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

Chapter 94 Today in Ming Dynasty, I have the final say (Please subscribe)
"Dad, are you okay?"

After accompanying his grandmother to teach his two uncles a lesson, it was getting late, so Zhu Zhanjun did not go back. He planned to spend the night in the East Palace and go back the next morning.

As soon as I arrived at the yard, I saw my fat father with his hands bandaged, sitting in the pavilion staring blankly ahead.

Zhu Zhanjun came forward, took Fat Dad's hand, looked at it, and asked with concern.

"Oh, it's nothing, it will be fine after a few days."

Zhu Pangpang replied, and then hurriedly asked: "How is your grandma doing?"

"Fortunately, after beating up my second and third uncles, I feel much better." Zhu Zhanjun looked around and whispered to his father, "You didn't see how badly my second and third uncles were beaten by grandma. I went to that prickly ash tree and cut off branches three times, and I picked the ones with the most thorns."

Zhu Pangpang was speechless, but he felt indescribably happy in his heart. He nodded at Zhu Zhanjun and said, "Be careful that your second uncle and third uncle will bear a grudge against you and come back to cause trouble for you."

Zhu Zhanjun curled his lips: "You said that as if we are kind and well-intentioned, they won't bear a grudge against us."

"Dad, let me tell you this, as long as you remain on the throne, you will automatically be hated."

Zhu Pangpang gave a bitter laugh, as if that was really the truth, "Okay, let's not talk about this anymore."

The fat hand holding the package pointed to the table next to him and said, "I was thinking of asking someone to call you over tomorrow. It just so happens that you are here. These files and confessions were delivered this afternoon. Take a look first."

Zhu Zhanjun picked up a few books and flipped through them casually, then asked in confusion, "Grandpa has given you the new empty seal case."

Zhu Pangpang shook his head: "It's not given to me, but to you."

"Me?" Zhu Zhanjun was a little surprised. He was thinking about not getting involved in this matter, but he didn't expect the old man to directly throw the matter over to him.

"Yes, that's you."

Fatty Zhu nodded and said, "Your grandfather directly named him."

Not to mention Zhu Zhanjun was confused, even Zhu Pangpang was a little speechless.

What was the old man thinking? He chose his second son instead of the fat prince.

"Next, this is your chance to expand your staff."

Zhu Biao, who was eating dinner and watching the live broadcast, quickly reminded Zhu Zhanjun.

Zhu Zhanjun frowned and asked in his heart: "Grandpa, you mean to select people from these people."

Zhu Biao nodded and replied: "That's right. With your current status, it is impossible to gather so many scholars in a short period of time. Only this method can allow you to control so many people."

Zhu Zhanjun gradually understood what Zhu Biao meant.

Ancient times were different from modern times. The literacy rate was very low. If there were two or three people in a village who could read, it was considered a high rate.

Zhu Zhanjun had the idea of ​​developing a territory, and what he urgently needed now were these educated and knowledgeable people.

The joint examination was held at the beginning of this year, but because of the war in the north, the old man was focused on the war and the palace examination was not held.

These scholars in Beijing are all young and energetic, full of passion to serve the country.

When the incident of the empty imperial edict broke out, these young people were mobilized and instantly became excited.

Among those scholars who were caught sitting in silence, many were scholars who had just participated in the imperial examination this year and had already obtained the status of juren.

Now that he has been implicated in the rebellion case and the empty seal case, even if he can save his life, the honor he worked so hard to obtain will probably be wiped out.

The best outcome for these people is to be exiled to various regions.

Since it is exile, why can't it be exiled to the future territory?

Zhu Zhanjun looked down on these corrupt scholars, but that didn't mean they were useless.

Teaching people to read and write plays a very important role in the initial training of future talents.

Seeing that Zhu Zhanjun seemed to have figured it out, Zhu Biao continued, "In addition to those scholars with honors, the officials implicated in the empty seal case can also be of great help to you."

"As a superior, you can't like one kind of people and dislike another kind of people just because of your own preferences."

"Every type of person has his or her own use. Although these officials have committed crimes, they violated the empty seal case. This kind of thing can be considered big or small. It is completely the idea of ​​the superiors."

"If some of these people only violated the law because of the empty seal and there is no other problem, in fact, such officials are still very useful to you. After all, they have sufficient experience in being officials and management." Zhu Zhanjun nodded slightly, picked up the confession and the files and said to his father: "Grandpa asked me to deal with it. There must be a reason for him. I will go back and take a look at these files first."

Looking at his son leaving, Zhu Pangpang sighed softly.

How could he, as smart as he is, not understand what his father meant?

The old man in his family is no longer just increasing the power of his second son in terms of military authority.

Now we have started preparing the grassroots staff and are letting our second son get involved in government affairs and management skills.

Thinking about his second son's performance and his eldest son who was immersed in studying and playing every day, Zhu Pangpang felt helpless and worried.

Returning to his room in the Eastern Palace, Zhu Zhanjun began to look through the files and confessions.

Old Zhu and Zhu Biao also helped to watch and advised Zhu Zhanjun on how to make the judgment.

For people who have not experienced this kind of major case, they really don’t know how to deal with it.

Old Zhu, who was watching the live broadcast, explained: "This kind of case is difficult or simple, it all depends on the mind of the superior."

"If we just want to deal with the current situation simply, we only need one word: 'kill'."

"There are very few people in the world who are not afraid of death. Every death shock can at least have an effect of about ten years."

"If there are signs of this happening again, we will kill them again until no one dares to offend them."

"As for the difficult side, it's that you want to solve the problem completely."

At this point, Lao Zhu sighed softly.

"Back then, we wanted to solve it completely, but no matter how hard we tried, the results were always very difficult to achieve."

"From the capital to the local area, it's okay if it's close, but it's really too troublesome if it's far away. In addition, there are time regulations of the court, so mistakes are really inevitable, unless the court can ignore these losses and directly accept them according to the local reports."

"But this is impossible."

"Once this hole is opened, you will know how greedy these people are. Once the emperor's control weakens in the future, these costs will become greater and greater. Until even you, the emperor, know their greed, but are helpless."

Zhu Biao also nodded in agreement: "We have thought of many ways back then, such as using half of the seal, or leaving the grain behind after arriving in the capital, and the officials going back to re-register."

"But these things are only temporary solutions, not fundamental solutions. As long as the localities need to pay grain and taxes, these problems will reappear sooner or later."

After listening to the two people's stories, Zhu Zhanjun also expressed his understanding.

The tax collection standards of the Ming Dynasty were mainly based on grain and physical goods. After the local governments collected the taxes, they would keep a sufficient portion and the rest would be transported to the capital.

But ancient times were different from modern times. There were not so many powerful means of transportation. It was easier to go to nearby places, but if you wanted to reach the capital from farther away, it would take nearly several months.

Given the huge volume of transportation, the manpower required will naturally increase.

People need to eat, and these things must be extracted from the things that are transported.

The problem is that local officials have already written down the quantities when they set out, and the estimated consumption may not be 100% accurate.

The Ministry of Revenue dare not accept fictitious accounts. The amount does not meet the record in the account book. Sorry, we will not accept it. We will go back and ask your officials to redo it. When it is accurate, we will accept it.

What a shame! After going through so much trouble to get to the capital, I was sent back before I could even sit down.

The account books of the Ming Dynasty were uniformly compiled and the styles were almost the same. The only legal proof was the seal of the local official.

But the official seal is proof of local identity, and it is impossible for these people to carry it with them.

So someone started to think about it and simply stamped the official seal on a blank account book first, and then when they arrived in the capital, they would count the quantity, calculate the consumption and record it, so that it would be a direct standard.

The officials at the imperial court who received the cases did not want to cause any trouble, so they turned a blind eye to these matters.

Looking at Zhu Zhanjun flipping through the files, Old Zhu said, "Little bastard, when this case happened, do you know why we were so angry when we knew the difficulties of these officials?"

After reading a file, Zhu Zhanjun thought for a moment and replied directly: "If the emperor does not deal with the contempt for the imperial power and the court, there will be empty seals today, empty seals tomorrow, and even more."

"Grandfather, you chose to strike with thunder in order to shock the officials and make them understand that they can report any difficulties, but they must not act on their own and deceive the emperor."

ps: I'm very sorry for being a little late in checking for updates today!
(End of this chapter)