"The snow finally stopped..."
The 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, before New Year's Eve.
While people all over the world are waiting for New Year's Eve, Zhu Yuanzhang, dressed in bright yellow uniforms, is walking hobbled on the horse path of the Forbidden City.
Compared to the beginning of the month, he seemed a bit older.
The unknown military attache from the Jinyi Guard followed behind him, and then followed by the unknown eunuch from the Supervisor of Ceremonies.
Around Zhu Yuanzhang, their names are insignificant, only what they do can determine the importance.
"How's the treasure?"
Zhu Yuanzhang's old voice sounded, and the military attache quickly stepped forward, followed closely behind Zhu Yuanzhang, and said softly:
"According to the expected path, Yingtian Mansion's treasure banknotes have risen to 760 fen each time, and the land in Jiangnan has also reached 700 fen."
"As you expected, many wealthy merchants have hoarded a lot of currency notes in recent years. The brothers in the yamen alone found no less than tens of millions of notes, and most of them were exchanged for four to five hundred notes per note. .”
"Ten thousand strings..."
Zhu Yuanzhang murmured softly, his eyes were a little blurry and he couldn't see the road clearly, but his eyes were not muddy, but became brighter.
"They are very discerning when it comes to making money, and they are better informed than the court..."
He did not look at the military attache, but the military attaché felt like a light was on his back, so he could only explain with courage:
"Your Majesty, the news about this incident first came from Taichang Temple, and then spread through Hanzhong Professor Fang Xiaoru and his disciples for two years. Therefore, the wealthy households in Jiangnan know the inside story..."
"Taichang Temple..." Zhu Yuanzhang was silent. He didn't need to ask who was in charge there, and he knew clearly who was behind the person in charge.
Yes, he remembered that when Zhu Yunwen did this, he did not stop him, but instead added fuel to the fire behind him.
"I'm so confused..."
Zhu Yuanzhang was a little frightened, but not because of others, but because he could feel that his memory was getting worse.
But things had already happened, and he couldn't admit his mistake, not to mention that he was right.
Using cash to offset taxes was originally a policy that benefited the common people. However, after only two years of this policy, it has already become a way for wealthy gentry households to offset taxes.
He had read this year's grain books. Although the number of people using banknotes to offset taxes had dropped, it was difficult for him to see ordinary people using money to offset taxes in those grain books.
This policy that benefited the people was corrupted after all...
The rich country squires, this group of people are always pervasive. No matter what means or methods you use to deal with them, they can use loopholes in the rules to escape.
After fighting for so many years, Zhu Yuanzhang felt so tired that he no longer wanted to fight.
But if they don't continue to fight, will their children and grandchildren be able to suppress them firmly?
The policy of using cash to offset taxes has only been in place for two years, and was interrupted once. As a result, the wealthy rural gentry households in Jiangnan were able to find loopholes in the rules, collect tens of millions of dollars in cash, and directly profit multiple times.
"Your Majesty..." Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang was silent, the military attache spoke cautiously, and Zhu Yuanzhang also looked sideways at him.
For a moment, an invisible aura pressed on the military attache's shoulders, making his heart beat faster and he felt inexplicably guilty.
Facing this look, he quickly lowered his head and continued:
"The wealthy gentry households in the south of the Yangtze River, after being traced by the brothers in the yamen, found that there were more than 5,600 households with more than seven hectares of land."
"If we include the eight provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, Sichuan, Shandong, Henan, Fujian, Shanxi, etc., excluding the clan military honors and officials in the court, there are no less than 14,000 households in the world who own more than seven hectares of land..."
The military attache reported on the situation of the rich people in the world. This situation made Zhu Yuanzhang's thinking gradually clearer.
One hectare is equal to one hundred acres, which means that these 14,000 households control at least 9 million acres of cultivated land, and this is only the minimum number.
There is less than 380 million acres of cultivated land in the world today.
How many households are there in the world today? More than 1,000, 650,000.
So, the situation is clear...
There are only more than 14,000 households occupying so much cultivated land. This does not include nobles, civil servants, and clan members. If we include them, it will be even more.
How could he be happy in such a situation.
Zhu Yuanzhang's personal experience made him well aware of the dangers of powerful and wealthy people bullying the poor and weak, and exploiting the common people.
Therefore, in the process of establishing the Ming Dynasty, he appeased the rich in exchange for their support.
On the one hand, he also suppressed the wealthy people in some violent villages who committed many evil deeds, so that the poor could live in peace and avoid causing trouble.
His rivalry with the wealthy squires began after the first year of Wu Dynasty when Zhang Shicheng was pacified.
At that time, he asked Li Shanchang to move to Haozhou to enrich the people of Suzhou, which attracted the wealthy gentry and wealthy households in Suzhou to curse him. Countless articles slandering him came like snowflakes.
But even so, he still did not compromise. Instead, in the third year of Hongwu, he once again ordered the wealthy people from the southeast to move to Jiangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang to enrich Fengyang Linhao.
Two major migrations reduced the influence of the wealthy households in Jiangnan, but Zhu Yuanzhang still felt that it was not enough.
Starting from the thirteenth year of Hongwu's reign, he ordered here to relocate more than 45,000 households in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places to fill up Yingtian Mansion.
In addition, he also ordered these able-bodied men from the upper households to be sent to various supervisory bureaus to serve as craftsmen. The rest were registered as households and were placed inside and outside Nanjing, called Fangxiang.
Looking at it this way, it seems that he has dealt enough blows to the rich, but he is still not satisfied.
From then on, whenever he found that wealthy households in the south of the Yangtze River had acquired too much land, he would take measures to punish them.
In the 14th year of Hongwu's reign, 140,000 people from the south of the Yangtze River were moved to Haozhou and placed under the jurisdiction of Li Shanchang.
In July of the 24th year of Hongwu, 5,300 wealthy people from all over the world moved to the capital.
The twenty-fifth year of Hongwu...
The twenty-sixth year of Hongwu...
In this way, year after year, day after day, local powerful people were either expelled and killed, or deprived of their wealth, or transferred to the capital, or became civilians...
They lost their original political and social status, migrated or died, and disappeared from all sight.
If you think about it carefully, it was already three years ago since he last moved to a wealthy household.
In just three years, a new group of wealthy households were born again, annexing more land and faster than the previous wealthy households.
Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang's words flashed through Zhu Gaoxu's mind.
'The recycling of treasure banknotes has led to a decrease in the circulation of treasure banknotes on the market. Natural objects have become more valuable when they are rare, and the value of treasure banknotes has rebounded. '
When he first heard this sentence, he already had an idea in his mind, and now it was time to implement this idea.
"Pass the decree..." Zhu Yuanzhang said in a calm voice. The military attache immediately lowered his head, and the eunuch who was not far behind him also stepped forward, preparing to record the contents of the imperial edict with a brush.
Under the attention of the two people, Zhu Yuanzhang slowly spoke:
"Order those who have more than seven hectares of land to enrich the people of the 18 prefectures of Zhejiang and other nine chief secretaries, Zhili and Yingtian, and move them to their homes to establish the capital."
really……
Hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words, the military attache and the eunuch who accompanied him were all shocked, and they bowed in response one after another.
"Go get it done."
Zhu Yuanzhang walked forward slowly, his figure gradually blurring.
In response to his will, the eunuchs who accompanied him drafted the imperial edict and handed it to the military attaché, who then sent someone to deliver the imperial edict to Wuying Hall.
When this imperial edict appeared in Wuying Palace, Zhu Yunwen briefly read it. Although his heart was in a state of turmoil, his face remained calm.
Zhu Jixi and Zhu Gaochi in the hall did not notice anything unusual about him, and Zhu Yunwen also carefully put away the imperial edict.
He did not issue an imperial edict immediately, but prepared to discuss the matter with Huang Zicheng.
After a while, he raised his head and smiled at Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Jixi: "Gaochi, we have to prepare for the New Year's Eve family banquet tonight. You guys go back to your house to rest first and prepare for the family banquet tonight."
Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Jixi, who were dealing with the memorial, raised their heads when they heard the words. Their expressions were first surprised, then confused, and finally they looked at each other, and then they stood up and bowed to Zhu Yunwen: "I excuse myself..."
The two of them did not stay long, and it seems that they have already developed the ability to observe words and emotions during these days when they worked with Zhu Yunwen on political affairs.
Although Zhu Yunwen disguised himself well, they still saw something was wrong.
Knowing that the matter was serious, they did not choose to stay involved, but decisively stood up and left.
Zhu Jixi was worried that Zhu Yunwen would bring trouble to his Jin Mansion, but Zhu Gaochi didn't want to get into trouble.
In short, the two of them left one after another after singing.
After they left, Zhu Yunwen slowly put away his smiling face, turned to the eunuch beside him and said, "Go to the Wenhua Hall and summon all those who are third grade or above."
"My slave, take your orders..." The accompanying eunuch responded, turned around and went to the Wenhua Hall to pass the message.
Only half an hour later, more than 20 civil servants of the third rank and above, including the six ministers on duty in the Wenhua Palace and the left and right ministers, arrived one after another.
In addition to the six ministries, officials from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, General Affairs Department, Dali Temple and other government offices also arrived later. Soon more than 40 civil servants were present in Wuying Hall, including Huang Zicheng, Qi Tai, Bao Zhao and others who had already lined up in the East Palace.
In front of everyone, Zhu Yunwen announced Zhu Yuanzhang's imperial edict, and this is what Zhu Yuanzhang wanted him to do.
"Your Majesty has decreed that those who have more than seven hectares of land for the rich people of the nine chief secretaries of Zhejiang, Zhili, and Yingtian prefectures should move to their homes immediately to establish the capital."
Zhu Yunwen took out the imperial edict and read the contents while looking at everyone in the hall with his peripheral vision.
Regarding this sudden news, more than forty officials had different expressions.
Some people were deep in thought, some were silent, and still others were looking around as if they were watching a show.
"Since it is His Majesty's will, then just do it!"
The first person to speak was none other than Yu Xin, the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, who was standing at the forefront of the storm.
Having just celebrated his 51st birthday, he is still the same as he was before, with a lack of energy and salt.
"I'm afraid it's a little difficult to create a register of the world's richest people..."
Among the crowd, a third-grade Zuo Shilang spoke. Everyone looked around and showed relief after seeing him.
This Zuo Shilang was from the Third Clan of Wuzhong. If the wealthy families from all over the world were to be relocated, the Third Clan of Wuzhong would probably be uprooted.
"It is indeed difficult to create a register of the rich households in the world, but every local government office has a "Fish Scale Atlas". It only records those with more than seven hectares, so it is not troublesome."
A Ministry of War official in his early thirties stood up, and his identity made many people frown.
Gu Pu, who was born as a Imperial College student, was one of the few white-clothed officials favored by the emperor, and therefore one of the officials who supported the emperor's policies.
Relocating the rich families all over the world is a disaster for the children of the rich families and officials, but it is a good thing for them, civilian officials with white backgrounds. Gu Pu has no reason not to support it.
"Well said……"
"That's true..."
As soon as Gu Pu opened his mouth, many officials with similar white backgrounds agreed, but they were not doing it for the people of the world, but for themselves.
Although they, a group of officials in white, serve in the court, they have no local influence and can hardly protect their families.
The reason for this is, ultimately, because the rules and regulations of their hometown were already established before they started their business.
The people who set these rules and regulations are the powerful and wealthy locals.
If white-bodied officials want to achieve local success and fame, they must encounter the powerful and wealthy locals, which will lead to conflicts.
Although white officials were favored by the emperor and had power, powerful and wealthy people also had power behind them. Therefore, in terms of power, it was difficult for both sides to directly overthrow the other.
In addition, powerful and wealthy households control local government and land, so it is not an easy task for white officials to bring down these powerful and wealthy households.
But now, after an imperial edict from the emperor, this balanced situation has tilted.
The wealthy people from all over the world entered the capital. This was an opportunity for white-collar officials, and it was also an opportunity for the more than 20,000 disciples of the emperor in the Imperial College.
By seizing this opportunity, they can gain a foothold in the local area and gradually develop their own power network based on their hometown.
Therefore, no matter what officials from wealthy families say, white officials insist on the excuse of 'obeying their superiors'.
This excuse is easy to defeat, but no one dares to speak.
For a moment, Huang Zicheng, Bao Zhao, Qi Tai and others were silent, while Yu Xin said in a deep voice:
"There are more than 17,400 tribute students in the Imperial College. They can be sent to the local areas to register and register with the local soldiers and horses of the five prefectures to record the records."
Obviously everyone is still discussing, but Yu Xin has already drawn up the process. This approach of treating everyone as nothing makes many people jealous.
It's a pity that they have no leverage against Yu Xin, let alone the excuse and courage to deal with him.
Although Yu Xin was from Jiangdong, he was recruited by Zhu Yuanzhang as a commoner.
The reason for being recruited is simple, that is, his talents far exceed those of ordinary people.
Since he started his official career in the 21st year of Hongwu's reign, he has begun to formulate the "Rules for Containing Silk Horses", "Rules for Distributing Dispersed Food in Disaster Damage", "Rules for Merchant and Opening up Nano", "Clan Annual Salary", etc. The national policy not only ensured the Ming Dynasty's frontier grain reserves, but also ensured disaster relief matters for the victims in the interior.
In terms of public reputation, all the people in this palace together are not as good as his reputation alone.
A person with such talent is difficult to deal with, not to mention that he has no control.
As the Minister of Household Affairs, his family is not prosperous. In the nine years since he started his official career, he has not promoted anyone close to him.
There are only a few dozen relatives in the family, and the whole family relies on his salary and the land given to him by Zhu Yuanzhang. There is no other line of work to make a living.
Such people are popular in every dynasty and generation, but in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart, Yu Xin occupies an unshakable position.
Even if Zhu Yunwen, the great grandson, wanted to do anything with money and food, he would have to look at Yu Xin's face.
Attacking Yu Xin is not an attack on him as a person, but an attack on loyalty in Confucian loyalty and filial piety.
Anyone who attacks him is demeaning himself in disguise.
"Yu Shangshu..."
Seeing that Yu Xin spoke again, but others did not dare to refute, Zhu Yunwen could only stand up with a smile and said: "It's not that I think there is something wrong with Grandpa Huang's will, but I feel that relocating so many wealthy households is a bit of a war..."
"Your Highness..." Yu Xin bowed in return, neither humble nor overbearing, and then straightened up and said:
"The purpose of counting the rich households in the world and registering them by their place of origin is to prevent them from annexing the land of the common people."
"Besides, since the 24th year of Zhizheng, the imperial court has moved wealthy households to Huaixi and the capital many times. Nothing has happened to shake the country's foundation so many times. Why is this time called a major war?"
Yu Xin is very capable, but people will not always be perfect. His straight temper is his flaw.
Facing Zhu Yunwen, he remained neither humble nor overbearing, and pressed on step by step in a remonstrating tone:
"In recent years, the benefits of the new policy of using cash to offset taxes have not fallen on the people, but on the contrary, many wealthy households have been enriched..."
"These rich households have vast fields, but they are reluctant to pay taxes. Some of them are brave enough to even collude with county officials to push taxes onto the people and make them pay more taxes."
"I believe that moving the world to enrich the people in the capital is actually a move that benefits the country, the people, and the world."
Yu Xin thought he was explaining sincerely, but he didn't expect that his tone seemed to be lecturing Zhu Yunwen. Between the lines, he seemed to be asking Zhu Yunwen, "As a grandson, how can you not understand the emperor's meaning?" '
"Haha..." Zhu Yunwen remained calm, but smiled and bowed in return:
"What Yu Shangshu said is true. In this case, please ask Yu Shangshu to do the work according to the decree."
With that said, Zhu Yunwen walked back to the main seat, stamped the imperial edict with his precious seal, then picked up the imperial edict with both hands, brought it to Yu Xin, and handed it over with both hands.
Facing the imperial edict, Yu Xin also knelt down respectfully, bowed five times and kowtowed three times before accepting the edict, and sang: "Your Majesty Yu Xin accepts the edict..."
He accepted the order calmly, but many people around him either had stiff expressions or had a hint of ridicule in their smiles.
Obviously, they all saw one thing, that is, Yu Xin's future might not be good.
In the temple of the Ming Dynasty, even if you have outstanding abilities, if you don't know how to behave, you will not be able to last long.
"In that case, let's all step back. Temple Minister Huang Taichang and Minister Qi will stay."
Zhu Yunwen signaled the ministers to retreat, but only Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai, whom he trusted, were left behind.
"I'll take my leave..."
The ministers resigned and left Wuying Palace in a hurry.
After they left, Zhu Yunwen sat back in his seat, looked at Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai standing in the hall, and then said:
"As soon as grandpa made this move, all these years of using cash to offset taxes to benefit wealthy households will be in vain."
"That's true..." Huang Zicheng nodded solemnly. Qi Tai beside him could guess the emperor's thoughts, so he bowed and said:
"In my opinion, Your Majesty is probably worried that the wealthy family will lose their tail, so he specially cleaned it up for you, Grandson."
"The tail is too big to fall off..." Zhu Yunwen thought about his fingers. Although he knew that Zhu Yuanzhang would not harm him, his plan for several years was suddenly interrupted, which made him feel a little uncomfortable.
"When the rich families in the world are moved to the capital, will it affect the lonely people?"
Zhu Yunwen asked the two of them. Although Zhu Fan was not mentioned every word, Zhu Fan was mentioned every word.
Regarding this question, the two pondered for a long time. After about an hour, Qi Tai took the lead in bowing and saying:
"In my opinion, Your Majesty dares to take action, so he has naturally made all preparations. It will be difficult for the one from Shanxi to gain a foothold in the temple. Don't worry, Grandson."
"The one from Shanxi can't do it, but what about the other two from Henan and Peking?" Zhu Yunwen leaned on his chair, obviously much more relaxed.
"Those two..." Qi Tai wanted to continue, but Huang Zicheng said:
"The one in Henan only has the military power of three guards, so there is nothing to fear. The one in Peiping, on the other hand, still has the military power of the three capital divisions in his hands..."
Huang Zicheng reminded one thing, that is, after Zhu Di returned from his northern tour, the emperor never took back the military power of the Sandu Division, but kept entrusting it to Zhu Di.
The number of soldiers and horses in Sandusi is nearly 300,000. With such a large number of soldiers and horses in Zhu Di's hands, how can Zhu Yunwen sleep peacefully...
"I thought the one in Peiping was the least to worry about."
Qi Tai suddenly spoke, and then said: "Your Majesty has not taken back the military power of King Yan, perhaps to patrol the border next year."
"Inspecting the border again?" Huang Zicheng didn't know the military, so he was skeptical about the practice of patrolling the border for consecutive years.
Qi Tai, on the other hand, saw that Huang Zicheng was confused, so he also explained to the two of them:
"In the past several border patrols, we could only burn wasteland in Yijinai and Kaiping to prevent the remnant troops from going south. They could not go out thousands of miles to Mobei like in the early years, all because of the plundering by Wu Liangha."
"Since the Uliangha tribes rebelled, His Majesty has repeatedly asked King Yan to lead the troops of the Sandu Division to patrol the border, all in order to severely damage the Uliangha tribes and win an opportunity for the imperial court to leave Mobei."
"It's just that in recent years, the Yuan general Harawu has been avoiding fighting, so the strength of the Wuliangha tribes has not weakened."
"This year, Yuan general Harawu led his troops to a disastrous defeat in Jilin City. Nearly half of his troops were lost and he was no longer able to move south to contain Daning and Liaodong."
"In addition, Can Yuan's position changed hands last year, and it is very likely that he will move back to his old place of Onan River, threatening Kaiping Guards."
"Because of this, His Majesty issued an order in the first half of the year to establish four additional guards in Kaiping."
"Now that Haragu is defeated, the imperial court should organize a northern patrol to investigate whether the Hu soldiers have moved back to the Onan River. Therefore, next year's northern patrol will not be for the purpose of fighting, but to spy on the movements of Can Yuan."
"If Can Yuan is still in Moxi, then His Majesty will naturally remove him from military power. If Can Yuan moves back to Onan River, the imperial court may have to start another expedition to the north."
Qi Tai's analysis was so clear that Huang Zicheng, who didn't know how to fight, also understood Zhu Yuanzhang's purpose, let alone Zhu Yunwen.
After receiving the explanation, Zhu Yunwen felt a little relieved. After gathering his emotions, he looked around, and then whispered:
"Winter has come this year, and Grandpa Huang has caught wind and cold, and his health has become a bit worse..."
His words made Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng feel nervous. After all, Zhu Yuanzhang was already sixty-nine. At this age, he could be said to have a long life.
Therefore, his physical condition has long been the focus of various factions, and the reason why Zhu Yunwen said this is probably because he felt that this matter could not be hidden.
"This matter... we have to prepare early, especially the Shanxi side."
Qi Tai gave his opinion without hesitation, and Huang Zicheng also said: "The southwest is relatively stable, why not transfer Duke Wei back?"
"If it is really stable, then..." Zhu Yunwen wanted to say something, but he saw Li Quan, the eunuch in charge of the East Palace, walking in from outside the palace.
He was walking in a hurry, obviously something happened.
Seeing this, Zhu Yunwen also shut his mouth and waited quietly for Li Quan to come to him.
Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai watched Li Quan whispering in Zhu Yunwen's ear, and Zhu Yunwen's expression gradually became serious.
After Li Quan finished his report, Zhu Yunwen glanced at the two of them and spoke slowly:
"There is news from the Palace of Qianqing that the emperor has ordered Song Zhong, the commander-in-chief, to be the commander of the Jinyi Guards."
(End of chapter)
