Chapter 4: Eunuch Liu Jin, who was taken advantage of for free

Chapter 4: Eunuch Liu Jin, who was taken advantage of for free

Chapter 4: Eunuch Liu Jin, who was taken advantage of for free

If it were someone else, they might just think that the "Thousand Households Office for Suppressing Evil" has some influence in religion at most, and its scope of authority is a bit niche, but other aspects are not worth mentioning.

But Pei Yuan is an exception.

This time he followed the East Factory to Southern Zhili to encircle and suppress the Plum Blossom Society, and obtained a lot of important information from the East Factory.

The Plum Blossom Society Rebellion seemed to be just a simple gang attacking the tax collector and stealing money, but Pei Yuan smelled an extremely dangerous aura from the randomly accumulated intelligence.

The Ming Dynasty had experienced several generations of long-term stability, and the economy in the south had become very developed.

In the Siyouzhai Congshuo, there is a general evaluation of the commercial development in the south during the mid-Ming Dynasty: "Before the Zhengde reign, 11 people were in government and 19 worked in the fields. Now, the number of people who have left farming and switched to industry and commerce is three times that of the past. In the past, there were no idle people, but now, 20 to 30 percent of them have left farming and are idle and taking advantage of the situation. Generally speaking, 60 to 70 percent of the people have left farming."

The population engaged in industry and commerce alone was several times that of before, and the scale of industry and commerce was naturally larger. However, correspondingly, the silver tax, mining tax, and commercial tax collected continued to decline.

This matter deeply touched the interests of many people.

That’s not the rule. Now that the people below have divided their property, how can the people above survive?
In order to get directly to the front line and seize control of financial power, the palace sent a large number of tax inspectors to the industrially and commercially developed provinces in the south of the Yangtze River.

The commercial taxes paid have since been fundamentally improved, but this has also offended the interests of the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River.

However, the person in charge of this matter was the eunuch Liu Jin, so everyone could only swallow their anger.

Later on, things took a turn for the better unexpectedly.

One day, Zhang Cai, the Minister of Rites, who was Liu Jin's ally, told Liu Jin, "Eunuch Liu, we are being taken advantage of for free, did you know that?"

Liu Jin was very surprised. How could such a thing happen to me?
Zhang Cai said.

These officials and tax collectors, in the name of honoring Liu Gonggong, plundered the local government, and put most of the money into their own pockets, and only took out a small amount to honor you, but you have to bear the notoriety of extortion. Think about it carefully, isn't it a loss?
Liu Jin couldn't sit still when he heard this.

I'm so fucking at a loss!

So he humbly asked Zhang Cai, "So what do you think I should do?"

Zhang Cai immediately came up with a trick that required both high IQ and EQ.

It is better to fight corruption than to be corrupt.

If we arrest all the corrupt officials, not only will the people sing our praises, but we can also keep all the money.

Therefore, Liu Jin immediately ordered an investigation into the deficits in local treasuries, and once corruption was discovered, those responsible would be held accountable.

In just one year, Liu Jin recovered the losses of the previous eight years for the court!
Even these are what Eunuch Liu left over!

Even the two major governance ideas of "checking" and "evaluating performance" that were born in this process deeply influenced Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, who were in power later, and laid the foundation for the subsequent Longqing Restoration.

Seeing how capable Liu Jin was, the ministers in the court all gave him high praise.

——"You are a capable minister in a peaceful era and a hero in a chaotic era."

This made Eunuch Liu, who didn't read much when he was a child, very happy.

The following year, Eunuch Liu was sentenced to death. After his death, Zhang Yong, who succeeded him, naturally did not dare to fight corruption radically, but he did not stop the issue of sending more tax inspectors.

After all, Eunuch Liu is dead, so the money that used to belong to Eunuch Liu is now Eunuch Zhang's money.

Moreover, Zhang Yong was not too greedy. There were many people in the palace and the court who were willing to work with him to accomplish this task.

Whether it was Qiu Ju, Gu Dayong and other people who held key positions, or Gao Feng, Ma Yongcheng and others who were gradually losing real power, they all had a strong interest in direct taxation.

Not long after Liu Jin's death, Zhang Yong organized the first group of his trusted aides to go to Jiangnan to collect taxes. However, they did not expect that when they were about to reap the harvest, they were robbed and killed by gangsters represented by the Plum Blossom Society.

Pei Yuan grew up in the market and heard many interesting rumors.

He knew that there were many powerful families in the south of the Yangtze River who owned thousands of acres of land, and that these powerful families were even more influential in their own territories than the government.

On weekdays, it would be fine if they could maintain superficial harmony, but if the government insisted on doing something ignorant, then in addition to someone in the court speaking out, there would also be some people in the underworld who had no roots to give warnings.

When those idlers in the world brag and chat, they often talk about which desperado was able to stuff a dead dog into the bed of a prefect, or which lecherous thief spent a night in the arms of a censor's naked daughter without violating her.

These things that are not brought to light and are difficult to talk about are extremely deterrent.

Most of the Jinshi and Juren who served as officials in other places either chose to swallow their anger and serve out their term, or chose to go along with the corrupt officials and become fellow travelers of the local gentry.

Most of these people who are talked about in the martial arts world rely on various famous mountains, historical sites, palaces, temples and monasteries for their existence.

These places have land and property that can accommodate a large number of idle young and strong people, and are not under too strict government control.

Not to mention hiding such a small amount of private armed forces, when Liu Liu and Liu Qi started the uprising in Hebei two years ago, they even pulled out a team of more than 10,000 people right under the nose of the capital.

The Plum Blossom Society in Southern Zhili is just the tip of the iceberg.

There were even some frivolous knights who used names like "Huashan Sect", "Wudang Sect" and "Kongtong Sect" to run rampant in the south of the Yangtze River, and the government was unable to control them.

In many places, there is a saying that "imperial power does not extend below the county level", as if the Ming Dynasty was divided into two worlds: one is the shiny world governed by the emperor and officials, and the other is the turbulent world ruled by the wealthy families and the underworld.

Although Taoist Zhenji of the Thousand Households Office for Suppressing Evil only controls a few temples and Taoist temples, on the one hand, these temples and Taoist temples are powerful and have strong backgrounds; on the other hand, they are also connected with many small temples and Taoist temples. Therefore, the Thousand Households Office for Suppressing Evil has become a relatively important outlet for the court to deal with the people in the martial arts world.

In short, they are the court lackeys hated by the underworld people!
After knowing the identity of Captain Han, Pei Yuan even felt that even if this beautiful woman suddenly took off her Feiyu costume, revealing the left Azure Dragon and right White Tiger on her snow-white arms, he would not find it strange at all.

Pei Yuan's attitude became more respectful. "Then I wonder what instructions the captain wants to give me?"

Han Qianhu didn't hesitate to hear this and spoke directly.

"The evil spirit transformed by Mei Qinniang has caused quite a stir in Nanzhili. The demon behind it is cunning. I have led people to hunt her down several times but have failed. I plan to start with Mei Qinniang and see if I can find a chance to lure her out."

Han Qianhu said this, staring at Pei Yuan and asked, "I plan to temporarily transfer you to my evil suppression unit. Do you have any objection?"

Hearing this, Pei Yuan instantly remembered the prompt in the system.

——Debt of favor:
——Debts Receivable (1/1): You have fulfilled Mei Qinniang’s dying wish and can now ask her for a favor.

(End of this chapter)