Yangshan.
Lao Zhu held a banquet.
This was originally a hunting ground with many animals.
At this time, Zhu Yunxian was entertained with all kinds of delicacies from mountains and seas, as well as rare and exotic animals.
Lao Zhu has always been frugal.
These things are rarely eaten on weekdays.
However, in recent months, Zhu Yunxun has had enough in his governance.
The reaction was quite muted.
Diligence and frugality, in Zhu Yunxuan's opinion, are the virtues of his subjects.
For the monarch, it is not necessary.
"You said today that you won't build the Great Wall, but you built a lot of cement roads and built a new city in the Magic City."
Lao Zhu drank a few glasses of wine and asked curiously: "What else are you planning to build next?"
Sometimes, Lao Zhu is really emotional.
He couldn't understand his grandson's methods of governing the country.
For example, Lao Zhu couldn't think of something like "People's Daily".
Of course, he did not have a mimeograph machine advanced enough to print newspapers quickly on a large scale.
"The future of Ming Dynasty lies overseas."
Zhu Yunxuan said categorically: "My grandson has increased the imperial court's shipbuilding funds tenfold."
"The shipyards in Jiangnan have been completed and construction of larger sea-going ships has begun."
"Zheng He's navy has begun to take shape, and his overseas expedition will not be too far away."
"The Magic City is the pearl of Linhai, and it will be very important as the economic center in the future."
When Zhu Yunxuan said this, he added: "Grandpa Huang, don't forget that there are sweet potatoes overseas, and there are more treasures."
He is a time traveler and it is easy to understand why overseas is important.
But Lao Zhu is different.
No matter how capable he is, he will eventually be restricted by the vision of the times.
He could not understand the meaning of the great voyage.
It cannot be explained clearly in a few words.
Far less convincing than a tangible thing like sweet potato.
Lao Zhu laughed and said: "Yes, we have always thought that the heaven and earth are vast and rich in resources, and there is everything."
"But I never thought that there would be such a wonderful thing as sweet potato overseas."
"You want the Ming army to go overseas, and we agree. However, remember to do what you can."
Lao Zhu not only has no great desire to expand his territory, but is always wary.
no way.
He is a farmer.
He knew full well how much disaster it would bring to the people at the bottom if the emperor was obsessed with territorial expansion.
Most importantly, due to transportation and production constraints, this expansion often fails to translate into actual economic benefits.
For emperors, it is to leave a name and show off.
For the people, it is torture and suffering.
The territory of ancient China was so large. It was not that they did not want to expand their territory.
Any empire has an inherent need for expansion.
The territory was formed because the information transmission methods, productivity levels, and transportation conditions at that time could only support such a large area.
Just like transporting grain from Suzhou to Peiping, it is still economically feasible.
But if food is transported from the Himalayan mountains to Peking, there won’t even be enough food for the transporters on the way!
The advent of the colonial era and the establishment of an empire on which the sun never sets relied on the benefits of ocean transportation.
The consumption of shipping is much smaller than that of Lu Yuan.
Only in this way can materials be transported to the sovereign country from tens of thousands of miles away.
to support colonization.
Otherwise, the expedition to Europe, which was stronger than the Yuan Empire, could only be carried out if it was divided into several great khanates and each had its own affairs.
Without the addition of modern technology, the cost of land transportation would be too high.
"Well, I'm also going to build a lot of roads."
Zhu Yunxu smiled and ordered a huge map to be fetched and spread out.
I saw many roads marked on it.
"Control the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, build water conservancy projects, and build roads extensively."
"Grandpa Huang, these red lines above are the national highways that my grandson plans to build."
Lao Zhu glanced at it and saw the dense road network above, and his expression was suddenly stunned.
"Xi'er, it's a good thing that you can work hard to improve the situation."
"But you know, from the chaos at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, when heroes rose up everywhere, it only took a few decades for us to dominate the world."
"Now that the world has been settled, the population has been greatly reduced, and it is far from the time of prosperity."
"The top priority is to rest with the people by doing light corvees and paying little tax."
“Although it is a good thing to build so many roads, the bad thing is the eagerness for quick success.”
"Isn't it a good thing for Yang Guang to build the Grand Canal?"
"But half of the reason for the demise of the Sui Dynasty was because of the Grand Canal."
"Even after the death of the Sui Dynasty, this river has been connected to Tongbo for thousands of miles. If there was no dragon boat incident in the water palace, Yu would not have much merit."
"The Tang Dynasty people were happy about the Grand Canal, but the Sui Dynasty was destroyed because of it."
"It was the previous dynasty, why did it perish?"
"The most direct reason is to overhaul the Yellow River dams and control floods!"
"Isn't this a good thing that benefits the country and the people?"
"But actually?"
"To control floods in the Yellow River, a large number of civilians were recruited, which aroused extreme dissatisfaction among the people."
"One eye of the stone man provoked a rebellion across the Yellow River!"
"If a large number of civilians had not been recruited to build the Yellow River and control floods, Dayuan might still be doing well now."
"How can there be a world like our Zhu family's?"
"Aren't there enough lessons in this?"
"You want to build roads and major water conservancy projects, which is a good thing. But you can't rush anything, you have to take your time."
"You are still very young and have plenty of time."
"Cherish the power of the people, take corvee lightly and neglect taxes, so that your rule can last for a long time."
"You must not seek temporary gain, enjoy great achievements, only to cause resentment among the people and make the world uneasy."
He said a lot in one breath.
Because in Lao Zhu's view, this is really not a trivial matter.
Many heroes in ancient times have been destroyed by this.
Because heroes often have greater ambitions and want to do something and achieve their own glory.
For this reason, people will be constantly recruited and abused.
The hero's career is successful.
But what about the people?
The people are prosperous and suffer.
If they die, the people will suffer.
A large number of people were conscripted into corvee service. Once the people couldn't bear it, they would rebel.
The country is unstable.
The Qin Dynasty died here, the Sui Dynasty died here, and the Yuan Dynasty also died here!
How can we not take this as a warning?
In Lao Zhu's view, Zhu Yunzhen undoubtedly has extremely outstanding talents.
But if the words "great achievements" are mentioned, then his outstanding talents will become a huge harm to the country.
"Grandpa Huang is so right." Zhu Yunxuan wholeheartedly agreed, saying: "The kings who subjugated their country include many talented people."
"It is precisely because of having ideals and ambitions, wanting to make great achievements, and wanting to be famous throughout the ages that the country is destroyed."
"There are countless examples like this."
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at him and smiled: "Since you know this, why are you still planning so many roads and engineering projects?"
Zhu Yunxuan smiled slightly and said: "Grandpa Huang, there is no need to recruit people for these constructions!"
"Not recruiting the people?" Lao Zhu was stunned: "Then how are you going to build it?"
Zhu Yunxuan held up his hands and said: "The emperor is the Holy Lord of Qianqiu. My grandson came here just to ask the emperor to issue an edict to permanently abolish the corvee for the people of the world!"
"What?" Lao Zhu's face changed drastically, and he asked again: "What did you say?"
Taxes in ancient times were actually relatively light.
This is even more true in Ming Dynasty.
What really makes people feel overwhelmed is not the amount of taxes paid on the fields, but the corvee!
This is the biggest burden for the people.
Corvee labor is unpaid labor that the state conscripts people to perform.
Such as labor service, miscellaneous service, military service, etc.
In the Ming Dynasty, there were mainly three major corvee services, including Lijia Zongfu, Jun corvee, and miscellaneous service.
For ancient societies, the most important resource was human resources.
The importance of corvee service to the country was far greater than taxation.
The effect of the abolition of corvee would be far greater than that of the abolition of all other taxes!
Therefore, every time there was a disaster, the court would issue an order to exempt the affected areas from taxes, but there was never any such thing as exempting a certain place from corvee.
To build water conservancy projects, build roads and cities, transport food to the army... all of these things required the recruitment of people and the need for corvee service.
Even the government officials have many free service personnel.
Without people doing corvées, many government agencies could not function.
If calculated in terms of human value, then the value of corvee is probably more than ten times higher than the value of all taxes in the country.
"My grandson would like to ask the emperor to issue an edict to permanently abolish the corvee for all people in the world."
Facing Lao Zhu's rhetorical question, Zhu Yunxuan said solemnly, "From now on, all the people of Ming Dynasty will no longer have to perform any corvée except for compulsory military service when foreign enemies invade."
Shocking!
Lao Zhu only felt that these words were like a thunderous explosion.
His body seemed to have been cast with a restraining technique. He looked at Zhu Yunzhen blankly and turned to stone.
As a ruler, doesn't he know how important corvee is to the country?
Abolish corvee?
What on earth was he thinking?
"Zhen'er, are you kidding me? Did we really hear you right?"
(End of chapter)
