Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 244 He was fooled by the civil servants! Liu Kuan's small suggestion [Please subscribe]

"What are the descendants of a ruler? They are the foundation of the country!" Zhu Yuanzhang continued. "Therefore, having many children is also a major duty of a ruler!"

"Zhu Youtang is clearly capable of having children, but because he favors Zhang, he refuses to have more. He is clearly placing the Ming Dynasty under Zhang's sway. Isn't that absurd?"

"Didn't he give birth to Zhu Houzhao?" Zhu Di couldn't help but retort.

Zhu Yuanzhang was even more furious. "What's the use of having only one son? If Zhu Houzhao behaves badly or is extremely stupid, will Zhu Youtang hand over the throne to another member of the royal family? In my opinion, it would be better for him to have no descendants than to raise only one son!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's words were certainly a bit angry, but they also reflected his strong dissatisfaction with Zhu Youtang's marriage and childbearing.

Liu Kuan said something pertinent at this time.

He said, "Your Majesty, I have a humble suspicion that Zhu Youtang was only interested in Zhang and could be considered to be averse to women other than her. This might be due to his naturally frail body."

"Historical records say that in his later years, Emperor Chenghua became addicted to women, even consulting alchemists on sexual techniques and taking elixirs."

"Zhu Youtang, with this insight, must have taken it as a warning. Furthermore, given his frail health, it's understandable that he wouldn't want to be around women. If he had taken in too many concubines to raise children, he might have died before he turned thirty."

"Whether a king is capable or incapable of doing anything, or is simply absurd, is actually a very difficult thing to determine. In this case, he might have thought it would be better to live a few more years and do more for the Ming Dynasty."

"That's right!" Zhu Di seemed to be enlightened when he heard Liu Kuan's words. "Father, perhaps it's just as my third brother-in-law said. Zhu Youtang doesn't want to have more children, but he can't."

"He cherishes his body and has a desire to live, but he also has thoughts for the Ming Dynasty!"

After listening to Liu Kuan's words, Zhu Yuanzhang calmed down a little.

But after listening to Zhu Di's words again, he couldn't help but hum: "Liu Kuan also said that this is just his own speculation and may not be true."

Then he changed the subject, "Moreover, even though Zhu Youtang took steps to eliminate malpractices and straighten out internal affairs after ascending the throne, he made a major mistake—he was too lenient with the civil servants and relied heavily on the cabinet to govern the country. This inevitably allowed the civil servants to become even more powerful, and even difficult to control!"

After saying this, Zhu Yuanzhang saw that Zhu Biao was frowning and thinking, and Zhu Di was still a little confused, so he patiently continued speaking.

"Fourth Brother, the emperors before Zhu Youtang in your lineage, with the exception of Zhu Gaochi, who reigned for only a year, and Zhu Qiyu, who ascended the throne due to the Tumu Incident, all other emperors, although they valued civil officials, also knew how to check and balance them, and even suppress them."

"For example, why did Zhu Zhanji establish the Imperial Academy and employ eunuchs on a large scale? Wasn't it to use his servants to check the power of the civil officials?"

"Another example is Zhu Jianshen, who established a large number of factories and guards, promoted military generals, and created new military honors, also in order to suppress the power of the civil officials."

"Even that bastard Zhu Qizhen understood that the civil officials were encroaching on the imperial power and knew how to use eunuchs and military generals to control them."

"But Zhu Youtang not only promoted civil affairs, favored civil officials, and relied heavily on the cabinet, but he also suppressed the imperial guards and ignored military commanders. In my opinion, he was probably fooled by the civil officials!"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, in fact, there are similar views on Zhu Youtang's 'Hongzhi Restoration' on the Internet in later generations."

"As Your Majesty has said, Zhu Youtang's appointment of a group of outstanding civil servants, such as Liu Jian, Xie Qian, and Li Dongyang, did indeed eliminate some of the Ming Dynasty's shortcomings, but it also made the civil servants too powerful to govern."

"Later generations believed that it was from the Hongzhi reign that the civil service of the Ming Dynasty truly gained the right to challenge the imperial power. This may not have been obvious in the court, but it was very obvious in the local areas, especially in the Jiangnan region."

"Both the later Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao and the Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houcong spent a lot of time and energy fighting for power with the civil service clique."

"There are even conspiracy theorists in later generations who believe that the death of Emperor Zhengde from drowning and the multiple assassination attempts on Emperor Jiajing during his reign were both manifestations of an irreconcilable struggle between the emperor and the civil service."

"And judging from the final results, both Emperor Zhengde and Emperor Jiajing lost."

"After ascending the throne, Emperor Zhengde attached great importance to military affairs and military commanders, appointing eunuchs, military commanders, and miscellaneous officials. He personally reorganized the northern border army and led troops on the battlefield to defeat the invading Mongols."

"He also traveled south to quell the rebellion of Prince Ning, a vassal of the imperial clan. With these military achievements in hand, Emperor Zhengde's authority grew significantly, despite his reputation for employing sycophants and tolerating his lackeys."

"Yet at this moment, he unexpectedly fell into the water and died after prolonged treatment. This makes one suspect that the civil service clique wanted to stifle this emperor who placed too much emphasis on military prowess and alienated the civil service."

"The Jiajing Emperor ascended the throne as a minor prince, and at the time, government was almost entirely controlled by the cabinet. It was only thanks to his extraordinary talent for political strategy that he was able to slowly regain some power."

"But he failed in his attempt to reform Ming politics and experienced a series of assassination attempts. His subsequent obsession with alchemy, Taoism, and moneymaking is undoubtedly related to this."

After hearing what Liu Kuan said, Old Zhu, his son and his two children all frowned deeply.

Zhu Di was the first to say, "How dare these civil servants become so rampant that they dare to murder the emperor?"

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered, "There have been many powerful ministers who have deposed and enthroned emperors throughout history. It's only because we abolished the prime minister and the Secretariat that the Ming Dynasty didn't have powerful ministers who dared to depose and enthronize emperors. Instead, they used the cabinet and the civil service to secretly oppose the emperor's power."

"If the position of prime minister still existed, do you think there would be another Yihuo, or even a Wang Mang or Yang Jian in the Ming Dynasty?"

A few years ago, when Zhu Yuanzhang used the Hu Weiyong case to abolish the prime minister and the Secretariat, how many people dissuaded him? Even Empress Ma tried to dissuade him.

However, he was so arbitrary and arbitrary that he abolished the position of prime minister, which had existed in China for thousands of years.

Now it seems that this move was absolutely the right one.

Even if the cabinet seized the imperial power, it did not dare to depose or enthrone the emperor. Even if it wanted to support a puppet, it was difficult. It could only secretly manipulate the politics of the court and the opposition and engage in some conspiracies that could not be made public.

If these evil spirits and monsters meet a truly capable emperor, he will be able to wipe them out with an iron fist!
After Zhu Biao came to his senses, he thought to himself: Could it be that I was really wrong to be close to civil officials and Confucianists?
Perhaps civil officials can use them, but we must also be more cautious and always pay attention to not allowing them to usurp imperial power and strengthen themselves.

Once Zhu Biao had this idea, it took root, and his thoughts and even his temperament underwent some changes. Zhu Di, however, had not yet entered the role of future King or Crown Prince of Great Yan. He asked, "My third brother-in-law said that the Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao valued martial arts. Could you tell me about his deeds?"

Liu Kuan showed a helpless look and said, "Your Highness, Prince of Yan, if we were to talk about Zhu Houzhao, there would be much more to say than about Zhu Youtang. I have already talked about it for a long time today. Can we talk about it another day?"

Zhu Di was about to speak when he heard Zhu Yuanzhang say, "Fourth Brother, please don't embarrass Liu Kuan. Even if you want to listen, at least let him prepare."

"Yes." Zhu Di had no choice but to give up.

"Liu Kuan, if there is nothing else, please leave."

Hearing Old Zhu drive people away, Liu Kuan was about to leave, but something in his mind moved him and he said, "Your Majesty, in fact, if you want to solve the sales problem of products brought about by the industrial revolution such as steam textiles, you still need to pay attention to one thing."

Zhu Yuanzhang became interested and asked, "Oh, what's the matter?"

“Boost domestic demand.”

Stimulate domestic demand?

For a moment, Zhu Biao, Zhu Di and others all pondered over these four short words.

Liu Kuan continued, "In today's world, Ming is still the most populous country, with a population of over 60 million."

"How much cloth and other products can so many people consume for food, clothing, housing, and transportation? Therefore, if the Ming Dynasty does not want to have nowhere to sell its industrial products in the future, the most important thing it should focus on is to increase the consumption needs of the Ming people, which is to stimulate domestic demand."

Zhu Yuanzhang thought this made sense, so he asked, "Then how can we stimulate domestic demand?"

Liu Kuan said, "There are many ways to stimulate domestic demand. I have summarized them as follows. First, we must make the people prosperous and have money in their hands. Second, we must make the people have the need and desire to spend money."

"Finally, we need to make people confident about the future – specifically, they need to be confident that they can earn back the money they spend, or even earn more, so that they are willing to spend money."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and asked, "Then tell me, how should we do these three steps in sequence?"

Liu Kuan smiled bitterly, "Your Majesty, these three steps will be a major problem that troubles many countries even in the future. How can I answer them well in such a short time?"

"Besides, the situation in the Ming Dynasty is very different from that in later times. Even if I have some knowledge, I may not be able to directly apply it to the Ming Dynasty."

"Therefore, regarding the issue of boosting domestic demand, I currently only have one more specific suggestion."

Zhu Yuanzhang had long known that Liu Kuan was not a man of great talent and ability like Zhuge Liang, so he did not feel disappointed. Instead, he smiled and said, "It would be great if you could give me a specific suggestion. Please tell me."

Liu Kuan hesitated for a moment, then said, "Your Majesty, I beg you to relax the restrictions on clothing, housing, and transportation for the people of the Ming Dynasty."

Although what Liu Kuan said was simple and plain, it contained a lot of content and could be described as concise and to the point.

Zhu Yuanzhang was slightly surprised when he heard this, and then he fell into deep thought.

Liu Kuan’s meaning was very clear - the Ming Dynasty’s current restrictions on clothing, housing, and transportation prevented the people from making related consumption, which was not conducive to stimulating domestic demand.

Speaking of which, Zhu Yuanzhang's restrictions on clothing, housing, and transportation for the court and the people in the early Ming Dynasty did not reach their peak until the 20th year of Hongwu, which was quite strict.

First of all, everyone from the royal family to the common people and the lowly class could only wear specific clothing, and even the color and material of the clothing had relatively strict regulations.

In terms of living, the house must be consistent with the identity of the householder - this can be reflected in the names of various houses. The home of ordinary people is called a house; the government office is called a residence; only those with titles, official status, and fame can have their houses called mansions.

There are also regulations regarding transportation. For example, military generals cannot ride in sedan chairs, and civil officials must be of the third rank or above to ride in sedan chairs, etc.

Although the Ming Dynasty's control in this regard is more relaxed now than in history, it is still far worse than in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

Liu Kuan was not suggesting that Zhu Yuanzhang completely abolish these constraints and restrictions - this was simply impossible in a feudal society.

But as long as Zhu Yuanzhang could relax some of the constraints and restrictions in this regard, it would stimulate consumption among wealthy people in the Ming Dynasty.

Liu Kuan's "small specific suggestion" was actually a test - if Zhu Yuanzhang could not even accept this suggestion, then even if he had some ideas on how to stimulate domestic demand in the Ming Dynasty, there was no need to mention them.

Because those ideas would be more subversive to the existing systems and policies of the Ming Dynasty than this "small suggestion".

While Zhu Yuanzhang was pondering, Zhu Biao and Zhu Di were also thinking about the pros and cons.

After about five minutes, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Liu Kuan, do you know why, after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, we had to impose strict restrictions on clothing, housing, transportation, etc.?"

'Isn't it to divide the classes and highlight the power and status of the rulers and the powerful?'

Liu Kuan thought so in his heart, but said: "I dare not speculate rashly."

"Why are you afraid?" Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and then said, "Well, let me have a good talk with you."

　First update

　　
　
(End of this chapter)