Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 357 There is no feast that lasts forever

Zhu Houzhao had imagined the scene where court officials would pay homage to the crown prince after the crown prince was decided, and he had also imagined the scene where court officials and people would start paying attention to Zhu Zaile after he decided to abdicate. However, he certainly had not expected that these officials would behave so excitedly when he decided to abdicate!
Many times, Zhu Houzhao did not feel that he was doing a good job as an emperor. Most people's indifference to politics and lack of concern for the emperor made him think that he had not made much impact on the people of this empire.

But Zhu Houzhao did not expect that when he decided to abdicate and leave the Ming Dynasty political arena, the people of the empire would be so heartbroken.

However, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.

Zhu Houzhao would not choose to stay just because people in the empire began to express their unwillingness for him to leave the center of power in the empire.

Once he made up his mind about something, he had no intention of changing it.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao just calmly walked down the jade steps and came in front of the eldest prince Zhu Zailei: "See, how much they are reluctant to let you go means how heavy the burden you will have in the future."

As he spoke, Zhu Houzhao helped up the eldest son Zhu Zaile, who was also kneeling on the ground, and then helped up the second son Zhu Zaitu.

Zhu Zailei was originally surprised. After all, he was now made the crown prince, and this even meant that he would ascend the throne as emperor after the Wanshou Festival.

However, like the other civil and military officials, he became a little nervous when he saw the common people outside the Forbidden City who were afraid of returning to the era when their lives were worthless because their father was about to abdicate, and when he saw the ministers inside the Forbidden City who were worried because their father was about to abdicate, and when he thought that he was about to take charge of this empire where steam industry and small peasant society coexisted, and Confucian clans and joint-stock companies ran parallel.

He once thought that he was over fifty years old, and had come into contact with the empire's most grassroots workers and peasants, as well as middle-level gentry and businessmen, and had led the empire's most advanced technology. But at this moment, when he found out that he was going to take over the empire from his father, he still felt like he was walking on thin ice.

At the same time, Zhu Zailei did feel pressure, a pressure that came from his own father. He knew that his father was great. After all, he exempted the whole country from corvee labor, established a social security system, and developed industry to solve the problem of tens of millions of people becoming refugees due to conflicts between population and land... and so on.

But Zhu Zailei still did not expect at this moment that his father's abdication would frighten so many people. He knew that this meant how difficult it would be for him to surpass his father in the imperial career.

When Zhu Houzhao was drafting the edict to appoint a crown prince and prepare for his abdication, he also enfeoffed other princes who remained in Beijing.

Among them, the emperor's second son was named King of Song, and his fiefdom was Portugal, which had been occupied by the Ming Dynasty not long ago.

The second prince Zhu Zaitu was naturally very disappointed in his heart. After all, he did not become the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty. But he knew that his father had done him justice by granting him a rich area.

He had learned from Yu Dayou about the wealth of Portugal, and when he saw the officials and people expressing their extreme reluctance to let his father abdicate, he also knew that anyone who took over the throne would face this huge mountain of difficulty facing his father.

Therefore, Zhu Zaituo felt a little fortunate at this time, fortunate that he did not have to bear such great pressure. He even wanted to see how his royal brother would face the pressure from his father.

Zhu Houzhao did not change his original intention. After the edict was read, he returned to the palace and asked the eunuch of the Imperial Household Department to convey his order, instructing the Cabinet and the Ministry of Rites to prepare for the ceremony of enthroning the crown prince, the birthday celebration ceremony for the emperor's birthday, and his own abdication ceremony.

Upon seeing this, Xia Yan, Zhang Rong and other civil and military officials realized that they could only accept this reality. If the emperor was unwilling to do it, they could not force him to continue.

Although the civil and military officials did not want Emperor Zhu Houzhao to abdicate, they had to put aside their grief and get down to work as the ceremony of enthroning the crown prince was imminent.

But for the common people, after learning from the official media that Emperor Zhu Houzhao had indeed decided to abdicate, they all became more depressed, and their desire for consumption and entertainment dropped significantly. The prosperity of the empire's commercial economy was even greatly affected. The most direct manifestation was the stock market setback.

Of course, although Zhu Houzhao abdicated, it did not mean that he abdicated immediately. At present, Zhu Houzhao is still in the position of emperor, handling the military and national affairs of the empire.

However, unlike in the past, Zhu Houzhao asked Zhu Zaile to resign from his post as Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and go directly to Hanbi Hall to participate in government affairs with him.

In order to have some free time, Zhu Houzhao had basically handed over all the daily chores to Zhu Zailei, and Zhu Zailei would only seek guidance from the emperor when he encountered difficulties.

Not only did Zhu Houzhao begin to give Zhu Zailei some power, even the only two ministers of the Council of State who were still in charge of the court recommendation, Xia Yan and Zhang Rong, gave face to Zhu Zailei. At the court recommendation meeting of the Council of State Affairs, they unanimously recommended that Zhu Zailei's trusted official Xu Jie join the cabinet as the third assistant minister, and Yan Song was appointed as the second assistant minister.

Even when it came to the appointment of new ministers of the Council of State, Zhu Houzhao asked Zhu Zailei to make the decision first and then report to him, so that Zhu Zailei could gradually become familiar with managing the entire empire.

Zhu Zailei knew that this minister of state was a minister who could make decisions on important court affairs, so he naturally did not dare to be disrespectful. After considering the interests of himself and his father, he finally decided to follow the old practice of Zhu Houzhao, so he reported to Zhu Houzhao:
"Father, I think that Yan Song, Xu Jie, Wen Yuan, and Yu Dayou can be added as ministers of state affairs. Yan Song and Xu Jie are cabinet ministers, and they are at the heart of the government. They should have the power and responsibility to recommend people.

Wen Yuan was a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Personnel, in charge of the country's selection and appointment, so he should naturally have the power and responsibility to recommend.

Now that Jiang Dong is seriously ill, he should be relieved of his power as a minister of state and replaced by Yu Dayou. Yu Dayou is a new military noble who has experienced the recovery of Jiaozhi and the expedition to the West. He is familiar with generals at all levels of the Ming Dynasty. If he is appointed as the deputy envoy of the Privy Council and the minister of state, the empire will be able to select a famous future. "

Zhu Houzhao saw that Zhu Zailei had only inserted one of his own people among the newly appointed ministers of state affairs, and the rest were selected based on public opinion, so he had no objection and nodded:

"That's great. In that case, you draft an imperial edict for your father and send it to the Imperial Guards, ordering Yu Dayou to be given a higher rank but not a higher title."

However, because Zhu Zailei forced Xu Jie into the ranks of ministers of the council of state, Zhu Houzhao had to think more about Xu Jie.

Zhu Houzhao knew Xu Jie and knew that he was one of the most powerful figures in the Ming Dynasty officialdom. Even the cunning Yan Song could not deal with Xu Jie in history.

But Zhu Houzhao also knew that Xu Jie was also very capable of making a fortune in history. After serving as an official for many years, he managed to turn his family from a lower-middle-class landlord family into a wealthy family with 400,000 acres of fertile land after retiring! Zhu Houzhao didn't know whether Xu Jie had accumulated wealth in this life, but he had to be wary of whether Xu Jie would affect Zhu Zailei in the future and whether he would make the Ming Empire completely turn into a place that only protects the interests of meat eaters, and even stop actively developing industry, stop increasing investment in social public infrastructure, stop increasing social welfare security, and stop protecting the most basic interests of civilians.

Zhu Houzhao felt that he had to prepare for this day to come. At least, he must not allow the Ming Empire to continue on the old path of exploiting peasants and being unwilling to develop industry under the influence of these people. After all, the inertia of the Ming Dynasty's small peasant economy was still very strong.

"Father, this is a memorial from the Statistics Bureau, which says that the national treasury revenue has increased by 10% compared to last year, while the proportion of agricultural tax revenue has dropped to 1.6%, and the proportion of taxes on non-official businesses, companies, workshops, etc. has increased to 40%," Zhu Zaile handed Zhu Houzhao a memorial at this time.

Today, the imperial court of the Ming Empire has also begun to conduct a lot of data statistics while ruling the empire, and to carry out macro-control based on the data.

At this moment, when Zhu Houzhao heard Zhu Zailei say that agricultural tax income accounted for less than 2% of the national treasury income, he was quite surprised. After hurriedly confirming it, he had a bigger plan in his mind for a moment.

……

"Your Majesty, you have inherited the virtues of Taizu and continued the great achievements of Chengzu, making the country peaceful and the barbarians obedient. However, the world has long relied on Your Majesty. Your Majesty is responsible for the safety of the country, and we cannot leave Your Majesty for a moment!
However, Your Majesty suddenly wants to abandon the people and enjoy leisure alone. Although it is safe for yourself, it makes the world uneasy! Haven’t you heard that the people in the four seas are crying! Between heaven and earth, the sun and the moon have no color! If Your Majesty wants to seek leisure and idleness, it is actually abandoning the world and is unrighteous! Moreover, the crown prince is new and does not know the real situation..."

At this time, Hai Rui submitted a memorial to the emperor, directly criticizing Zhu Houzhao for abdicating and seeking comfort for himself.

Upon seeing this, Yang Lin, the Left Censor-in-Chief, could not help but yell, "Hai Rui, are you crazy? The emperor values ​​you so much that he lets you control public opinion and be the official in charge of law and order. Yet, you dare to directly impeach His Majesty when you take office. How can you respect your father and the emperor by doing this?"

"Please calm down, it's not that Hai Rui doesn't understand the emperor's grace, nor is it that Hai Rui doesn't respect his father and emperor. However, since Hai Rui has been appointed by the emperor, he controls public opinion and is in charge of the censorate, so he can't just sit back and watch the emperor fall into this unjust situation. The emperor today is the first saintly ruler in the history of the world, and the world can't leave him for a moment, just like hungry people who have eaten their fill don't want to suffer from hunger again. If the emperor abandons the people at this time, the people of the world will definitely be uneasy. Hai wants to advise Your Majesty not to hurt the people's feelings!"

Hai Rui bowed deeply to Yang Lin and said.

Yang Lin personally turned his wheelchair and took out the seal: "Well, I will stamp this seal for you and present it to the emperor. If it falls on deaf ears, don't blame me for blocking you from fulfilling the wishes of the people!"

Zhu Houzhao did not even read Hai Rui's memorial, and he did not even know about it, because he had already explained to the Crown Prince Zhu Zaile that any memorials from officials advising him to withdraw his resolution to abdicate should be kept or rejected.

Under the autumn moon, half a life is leisurely. Zhu Houzhao didn't believe that he couldn't enjoy his retirement life in his later years. The little prince born to Elizabeth came over with a small Cuju in his arms. As soon as his chubby hands put the small Cuju in front of Zhu Houzhao's boots, Zhu Houzhao kicked it away and it fell into the net in front of the flower stand. The little prince was so happy that he clapped his hands: "Father is so awesome!"

Zhu Houzhao touched his sprained waist and said, "If it weren't for your mother, I could have played again. Let's go with father to see how the Imperial Stadium they built is going."

But at this time, Crown Prince Zhu Zailei came running over. Seeing Zhu Houzhao holding the boy with fair skin, black hair and dark eyes, he didn't know whether he was his brother or nephew. He only nodded after the little boy called him "Your Highness the Crown Prince" and then said to Zhu Houzhao:
"Father, an envoy from England said that their Queen Mary I had passed away and they wanted to bring the concubine back to England to inherit the throne."

"My Lady is pregnant now, so it is naturally inconvenient for her to go to England to inherit the throne. Moreover, My Lady loves me deeply and cannot leave me for a moment. Tell the English envoy what I mean and have the cabinet reply to the English envoy that I can let the prince Zhu Zaidong go to England to inherit the throne. In addition, warn the English envoy and tell him that it was I who said that as a relative of the English royal family, I will never sit idly by and watch other kingdoms usurp the English royal family's succession rights! The only ones who can legally inherit the King of England are My Lady and her son Zhu Zaidong. Let the cabinet draft an edict to confer the title of King of England on Zhu Zaidong, and have the Ministry of Personnel select a great scholar with both moral integrity and talent to serve as the chief historian, and select a general to lead two regiments of navy and army, ready to escort the King of England to the West to inherit the throne of England at any time."

Zhu Houzhao naturally would not let Elizabeth go back, because he knew that Elizabeth was a very powerful politician. If he let Elizabeth go back, who knows whether Elizabeth would allow England to continue to rise as in the original history.

Now that Mary I has passed away, Zhu Houzhao has let his son inherit the throne of England. This is a good opportunity to annex England without war. Why not do it?

"It's just a pity for my youngest son. He is not even an adult yet, but he has to travel across the ocean to inherit the empire left by his grandfather!"

Zhu Houzhao sighed for a while, and Elizabeth couldn't help asking Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty, why don't you let me go back to inherit the throne? If I go back, I will definitely be able to conquer many countries like you!"

"I don't need you to conquer other countries, you just need to conquer me at this time," Zhu Houzhao said. Although he was nearly 70 years old, he was still as sharp as a knife. He wanted to wait until Elizabeth gave birth to her second child before letting Elizabeth give birth to her next child, so as to prevent Elizabeth from only knowing how to conquer.

Just when Zhu Houzhao asked the cabinet to ask the English envoy to agree to let the Ming Ying Wang Zhu Zaidong return to inherit the throne, Zhu Houzhao decided to do one last good thing for the benefit of the people on the eve of his abdication. He summoned the officials of the cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue and proposed:
"I have decided to abolish the agricultural tax and announce to the world that starting from the first year of the new emperor, the people in the Ming Central Empire will no longer be subject to agricultural tax! And they will never be subject to it! This is my last grace to the people of the world!"

Abolish agricultural taxes?

All the officials present were as happy as if they had passed the imperial examination.

Because even during the heyday of the Han and Tang dynasties, there was no decree to permanently abolish agricultural taxes, and at most they only reduced taxes and levies.

However, the Ming Dynasty was now able to abolish agricultural taxes throughout the country. This was not only a manifestation of the Ming emperor's benevolence, but also a feat that could only be achieved when the empire was unprecedentedly prosperous.

The chief minister of the cabinet, Xia Yan, bowed to Zhu Houzhao and said, "I thank the emperor on behalf of all the people. The emperor will extend his grace forever. This is a blessing for the people of the Ming Dynasty!"

Yan Song did the same, and they all expressed their sincere gratitude to Zhu Houzhao.

Crown Prince Zhu Zaile and Xu Jie also began to salute.

Wen Yuan, an old official who passed the imperial examination in the 18th year of the Hongzhi reign, also looked north and kowtowed after hearing this, tears streaming down his face. "Although I have lived through the Chenghua, Hongzhi, and Zhengde reigns, I never dared to imagine such a grand event, the exemption of corvée and agricultural taxes, which is truly something that no emperor in history has ever achieved! The prosperity of the Ming Dynasty has already caught up with Yao and Shun, and far surpassed Tang and Wu!"

Thanks to the book friend Dongfang Moran for donating 100 Qidian coins and recommending "Red Blood Demon Soul" which is worth reading

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(End of this chapter)