Chapter 432 The Great Court Meeting
Zhao Xing was angry at the Great Court Meeting today because he wanted to let officials all over the world know that the so-called Tiangao Emperor did not exist.
He has his own eyes and ears and is not that easy to fool.
Although this cannot deter the greed in people's hearts, it can make them restrain themselves.
At least don’t dare to make a big deal out of it.
Of course, he was quite a bit mean today.
This is because Zhao Xing is also worried that the dynasty will be restrained today.
But this matter cannot be settled like this. He has ordered Yin Hanzhang to investigate the officials who shielded him and the powerful landlords who forced the people to return their fields.
In the previous land inventory, because the involvement was too wide, the powerful landowners were not significantly implicated.
Now that they have jumped out, Zhao Xing will naturally not show mercy.
You know, most of the land in the world is concentrated in the hands of powerful landlords.
It would be much easier if we killed all these people and nationalized the land.
But Zhao Xing also knew that this was impossible, but if these people jumped out, they would be dealt with first.
Han Zhang breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Zhao Xing did not continue to delve deeper.
This matter can be investigated, but it cannot be fought over at the court meeting.
After being manipulated by Zhao Xing, the other officials who had not reported their duties had no intention of continuing to report their duties.
Zhao Xing had no intention of listening to their report, and directly ordered people to summon envoys from various countries.
Soon, more than 20 envoys from various countries entered the hall, first saluted and congratulated Zhao Xing, and then sent congratulatory gifts.
Zhao Xing took the gift sheet and looked at it, sneering in his heart.
It’s not that there are few gifts, but that the gifts are very generous.
However, these people don't have any good intentions when they send generous gifts.
The Han Dynasty has always regarded itself as the supreme kingdom of heaven. As a state of etiquette, if other countries sent generous gifts, the Song Dynasty would definitely return the gifts, and the gifts in return would far exceed the gifts sent by other countries.
This is actually the same as receiving gifts in later generations. Once you receive it, you have to pay it back, and you have to add a little more when you pay it back.
However, it is not a matter of adding a little between countries, at least it must be doubled.
Otherwise, how can we reflect the majesty of the Celestial Kingdom?
What's more, the countries where these envoys came to send gifts were not vassals of the Song Dynasty, so the gifts in return were even more generous.
Of course, this was the idea of emperors of all dynasties.
In history, there are many countries that frequently paid tribute when they saw that it was profitable.
There were even people pretending to be envoys who came to pay tribute and deceive the gifts in return.
For those emperors, spending a little money can create a scene of all nations coming to court, and it is a good opportunity to increase their reputation by being written down in the history books. They all think this deal is very cost-effective.
Lao Zhu, who conquered the world with only one bowl at the beginning, felt that this was a loss-making deal.
In the final analysis, Lao Zhu has a bit of a small farmer mentality. After all, he was originally just a commoner, having been a monk and a beggar.
Although I am constantly learning in the process of conquering the world, my outlook and vision have opened up after I conquer the world.
But that kind of small farmer mentality is still difficult to change.
This can be seen from his treatment of those officials.
The salary is small, but you can't be greedy for me, otherwise you will kill someone.
It doesn’t matter if there is a shortage of people to work, just take the shackles and take the place first. If someone takes over, you should kill him or her.
In addition, he sealed all his sons to the border and asked these sons to guard the country.
To put it bluntly, the minister is his long-term worker, how can he rely on his son?
Zhu Yuanzhang is a very controversial person, but if you think of him as a landlord, and the ministers are his tenants, and the people are his fields, many things are easy to understand. The fields can bring him profits, so he must treat them well, and the ministers are tenant farmers who can be exploited.
Zhu Yuanzhang, who had the mentality of a small farmer, was instantly unhappy when he heard that he would give more gifts in return to those countries that had submitted gifts than they gave to the Ming Dynasty.
But the ministers all said that the Ming Dynasty was a kingdom of heaven, so even with Lao Zhu's stingy temper, he still compromised.
However, Lao Zhu was unwilling to give in. In the end, he could only limit the number of tributes from each country, stipulating that the number of tributes from each country ranged from two to ten years.
Later, Lao Zhu also came up with a trick. Whether to pay tribute or not must be approved by the Ming Dynasty.
Anyone who is honest and obedient will be allowed to pay tribute, and those who are disobedient will not be allowed to pay tribute.
Zhao Xing feels that Lao Zhu is still conservative and Lao Zhu is stingy, but the younger ones behind him are very generous.
When I arrived at Zhu Di, because he was not in the right position, in order to create a situation where all nations came to court, restrictions in this area were relaxed.
The rewards given to countries that pay tribute far exceed those of any dynasty.
Not only that, it is said that Zheng He's voyages to the West were not only to find Zhu Yunwen, but also for the purpose of letting Zheng He promote the Ming Dynasty and let those countries pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.
It is said that during the Song Dynasty, people made a lot of money from sea trade.
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The reason why the economy of the Song Dynasty was prosperous was mostly due to maritime trade.
Zheng He's voyages to the West must have made money.
As a result, I always lose money every time I go there. The fundamental reason is that I use all the money I earn to give gifts.
In the eyes of those countries, Ming Dynasty was rich, wealthy and generous, so they came to pay tribute one after another.
As a result, not only did the voyages to the West suffer losses, but the return gifts also greatly increased the burden on the court.
So much so that after Zhu Di died, his voyages to the West were stopped.
Zhao Xing is not that generous. He doesn't care if all the nations come to visit him.
As long as you are strong, you will naturally be able to attract all nations to your country.
On the contrary, it will only let those people see the wealth of the Song Dynasty.
It's okay when it's strong, but when it's weak, everyone wants to take a bite.
Seeing that the Song Dynasty returned many gifts, these countries sent more and more gifts.
Zhao Xing has already made plans. In return for this gift, it will be enough for each country to send some royal porcelain, silk tea, etc. The quantity cannot be too much.
The value of imperial possessions cannot be measured by market price. Things are more valuable when they are rare.
What, you said that the Song Dynasty was a celestial country, so there was less courtesy in return?
I’m just kidding, the treasures I gave you are priceless treasures that can only be used by the royal family. It’s a kindness to reward you.
Even the ministers in the DPRK could not say anything.
Could it be said that the value of the royal family is high, but it is more of a symbolic value and the actual value is not that high?
Just kidding, in a feudal society where imperial power was supreme, who would dare to say this.
But if those countries treasure his return gifts and keep them for thousands of years, they will indeed be priceless treasures by then.
Zhao Xing is not a generous person, so let’s forget about the rush this time.
In the future, let’s just have some specially made. Anything is worthless as long as it is widespread.
The envoys from various countries did not know what Zhao Xing was thinking. When they saw Zhao Xing looking at their gift lists with a bright smile on his face, they also smiled happily.
The emperor of the Song Dynasty was satisfied with their gifts, and the more generous the gifts he gave in return.
Moreover, there is an unspoken rule in the Han Dynasty that after the new king takes the throne, the first gift he will give in return will be more.
After all, after the emperor succeeds to the throne, he must also grant amnesty to the whole world.
Just waiting for them to receive the return gift from the Song Dynasty, they were not happy when they saw that there was only a set of porcelain, a few pieces of cloth and a few boxes of tea.
In particular, Zhao Xing sent a minister to tell them that I was thinking about you completely and worried that you would have trouble carrying it, so I specially rewarded you with an expensive but small quantity to reduce your burden on returning.
(End of this chapter)