Liu Jin, the great eunuch in Zhu Houzhao period of Ming Wuzong, controlled the whole country, so that everyone in the world privately called him? Emperor? And Zhu Houzhao is? Sitting on the emperor? . Many people must have doubts about why Zhu Houzhao trusts Liu Jin so much. Everyone will think, is this Zhu Houzhao blind and deaf? Doesn't Liu Jin know that he has done so many unnatural things during his five years in office?
In fact, Liu Jin is not useless. He has the capital that Zhu Houzhao needs to rely on, and that is money.
During Zhengde's reign, the national treasury was empty, and Zhu Houzhao ignored political affairs, only knew how to play with women, engage in music, do magic tricks, play around, build a big house and spend lavishly. Therefore, although he was an emperor, he was extremely short of money. At first, he turned to cabinet ministers for help. As a result, ministers told him to be frugal and have less fun with a straight face. Only Liu Jin will not let him be frugal, but also persuade him to spend more and get him all kinds of fun and interesting things. In addition, in Xiao Zhu's eyes, there are many ways for Liu Jin to make money, just like the God of Wealth. Therefore, Zhu Houzhao cannot restrain Liu Jin's daily actions.
As for Liu Jin's way to make money, it is very simple. There are three main ways: first, increase new taxes and additional taxes, raise taxes and exploit people; second, ask officials and local rich people for bribes; third, impose fines on officials.
in order to make money, Liu Jin reformed the financial system of the country. He set up the State Taxation Bureau and the Royal Taxation Bureau through eunuchs from all over the country, and levied taxes on the people in various names. Part of the money went into his own pocket, and part of it was given to Zhu Houzhao, and finally the rest went into the state treasury. Obviously, in this way, although tens of millions of people in the world have paid enough money in 14 years, it is not enough for a few beneficiaries to share. When Liu Jin turned his head, he thought that there must be too many people who eat imperial food, so his income could not come up.
Zhu Houzhao often tells Liu Jin that money is still not enough, and it is better to make more money. Therefore, Liu Jin began to impose fines on officials. His official statement is that the emptiness of the national treasury is caused by poor management and corruption and bribery of officials. It is really unacceptable that these people who eat state grain only know how to enjoy themselves and do not know how to contribute, so they should be fined in order to cultivate the sense of responsibility of officials.
Liu Jin looked at the gold and silver treasures piled up on the table and was very satisfied. During his five years in charge of the national finance, officials of all sizes across the country were fined, and some officials were even punished to ruin their homes and their families.
In order not to be punished, many officials finally got the hang of it and began to pay bribes to Liu Jin. This kind of behavior makes Liu Jin feel very good, and the fine needs to be fabricated. This bribe is done in secret and no reason is needed. So he began to take the initiative to ask for bribes, and at least 7% officials were blackmailed by him in five years. Later, this matter was no longer called asking for bribes, but called to pay tribute to Liu Gonggong.
Under such a tragic background, such a tragic story happened.
There is a section chief in the Ministry of War named Zhou Key, and he has a very good relationship with Zhao Jun, the magistrate of Huai 'an. Once he was ordered to go to Huai 'an on business, Zhao Jun warmly received him, not only arranged a five-star inn, but also laid down a luxurious banquet. But Zhou Key looked unhappy. Zhao Jun asked why. Zhou Key shook his head and said: It's not just about Liu Gonggong asking for bribes. ? Zhao Jun quickly corrected:? That's called Shanggong. ? Zhou Key was not in the mood to tangle with him about the name, but suddenly looked up at Zhao Jun and said, Why don't you lend me 12? ?
Zhao Jun was silent for a long time. Seeing Zhou's sincere eyes and tears, he nodded and agreed. Before returning to Beijing, Zhao Jun sent someone to send a heavy package to Zhou Key. Zhou Key was very grateful and boarded the ship at the moment. Unexpectedly, when the capital was approaching, Zhou Keyi opened the parcel and saw that there was no silver in it, all of which were heavy stones. The thought of Liu Jin's many methods of torturing people, and the thought that he had been cheated by his good friends, made Zhou Key feel overwhelmed and committed suicide by jumping into the river with this parcel of stones.
Leng Yue is silent, the splashing water has already fallen, and the water surface with numerous ripples has already calmed down. The world is silent, and everything is bleak. Only the boat that stops on the river looks lonely and unwilling. There are five bloody words on the deck of the boat? Zhao Zhifu missed me.
Because Zhou Key knows that he can't get a tribute, and what awaits him will be the end of life rather than death, so he might as well take his own life. At least, he is in control of his own destiny. What we can see from this tragic story is that at that time, Liu Jin's power and black heart had reached the point where people were frightened and lifted themselves to the pool. And the more important lesson is, never ask a friend to borrow huge amounts of money. On the one hand, the relationship between friends is likely to be cut off, and on the other hand, like Zhou Key, it is easy to be deceived by friends.
whoever controls the finances of the empire is indirectly controlling the major state affairs. In a word, Liu Jin got a lot of money through power at that time, and after he had money, his power was more stable.