I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

After the clan affairs were settled, Zhu Youxiao rarely had a few days of leisure.

In the past few days, he first went to Kunning Palace to visit Queen Zhang Yan and Zhu Ciran, and then summoned his brother Xin Wang Zhu Youjian who lived in the palace.

Zhu Youjian is only about 13 years old, still young.Therefore, Zhu Youxiao did not let him leave the cabinet, but let him live in Xuqin Palace behind Ciqing Palace in the Forbidden City, so that he could study and improve his abilities.

Different from Zhu Youjian's fate in history, Zhu Youjian now naturally has no chance to become emperor.

But Zhu Youxiao still attached great importance to him, because he was a very important part of Zhu Youxiao's clan reform.

He had just talked with Ye Xianggao and Zhang Weixian for a long time about the reform of the clan, and finally came up with a plan to rectify the clan by turning the blade inward.

But the essence of this plan is to limit the development of the clan and allow the clan to be obedient within the Ming Dynasty instead of acting recklessly.

But in fact, in Zhu Youxiao's heart, there is another plan for the clan to fully grow and develop, and that is to make the clan a foreign vassal.

That is to say, when the vassal kings are divided in the future, they should no longer choose the interior of the Ming Dynasty as their fiefdom, but let them go to places outside the Ming Dynasty to establish vassals, such as Japan, Nanyang and other places.

And if they go, they will be given real power, allowing them to recruit people, appoint officials, and organize troops, just like the Western Zhou Dynasty's feudal princes.

This will not only strengthen the Ming Dynasty's cultural dissemination and management of these places, but also solve the problem of the vassal king being useless to the Ming Dynasty.Killing two birds with one stone is a win-win situation.

However, this plan is indeed a good idea, but it is still somewhat difficult to implement. Someone needs to set an example, and Zhu Youjian is a suitable candidate.

Therefore, he attached great importance to the cultivation of Zhu Youjian's abilities, and this year he appointed him as Zongzheng of the Zongren Mansion.

Although this position was fictitious, Zhu Youjian was in name only, and the affairs of the clan were temporarily handled by the British Duke Zhang Weixian.

But in the future, after Zhu Youjian leaves the cabinet, the affairs of the Zongren Mansion will gradually be handed over to Zhu Youjian. In this way, he will slowly start to handle government affairs, exercise his abilities, and pave the way for his future overseas visits.

Fortunately, I have high hopes for Zhu Youjian, and Zhu Youjian has not disappointed Zhu Youxiao in recent years.

With his elder brother as a role model and urging him to study, he studied very hard in the palace, and even the teacher praised him, which made Zhu Youxiao very happy.

Zhu Youxiao only rested for a day or two, and the accumulation of government affairs quickly made him return to work mode.

It is now the end of September, and many of the tasks assigned at the beginning of this year have come to fruition.

Since the system of equalizing land and equalizing service was implemented in Shuntian Prefecture, it has been implemented in Shandong, Henan, Shanxi and other places since last year. At present, except for the Chief Secretary of Henan, which has great resistance due to the large number of feudal lords, other places have achieved remarkable results.

Then the cabinet suggested that the policy of equalizing land and equalizing labor should be promoted nationwide next year. Zhu Youxiao agreed without thinking. This method has been on trial for three years and can be promoted nationwide. By then, the tax revenue of the imperial court will also be certain. of help.Revenues from customs duties, mineral taxes, etc. also far exceeded the expectations of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, especially mineral tax revenue. Since mining was allowed last year and the imperial court became independent of the Baoquan Bureau and purchased copper mines on a large scale, the number of mines opened throughout the Ming Dynasty has surged, especially in Huguang, Yunnan, and In Guizhou and other places, more than [-] new mines have been opened, which is also expected to increase the court's mining tax revenue by as much as [-]%.

In addition, the preparation of warehouses and the construction of water conservancy projects have achieved remarkable results under the strict assessment of the officials. According to the reports sent by the chief secretaries, as of September, more than [-] water conservancy projects had been built in various places in the Ming Dynasty. at.

Zhu Youxiao naturally didn't believe this number, but even if half of it was true, he would be satisfied.

Vaccination with cowpox was also quite effective, either because people were afraid of smallpox or because cowpox was really effective.Since May, with Shuntian Prefecture as a pilot project, the doctor's hall and the method of cowpox have become popular in Shuntian Prefecture, Shandong, Liaodong, South Zhili and other places at an unprecedented speed. It is estimated that it will be popularized nationwide next year.

What makes Zhu Youxiao even more funny is that because the method of cowpox was "discovered" by Zhu Youxiao himself, the people, thinking of Zhu Youxiao's contribution, actually said that they were the reincarnation of some kind of Buddha or Bodhisattva, and burned incense to worship him. , which invisibly increased Zhu Youxiao's prestige among the people.

However, this is also a good thing for Zhu Youxiao. He also wants to take the opportunity of promoting cowpox to further popularize medical halls. Currently, only provincial capitals or some important cities have medical halls, and the number is far from enough.

He thought that by next year, he would try to promote the doctor's hall as much as possible, not only to promote it nationwide, but also to encourage every county in Daming Prefecture to have a doctor's hall.In addition to being able to vaccinate against cowpox, its function can also play a role similar to that of an official hospital, laying a solid foundation for future prevention of infectious diseases such as plague and cholera.

But not all the news Zhu Youxiao received was good news. Other news was not optimistic.

What worries Zhu Youxiao the most is the increasing number of natural disasters, especially in the northwest. Since March, natural disasters have basically not stopped.Among them, the news from Shaanxi, Gansu and others shocked Zhu Youxiao.

This year, there has been no rain in Yan'an, Qingyang, Pingliang and other places since March. The land is bare for thousands of miles, and there is no trace of death. Most of the food planted by the people will not be harvested, resulting in countless people selling their sons and daughters, and countless people fleeing the famine.

As soon as Zhu Youxiao received the report, he was suddenly frightened, wondering if the secret thought was about to begin.

So regardless of anything else, he immediately ordered the Ministry of Revenue to allocate 100 million taels to buy grain from Huguang and other places and transport it to Xi'an to relieve the people. Later, he also reduced taxes in Yan'an, Qingyang and other places so that the people could live a better life.

But even so, the drought has not improved since March, giving Zhu Youxiao a headache.But there was nothing he could do about the natural disaster, and he knew very well that this was probably just the beginning, and the worse was yet to come.

But it's not that he didn't do anything. As the saying goes, he did his best and obeyed fate.

While he continued to send people to relieve the disaster areas and exempt them from taxes, he also sent imperial envoys to the northwest to inspect the places to see if there were anyone who imposed taxes. Once found, he would not be lenient and reduce the burden on the people.

The second is to encourage disaster victims to immigrate, and the destinations of the immigrants have been selected long ago, including Liaodong, Guizhou, and Taiwan.

Although Shaanxi and Gansu are far away from here, tens of thousands of people have been recruited to make a living, which can be regarded as reducing the population pressure in the disaster area.

Of course, what is more important is to stabilize the three towns of Yansui, Ningxia and Guyuan in the northwest, pay them in full and not lay off employees.As long as these three towns are stabilized, there will be no big waves in the northwest. (End of chapter)