Jinshen Palace was as usual, the emperor and princes were reviewing the imperial memorials, the palace maids and eunuchs were carefully serving tea and refreshments, and officials from Zhongshu Province or the six ministries were called in for questioning from time to time.
As dusk approached, Zhu Biao took a copy of the local memorial that he had been reading for a long time and read: "The people of the world are working hard, but the people of Su and Song are harder than the people of the world, and their work is doubled; the people of the world are poor.
But the people of Su Song are as poor as those in the world, and they are twice as poor."
The superior Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and asked: "Whose words are these?"
"Returning to my father, this is what Li Guangnan, the prefect of Songjiang, said in his memorial."
"The people are deceived by the evil words. The land of Susong is rich, but the people in the rest of the world do not have enough food and clothing. Disasters continue every year and they sell their sons and daughters and have no way to support them. In comparison, they have nothing to complain about, isn't it?
The court has not reduced or reduced their taxes in the past two years..."
Han Yu said that Fu was the best in the world, and Jiangnan ranked 19th. Looking at it today, western Zhejiang ranks 19th in Jiangnan, and Su, Song, Chang, Jia, and Hu prefectures also rank 19th in both Zhejiang and Zhejiang.
Songjiang County, with an annual endowment of 800,000 yuan to the capital, pays great attention to the local products. The sea is different, cotton, silk and silk, and the clothes and quilts are all over the world. It can be said that it is rich.
In the third year of Hongwu's reign, the imperial court collected an additional 300,000 pieces of military cloth from Songjiang Mansion's autumn grain...
Zhu Biao put down the memorial and advised: "This person's eyes are limited to one state and one government, but he still has something to say. It is not wrong to seek his own government in his position. Please don't blame me, father. Moreover, the heavy taxation in Jiangnan must be alleviated."
Just a moment."
Zhu Yuanzhang also sighed and said: "It's not that we don't know that taxes in the south of the Yangtze River are heavy, but what about the military and administrative expenses of the various ministries of the imperial court? We can't count on the taxes from the northern states, right?"
"At the same time, we should pay equal attention to increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. I thought that the construction of the palace city this year could be put aside first, as well as the originally planned northern expedition to Liaodong and southern expedition to Yunnan. Then we would regulate the salt tax. Although the opening of the Central Law reduced the burden of supplying northern Xinjiang to the imperial court,
However, a considerable share of the salt tax was lost, and I thought it was time to recover it."
Salt tax has been the country's main revenue in all dynasties, often accounting for half of the fiscal revenue. This was also the case in the Ming Dynasty. However, due to financial difficulties in previous years, some of the benefits had to be given up to implement the Kaizhong Law. Several large merchants in Shanxi
Not only did it obtain the salt diversion from the Hedong Salt Lake, but it also quickly monopolized the salt diversion from the Huaihe River.
Although the imperial court saved five million shi in annual supply from northern Xinjiang, it also lost a large amount of salt tax. The pros and cons were clearly stated and others did not dare to mention it, but Zhu Biao naturally had no taboos.
"My father also knows that the disturbance of Japanese pirates along the coast has been greatly alleviated, and the risk of transporting grain by sea in the future is still within an acceptable range. If Naha surrenders, then there will be no need for merchants to transport grain for the imperial court to protect the border.
."
"Biao'er, money is important, but for the court, food is the foundation. Without money, the court can still have various methods, but without food, there will be huge troubles."
"After all, we have to change it back. Opening the Chinese law will solve a temporary emergency, but it is by no means a long-term solution. As the saying goes, change will lead to poverty, change will lead to generalization, and generalization will last for a long time. This year, all the food and grass supplies for our navy in the Ming Dynasty will be provided by Korea and Nanyang countries.
In terms of supply, the northern frontier army’s farming operations are also producing output, and the Ming Dynasty is not the main force in the Guizhou Chieftain’s battles. From all aspects, this year is considered a good time.”
Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a moment and said: "Let's discuss it with Zhongshu Provincial Committee tomorrow. Such a big matter must be handled with caution."
"I understand that this was just a hasty statement. I will think it over carefully when I get back tonight."
"Well, by the way, Mao Xiang reported that Chahan, the son of Nahachu, has passed Xuzhou and will arrive in a few days. Since you are the one who called me, you should receive him."
"My son has obeyed the decree, and I would like to congratulate my father. Since Naha sent Chahan, the most favored eldest son, to come over, it can be seen that he knows that the trend is unstoppable, and Liaodong's surrender is not far away."
Hearing this, Lao Zhu was also happy. Although he hated the unreasonable bitch from Naha, it would be a great joy if Liaodong could be recovered without fighting. He was not afraid of war, but he was really afraid of spending money and palm.
Only when you get married do you realize that firewood, rice, oil and salt are expensive.
After Zhu Biao sat back at the desk, he picked up the remaining memorials and read them. Wu Zhen, Marquis of Jinghai, reported that the navy had arrived in the South China Sea. The pirates in the south had led the black ghosts and the Japanese pirates to cause chaos, and the officers and soldiers of the navy were defeated.
They went to Ma'anshan, chased and defeated Lang Taosang, captured the black ghost, the pseudo-governor marshal, and more than 3,700 people alive and killed them with weapons.
Zhu Biao smiled as he approved the review of the award by the Ministry of War. Zhu Biao has been involved in a lot of Navy affairs in recent years. This is not a secret among the government and the public. Any meritorious service performed by the Navy is to make him look good.
Eliminating the Japanese pirates along the coast is a great achievement. If we can successfully open up the Southeast Asian trade routes without the court having to bear food taxes and military pay, it will be an even greater achievement.
Naturally, rewards should be rewarded. Recruitment and promotion are trivial matters. What Zhu Biao wanted was results. He had also heard about the nigger who was the leader of the Southern Pirates. He was originally a naval commander under Zhang Shicheng. After Zhang Shicheng's defeat, he led the army.
They fled into the South China Sea to plunder, and later joined hands with Japanese pirates to cause trouble, causing chaos in Guangdong and Guangxi.
They didn't expect that they would hit Wu Zhen's gun this time, and they probably didn't expect that Ming Dynasty would still have the energy to send its navy into the South China Sea to prepare to help the Southeast Asian countries clear the waters.
Zhu Biao's face darkened as he looked through the next document. Taiyuan Prefecture reported that it was auspicious to rule the Shouyang County people's wives to have three sons...
Qin Tianjian reported that at night there was a red star that started from the northeast next to General Lang and disappeared in the clouds...
After Zhu Biao finished processing, he looked up and saw that his father had also finished processing. He waved to the waiting eunuch to pass the reviewed memorial to Zhongshu Sheng.
"We can't wait any longer for things in Shandong. The relief food arranged by the Ministry of Household Affairs is almost there. Biao'er, go and pick up some."
A few days ago, reports were reported from Jinan, Laizhou, that successive years of drought and floods had damaged the crops. Now the people lived on grass and tree bark. The local government asked for help. Zhu Biao asked for help on behalf of his third son. Lao Zhu was afraid that Zhu Xi might make a mistake while on an errand.
Zhu Biao stood up and agreed, and then walked towards Wuying Hall. Calculating the time, the third brother should still be cultivating the fields and planting seedlings. Liu Jin and others hurriedly followed.
Passing through the middle right gate from Jinshen Hall, and then through Wulou, you can see a scene of sweat dripping from the soil at noon on a hoeing day. Zhu Biao felt sorry for this brother. If his father saw this scene,
I can't tell you how happy I am.
Zhu Biao watched with great interest for a while. The third and third sons were probably bickering and did not notice that their eldest brother was coming. The little eunuch next to him wanted to remind him, but he was powerless and did not dare to disturb the prince.
interest.
Zhu Di suddenly noticed something. When he turned around and saw his eldest brother, he quickly called the two brothers next to him. Then the three brothers came out of the ground barefoot. It must be said that the young people were full of energy. It was already dusk in the spring season. These three brothers
Still barefoot and shirtless, even sweaty.
"Okay, no need to clean up, just come over here."
"Hey, brother, why are you here?"
"Of course there is something wrong, Lao San, I have left all the disaster relief work in Shanxi to you. If you don't go to the Ministry of Household Affairs and keep an eye on it, why are you waiting? If something goes wrong, the people below can't run away. You, the prince who was ordered to provide disaster relief, can hide.
Lost?"
Zhu Xi was confused and confused, and Zhu Biao asked: "Why, did the officials from the Ministry of Revenue fool you?"
"Hey, it's said that the Ministry of Household Affairs has its own rules for raising grain. I saw that drinking tea at the Ministry of Household Affairs might as well come back and help with some work..."
Zhu Biao sneered and said: "Don't pretend to be pitiful like me. It's not the first time you've been on an errand. You still need me to teach you about this? Just do it. If something goes wrong with the disaster relief work, don't tell me.
Father, I can’t spare you, kid.”
"If I am waiting for my eldest brother, then all the people in the household belong to my eldest brother. If you don't say anything, how can my brother get angry easily? Just take care of me, eldest brother. Counting from the day I arrive in the disaster area, if even one of them starves to death, it will be considered my fault!"
Zhu Biao's face softened and he said: "That's good. Shanxi has been hit by disasters for years and years, and the resettlement of people, large and small, has never stopped. If natural disasters and man-made disasters are not properly appeased, there will definitely be a popular uprising. That's why I let you go. You must do a good job."
Relieve disasters and bring peace to the people.”
Zhu Biao kept asking, and Zhu Wang nodded in agreement. The King of Jin, Zhu Fang, and the King of Qi, Zhu Di, felt a little uncomfortable. They were all brothers who farmed together, so why did the third child suddenly become famous?
The second child couldn't help but said: "We have to provide relief to dozens of counties in the two prefectures. The third child can't do it alone. The elder brother asked me to help too, without any name."