Emperor’s Battlefield: I, Zhu Houzhao, like to push horizontally

Chapter 96: After spending Gu’s money, should I still ask Gu to thank them?
Feeling his son's resentful gaze, Zhu Youtang smiled bitterly in his heart.

Zhu Youtang didn't understand the consequences of his generous rewards to noble vassals.

But he had no choice.

With the Tumu Fort Incident, his grandfather and his father indulged the civil servant group, making the civil servants more and more powerful.

He didn't care at first, and his childhood education made him have special respect for the civil service group.

As he delegated power in the early stages, the power of the civil service grew.

Not only did most of the military power of the imperial court fall into the hands of civilian officials, but even if he, the emperor, did something that was not as expected by the civilian officials, he would be directly criticized and criticized.

The power of the civil servant group was getting stronger and stronger. When Zhu Youtang felt that he was about to lose control, he turned his attention to the declining power of nobles and vassal kings.

He wanted to use rewards and bribes to win over these feudal nobles.

Even if they can't help him, after his death and his son is persecuted by civil servants, these feudal princes and nobles will be able to stand up and help Zhu Houzhen because of his kindness.

Due to various considerations, he chose to turn a blind eye to the minister's letter.

Now that Zhu Houzhao is gradually rising, and his prestige even exceeds that of the emperor, Zhu Youtang feels regretful again.

But you can't get back what you gave away. Then, what kind of face would he have as an emperor?

Since he learned that Zhu Houzhao had entered the mysterious space and met the First Emperor and Emperor Taizu, Zhu Youtang no longer used rewards to win over the noble vassal kings.

Compared with beneficial teammates like the First Emperor and Emperor Taizu, it doesn't matter whether we have the help of these noble nobles or not.

Zhu Youtang thought that he would never do it again. As time passed, everyone gradually forgot about it.

Unexpectedly, today, the Minister of Revenue, Zhou Jing, would bring this matter up again in front of everyone at the court meeting.

This made Zhu Youtang a little embarrassed, and also a little helpless.

There were some things that he couldn't explain even if he wanted to.

Seeing his father's embarrassed and helpless expression, Zhu Houzhao pondered for a moment and realized that his father must have something unspeakable.

After coughing, Zhu Houzhao looked at everyone.

"My father must have a plan for the reward. Whether this is right or wrong, let's put it aside for now and talk about it later."

Seeing Zhu Houzhao change the subject, Zhu Youtang breathed a sigh of relief and gave Zhu Houzhao an appreciative look.

Zhu Houzhao rolled his eyes.

Although I don’t understand why my father did this, the problem of the royal family must be solved now.

Otherwise, if this continues, it will be a huge expense for the finances to support these guys every year.

This is still now. If the benefits he brought to Ming Dynasty continue, the population of Lao Zhu's family will definitely increase dramatically.

This problem has not yet exploded, but thinking about the future, he may focus on the Imperial battlefield. If he does not stand up and make changes, it will cause a lot of trouble if he changes this matter in the future.

Zhu Houzhao is a character who does whatever comes to his mind.

Now that we've talked about this matter, let's settle it first.

Scanning all the officials below, Zhu Houzhao noticed Xu Da, who was sitting in front of the military commander with his eyes closed.

The old man seemed to feel it too, and opened his eyes to look at Zhu Houzhao.

The corners of Zhu Houzhao's lips curled up, and he thought of a solution.

Standing up, everyone looked at Zhu Houzhao.

"Zhou Shangshu's words reminded me of something."

"Once Emperor Taizu, in order to prevent future generations from suffering from hunger like him, he decided that the royal family would be supported by the imperial court."

As soon as this statement came out, the officials understood what was happening.

I understand that His Highness the Crown Prince plans to take action against the clan members.

Sure enough, Zhu Houzhao's next words confirmed their thoughts.

"When the Ming Dynasty was founded, there were only a few dozen members of the royal family. These people could eat as much as they wanted without any burden on the court."

"But now the royal clan has spread. Fathers beget sons, and sons beget grandchildren. The number of the royal family is getting bigger and bigger like a snowball."

"According to statistics from the Zongren Mansion last year, there were more than 2700 members of the royal family, nearly 3000 people."

Later history said that most of the Ming Dynasty's finances were spent on clan members, which is actually an exaggeration.

Before Jiajing, the Zhu family really didn't have many people. Even during the Chongzhen period, there were only more than 30 people, not even a million.

Before Jiajing, as long as the emperor did not reward them heavily, the court could still afford to support these people.

After walking down the steps, Zhu Houzhao helped Zhou Jing, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, who was still kneeling on the ground, and continued the topic:

"Two to 3000 people are nothing to Ming Dynasty."

"But there is a prerequisite for this, that is, they will no longer have children and grandchildren in the future."

"However, this is impossible." Zhu Houzhao shook his head, "They are not allowed to participate in government affairs, let alone do business and serve as officials. Apart from marrying women and having children, and earning money from the court, there is nothing else to do, so not only will the future population not be It will decrease, but it will expand rapidly.”

"In addition, they have certain tax exemptions. In order to evade taxes, many people put their fields in their names. In this way, the court will have to collect less tax revenue." "If this situation continues, it will become our Ming Dynasty in the future. A big drawback!”

"I have discussed this matter with Emperor Taizu. Taizu was very surprised after hearing this and asked me why the descendants of the Ming Dynasty have not changed."

The officials were stunned. Didn't he decide it?Why are you still asking why it hasn’t changed?

Without looking at everyone's expressions, Zhu Houzhao continued: "I was very surprised at that time. Wasn't this what his old man had decided?"

"Later, Emperor Taizu told me that when he decided on this matter, some ministers raised this concern."

"Emperor Taizu thought about it for a long time and felt that this was a possibility, so he added a clause at the end, such as royal family members, which affect the operation of the court, and future emperors can make changes at their own discretion."

Speaking of this, Zhu Houzhao looked at Xu Da.

"Wei Guogong can also prove this. He was with Emperor Taizu at that time."

The corner of Xu Da's mouth twitched slightly, this brat was trying to drag him into the water.

Although he felt a little slanderous in his heart, he understood that Zhu Houzhao's actions were indeed good for Ming Dynasty, so he nodded in affirmation.

"It is true that when His Majesty was discussing this with everyone, I was also around and saw him write this with my own eyes."

The ministers all rolled their eyes inwardly.

They couldn't tell when the two of them were singing together, it was obvious nonsense.

Although they understood that the two were playing a double act, they could not refute it.

One can see Emperor Taizu at any time, and the other is a close official around Emperor Taizu. Who else can know Emperor Taizu better than the two of them.

They even suspected that given the importance Emperor Taizu attached to Zhu Houzhao, even if there was no such thing, Emperor Taizu would directly add it to prove the legitimacy of what Zhu Houzhao said.

After receiving Xu Da's approval, Zhu Houzhao sighed regretfully.

"Emperor Taizu had a long-term vision, but some people were short-sighted and crossed out the last words of Emperor Taizu without permission. As a result, our descendants only know one thing but not the other, which has caused the current phenomenon."

Zhu Houzhao looked at Liu Jian, Xie Qian and others, "Gentlemen, it is now clear that the matter of the royal family has reached a point where it has to be changed. I hope you will discuss this matter with my father and come up with a charter as soon as possible. "

Several big shots in the cabinet quickly accepted the order.

After getting up, Liu Jian hesitated for a moment and asked Zhu Houzhao: "I wonder if His Highness has something in mind, so that we can use it as a reference."

Zhu Houzhao returned the look of "you always understand me" and pretended to think seriously for a moment before replying.

"In order to solve the livelihood problem of the royal family, some of the ancestral laws can be removed, such as allowing them to do business or engage in other industries and get remuneration from them to support themselves."

"It's not yet time to let go of the matter of becoming an official and a general. This aspect needs to be strictly controlled."

"The imperial court also needs to change its tax-free policy. The land originally allocated to them by the imperial court can be exempted from part of the tax."

"In addition, regardless of whether they purchased or affiliated the land, they will pay taxes according to the tax amount set by the court. If they fail to pay the tax within the time limit, the land will be confiscated directly."

"They will also be held accountable for fines. The exact amount depends on the situation, but it must not be less than [-] taels per mu of land."

Everyone's lips twitched, it seemed like the royal family members were going to be in bad luck.

"and also…"

Under the gaze of everyone, Zhu Houzhao made more than a dozen suggestions in succession, specifically for changes in the royal family.

When everyone heard this, cold sweat broke out on their foreheads. You didn't seem to have just made this up on the spur of the moment. You must have been thinking about it for a long time.

Otherwise, why would Ba Ba Ba tell so much when asked.

After saying that he had long wanted to change the treatment of the royal family, Zhu Houzhao changed his expression and raised the memorial he had been holding in his hand.

"We've finished talking about the royal family, and now we'll start talking about business."

Zhu Houzhao's action made everyone tremble as he patted the memorial in his hand.

Staring at everyone, with a cold light flashing in his eyes, Zhu Houzhao asked coldly: "Dear ministers, I have heard a very interesting thing in the past two days. Some prefectures and counties actually levied a new tax on the people. What is it called? Favor tax.”

Many people's hearts skipped a beat, and their calves couldn't help but tremble.

Looking coldly at the officials who lowered their heads and dared not say a word, Zhu Houzhao asked angrily: "Forgive me for being ignorant, when did our court receive this tax? Why is there no such item of revenue in the accounts of the Ministry of Household Affairs?"

"And as far as I know, in less than a month, this tax will cost no less than 300 million yuan."

"Ha ha!"

Zhu Houzhao sneered again, "The imperial court is poor, but everyone below is rich."

"It really proves the saying, it's tight at the top, but it's tight at the bottom."

"Oh!"

The thick memorial was slammed to the ground. Zhu Houzhao stared at the official with his head lowered: "In the name of Gu, we collect money from the people. Gu, the person involved, doesn't know anything about it."

"What's even more ridiculous is." Zhu Houzhao pointed hard at the memorial that was thrown on the ground. "Some guys even shamelessly said in private that this is to promote the reputation of Gu, and it is for the good of Gu and the good of the court."

"Haha, you are really well-intentioned. You are using Gu's reputation to defraud people's money. You are using Gu's reputation to make money and enjoy the pain of beautiful women and delicious food. Gu should really thank him. It's really hard for these loyal ministers. ”

　Thanks: Brother 20190813014946633 for the 100 reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)