Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 2: Become the Holy Son of Heaven

"Please stand up, troopers!"

When Zhu Houcong saw Wang Yu kneeling in front of him, he smiled slightly, stretched out his hand and helped him up.

He still behaved very respectfully.

When Wang Qi heard Zhu Houcong say "please" to him in a friendly voice, he couldn't help but feel very moved.

This made him admit that the current Prince Xing was indeed kind and friendly to civil servants like him, and was honest and dutiful, and was undoubtedly worthy of being the next emperor.

What these civil servants expected was to have an emperor who would treat them with courtesy and respect.

After Wang Xi thanked him, he reported with a guilty look on his face:
"Due to the great flood last year, it was not easy to collect the land tax. In addition, the grain stored in the vassal treasury was used for disaster relief, so the rice for Xingguo was not distributed. With great effort, a batch of silver from several counties that were not affected by the disaster was transferred to the county to be used as a discount for the rice for distribution to the country."

"But it is ultimately our fault that we were incompetent and failed to distribute the rice in time, causing the Crown Prince and the nobles in the country to suffer injustice. We are truly guilty!"

Wang Yu continued speaking and then bowed to Zhu Houcong again.

Zhu Houcong asked Wang Yu to stand up again and said with a smile: "Last year, all the fifteen prefectures in Huguang were flooded, and Anlu was not spared. I know that. Fortunately, you loyal and honest officials guarded Huguang, so there was no major change after the disaster. I am grateful to you for your timely disaster relief and good pastoral care for the people. How can I blame you for not paying the salary rice?"

As for Zhu Houcong, he was happy to see Wang Yu come to give him the additional rice salary.

In his opinion, this means that Wang Yu still wants to make progress.

Zhu Houcong believed that as long as a person still wanted to make progress, that was enough.

As long as you want to make progress, you can do it.

He was even afraid that Wang Yu did not want to make progress and just wanted to lie down, so he did not pay the salary in advance.

if that's the case.

He really couldn't do anything about Wang Xi.

After all, the reason why Wang Yu owed the Faxing Palace the salary of rice was to use the grain to help the disaster victims first.

He certainly couldn't say that it was wrong for Wang Yu to use grain to help the victims, nor could he execute Wang Yu for this in the future.

However, since Wang Yu was now offering him the rice stipend in the form of silver, he naturally would not refuse.

Because after the disaster relief is over, this money will only remain in the local treasury and will be slowly lost by corrupt officials.

Instead of this, Zhu Houcong might as well take it himself.

Besides, he needs money now.

No matter what you do, it costs money.

Zhu Houcong did not refuse to accept the rice subsidy.

After Zhu Houcong said this, Wang Yu also bowed with tears of gratitude: "Your Highness is kind and loving to the people. I am deeply grateful!"

Zhu Houcong just smiled faintly, and looked at the left chief secretary Yuan Zonggao and said: "The soldiers and officials have worked hard to transport the rice, so I will give them a banquet at the Yunmen Gate. Please join us, sir, to show the friendship of the whole country to the emperor."

Yuan Zonggao bowed and said yes.

Wang Yu also hurriedly thanked him, and after seeing the cloth collar under Zhu Houcong's robe, he was stunned for a moment, secretly sighing that the Prince of Xing was indeed frugal.

Next, Zhu Houcong temporarily left Chengyun Gate and returned to Zhongzhengzhai.

Zhongzhengzhai is where Zhu Houcong currently studies, and is located to the north of his sleeping palace, Qingyun Palace.

The Qingyun Gate is located in the south of the Qingyun Palace and was where Zhu Houcong always entertained court officials.

Therefore, Wang Yu followed Yuan Zonggao to Qingyun Gate. When they arrived at Qingyun Gate, a banquet had been set up inside.

Wang Yu saw that the whole banquet included bird's nest, deer tail, shark's fin and sea cucumber, so he bowed to Yuan Zonggao and said, "Please tell the prince that the banquet given by the state is too extravagant and I should not accept it!"

Yuan Zonggao smiled and said, "Our prince said that you are all state men, and we should treat you like this, not just you."

Wang Yu was very moved after hearing this, the corner of his mouth twitched, and he could not help but look to the north and kowtow: "Your Highness is so respectful to scholars, I can only repay you by working hard for the country!"

Then, Wang Yu took the seat and sat opposite Yuan Zonggao.

After returning to the government office, he immediately wrote a letter to Yang Tinghe:

"Your Excellency, I respectfully report that Prince Xing is indeed as the rumors say. He treats scholars and officials with courtesy, and is worthy of being a holy emperor!"

After Wang Qi finished writing the letter, he gave it to his confidant:

"Send it to Beijing immediately!"

"Yes!"

Then, Wang Yu walked out of the house with great anticipation, strolled in the courtyard with great interest, and looked at the bright moon, muttering to himself with a slightly raised corner of his mouth:
"May God bless our scholars, and the Ming Dynasty will once again see the reign of the Hongzhi Emperor!"

However, what Wang Yu did not know was that Zhu Houcong was drinking milk in his bedroom when he was lamenting that the Hongzhi era would reappear.

For Zhu Houcong, who was only fourteen years old, he didn't want to suffer from malnutrition because of his frugal personality, which would affect his growth and development. Therefore, he would basically drink a bowl of hot milk before going to bed every night.

However, naturally, only those who were closest to him in the palace knew about this matter.

After drinking the hot milk, Zhu Houcong, accompanied by his chief secretary Yuan Zonggao and his companion Huang Jin, came to the Guangchongku of the royal palace to review the salary rice sent by Wang Yu.

Whether it is managing a family or governing a country, control of financial power is very important.

In history, Emperor Jiajing had never relaxed his control over financial power. Some people in later generations even called him the real Minister of Revenue of the Jiajing Dynasty.

Since Zhu Houcong was determined to learn from Jiajing on the road to power, he naturally would not slack off in terms of financial power.

Therefore, he had to review every income of the palace and make his own decisions on expenditures.

In addition, not long ago, Zhengde had issued an edict, allowing him to temporarily manage the palace affairs as the heir. Therefore, even though he is not very old now, he has the final say on major matters in the palace.

By the way, this time Wang Yu paid a total of 50,000 taels of silver in rice rations to the Xingwang Palace, which basically made up for all the rice rations owed to the Xingwang Palace by Anlu Prefecture over the years.

The large silver ingots worth fifty thousand taels were all bright white like snow, and when stacked together, they were indeed dazzling.

Zhu Houcong's pupils also became brighter, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

My money!
It's all my money!
Although it was only 50,000 taels of silver, it was already a huge sum of money in an era when ordinary people only spent five or six taels a year.

However, Zhu Houcong appeared to be very calm and did not actually shout out what was in his mind.

After all, he is not the emperor yet, so he cannot directly call himself "I" or show that he is too greedy for money.

Zhu Houcong just put his hands behind his back and nodded, just like when he went to inspect the streets and communities in his previous life, and said to Yuan Zonggao:

"Since all the unpaid rice in previous years has been repaid, and the royal palace has limited expenses now, and last year a disaster almost turned Anlu Prefecture into a swamp, the tenants in the country suffered heavy losses."

"Then issue a royal decree to reduce the rent for this year by half! And starting next year, the rent for tenants in the country will be permanently reduced by 10%."

After Zhu Houcong said this, Yuan Zonggao and the civil and military officials present in the palace all showed joy on their faces.

(End of this chapter)