Chapter 543 Imperial Edict

The banquet of the previous dynasty was still going on. After the emperor left, the atmosphere at the banquet became more relaxed. When the wine was drunk, the palace was already noisy. Many officials left their seats to toast, and the drinking gradually developed from pushing cups and cups to drinking happily with arms around each other.

After dark, fireworks were set off in many places throughout Nanjing. Colorful fireworks bloomed in the air, splitting from a moment of dazzling into countless small points of light, illuminating the night sky.

Just like the bustle in the imperial city, the whole of Nanjing was immersed in joy, and firecrackers crackled in the streets.

When Newton, Rodoni, Robert Peel, Michel Cruls, Francois Philippe Perrier, Robin Lustig and others came out of the palace, they saw that the whole of Nanjing seemed like a bright city that never sleeps. Not only were the fireworks still being set off in the sky, but the lanterns and firecrackers hanging high in the streets and alleys made them think of the Chinese New Year.

"This is more lively than the Chinese New Year."

"This proves that His Majesty the Emperor of China is very popular with the Chinese people." Newton looked at the fireworks in the sky and thought foolishly...

Li Qi was drunk and was carried out of the palace by the servants in a sedan chair. His brain was not completely confused, but his hands and feet were no longer under his control. He drank a little too much. As a royal child of Korea, Li Qi still had the most basic sense of shame, regardless of whether he killed his brother or not.

China is thriving, but Korea has failed so badly. Any person with a sense of shame will think of his motherland in this occasion where Chinese civil and military officials are laughing and drinking. Li Qi did not raise his wine glass with a frivolous smile to get close to others, but drank too much, which at least proved that he still had some shame.

Tanuma Okiji glanced at the drunken Ryukyu King Shangxi, who had been dragging him to drink, and waved his sleeves heavily. Would he dare to disrespect the shogunate elders three years ago? Tanuma Okiji walked out of the palace very clearly. Chengtian Gate was in front of him. He looked back at the magnificent palace behind him, "It would be great if the palace full of Chinese civil and military ministers caught fire." Although Tanuma Okiji was very interested in Chen Han's promise.

"What a pity, what a pity..." The story of the burning of the Qinggong Building will always be just an allusion circulated in the market, and it is one of the evidences of the Qing Dynasty's slander of Zhu Yuanzhang, not real history. China is like the sun in the early morning. Chen Han's national strength is far from its peak, but his eyes have made it difficult for Japan to breathe. When China's strength recovers little by little in the "peace", Tanuma Okiji can hardly imagine that they will still sit and watch the Japanese emperor with the damn title of "Emperor" at that time.

It seems that China and Japan will have a war sooner or later! Because no matter how the Tokugawa shogunate suppresses the emperor in secret, it cannot do anything to the emperor in public. Even if Go-Taoyuan dies, he can only die of illness.

So even if the Tokugawa shogunate is willing, it will take a long time to prepare. Can the Chinese wait that long?

Japan is obviously not an opponent.

As an old middle-class member of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tanuma Otsugu can clearly see the disastrous consequences of the post-war period, but he seems to be able to only watch the Tokugawa shogunate heading towards disaster. This is a very painful torture! He is like a person with clear consciousness but cannot control his hands and feet. The oil lamp above his head is about to fall, and he still piles bundles of dry firewood and straw under his feet!

Compared with the current sobriety, Tanuma Otsugu is really willing to be a simple samurai, so that he can die simply. He doesn't have to endure great torture day after day like now.

The next day, Chen Ming ordered the cabinet to revise the laws, etiquette, and music. At the same time, the imperial edict was issued to the Grand Commandery, ordering a review at Chaoyang Gate on February 5! Then the inner palace system and the eunuch and palace maid system were stipulated, and the latter were not allowed to interfere in politics, and those who violated the rules would be killed without mercy. The last regulation was the annual expenditure of the royal family!

Although the emperor of China had amazing power, in terms of expenditure, the inner treasury, that is, the emperor's private money, was separated from the national treasury early on. "All under heaven is the king's land, and all the people are the king's subjects" in China, since the family and the country are integrated, the emperor should not have any private money and should not set up a private treasury. Because everything in the world belongs to him. But although the reason is so, it is not the case in fact.

Because even the stupidest emperor knows that it is unpleasant to take money for no reason. And there are also many incompetent monarchs in Chinese history who squandered the country's taxes and eventually led to the drying up of the national treasury.

Under the mutual restraint between the power of the monarch and the power of the ministers, and under the influence of the concept of preserving the country, the royal treasury eventually came into being.

The emperor had a small treasury independent of the national finance. In the Qin and Han dynasties, the emperors of China had a dual-track tax system. The land rents belonging to the royal family went into the emperor's treasury, and the state-owned land and the land rents of the people with non-tax-free privileges went into the national treasury. The royal lands were all fertile lands. At the highest point, they accounted for 1/3 of the total land in the world, and at the lowest point, there was only empty land. Therefore, the income of the royal family in successive dynasties has also been high and low, and the income of each emperor in a dynasty is also different. It mainly depends on the emperor's greed and management level. For example, during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, there were money-making masters such as Sang Hongyang to help him manage his finances, so his income was extremely high, and he could wield a big stick to hit the Xiongnu and the Western Regions, but it was also because he was too harsh, such as the White Deer Coin, that the people's strength was exhausted in the end, and he had to issue a self-blame edict. By the time of Emperor Zhao of Han, many policies were denied.

Another example is the Song Dynasty. Starting from the founding emperor Zhao Kuangyin, a special inner treasury was set up, called "Fengzhuangku", that is, the annual surplus of national finances was hidden in this treasury. The original intention was to use it as a financial reserve to deal with national emergencies, but later it changed its nature and became the emperor's private treasury. Although once the country encountered major events such as war and famine, the ministers always wanted the emperor to spend some money and take out some private money from the treasury to tide over the difficulties. Sometimes even the officials in charge of finance would shamelessly run to the emperor to borrow money. Although the emperor was extremely reluctant, he had to lend money to the government, and the government had to pay it back. Because of the prosperity of the economy in the two Song dynasties, it is difficult to know how much private money the emperor of the Song Dynasty had in his treasury. During the period of Song Gaozong, it was rumored that his treasury accounted for half of the national fiscal revenue every year.

Then there was the Ming Dynasty established by Zhu Yuanzhang. Emperor Chongzhen, in a life-and-death crisis with both internal and external difficulties, led his concubines to live frugally every day, and even asked his ministers to donate their property to save the country. He was extremely miserable. But at the beginning of his accession to the throne, he was also very generous in allocating millions of taels of silver to foreign countries. This is the inner treasury. The emperor can spend it at will without being criticized.

The sources of the emperor's inner treasury funds are two major parts. One is the imperial property, such as the imperial farm, mines, and fines; the second is that the national treasury allocates money to the royal family according to a certain proportion. That is to say, the royal family can legally obtain part of the national tax revenue. Different taxes have different proportions for the royal family, and the proportion of luxury goods is relatively high. And from some official industries (different from the share from taxes), such as minerals and salt, etc., but these are not controlled by all emperors, so they cannot be counted as inherent income. For example, Wanli and Chongzhen!

The royal family of Chen Han also has private property, which is very large. Like the Kuril Islands, like the current West Borneo, and the vast Northeast Plain, Outer Northeast, many places have also been turned into royal private property by Chen Ming. This is an exchange!

Many of the palaces and legacies left by the Qing Dynasty in various places have been put into Chen Ming's pocket.

With the concession of the cabinet on the royal property, Chen Ming will get very little in terms of annual revenue, only a simple one cent. That is one percent!

Every year, Chen Han will take an additional one percent of the national tax revenue from the treasury, and then the royal family's food, clothing, expenses, rewards, etc., will not have to worry about the outer court.

Although Chen Cong doubted whether his nephew's head was stuck in the door, such a condition was still set and added to the treasured teachings by Chen Ming.

No one knows what Chen Ming thinks. Is one percent still low? If Chen Han can hold on to the 21st century, no matter whether the Chen Han royal family at that time is rich or a rubber stamp, let alone one percentage point, even one tenth or one percent of one percentage point is an astronomical figure. Compared with the UK's fiscal revenue of nearly 600 billion pounds, it only has 7.9 million pounds of royal fiscal allocation, which is much higher. As for the Spanish king's annual income of 300,000 euros, it is even more different.

The royal family's expenses are not just about this. More content regulations are about the quotas of the emperor, the empress dowager, the queen... the queen, the concubine, the princes and princesses, etc. Even Chen Ming himself has set a quota for himself. From a few new clothes and pairs of socks and shoes per season, to how many dishes per meal, how many snacks per day.

Fortunately, there are records left by the Ming and Qing dynasties. Just look them up and compare them, and add and subtract.

To be honest, Chen Ming despises the Qing Dynasty's fussing over small details. The queen, the queen, can only have 10 maids, and the annual allowance is 1,000 taels of silver; the imperial concubine can have 8 maids, and the annual allowance is 800 taels of silver; the lowest-ranking Changzai and Yiying, one has three maids, the other has two maids, and the annual allowance is 50 taels and 30 taels respectively. Chen Ming grinned when he saw it!

Although the Qing imperial concubines would get gifts on their birthdays. For example, on the queen's birthday, the emperor would "grant 90 taels of gold, 900 taels of silver, 45 pieces of satin and gauze, 9 pieces of python satin, 9 pieces of satin, 9 pieces of Ning silk, 9 pieces of palace silk, 9 pieces of gauze, 9 pieces of spring silk, and 9 pieces of silk". It is much higher than the annual allowance. When a child is born or the child is one month old, the emperor will also give red envelopes: granting the queen 1,000 taels of silver, the imperial concubine 500 taels of silver, etc.

But Chen Ming really thinks it's ridiculous.

Compared with the reduction in the amount of food and clothing, Chen Ming never treats his women and children badly in terms of annual allowance and treatment. The prince who had not yet reached the age of twenty received the ceremony of the Duke and also received the title of the Duke.

Then on the fourth day of February, Chen Ming officially issued an edict to open the imperial examination.

This was already a common practice. It started in the Song Dynasty and became popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Every time the court celebrated, a special imperial examination was held.

Now that the new emperor has ascended the throne, it is an unspoken rule to hold an imperial examination. Thousands of candidates came to Nanjing years ago. Now in the Chen Han officialdom, in order to deal with the time problem of the imperial examination for incumbent officials, a rule has been specially issued. Those who sign up for the imperial examination will be given a three to six-month vacation depending on their rank and distance.

During this period, they will be suspended from work and salary, and their qualifications will be maintained. The results will be determined after the exam.

The meaning of this sentence is easy to understand. What is really important is the unspoken rule, which is the most life-threatening. You were a full-time county magistrate of the fifth rank before, and you want to take the imperial examination. You can. But this official position will not be reserved for you, and the need will not be filled immediately. What is reserved for incumbent officials who take the imperial examination is only their rank and qualifications.

To use a very simple example as an analogy, it is like "Dingyou". You go home to mourn for three years, and after the mourning period, you are still the rank of the rank, but there is no real vacancy in hand.

This regulation has greatly dampened the interest of civil servants in the imperial examination, especially those officials who have no background but strong ability and have already made a good living.

This is a question of choice.

Just like the current "Dingyou System". Chen Ming did not agree with Dingyou at first, but considering the environment of this era. He decided to give the officials the right to choose "Dingyou or not". Although every official who lost their parents or relatives in the past two years still chose Dingyou, Chen Ming believes that people who "do not Dingyou" will appear sooner or later.

He is not slandering the traditional virtue of "filial piety", but he does not agree with this very moral kidnapping system.

Taking the previous Daqingguo as an example, there are countless officials who are in Dingyou. How many of them are honest and incorruptible? What is the proportion? How many officials are qualified to be "deprived of love" by the emperor in the entire dynasty for two or three hundred years? How many of them are corrupt officials and how many are honest?

This specific manifestation of the Confucian traditional concept of filial piety cannot really select the real "gentlemen". When a moral concept is specifically expressed by specific rules and regulations, the taste has changed.

February 5th, early in the morning. It was not yet six o'clock, the sky was still hazy, a few remaining stars were inlaid in the light blue sky, and the earth was covered with a gray veil. The whole city of Nanjing was already noisy like a boiling pot of porridge. Especially Xuanwu Lake, Wuyi Lane and the multiple courtyards of the Imperial Guards, the Logistics Department, and the Grand Commander, the houses were crowded with people.

There is no way, today is a grand military parade. The location is Chaoyang Gate. As the senior officials of the Chen Han court and the military dependents of the soldiers, the Grand Parade Command has a place for these people to watch the ceremony in the surrounding area.

No one is unwilling to join in the fun. With the Imperial Guards protecting the surroundings, nothing will happen, and it is not rare that they are not allowed to bring maids. Moreover, these ladies are likely to see their children, because student representatives of Sungkyunkwan Public School will also be present today.

Chaoyang Gate is named because it is located in the east of Nanjing and is the first to greet the sun. As the first gate to be repaired, Chaoyang Gate had a double-eaved hip-and-gable gatehouse with a width of one room on the city platform last winter. Before that, there was only a brick-built single-vaulted gate platform.

The military parade was not held at Tongji Gate, Jubao Gate, or Sanshan Gate, but at the three highest-specification inner city gates. Because of the terrain, and because Chen Ming liked the name of Chaoyang Gate.

At Pan Chang's home.

Qian looked at Pan Qian, who was dressed neatly, with envy in her eyes. She couldn't go to the ceremony today because she was pregnant. Pan Qian and Wang Zhizheng, who came to Nanjing before the New Year, had not returned to the army after the New Year, but received a letter from the Medical Department under the Grand Commandant's Office, saying that he was selected.

Pan Qian had the care of Mr. Bai, so she didn't have to go back to the army alone. Staying in Nanjing and looking forward to the military parade has become the most ardent wish after watching the emperor's enthronement ceremony.

One by one, people came out of the houses and gathered on the playground of the No. 5 compound. There were not many people, only 30 in total, and the five compounds together only had 120 people.

When Pan Qian and the others lined up and were taken to the designated location by public carriage, the red sun had risen from the east, and the warm sunshine shone on everyone, making people feel comfortable.

In the distance, the willows on the shore of the Crescent Lake were swaying gently, the breeze suddenly rose, the waves jumped, and the lake was full of broken gold.