Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 288 The First Year of Yongle

"put!"

"Crackling——"

With the sound of firecrackers a year old, the spring breeze sent warmth to Tusu.

When the sound of firecrackers sounded on the streets of Nanjing, the thirty-three years of Hongwu passed successfully, and the first year of Yongle ushered in.

Festivals like Zhengdan and New Year always fill people with joy and enthusiasm.

The huge atmosphere made the entire city of Nanjing lively.

Perhaps it was because of the ban, not only the people in the bustling inner city put up lanterns, but also the people in the outer city gradually painted lanterns, and everywhere the sound of firecrackers went, there was a festive atmosphere.

Walking through the streets, the laughter and laughter lingering in the air made people feel happy and warm.

Even some rural market towns outside Nanjing held bustling temple fairs, which were overcrowded and lively.

The stalls were crowded with people going to the market, and the stalls were filled with a dazzling array of products.

There are pottery on one side and grease on the other. If you walk further, you will immediately see vendors pushing carts filled with toys of this era such as kites, wooden horses, lanterns, Luban locks and wood carvings.

In the atmosphere of the New Year, even the vendors in these ordinary market towns are full of energy and joy, not to mention the wealthy Jiangnan households living in the inner city of Nanjing.

The entire inner city is filled with the smell of various New Year foods. The dining tables of ordinary people are filled with the smell of meat, while the homes of wealthy households are filled with traditional sesame paste, gluten, dumplings, and other snacks. The taste is intoxicating. .

The children had fun playing with the New Year's gifts of toys and clothes, while parents enjoyed the delicious candies and other snacks with their children.

Bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new, during these joyful moments, the palace was also bustling with activity.

Due to the stability of the capital, Zhu Yuying and other five princesses who stayed in Peiping also went south to the capital under Zhu Di's arrangement.

Therefore, the Qianqing Palace was very lively on the Zhengdan Festival.

Three sons and five daughters, including Zhu Gaoxu, gathered together, and Zhang's and Guo Yan's two daughters-in-law also arrived.

Among them, the eldest is Zhu Yuying, who has just been canonized as Princess Yong'an, 20 years old. She is one year older than Zhu Gaochi, and has been married to Yuan Rong, the son of the founding minister Yuan Hong, by Zhu Yuanzhang. The second daughter, Zhu Yuegui, is 20 years old. Second, he was also granted a marriage by Zhu Yuanzhang to Li Rang, the son of the distinguished minister Li Da.

Although it was a gifted marriage, Lao Zhu's level of gifted marriage was obviously not good. Yuan Rong was very arrogant. Only Li Rang still abided by his duties and had some ability.

After Zhu Gaoxu was crowned prince, Yuan Rong often came to Chunhe Hall, hoping to find a more powerful job. However, Li Rang avoided going to Chunhe Hall except under Zhu Di's instructions.

"The food is on the table. Let's eat. Why are you watching?"

In the Qianqing Palace, as Mrs. Xu spoke, the family began to move their chopsticks. Zhu Gaoxu, who was sitting next to Zhu Di, glanced vaguely at his group of family members.

People say that a son is like his mother and a daughter is like her father. This sentence is very suitable for my family.

Although Zhu Yuying and others are very fair and comely, their appearance is average at best.

On the contrary, Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Gaosui are good-looking, especially Zhu Gaosui. It can be said that he inherited Xu's appearance, with thick eyebrows, long eyes and a high nose. It is no wonder that Zhu Di dotes on him.

Of course, from the perspective of this era, Zhu Gaoxu, who was tall and handsome, was more in line with the martial arts aesthetic of the early Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Di often boasted that Zhu Gaoxu looked like him, which was also a disguised way of putting money on his face.

Actually, once Zhu Di, who is usually quite tall, sits next to Zhu Gaoxu, he immediately looks smaller.

Not just him, almost anyone sitting next to Zhu Gaoxu will look smaller.

"Today is a family dinner. Let's all eat, drink and be happy, just don't be greedy."

As the head of the family, Zhu Di raised his glass and spoke, and everyone quickly agreed.

Zhu Gaoxu was eating his food by himself, talking to Zhu Di and Xu from time to time, while Guo Yan was chatting and laughing with Zhang, Zhu Yuying, Zhu Yueying and others.

She had only been in the capital for less than half a year, but she had already made contact with the wives and concubines of most of the civil and military officials in the capital. Even Zhu Yuying, Zhu Yueying and others who had just arrived in the capital not long ago were made to smile by her few words.

"How is the construction of the Han Palace and Zhao Palace?"

At the dinner table, watching the plates of delicious food being served, Zhu Di suddenly asked a disappointing question, which made Mrs. Xu glare at him.

However, Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu as if he had not heard anything. Zhu Gaoxu also stopped immersed in cooking, wiped his mouth and said: "Yunnan and Huguang's chief envoys are estranged. The Han Dynasty Palace in Yunnan was built in the north of Wuhua Mountain, and the local Kunming Zuowei moved outside the city, one mile north, south, east and west of the palace, covering an area of ​​nearly 600 acres."

"The Zhaowang Mansion in Changsha was expanded on the basis of Tanwang, covering an area of ​​nearly 500 acres."

"Among them, the Han Palace has already built three palaces and a royal city. It will take about three years to complete, but you can move in now."

"Prince Zhao's Mansion still needs two years to complete, but it can be moved in now."

After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, Zhu Di said directly after hearing the words: "At the end of this year, boss, you and the third child will become vassal together. I have already arranged a marriage for the third child, the brother of the Marquis of Xiping and the eldest daughter of the governor Mu Sheng."

"I've just arrived in the capital and it hasn't even been a year since they asked me to become a vassal state. I won't go." When Zhu Gaochi heard that he was going to become a vassal state at the end of the year, he apologized, but Zhu Gaosui immediately fell out.

Relying on Zhu Di doting on him, he was unwilling to leave the capital no matter what.

"I became a vassal when I was twenty, and you are now nineteen. You are just twenty years old, so what happened to you when you became a vassal?"

Seeing that Zhu Gaosui was not on the road, Zhu Di immediately raised his face.

The capital is a den of right and wrong, and they are asked to protect them as a vassal. Why doesn't this stupid son understand?

"I'm not leaving anyway!" Zhu Gaosui acted like a rogue. Upon seeing this, Zhu Gaochi advised:

"Lao San, why don't you go to such a wonderful place as Changsha?"

"Then let's switch. You go to Yunnan and I go to Changsha."

Zhu Gaochi knew how to persuade people. As soon as he mentioned Yunnan, Zhu Gaosui immediately thought that Changsha was good, and his attitude was not so firm: "You have a good idea."

"Okay! It's decided." Zhu Di made the decision, and Zhu Gaoxu didn't say a word during the whole process.

But after Zhu Di said this, the atmosphere at the dinner table changed.

After the family dinner, Zhu Gaoxu left Guo Yan to serve his parents, while he excused himself because he was busy with official duties, and then returned to Chunhe Hall.

But as soon as he arrived at the Chunhe Hall, he asked Yi Shiha and Zheng He to prepare a car to drive out of the palace.

Not long after, an ordinary carriage drove out of the palace gate, followed by more than a hundred cavalry.

The living conditions of the people in Yingtian were how Zhu Gaoxu measured the ability and progress of his father and son in governing the world.

Taking a carriage, his goal went straight to the outer city.

After Lao Zhu moved wealthy households several times, there are very few people who can still live in the inner city. Even those waiters are basically ordinary people who live in the outer city and come to the inner city to work.

After half an hour of traveling, he arrived at a familiar town.

Dashuying Town was the first outer city market town that Zhu Gaoxu visited.

Seven years have passed in a flash. After seven years of development, the population of Dashuying Town, which once suffered a sharp decline due to Zhu Yuanzhang's migration policy, has become more populous than in the 27th year of Hongwu, and the market town area has also expanded a lot.

After putting on his breastplate and round-collared robe, Zhu Gaoxu took Yishiha and Zheng He to shuttle around Dashuying Town.

Since it was the New Year, almost all the people were wearing brand new white cloth clothes, which were the cheapest new clothes they could afford.

At a glance, except for a few elderly people who did not have new clothes, the rest of the people were wearing new clothes and walking on the tamped earth road.

There are various butcher shops selling pork, beef, chicken, duck and other meats on both sides of the street. There are also government certificates on the door panels, indicating that the pigs and beef sold are legal and compliant.

Since it is the New Year, there are not many people buying meat.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu greeted Zheng He and said, "Go and ask the manager of the butcher shop whether there is any change in the amount of meat purchased by the people during this year's New Year compared with previous years."

"Yes." Zheng He agreed, turned around and went to ask.

Not long after, Zheng He returned with the news and said while walking with Zhu Gaoxu: "Except last year when less than two pigs were sold due to the war, in the past few years, five pigs were sold during the Zhengdan Festival."

"This year, because the government has exempted half of the taxes, and the imperial court has used banknotes to offset taxes on the entire Jiangnan area, the people have more spare money. The butcher shop has already sold four pigs. According to this situation, it should be able to sell seven or eight pigs today. "

If Zheng He's words are not adulterated, it means that the lives of the people in Yingtian this year will definitely be better than those during the Hongwu period.

Zhu Di's half-tax exemption gave them more spare money, while Zhu Gaoxu's tax-deductible policy was to take back the excessive banknotes issued during the Jianwen period, so that they did not suffer too much loss of profits.

In such an environment, ordinary people dared to buy and sell meat boldly.

However, Zhu Gaoxu, who had lived in Dashuying for several months, knew that the living conditions of the people in the outer city were very one-sided based on meat alone, so he took Yishiha and Zheng He to look at the stalls of other vendors.

Various bamboo baskets and various agricultural tools placed at the entrance of the blacksmith shop are the most popular places among the people.

Whenever he passed by these places, Zhu Gaoxu would ask Yishiha or Zheng He to inquire, and the results he obtained were better than the business in Hongwu 31st and Hongwu 32nd years.

Such prosperity put smiles on the faces of Zheng He and Yi Shiha, but Zhu Gaoxu knew that this prosperity was only temporary.

If there were no exemptions and tax offsets with cash, the prosperity in front of us would wither to what it was like thirty-one years ago in Hongwu.

Of course, from a local perspective, the situation in Jiangnan will be better, because Zhu Gaoxu has allocated tens of millions of acres of cultivated land.

These cultivated lands have benefited a large number of poor farmers. Even if they are still poor farmers, their lives will be better than before. But in the north...

"Go back, someone from Hubu should be here soon."

Zhu Gaoxu spoke, turned around and returned to the palace with Yishiha and Zheng He.

As he expected, when he arrived at the Chunhe Gate of the East Palace, he learned about the request for an audience from Yu Xin, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance.

Zhu Gaoxu walked into the Chunhe Hall and saw Yu Xin who had been waiting for a long time.

He, who was in his sixties, stood up and bowed to Zhu Gaoxu. Zhu Gaoxu took off his round collar robe and took off his breastplate without hesitation.

This move made Yu Xin know that Zhu Gaoxu must have gone to visit the people, so he adjusted his thoughts slightly and started to play. "The Ministry of Household Affairs has calculated this year's expenditures and tax items. Among the fixed tax items, military camp seed grain has dropped to more than 21.4 million shi due to the policies of Liaodong and Shandong to convert villages into civilian areas."

"At present, there are still 876,000 fighting soldiers. After the troops were reorganized into civilian camps, there are still more than 992,000 soldiers."

"The 105,000 soldiers from Shandong, Bohai, Daning, and Liaodong, as well as the Shenji Battalion and the Jurchen Eighth Guards after replacement, have nearly 60,000 people. Their military pay is 20 shi of lumi, eight guan of military pay, and There are all kinds of cloth and salt.”

"The treatment of other combat soldiers and garrison soldiers remains unchanged. Therefore, the Sixth Army Governor's Mansion spent nearly 26 million shi of grain and 1.46 million guan of copper coins this year."

"The Ministry of Household Affairs has to subsidize 4.6 million shi and 1.46 million guan, as well as 2.16 million pieces of cloth and more than 24 million kilograms of salt..."

Yu Xin wanted to report in more detail, but Zhu Gaoxu interrupted after sitting down: "For details, I will read the documents from the Ministry of Revenue afterwards. Yu Shangshu can just talk about the general expenses, income and shortfalls."

"Yes..." Seeing Zhu Gaoxu say this, Yu Xin also glanced at the contents of his wat board, and then talked about the general situation.

"There are a total of more than 47,600 people in Wuxun, the Sixth Department and the Three Divisions, and the salary expenditure is more than 18.6 million dan."

"Two million guan will be spent each year to build Beijing, and 500,000 guan will be spent each year to dredge the Yellow River. There will also be an expenditure of 500,000 guan this year for dredging the canal and the Wusong River. The voyage fleet will cost 500,000 guan and 600,000 dan."

"In the palace city, the expenditure of the inner and outer court this year will not be less than 1.4 million yuan..."

"Six million dan of grain were aided to Liao, and 3 million dan of grain were distributed to Jianwen and Chengchen Anjia of Yunnan..."

"Total of the above, the total expenditure is more than 54.2 million stones and 6.36 million strings."

After Yu Xin finished talking about the total expenses, Zhu Gaoxu's face was expressionless. Seeing this, Yu Xin could only talk about his income.

"According to the land tax quota set last year and the land tax quota for the people in Shandong, the land tax amount should be 33.5 million shi this year."

"Including military camp seeds and grain, the total is 54.9 million shi."

"As for the salt, iron, tea, and various types of silk and cotton, the total amount is 4.26 million guans, and the southwest official mines are 2.46 million guans, totaling 6.72 million guans."

"Normally, there is still a balance of 700,000 dan and 360,000 guan."

The foundation left by Zhu Yuanzhang, coupled with Zhu Gaoxu's restructuring of Shandong and Liaodong, allowed the Ming Dynasty's finances to still have a balance while building Beijing, dredging the Yellow River, the Canal, and the Wusong River, and preparing for the Western Ocean. It must be said that this was A financial miracle.

However, Zhu Gaoxu knew very well that the premise of this miracle was that there would be no greater troubles, and Yu Xin came not only to report on the financial situation, but also to find out whether there were any new policies in the East Palace that had not been promulgated, and whether the use of banknotes to offset taxes was conduct.

"The price of banknotes in the private sector. I just went to the outer city to ask some merchants, and it is basically stable at around 500 yuan per banknote."

Zhu Gaoxu got straight to the point and talked about the price of banknotes, and explained to Yu Xin: "I mean, maintaining stability at this real price is already good. It is true that the people also have a burden, but the burden on the court is heavier."

"From now on, the policy of using banknotes to offset taxes is subject to His Majesty's grace, and the use of banknotes to offset taxes is not fixed."

"At the same time, the treasure banknotes will only be exchanged for old ones and new ones, and will no longer be recycled or distributed."

"Your Highness is wise..." Hearing Zhu Gaoxu say this, Yu Xin breathed a sigh of relief, but still reminded:

"By doing this, the burden on the court will be reduced a lot, but I'm afraid there will be a lot of criticism from people in the temple."

"Let them criticize." Zhu Gaoxu responded calmly, which surprised Yu Xin.

The hole left by Lao Zhu in the treasure banknote is too big. If it really needs to be filled, it will definitely not be filled.

Now he can only use the silver and copper ingots produced in Southwest China, Japan, and Luzon to slowly establish a reserve system and strengthen the anti-counterfeiting of treasure banknotes.

In the Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty, in order to issue banknotes, the principal must first be collected, which is called a reserve fund in the words of later generations.

Although as the dynasty weakens, reserves usually fall short, which can cause inflation, but in general, banknotes are controllable under the premise of a basic balance of payments.

In addition to the collapse of the Ming Dynasty's banknote law, Lao Zhu's circulation was too large, and there was no reserve fund.

Lao Zhu did not set up reserves because he faced a serious money shortage in the early Ming Dynasty. However, with the development of southwest silver and copper mines, Ming Dynasty gradually had the capital to set up reserves.

Now as long as the voyage to the East is successful and the Ming Dynasty successfully establishes long-term mutual trading sites in the Yinqi Islands and Treasure Island, Japan will be able to steadily import more than two million guan of silver to the Ming Dynasty every year.

Coupled with the import of silver and copper ingots from Southwest China and Luzon, the Ming Dynasty's treasury would add gold, silver and copper coins worth no less than five million guan every year.

The situation faced by the Ming Dynasty and Europe was different. Europe's population market was too small, and the influx of too much silver in the Americas would cause a price revolution.

However, the population market of the Ming Dynasty is huge. Let alone five million people, even if it is doubled or tripled, there is no way to shake the market economy of the Ming Dynasty.

The only thing Zhu Gaoxu needs to pay attention to is to maintain the stability of overseas gold and silver imports on the road of changing physical taxes to monetary taxes.

The reason why Zhang Juzheng's whipping method failed was because the influx of silver from overseas was unstable and the amount was too small. The inflow of silver only stayed in the hands of wealthy gentry households and could not reach the hands of the mainland people at all.

Under such circumstances, farmers have to convert grain into money and then use it to pay taxes, which increases the burden on farmers in disguise.

Zhu Gaoxu also has his own way to deal with this situation.

On the surface, corvee was not abolished, but it also did not collect taxes to exempt them from corvee. Instead, silver and copper ingots collected from overseas and the southwest were distributed to the people in the form of coins in the form of "relief for work."

In this way, it not only solves the problem of silver and copper coins being unable to circulate into the hands of the people, but also solves the inventory problem of silver and copper coins.

However, if you want to do this, you must continue to maintain the private maritime ban and maintain official trade, so as to ensure that a large amount of silver and copper coins are in the hands of the court.

What Zhu Gaoxu wants to do is to truly take it from the people and use it for the people, rather than taking it from the people and using it for the gentry.

It was precisely because he saw the path Zhu Gaoxu wanted to take that Yu Xin reminded him that there would probably be a lot of criticism in the temple.

In the final analysis, although the policy of using cash to offset taxes has been intermittent, it has indeed benefited the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River.

The imperial court wanted to maintain the stability of the treasure banknotes, so that the value of the treasure banknotes would not drop too much and the people's wealth would not evaporate too much.

The gentry wanted to collect treasure notes to offset their taxes.

There is nothing wrong with this cycle, but the problem is that the court is under great pressure and cannot continue to maintain this policy.

For Yu Xin, he can understand the dilemma faced by the court, but how many of the officials can understand?

In other words, apart from their understanding, how many of them can understand the imperial court?

"If they feel dissatisfied with the promotion of grudges and grudges, they can jump out on their own."

Zhu Gaoxu spoke calmly to Yu Xin, and Yu Xinyan knew what Zhu Gaoxu meant.

It’s easy to express dissatisfaction, after all, the law does not punish everyone, but if someone really jumps out and takes the lead, then Zhu Gaoxu doesn’t mind killing the chicken to scare the monkeys.

Their father and son are not Zhu Yunwen, but the father and son who conquered the world with their soldiers and horses.

Bargaining worked in Jianwen, but not in Yongle.

Faced with Zhu Gaoxu's change of attitude, Yu Xin didn't have many thoughts. On the contrary, faced with Zhu Gaoxu's tightening of pace, he breathed a sigh of relief unconsciously.

In fact, except for building Beijing, Yu Xin did not think there was any problem with what Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu, the father and son, did.

Of course, the premise here is that Japan does have a large number of silver mines, and the voyage fleet can indeed bring back enough gold and silver for trade.

When he thought of the trade to the West, Yu Xin said:

"A few days ago, Zheng Bingbi handed the Ministry of Household Affairs the documents needed for Western trade. I wonder if His Highness has read it?"

"I've seen it. Has the quotation brochure from the Ministry of Household Affairs been released?" Zhu Gaoxu responded without thinking, and Yu Xingyan also said:

"The other thing I want to do when I come here is to discuss the price of these trade goods..."

"According to the calculations made by the Ministry of Household officials based on the tribute trade over the years, the blue and white porcelain plates should be priced at 500 guan each, the bowls at 300 guan each, the bottles at 500 guan each, and the bean green porcelain plates at 150 guan each. Each bowl is worth a hundred guan, and each bottle is a hundred and fifty guan..."

"Because we are the advance party on this voyage to the East, we have prepared a thousand blue and white porcelain, porcelain and other porcelains, as well as plates, bowls and bottles."

"In addition, there are one million catties of raw silk, two hundred and fifty cents per catty, and brown sugar."

"In addition, the Ministry of Revenue also listed the goods that can be collected when going to the East, such as sapphire wood for one catty, sulfur for seventy cents, red copper for fifty cents..."

Zhu Gaoxu didn't know the price of goods in Japan, but after hearing that Yu Xin was preparing to sell a porcelain plate for 500 guan, he still frowned and said:

"The two sides still have to make a profit when trading with each other. If you do this, Japan may not make a profit and the trade cannot be maintained for a long time."

"Your Highness." Yu Xinzuo bowed and said: "Japan is a small country. Over the years, blue and white and bean blue porcelain have been bought and sold at this price. Now that our fleet has arrived in the East for sale, they have saved the ship price, so they should be happy."

"What's more, the imperial court also gave a profit. For example, sulfur in Japan was only six cents per pound, but the imperial court gave seventy cents."

"The cost price of the various goods purchased and sold to Japan this time was 420,000 guan, and the selling price was 2.17 million guan."

"Only 500,000 guan can be used to purchase hematoxylin, sulfur, red copper and other items."

"In this way, even if there is no gold and silver on Treasure Island, the court can still make a net profit of 1.25 million yuan."

"If Your Highness hadn't stopped the banknotes, the Ministry of Accounts would have prepared to use the banknotes to settle accounts with Japan."

Yu Xin's words represent the views of the scholar-bureaucrats of this era.

Tribute trade can allow the other party to make money, but you must make more and you must not suffer a loss.

In Yu Xin's view, returning 500,000 guan to Japan is already a blessing from heaven.

"It's okay to set the price this way, but how to sell it depends on the situation. After all, the imperial court still needs to set up a shipping department for trade with Japan in Treasure Island and Yinqi Islands."

"If this thing is ruined because of petty profit, then the gain outweighs the loss."

Faced with Yu Xin's explanation, Zhu Gaoxu could only admit it first, but in practice, the difficulties encountered by Zheng He and the others were still the main focus.

Even if this voyage to the East does not make money, as long as the Ming Dynasty can gain a foothold in Treasure Island and the Yinqi Islands, it means that Japan has become a dumping ground for Ming Dynasty products.

In the long run, Daming will only make profits but not losses.

"I understand..." Yu Xinzuo bowed in agreement, and upon seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu also ordered:

"All goods are prepared in advance. There are only less than four months before the voyage to the West."

Hearing this, Yu Xin bowed his head and left the Chunhe Hall with a cry of "I'm sorry to leave."

Looking at his leaving figure, Zhu Gaoxu rubbed his eyebrows: "These scholar-bureaucrats really eat people without spitting out their bones, but for Japan..."

As he talked, Zhu Gaoxu no longer felt burdened.

(End of this chapter)