"Your Majesty, what is this?" Qian Qianyi asked.
"This is the method that zhen thought of to raise money to suppress the thieves.
This bond is worth 100,000 taels of silver. Anyone who buys the bond will have to pay 600 taels of silver in interest every year for five years.
Five years later, the court would pay interest of 1,500 taels a year.
The more they bought, the higher the interest rate the court would pay.
Buying more than 10 million taels of silver, not only could he obtain better interest, but he could also be conferred a noble title.
Fifty years later, the imperial court took back the bonds and returned the principal.”
After listening to Zhu Youjian's explanation of this " bond," Qian Qianyi and Shi Kefa frowned.
"My dear ministers, if there's anything wrong, say it.”
"Your Majesty, these bonds have a huge face value. Those who can buy them are either rich or noble.
Although this interest was indeed very high, in this chaotic world, who dared to show off their wealth?”
Qian Qianyi said it very tactfully. What he meant was: This bond is your promise to the buyer.
If Big Ming was gone, not to mention interest, there would be no principal. In the current situation, how many ministers and wealthy families still had confidence in Great Ming?
"This, Qian Qing need not worry, Zhen has a way.”
Zhu Youjian smiled and shouted at the door,""Lu Tongzhi, come in."
As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Xuan, who was summoned by Zhu Youjian, walked in.
"My two beloved ministers, this is the current commander of the Jinyiwei, Lu Xuan. He is also Zhen's subordinate.”
In this place, anyone would not feel comfortable seeing the Brocade Guard.
"Oh! So it was Lu Tongzhi. Aiya, nice to meet you!”
Qian Qianyi cupped his fists and bowed, while Shi Kefa only cupped his hands. There was some fear in their eyes.
Lu Xuan did not mind. He cupped his fists and returned the greeting with a smile.
"Minister Lu, have you done the things I asked you to do in the past few days?”
"Your Majesty, there are a total of 241 officials above the sixth rank in the capital. We have already found out about their properties, land, businesses, and all kinds of bad deeds.
The officials in Yingtian Prefecture were also included in the statistics. The wealth that these people gathered was huge.”
Zhu Youjian smiled." Minister Lu, you have done well. Every single one of these ministers is richer than me."
Haha, Qian Qing, I heard that your Crimson Cloud Pavilion is not only exquisite, but also has a rich collection of books. It's famous in the southeast and can almost be compared to the inner mansion.”
Her words made Qian Qianyi sweat profusely.
"Your Majesty! That is my ancestral property, I am not corrupt!”
"Haha, Qian Qing, did I say you were corrupt? I believe you,
However, recently, a great war was imminent, and countless hungry people were waiting to be fed. I want you to buy 300,000 bandit extermination bonds, okay?”
After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, the corners of his mouth revealed an evil smile.
"Alright, Your Majesty. I'll buy 300,000 taels of national debt!”Qian Qianyi's heart was bleeding.
"Qian Qing doesn't know that on the day Li Zicheng besieged the city, Zhou Kui donated 560,000 silver.
For this, I even specially rewarded him with a plaque.”
The two of them finally understood why Zhu Youjian didn't let him worry that no one would buy the bonds.
Zhu Youjian prepared two glasses of wine for all the ministers.
The first cup was a toast. If they were obedient, there would be a prize. Everyone would be happy.
There was also a glass of wine that was a punishment drink. Even if he didn't drink it, he had to drink it. If he drank it, he would lose face.
As the saying went, a wise man would adapt to the times. These ministers in the court could be said to be the wise among the wise.
Who would take an egg and hit it on a rock? The Imperial Jail of the Jinyiwei was not a good place.
As for Zhou Kui, Zhu Youjian had given him over 500,000 taels of silver as bonds, all because of Empress Zhou.
After Qian Qianyi and Shi Kefa left, Lu Xuan stayed in the back hall of the Profound Language Pavilion. He had a question to ask Zhu Youjian.
"Your Majesty, Shi Kefa has a good way of governing the country and is loyal. There was nothing wrong with him entering the Military and Political Affairs Office.
However, this Qian Qianyi was timid and afraid of trouble. He took credit and blamed others. When he was in Jiangnan, he complained about the court all day long. Why did the Emperor still recruit this person into the Military and Political Affairs Office?”
"Do you know this person's true identity, Minister Lu?" Zhu Youjian asked with a smile.”
"Of course, this person is from the Donglin Party, and the leader of the Donglin Party.”
Zhu Youjian smiled again and said,"That's why I put Qian Qianyi in an important position."”
Lu Xuan was enlightened. He was very smart and immediately understood Zhu Youjian's next step.
The Emperor used the Donglin Party to control the government, but he also had to suppress them appropriately.
Therefore, Qian Qianyi, who was talented but experienced, was the best candidate.
If it was a powerful person, there might be a fight for the throne.
Now, the Military and Political Affairs Office was directly managed by the Emperor, and the ministers who entered the office were directly selected by the Emperor. The cabinet was practically empty.
In the future, the Donglin Party would lose its advantage in the cabinet and its political power would be weakened.
In the end, this political game of Ming would reach a balance point.
"Minister Lu, tomorrow you will follow me to the palace. We will see if these officials have any eyes.
If the minister who resisted the strictest in the main hall still has money left in his family, that night, you will kill him."
"I understand."
On the second day of court, when the officials heard Zhu Youjian promoting his bandit extermination bonds, their faces all turned pale. They knew that the Emperor wanted them to express their stance.
With the precedent of Chen Yan, Wei Zaode, Zhang Jinyan, and the others at the court meeting, who would dare not to buy bonds?
But even so, most people only bought 100,000 taels. A few hundred people had gathered a total of less than eight million taels, which made Zhu Youjian a little angry.
"Everyone, when I asked everyone to donate previously, all of you added up to only ten thousand taels of silver.
"Now, you're finally willing to share the burden of the country. However, these few million taels of silver are only a drop in the ocean compared to the wealth you have.”
"Liu Guangye, the Left Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, you have several pawn shops in the capital, right?
During times of war, commoners went to your pawnshop a lot to buy food, right? These pawnshops make a profit of 300,000 yuan in a month.”
"Lord Sun Dekai of the Ministry of Justice, who is this Sun Dexing to you?
Last year, the Bureau of Military Personnel had purchased 600,000 taels of cloth, shoes, and socks from Sun Dexing.
Oh, right, Lord Li, who is in charge of buying these things, heard that you went out to buy fodder. Do you want to report the amount of fodder and silver?”
With that, dark clouds gathered above the Golden Palace Hall, and the air froze.
All the ministers were either sweating or trembling, holding wooden boards in front of them.
The few people mentioned earlier had already collapsed to the ground because they saw Lu Xuan, who was beside the Emperor, smiling coldly at them.
They all knew that the gates of the Imperial Jail had already been opened.
"Your Majesty, please spare my life!"
"Your Majesty, I know I was wrong. I am willing to donate all my family property to the national treasury.”
"Your Majesty, I'm also willing! I'm willing too!"
The three of them knelt on the ground and kowtowed, blood flowing out.
None of the officials dared to plead for mercy on their behalf. They had thought that the Emperor had already let bygones be bygones and that their future would be better.
However, he did not expect that this emperor was also someone who was not as good as sand in his eyes.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。