Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 222 The prosperous scene of Jiajing Dynasty and the eunuchs’ awakening!
The feedback is that the lives of the people of the Ming Dynasty are indeed getting better day by day.

Zhang Cong saw that the streets of the capital were still clean and tidy, with lush greenery.

The once desolate western suburbs of the capital's inner city are now under construction as an outer city, covered with blue bricks and black tiles, and with many archways and tall buildings.

There are more pedestrians and beggars are almost extinct.

The sound of reading aloud can be heard everywhere, as well as the melodious sound of piano, singing, fighting and shouting.

The aroma of meat and wine can be smelled from time to time.

It was hard for Zhang Cong to imagine that the royal wasteland in the west of the city, which was only a stinking ditch and dusty yellow soil two years ago, had quickly become a prosperous place after the outer city was built and the emperor allowed the palace and Gyeonggi Province to cooperate in the development of this royal wasteland. It also attracted many wealthy families to take out loans to purchase properties here.

He even bought a luxurious courtyard here, which was advertised as extremely elegant and exquisite and built specifically for dignitaries.

Moreover, because he did not have enough money, he also took out a mortgage and borrowed a sum of money from Xingming Bank.

Zhang Cong had never expected that after the reform to increase the salary income of officials, he, a minister of the Nine Ministers, would still owe the emperor money.

However, he was not the only one among the Nine Ministers who owed money. Many officials owed the emperor money, so Zhang Cong did not feel too uneasy.

More importantly, the insured value of these mansions in the capital has been increasing year by year, especially after the emperor summoned famous doctors and scholars to the capital and built many medical clinics and academies near the western suburbs. The value of newly built mansions in the western city of the capital has soared year by year.

Not to mention that the clinic had Zhou Taiyi, the imperial physician who treated the emperor, but among the nearby official academies that allowed children of commoners to enroll with housing purchase tickets, there was Yangming Academy where Wang Yangming would personally give lectures, and Shoushan Academy where Wang Jiao, the first number one scholar in the Jiajing period, was ordered to serve as the principal.

Therefore, Zhang Cong knew very well why the prices of mansions here skyrocketed.

But what impressed him most was that the emperor actually thought of using this method to double the money bestowed upon their officials, and he also made these officials willing to do so.

Simultaneously.

What Zhang Cong also admired was that the emperor's approach allowed the migrant workers who participated in the construction of the outer city to still have jobs in the capital.

Many hardworking and thrifty outsiders have even accumulated considerable wealth through their own hard work.

Some people even took advantage of the opportunity that high-ranking officials in the capital began to sell their land and shops at low prices in exchange for silver dollars to speculate in real estate. They purchased some land at a relatively low price and became self-cultivating farmers, small landlords, or small merchants, causing the land tax and business tax in Gyeonggi Province to increase day by day.

After all, the emperor stated that the only legal tender accepted in transactions for newly built properties in the capital was silver dollars, so the dignitaries had to buy land and properties in exchange for silver dollars.

Looking at the many mansions still under construction not far away, which already had luxurious gates with carved patterns, and a large number of exquisite potted plants and rockery had begun to be arranged inside, Zhang Cong was still full of expectations for his future new residence in the capital, and was also happy that he was about to own a mansion in the capital.

For Zhang Cong, what made him happiest was seeing that these foreign people, who were once starving people in Huaiyang, were now living a prosperous life in the capital.

This gave him an indescribable sense of accomplishment, a sense of accomplishment that was even more meaningful than passing the imperial examination in the 16th year of Zhengde.

Because it was he who supervised the relocation of these Huaiyang people to the capital to participate in the construction of the outer city in order to achieve the goal of work-for-relief.

Therefore, he witnessed with his own eyes the initial miserable appearance of these people.

Now that he could see these people's eyes full of hope and smiles, and even seeing that many of them were now living a stable and even prosperous life, he could not help but grin, and even had tears in his eyes while smiling. Looking at the Forbidden City in the north, he said to himself:

"It is thanks to a holy emperor like Your Majesty that today's grand scene can be seen!"

Zhang Cong understood that this was also a benefit of the emperor regaining monetary power and collecting the silver and money buried in the cellars by the gentry.

That is, as long as the emperor loves the people and seeks good governance, he can continuously invest in construction, allow silver dollars to flow into the hands of the people, and then enable the people to accumulate wealth, driving the entire society towards a more peaceful and prosperous direction.

As a result, Zhang Cong began to increasingly admit that perhaps it was not a bad thing for the emperor, powerful officials, and even common people to pursue a more affluent and prosperous life.

However, suppressing everyone's pursuit of a better life and requiring everyone, even the emperor, to be frugal and thrifty is not conducive to achieving a strong country and a prosperous people. On the contrary, allowing everyone to pursue a better life rather than just having enough food and clothing, and even rationally using this demand to create more jobs is more conducive to a strong country and a prosperous people. At least it can truly realize the goal of keeping wealth among the people rather than just among the wealthy.

Zhang Cong, whose own family was not wealthy but whose class status gradually improved with the support of the clan's charity schools and charity properties funded by the rich and noble members of the clan, was very interested in this model of first gathering the world's wealth for the public and then using it to help the people, and he could easily accept and understand it.

Therefore, he began to question the Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism's advocacy of "eliminating human desires and preserving the principles of heaven."

although……

The Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism's goal of eliminating human desires is to eliminate excessive desires, but Zhang Cong now began to feel that it was not impossible to allow people to pursue excessive desires. As long as they were guided reasonably, it could also promote social development. For example, the pursuit of luxury was not necessarily a bad thing, and banning luxury should only be used as a means, not as an end.

"Mom, eat buns!"

On a construction site not far from Zhang Cong, Yan Dashan, a commoner who had just arrived in the capital, came to an old woman holding three steaming buns wrapped in paper.

The old woman took the steamed bun, touched its outline, and asked:

"You really didn't steal it?"

"My son, don't steal again! Your father was beaten to death because he stole the fried rice from Master Zhan's house because he was afraid that you would starve to death! You can't be beaten to death again!"

"I didn't steal it. This is the capital, how dare I steal? Listen to the shouting, there are so many people, even if I steal a needle, I will be seen." "This is what I just earned from moving bricks."

"The military officer in charge said that there is always work to move bricks in the capital. I can earn this money anytime, so you don't need to keep it. Eat it quickly."

Yan Dashan said.

The old woman asked in surprise, "Really?"

"Of course it's true!"

Yan Dashan replied.

The old woman smiled and began to chew. While chewing, she asked, "Why won't the brick-moving work in the capital stop?"

"They say the emperor is good now! He issued an edict saying that the common people had to leave their homes and migrate to the capital for their own reasons, so he wouldn't let the government drive us back. He even used his own land to build houses, just to give us jobs!"

"Because the emperor has no shortage of houses to live in, nor does he lack money. He only builds houses and sells them to the rich so that we ordinary people can have jobs."

Yan Dashan replied.

The old woman was stunned for a moment after hearing this: "It seems that I have really met a good emperor. My son, you are more blessed than your father!"

The old woman began to cry as she spoke.

"Mom, don't cry. Your eyes are going blind from crying."

Yan Dashan used his pudding-covered sleeves to wipe the old woman's tears.

Zhu Houcong did issue an order not to drive out the displaced people in the capital, and because of his large-scale infrastructure construction, he did attract many landless people and bankrupt handicraftsmen from other places to come to the capital to make a living.

Yan Dashan was just one of these people. For him, who had no land or other property, it was completely impossible for him to survive in his hometown. Coming to the capital, he could support himself and his mother, which was naturally a happy thing.

Zhang Cong, who was deep in thought, saw this scene and couldn't help but smile.

When Zhang Cong came, Wang Yangming went out of the central hall to greet him.

Unlike Zhang Cong, who was still renting a house in the capital as the Minister of Dali Temple, Wang Yangming had already purchased a house because his father had served as a senior official in the Ministry of Rites in the capital. Naturally, he did not have to worry about the problem of "living in Chang'an is very difficult."

Even many of the maids who guarded the Wang family’s residence in the capital were given by the royal family.

This made Zhang Cong extremely envious.

"After Taizu founded the country, he originally wanted to share the world with the royal family, but Emperor Jianwen changed the system three months after his death, which led to the Jingnan Incident."

"Emperor Taizong had no intention of sharing the empire with the royal family, but chose to share the empire with the nobles. However, the nobles gradually lost their power, which led to the rise of the eunuchs and scholars."

"Now, Your Majesty wants to revive the military power and cultivate ordinary military sons who can inherit the throne like the nobles and prosper together with the country. However, because the hereditary throne is too low, it is not a bad idea to cultivate ordinary military sons who can study hard in civil and military affairs for the sake of honoring the family. "

"But nowadays, there are many military children in the world, and even among the scholars there are many military scholars."

"So if we want to use military scholars, we should choose those who are loyal to the emperor in terms of great ceremonies. You know better than me which colleagues are in line with the emperor's wishes in terms of great ceremonies, so I hope you can recommend more of them in the future."

As soon as Wang Yangming saw Zhang Cong, he brought him into the room, asked the old servant to make tea for Zhang Cong, and stated the real purpose of his meeting with Zhang Cong.

Zhang Cong also knew that Wang Yangming had this purpose, and he was naturally happy. He did not hesitate to refuse, but just bowed and said: "I will not disappoint the great prime minister's intention to recruit talents!"

Wang Yangming stroked his beard, smiled slightly, and talked about academic matters with Zhang Cong.

That night, Zhu Houcong also learned about the conversation between Wang Yangming and Zhang Cong from Qin Wen, the governor of the Eastern Depot.

"They really know what I am thinking."

Zhu Houcong sighed and then told Qin Wen:
"Although it is not appropriate for inner court officials to have contact with outer court officials, I allow you, the governor of the East Factory, to contact them secretly and provide them with information about the Minister of the Guardian of Rites."

Qin Wen couldn't help but open his mouth. He knew that the emperor wanted him to take sides on his behalf, but it was not easy for the emperor to do it himself.

Because no one knows whether the party that the emperor stands on will turn from a dragon slayer into an evil dragon in the future.

Although the best way to be an emperor is not to practice checks and balances, even if you have to take sides, it is better to find an agent to do so. This will minimize the risk of conflict directly affecting the emperor himself.

Zhu Houcong knew what Qin Wen was afraid of, so he said, "I will not let you be Liu Jin! Moreover, after being in contact with you for so long, I also believe that you are different from Liu Jin."

Qin Wen knelt down and said, "Since the emperor has said so, how can I not be loyal? Moreover, our ancestors have always taught their sons that they are rootless people with only one cloud above their heads, and that cloud is the emperor. Whether I will be skinned alive or guard the mausoleum in the future is up to the emperor, and I dare not and cannot complain!"

"Wei Bin taught well!"

(End of this chapter)