Daming: Let you do your best to manage, do you go to health?

Chapter 63
Zhu Di's voice was not loud, and his tone was unusually calm, as if he was just talking about a trivial matter, and after he finished speaking, he quietly looked at the people present.

But it is no small matter that such a sentence he suddenly uttered fell into the ears of everyone present.

While everyone was shocked, under the leadership of Prince Zhu Gaochi, they quickly stood up from their chairs.

Bowing down with fear on his face, he said, "Your Majesty, I hope that the world will be peaceful, and the people will live and work in peace and contentment. Where does the theory of destroying the country come from?"

For such a sensitive issue, Zhu Gaochi, who used to be the prince of Jian Guo, naturally took the initiative to lead the conversation, willing to meet the anger of the old man for everyone present.

Because they all know that it must not be a trivial matter if such words come from the mouth of the old man.

Don't look at the old man's normal face, but everyone knows what is hidden under that normal face.

But I have to say that although Zhu Gaochi, the prince, is usually submissive in front of the old man, he never flinched when it came time to be serious.

Everyone present was also very grateful to the prince.

However, today's Zhu Di obviously doesn't intend to just pick it up so heavily and then put it down gently.

The moment after Prince Zhu Gaochi finished speaking, he immediately raised his hand to signal him to step aside.

There was no intention of responding to Zhu Gaochi's reply.

Apparently, the old man also understands that his eldest son wants to take on these tasks alone, but today's events absolutely cannot allow him to fulfill his wish.

After signaling the prince Zhu Gaochi to step down, Zhu Di once again looked straight at Xia Yuanji, the Minister of the Household Department whom he had always relied on heavily.

It is still the early Ming Dynasty, and most of the cabinet scholars have not held other official positions, so only in terms of official rank, these six ministers can be said to be the leading dignitaries in the Ming Dynasty.

It can be regarded as the ultimate minister of the entire Ming Dynasty.

In addition, the Ministry of Household Management manages the finances of the Ming Dynasty, which can be said to be the top priority, and it can also be ranked in the top three among the six ministers.

With such an important position, Zhu Di must appoint someone he can trust.

It's just that everyone present was very puzzled, and didn't understand why the old emperor would target this person whom he trusted so much today.

Even the prince Zhu Gaochi on the side also looked puzzled.

If the old man really wanted to take someone into action, he would usually have his sights set on the people promoted by his crown prince in the cabinet, so there would be no such thing as targeting his own people.

The most important thing is that this question is not simple. It comes up to when the Ming Dynasty will destroy the country. What kind of question is this?This is the question of death.

For a moment, even though Zhu Di was only targeting Xia Yuanji at the moment, everyone present was in danger.

Who knows if Xia Yuanji will be troubled by them after teaching Xia Yuanji a lesson, the key is that they don't know what happened and why.

However, compared to others, Xia Yuanji who was in the middle of the crisis was much calmer.

He Xia Yuanji entered the official career since the time of the Taizu, and was appreciated by the Emperor Taizu, and later he also became the servant of the household department under Emperor Jianwen.

Now that Zhu Di has been in power for decades, he has always sat firmly in the position of Minister of the Household Department, and he has experienced a lot of things. Even when someone suggested that his head be taken when Jing Nan was in trouble, he did not panic.

Now it is even more impossible to be frightened by a word of the old emperor.

However, facing Zhu Di's question, Xia Yuanji really didn't know what to say for a while.

When did the Ming Dynasty destroy the country? How to answer this question?
However, before this seemingly deadlock problem, Xia Yuanji was keenly aware of the crux of Zhu Di's problem.

under the existing tax system.
If the guess is correct, the old emperor should suddenly attack because of the tax system.

But is there anything wrong with the existing tax system?

Even if there is, I just said it.

In the emperor's own words, he would report these issues through the Ministry of Households every year.

In other words, the emperor's focus is not on these trivial issues.
These small problems will not lead to the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

Xia Yuanji, who was puzzled, could only bite the bullet and reply in the end: "Back to the emperor, I really can't think of any drawbacks in the tax laws that have been used in the past dynasties that will lead to the subversion of Ming Dynasty. Please punish the emperor."

Hearing Xia Yuanji's words, Zhu Di beside him was not surprised.

Originally, he hadn't thought about what Xia Yuanji could say, but he still kept his face cold on purpose, and said, "I don't know? I blamed you all."

After finishing speaking, without waiting for everyone to react, Zhu Di immediately asked sharply: "Xia Yuanji! Let me ask you, how much is the cultivated land in the entire North Zhili!"

Xia Yuanji is famous as a dry official, and he was promoted many times because of his professionalism. Hearing Zhu Di's inquiry, Xia Yuanji immediately replied: "Return to the emperor, according to what was written in the fish scale book after measuring the land between Emperor Taizu and Emperor Jianwen, the North The cultivated land in Zhili should be 2697 million mu."

For his answer, Xia Yuanji was very confident.

But who would have thought that Zhu Di did not question this answer, but quickly asked: "How much of the 2697 million mu of cultivated land is in the hands of the common people, and how much is in the hands of the gentry!"

After Zhu Di asked this question, Xia Yuanji completely froze in place.

If you want to ask how much cultivated land there is, the Ministry of Households still has fish scale books to check. From the data of the last land measurement during Emperor Jianwen to the reclamation of wasteland over the years, the final is the amount of cultivated land.

However, in whose hands are these lands, how does he know?
Not to mention the private sales and purchases of the people, even when the land was measured, he could not check it. He has no data to check, so how can he know.

"Your Majesty, I don't have any references for these things, so it's really impossible to find out."

Hearing this, Zhu Di snorted coldly, picked up a booklet from the table and threw it at Xia Yuanji's feet, saying: "This is the booklet for the ownership of the entire capital's cultivated land, you can read it yourself!"

Xia Yuanji didn't dare to delay, and was eager to find out why the emperor was so angry, and the answer was obviously in this book.

As Xia Yuanji bent down to pick up the folder, he examined it carefully.

It was found that most of the content in this booklet was basically Jin Yiwei’s report of some information to the capital.

These are not of much use to him, Xia Yuanji.

However, Xia Yuanji quickly saw some clues in it.

After careful research and mental calculations, Xia Yuanji discovered to his horror that among the millions of acres of arable land in the capital, the amount of arable land recorded in this book alone reached an astonishing 700,000 mu! !

(End of this chapter)