Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 432 The Great Court Meeting

Zhao Xing got angry at the grand court meeting today just to let all officials in the world know that the so-called emperor who is above everyone else does not exist.

He has his own eyes and ears and is not so easy to fool.

Although this cannot deter the greed in people's hearts, it can make them restrain themselves.

At least they don't dare to make a big deal out of it.

Of course, today he seemed to be making a lot of noise but doing little.

This is because Zhao Xing was also concerned that today was a grand court meeting and he should be more restrained.

However, this matter cannot be let go like this. He has ordered Yin Hanzhang to investigate the officials who covered up the case and the landlords who forced the people to return their land.

During previous land investigations, the landlords and powerful people were not implicated because they involved too many people.

Now that they have jumped out, Zhao Xing will naturally not show mercy.

You know, most of the land in the world is concentrated in the hands of landlords and powerful people.

If we kill all these people, nationalizing the land will naturally be much easier.

However, Zhao Xing also knew that this was simply impossible. However, since these people jumped out, he would just deal with them first.

Han Zhang breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Zhao Xing did not pursue the matter further.

This matter can be investigated, but we cannot make a big fuss about it at a grand court meeting.

After what Zhao Xing did, the other officials who had not yet reported on their work no longer had the heart to continue reporting.

Zhao Xing had no intention of listening to their reports and directly ordered people to summon envoys from various countries.

Soon, more than 20 envoys from various countries entered the hall, first saluted and congratulated Zhao Xing, and then presented gifts.

Zhao Xing took the gift list, looked at it, and sneered in his heart.

It’s not that there are fewer gifts, but that the gifts are extremely generous.

However, these people did not have any good intentions when they sent generous gifts.

The Han Dynasty has always regarded itself as the Celestial Empire and as a country of etiquette, when foreign countries sent generous gifts, the Song Dynasty would definitely reciprocate, and the gifts it returned would far exceed the gifts sent by other countries.

This is actually the same as receiving gifts in later generations. Once you receive it, you have to return it, and you have to add a little more when you return it.

However, it is not just a matter of adding a little between countries, it has to at least double.

Otherwise, how can we demonstrate the majesty of the Celestial Empire?

What's more, these countries that sent envoys to present gifts were not vassal states of the Song Dynasty, so the return gifts had to be even more generous.

Of course, this is the idea of ​​emperors of all dynasties.

Throughout history, there have been many countries that saw profitability and frequently paid tribute.

There were even people who pretended to be envoys and came to pay tribute in order to deceive people into accepting gifts in return.

For those emperors, spending some money to create the scene of all nations coming to pay tribute would be a good opportunity to increase their reputation and be recorded in history books. They all felt that this deal was very cost-effective.

The only thing he did was to start with a bowl, and Lao Zhu, who conquered the world, felt that this was a losing deal.

Lao Zhu actually has a bit of a small peasant mentality. After all, he was originally just a commoner and had been a monk and a beggar.

Although I was constantly learning in the process of conquering the world, my vision and perspective were broadened after I gained control of the world.

But that kind of small peasant mentality is still difficult to change.

This can be seen from the way he treats those officials.

The salary is low, but you can't be greedy for my money, otherwise I will kill people.

It doesn’t matter if there is a shortage of people to do the work. Just let them take over with shackles. When someone else takes over, you will still have to kill them.

In addition, he sent all his sons to the border to guard the country.

To put it bluntly, in his eyes, ministers are just farmhands, not as reliable as sons.

Zhu Yuanzhang is a controversial figure, but if you think of him as a landlord, his ministers as his tenants, and the people as his fields, many things become easy to understand. The fields can bring him income, so he should treat them well, and the ministers are tenants who can be exploited.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who had the mentality of a small farmer, became unhappy instantly when he heard that he had to give return gifts to those countries that paid tribute, and that the gifts he gave would have to be more than what they gave to the Ming Dynasty.

However, the ministers all said that the Ming Dynasty was the Celestial Empire, so even with Zhu Yuanzhang's stingy nature, he still compromised.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang was unwilling to give in, and ultimately he had to limit the number of times foreign nations paid tribute, stipulating that the number of times each country paid tribute ranged from two years to ten years.

Later, Zhu Yuanzhang came up with a system where whether or not to pay tribute had to be approved by the Ming Dynasty.

Anyone who is honest and obedient will be allowed to pay tribute, and anyone who is disobedient will not be allowed to pay tribute.

Zhao Xing felt that Old Zhu was still too conservative. Old Zhu was stingy, but the younger Zhus who came after him were very generous.

When it came to Zhu Di, since he came to power illegitimately, he relaxed the restrictions in this regard in order to create a situation where all nations would come to pay tribute.

The gifts given in return to those tributary countries far exceeded those of any other dynasty.

Not only that, it is said that Zheng He's voyage to the West, in addition to looking for Zhu Yunwen, another purpose was for Zheng He to promote the Ming Dynasty and let those countries come to the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute.

It is said that during the Song Dynasty, people made a lot of money from maritime trade.

The reason why the Song Dynasty's economy was prosperous was more due to maritime trade.

Zheng He's voyages to the West must have made money.

As a result, I lost money every time I went there. The fundamental reason was that all the money I earned was spent on gifts.

In the eyes of those countries, the Ming Dynasty was wealthy, rich and generous, and they came to pay tribute one after another.

As a result, not only did the voyages to the West incur losses, but the return gifts also greatly increased the burden on the court.

So after Zhu Di's death, the voyages to the West were stopped.

Zhao Xing is not that generous. He doesn't care at all about the nations coming to pay tribute to him.

As long as you are strong, all nations will come to you.

On the contrary, it will only allow those people to see the prosperity of the Song Dynasty.

It's okay when you're strong, but when you're weak, everyone wants to take a bite.

Seeing that the Song Dynasty gave many gifts in return, these countries sent more and more gifts.

Zhao Xing had already made plans. This time, the return gifts would just be some imperial porcelain, silk, tea, etc. to each country, and the quantities couldn't be too large.

The value of royal items cannot be measured by market price, as things are valuable because they are rare.

What? You said that the Song Dynasty is the Celestial Empire, and this little gift is not enough?

Are you kidding? What I gave you are all priceless treasures that only the royal family can use. It is a favor that I give them to you.

Even the ministers in the court couldn't say anything.

Does it mean that although the value of royal items is high, it is more of a symbolic value and the actual value is not that high?
Are you kidding? In a feudal society where imperial power is supreme, who would dare to say such a thing?

However, if those countries treasured his return gifts carefully and kept them for thousands of years, they would truly be priceless treasures by then.

Zhao Xing is not a generous person, so he will let it go this time as time is tight.

In the future, just have someone make some specially made for you. Anything will be worthless if it becomes too common.

The envoys from various countries had no idea what Zhao Xing was thinking. When they saw Zhao Xing looking at their gift lists with a bright smile on his face, they also smiled happily.

The more satisfied the Emperor of the Song Dynasty was with their gifts, the more generous the gifts they gave in return.

Moreover, there is an unspoken rule in the Han Dynasty that after the new monarch ascends the throne, the first return gift will be larger.

After all, the emperor has to grant amnesty to the whole country when he ascends the throne.

But when they received the return gift from the Song Dynasty, they were no longer happy when they saw that there was only a set of porcelain, a few pieces of cloth and a few boxes of tea.

In particular, Zhao Xing also sent ministers to tell them that I was entirely considering you and was worried that it would be troublesome for you to carry the things, so I specially gave you rewards that were expensive but in small quantities to reduce your burden when you return.

(End of this chapter)