After broadcasting the ancient times live, I handed the system over to the state.

Although what followed was not pleasant to hear and annoyed Zhu Yuanzhang, after calming down and thinking about it, he realized that it made some sense.

The main reason is that the sky screen came from later generations. Later generations pointed out the drawbacks and the consequences of doing so. If it were people from today who were advising, would Old Zhu listen?

He must have thought his system was the best.

"In fact, many people also say that there were natural disasters. Indeed, there were many natural disasters during the Chongzhen era. According to the History of Ming, more than 200 natural disasters of all sizes occurred during Chongzhen's reign, including more than 30 floods, more than 30 droughts, and more than 20 locust plagues. These disasters only accounted for 60 to 70 percent of all disasters."

"Years of disasters led to frequent famines and widespread suffering. In the last few years of Chongzhen's reign, a plague even broke out, which meant that taxes could not cover the court's expenses. The court had to levy more taxes on the people to pay for the war in Liaodong..."

"The people have no leftover grain."

Du Fu frowned deeply; just hearing these words was enough to make him feel the suffering of the people!

"The Ming Dynasty... was plagued by both natural disasters and man-made calamities. Though they were natural disasters, they were also man-made calamities!"

“Isn’t that true?” Li Bai sighed deeply.

Gao Shi was speechless.

For a moment, they were so heavy that they could no longer even sigh or laugh. When they talked about the end of the Ming Dynasty, they also thought of the An Lushan Rebellion that Tianmu had mentioned. That was also a chaotic era!

The people of the Ming Dynasty felt even more bitter. Whether they lived through that era or not, they all knew that either they or their children and grandchildren would suffer such hardship.

Which person who relies on the heavens for their livelihood isn't afraid of something like this from God?

"Can this world even allow us common folk to have enough to eat?" The farmer, his face dark with worry, looked at the sky and sighed deeply.

"If only we could go to the future, or if Miss Zhu could give us some food, that would be wonderful!" another farmer said wistfully.

"It's so difficult." Li Shimin looked at some of the policies that were quite good at the beginning, but they all went astray later on. People's hearts are never satisfied. "The emperor is the boat, the people are the water. If you say the Ming Dynasty is in trouble, then you should think that my Tang Dynasty is in trouble too."

"Emperor Chongzhen was a fool. He wanted to do everything, but he couldn't accomplish anything." At first, Zhu Yuanzhang thought it was already quite good that Chongzhen could barely maintain the dynasty for so many years amidst so many natural disasters, but after thinking about it again, he realized that this was completely wrong.

If it were him, he would first mobilize the troops he could control, then find some money from the grown chickens to replenish the national treasury, skin a few daylilies, and that would be enough for disaster relief and military expenses.

Then they began promoting generals and training troops...

“Father, this Chongzhen Emperor is not you. In his early years, Chongzhen was also a prince.” Zhu Biao comforted him.

Zhu Yuanzhang's tightly furrowed brows relaxed a little. "I think Zhu Qiyu did a good job, and as for Jiajing, Tianmu also said he was intelligent. Don't talk about not understanding the way of the emperor. Once you sit on this throne, you will understand what you need to understand. Isn't he from the fourth prince's lineage? Why didn't he inherit from the fourth prince?"

Emperor Chongzhen looked at the sky and sighed, "It's almost here. When Sun Chuanting returns, no matter what kind of insects they are, they will all be reduced to dust by him."

"Wang Chengen, are there really so many eunuchs in the palace?" Chongzhen asked.

“Your Majesty, it’s far more than 100,000,” Wang Chengen said.

"Release some of them and let them go back. We won't need so many eunuchs anymore, nor will we need to summon them every year. Keep everything for the eunuchs simple. I, the emperor, am already having such a hard time. Do they expect to have it better than me?" Chongzhen sneered.

"Take this opportunity to regain control of the palace's personnel," Chongzhen added.

Wang Chengen was somewhat excited, "Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Wait, this matter is not urgent. Let's wait for Sun Chuanting to return, lest I become Emperor Shizong as well."

The palace was a complex and intertwined place, and Chongzhen never dared to underestimate it. He was afraid of this and that, but there was nothing he could do. He was strangled by palace maids, burned, and drowned. How many lives did Chongzhen have?

……

"Zhu Yuanzhang's original intention was good. He had experienced hardship and understood how miserable the lives of ordinary people were. 'Putting the people first' was his idea for implementing fiscal policies. However, national finances cannot rely solely on moral principles. For example, the garrison system and other systems, based on the understanding of that era, lacked many rigid constraints and enforcement power."

"He could not solve the corruption of the imperial court, nor could he determine the reasons for land transactions, nor could he talk about the fair distribution of social wealth."

Zhu Yuanzhang was about to say something.

Zhu Qinggu spoke even faster, saying, "People might think that when Zhu Yuanzhang was alive, who dared to embezzle? Not only did they dare, but quite a lot did! After Zhu Yuanzhang died, they became even more rampant."

[If it were me, my family would have exhausted all their resources to support me through the imperial examinations and into an official position. Each year and each month, I'd only have a meager allowance, and I'd still have staff and servants to support. How could that money possibly be enough? I wouldn't even be allowed to live a comfortable life as an honest official.]

[Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang initially set the amount at so low, but later a large influx of silver caused inflation. The same amount of rice would cost much more money later on, but my monthly salary remained the same. I laughed.]

[Therefore, corruption was rampant in the Ming Dynasty.]

Corruption was rampant during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Even Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't kill everyone; you can't eliminate all corruption. It's good enough if someone is willing to work for you; there will always be greedy people.

Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang also felt somewhat disheartened, as if no matter what he did, someone could always find a loophole to exploit.

He sighed, "Is this monthly salary really not enough?"

Zhu Biao then noticed that Zhu Yuanzhang already had many strands of white hair. From the beginning of his uprising to the present day, Zhu Yuanzhang had experienced far too much along the way.

"Father, Miss Zhu also said that the policies implemented are all benevolent, it's just that people's hearts are not kind, and we can still find and fix the shortcomings." Zhu Biao could only comfort her now, he knew that once the curtain of heaven was lifted, there would probably be a big move.

Zhu Yuanzhang was only confused for a moment, and soon he turned back into the heroic old lion. "How much more do they want? It would be best to hold a birthday celebration, then a funeral, to celebrate the birthdays of his own parents, and then to celebrate his own birthday!"

This quote comes from a short video titled "How to Be a Corrupt Official" that was previously shown on the screen.

"If we catch them, we'll hang them all on the city gate and skin them alive!" the emperor said with intense hatred.

Zhu Biao was somewhat relieved to see that he had regained his energy and spirit, but not entirely. The Ming Dynasty still had too many problems!

I really don't know how Zhang Juzheng implemented his reforms.

Zhu Di felt a bit numb. He had a premonition that he would see someone else scolding him on behalf of Zhu Yuanzhang on the sky. At first, he lamented the many natural disasters during the Chongzhen era and was also thinking about how to solve these financial problems.

Ask him to increase the salaries of these officials? Dream on!

It's good enough that they didn't use pepper to cover it all up!