Wenyuan Pavilion.
The seat of the cabinet.
Zhu Gaoxu came here for the first time.
A group of scholar Hanlin wanted to salute, but he waved his hand to stop them.
At this moment, the prince Zhu Zhanhe was discussing government affairs with the prince's grand master Li Chen. It seemed that the two of them had a conflict, so their voices were a bit loud, so they were completely unaware that there was another person beside them.
Zhu Gaoxu took a closer look and saw that the memorial said that there was a flood in Susong Mansion and the people were affected by the flood. He asked for tax exemption this year.
You must know that before the Ming Dynasty, the lower reaches of the Wusong River were tidal sections, and the tides reversed, causing flooding in the Shanghai area every year. Once a flood occurred, it would affect Songjiang, Suzhou, Jiaxing and other six prefectures.
The imperial court's past response measures were to provide disaster relief and relief, which in any case gave these prefectures and prefectures great goodwill.
The reason why the prince Zhu Zhanhe had a conflict with the prince and grand master Li Chen was because they handled the matter differently.
After all, Li Sun had been the king of Korea for many years, and he had always adhered to the principle of loving the people as his own children. When he heard that the people were suffering from floods and were hungry and cold, and were crying for food, as an emperor, he must immediately arrange for disaster relief to help the people, and allotments should be allocated. Appropriations, reductions and exemptions are based on benevolence.
However, Prince Zhu Zhanhe held an objection. He suspected that the flooding in Susong Mansion was not that serious at all. Therefore, he advocated sending an imperial envoy to inspect it first, leaving food and grass untouched for the time being. After the imperial envoy confirmed the disaster situation, he would then mobilize neighboring states. The government's food reserves were used to provide disaster relief.
This is where the contradiction arose.
Li Chen sneered at Zhu Zhanhe's approach.
After all, disaster relief is like putting out fires. After the imperial envoys rush to the disaster area in Susong, the news will be sent back to the court, and then the court will issue an order for disaster relief. Who knows how many victims will lose their lives in vain!
Therefore, Li Chen firmly opposed it, but Zhu Zhanhe argued hard, and the two of them staged a master-disciple argument in their lives.
Zhu Gaoxu watched quietly for a long time, seeing that neither of them could convince the other, and then His Majesty the Emperor spoke.
"Come here, let Gu Zuo investigate the specific situation of the disaster in Su Song Mansion and give me an answer as soon as possible!"
Hearing this, Li Chen and Zhu Zhanhe woke up from a dream and hurriedly wanted to kneel down to salute, but they were stopped by Zhu Gaoxu.
"Okay, okay, no need to be polite."
"I've always been very quiet and restless, so I came here to see the prince."
"I didn't expect that we just happened to bump into each other. You two, master and disciple, were so anxious that they turned pale, hahaha!"
As soon as these words came out, Li Chen's expression suddenly changed and he knelt down on the ground.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I was rude!"
Seeing this situation, Zhu Zhanhe was not idle either. He also knelt down on the ground and begged for mercy for his mentor.
"Father, Ming Jian, Master Li only argued with my son because he didn't understand the specific situation of our country."
Hearing Zhu Zhanhe plead for himself, a look of relief flashed across Li Chen's face.
This Ming prince is indeed a benevolent king!
"Okay, everyone, get up!"
Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth with a smile and sat down on the chair.
Zhu Zhanhe stood up first and stepped forward, then helped Li Chen up.
"Li Aiqing, what you did is right, but it is not suitable for Ming Dynasty."
"There is really no problem in doing this in North Korea, because North Korea is sparsely populated and far inferior to the Ming Dynasty."
"So, Li Aiqing must pay attention to this."
Li Chen bowed and accepted the order, but he was still confused in his heart.
He really didn't agree with Zhu Zhanhe's approach, so he couldn't help but speak.
"But Your Majesty, if this happens, many victims will starve to death in vain!"
"I know, but there is nothing we can do about it!" Zhu Gaoxu sighed, his tone becoming a little heavy.
"I heard that there are some aristocratic families in North Korea, right?"
Li Chen nodded when he heard this. North Korea was originally Goryeo, and Goryeo had always adhered to the culture of the Central Plains, especially the style of the Li Tang and the Song Dynasty. It also developed its own Confucian culture. Now there are many scholar-bureaucrats in North Korea.
For example, Li Chen's father-in-law, Shen Wen, was from the founding family. It was because of Shen Wen's efforts that Li Chen could become the crown prince.
Because Shen Wen had an extraordinary family background, held a high position of power, and liked to recruit scholars, he became the scholar leader of the Korean scholar-officials.
The final result was that it aroused the fear of Li Fen's father, Li Fangyuan, Taizong of North Korea, and killed Shen Wen and others in one fell swoop, paving the way for Li Di to ascend to power and rule personally.
"Aristocratic families are the remnants of the Central Plains Dynasty. Ever since Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty and killed a river of blood, there has been no aristocratic family in the world. However, in the pre-Song Dynasty, due to the stupidity of the emperors of Zhao and Song, Chong Wen The extreme degree of lightness in martial arts led to an imbalance in the civil and military affairs of the former Song Dynasty, which resulted in the creation of scholars, gentlemen, and officials!"
Zhu Gaoxu chuckled and said: "When the Meng Yuan came to dominate the Central Plains, these scholars, gentlemen and officials lived a very comfortable life, because the group of Mongolian barbarians needed their scholars to fool the people and stabilize their rule for them, so they were willing to give The Mongolian barbarians are like dogs!”
"In my Ming Dynasty, these dogs still wanted to repeat their old tricks, but they were killed by Emperor Gao, the great ancestor of the Ming Dynasty. So they became a lot more honest. But who would have thought that Emperor Jianwen would appear. These literati and officials obeyed their advice and were as good as the emperors of the previous Song Dynasty. Following these literati and officials, they created the so-called Jianwen New Deal, a golden age that belonged exclusively to the literati and officials!"
"The late emperor is quite shameless. In order to stabilize his rule when he came to the throne, he had to reuse these scholars and officials. After that, the late emperor has been busy with the Northern Expedition, hoping to clear the Mobei grassland and create an eternal peace for future generations. , so I didn’t have any time to clean up these pieces of shit.”
"But I am different. I just like to deal with these arrogant scholars and let them know who the master of the Ming Dynasty is and what the surname of the Ming Dynasty is!"
Zhu Zhanhe listened thoughtfully and nodded solemnly.
But Li Chen was confused when he heard this, not quite understanding what His Majesty the Emperor meant.
What does the flood in Susong Mansion have to do with the literati?
"Li Aiqing, you just came to Ming Dynasty not long ago, so you may not understand it well."
"The biggest enemies of the Ming Dynasty are these local gentry and court officials!"
"Among them, the Jiangnan gentry is the most important!"
Based on his high regard for Li Chen, Zhu Gaoxu explained patiently.
"For example, the current flood in Susong Mansion. Look at the memorial. It says how serious it is. It seems as if the entire people of Susong Mansion are going to die!"
"But what's really going on? Is that really the case?"
"What your Majesty means..." Li Chen asked tentatively, already vaguely guessing the answer.
"There are indeed floods, but the specific situation may not be that serious."
Zhu Gaoxu sneered and said: "These guys are trying to use the flood to get the court to reduce Su Song's taxes, so I asked Gu Zuo, the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, to take over the matter!"
"The atmosphere of the Metropolitan Procuratorate is still quite good now. At least these censors understand what money should be asked for and what money should not be given!"
"But some people don't understand and want to use natural and man-made disasters to make a fuss and make profits, then they can go die!"
"This time, He'er's plan is the best. Li Aiqing, do you understand?"
Li Chen bowed sincerely and said: "Your Majesty is wise, I am your minister Meng Lang."
"Okay, this matter has been settled. Let the Metropolitan Procuratorate investigate. As for disaster relief, let Gu Zuo handle it!"
Zhu Gaoxu patted his butt and was about to leave, but was stopped by Prince Zhu Zhanhe.
"Father, aren't you okay now? Why don't you go to court to manage the government?"
"Okay?" Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and said: "Where is it okay? This is a reflection of the light. I will go back to the palace and lie down!"
Zhu Zhanhe: "???"
I'm such a wronged person!
