Chapter 308 How can the world supervise the country for forty years?
Chapter 308 How can there be forty years in the world to supervise the country?
Author: My little carp
Chapter 308 How can there be forty years in the world to supervise the country?
one year later.
Daming Palace, Imperial Study Room.
Zhu Wuwu sat on the throne and kept giving instructions on the memorial. He had done this at Hulong Villa for twenty years. Now he just changed the place and he was very skilled.
However, he still made unified requirements for the memorials of various governments and ministries: small matters must be two hundred words, and major matters must be within five hundred words, otherwise they will be fined.
Otherwise, you won’t be able to finish it, or you won’t be able to finish it at all.
During this one year of supervising the country, he did not carry out drastic reforms and only did two things.
The first thing: large-scale cultivation of potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn and other high-yielding crops traded from foreign countries.
In fact, these things were brought to the Ming Dynasty when Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty went to the West. However, because he did not bring much, he could only cultivate them slowly and select seeds.
Afterwards, Chengzu died and the people died and the government ceased, so it was over.
But Zhu Wuwu had read ancient and modern classics and already knew the whereabouts and habits of these crops.
At that time, Zheng He led a fleet of more than 30,000 people and more than 40 large ships on seven voyages to the Western Ocean, visiting more than 30 countries and regions, covering a distance of millions of miles.
Later, an important official dossier was left behind, called "Zheng He's Mission to Shui Cheng".
This dossier contains a large amount of original information about Zheng He's voyages to the West, such as technical information on Zheng He's treasure ships, the charts used by the fleet, and the customs and habits of various countries.
During the Chenghua period of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor ordered Xiang Zhong, Minister of War, to search Zheng He's old archives. After three days of searching, he was surprised to find nothing.
Xiang Zhong asked: Where are the files?
Liu Daxia, who was a chauffeur at the time, replied: The three-guarantee voyage to the West cost hundreds of thousands, and tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians died. What is the benefit of getting the treasure? Although the old files are still there, they should be destroyed, so why are we still asking questions?
In short, it’s just two words: gone.
In the end, of course, the matter was settled.
But Zhu Mingli knew clearly that the Liu family was one of the largest maritime smuggling companies in the South China Sea.
Although these families are not well-known, their wealth is astonishing, and they control almost all affairs in the coastal area. Even the local parents and officials look up to them.
In their eyes, changing parents is just a matter of words.
If Thirteen Thousand hadn't stepped in midway, he wouldn't even have known about shipping.
As for these high-yielding crops, do those families know about them? Of course they do. They even clearly understand that if these crops are popularized, they can benefit all people and feed tens of millions of people.
There is great hunger at every year and people cannibalize each other. This kind of thing will never happen again. It can be said that the merits will last forever.
But the only thing they did was to plant these crops in their own gardens. Occasionally, they would take some friends to show off and appreciate them: this is an exotic Western grass, with a high yield per acre and a unique taste.
As for releasing it and letting the miserable common people plant it so that they can have enough to eat?
impossible!
If everyone has enough food, warm clothes, and a place to live, then how can they have their current status and rights? Who will cultivate so many fields in their homes?
How can we force those miserable ordinary people to spend their entire lives working for them?
Only by making those people poorer, more miserable, and more difficult to live, will the rich and powerful families like them live happier.
In the past, Zhu Mingwu could ignore it, but it is different now. He is the prince of the prison country, and all the people in the world belong to him.
If these crops can be promoted, the population of the Ming Dynasty can at least double within ten years. By then, history will be like iron. Will he not be a wise emperor?
The second thing: root out evil!
This kind of thing is actually very simple. If you shoot the first bird with an arrow, you have the intelligence relationship with Dragon Guard Villa. Whichever house is awesome, you can beat them.
According to what the little yellow cat said, Ming Dynasty does not allow anyone to be more awesome than him!
Of course, there is actually another important purpose in doing this: to scare the monkeys, demonstrate authority, and eliminate dissidents.
Naturally, there are many people who are dissatisfied with him as a prisoner of the country. It's okay to obey the government, but some even directly oppose him. Why do such people still exist?
This is to block the progress of Ming Dynasty and directly capture them and send them to farm.
Only when all the officials obey his orders and act in unison with him can he continue to execute his plan smoothly.
The other most important thing is to make money!
During the hundreds of years of peace in the Ming Dynasty, every one of those big families could be said to be extremely wealthy. In just one year, he robbed five large families, ten medium-sized families, and three smugglers, and he plundered money worth tens of millions.
Two silver taels of fields, shops, and treasures.
Ming Dynasty's finances suddenly became lighter.
Only when you have money can you do things, otherwise who will work hard for you?
His actions naturally made the entire officialdom full of complaints. The memorials and letters sent to Northern Xinjiang every day could be used as firewood, but they either couldn't find Zhengde, or they worked hard to find it, but they were all dismissed with one sentence.
"Is it your uncle who oversees the country or you? You have a lot of free time. Do you want to come and fight with me? Come on, let's go to the grassland to harvest grass and grain together!"
As for some big players simply rising up and wanting to rebel? That's not a big problem.
In the past year, Zhengde has also done two things.
The first thing: in the first half of the year, we swept across northern Xinjiang. One person took Cao Zhengchun and a thousand black cavalry, and they did not sleep and stopped all the way. They swept across the nine borders and beat any tribe that refused to obey.
The second thing: In the second half of the year, he led a thousand black cavalry to patrol the country's border defenses, reducing the army of one million to half a million, and beating anyone who refused.
Of course, many of them were free pay. According to the calculations of the great scholar Wang Yangming, by eliminating half of the army, the Ming Dynasty's combat power would not decrease but increase.
It's so outrageous.
"Your Majesty, Grand Master of Wenyuan Pavilion, Wang Yangming would like to see you." Eunuch Sun came in to report.
"please."
Wang Yangming walked in slowly: "Meet the prince."
"Without courtesy, Bachelor Wang, how did you go about the task I gave you?" Zhu Wuwu asked calmly.
Not long ago, he understood the reason why Zhengde promoted Wang Yangming so quickly. After knowing him for a long time, he realized that this man's martial arts skills and talents were not inferior to him.
Wang Yangming saluted: "I report to the Supervisory State that three thousand accountants who are proficient in using new accounting methods and new numbers have been trained. In a short period of time, the shortage of internal treasury, national treasury, six ministries-related properties, silver taels, etc. has been found.
This is the relevant defect memorial."
Let Eunuch Sun take the memorial, Zhu Wuwu flipped through a few pages and sighed: "Shocking."
It can be said that among these six films, every one counts, and there is basically no one that is not worth it.
Yes, if you work hard to pass the imperial examination, if you don’t make a fortune, is it worth the hard work of studying day and night?
"Jian Guo, how are you going to solve it?" Wang Yangming asked curiously.
Zhu Wulan pondered for a while and felt helpless. If this kind of thing was not handled well, the entire Ming Dynasty might be paralyzed.
"Wei Chen feels that this matter should not be too involved, and it is better to only punish the culprit. In addition, the salary of the Ming Dynasty is not enough for the officials to live a decent life, so the salary should also be mentioned..." Wang Yangming gave his opinion directly.
Along the way to Longchang, he realized the true truth, the knowledge of the husband's mind, which leads to conscience. If knowledge and action are unified, something will happen.
That is to say, all things must know how they are, know why they are the way they are, and investigate their roots.
Zhu Wuwu nodded: "As it should be."
Wang Yangming continued to present a memorial: "After sorting out the financial files of the Ming Dynasty for more than 20 years, and comparing the historical materials of the previous dynasties. The minister also discovered that the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty may be damaged, and it is also inseparable from the national affairs of the past dynasties.
It won’t take three hundred years to get rid of the problem.”
"Oh? Bachelor Wang, please tell me." Zhu Wulan became interested.
He had to admit that what Wang Yangming said and did sometimes really surprised him.
“The first and most important issue is one that has been encountered by all dynasties: land annexation.
Prince, think about it, the Ming Dynasty has been at peace for hundreds of years, as long as there are no wars and no major disasters, the population will only increase.
But there is only so much land, and those big households are still using various methods to annex the land, what will happen in the future?" Wang Yangming asked.
Zhu Mingwang thought for a while: "Since the Han Dynasty, people have been able to buy and sell their own land. Since the Qin Dynasty opened Qianmo, the fields have been opened and expanded by common people. However, in the end, these fields were basically acquired by the rich and noble.
The rich can buy fields if they have funds, and the nobles can occupy fields if they have the strength. Those who plow the fields can only contribute to the rich and powerful families. The common people are no different from the cattle and horses plowing the fields.
In the end, more and more people became slaves and servants, and could only become vassals of those wealthy families, losing everything."
Wang Yangming nodded: "Indeed, I call the output of all the land in the Ming Dynasty the total productivity. Although the land in the Ming Dynasty is large, it is ultimately limited, so the productivity is also limited, and the population that can be fed is also limited.
If big households take away most of the productivity, leaving tens of millions of people to live on the most basic means, then as long as there is a major disaster, the overthrow of all the people will only happen in a matter of seconds.
It's okay if it's just one major disaster. If the Ming Dynasty encounters various disasters in certain years, there will only be one result: the entire Ming Dynasty will collapse."
Zhu Wuwu was surprised: "How could it be such a coincidence?"
"Yes!" Wang Yangming said firmly: "I have summarized the historical data of past dynasties. In fact, the desolation of most dynasties is not external troubles, but many internal worries.
Those people always say that in the last years of the dynasty, great disasters occurred constantly because of the influence of heaven and man, and that the emperor had no virtue. But is it possible that the land where we live has constant natural disasters every two or three hundred years?
At that time, the big families and the imperial court were already pushing the common people to the limit, and there were constant disasters. There was only one result: the government forced the people to rebel! They had no choice but to rebel! Because they all wanted to live."
Zhu Wuwu fell into deep thought: "You mean that my Ming Dynasty will encounter continuous major disasters in the next few years, so we must make various preparations in advance?"
Wang Yangming nodded: "It must be done, and it is necessary to prepare for a rainy day.
This is the first thing I report today: curbing land annexation, and states hoarding grain and grass, preferably to supply local needs for three to five years."
"Master Wang, this land transaction is purely voluntary. Those big households bought the land at high prices, why don't I let them buy it?" Zhu Minglan was helpless.
Didn't all the dynasties in the past know about this danger? China has produced countless smart people for thousands of years, but they couldn't do anything about it.
"Your Majesty, I have a great idea! We can establish many royal chambers of commerce in various places. Their role is to control the commodities that people basically need in life: grain, salt, and silver.
No matter it is a major disaster or a major disaster, as long as the price of grain and salt is kept at the same price, who will buy fields at high prices?" Wang Yangming said with a smile.
Zhu Wulan was thoughtful.
There were naturally many dirty merchants in the imperial business in the past, but as long as Wang Yangming's accountants are trained and the bills are checked every once in a while, then this plan is really possible.
Moreover, the basic prerequisite for the court to control food prices is that the court has enough food. Of course it was not possible before, but as long as potatoes and sweet potatoes become more popular and their cultivation is promoted, it will be possible.
"This matter is serious. I will report it to the emperor and ask him to make a decision." Zhu Wulan said slowly.
Stable!
Wang Yangming nodded. The emperor was obsessed with fighting now. As long as the two of them presented memorials together, he had never objected.
I still remember that when he first met the emperor, he submitted a long 30,000-word strategy for governing the country.
When the emperor opened the memorial, what he saw in Zhengde's eyes was crystal clear stupidity.
After waiting for a while, the emperor threw the memorial on the table and said: "It will be as you wish."
From then on, he knew that this righteousness was exactly what he wanted from a wise ruler.
Governing by hanging the arch, there will be one emperor through the ages!
"Master Wang, what's the second thing?" Zhu Wulan asked curiously.
Wang Yangming continued to take out a memorial and handed it over.
"Reporting to the Supervisory State, compared to previous dynasties, our Ming Dynasty actually has another major danger: the vassal clan.
According to the 28th year of Hongwu’s edict, the yearly pay of the ‘kings’ was reduced:
The prince's annual salary is 10,000 shi; the county prince's annual salary is 2,000 shi, which is reduced by half after inheriting the title of county king from the county king Zhaochu; the general who governs the country is paid 1,000 shi, while the first-class salary of the imperial court is only 1,044 shi; the auxiliary general is paid eight years old
Hundreds of stones...
However, during the Hongwu period, there were only forty-nine members in the clan. Now during the Zhengde period, according to Wei Chen's statistics, there are a total of 100,000 people. In a few years, it will even reach 200,000 or 300,000.
According to the edict issued during the Hongwu period, last year our dynasty's total revenue was 18.5 million taels, of which 5.5 million taels were used for clan salaries, accounting for a full 30%.
But these clans are not of any benefit to our Ming Dynasty court. Instead, many people collude with local officials to persecute the people, disrupt laws and disciplines, and damage the majesty of our Ming Dynasty royal family."
Zhu Wuyi frowned.
Other emperors must have considered reducing the grand master's salary, but they were afraid of one thing: the difficulty of Ming Chengzu's peace.
When Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty revolted, no one thought he could win thirty thousand against one million, but he just won.
What if there is another Ming Chengzu?
After pondering for a while, Zhu Wuwu suddenly remembered something. He himself was a peerless master. If those feudal kings came to the capital to look for trouble, would he not be able to defeat Cao Zhengchun or those losers?
The most important thing is that the emperor is not him anyway, so can the trouble of peace be brought to him?
No big deal!
"Master Wang, do you have any good ideas?"
Wang Yangming looked at the excited Jian Guo and fell into deep thought.
