Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 307 Seven Years of Apocalypse
"Dang-dang-dang..."

On the first day of the first month of the seventh year of the Apocalypse, with the sound of morning bells and evening drums, when the annual Zhengdan New Year comes, the sky in Beijing is full of snow.

The thick two-foot snow even made it difficult for the carriage to move, which seemed to prove that the Little Ice Age had come, and the entire city was covered in ice and snow...

It's just that in the eyes of the common people, the auspicious snow heralds a good year, and they are quite satisfied with this snow.

Because the heavy snow can freeze the pests and diseases in the fields, and when the heavy snow melts, the next year's cultivation will surely have a bumper harvest.

But for Zhu Youjian, this is not a simple snow.

Perhaps Tianqi's five years of experience are still there. Facing this heavy snowfall, he knows very well that it will undoubtedly be a huge disaster for the poor northern people.

Early in the morning, before dawn, a eunuch from the inner court sent a message, saying that the emperor was exhausted, and signaled King Qi to supervise the country and organize a grand court meeting today.

Zhu Youjian, who is changing his crown clothes, is very clear about this, why is he mentally exhausted?It's better to say that last night's sex was too deep, and I didn't get enough sleep, so I need to find a replacement.

However, it seemed that he was used to being dragged by his elder brother to temporarily take over the shift. Zhu Youjian didn't say anything. After changing into the crown suit, he got on the elephant 辂 and rode it to the palace.

Along the way, there was an endless stream of carriages and donkey carts, and more than [-] officials in Beijing all went to the palace.

When the Daming Gate opened, all the officials got off the carriage one after another and walked to the Huangji Hall.

Only Zhu Youjian not only has the privilege of the prince, but also has the privilege of riding an elephant in the palace after the Battle of North Korea.

He sat down at the bottom of the steps of the Emperor Palace in one breath, and when the officials were still coming on foot, he had already walked up the steps.

Two rows of big Han generals at the entrance of the Huangji Hall opened the door of the Huangji Hall, and a wave of heat hit from it.

There are many exquisitely crafted copper stoves in the hall, and there are charcoal fires for heating in the stoves. In addition to them, there is also a nanmu chair on the lower left side of the dragon chair on the high platform.

This is the position of Jian Guo, and Zhu Youjian was not polite. After walking up to the high platform, he sat directly on the chair.

The inner court eunuch in charge of duty today was Wang An. Seeing that there were still no one among the officials, Wang An sent Zhu Youjian some pastries and ginger tea, and a hand warmer the size of a fist.

Zhu Youjian held the hand warmer in one hand, and squeezed the pastry into his mouth with the other.

People in the Ming Dynasty often ate pastries with tea. A piece of pastry the size of a lens often required more than a dozen mouthfuls.

But Zhu Youjian didn't have so many common etiquettes, if he wasn't afraid of being choked, he could stuff three sweet-scented osmanthus cakes in one bite.

It's been a while since he returned to Beijing, maybe because he was busy traveling between Yanshan and the capital, but his weight gain was a bit slow, and he was still a little thin.

Years of fighting made his skin look much darker than the pampered officials.

When the hundreds of officials arrived one by one, more than [-] officials of the fifth rank and above stood on the gold bricks of the Huangji Hall, and then more than [-] officials stood on the open-air square of the Huangji Hall.

When everyone was here, Zhu Youjian wiped his hands and mouth with the good Su silk, and then signaled Wang An to take away the tea and pastries.

His set of movements was smooth and smooth, treating the Emperor's Palace as if there was no one there, which invisibly brought a lot of pressure to the officials.

From ancient times to modern times, no emperor in the Ming Dynasty dared to eat cakes and drink tea slowly in front of all the officials during the Zhengdan court meeting.

Now there is no emperor doing this, but a prince did it first.

"clang……"

"Hey!"

Seeing the eunuch remove the small table where the tea and pastries were placed, the Minister of Honglu Temple sang immediately, and the two rows of big Han generals at the gate of the Huangji Hall also took out their clean whips and swung them into the air.

The sound of the net whip exploding in the air made many people straighten their backs, and then they all sang:
"Long live Emperor Apocalypse... Long live..."

The sound was transmitted from the Huangji Hall to the square, and more than two thousand officials sang salutes one after another. Zhu Youjian, as the supervisor of the country, also needed to get up at this time to sing and salute to the emperor with all the officials.

He naturally did the same, and didn't engage in any special treatment at this time.

It's just that when all the officials knelt down, he had already bowed to his seat and returned to his seat, and the minister of Honglu Temple didn't dare to say anything when he saw this, he just sang: "Get up..."

"Thank you, Emperor..."

Baiguan got up slowly, and Wang An also took the opportunity to say: "Zhengdan Dachao, please show me..."

After saying a word, all the officials pricked up their ears and listened, wanting to know what Zhu Youjian would show and say for the first time in the Zhengdan Dynasty.

At times like this in the past, the emperor would say some words of lenient courtiers, but it was obviously impossible for Zhu Youjian to say such words.

It was the first time for him to be practical, and he put his business on the court meeting to speak out. He leaned on the armrest of the wooden chair with one hand, propped his chin, and said indifferently:
"As for Dongxue, you can't be sloppy. Tianqi's five-year white disaster is still vivid in your memory, so you can't take it lightly."

"The political envoys of the various divisions in the North must pay attention to the livelihood of the people in the administration. If there is a white disaster in some places, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Households must not be sloppy. They must come up with a plan and submit it to the cabinet as soon as possible. You are lonely."

"For the people who may be damaged by the heavy snow this time, as well as those homeless wanderers, we must treat them well, at least to ensure that they have a way of life to survive this heavy snow."

"Especially for the herdsmen on the grassland, if the fodder for the livestock is insufficient, Taicang can send out the bundles of grass without waiting for His Majesty or Gu's reply."

"The herdsmen and common people whose cattle, horses and livestock have been frozen to death, don't hide them in fear of the government's punishment. You can report it directly and let the officials go to check. After checking the number, the government will distribute livestock and cubs to them again next year."

"People who have no food for the winter can rent it from the local government. There is no interest and they can repay it in the next year."

Under the leadership of Gu Bingqian, the cabinet officials all bowed and bowed in salute: "Your Highness is benevolent, it is the blessing of our Ming people, and it is also the blessing of the world."

Regardless of whether Zhu Youjian's behavior is a show or not, at least it has given many people a way to survive.

As the chief assistant of the cabinet, Gu Bingqian had a heavy expression on his face:

"In the past two years, disasters have continued in several northern provinces. Although relief has been received, most of the population has moved to the three prefectures outside the Guan, Hetao, Liaodong and other places."

"The people in Fujian, Guangdong and other places have all moved to the old port. The old port has achieved a lot of development and progress, and the society has become more peaceful."

"However, in some places, there are still many people who are not under the shadow of the imperial court. This is still on land, let alone other provincial capitals. The imperial court still has a lot to do."

Gu Bingqian knew what Zhu Youjian wanted to hear very well, so no matter whether what he said was acting out of the ordinary or sincerely, in general, Zhu Youjian's mood improved a bit, and he said in a low voice:

"Liaodong, Guanwai, Hetao, and Old Port have only been recovered for less than four years. It is normal for people to have difficulties in their livelihood. As long as you still keep the people in your heart, it will naturally get better and better in the future."

"What His Highness said makes us ashamed."

Gu Bingqian took the lead in flattering, and after Zhu Youjian finished talking about it, he said:

"For the matter of sweeping captives, we need to look at the situation of the court this year, but it is a real thing that the Annan Metropolitan Commander has repeatedly plundered people in Yunnan, Guangxi and other places."

"Annan is in charge of the matter. I just want to ask your opinions for His Majesty..."

Zhu Youjian glanced at the ministers, and after the ministers below heard it, although there was no expression on their faces, their thoughts had already been brought up.

Obviously, this is Zhu Youjian's test of the ministers.

For Daming, as long as the war of sweeping captives starts and ends, there will be no enemies in the north that can threaten Daming, and the rest will actually be to clean up the mess in the country.

For example, beating the disobedient Uzang, setting up a chief envoy and provincial government in the Northeast, etc...

Or further extend the power of the Ming army to places such as the Western Regions and Central Asia.

Those are no longer the main things, just follow the steps.

In Zhu Youjian's view, the real challenge in the future is actually the collision process between the Eastern tributary system and the Western colonial system...

Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and some other countries, although they were expelled by Ming Dynasty to South Asia and Central Asia
But in the future, when the Ming Dynasty conquered Tianzhu, or went deep into Central Asia and Levia, it might be possible to run into these countries again.

Politics is not fighting and killing. War is the last and last resort of politics.

Although Ming has the power to drive out all Western colonists, Ming needs Western merchants to purchase trade.

If commerce and trade were banned on both sides, then Daming would lose [-] to [-] million taels of trade every year, saving several million taels of silver in tariffs.

Although the nobility and common people in the West would have a hard time without the products of Ming Dynasty, but it was not a long-term solution after all.

What Zhu Youjian wants most is to use the economy to restrain the European countries, and while maintaining the strong military power of the Ming Dynasty, use commodities and goods to penetrate into all aspects of their countries.

With a big stick in one hand and a carrot in the other, whoever jumps up will be beaten. This is the situation Zhu Youjian wants.

In order to maintain this situation, the importance of the old port is needless to say, but to control the old port well, there must be a land route that can extend to the old port.

Recover Annan, connect Daming, Gan Bozhi, and Siam, then the Ming army can rely on the army to go south from the land to Malacca.

Stationing troops in Annan, as long as Siam and Gan Bozhi are not stupid, they will not disobey Ming's orders and realize complete vassal rule.

For the obedient vassal state, Zhu Youjian has no need to occupy it, nor does it need any bloody means.

The population is the market, and the army is the means to guarantee the market.

With the deterrence of the army, Ming's goods can flow into various vassal states continuously, and the population of nearly ten million vassal states brings to Ming a trade volume of several million taels of silver and nearly one million taels of tariffs.

"The lower officials thought that Annan's actions were a challenge to the majesty of our Ming Dynasty. They should send troops to deal a head-on blow and completely recover Annan by the way."

In the face of the school examination, Gu Bingqian stood up without hesitation, and took the blame for Zhu Youjian with righteous words.

"Send troops to Annan to quell the rebels in the territory!"

"Send troops! Naturally send troops!"

With Gu Bingqian taking the lead, everyone knew what Zhu Youjian wanted to hear, so they all went up and asked, and Zhu Youjian also said when he saw this:

"Since Mr. Gu Ge said so, all the land tax and tax money in the six provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Huguang will be collected in October and shipped to Lin'an Prefecture in Yunnan, Zhennanguan in Guangxi, and Lianzhou Prefecture in Guangdong. .”

"Designate Hong Chengchou as the Cochin Governor's Office, governing the Western Army's Governor's Mansion, the Southern Army's Governor's Mansion, and the Navy's Governor's Mansion. He will set off on the winter month ([-]th) of this year, recover Annan as Jiaozhi, and set up the Jiaozhi Chief Envoy!"

"Your Highness, thousand years old..." Hearing Zhu Youjian's order, the people headed by Gu Bingqian flattered one after another.

No one asked why troops were sent in Dongyue, because officials who knew Annan well knew the weather in Annan at this time.

The temperature in Annan in the winter month is relatively pleasant, such as the weather in September in the Central Plains, which is very suitable for sending troops.

What surprised all the officials was that with a wave of Zhu Youjian's hand, Hong Chengchou was able to control nearly [-] soldiers and horses in the three prefectures, and also allocated taxes to the six provinces.

Among the taxes in these six provinces, only the taxes in Sichuan and Huguang are taxed. After the two departments collect taxes on salt and tea, the tax money on the books is a huge two million taels, and the land tax is as high as more than five million shi.

Together with the other four provinces, the scale of tax and silver can reach about [-] million taels, and the scale of land tax can reach more than [-] million shi.

Although it can't be compared with the Battle of Sweeping North, Hong Chengchou is the most important person.

Hong Chengchou was only thirty-three years old. Above the imperial court, most of his age was a fifth-rank official or a subordinate fourth-rank official.

Zhu Youjian entrusted him with a heavy responsibility, and if he is defeated, he also needs to take responsibility.

Although Hong Chengchou had many victories, it was the first time that he led so many troops alone.

However, since it was made by Zhu Youjian, naturally no one dared to refute it. All the officials shouted Chitose one after another, as if Zhu Youjian had made such a great decision.

After the announcement, Zhu Youjian also asked Bi Ziyan, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs:

"Today's court meeting, the Ministry of Households will first report last year's Daming's household registration, land acres, commercial taxes, customs duties, and land taxes!"

"Abiding by the order..." Hearing that Zhu Youjian asked the household department to speak first, Bi Ziyan was not stage-frightened, but read directly to the wat board:

"Last year I was in the sixteen provinces of the two capitals of the Ming Dynasty, with [-] hectares of land, [-] mu and [-] per cent of land, and [-] households. The population is [-]."

In less than two months, Daming suddenly traced out more than [-] people. Obviously, as Zhu Youjian expected, the number of black households in Daming is still huge.

"During the two months from the winter month to the twelfth lunar month last year, a total of [-] people were born among the people, and [-] people died of illness or old age."

Suddenly, Bi Ziyan reported a data that the officials had never heard of, and when the data was reported, Bi Ziyan paused for a while.

After the courtiers heard it, they began to discuss in a low voice. Zhu Youjian did not stop this behavior, but gave them a cup of tea to discuss.

"clang--"

After the prime minister of Honglu Temple rang the bell at a corner of the main hall, all the officials closed their mouths.

They closed their mouths, and Zhu Youjian, who was sitting in a high position, was about to speak: "You may be wondering why Gu asked Bi Shangshu to report this amount."

"Perhaps all of you have also experienced that when a baby was born in the family in the past two months, the subordinate staff came to check."

Zhu Youjian glanced at the officials in the hall, and then said:

"From now on, this kind of counting will be normalized. Once a boy or girl is born in each prefecture, it must be registered and recorded. Anyone who violates the law will be fined three hundred cash. If anyone dares to abandon it, the whole family will be exiled to the army. If the neighbors do not report it, they will be directly exiled!"

Zhu Youjian issued a very strict policy, especially the last one, which is equivalent to the continuous sitting system.

As for why Zhu Youjian did this, it was obviously to make the yellow book statistics more real.

Most of the time, the emperor underestimated how powerful his dynasty was, among which were the acreage and population.

Why did the Song and Sui dynasties dare to exploit the people so much?It's not just that the population counting is done well, knowing how much each common people can bear.

Of course, this is only one aspect, what is more important is another...

"Didn't you all know about the trend of drowning female infants among the people?"

"The people are poor, and the imperial court understands it. Therefore, when one person has three acres of land, it has never been biased by men and women."

"Right now, there are still people in Fatian who dare to drown baby girls. It's not because of poverty, but because they provoke the court."

"If the trend is not controlled, will my Daming become a world without women in the long run?!"

Zhu Youjian's sudden loud voice caused echoes from the Hall of the Emperor and the square outside the Hall of the Emperor, and the officials knew what Zhu Youjian wanted to say.

In ancient times, the situation of "preferring sons to daughters" was very common. In the ancient inscriptions, it was considered that it is good to have a boy, and it is not good to have a daughter. Later, there was a saying that sons inherit the incense.

Therefore, in order to "continue to have children", many families must give birth to a son no matter how many girls are born in the past.

Zhu Youjian was naturally extremely annoyed when he saw the trend of people indulging in baby girls.

You must know that the territory of the Ming Dynasty is so vast, there is still an old port with millions of square kilometers, but only [-] million Han people, and the northeast and northwest regions that have not yet been recaptured.

If these areas do not have a certain number of Han Chinese, it will be difficult to stabilize.

After all, without women, men in Ming Dynasty can't be single, right?
It's okay to talk about places like Annan and Toungoo, but what about other places?Like the old port, is it possible to intermarry with the local short blacks?

Although Daming did not carefully divide the data of men and women, it is certain that there are more men than women. For Zhu Youjian, population is an important resource for maintaining the stability of Daming's current territory.

It was precisely because of this that he issued such a strict policy, and all the officials in the court were looking at each other with their eyes and noses at their hearts.

They all knew that if the people really wanted to drown the baby girl, the local government would not be able to find out much, so they only hoped that Zhu Youjian would forget about it later.

But they think too easily, Zhu Youjian is not the emperor, he is the king of Qi, if he wants to pay attention to one thing, he will have more energy than the emperor.

"From now on, the number of yamen servants in the Ministry of Punishment will increase by another [-] people. If anyone finds out that someone has concealed the child's report, a reward of [-] yuan will be given!"

"The Dali Temple in the county government office is responsible for the trial and verification."

Zhu Youjian offered attractive conditions. Although he knew that there would be many false cases, he still ordered.

He knew very well that the common people drowned baby girls not because they didn't like them, but because their families were poor, women's productivity was not as good as men's, and they couldn't support their mouths.

Therefore, strict investigation is only one point, and increasing the income of the people is the most important thing.

So, after announcing this policy, he looked at Bi Ziyan and said:

"Beginning this year, Liaodong, Jiugang and other places began to resume tax collection. Those with babies can receive six shi of land reclamation grain from the government, and exchange land reclamation subsidies for male and female babies, or relocation orders."

"Relocate people in Hetao, Jiugang and other places, regardless of gender, they will all have ten acres of land."

"Follow the order..." Bi Ziyan responded, and Zhu Youjian motioned him to continue.

Seeing this, Bi Ziyan also responded to Zhu Youjian:
"Last year, I paid a total of [-] taels of customs duties in the city and city, more than [-] taels of land tariffs, and more than [-] taels of city entry tax."

"The two capitals and sixteen provinces handed in a total of [-] taels of miscellaneous items, and the mining tax of the old port was [-] taels."

"Tian Fu half wheat [-] stones, six buckets and nine liters, Tian Fu millet [-] stones, one bucket and one liter, [-] pieces of color More than three hundred taels."

"The two departments of salt and tea paid a total of [-] taels of silver, three cents and two cents"

Bi Ziyan's words made all the officials look sideways, because judging from the accounts of the household department, it seems that Daming's cash income has exceeded two-thirds of the land tax.

Apparently, Ming Dynasty was transforming from a dynasty with pure agricultural income to a dynasty with parallel commerce and agriculture.

"Starting this year, all customs duties and entry taxes on land will be abolished. If there are any taxes collected, the whole family will be exiled to Dongshan Mansion, Old Port."

As soon as Zhu Youjian opened his mouth, he would cancel all customs duties and city entry taxes on land. The combined tax items of the two are more than [-] taels, which is not a small amount of income.

In this way, the abolition will be abolished, which will inevitably make all the officials hesitate to speak.

They were afraid of Zhu Youjian, but wanted to persuade them, and those who dared to speak were undoubtedly some people who were more familiar with Zhu Youjian.

"Your Highness, is it too hasty to abolish customs duties and city entry taxes?"

It was Zuo Guangdou who spoke. He was not a beneficiary, but he felt that after the abolition of the tax system, it would be difficult to increase it.

At that time, the imperial court will not have enough money, and there will be problems and difficulties in collecting it.

However, Zhu Youjian has his own plans for this.

He abolished customs duties and city taxes, not for fun, but to lighten the burden on the peasants.

The tax items of the two seem to be only three hundred thousand taels, but in fact the amount collected may be double, triple, or even several times that.

It's just that the money didn't go into the treasury, but into the hands of some subordinate officials and soldiers who set up roadblocks to block the way.

Zhu Youjian thought that instead of reducing the land tax, it would be better to directly cancel some miscellaneous items to reduce the burden on the people.

The official tax in Ming Dynasty, that is, the land tax, is only one thirty-one tax, and the tax rate is extremely low. The real big burden for the people is the dozens of various tax items on miscellaneous items.

The abolition of these tax items will not only abolish a group of subordinate officials and military officials, but also benefit the people and reduce their burden.

If all miscellaneous items are abolished at any time, and the royal store simply conducts trade and pays taxes, then the tax collection process will be much simpler.

What Zhu Youjian wanted was a Ming Dynasty with low land tax, high commercial tax, and high tariff.

It is the peasants at the bottom that need to be benefited, and the exploitation is transferred from the common people to domestic merchants and foreign merchants.

Instead of collecting the miscellaneous items of two or three million taels of silver, it is better to directly abolish it, increase the scale of trade between the East and the West, and increase the tariff in Malacca by 10%.

Anyway, the current tax rate in Europe is 30% or 40%, and the tariff rate of the Ming Dynasty is still too low.

No matter how hard it is for outsiders, call him Zhu Youjian to take care of it...

　The update was delayed due to work, and the update in the afternoon is estimated to be postponed to between five and six o'clock due to work problems.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)