Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 495: Filial Son and Loving Grandson
"I thought my father would kill everyone, but I didn't expect that except Wang Zuo, the other nobles were only seizing titles, but hundreds of civil and military officers were killed."

In the Longchuan government office in May, Jiang Huai didn't know what to say when faced with Zhu Zhanhe's words.

"After all, we still need people to do things. Besides, you think the punishment for seizing a title is light, but this is already very heavy."

"They could have been rich and prosperous for hundreds of years, but because of what they did, they had nothing left except the house and property in their hometown."

"With Your Majesty's temper, these people and their descendants may never have the chance to go to the temple again."

Jiang Huai sighed, and at the same time said to Zhang Bohai and Gao Guan sitting next to him:
"There are only four of us here, so I will open the skylight and speak frankly."

"Wang Ji and his group deserved their death, and the money and food they were greedy for was re-allocated by the court."

"The Longchuan Railway still has 175 miles. I hope that the railway can be well built in the next year and achieve the goal of connecting Longchuan directly to Xiaoxiyang Trade Market."

When faced with Jiang Huai's words, the two of them did not promise anything, but just bowed and agreed.

After giving instructions to the two of them, Jiang Huai said to Zhu Zhanhe: "His Majesty has not transferred you yet. In that case, you will temporarily serve as the warehouse clerk of the government office."

"You take care of the money and food matters, I feel more at ease."

Only Jiang Huai, Gao Guan, Zhang Bohai, Wang Huan and Wang Xuan knew the identity of Prince Zhu Zhanhe in Longchuan Mansion.

Wang Xuan led troops all year round to suppress the disobedient chieftains in Mengyang, Mubang, Burma and other Xuanwei divisions. Wang Huan was an official of Xichang, so Zhu Zhanhe's identity was not easily exposed.

But just because it’s not easy, it doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

In fact, many people already know that Zhu Zhanhe is no longer guarding the border in Mobei, and they are searching for traces of Zhu Zhanhe.

This "Guimao Case" was initiated by Longchuan, so Zhu Zhanhe's identity probably cannot be concealed for too long.

While he can still stay in Longchuan, it would be good to teach him more secular things.

With this in mind, Jiang Huai began to arrange work, and Longchuan Mansion became much cleaner after this cleaning.

Although less than 2,000 people were executed in the Guimao Case in the sixth year of Hongxi's reign, 220,000 people were implicated.

From this case, everyone can see that the emperor today is still the emperor back then, and he still has the same attitude towards officials. If the bottom line is touched, even military attachés from Bohai will be slaughtered.

The twenty-three noble ministers exchanged their titles for their lives, but their power and money were deprived of them.

However, in the eyes of many people, it is not surprising that they were deprived of titles. After all, the achievements of many of them did not reach the level of knighthood at all.

The only surprising thing is that Duke Xu Qin of Wei was deprived of his title.

Xu Qin is not only the eldest grandson of Xu Da, but also the nephew of Zhu Di and the nephew brother of Zhu Gaoxu.

He was deprived of his title, and among the six founding Dukes, only Cao Guogong Li Jinglong remained.

Before this case, the Ming Dynasty had nine dukes, twenty-five marquises, and thirty-four earls.

After a case, there were only seven dukes left, eighteen marquises, thirty earls, and one-third of the dukes and earls were wiped out.

In early June, Zhu Di sent Wang Yan to communicate with Zhu Gaoxu, believing that the Queen of Zhongshan should not be left without a title, and Xu Zengshou had made enough achievements, so he allowed Xu Zengshou to inherit the title of Duke of Wei.

Regarding this proposal, Zhu Gaoxu nodded in agreement without much thought and issued a decree.

Finally, on the tenth day of the sixth lunar month in the seventh year of Hongxi, Xu Zengshou got the duke who was nineteen years later. However, this time it was not the Duke of Ding who was posthumously granted the title, but the Duke of Wei who originally belonged to Xu Huizu's lineage.

When he received this title, Xu Zengshou was already fifty-nine years old. However, facing the imperial edict issued by his nephew, he felt mixed emotions that were difficult to describe.

He may not be happy, but his descendants are very happy, but I don't know if his descendants can be as sensible and general as him.

Twenty-three princes and counts were deprived of their titles, and the remaining hundreds of military officers were also deprived of their rank.

For a time, the administrative expenses of the Ministry of Revenue were reduced by more than 100,000 yuan.

Just looking at the reduced administrative expenses, Zhu Gaoxu did not show any happy expression.

"The expenditure is still too high. With the current scale, even if most of the railways are completed in five years and no new railways are built, it will take more than ten years for the court to balance its expenditures."

Holding the booklet from the Ministry of Revenue, Zhu Gaoxu sat on a carriage with a frown on his face.

Sitting in the car with him, besides Yi Shiha, was Guo Zi, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

They put on ordinary clothes. Although they still looked like wealthy people, they were generally accessible to ordinary people.

Such a change in concepts also benefits from the progress and development of Jiangnan's textile industry.

"The main reason is that the administrative expenses are too high. Now with the continuous completion of the railway, the Railway Troops and Horses Department is also constantly expanding."

"Three years ago, the Railway Troops and Horses Department only had 20,000 people, but now it has more than 100,000."

Guo Zi and Zhu Gaoxu talked about the issue of administrative expenses and added:

"In addition, the number of primary and secondary schools in official schools is also expanding with the increase in students. With the current taxation of the imperial court, it is really difficult to make ends meet..."

Zhu Gaoxu did something that transcended the times, but the productivity of the Ming Dynasty has not yet completely caught up.

The life of the people is getting better and better, but the life of the court is getting more and more difficult.

"How are the oil, salt, wine and tea industries being managed?"

Zhu Gaoxu set his sights on the four items of salt, wine, tea and oil, and planned to collect a certain amount of indirect taxes from these commodities.

"Many salt fields along the coast and inland are in the hands of the imperial court. Now that the railway has been built, the cost of transportation has been reduced."

"The official price of a pound of salt in coastal areas is fifteen cents, but the price of private salt is only seven or eight cents."

"It's a little more expensive in the mainland. The official price of a pound of salt is more than 20 yuan, while the private price is more than a dozen yuan."

"The imperial court's cost of drying salt was actually only two or three cents, but the freight was too expensive and the asking price was too high, so it couldn't be sold."

“It’s easy to put an end to illegal salt sales, just to see how the salt is sold.”

"I have calculated that if the official salt is transported by railway, the price of the official salt can be reduced to that of the private salt. Moreover, after improvements, the official salt will taste better than the private salt."

"The current salt tax of the imperial court is more than 700,000 guan per year. If it relies on railway transportation, it can probably be increased to about 2 million guan."

"In this way, the people benefited, and so did the court. Only the private salt dealers lost money."

"In addition, the same goes for oil and wine. As long as the trains are used properly, the imperial court can increase its income by about three million guan every year from oil, wine, and salt alone."

"The only thing that is a bit difficult to handle is the tea industry. After all, except for the Jiangbei area in South Zhili, which can be transported by railway, the rest of the tea industry is south of the Yangtze River, or even far away from the Yangtze River, and it is not easy to transport."

"Increasing income by three million yuan is already the limit of what I can do."

Guo Zi put his hands together and bowed, and the carriage stopped at this moment.

Zhu Gaoxu stood up and gestured to get out of the car, Guo Zi and Yi Shiha quickly followed his footsteps.

The three of them got off the carriage, and what appeared in front of them was endless farmland.

Most of these farmlands near water sources are mainly planted with rice, while those far away from water channels are cultivated with crops such as wheat, soybeans, and peanuts.

In mid-June, the wheat in Beijing has grown to more than two feet, and the rice is even taller.

In the fields, many people were working, their shoes were placed on the ridges of the fields, and they were working in cheap coarse clothes.

Look at the ordinary shoes they put on the field ridge. Although these shoes are very ordinary, who would have dared to believe that even farmers could wear shoes to work twenty years ago?
"I remember that in Peiping, many people wore straw sandals and cloth clothes on weekdays. When it was time to work, they were reluctant to put on their clothes. They took off their clothes and put them on the field ridge, and then put them on after working."

"I was young and ignorant at that time and laughed at their stupidity. Later, when I grew up, I realized how difficult it was for them."

Zhu Gaoxu looked at the people in the distance who were laughing and weeding wheat in the fields, with a look of sadness on his face.

"Since I helped my father sit in that seat, I have decided to make sure that people all over the world can wear shoes and wear clothes to work."

"Looking around Beijing now, at least the people in these places can wear clothes and shoes to work."

"Your Majesty..." Guo Zi bowed and said: "You are too modest. Today, I have never heard of people wearing straw sandals. Even households in the mountains and countryside can work for a few days in their spare time and buy a few pieces of cloth. Shoes, what’s more, some people who work all year round don’t even like shoes and start to wear boots instead of being allowed to wear them.”

"Exceeding the regulations..." After hearing these two words, Zhu Gaoxu said:

"In the early days of the country, everything was in ruins and waiting to be revitalized. Emperor Taizu Gao did not want the people to develop a tendency of comparison, so he banned it."

"Now that there is peace and prosperity in the world, these laws that bind people should be revised."

Zhu Gaoxu turned around and looked at Yi Shiha: "Record my words in the book and let Diange, the Six Ministries, the Six Prefectures, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate re-compile the "Da Ming Law"."

"Yes" Yi Shiha agreed and ordered the Xichang warrior behind him to record the instructions one by one and wait for them to return to the Forbidden City before processing.

"Please come and ask." Zhu Gaoxu raised his chin and signaled Yi Shiha to invite someone to work in the fields.

Without hesitation, he immediately selected an old farmer who looked to be in his sixties.

When the old farmer got ashore, Yi Shiha took out a coin from his arms and handed it to him. Seeing his happy face, it was probably either ten coins or a hundred coins in new money.

He followed Yishiha onto the official road. When he saw Zhu Gaoxu and Guo Zi, he saluted: "The second king of Wangcun meets these two squires."

"You can't be called a country squire. We are just a small family that just came to Beijing." Zhu Gaoxu touched his short beard and then asked:

"I asked the old gentleman to come here just to ask about the situation of the fields in Beijing, so as to facilitate the purchase of the fields."

"Just ask, I will tell you whatever I know." After the old farmer took the money, he naturally had to do his errands.

There are actually many people like Zhu Gaoxu. After all, since the Ming Dynasty moved its capital to Beijing, Beijing's properties and houses have become hard currency.

Although it means that housing prices are not as abnormal as in the Song Dynasty, compared with the price of a small house with two entrances in the capital for more than ten guan during the Hongwu period, the price of a small courtyard with two entrances and exits in the capital during the Hongxi period has reached about 20 guan. It may not seem like much growth, but considering how money increases in this era, it's actually pretty fast.

However, since there are many projects in the world and most people can work to make money, the increase is not much.

It's just that this kind of prosperity is based on continuous large-scale infrastructure construction. Once it stops, people will have to go back to their previous lives within a few years.

The Ministry of Industry currently employs nearly one million workers across the country every year, and behind these nearly one million workers are nearly one million families.

Faced with high wages ranging from fifty to forty, they can still work with a smile, but once the large-scale government-run infrastructure construction stops, they will have to go back to get the private wages of ten or twenty cash per day. .

It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. This has been true throughout the ages...

"How many years will it take for the fields in Beijing to recover their original value?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked from the basic to the deep, and the old farmer said: "I don't know much about this. I have never read a book, but I heard from my son that it takes more than 20 years to pay back one acre of land."

"This return of capital is too slow. It would be better to buy national bonds. But now that national bonds are no longer issued, we have nothing to spend even if we have money."

The words of the old farmer showed the popularity of national debt, but now Zhu Gaoxu does not dare to continue to issue national debt. After all, there are only a few railways that must be built, and the others either cannot be built or are unnecessary.

"Old sir, you said you are from Wang Village. I don't know how many fields each household in Wang Village has. If I want to buy it, how much can I buy?"

Zhu Gaoxu made innuendo, and the old farmer said without hesitation: "Each household only has three to five acres. There have been many people buying land in the past few years. In our village, most of the two thousand acres of land have been bought, and the rest has been bought." If you want to buy it, it will probably cost you more than ten acres per acre. You can only buy two or three hundred acres at most and no one will sell it.”

"If the fields are sold, will the villagers go to work in the city?" Zhu Gaoxu continued to ask, and the old farmer also answered:

"Most people in cities and towns go to work, but it's not easy to find work now. Most of them go to Fangshan in the south to dig coal. The wages there are high. Even my son..."

When the old farmer talked about the coal mines in the south, he became excited and kept talking about how good it was to mine in the coal mines. His son had saved a small amount of money in just a few months after going there, and working for one year almost equaled ten years of farming. The ground is gone.

He spoke excitedly, but Zhu Gaoxu did not interrupt him and remained a quiet listener.

From the old farmer's words, Zhu Gaoxu also learned about the current situation around Beijing.

It can be said that the people who are working diligently in Shuntian Mansion are basically those in their thirties and above.

They did not receive the official education of the Yongle period, so they could only farm at home, or wait for jobs in places like the southern mines that did not require technical skills and simply sold physical labor.

People in this era are in good health, but only when they are young.

When they were young, they often had to work without enough to eat, and their bodies had accumulated many diseases. Many people can live to be considered old if they live to the age of fifty.

Although the imperial court opened hospitals in various places, not many people went to the hospital every day. Moreover, there was no way to treat many diseases. If they could not be diagnosed, they could only go home and wait to die.

As for those young people who have received education, they either work as officials or work in factories with relatively high technical requirements, and their income is not low.

It can be said that according to the descriptions of the old farmers, many towns and villages around the capital basically rely on agriculture, iron smelting, mining, machinery manufacturing and other industrial industries for their lives. This is also the main living environment of the people in the entire north.

Their economy is not as rich and colorful as that of Jiangnan. While the people in the north were still happy that their basic necessities, food, clothing, housing and transportation were guaranteed, Jiangnan had started various entertainment-based economies as early as the Hongwu period.

The entertainment economy of flowers, toys, horse racing, sumo wrestling, etc. is in full swing in Jiangnan. This kind of thing is difficult to think of in the north.

It can be said that the economy of the north relies heavily on the government's finances. Once the government stops construction in the north, millions of families in the north will lose their source of income.

One railway project alone has supported millions of people, while the entire northern population has only been around 38 million.

"If the imperial court raises taxes and changes the current tax of one from ten to three from twenty, then it will take many years for these fields to recover their cost..."

Zhu Gaoxu pretended to sigh, and the old farmer's face changed when he heard this: "Raise taxes... um... hehe..."

The old farmer's expression was very embarrassing. After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu was prepared and said with a chuckle: "It shouldn't happen. The court is so clear now."

"That's true. I have lived for so many years. From the tenth year of Yongle to now, I have been very clear-minded. Very few officials dare to ask for money blatantly."

The old farmer echoed, which made Zhu Gaoxu breathe a sigh of relief.

After so many years of hard work, he at least partially solved the problem of ordinary people who had officials who were corrupt.

Although officials are now focusing on the court's projects, this is much better than taking money from the people.

At least if he really wanted to deal with it, he could still deal with this group of people, but once the people were forced to rebel, it would be difficult for him to deal with it.

"Thank you sir for clarifying my doubts."

Zhu Gaoxu bowed to the old farmer, which made Guo Zi, Yi Shiha and others nervously follow him to bow.

The old farmer was also shocked when he saw this. He had not seen many squires salute him in his life.

"Don't dare, don't dare. Since the squire has nothing to do, I will go farm."

After leaving a few words, the old farmer returned to the field and continued his work of weeding.

Seeing him leave, Zhu Gaoxu did not return to Beijing immediately. Instead, he used different methods to ask the people around him for more than ten miles.

The main reason why he did this was to see the people's attitude towards tax collection.

Now it seems that the people are still very afraid of tax increases. After all, if there is one, there are two, and if there are two, there are three.

Seeing the attitude of the people, Zhu Gaoxu knew that direct taxation would not work. Only indirect taxation could help the Ming Dynasty's finances.

If the finances are not good, once the northern projects are stopped, although the northern economy will not return to the beginning, the room for improvement is destined to be locked up.

Whether the successor would be as interested in the north as he was, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't bet on this uncertainty.

Bridging the North and the South must end with his generation and leaving it to future generations is not his style.

With this kind of thought, Zhu Gaoxu asked Yishiha to send Guo Zi back to Beijing, while he took a car to the Daming Palace.

Since the last time he dealt with the generals of the Yanfu faction, he has not seen Zhu Di for more than half a year.

Although Zhu Di still has the little guy Zhu Qiyue beside him, as a son of a man, he still has to come and take a look.

"Grand Emperor, His Majesty is outside seeking an audience."

It was very cool in the Yangxin Hall in the afternoon, and Zhu Di was teasing five-year-old Zhu Qiyue. Although he was not old, he could already play Go with Zhu Di.

Of course, he couldn't defeat Zhu Di, but Zhu Di could also use this to tease him.

In a game of Go, Zhu Qiyue could make dozens of moves, but Zhu Di could not make a single move.

"Yue'er, listen, that grandpa emperor has come to see me."

Zhu Di pretended to be aggrieved and spoke. Zhu Qiyue got up as soon as he heard this and bowed in a decent manner:
"Grandpa, don't worry, I'm here, grandpa won't bully grandpa..."

"Yeah, you have to help Grandpa." Zhu Di said miserably, while Zhu Qiyue nodded solemnly.

"Show him in."

Seeing Zhu Qiyue's appearance, Zhu Di immediately gave instructions to Wang Yan. Upon seeing this, Wang Yan also walked out of the Yangxin Hall and greeted Zhu Gaoxu personally.

He was stunned when he saw Zhu Gaoxu dressed in ordinary civilian clothes, but he quickly came to his senses and bowed: "Your Majesty, the Emperor has invited you."

"Okay!" Although he knew that Wang Yan was also involved in the Guimao case, because the money he received was only a few thousand yuan, and Zhu Di also needed someone to accompany him, Zhu Gaoxu did not deal with him.

However, Shan Shou, Huang Yan and other eunuchs who were highly corrupt in the Yongle period were arrested and executed by Zhu Gaoxu. For this reason, Zhu Di is still very angry.

Because of this, he said that Zhu Gaoxu bullied him, and Zhu Qiyue did believe his lies.

"My son, please see your father..."

Entering the Yangxin Hall, Zhu Gaoxu knelt down and kowtowed. His tall figure instantly calmed Zhu Qiyue, who had not seen him for more than half a year.

"You little bastard, you are indeed timid."

Zhu Di ignored Zhu Gaoxu and instead teased Zhu Qiyue. Zhu Qiyue was so stimulated that he immediately said:

"Grandpa, why did you bully Grandpa?"

"Am I bullying my great-grandfather?" Zhu Gaoxu looked confused, and finally looked at Zhu Di. Zhu Di coughed: "What do you want to do here?"

"Come and see father and Yue'er." Zhu Gaoxu responded and said at the same time:
"The railway in the north should be completed in a year and a half. At that time, I will prepare to summon vassals from all over the world to Beijing to celebrate before setting off."

"Okay, that's good!" Upon hearing the celebration, Zhu Di had a smile on his face.

Seeing this, Zhu Qiyue immediately asked Zhu Di: "Grandpa, what is this celebration?"

"It's just a place to eat, drink and have fun." Zhu Di answered simply, which made Zhu Gaoxu feel helpless.

"Then I can also..."

"Shh!"

Zhu Qiyue suddenly said "I" to himself, which confused Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Di covered his mouth when he said the word "I".

"Me?"

Zhu Gaoxu frowned and looked at his father. When Zhu Di saw this, he also acted like a dead pig who is not afraid of boiling water:
"This Yue'er likes to imitate me. Sometimes I make fun of me, and this kid starts to imitate me."

"But it doesn't matter. He's still so young. He can just correct himself in the future."

"You are really..." Zhu Gaoxu already felt regretful. It seemed that he should not have handed over his eldest grandson to the old man.

For a moment, Zhu Gaoxu thought of Zhu Zhanhe's expression when he came back and saw his son eating me one by one.

(End of this chapter)