Chapter 801 890 Canal Transportation Interrupted

Wei Guangde considered revising the content of the "Zongfan Regulations" based on reality, in order to solve the dependence of the royal family on finance to the greatest extent, and at the same time break the shackles that Zhu Yuanzhang put on the royal family.

First, set a quota of rice for each branch of the royal family and set the distribution ratio of the title.

In the future, no matter how the population of the royal family changes, the quota of rice will not change, and will only increase or decrease according to the change of the population of the royal family.

In fact, the rice for the royal family of the Ming Dynasty was paid by the provincial governors. When the finances of a province were unable to bear it, it would be in arrears, and only then would it rise to the level of the court.

This is also the reason why the rice for the royal family, once delayed, would often be delayed for a long time.

According to Wei Guangde's idea, directly fix the rice that each branch of the prince in each province can be enfeoffed, no matter how many children you have, anyway, there is only so much.

They are all from the same clan, and the more people there are, the less they will be distributed, and the fewer people there are, the more they will be distributed. It can also be disguised to make some low-ranking royal family consider giving up their royal status and doing other things.

This led him to consider relaxing the restrictions on the royal family and allowing them to make a living voluntarily, whether it was running the four industries or participating in the imperial examinations or holding official positions. They could choose between official positions and titles, and once they made a choice, they were not allowed to regret it.

Of course, they could no longer apply to restore their royal status, and they were also not allowed to publicize their royal status.

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang did not really treat his descendants as pigs when he set the rule that the royal family of the Ming Dynasty could not engage in the four industries.

In his mind, the descendants of the Zhu family could serve as officials in the court, and even be crowned kings in various places, holding considerable military power and protecting the central government.

However, these ideas changed dramatically after his death. The successor he chose began to reduce the power of the vassal states at the beginning of his accession to the throne, and his actions were cruel, which eventually led to the Jingnan Rebellion, and the situation where the kings stood by and watched.

As an emperor who started his career as a rebel, Zhu Di was naturally highly wary of his brothers and nephews, so the road to becoming an official was also blocked.

As time passed, Wei Guangde did not have as many concerns as Zhu Di and his successor.

The current social environment does not support the soil for rebellion.

Even if there are, they are the poor people who hate the Zhu clan extremely. It is too much to want the clan to lead them in rebellion.

Even when Prince Ning rebelled decades ago, he relied on the huge wealth of the royal palace to recruit a group of bandits.

And these days, except for the royal clan, the middle and low-ranking clans have such financial resources. It is a luxury to live a luxurious life.

However, Wei Guangde also knows that these are not enough, because each generation of emperors may enfeoff new princes, and the expansion of the clan is always inevitable, unless the succession of the title is reduced from the king, and the princes are controlled.

However, if the princes and the princes are also included in the downgraded succession, Wei Guangde is just thinking about it. The impact after the proposal is too great.

The civil service group will definitely support it, but it will be resisted by the clan.

Moreover, the proposal to downgrade the succession of the princes and the princes is also in conflict with his first proposal, the quota of the clan.

Therefore, he only kept this idea in his mind, but he didn't want to bring it up, because the impact was too great.

After sitting in the study for a long time, Wei Guangde didn't think of other directions for reform, so he put away the recorded paper again.

Wei Guangde settled down in Bengshanbao again, but his wife often traveled between Bengshanbao and Jiujiang.

One day, an official in a red robe came out of the military office angrily, got into the sedan chair outside the door, and ordered outside in a bad mood: "Go to the cabinet."

So the sedan chair was lifted by the sedan bearers, and the sedan bearers hurriedly went to the direction of the imperial city as if they had taken off their clothes and installed wind and fire wheels.

Not long after, the sedan chair stopped outside the imperial city, and the official came out of the sedan chair and walked directly towards Chengtian Gate.

After a few words with the palace eunuchs here, a young eunuch took him to the cabinet.

When they arrived at the cabinet, the eunuch turned around and left, while the man went directly into the cabinet and walked straight to Li Chunfang's office of the Prime Minister.

"Sir, please stay. What are you doing?"

Finally, the man was stopped by the clerk waiting outside the office of the Prime Minister, amidst the puzzled eyes of other Zhongshu Sheren.

"I'm looking for Li Zishi. You go and inform the Prime Minister and say that Tan Zili wants to see him."

The official said to the clerk in a bad tone.

"Okay, Mr. Tan, Governor Tan."

Hearing the visitor introduce himself, the clerk remembered who this sir was. It was none other than the Governor of Ji Liao, Tan Lun.

Not long after, the clerk came out and respectfully invited Tan Lun in.

"Zili, you're here so soon."

When Tan Lun walked into the office of the Prime Minister, Li Chunfang had already come out to greet him.

"Sir Prime Minister, how can I not come? The court has stopped all the money and grain that should have been allocated to Jizhen. Now all the projects from Jizhou to Changping have stopped. I just want to know clearly what the court is trying to do?

Let alone the Datong peace agreement, there is no need to defend the north. If that is true, then it is good. All the border troops will be cut, and the court can save a lot of expenses."

Tan Lun bowed to Li Chunfang in annoyance, walked past him, found an empty chair and sat down.

Li Chunfang waved to the clerk at the door, then turned back and sat down next to Tan Lun.

After someone brought tea, he said: "I know about this, but there is nothing I can do. The note was handed over to the Ministry of Revenue by Gao Xinzheng."

"But most of these projects have been carried out, only a small part has been completed, and most of them are still a little short.

The appropriation has been decided by the court long ago. With this suspension, the entire defense project will be wasted, and all the money and food invested in the previous two years will be wasted. "

Tan Lun spoke immediately.

The defense project Tan Lun mentioned was actually the construction of enemy towers throughout the entire Jizhen defense area in the third year of Longqing. He built enemy towers at dangerous locations and stationed soldiers to defend them. They could be used as fortifications to defend the north, and they could also As a beacon to communicate the war.

At first, the court promised to allocate a sum of money, and Jizhen would raise the rest by itself. However, the money was temporarily withheld by the Ministry of Household Affairs on the grounds of lack of money, and it was finally decided to allocate it year by year over three years.

The money for the previous two years had been allocated on time, but the account department had been slow to disburse the last amount of money.

The delay in the final project payment suddenly made the defense line that was already taking shape completely unusable.

Of course, it can be used reluctantly, but it is basically difficult to achieve the purpose of its original construction.

No, several memorials were sent to the capital, but the problem was still unresolved. Tan Lun had no choice but to petition and come to the capital in person to talk about the matter and recover the money.

"I went to the Ministry of War to report and asked. He told me that they sent the document to the Ministry of Household Affairs as usual, but the Ministry of Household Affairs said it was a note from the cabinet and withheld the money. I won't come to you. Who should I go to in the cabinet?”

Speaking of this, Tan Lun couldn't help suppressing the anger in his heart.

"I have already said that Zhengfu and I both agree to allocate funds for this matter, but Gao Xinzheng has different opinions."

At this point, Li Chunfang looked helpless and continued to say to Tan Lun: "Actually, those tens of thousands of taels of silver are really nothing, so just give them.

But as for the current situation of the cabinet, I, as the chief minister, have no say in it. Everything is decided by that side.

Maybe, the memorial I submitted to the palace will be approved soon, and I will have to pack up my belongings and return to my hometown to retire.

If you really want to find it, you'd better go to Gao Xinzheng and talk about it. I can't help you. "

"How can Gao Xinzheng be like this? Don't you even follow the rules of the court?"

In fact, several ministers in the cabinet know the matters within the cabinet and keep them secretive to the outside world. After all, it is not a glorious matter.

Perhaps Gao Gong would reveal a little bit when communicating with his disciples. After all, he was the winner. Properly conveying some information could also make his followers feel more confident and bold to follow him.

But no matter what, some people in other yamen outside the cabinet may detect some bad signals from clues, but they will never think that the junior minister of the cabinet does not even have the most basic respect for superiors and subordinates, and dares to offend the superiors. This is against the law. Taught by saints.

Although there is no hierarchy among cabinet ministers, there are still clear distinctions among cabinet ministers, chief ministers, second ministers and ordinary ministers.

Li Chunfang said this in front of Tan Lun, which actually meant that he had decided to leave and did not want to stay and bear Gao Gong's bullying.

"Zhang Shuda and Yin Zhengfu didn't come out to talk either?"

Tan Lun said in surprise.

He knew that Gao Gong was favored, but he never expected that he could ignore the chief minister and force the government to run according to his own wishes.

"Now, the only person who can speak in front of him is Uncle. Zhengfu's words are ignored by him."

Speaking of this, Li Chunfang glanced at Tan Lun, "You don't know, in fact, when I first assisted Chen Yiqin in his official duties, he was also forced to make room for him.

At that time, in the cabinet, only the three of them, Chen, Wei, and Yin, could forcefully arm-wrestle with him.

Now that Yifu has become an official and Shanshan has borrowed money from Dingyou, after I leave, Zhengfu should be next.

If you really want this money, you can try to go to Uncle Shu and ask him to help make peace. If you go directly to Gao Xinzheng, I'm afraid it will be counterproductive. "

Li Chunfang finally said to Tan Lun with serious words.

"Why?"

Hearing something in Li Chunfang's words, Tan Lun immediately asked.

"What else can he do? He doesn't like you Jiangxi people."

Li Chunfang could only speak more clearly, "As for their friendship back then, even Yifu was forced to leave for promotion. What do you think he will do to other people?"

Just when Tan Lun was about to say more, hurried footsteps were heard outside the door. A cabinet official ran into the check-in room quickly and said to Li Chunfang: "Master Chief Assistant, something bad has happened."

"What's the matter?"

Seeing people so panicked, not only Li Chunfang, but also Tan Lun was shocked. He knew that he had nothing to do today. Something big must have happened. Otherwise, the Secretary of the Cabinet would not be so frightened and almost rushed to report to the room. .

"There were many executions on both sides of the bank south of Xuzhou, and a large number of water boats were swept away by the floods. The main stream of the river changed its direction. The main river channel was dry and silted up, and water transportation was suspended again."

The secretary immediately presented the report with both hands and quickly reported the news.

"What?"

Li Chunfang suddenly felt like a thunderbolt struck her. The court had spent a lot of money to control the water, and it only took a year for the water to be blocked again.

You must know that the last flood suspended sailing, which directly led to the Ke Daoyan impeaching the Ministry of Works for poor performance, accusing Zhu Heng, the Minister of Works, of being overwhelmed. For this reason, the Ministry of Works asked Pan Jixun, who had different opinions from Zhu Heng, to control the water.

But who would have thought that it only took Pan Jixun, who had high hopes from the cabinet, to prove in just one year that his tactics still didn't work.

Not to mention who is better than the other, Zhu Heng's flood control at least ensured the smooth flow of water transportation for more than three years, but what about Pan Jixun?

One year, just less than a year.

Li Chunfang reached out and took the memorial from Zhongshu's hand. He quickly looked at it and found that it was exactly as he said.

"On November 1st, the waterway was blocked for 80 miles. It will be impossible to restore the route within a year. This year's grain quota cannot be met."

Li Chunfang murmured in his mouth.

You know, the reserves of the Tongzhou granary are now lower than the quota. I originally wanted to transport more this year, especially the canals that were blocked in the canal last year. I would seize the opportunity to make an extra trip to replenish the Tongzhou granary.

Now that the Yellow River is flooding again, their ideas are naturally in vain.

"Zili, don't talk about your affairs anymore. It is impossible for the court to allocate money to Ji Zhen under any circumstances."

Looking at Tan Lun who also looked horrified, Li Chunfang said with a wry smile.

With a wave of her hand, Li Chunfang called over the clerk who was standing awkwardly at the door and ordered: "Go and invite some elders to discuss matters."

There was something going on in the cabinet, so Tan Lun naturally couldn't stay for a long time, so he had to stand up and say goodbye to Li Chunfang.

Even though he is a governor, in the capital and in the cabinet, only cabinet ministers are qualified to come here to discuss matters.

Even if it were to be expanded at this time, the cabinet would have to summon six ministries and nine ministers to participate, and it would not be his business as the governor.

Now it seems that all I can do is wait for the emperor to summon me and try to mention the money.

However, judging from the current situation, it seems that even if the tens of thousands of taels of silver are available, they will be used for other purposes.

Tan Lun left the cabinet and walked out of the palace along the way he came.

The governor of another province returned to Beijing in the name of meeting the emperor, so he had to go back and wait for Emperor Longqing's summons.

I went to the Ministry of War today to report.

As soon as he reached the Huiji Gate, Tan Lun saw fellow villagers Zhu Heng, the Minister of Works, and Zhang Shouzhi, the Minister of Hubu, coming this way.

He knew Zhang Shouzhi. After all, he had served as the Minister of the Ministry of War in the capital. At that time, Zhang Shouzhi was only the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu. Unexpectedly, he had been promoted to Shangshu in the blink of an eye.

"Back."

Zhu Heng knew the reason for his coming to Beijing. After all, the two places were not far apart and they occasionally communicated through letters.

"I'm back. I was talking to Mr. Li Ge about this earlier, but then I heard the news that water transportation was interrupted, so I came out."

After Tan Lun and Zhang Shouzhi saluted each other, they said to Zhu Heng.

"I'll hold a banquet tonight to cleanse you, and now I have to go to the cabinet."

Zhu Heng just said something to him, and walked quickly to the cabinet with Zhang Shouzhi.

Water transportation is related to the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry. Naturally, officials from these two yamen urgently reported to Beijing. Several reports arrived in Beijing at almost the same time. After learning the news, the two of them ran to the cabinet and waited for the cabinet to make a decision. Met at the palace gate.

They all knew what was going on without saying anything, so they came in together.

"Zili's affairs may have worked before, but now, I'm afraid it won't work."

On the way, Zhang Shouzhi whispered to Zhu Heng.

"Hey, what do you mean by this? I heard that the enemy towers are almost completed.

Spending so much money and finally being unable to use it is a waste of people's money. "

Zhu Heng sighed.

“If I had known this, I should have allocated it all last year.”

Zhang Shouzhi's hometown is in Zunhua, and his ancestors are Mongolians. However, he has already regarded himself as a Ming Dynasty man, so he naturally hopes that Jizhen's defense will be better, that's why he said this.