Jiajing Chengming

After Zhu Houcong said this, the ministers all bowed in agreement and said nothing more.

Only after the court was dismissed did Zhang Cong speak to Gui E and say, "Your Majesty is indeed more capable of exercising power than before. In principle, you will not give in, but at the same time, you are not really heartless! While you are harsh and decisive, you also have warmth, which shows that you are not a foolish monarch."

"Yes!"

Gui E held the ivory tablet in both hands and folded it in front of his abdomen. He replied and said:

"Yesterday, His Majesty said to Yang An Ning in front of the emperor that this was not just gentleness, courtesy, frugality and modesty, but clearly a determination to save the world! Today, he said he was not afraid of rumors, which was an extremely assertive move!"

"For those who pretend to be righteous, such a strict and sage king is probably more disappointing than meeting a tyrant!"

……

……

"Is Yuanfu disappointed now?"

Xia Yan also asked about Yang Yiqing after the court was dismissed.

Yang Yiqing smiled faintly: "Why do you think this old man will be disappointed?"

Xia Yan also smiled and said, "I know that the Prime Minister will not be disappointed. He will be happy to see that the emperor is so confident in taking severe measures against a prestigious minister while giving him due respect."

"Your Majesty governs the country with justice. Although he is strict, he is not biased. This really makes people feel better and they don't feel too bad for Lord Hu."

"Your Majesty's determination to uphold justice and rule the country strictly without bias is probably related to the huge profits you are making overseas. The discovery of Iwami Silver Mine and the sale of firearms have given you the confidence to be harsh but not ungrateful."

Yang Yiqing spoke thoughtfully, then frowned and looked at Zhu Yan Yunyi in front of him and said, "But I still say the same thing, be careful of Zhang, Gui and others, who will take advantage of your majesty's growing power and dare to act boldly, and instigate your majesty to really over-rectify internal affairs and cause chaos in the world!"

"Prime Minister is right!"

"It is indeed necessary to reform and eliminate malpractices, but we cannot go too far!"

"Now the country is peaceful and the people are at peace. Although there are rebellions, they are just minor problems. Therefore, it is better to implement a peaceful and harmonious policy in the future. Your Majesty should also appoint a crown prince and establish the foundation of the country."

Xia Yan said.

Yang Yiqing glanced at Xia Yan in surprise: "I didn't expect that Dean Xia would think so far!"

"The internal affairs should be clear and peaceful. In fact, I thought that Your Majesty would be moved by Hu Shi Ning's death to win the favor of Liang Cai. So even if Your Majesty approved Hu Shi Ning's request, I still advised Your Majesty afterwards."

"But I didn't expect that your majesty's determination to save the country was not just to work hard for the first ten years, but to work hard for another ten years. So, at that time, I saw Zhang Fujing's eyes were blurred with tears because of this."

"I just don't know if your majesty is bluffing, but in any case, it's time to consider the Crown Prince's matter!"

Xia Yan smiled and said, "Thank you, Prime Minister!"

"You are right! After the military reform is completed, the Ming Dynasty will be able to revive its military virtues and move forward externally, which will be enough to enrich the country and ensure its security. Any further turmoil will be detrimental to the long-term."

"The training of the prince is the key issue!"

"The Joseon Dynasty has a king who has enjoyed a reign of more than 20 years. If we do not establish the foundation of the country at this time and let the eldest prince understand the necessity of the king's sole rule and the necessity of military reform, if the mausoleum collapses suddenly in the future, won't the successor be misled by the corrupt scholars and go back to the old ways because he does not know the details?"

Yang Yiqing very much agreed with Xia Yan's remarks.

Xia Yan asked, "Then should I talk to the censor about this?"

"Don't be impatient!"

Yang Yiqing responded immediately.

Then Yang Yiqing said, "Let me test it out first. If we rashly let the censors report this matter, it will be suspected that the officials are coercing the emperor. If there are opportunists who follow suit, it will backfire."

Xia Yan cupped his hands: "Yes!"

Yang Yiqing smiled at Xia Yan and said, "Gongjin, I know you are not comfortable in the position of the head of the Hanlin Academy, but you have to look after this noble office for His Majesty!" "Now, in addition to guarding against Zhang, Gui and others instigating His Majesty to further rectify internal affairs and disturb the world, we also have to guard against some people in the Qingliu who are stubborn and insist on pursuing the system of co-governance between the monarch and his subjects!"

"They are certainly not afraid of death, but it is undoubtedly that the emperor has done many cruel things, and it will be more difficult to be lenient! He really needs to use grand and benevolent policies that are worthy of being recorded in history, such as surveying the land of the whole country, rectifying the tax power, and equalizing the corvée, to correct his reputation, so as to avoid being labeled as cruel and merciless in the future!"

Xia Yan blushed when Yang Yiqing exposed his desire to be the prince's teacher, and then he bowed and agreed.

"For example, we need to keep a close eye on the Shuntian Prefecture provincial examination this time, and tell the examiners selected from the Hanlin Academy not to cause trouble!"

"We must cooperate with His Majesty's wish to expand the number of talented people and highlight the achievements of civil governance. We must accept the reality that the Ming Dynasty is not the Song Dynasty, and we must stop fantasizing about returning to the time of the Filial Piety Temple. The Filial Piety Temple is not a common practice in our dynasty, but an exception!"

"Unless they really don't care about the ancestral temple and the country, they would rather the king be hypocritical and selfish than have lofty ambitions!"

Yang Yiqing continued to instruct.

He understood that the emperor did not want to intensify the internal strife, so as the prime minister, he would advise his officials to maintain a peaceful situation whenever possible.

……

……

"I have thought about it. The people are not yet enlightened. Not to mention being loyal to the emperor, there are very few good merchants who care about the safety of the country. Therefore, relying on merchants to stabilize grain prices is not feasible!"

"Of course, we can't expect these merchants who sell grain and salt in the border towns to really cooperate with the court and control the grain prices in the border towns. They only chase the rise and sell the fall! They just want to take it all! No matter how the country and the people will be in the future, no matter how many silver dollars the court allocates to the border towns to buy grain, it will not be able to buy enough food to supply the needs of the soldiers and civilians in the border towns."

"The Ji-Liao incident is an example of this."

After returning to the Imperial Study, Zhu Houcong told Yang Yiqing and other ministers of the Imperial Study about his plan to expand the scale of the state-owned economy.

Yang Yiqing followed up and said, "Your Majesty is right. The world is not right. Merchants still value profit over morality. After the silver was changed to Kaizhong, the soaring grain prices in the border towns were the main culprit for the increasing grain and salaries in the nine border areas. As a result, most of the grain and salaries increased by the court every year did not fall into the hands of the border people, but fell into the hands of the wealthy and powerful. The soldiers and civilians in the border towns can only get the grain stipulated at the beginning of the country, and in many cases, it is even worse than at the beginning of the country."

"I second the proposal. The amount of money spent on food and salaries for the nine frontiers far exceeds that of the beginning of the country, but the border defense is actually not as good as that of the beginning of the country."

“The fundamental reason is that we rely too much on the conscience of border merchants.”

"Of course, the rulers of all dynasties knew that merchants were unreliable, but most of these merchants were backed by high-ranking officials, so it was naturally difficult to offend them."

"But what the court has increased now is only silver dollars, not food that can be eaten directly. If we really want to strengthen border defense, we can only find a way to distribute the food received directly by the court to the soldiers and civilians in the border towns. Only in this way can we stabilize the price of food."

"I think we should expand the supply and marketing shops in the capital to the nine border areas, and let the government-run grain shops sell grain directly."

Zhang Cong replied.

Zhu Houcong smiled and said, "That's exactly what I was planning!"

"But what I mean is that it is not appropriate for the supply and marketing shop to go to the border town to sell grain directly. It only needs to be responsible for wholesale sales to vendors at all levels!"

"The court officials and merchants cannot be directly responsible for selling grain to the army and civilians, because the nine frontiers are not like the capital, and the mountains are high and the emperor is far away. So they have to be on guard against the people in the supply and marketing shops who rely on their official background to force sales, and they also have to be on guard against the officials of the supply and marketing shops who may be afraid of their power or their students and old friends and force sales!"

"And this situation can be avoided by only selling wholesale to vendors at all levels!"

"To be specific, the supply and marketing shops of the Ministry of Revenue only sell grain to the supply and marketing shops of the Dusi and the Buzhengsi, the supply and marketing shops of the Dusi and the Buzhengsi only sell to the supply and marketing shops in the prefecture, the supply and marketing shops in the prefecture sell to the supply and marketing shops in the county, and the supply and marketing shops in the county sell to ordinary vendors in the towns and villages."

"Because these ordinary vendors living in the local area have little power and their power is dispersed, it is naturally difficult to force the people, and the local government can also control it easily; as for the wholesale price, since the power of the court comes from above, it is natural to stipulate that the supply and marketing shops at all levels can only set a certain wholesale price."

"In addition, the Ministry of Revenue will first set an extremely low price with a very slim profit margin, and then raise it up layer by layer. When it reaches ordinary vendors, if they want ordinary people to be able to afford it, they can only control the price to a normal market price. The government will also require them to control the price of grain to a normal market price in order to stabilize people's hearts."

"in this way……"

“Although no one at any level can earn much, everyone from top to bottom can still have a taste of the spoils!”

"Ordinary merchants may not become wealthy from this, but they can support their families. Those who are good at business can at most become moderately wealthy. Governments at all levels can also earn some income from this, and thus have more motivation to stabilize grain prices for the court."

"The Ministry of Revenue can also earn some income from selling grain, and can use this extra income to manage farms, improve agricultural techniques, cultivate high-yield new crops, and help farmers! To promote agricultural production!" (End of this chapter)