At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the competition for the deer in the world

"The more food, the better."

"Grain types, soil, weather, famine, etc., these are all factors that affect the grain harvest."

"This year's grain harvest has been harvested, and the Ming Dynasty's treasury has also allocated a lot of money to purchase grain from the people. However, I feel that this grain is still not enough."

"I want to increase food production, hoard more food, or look for food substitutes. I wonder if you have any strategies in these aspects that you can offer to me?"

Cheng De had just finished speaking.

Fang Ming then asked: "Your Majesty, the current food can feed the Ming Dynasty's nearly one million troops for at least two years. It must be enough. Why is it still too little, Your Majesty?"

Cheng De shook his head, "I said before that there are too many uncertain factors in the grain harvest. This year is a good year, but what if next year is a famine year? That food will definitely not be enough."

Fang Ming looked startled.

"Don't think that I am unfounded. I am prepared for danger in times of peace. Think about it, how many famines have occurred in this world in the past twenty years? How many earthquakes have occurred?"

"I'm worried that when something like this really happens, people who are dissatisfied with me in the world will take the opportunity to cause trouble, saying that famines, earthquakes, etc. are all brought down by the sky because they don't like me. When the time comes, I should How to defend it?"

When everyone heard this, they were silent at first, and then their expressions gradually became serious.

The Yuan Dynasty is a lesson learned from the past.

They, the ministers of the Ming Dynasty, naturally did not want to think that the Ming Dynasty, which was established with great efforts, would be overthrown again. This is not what they would see.

Cheng De glanced at everyone and felt very satisfied.

The reason why he said these words was actually to remind these ministers of the Ming Dynasty not to just look at the present, but also to look at the future.

We need to have an overall view and a forward-looking approach.

What he saw in front of him made Cheng De feel very pleased.

"Now, the south will be unified by the Ming Dynasty, and soon the north will also be unified by me. I am very confident about this, and my confidence is given by you, the ministers of the Ming Dynasty."

"I hope you can prepare countermeasures in advance and prepare for a rainy day. In this way, the Ming Dynasty will naturally be as stable as Mount Tai and cannot be shaken."

After Cheng De finished speaking, he stopped talking and focused his attention on everyone.

Fang Ming, the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, said: "Your Majesty, if you want to increase grain production, you may be able to induce people who are best at farming in the Ming Dynasty to share their secrets of farming and increasing production."

Cheng De nodded, "This method can be used once."

Fang Ming continued: "As for increasing the amount of food hoarded, Wei Chen believes that it may be possible to purchase large amounts of food from merchants and landowners in the Ming Dynasty."

"As for food substitutes, Weichen believes that as long as you search carefully, you will definitely be able to find them in the world."

Cheng De took a deep look at Fang Ming and said, "I also think your words are very useful. Just do what you say! The Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the Propaganda Department will jointly supervise this matter." thing."

"Wei ministers obey the order." Zhang Yi, Fang Ming, and Shi Naian bowed in response.

"That's all I have to say, do you have anything else to say?" Cheng De glanced around the crowd and asked them.

Everyone shook their heads.

Afterwards, everyone said goodbye and left.

After Cheng De watched everyone leave, he walked out of the Qinzheng Hall and came outside the Qinzheng Hall. He put his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky.

The stars twinkle in the night sky.

In March of the sixteenth year of Zhizheng, March of the third year of Shengwu.

Qinzheng Hall.

Cheng De is reading the battle report sent back by Li Sanqi and Deng Youde.

His brows furrowed.

Li Sanqi led an army to attack Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, and attacked as far as Lin'an, but was blocked in Lin'an. This blockage lasted for several months.

However, Deng Youde led an army to attack the Great Zhou Dynasty, which was overwhelming, but was blocked in Taixing. Even with Liu Ren and Xu Yingjie's two hidden opponents, the Great Zhou Dynasty was still resisting tenaciously.

Cheng De sighed softly.

Looking at these two battle reports, Cheng De knew that both Fang Guozhen and Zhang Shicheng were making their final struggle.

Whether it is the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, or the Great Zhou Dynasty, they will all belong to the Ming Dynasty.

Cheng De put down the two battle reports in his hands and stopped looking at them.

At present, the Ming Dynasty's national power is booming, and the Ming Navy's 200,000 naval army has been completed.

Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty's 200,000 navy troops have gathered in Jiangdu to train.

It has been two months since I started training.

After a while, the Ming navy will be able to go to the battlefield.

However, the navy chiefs Li Xiaoci and Tang He were still on the front line.

Cheng De picked up another memorial and continued to read.

However, he only saw half of it, and there was murderous intent in his eyes. "These people deserve to be killed!" Cheng De slammed his hand on the case.

Cheng Ru's eyelids jumped when he saw this.

He thought to himself: With Your Majesty's appearance, there must be a lot of heads falling to the ground.

"Cheng Ru, bring Zhu Sheng to my Qinzheng Hall." Cheng De ordered Cheng Ru.

Cheng Ru bowed and replied: "I obey the order."

Cheng Ru bowed and exited the Qinzheng Hall. Cheng De read the memorial several times again and was suddenly stunned.

The South has not yet been unified, and there are already signs of corrupt officials.

After the world is unified, won't it be a steady stream?

How to curb corrupt officials?

Cheng De recalled what was recorded in "The Top Secret of Tu Qiang".

High salaries are provided to support integrity, severe punishments are imposed on corrupt officials, and the cost of corruption crimes is increased. Anyone who is corrupt will not be allowed to take the imperial examination or join the army within three generations. All the property in the family will be transferred to the Ming Dynasty treasury. The men will be exiled to open up wasteland in the far south. As for the The woman was admitted to the Jiaofang Division.

Thinking of this, Cheng De had a plan in mind.

As the founder of the Ming Dynasty, Cheng De did not hope that the Ming Dynasty he founded would fall into the laws of historical cycles, but that it could last forever.

Therefore, he decided to lay down the framework for what should be done during his lifetime, so that after his death, the Ming Dynasty would still be able to continue to exist even without him.

While thinking about this, Cheng Ru came with Zhu Sheng.

"I pay my respects to Your Majesty!" Zhu Sheng bowed and saluted.

Cheng De: "Zhu Qing's family is exempt from etiquette."

"Your Majesty, I wonder why you summoned this minister?" Zhu Sheng lowered his head and asked.

Cheng De glanced at Cheng Ru, and Cheng Ru understood it. He quickly walked to the side of the case, took the memorial from Cheng De, and then walked towards Zhu Sheng.

Zhu Sheng took it and looked at Cheng De doubtfully.

Cheng De said: "Read this memorial carefully. After reading it, tell me what you think."

Zhu Sheng nodded, spread out the memorial with full of doubts, and read it on the spot.

Not long.

After Zhu Sheng read it, his expression was quite solemn.

"Your Majesty, this is the memorial." Zhu Sheng stopped talking.

Cheng De's voice was slightly cold: "This is from Zhang Wei, a member of the Sizhou Jinyiwei Thousand Households."

Zhu Sheng fell silent.

"In your opinion, how should this matter be handled? Also, how can we prevent this kind of thing from happening again in the future?"

Hearing Cheng De's question, Zhu Sheng frowned deeper, lowered his head and looked thoughtful.

Cheng De saw that Zhu Sheng was a little old and couldn't bear it, so he looked at Cheng Ru and said, "Give me a seat."

Cheng Ru walked out of Qinzheng Hall, and not long after, he held a small wooden chair in his hand and placed it behind Zhu Sheng.

When Zhu Sheng saw the small wooden chair, he was stunned for a moment, then saluted Cheng De and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

After Zhu Sheng sat down, Cheng De still didn't speak because he was waiting for Zhu Sheng to speak.

After Zhu Sheng thought for a moment, he said: "Your Majesty, I think this matter can be handed over to the Ministry of Punishment for thorough investigation. If the prefect of Sizhou colludes with the county magistrates of Sizhou to embezzle the tax money of the Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Punishment will definitely follow the laws of the Ming Dynasty. , punish severely without mercy.”

Cheng De nodded, "I summoned you for this reason. The Ming Dynasty has just been established. I don't want anyone to dare to dig up the roots of the Ming Dynasty. If anyone dares to dig up the roots of the Ming Dynasty, I will kill him. For this matter, I'll leave it to your Punishment Department to take care of it. This time, I won't interfere with the Jinyi Guards and Juesheng Guards."

Zhu Sheng stood up quickly and responded: "I obey the order."

Cheng De asked Zhu Sheng: "In your opinion, how can we prevent this kind of thing in the future?"

Zhu Sheng: "If you find one, your home will be ransacked and you will be exiled. If the amount embezzled is huge, I think you can be sentenced to death to correct the unhealthy trends of the Ming Dynasty."

Cheng De glanced at Zhu Sheng in surprise and continued: "In my opinion, high salaries should support honest officials and severely punish corrupt officials. Anyone who is corrupt will not be allowed to take the imperial examination or join the army within three generations of his family, and his family will not have any property." , all of them will be transferred to the treasury of the Ming Dynasty, the men will be exiled to the far south to open up wasteland for my Ming Dynasty, and the women will be transferred to the Jiaofang Division. What do you think?"

Zhu Sheng replied: "Your Majesty's move is wise, but I still believe that if the amount embezzled is huge, the death penalty can be imposed according to Ming law."

Cheng De: "I agree. As for the huge amount of embezzlement, this specific amount will be discussed by your Ministry of Punishment. After discussion, it will be added to the Ming Dynasty law."

"I obey the order." Zhu Sheng bowed again.

"I've called you here, and that's all I have to say. If nothing happens, you can go down and deal with the matter. Over at Sizhou Jinyiwei, I will tell Zhang Qijiu to say hello to Qianhu over there. , fully cooperate with the Ministry of Criminal Justice to thoroughly investigate this matter."

"Yes."

Watching Zhu Sheng leave, Cheng De sighed softly.

This is just Sizhou, what about other places?

It seems that the issue of high salaries and high integrity must be accelerated.

In Cheng De's view, he has already given you a very high salary, but if you reach out to take something that does not belong to you, then don't blame him for being sharp. (End of chapter)