These years of being the queen mother!

Zhu Cilin's eyes widened, a little ignorant, obviously wondering why his mother's mother would ask such a question.After all, as a biological mother, how could Empress Dowager Yang not know the real age of little emperor Zhu Cilin!

Empress Dowager Yang smiled, without hiding it, and said straightforwardly. "The Ai family and the Empress Dowager Ci'an just said that when you turn sixteen (also refers to the false age), you will be married and take charge of the government."

Hearing this suddenly, Zhu Cilin's ears blushed subconsciously, and said embarrassingly. "The queen mother, the children are still young, so there is no rush to get married and take charge."

Maybe it’s because the Empress Dowager Yang, who has the memory of later generations, has a different education method, or maybe it’s because she has handled political affairs with the Queen Mother Yang and the mother and son since childhood. Relative, cannibalism.

Zhu Cilin's ears turned red a little, and after allowing Empress Dowager Yang to tease her a few words, she smiled sweetly, and pushed a large pile of memorials onto the desk one size larger than Empress Dowager Yang, saying flatteringly.

"Mother, these memorials are waiting for your blessing, but I am very impatient. If the mother is interested, let's review them all, so that the children can also spare time to receive the teachings of the Taifus!"

"With your mouth, Aijia doesn't even know what to say."

Empress Dowager Yang shook her head dumbfounded, but she quickly devoted herself to reviewing the memorial.In the Ming Dynasty, each of the six ministries held its own position, and the six ministries had the right to delete and select memorials and only submit important memorials.

And out of distrust of the officials of the six ministries, a cabinet with the nature of the emperor's secretary was set up.It's just that most of the cabinet officials are concurrently held by officials from the six ministries, so since the little emperor Zhu Cilin came to power, the Empress Dowager Yang who listened to the government behind the curtain was really afraid that they would treat natural and man-made disasters as unimportant things and deal with them perfunctorily. , Don't report to yourself, just follow the example of Emperor Yongzheng, let the cabinet officials send all the papers regardless of their thickness, and let her and Zhu Cilin read them before discussing.

In this way, the power of cabinet officials was restrained, but the imperial power was greatly consolidated.At least, with factory guards with a well-developed intelligence system as eyes and ears, the rights of the officials of the central court have been weakened. As long as the Empress Dowager Yang and the little emperor Zhu Cilin do not commit suicide, and move forward in the direction planned long ago, the Ming Dynasty will surely be able to Vigorous and powerful.

Empress Dowager Yang glanced at ten lines, and quickly picked aside the unimportant memorials that recorded only trivial matters, and finally pointed to the pile of memorials she picked out by herself, and said to the little emperor Zhu Cilin who was drinking tea and was obviously in a daze. .

"Look at how capable the officials of the Ministry of Rites are. They really regard 'starving to death is a small matter, failure is a major thing' as a wise saying. They even boasted about this matter. I wish the Ai family would award that idiot-like daughter of the Kang family herself." A Zhen~Jie Archway”

The little emperor Zhu Cilin took a look at Empress Dowager Yang's face, and found that Empress Dowager Yang seemed angry or sad, and it was complicated and difficult to distinguish. He couldn't help but curiously flipped through the book that was at least seven or eight pages thick.

But it turns out that the memorial said that there was a woman surnamed Kang in Tongcheng, Jiangnan, who was the daughter of a merchant, and was betrothed by her father to Zhang Jing, the son of a poor family.It was considered a beautiful marriage, but unexpectedly, Zhang Jing died before the girl surnamed Kang passed away. The girl surnamed Kang, who became a widow before she married, hanged herself to die for her husband with the support of relatives and friends.

The Zhang family used to be a dilapidated family, and Zhang Jing's father had a bad character. People looked down on them at first, but because of the death of the woman surnamed Kang, the Zhang family was worth a hundred times, including the Kang family. House of Rites.

After the news spread, the local government hurriedly reported to the Ministry of Rites to apply for a chaste memorial archway for Zhang's daughter-in-law, Kang, who committed suicide and martyred her husband, so as to promote the virtues of "martyrs" and "virtuous women".

You must know that Empress Dowager Yang is young and widowed, and has never found a man again. It is not because she is willing to observe the festival for Zhu Youxiao, but because she is strong and a bit sexually indifferent, so she is busy with political affairs.

Empress Dowager Yang did not expect that she was not interested in the affairs of men and women, and did not find a stepfather for the little emperor Zhu Cilin, but instead gave herself the title of a representative of the world's chaste women.Although Empress Dowager Yang has always been used to being arrogant and arrogant, she never paid attention to her words about harming the country and traitorous concubine, rooster in the morning, dominating the government and treating Zhu Cilin as a puppet emperor, but the name of the representative of "the world's virtuous woman" After the head was passed to her ears, Empress Dowager Yang was still slapped hard.

Fuck you, representative of the 'world's virtuous woman', there is something wrong with my wife not being keen on that!

Empress Dowager Yang was so choked that she had a temper tantrum for several days in a row, picking on the government officials she disliked, and just when she was about to vent her anger, the officials of the Ministry of Rituals actually made this again...

Hehehe, rather than rewarding the Zhang family with a chastity archway, she would rather reward the Kang family with an archway called 'The World's Most Stupid'.

The above are the real inner activities of Empress Dowager Yang, but after reading the excerpt, Zhu Cilin looked at Empress Dowager Yang in bewilderment and said in disbelief.

"Queen, this woman surnamed Kang doesn't have a brain problem, right? It's reasonable for her to commit suicide for her husband after marriage, but now she only got through the words of a matchmaker. She is only Zhang Jing's fiancée, and she is considered half of the Zhang family. Zhang Jing died Now, she got another marriage, married someone else, and no one said, why bother to ruin her good life just for the sake of an illusory reputation!"

"You also said that she is mentally ill." Empress Dowager Yang snorted coldly, but continued to speak with an unattractive face. "That's the way things are in the world. When you first ascended the Great Treasure at an early age, didn't some people clamor for Aijia's rooster to sit in the morning and let Aijia hang behind a curtain to listen to the government and ruin Daming Rivers and Mountains. If it wasn't for your great-grandfather's help, Aijia might have already died." became a cup of loess, and you..."

"Although I still sit in this position, I will be under the control of hundreds of officials. Maybe I won't be able to read a few big characters like my father, and I will even have to read the memorials."

Although Zhu Cixiu was young, she saw things very clearly.It is true that his biological mother, Empress Dowager Yang, has a strong personality and likes to hate court officials, not to mention, and she is a bit partial.But obviously with her around, Zhu Cilin, who is not alone, can grow like this.Since ancient times, not only the foreign relatives have messed up the government, but even the powerful ministers have messed up the court. It is not a lie.

Everyone has selfishness, people with blood relationship can still fight for rights, let alone other people.Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty

To prevent the heroine from chaotic politics, she set up a son and killed her mother, but in the end, Huo Guang was fulfilled and the Huo clan became powerful!

The emperor's mind, everything pays attention to balance.In the Han Dynasty, the power of foreign relatives, eunuchs, and aristocratic officials formed a three-legged force. If one or two were missing, one family would dominate. Just like the Chongzhen period in history, Emperor Chongzhen eliminated the eunuchs and suppressed other faction officials. The re-use of a series of officials of the Donglin Party who possessed a lot of theoretical knowledge of governing the country resulted in the dominance of the Donglin Party.After being governed by the officials of the Donglin Party, the Ming Dynasty fell, and Emperor Chongzhen was forced to hang himself on Meishan Mountain. The Donglin Party members, who were known as the loyalists, shed a few crocodile tears and went to their new masters. up,

Of course, Zhu Cilin, who is an original product, doesn't know this at all, but this does not prevent him from understanding the principle of balance in everything.Although Zhu Ciling is young, but since he was a child, he has been taught by the Queen Mother Yang, a time-traveling woman. Zhu Ciling, who is a monkey and a monkey, understands why there are always people who keep advocating in his ears that "a king should not be stronger than a woman's hand" , 'Don't trust eunuchs alone', don't say that the person who said these words is sincerely for his own good...

Zhu Cilin knew clearly in his heart that apart from Queen Mother Yang who sheltered him from the wind and rain, this world was sincerely doing his best. The reason why the people who said these things were saying this was for the purpose of getting close to him and gaining benefits from him.Even his two sisters from the same mother, how could they know if they would seek benefits from him, the emperor's younger brother, for the sake of their husband and children after they got married?

Zhu Cixiu is not stingy about these things, but every time he thinks of them, he still feels a little bit uncomfortable. No wonder all the kings have always claimed to be lonely. It turns out that is really the case!

Zhu Cilin sighed, and sadness appeared on Shang's baby-fat face. "Queen, tell me how to deal with this matter! Anyway, looking at what the queen wants, she won't give the Zhang family a chastity! Jie archway as the officials of the Ministry of Rites want."

"Sanlang's guess is right, the Ai family really does not want to reward the Zhang family with a chastity memorial archway, so this brochure will not be released for the time being!"

"I think the same as my son!" Zhu Cilin pointed to the memorials on the case table that he had spread out and presented by Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Gansu provinces, and said to Empress Dowager Yang. "Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Gansu provinces first suffered from severe drought, and now that the autumn harvest is approaching, they are also plagued by locusts. The locusts will pass through the border, and everything will disappear. If you think about it, there will be a severe hunger again! The queen mother, the son wants to ask, whether to allocate food to other regions as usual Disaster relief!"

"Naturally, relief is required. It's just that we need to discuss the relief method with the cabinet ministers!"

Shaanxi, Shanxi and Gansu provinces are located in the northwest, and have always been dry and rainless. The harvest is almost every year, and the tax and silver are only enough for the common people to barely fill their stomachs. Not to mention the shadow of the Little Ice Age in the current Ming Dynasty. Years of drought and the shrinking of the riverbed, even if a lot of deep wells have been dug before, it is not enough to alleviate the problem of drought, not to mention locust plagues from time to time!

The five-year famine, the six-year flood, and the seven-year autumn locust and famine in the northwest region recorded in the history books are not lies.Empress Dowager Yang thought that the three provinces of Shaanxi, Shanshan and Gansu are not big tax-paying provinces, and that now the treasury revenue of Ming Dynasty depends entirely on commercial taxes, so taking advantage of the locust plague and famine in the three provinces of Shanshan, Gansu and Gansu, she called the cabinet ministers to discuss with them It is not that taxation in the Northwest Territory will be exempted from now on.

The land in Shaanxi, Shanshan and Gansu provinces is barren, and the climate is extremely bad. Taxes are not collected every year. Almost everyone in the central court is used to it from top to bottom.

It's just that Empress Dowager Yang just mentioned that there will be no taxes from Shanshan, Gansu and Gansu provinces (especially agricultural taxes), and all the cabinet ministers, except Shi Fenglai, the first assistant, opposed it together.

"Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, this is the first of its kind!" What if the Jiangnan generation, who belong to a tax-heavy province, also took the opportunity to propose tax reductions (agricultural taxes)?That's not the reason for the Empress Dowager Yang to impose additional commercial taxes and reduce or exempt the national agricultural tax.

When the cabinet members who do not pay agricultural taxes but have inextricable ties to wealthy merchants thought of this, they all felt that their purses would bleed profusely, just like their dead parents. Dispel the idea.

Empress Dowager Yang is strong and resolute, and she understands why the ministers are so earnestly admonishing her, so she will not change her mind easily.

Empress Dowager Yang waved her hand to shut up the chattering and preaching ministers.When the palace, which was as noisy as a vegetable market, became quiet again, Empress Dowager Yang said solemnly.

"The Ai family knows that the Ming Dynasty has always been based on agriculture. Emphasizing agriculture and ignoring taxes is the way to govern the country. However, the three provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi and Gansu have always been poor in land and have long droughts and no rain. The harvest and taxes are also in arrears every year. The Ai family thought, since they can’t collect the agricultural tax every year anyway, it’s better to write it off, so that the people’s life will be easier, and the burden on the Ai family and I will be less!”

Empress Dowager Yang first explained her thoughts in gentle words. If she could not explain to the cabinet ministers, then she chose to take it directly to the court. At that time, Empress Dowager Yang, who had always been tough and held military power, did not care about the civil and military affairs of the court. Will you agree, and directly use your own arrogant right to listen to the government behind the curtain to decide that the three provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi and Gansu will never have agricultural taxes, and then use this as a basis to slowly reduce or exempt agricultural taxes across the country, and then focus on cultivating industry, commerce, Collect industrial and commercial tax.

Don’t you see that in the developed countries of later generations, there is no country that is mainly based on agriculture and collects agricultural taxes. Even the United States of America is dominated by industry and commerce in the north, and grows various export crops in the south!Empress Dowager Yang intends to cultivate Daming into an aggressive capitalist country with vast colonies, and reducing, exempting and abolishing agricultural taxes is an essential first step.

Once the agricultural tax is exempted, the prices of crops grown in various fields in the market will inevitably fluctuate, especially grains, which will inevitably drop to a certain extent.

With the price of grain low, the people have more energy to hoard grain, and merchants must find that the previous method of earning money by enclosing land and hoarding grain for profit is no longer effective.Should they stop annexing land and exchange unprofitable land for gold hoarding, or take out their savings and participate in foreign trade.

The profits of foreign trade are very large. Empress Dowager Yang believes that once the wealthy merchants participate, they will inevitably open their horizons and complete the transformation from collecting the hard-earned money of the common people to collecting the money of overseas barbarians. External conflicts are bound to grow. When the merchants of the Ming Dynasty became like Western colonists desperate for wealth, Empress Dowager Yang believed that without her suggestion, the scholar-bureaucrats who were inextricably linked to the wealthy merchants would also Take the initiative to propose to teach overseas barbarians how to behave!I think that at that time, Zhu Cilin, who is already in charge of the government, can realize his ambition of "where the sun shines, all the land of the Ming Dynasty" without much effort!

Empress Dowager Yang glanced back at Zhu Cilin, who was still immature, and lowered her head slightly. She thought, perhaps this was the most fundamental reason why she went back to Daming for such a long journey.

——"There will be no China after Yashan, and there will be no China after the Ming Dynasty."

In this life, she only wishes that Mingxing and Huaxia will prosper!

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