Inside the Palace of Heavenly Purity.
After seeing the others leave, Fan Jingwen said to Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, Fang Yuegong sent me a letter."
"Oh?" Chongzhen was a little surprised when he heard the name of the former Minister of Finance. "He wants to ask you something?"
"It's not a request, it's an inquiry."
"What?"
"After hearing that he had resigned and returned to his hometown, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince sent people to invite him to give lectures in Nanjing. Fang Yuegong refused several times, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince kept sending people to invite him. Fang Yuegong was a little stubborn, so he wrote to me to ask for my opinion." Fan Jingwen said.
Chongzhen narrowed his eyes and thought about it.
It was definitely not the prince's idea to ask Fang Yuegong to give lectures to him.
He doesn't have the foresight nor the awareness.
If nothing unexpected happens, it should be Ni Yuanlu's idea.
Ni Yuanlu was not only an excellent calligrapher, but also a first-rate intellectual.
There is a deeper meaning behind inviting Fang Yuegong to teach the prince.
In the eyes of others, although Fang Yuegong was forced to resign and return home, the royal family did not abandon him. Instead, the crown prince stepped forward to allow him to continue to display his abilities.
This not only saved Fang Yuegong's face, but also demonstrated the royal family's kindness.
This plan is indeed very clever.
Fang Yuegong is also experienced enough.
If he directly agreed to the prince, he would definitely be impeached.
There was only one reason for the impeachment: Fang Yuegong voluntarily resigned from his post, indicating that he would not serve the emperor. But he turned around and joined the prince, serving him.
To put it simply, this matter was a matter between the emperor and his subjects; to put it more broadly, it indicated that Chongzhen would die sooner rather than later.
After all, only after Chongzhen's death can the prince ascend the throne, and only those under the prince's command will be in power!
Fang Yuegong is very experienced.
He refused several times at first, but when he had no other choice, he took the opportunity to ask Fan Jingwen for advice and ask Chongzhen for advice.
Fan Jingwen was more experienced. After he understood Fang Yuegong's meaning, he immediately told Chongzhen about the matter in the name of private matter.
After thinking about it, Chongzhen asked Fan Jingwen: "Since this is a private matter, Lord Fan can make the decision on his own. Why ask me?"
"Your Majesty is the ruler of a country, and you should know about this."
"I already know that the Crown Prince asked Fang Yuegong to give him lectures. Whether he goes or not is Fang Yuegong's private matter. I will not interfere."
"The prince is the heir apparent to the throne. Giving lectures to the prince is a private matter for Fang Yuegong, but it is a major state affair for the Ming Dynasty, so your majesty needs to make the final decision." Fan Jingwen said without leaving out a single mistake.
No one knows what consequences will arise after Fang Yuegong comes to the prince's side.
If it's a good thing, everyone is happy.
If it's a bad thing, he will leave evidence.
So be careful.
Chongzhen was amused by Fan Jingwen's caution. He said with a smile: "Since the prince thinks Fang Yuegong can give him lectures, then let Fang Yuegong give the lectures."
"I obey your order." Fan Jingwen said goodbye.
After he left, the Minister of Revenue Xie Sanbin returned.
The king and his minister looked at each other, and then there was a long silence...
Xie Sanbin knew what Chongzhen was thinking.
Chongzhen knew that Xie Sanbin knew what he was thinking.
There's no need for the two of them to say polite nonsense, just get straight to the point.
After a long while, Xie Sanbin coughed softly: "Ahem, Your Majesty."
"Is there anything Minister Xie needs?" Chongzhen asked knowingly.
Xie Sanbin was speechless.
It was Chongzhen who asked him to come, and after he arrived he asked him if he had anything to do.
This is too bullying.
But the other party was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, so Xie Sanbin did not dare to complain and had to say honestly: "Your Majesty, the progress of the currency reform is much faster than before, but the progress of Fujian Province is still as slow as before. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is stagnant."
Before Chongzhen got angry, Xie Sanbin immediately continued, "The salt inspection is going very smoothly, and in order to replenish the national treasury, I plan to collect next year's salt tax from salt merchants in advance. In this way, the silver can be delivered to the capital at the beginning of next year, and the national treasury will no longer be short of money in the first half of the year."
"Wait," Chongzhen frowned, "Although salt merchants are businessmen, they are also citizens of the Ming Dynasty! I have repeatedly ordered that local governments should not collect taxes from the people in advance! The taxes here include not only taxes, but also salt taxes, commercial taxes, mining taxes, and miscellaneous taxes."
"As a cabinet minister and the Minister of Revenue, how could you knowingly commit such a crime?"
"Your Majesty, please calm down," Xie Sanbin began to explain, "I did not force the salt merchants to pay taxes in advance, but asked them to pay taxes in advance voluntarily."
voluntary?
Chongzhen became even angrier.
In his opinion, forced ≠ voluntary.
But voluntary does not necessarily mean forced.
He hated volunteering the most in his life.
Seeing that Chongzhen's expression was becoming increasingly ugly, Xie Sanbin began to panic.
He swallowed his saliva and continued to explain: "The reason why I asked the salt merchants to voluntarily pay taxes in advance is mainly related to the sale of official positions."
"Go on." Chongzhen regained his previous calm.
Although the news of selling official positions had been passed down long ago, no one has bought an official position so far.
First, no government office or official is willing to take charge of this matter!
Logically speaking, the Ministry of Personnel should be responsible for this matter, but the Ministry of Personnel pushed it to the Ministry of Rites for various reasons, and the Ministry of Rites pushed it to the Ministry of Revenue.
Although Xie Sanbin's Ministry of Revenue wanted to take charge of this matter, the procedures and processes for appointing officials were the responsibility of the Ministry of Personnel.
He had no way of intervening.
This back-and-forth not only delayed the sale of official positions, but also affected the treasury's revenue.
The main reason for this is that the officials of the six ministries are all from the official imperial examination background and have been educated through education.
Nowadays, one can become an official by spending money, which is an insult to scholars.
Therefore, they were extremely averse to the idea of buying official positions with money, and so they came up with various ways to deal with it passively.
Neither the Ministry of Personnel nor the Ministry of Rites was willing to undertake the sale of official positions.
Without the government offices and officials to handle the matter, selling official positions would naturally be impossible.
Even if Chongzhen forcibly designated the Ministry of Personnel to be responsible, they would still find other ways to hinder it.
"Another reason why no one buys official positions is that wealthy businessmen and gentry dare not buy them. They are afraid that the money they spend will be wasted, so the sale of official positions has come to a standstill." Xie Sanbin continued to explain the situation.
"Minister Xie should have a solution, right?" Chongzhen asked.
"Your Majesty, my strategy is to break the situation first and then expand the scope!" Xie Sanbin was a little excited. "If we talk about who is rich, it must be the salt merchants from all over the country! But no matter how rich they are, they cannot legally expand their houses, use slaves, or even build ancestral tombs. So from these points of view, they must have the need to buy officials."
"Right now, the Salt Inspector Song Quan is inspecting the salt industry in Nanzhili! As the saying goes, scarcity makes things valuable. What I mean is that this year, only five to ten quotas for buying officials will be set up in Nanzhili, and Song Quan will have full authority to handle them. Any salt merchant who pays next year's salt tax in advance will be eligible to buy an official. Then all qualified people will bid for these quotas at the same time, and the one who offers the best price will win."
"What rank is the official position being bought and sold? How much does each position cost?" Chongzhen asked.
"We have both sixth-rank and seventh-rank officials! The lowest price for a seventh-rank official is five thousand taels of silver, and the lowest price for a sixth-rank official is eight thousand taels of silver, with no upper limit."
"Since it was a nominal position, after winning the position, the Nanzhili Ministry of Personnel directly issued the official uniform and registered the official, but did not recruit the person."
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