Chapter 214 Corporal punishment is a good choice
Xu Wenbi reminded that Zhang Juzheng also believed that the preparations for the Xishan Coal Bureau would never go smoothly. As expected, soon, an intensive and rapid offensive began, still starting from Wang Chonggu began to attack.
The impeachment of Wang Chonggu became more intensive, and the focus of the impeachment changed from Wang Chonggu's intimidation of the emperor and his violation of the emperor's authority to the impeachment of Wang Chonggu's ineffectiveness in doing things.
Those who overstepped the authority of the Lord were specifically approved by the Ming Emperor not to be held accountable. If the offenders were not held accountable, it would be superfluous to impeach the officials. Moreover, Wang Chonggu had recently become a member of the surrender faction, surrendering to the emperor. , closely follow Zhang Juzheng's footsteps and accumulate profits.
The impeachment of Wang Chonggu’s incompetence mainly focused on the cutting of corners at the Dalongxing Temple pagoda supervised by Wang Chonggu.
In early November, businessman Zhao Deyi reported to the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen that the pagoda had cut corners and cut corners. The courtiers were in an uproar, and there were more and more doubts.
Ge Shouli and Hai Rui requested an audience at the Wenhua Hall. Zhu Yijun met with the two presidents and read their memorials requesting inspection.
"Does this matter need to be investigated?" Zhu Yijun looked at the two presidents and asked with frowning eyebrows. The little emperor knew exactly that he couldn't investigate everything, just in case something was found out in this investigation. Come on, isn't something going to happen?
Wang Chonggu fell at this time. The supervisor of the woolen official factory needs to be replaced. The supervisors of the palace, the royal palace, and the pagoda also need to be replaced. The preparations for the establishment of the Xishan Coal Bureau are just a mirror.
With his failure, it will take at least half a year for the court to continue to implement these projects, and it is difficult to say that it will be as smooth as it is now.
Apart from anything else, the construction of the palace will definitely not be able to keep up with the emperor's wedding.
"Your Majesty, the current public opinion is too strong, and there are frequent disputes between North Korea and China. If there is no inspection, it may be difficult to convince the public." Hai Rui exhaled a filthy breath, bowed his head and said.
The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty used national funds to build a pagoda to repay the gratitude of Empress Dowager Li for not loving power. This matter was unanimously recognized by the court. It was the common understanding of the Ming and Qing dynasties that the harem was not allowed to interfere in politics. During the six hundred years of the Qing Dynasty, the two dynasties maintained their inertia on this matter. They called the emperor in person and listened to the government behind the curtain. Only in the late Qing Dynasty did Cixi appear.
Empress Dowager Li moved into the Qianqing Palace in the sixth year of Longqing. In fact, quite a few courtiers were worried about Empress Dowager Li's desire for power, which would have unpredictable consequences.
The return of Empress Dowager Li was an extremely benevolent act. Few people opposed the construction of the pagoda, although the pagoda was built with a malicious purpose, which was to clean up the farmland where temples and Taoism were hidden.
During the specific construction process, there was a problem of cutting corners and materials.
Ge Shouli also looked helpless. The two presidents had tried their best to suppress this wind, but the public opinion was huge. He bowed his head and said: "Dalongxing Temple repays the kindness of the pagoda, and The specifications of the glazed pagoda of Dabaoen Temple are the same, with a height of 23 feet, 4 feet and 6 inches, nine floors and eight sides, and a circumference of 30 feet. There are 146 palace lanterns on the nine floors, and there are nine phase wheels on the top of the tower, with a total weight of 3,000 Six hundred kilograms, two copper plates on the top of the tower, cast from wind-milled copper, each weighing nine hundred kilograms, and one orb sky disk, weighing four hundred and thirty kilograms. "
"Eight iron ropes hang from the phase wheel on the top floor. , copper balls are hung under the iron cables to prevent wind. "
Both towers have a large copper ball on the top floor to prevent strong winds from blowing the buildings down. This thing is a damper when the wind roars. time, maintaining the structure of the tower.
Zhu Yijun looked at the two presidents and said with great conviction: "It is not unusual for both hands to be involved in the construction of the Ding Ding. Once the tower is built, it will not collapse. When the water is clear, there will be no fish. ”
When it comes to the grand construction of the royal palace, some oil and water must be left aside, otherwise the work will drag on and never be completed. This is also the case for pagodas. Wang Chonggu did not dare to build the royal palace, and Zhu Yijun did the grand construction of the pagoda and Gewuyuan. It has been assumed that Wang Chonggu has a little bit of trouble.
If you only want the horses to run without giving them grass, you will definitely not be able to do this. If Wang Chonggu doesn't take it, the general manager can't take it. If the general managers don't take it, no one can take it.
Death is the rule and chaos is the normal state of administration. There is no muddy water at all and there is no enthusiasm. Zhu Yijun attaches great importance to results, and he does not require everyone to be an incorruptible minister like Hai Rui.
But now the public opinion is very noisy. From the court officials to the lengthy reports in the newspapers, this kind of pressure has reached the threshold. It is necessary to open the belly to see what Wang Chonggu has eaten. A few bowls of powder.
"Your Majesty, I have received your Majesty's order to supervise the fight against corruption. There have been many questions in the court. There are too many rumors that this chief official cut corners and cut corners. Let's check it out. If he is innocent, Let me give you an explanation. If the chief minister is not innocent, then corruption must be eradicated. "General Secretary Hai Ruihai cannot violate his duties when he is in charge of investigating corruption."
"The great Sikou is also weird. He was impeached and did not go to court to express his feelings. Public opinion is one-sided. Alas, let's check it out." Zhu Yijun has tried his best. He has been blocking him, but nothing happened. The victim simply disposed of it and refused to even submit a memorial to seal the petition.
Zhu Yijun can only hope that Wang Chonggu will not be too greedy, otherwise it will really not end well. If the goose plucks its feathers, Zhu Yijun can naturally bring out the ancestral system of the Eight Pips and Eight Discussions, and forgive him, but if Wang Chonggu If there is a major corruption case like Yan Guo Liu Mao, that is not something Zhu Yijun can forgive.
“What do Yuan Fu think?” Zhu Yijun asked Zhang Juzheng’s opinion.
Zhang Juzheng bowed his head and said: "Your Majesty is wise."
"Then sir, let me supervise this matter." Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng looked at each other and both showed emotional smiles.
It's hard to do things.
What did Wang Chonggu say? Wang Chonggu said nothing.
As for the prevailing public opinion in the court, Da Sikou did not refute or make any representations. Just like Zhang Juzheng responded to all the memorials to impeach Yuan Fu, Wang Chonggu did not refute.
Why did businessman Zhao Deyi break up with Wang Chonggu? Mainly because Wang Chonggu didn't give money.
To do civil work for the court, the court directly recruited civilian men, which was labor service.
But some of them have to be purchased, such as private masonry, stone, civil engineering and other items, but the payment cycle is really long.
Take the imperial mausoleum of Emperor Longqing as an example. The imperial court only approved the payment in December of the first year of Wanli, and then it was not until the fourth year of Wanli that the money was still owed and was not paid.
The system of the Ming Dynasty is seriously rigid. A sum of money is allocated layer by layer and approved and verified one by one. If you want to get the money, just wait; secondly, the disadvantages of bribery and appeasement in the Ming Dynasty have become common. This money , Digging around, there is still money in the account, but in fact it is gone, or it was used for other purposes, or it was taken away as soon as it was picked up.
Businessman Zhao Deyi must have suffered from this humiliation on weekdays, working for the court. Many merchants had expected that they would be paid for nothing by the court. This is also true.
I, Wang Chonggu, took your money and goods from Zhao Deyi for nothing. I wanted to give you Zhao Deyi face. Why didn’t I take others for nothing? You are so shameless.
There must be someone who is instigating Zhao Deyi to overthrow the king in the court. Public opinion has always been strong. Someone fanned the flames and refused to suffer the consequences of Zhao Deyi, so he kept telling the matter.
The time has come to dig into Wang Chonggu’s belly.
Zhang Juzheng personally accepted the order and took Hai Rui, the General Secretary of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, two people from the household department, twelve supervisory censors, Wang Guoguang, the Shangshu of the Ministry of household affairs, Bi Qiang, the left minister of the Ministry of household affairs, and The eunuch Cui Min and others went straight to Wang Chonggu's Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Works and the construction site of Dalongxing Temple, and seized all the account books.
"Da Sikou, I'm so offended." Zhang Juzheng said with a complicated expression.
Wang Chonggu held his hands and said: "It's okay. It has to go through this round. Zhang Siwei implicated me, so His Majesty cut off a strand of my hair. He must be dissatisfied. Sooner or later, we will check now." It will be no different from the future investigation. I will always be called and called."
"Your Majesty refuses, but the public opinion is too strong, and your Majesty is also very embarrassed." Zhang Juzheng looked around. He said in a low voice: "Da Sikou, tell me how much you took, so that your majesty and I can be prepared. We still have eight discussions."
"I said I didn't take it. Do you believe it?" Wang Chonggu's expression was particularly strange. His Majesty still wanted to protect him. This was what surprised him the most.
The king lets the minister die, but the minister has no choice but to die.
In Wang Chonggu’s view, the emperor must have been holding back his anger because of the leniency shown in the Huangji Palace. However, for the sake of stability in the northwest, Wang Chonggu himself and his family were spared to prevent further conflicts. intensify.
Zhang Siwei and the twenty-four convicts have been imprisoned, and more than 700 people have been beheaded. The third lady went to Beijing again to discuss the price of horses and silver. It was not just the courtiers who felt that the time had come to kill Wang Chonggu, Even Wang Chonggu thought so, and it was time for him to die.
"Since the chief minister didn't take it, why didn't he submit a petition? You don't say anything yourself, how can your majesty be a guarantee?" Zhang Juzheng was very angry when he heard what Wang Chonggu said!
If you don’t take it, you don’t take it. If you criticize those officials, what are you afraid of?
The emperor intends to be partial, but you, the old king, don’t tell yourself, so only one party is acting, which makes your majesty very passive and can only listen and believe.
Isn’t this the result of a fierce pursuit on the one side and a silent attack on the other side?
Zhang Juzheng soon took a large pile of documents and began to do the accounting. This time the accounting was very detailed, and the emperor's uncle Zhu Zaiyu brought out his eighty-one abacus.
As a disciple of Zhu Zaiyu, Wang Yaozhuo was also in the process of setting the abacus, and was audited by the Internal Supervisory Board, the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the Institute of Geosciences.
Zhu Yijun felt particularly wonderful when he watched Wang Yaozhuo's hands flying on the abacus. These hands could not only do the abacus but also play the piano. It was really eye-catching.
Within two days, the results of the audit were submitted to the emperor. The answer was that there were no problems with the accounts of the Gewuyuan, the pagoda, and the imperial palace.
Just because there are no problems with the accounts does not mean that there are no problems with the project. Soon, the backfill earth required at the pagoda construction site will be excavated to check whether the foundation is built according to the original specifications of the Dabaoen Temple Glazed Pagoda.
In mid-November, the construction site was dug into a big pit.
Zhu Yijun personally came to the construction site of the pagoda. The earth around the pagoda has been backfilled. This time the foundation was excavated to see the depth of the ground piles.
"The construction waste is backfilled, and it is made of Sanhe soil. Just digging it out will take more than ten days." Zhu Yijun's tone was not kind, and he had a deeper understanding of the misunderstanding of Confucianism.
In fact, when Sanhe soil was excavated, someone realized something was wrong. According to the confession of businessman Zhao Deyi, they were the ones who did the backfilling of the earth. Because it was a steel-concrete structure, it was backfilled at will. Garbage, but when excavating, it was found that it was all filled with Sanhe soil.
When the dig reached a depth of eleven feet, the answer was revealed. No corners were cut.
And Zhu Yijun came over to take a look and confirm this fact.
"Da Sikou's design exceeds the standard. Isn't such a thick pillar a bit too conservative?" Zhu Yijun naturally did not go into the pit, but just looked at the ground piles in the pit. According to the construction specifications of the Yongle Glazed Pagoda, The foundation of a twenty-three-foot-four-foot-six-inch pagoda only needs three feet, but it exceeds five feet by visual inspection.
Wang Chonggu said quite calmly: "Isn't this a lot of money given by the court? If you don't take it, you can only build better."
Fifty thousand taels of silver to build a Buddha. Tower, don't take it without greed, that's the quality of the building, solid, three hundred years? It won't collapse for five hundred years.
"Your Majesty, Zhao Deyi arranged the backfilling. He didn't use the Sanhe soil, so he was driven away. The reason why I didn't give him money was because he backfilled the soil, and I found someone else to dig it up. , filled in again." Wang Chonggu finally agreed to tell the story of the matter.
In fact, it is not complicated. Zhao Deyi cut corners when backfilling the earth. After Wang Chonggu heard about it, he immediately drove Zhao Deyi away and replaced it with a group of people using Sanhe soil backfill. Of course, Zhao Deyi could not get the money, and he did not do much. was driven away. The reason why Wang Chonggu insisted on backfilling with Sanhe soil was because when the emperor inspected the construction of the palace, he said that the steel-concrete structure building was extremely strong and could be backfilled with garbage.
When it comes to cutting corners, His Majesty is even more professional than him!
If this is cutting corners, doesn’t it mean that Wang Chonggu is playing tricks on his class?
Since his stomach was opened and Wang Chonggu really only ate a bowl of rice noodles, these officials who are making noise will have to pay a price, but it is not easy to punish them. After all, they are an important correction force of the country. .
The severity of punishing the ministers of ears and eyes may be severe enough to block the flow of speech, but severe punishment cannot correct the atmosphere.
Zhu Yijun frowned, then his eyes lit up, and he said to Zhang Juzheng: "I have an idea."
"Your Majesty, do you have another idea?" Zhang Juzheng immediately trembled, as if He looked at His Majesty as if facing a formidable enemy, full of vigilance. His Majesty looked more and more like a scholar. With a turn of his eyes, he had an idea.
Zhu Yijun put his hands on his hips and looked at the big pit in front of him and said: "This earthwork backfilling is still a troublesome matter. Sir, all the officials who impeached the great minister Kou's memorial and the pen corrections that created wind and public opinion should be corrected. Gather them together and ask them to come here and fill the hole they dug for me!”
“Yang Guan must do it himself and cannot leave it to others.”
“It’s okay if you have nothing to do.” Just go to the brothel and listen to the music. It’s embarrassing to find faults all day long.”
Zhu Yijun asked the scholars to take off their long robes and run to the earth pit to fill it in. Zhu Yijun would not let them forget the delayed construction period and losses. However, these science and education officials and those pen editors had to fill in the pit themselves. .
"Da Sikou, keep an eye on it and complete it with quality and quantity." Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Chonggu and said meaningfully.
These guys all fell into the hands of Wang Chonggu. Wang Chonggu can be as picky as Ke Dao Yan Guan. This one is not done well, that one is not done right. It is very exciting, on the physical level, tossing. These are the official officials.
"Ah... I obey the order." Wang Chonggu's eyes widened and he was extremely surprised. Of course he heard the subtext of His Majesty.
Let the scholar-bureaucrats take off their long robes and work on the construction site. In terms of humiliation and physical punishment, it is definitely much stronger than the imperial staff. They are useless scholars. How many officials are helpless? They took off their long robes, put on short brown clothes, and went directly to the fields to work. It was even more uncomfortable than killing them.
But I have to do it.
The emperor's decree is that if you don't do it, you will have to go home. If you want to continue to be an official in the court, you must do it.
This has been dug up, proving that Wang Chonggu did not take it, and the party that loses the struggle must be punished.
Corporal punishment is a good choice.
About the first round of the struggle at Xishan Coal Bureau, Wang Chonggu really only ate a bowl of noodles. As the referee, Zhu Yijun did not let go of the booing ministers and humiliated them severely. All his dignity was thrown to the ground, he kept rubbing and spitting viciously.
The second round of struggle soon began, and this time the struggle was full of gunpowder, because the rural gangsters began to exert their strength. They warned the woodcarriers among the woodcarriers not to carry coal to the official kiln.
This matter has been brewing for a whole month. When the coal piled up in the official kiln, Wang Chonggu immediately realized that someone was making trouble. Autumn and winter are the peak periods for coal consumption. During this period, actually If the coal can be piled up in the factory and cannot be transported out, it is obvious that someone is deliberately causing trouble.
Wang Chonggu, who is responsible for supervising the Xishan Coal Bureau, is the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment.
Wang Chonggu was not used to these ruffians at all. He went around arresting people. When he was caught, he was sent to the coal field to dig coal. He was forced to do hard labor for three years, and those who smashed people's houses were forced to do hard labor for ten years. Those who hurt others were punished and executed. For a time, the public security environment in Xishan was greatly improved.
In early December, there were already twelve gangsters who were questioned and executed with great intensity. After this round of rectification, the coal from Xishan Coal Bureau began to be transported smoothly to Xizhimen.
The timelines of the first round of the struggle and the second round of the struggle surrounding the Xishan Coal Bureau were not completely separate, but were mixed, but they both ended with Wang Chonggu's victory.
"It's snowing heavily today." Zhu Yijun, wearing a big cloak, and Wang Chonggu came to Meishikou of Xizhimen.
Heavy snow is a solar term. On the same day of heavy snowfall in the fourth year of Wanli, heavy snow fell from the sky. In normal years, coal from Xishan could not reach the capital smoothly, and the price of coal would skyrocket several times.
"In order to allow the coal to reach the capital smoothly, I have specially built a coal road, and I also ask your majesty to move." Wang Chonggu led his majesty out of Xizhimen and saw the coal road.
In order to reduce the impact of wind and snow on coal prices, Wang Chonggu specially designed a coal road with gravel roads and sleeper wooden rails. The gravel is the roadbed, the sleepers are responsible for maintaining the level, and there are table-sized wooden rails on the wooden rails. Coal car.
When it snows, the firewood carriers can continue pushing coal on the coal road. The problem of slippery roads is solved. When encountering a downhill road, the brakes on the coal truck are two iron rods inserted into the gravel road, which can effectively Slow down, Zhu Yijun is very interested in this thing.
“These sleepers can be made of lime road sleepers, and the wooden rails can be replaced with railway rails. Railway rails seem to be a big investment, but wooden rails are easy to break, and long-term operation and maintenance are still cheaper than railway rails.” Zhu Yijun studied coal car coal road and put forward his own guidance.
The sleepers and wooden cabinets can be replaced with stronger lime road sleepers.
"Your Majesty, the capital's wood is extremely expensive, and lime road sleepers are indeed cheaper. We can only make do with it for now. After the Dingjian construction is completed, the lime from the lime factory can be used here. I will pay attention to it." Wang Chonggu sincerely accepted His Majesty's opinion.
Lumber in the capital is expensive.
During the Zhengtong period, the Xishan Coal Kiln caused such a big incident that the imperial mausoleum was disturbed by coal mining, and water seeped into the imperial mausoleum. However, the Xishan Coal Kiln repeatedly prohibited it, and in the end the court turned a blind eye. Close one eye and acquiesce to the coal mining in Xishan.
Because most of the trees in Gyeonggi Province have been cut down for a long time. Without coal mining, there will not be many trees at all. How can we maintain our daily life?
This is also a common dilemma for cities with more than one million people in the Ming Dynasty. A city can gather energy for a hundred years. There are twelve cities with more than one million people in the Ming Dynasty. They use either coal or firewood, or they can only use Coal, no firewood at all.
Lumber is expensive, and sleepers and wooden rails are indeed expensive. However, the current capacity of the lime factory on the bank of the Yongding River can only be used by Dingjian Construction.
"It is not impossible to stop Dingjian for a while, and provide people's livelihood first." When Zhu Yijun heard that it was due to production capacity problems, he immediately decided to stop Dingjian and repair the road first.
Wang Chonggu immediately said: "Your Majesty, with your permission, the lime factory can open a few more kilns, but the construction work cannot be stopped."
As soon as he heard that the construction work was going to be stopped, Wang Chonggu immediately chose to increase production despite all difficulties. , Dingjian's great work must never stop.
"Yes." Zhu Yijun tightened his cloak and said, "Then increase production."
Due to limited transportation capacity, the coal road can only be used by official kilns, so in To a certain extent, Wang Chonggu spent three months to realize part of his story, which was to ensure the supply of coal to Gyeonggi.
Zhu Yijun is very optimistic about the story told by Wang Chonggu. The preparations for the establishment of Xishan Coal Bureau have been completed, and all that is left is to fight with the folk kilns.
This is another battle of swords and swords. The market is the only touchstone. Whether it can work or not needs time to verify.
Zhu Yijun gives him the support he can. Whether he can do it depends on Wang Chonggu's ability. It doesn't matter if he can't do it. Contradictions explain everything one after another. The development of all things has the law of quantitative change leading to qualitative change. Wang Chonggu can't do it. , then find someone else and continue!
Zhu Yijun did not return to the palace immediately, but went to the first Gouji Office jointly established by the Ministry of Revenue and the Gewuyuan to be responsible for auditing. The Gouji Office is open to all private merchants and is responsible for assisting in auditing accounts and Gouji documents. , responsible for helping major companies audit their accounts.
Although Zhang Siwei died, the lessons he left behind still made the bosses shudder. The boss of the family whom the bosses trusted actually kept most of the profits in his own hands. This made the bosses shudder. We all have sincere doubts about our family's accounts.
However, there were not many arithmetic talents in the Ming Dynasty, and most of them were controlled by the imperial court.
Therefore, the Gouji Institute was established to solve this dilemma.
In fact, the court officials did not have much confidence in the establishment of the Gouji Office, because merchants would definitely not choose the Gouji Office to audit their accounts. The Gouji Office was the official government office of the imperial court, and the accounts would definitely be sent to the tax audit office for auditing. If the merchants come to Gouji Office to pay taxes, aren't they asking for death?
But when Zhu Yijun’s driver came to Goujisuo Street, he saw the long queue and was somewhat confused.
"Zhang Daban, sir, didn't you say that no merchants will come to this Gouji office? Why are there so many people here?" Zhu Yijun's car was parked far away, and he asked Zhang Hong with some confusion. Is the demand for audited accounts so great?
"Your Majesty, sir, you are not a businessman." Zhang Hong said with great confidence: "Sir's ideas are completely different from those of a merchant. The first thing a merchant considers is profit. The tax collection office will collect the reminder invoices. , As long as you pay it on time, the tax office will not be too embarrassed. After all, the tax office is only responsible for tax collection."
"These bosses can calculate their accounts, and the court's taxes are not very high. , draw 6 out of 100, but if these shopkeepers take it, it will not be 6%, at least it will be more than half. It is difficult to guard against thieves day and night. "
Zhang Juzheng looks at the problem based on his butt. Sitting there, it seemed to him that the merchants did not want their secrets to be known to the court.
But for most merchants, this is a matter of interest. The court wants 6%, but these shopkeepers who are cheating and cheating may not be able to fill 60%.
The Ming court once specifically checked the account books of Zhang Siwei and Wang Chonggu's home. After the news spread, the owners finally realized the seriousness of this problem.
"Is that the car that belongs to Duke Ding Xu Wenbi's family? Is he here too?" Zhu Yijun's eyes were sharp and he saw Xu Wenbi's car. The Duke's government also needed to worry about this problem.
Xu Wenbi did not come in person, but sent his confidants to check the documents he had compiled.
Zhu Yijun looked at the long queue and did not intend to disturb the accountants' work. He will go over now. Tiqi still has to clear the place, the officials still have to meet, and all the work in the hands of the accountants has to stop. Salute, he used to cause trouble for others.
The fees charged by the audit office are not cheap. The fees for auditing and producing reports are based on the number of people and the time used. The accounting and audit office work on a 50-50 basis.
The most ordinary accountant is worth one nickel of silver per hour, while a second-class accountant is worth 2 nickels of silver per hour. If you want to hire Prince Zheng and the special fortune teller from Gouji Institute, you need at least one hour. Get one tael of silver.
You must know that a Ming Dynasty soldier can only receive eighteen taels of silver in one year, and an accountant certified by the imperial court only needs to work for 360 hours to obtain these eighteen taels of silver.
There are only two special fortune tellers, one is Zhu Zaiyu and the other is Cheng Dawei. If you want to hire these two, you will not have to be rich.
According to the expectations of the courtiers, when the court needed to do accounting, the accountants of the Gouji Office were responsible for the audit. As a result, the Gouji Office was extremely popular, and even the business of the household department had to queue up.
Wang Guoguang was very displeased, and the Ministry of Household Affairs set up a yamen! If you want to use it yourself, you have to queue up!
Is there any more royal method!
Please give me a monthly ticket, wow! ! ! ! ! ! !
(End of this chapter)