Please call me Your Majesty!

Chapter 121: Fierce Battle for Crown Prince
[In August of the fourteenth year of Kaihuang, after fourteen years of rule, your court officials had a fierce confrontation, so that it was difficult for the officials in the court to accomplish anything, and it was difficult to do anything well, because they all had different views on current affairs.]

[In September of the 14th year of Kaihuang, Chu Shizhao wanted to ease the fierce party struggle, but found that the ministers held their own opinions and it was difficult to reconcile them, so Chu Shizhao centralized the control of the imperial power. ]

[In order to strengthen the control over officials at all levels and gain a deeper understanding of the situation at the grassroots level, a specific system of secret memorials was established.]

【Chu Shizhao improved the original secret memorial system of the Great Zhou Dynasty and expanded the scope and content of secret memorials.】

[Secret memorials helped Chu Shizhao better understand the situation at the grassroots level, grasp the dynamics, formulate targeted measures, and effectively implement governance. Regardless of the size of the official position, regardless of the rank and status, regardless of the background, all officials, big and small, could submit secret memorials.]

[All local advantages and disadvantages, the diligence and laziness of provincial officials, whether the superiors are fair or selfish, which subordinates are good or bad, and whether the troops are in good order can all be reported.]

[In October of the 1th year of Kaihuang, the Zhou Dynasty had a major breakthrough in papermaking technology, which significantly improved the circulation of knowledge. Since the imperial examination, each imperial examination has had more than 2 scholars enter the government, among whom there are often only or scholars of humble origins.]

[Even after Chu Shizhao ascended the throne, he wiped out many aristocratic families that were deeply rooted in the Great Zhou Dynasty, but the problem was not substantially solved. Those families that survived the turmoil, made military achievements, and established achievements became new aristocratic families in the Great Zhou Dynasty.]

[In December of the 14th year of Kaihuang, Chu Shizhao investigated the deficit in order to fill the treasury. The fiscal deficit was serious in the last years of Yongjin.]

[For this purpose, Chu Shizhao specially established an institution to review the financial reports and settlements - the Examination Office.]

[The upright Prime Minister Wen Yu is in charge of investigating the loss of money and grain in the Great Zhou Dynasty.]

[In addition, Chu Shizhao appointed Guo You to manage the three treasuries of the Ministry of Revenue to rectify the finances.]

【This operation to clear up the deficit will first be carried out at the central level.】

【Chu Shizhao issued an imperial decree that within the Great Zhou Dynasty, anyone who took advantage of his position to transfer more than 10,000 to 20,000 taels of silver would be sent to the frontier guards as soldiers; anyone who took more than 20,000 taels of silver would be directly treated as stealing money and grain and would be executed without mercy.】

[Anyone who committed the crime was dismissed from his post and his property confiscated, and his property was used to compensate for the country's losses.]

[Years of foreign wars and good weather in the local area left Chu Shizhao no time to care about the customs of these officials. Now Chu Shizhao is rectifying the administration of officials and has launched investigations on officials in various places.]

[In the fifteenth year of Kaihuang, a total of 357 local and capital officials were implicated in the issue of clearing up corruption in the court.]

[All the stolen money and surplus silver were confiscated by the state treasury. After the strenuous efforts to recover the stolen money in the 15th year of Kaihuang, the state treasury of the Great Zhou Dynasty had more than 10 million silver taels by the end of the dynasty, which was sufficient for the state.]

[In the 16th year of Kaihuang, Chu Shizhao did not follow the basic national policy of "reinforcing agriculture and suppressing commerce". In order to develop the economy, Chu Shizhao encouraged and promoted trade, but increased taxes on merchants. ]

【At the same time, Chu Shizhao abolished some unnecessary checkpoints and related tariffs, thereby reducing some unnecessary procedures in the circulation of goods, better promoting the free flow of goods and payments, and promoting the development of commodity trade. 】

The main reason why agriculture was emphasized and commerce was suppressed in the feudal era was the importance of grain in that era.

If there are more businessmen, there will be fewer farmers.

Farmers are the main source of taxes. In addition, agriculture was the decisive production sector in ancient times. Therefore, rulers must attach importance to agriculture and farmers.

What's more, food is a necessity during war.

We cannot survive without food, and food is the top priority during war.

If a country wants to be strong, maintain vitality and remain competitive, then food reserves are of paramount importance.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the basic strategy adopted was to emphasize agriculture and suppress commerce.

However, this was not the case in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, during the reign of Li Shimin. Li Shimin changed the discrimination and suppression of other dynasties and attached great importance to commercial development. It was because of this that the development speed of the Tang Dynasty could change so rapidly.

As the saying goes, the judgment of the situation is different at different stages.

During the war, Chu Shizhao certainly understood the importance of food, but at this stage, Chu Shizhao needed a strong source of economy as a driving force to support the country's continued progress.

Coincidentally, Chu Shizhao's declaration of war achieved the greatest success. The "Silk Road", which the Great Zhou Dynasty was unable to control, returned to Chu Shizhao's hands.

Chu Shizhao also built four military towns in the Western Regions to ensure the security of the "Silk Road". Under such circumstances, why not continue to promote the development of commerce and build the Silk Road into a golden corridor.

Moreover, only a sufficiently strong economy can enable a country to have strong national strength and power. If there is no money to do anything, no matter how great the monarch's achievements are, it will be useless.

As an extremely enterprising monarch, Li Shimin expanded the territory and conquered the barbarians in the country during his reign. How strong a country's power and how much money would be needed to fight such frequent foreign wars?
War costs money.

After a war, it is like burning one's own treasury. It is possible that one-third of the treasury will evaporate overnight. If you lose the war, it will be a waste. How can a poor country become big and strong?

The prosperity of both the land and water sections of the "Silk Road" can promote the economic development of the Great Zhou Dynasty. If the trend is good, the Great Zhou Dynasty can become a world trade center, and the benefits gained will be huge.

Of course, if Chu Shizhao did not have such brilliant military achievements as he has now and had not obtained the Silk Road, he would definitely not consider learning from Li Shimin.

After all, the people can barely survive, so food must be put first.

The main thing now is that Chu Shizhao is not short of food for the time being, but the financial reserves required for the Western Expedition are too huge. It is impossible to raise such a large amount of funds at once. Instead of wasting it, it is better to further expand the country's economy and finances.

As long as a world economic system centered on the Great Zhou Dynasty can be formed, Chu Shizhao's advantage will be too great. He can completely promote the currency of the Great Zhou Dynasty and force other countries to use it, thereby using the monetary mechanism of the Great Zhou Dynasty to plunder the wealth of other countries.

[In the 17th year of Kaihuang, Chu Shizhao built many branches of the Silk Road in the eastern section of the Silk Road, connecting the north and south of the desert and the countries in the Western Regions, also known as the "Kaihuang Road".]

[In the same year, the construction of the Grand Canal was basically completed, exchanges between the north and south of the Zhou Dynasty became more frequent, and economic development became faster.]

[In the 18th year of Kaihuang, the population of the Great Zhou Dynasty grew rapidly, but as Chu Shizhao grew older, the competition for the crown prince became more severe.]

[There was a fierce conflict between the appeasement and people-supporting factions led by Crown Prince Chu Jiyue and the meritorious and military merit factions led by Second Prince Chu Jimin.]

[Chu Jiyue believed that the country was becoming more stable and it was not appropriate to go to war. Instead, we should rest and recuperate, and protecting the people's lives was the top priority. ]

[Chu Jimin held a completely different opinion. He believed that under the governance of his father, Chu Shizhao, the country was already on the road to prosperity, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the population was large. He was one of the few radicals who supported Chu Shizhao's attempt to conquer the west and continue to expand the territory for the Great Zhou Dynasty.]

[In fact, Chu Shizhao, as the monarch, knew better that Chu Jimin's background destined him to support the Western Expedition.]

[Under the implementation of the military merit system, if military households want to complete the class leap and get promoted, they must rely on military merit. ]

[The military merits gained from suppressing bandits and rebellions at home were few and far between, so many people were eager to continue launching foreign wars to gain military merits.]

[Chu Jimin was born into a military family, and most of the people he met were also from military families, outstanding generals who were famous for their military achievements. Therefore, in order to protect the interests of these military officials, Chu Jimin must support foreign wars, which are beneficial to the generals.]

[On the other hand, Chu Jiyue and the Liangzhou Huan family, relying on their merits of following the emperor, have become a new famous family. After engraving the stone in Yanran and subduing the nomadic peoples on the grassland, Huan Sheng has long lost his former enterprising spirit and only wants to maintain stability and guarantee the status of the Huan family. ]

【Therefore, Huan Sheng did not want some generals who were proud of their military achievements to appear above him. 】

[Rather than saying that the dispute between the two princes was a fight for the throne, it is better to say that it was a manifestation of the conflict between the civil and military officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty.]

Looking at Chu Jiyue's internal affairs ability which was as high as 92 points, Chu Shizhao was very pleased. This guaranteed that he would be a king who could maintain the status quo, and it would be impossible for him to make any big mistakes while ruling the country.

Seeing that Chu Jimin's four abilities had all reached the excellent line of 80 points, with his military strength and command both reaching 90 points, Chu Shizhao became conflicted again.

Chu Shizhao never cared about how to use the minister card. He would let whoever was capable take the position. Besides ability, he would also look at loyalty and relationships.

Therefore, Huan Sheng, who had done all the dirty work for Chu Shizhao, had a very stable position.

No matter what is happening now, Huan Sheng did many crucial and important things before Chu Shizhao ascended the throne, especially helping Chu Shizhao when he was not yet successful.

But the struggle between sons is different from the struggle between ministers.

Ministers could be dismissed at will or even executed.

Could Chu Shizhao dismiss his son, whom he had cultivated with great difficulty, or even kill him for a reason? If things went wrong, in order to eliminate his followers, he would have to kill a group of capable and talented ministers.

This is equivalent to asking Chu Shizhao to make a choice: to support civil officials or military officials to take power. If he chooses one side, then the other side must be kicked out to avoid greater civil strife.

In this respect, he was far inferior to Emperor Wu of Han.

In this situation, Chu Shizhao was under pressure.

A situation even more terrifying than the Five Dragons meeting at the same time has emerged.

One son developed into Emperor Renzong of Song and Emperor Renzong of Ming, and the other son developed into Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Yongle.

What would happen if these two started fighting?!
(End of this chapter)