At the government office, Wen Tiren picked up a memorial, looked at it and then put it down, with a look of helplessness on his face.

As the chief minister of the cabinet, Wen Tiren is not so comfortable. Outsiders only see his appearance, but they don't know his inner anxieties and fears. He is fully aware of the battles in the court and the cabinet, and which battles are beneficial to him.

Yes, he must make accurate judgments about which battles are unfavorable to him in order to maintain his position.

The memorial on the desk was presented by Hou Xun, Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

After the morning session, the emperor forwarded the memorial to the cabinet without any instructions or attitude.

In other words, this memorial needs to be processed by the cabinet, and the opinions should be submitted to the emperor for approval.

The Donglin Party members in the court had some contact with the central officials, and the relationship between them was not bad. This was something Wen Tiren never expected, and the candidate chosen by the Donglin Party was actually Cao Huachun.

Cao Huachun is a senior middle officer. Gao Qiqian, Wang Chengen and others are all juniors in front of Cao Huachun.

The Donglin Party members chose to deal with Cao Huachun well, which was obviously a deliberate decision.

Think about the life-and-death struggle between the Donglin Party members and Wei Zhongxian during the Tianqi years. At that time, the Donglin Party members wanted to kill all the eunuchs in the world. Now, they have settled their relationship with Cao Huachun.

Power can bring about fundamental changes in people, and the Donglin Party members are no exception.

Wen Tiren had no interest in, and even disliked, the Donglin Party members. It should be said that the emperor also changed his attitude towards the Donglin Party members.

When the emperor first came to the throne, he had absolute trust in the Donglin Party members. All policies implemented by Wei Zhongxian were abolished, and all suggestions put forward by the Donglin Party members were adopted. Unfortunately, nearly nine years have passed.

There is no improvement in the world today. Outside there are the Houjin Tatars and the Mongolian Tatars, and there are rogue bandits inside that are disrupting the situation, as well as natural disasters that appear one after another.

It can be said that the country of Ming Dynasty is already riddled with holes.

The emperor may have sensed the problem and did not have so much trust in the Donglin Party members.

Wen Tiren gained the emperor's absolute trust, but unfortunately, he could not turn the tide.

Although he does not have such ability, Wen Tiren can still recognize people.

For about two consecutive years, Wen Tiren paid close attention to Wu Zongrui.

Wu Zongrui is only in his twenties, but what he has done is unbelievable.

The land of Denglai, which was thousands of miles away, was completely restored in just three years and became the most prosperous place in the Ming Dynasty. Although it was exempted from taxes for three years, it still paid silver to the Ministry of Household Affairs every year for three consecutive years.

, the total amount reached 500,000 taels of silver, and the Ministry of Revenue did not allocate any silver taels to Dengzhou and Laizhou. In other words, while Dengzhou handed over the silver taels, it also ensured all local expenses and did not reach out to the court.

The Denglai New Army under Wu Zongrui rose up in the shortest time, defeated the Houjin Tatars and the Mongolian Tatars, captured alive the bandit leader Gao Yingxiang, Ma Shouying and others, and wiped out more than 30,000 bandits.

These are all well-known achievements, and Wen Tiren pays more attention to them.

When Wu Zongrui was still the prefect of Qingzhou, he made a clever plan and led his troops to capture the city of Dengzhou in one fell swoop, occupying the home base of the Denglai rebels, causing the Denglai rebels to completely collapse. The rebel generals such as Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming were forced to commit suicide, and the rebellion was completely wiped out.

calm.

Looking further back, when Wu Zongrui was the magistrate of Huai'an Prefecture, he rectified water transportation and made it smooth.

It’s hard to believe that all this happened to a young man in his twenties.

But the facts are right in front of us, making it impossible to question.

Wen Tiren had to admit that Wu Zongrui was a talent that was rarely encountered in the Ming Dynasty two years ago, a talent that could turn the tide.

It is a pity that Wu Zongrui is too young. After being named on the gold list, he has been serving as an official outside. He lacks qualifications and cannot immediately enter the cabinet to do things. The water in the court is too deep for a young man like Wu Zongrui to gain a foothold.

Even though Wu Zongrui was an official outside the country and did not get involved in the fights between the court and the government, some people still pointed the finger at him.

This memorial by Hou Xun is the best explanation.

Wen Tiren hesitated, and the emperor forwarded the memorial to the cabinet, obviously intending to deal with the matter, but Wen Tiren did not want the Donglin Party's plan to succeed.

Wen Tiren stood up and walked slowly, his mind running at high speed.

The emperor did not directly issue an imperial approval on Hou Xun's memorial. He was obviously worried and may have felt that the memorial was inappropriate. It was also within the cabinet's duty to bear responsibility for the emperor. Logically speaking, Wen Tiren should have been the one to touch the memorial.

Based on the quasi-emperor's thoughts, he proposed a solution to get the best of both worlds, which made the emperor happy and also made the Donglin Party members in the court happy.

But Wu Zongrui was unhappy, as well as the officials in Denglai and the new Denglai army behind Wu Zongrui.

Hou Xun targeted the Shipping Department of Denglai Governor's Yamen.

The current governor of Denglai is Lu Faxuan, not Wu Zongrui. Hou Xun proposed in the memorial that the Ministry of Household Affairs should take over the Shipping Department of the Denglai Governor's Yamen in Dengzhou. All commercial taxes collected by the City Shipping Department should be attributed to the imperial court.

According to the expenses required by the yamen at all levels in Dengzhou and Laizhou, including the expenses required by the new army in Denglai, silver coins will be allocated.

Doing so would be beneficial to the emperor and the court, but Wu Zongrui would never agree.

If the emperor and the court approved this memorial and really interfered with the affairs of the Denglai Governor's Ship Department, Wen Tiren could not imagine what would happen.

Kong Youde and others back then were also forced to rebel.

Hou Xun was aware of all the matters and the changes that had taken place in Denglai. He was even more aware that Denglai's new army was trying its best to exterminate the bandits. What was the intention of proposing such a memorial under such a critical situation?

Wu Zongrui had no contact with the Donglin Party members in the DPRK, and he also had some disputes with Fushe.

Hou Xun's actions killed two birds with one stone and pinched Wu Zongrui's throat, and it was the emperor and the cabinet who made the decision.

If the land of Denglai is shaken again, it has nothing to do with Hou Xun and others. They can sit back and relax, but they can stand up and rebuke and cry out loudly.

Wen Tiren did not dare to think any more, his eyes became determined, he picked up the memorial on the table and headed towards the side hall.

There are some things that need to be decided, because Wen Tiren is the chief minister of the cabinet and has the responsibility.

...

"Wen Aiqing, why do you think Hou Aiqing's memorial is inappropriate?"

"Your Majesty, I believe that three years ago, the land of Denglai was thousands of miles away. Now it has become prosperous and the court should protect it. Three years ago, the population of Denglai was less than 500,000. Now it has a population of close to 300.

Ten thousand, and the place is stable and the people live and work in peace and contentment. Under such circumstances, the imperial court should not pay too much attention to the land of Denglai."

A trace of gloom appeared on Zhu Youjian's face.

Of course Wen Tiren noticed it, but he would not back down. He knew very well what would happen once the Ministry of Revenue took control of the Municipal Shipping Department of Denglai Governor's Yamen.

Wherever you need to persist, you must persist.

"Your Majesty, I said this after careful consideration. When Your Majesty asked the reason, I became bold. During the Tianqi years, the South collected a lot of trade taxes. Nowadays, there are very few trade taxes in the South. Every time the cabinet discusses collecting trade taxes, someone always proposes

Various reasons were given to refute it. The emperor is sympathetic to the merchants and people in the south and is unwilling to collect trade taxes."

"The trade tax collected in Denglai is different from that in other parts of the Ming Dynasty. The report from the governor's office of Denglai stated that the trade tax collected by the Municipal Shipping Department is 1 in 10 draws. This level of tax is already very high. If it were not for Denglai

Governor Lai's office is vigorously promoting it, but I'm afraid it will be difficult to maintain. I believe that Governor Denglai can implement a business tax of 1 out of 10 and has its own specific method. Most of the merchants concentrated in Dengzhou are merchants from the south. They are in

In the south, there is basically no business tax paid, but when you go to Dengzhou to engage in business matters, you pay taxes in a disciplined manner."

"In the past three years, the Ministry of Revenue has not allocated a single silver tael to the land of Denglai. Instead, it has received a tax of 500,000 taels of silver from the Dengzhou Shipping Department. Officials at all levels in Dengzhou and Laizhou, including those of the Denglai New Army,

The expenses were all solved by Denglai Governor's Yamen. No one in the Ming Dynasty has been able to do this."

"Sir Hou Xun is very aware of this situation, but he did not mention it in his memorial, but only mentioned the Dengzhou Ship Division. I really don't understand."

"I can also assert that the officials dispatched by the Ministry of Revenue cannot manage the Shipping Department of Dengzhou at all. If the Ministry of Household Affairs is allowed to take over the Shipping Department of Dengzhou, I am worried that something will happen again in Denglai..."

Zhu Youjian's face turned a little pale, probably because Wen Tiren's words were too bold.

It was Wei Zhongxian's suggestion to levy large-scale trade taxes in the south during the Tianqi period. After Wei Zhongxian was annihilated, the imperial court almost stopped collecting trade taxes from the south. Even the salt class, which was originally relatively prosperous, suffered large losses.

, which caused the court to be unable to make ends meet and had to increase land taxes.

However, the decision to abolish the southern trade tax was made by Zhu Youjian himself.

However, these suggestions were put forward by officials from the DPRK and China, and they were mainly members of the Donglin Party.

Wen Tiren's words seemed to make Wei Zhongxian feel aggrieved.

As the chief minister of the cabinet, it is very courageous to dare to say such words in front of the emperor.

But today's Zhu Youjian is no longer the fledgling he was when he first ascended the throne.

After Wen Tiren finished speaking, Zhu Youjian thought about it for half a quarter of an hour.

When Zhu Youjian spoke, Wen Tiren's body was already trembling slightly.

"Wen Aiqing, what you said makes sense. The land of Denglai is now prosperous and prosperous. It is no longer simple. Wu Aiqing is indeed capable. I think, Hou Aiqing's memorial should be suppressed and put here with me. I will not publish it...

"

Wen Tiren breathed a long sigh of relief and his expression returned to normal.
Chapter completed!