Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 135: Another Storm in the Ming Dynasty

"I have money and food in my hands, and I feel at ease."

On March 20th, in the Nanjing Imperial Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang sat behind his desk while Empress Ma rubbed his temples.

Hearing his words, Empress Ma smiled and said, "The new rice harvest in the first half of this year will bring a large amount of grain."

Zhu Yuanzhang put down the brush in his hand, lay on the chair and concentrated on enjoying his wife's massage, closed his eyes and said: "Yes, and this moonlight silver dollar is more than 3 million pieces, so there is really no shortage of money."

Previously, Zhu Yunfeng’s factory’s silver coin production capacity was not high, with more than 1300 coins per day, only more than one million coins per month, and about million coins per year.

But from the end of last year to now, in the past six months, Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He have successively acquired several stamping machines. While making rifles and firearms, they have also greatly increased the production capacity of silver coins.

The only problem is that the silver coins are synthetic silver, which is the raw material that Zhu Yunfeng bought from the Hunan Silver Listed Group. The Ming Dynasty did not have the technology to synthesize silver, so the raw materials were limited.

Fortunately, for things like raw materials, as long as the payment is not in arrears, people don’t care what you use them for. They would rather you buy more.

So you can have as much of this stuff as you want.

In February, Ji He bought a large amount of raw materials at one time and went to Wuan to work as a slave.

There was no one in Zhujiaping, so Zhu Yuanzhang had to go to Zhu Yunfeng's house in person to get the goods. If he had not learned how to operate an automatic conveyor belt, the silver coins would have been out of stock.

Now that we have money and food, we can do great things.

Actively developing the population is the fundamental thing. Zhu Yuanzhang planned to abolish the Ding tax, check and measure the land again, change it to a per-acre tax system, cancel the large-scale corvee labor for national-level projects, and change it to a hiring system.

This means that corvée labor such as building canals and city walls completely disappeared in the long river of history. The corvée labor that ordinary people had to bear was the corvée labor in their own county, such as building canals in their own county, leveling fields, digging water conservancy facilities, and so on.

This, combined with Zhu Biao's previous practice of returning the fire consumption to the public, is actually the same as Yongzheng's.

But in fact, Yongzheng's system was not invented by him. These problems were discovered in the late Ming Dynasty. The ruling class tried to change them, but faced huge resistance, including Zhang Juzheng's reforms.

Therefore, these political reforms were delayed from the middle and late Ming Dynasty until the Yongzheng period before they were completely resolved, and they were not resolved for long either, as they were abolished in the late Qianlong period.

In the final analysis, the productivity in the feudal period and the power of the gentry and landlord class were too strong, making it very difficult to implement this policy.

If Zhu Yuanzhang had not had the support of modern super-strong productivity, he would probably not have been able to do this.

"Let's go to the Royal Manor and have a look."

After reviewing memorials for the whole morning, Old Zhu took a break and said, "We'll have a meal at the Huangzhuang later. The vegetables, fruits and vegetables grown in the Huangzhuang are all fine varieties brought from modern times, and they are freshly picked from the fields."

"it is good."

Queen Ma smiled.

The two men then left the Qianqing Palace. On the square outside the Qianqing Palace, there was a row of red and blue three-wheeled electric vehicles.

According to the Gregorian calendar, Lao Zhu appeared in the cellar of Zhu Yunfeng's house in November 2024, and now it is April 11, exactly one and a half years.

In the past year and a half, Zhu Yunfeng not only transported grain, vegetables, fruit seeds, silver dollars, steel, cement, wires, lathes, stamping machines, generators and other agricultural and industrial products to the Ming Dynasty, but also naturally needed transportation.

He had his own motorcycle in Daming. Ji He didn't know how to drive a men's motorcycle with gears, so he got a small electric scooter that could move with just a twist. Zhu Biao and Zhu Di also had their own electric cars.

He also got some bicycles for the little princes.

Lao Zhu is over 50 years old and it is not safe for him to drive a two-wheeled electric vehicle, so he bought some electric tricycles.

This thing is very annoying to car owners in county towns and rural areas. Firstly, it occupies a larger area than motorcycles and electric vehicles. Secondly, it makes little noise. The drivers are mostly elderly people, so they can easily be hit by it if they are not careful.

But in Ming Dynasty.

There are only a few bicycles, let alone cars, so there is naturally no problem.

Zhu Yuanzhang rode the tricycle and Empress Ma sat in the passenger seat.

Dozens of soldiers carrying bolt-action rifles behind them also rode on tricycles, with five or six people squatting in the cargo box, and they headed towards the imperial farm in a mighty manner.

At this time, the road to the imperial farm underwent another major change.

It used to be a rammed earth road. At the beginning of the year, Ji He brought a large amount of cement powder and directly built it into a cement road of about one and a half lanes, which was similar to a village road.

Although there are no steel bars, it is not a large eight-wheel truck, so an ordinary electric three-wheeler is enough.

It was the fourteenth year of Hongwu, that is, March of the lunar calendar in 1381 AD. It was late spring approaching early summer, and the golden sunshine was shining down, dazzling the eyes and making people feel a little hot.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma, both old men and women in their 50s, wore straw hats and staggered towards the imperial farm like an old peasant couple.

The farmlands on both sides are lush and green, the green rice sways in the wind, water splashes occasionally in the fields, fish swim around in the rice fields, and the sound of frogs is bustling.

The tricycle drove into Huangzhuang, which had also changed a lot.

When Zhu Biao first moved farmers to cultivate the land for the imperial farm, he first built a number of shanty towns to provide the farmers with a place to live, and later built a number of rammed earth and wooden houses.

Rows of wooden houses stand on the edge of the farmland in the distance, and they seem to have formed the scale of a village.

"His Majesty."

The person in charge of the imperial farm came over and saluted Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, got out of the car, and brought Empress Ma to the shed beside the field.

In the distance, the Qinhuai River flows slowly, and the surrounding fields and roads are shaded by green trees. Farmers are carrying hoes and leading cows from the fields towards the village.

The imperial chef brought out from the palace has gone to the back to work.

About half an hour later, some ordinary home-cooked dishes were served.

Old Zhu was still very simple. Although he was rich and prosperous now, he knew that the Ming Dynasty was still short of supplies. The most he had was food.

The rest of the chickens, ducks, fish, pigs, cattle, sheep and the like are still in short supply. Even if Zhu Yunfeng brought a lot of breeding pigs and copied the farm over there, it would be impossible to raise so many livestock in one go.

So the only meat dish in the dish was a grass carp from the Qinhuai River that the eunuchs had bought outside the palace that morning.

At this moment, Ji He came over on a small electric scooter from a distance.

"Grandma, grandpa."

Ji Hyuk greeted with a smile as he parked the car.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "Xiao Ji, you came just in time. Come and have dinner with me."

"Then I won't be polite."

Ji Hyuk came over and sat down with a smile.

He has been very busy recently and has even lost more than ten pounds, with his chin and face becoming much sharper.

Just after the Spring Festival, he brought over a few ship engines.

Then the steel plant's generator sets, electric arc furnace sets for steelmaking, and supporting boilers, pipelines, etc. were taken over and reassembled.

To be honest, it was already quite troublesome for him, a layman before.

Fortunately, Zhu Yunfeng had previously purchased a low-power generator set, which was relatively small in size, and he also asked the manufacturer to simplify the installation, which was a custom-made product.

Otherwise, for a generator with a power of hundreds of thousands, the welding of the boiler and pipelines, flaw detection and instrument panel operation are not things that ordinary people can handle.

So there is nothing we can do.

In fact, it is not impossible to send high-power generators. Generators with a power of 30 can be purchased and can also be disassembled and sent to Daming for assembly.

But Ji He's abilities are limited and he's not a skilled technical worker, so he can't do it at all.

Such a simple low-power thermal power generator set, together with the supporting facilities, can be installed by a skilled technician in one day, but it took him more than a month. You can see how hard it is.

However, although it is a low-power generator set, it is sufficient for steelmaking.

The current theoretical daily steel production capacity is 20 tons, but the actual output should be about 30 to tons, which means the annual output is more than tons, close to tons.

Looking at the entire 14th century, this output can be said to be far ahead, but it can also be considered the first in the world.

After all, before those more than ten electric arc furnaces were put into production, it was still unknown whether the world's steel production could reach 10 tons, even if the Ming Dynasty was included.

"Where are they?"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

Ji He took a bowl and filled it with rice while saying, "He just called me and said he has arrived at Huanghua Airport. It takes an hour to get to the county by high-speed rail. I have arranged for someone to pick you up."

"Ah."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "I wonder how Biao'er and the others have been doing in the past three months. How do you feel after seeing the beautiful mountains and rivers of modern times?"

Ji He smiled and said, "They signed up for WeChat and posted on Moments. They are doing great."

"Hahahahaha."

Queen Ma laughed out loud: "That circle of friends is quite interesting. Register one for me tomorrow."

"Don't worry, I'll let Fengzi get you an identity when the time comes."

Ji He was eating.

The three of them chatted and laughed and quickly finished their meal.

After finishing his meal, Ji He returned to the modern era. He came here to tell Zhu Yuanzhang about their whereabouts.

After about two hours, Zhu Yunfeng and his friends finally returned.

They originally brought many bags of gifts bought from their travels, but since Zhu Yuanzhang was at the imperial farm, they rode motorcycles and electric bikes over.

"Father, mother."

Zhu Biao and Zhu Di got out of the car, parked it, walked to Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma and bowed.

Queen Ma looked them up and down and said, "Where have you two been? You have both turned black."

"I went to Guangdong and Hainan. It was so hot there in March, but the scenery was really beautiful. Next time, my mother can go there for fun."

Zhu Di said with a smile.

"Well, come and sit down." Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand, and then asked, "How do you feel about going out this time?"

Zhu Biao sat down on the bench at the dining table and recalled, "It was a very shocking experience."

"Oh? Tell me."

"I have never seen such a prosperous world. There are people everywhere and tall buildings everywhere."

"That's all?"

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned.

He likes to test his son's abilities.

For example, when Zhu Su was demoted, he was asked about his experiences and the local customs and practices in Yunnan during his two years of exile.

Logically speaking, in modern society, Zhu Biao should see more.

"Of course not."

Zhu Biao took out a notebook from his pocket and said, "I have so many feelings. I have written them all down in here."

Zhu Yuanzhang took it and flipped through a few pages.

It contains Zhu Biao's exploration of modern society's economic development, local customs, national policies, and why the places he visited have developed so well.

It is obvious that Zhu Biao really put in the effort, not just simply traveling to the place, but understanding the root causes of the problem through the city.

"Ah."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded with satisfaction and said, "Well done."

At this moment, a group of people came from the distant field road, led by Jiang Lin, deputy commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

There are some differences between the Jinyiwei during the Hongwu period and the later Jinyiwei. For example, in terms of official positions, the Jinyiwei during the Hongwu period was presided over by a commander-in-chief and had two deputy commanders-in-chief.

This situation became more mature during the Chenghua period, when the deputy commander-in-chief was changed to the deputy commander-in-chief.

Since the Jinyiwei was formed by the merger of the Yiluanwei and the Qinjunduwei, as the bosses of the Yiluansi and the Qinjunduwei, Mao Xiang and Jiang Lin naturally became the top two leaders of the Jinyiwei.

Mao Xiang, the commander of the Jinyiwei, had been following Zhu Yuanzhang. When he saw Jiang Li coming, he went up to talk to him for a few words. After a while, he came back and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, another group of local Jinyiwei have just reported a secret report."

"Bring it here and take a look."

"Yes."

Mao Xiang waved to Jiang Li.

Jiang Lin immediately unloaded the carriage that was escorting the official documents, took out the stacks of documents, and had several guards stack them and place them in front of Zhu Yuanzhang.

After everyone left, Zhu Yuanzhang began to read the official documents.

Zhu Biao and Zhu Yunfeng also took one.

This scene made Zhu Yuanzhang look at Zhu Yunfeng, but he didn't say anything.

Now he already knows that this grandson really does not take the imperial power seriously, and that he is probably reading official documents out of curiosity and will not interfere in the affairs of the imperial power, so he feels relieved.

In fact it is.

Zhu Yunfeng's behavior was not against the rules, but after two New Years in the Ming Dynasty, he had already regarded Zhu Yuanzhang as the elder man of the family.

Since you treat the other person as family, why should you be polite to them?

Anyway, he really didn't want to be servile to the feudal imperial power. That was the purpose of the three rules. Modern people are really not used to kowtow three times and nine bows. It would be meaningless if it was so serious.

"Snapped!"

"Bastard!"

After reading the first page of the document, Zhu Yuanzhang slammed the table and said angrily: "How could this place have become so corrupt?"

Zhu Yunfeng asked curiously, "Grandfather, what's going on over there?"

"The husband of a woman in Chong'an was beaten to death by a local bully, but the bully had his men take the blame and was only sentenced to two years in prison. The woman put her husband's body in a coffin and kept it at home for seven years. She went to the government every year to appeal for justice, but no one responded."

Zhu Yuanzhang said coldly, "There was also a local farmer who saw that the price of silk was low last year, so he borrowed a lot of money from a local landlord and stockpiled a batch of silk, hoping to sell it at a good price this year. As a result, the landlord who lent him the money saw that the price of silk had risen at the end of last year, and he was jealous of the farmer's profit, so he coaxed and deceived the farmer into using some grain as a deposit, and took the silk away, and then sold it to the government officials. When the farmer asked for the subsequent balance, this beast, on the grounds that he had not repaid the loan, joined the government officials and locked him up for seven days and beat him many times."

"So lawless?"

Zhu Yunfeng looked at the document in his hand and said, "My case is also quite outrageous. A man who had just married was instigated by his wife to have an argument with a local bully. The bully instructed his servants to beat him, but he unexpectedly killed him and asked him to pay 50 taels of silver as compensation. The woman wanted to take all the silver and remarry, but the man's parents disagreed. The woman sued the government, and the officers forcibly took away the 50 taels of silver. The woman then disappeared. The man's parents had no place to appeal, and the old father vomited blood and became mentally ill, and the mother cried until she went blind and became a beggar."

"These local officials really deserve to be killed."

Zhu Yuanzhang's face became increasingly cold.

"Grandpa Tai, how about you here?"

Zhu Yunfeng saw Zhu Biao reading the official document in deep thought, so he asked curiously.

"I saw that a landlord in Suian intercepted the new rice seeds distributed by the local county government to the village, and also robbed the villagers of their land. It even seemed that the death of one of the villagers was related to him."

Zhu Biao pondered and said, "But this is just the Jinyiwei's one-sided statement. Shouldn't we investigate it thoroughly?"

"I think it's probably true."

Zhu Yunfeng said: "If we kill all of these evil landlords and yamen runners, there won't be many innocent people left. Every one we kill will be a fish that slipped through the net."

"Why?"

Zhu Biao asked.

It's not that he has to get to the bottom of it, but this matter is of great importance and involves many lives. Therefore, for him, he naturally has to be cautious and careful and needs to investigate it thoroughly.

After all, his personality is not like Lao Zhu.

Old Zhu didn't care whether it was true or false. As long as there were spies reporting or someone impeached, he would deal with it first.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang unjustly killed many people, such as Daotong. In the four major cases, many people did not even know Hu Weiyong, Lan Yu, Guo Huan and others, but were implicated and killed for no reason.

The reason for this is that people make random accusations under high pressure, which leads to more and more people being implicated without any verification.

Zhu Biao had learned from past experiences or discovered problems in history, so he felt the need to carefully consider and reconsider in order to avoid wrongly accusing good people and letting bad people go.

"First of all, many of these cases involve local landlords, bullies, gentry, and yamen runners. This is actually a very normal thing, because they are entrenched in the local area and have strong power in the local area. We cannot expect that all the landlords, gentry, and yamen runners in the local county are good people. If there are bad people among them, they are powerful and bullying the weak is a common thing."

Zhu Yunfeng analyzed, "Secondly, the Jinyiwei were just sent out, and they have not formed any collusion with the local interests. This means that the possibility of handling the case impartially is very high, and it is impossible for them to wrongly accuse people for no reason. Finally, many things cannot stand up to scrutiny. For example, the matter of the Suian landlord intercepting the local new rice seeds, wouldn't it be easy to recognize the rice they planted at a glance? For other things, ask the local people what their reputation is, find the person involved, talk about the specific situation, and you can tell whether it is true or false with just one question, so there should be no problem with the records here."

"Ah."

Zhu Biao felt that what Zhu Yunfeng said made sense, and nodded slightly, "That's true."

Zhu Yuanzhang said coldly: "Mao Xiang."

"His Majesty."

"Let the local Jinyiwei arrest him."

"Yes."

"Wait a moment."

Zhu Biao hurriedly called Mao Xiang.

"Biao'er?"

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and said, "Sometimes you have to be decisive."

"Of course, but the procedures must be fair. Otherwise, wouldn't the Inspectorate be meaningless?"

"did you mean?"

"The Royal Guards will arrest him, and the Inspectorate and the local authorities will jointly try him."

Zhu Biao said: "Let the Jinyiwei report the details of the trial. If the local government is shielding the suspect, we can also punish the local officials at the same time."

"Well"

Zhu Yuanzhang thought about it and felt that there was no problem.

Many of the cases involved local government officials, with government officials playing the role of bad guys.

Are the officials in the county government so clean, and are all the faults of the bailiffs and runners?

I'm afraid it's more than that.

The Inspectorate has patrolling censors who are mobile in nature and it is difficult for them to collude with local government offices.

The Jinyiwei had just been sent out and no interest relationship had been formed yet.

So the three parties tried the case together, which allowed the Jinyiwei and the Inspectorate to see whether the local officials had done anything wrong.

Even if they didn't do it, Jinyiwei from all over the country have started to report it one after another since last month. With so many problems below, these officials cannot escape the crime of negligence.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "Yes, Mao Xiang."

"His Majesty."

"Do as the Crown Prince wishes. Have the Jinyiwei and the Supervisory Office in various places handle it as soon as possible and report it to the court."

"Yes."

Mao Xiang immediately went out to pass on the order.

Obviously.

As the Jinyiwei began to be stationed throughout the country, and the Inspectorate inspected the censors and reported the news, the Ming Dynasty was about to face a new round of storms.

(End of this chapter)