Follow Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the country

Chapter 48 Zhu Yuanzhang: We can’t wait to copy all these gentry!

Zhang Cheng also looked at the mountains of gold and silver, and glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang.

"That's why I said that if we continue copying like this, the brothers will not be able to bear it."

Zhang Cheng spoke first.

"After all, many of them have never seen so much wealth. Even if some of them see five taels of silver, they will think it is a huge sum of money. Suddenly they know that these powerful bureaucrats have more than one hundred thousand taels of gold and silver per household. They What do you think?"

"Of course, this is also the result of the tax farming system in the Yuan Dynasty. The central court of the Yuan Dynasty was seriously short of money, but the bureaucrats and gentry in the middle were extremely rich because of the tax farming system. After all, the tax farming system allowed them to exploit the people even more harshly, and they could A large amount of the profits from smuggling in sea and border trade are for ourselves.”

"This also illustrates the importance of the system. Once the system is not good, the consequences will be endless. Therefore, in order to prevent the system from becoming a bad system as the world changes, we should always innovate."

"But having said that, we should now be wary that our rebel brothers will only want to keep looting the houses of powerful bureaucrats and not build!"

then.

Zhang Cheng explained his worries again, and therefore looked at Zhu Yuanzhang who was still looking up at mountains of gold and silver:

"That's why I asked you to come."

"Now the superiors need to make a decision and issue a notice to calm the people as soon as possible, stating that they will only copy those who disobey and commit great crimes, and publicly announce the crimes and punishments of those whose homes were searched, and promise to protect the property of the officials and gentry who are willing to obey the rebels or even serve in the rebel army; In addition, we issued a recruitment notice, asking them to serve as rebel officials, and warned all officers and men that anyone who violates the order and loots will be killed!"

"Furthermore, we should immediately send someone to tell Li Shanchang and the others that the house search should not be carried out excessively, and no lives should be lost because of the house search. Everyone who commits the crime must be punished according to the law."

"This is to stabilize the hearts of the gentry all over the world and let them know that our rebel army has not lost control."

"At the same time, it is not appropriate to announce the number of homes confiscated anymore, and the government schools involved in the property raids are required not to disclose the situation, and those who violate the order will be severely punished, so as to prevent the rebel brothers from knowing that there is too much disparity between the rich and the poor in the world. The enemy country no longer wants to cultivate fields and cultivate wasteland, and no longer wants to protect culture.”

After Zhang Cheng said this, he raised his hand to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not respond to Zhang Cheng. He only glanced at the belongings around him.

soon.

Zhu Yuanzhang noticed a large amount of moldy grain piled up in an area, and asked, "How could so much moldy grain be copied?"

"We have calculated that out of more than three million stones of grain, no less than three hundred thousand stones of grain are moldy. It is obviously because it has been stored for too long, so it has become moldy."

Zhang Cheng followed over and said something.

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang clenched his fists and said through gritted teeth: "In other words, they would rather let the food get moldy than use it to help the people?"

Zhang Cheng felt nervous, but still replied truthfully: "Yes!"

of course.

Zhang Cheng himself was not surprised by this.

Because he knew that this was the same as he would rather throw away the milk than give it to the poor.

Taking out a large amount of food to relieve a large number of people is a matter of consuming manpower, time and other costs. In comparison, it is better to let it rot.

In the era of information explosion in later generations, ordinary people have easily learned about this phenomenon.

It's just that in this era, news lags behind, and many phenomena are easier to hide. After all, books and articles are still basically controlled by powerful officials and gentry.

Therefore, Zhang Cheng didn't know whether Zhu Yuanzhang could bear such a fact.

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were indeed as cold as ice at this time: "Why are they so unkind?!"

"There are too many hungry people in need of relief!"

"So, if they use a large amount of food to help the people, they will suffer greater losses and take greater risks. It will not be worth the loss caused by it rotting for too long."

"At most, you only need to take part of the porridge. If you take too much, the cost will be too high. Not only the cost of manpower and material resources, but also the fear that the court will target them because they work too hard to help the people, which is the so-called political cost. the cost of."

Zhang Cheng also answered Zhu Yuanzhang's questions at this time, but he found that he seemed to be excusing these people because he was worried that Zhu Yuanzhang would become Li Zicheng.

Zhu Yuanzhang obviously realized that Zhang Cheng was speaking for these people, so he snorted, ignored Zhang Cheng, and hurried back to his palace.

Zhang Cheng followed to the General Manager's Mansion.

After Zhu Yuanzhang came back, he didn't say anything, let alone sleep. He just suddenly picked up the new hoe from the wooden tray that he had just bought. Dig up the ground where roses are planted.

Zhang Cheng looked on.

He knew that Zhu Yuanzhang had the habit of digging ground to grow vegetables in history.

According to the historical records he read, after Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he still dug land and grew vegetables in the Forbidden City.

And now.

Zhang Cheng knew better that Zhu Yuanzhang was digging in the ground to vent some of his emotions.

Because Zhu Yuanzhang was also an ordinary person, he would also collapse, and he would also have stronger class hatred when he saw the excessive gap between rich and poor. What's more, Zhu Yuanzhang's character is inherently jealous of evil.

Therefore, Zhang Cheng did not rush to persuade Zhu Yuanzhang. He only planned to let Zhu Yuanzhang vent his anger first and let him destroy the roses all over the garden.

Until a while later.

Zhang Chengcai said: "Your Majesty, I think we have to stop the confiscation of homes. We can't just rely on confiscation of homes. We should prevent the rebel brothers from losing control of military discipline and causing excessive panic among the people in the city as soon as possible. It's even better for you to personally appease the officials and gentry." Confucian scholars have stated that they will not accumulate wealth by ransacking homes for no reason, but are committed to making Chuzhou city stable and orderly, so that the lives and property of all good and obedient people can be protected."

"Your suggestions, Mr. Zhang, may not always be correct."

"Why do you say that enough is enough and enough is enough?"

Zhu Yuanzhang responded to Zhang Cheng while digging in the ground sweating like rain, and what he said seemed quite willful.

Zhang Cheng can understand. He knows that Zhu Yuanzhang is not so much questioning himself, but rather that he is fighting an ideological struggle in his heart in this way.

"Sir, is it possible that you really want to keep copying me?"

thus.

Zhang Cheng only asked this question at this time.

“Shouldn’t we copy it?!”

"We don't believe that those who stand on the dry shore are good people, and they don't have so many people's support!"

"We have been to Chuzhou City before, and we are not afraid of Mr. Zhang's jokes. We are here to beg for food, and there are many hungry people like us begging for food. As a result, I know now that they would rather watch people like us starve to death in large numbers. I'm willing to take out the grain that they want to rot because I don't want to bear the extra cost you mentioned."

"Let me tell you the truth, I don't want to stop now."

"We can't wait to steal all the property of these powerful bureaucrats! I don't know how many people can be saved this way."

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly stopped digging, started talking, and then continued digging. He continued talking while digging, letting the beads of sweat fall to the ground.

"Ascend!"

"Just confiscating homes is not enough, and just confiscating homes is like drinking poison to quench thirst. It will not only make the powerful officials and gentry more stubborn, but also make our own people degenerate faster, which will lead to the death of more people and undermine the great cause of rebuilding the country. It will be even more difficult. Firstly, the hatred between the Han officials and gentry and the common people will be greater. Secondly, a large number of talents will be consumed internally, and in the end it will only benefit the foreigners."

Zhang Cheng spoke very solemnly.

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered: "I thought you, Mr. Zhang, were different from them, but now that I think about it, you still think about those Confucian scholars, and you are just the same as them, and you are here to speak for them desperately!"

“Without them, we really can’t build mountains and rivers anymore, and are we really going to be cut off from culture?”

"We haven't seen how useful they were during the Mongolian and Yuan invasions. Is it possible that Zhao Song was not tolerant enough to them?"

"Are those Confucian scholars that worthy of your protection?!"

Zhu Yuanzhang questioned Zhang Cheng and smiled.

"Sir, I understand how you feel. Like you, I hate them very much, but can you be more sensible!"

Zhang Cheng closed his eyes and pursed his lips, then raised his head to look at the sky, and then began to persuade Zhu Yuanzhang again.

Zhu Yuanzhang himself was silent.

Zhang Cheng then fell silent himself.

Zhang Cheng originally thought that although Zhu Yuanzhang was only in his twenties, an age where passion easily gets the best of him, he was, strictly speaking, the only low-level peasant uprising leader in history who truly succeeded in becoming emperor. He should have a different temperament and would Those who are more rational can quickly regain their rationality even if they occasionally lose control of their emotions.

But he didn't expect that after Zhu Yuanzhang had been digging for so long, and after listening to him say so much, he would still criticize himself because of the class hatred aroused by confiscating his house, and even question his own position.

"I am not trying to protect those Confucian scholars, nor am I just trying to protect the Chinese cultural heritage, but I am also trying to protect our great cause of restoring China!"

"In addition, the powerful officials and gentry cannot copy everything. Once the old ones are eliminated, new ones will appear. There is no need for us to stay trapped in this."

"Have you forgotten the oath we swore in front of the Chinese ancestors and the firm belief we made?"

"We want to try our best to keep the people of the world from being hungry or cold, rather than completely offending the world's powerful officials and gentry."

"Besides, you are not the only hero that the world can choose. Moreover, you are only the independent development manager under Marshal Guo."

Zhang Cheng continued to speak, breaking the silence first.

"So, superior, do you want temporary pleasure, or do you want eternal stability for the people of the world?"

then.

Zhang Cheng also asked Zhu Yuanzhang seriously.

(End of this chapter)