Xia Yuanji nodded and said,
"Your Majesty, the northern state is rich in resources and has vast mountains and rivers. In recent years, His Highness Shengsun has advocated opening up mountains and marshes to accumulate grasslands.
In addition to farming, the people can use the mountains and rivers to make a living for themselves, so the victims who moved to the north naturally recovered very quickly, and most of them were even better off than those in the south. "
Zhu Yuanzhang showed a clear face, then shook his head and smiled,
"Let's see, you have to listen to your eldest grandson more than me. Isn't this the rule of thumb for our eldest grandson?"
Xia Yuanji was shocked when he heard this and quickly saluted respectfully,
"Your Majesty! I don't dare!
As a minister of the Ming Dynasty, he did not dare to make any mistakes. After comparison, he just found the best way to deal with it. "
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled, patted Xia Yuanji on the shoulder and said,
"Xiao Xia, don't be too nervous. We are complimenting you. It is right to listen to our eldest grandson.
We are getting old, and now our eldest grandson has to teach us how to do many things. I finally know what to do. "
When Zhu Yuanzhang said this, his voice was a little sad, and he was worried about Zhu Xiongying who was far away in the north.
Xia Yuanji heard this and said respectfully,
"Your Majesty's words are serious. Your Majesty is in the prime of his life..."
Zhu Yuanzhang raised his hand to signal Xia Yuanji not to say any more, and then gave Xia Yuanji a meaningful look.
smiled and said,
"Xiao Xia, you have reached the age of marrying a wife and having children.
When you get older, you will know that having a grandson who can take care of you will be beautiful in your old age.
Now, you have only gotten there in this lifetime, and there are a lot of things you don’t understand. "
Xia Yuanji looked half-comprehensive. He was only thinking about national affairs and thought too little about his own family affairs.
Lao Zhu was silent for a moment and thought for a while.
Since the beginning of civilization in the Central Plains, the north has always been rich and the south has been poor. However, this situation has changed drastically since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.
War continued in the north, which had a heavy impact on the economy. After the Song and Yuan dynasties, the south developed rapidly and its economy quickly surpassed that of the north. This also caused the people of the Ming Dynasty to swarm into the south.
This extreme phenomenon has caused no one to settle in the north.
However, the natural resources and cultivated land area in the Central Plains region are far superior to those in the south.
After such a deliberate move by the court, it can be said that it was a self-defeating move. After the southern disaster victims took over the northern state capital, they had fewer monks and more rice, and their lives were better.
Zhu Yuanzhang said in a deep voice,
"Governing a country is nothing more than scheduling.
Where to mix this year's rice, where to mix next year's salt, talk about it, that's all. "
Xia Yuanji's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he couldn't help but echoed,
"What your Majesty said is absolutely true."
Lao Zhu's weakness is that he has never been able to make money, but he is still very particular about resource scheduling.
As Zhu Yuanzhang said, what emperors in the past dynasties have done is nothing more than resource allocation.
How to allocate resources between officials and people, how to allocate resources between the capital and local governments,
How to allocate resources between the royal family and foreign ministers, and how to allocate resources between the north and the south...
If you have arranged your resources well, you can be called a wise king.
Like those kings who subjugated their country, they all amassed wealth and exhausted their extravagance, or the vast majority of economic resources were in the hands of a very small number of people.
Take the Western Middle Ages as an example. The slave-owning aristocracy controlled a large amount of the economy.
At that time, industrial production had not yet appeared, and most economic forms were nothing more than cultivated land, small family workshops, and simple commercial exchanges.
The slave-owning aristocracy relied on exploitation to obtain immeasurable wealth.
But they are unable to invest their wealth in capitalist reproduction. In other words, they have money but no place to spend it.
Therefore, the respectable slave-owning aristocrats in the Western Middle Ages held banquets every day and competed for wealth.
In fact, the food they eat in one day is enough to feed hundreds of thousands of slaves under them, but they would rather waste and throw away this wealth than distribute it to their slaves.
Putting aside moral concepts, from the perspective of resource allocation, such a large amount of wealth resources are wasted.
Similar to this situation, during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the fight for wealth was also very popular. Even the Sima royal family ended up fighting for wealth. It was also the era when the aristocratic families were at the top. It is no exaggeration to say that the wealth of the wealthy families in the subsequent dynasties was less than ten thousand. one,
The Middle Ages in the West and the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties in the East had the same luxury, and they also had the same darkness and chaos.
Zhu Yuanzhang made a subtle statement and revealed the true meaning of the dynastic cycle in just one sentence.
Wealth needs someone to deliberately manage it, and in the Central Plains, the emperor and the bureaucracy surrounding the emperor wanted to do this well.
If resources are allocated well, it will be a prosperous world. If resources are not allocated well, it will be a troubled world. In the final analysis, it is as simple as that.
Seeing that Xia Yuanji had listened, Lao Zhu had a look of satisfaction on his face and did not go into too much detail on the matter.
Then he changed the subject, his tone became much more relaxed, and he started chatting with Xia Yuanji about home affairs, and asked,
"By the way, Xiaoxia, I heard that you are taking your mother to the capital. Have you taken her over now?"
Xia Yuanji showed a rare relief on his face, nodded hurriedly and said,
"Your Majesty, I have brought my mother to the capital."
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "That's right. You didn't even want the mansion we gave you before. So where did you get your mother?"
Xia Yuanji was slightly shy and said,
"Weichen's salary in recent years has been given to the family, but my mother secretly saved all the money. Five years later, this money has become a huge sum.
Wei Chen took the money and bought a house in Beijing. As soon as he entered the small courtyard, he lived with his mother in Xicheng on weekdays. "
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he frowned and said dissatisfied,
"The small courtyard you just entered is not big enough to accommodate a third-grade official of the Ming Dynasty?! Like this! We will arrange a big one for you!"
If it were any other official, Zhu Yuanzhang would have wanted to take a tape measure to measure whose house was bigger and whose house had too much money.
But when he arrived at Xia Yuanji's place, Zhu Yuanzhang did the opposite, fearing that Xia Yuanji's material living conditions would not be good enough.
Xia Yuanji quickly waved his hand and said,
"Your Majesty, there's no need for this. It's just my mother and my ministers. It's enough to live in the courtyard. If it's too big, it's a waste."
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw that Xia Yuanji's words did not seem to be lying and that they were sincere, he nodded and looked at Xia Yuanji with an expression of appreciation that could not be concealed.
If you want to manage the country's money well, the necessary condition for a qualified household official is to be principled and frugal,
If the bottom line is too vague, the distinction between state property and private property will gradually blur over time, and corruption will arise.
Xia Yuanji did this very well, which is why Zhu Yuanzhang trusted Xia Yuanji so much and made him serve as the Minister of Household Affairs for five years.
There is no doubt that all the subsequent official positions as Minister of Revenue were also prepared for him.
And today, Zhu Yuanzhang discovered another shining point of Xia Yuanji,
That is filial piety.
