Reborn as a tyrant in the Ming Dynasty

"The most difficult thing to understand in this world is the human heart."

In the Dongnuan Pavilion, Zhu Youxiao was sitting on the throne, staring at Dong Yingju who was standing with his hands down, "I sometimes wonder why there are so many troubles. There are obviously many rules established by the imperial court, so there shouldn't be any accidents." , but the reality is very cruel, the chaos at the moment is not only in the central court, but also in various places in the Ming Dynasty. "

When Dong Yingju heard this, he had complicated emotions in his heart.

It seems that he has been in officialdom for decades, but the longer he enters officialdom, the less he understands it.

There are obviously many long-standing shortcomings that need to be solved, but all the princes in the court turn a blind eye, as if nothing has happened.

But is this really the reality?

From the Wanli Dynasty, to the Taichang Dynasty, to the Tianqi Dynasty, so many things happened during this period, including the Jianlu rebellion in Liaodong, the chieftain rebellion in the southwest, the Mongolian Tatar invasion in the northern Xinjiang, and the local civil riots. And surrounding these turmoils, It is the frequent disasters that occur in various places and the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes in various places. It seems that the Ming Dynasty is still strong, but in fact, internal and external troubles have become very serious!

"Does the Qing family know why I appointed you as the Minister of Qian Fa?"

Seeing Dong Yingju's complicated expression, Zhu Youxiao leaned forward.

"I am stupid, please give me a clear explanation, Your Majesty."

Dong Yingju calmed down and raised his hands to bow to the emperor.

"The reason is simple, the treasury must be open to the public!!"

Zhu Youxiao said in a sonorous tone: "The suppression of rebellions in Liaodong and Southwest China has consumed an unknown amount of money from the imperial court, but the progress made has been unsatisfactory. Compared with the territory lost in Liaodong, the Eight Banners of Jianlu have become more and more rampant. I In fact, what I am more worried about are the southwest lands!!"

"The impact of the She'an Rebellion is no less than that of Yang Ni (Yang Yinglong)'s rebellion in the Wanli Dynasty. The situation in the southwest is very complicated, especially the influence of chieftains everywhere, which has caused far more harm to the rule of this land. It’s bigger than the world thinks!!”

"Perhaps Sichuan, Guizhou and other places are barren, but this land belongs to the Ming Dynasty. Once the imperial court loses control of the southwest, neighboring Huguang, Jiangxi and other places will be affected!!"

Yes.

Dong Yingju felt sad. As far as the current situation is concerned, everyone is worried about the Jianlu rebellion in Liaodong. Little did they know that the chieftain rebellion in the southwest would be far more harmful than the Jianlu rebellion if it could not be suppressed in the end.

It's not nice to say something nice.

Even if the western Liaoning front line controlled by the Ming Dynasty was eventually occupied by the rebels, it might make the court very passive, but it would not shake the foundation of the country.

After all, there are still internal and external defense lines such as Xuanfu Town, Changping, Miyun, Jizhen Sanxie, Shanhaiguan Town, etc. to guard the pass to ensure the stability of the border areas. Even if the Eight Banners of Jianlu really coerced the Mongolian and Tatar tribes, they launched an offensive together into the Daming Pass. , the imperial court was still able to mobilize troops from Jiubian, Henan, Shandong and other places to ensure stability and order in the hinterland of the pass.

But if the southwest regions are really lost, more chieftains will inevitably jump out. By then, traveling north along Sichuan will threaten the stability of Shanxi and Shaanxi, and heading eastward to Huguang, Jiangxi and other places will shake up the southeastern provinces. Once this situation occurs, the Guangdong and Guangxi areas farthest from the capital will inevitably be lost, and half of the Ming Dynasty will be unsafe!

"The southwestern chieftain rebellion has had a huge impact."

Zhu Youxiao lifted up his robe sleeves and continued: "Just talking about the price of food. Compared with She Ni and An Ni before they betrayed the court, they have increased many times. Shanxi, Shaanxi, Huguang, and Jiangxi are adjacent to the southwest. In places such as China, the performance of food prices is most obvious under the rule of law."

"Compared to Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places with lower grain production, Huguang is a major producer of grain. Since ancient times, Huguang has been known as the world's most mature country, but so what? The price of grain has not dropped under Huguang's rule!! "

"Your Majesty the Holy Spirit!!"

Dong Ying bowed and said: "Although there may have been disasters under Huguang's rule in recent years, overall, Huguang has been able to produce enough crops year after year. And as far as the court knows, the price of food in Huguang is constantly rising, although the rise is very slow. , but compared with before the She Ni and An Ni rebellions, the price of food has increased a lot."

"What's even more outrageous is that private coinage has become a common practice in Huguang and other places, which has flooded the public with a large amount of bad currency, which has further aggravated the instability among the people!!"

"This is the reason why I appointed the Qing family as the Minister of Qian Fa!"

Zhu Youxiao stretched out his hand and said to Dong Yingju.

Ok?

Dong Yingju was confused. Until now, he had not figured out what the emperor was thinking.

“I want to reform the Ming Dynasty’s currency system!!”

Zhu Youxiao's eyes were firm and he said: "Because I have found that in addition to the prevalence of private money making, money bureaus in various places also have serious problems with money making. What's worse, some people put their minds on fire consumption. This series of situations has caused people everywhere to The burden is huge. If the court cannot reform the currency system, even if I have abolished the Liao rates, the burden on the lower class will still not be reduced in any way, and this will cause public resentment to boil."

"Does His Majesty want to close down the local money bureau?"

Dong Yingju suppressed his surprise and said.

"This is my idea, but I won't shut down everything at once, otherwise the order of the place will be instantly disrupted!"

Zhu Youxiao replied.

After hearing what the emperor said, Dong Yingju breathed a sigh of relief.

He was really afraid that the emperor would do this.

Once all local money bureaus are shut down without explanation, it will inevitably cause chaos everywhere! !

After all, behind every money bureau, there are countless interests involved.

"After the Qing family took up the post of Minister Qian Fa, the first thing they did was to find out how many bureaus there were in various places in the Ming Dynasty." Zhu Youxiao said with a serious expression.

"As for these money bureaus, which ones are set up by the imperial court and which ones are set up by local governments under various names? After sorting out these, what the Qing family has to do is to integrate the money bureaus from all over the country and take back part of the minting power!!"

"Your Majesty, this is not an easy task."

Dong Yingju frowned.

"Of course I know it's not easy, otherwise I wouldn't have appointed the Qing family as Minister Qian Fa!"

Zhu Youxiao said in a sonorous tone: "In addition to this matter, the Qing family also needs to gather a group of skilled craftsmen to recast a batch of new coins for the imperial court!!"

This……

Dong Yingju was completely shocked.

If what the former has to do is considered to be as difficult as climbing to the sky, then the latter is a hundred times harder than climbing to the sky, and even if it is not done well, it will cause the financial collapse! !

"I know what the Qing family thinks."

Looking at the shocked Dong Yingju, Zhu Youxiao said calmly: "But this must be done. The existing currency system can no longer meet the needs of the court. It is a fact that the national treasury is empty, and there are still many long-standing shortcomings in various places that need to be solved. I want to solve them properly." There are existing shortcomings, and the imperial court must take the initiative!!"

Even before this, Zhu Youxiao was busy solving various disturbances and troubles, but this did not affect Zhu Youxiao at all, as he launched plans in various fields on how to save the Ming Dynasty.

Seigniorage must be instituted.

If the currency reform of the Ming Dynasty can be finally promoted, the central finance will be able to obtain a stable financial source, which is faster than the apportionment of Liao pay and miscellaneous taxes!

The most critical point is that once the currency reform is promoted, many of the many accumulated fiscal shortcomings of the Ming Dynasty will be eliminated!

"These documents are some of my thoughts on currency reform. The Qing family can take them back and take a look at them first."

Zhu Youxiao picked up a stack of documents from the imperial case, looked at Dong Yingju and said: "I wasted a lot of time in the past to solve some problems, but now it is a waste. I hope the Qing family can take this seriously. thing."

"I obey the decree!!"

At this moment, Dong Yingju recalled a lot, but he also suddenly understood that it turned out that the emperor did not want to neglect the government before, but had a purpose!

Although Dong Yingju knew that after receiving the pile of documents from him, he would face many challenges and even criticisms and criticisms in the future, but when he thought of the dangers facing the country of the Ming Dynasty, as a minister of the Ming Dynasty, he did not care about these at all. As long as we can make the Ming Dynasty better, then what does it matter no matter how much we bear?