Chapter 75 The Aftermath of Volume A

His cold eyes wandered around the seats. The man in yellow dragon robe sitting above him seemed to be suppressing his inner anger. There were several memorials and inscriptions scattered under the desk. The attendants on the side were all looking at him intently, with expressionless faces, as if they were not interested in what was in front of them. All this turned a blind eye.

"Lu Song, tell me, why did this matter cause such a chaos?" After a while, he seemed to slowly suppress his anger, his body was slightly sideways, one arm was pressed on the pillow next to him, and his voice slowed down. Quite a few.

"Your Majesty, Zhang Jin and others have reported this matter." Lu Song bowed slightly, "I thought that the three feet of ice did not last in a day. The Linqing people changed the name and established the tax supervision, which caused dissatisfaction among the business people and led to the civil uprising. , and then were coerced and used by the White Lotus Sect bandits, which eventually led to catastrophe. However, Zhang Jin and others discovered through secret investigation that the remnants of the White Lotus Sect, such as the Wenxiang Sect, the Eastern Mahayana Sect, the Wuwei Sect, and the Luo Sect, were preaching under various names in Shandong. They are emerging one after another, and both Shandong and Shandong have the tendency to spread..."

Sitting above him is naturally Zhang Shen, the emperor of the day.

Slightly raised cheekbones made his cheeks look a bit slender. His slightly fair face and slightly sunken eye sockets made the entire face look a bit gloomy and deep under the flickering flames in the Hall of Cultivation of the Heart.

“The canal waterway is currently an important channel connecting Shandong from the north to the south. In addition to water transportation, all kinds of daily life and livelihood matters that communicate between the north and south Zhili and Shandong and Jiangnan pass through this waterway from south to north. Linqing is a must-pass,..."

There was not much emotion in Lu Song's words. Although he also knew that His Majesty arranged for Chang Hong to go to Linqing to set up a tax supervisor to collect taxes, the tax money actually recovered by His Majesty was compared with what Chang Hong himself and other members of his party received. It seems a bit insignificant.

All the criticism among the people was attributed to Chang Hong, but the accusations in Shilin and even in the court were directed at His Majesty. This is probably what makes His Majesty the most angry.

But the problem is that if we don’t consider these channels to collect some money, will we all rely on donations to fill the growing hole?

I'm afraid that the scientific and technical officials will be even more critical.

The demand for payment from the nine sides has become more and more urgent. The position of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue has not been taken over, but no one can solve the current problem.

 There was no expression on his face, but Yonglong Emperor Zhang Shen’s eyes were a little wandering.

There is a shortage of silver, there is a shortage of silver everywhere, but there is a need for silver both internally and externally, especially the military pay from Jiubian, which is like a noose strangling him and suffocating him.

In the past six months, tax inspectors from various places have successively brought back 700,000 to 800,000 taels of silver for him, but this amount has always been compared with the military pay needs of Jiubian.

However, the arrears from the provinces under the Ministry of Revenue and the loans from the royal family have been delayed for a long time. He naturally understands the reason. The problem is that he, as the emperor, is powerless.

And even if it can be recovered, facing the ever-increasing demand for military pay from the nine sides, as well as the increasing famine caused by floods, droughts, and locust plagues everywhere, it will lead to catastrophe if you are not careful, and things like Shandong In Zhang Shen's opinion, this kind of civil commotion and rebellion should be the last place where it should happen, but it happened exactly.

 Because of this, he felt powerless.

In the morning, we had a discussion with several cabinet ministers about the Linqing uprising and rebellion, but we were unable to get the approval of the cabinet ministers.

The abolition of the tax supervisor is the unanimous opinion of these civil servants. Various impeachment memorials from the Metropolitan Procuratorate have been handed over like rain. They kept asking Chang Hong for questioning, but he insisted that he personally arranged the trip to Shandong, but The group of people still refused to give up. This feeling made Zhang Shen feel very tired, but unable to do anything.

Abolition of tax inspectors is easy to say, it can be done by oneself, but where will the required military pay come from? Without this tax revenue, how can we make up for it?

Although it is a drop in the bucket, it can still respond to emergencies. Otherwise, the Tatar cavalry might have invaded last winter.

But if the tax supervisors are not removed and something like this happens again in Shandong, I am afraid that we will not have such good luck.

Thinking of this, Zhang Shen couldn't help but be afraid of what would happen next, if the Cao army hadn't attacked decisively. In one fell swoop, the rebel army of religious bandits that had not yet been fully integrated was defeated. If there was a slight delay, the consequences would be disastrous.

Both sides of the canal are the essence of the Northland. Once destroyed, it will not be able to recover in a year or two. Moreover, if the victims caused by this kind of war flee and disrupt the surrounding areas, they may be invaded by those who taught them. The bandits took the opportunity to cause chaos, and the consequences were unimaginable.

"Lu Song, is this Shandong Civil Service so unbearable?" Zhang Shen's eyes became softer and softer, but there was a certain tendency in his tone.

"Your Majesty, in my opinion, the situation in Shandong can be considered good in the northern region. I am afraid that the situation in Beizhili and Shaanxi has been even worse in the past two years."

As a fellow commander of Long Jinwei, Lu Song knew his position very well. He was an old friend of Qiandi and a personal minister of His Majesty, so naturally he would not be as convoluted in his words as ordinary civil servants and generals. Even if it was a bit unpleasant, he would not be taboo. Because he knew that what His Majesty wanted to hear was the real side behind these clouds and fog.

His Majesty made few changes to the ministers in the court after he became emperor. However, some old ministers among the ministers proposed to serve. This should have been a matter of course, but in order to show favor and favor to the old ministers of the Supreme Emperor, His Majesty When encountering any problems, they were all ordered to retain him. However, he was specially promoted to the position of commanding officer of the Longjing Lieutenant, which speaks volumes.

The current Commander Long Jinwei has been bedridden at home for half a year due to illness. He is actually in charge of the daily affairs of Long Jinwei. If he is still covering up the information His Majesty wants to know, I am afraid there will really be no one. I can relieve His Majesty's worries.

"Oh?" Although Zhang Shen sounded upset, he knew that this was something he had to face.

　　If you can’t get the real situation from Lu Song, then you will lose control of the entire Zhou Dynasty.

In addition to forming cliques and fighting for power and profit, the civil servants in Dazhou would only constantly raise troubles and problems, but they could not come up with solutions to the problems. When they came up with solutions, there would always be people who would question and criticize them from other aspects, and finally they would Falling into endless quarrels.

Zhang Shen really misses the imperial staff system of the previous Ming Dynasty. Although the Great Zhou Dynasty did not abolish the imperial staff system, his father never used the imperial staff in the forty-two years of his reign. If he had to activate the imperial staff as soon as he ascended the throne, I'm afraid The criticism of him from the scholar-officials will become even more fierce, which is something he cannot accept and dare not bear.

“Shaanxi has experienced floods and droughts in the past two years, especially drought locusts. The people are suffering, and there are many refugees...” Seeing that the emperor did not want to hear any more, Lu Song sighed inwardly.

I'm afraid even the emperor has known this for a long time, but the most urgent thing before us is not Shaanxi, but the impact of the civil unrest in Shandong. Even the core hinterland of the North has become like this. How can we not make people shudder?

"The situation in Shandong is quite good. Merchants are prosperous along the canal, and the income from the Ministry of Household Affairs is stable..." Lu Song could only pick up some topics that could make the emperor feel better. "In this campaign against the rebellion, Governor Li of Water Transport and the Inspector of Patrol Mr. Qiao, the imperial censor, and the general officer of the water transport team worked together, without any of the past shuffling around, and they went to Linqing in one day. The bandits were defeated in one blow, which can be said to be a great blessing for the emperor..."

“Lu Song, why are Li Sancai and Qiao Yingjia so compatible this time?” Zhang Shen asked slowly, rubbing his temples.

Restrictive laws are the regulations that have been established since the founding of the Zhou Dynasty. The civil and military ministers are in control, the six ministries of the cabinet are in control with the imperial censor, the governor, the governor, and the provincial governor are in control with the censor. One family was the dominant one, and even the disputes between different families among the civil servants in the DPRK were actually a form of conflicting opinions.

It's just that there are gains and losses. Before sitting in this position, Zhang Shen still felt that the situation between the DPRK and the Central Government was very good, and his father could control the situation with ease. But when he sat in this position, he Understand that control is not that simple, and there is a price to pay for conflicting opinions.

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 (End of this chapter)