Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 48 Western Tools

"Mona Lisa?!" Matteo Ricci was shocked. "Your Highness, have you ever admired this painting by Leonardo da Vinci? This is impossible. It is Leonardo da Vinci's favorite work and he kept it with him until his death. Now, it has been treasured by the King of France in the Louvre. I know! Have you seen its imitation?"

His incredible voice shocked Empress Dowager Li, and she couldn't help but look at Zhu Changluo.

Although I have long believed it, now there is one more piece of evidence.

So those things he whispered on the road were also true?
"...Maybe it's an imitation. In the past, people came all the way from Europe." Zhu Changluo said casually, leaving the point. "The Kingdom of France? Is it the Francois who is now invading the lands of the Ming Dynasty in Nanyang and enslaving the people of our Ming Dynasty's vassal states?"

"Your Highness, you have some misunderstandings about Europe. Since you have decided to become a subject of the Ming Dynasty, I will answer you truthfully. The countries that are currently developing the Spice Islands are Portugal and Spain. When I first arrived in Guangdong, I heard Ming officials call the Portuguese "Flangji people". This "Flangji" should be what I call France."

"In European history, France is a kingdom with a longer history and is more powerful than Portugal. Perhaps the Portuguese lied about the Kingdom of France, which is more likely to be known to the powerful Eastern Empire, in order to make the Ming Dynasty more willing to trust them."

"I see... Why did the Portuguese come all the way to invade our Ming territory?"

Zhu Changluo naturally regarded the vassal states as part of the Ming territory, but what he wanted to get out of Ricci was how maritime trade had created the current European landscape and how the first pioneer colonial countries, Portugal and Spain, had emerged.

Redistribution is the only way forward, and making the pie bigger is the foundation for Ming Dynasty to prosper again.

Under the guidance of Zhu Changluo, and taking advantage of the fact that Matteo Ricci was eager to be recognized by the future emperor of the Ming Dynasty due to his missionary needs, Empress Dowager Li heard with her own ears how great benefits the ocean had brought back to Portugal and Spain and how they had become extremely wealthy in Europe.

As for the foreign lands and people? Did the Western barbarians come all the way here?

Empress Dowager Li didn't care. She was only worried about how long the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty would remain under the surname Zhu.

"I'm still not satisfied after listening to you for so long today." Zhu Changluo ended the meeting. "You can go back to Huitong Hall and continue to live there. I'll summon you later."

"Your Highness..."

Matteo Ricci was a little anxious. Why did he only hear these and nothing else?

When Matteo Ricci heard the future Ming emperor mention Mona Lisa, he thought that he had some interest in Christianity. After all, Leonardo da Vinci often created works for the Vatican.

But after hearing Zhu Changluo's loud command, Tian Yi came over and took him away.

"Eunuch Tian, ​​I still have a lot to say..."

Tian Yi looked at him meaningfully, "You are still not familiar enough with the Ming Dynasty. How can you give a bell as a birthday gift to His Majesty? It is rare for you to meet the Holy Mother Empress Dowager and His Highness for such a long time for the first time. Do you want His Highness to allow you to stay in the capital for a long time to promote your doctrine for the first time? Go back to Huitong Hall first."

Ever since Zhu Changluo asked him to find time to meet this person, the information about Matteo Ricci had naturally been in Tian Yi's hands for a long time.

Nanjing knew exactly what he wanted to do.

Seeing Matteo Ricci being escorted by Liu Shimin walking towards Donghuamen in the rain, Tian Yi looked back at the main hall of Ciqiong Palace, and then walked towards the direct room of Silijian not far away.

In the main hall of Ciqing Palace, Zhu Changluo helped Empress Dowager Li into his study.

Looking at the bookshelf full of memorials with many small notes sticking out from them, and looking at the several screens in front of Zhu Changluo's desk with papers stuck on them with fine needles, Empress Dowager Li looked a little dazed.

It seemed as if I could see him here anxiously and busy trying to understand state affairs and worrying about them.

Zhu Changluo took the opportunity to invite her over for this purpose. In the past, when she was busy with work, she naturally wanted to be seen, known, and remembered by her leaders.

Now, the only person he needs to treat in this way is Empress Dowager Li.

"Grandmother, please take a seat." Zhu Changluo took out a booklet and said, "Your grandson has a copy here as well. I will continue to present my report."

Turning to that page, Zhu Changluo said, "Grandmother has also heard that those Western barbarians can make so much money through sea trade. After Grandpa opened the port, how much silver did the major Maritime Customs Offices of the Ming Dynasty collect every year? I checked and found that in recent years, it has been only about 50,000 taels per year, and Yuegang has less than 30 taels. Who made all the money? The officials and wealthy families along the coast!"

"I ask all the vassal states to merge the granted land and farmland into the imperial land, just like the grains of silver from the imperial farmland. I will bear the clan salary for the grain harvested from the land. In this way, the civil officials will no longer be able to use the clan salary burden as an excuse. I want to see if the land tax in the provinces with vassal states is still in arrears, and whether it is still levied on the people!"

Zhu Changluo hinted at the mines he had laid for the civil officials, and continued, "The clan salaries and land income originally belonged to the feudal lords. This grandson also knows that the focus is on what Matteo Ricci said. Since those coastal officials and gentry families and sea merchants can do this business, can't the feudal lords do it if they pool some capital? This grandson has another plan, which is to drive the tiger to devour the wolf..."

Although the emperor is the largest landlord in the world, Empress Dowager Li and Zhu Changluo have different positions after all.

Faced with the constraints of civil officials in personnel, finance, and military affairs, the most serious problems were the accumulation of wealth and the increasing burden on the people due to many reasons such as land annexation, official preferential treatment and exemption of gentry.

Zhu Changluo explained all these to Empress Dowager Li. Therefore, it was necessary to find a way to take action against the officials and gentry to give the people of the Ming Dynasty some time to slow down and not lose the people's hearts so quickly.

To this end, facing the huge and powerful class of officials and gentry, Zhu Changluo had to create a situation and support a new force while they were engaged in party struggles and infighting.

The most natural thing this force does at present is to tie together the royal family, nobles and merchants in the family who have no imperial examination background and cannot enjoy preferential treatment, and the royal family will quietly transform together with them.

Aren’t many of the goods shipped out by maritime merchants from the many industries under the royal family?

Some of the reasons behind this were beyond Empress Dowager Li's understanding, so Zhu Changluo spent a lot of effort on it.

"Grandmother, even if the vassal states are somewhat reluctant at the moment, they don't have the ability to rebel after all. The civil officials will only think that your grandson wants to reduce the power of the vassal states, and will support you wholeheartedly. Now everyone knows that your grandma is in charge of the overall situation. There are still more than two months before your birthday and your grandson's coronation ceremony. By then, all the vassal states will send envoys to celebrate your birthday and watch the ceremony. You only need to admonish them for your grandson first, and then send a letter to Uncle Lu in private."

"My grandson promises! If this strategy can be implemented in the future, the lives of the Zhu family will surely be better than today!"

Empress Dowager Li was in a mixed mood. "So, you are saying that you can use this method to save money and food first, so that you can recruit loyal and brave soldiers from the good families who work for the emperor in the future, just in case? But those scholars are very cunning, and they may not be able to detect your calculations."

"Then never mind. At that time, I will at least be the emperor. If they keep talking, I will have people investigate a few corrupt officials and punish them as a warning to the rest. If they all make a fuss, I can propose sending mining supervisors and tax collectors to let them think about it. If they still refuse to give in, my previous request to protect those meritorious officials who suppressed the rebellion will be useful. Although the meritorious officials are no longer useful, the brave border generals still hope to be favored by the emperor and have military power."

Empress Dowager Li was terrified: "Don't let it get to that point!"

"So I beg you, Grandmother, to start from here. If you want to survey the land and exempt officials and gentry from paying taxes in the future, I can't do it without money and soldiers. But regardless of this, sooner or later the people will have no place to stand, and the Ming Dynasty will eventually fall. The military officers of the garrisons cannot move first, and the officials and gentry cannot move first. I can only start with the nobles and royal family. Even for a brave general like Liu Jing, I can only protect him now, not reuse him, and cannot immediately suppress the Jiannu. Otherwise, there will be many persuasion for war, and the Ming Dynasty will be unable to provide relief for the famine everywhere!"

Empress Dowager Li sat in his study, watching him standing and bending over in front of those screens, and sighed with helplessness and relief.

"In short... no matter what, you can't let your family and the generations of loyal people suffer. You have good intentions, but they may not understand. You can't tell them all these strategies first." Empress Dowager Li looked at his face and her heart softened. "Forget it, you are the one who is destined to be calamity. You should have good luck and the protection of the Bodhisattva. You have been working hard during this period. I don't know how much effort you have spent. Grandmother agreed to your request."

"Grandson bows to thank the Imperial Grandmother for her great kindness!"

"You are so diligent, and you have such insight and strategy. Grandmother is relieved. You don't need to ask me about the trivial matters later. Let's go back to the Cining Palace and have dinner with your father, mother, and mother consort."

(End of this chapter)