Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 294 How can we achieve commercial prosperity?

This was Chen Ce's reply to Tang Yin, which discussed the countermeasures on how to divide and govern the three major chieftains of Myanmar. One of the key conditions was that the imperial court needed to reward the big chieftains with money and property, but this batch of money and property had to be handed over to Tang Yin first so that Tang Yin could distribute it freely.

Emperor Hongzhi finished reading the letter without realizing it, and subconsciously turned it over to the north, looking as if he was still unsatisfied.

He slowly leaned back on the dragon chair, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

If this kid were not dying, and if he was in good health, he would surely help the Ming Dynasty prolong its rule for hundreds of years!
pity……

If this letter is handed over to Tang Yin, as long as Tang Yin is not a fool and follows Chen Ce's instructions to divide the three chieftains, the three major chieftains of Myanmar will soon collapse, and the power of the Myanmar Xuanwei Office will soon be taken back by Tang Yin!
Seeing that Emperor Hongzhi was slow to speak, Zhu Houzhao could not help but ask, "Father, you are not reluctant to give me a reward, are you?"

Emperor Hongzhi then opened his eyes and said to Zhu Houzhao, "You are willing to give it up! Why would you be reluctant to give it up? With the smallest price, we can ensure that the future ruling power of the Xuanwei Division belongs to the Han people. Don't even mention such a small reward. Any more will do!"

Emperor Hongzhi gave it a very high evaluation.

The countermeasures that Chen Ce gave to Tang Yin can be used as a textbook for Wang Shouren, Wang Wubi and Zhu Yunming to learn together!
I think that guy also had this in mind, otherwise he would not have asked Zhu Houzhao to bring the letter back for me to review, and then I would send it to the four officials in the southwest.

Didn't he ask for any reward? Emperor Hongzhi felt a little embarrassed, even a little disappointed. Couldn't that guy have a little selfishness?

Zhu Houzhao saw that his father, His Majesty, was meaningless, and said, "By the way, Father, I met my two uncles when I came here just now."

Emperor Hongzhi said angrily, "What? What are they going to do now?"

Last time, he was impeached by Li Mengyang, and he, the emperor, almost couldn't protect these two bastards. When mentioning these two insignificant things, Emperor Hongzhi became furious.

Zhu Houzhao said: "Nothing, they asked you to let them and the Honglu Temple receive the Liaodong Jurchens together."

Emperor Hongzhi said angrily, "No! Who knows how these two bastards will trick the Jurchen envoys. In the end, they might even bring disgrace to the Ming Dynasty!"

Zhu Houzhao said: "I said so too, but they swore to me that they were just curious and had never seen a Jurchen before, so they wanted to see the world."

Emperor Hongzhi thought about it and thought that if he could find something for them to do and stop them from bullying the people, it would be a good thing. So he waved his hand helplessly and said, "Go ahead and teach them to be careful."

Zhu Houzhao: "Oh, OK."

……

Ministry of Industry.

After finishing his shift today, Xu Guan planned to go find the Minister of Revenue Qin Hong. Last time, Qin Hong asked Xu to guess who was teaching the prince behind the scenes, and Qin Hong asked him to guess it himself.

After so many days of guessing, I still have no clue.

As soon as he arrived at the Ministry of Revenue, he saw Qin Hong had already changed into casual clothes and left the duty station. After leaving the palace, he did not take a sedan chair. He was dressed in simple casual clothes, with his hands behind his back, walking towards Zhengyang Street like an ordinary old man, until he turned into a courtyard.

Mysterious.

Xu Guan followed him and stood outside Chen Ce's courtyard but did not go in. He wanted to hear what Qin Hong was doing here.

In the courtyard, Chen Ce poured tea and water for Qin Hong.

"I have met Lord Qin."

Qin Hong was not sure whether Chen Ce knew his identity, but this boy was so smart that he probably had guessed it long ago. He pretended to be confused and said with a smile, "You're welcome."

"The business tax pilot has now been extended from the north to the more affluent south, such as Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and other places." "I have also discussed tax legislation with the Ministry of Justice. Everything is moving in a good direction. Business has great potential in the future!"

Xu Guan was shocked when he heard a minister talking to a commoner like this.

Who is this kid? How could Minister Qin be so respectful to him?

Judging from Minister Qin's tone, it seems that the commercial tax reform was initiated by this guy?
Minister Xu couldn't help but take a deep breath.

Chen Ce nodded and said, "Yeah, that's good."

Qin Hong shook his head and asked Chen Ce: "You think business can enrich a country. Facts have proven that the potential of commercial tax is indeed huge, but how can we achieve commercial prosperity?"

"Ordinary people all know that business has a low status. If the situation is to be reversed, the court must overturn the ancestral law."

When Zhu Yuanzhang conquered the Central Plains and founded the Ming Dynasty, he defined the class status of scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants. Although this class consciousness has faded now, the people still look down on merchants, unless the court takes the initiative to overturn the people's prejudice against merchants.

Otherwise, business will be difficult to prosper!

Chen Ce asked in return: "Why do you want to overturn the laws of our ancestors? Merchants are lowly, but they are profitable. People laugh at poverty but not at prostitutes. Do you really think they care about their class status? As long as business can bring them enough benefits, does it matter whether they are lowly or not?"

Qin Hong was slightly stunned, and Xu Guan, who was standing outside the yard, also nodded slightly, knowing that what this boy said was true.

Qin Hong asked: "Then how can we get more people involved in business? How can we let them know that it is profitable?"

Chen Ce replied: "This requires national macro-control."

"Macro-control? What does that mean?" Qin Hong was puzzled. Minister Xu, who was standing outside the courtyard, also looked confused.

Chen Ce said: "The reason is very simple, let me give you an example."

"When a temple is built, it is usually the Ministry of Works or local engineering departments that send people to repair it. If the Ministry of Works and local engineering departments classify this as a project, they will invite private contractors to do the work."

"If the Ministry of Works or Engineering Department builds a temple like Daxiangguo Temple, how much budget do you think the Ministry of Works will need, Lord Qin?"

Qin Hong thought for a moment and said, "One hundred thousand to two hundred thousand taels of silver."

Chen Ce said, "One hundred thousand. The Ministry of Works will issue a tender and give one hundred thousand taels of silver to the merchants to undertake the work. The merchants will bear all the costs of mud, sand, stone, wood, labor and corvée. In this way, the construction industry or the business of construction will flourish, right?"

"Is this a kind of business that is gradually starting to rise under the control of the state? This is the so-called macro-control, the control of the court."

Qin Hong was stunned for a moment, then said: "You are right, this can indeed make a business flourish, but the premise is that the other party must make money. The Ministry of Industry needs hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to accomplish something. If you give 100,000 taels of silver to private merchants, won't the merchants lose money to build the temple? Will they come in?"

Chen Ce: “Haha.”

Qin Hong was puzzled: "What does hehe mean?"

Chen Ce said, "Sir Qin, please don't use these rules and regulations of your officialdom to fool me. The Ministry of Industry has given you a budget of 200,000. How much do you think the Ministry of Industry will embezzle?"

"Um, you don't really think the Ministry of Industry is clean, do you?"

Arrogant! Presumptuous!
Xu Guan's face turned red with anger when he heard this outside!
(End of this chapter)