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

The facts were indeed as Li Jinglong had inferred.

In his previous life, Ashikaga Yoshimochi, this good son, did not please Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

His experience was somewhat similar to Zhu Gaochi's in his previous life, so she remembered it very clearly.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu did give him the position of shogun after weighing the pros and cons.

But this giving is limited and is also a temptation.

Just like when his father-in-law went north and asked Zhu Gaochi to be the regent, Zhu Gaochi was so nervous about doing this job that he always asked for instructions and never made decisions on his own. He managed to survive until the end and became a short-lived emperor.

But Ashikaga Yoshimochi was different. As soon as he became the shogun, he began to carry out reforms passionately and changed many of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's measures of governing the country.

The relationship between father and son gradually deteriorated.

Originally, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was just retreating in order to advance, and he had never let go of most of the real power. When he saw his son's performance, he completely tended to support his younger son.

He also secretly planned for his youngest son, Ashikaga Yoshitsugu, to ascend the throne of emperor, which would be more legitimate than that of shogun.

One year, Emperor Go-Komatsu's mother, Fujiwara no Yasuko, died.

Normally, Komatsu should have observed mourning for a year, which is called "Ryoan no Ya" in Japan.

However, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu used the reason that it was not appropriate for an emperor to mourn twice, so he asked Emperor Komatsu to recognize his wife Hino Yasuko as his surrogate mother. In this way, he naturally became the father of the emperor.

This is obviously paving the way for the younger son to become the emperor's grandson.

Later, Ashikaga Yoshitsugu even obtained the identity of "Child Prince" for his youngest son Ashikaga Yoshitsugu.

However, on the third day after he helped his son obtain the status of Prince Tong, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu died.

There is no truth as to how he died, whether he died himself or was killed by someone else.

By that time, Ashikaga Yoshimochi truly controlled the real power of the shogunate.

All in all, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was so focused on pushing his youngest son to the throne that he had no time to take care of other things for only five or six years.

Li Jinglong had a very accurate sense of timing.

This period of time is the most suitable for causing trouble in Japan.

If it is later, when Ashikaga Yoshimochi is able to control the overall situation, it will be hard to say.

Moreover, my father-in-law’s arrangements were exactly the same as in my previous life.

It was around this time that Zheng He led a 100,000-man navy to Japan and delivered his father-in-law's imperial edict to Ashikaga Yoshimitsu:

"Let them suppress the bandits on their own and govern them according to their own country's laws."

The large army forced Ashikaga Yoshimitsu to surrender, confirmed the status of a vassal state, and demanded that the Japanese ronin samurai be restrained from pirate activities.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu wisely expressed his surrender and arrested more than 20 Japanese pirates who had invaded the Ming Dynasty and executed them in front of Zheng He.

The two countries also signed the Kango Trade Treaty.

From now on, Japan will pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty will allow it to trade with the Ming Dynasty.

"How did Dad arrange things for the Ryukyu Kingdom?"

After reading the letter, Zhang Xin mentally put an end to Japan and threw it aside. No matter east, south, west or north, as long as Zhu Di was interested and set his sights on it, he would not be able to escape.

But the letter didn't seem to mention Ryukyu much.

"According to my father's thinking, Ryukyu is already in his pocket, so there is nothing to arrange. Moreover, the three families are all respectful to the Ming Dynasty, so it is not easy for my father to interfere in their internal affairs.

Zhu Gaochi spread his hands.

"It would be great if the three of us could join forces to deal with outsiders. We can all make money together."

Zhang Xin wanted to push it forward and speed up the unification of the three families. Anyway, they were unified during the Xuande Dynasty, so it was only twenty years earlier.

"My cousin is the best at this kind of thing. Don't worry, it won't take more than five years."

Zhu Gaochi felt that according to Li Jinglong's style, he could bring back two families this time, and next time he could bring back three families.

"That's good."

Zhang Xin thought about it and agreed, and completely put the matter of the East China Sea aside from her heart.

"Do you still want to go out for a walk? The capital has been cleared, and no one will be blind anymore."

Zhu Gaochi stopped writing and asked.

All the children, both big and small, went to Beijing, and he saw that Zhang Xin looked a little low in spirits.

"Forget it, I won't go. It's hot."

Zhang Xin was pregnant and was afraid of heat.

The capital city in June is much more difficult to endure than the capital.

I haven't been sleeping well these past few days.

"How about staying at the manor for a while? It's much cooler there."

Zhu Gaochi is not so busy now. Zhu Di has arrived in the capital and he has a team there too. Some things don't need to go through him.

"Oh, forget it. Less trouble is worse than more. Oh, by the way, regarding the flood in Suzhou and Songjiang, my mother asked me to take out one million from the inner treasury for disaster relief. I can also take 800,000 to repair the river embankment."

Zhang Xin slapped his head halfway through his words and finally remembered what he had forgotten.

Before coming back, he was focused on maritime trade and was obsessed with Japan's silver mines because of the lessons he learned in his previous life.

The court's revenue was extremely limited, and the inner treasury was always on the verge of collapse.

It doesn’t matter now.

Maritime trade was already on track, the royal family had its own industries, and the imperial court had a variety of state-owned enterprises.

Both the national treasury and the internal treasury are well-stocked.

We need to change our mindset on how we spend our money.

Just like in her previous life, she just hopes that ordinary people can live a better life.

In May, severe floods hit Suzhou and Songshan prefectures, especially in Wujiang.

All the low-lying fields were flooded. Zhu Gaochi mobilized water wheels from nearby prefectures to fetch water, but ultimately he was unable to save the crops of that season.

The Jinyiwei went for a walk.

There were disaster victims everywhere. The young and middle-aged were still able to survive by fishing in the water to fill their stomachs. The old and young went into the city to beg, but they could not even get the minimum food ration to feed themselves. Every day there were old people and children jumping into the river.

Ultimately, it’s because the government was slow to respond.

By the time the news came in, many people had already died.

Later, Zhu Gaochi established the rules for distributing rice for disaster relief:

Each adult is given one dou of rice, children aged six to fourteen are given six liters, and those under five are not given any.

Each household with more than ten adults is only given one shi.

For those who are not in a complete disaster and are short of food, the rules for borrowing rice are: one person borrows one dou of rice, two to five people borrow two dou of rice, six to eight people borrow three dou of rice, and nine to ten or more people borrow four dou of rice. The dou of rice must be returned to the government after the autumn harvest.

The court’s grain was actually almost used up before the next season’s land tax was paid.

The current disaster relief rations are squeezed out.

The number is really small, and if we replant crops at this time, we will have to wait until October to harvest.

"One million and eight hundred thousand? That much?"

Zhu Gaochi was a little overwhelmed by the generosity of the woman in his family.

"Not directly. Mother said that we should buy grain from government warehouses in the surrounding areas, and the government should sell it there at a low price. We can't let those there take the opportunity to enclose land, and we won't give them the money from reselling grain. Even if we follow the court's example, we can borrow it. When the water recedes, we will start repairing the river bank immediately."

The lack of food in the national treasury does not mean that the government warehouses of the provincial governments are out of food, nor does it mean that the big landlords are out of food.

There shouldn’t be too many big landlords in Suzhou and Songjiang.

Whenever there is a natural disaster, they take the opportunity to lower the price and buy land.

Xu felt that they could not be allowed to continue to act so rampantly.

He just wanted to take money out of the inner treasury to stabilize the grain price. The big landlords in Suzhou and Songjiang had closer relations with the surrounding government than with the imperial court. Those who were sensible would know what to do.