The news that Zhu Ping'an had checked the three-year account books of the Taicang Silver Treasury in three days soon spread as the people from the East Factory escorted the Taicang account books to the West Garden. This was not a secret. The account books were escorted to the West Garden, which obviously meant that they had been checked. Anyone with a discerning eye could see it.
"Zhu Ping'an only took three days to check the three-year account books of the Taicang Treasury? Could it be that he just skimmed through them?"
"Not to mention that he is the only inspector left in Taicang, even if all five inspectors were here, it would take at least half a month to complete the inspection."
"Why do I find this so funny? Are you telling me a joke? Even the children in the neighboring village wouldn't believe it. How is it possible to check all the accounts of Taicang for three years in three days?"
"Haha, I think it's possible. Think about it, if it's a sampling, what if Zhu Ping'an selects dozens or hundreds of account books for inspection, although it's a bit biased, it can still be justified when the time comes."
"Sampling, ha ha ha, my Lord Wang, you are so stupid that you can even say that. Do you think this is a teacher asking a student questions? Sampling, how can you use sampling to inspect the Taicang Treasury? Isn't this just a way of getting by?!"
When the Bloody Sword of the East Factory went to report to the East Factory Supervisor Huang Jin, the ministers on duty in Wuyiwei of the Western Garden had already known the news. As there was no important business that day, they gathered in groups of three or five, and began to discuss the matter in low voices under the pretext of discussing articles and memorials.
Most people's words are full of sourness and criticism.
The day before yesterday, they submitted articles. They worked hard all day and spent a whole day to submit articles, but they were not as good as the article Zhu Ping'an wrote in a short time. Especially since Emperor Jiajing also gave Zhu Ping'an a banquet. Such favor was so great that even those who had been cultivating their energy for more than ten years or even dozens of years could not help but feel a little jealous.
Moreover, this time Zhu Ping'an only took three days to check the three-year account books of the Taicang Silver Treasury, which was originally a controversial matter.
The three-year account books of Taicang that were escorted by the Blood Sword of the East Factory were sealed in a palace not far from Wu Yi'er. At that time, all the people of Wu Yi'er saw that they were escorting more than ten large boxes full of account books. How could Zhu Ping'an, who was alone, check so many account books in just three days? !
While the other ministers were discussing this, Huang Jin also reported to Emperor Jiajing the news that Zhu Ping'an had finished auditing the Taicang silver treasury account books. He also presented Zhu Ping'an's poem "Seven Ancient Poems: Ode to the Frog" to Emperor Jiajing's desk.
When Emperor Jiajing heard the news that Zhu Ping'an had checked the account books, he was surprised at first and thought he had heard it wrong.
Huang Jin repeated to Emperor Jiajing what the Bloody Sword had reported about how seriously Zhu Ping'an checked the accounts, how he got up early and came home late, and how hard he worked.
Emperor Jiajing was not particularly clear about the number of account books in the Taicang Silver Treasury. After hearing that Zhu Ping'an had worked so hard to check the accounts from early morning to late night, the surprise on his face suddenly faded a lot. While listening to Huang Jin's report, he picked up the "Seven Ancient Poems: Ode to the Frog" on the table and began to read it with great interest.
“Hmm... Haha, it's rare that Zhu can write about the toad so vividly and interestingly. A small toad is so heroic in Zhu's writing. It seems that Zhu has suffered a lot of contempt in Taicang..." After reading "Seven Ancient Poems: Ode to the Frog" written by Zhu Ping'an, Emperor Jiajing couldn't help but stroked his beard and smiled slightly, then turned to look at Huang Jin.
"This old servant does not know, but I heard that when Lord Zhu first started to check the account books, he only wrote the first two sentences and drew a toad squatting on a lotus leaf. I heard that the drawing was very vivid. The last two sentences were added by Lord Zhu after he finished checking the account books." Huang Jin replied with a bow.
"Oh, then I'd like to see what this fierce-looking toad looks like." Emperor Jiajing said with great interest.
"Then I will tell someone to get it right away." Huang Jin said with a bow.
"No hurry. What are the results of Zhu's audit?" Emperor Jiajing waved his hand, put down the poem in his hand, and asked softly.
"Master Xiao Zhu has not yet reported the results of the audit, but I heard from his subordinates that after checking the accounts, Master Xiao Zhu was so indignant that he said several times, 'Big rat, big rat, I swear to get rid of you'." Huang Jin reported with his head down.
"Haha, it seems that the toad has seen the bugs. Good, very good. It seems that there are a lot of bugs in my granary..."
Emperor Jiajing sneered, waved his sleeves vigorously, put his right hand on the back of the dragon throne, and the wide sleeves of his Taoist robe swung in the air and then fell down again.
"Your Majesty, please calm down." Huang Jin knelt down hurriedly and advised.
"Huang Ban, get up. It's not you who should kneel, but those rats and bugs in the warehouse." Emperor Jiajing waved his hand, motioning Huang Jin to get up and speak.
"It's not a big deal that I'm kneeling, but the important thing is that Your Majesty shouldn't get so angry that it damages your health." Huang Jin, who was kneeling on the ground, said with a concerned look on his face.
As expected of being the most popular person around Emperor Jiajing, anyone who heard this would feel comforted.
"It's okay. Just bring me the memorial submitted today." Emperor Jiajing waved his hand and ordered Huang Jin to bring the memorial submitted by the cabinet today.
Huang Jin then stood up and carefully held the memorial sent by the cabinet in both hands and placed it on the table in front of Emperor Jiajing.
Emperor Jiajing flipped through a book and started reading. After flipping through it for a few times, he could not help but frown and rebuked unhappily, "This northern barbarian enemy chief is jumping around endlessly. Today he invades Xuanfu, and tomorrow he invades Datong! Let the cabinet draft a document to first close the horse market in Datong as a warning. If the northern barbarians are still shameless and continue to invade our borders, all border horse markets will be banned!"
"I've made note of that." Huang Jin bowed and nodded.
After reviewing the first memorial, Emperor Jiajing opened the following memorials one after another. He read three in a row and was quite satisfied with the cabinet's draft of the handling opinions, so he basically approved them. When he turned to the fifth and sixth memorials, Emperor Jiajing narrowed his eyes slightly and thought for a moment, as if he was talking to himself or to Huang Jin, "Rent reduction is not as good as rent exemption. Although I am not Yao, Shun, Yu or Tang, I also know the people's livelihood. When I was in Chengtian Prefecture, my father also took me to see the various aspects of people's livelihood..."
The Chengtian Prefecture mentioned by Emperor Jiajing refers to Anlu Prefecture in Huguang, which was the fiefdom of Emperor Jiajing before he inherited the throne. In the tenth year of Jiajing's reign, in order to honor the land of Emperor Jiajing, that is, Anlu Prefecture where he was born, he followed the example of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang and changed the prefecture of Haozhou where he made his fortune into a prefecture. He also changed Anlu Prefecture into a prefecture. However, Emperor Jiajing went a step further and named the prefecture "Chengtian", which was comparable to Shuntian in the capital and Yingtian in Nanjing. The jurisdiction was also expanded to five counties and two prefectures, thus forming Chengtian Prefecture.
After talking to himself for a while, Emperor Jiajing solemnly instructed Huang Jin, "Order the cabinet to draft a document to exempt the drought-affected land rents in Nanchang, Linjiang, Ji'an, Ruizhou, Yuanzhou, Fuzhou, Ganzhou, and Nan'an in Jiangxi. In addition, the rents of paddy fields in Daming, Baoding, Hejian, Shunde, and Guangping in northern Zhili will also be exempted."
"The way of heaven is impartial and always favors the good. Your Majesty is kind-hearted and loves the people like his own children. He always thinks of the people and rests with them. The common people of the world are so lucky to have a king and father like Your Majesty."
Huang Jin was extremely excited, and he looked as if he was kneeling to thank Emperor Jiajing on behalf of the common people of the world. He sincerely praised Emperor Jiajing's heroic act of exempting land rent for land affected by drought and floods. He had a good sense of proportion, and his expression was real and natural.
Shoot but don’t act.
This was very useful to Emperor Jiajing.