Chapter 196 Father, I’m tired!
Zhu Yuanzhang’s voice was very loud.
The anger in it is almost unconcealed.
Zhu Biao's face turned pale, but he still persisted: "My son knows that what Xia Zhibai said is not entirely correct. He knows that he has his own thoughts. He even knows that these words Xia Zhibai said are full of meaning. A certain bias."
"However, as Erchen said, Xia Zhibai's purpose is to revitalize the northern economy. He himself will not be in the north for a long time, and the development of the north will be within the court's vision. ”
"The imperial court can see more clearly."
"If a problem is discovered, it can be stopped immediately."
"I do not expect your majesty to agree immediately."
"But I have a merciless request, which is to ask my father to allow me to privately investigate the salt enterprises in the south."
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and said in a deep voice: "What are you doing? What to do?”
Zhu Biao said: "Xia Zhibai told me several possibilities. Now these officials and gentry in Jiangnan may be using the money, food and pig iron provided by the court to seek personal gain in every possible way, and in a reasonable way."
“The blueprints for building the steam engine come from Li Sheng.”
“Erchen has not yet obtained the relevant information about the local construction of salt enterprises, but if local officials say there is something wrong with Li Sheng’s blueprints, A batch of "loss" of salt was made, and the "loss" was written openly in the memorial. Is there any way for the court to verify it? "
"I would like to investigate privately. "
“In the past, most smuggling was done by local people, but this is government smuggling.”
"The nature of it is even worse."
"If it is true, as Xia Zhibai said, that the officials in Jiangnan are so greedy, I am afraid that there will be a turmoil in the south."
Zhu Biaoyi Face serious.
There was a bit of coldness and solemnity in his eyes.
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked at Zhu Biao suspiciously. He understood that the officials were "lining their own pockets," but he did not understand why there was a turmoil in the south.
Fang Xiaoru also looked puzzled.
Zhu Biao said: "Erchen has some knowledge of steam engines."
"The emergence of steam engines can greatly improve the efficiency of salt production. At the same time, it will also greatly reduce the number of employees. Salt production in the south In the developed world, most of the salt transportation departments in the world are located in the south. If local officials use steam engines to make money, or even spare no effort to promote it, I am afraid that hundreds of thousands of stove households in the south will become unemployed. "
< br>Fang Xiaoru said: "What's wrong with this?"
"The south can save so much labor, and there will be more available people in the world."
Zhu Biao shook his head.
He said in a deep voice: "There are many people in the south but little land. The livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people is a big problem. However, the local officials are greedy and will not care about the life and death of these people. When the time comes, these unemployed people will People are either reduced to long-term workers, servants or tenant farmers, but I am afraid that there are still not enough people to absorb them.”
“With so many people losing their livelihood, how can there be no trouble in the place?”
"And it is very likely that these kitchen households will continue to produce salt, but it will just be smuggled. Then the steam-made salt, which cost the court a lot of money and food, will suddenly lose its original meaning. Then local officials will still be able to change the law. They sold these salt companies at low prices."
"In the end, they only enriched the officials and merchants."
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned.
He remembered that Wei Heng’s memorial to him had written about this aspect. When local salt enterprises are established and a large amount of salt is produced, the local salt price will drop. Not only It can appease the turbulent people and also reduce the burden on the court, because supporting hundreds of thousands of kitchen households is a huge expense for the court.
But Wei Heng and other officials did not mention how to resettle these unemployed kitchen households.
I'm afraid these people haven't thought about it at all.
A trace of anger and murderous intent appeared in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart.
He just knew it.
None of these officials are good.
Everyone wants to deceive and cheat themselves in every possible way.
Fang Xiaoru thought for a while and hesitated: "Then according to His Highness, the imperial court should prevent the construction of salt enterprises in the south?"
Zhu Biao shook his head and said: "Of course not."
"There are many people in the south, but there is a shortage of people in the north. If these extra people can be sent to the north, it will not only speed up the integration of the north and the south, but also increase the population of the north. This method is Xia Zhibai's business ', through certain methods, send the 'surplus' people in the south to the north."
"The north is short of people."
"Coal, iron, salt, etc. need people."
“With the population in the north, we simply cannot support it, but if we send people from the south, we can completely solve these problems.”
“And I also vaguely noticed something. ”
"Xia Zhibai seems to want to use things like 'steam engines' to greatly improve production efficiency, so as to fill the population shortage in the north, use fewer people to do more things, and obtain greater benefits."
Zhu Yuanzhang’s eyes were uncertain.
He also thought of the idea proposed by Zhu Biao.
How can it be so easy just to move the population?
After all his hard work over the years, he has only moved hundreds of thousands of households. Can he move hundreds of thousands of households just by relying on some business?
He didn't believe it.
He recognized one thing.
Da Ming cannot walk on only one leg.
Nowadays, the number of kitchen households and postmen is indeed quite large.
With such a huge number, once something went wrong, it would easily shake the stability of the Ming Dynasty, but he had not considered it in the past. Just after Zhu Biao reminded him, he suddenly woke up.
Just open the sea.
He was still a little reluctant. The sea route can indeed gather the wealth of the world, but these merchants who use the sea route are too proficient in how to evade taxes. It is difficult for the court to receive money from these people. Moreover, opening the sea is also a hidden danger to the Ming Dynasty's homeland security, especially the surrounding coastal areas. Japanese pirates invaded from time to time.
According to the investigation he sent, many of them were nearby fishermen and were colluding with Japanese pirates.
There are even more private trade goods with each other.
In the seventeenth year of Hongwu's reign, he issued an edict to "prevent Japanese pirates and ban people from entering the sea for fishing." However, he still felt that it was not enough and wanted to further crack down. At the same time, because the imperial court vigorously banned the sea, a large amount of property from overseas countries , eventually fell into their own hands.
He was very happy with it.
Once the sea opens, I am afraid that the coastal waters will be troubled again.
But just opening a coastal trade route seems to be nothing?
Zhu Yuanzhang thought secretly.
He actually knew that what Xia Zhibai said was not unreasonable, but it was contrary to his philosophy. What he wanted was a stable world, a 'customized quota' world that did not require so many fancy changes. He also hated the change.
Xia Zhibai just reminded him again and again, telling him that his theory would not work.
Maybe it works in his hands, but not in the hands of others.
He also gradually understood why Xia Zhibai said these words to himself again and again, because there are some things that only he can do, and no one else can, not even Zhu Biao, he He can kill millions of soldiers in Jiangnan because he has this prestige and this ruthlessness.
But Zhu Biao couldn’t.
Zhu Biao is a qualified prince.
But he can't become the second version of himself. It's not that Zhu Biao is not ruthless enough, but that Zhu Biao cannot reach his own prestige, not even half of it. Don't look at the second, third, Lan Yu, People like Chang Sheng were respectful to Zhu Biao, mainly because of themselves.
If you are gone.
Can Zhu Biao really suppress him like he is now?
Impossible.
He did a lot to emphasize agriculture and suppress business.
It was impossible for Xia Zhibai not to know, but Xia Zhibai didn't care at all and kept talking.
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.
He doesn’t want to change, and he doesn’t want to change.
The system he designed drew on the experience of past dynasties.
It can be said to be extremely exquisite.
Once the changes are made, there will be too many places to move, the government will inevitably expand, and there will inevitably be a lot more exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes. By then, the Ming Dynasty will follow the path of other dynasties. Today’s Ming Dynasty, although it seems There are a lot of problems, but they are all minor ones.
As long as his low-tax system and a complete set of supporting guarantee systems that save tax expenditures can operate normally, Ming Dynasty will be able to continue to exist stably.
As long as the subsequent emperors of Ming Dynasty can lift the sword, Ming Dynasty will not have any problems.
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes gradually became firm.
He raised his head, looked at Zhu Biao with an expectant look on his face, and said coldly: "Okay, we don't want to listen to this nonsense, and we don't have the heart to listen to it. Don't you want to send someone to investigate? Let's let Jin Yiwei do it. As for what you said, we will discuss it with officials from the Ministry of Finance to limit the number of salt companies."
"As for opening up the sea, it's something else."
"We don't want to. "I heard you again."
"The reason why we gave Xia Zhibai such great power in the north is to let him solve the problem of population shortage in the north for us, and we believe that steam engines can solve certain problems, so we gave him Agreed, but we don’t let him do whatever he wants.”
“We don’t want anyone to tell us what to do.”
Zhu Biao looked bitter.
He looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with a cold expression and knew that his father did not listen at all.
Father has no intention of changing his mind at all.
But now that the world situation has changed, how can it stop so easily?
Zhu Biao lowered his head and continued: "Father, think twice. Perhaps my expression was unclear, which caused my father to misunderstand. I beg my father to summon Xia Zhibai and let Xia Zhibai After personally explaining it to my father, I thought that the Ming Dynasty could not always be so sluggish.”
Zhu Biao's heart was beating hard.
He could faintly hear his own heartbeat.
In the past, when his father was angry, he rarely dared to argue, but this time, he chose to persist.
He knows.
Father also understands this truth.
It's just that the pride and self-esteem in his father's bones did not allow him to admit that he was wrong.
But governing the country cannot be so tyrannical.
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes suddenly widened, like an angry lion. He looked down at Zhu Biao condescendingly, his pupils filled with blood and anger.
Zhu Biao said with a pale face, "Father, I am a little tired."
Hearing this.
Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a moment.
The power that had overwhelmed the surrounding people instantly dissipated.
Looking at Zhu Biao who looked haggard and was sweating profusely, Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes flashed with distress, and he said softly: "We didn't think so much. Since the boss wants us to see Xia Zhibai, then we It’s up to you, I’ll see you.”
“Go back and give us a good rest.”
(End of this chapter)