Emperor Ming Dynasty

"Also, you are ignoring one thing."

Zhang Huangyan stared at the three of them with piercing eyes, and said, "If we can only replenish fresh water in Ryukyu, I am afraid that most of the ships will leave, and we can just find another deserted island."

"At that time, where will there be any tax to collect?"

The three magistrates immediately fell silent.

It is true that in the past, Ryukyu was used as a transit point and was the best place for ships to replenish.

But today's Ryukyu has become a palace of the imperial court, and there are still thousands of soldiers and horses eating and drinking here. This situation will inevitably lead to insufficient supply and drive people away.

Sure enough, he is the magistrate, with a long-term vision.

"This plan is a variant of the method of opening the middle."

"What about taxes?"

"When the food comes, the ships will also come. When they arrive, they will definitely spend money to buy food, replenish water, and even rest and settle down."

Zhang Huangyan smiled: "As long as they use the money, we can collect business taxes from the shops. The more people there are, the more shops there will be."

"Why worry about taxes then?"

"As long as there is enough food and the garrison does not lack food, all difficulties will disappear."

To put it bluntly, the next thing to do in Ryukyu Prefecture can only be considered after the food crisis is resolved.

Sure enough, after this policy came out, a large amount of food poured into the Ryukyu Mansion, and the supplies instantly became abundant.

The army has military pay to spend, and merchants and sailors also have money to spend, which greatly promotes the economy of the Ryukyu Prefecture.

The prosperity of the economy has also prompted many sailors to settle here, and no matter how bad they are, they will settle down in a house to rest.

Many farmers left the land and came to the port to help, which eased the tension on the land and land conflicts dropped sharply.

At the end of February, an envoy from the imperial court arrived in Ryukyu.

The special envoy this time is Zhu Jing, the deputy envoy from last time.

The reason for using it is also very simple, familiar!
The emperor took such care of him, so the officials naturally had nothing to say.

Zhu Jing looked at Ryukyu, whom he hadn't seen for half a year, and was instantly taken aback.

I saw that the dilapidated Shuri Tucheng had begun to build a city wall at this time, and it looked decent; in the desolate and dilapidated port, trestle bridges were erected, and many sailors came in an endless stream.

If he hadn't been here a long time ago, which port along the coast did he think it was!
However, the dilapidated government office is very real.

"Sir, Zhang Huangyan, the prefect of the Ryukyu Prefecture, together with the local officials, respectfully invite Shengan—"

"Saint Boon—"

Zhu Jing nodded, and then asked for the imperial decree.

There are only a few hundred characters in a series of four or six parallel prose, which is very simple and very different from the past.

The content is very simple. It is required that the East China Sea Navy and the Ryukyu Mansion must cooperate with the angels to go to Japan.

Although Zhang Huangyan didn't know what the purpose of this mission was, seeing the hundreds of large ships brought by the East China Sea Navy and the Ryukyu Navy who cooperated with them was no small matter.

At the banquet, Zhang Huangyan was also a refined person, and after walking around a few times, he asked about the Ryukyu Mansion.

When did you upgrade from the fourth grade to the third grade?
Several county magistrates also stretched their necks looking forward, and they also heard the wind.

"At this time, the court is already discussing it."

Zhu Jing drank a glass of wine, and said lightly: "There is also resistance, but it is not far from ten."

"What is being discussed now is what kind of government is the third rank."

"Oh?" Zhang Huangyan was overjoyed, and then guessed: "But like Ryukyu?"

"That's right." Zhu Jinggao took a look at him and said: "During the Hongwu period, the upper government was the upper government if the grain received was more than 20 shi, and the prefect of the upper government was from the third grade; Grades; less than 10 shi is the Xiafu, and the prefect of the Xiafu is from the fourth grade."

"Except for the Yingtian and Shuntian prefectures, the rest are of the fourth grade, and they haven't changed in 200 years."

"Many people in the imperial court said that they can pay taxes of one million silver dollars to be the upper house, from officials to third rank..."

"So, isn't it occupied by Jiangnan?" Zhang Huangyan shook his head: "As far as I know, Songjiang Mansion, Suzhou Mansion, Changzhou Mansion, and even Yangzhou Mansion are probably the upper mansions!"

"That's right, the officials in the north think that this is Jiangsu planning for themselves, which is definitely not allowed."

Zhu Jing laughed and said: "You must know that there is no southerner in the cabinet."

This is also the characteristic of the Shaowu Dynasty. There are middle and upper-level officials, six cabinet departments, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Xiao Jiuqing, and there are very few southerners.

In the middle and lower classes, most of them are southerners.

Hearing the words, Zhang Huangyan felt dark in his heart. There was nothing he could do. All the southerners surrendered in Nanjing and were exiled to Guangxi to teach and educate people.

"In my opinion, Ryukyu must be stable. We have to add Taiwan, Liaodong, Suiyuan, and Gansu. The more poor and remote the place, the higher the official rank."

Zhu Jing said it without hesitation, which surprised everyone.

However, when he went on a diplomatic mission to Japan, he would not be able to return within a few months, and when the dust settled, these words would not make any waves at all.

We also talked about the Ryukyu issue. Zhu Jing praised Zhang Huangyan for his effective governance in two months, and then talked about an interesting incident:
"Not long ago, the secretary in the cabinet, because of the scarred Hanlin on his face, boldly wrote to the imperial court, directly denouncing the complicated and complicated matters."

"In words, a title book has a thousand words, and if you look through dozens of pages, only one or two words are useful, and the rest are nonsense."

Good guy!
Zhang Huangyan and the others were completely shocked.

You must know that those who are qualified to submit a letter to the court are all local officials, and even the magistrate can only be regarded as reluctant.

This remark directly scolded all the civil officials in the middle and upper levels, which can be described as audacious.

"What is this person's name?"

"It seems to be called Wang Fuzhi."

Zhu Jing tutted, until now he was still a little admired:

"After some words, the whole room is silent."

"At that time, when the elders saw this advice, they immediately ran down to the emperor, as if there was a fire behind their buttocks, for fear of delay."

"What about the back?"

"In the back, it's even more bizarre!"

Zhu Jing sighed: "Your Majesty was greatly shocked when he heard about it."

"Think about it, the elders of the old memorials went through them once, attached a chapter, wrote down the reasons, and put forward their opinions. The emperor didn't care about the number of words in the memorials."

"As soon as he reminded him now, His Majesty went to check it immediately, and it was indeed true."

"In 100 memorials, there are more than seventy thousand characters, and there are not a few of seven or eight hundred characters, and these can be clearly expressed with only a hundred words..."

"And then?" Zhang Huangyan continued to ask.

"Then?" Zhu Jing smiled, clapped her hands and said, "From now on, all memorials and inscriptions must not exceed five hundred characters."

"Even the imperial decree is only a small amount now. In the past, you would have to kneel for more than a quarter of an hour!"

Zhang Huangyan and others naturally bowed their hands to the north, praising the emperor for his wisdom.

Zhu Jing rectified in Ryukyu for two days, and then headed for Japan with a large number of ships.

This time, the Emperor Ming wanted to confer titles on young Japanese generals, and by the way, talked about the titles of Japanese kings.

There must be military prestige.