Chapter 110: Look at the present first
He Xi clearly felt the sense of tearing between the two sides of Beijing and South. But He Xi smelled a storm, and even felt that Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't actually do much on this matter.
He Xi's reform was almost a revolution. The conflict of interests between the two parties is so severe that it is impossible for both parties to withdraw for nothing, because it involves the redistribution of the interests of countless people and families. It can turn mountains into deep valleys, make people at the bottom rise to the top, and it can also make aristocratic families rise to the top. If a wealthy family is in ruins, their subordinates will not be able to stand up.
No one is willing to give up everything.
The only thing that made He Xi feel lucky was that Zhu Yuanzhang had already cleansed the world when he founded the country.
The strength of the scholar-bureaucrat class has been greatly reduced, while the strength of the nobles has been greatly improved, giving He Xi a gap to exploit. It is just a gap, and what should be faced must be faced.
What He Xi is thinking about now is Zhu Yuanzhang's thoughts. Is it true that Zhu Yuanzhang watched the great cause of reform disappear because of the relationship between father and son?
We also have to consider what situation the world will be in after Zhu Yuanzhang is gone, and whether He Xi can face the storm after losing Zhu Yuanzhang's protection.
He Xi's brows were deeply furrowed, and the word "chuan" between his brows was as if it were being carved with a knife or an ax, going deep into his forehead.
Everything changes in a direction that is unfavorable to itself.
The real pressure is like a mountain and the sea, and the future is gradually out of control. As long as Zhu Yuanzhang wavered, or if he changed his approach because of the Zhu family's foundation and the relationship between father and son, He Xi would have to face the end of having his head removed.
This made He Xi feel helpless.
He Xi sighed and started working again.
Everything is in sight. The future is uncontrollable, only the present is controllable.
Only by doing the things in front of you well and doing enough homework can you be able to cope with future changes. However, several names flashed through He Xi's mind, and Ye Chen was the first. There are some things that need to be prepared.
——
Nanjing, East Palace, Prince's Bedroom.
The prince's face improved a little and he listened to Fang Xiaoru's work report.
The prince naturally has spies in Beijing. Everything He Xi did was compiled and reported to the prince. After the prince saw it, he became more and more energetic.
Most of the illnesses that the prince has suffered in the past few years are mental illnesses, and a small number of them are real physical illnesses. This was still caused by heart disease. Sometimes, even after the illness was almost cured, the prince would avoid contact with Zhu Yuanzhang.
He was afraid of meeting Zhu Yuanzhang, afraid that Zhu Yuanzhang would let him express his position and make a decision.
However, this does not mean that the prince does not pay attention to He Xi's reform.
The specific regulations and effects of He Xi's reform were updated to the prince almost immediately.
The prince was also very happy to see He Xi succeeding in her work.
The prince didn't know that He Xi was heading in the right direction. At least it is much more useful than the political ideas of the Confucian officials. Facts have proved that He Xi's method is also very effective.
Tens of millions of banknotes were issued, but the price did not depreciate. Yes, there was a certain amount of currency issued in Beijing, so there was a certain depreciation. But in essence, the prices of major commodities have not increased. For example, the prices of bulk commodities such as grain, iron, lumber, and salt have remained stable, but other things have increased a little. In fact, it is not a big problem.
The key is that Beijing has money.
Three million taels?
The scale of Beijing is not small. If it is completely built, it can be ranked among the top three cities in the Ming Dynasty. Those competing with it for the top three are Suzhou and Nanjing. But the current situation is that Beijing City is still under construction and is a half-finished project. As a result, Beijing City ranks among the top ten cities in the world.
For example, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Kaifeng, Songjiang, Hanyang, etc. The size of the city is larger than that of Kaifeng today.
After the reform is successful, each city will have a tax revenue of 3 million. These ten cities alone will have a tax revenue of 30 million. It has far surpassed Tian Fu. How much can the court do by then?
The prince is not a man who doesn't know how expensive firewood and rice are. On the contrary, the prince has always been the chief steward of the Ming Dynasty. The prince knows all aspects of the situation best.
He knows very well that there are many things that are good things that cannot be solved because of lack of money.
When the court has money, it can do so many things.
It can be said that as far as the prince himself is concerned, he was excited when faced with what He Xi did in Beijing. Be happy.
He eagerly discussed his thoughts with his closest comrade-in-arms Fang Xiaoru.
But Fang Xiaoru was silent.
Fang Xiaoru suddenly knelt down in front of the prince and said, "Your Majesty, please punish your consort."
The prince was stunned and said, "Why did you say this? Didn't He Xi do a very good job in Beijing?"
Fang Xiaoru said: "Your Highness, the better He Xi does, the greater the threat to the Ming Dynasty. Since the Warring States, it has been the consensus of various schools of thought to emphasize agriculture and suppress business. Why? Because merchants have no morals at all, hoarding Carrying strange goods, violating national laws, bribing fugitives, and even killing officials are capricious among the countries and have no loyalty at all. In the eyes of merchants, everything can be bought and sold. Including the great world, therefore, great commerce is prosperous And when the country is in decline, merchants will not care about the life and death of the people in the world for the sake of money. Your Highness, what you did today is to emphasize business and neglect agriculture, not to mention that the people are busy with merchants and neglect farming. Simply put, these merchants come and go In the blink of an eye, there are thousands of dead soldiers. How can the state and county magistrates control this? I fear that the world in the future will not be the world of the imperial court, but the world of other people."
The prince was slightly startled and said, "Master Fang is too worried."
If the prince had not read some books from later generations, he would really have been moved by Fang Xiaoru's words.
Because after the prince read it, he understood one thing very well. Except for a few outstanding individuals, like Zhu Yuanzhang, no emperor can truly own the world.
The subsequent emperors of the Ming Dynasty did not reuse businessmen, but will the world of the Ming Dynasty belong to these emperors? No, this is the world of scholar-bureaucrats.
After thinking about it, the prince understood. The emperor can only rule the world through who he shares the world with. It is impossible for one person to truly rule the world. Even Zhu Yuanzhang compromised in many places.
I really thought that the emperor had a golden tongue and followed the law.
That's impossible.
In this case, for the emperor, what is the difference between sharing the world with scholar-bureaucrats and sharing the world with big businessmen?
We have to fight a hundred battles day and night, and we need both struggle and cooperation.
Therefore, the reform was essentially a change of horses in the imperial court. The scholar-bureaucrats were the horses, and Zhu Yuanzhang and the prince were essentially the riders.
Seeing this, Fang Xiaoru could only speak more openly and said: "Your Highness, the Son of Heaven is the eldest son of Heaven, and the scholar-bureaucrat is the bastard of the world. Therefore, there is an order of hierarchy and the rule of the world. What I said today , If you don’t talk about God’s will, you don’t talk about superiority and inferiority, how can you talk about the emperor?”
The prince's expression changed slightly.
Although Fang Xiaoru's sentence was short, it was extremely vicious.
In He Xi's theory, he did not talk about God's will, but used scientific knowledge to explain celestial phenomena and various changes in nature. In He Xi's theory, there is no talk of superiority or inferiority, but that everyone is equal. Everyone has independent personal rights.
So if we think about it backwards, if there is no providence, how can we say that the emperor is the emperor, and if there is no hierarchy, how can the royal family become the master of the world, passing it down from generation to generation, and the family of the world?
This is also Fang Xiaoru's helplessness.
Many of He Xi's theories are logically self-consistent, and many methods can produce good results if implemented. If He Xi is in Liaodong, Liaodong will be strong. Today's Liaodong has no problem supporting a war on its own. Unlike Liaodong before, not even the prefectures and counties can support it.
He Xi was even more impressive in Beijing, and the floods did not affect He Xi. Instead, He Xi was asked to carry out disaster relief and construction of the city of Beijing, and at the same time implement the new law.
Even though Fang Xiaoru regarded He Xi as his enemy, he had to admit that He Xi was Wang Zuo's talent. There is no equal in the world.
In terms of specific academics, Fang Xiaoru can no longer refute He Xi. It's not that He Xi's theory is without loopholes, because most theories in the world are not perfect. What really makes a doctrine spread is not the flaws in these doctrines, but the strengths of these doctrines.
Some people died, but not completely...
