Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 52: The Ming Dynasty's Stabilization Plan
Zhu Yuanzhang returned in the evening, and Zhu Yunfeng, Zhu Di and Ji He followed him.

First, they came with bags and small bags, and helped carry the gifts.

Secondly, they should move around more often. Not only should the Zhu family come to the modern world often, they should also go to the Ming Dynasty more often.

Now the situation is not as tense as it was at the beginning.

When Zhu Yuanzhang first came, Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He didn't know his identity, so they fought a big battle and beat Zhu Yuanzhang up.

Later, he learned his identity. Zhu Yunfeng remained vigilant because he knew what kind of person his ancestor was.

Even when coming to the Ming Dynasty, they had to be fully armed and let Ji He stay there. As long as he did not come back, they would immediately report to the country and fight to the death with their ancestors.

Now the relationship has eased.

And most importantly, things are starting to improve in the modern world.

Considering that the cooperation between the two sides is on the right track, it means that Zhu Yuanzhang will not abandon his work or destroy his bridges after crossing them, at least until the Ming Dynasty can break away from its dependence on the modern world and embark on the road to prosperity.

After all, the flour has not yet been ground and the river has not yet been crossed.

After paying more than two thousand taels of gold, the Ming Dynasty turned against us before we even started to reap the fruits of our investment. Isn't that a huge loss?
To some extent, Lao Zhu has already paid the sunk cost. Now even if Zhu Yunfeng is telling him a rosy picture, he has no choice but to continue investing, otherwise he will lose everything.

Therefore, based on this reason, Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He came here with confidence, without having to worry that Old Zhu would suddenly change his attitude.

It was already past eight o'clock in the evening when we arrived at Daming.

The sky was dark and the wind was blowing hard. It hadn't rained or snowed recently, but even during the day, the weather was gloomy and even darker at night.

Only the lanterns outside the Qianqing Palace were hung high, illuminating the bright lights inside the palace.

A group of people came out of the underground palace. There was a platform outside the Qianqing Palace and the underground palace was just below the platform. No one was allowed to come over the platform, so the guards standing guard at the gate of the Qianqing Palace could not see them.

When they walked from the white marble stairs to the platform, the guards noticed everyone and quickly knelt on one knee and saluted, "Your Majesty, your Majesty, your Majesty, your Majesty!"

"This is my nephew, Prince Wu Zhu Yunfeng. From now on, when you see him, you can come and go as you please in the palace."

Zhu Yuanzhang said to everyone.

"Yes."

Many guards quickly agreed and looked at Zhu Yunfeng carefully, trying to remember his appearance so as not to fail to recognize him as a nobleman in the future.

"Fengzi, have you become the King of Wu?"

Ji He's eyes widened and he whispered in their local dialect into Zhu Yunfeng's ear.

"Of course, little boy, I will appoint you as the chief eunuch and head of the palace eunuchs. In the future, you will be Ji Diao Si. If you follow me, you will have the best life, understand?"

Zhu Yunfeng made a joke.

"Fuck you uncle."

Ji Hyuk rolled his eyes.

"What are you guys mumbling about?"

Zhu Yuanzhang had already stepped into the main hall of the Qianqing Palace and was about to head towards the study when he heard them whispering in dialect and could not help but turn around and glare at them.

This is what it's like to be an emperor, especially one like him who has a strong desire for control. He won't tolerate others communicating with him in a language he can't understand.

"Ji He said that the Ming Dynasty was fascinating and the palace was very magnificent. He wanted to live here permanently and become the chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department. He would have no problem with being castrated. He said that it would be useless for my second brother to come anyway."

Zhu Yunfeng immediately said with a smile.

"You the fuck."

Ji He held the gifts in both hands, and then he used his fat body to hit Zhu Yunfeng with a iron mountain, bumped him, and said angrily: "You want to be a eunuch."

"Hahahaha."

Zhu Di laughed and said, "That's great, Chichi. I will personally take you to the purification room. I guarantee that it will be painless."

"Old Four, you have become bad too."

Ji Hyuk said angrily.

"Well, you guys are getting more and more unruly every day."

Zhu Yuanzhang said unhappily: "This is the imperial palace, everyone should be serious."

The fourth child has only been in modern times for a few days, but he has become so cheerful. Birds of a feather flock together.

But he didn't scold too harshly.

Because he knows very well what is a proper occasion and what is a private joke.

There are no outsiders here, so it's harmless for the younger generations to amuse each other.

But if there were any foreign officials present, he would definitely scold them, because this would damage his majestic image as an emperor.

Therefore, without damaging his dignity, there is no need to exaggerate and offend Zhu Yunfeng for no reason.

This kid is soft-hearted and will not tolerate tough treatment. If I were to be too fussy and make him confront me, it would only make him lose face. There is no need for that.

It has to be said that Zhu Yuanzhang was very sensible when it came to dealing with human relationships.

After all, he had been a wandering beggar for a long time. If he had not learned to read people's expressions and please their donors, how could he have survived until now?

"Grandfather, actually Ji He is jealous of me being the King of Wu, and he also wants a status."

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang didn't seem to be very angry, Zhu Yunfeng plucked up the courage to say, "After all, if you want to come here often, you still need an official identity in the Ming Dynasty."

"Well"

Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a moment and said, "Yunfeng is the King of Wu because he is a member of the royal family and can be crowned a king. But Xiaoji is not a member of the royal family after all, so he should be a Duke."

"Duke?"

Ji He opened his eyes wide, and then said excitedly: "I am the Duke?"

"How about it, be happy."

Zhu Yunfeng said with a smile.

"I am also a duke, so I must be happy."

Ji He was carrying things and felt sore in his waist and back. Even with more than 200 pounds of flesh, he was tired.

Now my waist pain and legs soreness are gone, my back is straight, the fat on my face is shaking, I am smiling, and my whole body is full of energy.

Seeing him like this, Zhu Yunfeng said in a low voice in dialect, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: "You are too happy too early."

"what happened?"

"My title of prince and your title of duke are both empty. Our roots are in the modern era and we cannot threaten their status. We are not like those founding heroes conferred by our ancestors. They all have power and can threaten the imperial power, so don't get too excited."

"Fake?"

Ji He thought about it and said, "Isn't that better? Since we can't threaten Lord Hongwu, won't our position be more stable? Wouldn't it be wonderful to be the superior person in the Ming Dynasty legally and reasonably?"

"Huh? Chichi, you're a fucking genius. What you said makes some sense."

Zhu Yunfeng seemed to agree when he heard it.

Their titles were nominal. It was because they posed no threat to Zhu Yuanzhang that the other party was so generous in giving them the titles of princes and dukes.

But to some extent, it is true.

After all, he was a prince and a duke, and would not be suspected by Zhu Yuanzhang. So he could walk around freely in the Ming Dynasty, right?
Even if it offends other princes and nobles.

As for the princes, Crown Prince Zhu Biao shared similar interests with him, and Prince of Yan Zhu Di was almost becoming his younger brother. If any prince offended him, Zhu Di would beat him up and probably wouldn't say anything. As for the nobles, Zhu Di was just looking for a reason to kill them. If he offended Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He, it would be a good excuse for Zhu Di to confiscate their property and exterminate their clan.

And officials.

What was the status of officials in the Hongwu Dynasty?
Worse than cattle and horses.

Not to mention how many officials Zhu Yuanzhang himself killed, his sons and even those meritorious officials treated civil servants and literati like pigs and dogs.

If this gets out there, any official who dares to mess with him will die without knowing how he died.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yunfeng also became excited, and said with a grin, "Why didn't I think of this before? If we leave the palace and walk on the street in the future, the two of us will really be walking sideways."

"Damn, I never thought I could become a duke one day."

Ji He was also very excited.

As they were talking, they had already arrived at the study in the Qianqing Palace.

The room was brightly lit. Zhu Biao was sitting behind Zhu Yuanzhang's desk, reviewing memorials. There was a bowl of white fungus and lotus seed soup on the table.

"Father."

Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang and his companions coming, Zhu Biao quickly stood up and said, "You are back."

"Ah."

Zhu Yuanzhang put his hands behind his back and said, "What government affairs are there today?"

"Nothing special. There was a heavy rain in Huguang recently, which destroyed many dams. I plan to ask the Huguang Provincial Government to send people to repair them."

Zhu Biao said.

"Well, it's the off-season, so let's temporarily transfer corvée laborers from Huguang to repair it."

Zhu Yuanzhang said lightly.

"Conscription?"

Zhu Yunfeng put the gift he brought on the ground. Hearing this, he couldn't help but say, "This is another burden on the people."

"I know that, but it is the off-season for farming, so instead of staying at home, people should work hard to repair the dam."

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said.

"No way, ancestor, you are from the common people, you should know that you can also go to the mountains to hunt for food in winter."

Zhu Yunfeng retorted: "If they are directly conscripted for corvée labor, not only will their labor be in vain, but they will also have to prepare their own food. This will be a heavy blow to their families, and many families will be broken up because of this."

Hearing his words, Zhu Yuanzhang rarely scolded him, but asked back: "Then what do you think is the solution?"

"It's easy to tell that this is work-for-relief."

Ji He said.

“Credit for work?”

Zhu Yuanzhang and his two sons looked puzzled.

They don't understand this word.

"Fan Zhongyan did this before, which is to hire people to work and pay them wages, which can stimulate the economy."

Zhu Yunfeng sat on the chair and said, "I know that what I said is easy to say, because the court has no money and can only use the labor of the people for free. But we are on the right track, and we will have money soon. A large amount of silver will come in. The country will immediately stop corvée labor, and use work-for-relief throughout the country, recruiting people to work and pay them, and the entire national economy will take off in an instant."

Not to mention Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He, even a high school student in later generations knows that Roosevelt's New Deal is something in the high school history textbooks.

In addition, the same principle applies to the Marshall Plan after World War II.

Moreover, the reason why our country has developed so rapidly in recent years is not only due to the rapid industrial development and large-scale exports in exchange for foreign exchange, but also to the country's crazy infrastructure construction, which has earned it the title of infrastructure maniac.

Because infrastructure means countless projects, the emergence of a large number of projects involves countless laborers. When those construction workers get their wages, they will spend money, thus allowing the economy to develop and take off rapidly.

So no matter what time, infrastructure is always the best way to quickly develop the economy.

of course.

The prerequisite is that the country is financially prosperous, there is money in the treasury, and there are sufficient material conditions, that is, the productivity is up to standard and there is no shortage of goods on the market.

Otherwise, there is no money and there are not enough goods on the market. If you just print money without productivity, it will only cause hyperinflation. Naturally, there will be no such thing as work-for-relief to make the economy take off.

The Ming Dynasty certainly couldn’t do it before.

But it's different now.

If Zhu Yunfeng could quickly replenish the grain supply in the Ming market and bring in a large amount of silver, work-for-relief would be feasible.

In this way, the Ming Dynasty can quickly channel the silver obtained from the modern times into the people, so that a lot of cash will flow into the people. With more money, the commodity economy will prosper, and the economy will naturally develop rapidly.

"That's it, that's it."

Zhu Yuanzhang and his two sons were not stupid. They understood the truth after just listening to it.

Zhu Biao was heard mumbling to himself: "If this is the case, then there will be no need to impose corvée labor on the people anymore, which will add a heavy burden to the people."

"Yes."

Zhu Yunfeng nodded and said, "Ancient society was too fragile and too tense. From the Qin Dynasty to the present Ming Dynasty, heavy taxes and corvée have always been a yoke on the people. Only by removing the yoke on the people can the country be stabilized. Think about it, corvée and taxes have always been the direct reasons for the people to rebel. Many people say that the root cause of the demise of the Yuan Dynasty was that it was too lenient, but in fact the Yuan Dynasty was only lenient to officials and literati, not to the people."

"In other words, the administrative order of the entire society of the Yuan Dynasty was disorderly and chaotic, to the point of being lax. They handed over all administration and taxation to bureaucrats and landlords, and the legal system was lax, allowing bureaucrats and landlords to oppress the people unscrupulously."

He added: "Only by loosening the shackles on the people and implementing lenient policies can the Yuan Dynasty be reversed, where it was lenient to bureaucrats and scholars and strict to the people. Only by being lenient to the people and strict to bureaucrats and scholars can the whole country prosper."

"That's the truth!"

Zhu Yuanzhang agreed very much. He once said that Yuan was too lenient, which was exactly what he meant.

The administrative management of the Yuan Dynasty rulers was too lax.

The legal system rarely used severe punishments, and instead adopted a lighter punishment method than that of the Song Dynasty. As a result, historical records show that in the Yuan Dynasty, only a dozen or dozens of people were sentenced to death in a year, and rarely more than a hundred.

Moreover, they did not collect taxes directly, but adopted a contracting system, leaving the decision of how much tax to collect each year to officials, literati, and the landlord class. They never asked how these people exploited the people; they just wanted to receive the taxes they wanted.

As a result, when the Yuan Dynasty rulers were so lenient towards the bureaucratic and scholar-official classes below them, the bureaucrats and scholar-officials began to exploit the people to the point of death.

The upper-level rulers failed to effectively manage the middle and lower classes, so various corvee labor and taxes emerged one after another.

More than 300,000 people were conscripted to build the Yellow River, which not only resulted in heavy corvee labor, but also high taxes. This naturally led to desperate resistance from the lower-class people, and thus uprisings broke out everywhere.

In fact, as we can see from the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the rebel army did not have the bureaucratic scholar-official class.

Because these people are the oppressors, they will naturally not revolt. Instead, they will help the Yuan Dynasty to suppress it.

But it was obvious that these lackeys of the Yuan Dynasty were no match for the peasant uprising army and were drowned in the vast sea of ​​​​people.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang himself was also very clear about the importance of corvee labor and taxes.

After hearing what Zhu Yunfeng said, everything became clear as if the clouds had been cleared and he couldn't help but ask, "If this is work-for-relief, then there will be no one in the country who will rebel?"

"nature!"

Zhu Yunfeng said: "People have food to eat, money to earn, and a path to advancement. Who would risk their lives to rebel?"

"quick."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved to Zhu Di and said, "Send someone to the Shangshenjian to prepare a midnight snack, and call your mother over. We want to listen carefully and have a good chat."

When it comes to talking about how to consolidate his Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang is no longer sleepy.

(End of this chapter)