Ming Dynasty: Traveling through the harem, Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded

Chapter 171 New Gadget "Light"

Zhu Yuanzhang told good news one after another, which surprised Empress Ma.

She covered her mouth and looked at Zhu Yuanzhang in disbelief:

“I originally thought that using such violent means as the military to forcibly suppress these wealthy businessmen might cause misunderstanding among the people, leading to a change in public opinion.

It now seems that only by considering the issues from the perspective of the people can we solve these seemingly cumbersome matters.

Chongba, I recently re-read the knowledge that Yang Chen introduced to us, and found that introducing class interests and identifying who is the enemy and who is the friend is no longer as simple as a dragon-slaying technique.

Rather, it is the knowledge that can rebuild a dynasty in chaotic times.

I really can’t imagine that in the world hundreds of years later, the new dynasty in the Central Plains would be willing to spread such knowledge to the people.”

Empress Ma knew very well what this knowledge brought. If most people in the Ming Dynasty could understand it, they might be able to create a government equivalent to the imperial court.

She wanted to use this as a reminder to let Lao Zhu understand the seriousness of the matter, but she didn't expect Lao Zhu to take it to heart at all. Instead, he said very calmly:
"Sister, I've actually been aware of the things you mentioned for a long time, but I just haven't had the time to tell you.

This dragon-slaying technique is indeed not simple, but we are not worried that this knowledge will spread to the public and cause any harm to us."

Empress Ma's eyes sparkled, and she placed her elbows on the table to support her chin. She looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with a hint of admiration and asked curiously:
"Oh? I didn't expect that our Emperor Zhu would be able to come to his senses one day? Why don't you tell me why you think this dragon-slaying technique can pose a threat to our court?
Aren't you worried at all that this country will be overthrown by the people?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was full of confidence, as if Empress Ma's warning was completely false and impossible to him.

"Sister, sometimes I am indeed a little extreme and even lose my mind easily.

After these days, all the government affairs have been left to Biaoer to handle, and I can also calm down and think carefully about some of the ridiculous things I did in the past.

Take the dragon-slaying technique for example. If some people among the people want to overthrow our rule, they must firmly control the army in their hands.

But now, the Ming Dynasty has a million strong troops, abundant food and fodder, and a sufficient treasury."

"Wait a minute?" Empress Ma interrupted Zhu Yuanzhang with confusion on her face.

"You just said that the treasury is well-stocked? The day for the people to pay taxes has not yet come, so how can the treasury be well-stocked?"

According to the previously established rules, people pay taxes after the autumn harvest. It has been several months since the autumn harvest, and most of the taxes paid by the people have already been spent.

Even if there was some left, it could not be said that the treasury was sufficient. How could Zhu Yuanzhang describe it like this?

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and explained casually:
"Hey, sister, you probably don't know this. To tell you the truth, didn't Lan Yu lead his troops south a few days ago?

This guy was really cruel. He killed all the clans in Jiangnan who huddled together for warmth. After they were killed, their remaining properties naturally belonged to the court.

We gave a portion of it as a reward to the soldiers, and we still had nearly 30 million taels of silver left.

These are all real gold and silver. I never thought that the gentry could accumulate so many things. We would not know how rich they are unless we confiscate their property."

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't stop smiling when he thought about how he could get so much money for no reason.

"Ahem, let's get off topic, sister. Let's continue talking about the dragon-slaying technique. If the people want to overthrow the government, they need money and an army.

Now the people's hearts are with us, the army is with us, and the court is not short of money. Even if evil people want to use the Dragon Slaying Technique to do bad things, they will never be able to do it. "

When Zhu Yuanzhang mentioned this, a smile appeared on his face:
"Didn't that bastard Yang Chen tell us? The economic base determines the superstructure. Based on the current situation of Ming Dynasty, we are capable of suppressing all rebellions.

Even if these rebellions originate from within the imperial court, we have the ability to suppress them easily. To say that it is easy is an understatement. "

Empress Ma was amused by Zhu Yuanzhang's confident words.

Seeing his wife's face full of laughter and tears, Zhu Yuanzhang did not feel shy at all. Instead, he felt very proud.

How many people in this world can be like him and make their wives happy?

The answer is obvious, rarely.

Yang Chen happened to be mentioned, and Queen Ma asked what Yang Chen was doing recently and whether there was any good news.

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard about this guy, he felt a little complicated.

After a moment, he spoke again:
"Sister, we heard that this guy is doing a great job in Zhenjiang Prefecture. You know, originally we wanted him to go to Zhenjiang Prefecture to handle some tedious cleanup, and find an opportunity to let him try to see if Biao'er's three strategies are useful.

It was because he brought us the good news that we dared to let Lan Yu lead the troops south.

When he first arrived in Zhenjiang Prefecture, he quickly dealt with the prefect Zhou Shizhong. Yang Chen arranged to send this guy back to the capital on the third day.

Hu Weiyong wanted to find a reason to meet with Zhou Shizhong."

At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang showed an intriguing smile:

"It's a pity that this guy couldn't hold out in the imperial prison and committed suicide."

Hearing this, how could Empress Ma not know what this meant? She sighed:
"Hey~ You don't have to tell me about this kind of thing. Just tell me directly about how Yang Chen and Lao Er are doing in Zhenjiang Prefecture."

Knowing that his sister didn't like to hear these things, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't stay for too long and continued to talk about the latest situation in Zhenjiang Prefecture.

“After this guy took over Zhenjiang Prefecture, he quickly purged all the clans that were dissatisfied with him, and the ones who were used as an example were the clan members supported by Zhou Shizhong.

All of them were chopped off in front of tens of thousands of Zhenjiang residents."

Queen Ma knew at once that Yang Chen definitely did not do such a cruel thing.

"Hey! Sister, you are really smart. The murder was not done by Yang Chen, but by our second son."

Queen Ma shook her head slightly and sighed:
"My sons are almost being led astray by you as a father. The second son used to be such a well-behaved and obedient child, but since you taught them to speak with their fists, they have become more and more ruthless. Killing people seems to be a common thing for them, just like eating and drinking."

After all, this is the fate of growing up in a royal family, and few people can escape it.

The identity of being the emperor's sons gave them many special treatments, but also required them to sacrifice some things.

Kindness, humanity, and family affection. These are all necessary.

Lao Zhu didn't know what to say for a moment, so he could only whisper:
"Sister, we are doing this so that our sons can learn to be self-reliant outside. If they don't have any means, what if they sell it to someone for ten thousand one day?
Besides, this is their own decision. The third brother has gone south to Wanli Shitang to look for bird droppings under Wu Zhen's arrangement. After the second brother heard the news, he seemed to be stimulated. He wanted to follow Yang Chen and do everything he could to improve himself so that he could go out and get his share of the land."

Queen Ma had no reason to refute this. When her sons grow up, they will eventually have their own ideas. Young eagles cannot live in a comfortable environment.

The reason why Empress Ma acted like this was simply because of her motherly instinct.

They were all pieces of her flesh that had fallen from her body, and she didn't want anything to happen to her sons no matter what.

"Let's talk about Zhenjiang Prefecture. How has Zhenjiang Prefecture become now after the transformation by Yang Chen and Lao Er?"

Queen Ma chose to skip this tedious topic and wanted to know the specific situation of Zhenjiang Prefecture.

Zhu Yuanzhang directly took out another secret certificate in his hand.

Pointing to the above content:
"That really surprised me, girl.

After Yang Chen and the second brother dealt with all those who were dissatisfied, the land was redistributed to the people in less than five days. At the same time, they supported the Cui family, a former wealthy family, and made them the presidents of the Chamber of Commerce in the court.

Didn’t Yang Chen say before that he had a way to turn the originally toxic mineral salt into high-quality salt that could be sold?

At first I just thought it was a joke, but I didn't expect he would actually do it.

Ningming County, which is close to a branch of the Yangtze River, has now relied on its own efforts to ensure that all the people around the capital can eat salt. We have seen the quality of this fine salt, and it is no worse than the fine salt we salvage and dry from the seaside.

The only bad thing is that the price is still relatively high. Fortunately, ordinary people now have large tracts of land. When the third brother sees the guano island from Wanli Shitang and brings the guano back to us, the people will no longer have to worry about insufficient grain production. One year's harvest will be equivalent to two years' harvest in the past.

By then, the salt will not be an expensive thing for the people. "

"Training local gentry as the president of the Chamber of Commerce? Why would Yang Chen do such a thing? Chongba, are you worried that these businessmen will do something harmful to the people in pursuit of profit?"

Although Empress Ma was born into a merchant family, she is now the Empress of the Ming Dynasty, so naturally she has to look at things from a different perspective.

Many people believe that businessmen are profit-driven.

"Sister, I thought so before. The Cui family of Zhenjiang started out as rich farmers, but was later taken care of by Zhou Shizhong.

Many people in the family were persecuted, but the Cui family was different. In their family, there was someone who served as a commander under the second son. Yang Chen gave the position of president of the Chamber of Commerce to him because he could trust him.

The envelope also has the meaning Yang Chen mentioned."

After understanding the situation clearly, Queen Ma’s last bit of worry disappeared.

Since Yang Chen told them about the importance of finance to a country, Queen Ma also tried to find time to learn about it.

Unfortunately, Zhongyuan’s views on finance were not summarized, resulting in Queen Ma having to rely on her own insights to slowly understand.

In addition, Yang Chen also opened some unique schools in Zhenjiang Prefecture.

These schools were built jointly by the children's parents and enrolled thousands of students.

Each class consists of forty people. They do not study the traditional Four Books and Five Classics, but instead explore some mysteries that seem "natural" to ordinary people.

It is said that it can stimulate children's curiosity and enable them to become talents in this field in the future.

As for the adults, those who had land at home went to farm, and those who had no land and fled to the capital were all gathered together by Yang Chen.

As front-line workers, Yang Chen and Zhu Chong promised them that as long as they were willing to contribute to the construction, they would be able to obtain their own land when Zhenjiang Prefecture completed its industrialization in the future.

Working here not only provides food and accommodation, but also provides housing, which greatly helps the capital city solve the problem of some refugee population.

When Queen Ma learned about these things, she was sincerely proud of Yang Chen.

"Although this child doesn't know the people of the Ming Dynasty, he works hard for the Ming Dynasty. Chongba, I told you a long time ago that Yang Chen is a good kid. When you get along with him in the future, remember not to judge him with your pride as a superior. He has done countless favors for our family."

Compared with Zhu Yuanzhang, who was profit-driven and valued his own interests above all else, Empress Ma appeared to be relatively calm.

At the same time, he also understood that part of what Yang Chen did was to win the hearts of the people. If other emperors encountered this, they would definitely deal with it with thundering means.

This may be the reason why Yang Chen chose to let Zhu Chong accompany him to Zhenjiang Prefecture.

With a member of the royal family by his side, the credit for this reform, no matter how much it is reduced, will fall on his Zhu family, instead of Yang Chen taking all the credit alone.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang was obviously unhappy with Empress Ma's preaching, and he frowned and responded unconvincedly:
"Sister, this guy came to Ming Dynasty by accident. Although we usually pretended to be a little fierce to him, we should not back down again. This guy has not given us face in public many times, but we did not care about him. We even provided him with good food and drink, not only gave him money, but also arranged many maids to serve him personally.

What's even more abominable is that this guy embezzled and accepted bribes in our name, and took a lot of Hu Weiyong's wealth, but we turned a blind eye to it. We have done our utmost, what else do we need to do?"

"Okay, okay, your Majesty the Emperor Zhu is very magnanimous, and I, a common woman, will not argue with you about other things.

Besides these things, did he come up with anything special? "

When it comes to this, Queen Ma feels a little headache.

"Xiong Ying hasn't met Mr. Yang Chen for several days. You don't know how sad this kid is. We have to come up with something new, otherwise Xiong Ying might make a scene tomorrow."

Zhu Xiongying was originally Yang Chen's first student in Daming, but now due to the distance, Yang Chen simply cannot devote his attention to teaching this child.

As a result, Zhu Xiongying had expressed his request to Empress Ma more than once.

That is the hope that he could leave the palace, go to Zhenjiang Prefecture, and become an ordinary student following Yang Chen.

As soon as this request was made, it was rejected by Empress Ma. She would not let her precious grandson leave the imperial city until smallpox was completely eradicated.

But she loved her grandson very much and promised Zhu Xiongying that she would bring out some new toys in a few days.

That's why I mentioned Yang Chen to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Speaking of new and interesting things, Zhu Yuanzhang really thought of the first testing ground of the Ming Dynasty built by Yang Chen in Zhenjiang Prefecture.

This test site was originally intended only for the development of weapons.

As a result, Yang Chen found that it was a waste to leave the wasteland around the site empty, so he decided to expand it into several development sites.

(End of this chapter)