Daming: I help my wife be the empress

"A member of the Propaganda Department reported various affairs of the newspaper, and also served as the editor-in-chief of "Da Ming Pao."

"Just an eighth-rank official?" Qian Qianyi was a little disappointed.

He thought that since Auntie Zhu kept Liu Rushi for lunch, why would she give her an official position above the sixth rank.

Isn’t that what Chongzhen did back then? He called someone to the platform to ask questions, and when he heard it, he immediately gave high-ranking officials more power and gave them strong support.

Why didn't the empress learn from the late emperor?
Liu Rushi smiled and said: "Your Majesty has been promoted to a rank, from the seventh rank, and is the first official in the Propaganda Department, in charge of the first division, which is already a great favor to this concubine."

"The official newspaper of the Propaganda Department?" Qian Qianyi wondered, "Could it be that His Majesty is dissatisfied with the Secretary of the General Administration and wants to run another newspaper without the Secretary of the General Administration?"

Liu Rushi smiled and said nothing.

Qian Qianyi immediately realized that Liu Rushi wanted to keep what His Majesty told him to be a secret.

Although this is a reasonable thing to do, Qian Qianyi is still not happy.

He didn't show it, but smiled and said: "Madam didn't eat at noon, okay? Husband is asking the kitchen to make you something to eat."

Liu Rushi said: "I'm full. I still need to sort out what His Majesty told me today, so I'll go to Jiangyun Tower first."

After speaking, Liu Rushi bowed slightly to Qian Qianyi and left.

Qian Qianyi looked at Liu Rushi's back and frowned, vaguely feeling that it might not be a good thing for him that Liu Rushi became an official.

···
The first year of Zhaowu, July [-]th.

The team that went to Hangzhou to hold the auction finally returned to Nanjing.

Because Aunt Zhu's control over Zhejiang was not very high before, there were quite a lot of people sent there at the beginning.

Those in charge of the auction were Zheng Sen, the secret art of the secretariat, Zhao Fugui, the eunuch of the Internal Affairs Department, Duan Yunmiao, a female officer, and a group of female soldiers from the Suzaku Camp led by Bi Zhu.

And Liu Wenxiu led the two battalions of the second town of the Imperial Guard to escort them.

Of course, these people need to do more than hold an auction in Hangzhou, there are other things.

In the Hall of Martial Ying, about ten or fifty elders paid respects to Aimee Zhu.

"Long live my emperor! Long live!"

"Flat body."

"Thank you!"

When the old man got up, Zhu Yu looked at him and thought, finally recruited a real capable minister again.

This person's name is Zhang Guowei, styled Yuzhen, born in 1595, and a Jinshi in the second year of Tianqi.

Zhang Guowei is from Dongyang, Zhejiang Province, and Ma Shiying was not used by Hongguang Dynasty, so he returned to his hometown to visit his relatives.One of the purposes of Zhu Yuxi's sending people to Zhejiang is to order them to go to Nanjing to listen.

If you rate the officials at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the full score is 100. It is questionable whether the average score of the officials of the Chongzhen Dynasty can reach 50, but Zhang Guowei's political level is at least 75 points, which belongs to the top group of real people in the late Ming Dynasty. A capable minister who understands local governance, and the last water conservancy expert in the Ming Dynasty!

In addition, Zhang Guowei was still loyal in the history of later generations. Although his military level was very average, he died heroically in Zhoushan in the end.

"In the seventh year of Chongzhen, Mr. Yuzhen was appointed governor of Yingtian, Anqing and other ten prefectures. After that, he spent six or seven years combing the waterways of several prefectures north of Taihu Lake, developing water conservancy projects and repairing city pools in various prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River, and wrote "Wuzhong Water Conservancy Complete Book" 》, which is actually a century-old achievement that has benefited the people of Wuzhong."

Originally, Zhang Guowei still had some literati's grudges towards this empress who seemed to appear out of nowhere, but as soon as they met, Auntie Zhu told the two major things he had done so much for his official career, and he gave such a high praise. Evaluation, he couldn't hold back immediately, and all the little grudges dissipated.

With wet eyes, he bowed and said, "I just did what I was supposed to do. I am really ashamed to be praised so much by Your Majesty."

"What is my duty..." Zhu Yu was very emotional after hearing this, "If I, civil and military, can do my duty like Mr. Yuzhen, there will be no disaster for Jiashen, let alone chaos in the world. The entry of the Qing captives once occupied half of the country."

Thinking of when the Jiashen national disaster happened, he happened to be ordered to Jiangnan to supervise the food and payment, and he had only left the capital for ten days; and thinking of Chongzhen's trust and reuse, Zhang Guowei couldn't hold back at all, and couldn't help crying.

Aunt Zhu signaled Lianqiao to hand Zhang Guowei a new handkerchief.

Zhang Guowei wiped away his tears, adjusted his appearance before bowing to him and said: "Your Majesty, please forgive me for your dishonesty."

Aunt Zhu said, "No problem."

Zhang Guowei said with emotion: "The late emperor has a spirit in heaven, knowing that His Majesty defeated the bandits and Qing captives one after another, and stabilized most of my Ming Dynasty, I must be gratified."

Aunt Zhu said: "It's nothing, I will soon drive the Qing captives back outside the pass, and then calm the world, make Ming powerful and prosperous, and let the common people live a good life."

When Aunt Zhu said this, her tone was light, as if she was stating something that was bound to happen, and Zhang Guowei was startled and heartbroken by her strong self-confidence.

So far, he no longer has any doubts about this empress who is said to be "obtained by heaven and has great supernatural powers".

Zhu Yu said again: "I want to use Mr. Yuzhen as the governor of Henan, Shandong, and Jiangbei rivers, and the title of minister of the processing department to prepare for the rectification of the Yellow River in the future. I don't know if Mr. Yuzhen is willing to take the order?"

Zhang Guowei did not take orders directly, but said: "Your Majesty, do you know how much money will be spent to clean up the Jiangbei River, especially the Yellow River in the future? Now that Ming is using his troops honestly, if he wants to clean up the Yellow River, is there enough money?"

Aunt Zhu smiled slightly, and said, "How much money does Mr. Yuzhen think it will take to rectify the rivers in the north of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River?"

Zhang Guowei said: "Nowadays the price of grain is expensive, more silver must be used to control the rivers. At least 1000 million taels of silver are needed to clean up the rivers in the north of the Yangtze River; to control the Yellow River, at least 5000 million taels of silver are needed."

When Zhang Guowei said this, there was no hesitation in his tone, and he obviously had a good understanding of this aspect.

When he was speaking, Zhang Guowei looked at it carefully, thinking that Auntie Zhu would frown even if she didn't lose her face in shock.After all, this is huge compared to silver. Even according to Chongzhen's tax revenue 15 years ago, it would take several years of all tax revenue.

But in fact, it is impossible for all tax revenues of the Ming Dynasty to be used for river services. Military expenditures should always account for the largest part, followed by officials and clan salaries.

During the reign of Chongzhen, the annual tax income exceeded 2000 million taels, but only military expenses, officials, and clan salaries, almost all the money was divided.

When Zhang Guowei was summoned by Chongzhen to ask questions, he was also asked about rectifying the Yellow River. When he learned that at least 5000 million taels would be needed, Chongzhen was shocked and immediately changed the subject.

At this time, Aimee Zhu's expression was like a calm lake, calm and calm, she just nodded lightly and said: "The total is only 6000 million taels of silver, which is not too much, Mr. Yuzhen just do it.

In addition, my Ming Dynasty can still produce cement. Mr. Yuzhen can go to find out, it is a powerful tool for repairing river embankments, and it will definitely make river works more effective. "

cement?

Zhang Guowei's heart moved slightly after hearing this.

He had actually seen some "magic weapons" brought by eunuchs and female officials in Zhejiang, so he had no doubts about what Auntie Zhu said, but was just curious about what kind of magical method cement was.

So he bowed and said, "I take orders."

Zhu Yu said again: "Mr. Yuzhen, let's go down to rest first, and I will send the imperial doctor to see you later. If you have any illness or discomfort, you should treat it as soon as possible, and go to Jiangbei when you recover. Not too late."

Zhang Guowei was moved again when he heard it, and bowed again: "I thank the emperor for his kindness!"

After Zhang Guowei left, Aunt Zhu ordered Zheng Sen, Zhao Fugui, and Duan Yunmiao to inquire about the details of the Hangzhou auction.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Hangzhou was a city near the sea, and Hangzhou Bay was an excellent seaport. Its geographical location was far superior to that of later generations. It was also the capital of Zhejiang Province, so it was also a gathering place for powerful and wealthy businessmen.

In a word, there is no shortage of rich people.

Zhejiang also suffers from disasters every year. There are windstorms along the coast, droughts in the interior, and floods in some places. However, in the past two or three years, there have been no major natural disasters, only minor disasters.

Therefore, although many of the poor people could not survive, the gentry, landlords, and wealthy merchants all had surplus food, and there were quite a few people who stored a lot of food.

In addition, Hangzhou is farther away from Nanjing than Suzhou, and rich people are less afraid of the imperial court. Zheng Sen relied on the Zheng family's connections in Zhejiang to make a little publicity, and the Hangzhou auction gathered as many as 200 rich people!

However, Zhejiang has many mountains and little land, and more people grow mulberry and tea, so the total grain production is actually not much, and they need to buy grain from other provinces every year.

Therefore, this Hangzhou auction only got 80 stones of rice, but more than 2000 million taels of silver!
Considering that Zhejiang was short of food, Zhu Wei asked Zheng Sen and others to return to Nanjing with money, but the food had not yet been collected.

Even if they were all collected, according to Zhu Yuxi's will, they would also be stationed in Hangzhou, under the temporary supervision of the two battalions of the Second Town of the Imperial Guard stationed in Hangzhou.

Because in the near future, if there is no major war in the north, Aimee Zhu will take action against Zhejiang.

If you want to control a place, you must first master its soldiers and horses.

Although Zhejiang is not considered a warlord separatist regime today, it already had this tendency in the Hongguang Dynasty, and in the history of later generations after the demise of the Hongguang Dynasty, there were many small warlords who separatist regimes, but they failed to become successful in the end.

Now that Zhu Wei is succeeding to the throne as a woman and changed to Yuan Zhaowu, if she wants to clean up Zhejiang, she must first clean up all the soldiers and horses in Zhejiang...

After Zheng Sen and the others had reported the Hangzhou Auction and left, Auntie Zhu said, "Come here after the biography is over, let Hong Niangzi, Zhu Dadian, and Yang Tinglin also come over."

The attendant Lianqiao replied: "Yes."