Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

The basis for quickly establishing a tax guard is whether Jiang Xinghuo's prison literacy class can really succeed.

After all, the difference between two months and two years for so many veterans to learn arithmetic and literacy is huge.

This thing must be piloted first and then gradually rolled out.

The cultural training for veterans must also come in batches.

In this way, if it can be learned quickly in two months, it will only take three to five years to spread it throughout the country; if it takes two years to learn it, then there is no need to spread it. It is estimated that when Emperor Yongle dies, he may not be able to do it.

Therefore, Jiang Xinghuo's literacy is the most critical thing.

Based on his own judgment, Xie Jin believes that only an extremely smart child who studies around the clock can learn 500 common words and simple arithmetic in two months. However, if he is an illiterate adult and wants to One hour a day, literacy literacy can be completed in two months.

That is simply impossible.

In fact, this is why Jian Yi and Ru Ru couldn't believe it.

Nanjing Imperial Palace, inside Fengtian Hall.

Zhu Di is handling government affairs after the Long case.

"coming."

Zhu Di raised his eyes and glanced at Haodaer, then waved his brush.

The third prince Zhu Gaosui, who was standing behind his father, tried his best to open his slender eyes, smiled cheerfully at his eldest brother, and moved a chair over with his own hands.

"Brother, sit down."

After Zhu Gaochi nodded and thanked him, he sat on the other side of Zhu Di's desk.

"How about taking a look at this memorial in Li Shangshu's book?"

Zhu Gaochi saw that his father did not talk about the main topic, so he was not in a hurry. He took the memorial that his father threw over and browsed it briefly.

In the memorial written by Li Zhigang, the Minister of Rites, Chen requested that Peiping be changed to Beijing.

Zhu Gaochi read out slowly: "Since the past, emperors and kings have either started to wear commoner clothes and pacified the world; some have established external vassals and taken over the great unification, and they have all been promoted in the place where they started. It is clear that the Chief Secretary of Peiping is really The land that the Emperor has transferred to Longxing should follow the system of the Central Capital of Emperor Taizu Gao and establish it as the capital, called Beijing."

Looking up at his father, Zhu Gaochi only said: "This is the same as Fengyang, the central capital. What Li Shangshu said is also in line with etiquette. But, father, do you still plan to move the capital?"

Zhu Di put down his pen at this time and did not reply. Instead, he handed the imperial edict he had just drafted to Haodaer.

"Set up the Imperial Guard's Palace in Beijing, the Imperial Palace in Beijing, and the Imperial Academy in Beijing. For example, Nanjing is Yingtian Palace in the old system, Beijing (Beiping Palace) is changed to Shuntian Palace, and the Taipu Temple in Peking is the Xingtaipu Temple in Beijing. The Governor's Palace in Beijing The left and right governors were appointed, and there was no fixed number of governors and magistrates. There were two Shangshu, four ministers, one each for the Six Cao Li Hu Li Bing Xing Gong Lang, Yuan Wai Lang, and one person in charge. Luo Qian, the Shangshu of the Punishment Department, was appointed as the Beijing Banking Department. Minister."

Seeing Zhu Gaochi finish reading, Zhu Di added: "There are few people in Beijing, and I plan to increase the population. I have ordered Shangshu Xia Yuan Jixia of the Ministry of Household Affairs to verify the landless households in Shanxi Province in order to relocate to Peiping. All counties and counties will still give banknotes on a per-household basis." , in order to purchase cattle, grain seeds and agricultural tools, and tax collection will be started five years later. At the same time, the cabinet was asked to draft regulations for banishing prisoners to Beijing as tenants, and sent prisoners with crimes below the ban to cultivate farmland in Beijing. They were moved to ten counties including Zhili, Suzhou, and Zhejiang Wait for the rich people from the nine provinces to come to Beijing, so that these people will not chatter when they have nothing to do."

This is similar to how Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty forcibly moved wealthy households to Guanzhong.

Needless to say, it has been a good means of weakening local power since ancient times.

Zhu Di leaned on the chair and looked at his eldest son before replying: "I originally planned to move the capital."

"But after listening to so many lectures in the imperial edict, I also understand that for the Ming Dynasty, Nanjing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, is extremely suitable from the perspective of the future."

"After all, Nanjing is close to the ocean but at a distance, so it will not be directly threatened. Moreover, the Yangtze River runs across it and water transportation is developed. If the Ming Dynasty develops toward the ocean in the future, it will be an excellent capital."

"Of course."

Zhu Di changed the topic and said: "The matter of moving the capital can be reconsidered, but the upgrade of Peking Prefecture to Beijing is undoubtedly the Mongols. I must completely defeat them so that they will no longer have the courage and ability to invade the Central Plains. In this way, Only if we come here can we develop towards the ocean with peace of mind.”

Zhu Di didn't wait for Zhu Gaochi to say anything, and continued talking on his own.

"Actually, I understand."

"Like the Mongols and Jurchens, they are endlessly killing. If you kill one group, there will be another group. From ancient times to the present, which dynasty can kill all the people in these desert grasslands and deep mountains and old forests?"

"But why do I still want to obliterate the Jurchens, and why do I want to inflict heavy damage on the Mongols?"

"The reason is that if I don't do these things, then in the future emperors, will there be anyone like me who can personally conquer Mobei and clear out the invaders?"

Zhu Di sighed deeply and said, "I guess it's gone."

"If future generations of emperors are weak and try to sweep away Mobei, and hand over the country's troops to foreign ministers, how can we guarantee that the Ming Dynasty will not be usurped?"

"So, I'd better do this myself in my lifetime."

"Hit the Mongols painfully, hard, and make them flee to the west. Only in this way can we create conditions for future generations of emperors to rely on the Great Wall to defend themselves."

"Jurchens, this is also the case. If I don't do it and future emperors do it, I will be more likely to make mistakes. I can't worry about it!"

After listening to Zhu Di's words, the two brothers Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaosui fell silent at the same time.

In a sense.

Zhu Di really looks like Zhu Yuanzhang!

Worrying about future generations and doing things personally, they all want to do everything they can to the best of their ability and leave an iron-clad empire to future generations.

Zhu Di never mentioned the prison literacy class and the tax guards again, but discussed the governance of the country with Zhu Gaochi one by one.

Zhu Di threw over another memorial and said, "Your seventeenth uncle (Ning Wang Zhu Quan) has submitted it. Let's take a look."

Zhu Gaochi took the memorial and hurriedly browsed it, and he was a little dumbfounded: "Uncle Seventeen wants to be granted a title in Suzhou or Hangzhou? How is this possible?"

"Hmph, it's just a matter of paying back the money. I told him that he would not dare to mention the split in the world, so he made a fuss about places like Suzhou and Hangzhou that I couldn't grant to him. He thought that if I refused him, he would have to Give him a nearly nurturing land as a feudal state." Zhu Di said without saltiness.

"Where does the emperor want to seal Uncle Seventeenth?" Zhu Gaochi asked carefully.

"Let him go to Nanchang. That place is full of outstanding people. It's not bad to keep him there for his retirement."

Zhu Di knocked Long An with his knuckles and said.

After the two matters of moving the capital and changing the title of Prince Ning were finalized, Zhu Di turned the topic back to today's topic.

"You read about the tax guard."

Zhu Gaochi said carefully: "My son, I saw it."

"What do you think?" Zhu Di narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at his eldest son.

Instead, Zhu Gaochi made it clear: "Father, are you referring to the matter of tax guards and guards, or are you saying that your second brother should be responsible for this matter?"

Zhu Di glanced at his eldest son with a hint of surprise.

"Tell me everything."

"I think Mr. Jiang's proposal of tax guards is excellent. It will not only improve the tax collection efficiency of the Ming Dynasty, but also allow the court's decrees to be transmitted to places that were previously inaccessible."

"As for the second brother to take charge." Zhu Gaochi said frankly: "I don't think there is any problem. After all, the second brother has to have something to do after he is released from prison, and the second brother is also very suitable to discipline and train those old soldiers who are used to arrogance. .”

Zhu Di was silent for a few moments, and then asked equally frankly: "Do you really think so?"

Zhu Gaochi nodded, and the flesh on his face trembled.

Zhu Di continued to ask: "Jiang Xinghuo will be released from prison in more than two months. He has organized a literacy class in prison. He wants to see if he can let illiterate prisoners know 500 people in more than two months. A common word, plus the arithmetic of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, do you think it can be done?"

"Based on common sense, I think it won't work."

Zhu Gaochi's answer did not surprise Zhu Di.

Zhu Di nodded slightly and said, "Jian Shangshu and Ru Shangshu said the same thing, but I don't believe it. It's not that I don't trust their judgment."

"But I think Jiang Xinghuo will definitely be able to break this common sense!"

Zhu Gaochi glanced at his father in slight surprise.

did not expect.

In his father's heart, Jiang Xinghuo actually gained such trust.

It was something that everyone thought was impossible, but his father still believed that Jiang Xinghuo could do it.

"Father."

The third prince Zhu Gaosui, who had never spoken much, suddenly spoke up: "I heard that the literacy program in the prison will start tonight. Do you want me to send someone to check it out?"

"That's fine."

Zhu Di frowned and said: "Then who should be sent? At noon, three ministers, Xia Yuanji, Jian Yi and Ru Rui, had already been put to work. I'm afraid it wouldn't be good to let them go again. After all, they have so much money at this time. There must be a lot of official backlog."

"If I send others there, I'm afraid they won't understand."

Zhu Gaochi said at this time: "It's better to send Bachelor Jie Jin. If there is something unique about Mr. Jiang's literacy, I think Bachelor Jie, whose talent has been spread all over the world, will definitely be able to figure it out. Moreover, Mr. Jiang is not the same. I have never met Bachelor Xie, so there is no problem for Mr. Jiang to see anything. I just need to tell Bachelor Xie not to reveal his identity."

"Jie Jin, this is a good candidate." Zhu Di nodded.

At this time, the third prince Zhu Gaosui reminded again.

"Father, the three eunuchs are also back."

"Oh? I almost forgot."

Zhu Di slapped the table and said proudly: "Xie Jin's wild temper needs to be watched by a safe person. Let's just send Xie Jin and Zheng He (whose name was changed two months ago) together. That's it. Once we get there, nothing will go wrong."

"Third brother, go and deliver the message."

Zhu Gaosui bowed and accepted the order.

"Yes, Father!"

——————

Imprisonment.

Under the starlight, there was not even a sound of insects in the prison, making it look particularly eerie and quiet.

In a vacated duty room, a group of prisoners gathered together.

These prisoners all looked at the basket of steamed buns placed on the table with greedy eyes.

"This steamed bun looks really delicious."

"Isn't that right? It's still steaming. I don't know how refreshing it is to take a bite."

Some people swallowed their saliva and couldn't help but reach out to touch it.

At this moment, a cold and deep voice suddenly came from behind the cell door: "How dare you!"

The big hands froze in mid-air, then retracted angrily.

"Master, you must be hungry too, why don't you eat first." The man who spoke looked at the two jailers guarding the door with a smile.

The dark-faced and beardless jailer said nothing, just put his hand on the handle of the knife.

Several people in the duty room suddenly fell silent.

"Want to eat?"

Facing the Hei Wusu jailer's questions, the prisoners who were summoned nodded.

"If you want to eat, remember it for me. If you study well, you will have steamed buns to eat. If you don't study well, get out."

After the jailer finished speaking, he hugged the knife and stopped talking, leaving the prisoners staring at each other in the watch room.

Next to the dark-faced and beardless jailer was a fair-skinned jailer.

Of these two people, one is Zheng He and the other is Xie Jin.

At this time, they all pretended to be jailers and listened openly in the duty room.

The prisoners were talking a lot.

"Study what?"

"I heard it's about learning to read and count."

"Let us learn to read? Are you kidding me?!"

"Shh, don't talk. We'll see later whether we give you steamed buns or not."

"Do you think I can learn it?" A simple and honest prisoner asked a tall, thin man next to him.

"Who knows." The tall and thin man shook his head and said inarticulately.

While talking, blood oozed from his mouth.

Zheng He used the sheath of his sword to knock on the attendants.

After a while, everyone sat quietly on their chairs, waiting with bated breath.

Soon, the person they were waiting for arrived.

Jiang Xinghuo, who had been deep in thought all the way, walked in carrying a book bound with thread, a few pieces of charcoal, and a wooden board.

The course during the day is actually an echo of "take it from the people and use it for the people".

There was more to come, but Jiang Xinghuo didn't intend to continue talking.

If you want to expand on things like classical political economy, it would be endless.

Wage theory, profit theory, land rent theory, reproduction and taxation, international free trade and comparative costs, etc.

Classical political economics is just a solid floor tile on which economics lays.

Although this floor tile was also used by the bearded teacher Ma to step on

As for the Qing Dynasty, which was originally intended to be used as an example of the tax system of a traditional agricultural country, and the tax system of a modern industrial country, this is the best example of tax reform and the separation of central and local governments. Jiang Xinghuo was afraid that the people of the Ming Dynasty lacked a sense of agency, and also gave deleted.

After entering the check-in room, Jiang Xinghuo put all the messy thoughts of the day behind him.

Looking at the various prisoners in front of him, Jiang Xinghuo smiled and said.

"You're all hungry, let's eat the steamed buns first."

Xie Jin and Zheng He looked at each other with a hint of disbelief.

The biggest reward was given out right away. How could these prisoner students still be motivated?

You call this literacy? Are you being ripped off by an illiterate?

While Jiang Xinghuo watched the prisoners scramble to grab the snow-white steamed buns and devour them hungrily, he put down the wooden boards, charcoal pencils, and thread-bound books he had brought with him.

Jiang Xinghuo said nothing, just looked at these people.

There was a trace of imperceptible sadness in his eyes.