I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 265 Tell me, what do you understand?
In the Qinzheng Hall of Ziguang Pavilion, when Pan Yinglong, who was kneeling on the ground, heard Zhu Yijun speak, he felt as if he heard the sound of nature. However, after listening to Zhu Yijun's words, his whole body felt like he had fallen into an icy cave.

His Adam's apple kept shaking and cold sweat kept flowing down his forehead and back.

Zhu Yijun spoke again: "Stand up. You are the person recommended by Yang Jinshui. I trust him, so I am willing to give you a chance. Stand up and sit down to talk."

Pan Yinglong kowtowed and said, "Thank you, Your Highness."

At this point, Pan Yinglong finally let go of his contempt.

Originally, he thought, no matter how powerful a boy of fourteen or fifteen years old could be, how great could he be?

The good grandson of Emperor Jiajing? Haha, in Pan Yinglong's eyes, Emperor Jiajing was not very smart. He was good at internal fighting and mediocre in governing the country.

How good can the "good saintly grandson" that is taught be?
It's because of a bunch of ministers below who are flattering him that he is made to look so great.

But after the secret confrontation just now, Pan Yinglong was really scared, scared to the core.

Especially during the nearly half a quarter of an hour of silence just now, Zhu Yijun made full use of his inherent advantage - the power of the crown prince.

Your majesty is as great as the sky. I will not tell you, but let you experience it in silence.

For many things, the more you think about them, the more you will scare yourself.

The more Pan Yinglong thought about it, the more wild his thoughts became. He felt extremely guilty, and finally he deeply experienced the panic of having his fate in the hands of others.

Although Zhu Yijun, as the crown prince, held the power of life and death, which was a bit unfair, Pan Yinglong knew that those who could fully utilize their advantages were all very smart people.

Pan Yinglong sat down obediently, occupying one-third of his buttocks on the chair.

"Do you know Xu Fan?" Zhu Yijun asked.

"In reply to your Highness, I know him, but I am not familiar with him."

"You set him up?"

"Yes." Pan Yinglong answered honestly, "Xu Luqing is very intelligent, but he is conceited and greedy. I took advantage of his weakness and secretly bribed two of his good friends from the clan and two old friends from Suzhou, and encouraged him to buy land everywhere."

Zhu Yijun suddenly asked, "I heard that the price of farmland in the southeast has dropped in the past two years?"

"Yes. The price of good farmland in the southeast has dropped by more than 10% in the past two years, especially in the first year of Longqing, so Xu Luqing bought a lot of land last year."

"what reason?"

Pan Yinglong hesitated and replied, "Since the 41st year of Jiajing, Hu Bu Tang and Yang Gonggong have worked together to suppress the Japanese invaders in the southeast, and the Japanese threat has been eradicated. In addition, the Holy Emperor is in power, and the Benevolent Prince is in power, and the country is peaceful and the weather is good.

Good harvests hurt farmers. The better the weather, the lower the price of grain. After several years, the price of good farmland gradually dropped.

"Haha," Zhu Yijun sneered twice, "Tell the truth!"

Pan Yinglong glanced at Yang Jinshui and said solemnly, "In reply to your Highness's words, after Eunuch Yang took charge of the Southeast Office of the Coordination Bureau, a large amount of rice was shipped from Siam, Zhenla, and Champa every year and sold in the Southeast, Jiangxi, and Huguang. The price of grain is getting lower day by day.

In places like Shanghai and Suzhou, the cotton-growing, spinning, weaving, silk cocoon, and satin industries were flourishing day by day, and factories were springing up one after another. People flocked to the factories to work. The wages they received were enough to support their families, and more than enough.

Over the years, many people could no longer bear the hardships of farming, so they sold their land and went to work in factories in Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo and other places to earn wages.

More people were selling land, but fewer were becoming tenants. Many landlords bought land but could not hire tenants to farm it. The harvest was reduced, but the taxes they paid were still the same. As a result, many landlords were afraid to sell their land, and the price of land fell.

That’s right, not all landlords have the ability to buy or half-buy and half-rob land like the Xu family did, and then collude with the government to hide the land and evade taxes.

The prefectures and counties are also under pressure. The annual land tax is a hard target, the Ming Dynasty's KPI, which is a heavy burden on their heads. It concerns the future, so the officials at the prefectures, prefectures, and counties will definitely keep a close eye on it.

You have no background and are not from a family of officials or gentry, but you dare to hide your land? You are dreaming!
However, the officials and gentry also had a worry: the more land they had, the harder it was to find tenants to cultivate it, because all the tenants had to go to work in factories.

In order to attract people to work, the newly established factories offer better conditions than ever before. If you are working like a slave, why not go to a better place?

This situation continued for several years, and the usually strong farmland prices in the southeast began to decline.

Pan Yinglong continued, “It is precisely because of this that the Jiangnan families hate Eunuch Yang to the core.”

Zhu Yijun did not comment.

The Jiangnan family hates Yang Jinshui to the core, and rightly so.

If Yang Jinshui had gotten along well with them, I would have dealt with him long ago. I would not have trusted him so much and promised him a title of nobility.

Zhu Yijun turned to Yang Jinshui and asked, "The price of farmland in the southeast has dropped, why doesn't the Coordination Bureau buy it?"

"In reply to your Highness, I have asked people to harvest the fields, but we are outsiders after all. In the countryside, we can't get information as quickly as the local officials and gentry. Whether their words will work or not is up to you.

When local people sold their land, they mostly gave priority to local officials and gentry, and would even sell it at a price that was 10% or 20% lower. So the Southeast Office of the Coordination Bureau spent a lot of effort, but achieved little results. "

The gentry and local tyrants control the rural areas below the county level.

Imperial power did not go to the countryside, that was in the past, it is not possible in my own hands. But this matter is serious, I have to take it step by step.

Zhu Yijun nodded, without further investigation, and continued: "You have framed Xu Fan, so this matter cannot be accomplished. I believe that Hu Ruzhen, Wang Zijian, and Cao Zizhong (Cao Bangfu) have all given you great help in secret.

They have been raising troops in the southeast for many years and are in charge of military and political affairs in Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Fujian and other places. With their help, your plan will be so smooth and successful!"

Pan Yinglong never expected Zhu Yijun to be so direct.

It was his first face-to-face conversation with Zhu Yijun, and he was not at all familiar with this straightforward and direct style.

Yang Jinshui secretly gave him a look, signaling him to be patient.

The fact that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can receive you in the Qinzheng Hall shows that he has a preliminary recognition of you. You don't have to be shy about anything or hide anything. Just speak your mind and you will gain His Royal Highness's trust.

Pan Yinglong understood the meaning in Yang Jinshui's eyes, gritted his teeth and replied, "Your Highness is wise."

"Wise! No matter how wise I am, I cannot stop the people below from having their own ideas. 'The towering canopy is like a cloud, and the clear sky is like a pipe of smoke.' Everyone has the idea of ​​going one step further.

Everyone in the world knows that I established my base by suppressing the Japanese pirates in the southeast. Hu Ruzheng, Cao Zizhong, Tan Zili, Wang Zijian, Liu Renfu, and Qi Yuanjing are all my trusted men.

Now I have been promoted from the Prince of Yu to the Crown Prince, and have been entrusted by my father to manage state affairs, but none of them has entered the cabinet. Do you have any complaints in your heart?
I know, there must be one!"

Zhu Yijun turned around and stared at Pan Yinglong, "You must have understood all this, so you contacted my trusted ministers and secretly facilitated Cai Guoxi to kneel down and worship Xu's mansion, and then provoke a dispute between Gao Gong and Xu Jie.

No matter who wins or loses, they will not suffer any loss. And you, Pan Yinglong, can break through your skin and show your talent in front of me. You can all get the benefits, but you don’t care about this pot of rice, which you cooked into half-cooked rice, and you force me to swallow it! "

Zhu Yijun's words were spoken in an unfriendly, cold and chilling tone.

Pan Yinglong fell to his knees and said, "I deserve to die for ruining your highness's plan."

Zhu Yijun stared at him for a long time before he asked, "Tell me, what plan of mine has been ruined?
Pan Yinglong raised his head and said in a clear voice: "I only realized at this moment that my talent and wisdom are not even one tenth of yours. I can only see the plan for ten years, while yours can see a hundred years later.

Only now did I realize that my previous plan was a completely reckless and ignorant act. "

"Do you really understand?"

"The common people really understand."

"Then tell me, what do you understand?"

(End of this chapter)