Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 230: Turning against guests
"Uncle Six, you are joking. How can I make the decision on salary? We have to ask the court for help. At the very least, we have to ask the provincial government and the prefectural government for help." At this point, Zhu Minfan pulled a bitter face and complained, "To be honest, Uncle Six, even if you didn't mention it, I've been thinking about this myself. Everyone's salary hasn't come down yet, and the general's mansion is the same. It's been accruing for so many years, and this is not a small amount. There are so many people in the general's mansion, and the daily expenses are not small. Look, I'm worried about this myself."

"I understand, I understand that too." Zhu Shenzhui nodded repeatedly to show his understanding, but he continued, "You are not to blame for this. I know this in my heart, but no matter what, you are the head of the royal family of Pingyang Prefecture. The royal family's salary has not been reduced in recent years, and everyone's life is not easy. If this continues, let me put it bluntly, there will be no food at home, and we won't even have enough food to eat. How can we still be respectable?"

"We can't just keep putting this off like this. We have to get on with our lives, right? How about this, nephew, you take the lead and submit a memorial to the court on behalf of our clan, explaining this matter so that the emperor can also understand the difficulties we are facing?"

"After all, they are family members. One stroke cannot write two red characters. The emperor is the head of our clan, and he will definitely not ignore such a thing. I have been thinking about this matter over and over again. It is possible that those big headscarves in the court hid it from the emperor and embezzled the salary of our clan. What do you think?"

"This... hehe... this..." Zhu Minfan didn't know how to answer. The fact that the royal family's salary was too big was not something that he, a general who assisted the country, could decide. Moreover, some things could not be discussed openly. The entire Ming Dynasty was not the business of the royal family in Pingyang Prefecture. There were many similar things all over the country.

As for Zhu Shenzhui's suggestion to write a memorial to help the royal family members to ask for their salaries, he would never do this. Isn't this just looking for trouble? What if this memorial offends the emperor? Moreover, Zhu Shenzhui intentionally or unintentionally said that the royal family's salaries were embezzled by those officials in the court, and he wanted to ask for an explanation. This is even more unacceptable. If he does such an offensive job, he will be in trouble.

Thinking of this, Zhu Minfan glanced at Ma Quan standing aside. He knew very well what Ma Quan was. He was an official sent by the court. If he said such things in front of the court officials, wouldn't it be like pointing at a monk and calling him a bald donkey? He was not that stupid.

"Lieutenant, you said that the court owes a lot of salaries to the royal family?" Ma Quan asked suddenly.

"Of course!" Zhu Shenzhui said without thinking, "Mr. Ma, you don't understand when you first come to the General's Mansion. You will understand after you stay in Pingyang for a long time. Since the 36th year of Wanli, the salaries of us royal family members have been in arrears again and again. Now, the second year of Tianqi is almost over, and the court has not paid the previous salaries, and even this year's normal salary has not been paid."

"Mr. Ma, don't think that we are all descendants of Taizu, and we have the title of clan members since we were born, and our lives are smooth. But to be honest, our lives are very difficult! Let's not talk about other families for now, let's talk about our family. Since my father and eldest brother passed away, there are only me, my sister-in-law and a little niece who is still breastfeeding. In recent years, the family has not had much income, so we live on salaries. Moreover, the salary is not enough, and it is often not paid at all."

"You can ask my eldest nephew. If he hadn't lent me some money a few years ago, my family would have starved to death. Why? Don't you believe it? If you don't believe me, go out and ask around. I don't know about other places, but in Pingyang alone, there are too many people in the royal family who can't make ends meet. At home, there is no food to eat, and several people in the family are reluctant to eat half of a pancake. The life they lead is really..."

As he spoke, Zhu Shenzhui's eyes turned red. These were all real, he had experienced them all, there was nothing false about them.

Listening to Zhu Shenzhui's story, Ma Quan's expression was a little unnatural, but he waited for Zhu Shenzhui to complain and then interrupted him to ask Zhu Shenzhui that even if these were true, he heard that Zhu Shenzhui was living a good life now, not as miserable as he said, and he also had a well-known trading company under his name, and his business in Pingyang City was doing well. This shouldn't be the case.

"Company?" Zhu Shenzhui asked with a blink.

"Yes! I heard that Hengtong Trading Company in Pingyang City is the lieutenant's property?" Ma Quan asked back.

"Haha, Mr. Ma has only been in Pingyang for a few days, but he already knows about Hengtong Trading Company?" Zhu Shenzhui asked.

Ma Quan's expression froze for a moment, and he was a little embarrassed, but he soon returned to normal. He laughed and said, "Ma is here to take up a post in Pingyang Prefecture. Since I'm here, I naturally need to be familiar with the place. Otherwise, how can I be a professor in the General's Mansion?"

"These days, I have been strolling around Pingyang City and saw several Hengtong businesses. After asking around, I found out that they were actually the lieutenant's family business. After listening to what the lieutenant said just now, I, Ma, am a little confused. Since the lieutenant has such an industry, why is he still concerned about the salary?" "Bang!" Suddenly there was a loud noise, which scared Zhu Minfan and Ma Quanquan. As the noise rang out, two people rushed in from outside the door in an instant. The two people looked alert and cautious. Aren't they the two people who accompanied the old housekeeper to the house to invite him to stay?

Zhu Shenzhui ignored them. He slammed the table so hard that the teacup lids jumped up and his palms ached slightly.

Zhu Shenzhui's face flushed, his eyes fixed on Ma Quan, and he immediately cursed without any courtesy: "Ma Quan, you are so good! Just now I addressed you as Mr. Ma for the sake of my eldest nephew, but I didn't expect you to speak nonsense! Ma Quan! Let me ask you, when our Ming Taizu Gaohuangdi expelled the Tartars and founded the Ming Dynasty, during the Hongwu period, we established the ancestral rules that all the children of the royal family were paid salaries and supported by the court. This ancestral rule has been in place for more than 200 years."

"The imperial court's stipends for the royal family were set during the reign of Emperor Taizu Gao. The Ming Dynasty is still ruled by my Zhu family, right? When did the rules change? What's the matter? According to what you said before, royal family stipends are unacceptable? When did the imperial court issue an order to cancel the stipends for the royal family? How dare you, a mere ninth-rank professor, make such brazen comments on royal family affairs? You even disrespect the ancestral rules of Emperor Taizu Gao, Ma Quan! What do you want to do?"

A big hat was put on him rudely, and Zhu Shenzui's scolding was justified. As soon as these words came out, Ma Quan's face changed immediately. The two people who had just broken in were stunned when they saw that the situation in the house was not what they expected. Then, after listening to the content of Zhu Shenzui's scolding, both of them had a strange look on their faces. They subconsciously looked at Ma Quan, and then quietly retreated without saying a word.

"Sixth Uncle, Sixth Uncle, don't be angry, don't be angry. Professor Ma just spoke out of turn. It's not what you think." The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became solemn. Zhu Shenzhui's scolding was both light and heavy. If it was really pursued, Ma Quan would be in big trouble.

After all, what Zhu Shenzhu said was absolutely correct. It was Zhu who set the rule that the Ming court used salaries to support the royal family. This rule had never been abolished, and no emperor since the founding of the Ming Dynasty dared to abolish it.

Starting from the first year of Hongzhi, the imperial court had difficulty in supporting the royal family. In order to reduce the expenses on the royal family, from the Hongzhi period to the Zhengde period, and from Zhengde to Jiajing, and then to Longqing, Wanli, Taichang and now Tianqi, these emperors all knew that the imperial court could no longer afford to support the royal family, and they racked their brains to find ways to reduce expenses in this regard. As a result, a series of supplementary measures such as the discount rate and the age of the royal family were introduced to minimize this expense.

Even now, the salaries of royal family members are often discounted and delayed, but it has never been said that if the court wants to cancel the salaries of royal family members, no matter which emperor is in power, such a thing will never be done.

A single move can affect the entire body. There are hundreds of thousands of imperial clans in the entire Ming Dynasty. If so many people lose their salaries, it will be a disaster. If the emperor did this, it would be like offending all his relatives. It would be strange if the imperial clans did not rebel.

Furthermore, it is one thing for the court to give salaries, and it is another thing to underpay. Even if some members of the royal family live a better life, it is another thing that they can live well without relying on salaries. Salaries are salaries, and industries are industries. These are two completely different concepts, just like being an official and getting a salary. There are so many officials in the world, and the official salaries in the Ming Dynasty are not high. But if anyone dares to say that the salaries of officials should be abolished, and you officials have your own industries to live on and can live without relying on salaries, it would be strange if the person who says this does not scold all officials in the world to death.

The same goes for the salaries of the royal family. If the court has no money, you can pay less or pay less, but you can't say that you have property and not pay the salary. This is a matter of principle. I don't know what Ma Quan was thinking. He blurted out such a statement, which immediately gave Zhu Shenzhui a handle. He was speechless for a while when he pursued him relentlessly.

"Not what I thought? Then what does it mean?" Zhu Shenzhui was still not giving in, staring back and asked: "How can a professor in the General's Mansion say such a thing? Nephew, other things can be put aside for now, but this is your professor in the General's Mansion. Such a rebuttal really makes us royal family members feel disappointed. Although my title is low, I am only the lieutenant of the auxiliary state, but don't forget that royal family members also have the right to report. If you don't give me an explanation for this matter, I will report it to Taiyuan Prefecture! If Taiyuan Prefecture doesn't care, I will directly write a letter to the emperor! I want to see who is sitting in the Golden Throne Hall, my Zhu family or your Ma family?"

As soon as these words came out, Ma Quan's face turned green with fright. If Zhu Shenzhu was determined to make a big deal out of this matter, it would be a disaster. Once the emperor knew about it, he would scold him severely. Moreover, he came here to do business. Originally, he wanted to control this small lieutenant of the auxiliary state. However, who would have thought that after a few words, he was careless and was controlled by the other party.

Good luck in the Year of the Dragon, and may all your wishes come true!

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(End of this chapter)