Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 387 Jiajing asked the ministers to be confident! Tell them the huge profits brought by Iwami Silver Mine!
Wang Xuekui had to leave the court in a hurry, and after Ren Weixian returned to the court in frustration, he immediately knelt down:
"Your Majesty! I am innocent. I never suggested that Xu Shouyu harm the Marquis of Shouning."

Zhu Liangze interrupted at this time and said, "Your Majesty, he said it himself, he hinted at it, and he was very proud of it. He seemed to think that he had contributed to the murder of Shouning Hou. He also said that because of his instructions, it could cause a rift between Your Majesty and the Queen Mother, causing discord in the royal family and unrest in Your Majesty's harem!"

Zhu Houcong's face darkened after hearing this.

But he was very happy in his heart.

Because he now began to see that these opposition bureaucrats who represented the interests of the gentry and wealthy families began to bite each other.

And all this is related to the powerful deterrent effect of imperial power that he demonstrated.

Zhu Liang was worried that he, as the emperor, would deal with the gentry in Zhejiang in the same way he dealt with the murder of imperial envoys in Henan and other places, so he chose to stab his friend Wang Xuekui, who was the same age as him, in the back.

He chose to sacrifice his clique for the benefit of his fellow townspeople.

This undoubtedly saved Zhu Houcong a lot of trouble in tracking down the real murderer who murdered Zhang Heling and intimidating the gentry and wealthy families in various places who were dissatisfied with Zhang Heling.

He no longer had to waste a large amount of money and food to transfer troops to Zhejiang.

at the same time!

The gentry and wealthy families would also be further aware that unless they murdered Zhang Heling and others locally, they should not even think about doing it in someone else's territory, otherwise they would run the risk of being stabbed in the back. But if they murdered people in their own place, they would have to be careful that the emperor might get angry and directly punish the entire group of gentry and wealthy families.

Instead of targeting any specific gentry or wealthy family in your area, punish the gentry and wealthy families in your area as a whole.

This is the emperor!
This is imperial power!
You can only deal with a specific person, but others can deal with your entire class!
So Zhu Houcong was very happy about this.

"Whether there is one or not, we will know after checking."

When Zhu Houcong said this, he ordered Wang Xuekui, "Go to the imperial prison and stay there. Don't blame me for not treating you respectfully."

"Yes!"

Wang Xuekui responded with tears in his eyes.

then.

Zhu Houcong also said: "Minister of Justice Zhu Liang is right! Shouning Marquis and Jianchang Marquis lent money at low interest rates to help the people in the south, which made many gentry and wealthy families dissatisfied. But I am willing to believe that only a small number of gentry and wealthy families are dissatisfied. After all, many heads of gentry and wealthy families in the world are familiar with the books of sages and understand the principle that a gentleman should value righteousness over profit!"

"Therefore, I believe that most of the gentry and wealthy families should support the two uncles in lending at low interest rates so that the interest rates for the people can be reduced and the common people will no longer have to sell their fields and lands and their children because of the high interest rates during famine years."

"Do you agree with me?"

Zhu Houcong then asked about the court officials.

All the court officials, whether they were sincere or unwilling, responded in unison at this time: "Your Majesty is wise!"

Zhu Houcong stood up after hearing this and said: "So, I am more and more confident that the vision of Ming Dynasty becoming more and more powerful and the people becoming more and more prosperous can be realized!"

"Because our country has been established for 150 years, and we have also worshipped the teachings of saints for 150 years. The reputation of reading has spread all over the world, and the number of gentry who know etiquette and love benevolence is far greater than that at the beginning of the country. It can be said that everyone knows etiquette! Otherwise, the two uncles-in-law would not also take pleasure in helping the people. In this way, I believe that the world will become more and more prosperous."

"I also hope that you will have this confidence!"

"Believe that the court is full of upright people, believe that there are many gentlemen in the world, and believe that you are living in an era of revival!" "Don't think that the court's financial expenditure is too large just because you see that the court has strengthened the imperial guards, benefited the royal family, stopped reporting, exempted bamboo and wood from being collected and silver for craftsmen, and increased the number of officials. This will inevitably make such a revival of prosperity short-lived."

“But the reality is, this is just the beginning.”

"Because I just received a report from Huo and Zhang that the newly acquired stone silver mountain in our dynasty is enough to produce more than 10 million taels of silver per year!"

"Therefore, I have also decided to release more silver dollars to the people in the future to facilitate their lives, encourage them to run production, and make the world more prosperous!"

"That's why I asked you to be confident!"

"You must believe that the world is so big that there will not be only one Ishimi Silver Mountain. Therefore, today's world will not just return to the glory of the ancient times of Yao and Shun, but may even be far more prosperous than the ancient times!"

Few court officials listened carefully to Zhu Houcong's subsequent words.

Because when Zhu Houcong said, "There is a silver mountain that produces more than 10 million taels of silver a year, and we will lend more silver dollars to the people at low interest rates," the court officials were stunned by his words.

Those who wished for the prosperity of their country were naturally shocked and delighted, and their worries about whether the court could continue to increase its income immediately disappeared.

The court officials, who were already dissatisfied with the emperor's allowing the two relatives of the Zhang family to lend money at low interest rates in the south and deprive the gentry of their profits so that they could not annex the common people's property and force more common people into slavery, were shocked and even more angry and annoyed.

If it was the previous model, that is, the imperial court could not form a strong navy for external expansion because it did not have strong financial resources, nor could it monopolize foreign maritime trade, let alone help the common people to get better and better, so that they could only maintain a basic survival line, and had to sell fields, children, and even sell themselves into slavery when they encountered natural disasters or man-made disasters, then the gentry and wealthy families could monopolize maritime trade, and at the same time, by controlling a large number of cheap domestic labor, they could earn a large amount of Iwami silver for themselves!
Then, they can use this silver to continue annexing other countries, until they are rich enough to rival a country! Until they can buy off the bureaucrats of the entire country, until they can control the entire country with their wealth and power!
After hearing that the silver production of Iwami Silver Mine was so high, they believed that they, as wealthy gentry, could achieve this.

Because the annual income of the Ming Dynasty was only four million taels of silver!

Four million taels was even just in theory. Most of the time, if more than three million taels could be deposited into Taicang, it would not be considered a serious tax arrears.

Therefore, they knew that if they really used the original ruling model, they might be able to have many wealthy and powerful families become rich enough to rival a country within a few years or even a dozen years.

But unfortunately, this is not the case now.

Now the silver mountain is in the hands of the court, maritime trade is also in the hands of the court, and the emperor is planning to put a large amount of silver into the hands of the poor at a low interest rate.

This is simply a sin for them!

They couldn't imagine what the consequences would be if so much silver fell into the hands of the people.

Undoubtedly, small-scale natural and man-made disasters are not enough to ruin the people's businesses, and large-scale natural and man-made disasters are not enough to force them to sell their children and leave the country starving.

But this way...

How can landlords who just want to be masters in a leisurely and carefree manner without having to worry about running a business use their limited wealth to obtain a large number of servants?

How can they still use their absolute economic advantage to enjoy a life of superiority where common people have to give up their self-respect and bow down before them?
and so……

The more the selfish court officials from the gentry's perspective thought about it, the more they felt that it would be horrible if this situation were to happen in the future!
They would rather not have this mountain of silver, and let the court be in a situation where it can’t make ends meet as soon as possible!
But for officials who supported reform and came from families of small landlords, self-cultivating farmers and small traders, such a large amount of silver was a booster for them to continue to support the court's reforms.

They are indeed more confident in supporting the emperor in doing so!

They are also more willing to believe that they do not need to engage in corruption, flattery, or abandon their conscience, but only need to rely on the diligent habits they have developed during their hard studies and the talent they have to stand out in exams at all levels to make their lives more and more affluent!
(End of this chapter)