I'm only seven years old, Lao Zhu, you let me supervise the country?

Chapter 204 Old Zhu: Er, are you joking?Did we hear that right?
Yangshan.

Lao Zhu hosted a banquet.

This was originally a hunting ground, with many animals.

At this time, all kinds of delicacies from mountains and seas, rare and exotic animals were used to entertain Zhu Yunxi.

Old Zhu has always been frugal.

These things are rarely eaten on weekdays.

However, in the past few months, Zhu Yunxi has had enough to govern the country.

The reaction was quite muted.

In Zhu Yunxi's view, such things as diligence and thrift are the virtues of subjects.

For the monarch, it is not necessary.

"You said today that you don't want to build the Great Wall, but you have built a lot of concrete roads, and even built a new city in Shanghai."

Lao Zhu drank a few glasses of wine and asked curiously: "What else are you planning to build next?"

Sometimes, Lao Zhu is really emotional.

He couldn't understand his grandson's methods of governing the country.

For example, Lao Zhu couldn't think of something like "People's Daily".

Of course, he did not have a mimeograph machine advanced enough to print newspapers quickly on a large scale.

"The future of Ming Dynasty lies overseas."

Zhu Yunxi said categorically, "Sun Er has increased the court's shipbuilding expenditure by ten times."

"The shipyard in the south of the Yangtze River has been completed and started to build larger seagoing ships."

"Zheng He's navy has begun to take shape, and his overseas expedition will not be too far away."

"The Magic City is the pearl of Linhai, and it will be very important as the economic center in the future."

Having said this, Zhu Yunxi added another sentence: "Grandfather, don't forget, there are sweet potatoes overseas, and there are more treasures."

He's a time traveler, and it's easy to see why overseas is important.

But Lao Zhu is different.

No matter how capable he is, he will eventually be constrained by the vision of the times.

He couldn't understand the meaning of the great voyage.

It cannot be explained clearly in a few words.

Far less convincing than something real like sweet potatoes.

Old Zhu laughed loudly and said, "That's right, we always thought that the Heavenly Dynasty is vast and abundant, and has everything."

"But unexpectedly, there are such strange things as sweet potatoes overseas."

"You want the Ming army to go overseas, and we agree. However, remember to do what you can."

Lao Zhu not only has no great desire to expand his territory, but is always wary.

no way.

He is of peasant origin.

I know how much disaster the emperor will bring to the people at the bottom if he is obsessed with territorial expansion.

Most importantly, due to transportation and production constraints, this expansion often cannot be converted into actual economic benefits.

For the emperor, it is to leave a name and show off.

For the people, it is torture and suffering.

The territory of ancient China was so large, it wasn't that they didn't want to expand their territory.

Any empire has an inherent need for expansion.

The formation of the territory is because the information transmission method, productivity level, and transportation conditions at that time can only support such a large place.

Just like transporting grain from Suzhou to Beiping, it is still economically feasible.

But if the food is transported from the mountainous areas of the Himalayas to Peiping, there will not be enough food for the transporters on the way!
The advent of the colonial era and the establishment of the empire on which the sun never sets depended on the benefits of ocean transportation.

The consumption of shipping is much smaller than that of Lu Yuan.

In this way, materials can be transported to the suzerain country from tens of thousands of miles away.

to support colonization.

Otherwise, it would be stronger than the Great Yuan Empire, and the expedition to Europe would have to be divided into several khanates, each of which could go on their own way.

Without the addition of modern technology, the cost of land transportation is too high.

"Well, I'm also going to build a lot of roads."

Zhu Yunxi smiled and asked someone to fetch a huge map and spread it out.

I saw many roads marked on it.

"Treat the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, build water conservancy, and build roads."

"Grandpa Huang, these red lines above are the national highways that my grandson plans to build."

Lao Zhu glanced over and saw the dense road network above, and his expression was suddenly astonished.

"Xiao'er, it's a good thing that you can work hard to improve yourself."

"But you know, from the great chaos at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, when the heroes rose everywhere, until we ruled the world, it took only a few decades."

"Nowadays, the world is initially settled, but the population is greatly reduced, and it is far from the time of prosperity."

"The top priority is to lighten the corvee and pay less, and rest with the people."

"Although it is a good thing to build so many roads, the bad thing is the eagerness for quick success."

"Isn't it a good thing for Yang Guang to build the Grand Canal?"

"But half of the reason for the demise of the Sui Dynasty was because of the Grand Canal."

"It's said that the Sui Dynasty died on this river, and it has been relying on Tongbo for thousands of miles. If there is no dragon boat event in the water palace, Gongyu's merits will not be much."

"The Tang people rejoiced for the Grand Canal, but the Sui Dynasty was destroyed because of it."

"It was the previous dynasty, why did it perish?"

"The most direct reason is to overhaul the Yellow River dams and control floods!"

"Isn't this a good thing that benefits the country and the people?"

"But actually?"

"To control the flood of the Yellow River, a large number of civilian husbands were recruited, which aroused extreme dissatisfaction among the people."

"The stone man has one eye, provoking rebellion in the Yellow River world!"

"If it weren't for the conscripting of a large number of civilians to build the Yellow River and control the floods, Dayuan might still be doing well now."

"How can there be a world like our Zhu family's?"

"Aren't there enough lessons in this?"

"You want to build roads and overhaul water conservancy, which is a good thing. But there is no rush in everything, and you have to take your time."

"You are still very young and have plenty of time."

"Treat the power of the people, lighten the corvee and lighten the tax, and rule for a long time."

"You must not seek a momentary gain. If you want to make great achievements, you will only arouse people's resentment and make the world uneasy."

He said a lot in one breath.

Because in Lao Zhu's opinion, this is really not a trivial matter.

So many heroes in ancient times have been destroyed by this.

Because heroes often have greater ambitions and want to do something and achieve their own glory.

For this reason, the common people will be continuously expropriated and their power abused.

The hero's career is successful.

But what about the common people?

Xing, the people suffer.

die, the people suffer.

A large number of people are conscripted to do corvee. Once the people can't bear it, they will rebel.

The country is unstable.

The Qin Dynasty died here, the Sui Dynasty died here, and the Yuan Dynasty also died here!

How can we not take this as a warning?
From Lao Zhu's point of view, Zhu Yunxi undoubtedly has extremely outstanding talents.

But if the words "great achievements" are mentioned, then his outstanding talents will become a huge harm to the country.

"Grandpa Huang is too right." Zhu Yunxi agreed wholeheartedly, saying: "The kings who subjugate the country, there are many people with great talents and great ideas."

"It is precisely because of having ideals, ambitions, wanting to make great achievements, and wanting to be famous through the ages, that led to the destruction of the country."

"There are countless examples like this."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at him and said with a smile: "Since you know, why are you still planning so many roads and construction projects?"

Zhu Yunxi smiled slightly, and said: "Grandpa Huang, there is no need to conscript the people for these constructions!"

"Do not confiscate the people?" Lao Zhu was stunned: "Then how do you plan to build?"

Zhu Yunxuan cupped his hands and said: "Grandpa Huang is the Holy Lord of Qianqiu, and my grandson came here this time to ask Grandpa Huang to issue an order to permanently abolish corvee for the people of the world!"

"What?" Old Zhu's expression changed drastically, and he asked again, "What did you say?"

In ancient times, taxes were actually relatively light.

Daming is even more so.

What really makes people feel overwhelmed is not the amount of taxes paid on the fields, but the corvee!

This is the greatest burden on the people.

Corvee labor is unpaid labor that the state conscripts people to perform.

Such as forced labor, miscellaneous labor, military service, etc.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were mainly three major corvees, including regular corvees in Lijia, Jun corvees, and miscellaneous corvees.

For ancient societies, the most important resource was human resources.

The importance of corvee to the country is far above taxation.

The impact of the abolition of corvee is far greater than the impact of the abolition of all other taxes!
Therefore, every time a disaster comes, the imperial court will decree to exempt the affected areas from taxes, but there has never been such a thing as exempting a certain area from corvee.

Construction of water conservancy, construction of roads, cities, delivery of food to the army...all of these require the conscripting of the people and the need for people to serve in corvee.

Even the Yacha has many free service personnel.

No one is in corvée, and many government agencies are unable to function.

If calculated in terms of human value, then the value of corvee is probably more than ten times higher than the value of all taxes in the country.

"Grandson wants to ask Grandpa Huang to issue a decree to permanently abolish corvee for all people in the world."

Facing Lao Zhu's rhetorical question, Zhu Yunxuan said solemnly, "From now on, all the people of Ming Dynasty will no longer have to perform any corvée except for compulsory military service when foreign enemies invade."

Shocking!

Lao Zhu only felt that these words were like a thunderous explosion.

His body, as if immobilized, stared blankly at Zhu Yunxi, already petrified.

As a ruler, doesn't he know how important corvee is to the country?
Abolish corvee?

What was he thinking?
"Zhen'er, are you kidding me? Did we really hear you right?"

(End of this chapter)