I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 515: Reforms in Deep Waters

"Minister Shi, I heard that the Ministry of Revenue also keeps archives of the land of each garrison?" Zhu Houxuan looked at the Minister of Revenue Shi Jie again.

"It seems to be the case." Shi Jie also hurriedly stepped out and said.

"Find them all, verify each other, and use this as a basis to check the land of the garrisons across the country!" Zhu Houxuan said, "so as not to occupy more of the people's land, and also to prevent some scoundrels from taking the land and using it as the upper land of the garrisons."

The archives of the land of the garrisons of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War were left over from the early days of the country. They recorded in detail the land allocated to each garrison and were accompanied by maps.

Now the ministers could not find any faults. Some ministers secretly complained in their hearts because their families had indeed occupied a lot of land in the garrisons. Now looking at Zhu Houxuan's performance, there was no need to think about the law of not punishing the masses. Zhu Houxuan was going to play a one-size-fits-all approach and these lands had to be returned.
So many things could not be completely determined by a single court meeting, but the general direction had been set. After that, several court meetings were held to discuss the matter and work out the details. Then, in the 22nd year of Zhengde, a series of orders were officially issued, and a new round of reforms began.
This round of reforms shocked the whole world. There were complaints from all over the country and encountered great resistance. However, Zhu Houxuan was still determined to push forward the reforms and set clear implementation standards. Those who could not do it should resign and go home, and those who could do it would be promoted to the next level.

Just when the world was in turmoil, Liang Chu approached Zhu Houxuan.

What he meant was very simple. He believed that at present the national treasury was sufficient, the people were stable, the seas and rivers were peaceful, the borders were stable, the treacherous officials were brought to justice, and the eunuchs were humbled, giving the country a picture of prosperity and abundance.

The treasury has so much money that it will take several years to spend it all.
Many upright officials began to flatter him, writing poems, composing lyrics and singing songs, worshipping Liang Chu as a wise prime minister. Some even boasted about the "Zhengde Prosperous Era".

Liang Chu thought that as long as they could keep going like this for a few more years, there would definitely be a prosperous era. But now Zhu Houxuan wanted to start reforms again. He thought it was totally unnecessary and that it was fine to keep going like this. There was no need to continue the reforms.
Zhu Houxuan was silent after hearing Liang Chu's words. He did not expect that the current situation would make Liang Chu, the leader of the reformists in the court, have such thoughts. He believed that many reformists must have the same idea.
The situation of the Ming Dynasty is indeed quite good now. Large-scale military operations have stopped. Although it costs a lot every year to maintain the vast territory, it is still much less than that of large-scale military operations, so there is a lot of surplus.

With the stability of the border, the hundreds of garrisons in the nine borders of the Ming Dynasty will no longer face direct military threats, which makes the military tasks of these hundreds of garrisons go from heavy to nothing. Originally, each garrison had to allocate 5% or even % of its personnel for military training and to perform various military tasks, and the rest would engage in agricultural production. The output of the garrison would definitely not be enough, so the court needed to subsidize the garrisons in the nine borders. Without subsidies, the soldiers in the nine borders would really starve to death. Many of the in-kind taxes collected by the Ming Dynasty in the north were directly sent to the nine borders, and there was even a lot of grain transported from the south to Beijing, just to maintain the nine-border defense line.

A small portion of the Ming Dynasty's annual revenue, or even more, was invested in the nine frontiers of the Ming Dynasty.
But now that there is no military threat to the nine borders of the Ming Dynasty, the guards of the nine borders, under the order of Zhu Houxuan, put 90% of their energy into farming and production, and less than 10% into the military. In addition, with the reform of the guard system and the suppression and punishment of hereditary officials, the enthusiasm of these guards for production has risen instantly, and they will soon be self-sufficient, without the need for subsidies from the court. This has reduced the expenditure of the Ming Dynasty court a lot, and the largest and most expensive field army group in the Ming Dynasty, the Imperial Guards, is also the sole responsibility of the Royal Group, and does not need to pay for it at all. The treasury has also gone from being insufficient every year and various arrears to having a considerable surplus this year.

This has not happened in decades!

The gold and silver from America were continuously transported to Ming Dynasty, making Ming Dynasty's business more prosperous and the Royal Group's income higher.
Moreover, Zhu Houxuan had not been idle for several years, cleaning up the factory guards, cleaning up the redundant soldiers, and cleaning up the eunuchs.
During the Zhengde reign, all eunuchs who worked as collectors, compradors, manufacturers, and kilns, as well as eunuchs in local areas, border towns, banknote gates, and customs, were recalled and had to return to Beijing immediately upon receiving the imperial edict.

Eunuchs serving as garrison commanders or deputy generals are no longer allowed to interfere in local affairs. Anyone who disobeys will be punished by law!
In addition, all the officials directly appointed by the emperor were also dismissed. This was not a phenomenon unique to the Zhengde period. The number of officials had been increasing since Zhu Houzhao's grandfather, and doubled during Zhu Houzhao's reign. All these officials could be killed for any crime, and none of them dared to say they were innocent.

Zhu Houxun even dismissed all the actors on the street that Zhu Houzhao had in the Leopard House. Zhu Houzhao had lost interest in them and devoted all his energy to military affairs. It would be better to release those actors than to let them wait there as NPCs all day.

These save a lot of money.

Various American crops have also been promoted in the Ming Dynasty. Although the area is still relatively small now, as the advantages of these crops are known to more and more people in the Ming Dynasty, I believe the planting area will be larger in the future.

Therefore, the current situation in the Ming Dynasty is very good, and it is no wonder that Liang Chu would think that there is no need for further reforms.

But in Zhu Houxun's eyes, the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty was just an appearance. The prosperity of the Ming Dynasty was entirely created by his use of modern financial means, industrial revolution and gold and silver from America. Zhu Houxun issued a lot of silver yuan coupons over the years, and these silver yuan coupons happened to coincide with the years when Zhu Houzhao launched wars. Zhu Houzhao's series of wars were like several large infrastructure projects in later generations.
War money is real money, but it still has a huge boost to the domestic economy. Many silver yuan coupons flowed into the private sector, turning the Ming Dynasty from a state of currency shortage and deflation into one with some inflation.

The influx of a large amount of money made the entire people prosperous. In addition, trains and sea transportation greatly reduced transportation costs. Many people found that as their income increased, some of their payments gradually decreased.
The Royal Group also granted many merchants the qualifications of partners, which allowed these merchants to avoid being harassed by local authorities, further increasing the circulation of Ming Dynasty goods and making private commercial activities more prosperous.
In fact, despite this prosperity, the Ming Dynasty still has many problems.
(End of this chapter)