Fengtian Temple.
Gu Zhengchen hid behind the pillar and yawned. It was not a good thing to go to court early in the morning. It made him very sleepy.
The Ministry of Revenue was reporting on local conditions, but what puzzled Gu Zhengchen was that the Ministry of Revenue did not mention the drought in Shangyuan County, Lishui County and other places, as if this matter did not exist at all.
But on the official road from Jurong to Jinling, Gu Zhengchen also saw dozens of homeless refugees. Although the number of refugees was not large, it was still a few months before the autumn harvest. It was still unclear how many refugees would appear during this period. Hard to say.
Many people don't have much food saved at home. If they can't harvest a crop of food, they may go hungry or even kill their whole family.
No one from the household department said anything, and the censor didn't say anything either.
Then there was the matter of the Ministry of Industry, which talked about the construction of the Central Capital.
Although the imperial court stopped the service in Zhongdu and dismissed a large number of craftsmen and migrant workers, Lao Zhu's parents are still buried in Zhongdu. The unfinished imperial city can bear it, but the unfinished mausoleum of his biological father and mother will be punished by others. Stab the spine, this needs major repairs, use the unfinished stones, use the unfinished bricks...
The voice of Li Min, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, echoed in the hall: "Your Majesty, the shipwrights of the Longjiang Shipyard have been allocated. We can start construction only after the dock is dug. It's just that the Ministry of Household Affairs has been delaying in refusing to provide money and food. How can I do this?" I negotiated with the Ministry of Household Affairs several times and discussed with Hu Xiang, Zhongshu, but the Ministry of Household Affairs never relented, saying that building large ships would be a sign of the country’s demise, wasting the country’s children, wasting people’s money, and wasting money…”
After Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he looked at the Ministry of Revenue official: "Yan Xizhe, are you opposed to the construction of treasure ships?"
Yan Xizhe left work and said: "Your Majesty, it's not that the Ministry of Revenue is unwilling to give money and food to the Ministry of Works, but that they ask for too much. They asked for fifty thousand shi of food. I thought that building a big fortune ship would cost only a thousand shi of food, but the Ministry of Works actually asked for it. It takes countless amounts of food to build a treasure ship, and it is ridiculous to say that it is an unsinkable fortress on the sea."
"Right now, on the sea, there is the Ming Dynasty navy, the lucky ships are galloping, and the pirates are fleeing. Why spend a huge amount of money and food to build the so-called treasure ships. If there is a police force on the sea, 50,000 stones of food can build fifty big lucky ships. The prevention and control area is so wide. The flexibility of the arrangement is far better than that of three or five treasure ships. Therefore, the Ministry of Revenue will not grant it."
Li Min, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, was not in a hurry. Anyway, this matter was handled by Lao Zhu himself. It could not be done without money and food, and he would not bear the blame.
Zhu Yuanzhang turned slightly to the right, looked at Gu Zhengchen who was bowing his head silently behind the pillar, and said in a deep voice: "Mr. Quanzhou County, please come out and tell me, is what the Hubu said is reasonable?"
Gu Zhengchen knew that he couldn't escape. He thought that the treasure ship matter had been carried out smoothly, but unexpectedly he got stuck here at Hubu. After saluting, Gu Zhengchen looked at Yan Xizhe, the Secretary of Hubu, and said: "Hubu thinks that fifty ships will be a great blessing." This ship is better than five big treasure ships because I don’t know how powerful the big treasure ships are. I think the Ministry of Industry should explain how sharp the big treasure ships are..."
Yan Xizhe refused to give face and immediately dismissed: "The Ministry of Industry has explained the matter of the big treasure ship in detail, but it is impossible for the Ministry of Household Affairs to pay such a large amount of food. Your Majesty, I sincerely request that the expansion of the Longjiang Shipyard be stopped to save manpower and financial resources."
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't speak, just looked at Gu Zhengchen and Yan Xizhe.
Gu Zhengchen had no choice but to step forward, pointed to the cloth shoes on his feet to Yan Xizhe, and asked: "I dare to ask Yan Shangshu, if a pair of cloth shoes can travel a hundred miles, but a pair of leather boots can travel a thousand miles. A pair of cloth shoes costs seven coppers, A pair of leather boots costs one hundred cents, would you choose to buy a dozen pairs of cloth shoes or a pair of leather boots?"
Yan Xizhe looked down at the shoes on his feet and said to Gu Zhengchen, "No need to ask, they are of course leather boots."
Gu Zhengchen turned to look at Zhu Yuanzhang: "Your Majesty, Yan Shangshu would rather spend a hundred dollars to buy a thousand-mile boots than spend a small amount to buy a hundred-mile cloth shoes. I think this is the same as Yan Shangshu would rather spend 50,000 stones to build fifty ships. I don’t want to spend 50,000 stones to build five treasure ships. I hope your majesty will examine the right and wrong and understand the inside and outside.”
Yan Xizhe was stunned. Was he scolding himself for not distinguishing between right and wrong?
Nonsense, I am a minister, and I can run around in cloth shoes just like you, a petty official. Besides, buying so many cloth shoes is not easy to carry.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Yan Xizhe and chuckled: "The big fortune ship can travel thousands of miles but the price is low, while the big treasure ship can travel thousands of miles but the price is high. The two are very different. The Ministry of Revenue should not stop it in this matter. According to the Ministry of Works Please give me money and food."
Yan Xizhe had no choice but to bow and agree.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Gu Zhengchen, who was about to retreat, and said: "Since you have come out, just stand here. Liu Ren, Minister of the Ministry of War, you submitted a memorial yesterday, talking about the issue of the first edition of Baobao issued by the Department of Baobao Collection. There are too many and they are not suitable for use. The man who designed the treasure banknote is none other than a man from Quanzhou County, you might as well tell him directly."
Liu Ren, Minister of the Ministry of War, came out of his duties, looked at Gu Zhengchen, and said sternly: "Mr. Quanzhou County, you are also a person who has been awarded the imperial title. How come you don't know the majesty and dignity of the imperial court? The use of treasure banknotes has spread to thousands of people and spread overseas. Guan Guoti, how can you be such a childish person, and the Ming Dynasty's treasures are no bigger than a palm, isn't it like losing the Guoti?"
Gu Zhengchen frowned and looked at Liu Ren, you are the Minister of the Ministry of War and you are just hanging out with your grandson. Isn't it a bit too much to jump out and talk about the treasure transfer department? You must also be Yan Xizhe, who is in charge of the household department. Talents.
"Liu Shangshu has great opinions. I wonder how big the Ming treasure banknote should be according to Liu Shangshu's intention?"
Gu Zhengchen handed over his hand.
Liu Ren snorted, opened his hands and gestured in front of his chest: "It should be this big, at least much bigger than Yuan Ting's treasure banknotes, preferably twice as big. This will make the Ming Dynasty appear bigger. Yuan Ting is weak."
Seeing Liu Ren's almost comical performance, Gu Zhengchen shook his head and said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Your Majesty, I kindly ask you to send me five hundred kilograms of books."
Zhu Yuanzhang was very interested and arranged for his chamberlain to prepare.
All the officials were talking about it, wondering what Gu Zhengchen was going to do.
Fei Zhen stared at Gu Zhengchen. It was this young man who had been in the limelight since he was born in the Mid-Autumn Festival last year. Outside of Jinling, Jinling had many legends about him.
The Ten Strategies of Baochao in the past two days have benefited him a lot. It is obvious that Gu Zhengchen is very knowledgeable about Baochao and knows the truth behind them.
However, officials may not agree with the design of the treasure banknotes.
The treasure note was too small, smaller than the Yuan Ting treasure note, which obviously made Wen Chenwu feel embarrassed.
Many people are saying: How can things from the Ming Dynasty be inferior to those from the Yuan Ting?
The palace servants were very efficient and brought in five large boxes filled with books.
Gu Zhengchen casually picked up a heavy book, looked at its width and length, walked towards Liu Ren and handed it over: "If it is designed to be such a large treasure banknote, what does Liu Shangshu think?"
Liu Ren took it and measured it with his hands. He saw that the book was two palms long and one palm wide. He nodded with satisfaction: "This is how big it looks."
Gu Zhengchen nodded slightly: "This book has about four hundred pages. If this is a treasure note worth one hundred coins, it is forty coins, right?"
Liu Ren nodded: "That's right."
Gu Zhengchen looked at Liu Ren: "Put it away."
"What?"
Liu Ren didn't react for a moment.
Gu Zhengchen said without a smile, "Please Liu Shangshu, please collect these forty coins."
Liu Ren looked at the thick stack of books in front of him. No matter how he put it away, it couldn't be stuffed into his sleeves. Besides, the pockets in the sleeves were not that big, and the books were not easy to fold. Even if he sewed a larger one, Sleeve pockets, put this in. Aren’t the sleeves that were originally flowing in the breeze so heavy that anyone can tell there is something inside?
Gu Zhengchen saw that Liu Ren could not place a book and could only hold it in his hand to worry about it. He turned to Zhu Yuanzhang and said: "Your Majesty, this is why the treasure banknotes are smaller. The imperial court's priority in promoting the treasure banknotes is the convenience of the people." Convenient for business. If it is inconvenient for people and business to issue treasure banknotes, why bother to issue treasure banknotes?"
"If the treasure banknote is too large, then carrying a thousand coins would mean carrying such a large box. Carrying a box weighing several hundred kilograms on the road is different from carrying a lot of copper coins on the road. To be simple, be outstanding. Simplicity, treasure money is something we use every day, but simplicity wins people’s hearts.”
"That's nonsense!"
A waxy voice came.
Gu Zhengchen frowned, turned around and saw that it was the seventh-grade censor, oh, isn't this Yan Du who lost his tooth outside the Jurong Guard?
The supervisory censor Yan Bu stared at Gu Zhengchen, wishing to kill him. He had no teeth and could not eat meat. He drank porridge every day and his speech was leaky. If Chen Ning hadn't protected him, he would have been kicked out of the censor by now. Taiwan.
"Your Majesty, I am impeaching Gu Zhengchen, the magistrate of Jurong County, for talking nonsense! From the Song Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, there are no small treasure banknotes. The treasure banknotes must be large to show the majesty of the court, how can they be petite and make people laugh?"
Yan Duan shouted angrily.
Although the man was angry, his voice was really not pleasant to listen to, and it went out of tune from time to time.
Zhu Yuanzhang was noncommittal.
Gu Zhengchen immediately walked towards Yan Dui, looked at Yan Dui who was afraid to retreat, and said coldly: "In the eyes of Yan Yushi, the majesty of the court exists in the big paper, but in Gu's eyes, the majesty of the court exists in the rituals and music." , exists in the rules, exists in the envoys, and does not exist in a specific object!"
"Could it be said that when Yan Yushi looked at the friends of the Song Dynasty, he saw the majesty of the Song Dynasty, and when he looked at the treasure banknotes of the Yuan Dynasty, he saw the majesty of the Yuan Dynasty? How ridiculous! The imperial court gave the treasure banknotes the equivalent of silver and copper, and you didn't ask for it I have never written the imperial dignity on silver ingots and copper coins, and I have never disliked the small size of silver and copper, so why are you so fussy about the treasures?"
Yan Dun raised his hand and pointed at Gu Zhengchen rudely, but he could not explain himself.
This is a fact. Whether it is the Yuan Dynasty or the Song Dynasty, there are only a few things on the treasure banknotes, which have nothing to do with the dignity of the court. When the treasure banknotes depreciate to the point that no one cares about them, they are thrown into the fire. It’s not like there’s nothing in the pile.
Gu Zhengchen moved his eyes away from Yan Rui, turned to look at Chen Ning on the censor's desk, and asked bluntly: "Doctor Chen Censor, if you want to speak, just find someone with bad teeth to speak for you. Is that right?" Aren’t you a bit harsh on your subordinates?”
As soon as these words came out, Chen Ning had a cold face and everyone in the palace was shocked.
"I was delayed because of something at home today, so I will only update once, please forgive me."
