Daming Super Dimension Company, President Zhu Yuanzhang!

Chapter 88 Emperor Jiajing’s disgusting elixir!
According to the process Xiao Ran mentioned before, the government purchased silk at domestic prices and sold it to foreign merchants at overseas prices. The price difference was transferred to the account of the Household Department, and the money was transferred to the Household Department to make up for the shortfall. This was Emperor Jiajing's own account.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di walked towards Emperor Jiajing together.

It made him tremble a little.

"Okay, okay, I came here specifically to beat you up. Now it seems that you are worth the beating. You have done such unreliable things and got a beating. It is an advantage for you."

With that said, Zhu Di waved the seven wolves again and whipped them towards Emperor Jiajing.

Zhu Yuanzhang also took off his shoe soles and slapped him. After a while, Emperor Jiajing's body was covered with shoe sole marks and streaks of bruises, which made him look miserable.

In fact, Emperor Jiajing was not stupid or confused at all. On the contrary, he was very good at using people. However, his last infamy was also due to his own selfishness.

Does Jiajing really not know that Yan Song and others have problems? No, it's just that he believes that an official who can solve his own problems and achieve his goals is a good official.

"Ouch, ancestor, stop fighting!" Emperor Jiajing covered his head but did not dare to hide.

Xiao Ran sat down as if watching a play.

"This beating is really not unjust."

"Actually, you can't deny this. Shen Yishi can buy silk at half the official price. Isn't that precisely because half of the silk and satin he makes must be given to the palace, and Emperor Jiajing also has a very sensible scapegoat. , Zhao Zhenji, as a Zhejiang government official, took the blame for buying silk at half price, which is why he was able to turn disaster into good fortune when encountering problems later."

"As an emperor, do you use your power like this?" Zhu Di was angry when he looked at him. As an emperor, he was obsessed with his career all his life. As long as he had some money, he would expand his territory and stabilize the country. , but Emperor Jiajing, what is the use of so much silk and satin for himself?

"As for, why don't you deal with Yan Song and others? What is the value of Yan Dang? It has become obvious. Their role is to enable Emperor Jiajing to realize his own private accounts and pay bills to the outside world. It looks good, but it cannot be true to the facts, and it will bring a bad name to Jiajing. If there is a problem later when the rice is changed to mulberry, the strict party will have to carry the missing silk."

"In the heart of Emperor Jiajing, as long as Yan Song has to maintain this attitude, not to miss the state affairs, and not to bring infamy to himself, he will turn a blind eye to the rest, but that's it. , Yan Song and others are becoming more and more courageous, and the dividends are also increasing. "

In fact, Xiao Ran was willing to say more about the logic behind Emperor Jiajing's change of rice to mulberry.

Because this incident is so typical, it reflects not only the affairs of rice fields and mulberry fields, but also the logic behind Jiajing's actions as the emperor. It also indirectly reflects the entire structure of the court at that time, Yan Dang and Xu Zhang Zhao The power among others is mottled, and some of their attitudes.

"The clouds are in the blue sky and the water is in the bottle. As an emperor, Jiajing actually has a lot of freedom."

"He is a very flexible being who can escape from the power system. As an emperor, he is the maker of the rules of this dynasty. However, Emperor Jiajing is not a god after all. When faced with the objective laws of reality, he has no Method. According to the language of my time, there was a concept called 'incentive incompatibility'."

"What does incentive incompatibility mean?" Zhu Yuanzhang was tired from beating his child. He sat aside with his shoe soles and asked Xiao Ran.

"This word generally refers to the issue of bureaucratic control. Whether it is the emperor or the bureaucrats, they are all human beings and they all have their own interests and needs."

"Emperor Jiajing could ensure his majesty as an emperor through the game of power. This was also a technical issue in his use of power and people, to achieve checks and balances so that no officials would dare to challenge the imperial power."

"However, Emperor Jiajing cannot stop officials from pursuing their own selfish interests. This is why, uncle, you banned corrupt officials so strictly before, but you still keep banning them."

Xiao Ran's words directly silenced Zhu Yuanzhang.

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang himself was aware of this problem. The means of punishing corrupt officials were still very severe, but some people would still take risks. In fact, it is human nature to safeguard one's own private interests.

"So, in this link, whether it is Yan Song or Xu Jie, they are independent people first and then officials of the court. As long as they are human beings, they have their own desires and ideas. However, Emperor Jiajing regards them as tools. That’s all.”

"As officials, they are subject to the control of the imperial power. Jiajing cannot directly control the power. He cannot accomplish so many things by himself. So, these tool men will inherit Jiajing's will."

"But there are some rewards that Emperor Jiajing cannot give them. The positions of high-ranking officials are always limited. For most strict party members, wealth is likely to be more important than power. This is what I call incentive incompatibility."

"As an emperor, if he wants others to do good things for him, but does not want to give too many benefits, and does not allow others to corrupt, this is equivalent to wanting everyone to work for him in vain, and all officials Just try to figure out his thoughts and serve his purpose.”

"However, this is simply not possible."

Xiao Ran's words were clearly about Emperor Jiajing, but Zhu Yuanzhang on the side felt that he was talking about himself.

Who doesn’t know that when we were in power, officials’ salaries were notoriously low? Corruption is also strictly prohibited.

Officials who do well will not necessarily be rewarded by Zhu Yuanzhang, but those who do poorly will be punished.

But in Zhu Yuanzhang's mind, what kind of officials did not do well? That is to say, I have done my job well, but I have not actively done more practical things.

"Ahem, uncle, I'm not talking about you." Xiao Ran coughed slightly and explained when he saw Zhu Yuanzhang's expression was wrong and he was staring at him.

Zhu Di on the other side found it interesting and asked: "Xiao Ran, do you know that there is a saying that there is no three hundred taels of silver here?"

Xiao Ran was slightly silent: "Let's skip this first. Aren't we talking about Jiajing?"

Zhu Di went on to say: "Actually, I understand a little bit of what you said. What you mean is that because Emperor Jiajing only wants power and does not want to bear it, those who flatter him and take the blame for him will inevitably demand rewards. The emperor and officials They are all striving for their own selfish interests." "In the end, when this matter came to an end, national political governance became secondary, and participation in games and dividends became the fundamental political model under the governance of Emperor Jiajing. If the court was like this, it was the Ming Dynasty that suffered. and the common people in the world, as well as the country and the country that are on the verge of collapse."

Zhu Yuanzhang, as a person who started to conquer the world with one bowl, naturally saw the problems and sighed: "The dividends in the game are not just money, but more of an exchange of benefits for the emperor and his ministers to get what they need." Yan Songhe Naturally, there is also the incentive incompatibility you mentioned among his party members."

Xiao Ran snapped his fingers: "Uncle, you are right. Before Yan Song and the top leaders of the Yan Party do anything, they must first keep their power and status. Therefore, for the sake of long-term interests, they are willing to sacrifice temporary wealth or accept Jiajing's offer." Dividend principle.”

"But you have to know that people at the bottom don't have so many scruples. They have a kind of luck mentality. If the sky falls, Yan Song will hold it up. Besides, there is a saying that the law does not blame everyone. They firmly I believe that even the emperor would not dare to remove or kill thousands of officials in the world."

"Even if we plan for the worst outcome, Yan Song is going to fall, and everyone's backers are gone, then why not take the opportunity to make more money? Anyway, there are a few examples like Yan Song to support the liquidation, and they themselves I no longer want to be an official, and the wealth I have accumulated in the end will be enough."

Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houcong had nothing to say at this time. Xiao Ran's words had already analyzed the matter very thoroughly. Even if there were other objective reasons for the failure of converting rice into mulberry, the responsibility that fell on him could not be escaped.

"It seems that if I want to successfully convert rice into mulberry, I must change the profit distribution structure." Zhu Houcong sighed. Although he was a little reluctant to give up, he could not continue to make mistakes like this. Although the current model It is feasible for the time being, but as Xiao Ran said, incentives are incompatible.

"Alas, in fact, Emperor Jiajing was actually very good, but he just went wrong. Later generations commented that Zhu Houcong was extremely smart when he was young, and he could recite poems he had read several times accurately. According to our words, This kid has been smart since he was a kid."

"It's just that he's too smart."

Seeing Zhu Houcong kneeling on the ground with a look of confusion on his face, Xiao Ran suddenly felt a little unbearable.

Did the words he just said hit him too hard?

"In fact, you are the emperor who actually reigned the longest in the Ming Dynasty. Your record of forty-five years in power is also rare in history. In the first twenty years of your rule, Emperor Jiajing was quite accomplished and had The innovative spirit of not conforming to the past has allowed us to break the tradition and follow the trend, thus creating a renaissance situation.”

"In the early days, Emperor Jiajing intended to follow the example of Taizu and Chengzu in implementing the "New Deal". Politically, he gathered differences and accepted advice, worked diligently on government affairs, attacked powerful ministers and the influence of feudal landlords and aristocrats, granted amnesty to the world, killed Qian Ning, Jiang Bin and other sycophants, and rectified the situation Chao Gang."

"Later, he took charge of internal and external affairs and implemented the New Deal. He learned the lessons of the previous eunuchs who were in power and disrupted the government. They reduced the power of the eunuchs, abolished the guarding eunuchs, and strictly controlled the eunuchs. The centralization of power was revived and strengthened, which consolidated the imperial power. The foundation was laid.”

"There is also the supervisory system established by Emperor Jiajing, which strictly divided the powers of the factory guards and the judicial department, and attached great importance to the appointment of wise ministers such as Zhang Cong and Xia Yan."

"When future generations study history, in addition to politics, we will also evaluate an emperor's achievements from three aspects: economics, military and culture."

"Economically, Emperor Jiajing severely punished corruption and abuse of law, inspected the imperial and Xunqi estates, returned land to the people, encouraged farming and weaving, and reorganized taxes and servitude. This greatly inhibited land annexation and promoted the development of the private economy. There were also famine relief, Policies such as mitigating bank rent will allow people to recuperate and recuperate."

"Military, we need to reorganize the army regiments and camps, guard the southeast, suppress Japanese pirates, eliminate foreign aggression, and reorganize border defenses."

"Culturally, the shortcomings of the imperial examinations were reformed, and the title and ceremony of Confucius were corrected. At that time, a large number of outstanding literary works and outstanding figures emerged in the Ming Dynasty, and the world was ruled by the emperor. In addition, the Yongle Grand Ceremony was re-recorded. The world of Beijing was also left in the architecture. The Four Altars of the Sun and Moon, Zhongxiang’s Mingming Mausoleum, Yuanyou Palace, etc. have left the beauty of history and culture to future generations.”

Jiajing felt a lot better as he listened to Xiao Ran's detailed list of his achievements. Thinking that he had done a lot of things, he was a little more tolerant of himself.

As for Zhu Di, after hearing that Emperor Jiajing also re-recorded "Yongle Dadian", he suddenly felt that this old boy looked a lot more pleasing to the eye.

"But it's already the thirty-ninth year of Jiajing, right? From the twenty-first year of Jiajing, Emperor Jiajing began to be unreliable." Xiao Ran spread his hands, "Speaking of which, I remembered that whether it was Wu Zetian No matter whether it is Li Longji or Emperor Jiajing, it seems that they cannot escape the path of being a wise man in the early stage and a bastard in the later stage."

"It's almost like a script."

"There is something quite embarrassing to say. In the late period of Jiajing's reign, as the country was at peace for a long time, he gradually began to enjoy life. He abused the people's power to carry out major construction projects, and was superstitious about alchemists and respecting Taoism in order to achieve immortality. "

"Twenty-one years after Jiajing, he moved to Xiyuan to practice Xuan. Those alchemists also fooled him around. Emperor Jiajing also continued to hold fasting rituals every year, which was very extravagant. He spent a little money and even put his own life at risk. The pills are all made of arsenic, mercury, realgar, and virgin red. When you are young, take a little. If you are healthy and can bear it, over time, you will eat yourself to death. "

When he said this, Xiao Ran stepped forward to look at Emperor Jiajing's face.

"It seems that you are very ill now. If you didn't eat those messy things, you could live for at least ten more years."

Zhu Houcong just felt that he suddenly felt uncomfortable all over his body, and he couldn't feel energetic anywhere.

Of course he knew that mercury was poisonous, but he didn't know that the "elixir" he took contained all these messy things.

"It's a bit disgusting and immoral to say. That virgin red is the blood shed when a woman loses her virginity. It can produce so many elixirs, and it has harmed many yellow-flowered girls. And think about a big man eating this thing. Once it enters your mouth, it makes you want to vomit even more."

Emperor Jiajing:...

Stop talking, I feel like vomiting now.

Suddenly, Emperor Jiajing's face turned extremely pale, and he felt vaguely nauseated.

Even Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di looked at him with a bit of disgust.

I don't know if he dislikes Zhu Houcong for being too stupid and being fooled by some alchemists, or because the food he eats is disgusting. Maybe it's both.

(End of this chapter)