"These fields were given by the emperors of the past dynasties! You can't just take them away, woo woo!"
"You bandits!"
"You are traitors!"
Gu Mingjiao, the Marquis of Zhenyuan, was so angry that he cursed loudly when his family property was being inspected, beat his feet and chest, and burst into tears.
Li Zhizao was not angry when he saw this, and just said: "Zhenyuan Marquis, please relax. His Majesty has issued an order. You mortgaged your land to the court. You will not be blamed for disrespecting the late emperor and ruining your family business. Your Majesty also asked me to pay attention to it." The content of what I wrote is roughly that after the nobles lost their property, they even used the land granted by the previous emperors as collateral for loans. When the Holy Emperor heard about it, he was furious, but he could not bear to hold him accountable and only ordered him to repay the debt."
"I also want to write down the story of my prodigality in my daily life notes. This, this..."
Gu Mingjiao cried even harder.
"The fertile farmland around Mochou Lake belongs to our Xu family, as well as hundreds of shops outside Zhengyangmen and along the Qinhuai River. Now they are all used to mortgage debts. Please ask the court to take them away. They are all run by Xu. It was a lack of effort, and now we have this consequence.”
Xu Hongji was very cooperative and took the initiative to give the mortgaged farmland and shop properties to the court.
But after Li Zhizao, Lu Xiangsheng and others left, Xu Hongji's son Xu Wenjue couldn't help but said sadly: "Father, the grains bought at high prices and the grains stored in the house were taken away by them at super low prices. It's equivalent to It was given to the imperial court for free, and now we have to give them all the fertile land in Mochou Lake, as well as so many shops and properties, and also to the imperial court. From now on, what else will we eat? Are we going to be turned into slaves?"
"Shut up! If you don't obediently hand over all your family property, what can you do? They brought soldiers to the house to collect it!"
Xu Hongji roared at Xu Wenjue and said.
Xu Wenjue had no choice but to shut up and say nothing more.
…
"Your Majesty, except for Henghe Grain Store's properties in Henan, Huguang, Shandong and other places that have not yet been investigated, all large borrowers in Yingtianfu have been investigated and have been forced to repay the corresponding loans with mortgages in accordance with the order. In addition, the grain bargain hunting It has also been completed, with prices ranging from three hundred cents per stone to five hundred cents per stone, Du Zhisi suggested that the price of food will not be lowered in the future, and will return to the price of three to five cents per stone, and then stabilize at this level. Please let me know the price, Your Majesty."
Han Xu, who was coordinating the entire money and grain expenditure, reported to Colonel Zhu You at this time.
After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao nodded: "That's right!"
Then, Zhu Youxiao ordered Wei Zhongxian: "The businessman Dou Ding who was confessed by Wei Guogong Xu Hongji and others should be interrogated as soon as possible and the person behind the scenes should be pried open at all costs. He, an ordinary businessman, cannot do this." If Xu Hongji and others were told to follow their advice, it would be impossible to mobilize so much money and food."
Wei Zhongxian immediately replied: "I obey the order!"
"The grain borrowed from North Korea and Japan will keep the price of grain at three to five cents per stone. Taking advantage of the low price of grain and the high value of silver coins, work and production will be resumed as soon as possible. During the debt inventory process , and the acquired shops will be auctioned as soon as possible. If they cannot be auctioned, they will be rented by the original operators at a low price. After a certain number of years, they can be used as their property."
"The funds obtained from the auction and the income from bank loans will be mainly used for recruiting soldiers and infrastructure construction. Needless to say, recruiting soldiers is in charge of the Ministry of War, which strictly selects the sources of soldiers and establishes military service and retirement systems. In addition, Xiong Aiqing immediately drew up a plan , the new military merit regulations, after the Ming Dynasty, whether it is a title before death or a posthumous title, whether civil or military, military merit is the first priority!
“As for infrastructure construction, firstly, we need to rectify the post stations, build more post stations, increase the number of postmen and troops for delivering messages, increase the official roads, and build more bridges. The governors of each province will set up special post office offices to take charge of it. From now on, the center of the court will , consider setting up a postal department;
The second is to build more government-run schools, hospitals, and almshouses in local areas, so that more people can study, more people can get medical treatment, and more widows and lonely people can be cared for. "
"In addition, the grain repurchased by the imperial court is gradually transferred back to the capital and Changpingcang in various places for war and disaster preparation!"
"The farmland acquired from the nobles and nobles will still be set up as state-owned farms, rents will be reduced immediately, and a solid land contracting system will be established."
Then, Zhu Youxiao gave instructions on the next governance tasks.
"I obey the order!"
Han Xu, Xiong Tingbi and others all replied.
All the ministers looked happy, because they had to admit that although their Emperor was cruel and ruthless, he was extremely unkind to salt merchants, rebellious gentry, vassals, foreign countries, and nobles. They searched to the best of their ability, but the money and food they collected were not used for personal enjoyment, but for enriching and reassuring the people, strengthening the country's power, and enhancing the court's ability to rule.
Xiong Tingbi, who was more idealistic and hoped for drastic reforms, liked such an emperor very much and felt that such an emperor was a heroic ruler.
Because of his long experience in the imperial center, he began to understand more clearly why the emperor unconditionally trusted him to manage Liaodong when he came to the throne. He believed it was because the emperor he was loyal to now was truly a hero descended from heaven. , has extraordinary talents.
Of course, in fact, Zhu Youxiao's trust in Xiong Tingbi was not because of his outstanding talents and foresight, but because of the answer given to him by historical experience.
But Zhu Youxiao's current series of performances have indeed made Xiong Tingbi admire Zhu Youxiao even more.
Han Xu, who is more realistic, pays attention to the balance of yin and yang, and governs a big country like cooking small dishes, does not like a strong emperor like Zhu Youxiao very much, and he is not used to it.
But he also had to admit that today's emperor has far-reaching intentions. He not only dares to use brutal means to suppress the feudal kings and implement the New Deal, but also knows how to hide wealth among the people, knows how to enlighten the people's wisdom by strengthening academic studies, and knows how to benefit the people so that they can benefit the people. Propranolol, but also knows how to strengthen the ability to rule by strengthening infrastructure.
Han Xu was very willing to see the emperor use a large amount of the court's income to help the people resume work and production, and to build schools and hospitals. This was in line with his political philosophy of hoping to hide wealth among the people.
But what he had to admit was that the reason why His Majesty the Emperor was able to have enough money and grain to hide wealth and educate the people was largely because the imperial court borrowed tens of millions of grain and grain from foreign countries.
Because only relying on the grain obtained from clearing land in the country can only stabilize grain prices in this grain price war. It is difficult to lower the grain prices to the point where the nobles will go bankrupt, and it is also difficult to let the grain prices rise. The price remained cheaper than in the middle of Wanli period, so naturally it was not possible to expand the army while hiding wealth from the people.
Han Xu's inner thought was that the Ming Dynasty still had to have some dignity as a kingdom, and it would be better to have good relations with its neighbors. It would be better to repay the borrowed grain. At worst, the national treasury would have less money. As long as the borrowed grain was repaid, With good neighborliness and friendship, there will be no military pressure. Naturally, there will be no need to expand the army and worship military force. By then, the increased profits from domestic reforms will only be spent on hiding wealth for the people, which will be enough to be called a prosperous era.
But Han Xu knew that the emperor had different ideas from his own, so he did not put forward his own opinions.
"What is the estimated total income of Taicang's money and grain in the fourth year of Tianqi? Is it more than the third year of Tianqi?"
At this time, Zhu Youxiao suddenly asked about the treasury income.
After Zhu Youxiao came to the throne, in order to solve the problem of the Ming Dynasty's tax payment treasury being too complicated, he had already decreed that all types of taxes should be handed over to Taicang. Unlike before, because there was no tax farming system, a county had to submit to many officials. Various transportation taxes such as the Ministry of Revenue, the Imperial Court, and Taichang Temple are now collectively handed over to Taicang and then distributed by Taicang.
In this way, Taicang officially became the national treasury, and Taicang's income became the standard for measuring national income.
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