Jingtai Fengyun: The First Absurd Emperor of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 723 Establishing a strategic gold reserve and setting up Zhan Shi to assist the East Palace
  Moreover, business war also emphasizes the importance of military strength and speed. If the grain ships of the Ming Dynasty merchants flooded into Japanese ports, the Ministry of Revenue would not make any profit.

Sure enough, before Zhu Qiyu could finish his thoughts, Shen Yi proposed to maintain shipping controls and temporarily monopolize the business of selling grain to Japan by the imperial court.

Zhu Qiyu nodded. This war also consumed a lot of money from the national treasury. It is only human nature to let the household department recover its blood now.

Without waiting for anyone else to speak, Zhu Qiyu took the initiative and gave instructions: "I have been pressing on this matter for several years, counting the land and population, and updating the Yellow Register.

Defeat Japan this year, and adjust the prefectures, prefectures, and counties next year to complete population migration.

The year after that, which was the tenth year of Jingtai, the land and population were surveyed and the yellow book was updated. "

No one has any objections to this. The yellow book is updated every ten years. In recent years, due to the rapid expansion of territory and frequent population changes, it has been suppressed for a few years.

After Japan is conquered, all the densely populated areas within the territory of thousands of miles will basically belong to the Ming Dynasty.

It is also time to conduct a thorough population and land inventory.

Seeing that no one had any objections, Zhu Qiyu added: "Aren't the three main halls of our Forbidden City burned down, and I don't want to waste people and money to rebuild them.

Japan is extremely rich in gold, silver, and copper mines. What I mean is that the silver mines and copper mines are transported back to the capital and minted into silver coins and copper coins for circulation throughout the country.

As for the gold mine, I plan to mint it into gold coins and build a large treasury at the original site of Jinshen Palace to store these gold coins.

These gold coins are called reserves and cannot be touched easily. When the imperial court encounters a serious difficulty, it will be used for emergency relief.

Given the strong national power of this dynasty, it should not be of much use. Just think of it as leaving a backup plan for your descendants. "

Unexpectedly, the ministers didn't think much, and they all shouted sagely.

Zhu Qiyu was a little surprised, but after thinking about it, he understood: all the benefits gained from conquering Japan were shared by the imperial court. The emperor just wanted to control the gold mine he had obtained. If the ministers objected, it would be too much. They couldn't let the emperor touch everything.

Besides, the emperor only wanted to store this gold for future generations, and it was considered public use. It was not that the emperor wanted to squander it himself.

The important ministers touched their consciences and felt sorry for the emperor. After all, even the mausoleum was not built. If he continued to intercept the emperor everywhere, it would be too obvious to be disloyal and unjust.

Seeing that no one objected, Zhu Qiyu gave specific instructions: "Then start building the warehouse immediately. It will be funded by internal funds and jointly built by the internal officials and the Ministry of Industry. The materials will be white marble instead of wood to prevent fire.

After completion, there will be one gate and six locks. The Si Li Supervisor, the Royal Horse Supervisor, the Internal Official Supervisor, the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the Metropolitan Inspectorate each hold a key.

The opening of the warehouse requires the personal approval of the emperor or the prince, and the locks are jointly opened by the six prison bureaus. "

The ministers have no objections. The emperor can do whatever he likes, as long as he is cautious.

What people don't expect is that Japan's largest gold mine, the Ryugao Gold Mine, can produce [-] to [-] taels of gold every year. The second largest gold mine, Sado Gold Mountain, can produce about [-] taels of gold every year.

These two mines alone produce [-] to [-] taels of gold every year.

In the Ming Dynasty, one tael of gold was worth about fifteen taels of silver.

Forty thousand taels of gold can be exchanged for [-] taels of silver. In just twenty years, the value of the gold in the reserve will exceed tens of millions of taels of silver.

This does not include the output of other gold mines.

Silver and copper will be used as circulating currencies, and gold will be used as a strategic reserve for his descendants. This was Zhu Qiyu's plan from the beginning.

The problem was the information gap. By the time officials realized how huge Japan's gold reserves were, it was already too late to regret it.

The ministers no longer struggled with this issue. He Wenyuan stood up and asked: "Your Majesty, the palace examination has ended. Please tell me how to appoint the new scholars and how to select the officials of the Zhanshi Mansion."

Zhu Qiyu nodded: "What I mean is that the officials of the Zhanshi Mansion in Nanjing are also fully equipped like the Zhanshi Mansion in Beijing. The two Zhanshi Mansion, one in the south and one in the north, are all officials of the prince, and they must fully assist the prince. .What do you all think?"

When everyone heard the words, they all praised the Holy Ming. As a result, the number of princely officials has been doubled, and more people can benefit.

As long as the emperor is not afraid that the prince's power will be too great, the ministers will naturally have no objection.

Next, Zhu Qiyu ordered Wang Wen to be the Zhanshi of Zhanshifu in Beijing, and He Wenyuan to be the Shaozhanshi. Zhou Chen went south and served as Zhanshi of Zhanshifu in Nanjing; Zhou Xuan was promoted to Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment and went to Nanjing to concurrently serve as Shaozhanshi of Zhanshifu.

Zhu Qiyu said: "There have been many things going on in the south in the past two years, including inventorying land and population, updating the Yellow Book; lifting maritime restrictions, resuming trade between the East and the West; and building water conservancy projects and rectifying water transportation.

When you two important ministers go south, you will not only be limited to the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Justice, which you are respectively in charge of, but as the bachelor of Wuyingdian and the bachelor of Dongge, you will have to shoulder all aspects of responsibilities. "

Zhou Chen and Zhou Xuan accepted the order happily.

The monarch and his ministers communicated again about the recent military and political affairs before dismissing the court meeting.

Zhu Qiyu was not in a hurry to go home, but took Zhu Wenfang to visit his garden.

Zhu Wenfang smiled and said: "What kind of strange thing is there in the Lingyu Palace? Why does daddy not go out for more than ten days, and his energy and blood seem to be getting better and better."

Zhu Qiyu asked: "I said I am twenty years old, do you believe it?"

Zhu Wenfang nodded firmly: "Xin, dad looks very similar to Qiao Feng, the new beauty prospector. He is not even twenty years old.

Dad would look a little more mature if he had a beard.

Now, he is just a young monk with an immortal spirit. "

Zhu Qiyu replied: "There is a hot spring in Lingyu Palace. Just take a bath every day. Didn't Qin Shiniang ask Pei Dang to dig holes in Wanshou Mountain? Wanshou Mountain and Yuquan Mountain are so close, it makes no sense that there is only Yuquan. There are hot springs in the mountain, but not on Wanshou Mountain.

Let's wait until Wanshou Mountain digs out the hot springs and build a house for you to live in. "

Zhu Wenfang nodded.

Zhu Qiyu then asked: "The capital will also undergo some reforms recently, so you should pay more attention. There are already four people in the top four of Zhanshifu in Beijing.

Zhan Shi was the first assistant to Wang Wen, and Shao Zhanshi was the second assistant to He Wenyuan.

Next, Huang Pu, the bachelor of Chunfang on the left, and your master, the bachelor of Chunfang on the right.

After I ascended the throne, Xuanfu and Huailai were included in Beizhili, and Beizhili changed from eight prefectures to ten prefectures. I also established Jingzhao Yin to take charge of the ten prefectures in northern Zhili, equivalent to the governor of Zhili.

But from now on, Jingzhao Yin will be appointed by Bachelor Zuo Chunfang, who will still be of the fifth rank. This is called inferiority and weight.

The government affairs of Ganquan Palace are always handled by the bachelor of Youchunfang, which is also a lowly and powerful position.

The Grand Bachelor of Zuo Chunfang and the Grand Bachelor of You Chunfang are the direct confidants of your prince.

I have set up a team for you. You should study hard and work hard.

When you reach the age of fifteen, you will be officially appointed as the Crown Prince of the Supervisory State. If nothing happens, I won’t get along with these ministers. "

Zhu Wenfang nodded and asked, "What reforms does dad want to make in the capital?"

Zhu Qiyu explained: "In recent years, the number of craftsmen in the capital will skyrocket. In the past, the majority of people in and around the capital were those doing business and farming.

In the future, craftsmen will make up the majority. People change, and management ideas must also change.

You have to remember that managing farmers is different from managing workers.

There is a more important point. After you become the emperor and handle military affairs alone, you can neither close yourself off and be self-contained, nor overly pursue the development and expansion of the handicraft industry.

We need to move forward bit by bit. We need to develop but not take too big a step.

Once the handicraft industry expands too fast and its influence is too great, people's thinking will change, and so will the social atmosphere.

If you rashly allow technological progress to go too far, and if your thoughts change too quickly, the people will become extremely difficult to rule, public opinion will become extremely unstable, and even dramatic changes will occur. You must bear this in mind. "

(End of this chapter)