Daming: The most ruthless tyrant in history

Chapter 177 The world is a chess game and everyone is a pawn
In the first year of Tianqi, March [-]th, the sky was clear and the weather was warm.

Forbidden City, Huangji Gate.

The Cabinet, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Six Ministries, the Five Temples, the General Affairs Department, Ke Zhanhan... there were officials at all levels in the government offices in Beijing, and they gathered at Huangji Gate for a grand court meeting under the emperor's orders.

There were no signs, but there were traces of this great court meeting. The eunuch of the inner court issued a decree when he left the palace, which affected the hearts of too many people.

The emperor, who has always disliked dealing with government affairs, suddenly convened a large court meeting and chose to hold it at Huangjimen. No matter who he was, he would inevitably think too much.

At a glance, there is an endless court meeting. Officials at all levels are standing in order. No matter where they are, it is quiet. However, the different expressions and the rolling eyes from time to time all show that many people attending the meeting have deep feelings in their hearts. The emotions that arise are very mixed...

separated by a wall.

"Brother Emperor, don't you show off to the Emperor's Gate?"

Zhu Youjian stood with his hands lowered. He glanced around and saw the eunuchs Liu Ruoyu and Han Zanzhou who were accompanying him. They all lowered their heads and said nothing, counting the hours in their minds. They stepped forward and said to the silent Zhu Youxiao: "It's already passed now." …”

"What's the hurry?"

Zhu Youxiao held the Emperor's Sword and was not anxious at all. "This great dynasty meeting was specially called by me, but it is not me who should be anxious, but the civil and military officials of the Chao Zhong Dynasty who gathered outside the Huangji Gate. Emperor brother, what do you think of the three of them?" Should the main hall be rebuilt? How do you feel when you look at the ruins in front of you?"

After hearing what his royal brother said, Zhu Youjian raised his head and saw the ruins of the three main halls in front of him, which occupied a large area. Except for some raviney platform foundations, there were no other buildings. The sacred majesty of the past was nowhere to be seen...

"Brother Emperor, the three main halls need to be rebuilt."

Zhu Youjian raised his hands and bowed: "This is a symbol of imperial power, and more importantly, the dignity of the country. Although I know that rebuilding the three halls will probably cost a lot of gold and silver, but compared to..."

Zhu Youxiao smiled.

From the perspective of the ruler, the three major halls are just a pile of dead things. Whether they are built or not is not particularly important. However, the special meaning they give makes the three burned halls must be rebuilt no matter how much money is spent on food. Huanghuang Daming said. The territory under its jurisdiction is vast and fertile, and it would be impossible without a symbol that matches it.

“The memorandum forwarded by the Cabinet to the Ministry of Work also said the same thing.”

Zhu Youxiao calmed down his mind, slowly turned around, looked in the direction of Huangji Gate, and said with firm eyes: "Did the Ming Dynasty's aspiration to conquer China rely on rituals, patriarchal laws, or the will of the people?"

"Does the emperor know how much money was spent on the yet-to-be-completed Huangji Gate? Millions of taels of silver!!"

"Does the emperor know that the three main halls were burned down in the 25th year of the emperor's grandfather Yuji's reign? Since then, preparations for reconstruction have been in a state of inactivity. Does the emperor know what this inactivity means?"

Zhu Youjian was silent.

He was not particularly clear about what his royal brother meant by specifically explaining this.

"I asked Nan Shufang to do a rough calculation."

Zhu Youxiao said calmly: "Since the emperor's grandfather was alive, there were officials from other dynasties planning this matter, and until the emperor took the imperial examination and ascended the throne, the cost before and after has reached tens of millions of taels. And if he wants to rebuild the three main halls, the overall expenditure will be It will be as high as more than 2000 million taels. This is without a required number of years. If we want to meet the construction deadline and specify the number of years that must be completed, then 3000 million taels will not be covered!!"

"This……"

Zhu Youjian was shocked. He had never thought that rebuilding the three burned halls would require so much money. The cost was equal to the total tax revenue of the national treasury for several years.

The central financial system of the Ming Dynasty was corrupt, not without reason!Zhu Youxiao's eyes turned cold. Why do so many people want the three main halls to be rebuilt?
The reason is that there are too many tricks in it!

Rebuilding the three main halls requires various types of wood, stone, and materials, which need to be recruited from all over the country. As for the need for one large piece of wood alone, in order to ensure the specifications and procurement of beams and columns, the Ministry of Industry needs to reduce quotas, distribute transportation, and Measures such as tax retention, assistance, and subsidies are for local departments to actively implement, but there is no telling how many interests are mixed behind this.

Nan Shufang followed the ideas of the Ministry of Industry and other departments to roughly calculate the accounts, which were only the accounts on the surface, and the accounts behind them could not be calculated at all!

"It is true that the three main halls need to be rebuilt, but they cannot be built like this." Zhu Youxiao said quietly: "I don't want to build it until the end. The treasury will be empty, the finances will collapse, the people will be confused, and the foundation will be destroyed. And the people who are responsible for this matter will be destroyed." Many of the groups are making a lot of money, and Ming Dynasty can no longer bear this kind of torment."

"Your Majesty, Yin Sun Chuanting of Shuntian Prefecture has arrived at Huangji Gate."

At this moment, a voice hurried to the imperial court and bowed to Zhu Youxiao.

"Show off at the Emperor's Gate."

Zhu Youxiao shook his robe sleeves and said, "This is the moment I have been waiting for after staying in the ruins of the three main halls for so long."

"Show off at the Emperor's Gate~"

As the emperor's voice sounded, the team staying here started to move. ,

Zhu Youxiao knew what the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty was like and what the virtues of official governance were. Therefore, from the beginning of his reign, he did all kinds of things and tried his best to avoid this situation without clarifying any local policies.

the reason is simple.

If Zhu Youxiao dares to make a decision, no matter how trivial it is, he will be taken seriously by officials at all levels, and then use this to do illegal things.

The various groups at the bottom of the Ming Dynasty lived a very hard life and were burdened with too much that they should not have to bear.

However, until now, in terms of nationwide policies to benefit the people, Zhu Youxiao has not done anything else except abolishing the assessment of Liaoning pay. It is not that Zhu Youxiao does not want to do it, but that he cannot do it!
Once inertial thinking is formed, if you want to correct it, you are not the emperor, you can just say a few words to get it back.

On the occasion of the opening of this great dynasty meeting, I will make it clear that I will never increase my gifts, so that I can gain momentum in the future! !

Zhu Youxiao, who was sitting on the sedan chair, looked forward with sharp eyes. When he thought of the farce of driving up food prices in Gyeonggi Province, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but want to kill someone.

When this grand meeting kicks off, a number of people are bound to die!

However, no matter how many people die, if the burden on the underlying groups is not reduced, everything will be in vain.

What Zhu Youxiao wanted to do was not only to kill a group of people to shock the officialdom, but also to reduce the burden on the lower class groups, and at the same time ensure that the fragile central financial system of the Ming Dynasty would not collapse.

Does the emperor want to kill someone?

Zhu Youjian, who was accompanying him, observed the anger and murderous intent in his royal brother's brows, and couldn't help but feel nervous. Although he had seen too many bad phenomena in the past, he could understand. The more truths revealed, the more panicked Zhu Youjian felt in his heart.

It is true that the Ming Dynasty is the country of the Zhu family, but there are too many interests and calculations hidden behind it. If their interests are really touched, there will be corresponding counterattacks...

(End of this chapter)