Daming: The system rejected my request for salted fish

Chapter 985

You should know that since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, only two founding ministers, Li Shanchang and Xu Da, have received this honor.

Wei Wu is only in his twenties now, but he has already reached a height that ordinary people can hardly reach in their lifetime. It is outrageous.

Finally, Wei Wu's salary actually reached 5,000 dan. You should know that among all the civil and military officials in the court, only Xu Da had such a generous salary!

However, the most puzzling question for all the officials was that no one stood up to oppose the emperor's reward.

Logically speaking, Duke Han, who had a grudge against Wei Wu, would not sit idly by and watch this happen, and would definitely speak up to stop it.

But when the officials looked at Li Shanchang, they found that he was looking at his nose and his nose at his heart, as if he knew nothing.

In fact, these officials did not think deeply enough. How could the emperor not discuss this level of reward with his ministers!

Li Shanchang already knew how Zhu Yuanzhang would reward him, but he had no objection to it and instead gave his full support.

Just as Wei Wu and Zhu Yuanzhang had guessed before, Li Shanchang was eager for Wei Wu to receive more rewards.

It would be best if you could reach the point where there is nothing left to be given in terms of titles or rewards. The more you get, the faster and more miserable your death will be in the future when the royal family will be wary of you.

It’s a pity that Li Shanchang didn’t know that what he had in mind was indeed very good and was in line with officialdom and human nature.

But he knew too little about Wei Wu and didn't know how much benefit Wei Wu would bring to the Zhu family and the Ming Dynasty.

What he was thinking about had already been discussed by Zhu Yuanzhang and Wei Wu, so the outcome was destined not to be what he wanted.

On the other side, after the eunuch finished reading the decree, Wei Wu immediately stepped forward, took the imperial edict from his hand, and expressed his gratitude.

"Your Majesty has been so gracious and kind to me, Wei Wu, that I have no means of repaying you. Therefore, I will diligently serve the country with all my heart and soul in return for your kindness!"

After Wei Wu thanked him for the reward, Zhu Yuanzhang also said some official words in response, and the reward was over.

Now that the court meeting was almost over, Zhu Yuanzhang spoke directly:

"Today's court meeting ends here. If you have any memorials, please submit them. If not, we will adjourn."

After saying this, Zhu Yuanzhang stood up and prepared to leave, and all the officials also prepared to leave after he left.

However, at this moment, a man suddenly walked out of the crowd. Upon closer inspection, it was the censor Niu He.

He was the censor who opposed the eastern expedition to Japan during the court meeting last time and was finally awarded twenty strokes of the cane.

Amidst everyone's puzzled expressions, Niu He slowly came to the center of Fengxian Hall, saluted Zhu Yuanzhang and said:

"Your Majesty, I have something to report!"

Zhu Yuanzhang did not expect that someone would actually make a memorial at this time, so he turned around and sat back on the dragon throne.

"allow!"

The minister had a report, and as the emperor he had to listen, but he was also curious about what this person was planning to do.

Afterwards, under the gaze of all the civil and military officials in the court and Zhu Yuanzhang, Niu He slowly told them what he was going to report.

"Your Majesty, I want to talk about the road construction in Nanzhili. Building cement roads is a good deed and will benefit the people."

"But I heard that after the cement road is completed, tolls will be charged to the people. I think this is inappropriate."

"If the purpose is to benefit the people and make their lives more convenient, how can we ask them to pay for it? This is competing with them for profit."

Having said that, Niu He bowed again and continued:

"Also, regarding the road construction, I personally investigated it. When the Sihai Chamber of Commerce was building the road, they actually forcibly occupied the people's land."

"This has led to widespread public discontent in the Jiangnan region. Not only has road construction been halted, but even job recruitment is stymied by public discontent."

"Therefore, I suggest that the Sihai Chamber of Commerce be severely punished and its construction license be revoked, and the road construction work be assigned to the Ministry of Works."

Originally, when Niu He stood up, Wei Wu didn't care, but who knew that he was talking about road construction.

According to Master Zheng, whoever spoke about this matter in the court would be the spokesperson for the gentry in Jiangnan.

Although this situation had been anticipated and a method for dealing with it had been decided.

But when he really saw Niu He stand up, Wei Wu was still very unhappy, mainly because what Niu He said was completely confusing right and wrong.

There were indeed people in Jiangnan who came out to cause trouble, but it was not due to public discontent at all, but rather someone deliberately manipulating it.

The fact is that the people accepted the money and agreed to the plan, they just had to tell the village elders.

Because this was how the road was built before and nothing had happened, the supervisor immediately arranged for people to repair the road without waiting for the contract to be signed.

As a result, as soon as the roadbed was built, these people returned the money and accused the Sihai Chamber of Commerce of encroaching on their land.

This is also the reason why Wei Wu is unhappy with Niu He. This guy is clearly confusing right and wrong and distorting the facts.

Wei Wu's thoughts would not make sense unless he said a few words to him, so after Niu He finished speaking, he stood up without waiting for Zhu Yuanzhang to respond.

"Your Majesty, I also have some knowledge of this matter, and it happens to be different from what Censor Niu said, so I would like to discuss it with him."

"allow!"

Wei Wu wanted to speak, so how could Zhu Yuanzhang stop him? He immediately waved his hand in agreement.

After getting Zhu Yuanzhang's consent, Wei Wu turned to look at Niu He and asked:

"Censor Niu, as far as I know, the Sihai Chamber of Commerce had already determined the route before the road was built, and it did not occupy the people's land."

"Anywhere the road passes through, any land owned by the people will be compensated at a price set by the court. This is just compensation, not a sale."

"After the people received the money, the land still belonged to him. The Sihai Chamber of Commerce only owned the area occupied by the cement road."

As the saying goes, enemies become more jealous when they meet. Seeing Wei Wu stand up, Niu He immediately retorted:

"Duke Zhenguo, I know there's a merchant in the Sihai Chamber of Commerce who's a servant of yours. No wonder you're protecting him."

"But it is true that the Sihai Chamber of Commerce occupied the people's land, causing widespread public resentment. Otherwise, why would the Jiangnan Road construction be halted due to lack of people working on it?"

"Duke Zhenguo, as the Duke of Ming, you should distinguish right from wrong and put the country first. How can you sacrifice public service for personal gain and cover up for personal gain?!"

As soon as Niu He finished speaking, several officials immediately stood up and echoed his words with great righteousness.

Because there is no evidence without a contract, no matter what Wei Wu says, it is useless, and there is Qingxia, who is also his own person.

As an imperial censor, Niu He grasped this point and used the official methods to negotiate with Wei Wu, which was indeed a good way.

But Wei Wu was also prepared. He smiled slightly and looked at the Minister of Revenue Zeng Tai who was not far away.

It’s decided to be you, Lord Zeng!