Hearing Zhu Zhanji's doubts, Chen Kan smiled slightly and said: "The Ming Dynasty is indeed a prosperous age now."
Hearing this, the Zhu brothers couldn't help but frown.
Chen Kan continued: "Our Ming army is sharp and invincible. Wherever the army passes, all the barbarians will surrender. This is the pinnacle of martial arts."
Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Zhanhe looked at each other, their eyes full of doubts.
"His Majesty ordered the Confucian scholars of the world to compile the Yongle Canon. All the books on classics and history since the time of the Qi Dynasty were collected from hundreds of schools of thought. As for astronomy, geographies, yin and yang, medical divination, monks' Taoism, and technical skills, they were compiled into one book. It can be said to be the best in ancient times. A wonderful book, this is the pinnacle of literary rule."
Chen Kan spoke slowly and listed the great achievements of the Ming Dynasty in front of the two of them.
Then he watched with interest the changes in the expressions of Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Zhanhe.
The two were stunned for a moment, Zhu Zhanhe was thoughtful, while Zhu Zhanji had a look of understanding.
Being able to be cultivated by Zhu Di as a generational heir, Zhu Zhanji's political wisdom is naturally not limited.
He could easily hear the hidden meaning of Chen Kan's words.
The Ming Dynasty is now a prosperous age, and its civil, political and martial arts are far superior to those of the previous dynasties.
But there is a difference between a prosperous age and a prosperous age. The difference lies in whose prosperous age it is.
The Ming Dynasty's military was sharp and its civil affairs were prosperous. It was a prosperous age for the emperors and the Manchu civil and military officials, and even the history books.
But this is not the prosperous age of the people.
What is the prosperity of the people?
It was during the reign of Emperor Taizong Wen of the Han Dynasty that he encouraged mulberry farming and abolished agricultural taxes.
During the Kaiyuan period of Zhenguan, there were 12 or so common people, and every household had enough food for three years.
During the reign of Emperor Renzong, the world was peaceful and peaceful, and the people returned to their respective fields.
It can be summed up in four words - a full stomach!
As long as they can have a full stomach, it is a truly prosperous age for the people.
Having a full stomach, these four words seem to be only the most basic requirements for future generations.
But in the Ming Dynasty, this was the highest standard for judging the prosperous era.
Under what circumstances can people have enough to eat?
The first is that society must be stable, without war or chaos, so that farmers can cultivate their land stably.
The second is the conscience of officials and rulers. People can pay taxes, but rulers cannot impose excessive taxes.
It's a very simple request, but throughout the history of China, there are very few dynasties that can achieve this achievement.
At least Ming Dynasty is still a long way from meeting this requirement.
The three masters and disciples were silent for a moment. Zhu Zhanji suddenly raised his head and asked: "Teacher, I have a question. My Ming Dynasty is rich in resources and the people are hardworking and kind. Why is there always not enough food?"
Hearing Zhu Zhanji's question, Chen Kan couldn't help but laugh.
Then he shook his head and said, "To be honest, I am also very curious about this question."
Zhu Zhanji was stunned and said in surprise: "Don't you even know?"
"A teacher is not a know-it-all, how can he know everything?"
Chen Kan replied angrily, then stopped and said: "You can keep this question for yourself in the future and study it slowly. If you can find the answer, remember to tell me."
After saying that, Chen Kan slowly walked towards the carriage with his hands behind his back.
In order to educate his disciples, Chen Kan only ate the same food as them last night and this morning.
Now he is hungry.
Of course, since he wanted to educate others, Chen Kan still knew about such small things as leading by example.
Therefore, he didn't go back to the carriage to steal food, he just wanted to take a nap.
After Chen Kan left, Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Zhanhe looked at each other, and their expressions suddenly became desolate.
The motorcade continued on its way until it reached Jingdezhen. The meals of the Zhu brothers and Chen Kan were no different from those of ordinary people.
Big Zhu and Xiao Zhu also rejected it at the beginning, then accepted it later, and then reflected on it.
In short, Chen Kan's purpose of bringing them out of the capital was basically achieved, so after arriving in Jingdezhen, Chen Kan restored the food quota for the two of them with a wave of his hand.
Jingdezhen is the porcelain capital of the Ming Dynasty. More than 60% of the porcelain of the entire Ming Dynasty came from here.
Since the opening of maritime trade during the Yongle period, the Ming Dynasty changed the practice of the previous emperor Taizu who emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce, and began to re-examine the gains and losses brought by commercial activities to the Ming Dynasty.
Among them, the most obvious change was naturally made by the imperial court. Nowadays, major port cities along the coast have basically established municipal offices, and new commercial tax laws have gradually begun to be implemented.
Secondly, the changes in the origin of these goods are also obvious.
More and more people are relying on craftsmanship to make a living, and the efficiency and quality of goods output are getting higher and higher.
As far as Chen Kan knows, handicraft industries in many places have gradually developed an assembly line-like working model.
The convoy entered Jingdezhen. As one of the business giants of the Ming Dynasty, the Jinghaihou Mansion naturally had properties and mansions in Jingdezhen. Chang Ning and Yun Niang took their servants to settle in the mansion first.
Chen Kan took Da Zhu and Xiao Zhu straight to the imperial weapon factory.
In the second year of Hongwu's reign, Emperor Taizu established a large government-run handmade porcelain factory, the Royal Ware Factory, south of Zhushan Mountain in Jingdezhen. This was also the first large-scale porcelain production site used by the royal family in history.
The porcelain fired by the Imperial Ware Factory generally has only two functions. One is to be sent to the imperial palace as tribute for daily use by the nobles in the palace, and the other is to be registered and registered by the Royal Ware Factory and used as a return gift from small countries that came to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.
But now, with the Ming Dynasty's business becoming more and more prosperous, the existence of this imperial weapon factory seems a bit useless.
It occupies the best porcelain clay producing area in Jingdezhen, but there are still only a few pieces of porcelain produced every year.
And because the Imperial Ware Factory is an official kiln, the porcelain cannot be sold to the outside world. This results in the Royal Ware Factory not only having no revenue every year, but also having to allocate an extra amount of money from the state to support them.
In Chen Kan's view, the existence of the Royal Weapon Factory is a pure waste of resources.
Not to mention the difference between official kilns and private kilns, as far as the current situation is concerned, the porcelain produced by many private kilns can surpass the imperial wares factory by several streets in terms of exquisiteness.
Therefore, when Chen Kan brought Da Zhu and Xiao Zhu to the Imperial Artifact Factory, what he wanted to do was very simple, which was to redistribute resources.
The resources occupied by the Imperial Ware Factory will be transferred to private kilns through public bidding.
As for the official kiln of the Royal Ware Factory, it will still be retained.
It’s just that they now need to compete with private kilns.
No competition, no progress, this is an eternal truth in any era.
The managers of the imperial weapon factory are all eunuchs. With the master Zhu Zhanji present, no matter how reluctant these eunuchs are, there is no reason to stop him.
So Chen Kan basically split the imperial weapon factory into three parts without much effort.
Official kilns competed with private kilns, but they were still royal kilns.
The government offices were cancelled, and instead were directly handled by the palace. However, the money and food for the government offices were still allocated, and it was up to the eunuchs how to use them.
The top priority was the porcelain clay production area. Chen Kan only reserved a small area of high-quality production area for them, and the rest was handed over to the local government for distribution at their discretion.
After all these things were done, Chen Kan realized that they had stayed in Jingdezhen for a full ten days.
"Teacher, the industrial reorganization of Jingdezhen has basically been completed. My brother and I predict that with the redistribution of resources such as the Imperial Ware Factory, next year our Damin porcelain production will increase by at least 100% year-on-year... "
Zhu Zhanji was holding a small notebook, writing and drawing on the paper while talking to Chen Kan.
"In addition, the disciple has already written an excerpt about the local government's withholding of taxes..."
Chen Kan was lying on the rocking chair, listening to Zhu Zhanji buzzing in his ears like a fly, and a look of impatience appeared on his face.
Zhu Zhanji was not annoyed when he didn't get a response from Chen Kan. After finishing what he needed to say, he threw away the charcoal in his hand and ran to another rocking chair to lie down.
Just a few minutes after Chen Kan had settled down, Zhu Zhanhe ran into the small courtyard with another roar.
"Teacher, teacher, there is news from the Royal Weapon Factory. Wang En, the eunuch in charge of the Royal Weapon Factory, committed suicide in the Royal Weapon Factory today. Before his death, he shouted something that he was sorry for the late emperor."
Zhu Zhanji trotted into the yard. After shouting for a long time, he found Chen Kan and Zhu Zhanji lying on the recliner without raising their heads. He couldn't help but shut up in anger.
Chen Kan pointed to another recliner and gestured: "Lie down and feel your senior brother's political consciousness."
Zhu Zhanhe was stunned for a moment, then he lay down obediently and asked, "Brother, we have clearly promised not to pursue anything related to the imperial weapon factory, so why does that old dog Wang En commit suicide?"
Zhu Zhanji turned over and said with waning spirits: "We won't kill him, but it doesn't mean he can survive. The emperor's grandpa allocates so much money to the imperial weapon factory every year, there must be a reasonable place to go, Wang En If you don’t die, the ones who will die will be other people in the imperial weapon factory..."
Zhu Zhanji spoke very slowly, and there was no logic in what he said. It felt like he was just saying what he thought of.
Fortunately, what Zhu Zhanhe is best at is summarizing. Even though Zhu Zhanji's words were wild and imaginative, he still summarized the truth from Zhu Zhanji's long speech.
Abandon the car to save the handsome man!
Eunuchs are domestic slaves of the royal family, but eunuchs are also human beings. As long as they are human beings, they will inevitably have interests involved.
Even though it was just a small imperial weapons factory, Chen Kan split it up with just one sentence.
If we really want to pursue the case seriously, I'm afraid those who want to be implicated will be lined up from Jingdezhen to the capital.
As a result, Zhu Zhanhe showed a nonchalant expression on his face and began to bask in the sun peacefully.
Politics is too nerve-wracking and he is not good at it.
After sunbathing comfortably all afternoon and eating some big fish and meat in the evening, the next day quickly came.
Now that the matter in Jingdezhen is settled, it’s time to continue on the road.
The motorcade continued to set off. Chen Kan held Fengyang in his arms and controlled his horses to walk slowly.
The side curtains of the carriage were opened, revealing Chang Ning's delicate face.
"Husband, if we just go to Longhu Mountain like this, are we surrendering ourselves to a trap?"
Hearing Chang Ning's worries, Chen Kan couldn't help but laugh.
The two gates of Buddhism and Taoism were blocked by Zhu Di, and he had to sell the hidden land and population to the court at a very low price.
Theoretically speaking, Buddhism and Taoism should be considered antagonistic to the imperial court.
But nothing is absolute, not to mention that Chen Kan and Zhu Di had already agreed that he would work as a tool for Zhu Gaochi, and Zhu Di would help him solve the religious troubles.
So Chen Kan really had nothing to worry about, and immediately said to comfort him: "Don't worry, we just went to pay our respects, not to cause trouble."
