Before hanging himself, Chongzhen lifted the table

Chapter 209 Taiping Man

When Emperor Chongzhen came out of the capital for the first time, there were few people in the capital and outside the city. Most of the original villages were in ruins, and you could tell what they looked like in the past.Bones can be seen in the fields and along the roads.

More than half a year later, when Emperor Chongzhen led his troops southward, the people in the capital began to work out of the city, pick up their broken hometowns, and rebuild their homes.

Although most of the villages are still in ruins, there are already traces of people.People working on the abandoned farmland also appeared.

But now, about two years later, it is the end of the 19th year of Chongzhen. When Emperor Chongzhen returned with his troops, he could hardly see the land of Gyeonggi that he remembered.

At least near the official road, there are no more ruins. New villages have replaced them one by one. The nearby farmland is the trace of the harvest. The army passed by, and the children ran out of the village to watch the fun. A picture of peace in the world.

Who could have imagined what the scene would be like here just over two years ago!
Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but feel very pleased when he saw this.

Working hard, don’t you just want peace?Now the hard work has paid off, it’s worth it!
When the people along the way knew that the army marching on the official road was the imperial army led by the current emperor, they spread the word to ten, and everyone put down their work, took the food at home, and rushed to the official road. Bian, with awe and gratitude, tried to let this army have something to eat and express their gratitude.

Most of the time, farmers are simple, hard-working and grateful.Knowing who is kind to them, they will use the best things at home to entertain their benefactors.

They were also afraid of facing an army.He took the delicious food at home and did not dare to approach it. He stood timidly near the official road, holding up the food in his hand, silently signaling that he just wanted to send some food to the officers and soldiers.

When the number of people increased, they boldly moved closer and shouted out their wishes, just to entertain the army.

If it weren't for the imperial army led by the emperor, how could the people who had suffered from military disasters live and work in peace and contentment now!

Without military orders, no soldier dared to leave the team.But they were very satisfied when they saw that they were treated so politely by the people, even if they couldn't eat.

No one would dislike being respected by others.Seeing the people welcoming them so well, it is inevitable to feel happy, and naturally there is a sense of accomplishment in their hearts.

When he was still ten miles away from the capital, the empress, the prince, the governor, and all the civil and military officials came to greet him.

There were once millions of people in the capital. After plague and war, there are now less than 50 left.But now, more than [-] people came out of the city and consciously welcomed the arrival of their emperor outside the cordon set up by soldiers from the five cities of Guandao.

In the past two years, the world has been peaceful. The people who have experienced the era of great chaos cherish this peace very much, and are therefore very grateful to the emperor who has brought them a stable life.

I would rather be a peace dog than a person in troubled times!
This used to be their dream, but now, they can all be people of peace, how satisfied they must be!
Not only that, but the emperor's reformed government also made their lives easier than they imagined.

You can borrow money from the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank at extremely low interest rates. You don't have to wait until you have money or borrow usury to do house repairs, farmland maintenance, planting, etc.Those who are capable can even make money by doing small business.

In addition, the court's salt policy reforms made the price of salt very low. Not only could more salt be added to dishes, but there was even room for salt to pickle some foods.In the past, this would have been unthinkable.

All these make them full of hope for the future.

And all of this was achieved by the current emperor personally leading troops on the battlefield.

I haven’t been back for two years, but now I’m finally back!

For most people, if they don't do something to show their gratitude to the emperor, they really can't live such a good life with peace of mind.

Emperor Chongzhen naturally saw this in his eyes, and took this opportunity to say to Prince Zhu Cixiang: "Look at the people's hearts. Only when the court has the support of the people can the country be stable. Therefore, as an emperor, he has never ruled the world with the scholar-bureaucrats. The interests of the emperor should be consistent with the interests of the majority of the people. When you deal with state affairs, you should use this as the criterion, do you understand?"

Zhu Cihong had never seen so many people spontaneously come to greet the emperor. Feeling all this, after several years of experience in supervising the country, he had obviously matured a lot. After hearing his father's teachings, he immediately echoed: "Father, Emperor Instructions, children and ministers should remember them."

When it came to this topic, Emperor Chongzhen had deeper feelings and took this opportunity to say to him: "In the past, it was all about the family, the country and the world. However, the future trend will be the country and the world. This world is not my Zhu family. One family belongs to the world, but everyone in the world belongs to the world. In this way, I will innovate the title, and the Zhu family will no longer be hereditary. Maybe you can’t understand the difference now, and I won’t force it. You just need to remember it. In my heart, just think more when you encounter something!"

The feudal dynasty has always been about the family, the country and the world.As long as you are a relative of the emperor, you will definitely enjoy glory and wealth and ride on everyone's head.

Although it is said that this is beneficial to stabilizing Huangquan's rule in the early stages.However, as emperors passed from generation to generation, their relatives increased exponentially, requiring the people at the bottom to support them.This determines that no feudal dynasty can last long.

The same was true for the Ming Dynasty.

At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhu Yuanzhang named all his sons as vassal kings, which were hereditary and irreplaceable.Although his design was that these sons could protect the borders of the Ming Dynasty, he never thought that when sons gave birth to sons, by the time the mid-Ming Dynasty began, the imperial court could no longer afford the clan's salary and began to fail.

There were many reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty, such as the corruption of morals and the corruption of officials, but the excessive number of clans was definitely one of the important reasons.

This is not a problem of a single dynasty in the Ming Dynasty, but a problem encountered by all feudal dynasties in the country and the world.Only by changing the concept and putting the country before the family can we avoid the concept of family, country and world and the influence of relatives of those in power on the country can be as small as possible.

Of course, it is actually difficult to change this concept.Who doesn’t want their loved ones to live a better life?For relatives, being able to help is a big help.This kind of concept is inevitable no matter how advanced society is, otherwise it will be said to be inhumane.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen turned the tide and rescued the Ming Dynasty from the crisis of imminent annihilation. It looked like a revival.His ability has been proven by hard facts.

Therefore, his words are very authoritative.After Zhu Cihong heard this, he could remember it secretly in his heart.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen's prestige was very high.Therefore, some of his ideas and innovations can be well implemented.

After returning to the capital, Emperor Chongzhen's first order was to order a nationwide survey of land, verify the population, and re-register the population.

The last time a nationwide survey of land, population verification, and other basic tasks for the country was done when Zhang Juzheng was in power.After so many years and such a long period of war, the information held by the court has long been outdated.The second decree issued by Emperor Chongzhen was to change the preferential exemption for officials and gentry into a method where all people in the Ming Dynasty must pay taxes and then receive tax refunds.Of course, tax payment and tax refund are carried out by different yamen.

By doing this, we can try to avoid tax evasion and avoid the crisis of running out of money in the imperial treasury.

This kind of law change will definitely harm the official and gentry class.However, the emperor at this time has enough prestige, who dares to object?

After all, the emperor did not deprive them of the benefits granted by the law, but only deprived them of possible illegal benefits.

Of course, the most important thing at the moment is the content of the first decree.The second decree, or many other national policies, are based on the first decree.

Therefore, during the rest of the 19th year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen was supervising the affairs of this first decree.

In addition, Emperor Chongzhen was also busy with another thing.It is to organize craftsmen to bake cement.

He knew the basic principle. It was just calcining at a high temperature, which was similar to burning glass.As for how high the temperature is, he also knows.

However, there are still many practical difficulties in actually doing it.Therefore, he mobilized all the skilled craftsmen in the capital related to this fired cement to experiment.

The relevant funds were directly borrowed from the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank in the name of the Ministry of Industry.

It's funny to say that the minister of the Ministry of Industry was not happy at first.However, when Chongzhen said that if the Ministry of Industry did not want it, the loan would be done in the name of the Royal Ouchi. Several other ministers sensed something and they all competed with the Ministry of Industry for the loan name.

But in the end, Emperor Chongzhen decided to use a loan in the name of the Ministry of Industry to do this.After all, cement is a basic material, and private production of cement is not appropriate.

At the beginning of December, when the New Year was about to begin, good news came from the south. It was Du Yinxi who led the army to invade Guizhou and Guangxi. The rebels and the rebel chieftains all fled after hearing the news, and the war went smoothly.

At this time, everyone in the court was almost immune to things like good news.

Especially now, Du Yinxi's men are composed of elite soldiers and generals from all walks of life, while the enemy is a bandit army defeated by the emperor's personal leadership, almost like a defeated dog.

Therefore, this good news did not cause much commotion in the capital.Emperor Chongzhen read what Du Yinxi said in his memorial. He adopted a step-by-step strategy. When he advanced steadily, he did not interfere too much. He only responded to Du Yinxi to appease the people, win over the people, and cut off the thieves and rebel chieftains. The foundation is the main thing.

As the Chinese New Year is approaching, it snows heavily here in the capital.But this heavy snowfall was not as severe as the snow disaster we encountered in Yangzhou Prefecture.

The cement test was carried out at the request of Emperor Chongzhen and with the heavy financial reward. Finally, a few days ago, the cement was obtained that Emperor Chongzhen could barely accept.

The cement road paved in the cement factory was tested in front of the civil and military officials led by Emperor Chongzhen, and was exposed to vehicle pressure, flooding and other means that ordinary official roads could not withstand. However, the cement road remained as good as new, and there was nothing wrong with it.

The civil and military officials finally understood that the emperor was giving a great gift to the Ministry of Industry.

Maybe others didn't know what cement was in advance, but the emperor definitely knew, otherwise he wouldn't have arranged for people to do it directly.

Emperor Chongzhen immediately decreed that the army that had been restructured from several guard posts was officially changed to the Ming Dynasty Infrastructure Engineering Army, specializing in the cement reconstruction of roads all over the world.Cement plants have been set up in prefectures and counties across the country, under the jurisdiction of personnel assigned by the Ministry of Industry. Cement prices vary slightly according to the specific conditions in each place.Large quantity, favorable price.

In other words, if the local area wants to use cement for infrastructure construction, it will definitely require a large amount of cement, so if the quantity is large, the price will be discounted.And if it is only used by local wealthy households, the price of cement will definitely be more expensive than the price purchased by the yamen.

A portion of the profits from local cement plants must be handed over to the Ministry of Industry every year and then turned over to the national treasury.This system is actually a state-owned enterprise.

Emperor Chongzhen also specifically gave instructions that the cement would have different properties depending on the formula, and asked the cement factory to organize specialized craftsmen to continue testing. One goal is cement that can be used to build bridges.

It is foreseeable that in the next few years, both roads and water conservancy facilities will use cement as the basic material on a large scale.The Ming Dynasty Infrastructure Engineering Corps, which is affiliated to the imperial court, is definitely used for infrastructure construction of key roads. In most places, it still needs to be organized by local people.

The situation of no longer assigning work and rest can allow many labor forces to find employment.

Correspondingly, the demand for coal will also increase, and coal mining will inevitably reach a climax.

It’s just that the invention of cement will inevitably lead to the development of many industries. This is the benefit of infrastructure.

As for the money needed for large-scale infrastructure construction by the court, because new money can be printed, and there is no such thing as inflation, it can allow new money to enter the circulation link in more places faster. , Promote the economic development of the Ming Dynasty.

The material circulation brought about by infrastructure construction will be a benefit in the future.At this time in the Ming Dynasty, apart from Emperor Chongzhen, only a few people with a keen sense of smell could predict it.

The New Year's Eve of Chongzhen's 19th year was held in a festive atmosphere.The sound of firecrackers in the capital comes one after another. Although there is wind and snow, everyone thinks that this is a good year due to the auspicious snow, and next year will definitely be better than this year!
Matters concerning people's livelihood cannot be solved overnight.Emperor Chongzhen's gaze turned to Liaodong.

No matter what, the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which had conquered the world in its original history, was always a thorn in the side of the imperial court.

In the past two years, they have focused on quelling the bandit rebellion within the pass, and have failed to take care of the Liaodong area outside the pass.

On the Dongjiang Army side, according to the news from the gathered North Koreans, the entire North Korea had been annexed by the rebels, and they had implemented the practice of shaving their hair and changing their clothes, killing all the Koreans who were unwilling to change their clothes.Just like the method used by Jianlu to rule the pass, Korea was really swallowed up by Jianlu.

Liaodong Jianlu should not be underestimated!
(End of this chapter)