Zhu Yuanzhang can see my dreams

Chapter 376 I'm Not That Kind of Person

"It's not about learning, it's about communicating with each other."

Xu Da was very satisfied when he heard Wang Buli's humble words.

He had long known that the son-in-law was a capable man. The fact that he could create a practical military formation and plan a war against Yunnan only strengthened Xu Da's perception of him.

However, this boy was unwilling to join the army, and even unwilling to hang around in the court, so he used the title of a royal consort to play around in the Ming Dynasty.

This action really made him confused.

"The Crown Prince abolished the Four Assistant Officials and immediately established a cabinet. At the same time, he abolished the unified Censorate and established the Supervisory Office. He is also preparing to conduct a special examination. Do you know about these things?"

Wang Buli was very surprised when he heard Xu Da's question.

I really didn't expect that Zhu Biao would be so efficient and effective in carrying out reforms in the court.

Is there any implication of Zhu Yuanzhang in this?

He wanted to see the effect. If it was good, he would accept it. If it was not, he, as the emperor, could still set things right and change it back.

Everything is under trial.

The cabinet came online ahead of schedule. Could it be that Zhu Yuanzhang knew about Zhang Juzheng?

"Your Majesty rarely discusses political affairs with me." Wang Buli said with a smile, his hands behind his back.
"I just know a little more about solving cases than others. I have no idea how to solve many difficult and complicated cases, let alone such a major court event."

Xu Da also understood Wang Buli. This guy was a cautious person and he went against Prime Minister Hu Weiyong. It was not known whether it was the emperor's intention.

But with Hu Weiyong's death, none of this matters anymore.

Xu Da would not care about the disputes in the court. He only needed to consider foreign wars. Even though he had once served as the right prime minister, he did not care about anything other than military affairs.

Hu Weiyong served as prime minister for a long time.

Now Xu Da saw his own shadow in Wang Buli.

Zhu Yuanzhang learned about the work of the salt workers and realized that there was a lot of knowledge involved. He also went to see the houses they lived in, as well as their wives, children, and elderly mothers at home.

Overall, I have deep feelings for him.

At least it made him feel that the lives of the people in the Ming Dynasty were not very good.

Especially the salt industry has been a profitable job since ancient times, but most of the people doing this work live below the poverty line. It is obviously unrealistic to want to eat meat and drink some wine during the Chinese New Year, let alone support their children to study full-time.

After Zhu Yuanzhang strolled down from the high throne and took a walk, he did not get the answer he expected and there was very little smile on his face.

"I have been very diligent in my work, but I never thought that many people were just barely starving to death. If the emperors after our Ming Dynasty were not as diligent as I am, I dare not imagine what would happen to the people."

No one responded to the emperor's sigh, but in fact everyone knew it clearly.

It is nothing more than a repetition of the situation at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. It has been the same since ancient times.

Wang Buli remained silent. He felt that Zhu Yuanzhang knew the future of the Ming Dynasty and still mentioned this matter. Maybe he wanted to extract some information. In any case, he kept his mouth shut.

Xu Da felt that these had nothing to do with him. He only needed to fight well. The rest didn't matter at all.

After Zhu Yuanzhang finished expressing his feelings, he immediately plunged into the war against the Mongols.

Wang Buli listened to Zhu Yuanzhang's battle plan without much interest.

It is always a matter of steady and cautious tactics after catching the fish, especially since our cavalry is too few and scattered along the long border. Once we are lured into deep territory by the enemy, we will easily be besieged.

It's just about looking for opportunities to bleed from time to time, but the main goal is to deal with Nahachu who is entrenched in Liaodong.

Although Xu Da listened to Zhu Yuanzhang in terms of warfare, he also fought his way up from a small soldier, and his experience in warfare was no less than Zhu Yuanzhang's.

So they kept talking there.

Wang Buli sat aside drinking tea and watching the two of them arguing, which he found very interesting.

As expected, after conquering the world, there are many things to consider if you want to keep your rule.

Not everyone wants your dynasty to continue to prosper. Most people only consider their own interests, and Zhu Yuanzhang is no exception.

Wang Buli was sitting here watching the fun when Zhu Yuanzhang looked up at him.

This kid was really relaxed, drinking Longjing tea before the rain, and even poured a cup for Mao Xiang.

He didn't even drink the first cup of tea. He's really too picky.

Mao Xiang was so flattered that he didn't even dare to sit down, but stood aside.

Who can compare with you, the prince consort? Among all the prince consorts before and after, Wang Buli is the only one who is favored.

Everyone thought that since the eldest son of Duke Hanguo Li Shanchang had married the princess, he would definitely be highly valued by His Majesty.

Who would have thought that Wang Buli, who was also born into a commoner family and had worked as a minor official, was the most favored.

"Buli, what do you think of the strategy we talked about?"

"I didn't hear that."

"Didn't you hear?" Zhu Yuanzhang became furious.

Ordinary people wouldn't even have the chance to listen, and this kid didn't even want to listen.

Mao Xiang lowered his head. It turned out that he had too little contact with Wang Buli. He never thought that the prince consort would speak so "straightforwardly"!
Xu Da actually laughed a little. He just felt that His Majesty thought highly of Wang Buli and wanted to focus on training him, but this kid just didn't understand.

"Such a military secret, how can a Dali Temple official listen to it casually?"

Wang Buli put down the teacup in his hand and stood up: "Besides, the most capable military planner in the Ming Dynasty is in this room. Do you need a small shrimp like me to help?"

"Huh, you know how to flatter me."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his sleeves, but he was still very proud of Wang Buli's flattery.

"Listen, what does it look like?"

In response to Zhu Yuanzhang's accusation, Xu Da bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the prince consort is good at solving cases. It is normal that he dare not speak easily about such military and national affairs."

"Come here." Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at the map:

"If you were a Mongolian, what would you do if you were attacked by the Ming Dynasty?"

Wang Buli used the Mongolians in Yunnan to set a trap for Lan Yu, which left a deep impression on Zhu Yuanzhang and others.

Now I would like to let Wang Buli play the role of the opponent and see what insidious tricks he can use?
Wang Buli looked at the map of Mongolia and shook his head.
"Now that Nahachu is firmly defending Liaodong and has no intention of offering a helping hand, we should forget about luring the snake out of its hole."

Xu Da also agreed with Wang Buli's opinion, Your Majesty always wants to catch them all in one fell swoop.

Nowadays, the Mongols are becoming increasingly weaker, and those who can survive are those who can run fast.

"They don't dare to fight against the Ming Dynasty now." Wang Buli took another sip of tea. "So if I were the Mongols' Grand Master, I would have to avoid fighting. It would only waste the Ming Dynasty's manpower and resources. Anyway, you can't afford to fight a war."

Wang Buli's shameless behavior made Xu Da feel a little embarrassed.

Since the failure of the Northern Expedition, the Ming Dynasty has never launched a large-scale war again. Most of them were local wars, just to avoid many factors such as unfamiliar routes.

"The people on the grassland are good at riding horses and are familiar with the terrain. We really can't catch up with them."

Zhu Yuanzhang also admitted it, but if everyone stopped fighting, Zhu Yuanzhang would look down on them.

There is nothing we can do.

I won't just stand there and take a beating.

After all these years, if you can't beat me, can't you just run away?

Those who didn't run away either died or surrendered.

The rest are naturally the elite who are escaping!
Wang Buli's rogue tactics gave Zhu Yuanzhang a headache. The remaining Mongols were powerful, but they just kept wasting time.

With the death of the Northern Yuan emperor and the ascension of the new emperor, many people no longer had much thought about going south to restore the country.

The powerful Ming army standing in their way was truly a mountain that was difficult for them to cross.

"Damn it."

Zhu Yuanzhang sat back in his chair. The scenario he had just mentioned was based on the situation of the war between the Mongols and the Ming Dynasty.

If they keep running away, there's really nothing we can do.

"Let's wait for them to come back."

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't want Mu Ying to return empty-handed, so he talked to Xu Da again and let him take command in the north. When he got the chance, he could just deal with them directly without asking for permission in advance.

"I understand."

Xu Da responded and they went to rest.

Wang Buli returned to his room with tea, spread out the letter paper and wrote a letter to his wife, and also wrote a letter to his old father.

My father was invited by King Zhou to go to Kaifeng to teach medical students. I haven't seen him for three months, so I had to ask about his situation.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the salt administration and also continued to check the granaries, but he was not very satisfied with either. Or maybe it was not an isolated case that there was no grain in the granaries.

This made Zhu Yuanzhang's expression even more gloomy.

Wang Buli was thinking about how he had safely escaped the Kong Yin and Hu Weiyong cases, and then the case of Guo Huan's corruption and the removal of Lan Yu.

He didn't know if he would die again.

The case of Guo Huan was not a sudden impulse, but a long-term corruption that was discovered by Lao Zhu.

Now their corruption has begun to bear fruit.

However, Wang Buli did not warn him, but strolled slowly, thinking that it was not his fault after all.

"Buli, why do you think this happened?"

"Your Majesty, is it true that the taxes in western Zhejiang are too high, so that there is not much surplus grain?"

Zhu Yuanzhang discovered that Wang Buli's speech was becoming more and more "unpleasant".

So this is the court's fault, not the corrupt officials.

“You think there are no corrupt officials?”

“There are corrupt officials.” Wang Buli was silent for a while and then reminded, “Your Majesty, I heard that Minister of Agriculture Yang Xian has increased the tax rate in western Zhejiang by two times because the land is fertile.

Each acre of government land was taxed at two to three shi, which meant that in a normal year the entire rice output from one acre had to be handed over to the imperial court, and the only thing the farmers could keep was the miscellaneous grains produced outside the normal rice season.

No matter how cruel the officials are, it is impossible to achieve such high taxes. When the peasants cannot make a living on the land, they will abandon the land and become refugees.

Wang Buli believed that high taxes were also one of the reasons for the frequent riots among the people during the Hongwu period.

"I have ordered a slight reduction in the tax burden in the Jiangnan region: those who originally paid 7 dou 5 liters to 4 dou 4 liters per mu will have their tax reduced by two tenths; those who paid 4 dou 3 liters to 3 dou 6 liters per mu will have their tax reduced to 3 dou 5 liters."

Zhu Yuanzhang thought he had been very kind to the people in the territory occupied by Zhang Shicheng.

Wang Buli glanced at him and said, "I was free, so I checked the county annals here. The annual autumn grain tax in the Yuan Dynasty was less than 100,000 dan. Since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the annual tax paid has increased sharply to 200,000 dan.

The cultivated land has not increased, and the population has been greatly reduced due to the war, so it is quite normal for the people to be in arrears with their taxes and grain.”

Zhu Yuanzhang was silenced by the data presented by Wang Buli.

Of course he knew that the taxes he collected from the Jiangnan region were heavy, but he did not expect that they would double.

"The grain in the Jiangnan region is like water in a sponge. If you squeeze it, there will always be more."

Hearing this, Wang Buli didn't say anything more.

Zhu Yuanzhang was famous for his stubbornness, and Wang Buli was not one to play the game of a loyal minister.

Since you asked me, I might as well mention it. It's up to you whether to change it or not. Anyway, the Ming Dynasty is not mine.

Zhu Yuanzhang was too lazy to talk to Wang Buli anymore.

This matter always makes him unhappy.

The Jiangnan region was obviously extremely prosperous, but in the end everyone became poor.

I didn’t get much money or grain. Where did it go?
They still owe the imperial court taxes and grain!

"Why do you think we should establish a system of grain chiefs?"

"There are too many corrupt officials." Wang Buli knew why Zhu used the grain chief to collect taxes.

He didn't say that Lao Zhu didn't trust the bureaucracy.

"In the beginning, the government designated one wealthy household as the chief of grain and two wealthy households as deputy chiefs of grain in each region. They were responsible for the collection and transportation of tax grain, but the court did not pay the chiefs of grain, nor did it provide any funds for their activities.

Do you know our purpose?"

Wang Buli shook his head: "I don't know, Your Majesty probably wants to save money."

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted twice: "Then you underestimate me."

He held up three fingers and said, “First, the administrative costs of the imperial court’s tax collection should be passed on to the local wealthy households to the greatest extent possible.

The assets owned by wealthy households could also serve as a "guarantee" for the imperial court's tax collection.

When taxes could not be collected in full, wealthy families were often forced to use their personal assets to pay the taxes.

Second, farmers had to transport their tax grain to the county warehouses to pay taxes. The transportation cost for each household was extremely high, and it was easy for them to be harassed and exploited by the grain collectors. Therefore, it was natural for “tax collectors” with backgrounds to appear in every dynasty.
The people handed over the tax grain to the "tax collectors" and provided a certain amount of compensation, and the "tax collectors" then delivered the tax grain to the prefectures and counties.

However, there are also problems with "tax collectors". If they collude with county officials to monopolize the channels for paying tax grain, farmers may have to pay a higher price to pay tax grain.

What troubled the imperial court the most was that some "tax collectors" might cheat on grain. After collecting the tax grain from farmers, they did not send it to the national treasury, but hoarded it for themselves and bought low and sold high.

We believe that large households "have constant property and constant determination", and allowing large households to serve as grain managers to replace the "tax collectors" of varying quality is a good way to "govern good people with good people".

Third, it’s because of what you said.”

Wang Buli curled his lips and said, "No matter what, it's still your stingy nature that led to this policy."

Old Zhu has been shifting administrative costs, whether it is temporary clerks or grain managers.

He wants all the benefits.

But he doesn't want to pay!

They just play the game of thieves robbing each other.

There is no one in the world who is more evil than him, and no one who is more powerful than him.

Wang Buli sighed and said leisurely: "Your Majesty, some money should be spent. I remember dealing with a group of grain chiefs a few years ago."

"We know that if the ration officer does his job seriously, he will definitely offend people. If he offends people, there is a high probability that he will be framed and reported.

It was an offensive job, so we gave them a reward, something of some practical value, which was the "miscellaneous crimes" that could be redeemed with money. "

Zhu Yuanzhang did not change his attitude towards Wang Buli's ridicule, but said proudly:

“We are not so naive as to believe that the grain director is law-abiding, nor do we want to spend what you call administrative costs to verify whether every report against the grain director is true.

Allowing the grain chiefs to use money to "atone their sins" would be the most advantageous way for us to deal with the problem.

It can not only maintain the policy of governing the country with strict laws and severe punishments, but also restrain the grain chiefs without too much discouraging their enthusiasm, and at the same time weaken or even eliminate the big households.

The profound meaning of only allowing redemption for "miscellaneous crimes" lies precisely here:

We can tolerate the grain chiefs oppressing the lower-class people and allow them to pay money to atone for their sins when they get into trouble. The court gets the money and the grain chiefs can save their lives.

But we will never tolerate the grain chiefs engaging in corruption when collecting taxes, because that would undermine the normal operation of the Ming Dynasty."

Wang Buli fanned himself with a fan and smiled. He ordered everyone to step back ten steps. He stood under the shade of the tree and said:
"Your Majesty, have you seen how this policy is implemented in the future of the Ming Dynasty?"

Facing Wang Buli's question, Zhu Yuanzhang hummed and said, "There are too many corrupt officials and unruly people."

Zhu Yuanzhang did not expect that during the Zhengde period, there would be many refugees in the Ming Dynasty, and the taxes collected by the court were not fully paid every year.

Of course, this kind of tax collection could not be accomplished during the Hongwu period.

Now that he saw the results, Zhu Yuanzhang still believed that his policies were not wrong.

Wang Buli nodded and said, "Your Majesty is right. We must increase the intensity of punishment for corrupt officials in the future."

"Yes, the shortage of granaries must be investigated thoroughly to prevent the Ming Dynasty's taxes from being resold by others."

Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to grain. He gritted his teeth and reduced some taxes in the Jiangnan region this year.

It is impossible to get tax exemption!

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Wang Buli's uncertain face and finally sighed:

"Food is the most important thing for our Ming Dynasty. Do you have any way to make the people in Jiangnan area pay all the tax grain?"

"No."

Wang Buli spoke decisively, saying that the people in the south of the Yangtze River were now burdened with heavy taxes, and many of them were struggling to make ends meet. After all, they were your people, not the people of the dead Zhang Shicheng.

I have been taking revenge on them for so many years, but I still haven't gotten enough.

If you don't want to change, it's none of my business!

Anyway, the Ming Dynasty is not mine.

"Think about it carefully."

Wang Buli fanned himself and pretended to think for a while before sneer- ing :

"Your Majesty, if all else fails, we can go to a foreign country and capture the people to serve as your serfs. This will satisfy your wish. They can just work for you without any salary and get food to eat. If they die, we can just replace them with another batch."

"Nonsense." Zhu Yuanzhang also fanned himself: "I am not that kind of person."

(End of this chapter)