Yongle Emperor's grandson: Zhu Yuanzhang with cheats, Zhu Di went crazy

Chapter 117 The Best Time for Ming Dynasty Reform (Subscription Request)

"Squeak, squeak!"

A long team was marching on the official road, and the wooden wheels rolled on the ground, making a squeaking sound.

The voice seemed to have hypnotic power. Zhu Zhanjun, who was lying in the carriage with his head resting on Quan's legs, was drowsy.

Zhu Gaoxu made a scene on New Year's Eve, which really annoyed the old man. From then on, he never looked at his second son again.

Upon learning that Zhu Zhanjun was going to Fengyang in advance, the old man waved his hand and asked him to take Zhu Gaoxu with him.

Zhu Zhanjun's team has quite a lot of people.

In addition to his men, there were also the King of Han's family, as well as those officials and scholars who were to be exiled to Fengyang Prefecture.

Together with the personnel who were accompanying them for protection and guarding the prisoners, the team of several thousand people stretched for several miles.

With Zhang Baigui, Zhu Zhanjun finally felt relieved.

He didn't have to worry about the team's affairs at all. Zhang Baigui managed everything in an orderly manner. Even Fengyang Prefecture had already made arrangements and preparations in advance.

"Your Highness, I have something to report."

Just when my eyelids were about to fight and I was about to fall asleep, Zhang Baigui's voice was heard outside the carriage.

Rubbing his sleepy eyes, Zhu Zhanjun sat up, asked Quan to go to the compartment, and shouted to the outside: "Come in!"

The carriage slowed down a bit, and Zhang Baigui, who was wearing a coarse cloth, lifted the curtain and walked in.

Zhu Zhanjun poured a cup of hot tea and handed it to the other party. Zhang Baigui thanked him and held the cup in his hands to warm his cold hands.

"We will arrive in Fengyang Prefecture tomorrow. I plan to take some people with me to inspect the entire Fengyang Prefecture and find out the specific situation."

Zhu Zhanjun nodded, took out a token and placed it on the table: "I'll let Ergou bring people to follow you. If you encounter any trouble, take my token to the local government and you can issue any instructions."

Zhang Baigui took the token with both hands and put it in his arms, then took out a booklet and put it on the table.

"These are the refugees who registered along the way. After my persuasion, they have agreed to follow us and return to Fengyang Prefecture."

Zhu Zhanjun picked it up and flipped through it, his brows instantly frowned.

"so much."

Zhang Baigui sighed softly: "This is just on the official road, there are other small roads."

"According to my investigation, before the water level receded last year, Fengyang had already become a lake."

"Although the water receded, all the food and other things were destroyed. In addition, the local government did not deal with it in time, and there were rotting corpses and bones everywhere, which caused several plagues."

"In addition, the relief grain distributed by the court, according to the formulation of the Ministry of Revenue, can ensure that the people can survive the disaster years."

"But according to my subordinates' inquiries, only those on the household registration list will be distributed. Those who are not on the household registration list will only be given porridge as disaster relief. There is only one meal a day, and even that doesn't make them full."

Zhu Zhanjun did not interrupt and signaled the other party to continue speaking.

"The reason why there are no household registrations is not because they originally did not exist. It is because the local government offices were also affected by the disaster, and the household registrations were either washed away or soaked to the point where the writing is illegible."

"Some people use this as an excuse to only distribute the money to those with names and surnames. Those without names are asked to wait for the court's Ministry of Revenue to re-register and verify before distributing the money."

"However……"

Zhang Baigui lowered his voice and said, "I asked Mr. Xia, and the local authorities reported the actual number of people. As for the household registration list, they just sent a few people to copy it."

"With so many roster names, how long will it take for a few people to finish copying them?"

Zhu Zhanjun's face became increasingly cold.

"When you go to investigate the situation in various places, please also pay attention to this point. Any suspects will be recorded."

"Yes."

Zhang Baigui responded, and then continued: "In addition to this problem, there is also the problem of food."

"Although the flood has subsided, the local area still has no food security. Now the imperial court wants to start a war between the north and the south. The food provided by Fengyang Prefecture can only ensure that people do not die."

"Not dying and having the strength to work are two different things."

"If the people are not fed and have no security, I'm afraid that when the spring comes, the people will be powerless to farm." "Before the summer harvest, the people will have no food at all. We need to ensure these."

“Besides that, there is the land issue.”

He took out a booklet from his arms and placed it in front of Zhu Zhanjun.

"In Fengyang Prefecture, most of the land has been awarded to the local people by Emperor Taizu Gao. If we want good farmland, we have to reclaim the wasteland again. However, the wasteland is limited after all and cannot meet our requirements."

Pointing to the booklet, he said, "The conversations I had with Your Highness these past few days have given me some ideas."

Zhu Zhanjun took it and took a look at it, then took a breath and looked at the other party in shock.

"You are planning to do something big!"

Zhang Baigui smiled slightly: "These things are already full of problems. We should change them now while we can."

"Otherwise, we will end up like him. Even if we try our best, we can only add a few decades to the national fortune of Ming Dynasty."

"Now that His Majesty trusts you and has handed over Fengyang to you, it is not just for you to grow crops here."

"Your Majesty has given you the power to manage the military affairs of a prefecture, appoint and dismiss officials, and execute people, just to see what kind of changes you can bring to the Ming Dynasty."

“Emperor Taizu Gao, Mr. Xia, chose Fengyang because it is the monarch’s hometown, the Fengming place of the Ming Dynasty.”

"Only by sacrificing one's own territories for the sake of justice can we deter the other heroes. We should start with our own territories. When we have achieved results, we can manage other people's territories and no one will have anything to say."

Zhu Zhanjun looked at the contents of the booklet in front of him, pondered for a long time, and nodded heavily.

"Just do it, don't care about anyone. If the sky falls, I'll hold it up for you."

Zhang Baigui bowed and got out of the carriage.

"This man has a talent that is astonishing and great. If he succeeds, he will surely go down in history as a famous and capable minister."

Old Zhu, who was helping with reference, couldn't help but sigh after Zhang Baigui left.

When Zhu Zhanjun was reading the booklet plan, he read it word for word.

His eyelids twitched when he saw the plans and intentions put forward by the other party.

One of them made him a little depressed, and that was the tax reform.

To be honest, ever since he came into contact with Zhu Zhanjun, in his daily conversations, through Zhu Zhanjun's narration and speculation, Zhu found that many of the policies he formulated at the beginning had endless problems.

For example, the household registration system that Zhu Zhanjun often complained about, as well as various unclear and confusing tax collection issues.

Anyway, overall, apart from driving out the Mongols and establishing the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Zhanjun hardly paid much attention to anything else he did.

At first he was not convinced, but after a long discussion and Zhu Qizhen's brief explanation, he completely accepted the reality.

Zhu Yuanzhang was only suitable for conquering the country, not for ruling the country.

"Little bastard, you better think it over. Once you let him take action, unless you push him out as a scapegoat in the future, the officials who didn't support you in the first place will be even less likely to stand on your side."

Thinking about Zhang Baigui's bold plan, Lao Zhu couldn't help but give him some advice.

Zhu Zhanjun shook his head and said firmly: "Grandfather, I have thought it through."

He took a deep breath and said seriously: "The time to reform some things in our Ming Dynasty is when my grandfather is alive. As long as he supports me, the pressure from officials will not matter."

"After all, he is your son, and he holds the imperial seal. The ancestral system cannot suppress him at all."

"After all, no one knows your father better than him. The important officials in the court are either my grandfather's men or came to power later. Their understanding of you only stays on stories and papers."

"My grandfather said that some of the things you told him were things that the officials were unable to verify."

"But once grandpa is gone, I want to change it later. Although I can change it, the pressure and problems I face will be several times more than when grandpa was alive."

Putting away the two booklets in front of him, Zhu Zhanjun said directly: "I could have easily solved it when Grandpa was alive, why must I leave the problem for myself to face in the future."

"Instead of wasting time and energy on those people, it is better to get it done now. We should spend the future time on restoring the country and the people's livelihood, and on external expansion and conquest."

(End of this chapter)