Daming: Lend the system to Emperor Hongwu at the beginning

Chapter 173 Showdown, I'm Zhu Yuanzhang

There are currently five people in the cabinet.

Yan Song's first assistant, Xu Jie's second assistant, Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, and Li Chunfang's cabinet members.

Among them, Yan Song, the first assistant, now belongs to the only husband, and his reputation in the officialdom has completely stink.

He was unanimously rejected by the previous strict party and the Qingliu party.

But he was still supported by Zhu Yuanzhang, so the first assistant was very happy.

The following Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong are reformists, and after two years of running-in, they have already established a tacit political understanding with Zhu Yuanzhang.

The remaining Li Chunfang and Xu Jie belong to the south, and both of them have mulberry fields in their families.

Of course, it is not entirely true to say that they colluded with Japanese pirates.

They are big farmers who only mastered raw silk.

According to Chen Hong's investigation, there are eight families of these people headed by the Xu family, and these eight families have formed a de facto alliance.

Raw silk is sold at a unified price and sold in a unified manner.

Therefore, they have the bargaining power of silk.

They just sell the raw silk to the sea merchants on the southeast coast at a price higher than the market price. Of course, they know very well that after these sea merchants weave the raw silk into silk, they will definitely smuggle it.

But this has nothing to do with them.

As a large family of farming and studying heirs, there are some people who are high-ranking officials in the court, and they disdain to do business.

They only sell raw silk and influence the direction of the imperial court when the time is right.

But they have always been the biggest beneficiaries of this smuggling chain.

After two years of investigation by Chen Hong, in the entire silk smuggling network, the big mulberry farmers headed by the Xu family are actually the most profitable. Maritime merchants, the last [-]% are those pirate groups that shipped silk to Japan, Southeast Asia and other countries.

Those who really colluded with the Japanese pirates were also these maritime merchants who were between the pirates and the big families in the southeast.

Therefore, even if Chen Hong's Japanese communication case is investigated again, the Xu family will not be found.

Of course, the life of these big southeast families is not easy now. Chang Yuchun's Royal Navy fleet has sealed off the southeast coast and completely closed off the sea trade.

The silk of these big families cannot be smuggled and can only be sold domestically.

However, the country cannot absorb so much silk, so the price can only be reduced, and the price has been lowered repeatedly.

In the early years of Jiajing, when the smuggling trade was the most rampant, the price of a piece of silk had soared to ten taels of silver, but now it has been directly cut to three taels.

At this price, it is no longer profitable to grow food.

Even so, those large households in the southeast still accumulated countless silks that could not be sold.

But Xu Jie and others had nothing to do about it. There is a saying that politics is the continuation of military affairs. The moment the Japanese pirates were wiped out along the southeast coast, these big families on the southeast coast had already lost their most important leverage.

He has no qualifications to bargain with today's holy majesty at all.

How to do?
Only compromise.

So in the past two years, a very interesting phenomenon can be seen in the court.

Ten years ago, the Kaihai faction turned into a conservative faction, suggesting that the imperial court continue to close the treaty ports, and first squeeze the big mulberry farmers along the southeast coast to death.

However, those original conservatives have now become the most radical Kaihai faction. Their words are so fierce that it seems that if they do not open the sea, Ming Dynasty will perish.

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang understood that they were really in a hurry.

If the Ming Navy on the southeast coast did not lift the blockade and allow merchants to trade, all their mulberry fields would be destroyed and they would switch to growing food.

If you really do this, the loss will be great.

So they would rather pay taxes to the court, but also open channels to sell these silks to other countries.

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang did not want to kill them all. After all, in addition to these big mulberry farmers in the southeast coast, there are more small mulberry farmers.

If the price of silk continues to drop for several years, although those big families will be hurt, but it is the Sangnong who will really suffer the disaster.

This is what Zhu Yuanzhang does not want to see.

So in the end, after a few days of intense discussions at the Dachaohui, he finally let go and agreed to Xu Jie's proposal to open up treaty ports along the coast.

Then this policy was implemented at an extremely fast speed, without any restraints or riots.

"Taizu, this is too amazing. From Hongzhi to Zhengde and then to Jiajing, the imperial court had countless debates about whether to open the sea, but none of them went as smoothly as this time, and it was settled directly."

"I really don't understand, why is this?" In the Xiyuan, Emperor Jiajing looked at the memorial sent from the southeast with a mysterious expression on his face.

After Jin Yiwei's report over there, after two months of opening the sea, the tax money at each port reached 380 million taels.

You know it's only been two months.

If this continues, wouldn't it be possible to collect 2000 million taels of tax a year?

This is already five times the tax revenue of the entire Ming Dynasty last year.

"Because we have a powerful navy and a knife in our hands, no one dares to bark our teeth." Zhu Yuanzhang said in a deep voice.

"Like you, if you have some money, you can build temples and enjoy it. Naturally, those civil servants dare to obey you in front of you."

"Now you ask Yan Song and Xu Jie to play tricks on us again?"

"If we say kill his whole family, then kill his whole family."

"Taizu is my idol."

"The ministers and grandchildren admire the five bodies." Emperor Jiajing said with a look of reverence.

"Okay, stop flattering, go and ask Yan Song and the others to come, we have something big to announce." Zhu Yuanzhang said.

"Okay, Chensun will arrange it now!"

Emperor Jiajing smiled happily when he heard the words, and immediately ran to deliver the decree.

Now he is quite proficient in the work of eunuchs, and he is impeccable in handling things, and it will be done soon, which makes Lu Fang, Huang Jin and others quite resentful.

Emperor Jiajing took all their jobs away, and they faced an extremely serious unemployment crisis.

As soon as Emperor Jiajing left, Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand, and a huge portal appeared in front of him.

"Zhu Biao, Zhu Di, Li Shanchang, Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, Liu Ji and a large number of civil servants and military generals from the early Ming Dynasty came out from behind.

"Father!"

"Your Majesty!" Everyone saluted respectfully.

With a wave of his hand, Zhu Yuanzhang made everyone stand up and said with a smile: "I asked you to come to meet these civil servants and military generals of the Jiajing Dynasty. Maybe we will work together in the future. Let's get to know each other later."

Everyone has different feelings when they hear the words.

Zhu Biao didn't care, he had been here many times.

Zhu Di has never been here, but he has been thinking about coming here for a long time.

The unworthy descendant of Emperor Jiajing changed his temple name from Emperor Taizong to Ming Chengzu, and listed him and Zhu Yuanzhang as the second ancestor.

Because of this incident, Zhu Di was often beaten by Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhu Yuanzhang stopped beating him because of his age, but the temple name of Ming Chengzu still made him extremely unhappy.

How dare he stand side by side with his father!
So he swore a long time ago that if he could really go to the Jiajing Dynasty, he would definitely catch this unworthy descendant and beat him up.

Now is clearly the time for wish-fulfillment.

Apart from Zhu Biao and Zhu Di, Xu Da was also feeling a little awkward.

His unworthy descendants are also active in this Ming Dynasty, and they are still a family of two countries.

If you add the Zhongshan Prince's Mansion in the early Ming Dynasty, this is one king and two princes!

This made him quite terrified deep in his heart.

With his cautious personality, how could he bear such a great honor!

Soon, the cabinet members headed by Yan Song, as well as high-ranking ministers such as Hai Rui and Hu Zongxian were summoned to Xiyuan.

The moment they stepped into Xiyuan, they noticed the difference between this place and the past.

Security has become tighter.

Countless imposing guards in Jinyi, almost one guard at three steps, one guard at five steps, were silently watching their group.

Yan Song and the others are all great Confucianists who are in peace with the world, and their eyes are full of talent, and they quickly saw the earth-shattering evil spirit from these people.

There is no doubt that these people were killed from the dead.

"When did the imperial court have so many powerful warriors?" Xu Jie had some bad premonitions in his heart.

More surprised than these great Confucians in the world are military generals such as Yu Dayou, Qi Jiguang, and Wang Chonggu.

They clearly felt that the evil spirit on their body was suppressed by these people.

You must know that they were one of the few famous generals in the Jiajing Dynasty who had undergone the baptism of blood and fire. Even they were suppressed. What are the origins of these people?
Everyone unconsciously quickened their pace, and they knew very well that the answers to these doubts lay in the hall ahead.

They even vaguely felt that today would be the moment to change the political situation of the entire Ming Dynasty.

Soon, they were led to the meeting hall by the eunuch who led the way.

What made them even more surprised was that there were many people standing in the hall at the moment, and the most important thing was that Emperor Jiajing, who was originally sitting at the top, had been replaced by a middle-aged man who looked very familiar.

Emperor Jiajing was standing obediently next to this person at the moment, with a fawning expression on his face.

"This...!" Many great Confucian scholars have worked hard in the officialdom for decades, and they have already practiced to the point where they can keep their faces in front of the collapse of Mount Tai, but now their faces have really changed.

"What does this mean?"

"Usurperation?" This frightening word popped up in everyone's mind immediately.

Among them, Hai Rui was the one who reacted the most.

But before he could speak, Zhu Yuanzhang directly waved his big hand and suppressed the Confucianism and Taoism talents of all the great Confucians with the dragon spirit of imperial protection.

"Don't panic, we are Zhu Yuanzhang!"

"It was unavoidable that the court situation was turbulent before, and we have always met you in the face of my unworthy descendants."

"But now that many things in Ming Dynasty have been straightened out, we think it's time to have a frank and honest talk with you." Zhu Yuanzhang looked around at the crowd and spoke slowly.

"Taizu...?"

"It's just ridiculous."

"Taizu passed away a hundred years ago." Hai Rui was the first to speak, and even without the support of talent, his voice was still deafening.

"There are so many wonderful things in the world, why is Duke Hai so arbitrary?"

"If Emperor Hongwu hadn't been in power, who would dare to reuse someone like you? How could the Ming Dynasty have such a good situation?"

Liu Ji spoke with a smile, his voice was gentle, but he suppressed Hai Rui in an instant.

"How to prove it?" Hai Rui was silent for a while, then spoke again.

"Why do you have to prove it!"

"We are Zhu Yuanzhang, and we don't need to prove it to anyone."

Zhu Yuanzhang stood up straight away and looked around at all the people in the Jiajing Dynasty who were selected by him and were eligible to enter the palace.

"We didn't ask you to come here today to prove anything to you. We asked you to do something and reform the Great Ming Dynasty on this plane for us."

"If you want to prove something, you can leave yourself to seek proof. If you want to do something, stand up for us. Let us teach you how to do things next."

(End of this chapter)