"Your Majesty! Ma Wensheng played again, asking the imperial court to allow the military tun in Hetao to reduce the increase in national consumption caused by the recovery of Hetao! ”

"Your Majesty! The resumption of the Hetao is expected to increase the annual supply of 30,000 stone of military rations, plus the supply of ordnance and horses, etc., and the annual supply of more than 400,000 taels of silver! Therefore, it is suggested that the imperial court should first implement the military cantonment and re-establish the guard post in the Hetao, so that after one or two years, the imperial court can save 200,000 taels of military expenses every year. ”

"Your Majesty! Liu Ji, the left waiter of the household department, played, and the household department has transferred 1.5 million taels of silver to supply the side wall of the Hetao for repair, but there is still a shortage of more than 600,000 taels! Therefore, it is recommended that the imperial court should be on the side of the field to avoid excessive loss of the treasury. ”

……

Recently, Zhu Houzhao has received suggestions from some ministers in Hetao Tuntian.

Zhu Houzhao had to admit that in this era, these suggestions are reasonable, and can even be said to be wise, after all, the Hetao has just been recovered, and there are a large number of ownerless fertile fields, which have not yet been annexed by Haoqiang, so now is undoubtedly the best time to realize the military tun, and the benefits generated can undoubtedly greatly reduce the military consumption of the Ming Empire due to the defense of the Hetao.

Even the richness of the Hetao may be able to make up for the military needs of other border towns.

But Zhu Houzhao didn't want to let those border troops who went to the Hetao change from elite soldiers with rich experience in fighting with the Tartars to experienced farmers, although it was nothing in the short term, but a hundred years later, if a strong neighbor rose, the Hetao area would have no strong troops to defend, and it would even evolve into an independent military landlord kingdom, such as Li Chengliang in the Wanli period and Wu Sangui in the Chongzhen period.

Zhu Houzhao found that the people of this era still thought about turning fields into farmland after getting new land, but he didn't blame these people, after all, there were limitations of the times, and a small Yulin City could not make most officials in the empire realize that the way to avoid increasing financial pressure due to the expansion of border towns was not just tuntian.

"I am not unwilling to be in the Hetao tuntian, but unwilling to implement the military tun, you all know that the guard system has been corrupted, will not know the command only know the empty salary and the service soldiers, and the soldiers do not know the sword and gun only know how to farm, now the Hetao is reinstated, the original guard system no longer exists, it is the best time to set up the flow of officials, divide the land among the people, why do you want to send a hundred battles of elite soldiers to plow the fields! If the Empire is to maintain a strong army that can defend its territory, it must have this army only armed with swords! ”

Zhu Houzhao had to express his true thoughts.

Jiao Fang, the first assistant of the cabinet, understood Zhu Houzhao's thoughts, and also knew that His Majesty the Emperor did not want the military strength of the Ming Dynasty to weaken, so he stood up and said:

"Your Majesty, in the opinion of the ministers, the ministers' suggestion of the military tun is not just to reduce the burden of the court and increase the revenue of the treasury, they are not unaware that the military tun will weaken the combat effectiveness of the border army, so that the border army will only plough the fields and will not fight in the future, but they actually want to dispel the heart of Your Majesty or the king of later generations to make a big deal about military affairs!"

Zhu Houzhao was reminded by Jiao Fang, but he suddenly realized, thinking that sure enough, the hearts and minds of civil officials are not within his reach, and he has always felt that these civil officials are really just to reduce the burden of the people, so that he can quite understand them, but he didn't expect these civil officials to still have this mind.

However, even after Jiao Fang's reminder, let Zhu Houzhao know that he would not do anything to these civil officials, after all, this is a conspiracy not a conspiracy, people are indeed thinking about the people, and the reason why they want to prevent themselves and the kings of future generations from fighting is also for the sake of the people.

There is no way to change this deep-rooted ideology after the Confucian science education.

These scholars and doctors of the empire no longer have the desire to open up territories in the Qin, Han and Tang dynasties, and they are only willing to accept the prosperity of all countries.

But understanding is understanding, Zhu Houzhao still will not fulfill the wishes of these ministers, and will not change the border army that has not yet decayed the empire from a professional soldier to a professional farmer, especially the border army cavalry, you must know that it takes many years to train an excellent cavalry, and it is easy to train an excellent peasant.

"Martial arts cannot be abolished! In order to encourage the people to migrate to the Hetao, all the fields in the Hetao are levied on the people's land, and in order to make up for the military needs of the border army in the Hetao, the Hetao can be allowed to stay in the Hetao for three years to pay taxes for their own use, and there is no need to relieve Taicang;

In addition, the reform of the salt administration must be carried out as soon as possible, and the cost of transporting grain is still transferred to the merchants, not only for the immigrants but also to curb the price of grain in the border towns. What's more, this is the system of the beginning of the country! ”

After Zhu Houzhao said, Jiao Fang, the first assistant of the cabinet, said:

"Wang Hua, who has been in charge of the household department, has prepared the article of changing the salt system, Zhengde six years ago can start to implement the system of paying grain to silver, and now wait for Wang Qiong, the secretary of the household department, to come back from Huaiyang, and specifically discuss how much the salt price will be raised to avoid salt farmers because the salt price is too low and unwilling to produce salt, the number of salt citations should be appropriate, and it will not affect the people to eat salt, it is expected that Wang Qiong will be able to return to Beijing within half a month, and then he can directly make a decree to the world!"

Zhu Houzhao knew that Wang Qiong, the head of the household department, was good at calculations, and he had been studying at Beijing Normal University for half a year, so he should have a clearer understanding of how to reform the salt administration after preparing for so long.

"So very good, when Ye Qi changed the salt policy and benefited the business and the people, now Wang Qiong changed the salt policy although it is not good for the business to benefit the country and the people, but if the salt production can be increased, it can benefit both the business and the people, and the country, and the decree is given to the salt transportation envoy, and the salt industry research and development department is established, and the experienced salt farmers are hired to develop the method of high-yield salt production, which can be given to him as an official and set up his bounty."

After Zhu Houzhao said, Jiao Fang, the first assistant of the cabinet, hurriedly said yes, and at this time, Gu Dayong, the eunuch of the West Factory, hurriedly appeared outside the duty room at this time, and Zhu Houzhao noticed it and asked him to talk back in his ear.

"Wang Qiong's father was gone fourteen days ago?!"

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but say it directly in surprise after Gu Da finished speaking.

When Jiao Fang heard this, he couldn't help but chuckle in his heart, and hurriedly said:

"Your Majesty! According to the system, when the parents die, they should be dismissed from office, and Ding is worried about the system! But now Wang Qiong has just returned to Beijing from inspecting the salt administration, and has just figured out the depth of the salt administration, and is about to reform the salt administration. In this way, the reform of the salt administration will have to be delayed for a long time! ”

"This household Shangshu Wang Qiong's father left in time! I just left at this time", Zhu Houzhao said meaningfully.

Zhu Houzhao also knows that this is a common phenomenon in the Ming Dynasty, except that the emperor falling into the water is the death of the parents of important ministers!

After all, according to the rules, parents must be dismissed for any reason and return to their hometowns to guard filial piety, which is undoubtedly the most effective and best way to attack political opponents.

The cabinet ministers present all knew what Zhu Houzhao meant, but they didn't say anything, because they couldn't persuade the emperor to win the favor, and they couldn't take away Wang Qiong's filial piety, not to mention them, even if they were the emperor, according to the Confucian etiquette, they couldn't help but let the subjects be filial.

"Wait for Wang Qiong's recital, in addition, find a few ministers to ask for a recital of Wang Qiong's affection! Filial piety can be kept at any time, but this salt policy reform cannot be delayed! ”

Zhu Houzhao said and asked Gu Dayong, the commander of the West Factory: "Why did Wang Qiong's father suddenly disappear, do you know the truth about the West Factory?" ”

"Back to the emperor's words, according to Taiyuan, Wang Qiong's father was quite healthy the day before he left, he was still able to carry stone locks in the backyard, and his appetite for food was not reduced, but he was found out of breath by the people of the palace early the next morning, but his expression was peaceful, and he seemed to be dying!"

Gu Dayong replied.

"Check it carefully", when Zhu Houzhao said, Wang Hua walked over: "Your Majesty! The resignation of Wang Qiong, the head of the household department, is negligent! ”

Zhu Houzhao hurriedly opened it and took a look, and sure enough, he asked to resign and return to his hometown.

……

Wang Qiong, the head of the household department, was also very reluctant to return to his hometown like this.

He could see that the current emperor was an eclectic emperor who wanted to do great things, because he was proficient in arithmetic, and directly ordered the cabinet to promote himself as the head of the household, and he also wanted to return the salt government to a situation that was conducive to the imperial court and do a career.

What's more, he himself has selfish intentions, as a native of Shanxi, he naturally wants to change the salt policy back to the system of collecting grain and salt, which is not only beneficial to the imperial court but also to the interests of his northern merchants, and does not let the Hui merchants benefit alone.

But Wang Qiong didn't expect her father to suddenly disappear at this time!

As an experienced person in officialdom, Wang Qiong was also worried that his father would suddenly disappear, so he told his father countless times to take care of his body and even paid attention to his father's health almost all the time.

But Wang Qiong still didn't expect that her father would be gone at this time! When he was about to cooperate with the emperor and the cabinet to fight with the Hui merchants with great fanfare.

Wang Qiong was very angry, but he couldn't do anything about his political enemies behind his back, because he didn't have any evidence to prove his conjecture, and he had to immediately resign from the official Ding Wei, as a scholar who had been trained in Confucianism, he knew how important it was for Ding Wei to keep filial piety in etiquette.

Therefore, Wang Qiong did not hesitate to resign from Ding Wei and kicked the ball to Zhu Houzhao.

……

At this time, in a teahouse, two literati dressed in ordinary Confucian robes were communicating with each other.

"Do you think Wang Qiong will return to his hometown?" The Bun asked.

"How could it not, if he doesn't return to his hometown, then His Majesty the Emperor and he will have to be infamy!" The other literati replied with a sneer.

……

Turning back to the words, Zhu Houzhao was not only angry because of Wang Qiong's request for Ding Wei to return to his hometown because of his father's death, but also felt very helpless, he found that the officials of the empire were still keen on infighting, and the purpose was still so impure, and at the same time, he used very noble reasons to cover up his impure purpose.

"In the long run, Da Ming will eventually be consumed by their endless infighting! It must be stopped! ”