"Money method?" Lao Zhu frowned.
He stood up, looked directly at Li Shanchang and said, "Don't you know how much trouble the former Yuan Dynasty Banknote Law caused?"
"The failure of the Yuan Dynasty was partly due to the Kaihe and the banknote law. Even we have heard that folk song. 'The great Yuan Dynasty was dominated by traitors and sycophants. The Kaihe became the source of the banknote disaster and caused thousands of red scarves. The official law was excessive, and the criminal law Heavy, the people are resentful. People eat people, money buys money, how have you ever seen it? Thieves become officials, officials become thieves, and the good and the foolish are mixed. It's so sad and pitiful.'"
Lao Zhu recited the ballads of the late Yuan Dynasty with compassion on his face. At this moment, he seemed to be no longer the Hongwu Emperor, but turned back into the common man Zhu Chongba who had suffered so much. After reading, he looked solemn and said to Li Shanchang: "You want us to issue money, do you want us to suffer the same disaster as Yuanting?"
"Your Majesty." The other officials were already trembling with fear, but Li Shanchang was not afraid. After spending so many years with Lao Zhu, he had already figured out the emperor's temperament.
"In the upper position, it is true that Kaihe and Chaofa were to blame for the defeat of Yuan Ting. But that does not mean that these two are necessarily responsible for the harm to the country and the people."
"The wise kings of all dynasties have also built rivers. If left unchecked, the harm will not only be caused to the people? This shows that building the river itself has nothing to do with the disaster. It is the Yuanting that is full of ills, so building the river is a bad thing."
After hearing this, Lao Zhu was no longer angry, but turned thoughtful.
"Let's talk about changing banknotes. In fact, in the pre-Song Dynasty, there was 'Jiaozi', and it was not just Yuanting who issued banknotes." Li Shanchang talked eloquently.
"Since the Qin Dynasty, various dynasties have minted coins, and the world has become less and less copper. If I, the Ming Dynasty, mint more copper coins, it will be a foregone conclusion that the money will not be enough. If the money is insufficient, the country will be insufficient, and if the country is insufficient, the country will be weak. This shows that it is even easier. Coins are a must.”
"The chaos in Yuan Ting's banknote law is all due to the stupidity of the Yuan leader and the misbehavior of officials. Just like the construction of the river, it was supposed to be a good governance, but letting Yuan Ting do it has become a bane and chaos."
"And I, the official of the Ming Dynasty, govern the Qingming Dynasty, and the Holy Emperor is on the throne, so why should your majesty fear that the banknote law will cause harm?"
"No need to flatter us!" Lao Zhu waved his sleeves, but he was also doubtful by Li Shanchang's words. He is still confident that the Ming Dynasty must be more clear than the Yuan Dynasty. Is it true that the excessive use of banknotes is due to the misfortunes of officialdom?
"What did your household say?"
The officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs placed their eyes on the head of the new Minister of Household Affairs, Yan Xizhe. Lao Zhu then turned his head and looked at the young minister.
Yan Xizhe was simply a junior official who stepped in after the former Minister of Revenue Haiyuan was dismissed for opposing the establishment of a cabinet. Because he had little experience as an official and was young, he had no binding force on the senior officials. He was only pushed out when he was questioned by the emperor.
Suddenly under so much pressure at this moment, Yan Xizhe suddenly broke into a cold sweat and had no choice but to bite the bullet and said: "Your Majesty, what the Korean Minister said is true."
He tried hard to turn his brain and search for records in history books. "In the nearly hundred years since the founding of the Yuan Dynasty, not only one kind of Zhizheng banknote has been issued, which has harmed the country and the people."
"Before, there were Zhongtong banknotes and Zhiyuan banknotes. After their issuance, they did not harm the people. They also successfully solved several financial problems for Dayuan."
"Really?" Lao Zhu was doubtful and thought over and over again.
"That's all, you can retreat today. Let's think about it carefully."
"yes."
When Yan Xizhe, Li Shanchang and others heard this, they all bowed and stepped back. Before leaving Jinshen Hall, Li Shanchang secretly glanced back at Lao Zhu, who was still hesitating.
"It seems that I am still indispensable among the government and the public." He thought rather proudly. The superiors were unable to understand the economy and deposed Hu Weiyong and others. Nowadays, when we encounter problems of money, food, gold and silver, if we don’t rely on him, Li Shanchang, who else can we rely on?
Although his disciple Hu Weiyong, who took over the power of the prime minister, was dismissed, it is not far away that in some time he will return at an advanced age and resume the power of the government and the opposition.
How can he, Li Shanchang, be willing to sleep peacefully when he has no power in his hands?
…
Not to mention that Lao Zhu was worrying about the shortage of the Ming Dynasty's treasury. Over here, Zhu Su, Fang Xiaoru, Xu Yungong and others were carrying out rectification activities in the Imperial College.
Previously, he was busy tinkering with poaching corners of Neo-Confucianism. Although Zhu Su was serving as a minister of the Imperial Academy, he never came to the Imperial Academy to take up a post.
After refuting Huang Zicheng and the launch of a hot-air balloon, the foundation of Neo-Confucianism was shaken, and Zhu Su was finally able to let go and make large-scale changes to the Imperial College.
The first is to abolish the old learning methods. In the compulsory studies for Guozijian students, many general and pragmatic contents will be deleted, and the time for studying various complicated Confucian classics will be greatly reduced. At the same time, arithmetic, agriculture, politics, etc. will be added. and more practical courses.
Many teachers in the Imperial College expressed their dissatisfaction with this matter, and some warriors even came to Zhu Su to object: "The classics of saints cannot be ignored. Now His Highness cuts down the time to study the classics of saints, and instead teaches the disciples to learn the humble way. Isn't this wrong? Are you misleading me?"
Zhu Su didn't have a good look on this person, and rebuked him bluntly: "What is the purpose of the Imperial College? It is to educate talents for the country! After completing their studies, most of these students will be our officials in the Ming Dynasty and shepherd the people."
"Whether you become a small official or a county magistrate in the future, or be appointed as a minister, practical talents such as mathematics and agriculture are the skills that are really scarce in our Ming Dynasty."
"If the Imperial College doesn't teach these things, will it teach a group of officials who only know how to talk and talk, and waste national money to support them, so that they can do nothing when they become officials?"
After saying that, he fired this outspoken warrior with a backhand.
This incident caused an uproar in the Imperial College. Numerous tutors blocked Zhu Su at the entrance of the Imperial College. They called it admonishment, but in fact they wanted to use the power of many people to force Zhu Su to change his ways. However, Zhu Laowu is not false at all. He is also a prince after all. Do these old scholars really dare to imitate Confucius and kill Shaozhengmao, assassinate the king, kill the driver, and bleed blood in the streets?
If that were the case, he would have to look at these old scholars with admiration.
So Zhu Su made a backhand and gave away all the lessons from those who only knew how to do it.
At this time, not only the students in the Imperial College were shocked, but also the whole scholar community was talking about it. Although the students of the Imperial College remained silent because of this and did not dare to defy Zhu Su anymore, many of them also had a sense of gloating: without teaching, let's see how you can play around with the many students of the Imperial College.
He can turn into a hot air balloon that can fly into the sky. Could it be that he can also transform into many Su Confucian gentlemen who are good enough to preach and teach with a wave of his hand?
…
"Brother, don't worry, I have already made a plan." In the Prince's Mansion, Zhu Su looked old and wise when facing Prince Zhu Biao's inquiry.
"If you open it, sir, why can't you still open students? Among the many students in the Imperial College, there are already many stubborn people who cling to Cheng and Zhu."
"This is inevitable, after all, the Cheng-Zhu doctrine has been deeply ingrained for hundreds of years. For these students, even if they stay in the Imperial College, it will be a waste of our Ming Dynasty's teaching resources. If they become officials in the future, they will just be weak officials who only know how to talk. "
"Directly eliminate them from the Imperial College. While streamlining the number of people in the Imperial College, we can also correct the academic style and avoid the uneven distribution of good and bad students in the Imperial College."
(End of chapter)
