First Minister of Ming Dynasty

For these people, it is quite surprising.

After all, as the Son of Heaven, the Ninth Five-Year Supreme, with the prestige of recovering the capital, he ruled the world, and what was not just a word, how could anyone dare to refute His Majesty the Emperor?

Tired of living?

Obviously, ordinary people still can't understand the complexity of government affairs.

The Son of Heaven has such great power, there is nothing he can't do, as long as he wants to do it, he can do it!

If not, there are treacherous ministers obstructing.

As for whether the Son of Heaven is fatuous or incompetent, at least with Lao Zhu, the big guys still dare not make wild guesses.

But Zhang Ximeng, who was in the game, was very aware of Zhu Yuanzhang's helplessness.

It's really not that Lao Zhu is stingy with fame and titles and is unwilling to reward big guys.But it is really helpless.

Taking the present as an example, there is nothing wrong with destroying the Yuan Dynasty, restoring the homeland, rewarding meritorious officials, and ennobling heroes. It's over.

Lao Zhu has been procrastinating until today, and some people have already talked about it in private, saying that the emperor is stingy.

But the problem is that if the title is really sealed, some disadvantages will be exposed.Among the twenty or so generals, I asked myself, aren't all of them ruthless people who can stand on their own, and there are only a few who can truly leave their names in history.

Becoming the hereditary Marquis, this life will come to an end.

After so many years of hard work, it's time to enjoy it!

Let us continue to endure hardships, I'm sorry, we don't want to do it anymore, whoever wants to do it will do it.

These people also follow Lao Zhu through life and death, they are neither corrupt nor rebellious, they are simply passive and sabotage, what can you do?

How about alienating them?

But the problem is that they don't ask for more, nor are they afraid of alienation.

What else can I do?

It is really rare to be a pure minister like Hu Dahai who is dedicated to serving the public.

This is why he was criticized by many people.

You are noble, you are great, but why don't you think about the big guys?

Zhang Ximeng seemed to see everything in his eyes, he saw at least two things clearly; first, why the pure ministers were excluded; second, why the emperor hated nobles!

Misfortune often accumulates in the slightest, and the wind rises from the end of Qingping. This is probably the reason.

Zhang Ximeng came to Hu Dahai's side while Zhu Yuanzhang was going to other tables, pulled up a chair and sat down.

"How are you feeling now?"

Hu Dahai chuckled, "I'm used to it, it's nothing."

Zhang Ximeng shook his head and said, "It's nothing! You still have to work hard! Such a heavy burden has fallen on you. If you don't do well, how can you explain to the world?"

Hu Dahai shuddered, and hurriedly said: "Mr. Zhang, I know that you are resourceful and strategizing. Tell me quickly, what should I do to build Yanyun Land? I, I am a straight person, you let me I do my best to do my work, but it's a bit embarrassing for me to do other things."

Zhang Ximeng laughed, "Duke Yue, what you want is to work hard. Cultivate wasteland, build fortresses, farm and defend the border. This is what you need to do. I have no better way. But for the convenience of defending the border, I will You can use some tricks, it’s just icing on the cake!"

Zhang Ximeng said with a smile, his voice was not high, but it attracted a lot of attention. As Zhang Ximeng, he didn't speak golden words, but silver jade words. What he said worked!

Xu Da, Zheng Yuchun, Li Wenzhong and others all surrounded him.

Xu Da even said: "Mr. Zhang, it is too hard to cultivate and guard the border. It is completely self-made, and the road is hard to come by. You need to help find a way."

Zhang Ximeng smiled and nodded, "It's still the same sentence, Duke Yue and the others will do the hard work. I can only think of one way now, which is to assign the Changlu Salt Field to them."

At the mention of salt, Xu Da shivered.

He knows how profitable this thing is.

Relying on the small area, Zhang Shicheng raised hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Under the pressure of Lao Zhu, he maintained it for ten years, relying on two things, one is silk from Suzhou, and the other is salt from Lianghuai.

Salt is essential for everyone.

If you don't eat salt for a day, you will have no strength.

Traffickers and pawns, farmers in the fields, need to eat more, and dignitaries may eat less, but no matter what, the average person is ten catties, which is not too much difference.

Even the sales of salt can be used to estimate the population.

It is said to be quite accurate.

The largest salt field in the world today is naturally located in the Huaihe River and Zhejiang Province, and the income is so large that it can supply one-third of the military supplies.

This Northern Expedition, a large part of the expenditure was supported by the salt tax.

In the north, there are also such salt fields, which are even bigger than Lianghuai and Liangzhe!

Xu Da thought about it and said: "Master Zhang, when we went north, we did pass by Changlu Town, where there is a salt mountain, and we seized 100 million catties of sea salt. But although there is salt here, I'm afraid it's not much, right? To supply military supplies?"

Zhang Ximeng couldn't help laughing, "That's because I only know one thing and don't know the other thing. Changlu town started to produce salt during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. During the Northern Song Dynasty, a lot of salt was produced, but it was only in the decline of the Yuan Dynasty. sharp."

Xu Da frowned slightly, and immediately said: "Master Zhang, you mean that there is salt in the Changlu Salt Field, and it was because the Yuan Court did not manage it legally that it ruined the salt field?"

Zhang Ximeng smiled and nodded, "This is also related to the Mongolian cavalry going south, killing too much, and staking land. Even if there is a salt field in the north, it can't be developed. What the Yuan court lacks, it takes from the south and squeezes the people. Change."

Zhang Ximeng sighed softly, reached out and patted Hu Dahai's shoulder, "Don't worry about other things, I'll go to the beach with you some time, and let's get the salt out first. With the salt, you don't have to worry about it."

Hu Dahai did say that he was a little blunt, and he said with a naive smile: "Mr. Zhang, brothers can indeed eat salt, and it is indeed very helpful to find it nearby. It is really helpful, Mr. Zhang has taken care of it!"

After hearing this sentence, everyone immediately laughed.

Xu Da couldn't bear it, so he could only turn his head aside... Li Wenzhong leaned forward and back, and Lan Yu slapped the table directly.

"I, did I say something wrong? Don't you all eat salt?"

Lan Yu burst into laughter and said, "Eat, eat everything! How can you make money if you don't eat salt?"

Hu Dahai was stunned for a moment, and then realized the problem, "You mean, let me sell salt to make money! This seems to be a way!"

Zhang Ximeng couldn't listen anymore, this idiot is too clueless!

"Mr. Yue, the salt is given to you, but you still don't know how to play it? You just need to make a list of what is missing, openly buy it from all merchants, and send it over. After the acceptance, you will give a salt quotation. Then The merchant took the salt and went to Changlu Town to get the corresponding amount of salt, and then sold it for profit."

Zhang Ximeng said: "You don't need to worry about the whole process, even the production of salt, you just need to recruit people and arrange them for merchants."

Hu Dahai became more and more hesitant, and he couldn't explain it: "So, so I can enjoy the benefits without doing anything? This, I always feel uneasy!"

Hu Dahai looked at Xu Da, and then at Zhang Ximeng, "Let me rely on the businessman, I'm afraid of making mistakes...or else, let the court manage the saltworks."

Zhang Ximeng couldn't help laughing, "Duke Yue! I don't know what to say. Are you straightforward or clever? Are you trying to tie the lord to the carriage?"

Hu Dahai quickly waved his hands, "How can you say that! Zhang Xiang, I don't dare, I dare not!"

Zhang Ximeng simply didn't say anything more.

Still the same sentence, it is definitely not easy to garrison the fields and guard the border, it requires both blood and sweat.

But to say that it's just about suffering, that would be too underestimating Zhang Ximeng's methods.

In fact, when Zhang Ximeng mentioned double the military pay earlier, he was planning on the Changlu Salt Farm.

Opening the Chinese law is a well-recognized good law, which belongs to the kind that benefits the country and the people. However, it was finally destroyed by the greed of the salt merchants and the shamelessness of the officials. However, in the years of implementation, it has achieved remarkable results.

Zhang Ximeng plans to play a bigger game.

First of all, it is natural to produce a large amount of salt in Changlu, and the quantity must be large enough.

Once you have salt, you invite bids from merchants all over the world.

Food, cloth, agricultural tools, timber, bricks and tiles... whatever you want, you can have it.

Anyway, when the things are delivered, I go to the Changlu Salt Field to get the salt, and after getting the salt, I go to the designated area to sell it.

The current salt law of the Ming Dynasty also continued many of the old systems of the Yuan Dynasty, and the price of salt was not cheap at all.

There was no way, after all, Huaidong had been in the hands of Zhang Shicheng for a long time, and before Fang Guozhen surrendered, the salt in the two Zhejiang provinces did not completely belong to Daming, and it had always been the way of exchanging grain for salt.

Now the situation has finally changed, and all the coastal salt fields are in the hands of Daming.

Work hard from Changlu to provide a large amount of cheap and high-quality table salt to reduce the burden on the people.

The income from the salt nourished the reclamation army, which could develop the north as soon as possible and defend the land of Yanyun.

By the way, Daming's salt tax can be increased a bit, and it is much easier to collect.

If there is anyone who will suffer... probably only the salt merchants who have continued from Dayuan. Their good days of lying down and making money are finally over.

From reclamation to the development of Chinese law, in fact, the design of the system in the early Ming Dynasty really had many subtleties.

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang had already turned around, and behind him, two people followed, one was Yexian Timur, and the other was Shen Rulan.

Lao Zhu was very emotional, "I also heard that the imperial court wanted to reclaim and guard the border, and he planned to donate all the cattle and horses he brought this time. Boss Shen is also willing to donate a batch of silk cloth to make clothes for the soldiers. Although they are businessmen, they They are all people with a heart! They are rewarded for not pushing back and forth!"

As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang finished speaking, Hu Dahai said: "It is indeed worth rewarding, so let's reward some salt!"

Chapter 5 Seventy

Zhu Yuanzhang was taken aback by Hu Dahai's words of salt, and then he said to Zhang Ximeng, "Sir, are you going to use the method of opening Chinese?"

Zhang Ximeng hurriedly said: "The lord is really sharp. I mentioned this matter to the lord, but I didn't expect the lord to remember it."

Old Zhu smiled slightly, "Mr.'s teaching, we dare not forget a single word. At present, the North is poor and poor. It is indeed a wonderful way to gather profits with salt and attract merchants from all over the world. It is also something we have to do now. Let's do it like this Let's go back and draw up a detailed memorial."

Zhang Ximeng smiled and said, "I'll hand it over when I turn around."

The monarchs and ministers said it lightly, and the big guys just listened to it, and there seemed to be nothing unusual.

But this matter involves a little confrontation between the monarch and his subjects...

Zhang Ximeng has always been in charge of formulating various policies and summarizing various laws and regulations.Zhu Yuanzhang is in charge of the review.The Ministry of Education is responsible for the implementation.

As the territory gets bigger and more things happen, Zhang Ximeng has more and more things to hand over to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Sometimes there are even hundreds of copies a day.

These things are usually packed in different boxes according to A, B, C, D, different grades, sealed outside, and handed to Lao Zhu.In order to prevent the content from leaking, eunuchs were not allowed to read in Zhu Yuanzhang's imperial study room, and the emperor was not allowed to get close to three feet when reading these things, otherwise he would be charged with stealing secrets.

Without anyone to help, if one person handles so much, even if he is as strong as Lao Zhu, he will be very tired.Therefore, Zhang Ximeng usually packs them into different boxes according to their importance.

The bottom one is naturally the least important.

Coincidentally, the original Chinese-French text was placed at the bottom.

Zhang Ximeng handed it in. If Zhu Yuanzhang didn't reply within a certain period of time, or sent it back intact, Zhang Ximeng could organize the implementation and test it in some places first, such as... Lingnan!

However, if Zhu Yuanzhang felt that there was a problem with something, he could clearly approve and oppose it, or he could leave it unpublished. Zhang Ximeng would not be able to proceed to the next step, or he could directly face the saint and ask for an order to make a decision.

Coincidentally, this Chinese-French text was retained by Lao Zhu.

As for Zhang Ximeng, he didn't look for Zhu Yuanzhang either, so he put it on the shelf until today.

A seemingly inadvertent little thing just reveals the subtlety of the game between the monarch and his ministers.

Are you Zhang Ximeng completely Zhu Yuanzhang's tool?

What are you thinking!

Zhang Ximeng has a lot of calculations. After all, Zhu Yuanzhang is made of meat. Even if you have ten times the liver of a normal person, I can still send a hundred times the information.

As long as you are a little slack, you don’t have time to read it, or you don’t read it carefully, and you don’t object or stay in the middle, I can carry out a pilot project here, and when there is an effect, report the evaluation, and then the Ministry of Education can intervene, and then it will be Zhang Ximeng could even hide behind Zhongshu Sheng in matters between the emperor and his ministers, so as to keep his face and get things done.

You, Zhu Yuanzhang, know that I am playing tricks, do you still dare to turn against me?

If you can't tolerate even this little thing, you don't trust anyone at all. This is not a problem of being alone, but of the spirit. Everyone is the enemy. If you are alone, you can't even sit on the dragon chair.

For such a long time, Zhang Ximeng's tricks have succeeded many times, and Lao Zhu has also suffered losses.

But Zhu Yuanzhang is Zhu Yuanzhang after all, he gradually summed up the rules, those seemingly unimportant things often have surprises in them.

And once the things delivered are abnormal and excessive, you have to be careful, and you would rather stay up all night and let the concubine complain, and you can't miss it, otherwise you have to be fooled!

As a result, Lao Zhu caught the opening method.

Then it was left unpublished.

And Zhang Ximeng's response was also very interesting. He didn't go to Lao Zhu, so he pretended that this had never happened.Zhang Ximeng knew Zhu Yuanzhang too well. His Majesty the emperor was still a staunch farmer.

He always believes in what is planted from the ground, and does not believe in what is trafficked from all over the world... Regarding the understanding of business, Zhu Yuanzhang thinks that necessary business should be done, but it is limited to what is necessary, and the unnecessary one should be left aside!

Secondly, Zhu Yuanzhang is very wary of wealthy businessmen, which is exactly the same as he is wary of wealthy families.

Zhu Yuanzhang believes that according to the model of opening China and France, the production of salt is handed over to merchants, and the sale and transportation of salt is also handed over to merchants.

Secondly, it is also very dangerous to allow generals to hold the power to distribute salt.