Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 38 says! Why is there so much silver!
Wang Shu hurriedly ran to the steps and knelt down in front of Zhu Youtang.

"Your Majesty, I am Wang Shu, your humble servant, and I am late in arriving in the capital. Please forgive me."

Wang Shu just arrived in Beijing this morning.

A few days ago, after Wang Shu received the appointment imperial edict from Zhu Youtang in Nanzhili, he began to prepare to go to Beijing.

It’s just that Wang Shu is old, he is 82 years old this year.

In addition, he had a large family with him, so his entry into Beijing was not fast, and he only arrived this morning.

Upon hearing that today was a court meeting, Wang Shu did not even return to his residence in the capital. He changed into his official uniform in the carriage and rushed to the palace.

It just happened to happen that he ran into the scene where Zhu Youtang ordered the execution of 181 officials.

Wang Shu served as an official for more than 40 years, except for the time when Emperor Yingzong of the Tianshun period purged court officials and border generals who colluded with internal and external forces during the Battle of Tumu.

It has never been seen before that nearly two hundred officials were executed at one time.

Wang Shu was afraid of causing a panic among officials to retire, so he spoke out to dissuade them.

He didn't know that the wave of officials resigning in panic had already passed.

Even if the remaining officials were given a hundred times the courage, they would not dare to shout in front of Zhu Youtang that they wanted to retire.

Zhu Youtang looked at Wang Shu indifferently with a calm tone.

"Get up."

"My dear Lord Wang, you have just arrived in the capital and you have already rushed to the court. This is really not easy. I hereby grant you a vindication."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Wang Shu kowtowed again and then slowly stood up.

"Your Majesty, a ruler must have a benevolent heart and act justly, only then can he bring peace to the world and the people."

"Even if an official is at fault, he must be referred to the three judicial departments for trial, the Dali Temple will decide on the sentence, and the Ministry of Justice will carry out the execution."

"Each official must be carefully interrogated and sentenced with caution. How can we execute nearly 200 officials at once?"

"If Your Majesty acts arbitrarily and punishes officials at will, it may harm the foundation of the country."

Wang Shu was worthy of his more than 40 years of ups and downs in the officialdom. As soon as he opened his mouth, he spoke a lot of great justice, which made all the officials in the court secretly excited.

Liu Jian breathed a sigh of relief, he was right about the person.

Wang Shu, the old minister, was indeed very good at speaking. He stunned His Majesty with his reasoning right from the start.

With him in charge of the cabinet, the cabinet finally had the ability to compete with Zhu Youtang.

Zhu Youtang didn't listen to Wang Shu's words at all. He just asked, "My dear Wang, do you know what these people have done wrong?"

Wang Shu didn't know the inside story, so when asked, he could only bow his head and say, "I... don't know."

"What a fool! You don't know anything, yet you dare to plead for them?"

"Your Majesty, I am only following the Ming Dynasty's criminal law and the way of governing the country..."

"Stop talking to me about how to govern a country!"

Zhu Youtang interrupted Wang Shu with a wave of his hand: "Wang Zhi, read to Minister Wang what they did!"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Wang Zhi nodded, took out the account book of the Western Factory from his arms and read it aloud.

"The Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, the Chief Minister of the Cabinet, Wan'an, seized a total of 196,000 taels of silver, 8,500 acres of land deeds, and 94 boxes of other valuables from his home."

"The cabinet minister Liu Wei, a total of 75,000 taels of silver, 1,900 acres of land deeds, and 26 boxes of other valuables were seized from his home."

"Liu Ji, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, seized a total of 48,000 taels of silver, 1,600 acres of land deeds, and 20 boxes of other valuables from his home."

"Minister of Revenue Ye Qi, a total of 134,000 taels of silver, 6,200 acres of land deeds, and 53 boxes of other valuables were seized from his home,"

"..."

Zhu Youtang stretched out his hand and Wang Zhi stopped immediately.

Zhu Youtang stared at Wang Shu and said sternly, "Tell me! Why was I able to seize so much silver from their house?! So many land deeds?!"

"This is only their property in the capital. I haven't had time to check their hometown yet!" "This..." Wang Shu broke out in a cold sweat.

He didn't know that Zhu Youtang would act so quickly, ransacking his house before coming to question him.

Isn't this putting the cart before the horse and confusing cause and effect?

But this method is the most effective!

Faced with the real silver deed, even Wang Shu, who was eloquent, could not make sense of it.

According to the salary stipulated by Emperor Taizu, the annual salary of a Shangshu of the second rank was 732 dan of rice, which was equivalent to about 500 taels of silver.

The annual salary of a fifth-rank cabinet minister was only 192 dan of rice, which was equivalent to about 120 taels of silver.

Even during the Three Yangs period, Yang Shiqi, then Prime Minister of the Cabinet, secretly raised the salaries of all officials.

The amount of silver a second-rank minister receives each year will not exceed 600 taels.

The amount of silver that a fifth-rank cabinet minister receives each year will not exceed 150 taels.

Everyone says that the salaries in the Ming Dynasty were low, but in fact they were not.

Some people like to use the purchasing power of one tael of silver for grain at that time to compare the price of modern grain and find out how much one tael of silver is worth.

In other words, one tael of silver is about eight hundred yuan.

But this is complete bullshit!
Are ancient grains and modern grains comparable?

After research and improvement by Yuan Guoshi and other scientists, modern grain has achieved a hybrid rice yield of 2,400 kilograms per mu!
In ancient times, the rice yield per mu was less than 500 kilograms.

Moreover, the arable area is completely incomparable.

Modern my country can produce 13908 billion jin of grain every year, while the Ming Dynasty could produce about 1500 billion jin of grain every year.

In addition, my country has to import a large amount of foreign grain every year, so the gap is more than ten times.

Food was a big problem for the people in the Ming Dynasty. Grain could be used as a general equivalent and was completely incomparable with modern grain.

Based on the various prices of goods in the Ming Dynasty, a simple and rough conversion was made.

The purchasing power of one tael of silver is actually roughly equivalent to ten thousand yuan today.

A second-rank official earns six million a year, which is really not low.

Officials in the early Ming Dynasty were poor because Emperor Hongwu did not provide them with enough rice when paying their salaries.

Only about 40% of the rice allowance could be obtained, and the rest was converted into banknotes, cloth, or salt and tea.

But during the reign of Emperor Yingzong, all officials received discounted silver in addition to their rice salary.

Officials in the middle and late Ming Dynasty all received their full salaries in real money.

Moreover, the salaries were not low. They were so high that later emperors, such as Emperor Shizong and Emperor Shenzong, wanted to cut officials' salaries.

Judging from the salaries of these officials, even if they worked for a hundred years in the Ming Dynasty, they would not be able to receive so much silver!
What’s more, there are thousands and tens of thousands of acres of fertile land!
Zhu Youtang stared at Wang Shu and said in a bad tone: "Speak, Minister Wang, are you mute?"

Wang Shu secretly wiped the sweat from his forehead: "In this case, according to the ancestral system, we should also..."

"According to the ancestral system?" Zhu Youtang sneered.

"According to the ancestral system, according to the Great Ming Code, officials who accept bribes and violate the law will be punished with 70 strokes of the cane if they have less than one tael, and will be strangled if they have more than eighty taels."

"I sentenced them to death, is there a problem?!"

Wang Shu lowered his head and whispered, "No... no problem, but..."

"There's nothing left to be desired!"

Zhu Youtang stared at Wang Shu and gave him one last chance.

"Minister Wang, go back to your seat."

Wang Shu moved his mouth and finally sighed.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

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(End of this chapter)