Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 41 Currency Reform!
"How much silver do I have left in my treasury?"

"Your Majesty, the total is 2.7 million taels of silver."

After hearing the specific number, Zhu Youtang clenched his fists.

It turned out that not only was there no money in the national treasury, but even the emperor's private treasury was short of money.

Zhu Youtang had a blank expression on his face and ordered: "Take out one million taels of silver from the inner treasury and give rewards to the soldiers in the Xianzhen Camp."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Wang Zhi took the order.

Zhu Youtang then turned around and looked at the civil and military officials on the city wall.

"Collect the heads of Ma Wensheng and Qiu Yue and send them to the nine borders as a warning to others!"

"Xu Pu, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, the four of you will follow me back to the cabinet to discuss matters."

"Everyone else, go clean up the battlefield!"

After saying this, Zhu Youtang walked straight towards the city.

The remaining civil and military officials looked at each other, not understanding what Zhu Youtang meant by cleaning up the battlefield.

Liu Jian was stunned at first, then shocked, and hurried to catch up with Zhu Youtang.

"Your Majesty, what about Wang Shu? He is also a cabinet minister?"

"Not anymore. I won't allow him to join the cabinet."

Zhu Youtang felt annoyed when he recalled that Wang Shu dared to question his orders on his first day in court.

Zhu Youtang would never allow such a disobedient troublemaker to join the cabinet.

Liu Jian was shocked and looked at a loss.

Zhu Youtang glanced at him and said, "Why? Elder Liu has any objection?"

Liu Jian stopped and his face turned pale: "I dare not!"

Zhu Youtang did not stop, but went straight down the city wall, sat on the dragon chariot, and returned to the palace.

Huai En, Wang Zhi and Mou Bin accompanied him.

"Wang Zhi, go and ask Gao Shun to come to the palace to discuss matters, and then arrange for the Xianzhen Camp to set up camp near the capital to rest."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Mou Bin, have the Royal Guards supervise those officials and make sure they clean up the battlefield thoroughly. They are not allowed to return to the palace until it is clean."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Wang Zhi and Mou Bin took the order and left, only Huai En remained by Zhu Youtang's side.

Zhu Youtang frowned, thinking about how to quickly get some money back to the Ming Dynasty.

It's easy to kill someone, but hard to collect money.

……

On the city wall.

Liu Jian stayed where he was, while Xu Pu, Wang Shu, Xie Qian and Li Dongyang walked up.

"Xixian, what is this, Your Majesty?" Xu Pu asked first.

Liu Jian looked at Wang Shu, smiled bitterly, and said apologetically: "Minister Wang, your majesty... does not allow you to enter the cabinet."

"what?"

"How could this be?"

"This……"

The other three looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

Only Wang Shu looked calm, as if this incident had little impact on him.

"It doesn't matter. The Minister of Personnel is a high-ranking official who is in charge of the promotion and assessment of all officials. Even if Your Majesty does not allow me to join the cabinet, I can still make a difference for the Ming Dynasty."

Xu Pu nodded, his tone much colder: "Then Minister Wang, His Majesty has ordered us to leave first."

"Please." Wang Shu bowed.

After returning the greetings, Xu Pu, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and Xie Qian walked down the city wall together.

Liu Jian still felt a little regretful. The cabinet had lost an experienced old minister like Wang Shu, which was a great loss.

Just after the four ministers left, a large number of Jinyiwei climbed onto the city wall, scaring all the civil and military officials on the wall.

Mou Bin walked up to the city wall, glanced at the ministers, and said in a loud voice: "My lords, His Majesty has ordered you to go down to the city to clean up the battlefield."

"When you have cleaned up, you can go home."

The ministers and officials could not believe their ears!

They are high-ranking officials in the capital. Since they put on the official uniforms, when have they ever done any cleaning work?

"What?! There is such a thing!"

"What do you mean, Your Majesty?!" "This... this... this is outrageous, outrageous!"

"..."

All the officials were unwilling in their hearts, but when they saw the ferocious Jinyiwei beside them, they dared not resist.

Finally, under the supervision of the Embroidered Uniform Guards, all the officials reluctantly walked down the city wall and headed towards the battlefield outside the city.

Before they even entered the battlefield, the fishy smell was so unbearable that many ministers began to vomit.

The Jinyiwei were also very considerate and sent them cleaning tools.

Civil and military officials suppressed their nausea and began to clean up the battlefield under the supervision of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

The battlefield was littered with broken limbs and flesh, not even a complete corpse.

You can only clean up the large pieces of debris first, and then clean up the small pieces of meat.

Moreover, they were all very familiar with the body parts on the ground.

This is Minister Ma's head, this is Elder Wan's leg, this is Minister Ye's hand...

All the officials turned pale and trembled all over. Some vomited and some fainted. The scene was in chaos.

……

Forbidden City.

Wenyuan Pavilion.

Zhu Youtang walked in first and sat on the dragon throne.

Immediately, a eunuch from the Imperial Kitchen brought snacks and tea.

Zhu Youtang took the teacup and took a sip.

Not long after, a young eunuch from the Imperial Household Department came in to report.

"Your Majesty, the cabinet ministers Xu Pu, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian request an audience."

"Xuan."

"Here."

Soon, Xu Pu and the other three walked into the Qianqing Palace and knelt down to salute: "Your Majesty, I, Xu Pu, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian, pay my respects to you!"

"no."

Zhu Youtang took out a memorial, which contained some ideas on currency reform that he had written over the past few days.

"I invited you to the cabinet this time to discuss currency reform."

"In short, I want to promote the new Ming Baochao and make it the legal currency of Ming."

After hearing this, Xu Pu and the other three's expressions changed drastically. They all knelt down in front of Zhu Youtang and tried their best to stop him.

"Your Majesty! No! Nowadays, the people have trouble even getting enough food to eat. We must not plunder the people's wealth any further!"

"Yes, Your Majesty. In recent years, the Ming Dynasty has been plagued by disasters and human sufferings. It is already difficult for the people to feed themselves. We cannot compete with them for profits!"

"His Majesty……"

"That's enough! Shut up, everyone!"

"When did I ever say I wanted to plunder the people's wealth and compete with them for profit?"

Zhu Youtang was furious and slammed the table, which made the four ministers shut up.

"Stop trying to persuade me!"

"Whatever I want to do, I must do it!"

Whenever there was reform in the feudal dynasty, there would always be a large number of officials to stop it. Zhu Youtang was fed up with this.

Xu Pu and Liu Jian opened their mouths several times, and finally closed them helplessly.

The Ming Dynasty introduced the Ming Baochao several times. Which time was it not because the inner treasury was in emergency and used to plunder the wealth of the people?
This was true for Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong as well.

The government was only concerned with printing treasure notes but did not collect them back, so the people were forced to exchange silver and grain for the treasure notes, but in the end the treasure notes could not be exchanged for silver and grain.

The value of the treasure notes depreciated rapidly, and the wealth of the people of the Ming Dynasty turned into bubbles.

The Ming Baochao issued during the Hongwu period had depreciated to one thousandth of its original amount during the Hongzhi period.

A Ming treasure note worth one guan is now only worth one penny.

Now that the inner treasury is also short of silver, Zhu Youtang wants to reintroduce the Ming Baochao.

Isn't this plundering the people's wealth and competing with them for profit?
Zhu Youtang was too lazy to explain and handed the memorial he wrote to Xu Pu and others.

"You guys, first take a look at the reform plan I wrote, and then discuss its feasibility."

"If it is feasible, immediately draw up a practical plan for me!"

Xu Pu reluctantly took the memorial and said, "Yes, Your Majesty."

(End of this chapter)