Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 199 Have a good year
At the end of the eighteenth year of Hongwu, Zhu returned to the palace and spent a few days in leisure.

Go to the harem to accompany the queen, read memorials in the study, or maybe spend some time with the concubines in the harem after a long time, and give birth to a few more princes and princesses.

seriously.

Old Zhu was still very concerned about the situation at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

He felt that such troubled times were suitable for him. Although he had spent a few days in relative comfort, he couldn't help but recall the life on the edge of a knife, which made him miss it very much.

What's more, this is something he had experienced before - at the end of the dynasty, he led an army in uprising, overthrew the old government, and established a new order.

So after a few days of leisurely life, Lao Zhu became eager to go to the end of the Ming Dynasty again.

At this time, there are still seven or eight days left before the Chinese New Year.

On December 23rd, near the end of the year, it did not snow in Nanjing. The cold wind was howling, the city was decorated with lights and lanterns, everyone was wearing cotton clothes, and the streets were bustling with activity.

People came and went in the streets, and many police stations were newly built on each street, managed by the Yingtian Prefecture Yamen. At the same time, there were also Jinyiwei secret agents shuttling between them to cope with the security pressure brought by the growing population.

Near the Xihua Gate in the palace, on the newly built corner tower southwest of the Wuying Palace, Old Zhu was looking at the magnificent street scene in the distance below through a telescope.

The palace also had a corner tower, but it was not very high, just a watchtower of about two zhang, and it was all made of wood, which was not very safe. Therefore, Zhu ordered the construction of a new cement corner tower, five zhang high, or about sixteen meters, which could overlook the entire city.

This is still his military habit. In this way, the palace can monitor the situation in the entire city, and if there is any abnormality, orders can be conveyed immediately.

Through the telescope, after crossing the Xuanjin Bridge, the once desolate Datong Street, Taiping Street, Chang'an Street and other streets are crowded with people, with countless people thronging in them. There are also a large number of newly built markets and streets around them, and even tall buildings in the distance.

It is foreseeable that the Ming Dynasty is now on the track of development.

In later times, my country crossed the river by feeling its way, and now the Ming Dynasty is crossing the river by feeling its way. Industrial construction and urban construction are equally important. What goals will be achieved in a few years, and what are the indicators and tasks for this year, are all clearly stated.

Seeing the people in the city below living in an orderly manner and the construction in the city proceeding in an orderly manner, Lao Zhu couldn't help but sigh: "Biao'er is indeed better at governing the country than I am."

"Grandpa Taibo has a long history of political experience, so it's normal for him to know how to govern a country, not to mention there are so many theories from later generations."

Zhu Yunfeng was also looking on from the side.

to be frank.

Although he and Ji He were players exploring the unknown world, all the political theories that should have been given in the early stages had already been handed over, and there was nothing that could be put into practice.

But when he sees the achievements he made in his administration and the development of the Ming Dynasty today, he still feels a sense of pride.

Even if these were not done by him, but by Zhu Biao.

But if he had not worked diligently in government affairs, helped Zhu Biao obtain power from Zhuge Liang, helped Zhu Biao make development plans and frantically transported supplies over, there would be no Ming Dynasty today.

So it is true that Zhu Biao is doing a good job in governing the country now, but doesn't he also have one third or even one half of the credit?

Makes no sense.

To round it off, the Ming Dynasty was built by himself, so it is considered an achievement after all.

"If Biao'er is here, I don't have to worry about anything."

Old Zhu said this, then frowned and said, "The only thing I'm worried about now is that he's overworked. Now that he occasionally catches a cold, it's not a serious illness. I'm just worried that excessive fatigue may cause damage to his body."

"This is simple."

Zhu Yunfeng said casually, "Then we should just let the power and responsibility go down layer by layer. The term "provincial governor" is too difficult to pronounce, so let's change it to province. According to the divisions of our later generations, we can set up provinces, and continue the four teams of the provincial governor in charge of administration, the criminal law commissioner, the censor in charge of supervision, and the military power commissioner. We should separate the central and local finances and give the local governments more autonomy in development. In this way, the local governments can develop industries according to their own characteristics and increase their subjective initiative, while the central court only needs to make general arrangements and will have less things to worry about."

“Give localities more power?”

Old Zhu frowned.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to delegate power, but he is worried about another problem - corruption!
Greater local autonomy means more collusion between officials and businessmen, which will cause greater harm to local residents.

Although this is a situation where the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Because the current territory of the Ming Dynasty has actually exceeded that of our country in later generations.

Not to mention the territory occupied by Japan, just the entire East, even Outer Manchuria, Outer Mongolia, and Vietnam are now the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Last year, Zhu Yuanzhang had sent Mu Ying to destroy Annan and set up the Jiaozhi Provincial Administration in Annan.

In addition, Xinjiang is currently ruled by the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, and the Tibetan tribes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have also either surrendered, been defeated, or been eliminated, and all have become part of the Ming Dynasty's territory.

They even reached Kyrgyzstan in later generations, and sent troops to occupy Luzon Island, Srivijaya and other places in the south, thus controlling important trade hubs.

This means that the current territory of the Ming Dynasty has exceeded 1200 million square kilometers, making it very difficult to actually control it.

of course.

We can take our time in terms of governance.

First, power was granted to local governments in the interior, and then the areas under tributary rule were transformed into actual rule, with the local officials being replaced by officials, thus further strengthening the Ming Dynasty's control capabilities.

But even if only local governments in the interior are given power, it means that the thirteen provincial governments, 333 prefectures, and 1,138 county governments of the Ming Dynasty will have great autonomy.

Including mines, land, industrial layout, construction and other areas in the jurisdiction will become the administrative scope of local governments.

There are so many things that can be manipulated here.

Such as mines.

It is also very likely that the business was contracted to relatives of local government officials or to criminal gangs in collusion with them.

It is also easy for evil forces to breed and seize local industries, causing economic damage.

Old Zhu said straightly.

"Don't you have the Imperial Guard and the Censorate?"

Zhu Yunfeng smiled and said, "Besides, are you afraid of corruption under you and Grandpa Taibo's hands? The problem of corruption may only be possible after several decades."

"Too."

Old Zhu thought about it, then nodded and said: "The court can't take care of everything. In many cases, it can only give a general direction. If you really want to do something, it still depends on the people below. But the people below have no power, and passing it down layer by layer may indeed hinder the development of the country. Then we can indeed follow this method to reduce the work pressure of the court and make Biaoer less tired. Let's do it this way when the time comes. As for the issue of corruption..."

Zhu Biao's might was evident even if he was not very good. He handled the Hu Weiyong case, abolished the position of prime minister and strengthened the central government, which also proved that he had no shortage of means and strength.

Therefore, even if Zhu Yuanzhang was gone, as long as Zhu Biao lived another thirty or forty years, it would be enough for the Ming Dynasty to develop.

The rest depends on future generations. Children and grandchildren have their own blessings. Old Zhu has now let it go. Taking care of one or two generations is already the limit. When he dies, he won't be able to take care of it even if he wants to. So what does it matter if there is a flood?
"Well"

After Old Zhu finished speaking, he put down the telescope in his hand, stared at the prosperous city of Nanjing, and said: "I am relieved to see Biao'er like this. I will focus on other Ming dynasties in the future. There is nothing in the Hongwu Ming Dynasty that I need to worry about now. The other Ming dynasties are in chaos. I have to rectify the chaos one by one, and the Southern Ming Dynasty is also very annoying."

"Old Ancestor, are you itching to go over and chop someone up?"

"Just take it as such."

“I feel like our ancestors were fascinated by the feeling of entrepreneurship.”

Ji He at the side said, "That's how our ancestors fought their way to the top. At this age, it's normal for them to want to relive their past. Besides, they are so powerful now, and it's so cool to be sweeping the country."

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha."

Old Zhu laughed and said, "Xiao Ji really understands me. If you were from the Ming Dynasty, I would have asked you to enter the palace and become a eunuch beside me."

Ji He immediately clamped his legs together and said with a flattering smile: "Old Ancestor, what you said is true. If you hadn't come here, I would still be helping the poor. Of course, there is nothing wrong with helping the poor. Now being the Duke of Chu will only give me a wider world. As for being a eunuch, that is definitely not an option. The old Ji family is counting on me to continue the family line."

"Hahahahaha."

Old Zhu was amused and burst into laughter.

In the afternoon, Zhu Yuanzhang made a special trip to the end of the Ming Dynasty to see the situation during the Chongzhen reign.

Qin Liangyu also returned to the Chongzhen Dynasty the day after Chen Shiqi and others left.

According to Zhu Yuanzhang's instructions, Chen Shiqi and others returned to Sichuan to assist Tang He in suppressing the rebellions of local chieftains in various parts of Sichuan and possible peasant uprisings.

Thanks to the shortwave radio, Lao Zhu can know the situation in various places clearly.

According to Tang He's report, Chen Shiqi and his men quickly took action after returning to Sichuan, and were stepping up the establishment of the Jinyiwei and the new army.

At present, no action has been taken against the landlords and corrupt officials in Sichuan. After all, they don’t even have the knives in their hands.

With the thousand soldiers under Tang He's command, he could only remain invincible, but he could not arrest people and behead them everywhere to investigate who were the corrupt officials and who were the local tyrants and evil gentry.

Therefore, the most urgent task is to set up a monitoring system and then a system for arresting people, so that we can take drastic measures.

Young Zhu Di chased Li Zicheng and beat him up all the way. Li Zicheng had already fled to Huainan and was currently fighting with He Tengjiao's troops, although he failed to protect the Fengyang ancestral tomb.

As early as the eighth year of Chongzhen, the Zhu family's ancestral tomb in Fengyang had been excavated by Zhang Xianzhong.

But in order to avoid secondary damage to the ancestral mausoleum, the young Zhu Di rode at full speed to block Li Zicheng in the areas of Xuzhou and Suzhou to prevent him from fleeing south to Fengyang.

As for Huguang.

In Hubei, Feng Sheng and Fu Youde, in accordance with Zhu's instructions, ordered Wang Yangji and others to investigate corrupt officials in Hubei and execute a large number of corrupt officials, landlords and evil gentry, including Jiangbei Military Supervisor Fu Shangrui and Xiangyang General Wang Guangen.

A large amount of land was distributed to refugees and civilians, and the grain and fodder stored in local government offices, as well as the gold, silver and grain obtained from the killed corrupt officials, landlords and evil gentry, were distributed to new local government offices composed of honest officials, and then distributed to civilians in various places, so that they could survive the winter and start farming and resume production in the spring of next year.

It has to be said that compared to Chongzhen, Zhu Yuanzhang's methods were much simpler and more brutal.

Ancient society was not that complicated, and the public opinion was very important. You could tell who were the corrupt officials and bad landlords by just asking the people, without having to do any open or secret investigations.

Compared to ancient times, corruption in modern society is harder to guard against.

Because in ancient times, corruption often harmed the interests of the people. For example, in a lawsuit, the party that paid the money would win, and the people would naturally be dissatisfied. In addition, corruption helped the landlords to plunder the people's land, and the people's interests were damaged, which was naturally clear.

Modern corruption is very covert, either embezzling state property without harming the interests of the people, or harming the interests of the people without the people knowing, making it difficult to detect.

Therefore, it was easier to investigate corruption in ancient times.

If Chongzhen investigated corruption, officials would protect each other. He was so high and mighty that he would never go deep into the people. He also abolished the imperial guards and the imperial edicts. Without the Jinyiwei and the Eastern Depot to act as his eyes and ears, he became blind and deaf, and would not be able to find anything.

Zhu Yuanzhang was different. Relying on the prestige of Taizu, he quickly won over a group of senior officials who had died for their country and were honest to serve him. He also had control over the army and military force. Wasn't it easy for him to kill some corrupt officials, landlords and evil gentry?
But to be honest, Hubei was not able to kill many corrupt officials and landlords, because Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng had already killed them once, so most of the time they confiscated the land, houses, money and food that were left behind.

On the other hand, in Hunan, the Hunan Governor Chen Ruimo, the Pianyuan Governor Li Gande, the Hunan Military Governor Wang Kejiu and others came back and were ordered by Lu Daqi to obey Xu Da's orders and started to take action against Hunan.

Hunan was also plowed once by Zhang Xianzhong, but not as thoroughly as Hubei, so there are still many areas that can be cultivated intensively.

However, Lu Daqi had already started this kind of work before, and it was led by Liu Xizuo. Now land has been distributed in many places in Hunan, and large amounts of food have also been distributed to the victims to help them overcome the crisis.

The main focus at present is to investigate corrupt officials and evil gentry. Before, this group of people kept impeaching Lu Daqi. With the support of Zhu Yuanzhang, Lu Daqi's original timid character that did not dare to take responsibility has changed, and he has begun to take drastic measures in Hunan in a very tough manner.

In the indiscriminate hacking, from October to December this year, it is said that more than 200 corrupt officials and evil gentry were killed. Together with their minions, nearly 1,000 people have been killed, and tens of millions of acres of land have been confiscated.

You should know that there is no record of how many acres of land there were in Hunan during the Ming Dynasty, but a census in the 5870th year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty showed that there were million acres, only years after the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, it can be inferred that the number of farmland acres in Hunan during the Ming Dynasty was at least over 5000 million acres.

The land occupied by corrupt officials and landlords alone amounted to more than 10 million acres. Among them, many landlords were not bad landlords. They were kind-hearted and would reduce rent for tenants and give alms to villagers.

The lands acquired by these good landlords totaled more than 20 million mu. Two-fifths of the land was annexed, and the remaining 99% of the people could only own the remaining three-fifths of the land.

It even included rich peasants, middle peasants and poor peasants who owned a few plots of land.

If we exclude those people who own land, it is possible that among the millions of people in Hunan at the end of the Ming Dynasty, 70% to 80% of the people did not even have land, which shows how serious land annexation was.

Old Zhu waved his hand and distributed the more than 10 million acres of land that had been confiscated.

For those landlords who had a better reputation and were kind-hearted, he did not order the confiscation of their property and the extermination of their clans. Instead, he ordered the reduction of the size of their land and had the Hunan local government "buy" it at a low price.

Although it was basically half buying and half robbing, it was good enough that Zhu didn't kill them all directly considering his character. It also shows that under the influence of Zhu Yunfeng and others, Zhu is no longer so one-size-fits-all in doing things, and his methods have become much milder.

of course.

This kind of mildness is only slightly milder than his direct killing of hundreds of thousands of people, but it is still a disaster for all the landlords and corrupt officials in Hunan.

Under such circumstances, the people of Huguang and Sichuan during the Chongzhen period, basically the areas occupied by Zhu Yuanzhang, slowly restored a certain degree of productivity. The money and grain obtained from the princes' palaces, corrupt officials, and landlords were enough for the people of Huguang and Sichuan to get through this difficult year.

For a time, the common people were cheering, thinking that they could finally have a good New Year in this chaotic world.

(End of this chapter)