The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 48 It’s imminent to teach Lao Zhu a lesson
The monarchs at the beginning of the founding of the country were the main framers of the system of a dynasty.

Later monarchs, unless they have great perseverance, courage and ability, can only follow their system.

Even if you know there is something wrong with this system, you can't do anything about it.

Reform is too difficult.

The previous monarchs of the Ming Dynasty, from Zhu Yuanzhang to Zhu Di, were good at fighting, but they did have shortcomings in governing the country.

Especially on the economic front, there are too many problems.

For example, as mentioned before, in order to prevent tax evasion, Zhu Yuanzhang ignored the reality of land annexation and forced the tax amount to be no lower than in previous years.

For example, the Baochao system, and commercial taxes that are so low that they are almost non-existent, etc.

Zhu Di was not much better. As the general who conquered the north, his achievements were ranked at the forefront of history books.

As an emperor, he is similar to his father.

It seems that the treasure banknotes were overflowing in his hands, and he printed them in large quantities for the Northern Expedition.

During the Zhu Yuanzhang period, the treasure banknotes that still had a certain purchasing power were completely reduced to waste paper.

His voyages to the West did indeed earn him a huge amount of money.

The construction of Shuntian Mansion, the Great Wall, the conquest of grasslands, etc. were all inseparable from the money earned from the Western voyages.

Then, he unexpectedly used spices to pay wages to his ministers.

The key is that he also ignored the fact that the price of spices has been reduced, and the price of spices has been officially stipulated.

The officials received the spices and could only sell them at a discount when they were brought to the market.

After adding the depreciated treasure banknotes and spices, one can imagine how much official salaries were left at that time.

It can be said that the imperial court benefited from the voyages to the West, but all officials suffered a great loss.

When Zhu Di died, Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Household Affairs, wrote a letter requesting to stop the voyage to the West, making this matter a thing of the past.

People in later generations are criticizing Xia Yuanji, saying that he blocked China's outward movement.

However, can Xia Yuanji really change such a big thing by himself?
No, it must be that the public is furious and all civil and military officials are unanimously opposed.

Xia Yuanji was just the trigger.

Put yourself in their shoes, would you support the voyage to the West?
The salary in the Ming Dynasty is already very low, but you still use spices to trick us. Don’t we want to support our families?
It can only be said that the root of the problem lies with Zhu Di.

Zhu Gaochi was a promising king, but his life span was too short. He died in ten months and had no time to do anything.

The great sage Zhu Zhanji has merits and demerits, so let’s not mention them.

In short, by this time, the Ming Dynasty had been stumbling along for decades, and various systems had been fixed.

Subsequent monarchs, who were capable, could only tinker with things.

If you don't have the ability, just leave it alone.

The core problem of the Ming Dynasty was naturally that the civil servant group was too powerful.

But the reason why the civil servants dominate the situation is also because there are loopholes in the system, and scholars have taken advantage of them.

The more Chen Jingke thought about it, the more his scalp became numb.

He previously thought that there were five main problems with Ming Dynasty:

There are strong factions in Huaixi and Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the gap between the rich and the poor in the north and the south, the military household system, official salary issues, and vassal king issues.

Once these problems are solved, that's almost it.

After Zhu Yuanzhang was gone and Zhu Biao succeeded to the throne, he began to carry out reforms. All these problems must be solved during Zhu Xiongying's reign at the latest.

Then we will start the great voyage and let Chinese civilization go out.

With the foundation of Chinese civilization, as long as it is willing to face the outside world, it will definitely be a dimensionality-reducing blow to other civilizations.

However, now he realized that he had made the problem simple.

There are problems with this entire system. If it is not solved, it will happen again sooner or later.

Moreover, some systems can only be changed by Lao Zhu. If later monarchs want to change, the difficulty will be many times higher.

Originally, he wanted to lie dormant for ten or eight years and wait until Lao Zhu was gone before he started to work hard.

Now it seems the plan is moving forward.

I have to teach Lao Zhu a lesson.

A country's system is complicated and difficult to explain clearly at once.Let’s start with treasure notes, that is, currency.

From large countries to small individuals, most things revolve around money and food.

Extending from currency, it can finally include the entire system.

Lao Zhu doesn't want to listen or speak first, at least popularize this concept to him.

By the way, Zhu Biao must be present.

He was born with the golden key in mind. He has been influenced by it since he was a child, and he is more comprehensive than Lao Zhu in many ideas.

If both father and son don't listen, then they can only count on Zhu Xiongying.

In the next two days, he basically didn't go out. He kept thinking about how to teach this lesson at home.

When I have time, I spend time with Feng and Chen Yuan, and my life is fulfilling.

On the third day, Du Tongli sent the treasure banknote information early.

Chen Jingke flipped through it briefly and was extremely speechless.

Lao Zhu doesn’t know anything about currency and finance.

He banned gold and silver trading and barter. Only copper coins and treasure notes could be used to purchase items.

It can only be said that as long as he knew a little about economics, he would not be able to formulate such a system.

Money shortage exists in every dynasty.

In previous dynasties, copper coins were stipulated as the main currency, cloth and silk could be used as auxiliary coins, and grain could also be used as general equivalents.

Therefore, although the previous dynasties also had money shortages, they did not cause major problems.

In the Ming Dynasty alone, auxiliary coins were directly removed, and barter was actually illegal.

Of course, he formulated this system to better promote Baobao.

But a bigger problem came.

He just issued banknotes without preparing any deposit.

The key is that he only issues and does not recycle.

What does it mean? The court can use treasure money to buy your things, but you can't refuse.

But you have no way to use treasure money to buy anything from the court.

Seeing this, Chen Jingke smiled.

I didn't expect Lao Zhu to have such an innocent side.

In other words, he is the founding king and has particularly strong control over the country.

If it were another emperor, it would have collapsed long ago.

It seems that Zhu Laosi was wronged just now. Even if he doesn't issue a large number of treasure notes, this thing will be unsustainable.

He just gave a little push at the key node.

The root still lies in Zhu Yuanzhang.

However, it sounds easy to say, but when it falls on all people, it is a mountain that can crush people to death.

The life of the common people is already hard. A strong laborer who works as a coolie at the dock for a day only earns eight to ten cents, and the value of the labor will depreciate in the end.

For them, every penny is a matter of wealth and life.

So, this matter must be resolved.

Chen Jingke secretly made up his mind.

Before, he had thought that if he couldn't solve it now, he would wait until later.

Now he doesn't want to wait a day.

Because every extra day of waiting, there will be countless poor people, and their families will be destroyed.

However, he was not in a hurry. After returning to the palace, he spent two days sorting out the information given by Du Tongli.

Then think about your words and where to start your lecture.

When everything was ready, he found Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao while they were both in Qianqing Palace.

(End of this chapter)