Zhu Biao was still in a daze in the Wenhua Hall at this time. The current situation was indeed a bit complicated. Liu Jin knocked on the door and walked in with a plate of snacks.
Liu Jin put the snacks aside and bowed and said, "I went out for a walk and found a lot of interesting things."
Zhu Biao came back to his senses, picked up a piece of snack and motioned to Liu Jin to continue talking, and Liu Jin started dancing and talking.
There was no way, Zhu Biao's status meant that he couldn't go out for a walk every day, and he couldn't easily use the people in the pro-military Duwei Mansion, so he could only let Liu Jin go out for a walk.
Zhu Biao couldn't help but become happy when he heard that a businessman was planning to seize his son-in-law. This custom flourished in the Song Dynasty, but now it has become much less popular. Otherwise, it was simply a matter of seizing a son-in-law.
Now that the military is strong and the civil service is weak, the nobles in the capital also look down on these newly promoted scholars. After all, they are just sesame officials after passing the palace examination. They have the son of their old brother, who will be the majestic Duke of the country at this time in the future.
That is to say, only wealthy businessmen who have no confidence will think about it. Zhu Baole will consider it after finishing. The wealthy businessmen now have strong political demands, because although they can participate in the imperial examination, as long as they fail, their social status will still remain
is the lowest.
Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that merchants were not allowed to wear silk and yarn - "Farmers are ordered to wear silk, yarn, silk, and cloth, and merchants are only allowed to wear silk and cloth. If there is a merchant in the farmer's family, he is not allowed to wear silk or yarn." It is forbidden for farmers to transform into merchants, stipulates
Peasants who "did not work in farming, but specialized in doing business" were classified as "vagrants". Any vagrants would be "arrested" by the government. Businessmen themselves were still restricted from entering official positions, and there was a barrier in their interactions with scholar-bureaucrats.
For businessmen, money loses its meaning when it reaches a certain amount. They are like children carrying money in the busy city. Not to mention those feudal officials, even the officials in the state capital can bite them hard.
Therefore, businessmen in the early Ming Dynasty pursued social status improvement, which is normal. After all, their lives were restricted everywhere, and the gentry was also ashamed to associate with businessmen, and those who wanted to cling to them would be shunned.
Zhu Biao is not ready to interfere too much now. The Ming Dynasty is full of waste, and the same goes for commerce. The policies Zhu Yuanzhang gave them are very good. Now the most important thing for the Ming Dynasty is agriculture. If too many people can't even eat, then commerce will
How can we prosper?
However, this must be put into the plan. Zhu Biao took out his little notebook and wrote it down. If the Ming Dynasty wanted to truly prosper, it must develop maritime trade and supply China with resources from other continents.
With the increase in population and the advent of the Little Ice Age, it is impossible to survive solely by farming. After all, the ability of farming civilization to withstand natural disasters is too poor. Once natural disasters occur year after year and there is insufficient food, peasant uprisings everywhere will begin again.
here we go.
After all, relying on the sky for food is unreliable. God doesn't care whether you starve to death. However, how to limit commercial power is also a big problem. Fortunately, China has always had more power than wealth since ancient times. Zhu Biao still has some control over this.
room.
In the next few days, Zhu Biao stayed in the East Palace. News from the capital was received from all over the Ming Dynasty. The whole Shilin was in a state of excitement. Letters were exchanged frequently. Zhu Biao wanted to set up a postal department.
Already.
A few days later, letters from all over the country were sent to two places, one was the capital and the other was Shandong. These two places had become a whirlpool, and all the literati in the world were paying attention.
Duke Yansheng's mansion has been noisy for many days, and the ministers of each house gather together every day to discuss things. Duke Yansheng Kong Xixue also has a headache. He has been to the capital, so he naturally knows that the current emperor looks down on them.
Before his death, his father had specifically told him not to go to the capital again unless absolutely necessary. Kong Xixue did not expect Zhu Yuanzhang to be so aggressive. His father had just died, and now he was forcing him to go to the capital.
Now Kong Xixue is being roasted on the fire. People all over the world are waiting for him to come forward, and all tribes are urging him to go to Beijing quickly, as if he can solve all problems by coming forward.
In the Wencheng Hall of the Kong Mansion, Kong Xixue was sitting at the top. Sitting below were his uncles, brothers and eldest son. One of the old men said: "This matter is very wrong. I have received more than fifty letters from Jiangnan."
It’s up to me to persuade the head of the family to go to Beijing.”
Another one who was slightly younger said: "What are you thinking about? This is because the current emperor wants to suppress my Yanshenggong Mansion. He is really bullying!"
Kong Xixue's younger brother Kong Xiwen played with the bracelet and said: "The current emperor is the most upright in the world. He does not need the Kong family to rectify his name. Naturally, he will not be polite to us."
Kong Ne, the eldest son of Duke Yan Sheng, said from the side: "Since we know clearly that it is the Hongmen Banquet, it is enough for my father not to go. What can the emperor do?"
Kong Xixue sighed and said: "The emperor is still trying to reason with us. If we don't go, what will happen if the emperor does something evil? The current emperor is not very reasonable."
The old man also frowned. The power of the Kong family is more about reputation. Of course, if pressed, they can gather tens of thousands of well-trained young men. They are all sons of families who are loyal to the Kong family and are now farming for the Kong family.
, this is the foundation accumulated over thousands of years.
But this was only to ensure that the Kong family could protect themselves in troubled times, and was not used to fight against the imperial court or compete for world hegemony. The nature of the Kong family determined that they could never ascend to the throne.
After discussing for a long time, Yan Shenggong sighed and said: "Go, if you don't go, there will be big trouble, and the reputation of my Kong family will also suffer a huge blow. If even Yasheng Mencius can't be saved, it will be called world civilization."
What do you think?"
The rest of the people should look at their family masters with complicated eyes. The emperor forced them to go to the capital like this, and it was obvious that he wanted to deal with them severely. Now they are undoubtedly a sheep in a tiger's mouth. If they are forced to agree to something...
Duke Yansheng stood up and bowed to Confucius behind him and said: "As Duke Yansheng, I naturally put the reproduction of the descendants of saints as my top priority. It is my responsibility to protect the Confucius family. If I can't do it, I will die of illness in the capital."
.”
The rest of the people stood up, bowed respectfully to his back, and then walked out, leaving only Yan Shenggong and his eldest son Kong Ne inside. Kong Xiwen, who finally left, raised the corners of his mouth.
The next day, the Confucius Mansion announced that Yan Shenggong would rush to the capital that day. Immediately, this news made Shilin excited again. Yan Shenggong's reputation for understanding righteousness spread throughout the country, and literati in various places began to use various
This method promotes the reputation of the Confucian family.
Mao Xiang, who was in the south of the Yangtze River, also breathed a sigh of relief and rushed back to the capital. The chess game had been laid out and the players were in place. It was up to him to see who could outsmart him.
When the news reached the capital, Zhu Biao also breathed a sigh of relief. If the Kong family was determined to be a coward, there was nothing anyone could do about it. After all, the descendants of saints respected by past dynasties could not invade the territory with large armies and massacre the Shenggong Mansion directly.