Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 95: The Duke’s crime, Hai Rui is in danger!
To be honest, the Duke of Wei's Mansion did not make things difficult for the common people. Instead, it made things difficult for the imperial court and the royal family.

In addition to taxes, the Duke of Wei's Mansion would retain a small portion of anything presented to the court and the royal family through the canal.

According to the statistics of Jinyiwei, it was about 30%, with the royal family and the court taking 70%, and the Duke of Wei's Mansion taking 30%.

but.

The Duke of Wei's Mansion always gets to pick first, while the royal family and the court pick up what's left over from the Duke of Wei's Mansion.

This was what happened to things that passed through the canal for the royal family and the imperial court. If something like this entered the city of Nanjing, it would be even more serious.

Regardless of whether it was the property of the six ministries in Nanjing or the property of the military and civilians in Nanjing City, the Duke of Wei's Mansion would retain 40% of it.

However, unlike the method of reporting losses if the goods were intercepted at the ferry, all the goods had already been brought into Nanjing city, and it was difficult to explain such a huge loss to the Ministry of Revenue of the imperial court.

then.

In Jinling City, rats are rampant!
Due to the serious deficit of the imperial court before, the salaries and military pay paid to the six ministries, military and civilians in Nanjing were mostly offset by grain.

For more than a hundred years, the grain sent by the imperial court to Nanjing City was always stolen.

Every month, the city of Jinling would report to the court the amount of grain that had been stolen and confiscated, along with the heads of a few thieves.

According to the observation of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the amount of grain that was lost always accounted for about 40% of the total grain in Nanjing City.

In the past, the Jinyiwei was weak and dependent on the Silijian, and did not dare to have any ideas about things that contained big tricks.

With the rise of the Jinyiwei, the captain of the Nanjing Qianhu Division of the Jinyiwei wanted to make a contribution, so he learned a little about it.

The amount of grain that disappeared from Nanjing City was ten times more than the amount that was stolen, most of which was caused by someone else stealing the food.

"Borrow the hat to get the bottom?"

Zhu Houcong had been the crown prince of Xingwang Palace, and also the Xingwang, and later the emperor. He had managed the palace and the Ming Dynasty, and was familiar with miscellaneous affairs.

Borrowing a hat from someone and taking away the bottom of the hat means using a small excuse to take away a big account.

What Lu Bing wanted to express was that Duke Wei and some high-ranking officials in Nanjing City secretly withheld stored grain, embezzled the warehouses, and then allowed thieves to steal. Afterwards, all the unbalanced accounts were blamed on the thieves and counted as lost!

No wonder the rats in Jinling City could not be killed. It turned out that the Duke of Wei’s Mansion and some senior officials deliberately kept them to take the blame.

Someone had to take responsibility for the loss, so the thieves would hand over a few heads to Yingtian Prefecture every year, just so that the officials in Jinling City could give an explanation to the court.

The crime of drowning was paid with a life, and the government gave an explanation, so the account was cleared from then on.

Huang Jin was dumbfounded as he listened. He never expected that the Duke of Wei's Mansion had such a trick.

When he was in the inner school, he heard from his teacher that some clerks in the local area secretly stole grain and burned it when the accounts were checked, leaving no evidence.

At that time, he thought it was too bold and reckless, but he didn't know that there were more sophisticated methods.

Burning warehouses can only conceal greed temporarily, but one can enjoy the profits year after year, and the only price is a few lives.

"The Duke of Wei's Mansion is not just covering the city of Nanjing, right?" Zhu Houcong suddenly thought of something.

Lu Bing was stunned for a moment, then replied, "Even if there is no one wiser than the emperor, a hundred years ago, only the city of Jinling was robbed, but a hundred years later, all the granaries in Nanzhili have been robbed year after year."

All in all.

Zhu Houcong figured out why Shen Yishi's papers said that Zhejiang and the entire Southern Zhili had no food, and why he had to borrow food from Shen Yishi.

Forty percent of the grain in Jiangnan was taken away by the Duke of Wei's mansion, some more by the officials in Nanjing, and some more by the officials in Zhejiang. How could there be a single grain left?
In good years, people would not starve to death. But in bad years, the military and civilians in Nanzhili had to rely on these grains to survive.

For every dan of grain stolen by thieves, or lost by drifting, the Duke of Wei's mansion, the officials of Jinling City, and the local officials, there were ten more people starving. What was stolen and lost was not grain, but human lives!
On the surface, the Duke of Wei's Mansion had done nothing wrong to the common people, but secretly they were wholeheartedly undermining the imperial court.

Huang Jin's body was shaking. He couldn't imagine that if one day, the Duke of Wei's Mansion really destroyed Nanzhili and the Ming Dynasty, what would be left to dig in the Duke of Wei's Mansion?

But Huang Jin imagined something different. Zhu Houcong and Lu Bing both thought of it. All they had to do was to dig up the old master and welcome the new master.

Although the Duke of Wei's Mansion continues the bloodline of Xu Da, a founding hero and the first meritorious minister of the Ming Dynasty, it has long lost Xu Da's determination to travel the world for the country and the people, and even its actions have long lost Xu Da's caution.

Zhu Houcong felt that he was getting closer to the truth. He looked at Lu Bing and asked, "When King Jing entered the capital, the treasure ship passed through Nanjing. Did the Duke of Wei greet him?"

"Your Majesty, he is also among them."

"What did King Jing say to Duke Wei?"

"Your Majesty, Prince Jing told Duke Wei at the dock that even before getting off the boat, from the colorful pavilion, one could see the smooth earthen embankments built on both sides of the river at the dock, with rows of willow trees standing on top of the embankments. Although this kind of willow forest is not as neat and uniform as the roadside willows, it is dense and lush, with almost no gaps, stretching along both sides of the river bank to the base of the city wall in the distance, like two green ribbons embroidered on the Qinhuai River.

The Outer Qinhuai River near the river mouth alone has so much wild fun, and the banks of the Inner Qinhuai River in the city are even more beautiful, with ten miles of singing and dancing pavilions, and the sounds of oars and lights all night long.

Compared to the bitter cold and monotonous capital, this place is simply a fairyland. If there is a chance, we should move the capital back to Jinling..."

Speaking of it.

Lu Bing slowly stopped repeating King Jing's words at Jiangkou Wharf.

King Jing was in Jinling City, where he gave a long speech praising the prosperity of Jinling and belittled the capital city.

No one would have thought much about this, but the last two sentences of Prince Jing left the Duke of Wei and the officials in Nanjing City with endless imagination.

What does it mean to have the opportunity to move the capital back to Nanjing?

Except for ascending the throne, no one can decide where the capital of the Ming Dynasty is.

The detailed explanation of King Jing's words is that when he ascends the throne as emperor, he will definitely move the capital back to Nanjing.

If this sentence was said by Prince Jing when he left the capital to become a fief, it would be fine. However, it was said by Prince Yu when he performed poorly in the capital and Prince Jing said it on his way back to the capital in response to the imperial order.

At that time, Zhang Juzheng's cabinet was selecting a concubine for the emperor from across the country, and the memorial to appoint a new queen had not yet been submitted. I'm afraid that in the minds of Duke Wei and many Nanjing officials, Prince Jing would probably be the next emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

When a person who has a high chance of becoming the emperor talks about moving the capital, the soldiers and civilians in Jinling City might be very happy. With the word "Jing" and "Ye", even the dogs in front of the Jinling city gate would raise their tails high.

But the nobles such as the Duke of Wei, who had lived in Jinling City for generations, and the important officials in Nanjing City were not so happy.

When Emperor Yongle moved the capital to Shuntian, he left behind a complete set of court structures in Nanjing.

The Six Ministries, the Censorate, the Ministry of Public Security, the Five Military Commissioners' Offices and other government offices are all available. Apart from the cabinet, the system is no different from that of the capital.

Moreover, most of the taxes in the country come from the south of the Yangtze River. There are many local gentry and powerful families with intertwined ties. The situation is extremely complicated and one move will affect the whole body. Once the capital is moved, many ugly things will be impossible to cover up.

I'm afraid King Jing never thought about what kind of uproar his proud and frivolous words would cause in Jinling City when he returned to the capital in response to the imperial edict.

There was no need to investigate further, as Zhu Houcong already knew that the explosion of Prince Jing's treasure ship was the result of the White Lotus Sect, and the mastermind behind it was Duke Wei, the nobles of Jinling, and several high-ranking officials in Nanjing.

For a single sentence, he wanted to assassinate the king and kill him. He is worthy of being the Emperor of Jinling!

Zhu Houcong's eyes were filled with murderous intent, but before his cold aura reached its peak, he thought of a memorial submitted earlier from Zhejiang.

Hai Rui investigates the shortage of grain in Zhejiang granaries!

The Duke of Wei even planned to assassinate King Jing, so why would he be afraid of a county magistrate holding the emperor's sword?
"Lu Bing, hurry 800 miles to protect Hai Rui!"

(End of this chapter)