Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 59: Only when you have a legitimate reason can you convince others (Subscription Request)
"Hmm."

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a few seconds, then changed the subject and asked, "Why did you come here suddenly?"

As he said this, he touched Pippi's head again with a smile on his face.

"Come here to report your work."

Zhu Yunfeng smiled and said, "Our ancestors invested money, so they are angel investors. We have to report the progress to you."

"Ah."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "Tell me about it."

"Now the company has been established and is recruiting people. I have also looked at the information from the town and can rent land."

Zhu Yunfeng said: "There is a lot of idle land in our town. The town said that it would be enough to rent 10,000 acres, but the financial pressure is too great. I want to rent 5,000 acres first."

"I've calculated that 1600 acres of land can produce at least 20 million catties of grain. Assuming that each acre of land requires catties of seeds, that's enough to give Daming acres of land."

"I will get more seeds, fertilizers and pesticides by then, and Daming can also plant several thousand acres at the same time. In that case, the total grain output should be able to reach 3000 million catties, and we can plant million acres of land."

"In this way, Daming will plant 1.5 million mu of rice in the second half of next year, and the third-generation seeds produced will be basically available throughout the country by the first half of the year after next."

"of course."

He paused and continued, "This is just an estimate. The actual situation may not be as good as expected, because not all grains can be suitable as seeds, and they need to be selected and optimized. But it should be about the same. In terms of grain production, Daming lacks pesticides and can only use local fertilizers. It is estimated that the output may be one-third less than that of modern times, that is, about 500 kilograms of grain per quarter. But even so, it is much higher than Daming's annual output of 400 kilograms per mu, almost doubled."

In the early days of the Ming Dynasty, the south was the population and economic center, so Zhu Yunfeng focused on rice first. As for wheat, the population in the north was too small and it was not suitable for promotion.

The per-acre yield of modern conventional rice basically hovers around 600-800 jin, and those above 800 jin are in experimental fields.

But that is when chemical fertilizers, pesticides and high-yield seeds are used.

Currently, there are only high-yield seeds and local fertilizers. Considering that pesticides and industrial fertilizers can increase production by 30%, their output will be at least one-third less.

of course.

There is another most important factor.

That is scientific planting.

Today's food production is not as simple as fertilizers, pesticides and seeds, which together can increase production by only 50% at most.

In addition, there are scientific planting methods and water conservancy facilities, etc.

For example, seed selection and land preparation, sowing and seedling cultivation, scientific fertilization, water management, and disease and pest control are all important links in scientific planting.

Although the older generation of farmers in ancient times had rich experience, it was still far inferior to modern scientific management.

Therefore, learning knowledge in this area is also very important.

However, Zhu Yunfeng also took this into consideration.

The whole plan is that he will arrange 5,000 acres of planting in the first half of next year.

Then hire experts and technicians to carry out scientific cultivation.

The relevant content will be tracked and filmed, and the video will be sent to Daming immediately. At that time, a screen and a projector will be set up here, and a large number of farmers will be gathered to watch and learn.

At the same time, Daming also carried out experimental planting.

They have 5,000 acres here, and Daming also has several thousand acres.

The next day, Daming provided video footage of how they were cultivating crops scientifically, and the farmers watched and learned from it, and then followed suit.

This can also spread the technology.

Therefore, as long as the relevant technology can be learned, there will be no problem in increasing production.

Compared with the average annual yield of 400 kilograms per mu in the Ming Dynasty, even an annual yield of 500 kilograms per mu would be a huge agricultural revolution. Moreover, if everything goes well, the annual yield would be at least 800 kilograms per mu.

In modern times, an annual output of 800 kilograms would result in a loss of even the bitter tea seeds, but in ancient times it would mean doubling the income of an agricultural family, and the materials of the entire feudal society would quickly become abundant.

Such changes were unimaginable in ancient times.

The only problem is that conventional rice can only maintain high yields for six or seven generations at most, after which it will degenerate.

Therefore, when it comes to preserving seeds, the Ming Dynasty would have to replace the seeds every two or three years at most.

But this is not difficult.

They will continue to plant seeds in modern times, and seeds can be continuously sent to Ming Dynasty. Ming Dynasty will send descendants of the previous generation of seeds to replace them, thus ensuring that the seeds are always fresh.

As long as the first batch of rice seeds are delivered and the second generation of rice matures, there will basically be no problem.

of course.

By then, we have to find a way to build an automated conveyor belt and ask Old Zhu to send people. Otherwise, Zhu Yunfeng, Zhu Di and Ji He would be exhausted to death just carrying the things back and forth.

"Ah."

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly and decided that the goal was to move in the direction they expected.

Zhu Yunfeng continued, "First plant 5,000 acres, and then raise various livestock. The meat will not be sent to Daming, but high-quality breeding pigs, breeding stock, chickens, ducks, and breeding cattle can be sent here for breeding."

"Why can't the meat be delivered?"

Zhu Biao asked curiously.

"If the meat comes over, we won't be able to fill the gap and we'll be investigated."

Zhu Yunfeng spread his hands and said, "There is a tax exemption policy and the principle of self-production and self-sale for the grain we grow. As long as we don't sell it on the market, no one will care. But how could it go unnoticed if so much meat I raised disappeared? The livestock disease detection department and the tax department will investigate, and we will definitely be discovered by then. It's difficult to hide something in modern times. Do you think it's easy for me?"

"Ok."

Zhu Biao didn't say anything.

"The current funding can basically only sustain the first quarter, and will not be able to keep up in the second quarter."

Zhu Yunfeng added: "But rest assured, ancestor, I am not here to ask for money this time. When I deliver the goods to Daming in the second quarter, you can give me the next round of funds. This way, Daming will be able to get back on track in terms of grain next year, and we can accumulate industry the year after next."

"I will then open an industrial department here, build some processing plants, etc., purchase a large amount of silver, mint silver coins in the form of commemorative coins, and send them to the Ming Dynasty to flow into the market."

"With abundant food production capacity, Ming's economy will also be able to quickly become active."

"And the most important thing is that these silver coins belong to the Ming imperial family. We can completely distribute the wealth in the form of work-for-relief as I mentioned before."

"This will also help build the infrastructure of the entire Ming Dynasty, including roads, water conservancy, etc."

He smiled and said, "If nothing unexpected happens, the Ming Dynasty will go from struggling to make ends meet to expanding its national strength several times within five years. With the increase in national strength, it will be able to do other things, and education, technology, military, and economy will all be able to develop simultaneously."

"it is good!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was very satisfied and said, "I'll wait and see!"

"Ah."

Zhu Yunfeng finished drawing today's cake and said, "That's all right, I'll leave first."

"Wait a moment."

Zhu Yuanzhang stretched out his hand and said, "There is something else."

"What's wrong?"

“Didn’t you say last time that you would get us phones and tablets?”

"I've been busy these past two days and haven't downloaded the information for you. I'll send it to you tomorrow."

Zhu Yunfeng said.

Bought both a cell phone and a tablet.

But there is no internet in Daming, it’s no different from a brick.

Therefore, you need to download various historical materials to your mobile phone and tablet computer before you can view them.

The text information is simple.

But you have to find the video material.

He happened to be on business in the county these two days and had not had time to come.

"Well, as soon as possible."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.

"correct."

Zhu Biao suddenly said, "Wang Guangyang hanged himself. What do you think, Yunfeng?"

"How can I watch? I'll sit and watch."

Zhu Yunfeng was confused. You all know what happened next, so why are you still asking me?

"Wang Guangyang's death means the beginning of Hu Weiyong's case."

Zhu Biao said meaningfully.

"Well, the ancestor asked me about this, and I told him that we should only eliminate the main culprit and reduce the impact."

Zhu Yunfeng said: "In fact, you must have a legitimate reason to do anything. The problem of the Ming Dynasty is that the first and second ancestors did too many things without a legitimate reason, such as making too many connections and carrying out too many massacres, coupled with various irrational oppressive systems. Of the four major cases in the early Ming Dynasty, only the Guo Huan case was a legitimate investigation into corruption, and the rest were fabricated charges. It's fine if you want to concentrate imperial power, but you must have a sufficient reason. Otherwise, if you just accuse someone, people in the court and the public will definitely not accept it."

Zhu Biao then asked again: "Is there any specific method?"

"."

Zhu Yunfeng thought for a moment and glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao's faces.

Zhu Biao looked curious, while Zhu Yuanzhang looked gloomy.

In fact, for Zhu Yuanzhang, he did not want Zhu Yunfeng to interfere too much in his Ming Dynasty.

The emperor could share power with his sons because in his mind, his eldest son was an excellent heir.

He could inherit his Ming dynasty, and sharing power was just a process of training his eldest son.

However, this descendant of more than 20 generations had no family ties with him and they had never met before, so it was naturally impossible for him to develop any feelings in such a short time.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang did not allow Zhu Yunfeng to interfere in the Ming Dynasty.

But if his son asked, he would not object.

As for Zhu Yunfeng, he could vaguely feel Zhu Yuanzhang's thoughts.

It was an intuition that Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to instinctively want to exclude him from the center of power.

But for him, it doesn't matter.

It's not like I've traveled to ancient times and can't come back. I can come and go freely at any time, so I don't have any yearning for ancient life.

The only good thing about ancient times might be that the air was a little fresher and there wasn’t so much technology and hard work.

Modern life is great in comparison.

The food is good, the accommodation is good, and the conditions in technology, medical care, education, etc. are also good.

Only people with a mental illness would like the ancient times and dislike the modern times.

But Zhu Biao didn't seem to think so.

It seems like he wants to pull himself into the center of power in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yunfeng thought about it quickly, but he was too lazy to study it in detail. Instead, he said, "It depends on how we deal with it."

"Oh?"

Zhu Biao asked, "What's the difference?"

"The difference is huge."

Zhu Yunfeng shrugged and said, "It depends on whether the situation is that everyone is convinced, or that everyone dares to be angry but dares not speak out." Zhu Biao immediately said, "Let's talk about how to convince everyone first?"

"Well, everyone knows the principle. It's about catching the thief and seizing the stolen goods. You have to present the facts and evidence. You have to produce solid evidence and show it to them in front of them so that they will believe it."

Zhu Yunfeng said: "For example, if we were to deal with Hu Weiyong, we should collect evidence of his crimes and put it in front of all officials and people so that they would be convinced. This way, the court would not lose its credibility. On the contrary, if we fabricate charges against him and then implicate many people with the fabricated charges, the officials and people's trust in the court would be greatly reduced."

"Ah."

Zhu Biao nodded slightly, he thought it made sense.

"Public credibility may sound vague, but it is actually very important. When Shang Yang started his reforms, he first erected pillars at the city gates to make the people of Qin believe that he was a man who kept his promises, so that he could promote the system."

Zhu Yunfeng glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang and said, "Let's not talk about how the Ming Dynasty was abandoned by everyone because it lost the support of the people and credibility. Let's just talk about the subsequent promotion of rice seeds. The people have been accustomed to this way of planting for thousands of years. If they are suddenly asked to come up with a new way, I believe many people will not dare to try it. Because if they fail, they will lose everything or even starve to death. But if the Ming Dynasty has credibility and promises to subsidize the people if the grain production does not meet the standards, then everyone will participate enthusiastically!"

Ok?
Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes. This kid was pointing at him.

"What if you dare not speak out in anger?"

Zhu Biao asked again.

"That's what I just said. Fabricate charges and kill people directly."

Zhu Yunfeng spread his hands and said, "If we only kill the ringleader, it will still greatly reduce the influence, but it will have a certain impact on the credibility. It's just not as bad as killing hundreds of thousands of people in history, which caused Nanjing's population to be reduced by half."

"Father, Yunfeng is right."

Zhu Biao immediately looked at Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhu Yunfeng and said, "Well, I will consider this matter."

“There is actually an easier way.”

Zhu Yunfeng said with a smile.

"what way?"

Zhu Biao was curious.

"Let Grandpa Taibo handle this matter himself!"

Zhu Yunfeng looked at Zhu Biao.

"I?"

Zhu Biao was stunned.

Organize a massacre yourself?

"Yes."

Zhu Yunfeng nodded: "We look at the essence through the phenomenon. The essence of the Hu Weiyong case is not to kill corrupt officials, but our ancestors wanted to get rid of the prime minister and strengthen the imperial power, right?"

"."

Zhu Biao pondered and said nothing.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't say anything either, basically agreeing.

Because in the case of Hu Weiyong, all the officials were not executed for corruption, but for rebellion.

Doesn’t he know whether Hu Weiyong can rebel against Zhu Yuanzhang?

But only this crime could involve such a wide range of people, be able to kill more than 100,000 people, shock the people of the world, and make all officials tremble.

Even more than ten years later, in the 24th year of Hongwu, the killing could still continue.

Therefore, in essence, it was Zhu Yuanzhang's action to strengthen the imperial power and had nothing to do with investigating corruption.

"To strengthen the imperial power, what's the point of involving so many people? It's meaningless. Are the hundreds of thousands of people below going to compete with our ancestors for power? It's unrealistic."

Zhu Yunfeng pointed out the root of the problem and said, "In fact, it was the Secretariat that was competing with our ancestors for power. All memorials would first be reported to the Secretariat and approved by the left and right prime ministers. Hu Weiyong controlled the Secretariat and often made decisions on his own without reporting anything to our ancestors. This was the fundamental reason why our ancestors were afraid of him. So, we just need to get rid of Hu Weiyong and his party members."

"Even his party members don't have to be killed, because they are just fence-sitters. They followed Hu Weiyong only because he was powerful. Once Hu Weiyong fell, they would immediately kneel before their ancestors."

He shrugged and said, "To be honest, Hu Weiyong and Lan Yu definitely deserve to die. Neither of them is a good person. But it's a bit outrageous to just fabricate charges. We need to provide solid evidence."

"To put it simply, we need to give them justice. We cannot convict them arbitrarily on trumped-up charges. Instead, we should state the facts and provide evidence to convince people."

"If Master Taibo takes action, as the crown prince, he is trusted by all officials, has supporters in the army, and his character is also trusted."

"As long as he finds evidence and presents it with factual evidence, people all over the world will believe that Hu Weiyong's death is indeed not a pity. No one will question the credibility of the court because of this, and the impact can be minimized!"

At the end of his speech, Zhu Yunfeng looked at Zhu Biao.

Zhu Biao is so perfect.

He was so perfect that all officials, soldiers and even common people obeyed him.

So if he takes action, unless he is deliberately covering up the issue, he should be able to come up with an answer that satisfies everyone.

"Humph!"

However, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly snorted and said, "What do you know? Those followers must be eliminated."

Zhu Yunfeng thought for a moment and said, "It's probably because of the recommendation system."

Zhu Yuanzhang was surprised and asked, "You know?"

"Yes, that's for sure. I've been hanging out on Baidu during this period of time, checking information every day."

Zhu Yunfeng grinned, feeling very proud.

Although he did not have enough knowledge about the history of the Ming Dynasty, he had many talented people.

Just check when you need to, and you will naturally find the key.

The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang dealt with Hu Weiyong was to strengthen the imperial power.

But Hu Weiyong was no longer an individual, but an interest group. A large group of officials followed him, so they naturally had to be eliminated.

The root of this lies in the system of recommendation in the early Ming Dynasty.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang restored the imperial examination system of the Tang and Song dynasties, but the results were not satisfactory and the people selected were of very poor ability.

For this reason, Zhu Yuanzhang had no choice but to follow the Han Dynasty's system of imperial examinations and let officials recommend capable people to become officials.

These people, led by Li Shanchang and Hu Weiyong, continued to recommend their own followers.

They recommended their friends to be officials, and their friends recommended their friends, which inevitably made the court full of their people, so that the government was controlled, causing Zhu Yuanzhang to face the crisis of prime minister monopolizing power and the loss of imperial power.

It can be said that, influenced by the recommendation system in the early Ming Dynasty, these people have formed a huge recommendation interest group in the court.

To kill Hu Weiyong, you have to kill a group of people!

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang carried out large-scale massacres in order to eliminate the influence of Hu Weiyong's entire gang.

"Then tell me, should these people be killed?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were filled with murderous intent, not at Zhu Yunfeng, but at those officials.

"Actually, whether to kill or not depends on the two situations I just mentioned."

Zhu Yunfeng spread his hands and said, "If you want to act recklessly, then kill them. If you don't want to act recklessly and want to maintain the credibility of the court, then investigate. Kill the guilty and release the innocent. If the officials do nothing in their posts, dismiss them. Be fair and everyone will be convinced. If it is found that Hu Weiyong and his party are all corrupt officials, as long as the evidence is presented, no one will say anything even if they are all killed. So what I have always emphasized is not whether these people should be killed, but how to kill those who should be killed and not kill those who should not be killed. To put it bluntly, you have put the cart before the horse."

"Putting the cart before the horse?"

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and asked, "What do you mean?"

"It's simple. You tried to deepen the imperial power for the sake of deepening the imperial power, which caused people's hearts to disperse."

Zhu Yunfeng said: "The most clever way is to deepen the imperial power under other banners, such as investigating corruption or removing incompetent officials. The reasons must be reasonable and logical, rather than fabricating charges."

Various historical materials have actually proved that Hu Weiyong was not capable of rebelling, so in essence, rebellion was the crime that Zhu Yuanzhang accused him of.

This means that if Zhu Yuanzhang takes action, no matter whether you are an honest official or a corrupt official, capable or not, as long as you are recommended by Hu Weiyong and his party, you will be charged with rebellion and executed.

Not only the officials themselves, but also their family members, close friends, and even neighbors.

With a series of combined punches, kill tens of thousands of people first.

But doing so will still return to the problem that Zhu Yunfeng mentioned at the beginning, that is, such large-scale collective punishment will damage the credibility of the Ming Dynasty court.

Did Hu Weiyong rebel? Did they themselves rebel? Don’t they know?
Others will see that you, the Ming Dynasty, treat us like this.

If I am an honest official, or I am just an ordinary citizen, and I just know those people, I will die, and they have fabricated charges of rebellion against me. Then why should I dedicate myself to the Ming Dynasty?
As a result, the Ming Dynasty's sense of belonging was lost, and the ultimate result was that people's hearts were scattered.

Zhu Yunfeng’s meaning is very simple.

It is not difficult to achieve your goal of strengthening the imperial power. The key lies in whether you want to maintain the credibility of the Ming Dynasty and whether you want officials and people to still retain a sense of belonging.

If they don't want to keep it, just do as happened in history and start killing people on the charge of rebellion, which will scare and chill the people.

If you want to keep it, you have to be more open and aboveboard and speak more facts and reason.

Are all members of Hu Weiyong's group corrupt officials who deserve to be killed, and are their family members and even friends and neighbors also bad people?

Unrealistic things.

So just seek truth from facts and be fair.

If it is found that they are corrupt officials, there is nothing wrong with killing them.

If it is found that the official is mediocre and has done nothing wrong, he will be dismissed.

If it is found that he is a good official with achievements, then even if he was recommended by Hu Weiyong's party, he should be rewarded and even promoted and praised.

In this way, everyone from top to bottom will be convinced and everyone will be shut up.

After all, there is nothing wrong in killing corrupt officials.

It is also right to deal with those officials who abuse their power for personal gain and act arrogantly.

There is evidence too.

It was just that in this process, the imperial power was deepened.

This is exactly what Zhu Yuanzhang put the cart before the horse.

In order to strengthen the imperial power, a large number of people were killed, which led to a decrease in the sense of belonging and credibility.

However, they do not know that by doing things more cleverly, they can achieve their own goals while also making things reasonable and logical so that outsiders cannot find fault with them.

This is actually the same principle as Xiang Yu's enfeoffment of princes.

Everyone felt that Xiang Yu's enfeoffment was unfair, but they were afraid of his strength and did not dare to turn against him.

At this time, Liu Bang stood up and accused Xiang Yu of killing Emperor Yi Xiong Xin, and united the princes to attack Xiang Yu.

In fact, everyone's goal was to eliminate Xiang Yu, but of course it was impossible to expose this true intention.

Therefore, using this excuse can allow everyone to stand on the moral high ground and launch a joint crusade.

The same thing happened when Cao Cao held the emperor hostage to control the princes.

The idea of ​​having a legitimate reason and a righteous cause sounds empty.

But even in the 21st century, we still pay attention to this because it can sometimes play a huge role.

Zhu Yuanzhang fabricated the charge of rebellion and carried out a massacre, so the people and officials would definitely not accept it.

But if the killings are carried out for the purpose of fighting corruption, or if evidence of the officials' crimes is found, then everyone will be convinced. This is the most basic logic!

And if Zhu Biao were to take charge, given his prestige in the court and the country, it would be even less likely to cause panic among others.

Therefore, it is very important to have a legitimate reason for learning!

(End of this chapter)