strictlysupreme Chapter 947 Incognito
Chapter 947 Incognito
Chapter 947 Incognito
After his discussion with Wang Shouren in the mountains, Zhu Houzhao was no longer so concerned about the issue of succession, and his mood improved a lot.
I slept soundly and peacefully for several nights in a row.
I woke up at dawn the next day.
After so many years back in the Ming Dynasty, his daily routine has changed and he is no longer a night owl. This is mainly because there is no other entertainment at night and the lighting is insufficient, making it inconvenient to see things after dark, so he basically goes to bed around eight o'clock in the future.
So he would wake up naturally in the early morning, and after a simple wash, he would order people to bring the memorials of the past two days. He would review the memorials while eating soft dumplings.
This has been going on for several days in a row.
On that day, at around 9:45 a.m., a note came from the attendant's office saying that two cabinet ministers, Gu Renyi and Wang Tingxiang, wanted to see them.
Those who are older get up earlier than the emperor. The emperor himself is diligent, so he attaches great importance to the diligence of his subjects. For example, Yang Yiqing and Zhang Cong worked day and night, so these two did not dare to neglect their work.
In fact, in the past, officials would get up before dawn to attend court. Now, although morning courts are much less frequent, they still have to prepare the day's memorials early and submit them.
During this period, there were no major events in the court and not many secret memorials from ministers, so the situation was relatively relaxed.
"Your Highness, I, Gu Renyi (Wang Tingxiang), pay my respects to His Majesty."
"Oh, you are here. Please take a seat." Zhu Houzhao temporarily put down his red brush, sat upright, and said to them cordially: "My two beloved ministers, what do you want to see?"
Gu Renyi replied, "Your Majesty, I and Lord Wang are here to petition you regarding the vacancies in the cabinet. Although there is no fixed number of cabinet members in this dynasty, three people are usually the best number of people. However, it has been more than half a year since Zhang Bingyong left the office. If the situation continues to be delayed, it will be detrimental to the stability of the people's hearts."
Zhu Houzhao understood what they meant.
Gu Renyi is a person who values his reputation. So there is always one person missing, and others would say that he is greedy for power.
This is not to say that the work of three people is divided between two people, so they feel unhappy. This is the idea of people who want to slack off in the future. If you really meet a greedy person, you would like to be the prime minister alone.
These days in Nanjing, culture and education are flourishing in the south of the Yangtze River, so it is possible that Gu Renyi has heard something again.
"It's time to decide. Do you have any recommendations?"
Gu Renyi wanted to avoid suspicion, "Since ancient times, the power to appoint people belongs to the emperor. As the prime minister, I should not say too much."
"I second the motion. Your Majesty, please appoint me."
In fact, the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty were in charge of everything, but after more than 20 years, they became much more obedient.
Zhu Houzhao groaned, "The six ministries and nine officials in the court are already in a stable situation, so it's still not easy to move them."
For example, the Minister of Personnel Jiang Mian, the Minister of War Zhang Jing, and the Foreign Affairs Officer Gui E, all of them were newly appointed. According to his habit, the personnel should remain relatively stable. Otherwise, if they are not familiar with one government office, they will go to another one, just like visiting a few places. What's the point?
In addition, there were the Minister of Revenue Jiang Yong, the Minister of Industry Xing Guan, the Minister of Works Lu En, the Minister of the Imperial Household Fan Yuchang and the Minister of Rites Jin Gui, who all performed their duties very well and Zhu Houzhao did not want to move them.
As for the Minister of Justice Zhou Zheng, the Supreme Court Minister Zhao Shen and the Left Censor-in-Chief Zhang Zilin, Zhu Houzhao felt that they were not qualified to join the cabinet.
Zhao Shen has been an old official for decades and is very experienced, but his decades of experience are all in handling and solving cases. Just like the former Minister of Justice Min Gui, who has become an iconic official in a field, it is not easy to move.
The selection principles for cabinet elders are related to the future policy direction and have nothing to do with how to handle cases.
Zhu Houzhao now has two overall choices.
One is to continue playing the game of replacement of the old with the new like Jiajing did, that is, now that Gu Renyi is in power, put a different young person behind him, such as Yan Song, and wait until the time is right to replace him.
In addition, there are people like the Three Yangs, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian in the early years, who ensured the unity of the cabinet to achieve stability in the government.
Even if it was the second type, Zhu Houzhao would not release an official who was only good at idle talk.
Originally Wang Yangming would have been a good candidate, but his health is not good, so it is better to let him stay.
After all this, he still found it difficult to make a decision, so he said, "You two don't have to do this. I'm afraid you're just favoring your relatives. If you have someone suitable in mind, you might as well tell me."
Gu Renyi and Wang Tingxiang stopped refusing and said a name respectively.
Gu Renyi recommended Wang Shouren, and Wang Tingxiang recommended Gu Zu.
Zhu Houzhao shook his head, "Wang Yangming is not feeling well, as for Gu Zuo, the Nanyang Company cannot do without him."
Then, Gu Renyi recommended another person, "Your Majesty, how about Fang Xianfu, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites?"
Fang Xianfu...
This person is Wang Shouren's disciple.
It seems that our Gu Ge Lao is very good at taking care of the emperor's mood. Hey, even if he is a clean official, how can he become the prime minister if he doesn't know how to flatter the emperor? Even if it is secretly flattering, he has to flatter.
Zhu Houzhao had never thought of this person before, mainly because Fang Xianfu did achieve great academic accomplishments by following Wang Yangming, but this person's mind... gave Zhu Houzhao the impression that he was only focused on studying Neo-Confucianism.
Historically, he was also valued by Jiajing because of the Great Ceremony Debate.
Zhu Houzhao got him the position of Right Vice Minister in the Ministry of Rites, which was considered to be the best use of his talent. However, he could not allow him to join the cabinet, even though he was Wang Shouren's favorite disciple.
He personally admires Wang Yangming, and that is his personal matter.
An official position is a public tool, otherwise he would have given Wang Yangming a bunch of honorary titles of civil officials, and he could have even given him the title of Grand Tutor.
When Gu and Wang saw that the emperor remained silent, they knew that this man was doomed.
"Your Majesty, do you wish to select from among the local governors?"
This operation had already been done by the emperor during the Zhengde period. Although some people still think that the promotion was too fast, there is a precedent, so it is naturally not a problem.
The local officials who are now emerging, such as Wang Xian, Governor of Xinjiang, Ouyang Duo, Governor of Shandong, Yang Shen, Governor of Sichuan, and Wang Xian, Governor of Zhejiang, are all ministers whom the emperor particularly trusts, and most of them have made great achievements in government affairs.
Zhu Houzhao thought of many names. He didn't need to dwell on this matter any more. He said, "Order Ouyang Duo to come and listen to your orders. He is a practical man. As for the position of governor of Shandong, Guan Yanqing will fill it."
Neither Gu nor Wang could have imagined that it was such a person.
"As you wish. I will draft the decree right away."
"can."
No matter who it is, Gu Renyi has resolved his problem.
After leaving the palace, he said, "The emperor doesn't like idle talk, but pays more attention to practical matters, which is also reasonable. Lord Wang, in my opinion, you should not discuss too much."
Wang Tingxiang understood, "That's exactly what should happen."
There are many officials with more seniority in the court, such as Jin Gui and Jiang Yong, but they are not included in the list. However, Gu Renyi does not want to listen to their complaints.
Now that he is the prime minister, he should still have the proper dignity.
As for Ouyang Duo, he is neither close nor far from the so-called clean stream. He is not evil, but he may not like their way of doing things.
But such a person was favored by the emperor. Many people were surprised when he took over as the Governor of Shandong before, and it was even more surprising this time.
This is actually related to Zhu Houzhao's "policy direction".
He felt that with a clear agreement and Japan dealt with, new products such as cement and sugar coming out in the country, and currency reform just being implemented, it was time for a cabinet to do something proper.
In fact, another task he gave himself during this trip to Jiangnan was to go on a secret tour. From He Jian to Li Dongyang and then to Wang Shouren, Jiangnan has been under the purview of these famous ministers for twenty consecutive years, but he wanted to see with his own eyes what the real people were like.
After Gu and Wang left, Zhu Houzhao continued. After he finished reviewing all the memorials, he ordered people to change their clothes.
This time he went incognito, he wanted to bring Wang Shouren with him, so he went to his house first.
As for the things in the palace, just wait until Gu Renyi comes to find him and tell him. With his steadiness, he will definitely keep it secret. As for his "dissatisfaction" when he returns to the palace, that will be a matter for later.
This sudden decision frightened Wang Shouren, and Zhu Houzhao could only tease him, saying, "Are you afraid to show me the Jiangnan you govern?"
It was such a big hat that Wang Shouren couldn't move.
In addition, as it was the emperor's order, he dared not disobey, so he had to follow.
As for the carriages and guards, Zhu Houzhao brought them himself. Although he was incognito, he would not really risk his life, after all, there were still some people who were dissatisfied with the emperor.
So he was accompanied by twenty close bodyguards, and secretly arranged two layers of defense, each with fifty people, who followed him without showing their heads.
As for their attire?
Wang Shouren took off his official uniform and changed into Confucian scholar's attire, while Zhu Houzhao put on a black scholar's hat with two hanging stripes on the back, making him look like an old gentleman's disciple.
In this way, the two carriages set out from Nanjing City and headed eastward, leisurely and contentedly.
Nowadays, major urban construction is within big cities. Once you leave the city, you will soon see the original rural landscape. There are either rivers or fields on the roadside, and there are many small villages within sight.
When they reached a certain place, Zhu Houzhao got off the carriage and pointed at the trees and said, "I have read in history books that during times of great famine, people either ate tree bark and weeds or ate soil, so that there was no tree bark left for thousands of miles of plains, which was heartbreaking. Now that I can see that the trees are growing well, I know that people are not bad."
Wang Shouren smiled and said, "Although your Majesty's words are novel, they are not without reason."
"Let's go, let's go to the town ahead. Don't call the emperor if there are too many people. And all of you."
Zhu Houzhao gave some instructions to the people behind him. This time he also brought Xu Jie from the attendant room with him, and he wanted to take notes along the way.
"Yes."
This season is the slack season for farmers, and both wheat and cotton have been harvested.
Only merchants who came to collect cotton roamed the countryside.
This group of people looked like they were from outside the area, and they were not ordinary civilians, so not long after they entered the town, some villagers came forward to ask questions. Zhu Houzhao asked Wang Shouren to greet them, and he stood behind them, watching them with his eyes wide open.
The two people who came were two farmers, a man and a woman. The woman was not willing to show her face, so she stood farther away. Only the man came forward. He put down his shoulder pole and asked bravely, "Excuse me, are you a traveler from afar who came to collect cotton?"
Zhu Houzhao thought for a moment and thought this identity was good, so he spoke in advance, "That's right."
Wang Shouren understood what he meant when he heard this, so he responded, "It's already November, is there any unsold cotton in the village?"
This guy has never been a businessman, so his question sounds a bit like an official, but never mind, ordinary people can't tell the difference.
The man replied: "Yes, yes."
Wang Shouren's brows darkened. What was going on?
He did not turn around directly, but made a "report" in the form of talking to himself, "Logically speaking, cotton is in great demand, and merchants in Jiangnan have to buy it from far away every year. Why would they leave such a nearby village alone?"
Zhu Houzhao understood what he meant and said, "Since we have come across it, why not go and take a look? If there is no stock, forget it. If there is, it will be worth the trip. What do you think?"
This is a question, which is actually a command.
Xu Jie stepped forward and said, "Young man, why don't you lead the way?"
The man hesitated for a moment, but nodded quickly, "Okay, then everyone follow me."
On the way, Zhu Houzhao began to ask, "Brother, we are from the north and don't know the situation in the south. May I ask, how many kilograms of cotton can be obtained from one acre of land now?"
In the Ming Dynasty, there was also the concept of jin, and one jin was approximately 1.2 jin in later generations.
The man replied, "You may not know this because the land here is fertile. We can grow 350 cotton plants per acre, and get 500 to kilograms of cotton."
"There's actually a 150-pound difference?"
"This is not a big deal. Farming depends on the weather."
Zhu Houzhao took note of it in his heart. This is what is called poor risk resistance. When things are good, it is very good, but when things are bad, there is no bottom line.
“Is it enough to support a family?”
He didn't ask directly how much it cost per pound, because given their status, even the dumbest person would know to quote a higher price.
"If everything goes well, it will be more than enough, and there will even be some left over." This honest man looked good. He didn't look hungry. He wore thick clothes even in the cold weather, which made people feel much more at ease.
Wang Shouren explained, "The so-called success mainly depends on two things: good weather and good harvests, and the second is to ship goods at a sufficient price. Neither of them can be missing."
"This gentleman understands. In the first few years, the cotton market was good, and many people planted it and got high prices. Later, when everyone imitated it, the price was low, and then they realized that it was better to grow grain. At least growing grain only requires good weather and good harvests."
Wang Shouren further explained: "So not every household in Jiangnan grows cotton. It fluctuates like this, with one wave rising and one wave falling."
This is why Zhu Houzhao always emphasized industry.
This is how commercial society works, demand cannot be cut off. So it is inevitable for such a country to wage war against other countries, because it needs to control the market.
For a commercial country, if you don’t do business with me, it is equivalent to asking for my life. Although this is not invasion, the result is the same as invasion.
Zhu Houzhao rarely left the palace, so after coming down from the official road, he kept looking around.
This path leading into the village crosses a river. There is an arch bridge over the river. It doesn't look very old and seems to be newly built.
There is also a ditch beside the path leading into the village. The ditch is not wide because the water flow is shallow in winter, but because of its regular shape, it can be seen at a glance that it is artificially repaired.
He was chatting with Xu Jie and said, "Look at these."
Xu Jie was from Songjiang Prefecture, so he was relatively familiar with it. He said, "These are irrigation water systems. Since Mr. Xiya (Li Dongyang) was here, he organized the construction of various counties in Jiangnan. At first, they were intended to connect large and small rivers to facilitate flood discharge. However, over the years, water conservancy construction has continued, and now it has the ability to irrigate."
Zhu Houzhao nodded with some satisfaction.
There are big lakes and rivers in the south of the Yangtze River, but not all of these natural rivers and lakes are connected, so when a flood occurs, it is slow to drain it as quickly as possible. However, it takes decades of effort to build such a big river, because it requires human power to change the terrain, and can only be done one shovel at a time, little by little.
"The Suzhou government is digging a canal from Taihu Lake to the Yangtze River. This is a ten-year plan, and construction will begin during the slack season every year. Now is the right time."
Zhu Houzhao remembered that this matter had been reported to the local authorities.
It sounds nice to be called a water network area and a land of fish and rice, but in fact, once it rains a few more times, the whole area will become a swamp. For example, in the Huaihe River basin, there is a small flood every three years and a major flood every five years. The same flood control project is also being carried out there.
This is the necessity of the Water Conservancy College. Agricultural culture really needs to cure water problems.
“It’s quite effective. It’s quite effective.”
When Zhu Houzhao saw these small ditches, he would not doubt the project of the Grand Canal. In fact, it was not very big. He calculated in his mind and estimated that it was only about 70 or 80 kilometers.
"arrive."
This is a relatively large village. There is a sign at the entrance of the village with four big characters on it: Xu Wentou Village.
Looking from a distance, there are about a hundred households.
Zhu Houzhao didn't care about anything else. He walked in first, mainly to look at the houses. This was a real ancient town. The houses were very densely packed, all with black tiles and white walls.
The mud house… barely existed, and that seemed good to him.
There are eight cows and two calves at the entrance of the village.
It’s a peaceful and quiet village.
"Sir," Xu Jie said, fearing that he would go too far and many people followed him, "it's better not to go in, so as not to disturb the villagers."
Zhu Houzhao saw that he had brought everyone over with him and felt a little embarrassed, so he touched his nose and went back.
"I just asked, and there is indeed unharvested cotton here." Wang Shouren said closer.
"unusual?"
"That shouldn't be the case. We need to ask carefully."
So a few people turned around, and some old people came out of the village.
Now many places in Jiangnan have switched to cash crops, and in order to communicate with people outside, they will be unified.
As a result, when they were about to ask, an old man came out and said, "I'm afraid you are here to collect cotton? Otherwise, how come there is not even a truck to transport goods?"
Xu Jie reacted quickly, "I'm new here, so I haven't caught up with many things, but my master is interested in doing this business, so I came down to take a look first."
"Oh, then do you want to buy it? We still have more than 10,000 kilograms."
Xu Jie said: "Old man, we have no intention of offending you. We are just curious. How come your village is so close to Nanjing City and you still have so much cotton?"
The man smiled and said, "You don't need to ask so many questions when doing business. Just the price and the price are enough."
Xu Jie turned around and took a look, feeling a little embarrassed.
Zhu Houzhao had just noticed that more and more men were surrounding the old man, and he had realized that these men must be anxious. "They are of unknown origin, so we won't accept them. Let's go!"
"Hey!" Someone immediately said anxiously before they really left, "Uncle, take a look, what does this mean?"
The old man took two more steps with his cane, "Wait a minute."
Someone next to him interrupted, "You can say that. Our Xuwentou Village has offended the county leader, and he won't let anyone come into the village to collect the debt!"
Wang Shouren immediately asked: "Which lord? Why did you offend him?"
"It was the county magistrate Cao Xing. He was rude and imposed a lot of taxes. We refused to pay, so he used this method to deal with us."
Oh, no wonder they didn’t tell.
Zhu Houzhao understood that these villagers were not so "simple". They thought that they were outsiders and did not know the "rules" here. They thought that they could just sell it and let the county magistrate blame them anyway.
After this principle was explained clearly, these people felt embarrassed to even look at it.
Wang Shouren was a little excited. He came over and said, "Then these cottons..."
"Of course I can't accept it. I knew there was a problem."
Zhu Houzhao left after he finished speaking, and no one could stop him.
As soon as he moved, no matter how the villagers cried and screamed, the others had to follow him.
On the way out of the village, Zhu Houzhao instructed: "This situation may not be an isolated case. I said many years ago that if you want business to flourish, you must have strict laws and regulations. Otherwise, all kinds of abuse of power will continue. Xu Jie..."
"My subordinate is here."
"A small county magistrate cannot touch the governor, so you should send someone to deal with it. First, let him use his connections to contact the cotton merchants to buy the cotton here, and then confiscate his house. But it would be a waste to kill him, so send him to dig the canal."
"Yes!"
Such trivial matters in the countryside require neither Zhu Houzhao nor Wang Yangming.
However, Zhu Houzhao actually focused on establishing laws and regulations. "Cash crops in Jiangnan are part of the business, so they must not be messed up. What do you think of issuing a tailor-made law?"
This was the question asked by Wang Yangming. At this time, they had already returned to the carriage.
"Your Majesty, this is my fault, not because the court is lax in its laws."
"I am not looking for faults. After I came down to see that the water system is unobstructed and the villages are in order, I know that the livelihood of the people in the south of the Yangtze River is not that difficult. Otherwise, where did all the brick houses come from? The court has laws, but they are not specifically aimed at this matter. I think it must be emphasized so that they know that the court attaches importance to it and impose heavier sentences to spread the concept of law-abiding merchants. This should be effective."
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for not punishing me. I am ashamed. These are things I should have done."
Zhu Houzhao smiled and said, "It's okay. To be honest, I like this better than reading memorials."
There was actually another scene just now. When I walked in, I vaguely heard the sound of reading aloud.
With the current productivity, if the villagers in a village can have thick clothes to cover their bodies in winter, brick houses to live in, land to cultivate, and children who can go to school, what else do they want? It is not necessary to have extremely abundant material things now.
"The emperor protects and loves the people. This is a blessing for the nation and the people."
Zhu Houzhao's ears were calloused by such words. He did not react. He just looked at the scenery outside and said, "I will accompany you to look at this law and think about it, but it is not something that can be decided in a few days. You need to investigate carefully, listen to opinions from all sides, and then improve it. The people are very vulnerable. Once you make a mistake, the cost will be high."
Wang Shouren was deeply moved and said, "Your Majesty, rest assured. I will do my best."
The water control in agriculture should be good now. If laws and regulations are enacted to regulate commercial development, Zhu Houzhao believes that the current prosperity will not be the end.
That night, they stayed in the county town.
The county town is not big, but it is quiet and peaceful, with shops everywhere, and there is no sign of decline at all, especially the pork stall, which he looked at for a long time.
This gave him a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. To be honest, it was easy to send troops to deal with the weak countries around him. With the imperial power in hand, there was nothing he couldn't do to mobilize forces. The really difficult thing was to achieve what he had seen.
He was even a little surprised to see such a scene, so he asked Wang Shouren: "How did you do it?"
Wang Shouren said, "Forgive me for the offence. Your Majesty's words about market and currency seem a bit mysterious to me. No matter what the market is like, people always rely on food for their daily needs. The amount of grain and meat that people need to consume is a fixed number. So we have to find ways to encourage animal husbandry. Don't laugh at the muddy wine of farmers. In good years, there are enough chickens and pigs to entertain guests. Your Majesty, rest assured, there is also prosperity under the prosperous times."
Zhu Houzhao was touched and said, "Let's stay outside for a few more days and don't rush back."
(End of this chapter)