Rebirth of the Ming Dynasty: Sixth Generation of Glory, I don't want it

Zhang Xin came back and made a detailed report:

Since the Yellow River burst its banks during the Hongwu Dynasty, the Huitong River has been silted up, and the old course dredged during the Yuan Dynasty has become completely blocked.

As a result, the Yellow River water moved southward, and all the flood disasters went to Henan. Where the old Yellow River course was located, the river banks on both sides were level with the current river surface, and there would be floods when it rained. Only by dredging the old course first and then cleaning up the Huitong River, a two-pronged approach, can the disaster in Henan be alleviated.

His father adopted Zhang Xin's suggestion and started dredging the river in March of the ninth year of Yongle. One hundred thousand civilians were mobilized to dredge the silted river. The entire project was completed in July this year.

As a result, there were fewer floods in Henan.

However, in the ninth year of Yongle, it was not just Henan that suffered from the disaster.

Zhejiang, Huguang, Henan, Shuntian and Yangzhou all suffered from floods, while Henan and Shaanxi suffered from plague.

In addition, in the ninth year of Yongle, a sea flood occurred in Zhejiang.

From Haimen to Yancheng, the dike was destroyed for a total of 130 li. The imperial court used 400,000 soldiers to repair the dike. In order to prevent the dike from being destroyed again, earthen hills were built in Qingpu to block the impact of the waves.

Whenever various natural disasters occurred, whether it was Zhu Di or Zhu Gaochi, as long as the local governments responded, they would not hesitate to contribute manpower, effort and money.

But Xia Yuanji felt that it was not enough.

He was thinking about the deeper implications.

The key is how the disaster victims can rebuild their homes and keep their land after the disaster so that others cannot take advantage of the opportunity to buy it at a low price.

The court made huge contributions to disaster relief, but when it was shared among all the people, it was just enough to maintain the situation.

Calculating on a household basis, if the breadwinner of a family falls ill, even with relief from the imperial court, he may eventually need to borrow money for medical treatment, and then sell his fields and land, and even his children.

Those who take advantage of this opportunity to borrow money at a 3% interest rate and those who take advantage of this opportunity to buy all kinds of things are making money from the national crisis.

Xia Yuanji didn't want to leave any room for these people.

Therefore, a people-friendly policy was proposed to add a small-denomination loan to the court's convenient money service.

As long as the disaster victims have their household registration and disaster certificate, they can borrow an interest-free loan and repay it on time after one year. If they really cannot repay it, they can apply for an extension.

If anyone refuses to pay back their debts, the entire household will be sent to mine.

If you really cannot pay it back, please give me special approval.

Zhu Gaochi felt that his father was really lucky as he had made use of Xia Yuanji without any restrictions, and the rewards now were truly amazing.

The Ministry of Revenue is well managed.

I can answer any question about national fiscal and taxation no matter where you ask me.

Zhu Gaochi would be surprised from time to time.

Just like the matter of lending money out through the convenience service, not only did the common people benefit, but it also greatly alleviated the crisis of the imperial court whose land had been taken away by the big landlords.

"Yes, I remember from the statistics of the fish scale book last year, the taxed land only increased by 10%."

After listening to this, Zhang Xin just sighed.

"There's no rush, just do it bit by bit."

Zhu Gaochi comforted him.

"Well, go ahead, I'm done. I'm leaving!"

While listening to Zhu Gaochi's stories, Zhang Xin did not stop working. He threw a tall pile of memorials with notes attached to them to Zhu Gaochi's side, then stood up and left quickly.

My little girl is about to finish class.

Being close to your little one is the serious thing.

He also had to meet the general manager of the Royal Beijing News on behalf of Zhu Zhanji, so he was very busy.

"No loyalty—"

Zhu Gaochi was upset. Every time he finished explaining something to Zhang Xin, he always felt like his wife had cheated on him. What was going on?

"Let the second and third fat men accompany you later!"

Zhang Xin sent out the fat squad.

"Thank you!"

"polite!"

"puff--"

~~~~

Xishan Bieyuan.

When Zhang Xin arrived with her little daughter Zhu Jiabao, whom she couldn't get rid of, Qi Sheng, the general manager of Beijing News, had already arrived.

After the greetings, Qisheng didn't waste any time and started reporting directly.

At this time, the Beijing News had been largely spread throughout the capital.

But it is slightly different from what Zhang Xin said before.

After careful consideration and considering the actual sales situation, Zhu Zhanji split the Beijing News into two copies.

A morning paper and an evening paper.

The morning paper is a summary of what happens in the country every day. It is written in plain language and is mainly sold to ordinary people.

The evening papers were essays and articles by great scholars of the past or present dynasties, as well as annotations to classics handed down from generation to generation, including some excerpts from the Yongle Encyclopedia. They were mainly sold to students in the capital.

The prices of the two copies are different, the morning paper is one cent and the evening paper is five cents.

Surprisingly, the evening edition is selling more at the moment because it is indeed very cheap.

Books were very expensive at that time, and any single book would cost a starting price of one or two strings of coins.

Students don’t care if a newspaper is covered with words or if the paper is of poor quality. The more words there are, the more valuable it is to them, as long as it is meaningful and they cannot find the content easily.

Five cents a day, even if you buy it every day, it will only be one hundred and fifty cents a month.

After binding into a book, it is much cheaper than buying it.

Some people even buy one copy together and buy paper to make their own copies.

"I was wrong."

Zhang Xin admits her mistakes.

"Your Highness is modest."

Seeing Zhang Xin speaking so matter-of-factly, Qi Sheng could only respond with a dry remark.

"Then, Manager Qi, please come and see me?"

"Your Highness, I was just wondering if the morning newspaper could remove some of the trivial matters of the capital and add a new content."

"What content?"

"Your Highness, add a character for literacy, which is to separate the commonly used characters into a separate block, such as heaven, earth, man, you and me, and so on."

Qi Sheng felt that the job of the chief manager of the Beijing newspaper was quite empty.

From the time I started taking care of this until now, I have been losing money.

He was a low-ranking eunuch in the Crown Prince's Palace, a low-ranking one. He had been following His Royal Highness the Crown Prince around since Nanjing. He accompanied him in studying every day and knew a few words.

I was suddenly entrusted with an important task by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and I was filled with nothing but fear.

As someone in the palace, he knew that the Crown Princess was the one who made the most money in the entire palace.

The Royal Treasure Shop and the Baotang Shop were making a fortune almost every day.

Although His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that he was not doing this for the money, he couldn't do it. If he didn't make money, at least he had to not lose money.

He was afraid that he would lose money and even his head.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was taken by the Emperor to inspect Jiangnan. He has been feeling increasingly exhausted during this period, and his hair is almost falling out due to worry.

As for the evening papers, he placed some in all major bookstores, and also sent them to private schools of all sizes. He sent them once to the academy, and even to the Imperial College and the Imperial School. Finally, there was a slight improvement in sales.

But there is no way to publish the morning paper.

Ordinary people say they won’t buy the newspaper, and students complain that the morning paper doesn’t have much content.

He felt that the morning paper needed further improvement.

"Mom, this works!"

Zhu Jiabao had been listening quietly to everyone's responses, but suddenly he spoke.

[Small science: The price of books in the Ming Dynasty, "New Compilation of Shiwen Leiju Hanmo Daquan", the edition printed by Jianyang Shulin Anzhengtang in the 39th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, the cover page of each copy was priced at one tael of silver.]