Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 1087: It’s hard for rich water to drain away from people’s fields

Boss Zhu and the prince were so shocked that they were speechless for a long time when Lao Liu showed off their report cards. Even a little unbelievable...

Of course, the main reason is that Boss Zhu has the delusion of being deceived: "Didn't you say that Yunnan has high mountains and dense forests, poisonous insects everywhere, and miasma? How come from your mouth, it sounds like paradise on earth?"

"What my father said is absolutely correct. Yunnan is just like Jiangnan, Huguang, and Lingnan in the past. It has not yet been transformed by us Han people. In fact, more than half of the residents have suffered from malaria, even my sons and daughters are no exception... Look at me All lost weight."

"Have you lost weight?" The emperor and the prince looked at each other, but they really couldn't tell this.

"Why does this big-faced plate feel more rounded? Who cares? This is..." Boss Zhu commented unscrupulously.

Zhu Biao couldn't help but look at his father's face, which was as round as a glutinous rice dumpling...

"Well, that's not the point..." Zhu Yuanzhang touched his face guiltily and changed the subject: "You also had malaria? How did you get better?"

"It was Fifth Brother's wonderful rejuvenation. Not only did he cure Erchen's malaria, but the whole Yunnan also changed because he no longer talked about abuse."

While boasting, Zhu Zhen did not forget to take his dear fifth brother with him. Of course, the contribution of King Zhou cannot be overstated. "His Royal Medical Temple Military Hospital is the protector of all soldiers and civilians!"

"Yes, Father." The prince responded with a smile.

He said in a deep voice: "Boss, I have issued an edict to commend Lao Wu and ask him to promote the "Pocket Prescription" and "Herbal Medicine for Relief of Famines" throughout the country."

"There is one thing, please remember, it's okay if you don't show your face, but you can't show your butt and balls anymore!"

"It's really..." Zhu Yuanzhang sighed after hearing this: "If there had been such a book back then, maybe a few more people in our family would have survived..."

"As for the matters in Yunnan, let's deal with what you two want first." Zhu Yuanzhang was basically relieved now.

"Hey, I remember." Zhu Zhen nodded quickly and asked tentatively:

"He also wrote a book called "Herbal for Famine Relief", which used pictures to introduce to immigrants which local wild vegetables could be eaten and how to eat them safely. He was the biggest behind-the-scenes contributor to the Yunnan military and civilians' ability to successfully survive the most difficult first year."

"More than just two brushes?" Zhu Zhen said sternly: "Fifth Brother is truly a master of kindness. He saw that in the southwest border, the local customs were backward, the sanitary conditions were poor, infectious diseases and various diseases were rampant, and the people of all ethnic groups There was a general shortage of doctors and medicines, so we organized the doctors from the Imperial Medical Temple and the military hospital to compile a "Pocket Prescription" with cheap, convenient and practical prescriptions and distributed them. I don't know how many lives of soldiers and civilians in the field and local natives were saved."

"Well, Lao Wu is pretty good." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded happily: "In the past few years, no one who has been vaccinated against acne has developed smallpox. This kid does have two brushes!"

"Besides, how has Father considered the matter that I mentioned last time?"

"You mean to use Yunnan as a pilot project to actually grant vassal kings and enfeoff towns with honors?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked lightly.

"Yes." Zhu Zhen nodded. He had repeatedly discussed this matter with his brothers, and basically got his eldest brother's approval. However, he was very cautious when mentioning it to his father. He mentioned it for the first time because Boss Zhu sent him to Yunnan to fight the fire last time. Because the matter was too sensitive, the father and son never mentioned a word in their letters afterwards, so Zhu Zhen could only ask his father's attitude after meeting in person.

"As for the actual title of vassal king, this is not a big problem. Originally, we planned to actually seal your brothers to the border and let you guard the four directions for your eldest brother." Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a moment and said:
"But we have never been able to figure out whether it is right or wrong to grant a real seal to an honorable noble."

The current title of Duke and Marquis in the Ming Dynasty is just an honorary title that represents a high status and can receive a generous salary. It has nothing to do with land and population.

What Zhu Zhen wants to pilot in Yunnan is the ancient method of rewarding land, including the population on the land, to meritorious ministers——

The heroes of a fief must be loyal to the monarch and bear the obligation to pay taxes and provide soldiers in wartime; at the same time, they have jurisdiction over the people in the fief and have the right to levy taxes on the fief.

There is no doubt that this is the most attractive reward for the ministers. Who doesn’t want to own a fiefdom that can be passed down to future generations? It will definitely inspire them to make great achievements.

But the problem is the consequences of this feudal system. The history of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods has clearly demonstrated this. Boss Zhu does not want his descendants to become the emperors of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and he does not want any vassal to become powerful in the future and replace him with the old Zhu family.

Therefore, he has always been noncommittal to Zhu Zhen's proposal.

"My father is only worried about repeating the mistakes of the Zhou Dynasty, but I think it is unnecessary." Zhu Zhen knew the old thief's thoughts clearly, and persuaded him in a deep voice:
"First of all, the situation of the Ming Dynasty was completely different from that of the Zhou Dynasty. Limited by the level of national power at that time, the scope of the Zhou emperor's jurisdiction was only the land of Guanzhong, while the Guandong, Central Plains, Shandong and other places entrusted by the princes, after hundreds of years of development and annexation, its strength has far exceeded that of Gyeonggi.”

"This is not the case in the Ming Dynasty. The emperor sits in the capital and directly governs the trillions of people in thirteen provinces. His strength is unparalleled. There is no need to worry about being surpassed by his vassals."

"Secondly, although no one understood it at the time, everyone can see now that the place where Emperor Zhou divided the princes was so good that he almost divided the center and essence of the world. How could he not raise tigers?"

"Now in the Ming Dynasty, the territory under the direct jurisdiction of the emperor has reached its limit. To the east and south is the vast sea, to the north is the endless desert, and to the west are the towering mountains. All of them have harsh environments and sparsely populated areas... Only in the southwest, the population and The environment is acceptable, but it is also far away from the high mountains and it is difficult to directly assign officials to administer it. Otherwise, my father would not have issued an edict that there will be no floating officials outside Sanjiang..."

"Come again," Zhu Yuanzhang rolled his eyes at him angrily: "You can't get over this knot, right?"

"Haha, I just discussed the matter without any intention of criticizing my father." Zhu Zhen hurriedly said with a smile.

"But there is something you said rightly." Zhu Yuanzhang was not really angry, and continued in a deep voice:

"Actually, we were expelling the Tartars, recovering Yanyun, and restoring the territory of the Han and Tang Dynasties, unifying the country. At that time, when we looked around the outside of the territory, we found that all the barbarians in the four directions were isolated by mountains and seas, and their land was not enough to provide food. , it is not enough to gain the people to make an order. It is not cost-effective to mobilize troops to defeat them."

"Governing a country is the same as doing business. You can do any kind of business, but you can't do money-losing business. Otherwise, no matter how strong the country is, it will lose all its wealth." Boss Zhu paused and continued:
"So from that moment on, we decided that enough was enough, and we would stop after taking Yunnan. We could not be like Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty, who was so happy about his achievements and went on a military rampage."

"Father, please see me." Zhu Zhen quickly flattered him.

(End of this chapter)