Jingtai Fengyun: The First Absurd Emperor of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 775: The Ministry of Household Affairs proposed to pay the emperor and the prince with money, but he refused to cheat.

Zhu Qiyu looked innocent: "You forgot about it yourself, why did you slap me on the forehead? I don't dare to eat Empress Miaoyue's milk."

I'm a bastard, and I only dare to play with you five little whores; I don't dare to intrude or blaspheme any decent woman.

For someone as upright and awe-inspiring as Empress Miaoyue, please come on. My admiration and love for her are like the endless stream of a river, so it’s better to watch her from a distance. "

Lin Xiangyu asked: "Why is my husband so malicious towards my sisters?"

Zhu Qiyu smiled and said: "You know it, but I have been spoiled by you. Now I can't bear the slightest grievance or expression from a woman."

What I like is a slave who has no dignity and is absolutely docile, not an innocent beauty who has self-respect and self-love.

But I just casually said that they were willing to give me a child, and I was so grateful that I just kowtowed to them.

Look, you guys, there is no Jingtai vassal king on the border, and the court doesn't even have any helpers. It's really cowardly and aggrieved.

Forget it, let’s not talk about them. It's better to go to sleep listening to the sound of rain and recuperate your spirits. In a few days, the civil and military officials will definitely be in trouble again. "

As expected, the spring rain continued the next day, and all the ministers who were qualified to go to court braved the rain and came to Ganquan Palace.

Unfortunately, when the ministers entered Qingyun Hall, they saw the prince sitting leisurely on the dragon chair, but the emperor was nowhere to be seen.

The ministers were all anxious, but Zhu Wenfang smiled at everyone and said: "Father, I occasionally feel cold and feel unwell, so I have to rest at home for a few days.

If anything happens, you tell me the same thing. "

Everyone couldn't help but murmur that the emperor would often not show up for several days, which meant that the relationship between the emperor and the prince was very good, otherwise everyone would think there was a coup.

What everyone didn't know was that throughout the Ming Dynasty, no prince ever rebelled.

However, the northern border, which stretches five to six thousand miles from Hami in the west to Liaoyang in the east, is ablaze with war and enemies everywhere.

Normally, there is nothing wrong with the prince's regard for the court. In such a critical situation, it is safer for the emperor to preside over the court.

Zhu Wenfang continued to persuade: "Father will definitely not be able to come out today. If you are willing to make trouble, then make trouble. If you are not willing to make trouble, then dismiss the court.

I happen to be in a hurry to go back fishing. Now that spring has returned to the earth and the weather is getting warmer, stewing fish soup to replenish it is very good for the body. "

Luo Tong replied: "Your Highness, the Mongolian army invaded the border. We were unprepared and were caught off guard. For the current plan, we must quickly mobilize our troops and prepare for war."

"Didn't my father make arrangements yesterday? The cabinet can just implement them according to my father's wishes.

Not to mention that the court was unprepared. My father had already split Gansu into a province. Gansu now has tens of thousands of elite border troops, as well as the three Ganzhou guards of Su Fan, who are the elite among the elite.

Can the enemy easily defeat Gansu?

Not to mention Gyeonggi and Shanxi, Dongsheng, Kaiping, Daning, and Guangning all built new cities and resettled their guards.

The enemy wanted to invade the capital from Shanxi. The Outer Great Wall was a line of defense, and further inside was the important town of Xuanfu, then further inside was the Xuanhuai Great Wall specially built by the father, and then further inside was the Juyongguan Great Wall.

The enemy will also be threatened on the flanks by Dongsheng and Kaiping defenders. Do you think the Mongolian cavalry can attack with so many lines of defense?

In the direction of Datong and Taiyuan, as long as the governor of Shanxi is not a rebellious traitor and the general of Shanxi is not a self-respecting military commander, what will the Mongols do to attack Shanxi. The mountains and rivers inside and outside, you think it’s just a joke. "

After Luo Tong heard this, he stepped aside and stopped talking.

Geng Jiuchou stood up and asked: "Your Highness, the number of coins minted by the imperial court has increased significantly. From now on, can we use silver coins and copper coins to replace military pay in border towns?"

Zhu Wenfang shook his head with confusion on his face: "Didn't my father mention it to you? My father has long said that the soldiers' rations will be increased by 50% on the original basis.

An additional copper coin equivalent to 50% of the soldiers' food and salary was distributed.

The main thing is to distribute grain, supplemented by copper coins. The border produces little grain, so if you just send out copper coins, the soldiers will be in a dilemma with copper coins but nowhere to buy grain.

When paying wages, only issuing silver coins and copper coins is a policy that is harmful to the country; when collecting taxes, only accepting silver coins and copper coins is also a policy that is harmful to the country. Is there anything else to discuss? "

Zhu Wenfang was a little suspicious. Geng Jiuchou, the Minister of Household Affairs, asked such a strange question purely to test his political ability.

Although the prince is young, he will not be led by the civil officials on this issue.

When everyone saw that the prince could not be deceived, they understood that the emperor and the prince were not in trouble yet. Although the amount of silver and copper coins in the hands of the imperial court has increased significantly, the emperor will never implement what looks like a very elegant monetary policy.

Shen Yi also stood up and asked: "Your Highness, will Shandong's taxes be reduced or reduced this year?"

Zhu Wenfang waved his hand and said: "Shandong will be exempted from all taxes this year. The disasters in the past two years have been so severe, why should we charge them? If we charge more, it will lead to civil unrest."

Nowadays, the subordinate officials of the East Palace are gradually improving, and Shandong is handed over to the prince and the East Palace team for practice.

Moreover, Zhu Wenfang is also the king of Qi. He must first govern a province and then take over the world.

To manage Shandong well, the first thing to do is to win over people's hearts. The quickest and most effective way to win people's hearts is to exempt people from taxes, pay corvee, grant amnesty, and clean up unjust prisons.

The ministers in the palace knew this very well, but the prince's domineering wave of his hand still shocked everyone.

Everyone chatted for a while and then dispersed.

Two days later, Zhu Qiyu took advantage of the fine weather and came to Qingyun Pavilion to manage politics.

Zhu Wenfang first recounted what happened at the Xiaochao meeting.

Zhu Qiyu nodded repeatedly when he heard this, asking the people to pay taxes with money. Someone had done this before. Our powerful minister Zhang Juzheng used this trick to trick the people at the bottom to death.

Paying land tax does not collect grain, but collects money. The question is where can the people at the bottom get money?

Exchange grain for silver yourself, and then give the money to the government? When exchanging silver, just wait to be skinned by the powerful gentry.

The famous "one whip method" may not benefit the people at the bottom very much.

Thinking of this, Zhu Qiyu gave another instruction: "The law of opening up China must not be abolished. Let the merchants transport the grain to the border and hand it over to the military guards.

Merchants can thus obtain a corresponding amount of salt bait, and they take the salt bait back to sell the salt.

Once the Open China Law is abolished, there will be a food shortage in the border areas.

In order to save trouble, the imperial court gave the border troops silver instead of grain, and the entire border town was completely ruined. At that time, the Ming Dynasty was not far from destruction. "

These things were all done by the Ming Dynasty in history, and this was probably the process. Then at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the frontier troops were in various types of arrears of pay and food, and it quickly advanced to the point where "the Jin army was less than ten thousand, and if it was full, it was invincible."

Zhu Wenfang nodded, and then asked: "We are going to fight another big war. Will daddy's reform of the southern tax law and salt law be temporarily shelved?"

Zhu Qiyu smiled and said: "There is no need to put it aside. Let's continue to implement reforms in the name of reform. The battle is endless. After this battle, there will be another battle.

If we have to wait until the war is over before making changes, it will not be possible to make changes by the time I abdicate.

This reform is really offending, so I'll do it for you. I'll be the bad guy, you just need to be a good, gentle emperor. "

(End of this chapter)