Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 99 Mao Xiang? He deserves to die! (Subscribe)

Recheck the world’s accounts?

Hua Lun's heart skipped a beat. He raised his head and looked at Zhu Yuanzhang's determined face, knowing that he was not joking.

But it is your majesty's true thoughts.

Hua Lun lowered his head and said in a trembling voice: "I dare not discuss the state affairs rashly."

"I'll let you speak!" Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at Hua Lun and said, "I'll ask you one thing, and you tell me clearly. If I review the accounts of the past ten years, I want a clear answer if I can find any problems."

Hua Lun's scalp tightened.

I was secretly complaining in my heart.

He was utilitarian, but he just wanted to attract the attention of His Majesty and did not want to stir up a frenzy in the court.

Zhu Yuanzhang stood with his hands behind his back, staring straight at Hua Lun.

Hua Lun must give a clear answer.

Hua Lun's expression changed again and again, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Yes."

"Okay!" Zhu Yuanzhang nodded in satisfaction, and then said, "If I leave this matter to you, can you help me check the accounts?"

Hua Lun trembled and almost collapsed to the ground.

Is this something he can afford?
Hua Lun took a deep breath and shook his head to refuse.

Hua Lun said: "Please forgive me, Your Majesty. I am not qualified for this task."

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes turned cold.

Hua Lun lowered his head, not daring to look Zhu Yuanzhang in the eye, and said nervously: "I am grateful for your majesty's respect, and I am willing to go through fire and water for your majesty, no matter what. But this matter is too serious, and it is not something I can handle."

"I am terrified."

"I also apologize to Your Majesty again."

"It is true that I submitted this 'line graph', but I did not think of using a graphical method to verify the data."

"It's Xia Zhibai."

"I dare not conceal anything, and I am afraid that I am not up to the task and would fail your Majesty's trust and respect."

"I have some experience with 'line graphs', but I am not competent to review the accounts of the country at the moment."

"Your Majesty, please punish me."

Hua Lun knelt on the ground, looking terrified.

"Xia Zhibai" Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes turned cold, and a cold light flashed in his eyes.

Zhu Biao was also shocked.

He also didn't expect that this would be Xia Zhibai's idea.

Zhu Biao asked in a serious tone: "You said this is Xia Zhibai's idea?"

Hua Lun said, "That's right."

"But I have no great relationship with Xia Zhibai."

"More than two months ago, Xia Zhibai's salt shop opened. I discussed with other Jinshi of the same class and decided to take care of some of the business to prevent Xia Zhibai from being humiliated by other merchants. After all, Xia Zhibai is our top scholar. If he is humiliated by merchants, we scholars will also lose face."

"That's why we went together."

"Outside the salt shop, we found something strange."

"It's the tally board outside Xia Zhibai's salt shop. It's not the tally board we know, but Arabic numerals."

"I was curious for a moment, so I went to ask a few questions."

"Xia Zhibai's reply to me was: Learn from the foreigners and benefit China."

"At the same time, he also wants me to do something for him, which is to sort out the past experiences of the Yuan people, the Hu people and other nomadic tribes learning Chinese characters. He seems to want to use that set of learning concepts as a new way to get started and popularize it to the world."

"When I heard this, I was extremely shocked and rejected it immediately."

"I have been ridiculed by Xia Zhibai many times over the past three months. I have long been dissatisfied with him. It is impossible for me to agree to such absurd actions."

"However, Xia Zhibai seemed unwilling to give up, so he told me the idea of ​​the 'line chart'. I didn't agree with it at first."

“I just came back to think about it, but I feel that it will be of great benefit to the account handling.”

“That’s when I dared to try it.”

"I believe this way of processing data is beneficial to the court, so I submitted it."

"I did not intend to conceal it, but I felt that Xia Zhibai had too much of a 'barbarian nature'. If I were to tell you, it would probably cause dissatisfaction to your majesty."

"Your Majesty, please punish me."

Hua Lun told everything between himself and Xia Zhibai in one breath.

His mind is empty now.

I dare not cover up or conceal anything.

Xia Zhibai also reminded us at the beginning that we should tell the truth when facing His Majesty.

Hear the words.

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes darkened slightly.

Summer white, summer white again.

What else is this Xia Zhibai hiding?
He felt a little irritated, and the more Xia Zhibai was like this, the more uneasy he became.

He did not doubt Hua Lun's words.

Hua Lun really didn't have a good impression of Xia Zhibai, and it was unlikely that he would have a good impression of him. He probably presented it to the court because he really thought it would be beneficial to the court.

What surprised him was that Xia Zhibai only gave Hua Lun some pointers and came up with such a unique processing method as the 'line chart'. He was afraid that he had other unique insights into the verification of accounts.

Zhu Yuanzhang asked: "What are Arabic numerals?"

Hua Lun said, "It is a counting method introduced by the Hu people in the past. It is just some special symbols. However, compared with the current counting method, it is much simpler and clearer, and can greatly speed up data sorting and recording. Moreover, according to Xia Zhibai, this set of counting symbols is perfectly compatible with the counting rods currently used, which can greatly improve arithmetic efficiency."

"I am also currently studying."

Numeracy and Literacy
Does Xia Zhibai really want to overthrow the "scholars"?
As soon as this thought came up, Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head. How could this be possible? But he couldn't help but feel a little suspicious. Because Xia Zhibai seemed to be moving in this direction. If he really succeeded and reduced the difficulty of literacy and arithmetic, the threshold for becoming a "scholar" would be greatly reduced.

He was well aware of the difficulty of spelling.

If he had not married that girl and started leading troops in battles, he would have had no chance to study.

But is it really a good idea to lower the threshold for scholars?
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't know.

But he knew that it would be a huge destabilizing factor for the world, because people are greedy and unsatisfied. Once they have read some books, they will no longer be satisfied with farming in the fields, but will want to embark on a career in officialdom.

But where in the world can there be so many officials for these people?
Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly, laughing at Xia Zhibai's wild and unrealistic ideas.

Zhu Biao nodded and shook his head, saying, "Xia Zhibai does have a lot of 'barbarian habits', and his ideas are somewhat similar to those of the barbarians. He does things recklessly and lawlessly, but how can he do whatever he wants in this world?"

“The people are the foundation.”

"How can we act rashly?!"

Although Zhu Biao was shocked by Xia Zhibai's audacity, he also scoffed at such actions.

Nowadays, it is easy to kill people but difficult to change human nature.

Does Xia Zhibai still want to shake the scholar class that has existed for thousands of years by his own strength?

This is all nonsense.

Hua Lun said quickly, "Your Highness is right. I also think so and reject it. Xia Zhibai is talented but ambitious. I simply don't want to associate with him. If it weren't for the 'broken line graph' he proposed, which was indeed worth considering, I wouldn't even have any contact with him."

"Business is ultimately the lowest form of society."

Zhu Yuanzhang ignored Hua Lun's criticism of Xia Zhibai.

Not too concerned.

He is more concerned about reviewing the world's accounts now.

This is more critical for him.

He was always suspicious and distrustful of the ministers in the court, especially those who came from the Yuan Dynasty and those scholars who were deeply influenced by the Yuan court. He also always believed that these people had evil intentions and wanted to bring disaster to the Ming Dynasty.

But there has been no evidence.

Now there are new ways to audit data.

It is indeed time to clean up the court and the local areas.

It’s time to get rid of the parasites in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang rested his hands on the table, looked at Hua Lun coldly, and said, "We asked you to review the data submitted by the local authorities, and you tell us whether it can be done."

Hua Lun struggled, gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty has given an order, how dare I disobey it?"

"I am willing to try."

"Okay." Zhu Yuanzhang shouted with full energy.

He raised his eyes coldly and said, "We won't make it difficult for you. The accounts of the provincial governments, prefectures, and counties are too many and too complicated to review. You have just mastered this method. Now we will only let you be responsible for reviewing the accounts of the Ministry of Revenue among the six ministries."

"The Ministry of Revenue is in charge of the country's money and grain. We want to see whether these officials under our command dare to deceive their superiors and subordinates, and whether they dare to falsify information right under our noses."

"I'll give you a month to thoroughly check the Ministry of Revenue's account books for this year."

"If you can do what we ask you to do."

"We will appoint you as a doctor of the Ministry of Personnel."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and made a promise generously.

He is never stingy when it comes to employing people.

Hear the words.

Hua Lun was stunned for a moment, then his face showed ecstasy.

The Ministry of Personnel is the head of the Six Ministries.

Although the Langzhong of the Ministry of Personnel is only a fifth-rank official, his power is no less than that of some fourth-rank officials. Moreover, he is in charge of personnel affairs, so his future is limitless.

Hua Lun suppressed his excitement and kowtowed, saying, "I thank your Majesty for your trust."

"I will help your majesty find the corrupt officials in the Ministry of Revenue."

"Return the Ministry of Revenue to a clean slate."

"Okay, we'll wait for your news." Zhu Yuanzhang also laughed out loud.

After Hua Lun left, Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes darkened. He looked at Zhu Biao and said coldly, "Boss, we'll leave the matter of the Ministry of Revenue to you. If any problems are found, we'll hand it over to Jiang Li, the deputy envoy of the Imperial Guard, for investigation."

"If you use a knife for a long time, it will become dull and rust easily."

"You should change your knife frequently."

Zhu Biao's eyes fixed.

He heard the hidden meaning in Zhu Yuanzhang's words.

The emperor was dissatisfied with Mao Xiang and thought that he was becoming more and more perfunctory.

Mao Xiang is my father's sword, the sword he used to kill people. How could this sword be dull? How could it be allowed to rust?

Since Mao Xiang is not taking action, let's replace him with someone who can.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat in his seat and said coldly: "Do you think I am too ruthless? Mao Xiang has been with me for many years, serving me and handling so many things for me. Why can't I tolerate him all of a sudden? I can tell you that I am willing."

"We have wanted to kill Mao Xiang for a long time."

"If it weren't for all the things he has done for us."

"He died a long time ago!"

"But now, he hasn't found out what happened in Shouzhou and Chuzhou, and he hasn't told me about Xia Zhibai and Hua Lun. What makes me even more upset about him is that he didn't listen to me when I asked him to kill Xia Zhibai."

"If a minister doesn't listen to me, he deserves to die."

Zhu Yuanzhang slammed the table in anger, with murderous intent in his eyes unconcealed at all, and the whole hall was filled with violent atmosphere.

(End of this chapter)