My father is Jiajing

Chapter 488 No. 92 Fodder is Full

"There is an order!"

Just before the court examination began the next day, Huang Jin also arrived at Wenyuan Pavilion.

Yan Song came, Yan Shifan was absent at home, Xu Jie and Lu Ben stood aside, and Li Chunfang also stood closely behind him.

When they heard the word "imperial decree", they all knelt down together.

"I wish you all the best."

"I'm safe."

After completing the ceremonial questions before announcing the decree, Huang Jin continued, "Today, the court nominates the host as Prince Yu. I decree this."

Yan Song and others were all surprised when they heard this. Usually, the court recommendation was presided over by the cabinet, so why was it Prince Yu who was appointed today?
But now Yan Song and others did not dare to ask more questions, and could only bow and say: "Your Highness obeys your order."

Huang Jin came over with a smile and helped Yan Song with Xu Jie. "The Emperor said that the cabinet minister is old, so don't worry about trivial matters like this anymore. Take good care of him at home, so that Yan Shifan can have more opportunities to show his filial piety to him."

After hearing Huang Jin's words, Yan Song couldn't help but tremble, and a trace of sadness rose in his heart, which made him wonder: "Is the time up? Does His Majesty no longer need me?"

But on the surface, Yan Song still trembled and replied: "Please tell your majesty on my behalf. I thank your majesty for your mercy."

Huang Jin said: "Don't worry, sir, I will definitely convey this message."

Huang Jin then said to Xu Jie, who was supporting Yan Song on the other side, "Lord Xu, you must take on more responsibilities in the future, support me more, and share more of His Majesty's worries. This cabinet still cannot do without old ministers like you."

After saying this, Huang Jin added, "These are the original words of the Emperor."

Upon hearing this, Xu Jie also quickly replied: "Thank you for telling me, eunuch. Please also tell His Majesty that I will do my best to assist the elder and share His Majesty's worries."

Huang Jin hummed, "Okay, then I'll leave first. I still have to go to Prince Yu's Mansion to convey the imperial edict."

Yan Song did not speak, Xu Jie and others replied: "Go slowly, eunuch."

After Huang Jin left Wenyuan Pavilion, Xu Jie, as always, respectfully helped Yan Song to sit on the main seat reserved for the chief minister of the cabinet. As soon as Yan Song sat down, he grabbed Xu Jie who was about to leave.

Yan Song said, "Huating, the cabinet will rely on you a lot in the future. You can handle the drafting of the bill. I don't have much energy to worry about these things anymore."

When Xu Jie heard this, he quickly replied, "How can this be allowed, Lord? You are our backbone, you still have to check the drafting of the bills, otherwise what are we going to do?"

Yan Song laughed and said, "Just do things the same way as before. Your Majesty is still very lenient."

Xu Jie sighed, "Thank you, Lord."

At the same time, a group of ministers who were qualified to be recommended by the court began to gather outside the Huangji Palace. They stood together in groups of three or five, and after greeting each other, they all put their hands into their sleeves to avoid the cold.

After all, it is still very cold in Beijing in the cold winter.

Moreover, it was not yet time for the court session to begin, and the gate of the Huangji Palace was tightly closed, not allowing the ministers to go in to take shelter.

So now, apart from huddling together in the square of the temple, their only activity was stomping their feet on the spot.

Although this seems very indecent, there are certainly not many pedantic scholars among those who have achieved such a high level of officialdom. They still know that the upright spirit in the books of sages can only be used to criticize others and cannot be used to fool around, otherwise they will definitely freeze to death.

In Prince Yu’s mansion.

Zhu Zaigui also leisurely processed the memorials sent by the Cabinet and the Imperial Household Department in his study. Of course, his main job was to read these memorials, and he did not need to "guide" or "review" them.

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui's work became relatively easier, but even so, there were still some things that he had to do personally, such as some important projects and development issues in the Beijing Special District, which he had to think about a lot before handing over to Zhang Juzheng and others to execute.

In addition, Zhu Zaigui also has to worry about the matters of Xishan and Shunyi Industrial Parks. When all these things are piled up, it is a huge workload.

After all, in addition to Zhu Zaigui's own industries and confidence, many of the concepts in these industries were also established by him. So in addition to specific work, Zhu Zaigui also has to spend time and effort to find and fill in the gaps for these industries.

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui would have to spend a lot of energy and time on these matters.

Of course, compared to those who have to manage and worry about specific affairs every day, Zhu Zaigui has it relatively easy.

After all, he didn't have to take care of everything personally. He just needed to break down the tasks and goals and let Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, who were in charge of the specific operations, do it.

Moreover, in the process of handling the matter, these people will develop their subjective initiative and deal with more problems. In this way, Zhu Zaigui will have less things to worry about.

Today, Zhu Zaigui also knew that the imperial court was going to advance the nomination, but in Zhu Zaigui's view, this matter had little to do with him.

So today, Zhu Zaigui called Hai Rui over and began to interrogate him on the toll road management methods he submitted.

Zhu Zaigui looked at the vehicles and said to Hai Rui, "Your method is not bad, but the classification of vehicles on the road needs to be more detailed. For example, which horse-drawn carriages meet the transportation standards, what is their transportation load, and what is the transportation speed that should be controlled above and below a certain level."

"Also, if private carriages want to go this way, what conditions must their carriages meet, such as how many people they can carry, etc. And what driving qualifications must the grooms have, and whether all carriages should establish new and unified standards." "We can't have a variety of carriages on a fast-moving road, right? We can't have carriages carrying heavy goods and carriages carrying private people running on the same road, right? If something happens to these things, it will be fatal."

"In addition, you also have to consider the issue of highway insurance and car insurance. If these carriages and drivers have accidents on our roads, what kind of mechanism should we respond to clear the roads and appease them."

"So what I mean is that we should not be afraid of troubles and should not be too advanced. As long as we list all the issues and rules that need to be considered, when this road starts operating in the future, it will naturally be smoother, and it will also make it easier for more people who are willing to spend money to take this road."

Hai Rui listened to Zhu Zaigui's words and took notes very seriously. He had thought about some of these issues before, but he was not as sharp as Zhu Zaigui. So after hearing Zhu Zaigui's additional opinions, Hai Rui immediately replied, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. After I go down, I will definitely improve these issues."

Zhu Zaiqi hummed, "I feel relieved to leave this matter to you. You are more meticulous than most people in your work, and this is what I value about you. Moreover, if you can operate this road well, it will be a benchmark. When it is implemented in other places in the Ming Dynasty in the future, your rules will be universal rules. You should understand this, right?"

Hai Rui immediately said, "I understand. I will do my best to handle this matter."

Seeing this, Zhu Zaiqi smiled again and said, "By the way, I think the idea of ​​the rest station you mentioned in this management method is very good, but the name should be changed from rest station to service station. It must reflect our original intention of building roads for the people, so that all people who pay to take this road can get corresponding free services and additional services when they rest in the service station."

"For example, boiled water can be provided free of charge, and toilets can be managed in a unified manner. Carriage repair and inspection services can also be provided at a certain market price. Of course, horse feed can also be divided into three grades. For example, the first grade horse feed can contain a certain amount of fine bran, eggs, and salt water, the second grade can contain a certain amount of coarse bran and salt water, the third grade can contain a certain amount of salt water, and so on."

"These may seem like minor problems, but they are actually inevitable problems for these carriages on the road. After all, their horses can't stop eating grass, right? Since we charge them to enjoy the convenient speed on the road, we naturally have to provide them with differentiated services. In this way, merchants or other private carriages that are not short of money who travel on our road in the future can also choose the paid services we provide according to their needs, and this is also the source of our profit."

"As long as there is profit, this road can be built continuously. When necessary, more lanes can be widened to allow more people to travel on this road. Therefore, we should pay more attention to the details and never be perfunctory. Because what we are building is not just a road, but a future! So when it comes to the future, we must be very careful."

Hai Rui listened to Zhu Zaigui's advice and took notes very seriously. He knew that these seemingly simple and ordinary things were indeed the cornerstone that could not be ignored. Moreover, during his years as an inspector in Shanxi, Hai Rui had always been known for his attention to detail and fairness.

Therefore, the reconstruction work in the north in recent years was quite smooth, and there were not many major problems. In fact, because of Hai Rui's strictness and meticulousness, many businessmen who were willing to come to the north to make a fortune also made enough profits and did not feel that some rules restricted them.

Because in their thinking, as long as the rules treat everyone equally, they are good rules. Even if Zhu Zaigui charged them a 20% "service fee" on the basis of the ancestral tax of 30%, they were very happy to pay it.

A portion of this "service fee" was used for local reconstruction, but most of it was sent to the Ming Federal Reserve as reserve funds.

Moreover, it is precisely because the Ming Federal Reserve has such a strong reserve fund that the Ming Federal Reserve's hard-to-redeem banknotes have also gained a certain degree of recognition in prosperous towns outside the capital. Many people do not carry copper coins and cash when they go out, and have begun to get used to using hard-to-redeem banknotes for consumption.

This is also what Zhu Zaigui expected.

Therefore, in the past few years, Zhu Zaigui not only repaid the original loan of 20 million silver taels, but also borrowed another 50 million silver taels to be repaid in ten years. At the same time, Zhu Zaigui also asked the Ming Federal Reserve to give the Ministry of Revenue a quota of 10 million for the two-country debt every year.

However, the Ming Federal Reserve must have the right to know and half of the decision-making power regarding the use of the Ministry of Revenue's 10 million treasury bond quota, otherwise these bastards will really treat money as money when spending it.

So in a sense, the Ming Federal Reserve was also the creditor of the Ministry of Revenue. By extension, all shareholders and directors of the Ming Federal Reserve were also creditors of the Ministry of Revenue.

Therefore, facing such a powerful group of creditors, the current Minister of Revenue is extremely cautious every time he approves the court's budget expenditures, for fear that any sum of money will not be spent well, leading to a subsequent chain reaction.

Once this chain reaction occurs, let alone what the imperial court will do to him, these creditors will tear him apart!

But even so, the Ministry of Revenue had to tremble and embark on the path of "deficit finance" because the original income and expenditure of the Ministry of Revenue were simply not enough to support the current development needs of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, "deficit finance" is an inevitable development and can be regarded as a manifestation of progress.

After all, before this, the imperial court had no right to run a deficit and could only delay payments, causing many officials to lose their already meager salaries.

This shows how serious the financial problems of the Ming Dynasty were.

Of course, the reason for this problem is that, first, the economic model and taxation model of the Ming Dynasty itself were problematic, and second, Zhu Yuanzhang made a huge financial mistake in inheriting the management of paper currency since the Song and Yuan Dynasties. He turned the good treasure notes into waste paper and collapsed the court's credit system hundreds of years in advance.

So even if the Ming Dynasty was new to deficit finance, it had no money to play with it, so it could only grit its teeth and drag it out, one day at a time. As for how long it could be dragged out, only God knew.

Therefore, the core of all reforms in the middle and late Ming Dynasty was actually "money".

Whether it is Yan Song now, or Xu Jie, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, or even the money-obsessed emperor Zhu Yijun, they all have money on their minds. As long as they have money, no matter how difficult the world is, they will always find a way to keep going.

But if you have no money, it will collapse.

The most prominent example is that after Emperor Guangzong Zhu Changluo and Emperor Xizong Zhu Youxiao ascended the throne, they did not understand the essence of Emperor Wanli's way of saving money. They were fooled by the ministers and used the treasury that Emperor Wanli had worked hard to save for decades to pay military salaries and wages.

As a result, once the money was spent, it could not be recovered, so when the cute Chongzhen ascended the throne, in addition to the internal and external troubles accumulated by the previous dynasty, he was also extremely poor.

What kind of achievements can he make under such difficult conditions?

Moreover, the Zhu family's credibility had long been bankrupt, and people all over the world had long since become indifferent to changes of dynasties. Especially in the economically prosperous Jiangnan region, there even emerged great thinkers like Huang Zongxi who questioned the imperial power.

It can be seen from this that in such a predicament, even a god would find it difficult to turn the situation around.

After all, the people's hearts have been lost, and it is simply a daydream to expect everyone in the world to unanimously support Emperor Zhu!
Therefore, no matter how the small Southern Ming court struggled, it was doomed to fail, because they had long lost the support of the people. Except for those royal family members and literati who loved to fight for power and profit and still dreamed of turning the tide and saving the collapsing empire, the common people did not care who the emperor was.

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Asking for monthly ticket

(End of this chapter)