Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Zhu Guoxiang knew why his son was angry.

To say that my grandson is crooked is too general. As for those who bullied the market, set up private casinos, and raped women of the people, if they were completely from the emperor's point of view, they could actually be reprimanded and the matter would be over.

What did King Cai's gang do?

Blocking speech and interfering with justice!

They killed the five people who came to Beijing to complain and sank them into the Yellow River. This is blocking the flow of speech.

After King Cai learned about the murder, it would be fine if he didn't cut it immediately, or at least pretended not to know. But he didn't even pretend, and directly used his identity as a prince to threaten the Hebei Procuratorate not to investigate further. This is interference with justice.

Those guys committed more than just these crimes.

Otherwise, it would not have caused great anger and resentment in Daming Mansion, and finally forced the inspection censor to take risks and expose it.

The real situation is that corrupt officials and profiteers and evil gentry in Daming Prefecture formed a criminal network with King Cai Zhu Zhi as the core.

Zhu Zhi did not do many bad things personally, but countless people used his banner to prey on the common people. Even the officials and servants went around bragging that they were King Cai's men.

Every bad thing they did was blamed on King Cai by the people of Daming Mansion. Is it possible not to be angry and resentful?

Take the long history of Prince Cai's Mansion as an example, a mere fifth-rank official with little real power. Less than three years after he moved to Daming Mansion with King Cai Zhu Zhi, 60,000 guan of treasure banknotes were copied out after the incident! How many bad things do you have to do to earn so much?

And King Cai’s brother-in-law.

This person's distant ancestor is the Lu family of Fan Yang, and his recent ancestor is the Lu family of Yuchuan in the early Song Dynasty. The Yuchuan Lu family was divided into nine branches in the Northern Song Dynasty, and King Cai's brother-in-law came from one of them.

By the way, the founder of the third branch of the nine Lu families should have been named Chai. One of Chai Rong's sons was adopted by the Lu family and married into the Lu family.

This brother-in-law named Lu traveled around in the name of studying abroad. When he moved into his brother-in-law's Prince Cai's mansion, the palace officials were already causing trouble.

The brother-in-law hit it off with the palace officials, and they quickly evolved from secretly breaking the law to doing things openly and openly. Moreover, he has many bad ideas and many ways to make money. When this guy was arrested, there were 80,000 guan of treasure money hidden in the house, all of which were caught within two years.

They also cleverly seized land on the outskirts of the city, occupying nearly 10,000 acres in two years. This incident involved the most people and had the worst impact on the local area.

What's even more ridiculous is that out of the nearly 10,000 acres of land in the outskirts of Daming Mansion, King Cai Zhu Zhi was only allocated more than 2,000 acres, and the rest was divided up by the palace officials and his brother-in-law.

The same is true in terms of money. Zhu Zhi only made tens of thousands of dollars and a bunch of treasures (people often paid for his daily consumption). If we ignore treasures and only consider cash, the sum of the royal officials and brother-in-law is more than three times the amount of money Zhu Zhi received.

Ju Ming's dislike for this son is not only because his son has done bad things, but also because he thinks this son is too stupid!

"There are really endless killings." Ju Ming looked at the impeachment memorial on the case.

The "Da Ming Yue Bao" published the treatment of King Cai, which instantly inspired countless censors and local judicial officials.

General cases can be handled by the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Criminal Department, Dali Temple, the Procuratorate, and the Prefecture Law Office. However, when the officials involved reach a certain level, they must report to the emperor and cabinet.

In just two months, the central government received eight investigation petitions that required reporting. This does not include those provinces that are further away, and the relevant memorials have not yet been delivered halfway.

Cases that they didn't dare to investigate before were now dared to be investigated because King Cai could be exiled!

The person summoned by Ju Ming alone today was Wei Liangchen.

Although Chen Dong is not yet sixty years old, he has been overworked in presiding over various major cases in the past few years, and his physical condition has been somewhat worrying in the past two years.

An autumn wind and rain made Chen Dong bedridden again.

Wei Liangchen carefully examined the petitions and said with emotion: "There are always so many greedy people when people's hearts are weak. In recent years, there is also a saying that prices in big cities are too high, and officials' salaries should continue to rise. No matter how high prices are, , can prices be as high as those in the late Song Dynasty?”

Zhu Ming said: "It is normal to have such demands. In the future, we will find an opportunity to provide additional post allowances (job allowances) to officials in big cities according to the annual price of official licenses in various places."

Post-employment money has always been available, especially to grassroots technical officers (including agricultural officers) who receive the most. For those officials who went to remote and impoverished areas to take up posts, the imperial court also provided them with adequate post-employment allowances.

Wei Liangchen turned to a memorial and suddenly stopped: "This person is a censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. He was a civil affairs official after he was able to investigate and deal with corrupt officials. Unexpectedly, he was investigating others before, and now someone is investigating him."

"Is he your disciple?" Zhu Ming asked.

Wei Liangchen said: "I have no disciples. But I do get close to this person, and we often communicate with each other by letters. Whenever he goes to work in a place, he will also bring some local specialties to me. You can find out from him the origin of the censor. The officials should be investigated first.”

"That Yang Wei was also checked," Ju Ming said.

"Yes." Wei Liangchen accepted the order.

When Ju Ming was the Imperial Academy in the former Song Dynasty, Yang Wei was considered his student. Although he has never been famous, due to his special background, place of origin and ability, he has now become the right chief envoy of Hebei Province.

The problem is huge.

Taking advantage of King Cai's exile, a censor asked Yang Wei to be thoroughly investigated.

This guy was not only a student of the emperor, but also a general of the Sichuan faction, with a very strong background in the imperial court.

The censor of Zuodu may not be able to bear it, and Wei Liangchen, who has already become a cabinet minister, is needed to hold the line back.

Ju Ming's meaning was very simple. By banishing a son, he would severely purge the officialdom. And we must thoroughly establish a concept of clean government: no matter how powerful and powerful the background is, anyone who dares to take bribes and bend the law will be caught!

Perhaps after Ju Ming's death, the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty will become dark again, but this concept of clean government can remain in people's hearts.

Become a pursuit, become a hope.

Become a fire in the dark night that shines faintly but never goes out.

…

Because his grandson was exiled, Zhu Guoxiang lost all interest in traveling for a while. He actually stayed in Hangzhou and sat on the edge of the West Lake to relax in the wind all day long.

In order not to disturb the place, the royal family and the treasury shared half of the food, drink and diarrhea for nearly a thousand people, including the accompanying guards.

It is normal for the treasury to contribute money. Zhu Guoxiang's trip is not purely a trip, but more like a tour of places on behalf of the emperor.

Of course, local governments will also contribute money. For example, Hangzhou renovated Changsheng Garden.

However, Zhu Guoxiang seriously suspected that with Li Wenhui's official style, he was most likely using the Emperor to wash away the bad luck in the garden. After the Supreme Emperor leaves, this garden will probably be sold.

Every day, merchants transport livestock, fruits, vegetables and other items to Changshengyuan for sale. Those merchants have also been reviewed by the government.

"Your Majesty, the vendor delivering goods today brought news that the Chief Envoy of Zhejiang Province has been arrested. In addition to the Chief Envoy of You, several provincial government offices at the two levels have also been arrested. I heard that the Shipping Department of Hangzhou City arrested them all at once. Six." The eunuch accompanying him reported.

Zhu Guoxiang sighed: "Alas!"

The old eunuch stood aside obediently and said nothing.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, eunuchs have continued to be used, but there have been no more large-scale castrations.

The first eunuchs came from the Song Dynasty, promoting the powerless eunuchs of the former Song Dynasty, and at the same time training the young eunuchs of the former Song Dynasty court.

Immediately afterwards, the Zhongxiang of Hunan, the Puppet Song Dynasty of Hebei, and the small imperial court in the southeast were eliminated, and some young eunuchs were captured and trained.

Then there are the young eunuchs who captured the Jin Kingdom. In recent years, there are also the young eunuchs from Goryeo and Dali.

These young eunuchs who were subjugated became obedient after being trained for two or three years. They only knew about the Ming Dynasty but did not know about their homeland.

The Ming court also personally castrated a small number of children, all of whom were children of enemy aristocrats who had no united front value but could not be easily let go.

Don't worry about what kind of trouble this kind of young child will cause. The Ming Dynasty in another time and space often did this.

For example, Zheng He was captured and returned from Yunnan. Ruan An, who participated in the construction of Beijing City, was captured from Jiaozhi.

Can’t the eunuch system be abolished?

Ju Ming also thought about it.

But it is unrealistic. If it is forcibly abolished, it may leave huge hidden dangers.

Ju Ming has tried his best to reduce the number of eunuchs, such as the office area within the imperial city. Although it belongs to the imperial city area, it is separated from the Harem and the East Palace. Therefore, eunuchs are no longer used to do miscellaneous work for the Cabinet, General Affairs Council, Metropolitan Procuratorate, Hanlin Academy and other institutions.

As for the royal property outside the palace, there is no need for eunuchs.

Aren't eunuchs greedy when they manage royal property?

A birdlike one.

The surrounding countries that should be destroyed have been almost destroyed. It is impossible to capture young eunuchs from enemy countries. The number of castrations will definitely increase in the future.

You won't just find someone to castrate among the people. There were two major sources of eunuchs in ancient times: one was prisoners of war, and the other was criminals.

If there is a rebellion somewhere, catching the rebel children will castrate them.

For those who committed the most heinous crimes, the children among their direct descendants would also be selected for castration.

Otherwise, the vacancy of reserve eunuchs will not be filled.

Ancient society was so cruel and bloody.

Ju Ming did not want self-eunuchs, and there were not many of them.

If the number of self-eunuchs is extremely large, it means that the dynasty has entered its final stage. For example, at the end of the Ming Dynasty in another time and space, groups of self-eunuchs came to Beijing. At first, the court would take them in, but when the number of eunuchs exploded, they simply drove them away.

Zhu Guoxiang's eunuch is already over fifty years old.

He was a little transparent in the court of the former Song Dynasty, but he suddenly became a personal attendant of the emperor (Zhu Guoxiang). Although he had no power after leaving the palace, he was still grateful and loyal to Zhu Guoxiang.

After so many years, the relationship between Zhu Guoxiang and this old eunuch was even deeper than that of some of the emperor's grandchildren whom he had never met.

There are also two female officials who have served Zhu Guoxiang for many years.

The current rule of the Ming Dynasty royal family is that when the palace maids reach a certain age, they can leave the palace and go home to get married. You can continue to work if you want. These people can gradually be promoted to female officials and be responsible for a few management affairs in the palace.

The two female officials beside Zhu Guoxiang were both palace maids from the former Song Dynasty.

They could no longer find their relatives and did not know how to live among the people, so they stayed and grew old.

It sounds a little inhumane.

But if they were asked to marry ordinary people, they would still look down upon it. Because they are not ordinary palace maids, but high-level female officials around the Supreme Emperor!

Not only is he classy, ​​he can even receive a pension.

"Xiao Zhong, your hometown is in Shandong, right?" Zhu Guoxiang said suddenly.

The accompanying eunuch replied: "It was on the East and West Road of Beijing in the former Song Dynasty, not far from the Yellow River."

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "What do you think of Ming Dynasty?"

The accompanying eunuch smiled and said: "It was a great and prosperous age. Although I can't remember what happened when I was a child, I have some vague memories. At that time, the Yellow River burst its banks and flooded. My whole family fled, and my parents died of illness and starvation. Our elders If the Yellow River is settled in the Meiji period, the people of Shandong and Hebei will definitely live a good life."

"Do you want to go back to your hometown? I'll give you a holiday." Zhu Guoxiang asked.

The eunuch said, "There is no one in the family. The Yellow River has changed its course and flooded our village. Even if we return to the village, we may not be able to find our ancestral graves."

Zhu Guoxiang asked again, "What do you think the Ming Dynasty will be like in another hundred years?"

The eunuch thought for a while and replied, "It will surpass the Han and Tang dynasties."

Zhu Guoxiang walked to the window of the pavilion and opened the window to see the West Lake.

The cold wind of late autumn blew, and the lake was sparkling. Zhu Guoxiang stared at the boats in the distance in a daze.