Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 289 The Drum of Den Wen

The next day.

Fengtian Temple, early dynasty.

After Zhu Gaoxu ascended the throne, he looked around the civil and military ministers in the palace and said: "Today is the first regular court meeting in the second year of Qianxi. I want to announce three things."

When all the ministers heard this, they all cheered up, became serious, and pricked up their ears like rabbits.

"First thing, I have ordered Cai Xin, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry, to lead the branches of the Huimin Industrial Construction Bureau of Shaanxi and Liaodong provinces to build cable telegraphs from Ningxia and Liaoyang to the capital, and ordered Yu Qian to supervise the two provinces of Shaanxi and Liaodong. The censor has full authority to supervise this matter. Construction will start in March this year and will last for two years."

"I told Qian before that during the Spring Festival in the fourth year of Qianxi's reign, I hope to be able to send New Year blessings to the officials and people of Ningxia and Liaoyang through wired telegrams from the capital. Today, I will say it again in the Fengtian Hall."

When Zhu Gaoxu reached this point, his eyes fell on Song Li, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, and he said loudly: "The Ministry of Industry wants to send a document to the yamen of all prefectures and counties in Shaanxi and Liaodong provinces, requesting local officials to mobilize local people to participate in the Huimin Industrial Construction Bureau branch Recruitment, cooperate with Cai Xin and Yu Qian to complete this matter."

"The minister leads the order."

Song Li walked out of the class, bowed and took orders.

"At the end of last year, more than ten officials from Zhejiang and Fujian provinces reported to me the occurrence of counterfeit banknotes and counterfeit coins in the public. Although the number of counterfeit banknotes and counterfeit coins discovered so far is small and easy to identify, there are many victims. It's an old farmer selling his own crops, and I can't bear it."

Zhu Gaoxu continued: "Therefore, the second thing is that the Metropolitan Procuratorate should send censors to patrol incognito to monitor the governance of all provinces, prefectures and counties in the world, especially cases of counterfeit banknotes, counterfeit coins and commercial fraud. The culprits must be arrested and brought to justice. Give the people an explanation."

Liu Jing, the censor of the left capital, and Gu Zuo, the censor of the right capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, walked out of the class one after another, bowed and saluted, and said: "I will receive the order."

"The third thing is that the Royal Bank is already rushing to print a new version of gold banknotes (gravure printed gold banknotes), which is the fourth edition since the issuance of gold banknotes in Hongwu 31."

Zhu Gaoxu thought about the words and said calmly: "The Ministry of Accounts will inform the bank branches of all prefectures and counties in the world. Starting from the first day of next month, I will send troops to send the new version of gold banknotes to the bank branches of all prefectures and counties. By the ninth day of April, all branches will start processing the fourth edition gold banknotes for people to exchange at the same time."

"Because the anti-counterfeiting effect of the fourth edition of gold banknotes is better, the Ministry of Accounts must write it down in official documents in detail, and order clerks in various branches to patiently explain it to the people, so as to prevent poor farmers from being deceived by counterfeit coins again."

"After receiving the official document from the Ministry of Household Affairs, each branch must make a copy and post it on the notice board to let the people know about it. I will not go into details about the specific anti-counterfeiting signs here. The master of Baoyuan Bureau will explain it in detail with you. Tobe, can you hear me clearly?"

All the officials of the Hubu Yamen Hall, headed by Xia Yuanji, the Secretary of the Ministry of Hubu, walked out of the class one after another, bowed and saluted, and said: "I will obey the holy orders."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded, then glanced at the prince Zhu Zhanyu and said: "Prince?"

Zhu Zhanyu quickly turned around and saluted: "My son is here."

"I appoint you as the president of the Royal Bank of the Ming Dynasty. Together with Xia Yuanji, Minister of Accounts, Jin Youzi, Chen Shan and other officials, I will draw up a financial forecast chart for the next two years based on the financial situation of the imperial court in the past ten years, and based on this chart A certain amount of intaglio gold banknotes will be printed and allocated to the Ministry of Accounts for use."

Zhu Gaoxu solemnly said: "Although the imperial court has not had any foreign wars in the past ten years, and maritime trade has become more and more prosperous, the national treasury has a lot of balance every year. The savings stored so far are probably tens of millions of taels of silver dollars, but the imperial court spends There are too many places for money, so you and the ministers of the Ministry of Revenue must carefully consider it and not be perfunctory."

In ancient China, finance was referred to as "duzhi", "guoyong", "year plan" and "guoji", among which "duzhi" and "guoyong" both refer to the court's expenses, and "year plan" refers to the court's annual income and calculation of expenditures, while "national economy" refers to the finances of the imperial court.

Historically, China did not really use the word "finance" until the late Qing Dynasty.

However, as early as the Hongwu period, the time traveler Zhu Gaoxu had already invented this term. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang was influenced by Zhu Gaoxu and often used this simple and easy-to-understand term to officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

By today's Qianxi Dynasty, the word "finance" has completely replaced the old title in the past.

"My son obeys the order!"

Zhu Zhanyu bowed and accepted the order.

As soon as he finished speaking, a burst of drum sound suddenly came from outside the hall.

The civil and military officials couldn't help but feel nervous, because the drum sound sounded like it was coming from the right gate of Chang'an.

There is a special courtyard there called Dengwen Drum Courtyard. There is a drum in the courtyard, which is the famous Dengwen Drum.

In December of the first year of Hongwu, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty placed the Dengwen Drum outside the Meridian Gate of Jinling. After Zhu Di moved the capital to Peiping, he moved the Dengwen Drum outside the right gate of Chang'an in the Forbidden City.

No matter where the Denwen Drum is located, its role is still to accept judicial appeal cases.

Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that any enemy who beats the Dengwen drum to complain can immediately go directly to Tianting, and the emperor will personally accept the case. If there is any obstruction, he will be punished as a traitor.Having said that, there are no rules.

Therefore, with the passage of time, the Ming Dynasty gradually further improved the system of Dengwen Drum. By the late Yongle period, clear regulations were made on the acceptance time, trial department, and scope of Dengwen Drum cases. .

First of all, there are the personnel on duty, usually a supervisory censor, who is responsible for receiving the pleadings of Dengwen drum cases and forwarding them to the emperor.

But in fact, after the Denwen drum was beaten, the emperor usually handed the case over to the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

However, in order to avoid more unjust cases, in most cases the emperor would act cautiously and let multiple departments participate in the trial of the case.

If the case involves local matters, it is usually tried by court officials together with the local prosecutor and the provincial censor.

It is a pity that from the Xuande period onward, Denwen Drum gradually became more of a mere formality.

However, the time traveler Zhu Gaoxu has changed the direction of history. Under his rule, Denwen Drum will never become a decoration.

"Where is Sai Hazhi, commander of the Jin Yiwei?"

Zhu Gaoxu shouted loudly.

Sai Hazhi walked quickly from outside the palace gate to twenty steps away from the imperial palace, bowed and said, "I am here."

Zhu Gaoxu ordered: "Take someone quickly to explore the source of the drum sound. If someone beats the Dengwen drum, then bring that person to see me."

"The minister leads the order."

Sai Hazhi knelt on one knee and saluted with his fists clasped.

Afterwards, Zhu Gaoxu looked around at the ministers in the palace and said with a straight face: "It seems that the person who beats the drum has been waiting for today. I think this person's injustice is not small."

The reason why he said this is because today is the first day that all officials of the Ming Dynasty officially took office in the second year of Qianxi.

The so-called plan for a day lies in the morning, and the plan for a year lies in spring.

The person who beat the drum did not choose to beat the Dengwen drum yesterday, obviously knowing that the court would hold the first regular court of the second year of Qianxi today.

And beating the Dengwen drum on this day of special significance will inevitably attract the attention of today's people.

"Your Majesty, I have something to announce."

Liu Jing, the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, walked out of the class, bowed and saluted.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "It's accurate."

"Your Majesty, not long ago the Metropolitan Procuratorate received a secret report from the supervisory censor of the Han Dynasty, saying that in the name of choosing concubines for the prince, the King of Han sent emissaries and officials to select young and beautiful women among the people, and claimed that as long as they were selected, they would become the King of Han The prince’s concubine.”

Liu Jing raised her head slightly, secretly observed Zhu Gaoxu's reaction, and said slowly.

Zhu Gaoxu could see that Liu Jing, the sincere uncle, was afraid that discussing the affairs of the Han Dynasty in the Fengtian Palace would arouse unnecessary public opinion, so he had scruples and hoped to get the emperor's permission.

After all, the King of Han Zhu Gaochi was the Prince of the Ming Dynasty. Without the permission of the Ming Emperor, who would dare to make any arbitrary comments?

If you are not careful, you will be slandered as alienating the royal family, which is a serious crime!
"Uncle sincerity, I allow you to say it, whether it is true or false, please tell it carefully."

Zhu Gaoxu said with a serious expression.

At this time, he had vaguely guessed that the sound of the drum being beaten today was probably related to the selection of a concubine by King Zhu Gaochi of Han Dynasty for his eldest son Zhu Zhanji.

　I have been working on this chapter for more than half an hour, so I haven’t finished the chapter I owe. I remember it and won’t forget it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)