Top Scholar

Chapter 575 The Road to Saving the Nation
The secret agents of the imperial guards also uncovered a number of sordid affairs within the mansions of nobles...

For example, a certain duke's favorite concubine was originally a monk's mistress; a certain marquis's illegitimate son was actually born to a monk; even worse, there were many marquises and earls who actually had homosexual relationships with monks, defiling the pure Buddhist temple.

Besides these low-class secrets, there are also stories such as a duke's illegitimate son hiring a lama to perform a ritual, cursing his legitimate grandson to die young; a marquis's wife using a Tibetan monk's secret recipe to disfigure her seductive concubine; and a marquis harvesting and mutilating animals to make elixirs of immortality...

With these secrets, the secret police only needed to give them a little warning, and those nobles who had been jumping around in the past few days would all bow their heads and obey, no longer daring to utter a word.

To be honest, Su Lu was quite disappointed with the performance of the nobles. He had initially considered joining forces with the noble group... After all, the way to fight is to unite the majority and isolate the minority.

Upon closer inspection, however, it became clear that these nobles were utterly hopeless! What's even more terrifying is that they were oblivious to their own rottenness, thinking, "I'm a noble, born of high birth, I can't do anything, yet I still managed to rise to power!"

They're a bunch of hopeless idiots...

This is hardly surprising. Since the Tumu Crisis, the power of the nobility has been completely dismantled by the civil officials, leaving them utterly crippled and spineless. Having been kept in captivity for six or seven decades, they are now utterly corrupt. Lift the splendid robes of the dukes and marquises, and you'll see they're rotten to the core…

Su Lu needs comrades-in-arms, not incompetent teammates. These nobles who are already rotten to the core are not worth winning over at all!
It would be better to save our energy and start afresh, cultivating a completely new batch of nobles...

He simply ordered Qian Ning to thoroughly investigate and record all the cases involving these noble families, so as to prevent these people from causing trouble in the future.

~~
Inside the small council chamber of Donggui Hall.

Su Lu convened a meeting with the heads of the various groups responsible for reorganizing the monastic community… After half a month of arduous summarizing and calculating, each group had basically reached a conclusion, and today they could finally sit down together and exchange information.
The first group leader, Zhu Zihe, was the first to report: "After final tallying, the total value of the confiscated property is 35 million taels of silver. However, only 18 million taels can be used immediately, including 4 million strings of copper coins."

He further explained: "Because most of what was seized were actually exquisitely crafted items such as gold Buddhas and gold artifacts, many of which were heirlooms. If they were to be melted down and cast into gold ingots, it would be a terrible waste... Therefore, we suggest that such valuables should be kept for emergencies and not melted down unless absolutely necessary."

“I agree. Hasty disposal will not only lead to the devaluation of property, but is also a crime.” Su Lu nodded and said in a deep voice, “Please have the official select the artworks and jewelry that will be significantly devalued after being melted down, register and seal them temporarily, and discuss them in a long-term manner.”

"Yes." Zhu Zihe nodded and then reported on other important matters.

~~
The second group leader was Qian Ning, who specialized in arrests and interrogations. This time, the discussion was about financial accounting, which had nothing to do with him. Furthermore, Su Lu tried his best to keep him away from Donggui Hall, and everyone knew the reason why he did not attend.

So after Zhu Zihe finished his report, it was Lu Ying's turn to report: "After a preliminary investigation, even after deducting the portion returned to the people, the amount of fertile land that has been confiscated by the state is still a staggering 160,000 hectares!"

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in the hall gasped. Zhu Zihe said, "Even the cheapest acre of land in the capital costs ten taels of silver, so that's... 160 million taels!"

"Holy crap!" exclaimed Zhang Xingfu, the deputy team leader. "How many years would that take?"

"Whether the Ming Dynasty has that kind of money is still a question." Su Lu was not excited at all, because he had experienced the absurd era when the land price of a city was said to be enough to buy a superpower.

“Even if only one-tenth of it were put into the market, it would cause land prices in the capital to plummet, so it cannot be valued like that.”

"Hehe, I was just kidding." Zhu Zi and the other two scratched their heads and laughed.

"We'll talk about the land later," Su Lu said, his gaze shifting to Su Man, the head of the fourth group's financial accounting team.

This isn't about him being nepotistic... well, he is being nepotistic, otherwise what? Would you say he's being biased towards those he doesn't know?

However, Su Lu also had good reason. Su Man, Zhu Zi, and Su Zi were all highly respected scholars in the Hanlin Academy. Now that they were willing to condescend to do such trivial and complicated work in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, it would be unreasonable not to give them important positions!

In any case, if a leader wants to use you, they'll always find a good reason. Just as if a leader doesn't want to use you, they'll always find a suitable reason...

Su Man then loudly reported: "The various shops and properties seized amount to as many as 1,200, not only in the capital Shuntian Prefecture, but also throughout the entire Beizhili region, and each one is a lucrative business—salt shops, rice shops, coal mines, transport merchants, pawnshops, money exchanges, brothels, casinos... all businesses that are sure to make money."

"Good heavens, monks not only frequent brothels, but they also run brothels?!" exclaimed Xia Bangmo, deputy leader of the third group.

"It can be considered self-production and self-consumption," Su Lu said with a light cough.

"Hahaha..." Everyone burst into laughter.

After they finished laughing, Su Man asked, "But with so many shops, what should we do? Should we sell them all, or make other plans?"

Xia Bangmo immediately said, "Absolutely not! The times are bad now. If these properties are sold off hastily, they might not even fetch half the price of a normal year. The losses would be enormous!"

“Brother Shunyu is absolutely right.” Su Lu nodded in agreement. “These properties were carefully selected by the abbots of various temples throughout the ages, and each one is very precious. It would be a real pity to sell them off so hastily.”

"So what do you mean?" Su Man asked. Su Lu slowly replied, "My initial plan is to convert them all into royal shops, and also turn those lands into royal estates..."

Before he could finish speaking, the small conference room erupted in a cacophony of voices, the first time his fellow students had ever opposed him so uniformly.

"That won't do!"

"Absolutely not, brother!"

“Of all the imperial shops in the capital, how many of them are profitable? They’ve all been ruined by those eunuchs!” Zhang Xingfu said anxiously.

“The imperial estates are also in dire straits, with the worst harvests and the poorest workers living the hardest lives…” Lu Ying also said.

"Let me finish speaking first," Su Lu raised his hand and hurriedly explained, "These imperial shops and estates will absolutely not be handed over to eunuchs to manage—those parasites will only line their own pockets and ruin the foundation!"

"That's good..." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn't given to the eunuch, they trusted Su Lu's wisdom.

"So who are you going to put in charge of it?" Su Man asked.

"Can we take care of it?" Su Lu said with a faint smile.

"Ah..." The other students stared in disbelief. Seeing that Su Lu didn't seem to be joking, they said awkwardly, "We are scholars, and there's a long gap between us, from the traditional social classes of scholars to farmers, artisans, and merchants."

"I know you all look down on industry and commerce, but that view is wrong," Su Lu said seriously.
“If the state wants to generate revenue, in addition to taxes, it can rely on state-owned enterprises—and the owners of state-owned enterprises, that is, state-owned shops, are the state itself. All profits belong to the state by right, unlike taxes, where even a tael of silver has to be forcibly seized. So this is a more moderate form of income that can greatly reduce the pain that taxes bring to the people.”

"..." The other students, having spent a long time with Su Lu, were able to keep up with his train of thought.

“If state-owned enterprises can truly generate sufficient revenue, it will naturally reduce the country’s reliance on taxation,” Zhu Zihe said. “But the problem is that ‘sufficient’ is a rather terrifying number—with just these thousands of industries, even if you were Fan Li alive, it would be far from enough!”

"I know, but industries can be expanded. With the backing of the nation, how can we not grow bigger and stronger?" Su Lu said confidently.
"I can tell you all with certainty that after more than a hundred years of development and accumulation, agricultural growth in the Ming Dynasty has reached a bottleneck, but the population is still growing rapidly. The land can no longer accommodate the population, which is the fundamental reason for the large number of refugees in recent years!"

"Yes." Everyone nodded. They had heard similar lectures from the Minister of Revenue in Nanjing in the Dragon Tiger Class.

"A large number of people will have to leave the land and make a living in other trades, so we will soon enter an era of great industrial and commercial development!" Su Lu continued loudly:

"In fact, the most prosperous coastal areas of Jiangnan have already seen a booming industrial and commercial sector for many years!" He paused, then said in a deep voice, "Brother Zhishan and Brother Bohu said that Suzhou is filled with the sound of looms, and more than 70% of the income of large households comes from industry and commerce!"

“Indeed.” Although none of those present were from the South, they all had some understanding of the situation in Jiangnan and knew that what Su Lu said was true.

"Therefore, if the Ming Dynasty wants to solve its fiscal crisis, it must change its revenue structure, which is mainly based on agricultural taxes!" Su Lu said decisively.

"There are two ways to transform the country's fiscal system: one is to significantly increase industrial and commercial tax revenue, and the other is to vigorously develop state-owned industries and directly obtain revenue from industrial and commercial development!"

"We should try both methods, but clearly, the latter is far less difficult than the former!"

"Of course, as long as you find a way to make money, you'll be fine running a royal shop. At most, you'll be criticized for competing with the people for profit," Zhu Zihe laughed. "But if you levy a commercial tax, then you'll have to deal with an unspeakable and terrifying entity."

"Hehehe..." All his fellow students laughed. This was Su Lu's private way of referring to the gentry of Jiangnan.

He also said that the people who would destroy the Ming Dynasty, the world, and China in the future would surely be these same people.

The other students didn't really agree, and even felt that Su Lu's prejudice against people from Jiangnan was almost as great as that of Grand Secretary Jiao... For example, almost none of the fifty students in the Imperial Household Department were from Jiangnan.

Of course, those from Jiangnan generally ranked higher in the same year's examinations, while the Imperial Household Department mainly wanted those who ranked lower than the top three, so it makes sense.

But only these trusted confidants knew that Su Lu was preparing for the ultimate battle he had imagined...

"Yes, we will eventually have to fight them! But before we grow stronger, we cannot confront them head-on. So how can we grow stronger? Only through state-owned industrial and commercial enterprises!" Su Lu slammed his fist on the table, looked around at his carefully selected core circle, and said, word by word:

"This is my path to saving the country, Su Lu's path!"

P.S. Post first, edit later.

(End of this chapter)