"Husband, are things about the sea really that important?" Qian Niang, who was pregnant with her baby and gradually showing her fullness, leaned lazily on the couch in the waterside pavilion, covered with a thin blanket and took the gift from the maid.
After taking a sip of the soup, he curiously asked Zhu Qizhen, who was holding a piece of paper and teaching Zhu Jianshen origami boats.
Concubine Zhou looked at the tiger-headed Zhu Jianshen with a look of doting and pride on her face, clumsily imitating Zhu Qizhen's movements and folding a piece of good white paper into crooked shapes. As for Na Naren, this
Huizi was holding a dagger and was cutting pieces of tanned cowhide, and then used her nimble fingers to thread the shaved cowhide pieces together.
This is when she is making leather armor for her husband Zhu Qizhen. As a woman on the grassland, it is a custom to make a set of protective armor for her husband who is about to go on an expedition. After Zhu Qizhen tried to persuade her to no avail,
, and can only rely on this stubborn princess.
"Of course it is important. You must know that our Ming Dynasty has prosperous commerce in the south, which benefits from maritime affairs. However, it is a pity that the imperial court has opened up sea routes, but has not made full use of them. Instead, private merchants have benefited from them.
Li Ji Feng..." Zhu Qizhen finally folded a small paper boat and handed the paper boat into the hands of Zhu Jianshen who looked expectant.
The little guy excitedly held the little paper boat in his hands. After thanking his father in a sweet voice, accompanied by Concubine Zhou and Wan Zhen'er, he came to the front of the waterside pavilion and put the paper boat into
Into the water, as Wan Zhen'er stretched out her bare hands and paddled gently in the clear water, the small paper boat swayed slowly towards the depths of the pond with the ripples caused by paddling.
It drifted away staggeringly, which was met with excited cheers from Zhu Jianshen. "Father, look at the boat, it will swim by itself."
"This kid, it's not the boat that's swimming by itself, it's the waves made by your Aunt Wan's hands that push the boat away." Concubine Zhou couldn't help but pinch Zhu Jianshen's fleshy face, doting on her.
smiled.
"Your Majesty, didn't you say that if you keep wealth among the people, the country will be peaceful and the people will be safe? Doesn't it seem inappropriate to Your Majesty?" Qian Niang stroked her tall, mound-like belly with a look of curiosity on her face. It was Wan Zhen'er and others.
Everyone also turned their attention.
"It is naturally good to store wealth among the people. However, the people cannot obtain wealth by damaging the country's system. In that case, the country's interests will be harmed. And what a country is is an interconnected system composed of many parts.
An organic whole. In other words, the country is a machine." Zhu Qizhen patted his forehead, and after thinking about it, he worked hard to transform the political knowledge about the country in his brain into what Qian Niang and others could
Comprehensible language and figurative metaphors.
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"As Taizong of the Tang Dynasty said, the people are like the water of the turbulent river. They can sink or float boats. The Tang Dynasty is a boat, and this boat can also be used to refer to the Ming Dynasty.
"
"For example, the country, that is, the court, needs officials who have the power to exercise the will of the country, as well as compulsory agencies to ensure this power, such as the army and the imperial guards. In addition, of course, there are taxes that need to support the officials and the compulsory agencies...
"
“A country is built by relying on its people. The strength of a country comes from the supply and contribution of the people. The country not only requires but also needs to pay, such as protecting the people so that they can live in peace.
On this land, their lives and property are guaranteed to be safe from others.
And how should the two parties deal with each other? What they rely on is the law. Whether it is the court or the people, both parties must abide by it. Only in this way can everyone coexist peacefully. But when one party breaks it
This rule, then, will cause turmoil..."
"But what does this have to do with hiding wealth from the people?" The person who couldn't help but ask at this time was Qian Zhong, who was exercising his responsibilities as a living man. When he saw several pairs of eyes scanning over him, he realized that he had suddenly disturbed Zhu.
As Qi Zhen spoke, Qian Zhong couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed and wanted to apologize to Zhu Qi Zhen.
Zhu Qizhen smiled and waved his hand, and continued: "It seems unrelated, but in fact it is related..." After Zhu Qizhen cleared his throat, he began to show off his experience and lessons learned from ancient politicians who have worked hard since he came to ancient times.
The knowledge gained about this category is up.
Since ancient times, the monarch has been entrusted by heaven to govern the people. This has been the consistent thought of ancient Chinese rulers. Therefore, although Mencius proposed the idea that "the people are valued more than the monarch", there is probably not one emperor in the past who openly defied the will of heaven. However,
, but there are many people who have lost the support of the people.
Occasionally, the common people are very lucky to have an emperor who both "respects heaven" and "cares for the people". Zhu Qizhen's father was his great-grandfather (is that correct?), Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was one of them. Zhu Wuzhang always believed that the common people were the
It is the foundation of the country. As the saying goes: "The people are the foundation of the country." The reason why the country is in turmoil is because the people are uneasy.
Zhu Yuanzhang realized that tranquilizing the people is the prerequisite for achieving great governance in the world. So, how can we tranquilize the people? "The people will flee if they are embarrassed by food and clothing or forced by harsh government." Zhu Yuanzhang believed that there are two reasons for the people's unrest: one is being embarrassed by food and clothing, and the other is
Forced by harsh government, he therefore paid special attention to "hiding wealth among the people" and the purification of officialdom. He said: "The way to protect the country is to hide wealth among the people. If the people are rich, they will be close, and if the people are poor, they will be separated. The rich and poor of the people are closely related to the country."
In feudal society, the main content of "hiding wealth among the people" was to develop agricultural production and solve the problem of food and clothing.
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "The way to serve a country is to have enough food." "Those who have enough food and clothing are to encourage farmers and mulberry trees." Therefore, in response to the actual situation at that time that "the world was initially settled and the people were struggling financially", the policy of "recuperation and recuperation" was formulated
, take measures such as adjusting land relations, rewarding the reclamation of wasteland, and building water conservancy projects to vigorously promote the recovery and development of agricultural production.
Another important measure to "hide wealth among the people" is to gently reduce the amount of taxes and reduce the burden on farmers. It emphasizes that the exploitation of taxes and servitude must be controlled within a certain limit, "take it in a controlled manner, and use it in a measured way". We must not only care about immediate interests.
, fishing for the best, squeezing the people to the point where they have to pawn their pants and don’t even have basic food and clothing, then the people will inevitably become resentful, and the foundation of the country will begin to shake.
Therefore, the national policy of the Ming Dynasty has always been to lightly reduce taxes. From Zhu Yuanzhang to the present, decades have passed. The population of the Ming Empire and the affluence of the people are almost comparable to those of the former Song Dynasty. However, the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty is
But it's still pitifully low, just over two million taels anyway.
However, only through trade in Xuanfu, in less than a year, Zhu Qizhen obtained tax revenue that was close to that of a country in the Ming Empire for nearly a year. From this point of view, Zhu Qizhen has just achieved this.
I discovered that the Ming Dynasty was really not poor. Of course, it did not refer to the farmers who harvested food from the land, but to the merchants whose main business was buying and selling. They were really not poor. It could even be said that they were extremely rich.
.
However, the Ming Dynasty's low collection rate of commercial taxes is really jaw-dropping, even to the point of making people dumbfounded...
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***: Ah ah ah, information, information that makes people crazy, come on, come on, try harder tomorrow.
