Ming court millions of taels more income, and even As a result, Royal Bank's reserves have also increased a lot, so that as a shareholder of Royal Bank, I have gained a lot of profits.
What made Wang Hua even more happy was that he first presided over the construction of spiritual civilization, which led Zhu En, the Minister of Rites, to propose the idea of advocating frugality and rectifying the atmosphere. Soon after, local officials such as Yan Song began to clean up the atmosphere, which greatly benefited the court. At the same time, it indeed suppressed the extravagant trend in society, and Zhu Houzhao gave him the official title of "Taifu", making him, like Ma Wensheng and Jiao Fang, a first-grade official during his lifetime.
Also promoted was Zhu En, who became the Minister of Rites, but he was not happy.
At this time, his student Ren Jianshu was saying to him: "Teacher! This Yan Song exploited the gentry in the name of purging the trend in Jiangnan, causing complaints among the scholars. If you don't think of a way, the Zhu family will also be deeply affected. , your son Ren Li, who was raised in the Ren family, was expelled from his job by Yan Song on the grounds of illegal solicitation of prostitutes!”
"What! This, this, I was prepared to wait until he passed the imperial examination to get to know each other, but Yan Song actually stopped me first! Doesn't this make it impossible for us, father and son, to recognize each other? I will go to the hospital now!"
Zhu En said angrily and went to the study room to start writing a memorial.
"Your Majesty, although etiquette and law are the foundation of the court and the world should be frugal, if there is extravagance, the court can reprimand and admonish, but now the provincial government agencies are frequently disturbing the people on the pretext of purging etiquette and law, ranging from fines to expropriation, to confiscation of family property and even imprisonment and punishment. , it is really unpopular!
Nowadays, the world is prosperous, the people are prosperous and the country is prosperous. The silks and satins are as cheap as ramie, and the rice, millet, paste and beams are piled up like mountains. The people in the prosperous age should be clothed in brocade to reflect the achievements of the Holy Emperor's civil governance. However, at this time, the silks and satins are allowed to rot. At home, the rice, corn, ointment, and beams are moldy in the warehouse, but in order to follow the etiquette of Taizu's time, it is untimely and unkind, Your Majesty! ”
Nowadays, many imperial literati and reformist local civil servants are using Zhu En's arguments to launch a large-scale campaign to purge the etiquette system in the local area, so that the gentry complained endlessly and hated Zhu En because of this. They even began to expose Zhu En's various disobediences. Etiquette and extravagant behavior.
Zhu En, the Minister of Rites, regretted his ideas of advocating frugality and observing etiquette and law. In addition, he was even more irritated by the expulsion of his honorary title, so he quickly wrote a memorial, hoping to remedy his position among the scholars and gentry. reputation. Naturally, he didn't dare to say anything directly against Yan Song. After all, he also knew that Yan Song was in the emperor's heart.
After seeing Zhu En's memorial, Zhu Houzhao summoned Zhu En and asked Zhu En:
"Zhu En, your previous memorial said that the people in the world are in poverty, and there are still hungry people who have difficulty getting enough to eat every day. In your hometown, every winter, more people freeze to death due to the severe cold. Therefore, you suggest that I should open the door for you. The trend of frugality should stop everywhere Purchase, let go of the guarding eunuchs in the world, and the palace should not even be expanded. Except for the purchase and guarding eunuchs who have not withdrawn, I have relied on you a lot, and even now I am still living in this narrow Qianqing Palace!”
"Since the people's livelihood is so difficult, why do you say in your memorial that the world is prosperous, the people are prosperous and the country is prosperous, silks and satins are as cheap as ramie, and rice, millet, paste and beams are piled up like mountains? According to what you say, isn't there already no hungry or cold people in the world?! < br>
Anyway, I believe you, so let me ask you, since silk and satin are as cheap as ramie, what is the annual cotton production, silk production, and grain production of the Ming Dynasty now? Can it satisfy the food and clothing of the people in the world? ”
Zhu Houzhao asked Zhu En coldly.
Zhu En didn't know how to answer for a moment. He didn't expect that His Majesty would question him in connection with the two memorials he had written before and after him. He also didn't expect that he just compared the Ming Dynasty's silk and satin with a lot of food based on today's social phenomena, but he was His Majesty asked about the annual cotton, silk and grain output of the Ming Dynasty.
"Replying to Your Majesty, I have spoken inappropriately, and I ask Your Majesty to punish you. However, I spoke from the bottom of my heart when I said that there are hungry and cold people in the world, and I spoke from the bottom of my heart when I said that this dynasty is a prosperous dynasty! As for the production of cotton, silk, cloth and other grains, this is a matter for the Ministry of Household Affairs. I belong to the Ministry of Rites, so I naturally don’t dare to ask.”
Zhu En, the Minister of Rites, replied.
"In the second issue of the March edition of the Emperor Ming Bao in the ninth year of Zhengde, a line of black characters writes the production data of grain, cotton, silk, etc. in the eighth year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty on the first page. If you haven't read it, you still haven't remembered it. Even the people on the street have noticed. We know how much grain the Ming Dynasty’s Ministry of Households collects every year, but you, an official of the Ministry of Rites and a second-rank official, don’t know! Since you don’t know, who gave you the courage to talk nonsense in front of me! Silk and satin are as cheap as ramie, and rice, millet, paste and rice are piled up in mountains. Are you writing an article before becoming king? You can just talk nonsense. Today the people are rich, but tomorrow they will be poor. How can asking questions in court be like child's play! How did you become the Minister of Rites? ”
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(End of chapter)