Chapter 320: The Duke of Ding Turns Over the Salt Certificate Affair

The winds of the court had always shifted back and forth.

For the ministers at court, grasping the direction of those winds was an extremely important personal cultivation—one could also call it an extremely important personal ability.

With that ability, one could advance unhindered in officialdom and cope with the ever-changing situation more swiftly and conveniently.

Ministers who managed to climb to the upper ranks basically all possessed this ability. Take the four Grand Secretaries of the Grand Secretariat, for instance—they had a fairly good sense of things.

When the Staff Office was established this time, the four Grand Secretaries already knew what His Majesty intended to do. Combined with the rumors that had been circulating recently, they became even more certain that His Majesty was going to reorganize the nobility and the imperial in-laws.

In the duty room of the Grand Secretariat.

Han Kuang and the other three sat drinking tea, eating snacks, and chatting idly—the conversation inevitably revolving around the Staff Office.

Han Kuang was a fairly direct speaker, so he aimed his words straight at Sun Chengzong.

"As for the matter of the Chief Staff Minister, what does Grand Secretary Sun think?" Han Kuang asked with a smile.

The moment this topic came up, the room fell silent, and everyone turned to look at Sun Chengzong.

Huang Kezuan also chimed in at the right moment: "Yuan Keli, Lord Yuan, is a fairly suitable candidate. If Lord Sun finds it appropriate, we could support Lord Yuan."

Hearing this, Sun Chengzong's gaze swept across the faces of Han Kuang and Huang Kezuan. A smile lingered on his face, but in his heart, he was thoroughly contemptuous.

These two, Han Kuang and the other, had no good intentions at all. The matter of the Chief Staff Minister had always been nothing but rumors—never anything concrete.

Anyone who worked at court knew that when something was only rumor and not fact, it was most likely true. But you still couldn't take it at face value, because you never knew when it might turn out to be false.

Was Yuan Keli suitable to be Chief Staff Minister?

The answer was: very suitable.

Would he support him?

The answer was: very much so.

But would the people present support Yuan Keli?

Sun Chengzong simply did not believe they would truly support Yuan Keli.

Once Yuan Keli became Chief Staff Minister, the things he and Yuan Keli could accomplish would be numerous. Would the people present be content to let Yuan Keli take that post?

Never mind all that talk about civil officials being one family—Sun Chengzong did not believe a word of it. If he took the lead, these people would certainly fan the flames behind his back. By then, who knew what trouble they might stir up for him.

The way His Majesty was acting now was clearly using the position of Chief Staff Minister as bait. As for what kind of person he wanted to lure—that required no thought at all.

Wading into that muddy water at a time like this—he was not that foolish.

So Sun Chengzong said with a smile: "A groundless rumor—how can one take it seriously? Besides, this sort of matter should be decided by His Majesty's sacred judgment alone. We ministers should not trouble ourselves over it."

Hearing Sun Chengzong's words, Xu Guangqi glanced at Han Kuang and Huang Kezuan, and did not bother acknowledging either of them.

Xu Guangqi understood the intentions of Han Kuang and the other very well, but he had no intention of getting involved.

Although there were only four people in the Grand Secretariat, the competition was by no means weak. One misstep and the others would knock you down. Right now, no one wanted to be knocked down, so they rarely did anything out of line. As for testing His Majesty's bottom line like that—only a fool would do such a thing.

Seeing Sun Chengzong's resolute attitude, Han Kuang knew his probing was useless. That old fox Sun Chengzong had clearly not been blinded by power—he would not take the bait, nor would he give Han Kuang an opening.

So Han Kuang said: "Since Grand Secretary Sun has put it that way, we will say no more. What we need to do now is finalize the arrangements for His Majesty's trip to Shandong as quickly as possible."

Seeing Han Kuang withdraw the topic, Sun Chengzong did not mind and instead said: "As for who will accompany His Majesty to Shandong this time, does Grand Secretary Han have any thoughts?"

Han Kuang could not possibly go, which left only Sun Chengzong, Xu Guangqi, and Huang Kezuan.

Of these three, two would have to go along, and Huang Kezuan was certain to be one of them. Neither His Majesty, nor Sun Chengzong and Xu Guangqi, would possibly leave both Han Kuang and Huang Kezuan behind in the capital.

In other words, of Xu Guangqi and Sun Chengzong, only one could accompany the trip to Shandong. So when this topic was raised, the atmosphere instantly turned somewhat heavy.

Xu Guangqi glanced at the others and said: "Let Grand Secretary Sun go along."

Actually, by convention, Xu Guangqi was the Second Grand Secretary, so it would have been most appropriate for him to go. Thus, hearing Xu Guangqi say this, the others were somewhat caught off guard.

Han Kuang asked with a knowing smile: "What does Grand Secretary Xu mean by this?"

The Grand Secretariat was now divided into three factions, and no one dared do anything too excessive. If he could use this to provoke a struggle between Xu Guangqi and Sun Chengzong, that would be the best possible outcome for Han Kuang himself. Though it might not succeed, it was worth a try.

"I am not familiar with many matters, and my time in the Grand Secretariat has been relatively short, so Grand Secretary Sun is more suitable." Xu Guangqi said directly—he could not be bothered to dance around the issue with Han Kuang.

Sun Chengzong glanced at Han Kuang, then at Xu Guangqi, and said: "Let His Majesty decide. We ministers should not deliberate among ourselves."

The others felt somewhat helpless. Leaving everything to His Majesty's decision was also His Majesty's original intention. No one was willing to step too far, so all matters would simply be left to His Majesty himself to decide. This was power the Emperor could reclaim.

Of course, there were drawbacks too—when problems arose, no one could be held responsible.

Han Kuang looked helplessly at Sun Chengzong and Xu Guangqi. Both old foxes were slippery as eels, giving him no opening at all. It seemed he would have to take things slowly.

The Grand Secretariat meeting ended there. The four continued drinking tea and eating snacks, chatting and laughing merrily.

In the Western Park.

Zhu Youxiao looked at the Duke of Ding, Xu Xi, kneeling before him, a helpless expression on his face. He then waved his hand and said: "Rise. A dignified duke, kneeling here—what does that look like?"

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Xu Xi rose to his feet and spoke in a respectful tone.

"Enough, tell me what this is about." Zhu Youxiao looked at Xu Xi and said slowly: "For you, a Duke of Ding, to come to the palace to confess your faults, there must be a reason. No one has impeached you recently—so why are you confessing?"

"To answer Your Majesty, your subject is engaging in self-reflection. Master Zeng said: 'I daily examine myself on three counts: In planning for others, have I been disloyal? In dealing with friends, have I been untrustworthy? Have I failed to practice what I have been taught?' Though your subject dares not compare himself to the sages, self-reflection is still something I can do."

"Then tell me what you have reflected upon." Zhu Youxiao looked at Xu Xi and said slowly.

"Your subject feels ashamed before the court and before Your Majesty!" Xu Xi said with a look of deep shame: "In a daze, half my life has passed, yet I find I have achieved nothing for the state and done nothing righteous for the people. I am truly deeply ashamed!"

"My household was not strictly governed, and affairs were handled in a mess. Your subject is truly useless. Whenever I think of this, I am overcome with shame in my heart. A few days ago, I went through the household accounts and discovered some ledgers in the family that made me even more ashamed."

"What ledgers?" Zhu Youxiao said without changing his expression.

"Salt certificates."

Xu Xi said directly: "I went down to inquire and learned that some of these salt certificates were rewards granted by the palace in previous years, and some were collected from within the family. My family's salt certificates could not be used to sell salt ourselves, so we sold them to salt merchants."

"The salt merchants then used them to draw salt and sell it. After passing through several hands, the price of salt certificates remained persistently high. The common people pay dearly for salt, and the court's salt tax revenue is meager—all because of this."

"Upon reflection, your subject is truly ashamed in his heart. I am willing to return the profits gained from the original salt certificates. I beg Your Majesty to punish me!"

Having said this, Xu Xi knelt down once again, his tone resolute, his face full of shame—even the corners of his eyes reddened and tears streamed down.

Zhu Youxiao watched this scene and felt a headache coming on.

Could these ministers not just behave themselves for once?

Why is every single one of them such a drama queen?

This salt certificate business is obviously just cornering the market — nothing new in the Ming. The esteemed Duke of Ding feeling ashamed over this is simply a joke.

Besides, when it comes to cornering the salt market, the big players aren't among the meritorious nobles — they're among the imperial in-laws.

It first started during the Hongzhi reign, when the court changed from grain-for-salt to silver-for-salt. Those imperial relatives began pulling salt certificates out of the palace.

The Hongzhi Emperor gave Empress Zhang's family one million five hundred thousand shi of salt certificates, and from then on the matter never stopped — the imperial in-laws used every connection to get salt certificates, along with the princes enfeoffed across the realm. Not to mention others, Old Prince Fu's household alone had quite a stash.

Originally, salt merchants were supposed to buy salt certificates from the court with silver, but now even with money they couldn't buy them — they could only purchase from the meritorious nobles and imperial in-laws.

At the same time, the court had also over-issued a great many salt certificates. The Ming's annual salt production was limited, yet the salt certificates circulating on the market were as numerous as ox hairs. Many salt fields had queues for collecting salt, and some couldn't get salt even after queuing — this made the Yangzhou Transport Office a lucrative post.

Getting salt required going through the back door, salt prices were extremely high, and this also bred private salt smuggling, generating even greater corruption.

This was an enormous pit, and resolving it was far too difficult. Compared to it, taxing manorial estates was child's play. Once you touched the salt trade, you were moving from the top all the way down.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Xu Xi. He didn't understand how this matter had been dredged up.

"Alright, I am aware of this matter." Zhu Youxiao looked at Xu Xi and said slowly, "Let me think about how to handle this. My dear minister, you may withdraw for now."

Hearing these words, Xu Xi's heart trembled — this wasn't what he had imagined!

By all rights, after he laid these matters before His Majesty, shouldn't His Majesty have accepted them with great delight?

Hadn't they said His Majesty was short on money? All of this was money.

But since His Majesty had spoken thus, Xu Xi dared not linger. He hastily said, "Then your servant takes his leave."

After Xu Xi had gone, Zhu Youxiao's face sank as he turned his gaze to Chen Hong.