Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 29: I have always been honest
Wang Yangming never believed that his father Wang Hua was capable of taking charge of the powerful departments of the court. In his opinion, his father was a pedantic and dull person who was not suitable for being an official but only for studying. Even if he studied, he could only follow the routine and could not become a person with great knowledge.

But Wang Yangming never expected that his father Wang Hua would be appointed by His Majesty as the Minister of Revenue. As far as he knew, his father couldn't even calculate how many acres of land and how much expenses the family had, so it was naturally difficult for him to manage the Ministry of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, after Wang Yangming returned home, he sat in the Mingtang waiting for his father to return home so that he could give his father suggestions and wrote "Nine Matters on Taxes and Grain of the Ministry of Revenue".

Wang Hua returned home, and Wang Yangming hurried to see his father: "Master, you are back. I heard that you have been promoted to the Minister of Revenue, and I would like to congratulate you here."

Wang Hua was in a good mood after being promoted to the Minister of Revenue. He just smiled faintly and said, "If it weren't for your previous mischief and causing trouble for me, causing the court and the public to say that I, Wang Hua, was a bad parent, I wouldn't have been promoted to the second rank until now."

Wang Yangming saw that his father had been promoted to the Minister of Revenue and could even include him in his remarks. He could only pout helplessly, and then said, "My father will take up the position of Minister of Revenue tomorrow. I have observed politics in the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue before, and I have some understanding of the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue. Now I have written "Nine Matters of Taxes and Grain of the Ministry of Revenue" for your reference."

Wang Hua was very depressed about this. The fifteen-year-old Emperor Zhu Houzhao instructed him on how to manage the Ministry of Revenue, and as a minister, he had no choice but to accept it. But now that he had returned home, he had to be taught by his own son how to manage the Ministry of Revenue. For a moment, Wang Hua could not help but get very angry: "I am not old enough to be useless enough to need you to teach me!"

"Master, don't be angry. I am just giving you suggestions. The Minister of Revenue has a heavy burden. You should take care of your health in the future. Also, I wonder if you have introduced me to His Majesty. I want to advise His Majesty on matters concerning the border, the vassal kings, and the river!"

Although Wang Yangming is over 30 years old, his career is going smoothly now. He has never experienced any setbacks. His character has not changed from the bad habits he had when he was young. He is still simple-minded but a little eager to express himself.

When Wang Hua saw Wang Yangming like this, he thought of the Emperor Zhu Houzhao whom he had just met. Wang Hua couldn't help but sigh and pointed at Wang Yangming: "I really don't know whether my Ming Dynasty will be a blessing or a curse in your hands in the future!"

Wang Hua snorted and said nothing more. He picked up the "Outline of Governing the Country" bestowed upon him by Zhu Houzhao and prepared to open it to take a look. After all, it was bestowed by the emperor. But when he saw that the first sentence of the opening was "The contradiction between the ever-growing material and cultural needs of the people of the Ming Dynasty and the backward productivity is the main problem of the Ming Dynasty at present", he wondered why the first sentence of the opening was not about leniency and care for the people or something like that.

However, Wang Hua continued to read on, and when he saw the words "Frugality will not lead to prosperity, while external plunder can make the whole nation rich", he almost flew into a rage, but in the end he held back:
"Who taught your majesty these unorthodox words? All the officials in the Eastern Palace should be executed!"

"Master, was this imperially bestowed "Outline of Governing the Country" written by Your Majesty? I didn't expect Your Majesty to have such an insightful understanding of the Ming Dynasty. You see, the historical cycle law and the relationship between land annexation are very insightful. Isn't it the meaning that the general trend of the world is that after a long period of unity, there will be division, and after a long period of division, there will be unity? It is rare that Your Majesty analyzed the reasons behind this."

Wang Yangming stood beside Wang Hua, watching attentively and talking with relish, but he did not notice that his father was staring at him like a ferocious wolf.

"This is not a good thing at all. It is all dregs that seduce people! I don't know who taught your majesty this. No matter what, I have to burn it. Otherwise, if it spreads out, it will cause chaos in the world!"

Wang Hua still didn't have the heart to beat his married son, so he yelled at Wang Yangming and threatened to burn the books.

But Wang Yangming snatched the book away and said, "Master, this is a gift from the emperor. You cannot burn it. Give it to me and I will keep it properly."

After Wang Yangming finished speaking, he took the book and ran back to his room.

When Wang Yangming's wife saw Wang Yangming coming back, she laughed and said, "You're back. Did you make the master angry again just now?" "No, you go to bed first. I have to stay up late to finish reading this book tonight, otherwise I'm afraid I won't be able to read it tomorrow!" As Wang Yangming said this, he put the candlestick next to him and began to read carefully. Wang Yangming's wife said with some disappointment.

……

Zhu Houzhao had no idea that his imperially bestowed "Outline of Governing the Country" had fallen into the hands of Wang Yangming. He initially took the time to write these contents on governing the country just to give some help to the senior officials of the Ming Dynasty. After all, the civil servants of this era had learned the Four Books and Five Classics since childhood. All they could do was to use Confucian ethics to maintain social stability and order, or even rely on Confucian ethics to maintain social stability.

Otherwise, in many cases in ancient Chinese society, the situation where imperial power did not extend below the county level would not have occurred. This was because the ancient Chinese government did not know how to manage the grassroots level. They could only rely on the clans formed by the Confucian ethical order to manage the grassroots level for them.

Zhu Houzhao did not want his Ming Dynasty officials to rely solely on the clan society formed by the gentry to govern the common people. He needed to teach these officials some basic knowledge of politics, at least to let them know that they should not always think that saving government costs would bring peace to the world. After the people have eaten their fill, they will want to eat better, and they need to find ways to increase the income of the Ming Dynasty.

As for whether there would be chaos in the world, Zhu Houzhao did consider it, but he thought that since he was the emperor, no one dared to do anything to him. The worst that could happen was that he would be labeled a cynical and heretic.

The chaos in the world is nothing more than the bankruptcy of a large number of self-cultivating farmers, which leads to the destruction of the ruling foundation or the arbitrary change of the system so that the literati and officials can support a new emperor again. If they give a little leeway in thoughts and speech, it will not affect the people's farming, nor will it change the system to deprive the literati and officials of their power to exploit the people. Naturally, there is no need to worry about chaos in the world.

While Zhu Houzhao was spreading his ideas on governing the country, his chief of staff Xu Jing had already begun to solicit investments with the help of Liu Jin and Zhang Yong. Xu Jing first visited the chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Jian.

The chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Jian, is now angry because his wife actually spent 60,000 taels of silver to buy a crystal sitting lotus Guanyin from the emperor Zhu Houzhao.

But Liu Jian did not directly call his wife a spendthrift woman. He just said angrily, "My wife, why did you spend money on this thing? After all, I am the Prime Minister and a veteran minister of four dynasties. If I want any royal treasure, I just need to ask for it. I don't believe that Your Majesty dares not give it to me!"

"Why are you saying this? You didn't know His Majesty had this treasure before, and we are not short of 60,000 taels," Liu Jian's wife carefully bowed to the Crystal Lotus-Sitting Guanyin.

"I have no shortage of money, but by doing this, aren't you giving the censors an excuse to impeach me? The current emperor is so poor that he has to sell the royal treasures on the street, but my family, as the prime minister, can buy the royal treasures at a high price of 60,000. How do you want others to see you?" Liu Jian said speechlessly.

"What are you afraid of? It's not like you haven't been impeached by the censors before. You are the Prime Minister now. Who can do anything to you? Even the new emperor has to give you some respect, right?" Liu Jian's wife said, "We still don't have a grandson. This thing will be useful."

Liu Jian was silent, and at this time a servant came to report that Xu Jing, the director of the attendant's office, was here to visit. Liu Jian naturally knew that Xu Jing was a scholar who had just been recruited by the Emperor Zhu Houzhao, so he met with Xu Jing, the director of the attendant's office.

Xu Jing also stated that he was here to raise funds, hoping that Liu Jian could contribute money to participate in the Royal Bank's investment activities. Liu Jian just thought that this was the Emperor asking for money. He didn't understand what investment was, and it was even the first time he heard of it, so he said directly:
"I have always been honest and honest, and I really don't have any extra money to participate in any investment activities of Your Majesty. Even the 60,000 taels from my wife are just her dowry. I wanted to return it to Your Majesty because I couldn't bear to take away Your Majesty's favorite things. But now that Your Majesty needs money, I will just treat the 60,000 taels as my humble gift. Moreover, I think that Your Majesty's opening of the imperial store is to take profits from the people. Please tell Your Majesty that it is best not to open an imperial store without permission. The world supports Your Majesty with the people, so why should Your Majesty take the benefits from the people?"

(End of this chapter)