The eldest grandson of Emperor Ming Dynasty!

Chapter 252 Zhang Sanfeng of the Ming Dynasty

The landlord, for Zhu Ying, perhaps for Zhu Yuanzhang and the entire Ming Dynasty, is a very troublesome role.

Although it is not as deep-rooted as an aristocratic family, it will gradually evolve into an aristocratic family after a long time of development.

The landlords in the early Ming Dynasty are mainly divided into two parts, one is the new generation of landlords, and the ancestors were refugees from the Yuan Dynasty for several generations. The refugees were originally a specialty of the Yuan Dynasty.

There is another kind, that is, the landlords in the Jiangnan area.

Zhu Yuanzhang's peasant uprising army did not attack the entire territory of the Ming Dynasty, and many places were not overthrown by the uprising.

This key area is Jiangnan.

Jiangnan originally belonged to Zhang Shicheng's territory. Even now that Hongwu has been around for 25 years, many landlords and gentry in Jiangnan still miss Zhang Shicheng in their hearts.

Zhu Yuanzhang has always been very jealous of the Jiangnan area, which can be seen from the corruption, execution, and exile of officials.

Basically, officials in the Jiangnan area, when Zhu Yuanzhang saw a crime, would subconsciously increase the crime.

The distribution of credit will also drop a lot.

For example, Liu Ji and Liu Bowen are from Zhejiang.

Zhu Yuanzhang called Liu Bowen "my son's house", and there is also a saying among the people that "Zhuge Liang divides the world into three parts, and Liu Bowen dominates the country.

It can be seen that Liu Bowen's contribution to the Ming Dynasty is considerable.

But because of Liu Bowen's native place in Jiangnan, Li Shanchang, who was equivalent to the logistics supervisor, was named a first-class duke when he was named a hero.

Liu Ji, who has more fame, fame, and more credit, was named the third-class earl.

Liu Bowen is just a microcosm, and more officials from the south of the Yangtze River are basically in this situation, without exception.

After Qi Tai left, Zhu Ying took out a booklet from the bookcase and flipped through it.

This booklet was given to him after the old man talked to him last time.

What is recorded here is the situation about all the landlords of the Ming Dynasty.

Different from other booklets, it not only records the names of all the landlords, but also has a very detailed statistical data.

Even now in the Ming Dynasty, there are 340 landlords with more than [-] mu of land.

This is a statistic accurate to single digits.

Turning over a few pages casually, you can see that there are still many scratches. Those whose names have been crossed out are the landlords who have been disposed of by the old man.

It can be seen that most of the landowners disposed of were marked with their Jiangnan origin.

"It seems that Grandpa has long been wary of landlords. No wonder I wasn't too surprised when I talked about the land reform."

"Perhaps at the very beginning, grandpa already knew the dangers of the landlord class, so he kept suppressing the landlords."

"Jiangnan, what a Jiangnan taxation is the highest in the world. It seems that after so many years of heavy taxes, Jiangnan has always been a thorn in Ming Dynasty."

"We must find a way to remove this thorn."

Zhu Ying is very clear that Jiangnan is the place with the heaviest taxation in the entire Ming Dynasty, and it can be said that it bears half of Daming's tax revenue.

Those landowners who were wiped out, their fields became official land, and then distributed to ordinary people.

Some people may wonder why Jiangnan is the least among the ranks of the Ming peasant uprising.

There are even no cases of rebellion in most of the Jiangnan area.

Could it be that these landlords in the south of the Yangtze River will not unite?

Hey, if you can eat enough, who wants to rebel.

If you want to rebel, the biggest main force is not the landlords, but the poor and white heads of Guizhou.

The land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River is the granary of Daming.

When the landlord called out to rebel, no one responded at all. Before the people gathered, the government had already come to encircle and suppress, and there was no condition for rebellion at all.

This is why Zhu Yuanzhang dared to target the Jiangnan area in this way.

Of course, the most important objects of care are the landlords.

For example, in the previous three Hongwu cases, the relocation of wealthy households in the south reduced the admission rate of Jiangnan talents in the imperial examinations, and restricted Jiangnan people from entering the court as officials, especially the Ministry of Households. .

However, even so, 4000% of the more than [-] landlords with more than [-] acres of land in the brochure came from Jiangnan.

"Grandpa's village self-government method is good, but it is still not enough for Jiangnan. Only by opening the Public Security Bureau to the Jiangnan area, and grasping it hard, can it be eradicated slowly."

"Grandpa is very foresighted, but unfortunately, he still didn't do it thoroughly. The descendants of future generations are useless. He didn't continue the policy of suppressing Jiangnan and opened it up for them."

"If the current method is followed and the Jiangnan area is suppressed, the Ming Dynasty can continue to be a kingdom for at least another hundred years."

Zhu Ying sighed a little, and at the same time there was a cold light in his eyes.

Perhaps many people don't seem to have much feeling for Jiangnan, but if they know, the Donglin Party, a political alliance in the late Ming Dynasty, was an official headed by Jiangnan scholar-bureaucrats.

In addition to the Donglin Party, there are Zhejiang Party, Qi Party, Chu Party, Kun Party, Xuan Party and so on.

The so-called Donglin Party struggle is a crony dispute between the Donglin Party and the entire Ming Dynasty, and at the same time, it is also fighting with the Eunuch Party.

It can be seen what level the strength of the Donglin Party has reached.

The Ming Dynasty, as the dynasty with the most abundant silver in the history of dynasties, finally perished in the silver shortage.

Where did the money go?
In the hands of the Donglin Party members.

At the end of Ming Dynasty, the Donglin Party was in power.

Big landlords are not allowed to levy taxes, because that is the property of the Donglin Party members.

The mining industry cannot be taxed because it is the industry of the Donglin Party members.

Business cannot be taxed because it is the property of the Donglin Party members.

Gentlemen are noble and military are light, how many years does the wealthy Donglin Party owe the Jiubian Bingzhen?
It's like a cycle, how ruthless Zhu Yuanzhang was to the Jiangnan area in the early Ming Dynasty, and all of them were retaliated at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Jiangnan is very rich. The key to his wealth is not the people, but the prosperity produced by the merger of a large number of lands.

Most of the people have long been reduced to tenants of landlords, or long-term laborers.

"It seems that I have to go to the south of the Yangtze River. The chamber of commerce is there. Except for the huge profit from snowflake salt, other aspects are severely restricted. This is not possible."

Zhu Ying's arrangement for Qi Tai was passed on to Zhu Yuanzhang.

With a swipe of Zhu Yuanzhang's pen, the name of Qi Tai's imperial envoy was directly settled.

At present, the arrangements made by the grandson are basically passed directly by Zhu Yuanzhang.

At this time, some officials came to report that the first list of retired veterans had been reported by the Ministry of War and the Governor's Office of the Five Armies.

"Didn't we say that these things will be passed on directly to our eldest grandson?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a frown.

This made the officials who passed it on panic.

"Okay, let's put it here, and it's time for dinner now, call the grandson and have a meal together." Zhu Yuanzhang ordered.

"I obey the order." Liu He on the side took the order, then stepped back, and went to Kunning Palace.

Zhu Ying in Kunning Palace was about to go out at this point and go to the Gunpowder Department.

He wanted to see how the recent matchlock guns were developing. After collecting three thousand, Zhu Ying was ready to start practicing.

Build the Ming Dynasty, and even the world's number one firearms battalion.

At this time, Liu He came over and sent a message: "Your Highness, Your Highness is teaching you to have dinner with His Highness. Please also Your Highness follow me."

Zhu Ying asked, "Grandpa is looking for me? But what's the matter?"

Liu He bowed and replied: "Reporting to Your Highness, officials have just submitted a list of retired veterans. Your Majesty should be discussing this matter with His Majesty."

Zhu Ying nodded when she heard the words, and set off with Liu He to the Huagai Palace.

In the Huagai Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang saw the eldest grandson coming, and asked with a smile: "Recently, we all feel fatter. The main reason is that the cooks brought by the grandson are too delicious."

"Every time we eat, we fill up our stomachs, and we have to fill an extra bowl of rice."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Ying looked at the dozen or so meat dishes on the table, and couldn't help saying, "Grandpa recently ate too much greasy food, which is not good for your health."

"For meat, you can eat more fish. The boiled fish fillets recently developed by the chefs are very good, and the chicken is also good."

"These pork belly and braised pork have an excellent taste, but they are not very good for your health. You should eat more vegetables, soybean juice, and less fatty meat."

Looking at the old man's growing general belly, Zhu Ying couldn't help but comfort him.

There is no shortage of food in the royal family, especially Zhu Yuanzhang, who likes big fish and big meat the most.

The cooks that Zhu Ying brought here are very particular about the production. The same dish, through their hands, will improve the taste several grades.

Now Zhu Yuanzhang can clearly see the double chin, it's only been a few months.

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard Dasun's words, he asked a little strangely: "Dasun still has a lot of research on eating?"

Zhu Ying paused for a moment, and began to organize her words in her mind.

These simple principles are considered common sense in later generations, but they are not so particular in the current Ming Dynasty.

After all, there are still a small number of people who can eat enough. Who would study what to eat less.

After pondering for a while, Zhu Ying said: "When my grandson was in the Western Regions, I met an elderly Taoist priest. The Taoist priest liked to eat the most, and he was relatively rich. He was very picky about food."

"Besides, he is very particular about health preservation. At that time, my grandson was curious, so I asked a few more questions. The Taoist was unambiguous, and told my grandson some simple truths."

"My grandson didn't really believe it at first, but later the Taoist priest told his grandson that he had lived to be more than 100 years old, and my grandson was amazed and believed it."

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he was a little surprised and said: "There is such a person, what is the name of this Taoist priest, we want to get to know him."

Zhu Ying didn't hesitate at this time, and said directly: "This Taoist priest's surname is Zhang, and his name is Sanfeng."

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this name, he couldn't help exclaiming: "It turned out to be him!"

For Zhang Sanfeng, Zhu Yuanzhang not only knew that last year, that is, in the 24th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang strengthened his control over Taoism in order to better manage Taoism in the world.

Some Taoist priests were sent to Taoist temples all over the country, and they specifically told the envoys: "There is Zhang Xuanxuan, please come."

Zhang Sanfeng, named Junbao, also known as Quanyi, his style name is Xuanxuan, and his Taoist name is Kunyang.

It's just that from last year to this year, Zhang Sanfeng had no whereabouts at all, and Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't do anything about it.

Probably because Zhang Sanfeng is a Taoist priest, his favorite thing to do is traveling in the clouds.

Taoist Yunyou is different from fortune tellers like Liu Rixin.

For Liu Rixin's fortune-telling, he still basically focuses on cities, and he goes to places with a lot of people, so there are traces to be found.

Like Zhang Sanfeng, he went to some uninhabited deep mountains, and many places were even untouched. The government wanted to investigate, but they didn't know where to start.

Even on Wudang Mountain, it is normal for Zhang Sanfeng's disciples to have no master for several years.

Even if there is news, or where there is news, Zhang Sanfeng has appeared.

When I went to look for it again, the person had already left, and I didn't know where he went.

"Grandpa seems to know him?" Zhu Ying said with some surprise.

Of course, Zhu Ying had never met Zhang Sanfeng at all, if she really met such a fairy character, she would not even think about it, and would drag her along if she stalked him.

In later generations, the name Zhang Sanfeng has long been deified, and Zhu Ying took it out to make up for it.

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a sigh: "If someone else said this, we wouldn't believe it. Since Zhang Xuanxuan said it, there must be a reason for it."

"We really want to meet him. The decree was issued last year, but there is no news yet. These Taoist priests who like to roam, we really have nothing to do with them."

Hearing this, Zhu Ying was relieved, he thought the old man knew Zhang Sanfeng very well.

After Zhu Yuanzhang spoke, with a little nostalgia in his eyes, he looked at the pork belly and braised pork on the table, which are mainly fatty meat dishes, then turned his head slightly, and ordered:

"Listen to our grandson, in the future, in our recipes, all these dishes related to fat meat will be crossed out, so as not to upset us when we see them."

In terms of body and taste, Zhu Yuanzhang chose the body after all.

Zhu Yuanzhang's life is very promising now.

Da Sun returns, so young and outstanding, he really wants to live longer.

Then I thought in my heart: "Henry Zhang has such a long life, let's learn from him, not to mention being like him, live to eighty or ninety, look at our grandson and give us a great-grandson, it's almost the same . '

The pork belly and braised pork on the table were taken away, and Zhu Ying sat opposite the old man and began to eat together.

Don't talk about food, there is no such rule in Zhu Yuanzhang's place.

The grandpa and grandson began to chat while eating.

"Those retired soldiers, where is Dasun planning to arrange first? We just checked the total number. There are more than 3 people in the first batch of lists."

Zhu Yuanzhang asked directly.

Zhu Ying replied: "These soldiers, my grandson plans to resettle all of them to the Jiangnan area first. If my grandson's guess is correct, most of these soldiers are under the Duke of Liang, mainly from Huaixi."

Zhu Yuanzhang took a sip of the bean juice and said with a smile: "It seems that all of this is under the control of Dasun. No wonder Dasun didn't participate too much in the selection of candidates, and directly handed it over to Duke Liang and others. operate."

"That's right. We just took a rough look at the words. Seventy to eighty percent of them are old soldiers from Huaixi. We are even familiar with the names of many of them. They are all old brothers who fought with us in the past."

Zhu Ying replied with a smile: "Jiangnan is a good place, with outstanding people and wealth. These veterans from Huaixi will naturally not have a bad life when they go there."

"And they are all from Huaixi, and they can help each other. It is difficult to be bribed by the rich businessmen and gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. This can well implement the will of the court in all parts of the south of the Yangtze River."

"The Public Security Bureau, in particular, directly communicates with the people below. It is the easiest to get in touch with the situation in the south of the Yangtze River, especially some bully landlords."

Zhu Yuanzhang agrees with this very much. Although the Jinyiwei in the Jiangnan area is the largest except for the capital, the authority of the Jinyiwei organization is also limited accordingly.

In this way, the Public Security Bureau directly broke up the power of the county magistrate, which is equivalent to half of the county magistrate acting, which is completely different.

"Those rich gentry and rich merchants in the south of the Yangtze River have always caused us a lot of headaches, but they are a little better now. They really made us angry before."

"Remember, grandson, as far as Jiangnan is concerned, two places, Suzhou Mansion and Songjiang Mansion, need special attention."

"Perhaps Dasun hasn't checked the national treasury's revenue at the Ministry of Household Affairs. The two prefectures alone account for [-]% of our Daming's tax revenue. It's unimaginable."

"Only [-]% of this is due to the fact that we have collected a lot of official land over there. This is far from what Su and Song have. It can be even higher."

Zhu Yuanzhang's tone was a little emotional and a little apprehensive.

These two places are Zhang Shicheng's lair.

It was only after Zhu Yuanzhang confiscated a large number of landlords' fields that he realized why Zhang Shicheng was so unmotivated and only cared for pleasure all day long.

Feelings, food crisis, and money crisis have nothing to do with him.

As far as Zhang Shicheng could see there, it was a scene of singing and dancing.

Zhu Ying also felt a little shocked when she heard this.

The land of the two prefectures occupies [-]% of the tax in the next day. No wonder the old man has been increasing the tax on the entire Jiangnan area, which is getting heavier every year.

Feelings tasted the sweetness.

However, under such heavy pressure, Zhu Ying's original plan to continue to vigorously suppress the Jiangnan region has changed somewhat.

Because under such circumstances, Jiangnan must be in constant decline, and the scene of prosperity has been greatly reduced.

As for the old man, he continued to execute Jiangnan literati, wealthy businessmen, and landlords.

Zhu Ying felt that it was too wasteful.

"Grandpa, there are many scholars in Jiangnan, and Annan's side is the most uneducated. It is not as good as in Jiangnan area. All of them will be exempted from the death penalty and exiled to Annan. What does grandpa think?"

In today's Daming, the registered population is only over 6000 million, and it is estimated that the real population has certainly not reached [-] million.

The policy of distributing a piece of land into an acre can only be truly implemented after sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn and other crops are widely spread in various regions of Ming Dynasty.

Otherwise, there will be more births, and it will be no use not to be able to eat.

These talented scholars, literati, and wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan, in Zhu Ying's view, are the best export.

Especially overseas trade, vassal kings are definitely not good at it, and businessmen who can understand business are always needed to develop overseas vassal states.

As for the misfortunes outside of Ming Dynasty, Zhu Ying said that in the future there will be teachers of kings who will go to save them.

(End of this chapter)