Good son-in-law of the Ming Dynasty

"It turned out to be locked up at home." Su Mu could imagine that a suspected ADHD patient like Zhu Houzhao was locked up for so many days, and he didn't know what it would be like.

He suppressed a smile, looked at the manuscript in Zhu Houzhao's hand, felt familiar, and couldn't help asking: "General Zhu, what are you reading?"

"That's it. It's said that you wrote the novel." Zhu Houzhao put down the manuscript: "Zi Qiao, I can't see that you are so talented in martial arts, and you can write such a good book. Not bad, not bad!"

It turned out that Su Mu had not returned for a long time, and Zhu Houzhao got impatient, so he rummaged through Su Mu's place for a while, and found this manuscript.

Compared with the Four Books and Five Classics, "Dream of Red Mansions" has characters and storylines, which is much more readable, which made the future Emperor Zhengde spend a lot of time.

Everyone likes to hear compliments, Su Mu was in a good mood, and asked with a smile: "It's okay, but this book is not your thing, so you should stop reading it."

After finishing speaking, he grabbed the manuscript and carefully gathered it together.

"Indeed, I don't like to read this kind of novels. There are narrow-minded women in the Grand View Courtyard. A trivial matter will cause a lot of trouble. That Baoyu is even more annoying. He spends all day with women. If you mess around, you will become a sissy."

Su Mu was a little unhappy: "Then you are still fascinated by watching it?"

"No, the worldly human feelings here are worth pondering. For example, it only costs three or four taels of silver to buy a maid, for example, only two taels of silver for a good pair of boots. Like that kind of wealthy family, first-class maids only need one It's only three or two months, hey, what's the use of it?" Zhengde sighed: "I used to live at home, and I knew nothing about the outside world, but after reading your book, I realized that's the case. No matter what Life is not easy for people.”

As the prince of the Ming Dynasty, born in a deep palace and grew up in the hands of a woman, Zhu Houzhao knew nothing about the sufferings of the people.

He is fond of martial arts, often escapes from the palace, wanders in the city, and gradually has a certain understanding of the livelihood of his future subjects, but it only stays on the superficial surface without going deep.

Now that I read "A Dream of Red Mansions", although I am very disgusted with the plot and characters in it, I have a clear understanding of how a big family is maintained in daily life and what roles the relevant people play in the family and society .

This is simply a brand new world for him. After seeing it, he immediately feels fresh: "Ah, it turns out that the subjects live like this. It's interesting, really interesting."

The future Emperor Zhengde knew from birth that he would inherit the country in the future, and was taught by the great scholars since he was a child: the country is made up of different families.As long as a family can be managed well, governing the country is no problem, the so-called repair, order, governance, and peace are the same.What is the basis for running a family, in addition to morality, there are also economic things. The economic foundation is the first thing that determines everything.

Most people read this book because of different identities and different interests.For example, talented scholars and beautiful women look at the love and love inside, historians look at the social style of Ming and Qing Dynasties, but as a prince, Zhu Hou takes care of the operation and management of a huge family.

This is also the angle from which the prince looks at the problem.

Su Mu naturally didn't know Zhu Houzhao's real identity. Seeing him pay attention to this aspect, he smiled and said, "Zhu Shou, you are a distant relative of the master, and you are supported by the state for food and clothing. I don't have much salary, so my family has a lot of burdens, right?"

"It's a lot." Zhu Houzhao answered honestly. Indeed, there are thousands of eunuchs and court ladies in the Forbidden City, and this part of the expenditure has to be paid for by the emperor himself, and the treasury only approves a figure every year.The problem is that this money is not enough to even maintain the basic expenses of the palace.Therefore, Emperor Hongzhi and Empress Zhang borrowed a lot from them on weekdays. Their robes and clothes were very old, and their food was simple.

"That's it." Su Mu immediately understood, in fact, the people of the Zhu family are very fertile, and it is not unusual for a clan family to have dozens of people.But because he is a relative of the emperor, he cannot do business or farm land, so he can only live on his wages.Princes and vassals are better off, and they still have some land on hand.Below General Zhen Guo, life is miserable.As for the first level of Zhen Guo Xiaowei, some people are even worse than the country landlords.

This Zhu Shou is still young, and he doesn't know how long he will have to go in the future. It is good to let him know that life is difficult.

Since he can take the initiative to talk about economic affairs with me, it shows that he is not a dandy, at least he knows how to make progress.

Su Mu just took a sip of water, moistened his throat, and said, "This "Dream of Red Mansions" I wrote is a fiction. It talks about the process of the gradual decline of a big family that has lost power. Everything in the world must be honored." There is decline, the so-called full moon is loss."

"Jia's Mansion is actually a small society, and economic issues run through the whole book. When the people of Jia's Mansion are thriving and full of flowers, it is the time when the economy is at its peak. Farmland rent and usury are the main sources of Jia's economy. The evening banquet and so on all show the infinite prosperity and scenery of Jia's mansion, showing that Jia's economy is running well and rich and powerful. However, the superficial prosperity reveals the shadow of economic crisis."

"The small society of Jia's Mansion has encountered various problems: extortion from the royal family; threats and intimidation from princes and nobles; internal factions fighting. When the economy is good, people in Jia's Mansion only know how to enjoy it, and no one goes to it. Considering the issue of sustainable development, Wang Xifeng, the chief assistant of the cabinet of the Jia family, maintained the status quo, fake power and abused power, and the Jia family eventually declined and fell into a serious economic crisis, unable to make ends meet. Everyone in the mansion knew that this would not work, and it was time for a change. Then , how to change it?"

"What else can I do? Since the cabinet is not doing well, we should change our appearance." Combined with the contents of the book, Zhu Houzhao was fascinated by Su Mu's words just now, and couldn't help answering.

In fact, if the Jia Mansion is compared to a country, if there is a problem with the country, it is a problem with the cabinet.As a king, he will change his phase with probability at the first time.

"That's right, change of appearance. Later, it was Tanchun who took charge of this big family. Tanchun is very capable, and in some places even surpasses Wang Xifeng. Although she only replaced Sister Feng for a few months, many measures to promote advantages and eliminate disadvantages have made people respect her. She has a very good impression, she not only pays attention to reducing expenditure, but also actively increases income. However, her New Deal and reforms failed in the end.”

Zhu Houzhao was puzzled: "Since Tanchun's New Deal is better than Wang Xifeng's, why can't it solve the problem? It's a good thing to increase income and reduce expenditure. Doesn't every dynasty do this when they encounter trouble?"

Su Mu: "That's because she didn't grasp the inherent contradictions, and her eyes were still limited to the Daguanyuan. The biggest problem in Jia's family is that no one in the family has become an official and has no political status. Tanchun's pros and cons have not overcome the crisis of Jia's house, on the contrary. It caused some new contradictions and problems. For example, Jia Er secretly married Second Sister You, and Sister Feng made a big fuss in Ningguo Mansion, causing Ningrong and Ning Rong Mansions to run wild and turn their backs on their backs."

While Su Mu was talking, the future Emperor Zhengde was flipping through the book, and he sighed after a long time: "Indeed, as you said, Ziqiao, the people in Jia's mansion are limited, and there are no outstanding talents. Decline is inevitable. of."

The two were talking inside, but they didn't know that there were two people dressed as scholars standing outside the yard, who could hear the conversation between Su Mu and Zhu Houzhao clearly.

Of these two people, one was about thirty years old, thin and sickly.The other person is in his 40s, looks very handsome, and exudes a vigorous energy.

The man in his thirties laughed lowly, and whispered: "It turns out that the prince comes here to mess around every day. Hearing what this man is called Zi Qiao, I am interested in writing the book he wrote. Listening to him, it is true." I have some knowledge."

The 40-year-old man snorted coldly: "The story is based on a romance, it's just a small way, play with things and lose one's ambition."

If Zhu Houzhao saw it, he would definitely scream.

It turned out that the man in his thirties was the current Emperor Hongzhi.

Hongzhi smiled: "Yang Tinghe, do you think of your little boy Yang Shen?"

When the emperor mentioned his son, Yang Tinghe felt a little embarrassed.

His son, Yang Shen, is 21 years old this year. He is a well-known talent in Sichuan.He was intelligent since he was a child, and he could compose poetry at the age of 11. At the age of 12, he wrote "Ancient Battlefield Essay", which shocked everyone.Later, Yang Tinghe was selected as a Jinshi, and after being admitted to Hanlin, Yang Shen went to Beijing with his father.

When Li Dongyang saw it in college, he was amazed, and immediately accepted him as a disciple, saying that this son is highly talented and will never be inferior to Xie Jin, the number one talent in Yongle, and he will definitely be the number one scholar in the future.

It's a pity that Yang Shen is a person who focuses on miscellaneous studies, is proficient in all kinds of poems and songs, and has no drama at all, but he doesn't care about stereotyped essays at all.

Yang Tinghe was very annoyed that Sun Shan lost his name in the last test.

It was planned to let him participate in the next year's spring, but unfortunately this kid actually said that he wanted to be a hermit and fled back to Chengdu mansion secretly.

"Your Majesty, you are just a sour scholar with no ambitions. This kind of character is the most clear to me. I don't know anything about moral articles, but I like to deceive people with big words. Otherwise, how could I write novels. Hmph, how dare to confuse the prince, Immediately arrest him and send him to prison for questioning." As soon as he saw Su Mu, Yang Tinghe thought of his son who was not up to date, hated him, and looked at Su Mu more and more disliked.

Seeing that Yang Tinghe was in a depressed mood, Hongzhi changed the topic: "Listen again, what this scholar named Ziqiao is quite interesting."