Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 215: Removing the Honor and Reprimanding the Minister (Two in One)

Ren Li, a student from Jiangpu County, was proud of himself as a nobleman and had no fear of Yan Song. After he had cursed Yan Song enough and had enough fun in Qinhuai River in Nanjing, he took a batch of spices obtained through smuggling and prepared to sell them in Suzhou.

When Ren Li arrived at the border in a four-wheel-drive carriage with a large amount of goods and the beauty he bought at Qinhuai River, the police officer guarding the Jiangnan National Taxation Bureau came to him and said, "Give me the ivory plate! What's the cargo on the carriage?"

The student Ren Li had long been dissatisfied with Yan Song's setting up of checkpoints on the cement road from Nanzhili to Suzhou to collect likin. He also saw that the police officer of the National Tax Bureau was just an ordinary military officer with the word "Police" on his chest, which made him feel that there was no difference between him and a government official.

But such a lowly military officer dared to be so arrogant in front of a student like him. Ren Li got angry and immediately jumped out of the carriage and kicked the police officer directly:
"You bastard! I am a scholar, a disciple of Confucius and Mencius, and a student of the government school! You are just a small military officer, and your future is just a gatekeeper. What qualifications do you have to block my way?"

Ren Li shook his head as he spoke. In his opinion, wearing a square scarf meant that he was superior to others. Even if these lowly warriors wanted to talk to him, they should kneel down to talk to him, just like when his father was a seventh-rank imperial censor, the fifth-rank military officer would kneel down to answer his father. So he couldn't help but complain in his heart: "Are you blind? Don't you see the square scarf on my head?"

"Although he is a small military officer, he is a general flag of the seventh rank and an official appointed by the imperial court of the Ming Dynasty. You are just a scholar with less than eight buckets of talent. Your ambition is just to buy a prostitute. Who gave you the courage to hit someone from my government?

Ordinary people fear officials like tigers and wolves, but you students are very strange. You dare to rebel against officials! Come here, according to the rules, if you beat an official appointed by the court, you will be punished with 60 strokes of the cane! Take him away!"

Yan Song happened to pass by here at this time and happened to see this scene. He was too lazy to ask who this student was and just acted according to the law.

"Wait!"

When Ren Li saw that Yan Song was wearing a scarlet official robe, he called out to him first, then bowed and said, "Student Ren Li greets you, sir. However, I am a scholar and you are a civil official. So why do you want to support a warrior? Do you want the scholars to say that you value military power over literature?"

"I only know that you broke the rules. You hit the imperial official, but he didn't hit you!"

Yan Song didn't expect that this person was the one who cursed him behind his back, Ren Li. After saying that, he ordered the people around him: "Beat him to death later!"

The police officer next to Yan Song was a former member of the Jinyiwei system, so he naturally knew how to beat him to death, so he nodded and said, "Don't worry, sir!"

At this time, two police soldiers came over and caught Ren Li.

Ren Li began to get a little scared at this time, and said in a timid tone: "Sir, my father is the imperial censor. If you beat me, aren't you afraid that my father will seek revenge on you?!"

"I have always been upright and not afraid of the powerful. Not to mention that your father is my father, even if he is a minister, I will still follow the rules. However, you can tell me who your father is. I will just accuse your father of not teaching his son well!"

After Yan Song said this, Ren Li's butler hurried over and said, "Sir, I'm sorry! Our young master is ignorant of worldly affairs and has offended you. Please forgive me and make some allowance. This is a draft from the Royal Bank for 500 taels. Can you spare our young master a beating?"

"In the fifth year of Zhengde, the Anti-Corruption Law, which was proposed by the Three Judicial Departments and approved by Your Majesty, clearly states that anyone who bribes a superior with more than 500 taels of silver shall be sentenced to five years in prison! Take this old butler away! Confiscate his bribe!"

As a result, Yan Song got five hundred taels for nothing and also captured the housekeeper of the Ren family and used him as free labor.

Ren Li was furious when he saw this, but he could not refute it. He just gritted his teeth and said, "Well, what an upright and honest judge!"

The Ren family’s housekeeper had already knelt down and kowtowed, begging for mercy: “Master, please spare my life! I have no intention of bribing you. I just want to compensate you for the money my young master used to beat up the gatekeeper!”

"In that case, according to the compensation regulations, you should also pay one thousand taels of silver. A seventh-rank civil and military official was beaten by the people. According to the law, if the common people want to be exempted from punishment, they must pay one thousand taels of silver and another five hundred taels!"

After Yan Song said this, the housekeeper Ren had to pay another 500 taels.

Ren Li was released because of this, but Yan Song did not intend to let him go. He continued to point at the Ren family's convoy and asked, "What goods are you transporting?"

"Reporting to the master, it is spices." The people in Nanzhili region were not prohibited from doing business, so the steward Ren Li answered truthfully.

"Spices are luxury goods and should be taxed three times as much. The estimated value of so many carts of spices has already exceeded 100 taels, so they cannot pass through the customs duty-free. General Hu, the customs officer, asked you to count the experience documents at the customs. The calculation must be accurate. Do not tax too much, so that the merchants have no profit, but also do not tax too little, so that the court has no money to maintain the roads. Do you understand?"

After hearing what Yan Song said, Hu Zongqi, who was guarding the gate, stood up and said, "I understand!" He then brought the people guarding the gate to do the accounting and asked the old housekeeper for the account book directly.

At this time, Ren Li saw this and angrily saluted and said: "Sir! These are all for the benefit of the people, and they are also the means of livelihood for scholars. I hope you will treat us scholars with favor and exempt us from paying the taxes!"

"You sell spices to the people at high prices, causing them to lose everything just for the sake of luxury. You are harming the people, how can you be called the people's benefit? The heavy tax is to prevent the people of the Ming Dynasty from being infected with this extravagant lifestyle! They must pay! If they resist the tax, they will be taken away directly!"

With Yan Song's strong order, Ren Li had no choice but to accept the defeat.

At this time, Yan Song saw a beautiful woman sitting in the carriage, so he asked, "This beautiful woman has a charming face and half-revealed clothes. She doesn't look like a decent girl. Who is she?"

"I bought a famous prostitute on the Qinhuai River. If you like her, I can give her to you. Please allow me to not pay the luxury tax this time." Ren Li completely forgot what Yan Song had said before about prohibiting bribery, and naively wanted to make a deal with Yan Song.

"I have already issued a strict order. In order to rectify the academic atmosphere, students from various prefectures, counties and cities in Southern Zhili are not allowed to visit prostitutes or stay with prostitutes when traveling to study. This will humiliate the literary style of the literati. How dare you, Ren Li, go against the order? I will strip him of his title and take off the turban from his head!" Yan Song suddenly frowned and shouted.

Ren Li did not expect that the official in front of him would suddenly take off his handkerchief and revoke his reputation. He was greatly surprised and asked: "Sir, who are you?"

"You should have guessed it. I am Yan Song, the governor of Nanzhili and the academician. You used the pseudonym "Xishan Menke" to slander me in newspapers. I couldn't bear to block the way for scholars to speak, so I didn't do anything to you. But you can't be so fearless and lawless as to travel around the world with prostitutes from Qinhuai River! As a student, you should concentrate on learning, bury yourself in the sea of ​​books, or study the world. But you rely on your fame to run a business and even dare to take a prostitute home! How bold!"

Yan Song took the ceremonial handkerchief from the hands of his subordinates, rode away on horseback, and ordered, "Immediately tell the chief officials and school officials of all prefectures and counties to come to the governor's office to discuss matters. I have repeatedly ordered the rectification of the academic atmosphere, but in Nanjing City, there are still some students who are unrestrained. How do they do things?"

Ren Li was stripped of his official title by Yan Song, which made the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River even more angry towards Yan Song. However, they could not do anything about Yan Song because Yan Song was now trying to rectify the etiquette and literary style. These were all advocated by the civil officials and gentry themselves, and Yan Song now only asked them to strictly abide by them, so no one dared to oppose it openly.

The gentry in Jiangnan complained bitterly, but they could not oppose openly so they could only secretly contact the civil officials in the capital to transfer Yan Song away, just like what happened in history when Shanghai Rui supported the common people and disciplined the gentry in Jiangnan during his tenure as governor of Yingtian, but was soon promoted to Nanjing as an idle official.

However, Zhu Houzhao had no intention of transferring Yan Song away.

Zhu Houzhao was relieved that Yan Song was in charge of Nanzhili. He believed that only a cunning official like Yan Song could compete with the gentry in Jiangnan as the governor of Nanzhili.

No one expected that Yan Song would take advantage of the opportunity of the cabinet chief minister promoting spiritual civilization in the central court to launch an activity to restore rituals in Nanzhili, and punish a number of officials, gentry and wealthy businessmen so that they would no longer dare to be extravagant and wasteful.

Officials from other provinces also began to follow suit and launched activities to restore rituals in the areas under their jurisdiction.

Wang Hua, the chief minister of the cabinet, himself did not expect that the construction of spiritual civilization he advocated would be so practical. A movement to restore rituals and rectify social customs brought his Ming court millions of taels of income, and even increased the reserves of the Royal Bank so much that he, as a shareholder of the Royal Bank, also made considerable profits.

What made Wang Hua even happier was that because he was the first to preside over the construction of spiritual civilization, the Minister of Rites Zhu En then proposed the idea of ​​advocating frugality and rectifying the social atmosphere. Soon after, local officials such as Yan Song began to rectify the social atmosphere, which greatly benefited the court. At the same time, it indeed curbed the extravagant social atmosphere, which led Zhu Houzhao to give him the title of "Taifu", making him a first-rank official during his lifetime, just like Ma Wensheng and Jiao Fang.

Zhu En was also promoted and became the Minister of Rites, but he was not happy.

At this time, his student Ren Jianshu was saying to him, "Master! Yan Song has been exploiting the gentry in the name of rectifying the social atmosphere in Jiangnan, causing widespread resentment among the scholars. If you don't find a solution, the Zhu family will also be deeply affected. Your son Ren Li, who was raised in the Ren family, was stripped of his official title by Yan Song on the grounds that he violated the rules by keeping a prostitute!"

"What! This, this, I was planning to wait until he passed the imperial examination to recognize him, but Yan Song actually stopped me from doing that! This means that we can't recognize each other as father and son. I will file a petition right now!"

After saying this, Zhu En angrily went to the study and began to write a memorial.

“Your Majesty, although etiquette and law are the foundation of the court, and the world should be frugal, if there is a trend of extravagance, the court can reprimand and admonish it. However, now the government offices of various provinces frequently disturb the people under the pretext of rectifying etiquette and law. At the least, they fine people and collect money, and at the worst, they confiscate their property and even detain and punish them. This is really an act that does not win the support of the people!

Moreover, nowadays, the country is prosperous, the people are well-off, silk and satin are as cheap as ramie, while rice and millet are piled up like mountains. In a prosperous era, the people should wear brocade and silk as clothing, so as to appreciate the merits of the emperor's cultural governance. But now, silk and satin are allowed to rot in the house, and rice and millet are allowed to rot in the warehouse, and it is inappropriate and inhumane to follow the etiquette of the time of Taizu, Your Majesty!"

Now, many court writers and reformist local civil servants are using Zhu En's arguments to launch a campaign to rectify rituals in the local area, causing the gentry to complain bitterly and hate Zhu En, and even begin to expose his various acts of non-compliance with rituals and extravagance.

Minister of Rites Zhu En regretted his ideas of advocating frugality and observing rituals, and the fact that Ren Li's title was dismissed further irritated him, so he quickly submitted a memorial, hoping to repair his reputation among the Confucian scholars. He naturally did not dare to directly criticize Yan Song, after all, he also knew that Yan Song was in the emperor's favor.

After Zhu Houzhao saw Zhu En's memorial, he summoned Zhu En and asked him:

"Zhu En, you wrote in your memorials before that the people of the country are in trouble and there are still hungry people who can hardly have enough food every day. In your hometown, people even freeze to death in the severe cold every winter. Therefore, you suggested that I should start a frugal trend, stop purchasing from all over the country, dismiss the eunuchs who guard the palace, and even not expand the palace. Except for not dismissing the eunuchs who purchased and guarded the palace, I agreed to many of your suggestions. Even now, I still live in this cramped Qianqing Palace!"

“Since people’s livelihood is so difficult, why do you now say in your memorials that the country is prosperous, the people are well-off, silk and satin are as cheap as ramie, and rice and millet are piled up like mountains? If you say so, wouldn’t there be no hungry and cold people in the world?

Well, I believe you, so let me ask you, since silk and satin are as cheap as ramie, how much cotton cloth, silk and grain does the Ming Dynasty produce every year? Can it satisfy the people's food and clothing?"

Zhu Houzhao asked Zhu En coldly.

Zhu En didn't know how to answer for a moment. He didn't expect that the emperor would question him in connection with the two memorials he had submitted before and after. He also didn't expect that he was just using the current social phenomenon to make an analogy that there were a lot of silks and satins in the Ming Dynasty and a lot of grain, but the emperor asked him about the annual cotton and silk production and grain production in the Ming Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, I have spoken inappropriately. Please punish me. But I speak from the bottom of my heart when I say that there are hungry and cold people in the world. I also speak from the bottom of my heart when I say that the current dynasty is at its peak. As for the production of cotton, silk, cloth and other food, this is the business of the Ministry of Revenue. I belong to the Ministry of Rites, so I dare not interfere."

Minister of Rites Zhu En replied.

"In the second issue of the March edition of the ninth year of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty, a line of black characters on the front page lists the production data of grain, cotton cloth, silk, etc. in the eighth year of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty. You didn't read it or you didn't remember it. Even the common people on the street know how much grain the Ministry of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty collects every year. But you, a second-rank official of the Ministry of Rites, don't know it! Since you don't know, who gave you the courage to lie in front of me! Silk and satin are as cheap as ramie, and rice and millet are piled up like mountains. Do you write articles when you report to the emperor? Can you just talk nonsense? Today the people are rich, and tomorrow they are poor. How can you treat government affairs as a child's play? How can you be the Minister of Rites!"

Thanks to my book friend I Love Flying Bird for the 100 starting coins reward. Thank you to my book friend Super Blood Scholar for the 200 starting coins reward.



(End of this chapter)