First Minister of Ming Dynasty

It seems that people can't believe their words.

Black and white are reversed, and there are fewer times when right and wrong are confused?

I also sued Zhang Xiang and wronged the good man.

Now it seems that I am sorry for King Yan.

"The prince's words are very reasonable. Fang Xiaoru will definitely do his best, please rest assured, King Yan!"

Zhu Di was very touched and said: "In that case, you should work hard and give them a lecture while Zhang Xiang is in Beiping. It is their blessing to hear Zhang Xiang's lecture."

Fang Xiaoru nodded again and again, bid farewell to Zhu Di quickly, and couldn't wait to make preparations.

Before leaving, Fang Xiaoru gave Huang Zicheng a vicious look, it was you who taught His Royal Highness Yan Wang badly.

Huang Zicheng is full of grievances... Am I wronged?

There were only two people left, he looked at Zhu Di suddenly, and said in surprise: "His Royal Highness, you, why did you change your mind? Didn't we agree to teach you to be a playboy?"

Zhu Di glared at him, "Idiot, they don't only have one son, you're abolished by the teaching, they just change another one, and they will also have a grudge, thinking that we in Beiping intend to harm them, so we will have a quarrel with us from then on." Now... tell me, isn't it a bad idea?"

Huang Zicheng was dumbfounded, and couldn't help stretching out his thumb, "His Highness, what are you going to do?"

Zhu Di chuckled, "Of course they were trained, they look like talents."

"Looks like a talent?"

"Yes! It's the kind you're familiar with. It's the kind that writes a thousand words and has no ideas. It can only talk big words, can't do shit, and doesn't eat the fireworks of the world, and doesn't understand the sufferings of the people... By the way, it's the kind of scholar-bureaucrats, Same as you used to!"

Huang Zicheng cried, you are really rude in describing it like this!

"Your Highness, I probably understand, but how can such a person be favored by various tribes?"

Zhu Di didn't answer, but asked instead: "Mr. Huang, how did you say that as a literati, you can gain the emperor's trust, flourish in the officialdom, and get to the high position of prime minister?"

Huang Zicheng couldn't help but think about it... This scholar is obviously not the kind of Zhang Ximeng or Li Shanchang, but a civil servant who climbed up through formal channels in the middle of the dynasty.

First of all, this group of people must have a good test score, especially in the imperial examination, they must be in the top few, be known by the government and the public, and obtain a degree.

Correspondingly, let these children of the leaders enter the Peking University, receive teaching from famous teachers, and graduate smoothly.

Secondly, what do literati want?

Literati need to form a group and support each other to form a force.

As long as the big guys are twisted together, they won't be tricked.

Putting it on the side of Beiping Academy is to let people from different tribes get to know each other and form friendships as classmates, and even let the top students of Ming Dynasty become friends with them, broaden their contacts, and lay a foundation.

In this way, the headman's children who successfully graduated from Peking University will look bright and beautiful.

They have top diplomas, receive the best education, and speak the same language.That is, they know people from other tribes and have friends in Daming.

In a word, it is resounding, resounding, definitely a character.

This kind of talent, being a leader, would be wronging them at all. If this kind of talent came to Daming, he would also be a talented person.

As for their level?

Maybe if you look at the scholar-bureaucrats in the Song Dynasty, you will know that there may be a few geniuses, but they are generally stretched and there is no cure.

Huang Zicheng figured out the key point, and broke out in a cold sweat.

"Your Highness, who gave His Highness this idea? This idea is too powerful!"

Zhu Di blinked, who?

Mr. Zhang!

But unfortunately, Zhu Di didn't have the guts to reveal it, so he could only say with a dark face: "The idea you gave me that day was so stinky! I went back and thought about it myself. For the sake of making you a scapegoat today, I will I don’t blame you anymore. Write a school-running strategy later, send it to Yingtian, and let my father take a look.”

Huang Zicheng had nothing to say, so he could only hurry down.He couldn't write about the messy calculations here, but he just said that he wanted to recruit the children of tribal leaders, expand their education, give them the best teachers, arrange the best education, let them learn skills, be loyal to Ming Dynasty, and be loyal ministers and generals of Ming Dynasty.

This strategy was reviewed by Zhu Di and sent to Lao Zhu.

Seeing this result, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, and looked to the side, "Zhu Biao, take a look too!"

Zhu Biao took it, only took a few glances, and then frowned.

"Father, is the fourth brother wishful thinking? I, I think he was fooled by the rot! How can he be so naive? There should be an order quickly to stop him from acting like this!"

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his head, and after a long time, he suddenly clapped his hands and laughed, "Ruru? We don't think so! This person is a real genius! We were almost deceived by him."

Zhu Biao was puzzled, "Father, why do you say that?"

Old Zhu chuckled, "Zhu Biao, you said that you can teach good students by choosing the best teacher? Then why did Mr. Zhang send his son to Jimin School? Why are your second and third brothers taught by several Hanlin teachers?" Brothers turned against each other? According to what they do, we can't see how many real talents can be taught, but a bunch of scholar-bureaucrats!"

Zhu Biao was taken aback. Looking at this strategy again, combined with what his father said, he gradually realized something, "Father, who designed this for the fourth brother? He, he definitely can't figure it out!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was slightly taken aback, and said meaningfully: "This idea does not seem to be Mr. Zhang's handwriting. There are capable people around the fourth child."

Zhu Biao frowned and said, "Father, why wasn't it written by the master?"

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled, "If Mr. really made a move, he would most likely advocate dividing the grassland equally and start with ordinary tribesmen. That is the majestic way! Not this, when he makes a move, he is full of ghosts, with endless calculations."

After Lao Zhu finished speaking, he looked at Zhu Biao seriously, "Your fourth brother is a little different."

Zhu Biao was stunned, and said with a smile: "No matter what, he is my fourth brother, brotherhood, love is stronger than gold, we will not let father down!"

Lao Zhu took a deep breath and finally nodded, "Okay, call your younger brothers and sisters later, and let's have dinner together."

Chapter 7 Zhu Biao's Tips

So far, Lao Zhu has more than twenty children. Among them, Zhu Biao is married to Chang Yuchun's daughter, and he is not far away from becoming a father.

And the other brothers and sisters, the youngest is still crying in the swaddling baby!

So it is not a joke to say that Zhu Biao is their second father, the elder brother is like a father.

Since Zhang Ximeng left Beijing, Zhu Biao has actually taken on the responsibility of the interior minister, and Li Shanchang is in charge of the outside government affairs. However, he has to look over the things sent to Zhu Yuanzhang in advance and sort them out.

All kinds of suggestions, investigation reports, and intelligence from the military intelligence department of those civil servants must also be collected in Zhu Biao's hands.Family affairs and state affairs all fall on him alone.

Zhu Biao, who was not yet twenty, always frowned, and two deep grooves gradually formed between his eyebrows that were difficult to stretch. It was not easy to be a son of Lao Zhu.

What's more, the government affairs are complicated now, and the state affairs are tense.

Fortunately, under the influence of Zhang Ximeng, Lao Zhu corrected a lot of problems, and Zhu Biao was finally able to catch his breath.

The entire royal family got together and had a happy dinner. Taking advantage of this opportunity, they hugged the little princes and princesses one by one in front of Lao Zhu, so that the father could see them.

Seeing this large group of children, Lao Zhu was also elated. Among other things, he has spread the branches and leaves for Lao Zhu's family, and he can be proud even in front of his ancestors.

It's just that although the family is prosperous, the country is not necessarily.

After dinner, Lao Zhu left Zhu Biao and asked Empress Ma to come too. The family of three got together and planned to settle accounts.

"In the past few days, although there has been no movement from the Ministry of Education, we have heard that the Ministry of Officials has been in arrears with one month's salary. Many people are making noise, saying that the treasury is short of money. We blame us for being so happy. What's going on, Zhu Biao, do you understand?"

Zhu Biao hurriedly said: "Father, my boy has indeed heard about it, and my boy even went to ask Xueshi Song and Xueshi Liu."

Song Lian and Liu Ji are not only Zhang Ximeng's subordinates, but also Zhu Biao's masters. Their character and knowledge are recognized by the court.

Old Zhu said, "What did they say?"

Zhu Biao said: "In the final analysis, the expenditure has increased too much all at once. Since the unification of the world, the growth of our land tax has slowed down. Only in Henan and other places, there has been a slight increase, but the speed is not fast."

No one can do anything about this... Like when Zhu Yuanzhang fought from Huaixi to Jinling, he suddenly gained a lot of fertile land. After equalizing the land, his income immediately increased sharply, and his strength doubled when he annexed Jiangxi.

But as the whole world is included in the territory, this situation is much less.

Although the economy in the north has recovered, the population has increased, and more and more wasteland has been reclaimed, which can increase the land tax... But the foundation of these places is weak, and they cannot increase too much at once, otherwise something will happen again.

Moreover, there is still the Yellow River to be managed, which is a heavy burden.

The level of Tian Fu is just like this, there is no hope at all, this is a dead money.

The rest is commercial tax, which is quite considerable.

Among them, the salt tax has more than 800 million Guan treasure notes, and the tariff has also exceeded 200 million taels!

Note that the tariffs are collected from gold and silver, converted into 200 million taels of silver, which will become the reserves of the Ming treasury, 200 million taels of silver, at least 1000 million coins can be issued.

In addition, Ganjiang waterways, Yangtze River shipping, the Grand Canal, etc., as well as major cities, tea, silk, porcelain trade, mules and horses in the north, and timber trafficking... These can also provide more than 2000 million yuan in annual revenue.

Frankly speaking, under Zhang Ximeng's arrangement, Daming's financial structure is much healthier than in history.Due to the thorough land equalization, the land tax is much more than in history. Although the salt tax has not increased, the price of salt is very low, and the common people have benefited.

Furthermore, consumption power has increased, and the direct result is a rapid increase in business taxes, and the speed at which the people recover is quite astonishing.

Yingtian, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Yangzhou are even more prosperous than in the Yuan Dynasty.

But everything has two sides. Zhang Ximeng's system requires a large number of officials to be in charge of government affairs, and a sufficient team of talents... To put it bluntly, it is to establish schools and reform the official system.

In recent years, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Taxation, and the Ministry of Commerce were first added, and then the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Education were separated. Then, in order to clean up the three aunts and six wives, Lao Zhu created the Police Department by himself.

This is not counting the yamen like the Du Branch Bureau.

Counting everything together, Daming's salary expenditure is an astronomical figure.

Now that compulsory education is being implemented again, various expenditures are at least [-]% higher than expected.

"Zhu Biao, are there any disadvantages in this?" Old Zhu frowned, and the knife in his hand couldn't bear it anymore.

"Father, I dare not say that there is no such thing as greedy ink. But there are some expenses that have not been considered before. For example, in some villages and towns, the roads are impassable, and schoolchildren want to go to school. They have to walk a long way, and it takes two hours to go back and forth. There are many more. There is no way but to find ways to repair bridges and roads. There are also some more remote students who need to live in schools and build school buildings to solve the problem of food and drink. In some places, the financial gap is too large, and the court still We need money to subsidize teaching materials. In addition, school children also have clothes, hats, shoes and socks, pens, inks, papers and inkstones... All in all, the price we need to pay for children to go to school is much higher than we think."

At this moment, Empress Ma said, "Biaoer, the court has accounts for the court, and we should also have accounts for ours... Your father came from a poor background, and he sat on the dragon chair. Counting forward, our Zhu family is all poor people. It was so hard that it couldn’t be worse, so we had no choice but to take up the sword and lay down such a big country. Now it’s our turn to make the decision. Let the children go to school and live a good life in the future. This is what we should do. Mr. If the old Zhu’s family can’t prosper and prosper, others will have nothing to do and suffer from poverty for life after life! Doing so will not only cause a breach of conscience, but it will also damage the foundation of Ming Dynasty. In short, we cannot learn from the Yuan Dynasty.”

Empress Ma's words were quite reasonable, especially after the whole family enjoyed dinner, they seemed to hit the point.

You can't eat and drink too much, ordinary people don't even have corn bread!

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded vigorously, "My sister is right. Since we are the father of the world, we should think of a way for the world. This is our duty." He turned his head again, "Zhu Biao, how many gaps are there now? Can you make up for it?"

Zhu Biao said: "Father, the current gap is about 300 million guan... The problem here is that Fujian and other places suffered heavy rains, mountain torrents broke out, and the tea could not be shipped out. The tea tax part was [-] guan. Originally, Li Xianggong was Those who wanted to issue bonds, but there was such a big gap all of a sudden, I am afraid that the issue of bonds will not work, which will cause the salaries of some Beijing officials to be unable to be paid."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and sighed: "Officials can't get their salaries. It's okay for a while, but after a long time, they will find a way. After all, they are not ordinary people, and they will not let themselves starve. This matter must not be careless. We need to come up with a countermeasure as soon as possible.”

Zhu Biao hurriedly said: "Father, right now, Mr. Li is ready to take the lead in reducing some salaries, giving priority to the officials below. The second is to auction off a batch of second-hand goods in the warehouse. But this is still a drop in the bucket, and it can really solve the problem. One is the copper transported from Yunnan, the other is the income from the Ryukyu side, and the third is the income from the fourth brother in Peking."

Hearing Zhu Biao's words, Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma were quite surprised, because this matter did not conform to common sense.

Is Zhu Di rich?

He has always been crying about being poor, and every time he writes a letter, he is so poor that he can't afford to eat... As time goes on, although he doesn't believe all of Zhu Di's nonsense, if he doubles it, Zhu's fourth son's life will not be easy.

It's fighting wars, building the Great Wall, and running schools.

Spending money is like flowing water, and Zhu Di has no cornucopia.

No matter how you look at it, it doesn't look like you are rich!

Even though Zhu Di wanted money, maybe he would cry for a while, and instead ask the court to subsidize him!

"Father, the fourth brother's life is not easy, but he is definitely not without money. On the contrary, he should have a lot of money... This is what I have only recently figured out."

Old Zhu murmured, "How do you say that?"

"Father, please think about it. These years, you have been using troops in the north. The Liaodong tribes, Duoyan and other tribes have successively belonged to Daming, and there is also Korea. My son just heard that the fourth brother set up a bank a while ago. It seems that Among them are the deposits of noble people in Korea."

"Wait a minute!" Old Zhu interrupted Zhu Biao, "What do you mean? Goryeo actually deposits money in Beiping. What do they mean? Send money to the fourth son, and ask the fourth son to send troops to beat them? People are too lowly, right?"

Zhu Biao scratched his head, "I don't quite understand it either, but according to Guan Duo, it seems that Lan Yu persuaded the fourth brother to do it, saying that as long as you save money, you don't have to be afraid of Xin Tan ransacking the house."

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a long time, and he suddenly said: "Zhu Biao, you said that the person who gave the fourth brother advice was Lan Yu?" The idea Zhu Yuanzhang spoke of was naturally the idea of ​​running a school.

But then Lao Zhu shook his head, "That idea is too ingenious, interlocking and calculating, it's not something that Lan Yu can come up with. By the way... Lan Yu is your wife and uncle, why did he go so far with the fourth brother? close?"

Zhu Biao was helpless, "He is also the master of the fourth brother! Besides, they have similar temperaments, and they should have a good relationship."

Old Zhu snorted, and flew into a rage, "What kind of temperament is congenial? It's clearly a congenial smell! You should write to Zhu Di now and tell him to give us at least 300 million guan, the more the better! If you can't fill the hole in the treasury, Let's just throw him into the hole! This bastard actually tricked Mr. Zhang's manuscript away. He is very scheming. Originally, we wanted to receive it in the palace, but now it's fine, and he has become a schoolmate. It's really abominable! "

Good guy, Lao Zhu also holds grudges!

Zhu Biao quickly agreed, and he went to write a letter, but after Zhu Biao thought about it, he didn't directly tell Zhu Di to pay 300 million guan... Instead, he told him that the imperial court had more than 1000 million guan holes, and his father asked him to find a way to replace the imperial court. Troubleshoot problems.

Then Zhu Biao wrote a letter to Zhang Ximeng. In the letter, Zhu Biao truthfully stated that Lao Zhu’s minimum limit was 300 million guan.

After Zhu Biao finished writing the letter, a smile appeared on his face, now the husband can vent his anger!

Chapter 711 The Best Successor

It's been almost two years since Zhu Di arrived in Peiping. Not many people know how much money this kid has.Even Li Jinglong and Hua Wei, two crouching dragons and phoenixes, don't know anything about it.

Because Zhu Di's long history was named Ge Cheng, his file in Menxia Province was very brief, with only a few short lines, the most important of which was that Ge Cheng used to work under Empress Ma and was responsible for managing internal funds.