Top Scholar

Chapter 562 Meetings are not as good as eating noodles

The main hall of the Supervisor of Ceremonies.

Yang Tinghe then spoke up: "While it is necessary to rectify the salt administration, the drastic measures must be measured. If we indiscriminately squeeze the salt merchants, we may force them to collude in smuggling salt, which would only lead to further losses in salt revenue. As for borrowing grain from wealthy households and not repaying it, and confiscating their property at every turn, this is like drinking poison to quench thirst and damaging the court's reputation!"

He paused, then raised his voice and said, "Since ancient times, imperial power has never been lower than that of the county-level powerful families, who are the foundation of the local area. If they are implicated and their property confiscated at will, it will only chill the hearts of the gentry and officials of the land. Who will still be loyal to the court in the future? I'm afraid that even the foundation of the local area will completely collapse, leading to the downfall of the country!"

"Upon closer examination, Grand Secretary Jiao's plan does indeed harbor many hidden dangers... Grand Secretary Yuan and Grand Secretary Yang have already detailed its harms, so I will not elaborate further," Wang Ao echoed in a deep voice.
"I just want to say one thing: Mencius said, 'Governing is not difficult; one must not offend the powerful.' If it is only vagrants and bandits causing trouble, it will not harm the foundation of the country. We can still rely on salt merchants and wealthy households to quell them. But if we push the salt merchants and wealthy households too far and they rebel with the bandits, then it will truly lead to the destruction of the country!"

He paused, then said in a deep voice, "Don't forget what the Prince of Chuyang, Zhang Shicheng, and Xu Shouhui originally did..."

The three scholars each emphasized different points in their speeches, but all pointed directly to the flaws in Jiao Fang's plan. Liu Jin, upon hearing this, indeed showed a hesitant expression.

"Anyone can find fault, right? Why don't you share your brilliant insights?" Jiao Fang scoffed dismissively.

Ma Yongcheng, Wei Bin, and others echoed, "Yes, since you gentlemen have objections, why don't you also offer a plan?"

Yang Tinghe then recounted the old system in a baritone voice: "In the early years, the court implemented the Open Market System, which allowed merchants to cultivate land in the border areas and supply the military with the harvested grain. This was convenient for both officials and civilians and quite effective. However, during the Hongzhi era, Ye Sinong changed the old system, requiring merchants to pay silver instead of rice. The silver was deposited with the Transport Office and then distributed to the border areas by the Taicang. Although this measure greatly increased the silver reserves in the Taicang for a time, it also led to many salt merchants in the border areas moving their families inland. The merchant settlements quickly disintegrated, greatly increasing the pressure on the Taicang and ultimately leading to the current predicament."

"Therefore, I request the court to summon the salt merchants, restart the salt distribution system, and restore the old system of merchant-run garrisons. At the same time, we should reorganize the military garrisons, encourage agriculture and sericulture, and enable the border towns to gradually achieve self-sufficiency in grain and fodder, thereby easing the pressure on the capital's grain and treasury transport," Yang Tinghe said.

"Your method isn't very good either. By the time you get people to grow the grain, the border troops will have starved to death several times over," Jiao Fang snorted.

"We can ask the salt merchants to transport a batch of grain to the border town to relieve the immediate crisis. At worst, we can give them an extra 20% to 30% of the salt permits. With such a generous reward, there will surely be brave men!" Yang Tinghe said.

“Even if you offer double the price, it won’t be very attractive. Grain is two or three times more expensive than in normal years. Wealthy households are hoarding grain so they can buy land when the famine strikes…” Gao Feng said quietly.

A few words silenced Yang Tinghe. He had just been vehemently opposed to borrowing grain from wealthy households, so of course he couldn't force them to transport the grain.

Wang Ao quickly chimed in, "We can also think of ways to improve the canal transport. The drying up of the river and the rampant banditry are both caused by famine. If we can allocate a small amount of grain and fodder to provide relief to the prefectures and counties along the canal and stabilize local order, it may effectively reduce the losses in the canal transport."

Upon hearing this, Liu Jin looked troubled and said, "The granaries are empty right now, not even enough to feed the troops in the capital and on the border. How can we possibly provide relief? What can we possibly contribute?"

Wang Ao then fell silent, having only fulfilled his duty to speak. Did he really intend to offer Liu Jin any advice?

In fact, Yang Tinghe was in the same boat. If Liu Jin had returned power to the cabinet, his methods might have worked...

Now only Li Dongyang was left without a solution. Liu Jin stared at him intently, almost pleading, "In the old days, it was said that 'Li Gong planned, Liu Gong made the decisions.' Please, Master Yuan, think of a useful method!"

Li Dongyang remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking: "I believe that we can temporarily abolish redundant institutions and idle craftsmen in the capital, reduce salary expenditures, and also ask Your Majesty to temporarily reduce palace expenses and stop projects such as the Leopard House. This should save some grain and money to relieve the immediate crisis."

However, Liu Jin's expression grew increasingly grim after hearing this.

Li Dongyang's words seemed feasible, but in fact they violated a huge taboo—the reduction of the number of artisans was related to the supply of the inner palace, and it was absurd to advise His Majesty to reduce spending!
Don't you know that no matter how hard things are, the emperor shouldn't suffer?

Seeing this, Gao Feng quickly tried to smooth things over: "What you said, Elder Yuan, is not without reason, but how can we bear it? We, as your subjects, have not governed the country well, nor have we addressed the problems ourselves, yet we are thinking of reducing the Emperor's expenses? Isn't this going against the will of Heaven?"

“It’s not about reducing the Emperor’s expenses, it’s about reducing the expenses of the palace. These are two different things!” Yang Tinghe frowned.

Just as civil officials couldn't tolerate the interests of the gentry, eunuchs couldn't tolerate the expenses of the palace. It can only be said that one's position determines one's words; whichever side one sits on, that's the side one speaks for.

The meeting lasted from afternoon until nightfall. Everyone came up with all the ideas they could think of, but both sides stuck to their own opinions, with one side opposing the other. The discussion went on and on without reaching a conclusion.

Liu Jin was already exhausted from listening. He waved his hand and said angrily, "Meeting adjourned! Go back and think it over. We'll discuss countermeasures again in three days. If we still can't come up with a usable solution, everyone will be punished for dereliction of duty and fined rice!"

"Yes..." Everyone got up to take their leave and went home to prepare rice.

~~
After the meeting, Liu Jin kept Jiao Fang, his old friend, behind. The two ate noodles with soybean paste and had a private chat.

"Your Majesty, you've figured it out, haven't you? Whether it's collecting back taxes, reforming the salt administration, or borrowing from wealthy households, those people are secretly resisting." Jiao Fang said resentfully, scooping up a large spoonful of fried sauce.

"If even the Grand Secretary, who should be working for the country, is like this, let alone the local tyrants and bullies, we must strike hard!"

“The local areas are not like the capital; their influence is deeply entrenched and vast.” Liu Jin sighed helplessly, holding his bowl of noodles.

"Don't be fooled by these officials. They may be well-behaved in the capital, but their cronies, fellow villagers, protégés, and former subordinates in the provinces have plenty of ways to deal with the people we send down."

He pushed the bowl outwards, gesturing to Jiao Fang not to ignore others and to give herself a spoonful too. Then, feeling annoyed, he said:
"Their most common tactic is to win people over and corrupt them. They can always drag our family members down with them in the shortest amount of time and turn them into their protectors and accomplices... The eunuchs they send down get married one by one within a few days, some even marrying several wives. You tell me, what good are they? What good are those women?"

"Pfft..." Jiao Fang almost spat out noodles from her nose.

"Stop laughing, we're talking serious stuff!" Liu Jin glared at him, then said angrily:
"Of course, it's not just about using soft tactics; we're not lacking in hard-line methods either—inciting troublemakers, forcing a rebellion, or even poisoning you to make you die without knowing why. With these two paths laid out before you, anyone would choose to cooperate obediently and live a life of luxury and debauchery!"

As he spoke, Eunuch Liu took a big bite of noodles, his mouth smeared with sauce. He then shrugged the bowl and chopsticks in his hands and said:
"No wonder everyone wants to be a corrupt official. I want to be one too. It must be so comfortable to be a corrupt official! But the emperor's empire needs someone to govern it. If I don't govern, who will?"

He became increasingly aggrieved as he spoke, saying, "Everyone says our family wields immense power, but in reality, we can't even control Beizhili. At most, we're just powerful enough to control Shuntian! Otherwise, why would it be so difficult to get some money?"

Jiao Fang looked at Liu Jin as if she didn't recognize him. How come he's become so responsible after just a few months?

I don't know if it was the Emperor who forced it, or if Zhang Cai led it astray...

His eyes darted around, and he suggested, "Actually, even in Shuntian Prefecture, if you squeeze hard enough, you can get a lot of benefits out of it."

"If that's the case, why not try to find a solution from Henan?" Liu Jin rolled her eyes at him, annoyed.

"Oh no, that won't do! That's my hometown!" Jiao Fang exclaimed in her hometown dialect as she got anxious.

"You know a rabbit doesn't eat the grass near its burrow!" Liu Jin mumbled, taking a bite of garlic and a mouthful of noodles.

“My family has been in Beijing since I was a child. This is my second hometown, you know?”

"I understand." Jiao Fang nodded and started eating her noodles with garlic.

There's a reason they've been able to stay together for so many years.

Although Zhang Cai was from the same hometown as Liu Jin, he never ate garlic with his noodles, so Liu Jin had to rinse his mouth before meeting him, for fear of offending this 'Shaanxi nobleman' with his stench.

~~
The following day, the minutes of the meeting were delivered to Zhu Shou and Su Lu by Qian Ning, one of the three eunuchs of the Inner Court.

At that moment, Zhu Shou was excitedly playing with the magnifying glass that Su Lu had given him. He brought the lens to his eyes, and one eyeball was instantly magnified to twice its normal size, while the other remained at normal size, almost ruining Qian Ning's illusion.

Fortunately, Qian Qianshi had undergone special training and was able to tense his jaw muscles to suppress his laughter.

Zhu Shou then tried using the device to examine Su Lu's official robes. The smooth silk instantly revealed clear warp and weft, prompting him to exclaim in amazement, "This little thing has such a wonderful use! No wonder he is the top scholar; even a casual little invention is so interesting."

"This isn't my invention; it's just a lens from Ai Da. I had the craftsman make the prescription a little stronger," Su Lu said, then added with a veiled warning: "Remember, under no circumstances should you use it to look at the sun!"

"Oh? What will happen then?" Zhu Shou's curiosity was immediately piqued, and he immediately raised his magnifying glass to examine the sun in the sky.

"It will burn your eyes!" Su Lu snatched the magnifying glass with quick reflexes, pointed the lens at the piece of paper in his hand, focused a spot of light, and soon burned a small, shiny black hole into the paper.

"Good heavens! It has such power!" Zhu Shou was even more pleased now, clapping his hands and cheering. "With this, setting fires will be much easier when we go out on military expeditions or hunting!"

Having known Su Lu for nearly a year, the other party still manages to come up with some novel gadgets from time to time, which always makes him feel excited.

Seeing his excited expression, Su Lu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, knowing he could keep this young master in check for a few more days.

To prevent Zhu Shou from getting bored too quickly, he pretended to be mysterious and said, "This object has more uses than just this. Explore it yourself first, and I'll tell you later."

As he spoke, he took the minutes of the meeting that Qian Ning had bowed to present, casually flipped through a few pages, and couldn't help but smile:

"I'm sorry to trouble Eunuch Liu."

(End of this chapter)