Look at each other and smile.
Zhu Yuanzhang was very satisfied, and Zhu Biao felt at ease.
The dinner was placed in Kunning Palace. Queen Ma looked at Zhu Yuanzhang who was in a good mood and said with a smile: "You have been waiting for the prince to come back. Don't you just want to discuss the sea with him? Why haven't you said anything yet?"
"What about the sea?"
Zhu Biao looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and put down his chopsticks: "Father, I want to talk about the battle between Nansha pirates. I already know about this."
Zhu Yuanzhang picked up a piece of tofu, chewed it twice, and swallowed it: "The battle of Nansha pirates has passed. Wu Zhen, the Marquis of Jinghai, chased to the vicinity of Penghu Island in one breath, killing more than 2,000 pirates and capturing 400. It won’t take long for the rest of us to learn how to teach.”
Zhu Biao frowned.
It's not Gu Zhengchen's business, it's not Wu Zhen's business, so what could it be?
Although he was traveling, the news from the court was not cut off. News would come to his hands from time to time, but he had never heard of any major events happening above the sea.
Queen Ma stood up and gave Zhu Biao a piece of meat: "This matter is also related to your Mr. Gu."
"he?"
Zhu Biao was even more confused.
Gu Zhengchen has returned to Jurong now, how could he have anything to do with Dahai?
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly and said seriously: "After the victory in Nansha, I asked Mu Ying to go to Jurong to teach Gu Zhengchen a lesson so that he would not take risks again in the future. He actually stole my Double Dragon Ruler..."
Queen Ma frowned and coughed: "Let's get down to business!"
Zhu Yuanzhang said sarcastically: "Mu Ying and Gu Zhengchen had a talk. Gu Zhengchen said that there are countless treasures deep in the sea. Only by sailing far can these treasures be controlled by the Ming Dynasty."
Zhu Biao disagreed: "Father, the people are the greatest treasure of the imperial court. At present, countless lands in the north are deserted and there is a shortage of people to cultivate the wasteland. How can we have people to go on a long voyage? No matter how many treasures there are in the sea, they cannot be exchanged for food and cannot accumulate people's wealth. "
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded repeatedly after hearing this and drank a glass of wine: "Yes, that's what we thought at the beginning. What about gems, spices, and ambergris? Without these, people would not be able to farm in the four seasons? As long as the people are content with the land and are diligent in farming. , the Ming Dynasty is as stable as Mount Tai, and can be passed down to generations. It’s just——”
"Father?"
Zhu Biao looked at Zhu Yuanzhang, who suddenly looked a little lonely, and quickly stood up.
Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand: "You still remember the incident of moving the copper coins? Gu Zhengchen taught us a lesson. According to his speculation, the imperial court may lose all its land in the future and it will all fall into the hands of the royal clan."
Of course Zhu Biao remembered.
If this is the case, within two hundred years, the Ming Dynasty will be unable to collect taxes. The little taxes collected will not be enough to support the Zhu family's royal relatives and relatives who are eight poles away.
Zhu Yuanzhang picked up the wine pot, filled it and said: "I have temporarily taken back the vassal's acres. However, in the future, your younger brothers and these royal family members will not occupy a large amount of land, but there are still a group of people who will occupy a large amount of land. These people are the gentry, nobles, and wealthy families! How to weaken these people is something the court must consider. Otherwise, once the number of tenant farmers becomes too large, the troubled times like the late Yuan Dynasty will happen again!"
Zhu Biao's expression changed.
There is a big difference between self-cultivation farmers and tenant farmers. The self-cultivation farmers have their own acres, while the tenant farmers do not. They just work on the acres of rich households.
The peasants only need to pay the court's taxes and perform corvee labor, and the rest is their own family property.
However, tenant farmers have little property. Even if they produce twenty dan of grain a year, most of it will go into the hands of wealthy households, and they can barely fill their stomachs.
Sharecroppers lack the ability to cope with crises. Once drought, floods, or locust plagues occur, homesteaders can barely survive for a period of time, even for half a year, relying on the grain stored at home. But the tenant farmers who are destitute and have no food at home may not be able to survive for two months.
Once the number of tenant farmers increases, it means that there will be a large number of people who cannot afford to eat during natural disasters, and these people are homeless!
Zhu Biao glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang, he must have a deep understanding.
After all, my grandfather, grandmother, and uncle were all sharecroppers. When faced with the famine, the family had no plan at all to deal with it. They couldn't even provide food, so that some died of starvation and some died of illness!
Then the first batch of refugees appeared, and the main force of this batch of refugees was tenant farmers. Those who joined the ranks of refugees later were the homesteaders who could not bear the burden.
It can be said that sharecroppers are a dangerous group of people and the most vulnerable group.
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't pay much attention to the issue of tenant farmers before, but after Gu Zhengchen reminded him that land is the key to the inheritance of the dynasty, he suddenly understood that the fields should not be too concentrated. If the land is concentrated too much, there will be more tenant farmers. There will be too many things. If there are too many things, the country will be unstable.
The question comes back, who controls the vast amounts of land!
Big house.
Whether they are nobles, officials, officials, local gentry, rich farmers, etc., they are all big households.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Biao and did not hide his thoughts at all: "We have thought about reducing the number of wealthy households, and we have thought about taking the money and food held by the wealthy households into the treasury. But we are the imperial court, not bandits and bullies, and we cannot come to rob them. It’s impossible to confiscate all their property based on just one crime, not to mention that these people are still working for the court.”
The local grain is harvested by large households, the so-called grain growers.
Zhu Biao nodded repeatedly.
As a court, you need to hold the mallet of justice. Anyone who disobeys can be beaten to death. Those who are obedient cannot be beaten randomly.
If Gu Zhengchen were here, he would be stunned.
Lao Zhu, do you know that in a few years, you will be so crazy that you will raid tens of thousands of people with just any excuse...
Zhu Yuanzhang's mentality in the seventh year of Hongwu's reign was not yet to the point where he would kill without blinking an eye, without explanation, and on a large scale. The collapse and loss of control of his mentality was a process of evolution.
Zhu Biao was filled with doubts: "Father, I still don't understand. If you weren't talking about Mr. Gu, you were talking about the sea. Why did you talk about acres and big households?"
Zhu Yuanzhang patted his thigh and looked at Queen Ma: "Sister, tell Biao'er."
Queen Ma smiled and advised Zhu Biao to eat more, and then said: "How did the big households get their acres? They didn't buy them with money. The most important thing that big households lack is money and food." Mr. Gu said to Mu Ying, since he can't understand If you want to rob big households, then use another method to rob big households, such as South Sea pearls, spices, and Western gems. Sell these rare treasures to big households. The big households take away the rare treasures, and the court takes away the money and money from the big households. food……"
Zhu Biao was shocked, could he still play like this?
Empress Ma couldn't help but admire: "Mr. Gu, this can be considered a conspiracy. Who doesn't like rare treasures? Spices are priceless in our Ming Dynasty. If it is true as he said, the imperial court may not be able to use this method to weaken From large households, after the imperial court receives money and food from them, it can reorganize its military equipment, dredge rivers, build fortifications, build schools, and expand granaries..."
Zhu Yuanzhang drank a small drink, took a sip of it and stuffed it into his throat, and said comfortably: "We have thought about this for a long time, and even took out a South Sea pearl from the warehouse and ordered it to be sold. A pearl, Winning 800 coins shows that there is nothing wrong with Gu Xiaozi's idea."
Empress Ma complained a little, you sell things to sell things, so what does it mean to take away my jewelry? Besides, that pearl is worth a thousand guan at least, it is only 800 guan. What a loss...
Zhu Biao was also depressed. This pearl can be exchanged for money, why should he try it?
but.
Gu Zhengchen's obvious strategy of robbing large households is indeed feasible. The large households are willing to buy and have enough money and food.
In this process, the court could gain a lot of money and food.
This is a good thing, why not do it?
Zhu Biao forgot what he said not long ago and turned to support: "Father, I think this method is feasible."
"feasible?"
Zhu Yuanzhang raised his eyebrows.
"feasible!"
Zhu Biao answered seriously.
Zhu Yuanzhang stood up and shook his head slightly: "Biao'er, this method seems good, has huge benefits, and can weaken large households and increase the national treasury. However, this method does not work..."
Zhu Biao secretly pinched his thigh to wake himself up.
No, this plan looks good and the benefits are huge, but the problem is, it can’t be done...
Nowadays, in coastal areas, not to mention the southeastern coast, in coastal areas such as Shandong, pirates appear from time to time, including a group of Japanese pirates who shout the most ferociously.
Although Wu Zhen, the Marquis of Jinghai, made a big move this time. He fought all the way from the north to the mouth of the Yangtze River, and from the mouth of the Yangtze River to Penghu Island. This kind of momentum of trying to kill the pirates at all costs was good, but the entire battle was The results were less than ideal.
In other words, Wu Zhen led the navy and won the battle, but he did not completely eliminate the pirates' power.
Under this situation, the imperial court wanted to send ships to the Western Ocean. There were not enough ships, and it was very unsafe. Don't work hard to get things, only to see them taken away by pirates at the door of your home.
There are more ships, so they are safer, but the cost is too high. If they encounter a dragon sucking water, encounter a reef, or have a big wind and wave, and everything capsizes, the court may not be able to bear the loss.
Besides, if there are too many ships and naval forces sent out, who will protect the coastal areas of Ming Dynasty? Now that the navy and warships are all stretched thin, how can there be manpower to go to the West to get things?
Zhu Yuanzhang was equally worried. The court was now very poor, and Wang Baobao and his cavalry were wandering outside the Great Wall all day long. Regardless of whether there was a war or not, the Great Wall in the north needed to be repaired, fortresses set up, and city walls needed to be built in Datong, Xi'an, Taiyuan, etc. These cities need to be increased in height and thickness.
Without money, it is difficult to do anything.
Now the people are recuperating and taxes cannot be increased. The money and food provided by the imperial court are really not enough.
I finally saw a great way to relieve the financial crisis, which would not offend anyone and still make money. I was already thinking about how to spend the money, but suddenly I was told that I couldn’t make money. Isn’t this heart-breaking? ?
Zhu Yuanzhang said in annoyance: "It's all my fault that this guy Gu has given me some problems. If it's so easy to conquer the West, why should I use him to talk to me?"
Zhu Biao looked at Queen Ma and saw that she had nothing to do. He lowered his head and thought for a while, then burst out laughing.
Zhu Yuanzhang glared at Zhu Biao.
When you are unhappy, you should not be happy, right? Be careful dad makes you cry.
Zhu Biao stood up and said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Father and Queen, the person who untied the bell must also tie the bell. I thought that since this problem was raised by Mr. Gu, it should be left to him to solve..."
