Chapter 290 Son-in-law is also considered one’s own child

Author: Potato Sweet Potato Pie

Chapter 290 Son-in-law is also considered one’s own child

If the Chinese dynasties were personified and compared to charming and graceful girls, then the Ming Dynasty must be the most eye-catching one.

She wears countless accessories on her body, with jingling rings and jingling rings. The most impressive accessory is called Jinyiwei, with horses and spies everywhere.

From the moment the Jinyiwei was born, it has been marked with symbols, and it was the Ming Dynasty emperor's method of controlling his ministers.

More than 3,000 people were dispatched from the 48 Jinyi Guards in the capital, led by Mou Bin, the commander of the Jinyi Guards, and rushed to the Meridian Gate to take all the hundreds of prisoners into the dark imperial prison.

In the Qianqing Palace, all the doors were closed, blocking the wind and snow outside. In the Nuan Pavilion, Emperor Hongzhi seemed to have lost his energy. He sat tiredly on the soft couch, looking at the two people in front of him, and then his eyes fell on Xia Yuan said, "Say it."

Xia Yuan organized his words, and after a while he said: "Your Majesty, I have a question, why did the people of the Ming Dynasty become so poor that they ran out of money?"

Hearing this question, Zhu Youtang was silent for a while, and then uttered four words from his mouth, "The years are chaotic and the years are bad."

"."

Hearing this, Xia Yuan was speechless. He looked at the heavy snow outside the window through the glass window, "Your Majesty said that it is true that age is in chaos, but this is only one of them, there are two and three, and there are even Five or six of them."

"Let me talk about the second part first: I heard that during the twenty-three years since the late Emperor Chenghua, the late Emperor has reduced taxes for the people of the world for a total of more than 18 million dan. And since your Majesty has ascended the throne, he has reduced taxes for the people of the world for more than 100 million dan. So much."

“This has led to a sharp decline in the annual revenue of the state treasury.”

At this point, Xia Yuan paused because this statement was not accurate. He had seen a set of data in his previous life. Although the treasury income of the Hongzhi Dynasty was not high, it was much higher than the average of the entire Ming Dynasty.

In some cases, it even surpassed the Chenghua Dynasty. According to the records of the Ming Dynasty, the Chenghua Dynasty was said to be peaceful and trouble-free since the arrival of Chenghua, and its prosperity led to arrogance and extravagance, making it extremely prosperous.

Meaning, the economic level reaches its peak.

This is really not a boast of the Ming Dynasty, because Taicang in the Chenghua Dynasty had more than 20 million shi of grain in stock for several consecutive years, which was the most in the six hundred years of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

"I have a question. In the years since Your Majesty has been on the throne, how does the annual revenue of the treasury compare with that of the Chenghua Dynasty?"

"Sometimes it's a little lower, sometimes it's a little higher."

After saying that, Emperor Hongzhi lowered his eyelids and whispered: "But this is not a merit, but a fault."

"What do you mean by your Majesty's words? I don't quite understand."

"This kind of harvest is possible only because I destroyed the Kaizhong method."

Zhu Youtang's voice was very low. His lack of military preparedness had something to do with this matter.

What is the Kaizhong method? To put it bluntly, it is farmland. It is just the farmland of merchants. These fields are all farmed in nine border areas such as Liaodong, Datong, Xuanfu, and Gansu. They can not only support the border troops, but also Reclamation.

The destruction of the Kaizhong Law did increase the annual revenue of the national treasury, but it destroyed the merchant villages in the border areas.

Emperor Hongzhi was not unaware that doing so would cause trouble, but it was purely a helpless move. His reign was dominated by natural and man-made disasters, and he wanted to exempt the people from taxes and carry out disaster relief.

There is no money or food in the national treasury. If the Kaizhong method is not destroyed, the national treasury will be in deficit by millions every year.

Xia Yuan still didn't understand much. His only impression of the Kaizhong method was that Yang Yiqing seemed to want to restore this method, but failed.

Without thinking about these anymore, he directly started to talk about the third point, "Third: Corrupt officials are rampant in the country. In the Ming Dynasty, it was the country that was poor, and it was the people who were poor, not the merchants and gentry in the world, and those who were poor. Tens of thousands of officials.”

Hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi's eyes suddenly raised, like an awl, and he immediately looked at Xiao Jing and said: "Xiao Banban, let everyone in the Qianqing Palace go out and retreat to the imperial steps. Without my permission, , no one is allowed to take a step closer."

Xiao bowed and sang, then turned around and walked out of Nuan Pavilion. After waiting for a while, Emperor Hongzhi looked at him deeply.

The meaning is self-evident, you can go on.

Xia Yuan did not speak in a hurry, but pondered over his thoughts. When did the Ming Dynasty have the most corrupt officials who exploited the people? The Hongzhi Dynasty should be the one.

Because Emperor Hongzhi was exempted from taxes all day long, those local officials did not have the opportunity to kick the stems and increase the fire consumption. They could only win over the wealthy gentry and use clever names to covet the grain and grass and silver for disaster relief.

However, Emperor Hongzhi also greatly reduced the rotation of officials. This can be seen from the fact that the entire dynasty is filled with old men.

Local officials rarely move places.

It goes without saying what consequences this will lead to.

If an official has been operating in the local area for too long, his influence must be deep-rooted and deeply intertwined with the local gentry. Whether he is a superior official or a low-ranking official, they are all acquaintances. A network of relationships is formed, and the network of relationships is connected and connects the entire government. The whole world is included.

This situation was caused by Emperor Hongzhi himself. Why did he do this?

Perhaps there are too many natural and man-made disasters. Once we encounter landslides, floods, or droughts, what better way to deal with them than the local officials who have been operating here for several years? They are more experienced.

If you keep switching back and forth all day long, you may not know how to deal with it.

This is probably the reason why there were so many natural and man-made disasters. For example, historical records show that in the early years of Hongzhi, the number was over 50 million, and by the end of Hongzhi, it was 60 million.

The Hongzhi Dynasty, which suffered from large-scale natural disasters every year, could steadily increase the population without causing a major drop in population. This is absolutely a miracle. Perhaps one of the contributions was the lack of rotation of officials.

Thoughts were wandering in his mind. Xia Yuan simply stopped trying to control his thoughts. He took a deep breath and said straight to the point: "Your Majesty, what I want to say is actually the reform."

"."

Emperor Hongzhi didn't seem to be very surprised, and asked after a moment: "So this is the reason why you saved those hundreds of prisoners?"

"Guaranteed?"

Zhu Houzhao had been keeping his head down and silent since he came in. Only then did he suddenly raise his head, and then he began to doubt his hearing again. He was imprisoned in prison, but his father's mouth spared him.

"Yes." Xia Yuan responded without denying that he really wanted to keep this group of people because he saw an opportunity.

Zhu Youtang asked with a half-smile, "Wouldn't it be different if you were imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment?"

"The prison is your majesty's prison."

"well said!"

Emperor Hongzhi's voice suddenly rose, with a cheerful look in his eyes. He pointed at Xia Yuan with his finger, but his eyes suddenly looked at Zhu Houzhao, "Prince, have you seen this! These are called smart people. They are not as stupid as you. Only with him assisting you can I rest assured."

Zhu Houzhao: "."

Am I stupid? No, I think I am still very smart.

Emperor Hongzhi ignored him, but looked deeply at Xia Yuan and said: "Ju Zheng wants to reform, so he wants to save these people. Can you tell me why?"

"If you want to reform, you must first use people. These people have already led themselves to a dead end. Only they can move forward."

"."

After hearing these words, Emperor Hongzhi remained silent for a long time. The eyes he looked at Xia Yuan were like those parents in later generations looking at other people's children, with envy and jealousy.

Things in this world are afraid of comparison.

I saw that other people's children were so alert, but my own was such a jerk.

Everyone will have a mental breakdown for a while.

There was silence for a long time, but in the end all the emotions turned into relief and joy.

He is a son-in-law and can also be considered as his own child.
Chapter completed!