The collision of ideas is often the most intense.

In the traditional concept of governing the country, the king and the people are clearly distinguished, it is natural for the people to respect the king, and the king loves the people will be praised.

Even if it is clear that the people in the area have been affected by the disaster, as long as the king reduces taxes in the disaster area, it is already a kindness to the world, and this is already a benevolent government that everyone talks about.

In this game of power, if local officials can ask for tax cuts for certain people, they will already be famous ministers, and they will also be talked about by the world.

It's just that the emperor who is sitting on the dragon chair now does not play this childlike game at all, but focuses on the clothing, food, housing and transportation of the people.

In order to achieve the goal of promoting the reduction of cotton cloth prices, there is no concept of grain levy in his eyes, and he even does not hesitate to take the initiative to sacrifice his interests, but it is a blood-pumping far-sighted scheme.

If they can really make cotton cloth like books, and reduce the price of cotton cloth through some measures, this move is a hundred times stronger than those officials who ask for tax exemption on behalf of the disaster area.

Asking for tax exemption for the disaster is just to give the victims a respite, but Zhu Youzhu wants to let the people live and live a better life.

In such a moment, they felt that it was not a human being sitting on the dragon chair, but a real god, a god who would bring light to this world.

"The wise lord of the Ming Dynasty, this is the blessing of the people!" Xu Qiong, the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites, understood Zhu Youji's intentions, and said sincerely.

Zhu Youzhu knew that Xu Qiong was a sycophant, so he said lightly: "Now that the eight characters haven't been skimmed, don't be in a hurry to pat the sycophants!" It's just that I really want to do this, and I hope that all of you Aiqing will do your best to help me! ”

"The ministers are willing to die for me!" Li Yu and other officials were also affected by the impact of the ministry's secretary, Li Yu, and even made a statement together.

If it is said that the ruling country is ranked, then the earlier Ming Jun was not even a fart.

According to the new idea of governing the country put forward by Zhu Youji, although there will be various variables in reducing the price of cotton cloth, their direction is right after all.

If they really want to bring down the price of cotton cloth like books, not to say that they really want to go down in history, and the people can really profit from it.

As an official, although he wants to seal his wife and son, he also wants to do some good things for the people that can be talked about, and he also wants to make himself famous for a hundred years.

Now, they are facing such a golden opportunity, they will be the driving force behind the development of the cloth industry, and they will also be the eternal heroes of the decline in cotton prices.

Zhu Youzhi is naturally not short of people who compliment him now, and the plaque hanging above his head "Work hard to prosper the country" is always alert to himself, and he said lightly: "Since you Aiqing have no objections, then our first step is how to encourage the people to plant cotton!" After a while, you will go to the official room to change your clothes in turn! Liu Jin, you go to the imperial dining room and ask people to prepare some refreshments and send them to the ministers! ”

Some of the officials present could not stand it, and even rejoiced and left.

Liu Jin liked the layout of the new hall very much, so he went to the dining room as instructed to start preparing refreshments.

Wan An chose to stay, and suddenly knelt down to Zhu Youzhu and said, "Your Majesty, regarding the matter of Yangzhou, the minister has a request!" ”

"Elder Wan Ge, do you know why I haven't added a cabinet minister?" Zhu Youzhu thought that he had received information that the Gao family had entered the Wanfu, and his eyes were a little disappointed.

Wan An naturally knew that this was the strongest signal that he didn't intend to let him leave, and immediately kowtowed heavily and said: "Your Majesty, the old minister has nothing to repay, the only loyalty!" ”

"I know that Gao Heng, the deputy envoy of the two Huaidu, is the son of his teacher, but his sin is unforgivable, you shouldn't come to plead with me!" Zhu Youzhu saw him so loyal, so he said with a little disappointment.

In fact, the civil government group is a huge network of interests, and these ministers have always had a master-apprentice inheritance.

The former Shoufu Gao Gu passed on the power to Wan An and Liu Ji, and Wan An and Liu Ji passed on the power to Yang Tinghe in the original history, and Yang Tinghe also passed on the power to the famous Yan Song.

As for Xu Jie, Zhang Juzheng, and Zhang Siwei, the relationship between master and apprentice has long been familiar, and in the later period, the civilian-official group also developed into a combination of government and business, and later the Shanxi Gang and the Donglin Party were born.

Li Zhiqing can act so boldly, why is it not because he has an ally Gao Heng, after all, Gao Heng's father Gao Gu is Wan An and Liu Ji's teacher.

Now that Gao Heng is in prison, the Gao family in Beijing went to Wan'an and Liu Ji's house in order to rescue him, but Liu Ji turned people away directly, and Wan'an actually brought people into the house.

Wan An's eyes were slightly red, but he shook his head lightly and said, "Your Majesty has misunderstood the old minister!" Although Lao Chen is grateful for the guidance and support of his teacher back then, but Gao Heng did such a thing that harmed the country and the people, how could Lao Chen intercede for such a villain? ”

"You're not asking for the Gao family, but what do you want?" Zhu Youzhu found that he seemed to have really misunderstood, so he asked puzzledly.

Wan An looked up at Zhu Youji, and then said his request: "The old minister has an old relationship with the Gao family, according to the account manual, the old minister ...... Lao Chen has collected a total of three thousand nine hundred taels! Although it was accepted as an example of silver, the old minister only felt guilty, so he pretended to agree to the invitation of the Gao family, and then paid 5,000 taels of money. After talking, it was learned that the Gao family had Gao Heng's account book of bribery in Beijing for so many years, and the old minister had arranged for a servant to wait for the opportunity to steal it by his side, and asked the old minister to atone for his crimes! ”

"So, you're interceding for yourself!" Zhu Youzhu looked at this white-headed old man who turned out to be in this mind, and couldn't help but smile dumbly.

In fact, Wan An didn't say it, he also knew that Wan An and Liu Ji must have taken Gao Heng's filial piety silver.

Just because of this reason, if you punish the two elders, the emperor is indeed too harsh, and it is not conducive to his next governance.

In the positions of Wan An and Liu Ji, local officials pay hundreds of taels of filial piety each time, which is a common thing. After all, ice example, charcoal example and other example, this has become one of the means of collecting money by important ministers in the gray area.

It's just that he didn't expect Wan An's desire to survive to be so strong, and while returning the stolen money, he also arranged for Xiao Zuo to steal the account book from the Gao family, but he wanted to make up for it.

Wan An looked pitiful, and nodded very solemnly: "The old minister begs Your Majesty to forgive you, please give the old minister a chance to reform himself!" ”

"In addition to Gao Heng's gift, who else has an obviously unreasonable amount of filial piety?" Zhu Youzhu didn't actually intend to punish Wan An, but he still asked with a straight face.

Wan An didn't seem to even think about it, and immediately confessed: "Zhou Nai, the governor of Caoyun! ”

"As long as you can get the bribery account, I will not only forgive you for your innocence, but also have another reward!" Zhu Youzhu saw that Wan'an was indeed bent on survival, so he made a promise.

In the eyes of many people, people like Wan An took so many silver taels, it was simply an unforgivable sin.

It's just that this is the real human nature, even the family of Yang Rong, one of the three Yangs who is recognized as a model of civil officials, is also a malignant tumor, and the first corruption of the Ming Dynasty is Xu Jie, who is known as a virtuous person, and corrupt officials in this world can't be killed at all.

If another person is in Wan'an's position, he will also continue to take such a gray filial piety silver. Since then, every person in power has said that he wants to be ruled by officials, but as a result, this officialdom has never been truly purged.

The reason why the Hongzhi Dynasty in the original history seems to have fewer corrupt officials is that the Hongzhi Dynasty has been mastered by the civilian clique, so how can it be reasonable to check itself?

When Wan An heard Zhu Youji's statement, he said respectfully: "Old minister, thank Your Majesty Longen!" ”

In the capital in mid-February, spring is brilliant.

After Zhu Youzhu finished the second half of the meeting, he was busy strolling to the Jinao Jade Bridge, and was enjoying the lake and mountains in the middle of the bridge.

The spring breeze blows lightly, the lake surface appears sparkling, the blue sky and white clouds are reflected on the lake, and Qionghua Island not far away is full of vitality.

Taiye Pond is a collective name for the North Sea, the Middle Sea and the South China Sea, and this body of water covers most of the area of Xiyuan from north to south.

In the whole city of Beijing, in addition to this body of water, only the north of the city has one of the four seas, Houhai. Nowadays, even the important ministers of the court can't see a lake in the south of the city, and they can enjoy the lake and mountains at home.

It's just that as an emperor, whether it is a soft and fragrant beauty or the picturesque scenery in front of you, you can't really sink into it, but always remember your responsibilities and missions.

Cotton was a seed planted in the first year of his Koji, but if he wanted to blossom and bear fruit, he had to take care of it, and even had to kill the pests that wanted to stop the growth of cotton.

In fact, unlike many traversers, he believes in development, not plunder.

Assembling a powerful army to snatch gold and silver from royalty or tribal chiefs is a quick and quick move, but not conducive to long-term development.

The most important thing is that it is useless for China to simply plunder gold and silver and return to China, and the influx of large amounts of silver will only become a bargaining chip for the local class to squeeze out the means of production of the common people.

Zhu Youzhi knew that what he wanted was to become a real power, and only to effectively imitate Britain to develop the textile industry, so as to become the largest exporter of textiles, so as to obtain a steady stream of nutrients from all over the world to nourish China.

Of course, there is still a long way to go to achieve this, and even the support of flintlock pistols is needed, and the expansion of cotton production is naturally only the first step.

"Your Majesty, this is the newspaper that has just been released in the newspaper room, please take a look!" Liu Jin hurriedly walked over and presented something like a newspaper.

Originally, the newspaper was in charge of the Department of General Affairs, but now the situation has changed, and this weapon of mass murder of public opinion no longer belongs to the civilian clique, but to the newly established newspapers and periodicals.

Zhu Youzhu couldn't help but nod with satisfaction when he saw the report that he was increasing cotton in the cultivation ceremony and soliciting skilled craftsmen to improve spinning machines from all over the country.

(End of chapter)