Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 72
"Dang...dang...dang..."

On the early morning of the second day of the Lunar New Year, as the morning bell rang, Zhu Gaoxu, dressed in a coiled robe like yesterday, rode Chi Huan towards Xihua Gate.

On the gray streets, people coming and going were ministers rushing to go to court.

They looked at Zhu Gaoxu, who was riding towards Xihua Gate, with a bit of surprise on their faces.

The fact that Zhu Gaoxu entered the Wuying Hall to assist in governing the government had already spread throughout the government and the public, but the time for the Wuying Hall to govern was after the morning dynasty ended, that is, at Chen time.

It's only midnight now, and it's hard not to think about Zhu Gaoxu getting up so early and heading to the palace.

However, he himself did not pay attention to the looks of these people, because he knew that he would not have anything to do with these people, at least in the next few years.

He rode Chi Huan to Xihua Gate, handed over his token and Chi Huan, and then rushed towards Wuying Hall on foot.

Since there was no elephant chariot to sit on, he had to walk the two or three miles.

The reason why he came so early was to confirm one thing, that is, whether Zhu Yunwen was jealous of him.

If Zhu Yunwen was jealous of himself, he would definitely change his usual schedule and go to Wuying Palace in advance to express himself.

"Your Highness..."

With this in mind, Zhu Gaoxu also spent a quarter of an hour walking to the front of Wuying Palace and received a salute from the soldiers on duty in front of the palace.

"really……"

After entering the hall, Zhu Gaoxu saw the lit incense burner at first sight, and the side hall was also filled with busy figures.

He took a deep breath and walked into the side hall. At this time, Zhu Yunwen was sitting in his seat, with more than 200 memorials piled up in front of him.

"Zixu, the second son of the Yan family, has met his grandson..."

Zhu Gaoxu bowed his head and greeted Zhu Yunwen seven or eight steps away.

Facing the sudden greeting, Zhu Yunwen was stunned, and then looked up at the door.

There, Zhu Gaoxu bowed and behaved appropriately.

Looking at him, there was nothing wrong with Zhu Yunwen. Instead, he smiled: "Brother Xu came a little early today. Grandpa Huang is still in the morning."

"My younger brother has come to study politics with the grandson, so that he can go to the north to defend the Ming Dynasty and save money and food for the court."

Zhu Gaoxu didn't mention Zhu Yunqi in one sentence, but every word was Zhu Yunqi.

In the era of family world, whether it was the Ming Dynasty or the imperial court, these were the things of the old Zhu family and Zhu Yunwen.

"Haha...Brother Xu, come over and sit down. What do you mean by standing all this time?"

Zhu Yunwen smiled and raised his hand to signal Zhu Gaoxu to come over. The smile on his face looked satisfied, but no one else knew what he actually thought except him.

"As ordered..." Zhu Gaoxu responded and walked over. The eunuchs of the East Palace on the left and right also brought chairs for him to sit down.

Zhu Gaoxu was sitting next to Zhu Yunwen, only two or three feet away from the memorial in his hand, so he could see it clearly.

"Brother Xu is just watching from the side. If you don't understand anything, just ask me."

Zhu Yunwen smiled and lowered his head to handle government affairs, while Zhu Gaoxu watched from the side, trying to discern Zhu Yunwen's preferred way of handling it.

He briefly watched Zhu Yunwen handle some government affairs. Generally speaking, Zhu Yunwen was relatively obedient to suggestions in handling government affairs and would not give random orders.

However, Zhu Gaoxu also saw that after some local officials made mistakes, Zhu Yunwen rebuked them mercilessly.

"I can listen to opinions, but I can't accept the other party's useless efforts."

Zhu Gaoxu gave his own evaluation of Zhu Yunwen, and Zhu Yunwen, who had been observed for a quarter of an hour, seemed a little tired and took a sip of tea after putting down his pen.

At this moment, he walked out of government affairs and thought of Zhu Gaoxu sitting next to him.

He turned his head with a friendly smile on his face: "How is it? Is there something that Brother Xu doesn't understand?" "Of course..." Zhu Gaoxu also quickly put on a smile, and then said as he liked:

"In my review of the memorial, local officials often violated the imperial policies, but I don't know why Taisun only reprimanded them instead of severely punishing them."

"Brother Xu, do you think so too?" Zhu Yunwen's eyes lit up, and while his dislike for Zhu Gaoxu weakened, he gave his own answer:
"I also thought that we should punish them severely before, but Grandpa Huang said that punishment is useless, and the same is true for another person."

"The local officials did not follow the imperial decree, not because they did not want to do it, but because the local gentry and subordinates did not want to do it."

Zhu Yunwen took a memorandum and explained to Zhu Gaoxu: "Take the ineffectiveness of immigration from Sichuan and the imperial court's call for immigrants from counties in the south of the Yangtze River..."

"If officials can immigrate naturally, after all, this will also be included in the results of the merit examination."

"However, immigration can only benefit officials and the court, but not the gentry and subordinates in the counties south of the Yangtze River."

Zhu Yunwen put down the memorial and said with some melancholy: "These squires and subordinates have a lot of land in their hands, but it is impossible for them to cultivate it themselves."

"Therefore, they can only absorb the people as tenants to cultivate the land in their hands and collect land rent to support the family."

"The people in Jiangnan are limited. If the imperial court emigrates more, the number of people in Jiangnan will decrease. When the number of people decreases, the price of hiring them to farm will become more expensive. The local gentry and subordinates can only reduce the amount of land they rent. Hire them.”

"If you do this, after one year, you will only get [-]% of the [-]% of the land rent you originally received. If things go on like this, the losses will naturally be huge."

"Because of this, the Jiangnan squires and subordinates do not agree with the immigration of county officials, and will also shelter immigrants who have fled back from the southwest."

"Without the support of the squires and subordinates, it is naturally difficult to manage the local area with just a few local officials."

Zhu Yunwen revealed the essence of the feudal dynasty, which is that no matter what, the dynasty and the local area always have a cooperative relationship.

In an era when transportation was underdeveloped, it was impossible to station a team of soldiers and a large number of officials and scribes belonging to the imperial court in every county.

The pre-Qin Dynasty relied on local nobles, while the two Han Dynasties relied on aristocratic families and powerful people.

Only from the Sui and Tang Dynasties did it shift from relying on family members to tapping folk talents, and it continued to flourish in the Song Dynasty.

But no matter how things change, if you want to manage a place, you still need the local cowards.

Without the nobles, there will still be powerful families. Without the powerful families, there will still be clans. Without the clans, there will be scholar-bureaucrats. It can be said that they will be killed and killed endlessly.

The more you rely on land tax revenue, the more you need to build good relationships with local governments, unless you can recruit a team of political talents who have nothing to do with local curiosity.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but think of the Imperial College disciples trained by Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Why don't you send the disciples of the Imperial College to govern the local area?" Zhu Gaoxu asked.

"What you said, I also said." Zhu Yunwen's eyes lit up, and his dislike for Zhu Gaoxu diminished:
"After I said it at the beginning, Grandpa Huang only said that there were too few disciples in the Imperial College. It would be fine if 3 to [-] people were left in one place, but it would not be enough if they were left all over the country."

"Sending them out in pieces will only give the powerful gentry a chance to win over them."

"Compared to the powerful gentry in the local area, the imperial court can offer very little to the disciples of the Imperial College. Once they are won over, there is no chance of turning back."

Facing Zhu Yunwen's answer, Zhu Gaoxu nodded.

He had to admit that Zhu Yuanzhang was right. Compared with what the squire could offer, the salary given by the imperial court to the disciples of the Imperial College was simply nothing.

They can use half of the annual income to bribe officials, but it is impossible for the court to use half of the annual income to pay officials.

It was enough for Zhu Gaoxu to hear this. For these squires and subordinates, if he wanted to compete with them, he could not compete with them unless there was a talent training system such as the junior high school for later generations.

Corruption is not a problem. The main thing is to train talents quickly enough and to train enough talents.

In the early Ming Dynasty, as long as you were literate and knew arithmetic, you were considered a talent.

Zhu Gaoxu's eyes flashed: "It looks like I have to fill in a few entries in my "Military Training Record"..."

(End of this chapter)