"Thanks to your reminder, we almost made a big mistake!" Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly realized, "I have to send someone to protect his safety immediately, and as for rewarding gold and silver, I'll talk about it later." ”

At this point, he bowed his head and pondered, thinking about who to send.

What kind of person to send is also a science. The first is that you can't reveal your identity, and the second is that you must be someone you can fully trust.

The first thing that came to his mind was the Jinyi Guard, which he had secretly established......

"Your Majesty, Liu Yushi and Li Xiang have arrived." At this time, a eunuch entered the doorway.

"Let them in." Zhu Yuanzhang said, Queen Ma saw that the emperor was going to deal with national affairs, and quietly retreated through the back door.

"Minister Liu Bowen, Minister Li Shanchang see Your Majesty." The two of them entered the door and bowed.

"Flat, give a seat." Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Berwyn, good man, we have a question I want to test you." ”

Have a question to test?

When the two of them heard this, they couldn't help but 'chuckle' in their hearts. If it were the previous one, the two of them would definitely be full of confidence and didn't care, after all, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't read much, and it was easy to fool the past, and Zhu Yuanzhang would treat them with courtesy. But since the last court meeting, the thoughts of the two have changed dramatically: the current Emperor Zhu is no longer the previous Emperor Zhu.

Last time, Zhu Yuanzhang gave them a proposition and almost sent them away. The knowledge he displayed shocked everyone, and all the great Confucians in the court were speechless.

The reborn Emperor Zhu, they can't handle it.

So this time when they heard that Zhu Yuanzhang was going to test them, both of them felt empty in their hearts.

"Please show the emperor." Li Shanchang said uneasily.

"There is a village, surrounded by mountains, traffic is blocked, and there are only three buckets of grain per mu." Zhu Yuanzhang said, "If you are the local county magistrate, what can you do to make the villagers in this village have enough to eat, and even get rich?" ”

"You are all our ministers, members of the imperial court, you can't even govern a small village, right?"

At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there were many states and counties where the people could not eat, and the victims were displaced everywhere. Governing a village is equivalent to governing all states and counties, and if a house is not swept, how can it sweep the world. ”

It turned out that it was not a proposition, and the two of them were relieved when they heard it.

"Your Majesty, if you want the villagers to have enough to eat, we must first encourage farming and let the villagers reclaim more land to grow food." Li Shanchang said, "The second is that in terms of policy, it is necessary to lightly reduce the amount of taxes or even exempt them from paying taxes for several years, so as to reduce the burden on the peasants." ”

Li Shanchang is a good hand in internal affairs, so when answering this question, he came from Zhangkou.

"Your answer may seem reasonable, but in fact it has no practical effect." Zhu Yuanzhang said, "As we said before, the biggest reason why that village is poor is that the land yield is low, and the yield per mu is only three buckets. It doesn't have much to do with the amount of land, and even if the cultivated land is reclaimed to the top of the mountain, the grain yield is low, and there is still not enough to eat. ”

"Secondly, you said that you are light."

"In the early days of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, silver was needed everywhere. If every locality was to pay a light tax, or even reduce taxes, where would the income of the imperial court come from? Without money, what does the imperial court take to distribute money to the people, what to use to carry out construction, and what to use to allocate funds to the local government for disaster relief? And send troops to exterminate the grass bandits in various places, they don't need silver? ”

"Your Majesty, the ministers ......" Li Shanchang was speechless. From ancient times to the present, the imperial court's method of allowing places to recuperate and recuperate has been to encourage farming, but it seems unrealistic in front of Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the biggest reason for the low grain yield of the land is because there is no wind and no rain." Liu Bowen said, "If the minister is a local county order, he will clear up the long-standing unjust cases and establish a legal system to prevent indiscriminate killing." As long as benevolent government is practiced, the wind and rain will naturally be smooth. Once the wind and rain are good, the grain production will naturally come up, and the villagers will have enough to eat. ”

Liu Bowen once served as the Taishi Ling of Si Tianjian, and he served as the official position for the longest time, and it was also fruitful, and he was a good hand in observing the heavens. When Zhu Yuanzhang was not yet the emperor, he encountered a major drought, and he suggested that Zhu Yuanzhang issue an edict to clear up the unjust case.

Zhu Yuanzhang also did so, but later the heavy rain really fell from the sky.

Another time Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to kill all the prisoners, and had a dream at night, Liu Bowen explained the dream to him that he could gain territory, but he had to let go of the prisoners, but later Haining surrendered, and Zhu Yuanzhang also released the prisoners.

I have to say that Liu Bowen is a good hand at watching the sky at night.

"There's a little truth to what you're saying." Zhu Yuanzhang said, "But it is still a bit unreliable to completely entrust the governance of the place to God." What if the county order clears all the unjust prisons, or is there no good weather? ”

"That can only prove that the county order has not done a good job in implementing benevolent governance, and we must continue to check and fill in the gaps." Liu Bowen said, "If it's really done, the county order will lead the people to pray for rain to the heavens." ”

In ancient times, it was very common for the county order to lead the people to pray for rain.

"Stop, stop." Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't listen to it anymore, after the implementation of benevolent government, the wind and rain were smooth, it was the credit of the implementation of benevolent government, and if there was no wind and rain, he had done enough, and he was invincible.

Could it be that you, Liu Bowen, can really call the wind and rain?

"We know a person who doesn't need the imperial court to reduce taxes or pray for rain, so that this village can be fed and even rich. Don't you feel ashamed of this person? ”

"May I ask your majesty, who is that person?" Li Shan said, "If he can really do it, it will definitely be a rare cadre, and he can do it." ”

"Your Majesty, I don't believe that there is such a capable person." Liu Bowen said.

"If you don't believe it, it only proves that your ability is not good." Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Okay, step down." ”

After seeing the two of them leave, Zhu Yuanzhang also had a sad face.

In order to let the people have enough to eat and the Ming Dynasty to prosper, the first thing you need is money.

And the current imperial court is too short of money.

The newly built Yingtianfu Imperial Palace and Xu Da's return from the Northern Expedition to the Yuan Dynasty have emptied the savings of the imperial court...... In addition, it is necessary to allocate funds to some prefectures and counties to resume production, and it is necessary to clear the grass and the grass and the people, and when the world is in turmoil, the people cannot survive and have fallen into the grass and have not yet come down the mountain. Even Yangzhou, a prosperous place before, now has only a few dozen households.

This is true in Yangzhou, not to mention other remote areas.

If you don't give them money, you can't build it. If the imperial court cannot be built, there will be no tax revenue, forming a vicious circle.

Zhu Yuanzhang was born as a peasant, unlike Li Shimin, who had a huge family background of the Li family in Taiyuan from the beginning. If it weren't for the fact that the Li family was originally the gate valve, Tang Taizong would never have been able to achieve the rule of Zhenguan.

And in this case, Li Shanchang actually suggested tax exemption...... It's really a scholar's opinion.