Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 148 The plan of a century begins with silicon steps

The collision of thinking is often the most intense.

In the traditional concept of governing a country, the ruler and the people are clearly distinguished. It is a matter of course for the people to respect the ruler, and it is only right for the ruler to love the people.

Even if it is obvious that the people in the area have been affected by the disaster, as long as you reduce taxes in the disaster area, it is already a kindness from the world, and this is already the benevolent government that everyone talks about.

In this game of power, if officials from various places can petition for tax cuts for certain people, they are already famous ministers, and they will also be talked about by the world.

It's just that the emperor sitting on the dragon chair doesn't play such childish games at all, but focuses on the basic necessities of the people.

In order to achieve the purpose of reducing the price of cotton cloth, there is no concept of grain collection in their eyes, and they even hesitate to sacrifice their interests, but it is a bloody long-term plan.

If they can really make cotton cloth like books, and take some measures to lower the price of cotton cloth, this move will be hundreds of times stronger than those officials who applied for tax exemption for the disaster area.

Asking for tax exemption for the disaster is just to let the victims continue to breathe, but Zhu Youtang wants to keep the people alive and live a better life.

At such a moment, they felt that the person sitting on the dragon chair was not a man, but a real god, a god who would bring light to this world.

"It's the blessing of thousands of people for the great Ming Dynasty to win a virtuous master!" Xu Qiong, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, understood Zhu Youtang's intentions and said sincerely.

Zhu Youtang knew that Xu Qiong was a sycophant, so he expressed his position lightly: "Now that the horoscope has not been written, don't rush to sycophant! It's just that I really want to make this happen, and I hope that all my loves will be loyal and wise. , give me a helping hand!"

"The ministers are willing to die for my subordinates!" Li Yu, Minister of the Ministry of officials, and other officials were also greatly impacted, and they should express their opinions together.

If there is a rank in governing the country, then the Mingjun earlier was not even a fart.

According to Zhu Youtang's new idea of ​​governing the country, although there will be various variables in reducing the price of cotton cloth, their direction is right after all.

If they really want to lower the price of cotton cloth like books, not to mention that they really want to leave a name in history, and the people can really benefit from it.

As an official, it is true that he wants to enshrine his wife and son, but he also wants to do some good things for the common people, and even more wants to make himself famous.

Now, they are facing such a golden opportunity. They will be the driving force behind the development of the cloth industry, and they will also be the eternal contributors to the decline in the price of cotton cloth.

Zhu Youtang naturally has no shortage of people who compliment him now, and the plaque of "Practice and Prosperity" hanging above his head is always alert to himself, and he said indifferently: "Since you have no objections, the first step is how to encourage The common people are planting cotton! Take a break, and you all go to the official room to change your clothes one by one! Liu Jin, you go to the imperial dining room and ask someone to prepare some refreshments, and send them to the ministers!"

Some of the officials present couldn't bear it anymore, so Dang even happily resigned and left.

Liu Jin liked the layout of this new hall very much, so she went to the dining room to prepare refreshments as instructed.

Wan An chose to stay, and suddenly knelt down to Zhu Youtang and said, "Your Majesty, I have a request regarding Yangzhou matters!"

"Old Wange, do you know why I haven't added cabinet ministers?" Zhu Youtang said with disappointment when he thought of the news that the Gao family had entered the Wanfu.

Wan An naturally knew that this was the strongest signal that he did not intend to let him leave, and immediately kowtowed heavily: "Your Majesty Long En, the old minister has nothing to repay, the only one is loyalty!"

"I know that Gao Heng, the Deputy Envoy of the Transshipment of the Two Huaihe Rivers, is the son of your benefactor, but his crime is unforgivable, you shouldn't come to me to beg for mercy!" Zhu Youtang said with a little disappointment when he saw him expressing his loyalty so much.

The civil official group is actually a huge network of interests, and these cabinet ministers have always had a master-student inheritance.

Gao Gu, the former chief assistant, passed on the power to Wan An and Liu Ji, and Wan An and Liu Ji passed on the power to Yang Tinghe in the original history, and Yang Tinghe also passed on the power to the famous Yan Song.

As for Xu Jie, Zhang Juzheng, and Zhang Siwei, this master-student relationship has long been familiar, and in the later period, the civil-official group developed into an integration of government and business, and later the Shanxi Gang and the Donglin Party came into being.

Li Zhiqing was able to act so boldly because he had an ally Gao Heng who had a great relationship. After all, Gao Heng's father, Gao Gu, was the teacher of Wan An and Liu Ji.

Now that Gao Heng is in prison, the Gao family members in Beijing went to Wan'an and Liu Ji's house in order to rescue him. As a result, Liu Ji directly turned him away, and Wan'an even brought him into his home.

Wan An's eyes were slightly red, but he shook his head gently and said, "Your Majesty misunderstood the old minister! Although the old minister is grateful for the teacher's guidance and support, but Gao Heng did such a thing that harmed the country and the people. Will you intercede for such a villain?"

"You are not asking for the Gao family, but what is your intention?" Zhu Youtang found that he seemed to have really misunderstood, so he asked in puzzlement.

Wan An raised his head to look at Zhu Youtang, and said his request: "The old minister has an old relationship with the Gao family. According to the accounting manual, the old minister... the old minister has collected 900 taels in total! , but the old official only felt that the crime was serious, so he pretended to agree to the invitation of the Gao family, and then paid him a small amount of 5000 taels. After talking, it was learned that the Gao family had Gao Heng's bribery account books in Beijing for so many years, and the old official had arranged servants to be by his side Waiting for an opportunity to steal it, please Xu old minister to pay for the crime!"

"So, you want to intercede for yourself!" Zhu Youtang couldn't help laughing when he saw that the gray-headed old man had such thoughts.

In fact, Wan'an didn't say anything, but he knew that Wan'an and Liu Ji must have taken Gao Heng's filial silver.

If he punished the two elders just for this reason, his emperor would indeed appear to be too harsh, and it would be detrimental to his subsequent governance.

In the positions of Wan'an and Liu Ji, it is common for local officials to pay hundreds of taels each time.After all, warning by ice, warning by charcoal, and warning by others has become one of the means of making money for important ministers to wander in the gray area.

It's just that Wan'an's desire to survive is so strong that while returning the stolen money, he also arranged for secret agents to steal the ledger from the Gao family, but he wanted to make up for it.

Wan An looked pitiful, nodded solemnly and said, "I implore Your Majesty to forgive me, please give this old minister a chance to reform!"

"Apart from Gao Heng who donated a lot, who else's tribute amount is obviously unreasonable?" Zhu Youtang actually didn't intend to punish Wan An, but he still asked with a straight face.

Wan An didn't seem to even think about it, and immediately gave a confession: "Zhou Nai, Governor of Water Transport!"

"As long as you can get the bribery account book, I will not only forgive you, but also give you a reward!" Seeing that Wan'an was really determined to survive, Zhu Youtang made a promise.

In the eyes of many people, it is unforgivable for a person like Wan An to take so much money.

It's just that this is true human nature. Even Yang Rong's family, one of the three Yangs who is recognized as a model of civil servants, is a malignant tumor, and the first corrupt man in Ming Dynasty is Xu Jie, who is known as a virtuous prime minister. Corrupt officials in this world cannot be killed at all.

If someone else was in Wan'an's position, he would still continue to take such gray filial silver.From now on, every person in power has said that he wants to govern with officials, but as a result, this officialdom has never been truly cleaned up.

The reason why the Hongzhi Dynasty in the original history seems to have relatively few corrupt officials is that the Hongzhi Dynasty has been controlled by the civil official group, so how can there be any reason to check yourself?

When Wan An heard Zhu Youtang's statement, he immediately said respectfully: "The old minister thanks Your Majesty Long En!"

In the capital city in mid-February, the spring is brilliant.

After finishing the discussion in the second half, Zhu Youtang took a leisurely stroll to the Jinao Yudi Bridge and was admiring the scenery of the lake and mountains in the middle of the bridge.

The spring breeze blows past, the lake surface is sparkling, the blue sky and white clouds are reflecting on the lake surface, and the Qionghua Island not far away is full of vitality.

Taiye Pool is the general name of the North Sea, Zhonghai and South China Sea. This water area covers most of the area of ​​Xiyuan from north to south.

In the entire city of Beijing, apart from this piece of water, only the north of the city has Houhai, one of the four seas.Now, even important court officials can't see the lake at the south of the city, but he can enjoy the scenery of the lake and mountains at home.

It's just that as an emperor, no matter whether it's the soft and fragrant beauty or the picturesque scenery in front of him, you can't really sink into it, but you must always remember your responsibilities and missions.

Cotton was the seed he planted in the first year of Hongzhi, but if he wanted it to bloom and bear fruit, he had to take good care of it, and even killed the pests that wanted to prevent the cotton from growing with his own hands.

In fact, unlike many traversers, what he believes in is development, not illicit plunder.

Forming a powerful army to snatch gold and silver from the royal families or tribal chiefs of various countries will bring money quickly, but it will not be conducive to long-term development.

The most important thing is that it is useless for Huaxia to simply plunder gold and silver to return to the country. The influx of a large amount of silver will only become a bargaining chip for the local class to squeeze out the means of production of the people.

Zhu Youtang knew that what he wanted was a truly powerful country. He could only follow the example of Britain in developing the textile industry and become the largest exporter of textiles. Only in this way can he obtain a steady stream of nutrients from all over the world to nourish China.

Of course, there is still a long way to go to achieve this, and even the support of flintlock guns is needed, and the expansion of cotton production is naturally only the first step.

"Your Majesty, this is the mansion newspaper that was released just now, please have a look!" Liu Jin hurried over and presented something that looked like a newspaper.

Originally, the Di Bao was under the responsibility of the Secretary of the General Administration, but the situation has changed now. This kind of public opinion killer no longer belongs to the civil official group, but is included in the newly established Wen Bao.

Zhu Youtang couldn't help nodding his head in satisfaction when he saw the report that he was plowing to increase cotton by borrowing gifts and soliciting skilled craftsmen for improving spinning machines from all over the country.

(End of this chapter)