kingnovel Chapter 203 My life has been like walking on thin ice.
Chapter 203 My life has been like walking on thin ice.
Just as Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate, began to doubt whether he was the legendary innate ox-and-horse sacred body, Wang Qiong's eyes lit up, and he looked intently at the magistrate and asked, "Brother Yang, could you tell me more about the shop tiers and large-amount exchange reservations you just mentioned?"
Yang Shaofeng nodded and said, "The so-called tiered shops are naturally set up in different places to handle the exchange between paper money and copper coins and silver. For example, the capital city has hundreds of thousands of people, while Ningyang County only has about two thousand. The amount of paper money and copper coins that need to be exchanged every day is naturally different, so the size of the treasury is naturally different as well."
"As for large-amount exchange reservations... I can't expect you, my brother, to come to me with ten 10,000-guan banknotes and expect me to immediately produce 100,000 taels of silver, can I? What would a tiny county like Ningyang County do with so much silver? So, if you, my brother, want to withdraw 100,000 taels of silver, you should make a reservation first and arrange a time to collect it."
"This appointment can also be scheduled according to different denominations of banknotes. For example, banknotes under one guan can be picked up on the same day, banknotes from two to ten guan can be picked up the next day, and banknotes from ten to one hundred guan can be picked up in three days. As long as there is time, I can send someone to the next higher level shop to bring the silver back."
Hearing this, Wang Qiong finally breathed a sigh of relief.
It's good to have a way to deal with it.
After seeing Wang Qiong off, Magistrate Yang Shaofeng went straight to his study and began writing a memorial to Zhu Chongba.
The more Yang Shaofeng wrote, the more unhappy he became.
What was the reason for the initial criticism that the preferential treatment given to scholars was excessive?
Can not remember.
However, it doesn't matter. I have always been kind to people and have never had any enemies. My mention of Emperor Zhu's excessive favoritism towards scholars is entirely for the sake of the long-term stability of the Ming Dynasty. Such a patriotic heart is definitely not because I have any grudge against the scholars in Jiangnan.
What was the reason for bringing up the matter of paper money?
I don't seem to remember.
But that doesn't matter. I have always admired Emperor Zhu, who started with just a bowl, and the high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty. I always take them as my role models and serve the people of the Ming Dynasty wholeheartedly. I have no intention of causing them any trouble.
So, these were clearly two good things, how did they turn into this mess that I, the official, have to personally figure out how to clean up the mess?
As Yang Shaofeng pondered and wrote, he began to copy the draft of the memorial page by page onto special paper for memorials.
But this copying had a significant impact. It took two whole days to copy, and when they finally counted it carefully, the entire document was more than 20,000 words long, the size of a draft proposal!
"How tragic, how utterly tragic!"
After the ink on the last sheet of special paper for memorials had dried, Yang Shaofeng sealed it with a special envelope for memorials while shaking his head slightly and sighing at the hardships of life.
"They all only see the troubles I've gone through, and they envy that I can marry two beautiful princesses as wives. But who knows that I have walked on thin ice all this way? I have to be careful with every step, for fear of making a mistake. How can outsiders know the hardships I have endured?"
Take, for example, the matter of preferential treatment for scholars and paper money. Originally, the two had no connection. Magistrate Yang could have comfortably lay on a recliner in the backyard of the county government office, watching the show without a care in the world.
As a result of Zhu Chongba's meddling, the two events became connected instantly, and the slightest carelessness could cause turmoil. Unfortunately, both events were related to Magistrate Yang, so Magistrate Yang had no choice but to find a way to resolve the potential dangers in advance.
After leaving the study, Magistrate Yang immediately had someone summon Limpy Five, stuffed the envelope containing the memorial into Limpy Five's hand, and instructed him: "Please trouble Limpy Five to arrange for someone to deliver this memorial to the Office of Transmission."
After the lame man agreed and left, Magistrate Yang sighed again, walked to the recliner under the eaves, lay down, and began to close his eyes to rest.
……
The more Zhu Chongba, the more comfortable he felt, the more he read the memorial submitted by Magistrate Yang.
"Look at our son-in-law, Old Zhu, he's so thoughtful."
Emperor Zhu handed the memorial from Magistrate Yang to Empress Ma, his old face beaming with a smile as bright as a chrysanthemum: "Although we, Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen, and others have already considered all the things he mentioned in his memorial, and the solutions we came up with were all pretty much the same, we never expected that Yang the Madman, who always only knows how to cause us trouble, would actually know how to share our burdens, haha."
After reading through Magistrate Yang's memorial, Empress Ma casually handed it to Zhu Biao and said with a smile, "You're capable, you can cause trouble, and you can even think of how to clean up the mess after you've done it. You're really good."
Emperor Zhu was immediately even more pleased.
The fact that the girl can praise Yang the Madman shows that our Old Zhu has good taste. So, it's like the girl is praising our Zhu Chongba, and we Zhu Chongba are happy!
When Emperor Zhu was in a good mood, he once again thought of Magistrate Yang's marriage.
After a moment's consideration, Emperor Zhu looked at Empress Ma and said, "Didn't Chen Zhong and Liu Yang submit a memorial requesting Liu Jizu to serve as the marriage envoy? We estimate that Liu Jizu will arrive in the capital in a few days, and then we should start preparing for our daughter's wedding."
Empress Ma nodded slightly and replied, "That's about right—if we start preparations now, they should be completed by winter. Then we can have him come to the capital to get married, which won't interfere with his important business in Ningyang County."
Emperor Zhu chuckled and agreed, then clicked his tongue and chuckled, saying, "It's quite interesting. In the eyes of scholars, I, Old Zhu, am not a good person, and Yang the Madman is not a good person in the eyes of officials and scholars either. But I, Old Zhu, just like him. He's about to become my son-in-law. Interesting, very interesting."
Upon hearing Emperor Zhu's words, Empress Ma suddenly felt somewhat weary.
Neither the father-in-law nor the son-in-law are good people?
Whose fault is this?
The son-in-law is capable and daring to cause trouble, and the father-in-law keeps following suit. Now, the preferential treatment for scholars and gentry has been abolished. In the eyes of officials and scholars, aren't they the most incompetent emperor and the most treacherous son-in-law in history?
Yes, after being given a host of unpleasant nicknames such as "Crazy Yang" and "Corrupt Official Yang," Magistrate Yang earned the title of "the greatest villain of all time" for canceling preferential treatment for scholars.
What's rather strange is that although Emperor Zhu Chongba had clearly taken responsibility for abolishing preferential treatment for scholars, when the news spread, civil and military officials, Confucian scholars, and gentry all pointed the finger at Magistrate Yang, seemingly convinced that Magistrate Yang was the culprit behind it all.