one year later. Daming Palace, Imperial Study Room. Zhu Wuwu sat on the throne and kept giving instructions. He had been doing this at Hulong Villa for twenty years. Now he just changed the place and he was very skilled.
However, he still made unified requirements for the memorials of various governments and ministries: small matters must be two hundred words, and major matters must be within five hundred words, otherwise they will be fined.
Otherwise, you won’t be able to finish it, or you won’t be able to finish it at all. During this one year of supervising the country, he did not carry out drastic reforms and only did two things.
The first thing: large-scale cultivation of potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn and other high-yielding crops traded from foreign countries.
In fact, these things were brought to the Ming Dynasty when Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty went to the West. However, because he did not bring much, he could only cultivate them slowly and select seeds.
Afterwards, Chengzu died, and the people died and the government ceased, so it was settled. But Zhu Wuwu had read ancient and modern classics and already knew the whereabouts and habits of these crops.
At that time, Zheng He led a fleet of more than 30,000 people and more than 40 large ships on seven voyages to the Western Ocean, visiting more than 30 countries and regions, covering a distance of millions of miles.
Later, an important official dossier was left behind, called "Zheng He's Mission to Shui Cheng". This dossier contains a large amount of original information about Zheng He's voyages to the West, such as technical information on Zheng He's treasure ships, the charts used by the fleet, and the customs and habits of various countries.
During the Chenghua period of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor ordered Xiang Zhong, Minister of War, to search for Zheng He's old files. As a result, he searched for three days but found nothing.
Xiang Zhong asked: Where are the files? Liu Daxia, who was a charioteer at the time, replied: A trip to the West with three guarantees cost hundreds of thousands, and tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians died. What’s the point of getting the treasure?
Even though the old files are still there, they should be destroyed. Why are you still asking? In short, it’s just two words: gone. In the end, of course, the matter came to nothing.
But Zhu Mingli knew clearly that the Liu family was among the largest shipping smuggling companies in the South China Sea.
Although these families are not well-known, their wealth is astonishing, and they control almost all matters large and small along the coast.
Even the local parents and officials look up to them. In their eyes, changing parents is just a matter of words.
If Thirteen Thousand hadn't stepped in midway, he wouldn't even have known about shipping. As for these high-yielding crops, do those families know about them?
Of course they do. They even clearly understand that if these crops are promoted, they can benefit all people and feed tens of millions of people.
There is great hunger and people cannibalize each other. This kind of thing will never happen again. It can be said that his merits last forever. But the only thing they do is to plant these crops in their own gardens: occasionally they take some friends to show off and appreciate them: this is an exotic Western grass, with a high yield per acre and a unique taste.
As for releasing it and letting the miserable common people plant it so that they can have enough to eat? impossible!
If everyone had enough to eat, warm clothes, and a place to live, how could they have their current status and rights?
Who will cultivate so many fields in their home? How can we force those miserable ordinary people to spend their entire lives working for them?
Only by making those people poorer, more miserable, and more difficult to live, will these wealthy and superior families live happily.
Zhu Wuwu could ignore it before, but it is different now. He is the prince of the prison country, and all the people in the world belong to him.
If these crops can be promoted, the population of the Ming Dynasty can at least double within ten years. By then, history will be like iron. Will he not be a wise emperor?
The second thing: root out evil! This kind of thing is actually very simple. If you shoot the first bird with an arrow, you have the intelligence relationship with Dragon Guard Villa. Whichever house is awesome, you can beat them.
According to the little yellow cat, the Ming Dynasty does not allow anyone to be more awesome than him! Of course, there is actually another important purpose in doing this: to scare the monkeys, demonstrate authority, and eliminate dissidents.
Naturally, many people were dissatisfied with him as a prisoner of the country. It's okay to be obedient and contradictory, but some people even directly oppose them. Why do such people still exist?
This is to block the progress of Ming Dynasty and directly capture them and send them to farm. Only when all the officials obey his orders and act in unison with him can he continue to execute his plan smoothly.
The other most important thing is to make money! Hundreds of years after the Ming Dynasty, all the big families could be said to be extremely rich. In just one year, he robbed five large families, ten medium-sized families, and three smugglers, and he robbed tens of millions of dollars. Two pieces of silver for fields, shops, and treasures.
Ming Dynasty's finances suddenly became lighter. Only when you have money can you do things, otherwise who will work hard for you? When he did this, the entire officialdom was naturally full of complaints. The memorials and letters sent to Northern Xinjiang every day could be burned as firewood. However, they either couldn't find Zhengde, or they worked hard to find it, but they were all dismissed with one sentence.
"Is it the emperor's uncle who oversees the country or you? You have a lot of free time. Do you want to come and fight with me? Let's go to the grassland to harvest grass and valley together!" As for some big households simply rising up and wanting to rebel?
Not a big problem. In the past year, Zhengde has also done two things. The first thing: in the first half of the year, he swept across northern Xinjiang. He led Cao Zhengchun and a thousand black cavalry alone, without sleep or rest, all the way, sweeping across nine sides, beating any tribe that refused to obey.
The second thing: In the second half of the year, he led a thousand black cavalry to patrol the country's border defenses, reducing the army of one million to half a million, and beating anyone who refused.
Of course, many of them were free wages that were already received. According to the calculations of the great scholar Wang Yangming, by eliminating half of the army, Ming's combat power would not decrease but increase.
It's so outrageous.
"Your Majesty, Grand Master of Wenyuan Pavilion, Wang Yangming would like to see you." Eunuch Sun came in to report.
"Please." Wang Yangming walked in slowly: "Meet the prince."
"Without courtesy, Bachelor Wang, how did you go about the task I gave you?" Zhu ignored and asked. Not long ago, he understood the reason why Zhengde promoted Wang Yangming so quickly. After knowing him for a long time, he realized that this man's martial arts skills and talents were not inferior to him.
Wang Yangming bowed: "Reporting to the Supervisory State, three thousand accountants who are proficient in using new accounting methods and new numbers have been trained. In a short period of time, the shortage of related properties, silver, etc. in the internal treasury, the national treasury, and the six ministries has been found. This is relevant. The memorial is missing." Let Eunuch Sun take the memorial, Zhu Wuwu flipped through a few pages at random, and sighed: "Shocking." It can be said that among these six volumes, every one counts, and basically there is nothing that is not worth it.
Yes, if you work hard to pass the imperial examination, if you don’t make a fortune, is it worth the hard work of studying day and night?
"Jian Guo, how are you going to solve this problem?" Wang Yangming asked curiously. Zhu Wulan pondered for a while and felt helpless. If this kind of thing was not handled well, the entire Ming Dynasty might be paralyzed.
"Wei Chen feels that this matter should not be too involved, and it is better to only punish the culprit. In addition, the salary of the Ming Dynasty is not enough for the officials to live a decent life, and the salary should also be mentioned..." Wang Yangming gave his opinion directly.
During the trip to Longchang, he realized the true truth, the knowledge of the husband's heart, leading to conscience. But if knowledge and action are united, something will happen.
That is to say, all things must know how they are, know why they are the way they are, and investigate their roots. Zhu Wuwu nodded: "It should be so." Wang Yangming continued to take out a memorial: "While sorting out the financial files of the Ming Dynasty for more than 20 years, and comparing the historical materials of the previous dynasties. The minister also discovered the possible consequences of our national destiny in the Ming Dynasty. The damage is also inseparable from the problem that previous dynasties and dynasties have been in power for less than three hundred years."
"Oh? Bachelor Wang, please tell me." Zhu Wulan became interested. He had to admit that what Wang Yangming said and did sometimes really surprised him.
"First and most important, it is also a problem that all dynasties have encountered: land annexation. My lord, think about it. The Ming Dynasty has been at peace for hundreds of years. As long as there are no wars and no major disasters, the population will only increase. . But there is only so much land, and those big households are still using various methods to annex the land. What will happen in the future?" Wang Yangming asked.
Zhu Mingwu thought for a while: "Since the Han Dynasty, people have been able to buy and sell land. Since the Qin Dynasty opened Qianmo, the fields have been opened and expanded by common people. However, in the end, these fields were basically acquired by the rich and noble. The rich. If you have the funds, you can buy a field, and if you are rich and powerful, you can occupy the field. Those who plow the fields can only contribute to the rich and powerful families. The common people are no different from the horses and oxen that plow the fields. In the end, more and more common people become slaves and servants. , can only become the vassal of those big families and lose everything." Wang Yangming nodded: "Indeed, I call the output of all the land in the Ming Dynasty the total productivity, and although the land in the Ming Dynasty is large, it is limited after all, so this productivity It is also limited, and the number of people it can feed is also limited. If large households take away most of the productivity, leaving tens of millions of people to live on the most basic means, then as long as there is a major disaster, the people will be overthrown in a matter of seconds. It’s just that A major disaster is fine, but if the Ming Dynasty encounters various disasters in certain years, there will only be one result, and the entire Ming Dynasty will collapse." Zhu Wuwu was surprised: "How could it be such a coincidence?"
"Yes!" Wang Yangming said firmly: "I have summarized the historical data of past dynasties. In fact, the desolation of most dynasties is not external troubles, but many internal worries. Those people always say that in the last years of the dynasty, great disasters and disasters were caused by heaven and man. , the emperor has no virtue. But is it possible that the land where we live has constant natural disasters every two or three hundred years? At that time, the big families and the imperial court were already pressing the people to the limit. With constant disasters, only One result: the government forces the people to rebel! They have to rebel! Because they all want to live." Zhu Wulan fell into deep thought: "You mean that our Ming Dynasty will encounter continuous major disasters in a few years, so we must Make all kinds of preparations in advance?" Wang Yangming nodded: "It must be done, and it is necessary to prepare for a rainy day. This is the first thing I report today: to curb land annexation, and to hoard grain and grass in various states, preferably to supply the local area for three to five years. Used."
"Master Wang, this land transaction is purely voluntary. Those big households bought the land at high prices, why don't I let them buy it?" Zhu Mingwang was helpless.
Didn’t the previous dynasties know this danger? China has produced countless smart people for thousands of years, but they can't help it.
"Your Majesty, I have a clever idea! We can establish many royal chambers of commerce in various places. Their role is to control the commodities that people basically need in life: food, salt, and silver. No matter it is a major disaster or a major disaster, as long as food, If the price of salt remains at the same price, who will buy land at a high price?" Wang Yangming said with a smile.
Zhu Wulan was thoughtful. There were naturally many dirty merchants in the imperial business in the past, but as long as Wang Yangming's accountants are trained and the bills are checked every once in a while, then this plan is really possible.
Moreover, the basic prerequisite for the court to control food prices is that the court has enough food. Of course it wasn't possible before, but as long as potatoes and sweet potatoes become more popular and their cultivation is promoted, it will really be possible.
"This matter is serious. I will report to the emperor and ask him to make a decision." Zhu Wulan said slowly. Stable! Wang Yangming nodded. The emperor is now obsessed with fighting. As long as the two of them are submitting memorials together, he has never objected.
I still remember that when he first met the emperor, he submitted a long 30,000-word strategy for governing the country.
When the emperor opened the memorial, what he saw in Zhengde's eyes was crystal clear stupidity.
After waiting for a while, the emperor threw the memorial on the table and said, "It's up to you." From then on, he knew that this righteous man was exactly the kind of wise ruler he wanted.
Governing by hanging the arch, there will be one emperor through the ages!
"Master Wang, what's the second thing?" Zhu Wuying asked curiously. Wang Yangming continued to take out a memorial and handed it over.
"Reporting to the Supervisor, compared with previous dynasties, our Ming Dynasty actually has another major harm: the vassal kings and clans. According to the 28th year of Hongwu's edict, the annual salary of the 'kings' is reduced: the prince's annual salary is ten thousand stones; the county prince's annual salary is Two thousand dan, inheriting the title of the county king from the first year of the county, was reduced by half; the general of the Zhenguo was paid a thousand dan per year, while the first-class salary of the imperial court was only 1,044 dan; the general of the auxiliary country was paid 800 dan per year... However, during the Hongwu period, at that time There are only forty-nine people in the clan. Now during the Zhengde period, according to statistics from Weichen, there are a total of 100,000 people. In a few years, it will even reach 200,000 or 300,000. According to the edict during the Hongwu period, Last year, our dynasty's total revenue was 18.5 million taels, of which 5.5 million taels were used for clan salaries, accounting for a full 30%. However, these clans did not benefit our Ming Dynasty in the slightest. There are many people who collude with local officials to persecute the people, disrupt laws and regulations, and undermine the dignity of the Ming Dynasty royal family." Zhu Wuwu frowned.
Other emperors must have considered reducing the grandmaster's salary, but they were afraid of one thing: the difficulty of Ming Chengzu's peace.
When Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty revolted, no one thought he could win thirty thousand against one million, but he just won.
What if there is another Ming Chengzu? After pondering for a while, Zhu Wuwu suddenly remembered something. He himself was a peerless master.
If those vassal kings come to the capital to look for trouble, if he can't defeat Cao Zhengchun, he can't defeat those losers? The most important thing is that the emperor is not him anyway, so can the trouble of peace be brought to him?
No big deal!
"Master Wang, do you have any good ideas?" Wang Yangming looked at the excited Supervisor and fell into deep thought. Do you agree?
.......
