Daming: Start with an Altar of Luck

Chapter 94 Loyal minister?Then do your best for your country! (Please subscribe!)

For a while, the atmosphere in Wenhua Palace was so quiet that you could hear a needle drop.

Shen Rong, who was kneeling on the ground, had big beads of sweat on his forehead, and his clothes were soaked in sweat on his back. Even so, Shen Rong didn't dare to move.

He understands that the life and death of their Shen family is at this moment. After it is over, today he lives and the Shen family lives, but if he dies today, the Shen family will die.

The atmosphere in Wenhua Hall became more and more heavy, and Shen Rong, who was kneeling on the ground, felt as if he was carrying a mountain on his back.

"Get up." Old Zhu's voice came.

When Shen Rong heard Lao Zhu's voice, it was like the sound of heaven. In an instant, he felt that the 'big mountain' on his body was gone, and the air in the hall seemed to be filled with fragrance. For a moment, he looked at the floor tiles in front of him and felt that the floor tiles were extremely beautiful.

The world has changed from being dark to colorful. Shen Rong can guarantee that he is absolutely right. After Lao Zhu ascended the throne, he has not seen it before. The Zhu Yuanzhang at that time is definitely different from the current Zhu Yuanzhang.

When he saw Zhu Yuanzhang now, he felt that the emperor's favor was like a sea, and the holy prestige was like a prison. The whole world seemed to be divided into three layers.

These thoughts only passed in his mind for a moment, and Shen Rong immediately said: "Thank you Your Majesty for your grace."

After finishing speaking, he slowly got up, but unfortunately he was a little old, and his legs and feet might not be particularly agile, or he was pressed by Lao Zhu's heavenly power just now, so he didn't get up all of a sudden.

"Er Hu, give a seat to Patriarch Shen. Patriarch Shen's spirit of selfless dedication to Daming is worthy of praise and worth learning from everyone in the south of the Yangtze River." Lao Zhu ordered Er Hu to bring a chair for Shen Rong.

Shen Rong thanked Lao Zhu for a few words, and then sat gently on the chair, but he only dared to sit halfway, and he didn't sit solidly, but just sat empty.

"Patriarch Shen's spirit of donating all the property of the family is commendable. Tomorrow, we will send people to spread the name to the world, so that everyone in the world will know the spirit of Patriarch Shen's selfless dedication, and also let the families in Jiangnan learn more about Patriarch Shen's worry." The virtue of caring for the country and the people."

As soon as Shen Rong heard Zhu Yuanzhang's words, the sweat on his body couldn't help but kept pouring out again. Once the news of this became known to the world tomorrow, all the wealthy merchants in Jiangnan would probably tear their Shen family alive.

Shen Rong panicked in his heart at this time, originally he only wanted to save his family from this catastrophe, but he didn't expect Zhu Yuanzhang to be more ruthless, that's all the words, if he is not more ruthless, I am afraid that the Shen family will Still can't escape the catastrophe of genocide.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, the grassroots are just doing what they can." Shen Rong naturally did not dare to refuse Zhu Yuanzhang's proposal.

"Well, if it's all right, you can go down!" Lao Zhu looked at Shen Rong in front of him, knowing that Shen Rong still had some calculations in his mind, but this Shen Rong was not honest until now, and he still wanted to wait for him to speak first , so Lao Zhu directly prepared to let Shen Rong go down.

Hearing Lao Zhu's words, Shen Rong became anxious. Originally, he contributed his family property, so it would be fine if Lao Zhu kept quiet, but now he not only wanted to spread the word to the world, but also called on the Jiangnan family to learn from his deeds, which really set him on fire. Come on, if he doesn't deal with those merchants in the south of the Yangtze River, his Shen family will be dealt with by them.

"Your Majesty, there is one more thing for Caomin." After sitting for only 2 minutes, Shen Rong knelt down again. At the same time, he also understood that Zhu Yuanzhang might have seen through all the little calculations in his heart, and Shen Rong was going to be honest. The whole story was told.

A few days ago, the giant merchants from the south of the Yangtze River gathered in Suzhou to discuss and resist Lao Zhu’s demand for money and food. After refusing, he agreed again. He didn't dare to hide anything, and told all the details, even the fact that the Jiangnan family chose him as the leader, he didn't dare to hide, he told the truth.

After finishing speaking, he took out a memorial from his sleeve again and handed it to Erhu who was standing aside.

"Your Majesty, this is the list of all the families that participated in the meeting, as well as the estimated property of the family. As for the property of their family, it will only be more than what is stated in the booklet, and it will definitely not be less."

Shen Rong was going all out anyway, once word got out that he gave all his wealth tomorrow, these people would probably kill him too, so it's better to kill them now.

Is it true that a dead poor Taoist is not a dead fellow Taoist? If it weren't for someone in the court who owed him a favor and leaked some information to him, plus Shen Rong's own guess, Shen Rong would not be willing to hand over all his property. You must know that the money is his. His lifeblood, but now that his life is almost gone, what's the use of keeping money.

Ever since they got together in Suzhou last time, the imperial court has been eyeing these giant merchants in the south of the Yangtze River.

Shen Rong is also helpless, he has already been caught by the braid, if he is not smarter, maybe tomorrow will be the point where the Ming Iron Cavalry breaks the door and the Shen family is wiped out.

The purpose of handing over the money and food accumulated by the family for several generations is to ask the Shen family to save their lives. As long as their lives are saved, Shen Rong believes that the money donated by their Shen family will be earned back sooner or later.

Lao Zhu took the memorial and looked at it roughly. The names of the people were the same as those reported by Jin Yiwei, but Shen Rong's list listed the general property of each family in more detail than that reported by Jin Yiwei.

You must know that most of the Jinyiwei are still scattered in the late Ming world, and only a small part is left on Hongwu's side, and the intelligence capabilities are already so terrible.

"Well, Patriarch Shen is quite sensible. You must know that at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were always some people with two hearts who hoped that Meng Yuan would call back again. However, these people are just whimsical. But, our Daming needs Shen The head of the family is such a person for the country and the people."

As soon as Lao Zhu said this, a smile appeared on Shen Rong's lowered face, but before he could continue to be happy, Lao Zhu's next sentence came.

"However, we heard that these people in the brochures are all patriots, and some people also said that they are all willing to contribute selflessly to Daming. In this way, let's hand over an errand to the Shen family. After it is done, the Shen family will be the same as it was before. .”

Old Zhu didn't care whether Shen Rongtong agreed or not, and continued: "We sent a thousand households to lead troops to protect Patriarch Shen, and Patriarch Shen will visit them one by one according to the booklet, and collect the money and food they donated to Daming. How about we send someone to take over and drag it to Yingtian?"

Shen Rong deliberately refused to agree, but he didn't dare, because after Lao Zhu finished saying "how", the pressure like a mountain like a prison fell on Shen Rong again.

"Caomin, you must handle this matter well for Your Majesty, and never waste the good intentions of the patriots." After Shen Rong said these words, the pressure on his body disappeared.

In fact, there are 1 unwilling people in Shen Rong's heart. His original intention was to directly kill these people, and it would be over once and for all. But what Lao Zhu meant was that he didn't want them all to die. way of life.

Shen Rong didn't know if these people would hate Daming after emptying their families, but they would definitely hate Shen Rong to death.

"For the sake of the Shen family, but no matter what, I will search all of your family property." Shen Rong sighed secretly in his heart.

"Go down, we will send someone to help you." Old Zhu didn't want to see Shen Rong anymore. Anyway, in Lao Zhu's eyes, these people were lambs waiting to be slaughtered. If they were fat, he would cut them and let them go back and raise them. If you are fat, kill it with a knife.

If you have the courage to make trouble, you have to see whether Zhu Yuanzhang's sword is sharp or not.

Shen Rong hurriedly resigned, and did not let out a long breath until he left the Wenhua Palace. He only felt that Zhu Yuanzhang was becoming more and more unfathomable, and the emperor's palace was also unfathomable to ordinary people.

Then Shen Rong followed the guards in the palace and walked out of the palace.

"Er Hu, send some people to keep an eye on those families who went to Suzhou last time, and the family can't run away. This Shen Rong is more ruthless than I imagined. The money and food are collected according to the amount reported by Shen Rong, one tael of silver. No less, once there is no shortage of food."

Lao Zhu told Erhu that although he had Jin Yiwei to collect information, he never thought that these merchants in Jiangnan had hidden gold and silver far beyond his imagination.

The most important thing is the huge amount of grain. The grain in the hands of the world in the south of the Yangtze River is what Lao Zhu values ​​most.

Once they can take out the grain on the booklet, all the troops in Ming Dynasty will not need him to adjust the grain for two years, and you will know how much grain these families in the south of the Yangtze River have hidden.

There are even many families who have more food than gold and silver.

There are dozens of families in the south of the Yangtze River in the late Yuan Dynasty, and so much gold, silver, grain and grass can be scraped out. Lao Zhu is more interested in the important place in the south of the Yangtze River in the late Ming Dynasty, and hopes that Hu Weiyong can give himself a surprise.

As for why Hu Weiyong was brought over to raid his home, it was naturally arranged by Lao Zhu. Hu Weiyong was quick-witted, and he did things by any means, just to achieve his goal. Find out all the silver grain and grass.

The current Ming Dynasty barely lacks silver. What is lacking is population, food and grass. Fortunately, there will be no shortage of population in the Ming Dynasty. As far as the Ming court has recorded a population of more than 5000 million, plus the hidden population in various places, the number will only increase. more or less.

Of course, not everyone migrates. Priority is given to relocating those with fine-looking men at home, and those with families and children are given priority, because those with families and children are generally more stable and less prone to accidents.

Just like most companies in the later generations like to recruit people who have a family, a mouth and a mortgage, it is easy to control, do what you want, and get out if you don’t, and because you have a family, children and loans, no matter how the company is For employees, how to work overtime, the turnover rate of such people is always the lowest.

If you recruit some young people, the kind who can eat enough for one person and the whole family is not hungry, just quit if you say no, and leave as soon as you say, it will really cause headaches for future generations of bosses.

The same is true for the migration of the Ming Dynasty. Those who drag their families and bring their mouths will be relocated first, and the land will be allocated. The imperial court will lend you money. You can buy grain and grain, so that you have grain to grow and food to eat. Of course, this money is only to guarantee you The family will not die of hunger when the autumn harvest comes next year.

It can also be regarded as a means for Ming Dynasty to control the people who migrated here. Otherwise, where did the court come from so many people to manage these people.

Since ancient times, imperial power does not go to the countryside. This time Lao Zhu is planning to directly break this unspoken rule by taking advantage of the large population migration. What does it mean that imperial power does not go to the countryside? minister.

And the people who migrated here are the best choice to break this situation. Let's transfer a large number of people directly to your village, and ensure that there are no fewer people than your village. After that, you can see who has the final say.

As long as there is a conflict between the two sides, Lao Zhu can send people from the court to the countryside officially.

Lao Zhu has already communicated with the official department about this matter, and the official department has a large headcount, so you don't need to calculate it, you can know how huge the manpower gap for the officials who have been sent to the countryside is.

Every day the Ministry of Officials is discussing how to solve it. In the end, the Ministry of Officials did not come up with a good solution. They could only propose to restart the imperial examination. Therefore, the officials are selecting scholars every day.

Now not only Hongwu Daming is short of officials, but also the world at the end of Ming Dynasty. Although being an official there is only temporary, and he will return to Hongwu Daming after a while, but the imperial court does not have so many backup talents to choose, so Lao Zhu Will choose to speed up the migration rate, because there are too few managers in hand.

"Two Tigers, how is Kong Kejian doing now?" Just as Shen Rong left, Lao Zhu suddenly remembered Kong Kejian, Duke Yan who was captured by Xu Da.

"Your Majesty, when Kong Kejian was first captured, he still expected his father to come back. His mouth was always firm, but Meng Yuan hadn't come back for such a long time. He probably couldn't be loyal to his king anymore. Father is dead, so he gave in early, but Daming has too many things recently, and he is still in prison!"

Erhu thought about it in his mind, and then replied to Lao Zhu.

"Hmph, the unfaithful and unrighteous people would have died a long time ago if they hadn't been left behind by their ancestors." Lao Zhu didn't have a good impression of the Kong family. You must know that although most of the Kong family are still in Shandong, this Kong Kejian But the Minister of Rites of the Yuan Dynasty who was captured by Xu Da.

"However, this Confucian family is really tricky and difficult to deal with." Lao Zhu secretly thought that no matter how many times the Confucian family surrendered in history, scholars all over the world still respect Confucius and learn the essence of Confucianism.

Just when the Wenhua Palace fell silent again, someone outside the palace circulated that the Crown Prince had come.

Only then did Lao Zhu stop thinking in his mind.

"Let Biaoer come in."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Erhu, you go down first."

"The minister obeys the order."

After the two tigers retreated, Zhu Biao pushed open the door of the Wenhua Palace and walked in. As soon as he entered, he saw Lao Zhu frowning, wondering what he was thinking.

"When did father become so melancholy?"

Zhu Biao was curious, what else in Daming could cause Lao Zhu such a headache now.

"Biao'er, we did encounter a rather difficult matter. Kong Kejian, the Kong family who was captured by Xu Da, surrendered, but we don't want to use him, and we don't even want to see such a family of traitors who have surrendered."

"The Kong family?" Zhu Biao frowned slightly, and then let go.

"Father, this guy who is a world cultivator who surrendered his watch, refused to surrender before, but now he sees that the Yuan Dynasty has no hope of coming back, so he has the idea of ​​surrendering!"

"That's what we think too. There were slaves with three surnames in ancient times, and now there is the Kong family. This Kong family is more shameless than everyone else." Lao Zhu really doesn't like the public family, and looks down on spineless guys like the Kong family.

"Father, I suggest that Kong Kejian be loyal to Meng Yuan!" Zhu Biaoyun calmly said something that surprised Old Zhu.

"Didn't the Kong family talk about loyalty to the emperor since ancient times? Give the Kong family and Kong Kejian a chance. Maybe the reputation of the Kong family will improve after Kong Kejian commits suicide. After all, he is also loyal to Meng Yuan."

"In this case, how will scholars in the world think of me, Daming?" Old Zhu frowned slightly.

"Father, the Confucian family is not Confucius. I believe that scholars in the world want to have Confucius instead of the Confucian family! Besides, our Ming Dynasty is different from all dynasties in history. The Confucian family does not have that much influence in our Ming Dynasty. Knowing that I, the Ming Dynasty, founded the country after expelling the Tartars, who can say anything?"

Zhu Biao didn't want such a family to remain in the Ming Dynasty. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, this Kong family was the first to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. Whenever the Kong family was mentioned, Zhu Biao felt sick.

I just want to ask the Confucius family face to face, is this how Confucius taught his descendants to be loyal to the emperor and serve the country?

And to be honest, the Confucian family did not have much influence in Ming Dynasty. It must be known that none of the high-ranking people in Ming Dynasty came from orthodox Confucianism.

Prime Minister Li Shanchang was neither, and Lao Zhu had never been taught Confucianism since he was a child. On the contrary, Zhu Biao had received more Confucian education, because Song Lian was a famous Confucianist in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties.

Old Zhu looked at Zhu Biao in surprise. You must know that Zhu Biao was taught by very orthodox Confucianism, and at this time he was able to say such disrespectful words to the Confucian family. It is conceivable that Old Zhu was shocked.

At the same time, Lao Zhu was also reflecting on himself in his heart. He had obtained the Altar of Luck for so long, but his thoughts had not completely changed. He still had a slight awe of the Kong family, thinking that the Kong family represented the scholars of the world.

"Well, what Biao'er said is good. We still think that the Kong family passed down by Confucius will definitely be loyal to the emperor and patriotic. Now that Meng Yuan has been destroyed, it is really unreasonable for the Kong family not to follow the martyrdom. So let's do this, find someone to arrange for Meng Yuan The loyal ministers went on the road, all in the name of their loyalty."

Old Zhu said decisively, as for the Kong family wanting to wrestle with Daming?Sorry, the Kong family is not worthy. Daming was brought down bit by bit by Lao Zhu. The China restored after driving away the Tartars, and even the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun, which had been lost for hundreds of years, were all brought back by Daming.

Now there is no one in Daming who wants to wrestle with Lao Zhu. Even if they have some thoughts in their hearts, they honestly suppress their unwillingness and dare not reveal the slightest thought. They didn't see that Shen Rong knew that Lao Zhu was after them. , Did you bring all your wealth with you right away?
As I said before, as long as Lao Zhu is alive, no one in the Ming Dynasty dares to jump out, and none of the civil servants and military generals dare to stab them. Killing, do you see anyone who dares to jump out and rebel openly?It's not that he can only accept Lao Zhu's trial honestly.

What is the most righteous way to win a country?Zhu Yuanzhang, the most righteous man in the country, is also!
(End of this chapter)