Reborn Ming Dynasty as Emperor

Chapter 61 Spending and Asking for Money

According to the original track of history, starting from today, it should be the first year of Chongzhen.

And from this year onwards, the Ming Dynasty was like a carriage falling into an abyss, and the country's situation became more and more critical day by day until it perished.

In this year in history, peasant uprisings broke out in Qin land, and nationwide famine also began to appear.

The situation in Liaodong began to deteriorate, and since the second year of Chongzhen, the number of Manchu and Qing Eight Banners entering the customs has increased, and the scale has become larger each time, and the damage to Ming Dynasty has also become more severe each time.

And in the next few years, there will be appalling plagues. As a doctor, Zhu Youxiao naturally knows how terrifying this plague, also known as the Black Death, has swept across Europe and caused tens of millions of deaths.

There is still a way to vaccinate smallpox, but it is not easy to immunize plague in this era when there is no vaccine.

Fortunately, because of the arrival of Zhu Youxiao, history has quietly changed like this, maybe because of the butterfly effect, but anyway, it is not the first year of Chongzhen, but the eighth year of Tianqi.

This shows that the trajectory of history is not unchangeable, and fate does not seem to be completely uncontrollable.

Beginning in August last year, Zhu Youxiao ordered Sun Chengzong to take charge of the three sides of Qin, Jin and Long, gather refugees, and open up wasteland for disaster relief.

Now it is time to actually train the new army, promote the young and strong officials, establish a scientific and technological system, abandon the Donglin Party, which is harmful to the country with empty talk, and unite the traditional gentry and nobles.

Although Zhu Youxiao can't guarantee that he will make this dynasty burst out with new vitality, he has been working hard, and he still has a lot to do, and his sense of crisis has never been eliminated.

However, as the saying goes, governing a big country is like cooking a small fish. Zhu Youxiao is not a born politician.

Today, although the Donglin Party has been abolished, the power of civil servants is still huge. It is just that the Donglin Party or the Eunuch Party are dominant and the township parties in various provinces are attacking each other. Control the court and the people.

At the same time, local warlords have begun to separate themselves, especially the Guanning cavalry. Although the eight major Shanxi merchants were quickly confiscated by Zhu Youxiao, they are just around the corner. .

In fact, the banknote gate that Zhu Youxiao has set up now is only holding the money of ordinary merchants, which is not conducive to the economic development of Ming Dynasty in the long run.

If the commodity economy cannot be developed, the gentry representing the small peasant economy will still control the governance of the vast countryside, and Zhu Youxiao's imperial power will not be able to descend to the county.

And he can't shake the Confucian system, nor can he change the ruling system of civil officials.

Now, Zhu Youxiao can only do something by relying on his righteous title of being the emperor and the checks and balances of various forces, but fortunately he has some money and food, and the original owner of his body for nearly seven years Work hard, at least through Jinyiwei and Dongchang, you can do some things that are not loved by civil servants, such as ransacking your home.

As long as they don't go too far, since their emperor is still a symbol of etiquette for maintaining their ruling system, they will not rebel, that is, do things on the side of the Qing emperor.

Looking at the orderly shouts and strong strides of the officers and students in the small courtyard ahead, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but feel excited. This shows that the vitality of this dynasty is still there, and he is not alone still working hard.

Lu Xiangsheng, Wang Chengen, Cao Wenzhao, Man Gui, Zhao Lijiao, Qin Liangyu...

These names could not help appearing in Zhu Youxiao's mind. Daming is not without a man who is determined to make progress, but there are too many selfish villains and traitors.

That being the case, Zhu Youxiao hopes to take this group of energetic young people in front of him to get rid of the moths in the country and restore the former glory of Ming Dynasty.

Qin Botong, Chang Yanling and other officers and students couldn't help but straighten their chests even more because of the appearance of His Majesty Zhu Youxiao, and their piercing eyes looked straight ahead. When Zhu Youxiao himself shouted to stand at attention, they all stood up in unison There was a louder crash than before.

Feeling that they performed very well, many military officers secretly showed a proud smile.

Zhu Youxiao kept nodding his head, clapped his hands, and went to Jingshan with the officers and students to watch their next physical training.

With the emperor watching from the side, these military officers did not dare to slack off in the slightest.

From climbing the iron fence to running the single log to jumping the trench, each of them struggled bravely to be the first. Even the one-armed Oboi could miraculously maintain his balance on the single log and pass quickly.

Seeing that these officers and students had only trained for a few days, but they had achieved some results, Zhu Youxiao didn't regret destroying the ten acres of rose garden in his Jingshan back garden.

He was even thinking about building a martial arts hall under Jingshan Mountain, not far from the Forbidden City, and the training ground will be expanded based on this. Naturally, the training of military officers in the future cannot be limited to horseback riding and archery, and the training of military officers will also Should be prepared.

Since it was the New Year, the officials naturally had to go to the table to congratulate Zhu Youxiao, and all kinds of auspiciousness and tributes were sent to the palace one after another.

Zhu Youxiao is not a mean and ungrateful person. As long as the ministers are obedient and willing to do things honestly, he will not be too stingy.

Considering that although many Beijing officials have the filial piety of local officials, there are also officials from poor yamen who are struggling to survive, so Zhu Youxiao simply gave them a "year-end bonus" and quadrupled their salaries, and declared that they will be rewarded in the future. as usual.

In addition, Zhu Youxiao gave silver gifts to a group of ministers who made outstanding contributions last year, and at the same time exempted ordinary traders with goods of less than 1000 taels from the banknote customs tax for one month.

The taxes in Qin and Jin were also exempted by Zhu Youxiao for one year on the grounds of drought.

For a while, the officials praised Zhu Youxiao a lot, but only Zhu Youxiao knew that his internal funds had been taken out until now, and the collected taxes could not cover the expenses everywhere.

"Your Majesty, Wang Zaijin came to report that there is a spring famine in Liaodong, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians are in dire need of food and clothing. I implore the imperial court to allocate money for relief and reissue the 50 taels of silver owed last year."

As soon as Wang Chengen's words came out, the pen in Zhu Youxiao's hand immediately fell on the paper, and he looked at Wang Chengen in amazement, and then suddenly roared: "50 taels! Does he really think I'm a local tyrant? A month ago, he wanted to take away 30 stones of grain and grass from me, and now he is reaching out to ask for silver, what else can he do besides looking for me to beat the autumn wind in Wang Zaijin!"

"Your Majesty, please calm down. It is not the king who wants to be in Jin Dynasty. In fact, the army and people in Liaodong only care about money. This is less than last year."

What Wang Chengen said made Zhu Youxiao's anger even deeper, and he punched the desk: "If I didn't understand the reason, I would have chopped off his head and given 30 yuan in silver and [-] shi in grain and grass. Tell Wang Zaijin that he is a courtier of Ming Dynasty. , not the lord of Liaodong, be more considerate of the court's difficulties, and don't listen to others, otherwise, what's the use of letting him be the supervisor!"

(End of this chapter)