Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 149: Cultivating a New Ruling Class

Zhu Houzhao really couldn't admit that this was a rebellion-suppression event worth boasting about.

Because in his opinion, this was more like a farce.

Not only Zhu Houzhao thought so, Ma Wensheng, Wang Yangming and others also thought so. However, they were not very excited and their expressions were very calm.

Even the officers and soldiers of the 1st Division of the Guards, who were preparing for a fierce battle outside the city of Nanjing, were dumbfounded. Many of their sword and shield soldiers did not even get the first blood, but the war was over.

Among them, some members of the Zhongjun Society even felt that they were shouting slogans to boost morale in vain.

Only these Jiangnan gentry were still very excited. They seemed to be participating in a war, a fierce and cruel war, a war that would decide life and death, and they were all cheering.

Even Cheng Jian, who had just been appointed as a doctor of the Five Classics in the Hanlin Academy, had a flushed face and bowed to Zhu Houzhao, saying: "The holy emperor is in power! All the subjects in the world support him! Even if the rebels are powerful, they can be destroyed overnight! This is the merit of our emperor, this is the power of the Ming Dynasty!"

Zhu Houzhao smiled faintly, ignored Cheng Jian, and left Hongwu Gate directly.

Ma Wensheng just touched his nose, handed over the next matters to the governor Wang Yangming, and followed Zhu Houzhao. He even thought in his heart that although it was a good thing that these Jiangnan gentry would no longer oppose His Majesty, so as not to cause chaos in Jiangnan, it did not seem to be a good thing. From a private point of view, the northern gentry could not take this opportunity to completely suppress the southern gentry. From a public point of view, if such hypocritical people controlled the court in the future, who knows how bad the world would be.

At this time, Zhu Houzhao happened to see Qianhu Bai Jingshan standing on the city wall. This military officer was originally a subordinate of Tian Zheng, but he was the first to report to him that Tian Zheng was going to rebel.

Although Zhu Houzhao didn't know whether Bai Jingshan was afraid of being implicated if his rebellion failed or was really loyal to himself as the emperor and the court, when he saw Bai Jingshan clenching his fist and looking at the gentry outside the city with anger, he couldn't help but come over and ask: "Bai Jingshan, tell me, what are you thinking about now?"

Bai Jingshan did not expect that the Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao would suddenly ask him, so he bowed deeply and replied: "Your Majesty! I am thinking that I will only be a loyal minister in the future, a loyal minister who is only loyal to Your Majesty!"

Zhu Houzhao smiled slightly. He could see that the shamelessness of the Jiangnan gentry had greatly stimulated these military officers. It made them realize that literati were really unreliable. It also made them realize that rebellion was really difficult to succeed because the people in the world were not yet demoralized. That was why Bai Jingshan said he wanted to be a loyal minister.

"Pass the imperial decree! Promote Bai Jingshan to be the garrison commander and station him in Zhenjiang."

Zhu Houzhao issued an edict. He could guess that the military officer Bai Jingshan should have seen through the hypocrisy of the gentry in Jiangnan from today on. For this reason, he naturally wanted to let a military officer like Bai Jingshan be stationed in Jiangnan permanently.

In this way, even if he leaves Jiangnan in the future, there will be people in Jiangnan who are not of the same kind as the Jiangnan gentry to control Jiangnan for him.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Bai Jingshan was somewhat overjoyed. He was even worried that the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River would use the fact that he was a subordinate of Tian Zheng to ask the emperor to punish him. After all, the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River would not tolerate him given their nature of rooting out the weeds. But he did not expect that after he said that he wanted to be a loyal minister, Emperor Zhu Houzhao would promote him.

"Stand up and keep a close eye on the waters of Zhenjiang for me. If pirates rob the tax bureau again, I will hold you accountable!"

Having said that, Zhu Houzhao left with a group of officials.

After Tian Zheng's rebellion ended, Zhu Houzhao also prepared to return to Beijing.

Although Jiangnan is a good place, it is the tradition of the Ming Dynasty for the emperor to guard the national border. Zhu Houzhao still has to return to the capital and start promoting the new policy reforms in other areas.

Of course, there was another reason why Zhu Houzhao was in a hurry to leave Jiangnan. He really didn't want to stay here. He didn't want to watch that group of Jiangnan gentry shamelessly praising themselves and shamelessly exaggerating the significance of this rebellion. He was afraid that if he stayed for too long, he would really lose his mind and become as shameless as them.

But what Zhu Houzhao didn't know was that even if he and the central court had no intention of bragging about the suppression of the rebellion, the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River were still bragging about it and fantasizing about it.

The story of Cheng Jian scolding the traitor Tian Zheng on the city wall was made into an opera and was sung everywhere. It was also gradually made into the story of "Cheng Jian scolding away 100,000 soldiers". All of a sudden, the number of Tian Zheng's troops was exaggerated to 100,000, and the reason why the rebellion of 100,000 troops failed was because they were scolded away by Cheng Jian.

All of a sudden, Cheng Jian became a courageous and loyal man.

Of course, these Jiangnan gentry also gave face to Zhu Houzhao. They exaggerated Zhu Houzhao into a mighty emperor who personally visited the city wall and frightened 100,000 rebels. They even said that his appointment of Cheng Jian as the Doctor of the Five Classics was a good story of a sage monarch using talented people. The story was also made into a drama. Zhu Houzhao himself had not yet acknowledged that he had created a prosperous Ming Dynasty, but the Jiangnan gentry had already performed a drama of prosperity in Jiangnan.

Zhu Houzhao knew that the purpose of these Jiangnan gentry bragging about themselves was nothing more than to gain more political bargaining chips and not to be suppressed by the northern gentry.

However, Zhu Houzhao had no intention of arguing with these Jiangnan gentry now, nor did he intend to completely deprive these Jiangnan gentry of their privileges and completely take away their wealth for nationalization. He still had to strike a balance. After all, once the gentry in Jiangnan were suppressed now, the gentry in the north would most likely take this opportunity to suppress them.

As an emperor, he had to give each side a sweet treat. Naturally, the reform would make the southern gentry bleed a little, then the northern gentry bleed a little, and finally achieve a balance between the north and the south. This would prevent the northern gentry and the military landlords behind them from becoming warlords, and the southern gentry and the pirates behind them from becoming warlords. At the same time, the entire Ming Empire had to be changed.

Zhu Houzhao knew that he had to take it slow and slowly cut the flesh of these gentry and bureaucrats.

The purpose of his visit to Jiangnan this time was to ensure the source of tax revenue. Neither the commercial taxes collected by the Royal Tax Bureau nor the land taxes and corvée labor managed by the Ministry of Revenue could be reduced.

Now, he has stationed a governor, a tax bureau, tax police and police soldiers in Jiangnan. At the same time, he has made these gentry compromise and pass a convention to ensure that there will be no problem with taxation. He even deprived the Jiangnan gentry of their power at the grassroots level. For him, this has achieved his goal.

Therefore, it was time for Zhu Houzhao to leave Jiangnan.

When he left Jiangnan this time, Zhu Houzhao also took away more than three million taels of silver, which were all proceeds from property confiscations. They were either recovered from unpaid taxes or from property confiscations for other crimes.

This is only a part of it. A lot of it has been directly used as stability maintenance funds in Nanzhili.

After all, setting up a police department, recruiting police soldiers, and establishing government-run workshops all cost money.

Of the more than three million taels of silver, only one million taels were collected by the Ministry of Revenue as unpaid taxes, and the rest were collected by the Royal Tax Bureau.

In other words, Zhu Houzhao's trip to Jiangnan was equivalent to plundering more than two million taels of silver into his own pocket!

Only now did he understand why the officials of Nanzhili were so opposed to his going to Jiangnan.

Moreover, in the future, the Ministry of Revenue will be able to obtain an additional tax revenue equivalent to two million taels of silver from Jiangnan every year. Although the local stability maintenance expenses in Nanzhili have increased, the Ministry of Revenue will also be able to increase its revenue by more than one million taels, so that the central court's finances will be more ample.

Of course, the wool comes from the sheep. Zhu Houzhao believed that these Jiangnan gentry would transfer the overpaid taxes to the overpaid rents, increasing the burden on the tenants.

But for the imperial court, this can indirectly curb land annexation and contributions, because once the rent increases, more farmers will be willing to be self-cultivating farmers rather than contribute to become tenants.

In general, Zhu Houzhao's trip to Jiangnan caused a lot of damage to the interests of the gentry in Jiangnan.

However, because Zhu Houzhao did not cut too far in his pursuit of benefits, did not truly deprive the gentry of their privileges, and did not deprive all gentry of part of their benefits nationwide, and because the people's support was still there, the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River had no choice but to give in and accept the fact that this part of their benefits had to be given to the court.

But Zhu Houzhao could guess that these Jiangnan gentry must still hate him as the emperor and the reformist officials around him in their hearts. Not only the Jiangnan gentry, but many northern gentry were also worried that Zhu Houzhao and the reformist officials around him would recover the unpaid taxes across the country.

In fact, the performance evaluation system itself has made the entire bureaucracy angry, after all, it has bound them.

Zhu Houzhao knew that although these bureaucrats did not dare to oppose openly, and even the northern gentry wanted to suppress the southern gentry by supporting the court, they were certainly still very resistant to the new policies implemented by Zhu Houzhao and his reformist officials in private.

I am afraid that they will use various means to deal with me and the reformist officials around me, such as assassination.

Reformers never have a good ending, Zhu Houzhao knew this. No matter whether they are emperors or ministers, they must succeed and have a good ending.

The only way is to cultivate a new ruling class through reform, and let this new ruling class deprive the old ruling class of their interests. Only in this way can the reform become a battle that is not just fought by Zhu Houzhao alone or by a few people, but one that goes with the trend rather than against it.

Even if Zhu Houzhao leaves this world one day, his reform cause will not end. Even when he is alive, there will be people who will fight to the death to protect his life and even prolong his life.

Zhu Houzhao now also needs to cultivate a new ruling class. He wants to change the current lifestyle of rulers who only know how to get promoted and buy land. He wants to make the ruling class of the entire empire only want to get rich, and after getting rich, they will not buy land but become promoters and organizers of scientific and technological development.

The landlord gentry class would naturally be abandoned by Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao had to cultivate the new capital class himself.

First of all, what Zhu Houzhao had to do was to turn some enlightened gentry who had the same pioneering spirit and collectivist spirit as himself into capitalists, make them the first generation of capitalists of the Ming Empire, and carry out the Ming Dynasty’s first capital accumulation, resource plunder and colonial expansion.

As soon as he returned to the capital, Zhu Houzhao immediately summoned the Minister of Revenue Wang Hua, the head of the Royal Bank and the Royal Tax Bureau Xu Jing, Tang Bohu from the attendant's room, and some officials from the inner court and the outer court to the Qianqing Palace. He decided to hold a financial meeting before the end of the second year of Zhengde.

(End of this chapter)