Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 240 The Road to Ming Dynasty
"Gao Xu, do you know why all dynasties followed the policy of focusing on agriculture and suppressing business?"

Zhu Di frowned and asked.

"Businessmen are only interested in profit. If they are not controlled, they will definitely endanger the society."

Zhu Gaoxu said with a solemn expression.

Many people believe that business prosperity can promote the development of all industries and make the country and people rich.

But after you truly understand the policy strategies of the wise emperors of the past dynasties, you will find that these powerful emperors are good at weighing things up. Any seemingly unfavorable result is actually a choice that has more advantages than disadvantages after weighing it.

Just like favoring agriculture and suppressing business.

"Tell me about it."

Zhu Di was afraid that Zhu Gaoxu would break the situation of "emphasis on agriculture and suppression of commerce" for thousands of years, which would trigger a terrible chain reaction and push the Ming Dynasty into a situation of no return.

After all, in his impression, Zhu Gaoxu has always paid more attention to business and businessmen.

"For example, if there is a famine in a certain place, as a businessman who is good at speculation, he will definitely be more active than the local government in raising food in order to transport it to the disaster area and sell it to the victims."

Zhu Gaoxu slowly gave an example.

"The victims may not be able to afford the food that merchants put in great efforts to transport to disaster areas, but they can sell the farmland to the merchants. In this way, the merchants will get the farmland in return, and the victims will not starve to death if they have food. Look. It seems to be a win-win situation, but those people who lose their farmland will become refugees."

For the imperial courts of all dynasties, refugees were unstable groups that must be controlled.

There is no need for Zhu Gaoxu to explain too much. Zhu Di has already understood the meaning of the above examples.

"For another example, there are two villages, Xiaozhangzhuang and Xiaolizhuang. Originally, both villages grew wheat and soybeans and could be self-sufficient. A businessman came here and after some investigation, he found that Xiaozhangzhuang was more suitable for growing wheat. Xiaoli Village is more suitable for growing soybeans.”

Zhu Gaoxu gave another example.

"After the persuasion of businessman Yi Li, from now on, Xiaozhuang only planted wheat and Xiaolizhuang only planted soybeans. The two villages traded with merchants and each got what they needed. Because they focused on one agricultural matter, the output of wheat and soybeans increased. With the improvement year by year, the living standards of the people of the two Zhuangzi have been greatly improved."

"If this happens every year, it is indeed a good thing. But there are always droughts and floods, resulting in reduced wheat and soybean production. The people of the two Zhuangzi had to ask merchants for loans. From then on, the people of the two Zhuangzi became tools for the merchants to make money. "

"Fortunately, there are now Royal Bank and Account Bank, which can lend money to the affected people at the lowest interest rate to help them tide over the disaster. Otherwise, if things go on like this, more and more people will borrow money to live their lives, and eventually they will sell their land. People become refugees.”

Zhu Di nodded and said: "Yes, the vast majority of businessmen are only interested in profit. Once all the officials in the world speak for the businessmen, the people everywhere will become a tool for the businessmen to make money."

"What's more, businessmen travel south and north, are well-informed, put profit first, and don't know loyalty. Once their financial resources reach the level of wealth that rivals the country, they will have greater ambitions. Although there are benevolent people among businessmen, they are still in the minority. "

"And if there are more people engaged in business, there will be fewer people working in agriculture. Who will farm the land to produce food? Therefore, all dynasties have focused on agriculture and suppressed business to prevent businessmen from getting bigger and threatening the court."

"Dad, don't worry too much. I naturally know the harm of mercantile business."

Zhu Gaoxu could see that Zhu Di was worried that he would overturn the fundamental national policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business for thousands of years and pursue the false side of commercial prosperity instead.

"Dad, although I say that we should pay equal attention to the four peoples, I will still put 'scholars' first, followed by 'farmers and workers', and lastly 'business'." Zhu Gaoxu explained seriously: "The ministers in the world are our elders. The Zhu family’s helpers in governing the Ming Dynasty must pay attention to the management of their officials.”

"Ministers have clear powers and clear governance goals. They build roads, bridges and water conservancy projects in times of peace. They actively provide disaster relief and comfort the people during natural disasters, increase agricultural production, and encourage farmers to engage in breeding and animal husbandry. Industry and commerce will naturally prosper and develop."

"In terms of military armaments, strengthening military training and combat effectiveness in peacetime can quickly eliminate bandits and bandits during wartime, which is equivalent to reducing corresponding military expenditures and increasing people's confidence in the military."

"As for important national construction, let the military industry participate in it so as to increase people's trust in the army. At the same time, it will enhance the sense of honor of soldiers joining the army. If one person serves as a soldier, the whole family will be honored!"

Zhu Gaoxu knew in his heart that once the Little Ice Age entered in the future, there would be a severe drought in the northwest of the Ming Dynasty, and the living environment of the grassland nomads began to deteriorate. This was a natural disaster that human power could not change.

By then, the Ming court's expenditure on disaster relief will increase greatly, and this is an unavoidable fact.

As for the bureaucracy, it was Zhu Gaoxu's helper in implementing effective rule over the world. For the imperial court, the salary of civil and military officials was considered a fixed expense.

When natural disasters strike, not only should the court not reduce officials' salaries, but they should increase them slightly to encourage the bureaucracy to work actively.

Therefore, the key to allowing the Ming Dynasty to survive the Little Ice Age lay in the two aspects that manpower could change, namely increasing taxation and reducing border defense pressure.

Historically, starting from the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the gentry annexed a large amount of land from ordinary farmers. Relying on Zhu Yuanzhang's preferential treatment of the gentry during the Hongwu period, officials and businessmen colluded and refused to pay taxes.

Coupled with the increasing population of the Zhu Ming clan, this resulted in the Ming court's tax revenue declining year by year. By the Chongzhen period, it could no longer collect much tax.

Fortunately, history has been changed, and tax reforms have been carried out in the early years of Yongle, such as the implementation of the one-whip law and the apportionment of people into acres. This requires everyone, including the gentry, and even the output of the imperial village, to pay in a regular manner. tax.

However, the tax reform during the Yongle period was not thorough, and Zhu Gaoxu still needed to work harder.

"Agriculture is the foundation of the country, so my son plans to formulate a series of policies to encourage farmers to improve agricultural tools, seeds, etc. and increase production. At the same time, the progress of the handicraft industry can in turn promote the development of agriculture."

Zhu Gaoxu continued: "Workers are needed for road construction, canal construction and other constructions. Therefore, my son also plans to formulate some policies to encourage craftsmen to innovate workmanship techniques and improve time efficiency."

In addition, after Zhu Di completely wiped out the disobedient forces in the desert, he built many mutual market towns on the grasslands outside the Great Wall based on Zhu Gaoxu's suggestions.

Many people in later generations who are not familiar with the history of nomadic tribes often feel that the tribes on the grasslands are naturally aggressive and predatory, and they often unite as one and go south to invade the Central Plains.

But in fact, the nomads are not united at all. Fighting alone is the norm, and unity is the abnormal state.

Whether it was the unification of the Xiongnu, the unification of the Turks, or even the unification of the Mongol and Yuan Dynasties, there was the emergence of a generation of heroes and the creation of the current situation.

In reality, people will die in war. If the survival problem of the grassland tribes can be solved through mutual trade, who will take the risk of being killed to participate in the plundering battle south?
"In addition, my son decided to continue to strengthen the control of the desert to make the life of the herdsmen better. In this way, the ability of the nomadic tribes on the grassland to resist natural disasters will be enhanced and the number of times they are forced to go south to plunder will be reduced. In this way, I, Daming, Border defense in northern Xinjiang can alleviate some of the pressure."

Zhu Gaoxu added: "To achieve this goal, businessmen who travel north and south to sell the goods needed by herders to the grasslands are indispensable. However, in view of the profit-seeking nature of businessmen, his son decided to legislate merchants and businesses closely related to them from the law. to regulate businessmen.”

When Zhu Di heard this, his eyes lit up and he said: "Scholars, farmers, industry and merchants should all stay in their respective positions and abide by their own laws. This is a good idea!"

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(End of this chapter)