Looking at the fat figure of Second Qi, Pi Gan smiled. He stood up and stretched his body. Pi Gan felt that his body was about to rust. This time, he had something to do.
For all the officials of the Daming Dynasty, Shandong was definitely a fire pit.
However, this fire pit was filled with dry firewood, which hadn't been ignited yet.
Once it was ignited, the people in the fire pit would definitely be burned to ashes.
As a result, everyone avoided what was happening in Shandong.
Other people could avoid it, but Wang Xijue couldn't. This newly promoted Grand Secretary of the Cabinet finally arrived in Jinan after a long journey.
For the officials in Shandong, Wang Xijue's identity as an imperial envoy was nothing. After all, he was here to investigate the Kong Family. However, he was not only an imperial envoy, but also a newly promoted Grand Secretary of the Cabinet.
Everyone in the Daming Dynasty knew about the three Cabinet Elders. No one dared to look down on Wang Xijue.
Inspector Wang Zongmu, who had been bedridden for many days, came to greet him. However, Inspector Wang didn't look very well. His face was a little pale, and he was supported by someone. It seemed that he would fall if he was not careful.
Although it was hard for Wang Zongmu to pretend, he still had to pretend. Shandong was in big trouble.
First, it was the Imperial Bodyguard, then the Eunuch Camp in the capital, and now the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet. When did Shandong attract the attention of the imperial court?
Wang Zongmu's mind was like a mirror. He was afraid that the things in Shandong had accumulated to the top.
Since the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet was here, there had to be an explanation. He couldn't let the Prime Minister of the Cabinet or the Emperor come here.
In this kind of situation, pretending to be sick was definitely the best choice. Wang Zongmu made up his mind to pretend to be sick to the end.
Wang Xijue didn't want to get involved in the things in Shandong. He knew his own situation very well. His way was to open the borders.
Only by opening the borders could he gain a firm foothold in the Cabinet.
Only by opening the borders could he leave his name in the annals of history.
Compared with opening the borders, Wang Xijue didn't care about the things in Shandong at all.
If the Emperor hadn't asked him to come, Wang Xijue wouldn't have wanted to come. As for the local officials in Shandong, he didn't want to care about them.
"My lords, my lord asked me to deliver a message!"
Wang Xijue's attendant came to Wang Zongmu and the others. With a smile on his face, he said, "My master came to Shandong on a mission, not to patrol the land of Shandong."
"We will accept your hospitality and goodwill, but there is no need for us to meet. Please return!"
The officials in Shandong looked at the attendants who had turned around and left. They stared at each other. Although some of them were dissatisfied, they wouldn't say it out loud. Instead, there were a lot of flattery, such as Cabinet Elder Wang.
Wang Zongmu looked at the group of imperial envoys circling around the city and a smile appeared on his lips. He sighed in his heart. This Pavilion Elder Wang was also a smart person!
At the moment, the officials in Shandong were also very annoyed. It was their dereliction of duty to clear out so many hidden lands. It was unknown whether the imperial court would pursue this matter or not.
If they really wanted to pursue this matter, there were too many people involved.
If they really did it, this would be a major corruption case, and they were all scared to death.
The reason why Wang Zongmu pretended to be sick was so that he wouldn't be held up by the officials in Shandong. Obviously, this Pavilion Elder Wang also saw through this.
If he entered the Jinan Prefecture, it was estimated that the officials in the Jinan Prefecture would hold him up even if they wanted to.
There would be endless things like crying and complaining in the imperial envoy's office, stopping the sedan chair to complain.
On one side was the imperial envoy, and on the other side was the Cabinet Grand Secretary.
No matter what, he didn't care about his reputation and the prestige of the scholars.
If he did, he would definitely be held up and finally pushed to the officials and gentry.
It was a wise choice to simply not see him and directly bypass the city.
Wang Zongmu breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to pat the housekeeper who was supporting him. "Okay, don't just stand there. Pavilion Elder Wang has left. Hurry up and help your master back!"
The housekeeper who was supporting Wang Zongmu nodded and then said, "My lord, why don't you faint?
We'll carry you back. "
Wang Zongmu's eyes lit up. This was really a good way to pretend to be sick. He could faint in public.
However, after thinking about it, he felt that it was inappropriate. If he fainted, a lot of memorials to impeach Pavilion Elder Wang would be sent to the court.
Things like welcoming the Pavilion Elder and fainting. It was better not to have anything happen to him during this period.
Glaring at the housekeeper, Wang Zongmu said impatiently, "Don't talk about this nonsense. Hurry up and go!"
As he said this, he walked forward first and pressed his hand on the housekeeper's arm. It seemed that the housekeeper was supporting him, but in fact, he was pulling the housekeeper.
When Wang Xijue bypassed the Jinan Prefecture, a memorial was also sent to the capital city.
In the Hall of Wenhua in the Forbidden City.
Zhu Yijun was anxious. The Cabinet Grand Secretary, the Six Ministers, the Assistant Minister, and the people of the Supreme Court and the Imperial Censorate were all present. It could be said that this was a collective meeting of the main leaders of the Daming Prefecture.
Zhu Yijun's face was gloomy, and he held a memorial in his hand.
"Look, look at this. The descendant of the Sage, the Sage's family style, such a thing actually happened."
Zhu Yijun waved the memorial and handed it to Zhang Jing, who was next to him. He said loudly, "Read it!"
Everyone was called together. At first, they were still confused. What happened to their boss? When they heard Zhu Yijun mention the Sage, they immediately understood that it was the matter of the Kong family again. However, they had already sent people to investigate.
The one who went was Wang Xijue, the new Cabinet Grand Secretary. This was enough. Who was so stupid as to send the memorial at this time?
Zhang Jing took the memorial respectfully and began to read it. The opening line was "Kong Shangqi wept blood and submitted a memorial". As soon as this was said, the officials' faces changed. It was actually the Kong family. What was going on?
As Zhang Jing read the memorial, everyone's face suddenly became even more gloomy, even as black as the bottom of a pot.
The whole memorial was about the situation. It was written in a sorrowful way. It was not an exaggeration to say that a cuckoo wept blood.
However, no one present was a fool. If what Kong Shangqi said was true, then Kong Shangqi's bloodline should probably be wiped out.
Kong Shangqi's complaint was too harsh. He was imprisoned and starved.
In such a harsh living environment, Kong Shangqi's bloodline could be passed down for more than a dozen generations and gave birth to hundreds of children.
If this was a favorable reproductive environment, how many children would you have had?
You are almost as good as the Daming Imperial Clan.
However, at this time, no one stood up to point at Kong Shangqi. No one was stupid.
The Emperor did not call everyone here for them to criticize.
They were called here. This was a unified attitude and a unified statement.
Kong Shangxian was completely defeated this time. Or it could be said that the Emperor wanted to completely overthrow Duke Yan's Residence.
They did not care about Duke Yan's Residence in Qufu in Shandong. The Emperor did not bring up the Southern Clan of the Kong family.
It was fine as long as the Divine Master Tablet was still there. As for the Kong family in Qufu, it was not important at all.
What kind of people were these big shots in the imperial court now? Many of them did not like Kong Shangxian. Back then, the matter of Kong Shangxian going to the capital to meet the Emperor to do business had spread like wildfire.
He was punished by Zhang Juzheng and went to the Ministry of Rites to complain. He had long been humiliated.
This was also because he was Duke Yan. If it were any other official, they would have been punished.
Now, the six ministries and the big shots in the cabinet basically came from that time. They still did not know what kind of person Kong Shangxian was.
In addition, this time, the Kong family took the lead in resisting the officials and the gentry. They were running wildly on the road to disaster.
When Zhang Jing finished reading the memorial, Zhu Yijun said fiercely, "Send this memorial to Wang Xijue in Qufu. Tell him to investigate it myself.
If it is found to be true! "Speaking of this, Zhu Yijun snorted coldly, flicked his sleeves, and left.
After making such a big scene, the officials were not allowed to speak from beginning to end, as if these people were just standing there and listening to orders.
However, the meaning was clear. The Emperor was making a statement, telling everyone that he was going to deal with the Kong family. No one should come out to cause trouble, and everyone should know their place.
In fact, the big shots in the imperial court did not care about the Kong family. There was a more serious matter in front of them.
In the office of the Cabinet on duty.
After sitting down, Shen Shixing sighed softly, took a sip of tea, and said helplessly, "Tell the people below not to gossip. The matter in Shandong will be decided after Cabinet Elder Wang investigates it."
Yu Youding and Pan Cheng also nodded, and then gave the order.
Shen Shixing glanced at the two of them and continued, "You two, have you read the report sent by the Ministry of Revenue?"
The two of them nodded at the same time. They looked serious, and their faces were unusually dignified.
Shen Shixing sighed, "How could this be? How could this be!"
After saying this, Shen Shixing did not speak for a long time. He picked up the report and said, "The Ministry of Revenue's Tax Bureau has sent over the tax revenue of Shun Tian Province."
"After the officials and gentry paid taxes, Shun Tian Province's tax revenue increased by eight times. Last year, it collected 670,000 taels of silver. This year, it collected 4.840,000 taels of silver. Everyone, I'm afraid this is not going to be easy for us."
In reality, before Zhang Juzheng's reforms, Daming's annual tax revenue was no more than 3.6 million taels of silver. After Zhang Juzheng's reforms, the tax revenue increased to 7 million taels of silver. This was enough to make many people jump in joy.
In recent years, the national treasury had more than 5 million taels of silver, and the grain storage was 13 million dan of silver. Many officials in the imperial court were overjoyed.
Although the war in the northwest cost a lot of money and grain, everyone was happy. After all, they destroyed Wala.
But now that the tax revenue was out, no one was happy anymore.
When the Ministry of Revenue received the report, they did not dare to delay it and directly sent it to the cabinet.
Last year's tax revenue was 670,000 taels of silver. This year, it was 4.840,000 taels of silver.
Shun Tian Province's tax revenue was actually more than half of last year's Daming's tax revenue. How much land did these gentry embezzle, and how much land did they not pay?
Although more tax was something to be happy about, this eight times was all from the gentry's mouth, and this did not include the tax revenue's fine for concealing the land.
Shen Shixing was now afraid. If the emperor knew, he would definitely explode!