Sheng Shi Merciful Light

Because of Mu Ci's acquiescence, Zhongshu Province published the news of Beirong and other four countries' application to reopen border trade in the Dibao, which was approved by Hongmen Province and the Privy Council. Emperor Deguang knew his ninth brother's plan early in the morning, so of course he would not reject it.So smoothly, the news of the re-opening of border trade was published in the mansion newspaper and distributed throughout the country, setting off a new wave of public opinion.

Under the instructions of Mu Ci, Ye Xingwei sent this mansion report to several countries further afield through the secret agent system, causing other countries to fluctuate their minds - this is a sign of Daxing's resignation, otherwise this news would be impossible Log in to Dibao.

If the four Beirong countries are allowed to reopen border trade, can other countries ask Daxing to conduct more friendly trade with themselves while Daxing is talking?

Don’t you see that the small and poor country Nanzhi, because he squeezed his own oil palms that had rotted at the foot of the tree into oil, sold them to great fortune, and made a lot of money. In the past, the king of Nanzhi and the king of Nanzhi, who used to only wear a pocket around their crotch, were good. Aristocrats are now wearing silk and jewellery, and their style has risen several levels in an instant, isn't it?

Nanzhi countries now call palm oil liquid gold. Although everyone despises that kind of complacency, who doesn't envy it?It is said that this is the way to get rich that the lucky and virtuous king of Chu found for them.So... isn't there anything in our own country that we are lucky to see?

Well, it seems that King Chu likes all kinds of plants, and Emperor Deguang dotes on this younger brother very much. It seems that we can add a few more "local specialties" varieties to the gift list for celebrating Shengshou.

……

Mu Ci got up early in the morning, Mei Rong just raised her eyelids because she was too tired...

Mu Ci was amused, kissed him and then patted his head: "Hey, sleep more and have a good rest, I'll be busy again in two days, I don't have time to rest."

Mei Rong smiled at Mu Ci in a daze, then continued to close her eyes, she would really meet Zhou Gong again.Seeing that Mu Ci wanted to continue to sleep for a while.

Mu Ci couldn't help but pinch his ears, being disgusted by Mei Rong, she came to slap his hands like chasing flies away, and slapped away the guy who disturbed her sleep.

Mu Ci: "..."

Passionately fell in love last night, have you entered old couple mode this morning?

Mu Ci wasn't angry, she just thought it was funny, scraped his tall nose on purpose, and hurried away before Mei Rong got mad.He didn't mention washing and eating, but before leaving, he ordered: "Don't let people disturb Xinghai. Keep the goat's milk and food warm, and when he wakes up from hunger, he will get up and eat."

Mou Yu looked sideways: "He's not a child."

"Don't be jealous, you're going to sleep late, and I'll take care of you like this." Mu Ci said expressionlessly.

Mou Yu: "..."

Let him sleep late?Impossible good or bad.He couldn't even comprehend, how could Mei Rong sleep in so calmly and without shame!

But Mu Ci knew it, and was very happy - Mei Rong really regarded this place as her family, and regarded him as her closest family member.At home, with family members, don't you just do what you want, sleep as long as you want?

Mu Ci and Mou Yu left the mansion and rushed all the way into the palace to attend the court meeting.

There were several important matters at the court meeting: reporting on the progress of Enke's revision, arguing over whether to use a new money system, continuing to impeach King Chu for various reasons, and whether to reopen border trade with Beirong and other countries.

Mu Ci listened to the impeachment, but didn't refute it, and even her expression didn't change at all, it was neither painful nor itchy.Seeing him like this, Yu Shi didn't work harder, but felt that punching the cotton was very bad.

——People don't care about their own joy.No one can really regret him.

At the end of the court meeting, half an hour was left for the courtiers to perform in court.

A servant of the household department surnamed Jiang accused the Jiangzhou prefect of corruption and relief supplies, condoned the illegal occupation of land by the clan, and repeatedly extorted property from Jiangzhou merchants in the name of celebrating festivals.

The governor of Jiangzhou is called Qiu Wenjun. From the second grade, he is the chief official who guards a place, in charge of civil affairs, agricultural taxation, and legal business. If Jiang Shilang's report is true, then Qiu Wenjun caused such a big incident. The military officer—Jiangzhou Bingma Jiedushi did not report, and none of the 24 counties in Jiangzhou reported to the county guard, which shows that the water is very...deep.

Emperor Deguang looked worried.

Zhao Jiu asked, "Does Jiang Shilang have evidence?"

Jiang Shilang said: "My minister has evidence, and the blood certificate of the people he provided is the evidence."

The eunuch testifies.

Several cabinet members read it and asked, "Where are the witnesses?"

"There are four witnesses. They were chased and killed all the way. Only one escaped by chance. He is currently seriously injured and sent to the military hospital for treatment."

When it came to the military hospital, everyone subconsciously looked at King Chu.

Mu Ci slightly raised her eyes and said, "Since the person has been sent to the military hospital, there is no danger. You can send someone to protect the witness."

After finishing speaking, Mu Ci adjusted her sitting posture and leaned more leisurely in the soft king chair.

Hearing this, all the ministers secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and said in their hearts: "Fortunately, fortunately!"

Just like military generals eat empty pay, it is an unspoken rule to withhold military pay.When civil officials sit in high positions, they are more or less greedy for ink, extorting bribes, and occupying land. This is an unspoken rule of the civil official group.Although the salaries of officials are high, they also cost a lot, and they must be managed up and down. If the management is not in place, they will not be able to get good reviews and promotions, or they will not be able to find good places... All of these require money.

Even if I don't care about my future, and I don't want to be corrupt, but I can't forget my roots, and my clansmen will always take care of me. It is inevitable to expand the clan field.Moreover, because officials all have fame and fame, they do not pay taxes on land under their names, and the ancients had a rural complex, so the first choice for home buyers was to buy land.But if you want to buy it, you may not be sold immediately. How you "buy" depends on how you "buy".

Civil servants have more sloppy intestines, so I have to think about it—how could the witness who survived by chance be admitted to the military hospital by chance?It is equivalent to being taken under the wing of the King of Chu in disguise.

How could the civil servants not be worried that this was the prelude to the king of Chu's attack on the unspoken rules of the civil servants group?The prefect of Jiangzhou was investigated, pulled out a carrot and brought out mud, and even the entire civil official group shook three times.

All the generals had their hands folded, waiting to watch.Feng Shui turns, this year finally arrived in Hexi!

But looking at Mu Ci's current appearance, she doesn't intend to pursue it. The civil servant really wants to kneel down and sing "Good luck today".

Seeing that Mu Ci didn't ask any more questions, Emperor Deguang asked the officials, "What do you think, Ai Qing?"

Zaizhi had a eyebrow-and-eye lawsuit, and Zhao Jiu said: "This matter is very important. I also ask the Ministry of Criminal Justice to be responsible for protecting and questioning witnesses, and the Ministry of Officials to send personnel to Jiangzhou to investigate. Because the prefect of Jiangzhou has a high position and authority, Your Majesty You can choose another person who is old and trustworthy, and he will be appointed as an 'imperial envoy' to go to Jiangzhou to investigate this matter."

Emperor Deguang thought for a while and said, "Zunzuo, it's just that you think who should be appointed as an 'imperial envoy'?" There is no way, Emperor Deguang has too few confidants.

Everyone stopped talking. Of course, the "imperial envoy" can only be appointed by the emperor. This task is obviously thankless and dangerous. Anyone who recommends it is enmity.

Emperor Deguang looked at Mu Ci.

Mu Ci paid the amount with one hand, and said slowly: "One side's eunuch, the status of the people sent is low, and they are not enough for others to play with. Why don't you look for it in the clan. The internal treasury pays a lot of money every year, so you can't raise a group of people for nothing. Idlers."

Everyone: "..."

Ah hey, you won't be afraid of being sacked if you say this, and...there are three kings sitting in the hall, okay?

However, although the king of Chu was as venomous as ever, he was very reasonable. Emperor Deguang went through his own brothers and cousins, and said: "I order King Zhong to see you."

Although no decision was made, the candidate was basically decided.

At the end of the court meeting, Emperor Deguang said: "The kings and Zaizhi stay behind, please go to the Taiwei Hall to discuss matters." He waved to Mu Ci, "Come on, Ninth Brother, and come with me on the imperial chariot."

Mu Ci was very obedient this time, she stood up and walked over slowly, then put her hand in Emperor Deguang's palm, and was led away by him.

The two brothers did not ride in the imperial chariot, they walked and talked hand in hand all the way.

Emperor Deguang asked: "Is there any news from the Ye Xingwei from Jiangzhou?"

Mu Ci said: "Recently, I've been reading the materials of the great war 11 years ago, and I really haven't paid attention to the various places." He turned his head and asked Mou Yu, "Is there any news?"

Mou Yu nodded: "There are some, not as serious as what the court said, and the details are yet to be investigated." There is always a hidden rule among civil servants. If the situation is serious and it is related to the safety of a place, it will be reported.Did not report that the situation is fine.But now that the report has come to the court, it's hard to tell.

Ye Xingwei is also human, so there is no guarantee that there will be no problems.

Mou Yu said to Tianji, who was accompanying the emperor, "Go and find all the secret files related to Jiangzhou." After sorting out the secret files of Ye Xingwei, they are now in duplicate. Ci has a copy there.

Tianji took the lead.

Yexingwei is different from the factory guards in the history of Huaguo. It is just a monitoring organization that recruits many experts. The scope of monitoring covers the entire Daxing Dynasty, and even extends its tentacles to neighboring countries.Especially after Mu Ci took over, Ye Xingwei's actions became more organized and secretive.

But Mu Ci has always adhered to a bottom line - Ye Xingwei only has the right to conduct secret investigations, and the information obtained is provided to the emperor as a reference for ruling, and absolutely has no right to arrest or dispose of people.Otherwise, Ye Xingwei would have set off a bloodbath in Daxing long ago.

Emperor Deguang saw that it wasn't Mu Ci who had any "plans", so he subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, and asked, "I wonder if Brother Zhong Wang is willing to go to Jiangzhou?"

"Should be going." Mu Ci said indifferently, "Let him bring more people there, so he won't be afraid of anything."

"Ok!"

"Ah, by the way, I once asked Ye Xingwei to prospect for mines while traveling around. In the newly established Dinghai Prefecture, there are several gold, silver and copper mines on the island." Mu Ci reminded.

When Emperor Deguang heard about it, his eyes lit up: "Is this really true?"

Mu Ci remained calm: "It's not uncommon for such a large piece of land to have a few mines. It happens that there are prisoners of war in red clothes and big food, so they can mine on the spot. However, you see, the Department of Salt and Iron of the Ministry of Households is in charge of this matter. Or is it mined in the name of a large royal silver?"

It was difficult for Emperor Deguang to make a decision. In righteousness, he should be in charge of Yantie and enrich the treasury.However, the officialdom is dark and there are many insiders, so the gold and silver earned are bound to be lost.Money touches people's hearts, no matter how they are managed or killed, they are repeatedly prohibited.There was once a certain emperor who would flay officials and pretend to be grass, but he couldn't stop reaching out layer by layer.

Mining in the name of the Daxing Royal Silver is to put the national gold and silver into private pockets. This... Although the world belongs to the emperor, it is a bit embarrassing after all.

Emperor Deguang kicked the ball: "What do you think?"

"Then half and half."

Emperor Deguang smiled: "Okay, this will take care of both."

After talking, he walked to Taiwei Hall, and Emperor Deguang directly pulled Muci to sit beside him.The other officials did not dare to go beyond, and entered the gate of the palace one step behind to meet the emperor and the king of Chu.

The Taiwei Hall is the side hall of the Ziwei Hall. It is generally the place where the emperor summons a small number of important officials and handles government affairs internally.

Emperor Deguang said: "You don't need to be courteous, please give me your seat!"

There are no seats for civil and military officials in the court meeting in the main hall, but when internal meetings are held in the side hall, important ministers have seats. This is a common practice.Everyone is not sitting with their buttocks next to each other, but all of them are sitting upright.The only difference is that the Kings chair has armrests, and the others don't.

Emperor Deguang said: "Please come here, I have some questions, I hope you can give me some answers."

All the kings and ministers shouted together and dared not.

Emperor Deguang asked: "First, you have discussed the new coins many times. What is the regulation? Everyone talk about it."

This, Lu Dingguo, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance who is in charge of the world's finances, has the most say. He stood up and replied: "Reporting to Your Majesty, I have studied the relevant data provided by His Royal Highness King Chu, and incorporated it into the Zhuqian Supervisor for on-the-spot investigation. I think there is no problem with the issuance."

King Qinghe, King Guangling, Fang Shanwu and other reformers all supported the proposal.

Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Shu Gongshu, who is over [-] years old, is a well-known conservative, and said: "The matter of changing money is related to the national economy and people's livelihood in the world. It is a century-old national policy. This matter is too big to be taken lightly. I hope Your Majesty will be cautious."

Although Yang Ye, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, did not object, he asked: "Your Highness, I would like to ask you to clarify: all copper coins have square holes in the middle to show 'the sky is round and the earth'. How come the newly minted silver coins are gone?"

Hydraulic stamping, casting money and adding holes in the middle will easily damage the mold, reduce efficiency and increase cost.But Mu Ci could not answer in this way, and only said: "The hole in the copper coin is not because of the 'round sky', but because of the large number, hollow hole and easy to carry on a rope, so it is called 'one hanging coin'. The newly minted coins have different denominations. There is no need to carry a lot of money, and there is no need to string money with square holes. The previous gold and silver were cast into strips or ingots without holes, which is the reason. The most important thing is to have enough money.”

"How to carry the new money?" Yang Ye always subconsciously looked for opportunities to make things difficult.

Mu Ci glanced at him lightly: "You can carry the new money as you carry your broken silver."

Everyone looked at him like a fool... who doesn't have a purse?

The centrists such as Zhu Xi, and Gu Yongyuan, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials who acted after Li Minzhi became an official, did not express their views.

But Wang Youlun said: "The common people are used to using copper coins to smash silver, I'm afraid they won't be able to get used to it for a while."

Mu Ci nodded: "Mr. Wang's worries are very serious, but the habit did not appear suddenly, but formed slowly. How about this, these new coins were originally a congratulatory gift from me to the third brother, and they were issued in the name of Fengnian, called It’s called ‘Plenty Money’. First circulate in Tianjing City, observe the effect, and gradually promote it to the whole country. At the same time, the old copper coins will not be invalidated, and can still be used.”

Everyone said it was a good thing, so they decided on this trial method. If everyone thinks that the new money is more useful, they will definitely be biased.

Emperor Deguang made a decision: "That's the deal. The Ministry of Industry ordered the Academy of Painting and Calligraphy to work with the Supervisor of Casting Money to determine the style of 'Plenty Money'."

Pei Yan, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, took the order.

Mu Ci likes to give a sweet date with a stick the most, and said: "I noticed that everyone's salary is still the same as it was 30 years ago, and has not changed for many years. And it is still calculated on the basis of grain and cloth. Why don't we also reform it by the way, and convert it into a fixed amount in the future? 'Plenty money'."

Everyone: "..." Isn't this forcing everyone to use new money?

Mu Ci continued: "I made a comparison. Today, the prices in the whole country have doubled compared to 30 years ago. Especially in the important areas of Gyeonggi, the prices have risen more than twice. I suggest that the third brother should increase his salary appropriately, so that Qingzheng Honest officials have the money to buy rice to support their families."

Everyone likes an increase in wages.Especially officials from humble backgrounds like Wang Youlun and Su Yan, who are a little bit more honest, all point to their salaries and welfare to support their families.

This proposal was quickly passed unanimously. Although it was all converted into new money, the gold and silver used in the new money was sufficient and sufficient, so there would be no losses—look, in fact, everyone already has a preference for new money and old money.

Emperor Deguang said again: "There is also the matter of re-opening the border trade. If you have any ideas, you can speak freely."

Everyone, you look at me, I look at you, and secretly glance at the King of Chu, not knowing whether to say it or not.

Before everyone spoke, Mu Ci asked: "Eleven years ago, after the emperor's father defeated the four kingdoms, he wanted to send troops to conquer the four kingdoms, and the four kingdoms petitioned for peace. Is there such a thing?"

"Return to Your Highness, there is indeed something wrong!" Fang Shanwu knew, because his cousin Fang Shiji was the minister of Honglu Temple at that time, and was responsible for receiving the envoys from the four countries who came to seek peace.

Mu Ci asked: "How was the peace negotiated at that time? I haven't been able to find the relevant contract text."

Fang Shanwu said: "This... I don't know, why don't your majesty invite Fang Xianggong here for questioning."

Fang Shiji retired after the peace talks and was named prime minister.

Mu Ci asked again: "Who else participated in the peace negotiation?"

Fang Shanwu thought for a while, and said with a slightly subtle expression: "Eleven years ago, the one who was in charge of the peace talks was also Marquis Xin'an, who was the heir of the Marquis at that time, and later became the same rank as Marquis Xin'an. He also made the contract. He should be very clear about the situation at that time."

Fang Shanwu is a very smart and mean man. He is known as a "black belly" in later generations. He speculates in his heart that Mu Ci is cracking down on smuggling, and he attaches so much importance to the information from 11 years ago that he is planning to reopen the border trade.

So, he readily cheated his cousin, who had already retired to the official position, and Tang Yuzhou, who was idle at home and didn't need to be in the dynasty, was also cheated.

But he doesn't feel ashamed at all, it's all for the country.

——These two were also people who worked passionately for the country and the people.