The Ming Dynasty: The most ruthless imperial grandson, Old Zhu begged me not to kill him.

Chapter 312 Industrial and Commercial Development

After thinking of this place, Crown Princess Lü looked at Crown Prince Zhu Biao in front of her and said.

“Your Highness, Xiong Ying has indeed become somewhat unruly over the years. He dares to treat the Duke Yansheng of the Kong family in such a way. This is not a good thing for scholars all over the world. He will surely be criticized by them in the future!”

"I think that U.A. is still too young and may not be able to shoulder such a heavy responsibility. It would be better to let him continue to study in the main hall for a while before letting him oversee the country!"

"Xiongying lost his mother at a young age, which is extremely pitiful. So I was thinking if I could help take care of him a little!"

Crown Prince Zhu Biao stared at Crown Princess Lü in front of him.

He frowned.

For a moment, it was impossible to tell whether this person was sincere or not. In truth, he did owe Zhu Xiong Ying a debt.

Too much too much.

But there's no way around it; the person sitting in that position naturally needs to consider more things.

On the contrary, he couldn't think about his own affairs so much. After thinking about this, he glanced at it and his eyes were full of complicated emotions.

"Let's talk about this later. I can't make decisions about things at U.A. High School!"

"As for the Confucian Duke Yansheng, let Yunwen apologize on my behalf!"

"No matter what, we must still respect the dignity of scholars!"

Although these so-called representatives of intellectuals may not necessarily be useful in the future, they still have some influence now. Zhu Xiong Ying is doing important things, and it would not be a good thing if he were influenced by them.

Just then, Zhu Xiong Ying did something else.

The hierarchical system of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants was abolished, and the status of merchants was elevated.

They even encouraged people to go into business.

These words caused an uproar in the imperial court.

At that time, many officials were very resistant to merchants, feeling that they were all selfish and self-serving people, and that it might not be a good thing for them to greatly improve the status of merchants.

Even Zhu Yuanzhang found his crown prince, Zhu Biao.

They launched into a tirade against Crown Prince Zhu Biao, accusing the merchants of being evil and saying that if their status were elevated, they would rebel. After a long while of this, Crown Prince Zhu Biao was speechless. This was his own son's doing; what did it have to do with him? He had only just heard about it. Perhaps tired of the tirade, he heard a voice from outside saying that Zhu Xiong Ying had arrived.

Crown Prince Zhu Biao breathed a sigh of relief, finally someone was sharing the burden with him. However, Zhu Yuanzhang changed his expression and said with a smile.

"So it's our good grandson back! Quickly, let our good grandson come in!"

Crown Prince Zhu Biao was utterly speechless. They were both members of the royal family, so why was there such a big difference between them?

This matter is clearly Zhu Xiong Ying's fault, so why am I, as his father, taking the blame for him?

Seeing his father's grim expression, Zhu Xiong Ying knew what had happened. He then looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao in front of him and said...

"Father, Grandfather's matter is based on my own thoughts, not on instigation by others, so please don't take it to heart!"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded. "It's not a big problem for me to not mind, but you need to give me your reasons!"

"Grandson, you don't know that those merchants are all wicked people. If you elevate their status, who knows how they will face the people?"

"I think all the merchants in the world should be killed. If there were no merchants, the Zhu family's rule would be more stable!"

Zhu Xiong Ying smiled and shook his head.

"Grandfather, I once said that scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants are all indispensable. Although merchants are indeed greedy, it must be said that they still play a significant role in certain aspects!"

"The tax revenue of our Great Ming Dynasty is far too low these days, so we need money for everything. Even though I have saved some over the years, it is still very little. We can't live like this forever!"

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao frowned upon hearing this.

They were well aware of this situation, but collecting taxes was not an easy task. Moreover, the agricultural tax set by Zhu Yuanzhang was one-thirtieth, which was far too low to collect much money.

"Didn't you implement the 'equalization of land tax and poll tax' policy? That should have made you a lot of money!"

Zhu Xiong Ying shook his head. "The 'equalization of land tax and poll tax' can indeed prevent some people from engaging in corruption and making money off it!"

However, this will not yield results in a short period of time, and the pace of reform cannot be too drastic to avoid backlash!

"Although the 'equalization of land tax and poll tax' policy will have some effect, it won't be effective in a short period of time!"

"Furthermore, to prevent some people from taking advantage of the situation, more oversight should be established. This is something that cannot be avoided, especially since it is only being implemented in the Nanzhili region and has not yet been extended to the whole country!"

"As for why we need to develop commerce and elevate the status of merchants, it's because you can't be wealthy without merchants!"

"Putting aside other things, the tax revenue of the Song Dynasty alone was mostly over 70 million taels of silver. In the Southern Song Dynasty, it was even possible to generate 100 million taels of silver in tax revenue with only half of the country. Such a situation is very rare. How could my Great Ming be weaker than them?"

Although the emperors of the Song Dynasty were weak, it must be said that the Song army was indeed powerful in combat. Its equipment, armor coverage, and numbers were all very large. Unfortunately, the people in the court were too wary of the generals, and the command system had major problems, which led to more defeats than victories in foreign wars.

Moreover, the bigger the battle, the greater the chance of losing.

However, it can be said that the Song Dynasty was weak, but it cannot be said that the Song Dynasty was poor. Compared with the Song Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty was truly poor. Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang and Crown Prince Zhu Biao were both stunned.

"Are you sure you can collect that much money from business taxes?"

Zhu Xiong Ying nodded after hearing this.

"That is indeed possible, but some laws need to be enacted. I have already handed this matter over to Hu Zhen, the Minister of Justice, to handle!"

“Those merchants are all very cunning, and if their power is not restricted, who knows what they might do. Moreover, what merchants are best at is mergers and acquisitions!”

"The annexation is a good thing for them, but it may not be a good thing for our Great Ming!"

Therefore, it is urgent to formulate corresponding laws to restrict them.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao nodded after hearing this.

"Since you're willing to try it out, let's find some places to do so!"

(End of this chapter)