Ming Dynasty: Tanks blocked the door and you said to me, "Long live Ming Dynasty"

"Your Majesty! Why is it so?"

"This world belongs to you. In the final analysis, even the Ministry of Revenue belongs to you..."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Youxiao waved his hand to interrupt him and said with a smile, "What Mr. Guo said is correct!"

"But I have something to tell you clearly!"

"Although what's yours is mine, what's mine is still mine!"

"So, if you borrow money from the treasury, you must pay it back."

Guo Yunhou was completely dumbfounded!

How could there be an emperor who places so much emphasis on logic?

He racked his brains to think of an idea, because fifty thousand taels was just a drop in the bucket for building a large ancestral hall.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

"Your Majesty! You were in charge of rebuilding the three main halls, and you even learned carpentry for this purpose."

"Could you please take a moment out of your busy schedule to..."

"presumptuous!"

Before Guo Yunhou could finish his words, Wei Zhongxian suddenly interrupted him with a loud shout.

"How dare you let the emperor take action on such a trivial matter!"

"Why does the imperial court support the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works?"

All the officials in the hall shuddered at the same time, and Guo Yunhou's face instantly turned the color of liver.

Zhu Youxiao was the one who stood there in a daze. He didn't have time to argue with Wei Zhongxian, but Guo Yunhou's words made him confused.

This guy seemed to have revealed something in his words just now?

Is there a reason why Tianqi learned carpentry?

Isn't it just him who likes carpentry?

He thought about it carefully. When he was reading the palace records before, he did see something about the reconstruction of the three main halls. It was said that five million taels of silver alone were spent!

He didn't take it seriously at the time, but now that he thinks about it, it's indeed a little suspicious...

The three main halls are the most important places in the Forbidden City, namely the Huangji Hall, the Zhongji Hall and the Taiji Hall. They are also symbols of imperial power and the country. The three main halls together cover an area of ​​more than 80,000 square meters!

Such a huge project was actually completed with five million taels of silver?

You should know that the huge wood, golden bricks, glazed tiles on the roof and carvings on the beams used in this hall are not cheap.

Take the gold bricks under his feet, for example. Although they are made of clay, the cost of each brick is more than eight taels of silver!

Not to mention the huge trees supporting the hall, which were all cut down from the deep mountains and old forests in the south and transported to the capital. The wood may not be valuable, but the shipping fee is definitely astronomical!

Therefore, he did not think that spending five million taels of silver to rebuild the three main halls was too much. Instead, he felt that it was far from enough!

Cixi embezzled 30 million taels of silver to build a garden. Compared with her, the construction of these three main halls was simply too cheap!

You have to know that what Cixi built was just a garden!

What Tianqi built were the three main halls that represented the symbol of imperial power!

There is only one explanation for rebuilding the three main halls into such an appearance at such a low cost, and that is that no one was corrupt in this project!

The more Zhu Youxiao thought about it, the more he felt that he seemed to have understood the difficulties of the Carpenter Emperor.

Is this guy afraid that someone will be corrupt, so he takes action personally?

Do not!

It's much more than that!

If this matter is linked to party disputes...

In the third year of the Tianqi reign, the Donglin Party took advantage of this opportunity to suppress dissidents. A large number of officials who had no guilt but were simply not in line with the Donglin Party’s ideology were removed by them. In the end, the court almost became the domain of the Donglin Party! !

The reconstruction of the three main halls happened to take place three years after the Tianqi period!

Therefore, Tianqi at that time should have had another intention, which was to take advantage of the opportunity of rebuilding the three main halls to delegate power to Wei Zhongxian and use the eunuch party to check and balance the Donglin Party!

It seems that this is the truth of history?

Historical books only record that Tianqi loved carpentry, but never say when he started learning it!

He never mentioned who he learned carpentry from!

But it is worth mentioning that Emperor Wanli Zhu Yijun died in 1620. Before his death, he made a will, naming Zhu Youxiao as the Crown Prince.

If Zhu Youxiao was really ignorant of the Four Books and Five Classics and had been obsessed with carpentry since childhood as rumored, Emperor Wanli would never have left such a will!

Over the dispute over the country's foundation, he and the Donglin Party were in a stalemate for more than twenty years, and he even threatened court officials by refusing to attend court!

Given his personality, why didn't he confer the title of Crown Prince to Zhu Youjian, who was "gentle, respectful, self-disciplined and well-read"?

You know, judging from historical records alone, Zhu Youjian was much more reliable than Zhu Youxiao in his youth!

If Zhu Youjian had been made the crown prince, it would have not only left a reliable successor for the Ming Dynasty, but would also have disgusted the Donglin Party after his death. Such a will was in line with Wanli's character!

But he just gave the position of Crown Prince to Zhu Youxiao in accordance with the convention of appointing the eldest son as the crown prince instead of the most capable one and the eldest son as the legitimate wife instead of the eldest son!

Judging from a series of events including levying additional Liao taxes, sending out mining supervisors, supporting Zhang Juzheng's reforms, and the dispute over the national foundation, he had never followed the rules in his entire life. How could he suddenly change his ways when he was dying?

Therefore, the character of Zhu Youxiao when he was young must be different from that in historical records!

After all, most of those historical materials were written by scholars who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty...

Zhu Youxiao suppressed his doubts in his heart, preparing to go to the harem at night to ask Zhang Yan about it indirectly.

Seeing the nervous faces of the court officials, he raised his hand and slapped Wei Zhongxian in the face.

"Who are you talking to?"

"Minister Guo just wants to save some money, what are you doing?"

Wei Zhongxian covered his face and took a few steps back feeling aggrieved. The burning pain made him realize that this slap was not a reward but a punishment!

But he couldn't understand why he was beaten when he refuted Guo Yunhou's proposal, which was obviously blasphemy against the emperor...

Chapter 84: Money or face, which is more important?

The loud slap echoed in the empty Huangji Palace.

All the officials were stunned!

Sun Chengzong, Qin Liangyu, Wen Tiren and Zhu Youjian were also stunned.

This is the nth time that His Majesty has slapped Wei Zhongxian...

Guo Yunhou was petrified and his face turned even redder.

It was just that he was just feeling ashamed and angry because of Wei Zhongxian's rebuttal.

But at this moment, he was excited because the emperor spoke for him!

That’s Wei Zhongxian!

He was once so powerful that he could cover the sky with one hand, but now, Your Majesty actually slapped him in the face in front of all the civil and military officials for his own sake?

Look at the palm prints on Wei Zhongxian’s face, they are very clear!

Two lines of clear tears suddenly flowed from his eyes. He bowed deeply and choked up with sobs: "Your Majesty, thank you for your understanding!"

Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and said, "No need to do that. What you wanted to say just now was that I should help the ancestral halls of the various guards, right?"

"I can help with this matter!"

"what?"

Guo Yunhou was greatly surprised. His original intention was just to use this as an excuse to ask Zhu Youxiao to increase funding, but he didn't expect that he would be agreed to right away!

Sun Chengzong, the Minister of War, also stood up and said, "Your Majesty, this is no joke!"

Zhu Youxiao said calmly: "I am the ruler of a country, so my words are law!"

"The guards are the foundation of the Ming Dynasty. It is my responsibility to provide a home for the soldiers who died fighting for the country."

Having said that, he returned to the dragon chair and sat down.

"Today is my birthday!"

"It's a rare opportunity for all of you to gather together, so I'll take this opportunity to make this matter a reality!"

"Ministry of War! How many garrisons does the Ming Dynasty have now?"

Sun Chengzong hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, the two capitals and thirteen provinces have a total of 493 guards and 2,783 thousand households!"

"Ministry of Works! According to the regulations of Yuewang Temple, how much money does it cost to build a ancestral hall?"

The Minister of Works Wu Chunfu's head was spinning so fast that he hesitated for dozens of seconds before stepping out and answering.

"Your Majesty, at least seven thousand taels of silver!"

"If each of the 493 guards were to build one, it would cost 3,451,000 taels of silver!"

The corners of Zhu Youxiao's mouth twitched a few times. This number was somewhat beyond his expectations!

But now that the words have been said, wouldn’t it be a slap in my face to go back on my word?

Which is more important, more than three million taels of silver or face?

Do not!

None of it matters!

The important thing is that by spending more than three million taels of silver, we can win a group of loyal people!

With the idea of ​​saving wherever possible, he cleared his throat and said to Wu Chunfu.

"The Ministry of Works has been busy building new equipment for the Beijing Camp recently, so I think the construction of the ancestral hall can be outsourced!"

"Outsourcing?" Wu Chunfu was stunned for a moment, but soon realized, "Your Majesty means to let folk craftsmen take charge of this matter?"

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "That's right! Send an edict to all provinces to openly compete. Under the premise of ensuring quality and construction time, whoever offers the lowest price will be the one to build the ancestral hall!"

"Anyone who dares to falsify this matter will be killed without mercy!"

"Where there is punishment, there is reward! If you can complete the work with guaranteed quality and quantity, I will reward you generously!"

Guo Yunhou looked very unhappy.

It seems that I am the biggest contractor in the Ming Dynasty?

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty's policy towards craftsmen was adopted. All handicraftsmen were registered as craftsmen, affiliated with the government, and passed down from generation to generation, practicing shifts or living and sitting to serve the country.

Although silver has been levied on shift craftsmen since the 41st year of Jiajing's reign, and the government has used the silver to hire workers, making the shift craftsman system a mere formality, the Ministry of Works still has a large number of registered resident craftsmen who can be called upon, and they are only provided with food but not salary!

But now, Your Majesty is not using the free craftsmen, but instead wants to hand the project over to the peasants?

This made him feel disliked...

The underground fire dragon in the hall was burning very hot. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and decided to give it one more try.

"Your Majesty, to make weapons and armor for the Beijing Camp, we only need blacksmiths, leatherworkers and other craftsmen."

"We can still mobilize some craftsmen such as masons, carpenters, and stonemasons."

Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and said mysteriously, "Transferring? No need! I have other uses for these craftsmen!"

"The matter of the ancestral hall has been settled. No need to say anything more!"

No matter how many craftsmen there are, he will never have too many!

He was just afraid that it wouldn't be enough by then!

Daming still has a long way to go in science and technology. There are too many things in his mind that can only be brought out when he meets the right person!

For example, steam engine - Wang Zheng, thermal weapons - Sun Yuanhua, penicillin - Wu Youxing, and so on and so forth. In short, all craftsmen can play a huge role in his plan!

Once the bidding decision came out, Zhu Youxiao didn't have to pay the 50,000 taels of silver for the time being, which was very nice!

He enjoyed the feeling of the national treasury being poor while his own treasury was overflowing.

Although he still had to pay, he just enjoyed this feeling, especially when the Minister of Revenue pitifully begged him for money...

The matter was settled, and the military officers in the hall expressed their gratitude one after another.