Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 83
Five days later.

Early in the morning, the sun rises.

After the morning court, in the Wenhua Hall, the young and powerful Zhu Di sat slantedly in front of the imperial desk, lowering his head to read carefully the articles written by Zhu Gaoxu.

Ten steps away from the left front of the imperial case, attendant advisor Fang Xiaoru stood there quietly, waiting for Zhu Di's instructions.

Zhu Di closed the note and asked Fang Xiaoru with a smile: "Have the prince, king of Zhou and king of Chu arrived?"

"Back to Your Majesty, your three Highnesses have been waiting outside for a long time." Fang Xiaoru said respectfully.

Zhu Di put down the statement, looked outside the palace, and said slowly: "Let them come in."

After a while, Zhu Gaoxu, King Chu and King Zhou walked to the bottom of the imperial case, and at the same time knelt down and said, "May I see your majesty and greet your majesty?"

"There are no kings or ministers here, only fathers, sons, and brothers." Zhu Di pretended to be displeased.

Zhu Gaoxu and the other three immediately changed their words and said: "My son Gao Xu (Di Ji and Di Zhen) paid homage to my father (fourth brother) and respectfully asked my father (fourth brother) if the holy bow is okay?"

"Good morning!" Zhu Di waved his hand and said, "Sit down and talk."

While Zhu Gaoxu and the others were sitting down, Zhu Di glanced at King Zhou and asked, "Fifth brother, how are you recovering from your summer heat?"

"Thank you, fourth brother, for your concern. I have recovered as before." Zhou Wang Zhu Ru quickly replied.

Zhu Di nodded, and after a moment of silence, he got straight to the point: "Earthquakes have occurred frequently since Emperor Taizu came to power. Autumn and winter have become colder. Droughts and floods occur every year in spring and summer. Building official roads and dredging waterways costs a lot, but We can provide relief through work, so that in recent years, it has been said among the people that Emperor Taizu was the sage who ruled the world."

"You need to know that Emperor Taizu is not a saint. He can help the Han Dynasty. He relies more on his subordinates and generals. However, it is only natural that meritorious officials be awarded titles. But today, there are half a hundred people with the title of earl and above (including Xijue and Yinfeng). , there are more than [-] people with hereditary military positions, and nearly [-] million yuan in food, clothing, taxes, and rent alone are not put into the national treasury every year, and the national treasury has no other sources of revenue except normal taxes. Even though I have the profits of the Royal Commercial Bank and other specialties, but With one situation ebbing and the other ebbing, it will be inevitable that the imperial treasury will be empty in the future!”

According to the practice during Zhu Yuanzhang's reign, any prefecture or county that encountered an earthquake, drought, or flood would issue an edict to exempt the disaster area from land tax for three years.

Normally, when encountering such natural disasters, the imperial court would not send an imperial envoy to take charge of disaster relief as shown in later movies and TV dramas. Instead, it would first order the local prefecture and county chiefs to find ways to resettle the victims, and arrange for disaster relief from surrounding prefectures. The county mobilized food and other materials to assist local disaster relief.

It is precisely due to the expenditure of various disaster relief grain money, coupled with local tax reductions and exemptions, that will lead to an overall decline in the national treasury.

Zhu Gaoxu, who has visited the grassroots, and the kings of Chu and Zhou who have established vassal states for many years have personal experience of this.

In recent years, when the imperial court faced disaster years, although it did not directly distribute money and food, it also provided money and food for post-disaster reconstruction and work-for-relief projects.

Zhu Gaoxu knew that in the future, in order to strengthen the imperial power and realize the transfer of imperial power to the countryside, Zhu Di would definitely implement the integration of officials and officials.

At that time, the imperial court would not only return to the imperial court the power of local county magistrates to recruit assistants and minor officials, but would also deprive central officials such as the six ministers of the power of setting up their own staff.

By that time, all officials in the Ming Dynasty, regardless of their official position or rank, will receive the emperor's salary and live on the emperor's salary.

At that time, the imperial court will be able to greatly strengthen its control over local areas by relying on its personnel and financial powers, thereby realizing the purpose of sending imperial power to the countryside. This will lead to an increase in the number of officials receiving imperial salaries year by year.Even if there is a silver mine in Wadao, Zhu Di will move the capital to the north in accordance with Zhu Yuanzhang's will, and it will cost a lot of money to build a new capital.

Although Zhu Di did not say this explicitly, Zhu Gaoxu knew it in his heart.

In the same way, the more ministers the emperor awards, the more money the court needs to spend.

"Chen Heng, the Commander-in-Chief of the Daning Guards, worked hard and made great achievements. He led troops to pacify the Huru tribes many times and promoted the prestige of our great dynasty. His military exploits were so great that he was awarded the title of earl in terms of merit! In the morning court a few days ago, I ignored the objections of many censors and courtiers. , insisting on naming him Jinghe Bo is a way of complying with the laws of nature and upholding the laws of the country!"

When Zhu Di said this, he specially observed the reactions of Zhu Gaoxu and the other two people. Seeing that the three of them were relatively quiet, he couldn't help feeling a little relieved.

At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, in order to reward meritorious officials and show the honor of military merit, Zhu Yuanzhang once specifically announced to the world that the standard for knighthood was "those who have not contributed to the country's military merits will not be awarded", and he also took great care in the management of granting titles to the royal family's in-laws and foreign relatives. Harsh.

This move is tantamount to elevating the title of knighthood for military merit to the level of system and law. It can not only convince the ministers who have made meritorious service, but also restrict the relationship between the emperor and relatives and the indiscriminate title of knighthood.

"Now that Chen Heng, who is from a humble background, has been granted the title of earl, this move will not only allow the heroes to get the honor they deserve, reflect the kindness of the royal family, but also show the importance the court attaches to conquering the grassland. This is to encourage the world's heroes to gallop across the desert to fight for To serve the country.”

During the Hongwu period, many major and important cases broke out, and many heroes were purged. However, Chen Heng was always able to stay out of the incident, safe and sound, and did not receive any impact. It can be seen that Zhu Yuanzhang appreciated this man's talent and loyalty.

Later, when Zhu Di took charge of the East Palace, Chen Heng was again put into important use during his five-year tenure and was promoted to the position of Governor of the Daning Guard.

The Daning Guard guarded by Chen Heng was an important military town in the Ming Dynasty's defense against the Northern Yuan Dynasty. "The Daning Xingdu Division led more than [-] guards in Xingzhou and Yingzhou, all of whom were elite from the northwest."

In other words, the imperial court stationed more than 20 troops here, all of which were brave and good at fighting.

Although Zhu Gaoxu was familiar with the history of the early Ming Dynasty, he was not deeply impressed by Chen Heng, a figure who was not well-known in history books. He had only heard of Chen Heng's name but did not know what he did specifically.

Now that he had caught the key word "Qianshi, the Governor of the Ning Guard", he instantly understood that there was a [-]% chance that Chen Heng was Zhu Di's trump card to check and balance King Ning Zhu Quan. This may be the fundamental reason why Zhu Di was confident and not afraid of King Ning's rebellion.

"Therefore, Emperor Taizu wanted to follow Zong Zhou's example and change the title of kings outside of China. I was inspired to have the plan to grant high-ranking titles to those with territorial titles. In addition, I want to reform the tax system and title system in the future. Let the court not have to worry about lack of money in the future!"

"Fourth brother, think twice. It may be possible to reform the tax system and the title system slowly, but I will never agree to the idea of ​​enfeoffing high-ranking titles!"

Zhou Wang Zhu Ru deliberately showed an outspoken look and objected.

Seeing Zhu Di's silence, Zhou Wang Zhu Ji added: "At the beginning of the founding of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Gao's wanton enfeoffment led to rebellions among kings with different surnames. When Emperor Xiaojing of the Han Dynasty was in power, the rebellion of the seven kings was also caused by enfeoffment. Without the filial piety of Emperor Shizong of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu issued the order of favor, and the chaos among the kings will inevitably break out again in the world! I beg my fourth brother to think again!"

"Let me ask you, Zong Zhou has enjoyed the kingdom for 800 years. Why didn't the princes and subordinates rebel in the first 400 years? After Emperor Gao, there were two rebellions by princes in less than a hundred years."

Without waiting for King Zhou to think, Zhu Di turned to look at Zhu Gaoxu and asked expectantly: "What does Gao Xu think?"

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(End of this chapter)