Reborn Ming Dynasty as Emperor

Chapter 35
After Xu Guangqi left, before Zhu Youxiao had time to take a sip of tea, Wang Chengen suddenly appeared in front of Zhu Youxiao like a ghost:
"Your Majesty, the former Right Minister of the Ministry of Rites Wang Jimo and Guozijian Jijiu Li Banghua and other traitors of the Donglin Party have all their property confiscated. So far, the property is equivalent to more than 400 million taels of silver, with more than 60 hectares of land, mansions and gardens, etc. There are countless more, and they have been sold at present, and most of their family servants have been acquitted, and arranged to enter places such as Huangzhuang or Jiaofangsi."

Wang Chengen said and asked again: "But up to now, the Donglin Party officials interrogated by our Dongchang, such as Chen Xianqing, Xu Biqian, etc., are still confessing the Donglin Party officials who participated in the murder of His Majesty. In addition, Qian Muzhai, the right servant of the Ministry of Rites, We are still exposing a large number of Donglin officials with dirty hands and feet, Your Majesty, do you think we should arrest them again?"

"Stop it, if the investigation continues, there will only be a few more unjust cases. If so many officials are plotting against me, I won't be able to sit on the throne for so long."

After Zhu Youxiao gave an order, he looked ahead at the setting sun that was gradually disappearing on the horizon, and couldn't help but think to himself:

Although these Donglin Party officials with business backgrounds have violated my will, I can't kill them all, and I have to leave seeds for the development of my commodity economy in Ming Dynasty.

You can't learn that in order to maintain their own rule, the Manchus controlled the scholars too strictly. The remaining young Donglin Party members who didn't have a clear political purpose should be channeled.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao turned around and ordered Wang Chengen: "Tell Wei Zhongxian that his "Daming Daily" is running very well, but at the same time, he must invigorate other operations, and we must not let Jiangnan become a mess because of the collapse of the Donglin Party. It is dead, there should be literary societies, there should be academies to be built, and state affairs that should be discussed can also be discussed, but the premise is that they are loyal to Daming, loyal to me, and the mainstream wind direction must be grasped."

"My minister knows", Wang Chengen withdrew.

With the confiscation of the eight major Shanxi merchants and the complete disintegration of the Donglin Party, it marked that the two domestic forces that could confront the imperial power were completely disintegrated by Zhu Youxiao.

Therefore, it means that the fierce domestic struggle will temporarily come to an end, but this does not mean that the domestic situation has been completely resolved.

Zhu Youxiao knew this very well. The drought in the north was still continuing, although he used the grain he forcibly seized from the eight major Shanxi merchants to stabilize the rising grain prices in the capital and the north.

However, according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Household Affairs, grain production in the north is still decreasing, and the number of refugees is still increasing. Although Zhu Youxiao's Huangzhuang has expanded a lot of fields, it is far from meeting the land needs of the people of Ming Dynasty.

The increase in population, land annexation and the slowdown in the growth rate of the total amount have led to intensified class conflicts, increasing the danger of the country's financial deficit, and a direct collapse in the event of natural and man-made disasters.

This seems to be a huge problem, a fate that any dynasty has to face.

Daming is not much special than the Han, Tang and Song dynasties, and Zhu Youxiao himself is not necessarily better than other emperors.

However, fortunately, I now have a large amount of money, a total of [-] million taels. This is the wealth accumulated by the two vested interest groups for hundreds of years, which is enough for the Ming Dynasty to deal with it for a few years.

Moreover, the current cabinet and the Ministry of Household Affairs can no longer resist the decision of his own king, and he is completely free to use the money to repair the high-rise building that is about to collapse in Daming.

But this money will eventually be used up. Although Wang Zaijin now saves a lot in defending Liaodong compared with Sun Chengzong, he still has to swallow 500 million taels of silver from the Ming Dynasty every year, and the increasing number of vassal kings also need millions of taels of silver every year. To support, the north where food production is decreasing due to the small glacier climate still needs millions of taels of wealth every year to provide relief.

You can't just sit and eat, you have to develop financial resources. The traditional small-scale peasant economy is too dependent on land and has inherent disadvantages. The violent distribution of wealth from businessmen is undoubtedly the same as increasing taxes on the people of the dynasty. It is drinking poison to quench thirst.

In the Ming Dynasty in the previous life, the people rebelled because of the addition of the Three Rings faction, but in the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the later generations, they fell behind and were beaten because of the comprehensive sea ban. These are real examples.

What Zhu Youxiao has to do is neither to increase taxes nor to use robbers to violently seize the wealth of merchants. There are ways, one is that the country also participates in the competition of the commodity economy and becomes the controller of most wealth, and the other is Primitive accumulation of capitalism by plundering from outside.

The latter is undoubtedly the easiest and quickest way to offset internal conflicts, but he needs a strong military group.

Daming's current guard system is too backward, obviously unable to meet the dynasty's external expansion needs.

Therefore, the only thing Zhu Youxiao can do now is to continue to develop the commodity economy of Ming Dynasty, and it must be led by the state, that is, himself, and the commercial tax must be fully collected.

Fortunately, he now has absolute control over this wealth worth [-] million taels, that is to say, he can completely change Daming's business structure. Before, the people were rich and the country was weak, but now he has to make Daming a country that is rich and the people strong.

Not long after, Wang Cheng'en came again: "Your Majesty, please transfer another 300 million taels of silver to Jin Zou, the governor of Jiliao. Due to the heavy snow in Liaodong this year, countless barracks collapsed and need to be rebuilt."

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help laughing wryly, he had finally obtained a large sum of money by confiscating his home, and the Liaodong army and civilians came to ask for money again, which was really fast enough.

But now Zhu Youxiao has no other army to replace Guan Ning's iron cavalry, so he can only approve it, but he is very reluctant in his heart. He vows that one day he will take this group of troops who are unable to fight against the Manchus but support themselves, The warlords who waste the country's money and food are eradicated.

However, as soon as Liaodong was mentioned, Zhu Youxiao thought of the Manchu Manchus outside the pass, which is now the Houjin Kingdom. Judging from the incident of his own sacrifice to heaven and assassination that day, the combat effectiveness of these Tartars is indeed not to be underestimated. This rising force outside the customs, I can't be negligent in the slightest.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao suddenly remembered that Oboi, a tartar, was captured alive, and another big traitor, Ning Wan, was also imprisoned in the prison of Dongchang.

Zhu Youxiao suddenly wanted to visit them, and learn about the Houjin Kingdom from them by the way.

If Zhu Youxiao remembers correctly, in another three years, after the internal struggle has been quelled, Jinhuang Taiji will lead troops southward, break through the four cities of Yongping, slaughter and plunder countless people, and cause heavy losses to Ming Dynasty.

"Wang Chengen, take me to your Dongchang prison. I want to personally interrogate Ning Wan, Aobai, and the group of Donglin party members who are trying to murder me!"

After Zhu Youxiao said that, he couldn't help but clenched his fists, and Wang Chengen didn't want to disobey him, so he responded: "Yes!"

　Thank you book friends for rewarding

　　
　
(End of this chapter)