"Crackling—"

"Boom, boom!!"

In addition to the sound of firecrackers, on the occasion of the New Year, the hustle and bustle inside and outside the city of Nanjing is extraordinary.

The morning fog of the Yangtze River smells of sulfur and saltpeter, and the rows of cannons on the walls of Nanjing City roar along with the sound of firecrackers.

Standing on the city wall, the soldiers wore armor, solemn and solemn, facing the river breeze, singing the "Song of the Army" to welcome the arrival of the New Year.

In the inner city, red lanterns are hung high in the archways of the streets and alleys, the long streets are bustling, even the alleys are very lively, it seems that the people of the entire Yingtianfu have crowded into the city of Nanjing, squeezing the city to the brim.

Pedestrians dressed in New Year's costumes, singing and laughing, celebrate the arrival of the year, and street vendors push small carts and struggle to weave through the flow of people.

Some of them are soliciting business, and some are selling snacks such as five-flavor melon seeds, sugar gourds and sugar lotus roots.

The children, who were mixed in with the crowd, clutched the small sticks of the drum in their hands, found some fun for themselves, and eagerly played.

At this time, any street and alley in Nanjing City is decorated with very festive decorations, and there are red lanterns everywhere, which is particularly lively.

It seems that in order to celebrate this excitement, Zhu Di in the Fengtian Temple also announced something in the New Year.

"This year's summer grain will be exempted, and the burden on the shoulders of the people will be lightened!"

As Zhu Di spoke, the ministers in the Fengtian Hall looked at each other, and Guo Zi, the new head of the household department, stepped forward to make a gesture:

"This is a blessing for the people, but it still needs to be calculated by the household department to know whether it will affect the national treasury."

Guo Zi had a close relationship with Zhu Di, so he dared to reject Zhu Di's proposal on the occasion of the New Year.

Zhu Di didn't take his words to heart, but said: "Although this matter is good, once it is confirmed that it has no impact, it will be sent to various places immediately." ”

"If an official dares to collect summer grain privately, he will deal with it according to the law."

The first northern expedition brought Zhu Di not the joy of victory in the war and the expansion of territory, but the heavy burden of the people of Shandong.

In the past half month, he discussed a lot with Zhu Gaoxu, and found that no matter how to reduce taxes, corrupt officials and corrupt officials would not let go of the opportunity to exploit the people.

Therefore, there are only two ways to benefit the people, one is to implement new policies one by one according to Zhu Gaoxu's idea, so that the imperial court can firmly control the grassroots.

The second is the large-scale exemption, which directly sends officials to tell the local government that taxes cannot be collected.

It is impossible to exempt autumn grain, because the autumn grain of the Ming Dynasty has reached eighty percent of the quota of 35 million stones, but it is possible to exempt summer grain.

The exemption of summer grain is actually equivalent to the exemption of the burden of the north, because the summer grain harvest in the south is not much.

"Your Majesty, the retainer has something to do."

After Zhu Di said that, Zhu Gaoxu, who was wearing a crown robe, also stood up to make a move, and Zhu Di also bowed his head when he saw this: "Accurate." ”

"Erchen thinks that it has been ten years since the imperial court last changed the hundred officials and Lu, and now the new dynasty has a new atmosphere, the prices and wages are different, and the imperial court has obtained copper coins from the southwest and overseas, so it is reasonable to change the old system of Yulu and formulate a new system."

As soon as Zhu Gaoxu's words came out, thousands of officials inside and outside the Wuying Hall swallowed their saliva one after another.

It is true that Zhu Yuanzhang did not give much money, but it was definitely not too little, especially after Zhu Yuanzhang listened to Zhu Gaoxu's suggestion and canceled the half-fold of Yulu into treasure money, the officials could also live well by relying on Yulu.

Looking at the meaning of Zhu Gaoxu's words, he was obviously preparing to improve the rank of a hundred officials, and when he thought of this, the ministers were looking forward to it.

"This is the "Yongle Dynasty Yulu Book" agreed upon by the sons and Guo Zi, the head of the household department, and Yu Xin, the former head of the household department, please read it."

Zhu Gaoxu's voice fell, and Wang Yan also handed Zhu Di the document prepared earlier from the side.

Zhu Di, who was wearing a crown robe, opened the crown with his hand, and read through this book of hundreds of officials and officials of the new dynasty at a glance, and couldn't help but praise:

"Compared with the original foundation, the increase is half of the base, the number of officials in remote areas has increased by 20%, and half of the money is allocated in copper money, which is not bad......"

Zhu Di has actually read this book a long time ago, and now he is just acting with Zhu Gaoxu to show the ministers.

If you want to do things, you have to do it, and the Great Dynasty will obviously be a good place to play.

"According to the book, let's start after the Lantern Festival."

"Your Majesty, long live Your Majesty, long live Long live, long live......"

After Zhu Di opened his mouth to respond, the ministers knelt down and sang one after another.

If the officials' half-percent income can be increased by half every ten years, then they will not be miserable, not to mention the allocation of copper money to the general salary, which saves a lot of time and energy for the ministers.

"Your Majesty, the sons still think that the vacation of 100 officials can be increased as appropriate."

Zhu Gaoxu continued to stand up and speak, but the words that came out of his mouth made the ministers feel unfamiliar.

Holidays are not a unique system for later generations, but a system that has been handed down from ancient times to the present.

No one can maintain a certain state all the time, even the emperor and ministers.

However, if you rest every day and live a "salted fish" life, you obviously can't adapt to the needs of work.

Therefore, how to make the bureaucratic group give better play to its own effectiveness without reducing its efficiency has become a problem that the ancient ruling group has been pondering for a long time.

With the stability of the situation in the empire, various rules and regulations have been gradually perfected, and the procedures for officials to ask for leave have become more and more perfect, if a person takes a vacation without the emperor's approval, he will most likely be punished, and conversely, if a person does not rest all year round, he may also be annoyed by the emperor.

During the Han Dynasty, officials took an average of 60 days off a year, and the Tang Dynasty had a total of 53 days of holiday holidays, plus the usual ten-day holidays, Tang Dynasty officials could have at least 100 days of holidays per year.

In the Song Dynasty, you can show tricks during the holidays.

Although the basic holiday system was the same as that of the Tang Dynasty, it was still a ten-day holiday, and unlike the Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty also expanded a lot of holiday holidays.

Not only that, but the leave system extends to all people who serve in the service except for officials.

In addition, the local officials of the Song Dynasty stopped working on the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month every year, called "seals", so that officials were ready to go home for the New Year, and they did not "open the seal" until the twentieth day of the first month of the next year.

In this way, the officials of the Song Dynasty can actually take a month off for the New Year.

In short, the sum of large and small festivals, plus the thirty and six days of cultivation in a Chinese New Year's Eve, as well as holidays such as visiting relatives, weddings and funerals, can be maintained for about 110 days.

Compared with the unrestrained holidays of the Song Dynasty, the holidays of the Ming Dynasty were obviously strictly controlled.

The holidays formulated during the Hongwu period mainly include five days off on the New Year's Day, three days off on the winter solstice, ten days off on the Lantern Festival, plus two days on the birthday of the emperor and empress, and there are only 20 days of holidays throughout the year.

Such a holiday makes the officials miserable, if it weren't for the pressure given by Zhu Yuanzhang, I'm afraid some people would have been unable to bear it.

Now that such a thing has finally been mentioned, this makes the ministers very happy, and the only surprise is that the person who brought up this matter is actually Zhu Gaoxu.

Needless to say, what is the relationship between Zhu Gaoxu and the civil officials, so when he stood up, the ministers were somewhat guarded.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't care about their precautions, after all, in his opinion, many of the things formulated by Lao Zhu were a bit anti-human.

Lao Zhu always felt that what he could do, others could also do.

However, it turns out that what he can do, others really can't do.

Take the financial system he formulated as an example, he could still play when he was alive, but when it came to Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu, it was a little difficult for the two of them to deal with it jointly, so Zhu Gaochu divided part of the power to the household department.

This is true for finance, and it is also true for other systems.

Zhu Gaoxu doesn't think that he needs to take more holidays to handle government affairs well, but he just thinks that the holidays must be reasonable and sufficient, and twenty days is too little.

"Erchen suggested that three days of monthly leave be added every month, plus twenty days of holiday during the Hongwu period, and fifty-six days of vacation throughout the year."

As soon as Zhu Gaoxu spoke, the holiday of the hundred officials suddenly doubled on the original basis, which made the ministers' eyes widen, and they all looked at Zhu Gaoxu, suspecting that the East Palace was ghosted today.

"Hmmm......"

Zhu Di stroked his beard, thought about it for a while, and then nodded: "Let's do this from this year onwards." ”

"Minister, thank you for Your Majesty's ......"

The addition of holidays, which was something to celebrate for the courtiers, knelt down to return the salute.

Seeing this, Zhu Di didn't say much, but just asked the Governor's Office of the Sixth Ministry and the Fifth Army to report last year's summary and situation one after another.

For this process, the ministers were mainly surprised that the population of the imperial court exceeded 70 million, and the land exceeded 500 million mu, and the rest did not change much.

Until the dispersal of the dynasty, the ministers had not come out of the surprise of the increase in income and the doubling of the holiday, and the eyes that looked at Zhu Gaoxu were a little more complicated.

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at them, not thinking that his favor would make them regress much in the struggle for interests.

The main reason why he announced these new policies was to improve the system.

Leaving the Fengtian Palace, Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di changed back into their regular clothes in the Huagai Hall as always, and advanced towards the Qianqing Palace.

When they got off the walk, the Qianqing Palace was already filled with the fragrance of food.

Empress Xu, Guo Yan, Zhang, Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Yueying, Zhu Yugui and others sat at the dinner table, chatting left and right.

"Father's ......"

Seeing Zhu Di and them coming, everyone got up and saluted, and Zhu Gaoxu naturally sat next to Guo Yan.

"What about my two grandchildren?"

Looking at Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Zhanji, who were nowhere to be seen, Zhu Di looked around, but Zhu Gaochi replied: "Dad, Zhanji is sick and is taking medicine in the house." ”

"Gully was too young to bring it." Guo Yan also explained.

"Just like that, the two grandchildren, they can't look at it for the New Year, and after the Lantern Festival, there will only be one left."

Zhu Di couldn't help but complain a few words when he heard this, and Zhu Gaochi laughed awkwardly.

The construction of the Han Palace, many palaces, has ended, and even the Tang Dynasty, the Ying Dynasty, and the Yi Dynasty are ready to begin their vassals.

It can be said that when the Lantern Festival passed fifteen days later, there would no longer be a vassal king in Beijing, except for Zhu Yunxi, the king of Ouning, who was imprisoned.

Such a coldness naturally made Zhu Di feel a little lonely.

In the past two days of the Lantern Festival, he has lived a comfortable life with his brothers, but he doesn't know if they will be honest after the feudal domain.

"Dad, let's eat first."

Zhu Gaochi spoke carefully, but Zhu Di glared at him: "You know how to eat." ”

After glaring, Zhu Di looked at Zhang: "Daughter-in-law, take a good look at your Han prince, after going to Yunnan to become a vassal, let him keep his mouth open, don't eat too much." ”

"Your Majesty, don't worry, the minister will take care of him." Zhang hurriedly responded, which made Zhu Gaochi on the side cry bitterly.

He just wanted to liven up the atmosphere, so he didn't even care about how much he wanted to eat.

"Let's sit down and eat."

Although he scolded Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Di was still uncomfortable in his heart, so he motioned for everyone to take a seat before he spoke:

"Last year, the third child wrote me a lot of letters, saying that Changsha is not bad, but the water vapor is too heavy, hot in summer and cold in winter."

Zhu Di also revealed what he meant, that is, he simply said such a sentence, probably because he wanted Zhu Gaoxu to open his mouth and let the third child come back.

It's just that in the face of his meaning, everyone lowered their heads to eat, and no one paid attention to him.

"Let's eat."

Empress Xu put a few chopsticks and meat dishes in his bowl, as if she wanted to gag his mouth.

As a mother, Queen Xu naturally doesn't want her son to be too far away from her, but he is also a queen, and it is not a good thing to know that her three sons stay by her side.

Now that Zhu Gaosui is gone, Zhu Gaochi will leave in a few days, and the temple will be much more stable at that time, and Zhu Di and Zhu Gaochu will have a lot less suspicion.

In Queen Xu's view, personal emotions are really not as stable and stable as the world.

"Eat, eat, eat......"

Zhu Di muttered and ate a few bites, but the atmosphere could not be adjusted.

But after a while, a piece of music that was very different from this era sounded in the side hall, and everyone put down their chopsticks.

"Your tears, weak and wounded......"

The music played by various instruments such as the guzheng, pipa, and piccolo is played, and the singing voices of the musicians are also very beautiful.

The song "Chrysanthemum Terrace" made Zhu Di, the "bosom friend of heaven" who liked to listen to the tune in Yanwang's Mansion back then, pause his movements and listen to the tune quietly.

Not only him, but others also listened to this song.

After the song was played, Zhu Di said: "Who made this tune, it's a bit interesting." ”

"It was written by Gao Xu, and he wrote eighty-two tunes when he was in charge of the country, and many of them were sung in Beijing."

Empress Xu explained with a smile, but Zhu Di stared at Zhu Gaoxu with wide eyes, his face full of disbelief.

It's just that he thought about it a little and straightened his waist again: "Well, like me." ”

"Huh?" Everyone listened to Zhu Di's words of praising Zhu Gaoxu on the surface and actually boasting and selling himself, and their faces showed a moment of astonishment.

But Zhu Gaoxu was used to it, and after coughing, the band in the side hall continued to play.

When the people heard the music playing, they also ate quietly, listening to the music while eating.

After everyone had eaten cleanly, Zhu Gaoxu asked people to remove the food and table, and let the band from the side hall go to the main hall to perform.

With the combination of Chinese-style tunes and the dance of the musicians and the singing of the musicians, the performances of opera and dance music that are different from those of this era are displayed in front of people's eyes.

Zhu Di stroked his beard and watched the performance in a comfortable mood, while Zhu Gaochu himself sat with Zhu Gaochi.

Zhu Gaochi pestle Zhu Gaochu with his hand, making Zhu Gaochu look at him suspiciously.

"Second child, you have a good music class, how about sending me one?"

Zhu Gaochi was talking about the music class, but his eyes kept looking at the dancer, and he couldn't help but think of the things that his good big brother vented his lust and indulged in wine after he ascended the throne.

"I can give it to you, I'm afraid that my sister-in-law will be angry."

Zhu Gaochu raised his chin and motioned for Zhu Gaochi to look at Zhang.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaochi saw the pale-faced Zhang family, obviously she had a full view of what she had just done.

"Sister-in-law won't let you stay somewhere else?"

Zhu Gaochu asked curiously, but Zhu Gaochi said embarrassedly: "Give it to me, that is, sometimes I don't go back for several days, and she will lose her temper after she comes to the door." ”

What he said was a temper tantrum, but Zhu Gaoxu had already imagined the picture of Zhang chasing Zhu Gaochi in his mind.

He sighed twice, and couldn't help but feel that Guo Yan was good.

It's just that he doesn't want to think about it, compared to Zhu Gaochi's indulgence, he at least knows moderation.

If it weren't for the Zhang family managing Zhu Gaochi, he might not even live to be forty-eight.

Zhu Gaochu didn't react, he was still feeling pity for Zhu Gaochi, and couldn't help but say:

"In two months, I will have someone send it to you, and if you go to Yunnan, if you are missing something, write a letter, and I will be satisfied with everything I can."

"Not for the time being, just remember to send me a music class, just get one like this for me." Zhu Gaochi looked at the graceful and light beauty, and almost drooled out.

"Sooner or later, you'll die on a woman's belly." Looking at this scene, Zhu Gaoxu reacted.

"If you have to return and stop together, you will die under the peony flower, and you will be a ghost."

Zhu Gaochi did not forget to chant poems against him, Zhu Gaochu could only shake his head after hearing this, praying in his heart that his good brother would not die early because of excessive indulgence after going to Yunnan.

"Okay, I'll go back to the Chunhe Hall to deal with government affairs first."

Zhu Gaochu got up and explained to Zhu Gaochi, but Zhu Gaochi set his eyes on the dancer.

Looking at him like that, Zhu Gaoxu walked to Zhu Di and Queen Xu.

Although Zhu Di has been watching the band, his main attention is listening to the tunes, and Queen Xu is similar, so when they saw Zhu Gaoxu coming over, they looked at him suspiciously.

"Dad, I'm going to return to the Rejuvenation and the Palace first."

"Well, go ahead, just stay with Leban." Zhu Di replied bluntly, as if he had regarded Leban as his own.

His straightforward answer made Zhu Gaoxu speechless, and he could only secretly curse in his heart that he shouldn't give this old man a good thing.

"The son is gone."

Zhu Gaoxu returned the salute and glanced at Empress Xu.

Looking at each other, Queen Xu nodded with a charitable smile at him, and did not forget to remind: "Although government affairs are important, you can't get tired. ”

"Don't worry, son, remember, mother, you also take care of your body."

Zhu Gaoxu was a little worried about Queen Xu's body, but Zhu Di waved his hand: "Let's go, let's go, your mother has me." ”

"The retainers retired ......"

Seeing Zhu Di say this, Zhu Gaoxu walked to Guo Yan's side, lowered his body and explained: "You accompany your father, I will go back to deal with government affairs first." ”

"Go back slowly, there are concubines here." Guo Yan smiled and squinted his eyes in reply, and Zhu Gaoxu also stretched out his hand and pinched her cheek when he saw this.

This move made Guo Yan's face red, and Queen Xu and Zhu Yueying in the palace were also amused, but the Zhang family looked at it with envy, and then looked back at the guy whose soul was taken away by the dancing girl, and couldn't help but feel a little angry.

Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu and Guo Yan, and then at Queen Xu, as if he wanted to try it too, but in the end, he stopped this idea under Queen Xu's raised eyebrows, and coughed by the way: "Ahem, the second guy is not like me here, and I am not stable." ”

Seeing Zhu Di say this, Empress Xu withdrew her gaze.

Just looking at her retracting her gaze, Zhu Di always felt itchy and secretly wanted to try it tonight.

Ignoring their various ideas, Zhu Gaoxu returned to the Chunhe Hall of the East Palace by car after walking out of the Qianqing Palace.

When he reached the door, he saw Yishaha waiting at the door.

"It's windy outside, why are you staying?"

Zhu Gaoxu stepped forward with a smile, patted Yisha's shoulder and walked into the Spring and Peace Palace.

Seeing this, Yisha rubbed his hands and felt a little warmer before he spoke:

"News came from the west that Timur had gathered an army of 200,000 men and hundreds of thousands of people, and ordered his grandson Haril to lead 30,000 soldiers and horses to Tashkent to raise grain and grass."

He said the reason why he was waiting in the wind and snow, but Zhu Gaoxu smiled after hearing it: "Take it easy." ”

After that, he walked to his position, asked Yizha to put down the map, and then put away a few maps of the southwest and the South Seas, which revealed the "General Map of the Four Yi Binfu in the World".

He picked up a thin command pole and pointed to the central region of Central Asia, sliding all the way to the Western Regions.

"If he wants to send troops from Tashkent to the east, then his goal can only be Beshbali in the Western Regions, and further aforemost, it will be Warat in Moxi, as for our ......"

Zhu Gaoxu retracted the command rod, tapped it on the palm of his hand a few times, and chuckled: "It is impossible for him to cross more than 3,000 miles to fight us, even if he wants to, his body will not allow it." ”

Zhu Gaoxu admired Timur very much, but he never took Timur in his eyes.

The times and climate have changed, and it is impossible for this era to have the drama of the decisive battle between Arabia and the Tang Dynasty in Central Asia during the Tang Dynasty.

Just as the Ming Dynasty could not pass through Central Asia, Timur of Central Asia could not come to the Ming Dynasty, and the place where the two countries competed could only be the Western Regions.

If Timur was twenty years younger, then Zhu Gaoxu would have liked this place in the Western Regions, but Timur was too old.

He is almost seventy, and even Zhu Di may not be able to survive it, let alone himself.

What Zhu Gaoxu was really worried about was the collapse of the Timurid Empire after Timur's death, the chaos in Central Asia, and the subsequent eastward migration of Mongolia.

Once the Timurid Empire collapsed, many of the Mongol tribes under their rule would certainly not continue to live in the war-torn rivers and Eastern Europe, and it became their choice to move back to their Mongol homeland.

The Ming Dynasty could not completely solve Mongolia in the early Ming Dynasty, because the size of Mongolia was much larger than that of the Xiongnu and Turks.

With the name of a Yuan descendant, Benjamin successively shook how many tribes from Eastern Europe and Central Asia came to help, which is unimaginable in the Han and Tang dynasties.

The Han and Tang dynasties dealt with the northern nomads until they moved westward, but now there are more Mongols in the west than in the east, and they can continuously transfuse blood to the Mongolian headquarters.

At the height of the four khanates, the number of Mongols exceeded 10 million, which was the period with the largest number of Mongols.

Although the number of Mongols in the world has been reduced sharply due to the war, the number of Mongols in the world is still in the millions.

This scale is enough to crush the northern nomads of previous generations, and the Mongolians of this scale will also become the blood bag of Mobei Mongolia.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu only felt a headache, and at the same time became anxious about the production of Da Ning Dusi Modong Sanwei.

"Gotta figure it out......"

(End of chapter)