Chapter 223 Seven Admonitions
Zhu Houzhao looked at the "Picture of Refugees" placed in front of him by Wang Huapu, the chief minister of the cabinet, and said nothing for a moment. He knew that migrating to other places, especially migrating to bitter cold places such as outside the Great Wall, was indeed a difficult task for the Han people who had settled down and resettled. It was a very painful thing, but he never thought of forcibly immigrating these people.
Therefore, although Wang Hua, the chief minister of the cabinet, placed a "Picture of Refugees" presented by Yushi Xue Fengming in front of Zhu Houzhao, Zhu Houzhao only asked:
"I remember that since formulating the immigration policy, I have never issued an edict requiring forced immigration. All of them are guided by interests. Whether to move to the border is left to the people's volition. Moreover, the people moved are all landless people, and even many of them are landless. They are refugees! Why is there such a tragic situation as "Refugee Picture"?
"I have been in the center for a long time, and I don't know the details, and it is difficult to serve His Majesty. However, the imperial court has indeed not issued any edicts for forced immigration. However, I am worried that the officials below will make a mistake and do something to please Your Majesty. Excessive things have led to the scene shown in "Refugee Picture". Your Majesty might as well ask the person who contributed this picture."
Wang Hua, the chief minister of the cabinet, has no objection to the immigration issue. He is a shareholder of the Royal Bank and has the same interests as the emperor. He does not need to compete with the country for profit. However, because of this, he needs to maintain the stability of the country. Therefore, , after seeing this "Picture of Refugees", he impatiently presented this picture to Zhu Houzhao.
Zhu Houzhao then summoned Xue Fengming, the censor.
"Your Majesty, this picture was painted by Zhang Cong, the governor of Hetao, when he moved all the people from Shanxi to the Hetao. This picture was painted by Niu Kai of Yuncheng, Shanxi. I present this picture to impeach Zhang Cong for his cruelty to the people!"< br>
Xue Fengming said and took out the memorial.
Impeachment of Zhang Cong?
Zhu Houzhao took the memorial and read it briefly, while thinking about what these civil servants were thinking.
But in any case, Zhu Houzhao felt that he needed to find out first whether any civilians were killed during the border move.
At this time, Liu Yu, the second assistant to the cabinet, handed over a memorial: "Your Majesty, here is a memorial written by Gong Dingjin, the imperial censor of Ningxia Ji Gong. It is said that there are immigrants who gathered together as thieves, besieged the city, and robbed the wealth of the merchants passing by. He also said that the people's customs in the north and south of the imperial court were different, and the roads should be restored to restrict people from leaving the county to avoid the harm of refugees. "
"Are you saying that immigration is not a good thing? Or are you saying that banning the road guide system is not good?"
Zhu Houzhao fell into deep thought, but didn't say much. He just asked: "How did you vote?"
"Order the local officials to arrest thieves and bring peace to the people, abide by their duties, and not to discuss the government indiscriminately. Refugees are also people of the Ming Dynasty. Naturally, they have no choice but to leave their hometowns. As for Xiaoju becoming thieves, there should be unresolved grievances among the people. As the censor, you should To resolve his grievances, he blamed the people! He had no land and no food in his hometown, but he didn’t steal it. Why did he go to another place to steal?”
Liu Yu replied.
Zhu Houzhao nodded. He would naturally not re-establish the Luyin system, because in fact, even if he strictly implemented the Luyin system, the court and local gentry would not be able to control more people from becoming refugees, because people must survive, and he If you can't survive in one place, you can only escape to another place, otherwise you can only rebel!
Zhu Houzhao knew that his explicit decree to abolish the road guide system would harm the interests of the gentry group, because the people's escape was a disguised way of resisting the gentry's exploitation, which would make the gentry lose the opportunity to control them, and the gentry landlords who lost a large number of tenant farmers would become That amounts to a huge loss of rental income.
If they do not abolish the road guide system, these gentry can justifiably deal with the people on the grounds that they are guilty of exile, and even force these people to be squeezed and exploited by them locally.
But he abolished the road guide system, making the refugees legal subjects, and the people also wanted the freedom to escape from the control of the gentry. Coupled with the development of industry, a large number of people would definitely move from the fields to the factories, and the gentry would definitely A large number of tenants would be lost.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao also knew that there would definitely be civil servants who had objections to the cancellation of road guides, and would find various legitimate reasons, but he would not just listen to it, because he knew that if the people were not allowed to become legal refugees, the people would only Can become a wandering thief. The vote of the Second Assistant to the Cabinet was intended to agree with Zhu Houzhao's intention, so Zhu Houzhao nodded, but what made him a little wary was that with the development of industry, as more and more people transformed from farmers into workers, they still remained The gentry, who hoped to rely on their clans to control the villagers and maintain their own land interests, did not realize that they wanted to transform. Instead, they felt that their interests were being damaged more and more seriously, and they became more and more determined to prevent imperial immigration and liberate civil rights. strong.
Zhu Houzhao walked away for a while, and when he saw Xue Fengming still standing in front of him, he couldn't help but smile: "You should step aside first. I will send people to investigate this matter in detail. I will not unjustly accuse innocent ministers, nor will I sit back and watch the people be tortured." Harmed by cruel officials.”
Xue Fengming then retreated.
At this time, Wang Qiong, a scholar in the cabinet, opened a memorial. He was so frightened that he could not help but tremble. He looked at Zhu Houzhao. He knew that if His Majesty the Emperor knew about this memorial, he might be killed again.
However, Wang Qiong, a scholar in the cabinet, did not have the courage to write a memorial, so he had to bring it to Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty, here is a memorial. I dare not draft it. It is a memorial written by the head of the household department, wearing a crown, admonishing seven things:
The first is to stop the imperial shop and say that the imperial court first collects the money from the world and then takes advantage of the world, and then dispersing the people will benefit the world;
The second is to apply for road guidance and follow the ancestral laws to keep the people in the countryside and prevent the fields from becoming barren;
The third is to return the land to the Tatars, maintain good relations with the neighbors, and not conquer other countries’ lands to avoid the recurrence of border troubles;
The fourth is to ban maritime affairs, order Xia Yan to return to the court, stop Shouning Hou from sailing around the world, and save financial resources;
The fifth is to eliminate business taxes and relieve businessmen and people from the hardships of transporting food;
The sixth is to suspend the school, saying that today's schools have become abusive and only increase the number of deviants;
Seventh, respect the Tao of Confucius and Mencius, the virtue of strict education, and prohibit folk operas! ”
After Wang Qiong, the cabinet scholar, finished speaking, he lowered his head. He was deeply afraid that His Majesty would be angry with him, so he added: "Your Majesty, these are the six things Dai Guan said. I have finished reporting!"
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The first assistant of the cabinet, Wang Hua, and the second assistant, Liu Yu, both took a step back, and a cold feeling ran down their backs unconsciously.
Zhu Houzhao just smiled slightly: "Very good, the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty still have such tough people, go and pass on the one who wears the crown!"
After saying that, Zhu Houzhao took the memorial from Wang Qiong.
Now Zhu Houzhao is not as angry as he was before. He knows that with the development of the Ming Dynasty's commodity economy and industry, there will always be many contradictions between the new production relations and the old production relations, and the contradictions will become more and more intense, and even There will be a war because of this.
But Zhu Houzhao knew that what he, the emperor, had to do was not to let history go backwards, not to despise the people's ideas, not to be knocked down by the complex reality.
I'm not just playing tricks, I just feel that when the Ming Dynasty has developed to this point, the contradiction between the capitalists represented by Emperor Zhu Houzhao and the feudal landlords represented by most civil servants will definitely break out, because the conflict between them in the competition for production resources is inevitable. Harmony, mainly manifested in the competition for population, Zhu Houzhao And the reformist officials who control the government hope to liberate the people from the land and let them become workers to work in their factories; while most conservative civil servants cannot watch their tenants disappear, nor can they watch it. Instead of contributing, the farmers would rather abandon their land and go to work in the city.
Thank you book friend, his old grandfather, for the reward of 200 starting coins. Thank you book friend Hua Chen for the reward of 100 starting coins
(End of chapter)