Zhu Di's voice was not loud, and his tone was unusually calm, as if he was just talking about a trivial matter, and he looked at everyone present quietly after speaking.

But the words he suddenly popped out fell into the ears of everyone present, but it was not trivial.

While they were shocked in their hearts, under the leadership of the crown prince Zhu Gaochi, they quickly stood up from their chairs again.

He bowed down with a frightened face and said: "Your Majesty, I am peaceful in the world, and the people live and work in peace and contentment. ”

With such a sensitive issue, Zhu Gaochi, who was formerly the prince of the prison country, naturally took the initiative to take the initiative to take this topic, and was willing to greet the anger of the old man for everyone present.

Because they all know that such words coming out of the old man's mouth must not be a trivial matter.

Don't look at the old man's face as usual, but everyone understands what is hidden under that ordinary face.

But I have to say that although Zhu Gaochi, the prince, is mostly submissive in front of the old man on weekdays, once he is serious, he has never flinched.

Everyone present was also grateful to this prince.

However, today's Zhu Di obviously doesn't plan to pick it up and put it down gently.

The moment the crown prince Zhu Gaochi finished speaking, he immediately raised his hand and motioned for him to step aside.

There was no intention of responding to Zhu Gaochi's reply.

Obviously, the old man also understands that his eldest son wants to bear these things alone, but today's matter can never let him get his wish.

After signaling the crown prince Zhu Gaochi to step back, Zhu Di once again looked directly at Xia Yuanji, the head of the household who had always been relied on by him.

It is still the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, and most of the cabinet scholars have not yet held other official positions, so only in terms of official rank, these six Shangshu can be said to be the most powerful people in the Ming Dynasty.

It can be regarded as the best of the people of the entire Ming Dynasty.

In addition, the household department managed the finances of the Ming Dynasty, which can be said to be the top priority, and it can also be ranked in the top three among the six Shangshu.

With such an important position, Zhu Di must appoint someone he can trust.

It's just that everyone present was very puzzled, and they didn't understand why the old emperor wanted to target this person who was extremely trusted by himself so much.

Even the crown prince Zhu Gaochi on the side was also puzzled.

If the old man really wants to take people under the knife, he usually looks at the few people in the cabinet who have been promoted by his prince, how can they have their own things against their own people.

The most important thing is that this question is not simple..... Come up is when the Ming Dynasty will destroy the country, what is the problem? It's a fatal question.

For a while, although Zhu Di was only targeting Xia Yuanji at this moment, everyone present was in danger.

Who knows if they will find trouble with them after teaching Xia Yuanji a lesson, the key is that they don't know where the matter is and what it is for.

However, compared to others, Xia Yuanji, who was in the center of the crisis, was much calmer.

He Xia Yuanji entered the official career from Taizu, and was appreciated by Emperor Taizu, and later achieved the position of the head of the household under Emperor Jianwen.

Now that Zhu Di has been on the throne for decades, he has been sitting firmly in the position of Hubu Shangshu, and he has experienced a lot of things, that is, when someone suggested taking his head during the Jing disaster, he didn't panic.

Now it is even more impossible to be frightened by the words of the old emperor.

However, in the face of Zhu Di's inquiry, Xia Yuanji really didn't know what to say for a while.

When did the Ming Dynasty destroy the country, and how to answer this question?

However, before this seemingly dead end, Xia Yuanji was still keenly aware of the key to Zhu Di's problem.

Under the existing tax regime.....

If you guessed correctly, the old emperor should have suddenly attacked for the problem of the tax system.

But is there anything wrong with the existing tax system?

Even if there is, I just said it.

In the emperor's own words, he reported these problems through the household department every year.

In other words, the emperor's focus is not on these trivial issues......

These minor problems did not lead to the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

Xia Yuanji, who couldn't figure it out, could only reply in the end: "Back to the emperor, the minister really can't think of any drawbacks that will lead to the subversion of the Ming Dynasty in the tax law that has been used in the past dynasties, and ask the emperor to punish him." ”

Listening to Xia Yuanji's words, Zhu Di on the side was not surprised.

Originally, he didn't think about what Xia Yuanji could say, but he still deliberately kept a cold face and said, "I don't know? Can't think of it? Okay, okay..... Since I can't even think of the Hubu Shangshu of the Ming Dynasty, it seems that I blame you. ”

After speaking, before everyone could react, Zhu Di immediately asked sharply: "Xia Yuanji!" I ask you, the entire North Zhili cultivated land! ”

Xia Yuanji is known for being a cadre, and he has been promoted many times because of his professionalism, hearing Zhu Di ask so, Xia Yuanji immediately replied: "Back to the emperor, according to the book of fish scales after measuring the land during the period of Taizu and Emperor Jianwen, the cultivated land in Beizhili should be 26.97 million mu. ”

For his answer, Xia Yuanji is very confident.

But who would have thought that Zhu Di did not question this answer, but quickly asked: "How much of this 26.97 million mu of cultivated land is in the hands of the people, and how much is in the hands of the gentry!" ”

As Zhu Di asked this question, Xia Yuanji was completely stunned.

If you want to ask how much cultivated land there is, this household still has a fish scale book to check, from the data of the last time the land was measured during the period of Emperor Jianwen, plus the wasteland reclamation in the past few years, and finally the amount of cultivated land.

But how did he know who was in the hands of the land?

Not to mention that the people bought and sold privately, even when they measured the land, they could not check it, and he had no data to check, where is clear.

"Your Majesty, there is no reference for these things, so there is really no way to find out....."

Hearing this, Zhu Di snorted coldly, picked up a fold directly from the table and threw it at Xia Yuanji's feet, and said, "This is the fold of the entire Jingshi's cultivated land, you can see for yourself!" ”

Xia Yuanji didn't dare to delay, and he was eager to find out why the emperor was so angry, and the answer was obviously in this excerpt.

As Xia Yuanji bent down to pick up the fold, he looked at it carefully.

It was found that most of the contents of this excerpt were basically Jinyiwei's reports of some information about the Beijing Division, which should be reported for the purpose of supervising hundreds of officials, and most of the records were also the private property of all the officials in the Beijing Division.

These are not of much use to him Xia Yuanji.

However, Xia Yuanji quickly saw some clues in it.

Under his careful investigation and mental calculations, Xia Yuanji was shocked to find that among the millions of acres of cultivated land in Jingshi, the amount of cultivated land recorded in this excerpt alone reached an astonishing 1.7 million mu!!