Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 250 I'll be the Emperor, You'll Clean the Toilet; We're All Contributing to the Ming Dynasty
When Sun Shixiu rushed out, the competition had already become meaningless. It was two against one; winning would be disgraceful, and losing would be even more humiliating. It was better to admit defeat openly and honestly. After all, Sun Shiwan had only said it was a competition at the beginning, and since it was a competition, there would naturally be winners and losers.

"Stop right there!" Zhu Youjian roared, and Sun Shixiu froze on the spot. In terms of the self-cultivation of a "green tea" (a manipulative woman), Sun Shixiu was clearly much more obedient than her sister. Facing the emperor's furious gaze, she walked back dejectedly, shaking his arm and pleading for forgiveness without any hesitation.

Her sister would never have been able to say the same thing. To some extent, Zhu Youjian's favoritism towards Sun Shiwan was not entirely due to the influence of her father, Sun Chuanting, but rather because the two had achieved a spiritual connection through their long-term interactions.

Although to outsiders their relationship did not appear harmonious, and Sun Shiwan repeatedly overstepped her bounds, the emperor always tolerated her, which was simply unbelievable and made the other concubines extremely envious.

This is actually because they are both very stubborn people. They each have their own principles and insistence, and they will not easily change because of others, even if doing so may bring disastrous consequences and endless controversy. As long as they feel that they are right and have a clear conscience, they will insist on doing it.

Therefore, situations often arose where neither side would yield to the other. This wasn't because Zhu Youjian was being unreasonable; perhaps, quarrels were a normal part of marriage. Let alone being emperor, even holding a high-ranking official position meant being fawned over by countless people who would go to great lengths to flatter you. Over time, you wouldn't hear a single dissenting voice, nor a single word of the truth.

At this point, everything you say will be praised and deemed correct. Hearing this so often, you start to believe it, and your ego inflates. Even opposing opinions become unbearable and grating. At this point, your demise is not far off. Therefore, a wife like Sun Shiwan, who is both intelligent and speaks the truth, holds a truly unique significance for him.

Ultimately, Zhu Youjian sent men to stop the contest and declared Zhang Fengyi the winner, awarding her an extra hundred taels of silver. When Sun Shiwan learned that the emperor intended to reward Zhang Fengyi, she glared angrily, but Zhu Youjian met her gaze directly without flinching.

"Sister, are you alright? That was really dangerous, I was so worried about you!" Sun Shixiu stepped out from the side, blocking their view. Although Zhu Youjian was fully aware of her subtle actions, he didn't call her out on it. After all, having a way to save face was better for both of them.

"My foolish sister, do you really think you're the empress? What good does it do to go against the emperor? The emperor might tolerate you once, but can he tolerate you forever? If you're banished to the cold palace, I'm afraid I won't fare well either. What will happen to our daughter then?!" Sun Shixiu cursed her sister a hundred times in her heart, but remained calm on the surface.

Cao Bianjiao and Ma Xianglin each won one round in their two duels, so the five hundred warhorses were divided equally between them. After the collapse of the Ming Dynasty's horse administration, the price of warhorses remained high. Prices might have dropped during times of famine among the Mongols, and while victories in battle resulted in the capture of many horses, there were also losses. Overall, the price of warhorses has not decreased significantly in recent years.

An ordinary horse costs ten taels of silver, a warhorse costs twenty taels, and the price of a fine warhorse or even a precious horse is outrageous, with some costing several hundred taels. Zhu Youjian's batch of horses were all carefully bred by the Imperial Horse Administration, and they could sell for sixty taels each on the market. Five hundred horses would cost thirty thousand taels of silver.

Thirty thousand taels as military expenses may not seem like much, but this was a personal reward for the two generals, equivalent to fifteen thousand taels a month, which was a very generous gesture. A general's annual salary was only one thousand two hundred shi of grain, which was equivalent to six hundred taels of silver. This was equivalent to paying them twenty-five years' worth of wages at once, which could not be simply described as favoritism.

Sun Shiwan was right; the emperor was indeed not fair. But Zhu Youjian felt that this was an investment in young generals, and what was a few tens of thousands of taels of silver? As for fairness, he was the emperor, while others were cleaning latrines in the city; there was no fairness or justice to speak of.

The techniques for treating gentlemen and women are actually the same; what they need is not absolute fairness, but favoritism. Fairness is not equality, as equality leads to unfairness, but different people have different views on fairness, and fairness is also influenced by one's position.

The nobles felt that their great-great-grandfathers had followed Emperor Taizu in the Northern Expeditions and Emperor Chengzu in the Pacification of the Rebellion; they had fought all the battles and endured all the hardships. What was wrong with them taking a little more? Blame it on their grandfathers for not working hard enough. Civil officials felt they had suffered through years of studying, military generals felt they had fought countless battles, and the common people… the common people weren't even qualified to sit at the table! Everyone felt that taking more was fair, and sharing the benefits was condoning the lazy and unmotivated, which was extremely unfair! Zhu Youjian couldn't worry about fairness because fairness had never proven its existence!
With the warhorses in hand, a new problem arose. Ma Xianglin remained calm; he was a chieftain, and while Shizhu was poor, he wasn't. But Cao Bianjiao was in a bind. Where would he get the money to support 250 warhorses?! He had even been greedy and wanted 500!

The fact that Shizhu could support tens of thousands of White-Spear Soldiers, and at its peak, had an army of thirty to forty thousand, proves Shizhu's economic strength. Of course, compared to other parts of the Ming Dynasty, Shizhu was a barren land, but the people there were united, and their tax collection was high.

As it turns out, without middlemen taking a cut, this land and its people can create enormous wealth. Zhu Youjian is already quite pleased with collecting 20 million in taxes annually, but the Ming Dynasty's tax revenue potential is actually in the hundreds of millions.

If the Ming Dynasty could truly mobilize its manpower and financial resources, it could crush the Jurchens with a single hand. After all, the Jurchens only ruled over a few million people, while the Ming Dynasty had many millions.

But Zhu Youjian didn't know where to begin. He felt he had done everything he could, going against the grain to carry out reforms, and he wasn't even afraid of falling into the water.

The court officials may appear obedient now, but in reality, they have long harbored resentment. After all, turning from "masters of the country" into "servants of the people" is something no Ming Dynasty official wants to see. Zhu Youjian is going against the will of Heaven; he is courting death!

The idea that the interests of the emperor and the people are aligned may sound absurd, but it actually makes some sense. The underlying principle is the "central-local conflict." Regardless of whether the emperor's initial intention was for the good of the people, when the emperor and the local authorities have conflicting interests, eliminating local officials means that a privileged force entrenched in the locality has been purged. Even if the vacated positions are not for the people, the period of privilege vacuum can give them some breathing room.

Therefore, the fact that the common people rejoice whenever they see an official being beheaded, without even distinguishing whether the one killed is a corrupt official or an honest one, is not necessarily due to the ignorance of the people, but rather a normal manifestation of the sharpening of class contradictions to a certain degree.

There were conflicts between the imperial court and local governments, and Zhu Youjian (Emperor Zhu Youjian) took advantage of this to mobilize officials in the capital to carry out reforms and increase local tax revenue. However, there was an additional layer above them—the emperor himself. Therefore, the emperor also had conflicts with the imperial court. When the imperial court realized it was no longer willing to be the emperor's henchman, it might very well unite with the local governments to oppose the emperor.

When external pressure is immense, these three parties may be able to cooperate briefly, but when the external pressure disappears and one party becomes dominant, the other two parties will naturally unite to confront the dominant party. During the two years of recuperation, Zhu Youjian clearly felt this subtle change.

Although he had mentally prepared himself beforehand, understanding that the so-called reforms would not be smooth sailing, that new problems would arise while the court was solving some issues, and that the problems that had been solved were not permanent and could potentially regress if not careful, he still felt extremely uneasy when he actually had to face them.

There are three ways to get people to do things: one is to cry wolf, using external pressure to postpone internal conflicts; another is to make the pie bigger so everyone can have their fill; and the third is to launch an invasion to divide up the pie. These three are peaceful paths. The fourth path is through struggle, where eliminating those who want to divide the pie naturally eliminates conflict.

(End of this chapter)