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Everything has advantages and disadvantages. Once he forms an alliance with Liang Fuchen, Zhao Junchen will get a strong ally, which will be much more convenient in many things. But at the same time, as the cooperation between the two parties deepens, many of Zhao Junchen's things and plans will inevitably Liang Fuchen would be able to see and guess it, and after Liang Fuchen knew about Zhao Junchen's affairs and plans, it was equivalent to Emperor Deqing knowing about it.
In fact, Zhao Junchen has always regarded Liang Fuchen as the representative of Emperor Deqing, and has always been cautious. Many times, Zhao Junchen's seemingly candid attitude just wanted to convey some of his thoughts to Emperor Deqing through Liang Fuchen. Just, for example, when Zhao Junchen told Liang Fuchen about his future goals at the banquet, he wanted to show Emperor Deqing that his ambitions did not stop there, and he wanted to reassure Emperor Deqing.
From this point of view, the disadvantages of forming an alliance with Liang Fuchen may not be turned into benefits, allowing Zhao Junchen to convey some true or false information to Emperor Deqing through Liang Fuchen. However, he needs to be extremely careful. After all, Liang Fuchen is extremely cautious. Not a person to be fooled easily.
However, before avoiding the disadvantages of the alliance, Zhao Junchen first enjoyed the benefits of the alliance.
At the court meeting on the second day, following the eunuch Zhang De's request to "report early and leave the court if there is nothing to do", Zhao Junchen made a statement again.
"Your Majesty, I have something to report!"
Seeing Zhao Junchen's statement, Emperor Deqing looked helpless and shook his head slightly, but still said: "If Zhao Aiqing has anything to say, just tell him."
Zhao Junchen's expression was serious and he said slowly: "Your Majesty, the autumn harvest is coming soon, and after the autumn harvest comes autumn planting. This is the most important period for private farmers, and the court's autumn grain collection during this period is also related to the court's future. The overall situation of the whole year! But now, the support from border military towns, the relief of disasters in various places, and the consumption of military salaries and official salaries have made the imperial court's food reserves even more difficult. If this year's autumn grains are still not collected in full, there will be a shortage in the next year. Many hidden dangers!
However, the imperial court attaches great importance to the collection of autumn grain every year, but the amount of grain collected is still decreasing year after year. This year may not be optimistic either! I believe this is also the reason why people are indeed short of food! In order to reverse the food shortage dilemma between the court and the people, I believe that agricultural reform is urgent! "
Seeing that Zhao Junchen was still clinging to the agricultural rectification matter, the officials habitually planned to come out to refute.
However, Zhao Junchen's next words stunned them.
I saw Zhao Junchen continue to say: "Your Majesty, I believe that Jiangnan and Huguang and other places have always been the first places for the imperial court to collect grain. The people in these two places must not be allowed to blindly cultivate tea, cotton and other crops. In order to In order to ensure the food supply for the court and the people, I believe that the court should issue a decree that at least 40% of the cultivated land for growing cotton, tea and other crops in various places must be replaced by food cultivation!
In addition, the imperial court also needs to allocate 300,000 taels of silver for the construction of irrigation facilities in various places! In this way, by next year, the grain production in various parts of the imperial court can be increased by about 10%. Although it is not much, it can always slightly alleviate the imperial court's food shortage dilemma, and its ability to withstand natural disasters has also been greatly enhanced. I hope your majesty Mingjian! "
Zhao Junchen's previous agricultural reform plans were often very radical. They not only required farmers in the south to completely abandon the cultivation of tea, cotton and other products, but also required most of the cultivated land to grow food. They also required the court to allocate at least 700,000 taels of silver. Build irrigation and water conservancy facilities for various places.
But now, Zhao Junchen only asked for 40% of the private arable land to be used for growing food. Although he also asked the court to allocate money to build irrigation and water conservancy facilities, the number was reduced to 300,000 taels!
This kind of compromise and concession is not a big deal!
"Has Zhao Junchen finally come to his senses?"
For a time, such thoughts flashed through the minds of all the officials.
However, the officials still did not intend to agree to Zhao Junchen's proposal!
Today, land annexation in the Ming Dynasty has become very serious. At least 70% of the land in Jiangnan has fallen into the hands of big landowners. The ministers in the Huangji Palace are not only the spokespersons of the big landowners, they are also big landowners themselves. one! Zhao Junchen requires 40% of the cultivated land to be used for growing food, which still damages the interests of everyone! Although the interests damaged this time are not too much, it is still damaged!
In addition, the irrigation and water conservancy facilities in various places are already perfect enough in the eyes of the officials. Spending 300,000 taels to enhance them is a waste in the eyes of the officials!
Therefore, the officials insisted on not giving in and still came out to refute!
However, this time is different from the past. Zhao Junchen has made up his mind to pass the agricultural reform plan as soon as possible. Naturally, he will no longer argue with officials alone as before, so everyone in the "Zhao Party" followed Zhao Junchen's suggestion. , also came out to express their support, so the Huangji Hall suddenly became a quarrel!
The mere support of "Zhao Party" officials was naturally not enough to suppress the opposition of the officials. However, Liang Fuchen also stood by Zhao Junchen at this time and firmly expressed his support. Now Liang Fuchen has initially established The prestige of the cabinet minister, and everyone knew that Liang Fuchen was a die-hard confidant of Emperor Deqing. Liang Fuchen's attitude may be that of Emperor Deqing, and it was inevitable that he had some scruples.
Therefore, the situation is not one-sided.
In the end, because of Liang Fuchen's support, the officials agreed to the court's proposal to allocate 200,000 taels of silver to build irrigation and water conservancy facilities in various places. However, they still firmly opposed the 40% of the arable land in various places in the south of the Yangtze River to grow food.
Therefore, the situation is still deadlocked.
At this moment, Zhou Shangjing, who had always avoided talking about the agricultural reform, suddenly made a statement.
As Zhou Shangjing stepped out of the queue, all the officials stopped arguing and listened quietly to Zhou Shangjing's opinions.
Zhou Shangjing said slowly: "Your Majesty, I have never supported Mr. Zhao's agricultural reform plan in the past, because Mr. Zhao's previous agricultural reform plan was too radical. Most of the cultivated land must be cultivated for food, but tea, fruit, cotton Such items are also indispensable and important materials. Once Mr. Zhao’s proposal is implemented, tea, fruits, cotton and other items will inevitably be in short supply, and prices will skyrocket, and in the end the people will suffer!"
At this point, Zhou Shangjing changed the topic and said: "However, Mr. Zhao's new proposal is no longer so radical. It is just that 40% of the cultivated land will be replaced by growing food. Although the supply of tea, cotton and other items will be reduced, the price will be reduced." It will also increase a lot, but the people can still afford it, and the grain reserves of the court and the people can be increased a lot, which is a solution to both worlds! Therefore, I support Mr. Zhao’s agricultural reform plan this time!"
After hearing what Zhou Shangjing said, everyone couldn't help but be stunned, wondering why Zhou Shangjing changed his stance.
But everyone knew that Zhou Shangjing would never act without aim, and they were all secretly thinking about Zhou Shangjing's statement.
Then, many smart people immediately found the key sentence in Zhou Shangjing's words - when the planting of fruits, cotton, tea, etc. is reduced by 40%, the prices of these crops will increase!
There is no doubt that if Zhao Junchen's agricultural reform plan passes the court, the first people to be affected will be ordinary people. They have no backers or money to bribe the government. They can only abide by the court's decrees, give up tea, and The cultivation of cotton, fruits, etc. was switched to the cultivation of food.
In other words, after the cultivation of fruits, cotton, tea, etc. is reduced by 40%, the powerful and landlords will not be greatly affected. They only need to replace 10% or 20% of the cultivated land with food cultivation and cope with it a little bit. That's it.
However, although they have lost 10 to 20% of their output of fruits, cotton, tea, etc., due to changes in supply and demand, the prices of these crops will increase by 20 to 30%! In this way, not only will the powerful and landlords not suffer losses, but their benefits will increase a lot!
The world is bustling, everyone is here for profit! The hustle and bustle in the world is all for the benefit of others!
After being reminded by Zhou Shangjing, the officials immediately changed their attitude after discovering that their interests would not be lost, but would actually increase!
"Your Majesty, I think what Mr. Zhao said is reasonable. The court's food shortage dilemma must be reversed, and the people's cultivation of fruits, cotton, etc. must be restricted!"
"Your Majesty, I also support Mr. Zhao's agricultural reform plan. Most of the people are short-sighted and only see a little money. The court must guide and control!"
"Your Majesty, what Mr. Zhou Ge said is reasonable, and Master Zhao's proposal is indeed a solution that has the best of both worlds!"
"His Majesty……"
Immediately, the officials who had just fiercely refuted Zhao Junchen's agricultural reform plan changed their stance without any hesitation. They all forgot their previous opposition and turned into staunch supporters of Zhao Junchen's agricultural reform plan!
In the end, the agricultural reform plan that had been debated for many days was quickly passed with the unanimous support of hundreds of officials.
However, after going to court, Zhao Junchen was not happy at all, but looked serious.
Because of Zhou Shangjing's intervention, Zhao Junchen's plan succeeded, but it also failed!
According to Zhao Junchen's original idea, every household in the south of the Yangtze River dedicated 40% of their arable land to grow food, whether they were powerful landowners or ordinary families! But because of Zhou Shangjing's interference, ordinary people will be greatly affected, but the powerful landlords will have little impact!
In this way, although the agricultural reform plan was successfully passed, Zhao Junchen will definitely be scolded by the people in Jiangnan!
From this aspect, Zhou Shangjing plotted against Zhao Junchen. Not only did he damage Zhao Junchen's reputation, he also sold a favor to Baiguan!
"However, Zhou Shangjing seems to have taken advantage, but after all, he doesn't know what kind of harm the Little Ice Age will cause in the future! I asked the people to give up growing fruits, tea, cotton, etc. and instead cultivate food, not just for The reason for reversing the court's food shortage predicament is that most fruits, cotton and other items are not cold-resistant. Once the temperature drops, a large number of crops will freeze to death, and the people will suffer heavy losses. Now, because of Zhou Shangjing's proposal, the people can only farm. The cultivation of grain, fruits, cotton, etc. is concentrated on the land of the powerful and landlords. As long as there are several large-scale cooling events in the future, the powerful and landlords will not laugh anymore, but the common people will benefit. At that time, my reputation will naturally turn around!"
If you think about it this way, Zhao Junchen is not at a disadvantage.
After the court meeting, as Zhao Junchen walked away from Huangji Hall, thinking of this, Zhao Junchen's complexion finally improved a little!
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Well, second update!
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