Daming: I can’t kill such a greedy prince-in-law?

Yang Rong hesitated and said, "Lifting the maritime ban may cause controversy among the government and the public."

"In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures should be taken." Ouyang Lun said solemnly, "It is better than the people starving to death at home or rising up in rebellion."

Guo Zi was thoughtful: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, has a good point. But I still have a concern - with so many people, it will be difficult to find a husband and wife in the future. Nowadays, in the Jiangnan area, the betrothal gift has risen to a huge amount of 100 taels, and it is difficult for poor children to get married."

Ouyang Lun's eyes flashed with a sharp light: "I have already made plans for this matter. From now on, the 'official matchmaker' system will be implemented, and local governments will match people up, and sky-high betrothal gifts will be prohibited. At the same time." He raised the corners of his mouth slightly, "Men are encouraged to marry overseas women. Anyone who marries a woman from Ryukyu or Annan will be rewarded with ten taels of silver."

When the ministers heard this, some nodded in agreement, while others looked surprised. The sun was setting outside the window, stretching Ouyang Lun's figure very long, casting it on the huge map of the territory, as if it was going to cover it completely.

"This matter concerns the foundation of the country. I will personally report it to His Majesty." Ouyang Lun straightened his clothes and said, "If you have any additional comments, please send them to my duty room within three days. Let's go."

After everyone left, Ouyang Lun sat alone at the desk and wrote the three big words "population sparse" on the memorial.

The brush strokes are strong and powerful, and the ink has penetrated deeply into the back of the paper.

After the cabinet meeting ended, dusk had quietly settled over Yingtian City.

Huang Zicheng hurried to the Duke of Korea's mansion, thinking about how to use the population problem to bring down Ouyang Lun.

As soon as he entered the Duke's Mansion, Huang Zicheng reported to Li Shanchang impatiently: "Duke, at today's cabinet meeting, Ouyang Lun mentioned that the population explosion has brought many problems, including food shortages, land annexation, and insufficient manpower. Each of these is extremely difficult. This is the perfect opportunity to bring him down! As long as we make a little effort and incite the officials to impeach him, we will definitely make Ouyang Lun fall out of favor with His Majesty!"

Li Shanchang, however, sat upright on the armchair, looking relaxed, gently waving his folding fan, and spoke slowly after a while: "Zicheng, don't be impulsive. Ouyang Lun is a man of great means. Since he dared to raise these issues in the court, he must have been prepared. Moreover, the population issue is related to the foundation of the country. If we act rashly, we may end up in trouble if we are not careful."

Huang Zicheng was unwilling to give in. "But are we going to miss such a good opportunity? And watch Ouyang Lun continue to shine in the court?"

Li Shanchang stared at Huang Zicheng with deep eyes and said, "You were finally transferred back from the position of stationmaster. If you are demoted again for your rash behavior, all your previous efforts will be in vain. In the current situation, we just need to wait and see how Ouyang Lun solves these problems. If he responds properly, it would be unreasonable for us to impeach him rashly; if he reveals a flaw, then we can strike back and hit him with one blow."

Although Huang Zicheng was dissatisfied, he also understood that what Li Shanchang said made sense, so he could only grit his teeth and nod his head. However, he secretly swore in his heart that he would find an opportunity to bring Ouyang Lun down.

Seeing Huang Zicheng's face full of dissatisfaction and anger in his eyes, Li Shanchang sighed heavily, put down the folding fan in his hand, and said solemnly: "Zicheng, calm down. Over the years, our Huaixi Party has fought with Ouyang Lun many times, and every time we have not returned with defeat? Every time we lose, Ouyang Lun's power has become more prosperous. Now the Huaixi Party is like a candle in the wind, swaying. To be honest, we can't afford to lose!"

Huang Zicheng was shocked and his face lost all color. Although he knew the situation was difficult, he never thought that the Huaixi Party had reached such a desperate situation.

Li Shanchang stared into the distance with deep eyes, and said in a low voice: "The Huaixi Party has survived until now, not because we are strong, but because the emperor and the emperor need us to check and balance Ouyang Lun, and Ouyang Lun also needs us as opponents to show his ability and loyalty to His Majesty. We are just pawns in the game between the parties."

Huang Zicheng stood there in a daze, his whole body shivering, and muttered, "Teacher, is it true that we have no chance of winning?"

"The chance is slim." Li Shanchang shook his head, his eyes full of fatigue. "Next, we will just quietly serve as 'tool men'. Wait for the right time and wait for Ouyang Lun to make a mistake, a fatal mistake! Regarding this population issue, remember not to argue with him, let alone slander him. On the contrary, we should praise him vigorously and make everyone think that only Ouyang Lun can solve this problem."

Huang Zicheng was stunned at first, then a flash of enlightenment flashed in his eyes: "Teacher, you are trying to use the strategy of flattery to kill!"

Li Shanchang sneered, "Since it's hard to win in a head-on confrontation, let's send him to the top. The higher he climbs, the harder he falls. When he reaches the top, he will fall into the abyss."

Huang Zicheng nodded heavily: "Teacher, I understand!"

The cold wind on the outskirts of Yingtianfu was filled with dust and slammed hard against the shack built with straw and rags. Old woman Wang was curled up in a corner, her skinny hands gently patting the crying grandson in her arms. Her cloudy eyes looked at the leaking roof, her heart filled with despair.

"Good boy, don't cry, don't cry..." Wang's hoarse voice was choked with sobs.

Since her hometown suffered from drought, she brought her three grandchildren to Yingtian Prefecture to beg for food. She thought she could find a way to survive, but she didn't expect that there were refugees everywhere and even wild vegetables were hard to find.

The eldest grandson Shitou squatted at the entrance of the shack, looking longingly into the distance. He was only ten years old, but he was already skinny and pale from hunger, with an anxious look in his eyes that was not in line with his age. "Grandma, I'll go pick some more wild vegetables," Shitou said, and was about to get up.

Wang grabbed him and said, "Don't go. All the edible wild vegetables have been dug up. Those people..." She paused, remembering that two refugees had a fight over a bunch of wild onions yesterday, and one of them had a bloody head. "It's too chaotic outside. Grandma is worried if you go out."

The second grandson Tiedan could not bear the hunger any more and cried, "Grandma, I'm hungry, I want to eat steamed buns..." Tiedan's crying attracted the refugees from the next shack. The refugees looked out and a trace of greed flashed in their eyes.

Wang's heart tightened, and she hugged the children tighter. She knew that in this refugee den, if she was not careful, the little food she had would be snatched away. But she had only a few worn-out clothes in her arms, so where could she get food?

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside. Wang looked through the cracks in the shack and saw a group of refugees rushing to the vegetable field not far away. It turned out that the radishes planted by the vegetable farmer were ripe. The farmer waved his hoe to stop them, but was pushed to the ground by the refugees.

"Let's go and see if there is any chance." A glimmer of hope flashed in Shi Tou's eyes.

"No!" Wang shouted, "Those people can do anything when they get crazy. We can't take the risk." Her voice was filled with fear and helplessness. She thought of her son and daughter-in-law, who were beaten to death by the mobs on the way to escape the famine. Now her only wish was to save the lives of her three grandchildren.

As night fell, it became colder in the shack. The children's cries gradually faded, whether they were tired of crying or too hungry to have the strength. Wang hugged them tightly and prayed silently in her heart: "God, please open your eyes and save my grandchildren..." But the only response she got was the whistling wind and the quarrels of refugees in the distance. In the threshing ground of Lijiazhuang in Kaifeng Prefecture, Henan Province, tenant Zhou Dazhu clutched the newly signed lease, his palms full of cold sweat. The housekeeper of the landowner Mr. Li had a cold face and knocked on the contract with his pipe: "Zhou Dazhu, the rent will increase by 70% this year. If you don't sign, this land will be cultivated by others."

Zhou Dazhu looked at his family's few acres of land in the distance, which had just been annexed by Li Yuanwai last year on the grounds of "paying off debts". He suppressed his anger and said, "Butler, with this 70% rent, my family can't even afford to eat bran!"

"Can't get food?" The housekeeper sneered, "There are many refugees outside the city, scrambling to farm for you. If you don't want to live, get out of here as soon as possible!"

Zhou Dazhu's wife, Zhang, rushed over with her daughter crying from hunger in her arms, and knelt on the ground, "Please, please be kind and charge us less rent..."

The housekeeper kicked Zhang away impatiently: "Stop talking nonsense! If you don't pay the rent in three days, your whole family will get out of the farm!" Looking at the housekeeper's back, Zhou Dazhu clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms. He knew that in this world, once a self-cultivating farmer became a tenant, it would be difficult for him to turn over, and more people like him were being pushed to a dead end step by step.

On the parade ground of Datong Guard, Lieutenant General Zhao Hu looked at the sparsely lined up soldiers, his face flushed with anger. The team that was supposed to have 500 people now had less than 300 people, and many soldiers were in tattered clothes and their weapons were rusty.

"Damn it!" Zhao Hu kicked over the weapon rack next to him. "Last month, the Mongols robbed three villages, and we don't even have enough people to chase them!"

Qian Hu Liu Cheng came over with a bitter face and said, "General, it's not that our brothers don't want to fight, it's just that all the young and strong men who can fight in the military households have run away. Some have fled to become refugees, and some have worked for the rich families, so at least they can have a full meal..."

Before he finished speaking, the sound of hurried horse hooves suddenly came from outside the city. The sentry came running in panic: "General! The Mongolian cavalry is invading again, this time there are at least two hundred people!"

Zhao Hu's face turned pale. He looked at the weak and old soldiers in front of him and gritted his teeth and ordered: "Everyone, gather! Even if we die, we must defend the city gate!" The soldiers looked at each other, and many of them had fear in their eyes. Zhao Hu knew that with the current strength of the troops, there was no chance of winning this battle, but the border was empty and they didn't even have the chance to ask for help.

In the city of Hangzhou in the south of the Yangtze River, Chen Ahfu, a cloth shop assistant, squatted at the entrance of the alley, looking at the wrinkled engagement letter in his hand and sighing. The matchmaker Wang from next door had just come and said that the girl from the Liu family in the east of the city was willing to marry, but the betrothal gift required 120 taels of silver.

"Afu, are you still worried?" Lao Zhou, who was also his clerk, patted him on the shoulder. "My boy is thirty years old and still hasn't found a wife. Who in the ordinary family can afford the betrothal gift now?"

Chen Ahfu smiled bitterly: "Brother Zhou, I have worked in the cloth shop for ten years, and the money I saved is not even enough to make up for the difference.

At first, Zhu Biao had only a few memorials on population issues on his desk, mixed in with the good news from various places, and did not attract much attention from him. He casually approved a few words, put the memorials aside, and continued to deal with other government affairs. However, as time went on, memorials reflecting food shortages, land annexation, refugee riots, and other issues came in like snowflakes, and soon piled up on the dragon desk into a small mountain.

Zhu Biao opened a memorial from the governor of Henan, which described in detail the tragic situation of the gentry frantically annexing land, causing thousands of farmers to be displaced; in another letter, the general of Datong complained that the frontier troops were empty and unable to resist the invasion of foreign enemies. Zhu Biao frowned more and more, and slammed the memorial on the table: "Hasn't the development of my Ming Dynasty always been good? Why are there more and more problems!" He paced back and forth in the hall, full of confusion and anxiety, and really couldn't understand why such a crisis was hidden under the prosperous appearance.

With full of questions in his mind, Zhu Biao came to Taile Palace to pay his respects to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang had just finished a business negotiation and was exhausted and dissatisfied. When he saw Zhu Biao, he was the first to complain: "People nowadays are so picky. In the past, as long as they were given a bowl of rice, they could work for a lifetime. Now, not only do they have to give them rice, but they also have to pay less. The cost of doing business is too high!" Zhu Yuanzhang rubbed his temples while speaking, his words full of helplessness.

Zhu Biao was moved when he heard this, and he quickly said, "Father, I have been troubled by this matter recently. There have been constant reports from various places, all of which reflect the many problems caused by population growth. The situation is very difficult."

Zhu Biao looked solemn and took a step forward. "Henan reported that the powerful and wealthy were frantically annexing land, and the number of refugees has reached 100,000. Datong Garrison was short of troops and was unable to fight back against the Tatar invasion. The price of rice in Jiangnan has skyrocketed, and the people are complaining..."

With every word he spoke, Zhu Yuanzhang's face darkened.

"Ridiculous!" Zhu Yuanzhang stood up suddenly, his dragon robe sweeping off a paperweight beside him. "Since the implementation of the new policy, the treasury has been full and the people have lived and worked in peace and contentment. How could there be such a mess?"

Zhu Biao gritted his teeth, pulled out a stack of memorials from his sleeve, and presented them with both hands: "Your Majesty, please read. These memorials are all written by officials from various places, and every word is true. At first, I thought it was due to poor governance in some places, but as more and more memorials were received, I realized..." His voice was heavy, "This is not an accident, but a crisis sweeping the whole country."

Zhu Yuanzhang snatched the memorial and quickly read it. As he read, his hands began to tremble slightly, and his face turned from red to white. "Food shortage, land annexation, insufficient manpower..." he muttered to himself, and suddenly remembered the labor problem he had just complained about, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

"Biao'er," Zhu Yuanzhang slowly raised his head, his eyes full of shock and worry, "Do you think the merchants' demands for high salaries are related to these people's livelihood chaos?"

Zhu Biao took a deep breath and said the conclusion he had been thinking about for a long time: "I think the root cause is the population. The new policies in recent years have achieved remarkable results, and the population has skyrocketed, but the land, food, and jobs have not increased accordingly. There are many people and few resources. In order to survive, the people will naturally fight for land and ask for wages, and chaos will follow."

The hall fell into deathly silence, with only the crackling of burning candles as the sound could be heard.

Zhu Yuanzhang staggered back into his chair, as if he had aged ten years in an instant.

He looked at the memorial in his hand and thought back to the days when he was young and had fought in various battles all over the world. At that time, he had been short of food and clothing, but he had never been forced into such a situation like today because of an invisible crisis.

"A crisis that concerns the fate of the country..." Zhu Yuanzhang repeated in a low voice, with unprecedented fear in his voice.

Zhu Biao looked at his father's hunched back and felt a pang of bitterness in his heart. At the same time, he also understood that the giant ship of the Ming Dynasty had already sailed into a dangerous shoal with undercurrents, and they, father and son, must find a way to break the impasse.

"Go and call Ouyang Lun over!!" (End of this chapter)