Daming: I really don’t want to be an emperor!

in the palace.

The chief minister of the cabinet, Feng Sheng, came to see Zhu Yunhuan alone.

"Your Highness, the Ministry of Rites received several letters today. The end of the year is approaching, and foreign countries are coming to pay tribute. They will arrive in Beijing soon. What do you think should be done?" Feng Sheng handed over a tribute list.

Zhu Yunhuan took it and looked at it. "North Korea? Is there such a small country?"

Zhu Yunhuan was stunned. Was there a Korea at this time?

"Your Highness, Joseon is Goryeo. This year, Goryeo general Lee Seong-gye successfully usurped the throne and abolished the name of Goryeo. Then he took the names of Joseon and Hyang and came to Ming Dynasty to ask Your Majesty to confer the title. Your Majesty took Joseon as the new name of Goryeo, which means the country with bright morning and sun, and issued an edict to confer Lee Seong-gye as the King of Joseon."

Feng Sheng explained to Zhu Yunhuan.

Zhu Yunhuan nodded. He had never really studied this little matter in detail.

"Little Baka is coming too?" Zhu Yunhuan continued to look at the list and saw Little Baka's name.

Feng Sheng was stunned. "Little Baga? Is there such a country? I don't think I have seen it."

Feng Sheng recalled and it seemed that his name was not on the list.

"I'm talking about the Japanese. They are short, ugly, and cheap. They keep saying 'baka' all the time, so I call them little 'baka'." Zhu Yunhuan explained.

Feng Sheng suddenly realized, "Your Highness, after your Majesty founded the country, they also came to pay tribute, but this group of people harassed our coastal borders of the Ming Dynasty, which was very annoying, so your Majesty ordered a ban on the sea in the early years. It has been banned for more than 20 years now. Now the sea pirates are rampant, colluding with the Japanese pirates to harass the sea borders, and your Majesty is also quite a headache."

Zhu Yunhuan closed the list and said, "Humph! How dare you, a little Japanese slave, invade my sea borders! Go and discuss this with the Minister of Revenue. After the spring, I will point my sword at Japan!"

"Attack Japan? Your Highness, why attack it? It's a tiny country, and it's far away from our Ming Dynasty. It's separated by the vast sea. It will be a thankless task to attack it." Feng Sheng didn't understand why Zhu Yunhuan wanted to attack Japan.

Zhu Yunhuan replied, "I am not fighting against Japan. I am trying to recover my homeland! As everyone knows, Japan has been China's territory since ancient times. Anyway, you should discuss it with the Minister of Revenue. I must recover Japan."

"But the national treasury is almost in deficit, and the arsenal is simply a money-eating beast. The money received by the Ministry of Revenue is transferred to the arsenal before it can even warm up to the touch." Feng Sheng was quite troubled by this.

Arsenals are really expensive.

However, the arsenal is also very powerful in making artillery.

"Do you know what it looks like to sit alone in the Fengtian Hall, looking at all the civil and military officials in the court?" Zhu Yunhuan suddenly asked an irrelevant question.

Feng Sheng did not understand what he meant, "I don't know."

"When I look at the civil and military officials in the court, they are like a golden passbook. It doesn't matter if we have no money, because our Ming Dynasty has a backup hidden energy source." Zhu Yunhuan said with a smile.

Feng Sheng was stunned. "Backup hidden energy? Your Highness, are you talking about the treasury?"

"No, no, no, the backup hidden energy I'm talking about is the whole court. Think about it, they've taken so much money, and if I'm short of money, why don't I just raid their homes? If they're corrupt and take bribes, I'll raid their homes. I believe that my Ming Dynasty will never be short of money."

Zhu Yunhuan laughed.

Feng Sheng's face changed. What Zhu Yunhuan said was not funny at all.

All officials are greedy for money → the court confiscates their property → the world becomes rich.

Isn’t this a perfect closed loop?

Officials were corrupt and accepted bribes. How could this be called corruption? This was to save money for the court! The officials took the blame, and the money finally went to the court. Zhu Yunhuan was not a good man.

They risked their lives to take bribes, but ended up doing things that benefited the imperial court.

This corruption and bribery...seems like a huge loss.

"Your Highness, is it really okay to do this?" Feng Sheng was helpless. Why didn't he realize that Zhu Yunhuan was such an unkind person before?

Zhu Yunhuan smiled and said, "The sheep are fat, why not kill them and keep them for the New Year? We can eliminate a corrupt official and enrich the national treasury at the same time, killing two birds with one stone, why not do it?"