Reborn Ming Dynasty as Emperor

Chapter 181
Because Emperor Gao, the great ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, was born on September 300th, and this year happens to be a full [-] years.

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao ordered to go to sacrifice Xiaoling in person, thinking to take this opportunity to promote the legitimacy of the Ming Zhu Dynasty to the people all over the world.

As the imperial power was gradually emptied by civil servants, and the accumulation of class conflicts over the years led to the foundation of Zhu's dynasty's popular support has begun to shake.

It is precisely because of this that many Han Chinese who were opportunistic or only focused on personal fame began to deviate from their own rule, and even took refuge in the Tartars.

What Zhu Youxiao has to do is to warn the scholars of the world through this sacrifice to Xiaoling, that the king they should really be loyal to can only be the emperor of Ming Dynasty, that is, Zhu Youxiao, because only Zhu Youxiao is the most orthodox king in China .

Whoever betrays Zhu Youxiao is betraying the entire Chinese orthodoxy, and is an unfaithful and unrighteous person.

Since the Xiaoling Mausoleum was to be sacrificed, it could be regarded as a southern tour. Zhu Youxiao didn't want to simply go to Nanjing once.

Zhu Youxiao discovered that as the emperors of the Ming Dynasty had their feet bound in the capital for a long time, the scholars and people in the south have almost forgotten the existence of him as a king.

These scholars seem to have no idea who is guarding under Yanshan Mountain. They have guarded the gate of the country as the emperor countless times, thus resisting Hu Qi, which makes them live a life of luxury and luxury.

People in the south must not forget who laid down this peaceful country and who has blessed them for hundreds of years.

Therefore, he wanted to go to the south of the Yangtze River with the attitude of a king, to this region where the reactionary forces were the strongest but the Ming Dynasty had the most productive forces and the most dynamic social and economic forms.

Before that, Zhu Youxiao asked Huo Weihua, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, to dredge water transportation and rectify the world's roads. Now that the Royal Academy of Engineering has been established, the first project after the reconstruction of the capital is to comprehensively widen the main water and land roads in the south. In order to facilitate the economic circulation between the north and the south and lay the foundation for quick military dispatch in the future, it also paved the way for Zhu Youxiao's future southern tour.

Moreover, Zhu You made a strict order that the local provincial and state capitals were not allowed to apportion on the grounds of their own southern tours.

Because the time for Zhu Youxiao to leave for Jiangnan was imminent, not long after Zhu Youxiao returned from the military school, Li Mingrui, a scholar of the Dongge University and the right servant of the Ministry of Rites, who was in charge of the trip, and Huo Weihua, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, who was in charge of the road traffic control, Just hand over the sign to ask for an interview, and report to Zhu Youxiao about the arrangement of the southern tour.

After listening to the arrangement of the two, Zhu Youxiao didn't feel that there was any major problem. Li Mingrui had been dormant at the bottom for many years, and his temper had long been tempered. With the slightest hint of complacency, he still does things by himself, considerate and meticulous.

And Huo Weihua can be regarded as a mature and prudent veteran of the three dynasties, and he is not rigid in his work. Now he manages the project funds that are almost equivalent to half a year's income of the national treasury, and there is no sign of a deficit, and miraculously, it only took less than two months to complete. The task of rectifying the royal road and building the palace.

However, Zhu Youxiao still put forward some supplementary suggestions, and said: "This trip to the south of the Yangtze River is not just to sacrifice to Xiaoling, but to educate the place. In addition to Xiaoling, the loyal ministers and generals of the previous dynasty, especially the heroes who have made great contributions to fighting against foreign aggression, I They will also visit their tombs, such as the tombs of Yuewu Mugong and Yu Shaobao by the West Lake, as well as Qi Shaobao and Yu Wuxiang, etc. The Ministry of Industry and the Royal Engineering Company have to renovate the ancestral halls and tombs of these loyal ministers and generals, and find special personnel Guardian cleaning."

Huo Weihua responded, and said: "Your Majesty is wise, it is really an act of good governance to teach scholars and people to respect loyal ministers. Now that the world is declining and people's hearts are not old, I wonder if it is better to just be in the West Lake. In a beautiful place where treacherous ministers and humble bones are buried, build a loyal minister's shrine to gather heroes from the past and present, especially those whose whereabouts are unknown and forgotten, for the admiration of the people all over the world."

"Quasi-playing! Don't be afraid to spend money. These things are more than building a few more palaces for me." Zhu Youxiao said, Huo Weihua couldn't help being moved, and bowed deeply to Zhu Youxiao. Come on, for a king to have this awareness, it is naturally a blessing for the country and the country.

Here, Zhu Youxiao also asked Li Mingrui: "Your Ministry of Rites must also take this opportunity to encourage the people of the world to use poems, story books, operas, etc. to praise these loyal and martyrs, and the newspapers and periodicals should also publicize the positive stories of these characters. , In addition, your Ministry of Rites will also severely punish those who slander the loyal officials of the former court, such as Wang Anshi, etc., and those who are serious can be directly reported to the Ministry of Punishment or Dongchang."

"Wei Chen led the decree, and Wei Chen has already announced that the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Academy are planning to revise the genealogy of the loyal ministers and generals of the past dynasties and sort out their heroic stories within this period of time. For those who are lost and have no test, they must be searched. It is ready for the people of the world to appreciate their past style."

After Li Mingrui said, Zhu Youxiao nodded quickly: "Very well, the old academics of the Imperial Academy should also do some serious business, not just go to the bottom of those Four Books and Five Classics, no matter how deep they read, they can't become Confucians. Old master, it’s better to learn more about the stories of the sages.”

Strengthening the thought of loyalty to the emperor through publicity and respect for loyal ministers and good generals is an important purpose of Zhu Youxiao's southern tour, especially when he is about to carry out reforms, it is undoubtedly a good measure to restrain scholars and people through thought. Of course, Zhu Youxiao can't rely on this to make those with vested interests willingly share the cake.

With the development of the Royal Industrial Corporation and the Royal Bank, Zhu Youxiao has now gradually begun to control the commercial economy, especially the entire north, and the finances have basically got rid of the dilemma of relying on poor agricultural taxes to maintain military and civilian expenditures. At the same time, with the expansion of the Imperial Guard's recruitment in various places and the beginning of training in military schools, Zhu Youxiao didn't have to worry about not having an army as a guarantee.

As for the reform, Zhu Youxiao had secretly summoned the important officials of the Royalist Party to discuss how to reform, that is, how to attack the gentry in the world, how to force or intimidate these privileged classes to give up their privileged status, and to do the same for the reform. The Ming Dynasty made its own contribution.

In the end, Zhu Youxiao and other royalist ministers who also valued national interests more than him unanimously decided to choose three places to carry out pilot reforms. Hands-on follower.

After some discussions, Zhu Youxiao and a group of royalist officials decided to temporarily implement the policy of apportioning the land into the mu in Qin. The commercial economy in Qin was underdeveloped. Both ordinary people and gentry lived on the land, but the land was almost They are all occupied by gentry or rich peasants, while the common people who undertake the task of paying taxes occupy a small amount of land.

Because of this, the common people had no land to grow, and the court had no tax to collect. Sun Chengzong also said in his book that among the common people, there are ten out of ten who have land, but nineteen have no land. In many cases, there is no way to find the owner of the land, and it is no longer realistic to collect taxes on a household basis.

This problem can be solved very well by the way of taxation per acre instead of taxation per penny, which can free a large number of landless peasants from the burden of corvee taxation and allow them to use their labor force in other industries more freely. Gradually shift from farmers to workers.

Of course, Zhu Youxiao did not intend to increase the tax when the tax was levied on the basis of acres, and still implemented a low-amount taxation model for the Qin land, which could reduce the exploitation of the rich peasants and prevent them from giving up their land to landlords as tenants or tenants. If you go to the city to work, then the agricultural economy of the entire Qin land may be completely controlled by the gentry class.

Before the abolition of all the privileges of the gentry class, Zhu Youxiao can't expect to increase much income in the Qin land. If it is done step by step, it is the first step to liberate a large number of landless people in the Qin land.

In addition, Zhu Youxiao also plans to implement the integration of officials and gentry in Shandong. The reason why he chose Shandong is that among the northern provinces where Zhu Youxiao has relatively strong control, the gentry groups in Shandong The most powerful, and many of them are big squires who have been deeply rooted for many years, and they are also the most difficult to deal with, such as Kongyan Shenggong Mansion, because almost every dynasty has favored them, including the later Qing Dynasty.

The Kong family in Shandong can be regarded as the representative of the gentry in the world. In Zhu Youxiao's view, as long as the Kong family and other big gentry are forced to admit that the officials and gentry pay food as a whole in Shandong, when it is extended to other provinces in the future, the resistance encountered will be the same. Small.

Another thing is to levy commercial taxes. Zhu Youxiao didn't plan to touch the pockets of officials all over the world on Huoxiaoguigong, because that would not only offend the gentry all over the world, but also offend all officials.

After all, this is the money bag of the officials. If you move it yourself, it will be tantamount to breaking the unspoken rules of the entire officialdom. The dividends did not stop the officials from demanding from the people. On the contrary, the people received more money from the officials under various pretexts while receiving the extra money from the court.

The collection of business tax is naturally aimed at the more and more developed commercial economy in the south. In the late Ming Dynasty when the scale of business was already larger than that of agriculture, not collecting business tax was simply connivance to these chaebols in the south of the Yangtze River, and they could not be allowed to enjoy the national dividend. At the same time, there was no bleeding at all.

Zhu Youxiao intends to collect commercial tax on a trial basis in the Nanzhili area north of the Yangtze River under the jurisdiction of Governor Fengyang. This is the thoroughfare to the north and south, the economy is prosperous, and it is also the place where the Ming Dynasty prospered. The loyalty to the Ming Dynasty is natural. It should be higher, and the resistance to implementation is relatively small.

However, Zhu Youxiao did not intend to directly point out that Fengyang would be a pilot project to collect commercial taxes. He first decreed that on the occasion of the [-]th anniversary of the birth of Emperor Gaozu, Zhu Yuanzhang, and Fengyang was the land of Longxing, he would In order to reduce half of the taxes of the people in Fengyang, and directly eliminate the corvee, and expressly require that the rent collected by Fengyang landlords from Fengyang tenant farmers shall not be levied within ten years, and the rent standard shall be determined by the local state government.

Zhu Youxiao's move was naturally to win over the people at the bottom by favoring ordinary farmers before the commercial tax was imposed in Fengyang area, so as to further isolate the merchants, landlords and gentry.

And before that, Zhu Youxiao had communicated with Sun Chengzong, Governor Yuan Keli of Denglai, and Governor Ma Shiying of Fengyang. The three had served in the locality for a long time, so they naturally knew the disadvantages of the locality, and they also agreed with Zhu Youxiao's series of plans. , Now I just wait to come to Zhu Youxiao in person to discuss the specific details of the pilot reform.

Thinking that he was about to go on a southern tour, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but asked Wang Chengen, the chief inspector of ceremonies who was also serving in Xinuange: "Sun Chengzong, the governor of the three sides and the governor of Shaanxi, Yuan Keli, the governor of Denglai, and Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang. Are you leaving?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the supervisor of ceremonies has just received their paperwork, and the three of them have only set off for a few days at this time." Wang Chengen replied, and Zhu Youxiao said after hearing this: "Let them not have to come to the capital, just go to the capital first." Jinan and others, in addition, immediately passed the decree to Lu Xiangsheng, the first cavalry battalion immediately ended the rest period, promoted Zhu Youjian as the commander, led the cavalry battalion, and the three infantry battalions were the commanders who stayed in Beijing The leader and the follower."

Wang Chengen, Li Mingrui, and Huo Weihua were all shocked. They did not expect that His Majesty would bring so many elites out of the city, and even the letter king Zhu Youjian had to follow. However, since ancient times, when the emperor was on tour, the capital had to stay in the capital. Now the three Everyone was silent and didn't dare to ask Zhu Youxiao why he didn't leave a letter to Wang Liujing to supervise the country. Of course, they didn't want to believe Wang Jianguo in their hearts.

As ministers of the royalist party, they all know that they and His Majesty are grasshoppers on the same rope, and they are also worried that if His Majesty has no children, and if the trustworthy king Zhu Youjian ascends the throne in the future, they will definitely not end well. This is what they really want One of the reasons for letting His Majesty kill King Xin, but at the same time, he did not dare to really advise His Majesty to kill King Xin, because His Majesty has always been childless. If you are the first bird, then whoever will die the worst in the future.

However, sometimes there are some things that must be asked. After all, the capital cannot be left alone for a day. The three of them looked at each other and decided to stand up and ask Zhu Youxiao who would supervise the country, but they saw that the other two had also stood up. They all backed away tacitly.

Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help laughing and cursing: "A group of old foxes who are wise and protect their lives. You don't need to tell me, I can guess your thoughts, but I also made it clear. In any case, the king of faith cannot supervise the country, and he must follow me, and he must not let you go. He stays in the capital!"

"Your Majesty's words are true, but I don't know who should supervise the country?" Huo Weihua stood up because he was a veteran of the three dynasties, and asked Zhu Youxiao.

"Li Mingrui, you are a scholar of the cabinet, you come to draw up the decree, with Qian Qianyi, a scholar of the Jinshen Palace and Minister of Rites, plus the title of Prince Taibao, a scholar of the Wuying Palace and the left servant of the Ministry of War, plus Shao Fu Lu Xiangsheng, the seal of the Imperial Horse Supervisor and the official of ceremonies Supervisor Bingbi and Liu Ruoyu are staying in Beijing, small matters can be adjudicated before reporting, and major matters can be consulted first!"

When Zhu Youxiao said this, all three of them agreed, but at the same time they all sighed.

Li Mingrui even knelt down directly: "Your Majesty, I dare to say frankly that although Your Majesty has a deep relationship with the Empress and his wife, please also consider the country and society. Please order to select folks with excellent talents and virtues to fill the harem!"

　I went home too late yesterday, so it took me a whole day to post a [-]-word chapter. This is a [-]-word chapter, so I won’t divide it into two chapters. There will be another chapter in a while.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)