Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 147 The emperor refers to cotton, a thousand harvests

Du Ming, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, and others couldn't help but secretly sighed, showing some respect to Li Sisheng.

Although the approach advocated by Li Si is very offensive, if the court can plug these two big gaps, it can indeed convey the court's decision to control salt, and then the removal of salt will be more effective.

It's just that Li Si took the initiative to stop Beijing officials from eating salt. I'm afraid that his reputation will be really bad in the future, and some officials with small stomachs will even deliberately pick on the bones.

Zhu Youtang could feel that Li Si was dealing with the problem from the standpoint of resolving political malpractices, and Dang even made a decision: "The Beijing official's salt was not customized by Taizu. Today, I also heard that some Beijing officials sold salt along the return journey. This hole really needs to be filled." After a pause, he looked at Li Si and said, "The salary in this dynasty is not high, and we cannot make you a villain, so the court should give more compensation to the officials! Li Qing, you go back to your household." It is advisable to discuss with the Ministry, depending on the size of the quota!"

Because there is too much room for profit from Beijing officials’ salt, many officials have sold the surplus salt, so it is impossible to make up for the full amount of salt that has been discontinued.

It's just that I have already given them salt and supplements. If these Beijing officials still feel that eating that shit is more delicious, then I don't have to be so polite.

The reason for doing this this time is naturally not to compromise with the Beijing officials, but to raise wages appropriately to make these slogan-chanting officials work harder.

"The minister leads the decree!" Li Si secretly expressed his gratitude to Zhu Youtang, who did not expect that Zhu Youtang would take the initiative to pay the Beijing officials so as to relieve the pressure of public opinion on him.

After getting along here for a long time, he knew that although the emperor was decisive in killing, he still took great care of his loyal courtiers.

If I can meet such an emperor, why not give my allegiance to him?
"Your Majesty, most of the royal residences are located in non-Huai salt sales areas, and they have always eaten other salts. This matter may cause disturbances in the clan!" Xu Qiong, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, was most concerned about the clan's situation, and he was genuinely worried.

"The common people can eat, why can't they eat? In my opinion, they are actually maggots who want to embezzle the country's interests, and they are insatiable maggots. What happened to the king of Chu is a lesson from the past!" He Cong, the left servant of the Ministry of War, said to Mingming The vassal king who is rich but still wants to ask for salt is disgusted in his heart, and Dang even loudly accused him.

Zhu Youtang did not easily make a decision to stop the palace salt, turned his head to look at Wan An who was closest to him, and said, "Old Wange, what do you think?"

Minister of Criminal Justice Du Ming and others all looked at Wan An. Although the outside world has always called Wan An "the old paper-pasted pavilion", how can this chief assistant who has stood in the court for more than ten years be really an ordinary person.

"The old minister thinks that Li Shangshu is right! This salt law must be understood and treated equally. This opening should not be reopened. Today, the restoration of salt tax is the top priority!" Wan An is not a person who likes to express himself, but in the face of Zhu Youtang All inquiries will be answered with care.

Seeing Wan An's statement, Zhu Youtang directly decided to say: "In this case, according to Li Shangshu's request, stop the royal palace salt and Beijing official salt, and restore the salt tax as the top priority!"

"Your Majesty is holy!" When seeing Zhu Youtang's decision, even Xu Qiong, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, expressed his support.

The eight of them are here only to make suggestions, but the final decision is still made by the emperor, not to mention that the emperor's decision is so wise and powerful.

Zhu Youtang knew that he had to rely on himself for many things, so he told Li Si: "Li Qing, clear up the matter of backlogging, and go back to the Ministry of Households to hold a meeting, and try to come up with another plan tomorrow. Gather again!"

"The minister leads the decree!" Li Si said secretly happily when he saw that his proposal just now was taken seriously.

Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Du Ming and others silently exchanged glances, knowing that they are now at the core of power, and now they are almost equivalent to Zhuange elders.

Zhu Youtang picked up the memorial sent back by Liu Jin, then picked up Wang Yue's memorial and said: "The case of corrupting ink dens in Yangzhou is unheard of! It's just that Wang Yue claimed in the memorial that important officials in the court were involved behind the case, so Please let me investigate further, what do you think?"

As soon as these words came out, Wan An and Liu Ji couldn't help but exchanged glances, and then sat down calmly.

"Your Majesty, if the clues have been obtained, Wang Yue will continue to investigate the case! No matter who is involved, they should be punished severely, and we must never tolerate adultery!" Du Ming, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, expressed his attitude with a murderous look.

"That's right, if there is someone behind this case, we must investigate to the end!" He Cong, the left servant of the Ministry of War, didn't get any benefit at all, and he strongly supported it.

"Your Majesty, you should be cautious about this matter! If you have definite evidence, you will be severely punished, but if you conduct a strict investigation without evidence, it may cause panic among the officials in the capital, which will not be conducive to governance!" Li Yu, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, considered stability, but He stood up and expressed his opinion.

"What Li Shangshu said is true! The incident in Yangzhou City has been involved extensively. Once the imperial court conducts a strict investigation, it will be difficult for all officials, which is not conducive to governance. Of course, this case should not be rushed, and Wang Yue can keep it secret. Check, if there is real evidence, it can be eliminated!" Liu Ji turned his head and glanced at Wan An, then stood up and expressed his opinion.

Zhu Youtang took into account the reactions of the courtiers present, but he knew that such a nest case in Yangzhou must have something to do with the important officials in the court.

For example, the Lianghuai inspector salt censor was dragged into the water in such a short period of time, which has proved that the power of the court is helping, otherwise a Lianghuai transfer envoy would not have such great energy.

It's just that it's really inappropriate to conduct a strict investigation with gongs and drums. It's not that he wants to spare these officials, but that he already knows the face of such officials.If he really wanted to conduct a strict investigation, how many of the capital could be kept, maybe half of the officials in front of him would be dragged away.

Zhu Youtang is not a perfectionist, so he made a statement: "Since this is the case, it is not appropriate to go to war on this matter, so let Wang Yue continue to investigate closely!"

"Your Majesty is holy!" Wan An and the others sighed secretly, clapping their hands in a respectful manner.

Zhu Youtang picked up the tea cup that Liu Jin brought up, and mentioned another matter: "My dear friends, do you know why I planted more cotton in this year's plowing ceremony?"

"I don't dare to judge the Sacred Heart!" Jia Jun, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, who was wearing a first-rank official uniform, hesitated for a moment before expressing his opinion.

Zhu Youtang squeezed the lid of the tea and poured hot tea lightly, and said calmly to all the officials present: "Don't be sloppy here!"

I... no!
Xu Qiong, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, glanced blankly at Jia Jun, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, and then turned his head to look at Zhu Youtang who was sitting on the dragon chair.

At that time, Zhu Youtang ordered to plant more cotton, so he naturally complied, but he didn't dare to ask more questions, because he couldn't guess Zhu Youtang's intention at all.

"In my humble opinion, Your Majesty wants to promote cotton cloth!" Jia Jun, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, had been pondering over the Sacred Heart, and immediately expressed his conjecture.

Officials such as Minister of the Household Department, Li Si, and others all had their guesses, but they didn't want to be 100% sure, so they turned their heads to look at Zhu Youtang curiously.

Zhu Youtang took a sip of tea, then waved the flag of justice and nodded: "That's right! During the cold winter last year, I heard that some people in the capital froze to death, and the people everywhere lacked protection from the cold, so many people died of freezing! I can't bear the cold winter this year." When it comes again, most of the people under the rule will freeze to death, so they want to promote cotton planting in order to increase the production of cotton cloth!"

"Your Majesty, cotton is easy to get, but weavers are hard to find! It takes several years for a skilled weaver to become a teacher, but weaving is easy to miss farm work. A piece of cloth takes more than ten days. This cotton is time-consuming and labor-intensive. It is really poor." The house can wear it!" Although Li Si, Minister of the Household Department, was moved by Zhu Youtang's love for the people, he still pointed out the crux of it.

After all, cotton cloth cannot be produced by painting and writing, but it requires the weavers to be busy day and night before weaving a piece.It's just that the weavers don't leave it for themselves to wear, and the poor naturally can't afford it.

Liu Ji and the others nodded secretly. The cloth that someone spends half a month weaving can never be given away in vain. This man-hour is superimposed on the cost of cotton cloth, which is something poor people cannot afford.

Zhu Youtang naturally understood this economic principle, so he nodded lightly and said: "I know that the expansion of cotton production is only the first step. Next, we have to consider how to benefit the cotton industry so that the cloth industry can prosper? The price of cotton cloth fell, so that the people can buy cheap cotton cloth, and the poor people can have clothes to wear!"

When he was working as a financial researcher, he already knew that in order to develop a new industry, the power of one person or a company is often limited, and the best way is the support of national policies.

Only when the state vigorously supports emerging industries can it attract industrial funds and talents to enter, so as to continuously overcome technical difficulties and eventually lead to cost reduction.

Taking photovoltaic power generation as an example, the initial cost of power generation was tens of cents, but after several years of government subsidies and support, the cost of power generation has dropped below that of thermal power generation.

Without the original state support, it would be impossible for profit-seeking capital to intervene. Naturally, there would be no subsequent technological upgrades, and the cost reduction of thermal power may never occur.

Now if you want to lower the price of cotton cloth, according to simple economics, you only need to increase production.If you just want cotton cloth to dive sharply, then you need to encourage technology upgrades to improve production efficiency and reduce production costs.

In the original historical track, it was not until the appearance of the pedal reeling vehicle later that the production efficiency of Daming cotton cloth was greatly improved.

"Your Majesty, I'm stupid, how can this cotton cloth get cheaper and cheaper?" Xu Ming, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, couldn't turn his head, and said in confusion.

Zhu Youtang knew that other people might also be confused. They could talk about the Four Books and Five Classics, but the economic principle was really too difficult for them.

Of course, it cannot be said that these important ministers are not smart, but because of traditional concepts. They have always despised business, so how could they seriously study it?
Zhu Youtang gently put down the teacup in his hand, and immediately turned his head to look at Wan An on the left and asked, "Old Wange!"

"The old minister is here!" Wan An looked at Zhu Youtang without knowing why, and immediately responded respectfully.

Zhu Youtang picked up a book on the table and asked Wan An seriously: "I heard that you have studied history books very deeply. Do you know how much ordinary books in Tang Dynasty cost?"

"Tang Prime Minister Yuanzai mentioned in the memorandum that one volume of a book can be bought for thousands of dollars, and a book of five volumes costs 5000 dollars in total!" Wan An gave an authentic answer after a little thought.

Officials such as Shangshu Du Ming of the Ministry of Punishment did not know why Zhu Youtang suddenly mentioned books, and they looked at Zhu Youtang in bewilderment.

Zhu Youtang smiled slightly, then asked authentically: "Where is Song Shi?"

"The old minister remembers that there are historical records that a volume can range from a few tens to a hundred wen!" Wan An thought for a while before giving an authentic answer.

Zhu Youtang put down the book in his hand, and asked very seriously, "Why?"

"One is that there are many literate people, and the other is that living printing is used, so the price is already less than one-tenth of that in Tang Dynasty!" Wan An thought for a while, and then expressed his emotion.

Officials such as Shangshu Du Ming of the Ministry of Punishment learned that the prices of books were so different, and thought of the cotton cloth that Zhu Youtang had just mentioned, they couldn't help but fell into deep thought.

If the price of books is not static, then the price of cotton cloth is not static, and if the price of cotton cloth can really drop, it will be a great thing for the common people.

Compared with those in power who only think about governing officials and promoting education, if the price of cotton cloth can really be brought down, this is indeed a truly benevolent government.

"I occasionally go to the Drum Tower to buy books. Today, a volume only costs tens of pennies, which is many times cheaper than in Tang Dynasty! Now it seems that cotton cloth may not be able to become cheaper and cheaper!" Liu Ji seemed to be enlightened. Said.

Zhu Youtang met everyone's gazes, and then he said with eloquence: "Because there are many people engaged in it and movable type printing is now available, the price of books has been falling repeatedly! I think that if we can try to improve the production efficiency of looms, we will encourage more If there are more workshops engaged in the cotton industry, things can be done! Today, a piece of cotton cloth costs more than one yuan. If we can reduce the cotton cloth to [-]% per piece, the common people can wear more! I am plowing and planting cotton, and I am I want to advocate the cultivation of cotton to the world, starting from the output of raw materials! In order to increase the enthusiasm of the people, our imperial court thinks that we can choose some areas, and all cotton growers will not be taxed for [-] yuan, but a tax of [-] yuan, so that we can Increase cotton production!"

"Your Majesty, it's so detrimental to the court's tax revenue!" Xu Qiong, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, sighed secretly, and immediately pointed out the harm.

Zhu You met the eyes of the important ministers present, and showed his attitude: "My dear friends, we want to seek for a hundred years, not for a single day's profit! When I was in the Qing Palace, I have already learned: one tree, one winner If one tree gets ten harvests, it is a tree; if one tree harvests a hundred harvests, it is a human being. If we can sacrifice a small profit so that the common people can afford cotton clothes, how much more than a hundred harvests? I and you have this far-reaching plan today, I thought it was already in the annals of history!"

Naturally, in this era, there is no concept of policy support. Since the country is governed by itself, it is naturally impossible to be influenced by this traditional concept.

Not to mention that the development of the cloth industry can indeed make the people have clothes to wear, and if I want to embark on a real road to strengthening the army, I cannot do without the support of the textile industry to earn foreign exchange.

Whether it is to break the traditional concept or bring a new concept of governing the country, this industry support is undoubtedly the best way to revitalize China at present.

(End of this chapter)