Ming Dynasty: A hundred-year-old immortal cultivator, Zhu Yuanzhang’s biological father

Who can't go?
But now, a living person actually died of depression in the sea... Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly remembered Zhu Xiongying's words, and his eyes were filled with shock!
That guy was right! This sea really is not something that everyone can conquer!
In fact, on the sea, one not only has to face loneliness and solitude, but also many unknown dangers. Sailing on the endless sea for fifteen days, storms, rainstorms, waves... and other natural disasters will become the straw that breaks people's psychological defenses.

Without absolute faith, human beings are as small as a speck of dust when facing nature!
Why is it that when later generations talk about the history of navigation, Zheng He is always mentioned prominently?
Because in the early fifteenth century, conquering the sea was a great thing in itself!
With the advancement of technology, perhaps future generations will not feel anything, but in the eyes of the great ancients, Zheng He's seven voyages to the West are themselves a miracle in the history of navigation.

Because it was another hundred years after Zheng He that Western talents began the Age of Navigation.

At this time, the Minister of War, Zhong Xu, could no longer stand, and hurriedly stepped out and knelt beside Ru Taisu, saying, "Your Majesty, I know my crime, please punish me!"

Zhu Yuanzhang remained silent.

At this time, Lan Yu also stepped out and said, "I told you that the people in your military department are no good and people will die if you go out, but you don't believe me and insist on doing it your own way."

"Is this all right?"

"Fifteen days of time have been wasted."

"It's not just time that's wasted. Every day spent at sea is a drain on Ming's finances."

"Now that the voyage is on hold, what shall we do? What shall we do with the losses?"

Ru Taisu looked somewhat resentful, but now she could only let Lan Yu scold her.

Lan Yu raised his head and said to Zhu Yuanzhang, "Your Majesty, the death of the military official is a loss to the Ming Dynasty."

"It is not easy for the country to cultivate talents. I think we should not let officials take risks anymore."

"I pray that a eunuch be sent from the palace to take over the responsibility of sailing!"

Zhu Yuanzhang stared at Lan Yu in silence.

He understood it all now.

Zhu Xiongying, that brat!
So you're waiting here!
Sure enough, the final outcome of the incident was completely controlled by that kid.

Since the promotion of navigation, he has mentioned more than once that Zheng He should sail to the West.

He has been pushing this matter for almost a year.

But now, he did it!

Zhu Yuanzhang still feels a little dreamy.

The result today was achieved because Lan Yu said that eunuchs should be allowed to sail, without any objection from the officials.

he made it!

Zhu Yuanzhang now felt a little horrified when he thought about it carefully.

This kid accomplished a great thing without showing off!
Not only that, he also plotted against all the officials of the Ming Dynasty!

It’s incredible!
When your grandfather was eighteen years old, he didn't have the skills you have!

Good boy! Grandpa appreciates you more and more!
Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and said, "Your Ministry of War should send condolences to Fang Yuanwailang as soon as possible, and the Ministry of Revenue should allocate part of the salary to Fang Yuanwailang."

Ru Taisu and Zhong Xu couldn't help but express their gratitude to the emperor.

Zhu Yuanzhang asked again: "Lan Yu said he wanted to send eunuchs to sea. Do you have any other opinions?"

Who would dare to go sailing now?
Who wouldn't cherish his reputation if he could get here? If an official were to go there and die, how would we explain this to his family?
As a result, the court's opinions have never been as unified as they are today. Almost everyone subconsciously spoke up and agreed with Lan Yu!

Lan Yu's heart was pounding as he watched this scene in the court!

Brat...you're awesome!

A court meeting is being held in the court.

The Ministry of Revenue is also busy calculating fiscal and tax revenues for the first half of the year.

Wang Wen, the deputy director of the Ministry of Revenue, drank a lot of wine yesterday afternoon and sent Huang Qian, the deputy director of the Ministry of Revenue, to Jiaozhi.

I came to the Duzhisi a little late for duty today.

As soon as he entered the Duzhisi duty room, a clerk said, "Sir Wang, the tax revenue from Jiaozhi has been delivered."

Wang Wen smiled and said in a relaxed manner: "It's really a headache. There are people standing behind me, and my back is straight!"

"Other governors have already sent their taxes, but Jiaozhi is the only one who is different."

Wang Wen was just about to look through Jiaozhi's fiscal and taxation records when he seemed to remember something and asked the clerk, "By the way, which provincial governors collected the most taxes in the first half of the year?"

The clerk in charge of statistics said, "Your Excellency, Huguang's land tax revenue ranked first in the first half of the year. Converted into silver, it is as high as thirty to twenty and fifty thousand."

It is difficult to calculate tax revenues during the Ming Dynasty, because the taxes collected were all in kind, such as rice, wheat, silk, and satin. Therefore, the conversion into silver had to be based on local prices.

Huguang has always been a major grain-producing province of the Ming Dynasty, and has a reputation of "Huguang is abundant, the world is well-fed".

What this means is that as long as the Huguang Administration has sufficient grain, there will be no worries about food in the world.

Wang Wen nodded and murmured, "320,000 taels, I, doubled compared to the second half of the year, not bad."

Last year, due to the impact of natural disasters such as snowstorms, fiscal tax revenue in the second half of the year was extremely sluggish.

The clerk in charge of statistics continued, "The next is the Zhejiang Provincial Administration Office. The land tax is equivalent to more than 270,000 taels of silver."

Wang Wen nodded repeatedly after listening to this. With the fourteen provincial governments and the Zhili Nanjing Prefecture, the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty in the first half of the year had reached two million taels.

He knew that a large part of this was due to last year's snowstorm, which caused taxes from the second half of last year to be accumulated into this year.

In reality, it should be just over one million taels, which is basically the same as in previous years.

After listening to this, he gently opened the document of the Jiaozhi Provincial Government.

As soon as he saw the general table of contents, Wang Wen was stunned.

He rubbed his eyes hard, looked again, and saw that the total number remained unchanged.

He looked up at the clerk, then looked down at the document in his hand, and then looked up at the clerk again.

The clerk didn't know what Wang Yuanwailang meant, so he asked tremblingly, "Master Wang, what's wrong?"

Wang Wen suddenly asked, "How much tax do you think the Jiaozhi Provincial Government should collect?"

The clerks were responsible for tax statistics and had an assessment of the situation in each place.

Jiaozhi is close to Yunnan and Guizhou, and in previous years, the country would be thankful if the taxes Yunnan and Guizhou could pay could reach more than 50,000 taels of silver.

Seeing Wang Wen's incredulous expression, he thought for a moment and then made a bold guess: "Forty thousand?"

Wang Wen said: "One hundred and twenty-three thousand six hundred and ninety taels and eight cents and six cents!"

The official was stunned for a moment, then smiled tremblingly, "Lord Wang, don't... don't joke."

Wang Wen said: "No! What kind of joke is this? If there is any joke, it should be from Jiaozhi!"

"One hundred and twenty thousand taels, in just half a year, it's actually higher than the tax revenue of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces combined?"

Wang Wen was extremely shocked, and his intuition told him that Mr. Jie was talking nonsense!
Yes, bullshit!

I'm afraid this data is not just written randomly?
However, taxation is a national affair and must be submitted to the imperial court. Even if Mr. Xie had a hundred heads, he would not dare to make a fuss about it.

Then it is...hiss!

Really? Really!
Oh my god! This is horrible!
In just half a year, taxes have been raised to this level!
Jiaozhi, which no one thought was promising and everyone thought was a barren land, suddenly became a province with a large tax revenue.
This is outrageous!
After an unknown amount of time, Wang Wen was overjoyed and said hurriedly, "I...I need to go to the palace."

……

Fengtian Temple.

At this point, the issue of sailing had already been discussed.

Ru Taisu and Zhong Xu both returned to the train.

Lan Yu achieved his goal and returned to the train with a smile.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked around at everyone and said in a deep voice: "In this case, let's select qualified eunuchs from the palace to continue sailing!"

The tone for the voyage has been set.

If the court gives up now, it will lose more and more money.

In any case, no one wants to see the foundation built by the Ming Dynasty destroyed inexplicably.

"Tobe."

Zhu Yuanzhang called out, and Fu Youwen hurried out: "Your humble servant pays respect to the emperor."

Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "It is almost the sixth month of summer. Have the tax revenue statistics of the provincial governments of our Ming Dynasty been compiled?"

Fu Youwen hurriedly replied, "Your Majesty, including Jiaozhi, the tax revenues of the fifteen provincial administrative commissions and Nanzhili have basically been counted."

After a pause, Fu Youwen continued, "Only the Jiaozhi Provincial Government has not been delivered yet."

Zhu Yuanzhang hummed and said, "The Jiaozhi prefecture was just rebuilt after the war, and its tax revenue is not a big deal. Please give us a general description of the other prefectures."

Fu Youwen nodded and immediately began to report on the fiscal and tax revenue for the first half of the year.

Taxation is related to the tone of the second half of the Ming Dynasty. After a lot of money enters the Ministry of Revenue, it will be allocated out. Those who should pay for military expenses will pay for military expenses, and those who should build roads and bridges, construct treasure ships, and build firearms will all receive unified funds.

Zhu Yuanzhang listened casually. Basically, the tax revenue of Hongwu in the first half of this year was negligible compared with last year.

This is also because of the natural disasters that occurred in Ming Dynasty last year. Excluding the tax revenue in the second half of last year, the month-on-month increase rate was almost zero.

Just as Fu Youwen was about to finish, there was a sound of light footsteps coming in from outside the door.

A eunuch quietly brought a document to Fu Youwen, then bowed and left.

Fu Youwen was stunned for a moment, looking at the Financial Overview of Jiaozhi Chengxuanzhengshisi in his hand. After thinking for a while, he slightly opened it.

Just one look and he was stunned.

The concluding remarks he was about to make came to an abrupt halt, and his expression looked very strange.

Everyone looked at Fu Youwen curiously.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned slightly: "Why don't you say anything?"

Fu Youwen said: "Your Majesty, Jiaozhi... Jiaozhi's fiscal revenue has been delivered."

The officials nodded slightly, but still felt a little strange.

The tax revenue from Jiaozhi has been delivered, why do you, Fu Youwen, feel like you have seen something extraordinary?

Could it be that in the first half of the year, Jiaozhi not only had no tax revenue, but also owed money to the private treasury?

This is not impossible.

Especially places like Jiaozhi.

Many people in the court were prejudiced against Jiaozhi, believing it to be a barbaric land. Some even thought that being transferred to Jiaozhi was a demotion.

It's strange that recently many people seem to be proud to go to Jiaozhi.

The officials were confused and didn't know why this happened.

However, the tax revenue for Jiaozhi has been announced today, which may make some people feel uncomfortable with the current situation in Jiaozhi!
Everyone turned their eyes to Fu Youwen again.

Fu Youwen felt a little dry in the mouth, so he swallowed and said word by word: "In the first half of this year, the Jiaozhi Provincial Administration adopted the tax calculation method based on silver, and did not increase taxes on rice, silk, hemp, etc...."

Everyone was stunned. They really didn't expect that the poor people in Jiaozhi had already started to collect silver directly!

Then, Fu Youwen trembled again and said, "In the first half of this year, the Jiaozhi Provincial Administration Office collected a total of 120,000 silver taels... 123,690 taels and 8.6 cents!"

When Fu Youwen finished speaking, all the officials were stunned.

Everyone opened their eyes wide and looked at Fu Youwen in amazement.

What a joke!
One hundred and twenty thousand?
Damn it!
Bullshit!
That’s bullshit! That’s not the way it should be!
There was silence in the hall.

Everyone's expression was shocked at first, and then... an expression of realization.

Everyone is an expert at boasting. The eldest brother does not laugh at the second brother. It’s just that Jiaozhi is a little too shameless. But if you really want to be serious, who hasn’t boasted about his political achievements?
But, Jiaozhi is exaggerating too much!
Is Mr. Xie a fool? Doesn’t he know that this is a capital crime?

Dare to make a fuss about taxation... ugh!

But soon, they were stunned again.

Mr. Xie was born in the Hanlin Academy and was blessed by the teachings of Confucius and Mencius!
How could such a low-level mistake be made?
How dare you report taxes recklessly?
The only explanation is... Oh my God!
The hall fell silent again, and the expressions on everyone's faces became strange again.

Zhu Yuanzhang also stood there in a daze for a long time.

He asked Fu Youwen tentatively: "Are you sure?"

Fu Youwen lowered his head again and looked carefully. He took a deep breath and raised his head and said, "Your Majesty, the Jiaozhi Provincial Administration Office really reported 120,000 taels of tax!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a while, and after a long time his expression changed. He seemed to be thinking about something, and seemed to have made up his mind.

"it is good!"

"Our eldest grandson governs well!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the hall fell into absolute silence again!
Some people's hearts have begun beating wildly!

In the Fengtian Hall, from south to north, from crimson to purple, all the high-ranking officials and dignitaries had faces filled with horror!
Many people, such as Lan Yu and others, felt their hearts beating in their throats!
What the old man meant by this is self-evident!

This was the first time that the old man had officially introduced Zhu Xiongying to the public at the Fengtian Hall Grand Court Meeting, among the officials of the fourth rank and above! Jiaozhi was governed by his eldest grandson...

Zhu Yuanzhang looked around at the people with different expressions and continued slowly: "In the seventh year of Hongwu, Biao'er's eldest son, our eldest grandson was born. He died in the fifteenth year of Hongwu and was then resurrected by his master."

"Recently, there have been rumors in the court and among the people that our eldest grandson will be the regent?"

After a pause, Zhu Yuanzhang continued, "I don't know who started this trend. I have only talked to the officials of the six ministries."

The six ministers hurriedly stepped forward to plead guilty: "I admit my guilt!"

Although they were asking for forgiveness, they knew that the emperor had other intentions and that taking the blame for the emperor was also their duty as subjects.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "Forget it, no need to apologize, everyone return to the train."

"According to the order!"

(End of this chapter)