I

Page 698

Feichun suddenly said with emotion: "Brothers, don't look at my mother wearing gold and silver every time she goes out, she is very frugal. Most of my mother's tiara and pendant are made of pearls.

Not the South Pearl (Hepu Pearl), not the North Pearl (East Pearl), nor the East and West Nanyang Pearls, all of which are lake pearls in the south of the Yangtze River) only the biggest one is the golden bead bestowed by the emperor.She just had a good face. "As far as the market price is concerned, Hepu pearls are the most expensive, followed by Northeast pearls, South Sea pearls, Western pearls, and Dongyang pearls. Below these pearls, there are lake pearls in the south of the Yangtze River. What are lake pearls?

Artificially cultured freshwater pearls around Taihu Lake.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, there were artificial pearls in Taihu Lake.In the Southern Song Dynasty, Buddha statue beads appeared, which were carved into Buddha statues with lead or tin, stuffed into pearl shells, and taken out after two or three years, they became lifelike Buddha statue pearls.

The three interrogators couldn't help but look at each other. They really thought that Fei Chun's mother would wear cheap pearls.

Fei Chun continued, "My mother hasn't shed her petty air for so many years. Except for lake beads, her jewelry is mostly jadeite. It is said that the emperor likes jadeite, and she and the emperor have the same preference. Actually it is

Emeralds are cheaper than rubies and sapphires, so you won't lose face if you wear them.Your Majesty knows his temper, and I often talk about the fate of the founding heroes of the past dynasties, the more I become an official, the less courageous she is, how dare she accept bribes from others?"

"What's the matter with your third brother?" Huang Zundu asked.

Fei Chun's third younger brother was born after his parents arrived in Luling County, one year younger than the crown prince Zhao Kuanghuan.

Fei Chun sighed and said, "My third brother didn't study well. He didn't get into university, and he wanted to be an official all day. Contributed yesterday

up.Say I cheated for personal gain, I plead guilty, you can do whatever you want. "" He took Xiao Qifeng's silver, a full 3 taels. " Huang Zundu said. "What?" Fei Chun stood up in shock.

Huang Liangong said in detail that he went to Shandong to be a petty official.I brought a few middle school classmates.Taking the money given by Xiao Qifeng, he partnered with others to start the sea egg business.He has an official status, it is not easy to come forward directly, he only sleeps+

Take the dry stock dividends and run the waterway from Dengzhou to Lushun and North Korea.What's more, I'm doing official business with Lushun under your brand name. "Bastard!" Fei Chun was so angry that he slapped the table.

Fei Chun's family is not short of money, and his mother dotes on the third child the most, even if he stays at home as a pig and raises him, he can live well.This bastard actually accepted bribes as capital, and even accepted official orders under the sign of Mr. Ruoge

Is your mind full of shit?

Huang Qiudu continued, "By the way, the trading company that your third brother is a shareholder of doesn't pay a tael of tax. He doesn't have a stable source of goods, and he uses your name to force suppliers to sell him cotton cloth at a low price.

These things were all found out by the Integrity Officer in the Shipping Department of Dengzhou City. "Even if Di Benshu doesn't make any progress in Shanghai, Xiao Qifeng will be found out in Shandong.

It is really Fei Chun's third brother's company, the accounts are too confusing.A group of young people were also very cowardly. After being slightly intimidated by the honest and honest officials, they were so shocked that they recruited everything, even saying that they had received dirty money from Xiao Qifan.

Fei Chun sat down slowly, leaned on the back of the chair and said, "I want to see Your Majesty." "I'll ask for instructions." Huang Zunyi said.Imperial garden.

Zhao Han asked with a smile, "Did the National Security Council beat you?" No, he was quite polite. "Fei Chun replied.

Zhao Hanyin lost his smile, looked at the wind blowing on the lake, and muttered to himself: "This case is very big, maybe it's time for a thorough investigation of the Municipal Shipping Department." Fei Chun said:

"If you only check the Shibo Department, you will definitely not be able to find out. The Shibo Department's accounts have to be reviewed every year." That's right. "Zhao Han nodded.

Now that there are no electronic accounts, it is impossible to compare the transaction details of various companies every year.There are so many companies in the country, and if large-scale reconciliations are carried out every year), it is impossible to support so many review officials. Even if the imperial court makes this a routine, it will check at most once every two or three years, and only a certain port can be randomly checked each time .

Fei Chun said: "The crime of my minister is that I violated the regulations and asked the governor of Jinling to recruit my third brother as an official. Before the promotion period was over, I transferred my third brother to Shandong as a ninth-rank official. In addition, I have not done anything in the world.

Your Majesty can check it though.

There is one more thing that I didn't say, Di Qifeng promoted himself under his own name, and I Chun have been pretending not to know.He thinks that Xiao Qifeng is capable and has a reputation of incorruptibility, and he is happy to see her quickly promoted, but

as their own faction team.

The emperor forbids forming cliques, and Fei Chun doesn't do it deliberately, but everything can be "let nature take its course".

Qifeng was not the only one who was promoted by "letting nature take its course". Many senior officials of the second and third ranks in the court had a close relationship with Fei Chun.Even Chen Maosheng, who has always been selfless, has his own team.Zhao Han asked, "What do you think should be done?

Fei Chun knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, please spare my third brother's life, and don't exile Xire and Heilongjiang. It is best to exile overseas. As for the minister himself, let Your Majesty punish you."

"Okay, I will follow your will and exile your third brother overseas," Zhao Han actually agreed, "In the ocean, there is a flock of birds with polysaccharide trees on them. I have named them Guizhou. You: bring

Take Gui'er to Hengzhou. "" Tanzhou

Fei Chun was stunned when he heard this. During his stay in Ding You, he didn't know about Xia Weishuang at all.

In this era, is it better to be exiled to Tibet and Heilongjiang, or to exile Xia Weishuang? It seems hard to say clearly, Xia Jianmei is definitely more comfortable, but it is very likely that she will die on the way.And, and.

If you go to Xia Chengyi, you will never even think about coming back in this life.

Zhao Han asked someone to bring the latest version of the globe, and pointed to the center of the Pacific Ocean.Fei Chun was speechless for a long time.

Zhao Gang said again, "Your Duke is gone, and the promotion and dismissal are gone. Ding You's term is over, let's start as a Bachelor of Dongge University." "Thank you for your kindness!" Fei Chun knelt down again.

Don't think this is taking lightly, Zhao Han punished Fei Chun very severely.

Once the title is pushed to the end, the promotion is pushed to the end, and the rank is pushed to the end, only the rank of the job remains.

As far as Fei Chun's cabinet ranking is concerned, after the mourning period expires, he can come back directly to be the chief assistant, and the current chief assistant must give up his seat.But the emperor asked him to be a scholar of Dongge University. Although he was still a cabinet minister, he belonged to the lowest rank.

The cabinet ministers who have a lot of power may not be able to be the chief assistant until they die.Political life is half over.

Zhao Han didn't know whether it was beating or comforting: "You don't have to be sad, you are not the only one who was confiscated as the duke of the country this time." Fei Chun said in surprise. "Zheng family!" Zhao Han sighed. In Shanghai and Dengzhou, it was discovered that Xiao Qifeng was a big fish. In Fujian, it was found that the Zheng family was collaborating with the navy in smuggling

Zhao Han said: "From now on, the Navy will not be allowed to do business, otherwise, I don't know what troubles will arise."

Zheng Yilong no longer lives in his hometown mansion, and has set up a Kangzhai in Fuzhou Mo.He doesn't care about anything else, he enjoys life all day long, leaving all the business to his brothers and nephews. On this day, Zheng Zhilong is listening to an opera, and the theater troupe is raised by the family.

He was dressed in cloud brocade, his turban was decorated with Nanyang gold beads, and he wore big Hetian jade finger rings on his hands.While listening to the play, the maidservant was still feeding the grapes. The grapes were brought from the north, and they were kept in a box with ice cubes during the whole process. "My lord, the angels are here!"

Zheng Zhilong shuddered all over and stood up quickly.

The imperial court sent imperial envoys to investigate the case, and they found the Zheng family. Zheng Zhilong knew all these things.

But he could only pretend that he didn't know that he should listen to the opera, and he didn't even dare to leave the house, as if he was resigned to his fate.The Zheng family is collaborating with the navy in smuggling, and Zheng Zhilong knows about it. His attitude is not to encourage, not oppose, and not to ask.

"Meet the angel!" Zheng Zhilong went out to greet him respectfully.The passerby in charge of delivering the decree took out a seal and a copy of the imperial decree.

Zheng Zhilong stared at the seal and was stunned. The Duke's seal was a gold seal, but in front of him was an iron seal.

Waiting for the Duke, he was directly downgraded to a third-class baron, and he didn't take all his titles into account for his face.And the title is also ironic, called "law-abiding man". 4] Zheng Zhilong received the order with trembling hands and asked, "My brothers Jiaer

The passer-by replied: "All the important positions should be taken back. They should be beheaded and exiled. Half of the merchant ships of the Zheng family should be confiscated, and a fine of one million taels of silver will be fined. If the current silver is not enough, they will mortgage the shops or Merchant ships are auctioned off.

Zheng Zhilong's eyes were dull, and he almost passed away on the spot.

Chapter 927 [Reward and Punishment]

Yingmin Hall.

The cabinet ministers remained silent for a long time, some people wanted to persuade the emperor to punish carefully, but they didn't dare to make trouble at this time.

What happened to Fei Chun was actually not that big of a deal. The fact that his titles and appointments were all over the place was more of an example to show the emperor's attitude towards this matter.After Ding You came back and worked for a few more years, Fei Chun's promotion and dismissal would definitely resume.Only the title and cabinet rank, how much they can recover depends on how long Fei Chun can live.

If Fei Chun lived in his seventies and eighties, the chief assistant should not have to run away, and the title could at least reach the earl.Maybe when the new emperor is happy, he will give the title of duke to him.

There is also a very small chance that when Zhao Han was in office, he would restore the Duke to Fei Chun - Li Banghua was like this back then.

As for the punishment of the Zheng family, it is more like taking the opportunity to rectify.

The Zheng family has a duke, a son-in-law, several marquises and earls.Moreover, the influence in Fujian is too great, and it is also quite prestigious in the navy. This time, it happened to be a haystack and a rabbit to clean up.

The monarchs and ministers were silent for a long time, and finally Zhu Shunshui said: "If so many officials and merchants are dealt with at once, all major ports will be in chaos. There are not enough officials to manage the shipping department, and there are not enough sea merchants to transport goods to sea. After a year or so, it will Countless goods are backlogged at the port, and factories and people in the interior will also be affected."

However, Zhao Han said: "There are no bureaucrats in the Municipal Bureau of Shipping who are in the same boat. They will be promoted one to three levels in place, depending on the specific position and situation. The vacant positions in the Municipal Bureau of Shipping will be transferred by local county officials, and the operation of the Municipal Bureau will be resumed as soon as possible. As for the maritime merchants involved in the case, the heinous ones should be beheaded and exiled. The rest are just merchants who bribed and evaded taxes. Don’t check how much tax was stolen. The fines range from 15, 12, 8, 6 to 3 taels."

During the reign of Chongzhen, when transporting goods from Fujian to Manila, the average price of each ship was 5 taels of silver, and the profit margin was about 100%.Small boats cost [-] to [-], and large ships cost [-].

Now that the sea trade is booming, the sea merchants have already rolled up, and they can no longer smuggle, and the profit margin has shrunk to less than 80%.Moreover, short-distance trade makes less money, such as shipping goods from Shandong to North Korea, such as shipping goods from Shanghai to Guangdong.

Zhao Han's fine regulations, counting the back and forth shipments, are probably the total profits of those maritime merchants for one to two years, which must far exceed the customs duties they evaded.

If there happens to be a maritime merchant adding a new registered ship, then consider yourself unlucky, and the new ship will still be fined.

Such a fine does not comply with the provisions of the "Datong Commercial Law" and is completely a special case.Who made too many maritime merchants involved in tax evasion, making it difficult for investigators to find out?

In order to save investigation time, as long as the goods list does not match, it can be regarded as tax evasion, and there is no need to investigate further. After the fine, continue to investigate the next one.Otherwise, if you investigate each firm and compare each transaction, you will have to find out the year of the monkey.

Zhao Han continued: "It is inevitable that there will be errors in the review. The tax within a thousand taels is not correct, so we will not pursue it this time."

Wu Yingji said: "Your Majesty's punishment is so heavy, I am afraid that many sea trading companies will go bankrupt due to poor turnover. Especially in the past two or three years, the companies that have opened up and operate on loans are buying ships and buying goods. They must not So much cash."

"It deserves it for closing down!"

Zhao Han said angrily: "From now on, we will select a port every year and conduct a detailed inspection of maritime merchants. Just like this investigation, compare the accounts of the general department with the accounts of the merchant company, and strictly investigate and strictly control each transaction. .Every time the inventory target is selected by drawing lots, Shoufu, Shangshu of the Ministry of Finance, Shangshu of the Ministry of Commerce, and Zuodu Yushi of the Inspectorate must be present. The censor will supervise the whole process! During the lottery, officials from other departments can also come to observe."

No one said anything more.

Zhao Han didn't stop yet: "The merchants who were fined this time have all their business licenses marked with red marks, and if they dare to evade customs duties next time, their licenses will be revoked immediately. The merchants who were not punished this time will be given 'honesty' by the municipal bureaus of various places. "Management" plaque will be rewarded, and each family will be exempted from tariffs for one ship next year!"

After thinking for a while, Zhao Han said again: "The few officials who were killed and silenced were promoted to five ranks in their original posts. The Ministry of Rites drew up a table to reward them, and all of them were given the posthumous title of Wen Zhong. The children of these loyal ministers were recommended to send one person to college. If you have no children, you can adopt them from your relatives. Those who are recommended will be free of tuition fees, and they will be given five taels of silver per month for living expenses until they finish college."

When Qian Qianyi and his son got the news at home, they were both happy and heartbroken.

Qian Ruyi said with tears in his eyes, "These years have been for nothing."

"It's good if you can survive, and it's okay to lose some money." Qian Qianyi is very optimistic.

Qian Ruyi said: "Father, our joint venture with the Xie family and the Xu family has only evaded tariffs for four years, and the total sum is only more than 2 taels. But our business company is getting bigger and bigger. If we add two boats, one big and one small, the big boat will be fined 15 taels of silver!"

Qian Ruyi wanted to cry but had no tears. The money he earned had already been used to set up a textile factory and bought a lot of inland river merchant ships.Now, the company's cash is definitely not enough for a fine, and the three shareholders have to pay the money together.His family did not have enough cash, so he had to take out a loan to pay the fine, or sell off the river fleet and shops.

Whether it's a loan or a sale, they will definitely be ripped off by someone. They come and go again and again, which means that they have been doing white jobs for the court for four or five years.

Of course, Xie Sanbin must have suffered the worst loss, because this guy is an absolute controlling shareholder.

"You can be content with it. Feige lost his title of duke, and you and my father and son just paid a fine," Qian Qianyi sighed, "Oh, Your Majesty is really... that reincarnated."

Qian Qianyi had four sons in total, the first three were all dead, leaving only the youngest in front of him.

As the youngest son, Qian Ruyi is young, only in his early 40s this year.Because of doing business with Xie Sanbin, the past few years have become more and more prosperous, but now he is beaten back to the prototype a few years ago, and he has to endure a few more years of "hard life".

……

The signboard of "Guogong Mansion" was taken down, and the gate plaque was replaced with "Fei Zhai".

Mrs. Fei looked at the brand new lintel of her house, and was speechless for a long time.She wanted the old one and didn't like the new one.

Silently stepped into the gate, came to the main room and sat down, the whole family did not speak.

After a long time, Fei Chun said: "Xiao Qifeng and his son will be beheaded after autumn. The rest of the family members, as long as they are on the household registration book, and they will be separated within ten years, they will all be confiscated and exiled to Tibet. Even if he married daughter, will also be exiled in Tibet.”

Hearing this, Mrs. Fei trembled, she didn't dare to blame the emperor anymore, she just asked: "Your third brother really wants to be exiled to Tanzhou?"

"Your order cannot be violated," Fei Chun said.

"My poor son!" Mrs. Fei burst into tears immediately.

Fei Chun comforted: "My child has inquired about it. As long as you don't encounter storms and do not suffer from any serious illnesses, you can live in Tanzhou. The climate there is not bad. It's just... I will never come back in this life."

Old Madam Fei wiped her tears and said, "Anyway, your title is gone, so why don't you beg the emperor any more?"

Fei Chun explained with a wry smile: "Mother, my child's current official status is only the Dongge University Scholar and the Minister of the Ministry of Finance. I am a second-rank official, but my mother’s first-rank edict has not been taken back. Doesn’t your mother understand what your majesty means?”

"What does Your Majesty mean?" Mrs. Fei really didn't understand.

Fei Chun said in detail: "First, your majesty is saving face for your mother; second, your majesty is implying that the child should not complain, and that he will definitely restore his official rank in the future; third, no one is allowed to intercede, otherwise the child's Dongge University scholar , and my mother's first-rank life will definitely not be guaranteed!"

Mrs. Fei stopped crying: "Is there such a thing as saying? The emperor is playing riddles with our family."

"The cabinet officials can understand this kind of thing," Fei Chun breathed out, "so, mother must be careful in the future, and don't misunderstand the righteous son and daughter. Whoever gives you any gift, as long as it is not expensive, is fine. You can accept it, but you must remember to return the gift, and all gifts must be recorded."

Mrs. Fei sighed: "You are really tiring as an elder. You have to keep accounts even when you receive a gift. You are not as good as the county magistrates before."

Fei Chun said: "The founding sage is alive, who can be careless? Your Majesty is already very kind, but Emperor Hongwu killed a lot of people. Then Xiao Qifeng also ate the bear's heart and leopard courage. , I have been giving him money all these years, a total of more than 60 taels."

"More than 60 taels?" Mrs. Fei was dumbfounded.

Fei Chun added: "This time His Majesty sent someone to investigate the case. The Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Customs is also his confidant. He even quietly notified the officials in various ports to ask those corrupt officials to destroy the evidence immediately, and even said that those who should be silenced should be silenced immediately. Not only did they embezzle, but they also committed the crime of deceiving the emperor!"

Mrs. Fei doesn't care much about deceiving the emperor. Her focus is elsewhere. She gritted her teeth and burned with anger: "This Xiao Qifeng, who has been greedy for more than 60 taels, is still pretending to be an upright official in front of me. God damn it!" Mrs. Liu also said all day long that she is poor and dresses worse than the wives of fifth- and sixth-rank officials. The couple are not good people, and they joined forces to lie to me. You should be killed, you should be killed!"

Xiao Qifeng embezzled more than 60 taels, not only tax evasion commissions from merchants, but also dry shares of some banks and firms.

It was really unstoppable, the officials and maritime merchants of the three major ports continued to send money on their own initiative.

After muttering for a while, Mrs. Fei asked again, "Where is Tanzhou?"

Fei Chun had no choice but to fetch the world map, which was a version three years ago, and the Hawaiian Islands were not marked.

But he was with the emperor and remembered the specific location and proportion.It is roughly at the latitude between Taiwan and Luzon, going east to America, two-thirds of the entire distance.

After measuring it with a ruler, Fei Chun pointed to the Pacific Ocean: "It's here."

"There are seas all around, how do you live like this?" Mrs. Fei looked dumbfounded.

Fei Chun said: "Every year there is a caravan transporting supplies. Apart from not being able to enjoy it, there should be no shortage of things. I heard that there are enough bananas and coconuts there, and mother doesn't have to worry about the third brother not being able to eat fruits."

Chapter 928 [Yellow River]

A total of 47 people were beheaded this time, including 32 officials, 9 merchants, and 6 non-official and non-business civilians.These six people are all accomplices involved in the case, such as Du Xingxue from Shanghai, and those who personally killed them, and some of them absconded without knowing where to go.

There were many exiles, a total of 122 officials and 17 merchants were exiled.Including their family members, a total of more than 1600 people were exiled, and more than 800 were exiled to Tibet and Heilongjiang.

The so-called ghosts in the case were investigated, and two were interrogated.