Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 223 Seven Advices
Zhu Houzhao looked at the "Picture of Refugees" spread out in front of him by the Prime Minister Wang Hua, and remained silent for a while. He knew that migrating to a foreign land, especially to a cold and bitter place like the frontier, was indeed a very painful thing for the Han people who were attached to their land, but he had never thought of forcing these people to immigrate.

Therefore, when the cabinet chief minister Wang Hua placed a painting of refugees presented by the censor Xue Fengming in front of Zhu Houzhao, Zhu Houzhao only asked:
"I remember that since I formulated the policy of immigration to the border, I have never issued an edict to require forced immigration. I have always guided them based on their interests. Whether to migrate to the border is up to the people's willingness. Moreover, the people who are relocated are all landless people, and many are even refugees fleeing famine! Why is there such a tragic situation in the "Refugee Map"? "

"I have been in the central government for a long time, so I don't know the details, and it's difficult for me to tell your majesty. But the court has indeed never issued any edicts for forced immigration. However, I am worried that the officials below may have misunderstood and done something excessive to please your majesty, which led to the scene presented in the "Refugee Map". Your majesty might as well ask the person who presented this map."

Wang Hua, the chief minister of the cabinet, had no objection to the issue of immigration to the border. He was a shareholder of the Royal Bank and his interests were consistent with those of the emperor. He did not need to compete with the country for profits. But precisely because of this, he needed to maintain national stability even more. Therefore, after seeing the "Picture of Refugees", he was eager to present this picture to Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao then summoned the censor Xue Fengming.

"Your Majesty, this picture was drawn when Zhang Cong, the governor of Hetao, moved all the people from Shanxi to Hetao. This picture was drawn by Niu Kai from Yuncheng, Shanxi. I present this picture to impeach Zhang Cong for his brutality and harming the people!"

Xue Fengming said this and took out the memorial.

Impeached Zhang Cong?
Zhu Houzhao took the memorial, glanced at it, and wondered what these civil servants were thinking.

But no matter what, Zhu Houzhao felt that he needed to first find out whether any civilians were killed in the process of relocation.

At this time, Liu Yu, the deputy minister of the cabinet, handed over a memorial: "Your Majesty, here is a memorial from Gong Dingjin, the imperial censor of Ningxia, saying that some immigrants have gathered together to become bandits, besieged cities and forts, and robbed merchants passing through. He also said that the customs of the people in the north and south are different, and we should restore the pass and restrict the people from leaving the county to avoid the harm of refugees."

"Are you saying that immigration to the border is bad? Or are you saying that abolishing the travel permit system is bad?"

Zhu Houzhao fell into deep thought, but did not say much. He only asked, "How did you draft it?"

"Order the local government to arrest thieves and protect the people, abide by their duties, and not discuss government affairs. Refugees are also citizens of the Ming Dynasty. They have no choice but to leave their homes. As for gathering together to become thieves, it must be because the people have not yet been satisfied. As an imperial censor, you should resolve the grievances and blame the people! They don't steal in their own hometown because they have no land or food. Why do they go to other places to become thieves!"

Liu Yu replied.

Zhu Houzhao nodded. He would naturally not re-establish the road permit system, because in fact, even if he strictly enforced the road permit system, the imperial court and local gentry would not be able to prevent more people from becoming refugees, because people have to survive, and if they cannot survive in one place, they can only flee to another place, or they can only rebel!

Zhu Houzhao knew that his decree to abolish the road permit system would damage the interests of the gentry group, because the people's escape was a disguised way of resisting the gentry's exploitation, which would make the gentry lose the opportunity to control them. The gentry landlords who lost a large number of tenants would also lose a large amount of rental income.

If they do not abolish the road permit system, these gentry can legitimately punish the people on the grounds that they are guilty of exile, and even force these people to be exploited and oppressed by them locally.

But once he abolished the pass system, vagrants became legal citizens, and the people also gained the freedom to escape the control of the gentry. Coupled with the development of industry, a large number of people would definitely move from the fields to factories, and the gentry would definitely lose a large number of tenants.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao knew that there would be civil officials who would have objections to the cancellation of the road permit, and they would find all kinds of legitimate reasons, but he would not listen to them, because he knew that if the people were not allowed to become legal refugees, they would only become bandits. The cabinet's second assistant's draft agreed with Zhu Houzhao's opinion, so Zhu Houzhao nodded, but what made Zhu Houzhao a little wary was that with the development of industry, as more and more people turned from farmers to workers, the gentry who still hoped to rely on clans to control the villagers and maintain their own land interests did not realize that they had to transform themselves, but only felt that their interests were being damaged more and more seriously, so that they wanted to stop the court from emigrating and liberate civil rights more and more.

Zhu Houzhao was distracted for a while, and seeing Xue Fengming still standing in front of him, he couldn't help but smile: "You can leave first. I will send people to investigate this matter in detail. I will not wrongly accuse innocent officials, nor will I sit idly by and watch the people being harmed by cruel officials."

Xue Fengming retreated.

At this time, Wang Qiong, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, flipped over a memorial and trembled with fright. He looked at Zhu Houzhao. He knew that if the emperor knew about this memorial, he might lose his head again.

But Wang Qiong, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, did not have the courage to ignore the memorial, so he had to bring it to Zhu Houzhao and said, "Your Majesty, here is a memorial. I dare not write it. It is the head of the Ministry of Revenue, Dai Guan, who submitted a memorial with seven suggestions:

One is to stop the imperial store, saying that the imperial court first collects money from the world and then takes the benefits from the world, so it should distribute the benefits to the people and benefit the world;
The second is to issue road permits, follow the laws of our ancestors, bind the people to their villages, and prevent the fields from becoming barren;
Third, return the land to the Tatars, maintain good relations with neighbors, refrain from conquering other countries’ land, and avoid border troubles;
Fourth, he banned maritime activities, ordered Xia Yan to return to the court, and stopped Shouning Hou from sailing around the world to save financial resources;

Fifth, to remove commercial taxes and relieve the suffering of merchants and civilians in transporting grain;
Sixth, to stop running schools, saying that the current trend of opening schools indiscriminately has only increased the number of heretics;
Seventh, respect the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, strictly enforce the moral education, and prohibit folk dramas! "

After Wang Qiong, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, finished speaking, he lowered his head, fearing that the emperor would be angry with him, so he added: "Your Majesty, these are the six things Dai Guan mentioned. I have finished my report!"

The chief minister Wang Hua and the second minister Liu Yu both took a step back, feeling a chill on their backs.

Zhu Houzhao just smiled and said, "Very good, there are still such stubborn people among the civil officials of my Ming Dynasty. Go and pass on the crown!"

After saying this, Zhu Houzhao took the memorial from Wang Qiong.

Zhu Houzhao is not as easily angered now as he was before. He knows that with the development of the commodity economy and industry in the Ming Dynasty, there will always be many contradictions between the new and old production relations, and the contradictions will become more and more intense, and may even lead to war.

But Zhu Houzhao knew that what he had to do as an emperor was not to reverse history, not to underestimate the ideas of the people, and not to be defeated by the complex reality.

I am not playing tricks, I just feel that when the Ming Dynasty developed to this point, the contradiction between the capitalists represented by Emperor Zhu Houzhao and the feudal landlords represented by most of the civil servants and literati would definitely erupt, because the contradiction between them in the competition for production resources is irreconcilable, which is mainly manifested in the competition for population. Zhu Houzhao and the reformist officials who control the government hope to liberate the people from the land, let them become workers, and work for their own factories; while most of the conservative civil servants cannot watch their tenants leave, nor can they watch the self-cultivating farmers not come to contribute but would rather abandon the land and go to work in the city.

Thanks to the book friend his elderly grandfather for the 200 starting coins reward. Thank you to the book friend Huachen for the 100 starting coins reward.

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(End of this chapter)