Chapter 94 Opening the Sea Six

Life in this world depends entirely on acting.

Zhu Qizhen looked like he regarded Yang Rong as his elder and asked Yang Rong for help.

Yang Rong has been in the officialdom for so many years, and Zhu Qizhen's acting skills may not be perfect. But Yang Rong will never expose it.

First of all, Yang Rong knows the intrigues between people better than Zhu Qizhen, and there is no need to distinguish the true from the false so clearly.

Secondly, there are still some differences between the ancients and later generations.

Zhu Qizhen also discovered that the identity of the emperor seemed to have its own halo. It seems that the other functions of this halo have not yet been identified. The first thing to be identified is the halo of wisdom.

And the farther away the person is from the court, the more effective it will be.

For these old foxes who are always around, it doesn't work very well, but it still has a little effect.

Yang Rong said: "Your Majesty, don't panic. With the old minister here, Your Majesty will be safe."

Zhu Qizhen thought to himself: "Nonsense, even without you, I will be fine." Zhu Qizhen understood very well that his throne has been confirmed. The Ming Dynasty is not the Han Dynasty, and Sanyang is not Huo Guang.

His throne is far from rock-solid, but it is certainly not easily shaken.

Yang Rong seems to be loyal, but he leaves some room for error.

"Old fox." Zhu Qizhen thought to himself.

Zhu Qizhen said: "When my father was here and everything was undecided, I always asked my husband to give me advice."

Yang Rong said: "I don't know what I can do, but I can explain the situation in the court to your majesty."

"Today's morning meeting, there was an undercurrent yesterday. It was reported that His Majesty planned to sail to the West. It can be said that the public was excited. The officials below have already expressed their intention to dissuade."

Zhu Qizhen said: "So is it Mr. Li who is with them this time?"

Yang Rong said: "No. As far as I know, Li Shimian acted alone in this matter. He also had the intention of relieving His Majesty. Because he was impeaching Wang Zhen."

Zhu Qizhen's heart moved and he said: "Is it possible that those officials dare to impeach me?"

Yang Rong said: "Of course they know that it is a taboo for the venerable, and they are just words of advice. They will not be without it."

Zhu Qizhen realized that he had ignored the impact of the voyages to the West on hundreds of officials. He then said, "Why is this so?"

Yang Rong said: "Your Majesty, you don't know. The imperial court's salary was already sufficient, but now it is often discounted, with half cash and half salary. It is already unbearable. During the reign of Emperor Taizong, Western fragrant wood was also discounted. It is even more frustrating.

One of the worst officials in the world."

"Even the veteran minister still has lingering fears."

Zhu Qizhen asked: "Is the imperial salary so low?"

Yang Rong said: "Emperor Taizu set a salary for one hundred officials, which is not too low. It is enough for the veteran ministers to receive the grace of the late emperor and eat three salaries. It is enough to support the family, but it is difficult for the officials below."

"The officials in the capital are in a difficult position. There aren't many in the first place, and half of the money has to be discounted. If the remaining half is filled with Western spices and the like, I'm afraid some people won't be able to eat."

"Although the imperial court gave officials exemptions and exemptions, they were not many. Even officials could not afford to hire servants. Allowing servants to pay for their exemptions would greatly damage the dignity of the court, but it had to be done."

Zhu Qizhen also understood what a servant was, that is, when an official traveled, the court would provide him with an entourage. If it were placed in modern times, it would include secretaries, guards, drivers, etc.

However, the Ming Dynasty did not give you money directly, but assigned people to work for you. It was similar to corvee labor.

The officials directly asked these people to pay money, and then they stopped coming.

Logically speaking, this is illegal.

But the imperial court also acquiesced, and it slowly became legal.

Zhu Qizhen said: "I never knew that hundreds of officials were so poor!"

This sentence is actually true.

Zhu Qizhen knew that officials were not rich.

But Zhu Qizhen didn't know about people who were truly not rich.

For example, his common cabinet consists of five people.

Needless to say, Zhang Fu is a British public servant, with a large annual salary and a lot of land rewards. He is first-class wealthy. Even if he doesn't mention these, he is the top figure in the guard system.

Zhang Fu may not have annexed the land of the guards, but many people under his command have, and they are even used to it. Zhang Fu protects them, which is really unfilial.

Of course, Zhang Fu is not a first-class embezzler. At least the nobles at this time still valued the combat effectiveness of the army. However, in later generations, those nobles only had the ability to eat empty pay, drink soldiers' blood, and embezzle armaments.

.

But Sanyang Du was a first-class official, with an annual salary of one thousand dan, not to mention the salary of three stipends.

When calculating salaries in the Ming Dynasty, generally speaking, additional positions were not counted. That is, if there were several official titles, even the salary of the highest official title would be considered. These additional positions were just honors.

But Emperor Xuanzong gave Sanyang so that all of their three highest official titles could receive salary, which was three-thirds of salary. The annual salary would cost one or two thousand dan of grain.

It can't be counted as less.

Not to mention, no reward from the royal family to ministers or to the head of the civil service could bypass them.

The ones who are really sad are the lower-level officials.

The salary is not high to begin with, but if Zhu Yuanzhang's plan is truly implemented, it will be able to support the family. Of course, it doesn't matter what kind of ostentation it is.

It's even better than ordinary people. After all, being an official comes with many conveniences.

But once it's discounted, something goes wrong.

Baoqian is not valuable, nor did it start today.

Now it is almost useless paper.

Emperor Xuanzong also knew that it was not easy for hundreds of officials, but many people also had disputes over the treasure banknotes. Some people wanted to abolish the treasure banknotes, and some wanted to change the banknote law.

There is no unified opinion.

Naturally, this matter was dragged down. Emperor Xuanzong rewarded hundreds of officials several times, which is evidence of this. Every reward was given from top to bottom, including many civil servants.

This was one of Emperor Xuanzong's countermeasures. If wages were insufficient, bonuses would be used to make up for it.

Therefore, officials are extremely sensitive to matters related to their wallets.

In fact, when going to the West, you may not have to break up fragrant wood and spices for him. Even if you fold fragrant wood and spices for him, it may not be worthless, but it will be difficult for them to let them go to the streets to sell these things.

Therefore, they were extremely sensitive to this. This was the only impression these officials had of the voyage to the West.

"Your Majesty, of course all the officials are not only focusing on their salary." Yang Rong said: "When Emperor Taizong was the emperor, the Jinyiwei Dongchang discipline and outline were still lingering, so all the officials were unwilling to have such a minister. But now Wang Zhen,

There are signs of this."

"This morning, Li Yu, the Minister of War, was imprisoned. Your Majesty also knows that Li Yu is also a high official in the country. The cabinet should have some dignity, but after discussing with Yang Chieffu, I did so decisively. Does your Majesty know the reason?"

Zhu Qizhen already had a premonition in his heart and said, "Why?"

Zhu Qizhen only looked at Li Yu's charges and did not think about procedural issues.

The so-called officials protect each other. For civil servants, it would not be too humiliating if they were ministers of the Ministry of War. However, Li Yu went from the top to the jail too quickly.

"Because the palace sent a message to the cabinet to protect Li Yu's life."

When Zhu Qizhen heard this, he was absolutely furious. But he had already been angry once today, and now he had restrained his anger, but he couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth slightly.

The only ones in the palace who can call the shots are him and the Empress Dowager.

The Empress Dowager's trust in Sanyang was far greater than the Empress Dowager's trust in him. Naturally, she would not interfere easily, and even if she interfered, she would not use methods such as handing out notes.

And Zhu Qizhen didn't even do it.

So who is the person who handed the note? Do you still need to ask?

What made Zhu Qizhen even more uncomfortable was that Wang Zhen sent a note to the subordinates without telling him. Was this the first time? How many times had he done so before?

"Sure enough, he is alone." Zhu Qizhen sighed softly in his heart. He was extremely disappointed, but he had no intention of getting angry.

No matter whether it’s a civil servant, a military general, a eunuch, or a relative, aren’t they all the same?

But no matter how angry Zhu Qizhen was, he also knew that Wang Zhen had no choice but to leave at this moment, so he said: "Then the affairs of today's morning court were tacitly approved by several cabinet elders?"

Yang Rong said: "I just heard the news, and Li Shimian acted so decisively."

Zhu Qizhen was silent for a moment and said, "Does the Empress Dowager know about this matter?"
Chapter completed!