Newborn babies are not good-looking, with wrinkled skin and sparse hair stuck to their scalp. They look particularly ugly, but the couple doesn't think so.
They think they look good and smile happily...
The baby had its eyes closed and was still crying. The cry was not loud, but it made the two of them worried.
Zhu Jianshen said hurriedly, "Quick, go find the wet nurse."
…
Soon, the child was taken over by the wet nurse and went to be fed. The slaves were all clever and retreated without leaving a trace, leaving the couple alone space.
"Your Majesty, go see your son quickly. It doesn't matter if I'm here." Zhen'er urged.
Zhu Jian kissed her lips deeply and said softly, "You are more important than him."
"emperor……"
"It's a big joy, don't cry..." Zhu Jianshen wiped away her tears, his eyes full of love.
~
The birth of the emperor's eldest son was such a big event that it couldn't be hidden, and there was no need to hide it. It spread quickly.
When the officials learned about it, they were not happy.
In their view, only the eldest son is qualified to be the crown prince. However, the problem is that the emperor only favors the concubine. Whether the queen can give birth to a dragon son or even become pregnant is still open to question.
As long as the queen cannot give birth to a dragon son, then the eldest son of the emperor will be the most qualified to be the prince.
This is not what the ministers are happy to see. Putting aside the legitimate son, they cannot accept Wan Zhen'er's life experience alone.
She is just a palace maid, but she is seventeen years older than the emperor. This is simply... the most ridiculous thing in the world.
How could the child of such an old woman become the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty?
What's even more terrible is that this Concubine Wan's background is too clean. She is not a member of the bureaucracy at all. She can't curry favor even if she wants to. Even if she can, they can't hide her face.
What should I do if I can’t get it?
Destroy!
Of course, this destruction is not to kill Wan Zhen'er, nor to kill the emperor's eldest son, but... to kill the possibility of the emperor's eldest son becoming the crown prince.
Since then, there have been endless memorials against the emperor's neglect of the harem. It is funny to say that they have to control whether the emperor sleeps with women and which women he sleeps with.
But the fact is... they can really take care of it. In the name of 'the emperor has no family affairs', you can't find any fault.
The prince is the foundation of the country and is related to the Ming Dynasty for thousands of generations. The reasons of the ministers are justified. Zhu Jianshen is angry, but there is nothing he can do.
What made him even more annoyed was that his own mother also gave him eye drops to ask him to favor the queen more, also in the name of 'for the Ming Dynasty'.
They are all human beings. Everyone understands Zhu Jianshen's thoughts, but they cannot accept it, including the Queen Mother Zhou.
She hates Wan Zhen'er more than Baiguan!
She had always disliked this old woman who was as old as herself but was doted on by her son, and it was even more difficult for her to accept the son of Wan Zhen'er being the Ming Prince.
The grandson is indeed her grandson, but she can have many grandsons. As long as her son is diligent enough, it is not difficult to have a group of grandsons. She doesn't care about this one.
With so many people putting pressure on him, it is false to say that there is no pressure. Zhu Jianshen's foundation is too shallow to dare to fall out rashly. This is his advantage - he knows current affairs.
So, he listened to everyone's opinions and actually went to the queen's palace to stay for a few days, but... whether he could do anything or not, outsiders didn't know.
Who dares to listen to the fact that the emperor and the empress have nothing to do?
The queen can't go around and say that the emperor always sleeps without sleep, right?
When the situation subsided, Zhu Jianshen's counterattack began.
Since he came to the throne, he has behaved very 'wisely', accepting advice and being courteous to virtuous officials. However, this is not his true character, nor is it his wish.
What he wants to do is to be a good emperor in the annals of history, not a good emperor in the mouth of his ministers.
Zhu Jianshen has been on the throne for a year and a half. While he is pretending to be a grandson, he is also cultivating his own strength.
Si Lijian, Dongchang, and Jinyiwei have returned. In addition, he has also won over some censors.
There is a reason why Zhu Jianshen started with the censors. Although the censors do not have much power, they control the terrifying direction of public opinion and have the power of supervision. This is a very powerful organization.
Winning over the cabinet, six ministries, and the people in these real power departments is better, but the price paid is also greater, and if you are not careful, it will be self-defeating. Once they are alerted, it will be difficult to operate later.
Zhu Jianshen understood deeply that he must either not take action or gain something when he takes action, otherwise, his previous forbearance would become meaningless.
The military power is already in operation, and if no results can be seen in a short period of time, we can only find another way.
Zhu Jianshen aims at financial power!
Since he came to the throne, the national funds have been in a state of shortage. It is embarrassing to say that the three million taels of silver were obtained by pulling people under his skin and blackmailing wealthy businessmen.
But this was not a long-term solution. After understanding the role of merchants, Zhu Jianshen also gave up the idea of killing the goose to obtain the eggs.
At least he didn't plan to attack the merchants until they threatened the imperial power.
However, he may not suppress merchants, but business taxes must be rectified.
Actually, they are called merchants, but more than 70% of these so-called merchants are officials and gentry. Either someone in their family is an official, or someone in their family has been an official in the past.
It is under this complicated relationship between government and business that commercial taxes have repeatedly shrunk.
Because they are both prosperous and losers.
In fact, based on Ming Dynasty's current business scale and commercial tax quota, the annual commercial tax is at least six million taels of silver, or even more.
However, the commercial tax for the entire first year of Chenghua was less than two million, and the amount of tax evasion can be seen.
What belongs to me, I will eventually take it back bit by bit... Zhu Jianshen looked solemn.
…
This day, morning.
Zhu Jianshen went to court as usual, and the officials also saluted and shouted long live as usual.
Generally speaking, they were satisfied with the new king. Firstly, Zhu Jianshen always followed the rules; secondly, Zhu Jianshen was not too tough and did not vigorously exploit their interests.
Although there are some "ridiculous" actions, most of the time, they are still easy to talk to. For example, a few days ago, Zhu Jianshen really listened to his advice that the emperor should not stay in the palace in the cold.
Looking at the Ming emperors in the past, such Zhu Jianshen was already quite good.
After the ceremony of the monarch and his ministers, the ministers returned to their respective classes, and then took turns to present the performance. Zhu Jianshen also made targeted decisions, and everything was as usual...
However, when the dynasty was about to disperse, the Ministry of War handed over a memorial to the matter.
The ministers were all ready to get off work, but unexpectedly, after Zhu Jianshen read the memorial, he was so shocked that he even asked the eunuch on duty to read it in front of everyone.
The ministers didn't take it seriously at first, but when they heard about the strict inspection of business taxes, many of them changed their faces.
Immediately, someone jumped out, holding high the banner of the people, admonishing the emperor that he should cherish his people, taxing too much would hurt the people, and damage the emperor's reputation...
This time, Zhu Jianshen was not as easy to talk to as usual, and he sternly refused:
"Of course the people are important, but aren't the Ming Dynasty important?"
Zhu Jianshen had been brewing for a long time, how could he give up halfway? He even drafted his speech. He said calmly:
"Did I ever say that taxes would be increased?"
He glanced at the ministers with a sanctimonious look on his face: "I am the emperor, how can I not cherish my people? Right now I am just strictly investigating the commercial taxes that have been set long ago by the Ming Dynasty. Why are you so excited?"
"..."
"emperor……"
"Don't say any more." Zhu Jianshen rolled his sleeves and said, "The average annual taxes of Xuande, Zhengtong, and Jingtai are all higher than those in the first year of Chenghua. It is obvious that the Ming Dynasty is becoming more and more prosperous. Why is this situation happening? Have you ever thought about it?"
There is no turning back when the bow is fired. This time, Zhu Jianshen cannot give in!
This scene was so unexpected that the officials were not mentally prepared at all, and they couldn't find a suitable excuse for a while.
They can refute the emperor or even scold the emperor, but this is based on the premise that there is a legitimate reason, at least it must be high-sounding on the surface.
These people were not prepared, but Zhu Jianshen simulated it countless times.
He looked upright and said, "I will not hurt the people, but I will not let the unruly people run wild. I will not increase business taxes, but I will strictly investigate!"
Then, Zhu Jianshen said loudly: "I want to govern Qingming and be a wise emperor. Do you have any objections?"
Zhu Jianshen's combination of boxing is really clever, and he equates strict inspection of business taxes with official administration during the Qingming Dynasty.
Opposing the inspection of business taxes means opposing the emperor's ability to govern the country and being a wise king.
This is really...unexplainable.
Of course, the more important reason is that the incident happened suddenly, and the ministers were completely unprepared, and they did not get angry in advance.
If there is no consensus, there will be no effective lethality.
Zhu Jianshen took advantage of the victory and pursued it, and said in a deep voice: "My lords... who is against it?"
Gentlemen, look at me and I look at you. No one really thinks they are the best.
Misfortune is everyone's business, why should I stand out?
This is the psychology of everyone.
Of course, they were not too panicked. The process from issuance to execution of government orders did not happen overnight. They had plenty of time to arrange things calmly.
Strictly inspect business taxes?
hehe!
You have to be able to investigate. Let alone the court, how many local officials and wealthy gentry wear the same pair of trousers?
As long as we give you the opportunity secretly, even if we find out something, it won't matter.
However, the next moment, their faces changed color.
Zhu Jianshen said: "I am going to leave this matter to the factory guards. What do you think?"
"Your Majesty, think twice!"
"Your Majesty, you must not do this!"
"The factory guards are like wolves and tigers. They are afraid that they will disturb the lives of the people. Your Majesty must not let the factory guards investigate this matter thoroughly!"
Opposition was endless. The factory guards only served the emperor and were completely out of control. Asking them to investigate...it was scary to think about it.
Huhhhhhhhhhh...
More than half of the courtiers knelt down, and some of them had nothing to do with themselves, but after weighing the pros and cons, they also knelt down.
Without him, at present, the emperor is still too weak to separate them from the masses. In this officialdom that values harmony, it is always a matter of one step and three steps.
As the saying goes: The King of Hell is easy to mess with, but the devil is difficult to deal with; offending the emperor may not necessarily cause trouble, but offending the ministers is not guaranteed.
Anyway...there are so many people who have offended the emperor.
Zhu Jianshen was furious: "Don't think that I don't know anything. If you don't have any evil intentions in your heart, how can you treat the factory guards like wolves or tigers?"
"Your Majesty, your ministers are here to serve the people. Factory guards have a reputation for being ruthless. They will do whatever it takes to achieve merit. Once they are transferred to other places, the people's lives will be in dire straits!"
"Yes, Your Majesty, according to regulations, this should not be done by factory guards!"
"Yes, Xuanzong set up an inspection censor to supervise local civil affairs, military armaments... and many other matters."
"Does the Emperor not agree with Xuanzong's philosophy?"
…
Zhu Jianshen was furious, but couldn't refute. He almost broke his guard and flipped the table.
However, under the angry appearance, the excitement of success is hidden.
I have been brewing for more than half a year, how can I only have this little thing? hehe!
What you see is just what I want you to see...
