Yinzhen: "How many people have repaid their debts?"
"Your Majesty, the lineage of Suo'etu, the lineage of Lord Mingzhu, the lineage of the Fuca clan... these are the ones that are still in debt for the time being."
Yinzhen listened for a moment. Most of the people on these lists were people he had dealt with in recent years. Knowing his temperament, he knew that if Yinzhen intended to collect the debt, he would definitely succeed.
They were scared, and their family wasn't really so poor they couldn't afford to eat, so they paid back what they could, hoping to leave a good impression on him.
The approach may seem somewhat timid, but it is undeniably a smart one.
Yinzhen would definitely demand a harsher attitude from the first group of people who returned the money, making them spit out the money they had taken; he couldn't just leave them without any response.
"Liang Jiugong, if any of the younger generation becomes successful in the future, remind me." I always need to give them some benefits, but the premise is that they must really have the ability.
Seeing that they were sensible, Yinzhen decided to pay more attention to the younger generation in their families.
After giving the order, Yinzhen thought for a moment and then remembered that there seemed to be a few families who had returned the money who were still able to make a living. So he issued another imperial edict to transfer some of their money to higher levels.
Yinzhen handled this matter clearly. Anyone could see that the Emperor was indicating that the money should be returned quickly, and if it was returned early, there might even be some benefits.
As for what will happen if the repayment is late or not at all, it's really hard to say.
Because of this incident, some people who were still relatively clear-headed saw the consequences and repaid the debt.
Ten days or so passed, and five or six million taels of silver were repaid in installments. The numbers looked good, but Yinzhen knew that this was less than a quarter of the total.
Borrowing 200,000 to 300,000 taels like Suo'etu was considered timid; those with more courage borrowed as much as 700,000 to 800,000 taels in total.
There aren't many people with that kind of courage, but there are a few who are willing to repay.
The remaining ones borrowed 500,000 to 600,000 taels, and so on down the line.
Including the debts from the Shunzhi era, the total amount is approximately 30 million taels, most of which are borrowed but never repaid, with varying amounts borrowed.
Yinzhen ordered an investigation and discovered that many families that had borrowed money had fallen into decline. Apart from renting houses and land, they had nothing else. Their family members were not only unambitious but also extravagant and wasteful, concerned with saving face. When they didn't have enough money, they would borrow from the national treasury and squander it.
There weren't many families like that; they were mostly descendants of meritorious officials. Otherwise, they wouldn't dare ask the Ministry of Revenue for money after their families had fallen on hard times, and the Ministry of Revenue didn't lend money to just anyone.
Yinzhen checked the records and then had someone sort them out. If a family was truly in financial difficulty and the loan was for urgent use, he would send someone to their home to set a repayment date. He wasn't truly heartless.
However, the premise is that these people cannot borrow more than 10,000 taels of silver, since 10,000 taels is enough for expenses if they do not spend extravagantly.
Furthermore, we investigated several families that did not engage in production and semi-forced them to return the silver. If it was not enough, we gave them a specified period to make up the difference later. They had the ability to borrow silver and had a reason to do so. They didn't work but still wanted to live a life of wealth. They were just daydreaming!
Based on his temperament in his previous life, such a family would have been raided and their property confiscated. In this life, however, he has come to understand many things: confiscating property is useless and only earns him a reputation for being ruthless and heartless.
He ordered people to investigate the family for money. Not only that, he also had it published in the newspapers so that the people would know how difficult it was for him to be the emperor. He said that lending money was a good intention, but the people were squandering the money in the national treasury.
With this kind of propaganda, the common people did feel quite sympathetic towards Emperor Yinzhen, thinking he was too benevolent. The world belonged to His Majesty the Emperor, and to put it bluntly, in ancient times there were no human rights. The emperor had the right to decide the life and death of the people.
These officials are the emperor's lackeys. Emperor Yinzhen, out of compassion for his subjects, allowed them to borrow money from the national treasury for emergency relief. But instead, they took the emperor's money and acted like spoiled brats.
Ordinary people don't know about the finer things and dignity of the powerful and wealthy. They only know that being well-fed and clothed is the most important thing in life. When they hear about amounts of tens or hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, they naturally feel sorry for the emperor.
Some even said that the emperor was too benevolent; if it were an ordinary family, they would certainly not have been spared if such a bold servant had appeared.
Moreover, thanks to the effective publicity in the newspapers, Yinzhen's reputation among the people became even more prominent, with everyone saying that the emperor was benevolent and compassionate towards the people.
A portion of the silver in the national treasury comes from taxes paid by the people. In a sense, the money that court officials owe to the national treasury is also a debt owed to the people for their hard work.
The money in the national treasury is taken from the people and must be used for the people.
Emperor Yinzhen's reputation grew amidst popular clamor. Most scholars, before entering officialdom, possessed a certain youthful spirit, having learned the principles of "receiving the emperor's salary and bearing the emperor's worries."
Just like now, regardless of family background, when students are students, they always think about the wise sayings in books. Although these things may not be applicable to life, most of them are deeply believed in when they are students.
For a time, Yinzhen gained a good reputation among scholars.
Of course, there are also scions of prominent families who have been exposed to this knowledge since childhood and know the key points. However, these key points are things that cannot be spoken aloud. If they were to be explained clearly, they might be criticized in articles!
Scholars value a good reputation, and the importance of reputation is self-evident. No matter how corrupt one's inner self may be, one must still maintain the integrity of a scholar on the surface, otherwise one can expect to be scolded and criticized!
Ten days or so later, under pressure, people started to repay their debts one after another. Yinzhen ordered people to check the list of the remaining debtors who had not yet repaid their debts. He found that they were either too poor to repay or were officials who had been sent to other places for work.
Officials sent to local areas are not necessarily better than those in the capital. While officials in the capital may seem more prestigious, in reality, many officials sent to local areas can govern a region effectively. If they are bold enough, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them local tyrants.
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