Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 106: A wise ruler in power, and a court full of brave ministers! (First update)
Yingtianfu Street.

Xia Zhibai walked with a heavy heart.

He is still trying to sort out his thoughts bit by bit.

But after thinking about it, he only came to one starting point, which was that Zhu Yuanzhang was old.

Zhu Yuanzhang survived a sea of ​​blood and corpses. He himself was not afraid of death, but he was worried that he had not finished his work before his death.

So Zhu Yuanzhang became anxious.

The Northern Expedition, in addition to consolidating Zhu Yuanzhang's own political achievements, was also to clear obstacles for the successor emperor. Zhu Yuanzhang did not trust any of his ministers, nor did he want to hand these matters over to Zhu Biao or even other successor emperors.

Zhu Yuanzhang was worried that Zhu Biao could not suppress the fierce ministers and bandits in the court.

He wanted to eliminate all those who could threaten the imperial power before he died.

The kind that spares no expense.

From the very beginning, the Hu Weiyong case was used to clean up the civil service group in eastern Zhejiang.

Now, they have begun to use the Guo Huai case as an excuse to cut down the power of the Huaixi civil officials headed by Li Shanchang, reducing Li Shanchang's influence in the court to the extreme, reducing him to a commander without troops. Finally, they have dealt with Li Shanchang, who could have become "Sima Yi".

This is the treatment of civil servants.

There are also military generals.

Lan Yu, Feng Sheng and others were also unable to escape.

Perhaps many people in later generations said that if Zhu Biao had not died, Lan Yu would not have died, but during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, this argument itself did not hold water.

Just as he accidentally saw a sentence, the same can be applied to Lan Yu.

Lan Yu might not have had the intention to rebel, and even Zhu Yuanzhang knew it very well, but he had the ability to rebel and the prestige to usurp the throne, and that was Lan Yu's crime.

Lan Yu was related to Zhu Biao, but not to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang only had the eternal prosperity of the Zhu family in his eyes, and any existence that could threaten the imperial power would be eliminated by Zhu Yuanzhang.

However, the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty have not yet been destroyed, and generals such as Lan Yu and Feng Sheng are still valuable. But when the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty are severely damaged and no longer pose a threat to the Ming Dynasty, it will be time for Zhu Yuanzhang to raise his butcher knife.

There is no emotion in politics.

Even if Zhu Biao was alive, Zhu Yuanzhang would have taken action.

Zhu Yuanzhang could never tolerate a situation where a wise ruler was in power but the court was filled with ruthless ministers.

Xia Zhibai sighed.

From then on, the Ming Dynasty officially entered a period of turmoil.

The king doubts his ministers, and the ministers fear their king.

Unfortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang planned everything for future emperors, but they all ended up on the opposite side.

He slaughtered civil and military officials crazily in order to avoid the situation of "a wise ruler in power and a court full of ruthless ministers". However, during the more than 200 years of the Ming Dynasty, there were basically "ruthless ministers" in power in every generation.

Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister system and tried to limit the power of ministers in order to safeguard the supremacy of imperial power.

The cabinet that followed was more authoritarian than any previous prime minister.

Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that the people were not allowed to move around. However, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, refugees became common and wandered around, and the court was unable to restrain them at all.

He strictly ordered eunuchs not to interfere in government affairs, but the eunuchs' abuse of power in the Ming Dynasty was second to none in history.

The so-called "Great Edict" and "Imperial Ming Ancestor's Instructions" were shelved in less than a hundred years and became a pile of waste paper.

Zhu Yuanzhang was too superstitious about power.

They are so superstitious that they believe that as long as they control power, they can control the world at their will.

Xia Zhibai came back to his senses.

He stopped and looked in the direction of the Ming Imperial Palace, his eyes deep and solemn.

In today's world, no one who plays power games, mind games, or politics with Zhu Yuanzhang can be his opponent. If one wants to truly shake Zhu Yuanzhang's ideology of power, one must ultimately rely on the truth of how the world works.

math!

Hit the snake seven inches.

When it comes to mathematics, if you know it, you know it, and if you don’t know it, you don’t know it.

Emperors are no exception.

Zhu Yuanzhang was particularly poor at arithmetic.

This is the only way out of the impasse that Xia Zhibai can think of. Zhu Yuanzhang is now deeply trapped in the trap of power and high pressure, and will not listen to ordinary words. Only those cold and biting numbers can awaken Zhu Yuanzhang's sleeping soul.

"The emperor's legacy is gone, the gates and rivers are empty and the ancestor dragon's residence is locked."

"Shandong is in turmoil before the ashes of the pit have cooled down. Liu Bang and Xiang Yu did not study."

"I used to think this sentence was a joke, but now I realize that every word is true."

"It's just that the ones who don't read are not Liu and Xiang Yu in the past, but the emperors today who read books every day."

Xia Zhibai shook his head.

He looked at the dim road ahead and stepped forward resolutely.

Kyoto Salt Shop.

Fang Mo and others did not dare to rest.

He had been waiting in the store, looking extremely anxious.

When Xia Zhibai went there this time, they were worried. It was clear that Zheng Ao had bad intentions this time and was deliberately making things difficult for Xia Zhibai.

Given Minister Guo's arrogance, Xia Zhibai would probably suffer if he went there. Moreover, Xia Zhibai was frivolous to begin with and did not know how to restrain himself. This time he even dared to sell salt at one hundred taels per catty. Anyone would be worried.

If something happened to Xia Zhibai, it would be a big deal.

Xia Zhibai is the top scholar.

Thousands of people in the salt industry and coal mines now depend on Xia Zhibai for their livelihood.

If something happened to Xia Zhibai, the livelihoods of so many people would not be secure.

How could the merchants who were completely squeezed out of the market by them give up? Without Xia Zhibai, the "official" standing in front of them, they were just a piece of fat meat on the chopping board, and anyone dared to move them, especially after the court took back all kinds of machines, they could only let others slaughter them.

A group of people were pacing back and forth in the store, and from time to time someone would go out to look out onto the street.

at last.

After more than half an hour, Xia Zhibai appeared.

Still carrying that backpack.

The steps are very light.

It was as if nothing had happened.

Fang Mo hurriedly went forward, took the backpack and asked, "Sir, Minister Guo, I hope I didn't make things difficult for you. I was really scared when you went there. If something happened to you, the Jingdu Salt Industry would really collapse."

Xia Zhibai put down the backpack and chuckled, "What have you been worrying about all day?"

"Minister Guo is a third-rank official, how could he be so petty as to argue with me?"

"never mind."

"The salt has been delivered."

"Minister Guo is very satisfied with this deal."

Fang Mo was stunned for a moment, and said in astonishment: "One hundred taels per catty of salt? Minister Guo has no objection?"

"This is the special price." Xia Zhibai replied with a smile. He walked towards the inner hall, not wanting to say more about the matter, and asked, "Have the invitations for tomorrow been sent out?"

Fang Mo quickly said: "They have all been sent out."

"More than a hundred restaurants and hotels in the city have sent out invitations. According to your request, even the salt merchants in the city have been sent out. I'm afraid those salt merchants have already received the invitations and their faces must be very interesting."

Fang Mo gave a wicked smile.

Xia Zhibai was at a loss whether to laugh or cry when he saw this.

He didn't mean to make fun of these salt merchants, he just wanted to call them over and tell them something.

The family workshop model of the past will no longer work in the future.

They have to make changes.

Otherwise, merchants will not be able to sell their products and will have to wait for death.

Industry and commerce in the early Ming Dynasty were actually still very prosperous, which to some extent benefited from the Yuan Dynasty.

The Yuan Dynasty was a relatively commercial dynasty, and the various khanates controlled all directions, so both land and sea trade developed very vigorously. Industry and commerce also developed greatly during this period. Although industry and commerce had declined to a certain extent after the war, they were gradually recovering after more than ten years of cultivation.

But this recovery is temporary.

As Zhu Yuanzhang focused all his energy on dealing with the Northern Yuan Dynasty, in the third, seventh, and fourteenth years of the Hongwu reign, he successively closed the local maritime customs offices and issued orders to ban coastal residents from secretly communicating with overseas countries. As a result, the Ming Dynasty's maritime trade was basically interrupted.

Currently, the road leading to the Western Regions is controlled by the Mongol Khanate.

In a sense, the Ming Dynasty had, actively or passively, stopped all trade with the outside world.

However, industry and commerce are already in the recovery stage, so normally the impact is not significant.

But after having some communication with Guo Huan, Xia Zhibai was suddenly shocked by one thing, that is, in this "Guo Huan case", Zhu Yuanzhang would basically cut off the financial support of the rich farmers, merchants and landlords in the world in order to raise military funds for the subsequent Northern Expedition.

Without capital and money, private industry and commerce can’t even develop, let alone survive.

Zhu Yuanzhang had always looked down upon businessmen, and now the tax dividends from the recovery period of private industry and commerce would be wiped out in this "great looting". In Zhu Yuanzhang's mind, private industry and commerce had never had a high status, and it was likely that they would fall into complete decline in the future.

Industrial and commercial development will also directly regress.

He originally wanted to take advantage of this excitement to spread the word to the merchants in the city, asking them to broaden their horizons, not be too obsessed with family workshops, keep pace with the times, cooperate with each other, and jointly develop industry and commerce. However, now it seems more like keeping a little spark for an industry and commerce that is about to fall into a complete downturn or even stagnation.

Xia Zhibai was also a little amused.

I couldn't help but curse in my heart that the emperor's great achievements had caused great harm to people.

Xia Zhibai reminded everyone of the precautions for tomorrow, and asked Fang Mo and the others to go down and rest early.

Return to guest room.

Xia Zhibai took off his shirt, sat on a stool, poured himself a cup of herbal tea, and while drinking it, he sorted out his thoughts.

How to save the Ming Dynasty’s industry and commerce that were about to die suddenly.

Think about it.

Xia Zhibai only thought of one solution.

Throw money.

But he is really short of money now. The salt shop has just started to get on track, the coal industry is still operating at a loss and relying entirely on the salt industry for transfusions, and the textile industry has no settlement yet. Even if he is Sun Wukong, he can't conjure up money to save the market.

This money can only be borrowed from Zhu Yuanzhang.

But since Mr. Zhu is a miser, he is probably unwilling to lend money.

Long thought.

Xia Zhibai took out a piece of paper, listed some things on it, thought for a while, and then crossed them out one by one.

In the end, only two numbers were left on the paper.

0→1.

Knowledge changes life forever.

In the end, the only thing you can trust is mathematics.

These are just general data, which can no longer "tempt" Zhu Yuanzhang.

You have to take strong medicine in large doses.

Zhu Yuanzhang must be made to truly realize that his current simplistic, crude and one-size-fits-all approach is wrong, and extremely wrong.

Of course, it is not possible to rely entirely on Zhu Yuanzhang.

Merchants also have to save themselves.

(End of this chapter)