Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

The corner of Fei Hong's mouth twitched slightly, and he suddenly realized that it might not be a good thing for him to be too close to this high-ranking Minister of Justice.

The imperial court conducted such a secret operation on national debt and specially arranged for an important minister to raise the standards for the subscription of national debt. This was essentially a fraud.

Since it is about fraud, it is not appropriate to bring this matter to light. Let alone an imperial edict or a secret edict, it is not appropriate for anyone with knowledge of the matter to make the matter public. The best effect is not to involve the emperor.

The results of it? Now everyone in the world knows that the emperor's favorite is Wan'an, the chief minister of the cabinet, and Wan'an is the head of the officials. It is also known that the emperor wants to raise funds through the issuance of national bonds to mine the Luzon gold mines.

Unfortunately, the whole incident was handled by Wan An, the chief minister of the cabinet, who had already arranged the matter clearly. However, He Qiaoxin suddenly changed his mind and now he is shamelessly pretending to be confused.

Fei Hong didn't know if He Qiaoxin was really stupid or if he was too smart but was misled by his cleverness. This move not only completely offended Wan An, but was also likely to become a thorn in the emperor's side.

"Although my actions will offend that old man in Wan'an, I have never taken a penny from the people in my decades of service as an official. Those who are clean will be clean, so why should we be afraid?" He Qiaoxin took a sip of tea and looked disapproving.

If there is anything that he relies on the most, it is that he has never been greedy for money, so he is not worried that the Metropolitan Procuratorate will find him.

"Master, the ginseng has been brought!" The housekeeper took the wild ginseng and came to He Qiaoxin to report.

According to the current Ming Dynasty official rules, although this pair of ginseng was worth thousands of gold, it was a gift from others, and He Qiaoxin did not have a direct exchange of interests with the other party, so it was not considered a bribery act.

In fact, when it comes to He Qiaoxin's level, local officials may not pursue return on investment, but only focus on this level of relationship.

For some frontier officials, or those who hold lucrative positions such as water transport governor or salt transport envoy, just keeping the black gauze hat on their heads is the best outcome.

He Qiaoxin was already exhausted, so he waved his hand to Fei Hong as a favor and said: "Bao Shen and talents, you will take it away to Zichong later!"

"Siko..."

"Zichong, don't you even want to accept my gift?"

"Respect is worse than obeying orders!" Fei Hong wanted to refuse, but he had no suitable reason and could easily offend the Minister of Punishment, so he had no choice but to accept.

But he was no longer happy in his heart. He thought he was hugging a thick thigh, but found that this was actually a very dangerous move.

Unless Emperor Hongzhi died suddenly, how could He Qiaoxin's challenge to the emperor have any good consequences? How can it become the basis for one's career?

That's why he knew that even if he accepted the pair of wild ginseng now, he would still have to go back and discuss a proper solution with his father-in-law.

The winter night came early. There was a little light outside the yard just now, but it darkened in the blink of an eye, and the whole house was lit up.

Even though Fei Hong has been in the Hanlin Academy for four years, he is still only a 22-year-old young man now, so he needs to consult his seniors for advice on some things.

He originally came here to ask He Qiaoxin for advice. For example, if the emperor now pays more attention to practical officials and neglects Hanlin officials, what should he do?

But after what happened just now, he was completely absent-minded.

After the two chatted about some non-nutritious things, Fei Hong learned that another important official was coming to visit, so he wisely left with expensive wild ginseng.

"By the way, why has your teacher's house been so noisy recently?" He Qiaoxin suddenly thought of something and pointed to the next door in confusion.

The examiner in the 23rd year of Chenghua was Yin Zhi, a cabinet scholar, and Fei Hong was the number one scholar that year, so this was a very strong teacher-student relationship.

It was just that not long after Yin Zhi presided over the examination, he was attacked in turn by Qingliu officials headed by Xu Pu. Finally, he wisely chose to retire and return to his hometown, leaving the right and wrong place in the capital.

Although he has left the capital, the property he bought in the capital has not been sold, and the house where Yin Zhi lived happened to be next door to Shi Xin.

Fei Hong maintained a good relationship with the Yin family. Dangjie revealed: "The teacher has no intention of pursuing an official career, and the houses in the capital are declining year by year, so he has just sold it!"

"Sold? How much money was it sold for?" He Qiaoxin was quite surprised and asked curiously.

Fei Hong shook his head gently: "I don't know the exact amount of silver, but I heard from the second son of the Yin family that they reluctantly sold it at 80% of the market price. It's hard to sell luxury houses now!"

The original plan to build the outer city of Beijing was stopped, and the imperial court has not been financially wealthy in recent years. Therefore, the number of houses in the capital has increased, and houses in prime locations have become a scarce resource.

However, this year the imperial court suddenly imposed a luxury tax, specifically targeting luxury homes in Beijing with a 30% luxury tax. As a result, the prices of luxury homes in Beijing have continued to plummet this year.

The Yin family probably saw that real estate in Beijing continued to depreciate, and Yin Zhi had little hope of making a comeback, so they wisely took advantage of the high price to sell this mansion.

"I see. Why do you think you are moving recently?" He Qiaoxin sent Fei Hong to the hanging flower gate and nodded in confusion.

Fei Hong was vaguely aware that He Qiaoxin was in a low mood, but he didn't understand why the Minister of Punishment had this reaction. He guessed that it might be because He Qiaoxin was disappointed to lose the Yin family as a close neighbor.

In fact, in terms of origin, He Qiaoxin and his teacher are from the same year and from the same hometown. Unfortunately, they are on different sides, so the relationship between the two parties is somewhat estranged.

He Qiaoxin sent Fei Hong away, but the false smile on his face disappeared the next moment. He turned around and saw the huge courtyard in front of him and felt his heart bleed.

He originally did not own any real estate in the capital, but after taking over Du Ming's position, his career ushered in the most glorious moment, so when he returned to Beijing to take up his post, he purchased this mansion at a high price.

Although he spent most of his life savings, he is very satisfied with this "capital residence", both in terms of location and land area.

But after purchasing this mansion, the imperial court happened to impose a luxury tax, which not only caused the price of the house in the capital to drop all the way, but also required him to pay 30% of the luxury tax.

The value of his mansion is similar to that of Yin Zhi's house next door. As a result, Yin Zhi's house had to be sold at a discount of 80%. The value of his current mansion can be imagined.

Even after excluding the 30% luxury tax, the value of this mansion has depreciated by more than half. It can be said that this is the stupidest decision I have made in my life.

He Qiaoxin felt like a thorn in his heart when he thought about the crazy devaluation of his mansion.

If the current Holy One hadn't acted so recklessly, if he hadn't instituted such an obviously unfair extravagant tax, he would not have caused such a huge economic loss!

What kind of bullshit emperor?

He is clearly a tyrant!

You really deserve to go to the eighteenth level of hell!

…

As night falls, the night wind in the capital carries the sound of sobbing in the streets and alleys. Perhaps some seeds of hatred have been planted inadvertently.

Hongzhi does not fit the image of a saintly king envisioned by literati.

Throughout the ages, social wealth has been in the hands of a few people. If you want to distribute a portion of the wealth of a few people evenly, you will undoubtedly touch the souls of vested interest groups, even if it is the emperor who does this.

There is no moon tonight, and the night sky in the capital looks extremely dark.

But there is no shortage of light in Beijing. The officials and gentry who especially control the social wealth have the ability to spend huge sums of money. Under the bright lights, there are some people's carnival.

Personal interests and national interests often cannot reach consensus. Nowadays, the imperial court's mining of large amounts of gold from overseas can certainly solve the imperial court's financial problems, but it actually dilutes their wealth in disguise.

If the currency problem of society is 100 million taels of gold, but the imperial court brings back one billion taels of gold from overseas, then the gold they have accumulated will be greatly impacted.

In particular, their most important method of amassing money has been rectified by the court, and it is difficult to continue to gain social wealth through loan sharking, so they might as well maintain their current size.

As for the 10% interest offered by the court, it actually didn't catch their eyes at all, and it also couldn't satisfy their appetite.

Because of this, the imperial court could only look at the ocean and sigh in the face of Jinshan, which was a situation they were happy to see. Some people had even formed a private alliance to prevent the imperial court from mining gold.

At this most important juncture, He Qiaoxin's move can be said to be a divine assist.

"The Minister of Punishment subscribed for ten liang, he is really a role model for us!"

"We are officials with a clean conscience. It is difficult to subscribe for a national bond!"

"My situation is better. I have been frugal over the years, haha... I can subscribe for two!"

…

After seeing that the Minister of Justice, who was leading the charge, only subscribed for one treasury bond, the minds of the frustrated officials suddenly became active, and some even determined to be "upright officials."

That's why He Qiaoxin, the Minister of Justice of the Ministry of Justice, was the first to subscribe to a national bond. With the help of the forces behind it, more and more officials planned to follow He Qiaoxin's lead.

Tonight is destined to be a carnival for the powerful, who realize that they seem to have the capital to check and balance the emperor.

Wanfu, a very ordinary house.

Since the fire, this former mansion has lost its former glory. Because Wan'an wanted to keep a low profile, although it was renovated, it also adopted the simplest decoration style.

Although Wan'an's current status has not diminished, it is already known to everyone that he contracted the cold, so everyone knew better and did not come to disturb Wan'an.

Of course, even though no one has arrived, sufficient gifts must be prepared, so gifts that are both thoughtful and valuable are sent to Wanfu one after another.

Ahem...

Wan An looked older and older, and his whole body was sore from lying in bed all day. Although his throat kept coughing, he still insisted on getting up.

It has been rare since ancient times for people to live seventy years old, but now he is already seventy-two, and he has already passed the age of knowing his destiny. This illness came so suddenly that he was not mentally prepared.

But after his last conversation with the emperor, he wanted to live a good life and write a story about the emperor and his ministers that would last forever with Hongzhi, the master of the Ming Dynasty who only met once in a century.

"Grandpa, please drink the medicine first!" Wan Hongbi came over with a dark soup bowl and advised with a very worried look.

In his heart, his grandfather is not only his safe haven, but also his mentor in life. Now seeing his grandfather getting thinner and thinner, he felt very uncomfortable.

If possible, he would give his ten years of life to his grandfather so that his grandfather could live another ten or twenty years.

Wan An frowned slightly, not liking the taste of this medicine. Suddenly he caught a glimpse of his son's sad face from the corner of his eye: "What happened?"

"Dad, it's okay!" Wan Ji quickly shook his head in denial.

Knowing that his son is more like his father, Wan An's face suddenly darkened and he said: "If there was nothing serious, you wouldn't look like this!"

"Dad, it's really okay. Can you drink the medicine quickly?" Wan Ji still shook his head and urged seriously.

Wan'an put down the medicine bowl in his hand, picked up his father's shelf and said, "Speak quickly!"

"Dad... really not!" Wan Ji still wanted to shake his head and deny it, so he wanted to hide it from his father first.

Wan An was naturally not easy to fool, so he looked up at Wan Ji and guessed: "Is there something wrong with the national debt?"

Wan Hongbi had been watching from the side and found that his grandfather was really accurate in guessing. He couldn't help but turn his head to see how his father would deal with it.

Wan An looked at his son's troubled look and said thoughtfully: "Did He Qiaoxin not take action?"

"Dad, He Qiaoxin has already subscribed. Stop guessing. The medicine has gone cold. Drink the medicine quickly!" Wan Yi still wanted to get rid of the matter, so he immediately avoided the important and took the easy.

In fact, what he said was indeed correct, He Qiaoxin had already subscribed.

Wan An suddenly felt relieved. He reached out to pick up the medicine bowl and asked, "How many tens of thousands taels?"

this……

Wan Hongbi swallowed secretly, not expecting that his grandfather had such high expectations for He Qiaoxin.

"Dad, this is the number!" Wan Yi still wanted to fool him, hesitated, and then stretched out a finger.

Wan An was about to put the medicine into his mouth when he suddenly looked disappointed and said, "Only ten thousand taels? What's going on with He Qiaoxin? If he doesn't have enough money, he can say it on the spot!"

Wan Hongbi continued to swallow, and couldn't help turning his head to look at his father. He didn't know whether his father was lying to his grandfather or telling the truth directly.

"Dad, no... it's not 10,000 taels. He Qiaoxin only... only subscribed for one ticket!" Wan Yi knew his father's nature, so he told the truth honestly.

As if Wan An couldn't believe his ears, he held the soup bowl and stared hard: "Asshole, he...he actually cheated on me, this Guamapi!"

After returning from Xiyuan that day, he followed the emperor's wishes and asked the Minister of Punishment to do some ideological work, and the Minister of Punishment served as the benchmark for subscription.

When He Qiaoxin was invited over, although he didn't say much at the time, he agreed to the plan on the spot and agreed to use all his silver in the capital to purchase national bonds.

But who could have imagined that Shi Xin would suddenly change his mind. Subscribing for a national bond would be like stabbing him in the back, and would even affect this important issuance of national bonds.

"Dad, everyone is not optimistic about the national debt issue. It's not your fault that it can't be issued. Why are you so angry with a villain like Qiao Xin?" Wan Ji saw his father's reaction and immediately comforted him. .

puff!

The medicine bowl in Wan An's hand fell to the ground, a surge of anger surged into his heart, and then a mouthful of old blood spurted out, and the bright red blood fell on the table in front of him like plum blossoms.

He hated that he had mistakenly trusted He Qiaoxin, a villain, and he also hated that he had betrayed the emperor's trust. He could have solved the shortfall in early funding for the Luzon gold mine by issuing national bonds, but he failed.