OBS Chapter 971 You're using the pleasure boats on the Qinhuai River to test the students?
Chapter 971 You're using the pleasure boats on the Qinhuai River to test the students?
By the seventh year of the Hongwu reign, Nanjing had already taken shape. Although the streets were not yet crowded with pedestrians, they were still quite teeming with people.
As for the various shops on both sides of the road, they presented a scene of "everything flourishing and full of vitality".
Everything would have been perfect if it weren't for that annoying "mutton soup from Shandong".
Before they knew it, Yang Shaofeng and Zhu Biao had strolled to the Qinhuai River.
At this time, the girls on the pleasure boats are still resting. Only when it gets dark will each pleasure boat hang lanterns to welcome guests.
Yang Shaofeng stopped by the Qinhuai River, first looking at the flower boats that were moored and resting, and then looking at the Confucius Temple behind him.
Pay attention!
The Confucius Temple was never built solely for the purpose of worshipping Confucius.
The complete Confucius Temple complex consists of three major building groups: the Confucius Temple, the Imperial Academy, and the Examination Hall. It includes buildings such as the screen wall, the Pan Pool, the memorial archway, the Juxing Pavilion, the Kuixing Pavilion, the Lingxing Gate, the Dacheng Hall, the Mingde Hall, and the Zunjing Pavilion, covering a vast area.
The Confucius Temple in Nanjing was not built during the reign of Emperor Lao Deng, but can be traced back to the third year of Xiankang in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. It was destroyed by fire during the Jianyan period of the Southern Song Dynasty. After being rebuilt in the ninth year of Shaoxing, it was called Jiankang Prefectural School. During the Yuan Dynasty, it was renamed Jiqing Road School. After Emperor Lao Deng became emperor, it was renamed Guozixue (Imperial Academy), and later Yingtian Prefectural School.
"The Qinhuai River is right in front of the prefectural school."
Yang Shaofeng clicked his tongue and said sarcastically, "Going to school during the day and boarding the ship at night."
"Using this to test the students? Which student could withstand such a test?!"
"A flower boat shrouded in misty rain, talented men and beautiful women with hearts stirred by spring fever, tsk tsk."
"The artistic conception alone is something that Dengzhou University can't compare to."
"..."
Zhu Biao glanced at Yang Shaofeng unconsciously, then sighed helplessly.
It's obvious that the reason they were criticizing one and attacking the other along the Qinhuai River was because the anger from that mutton stall hadn't completely subsided.
Having such a petty brother-in-law is my blessing.
……
While Yang Shaofeng and Zhu Biao were wandering around, Emperor Zhu was having a small meeting with Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen, Chang Yuchun, and others.
"From the first year of Hongwu to June 30th of the seventh year of Hongwu."
Emperor Zhu pointed to the memorials submitted by the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Justice and said, "The provincial administration and military commands have cleared more than 100,000 mountain strongholds and more than 100,000 mountain strongholds and bandit strongholds. They have resettled about 3 million people who went into the mountains to avoid disaster and killed about 1 million mountain bandits."
As Emperor Zhu finished speaking, Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen, Chang Yuchun, and others fell silent.
Three million, one million.
These are two rather heavy numbers.
Even after seven years of recuperation, the total population of the Ming Dynasty was only around 70 million.
Even so, a large portion of these were hidden households identified through statistical analysis of the household registration records.
The number of people who fled into the mountains to escape the disaster was three million, which means that almost one in every thirty-five people fled into the mountains.
In those days when even honest farming couldn't guarantee enough to fill one's stomach, the mountains, aside from offering the advantage of escaping war, were in a much more difficult situation than honest farming.
Whether it's for living, fertilizing, or irrigating.
As for the extermination of a million bandits, that would be even more deadly—it's not just a hundred bandits harming one civilian; a million bandits could harm tens of thousands of civilians.
Moreover, the ratio of one hundred bandits harming one ordinary person is simply not true.
Because this ratio is so low, it's ridiculously low.
Everyone knows that the number of people harmed by bandits far exceeds the unit of "ten thousand".
Emperor Zhu curled his fingers and tapped the table lightly: "Search the mountains and the seas, we cannot stop."
"Next, we will also investigate the problem of common people keeping slaves and using soldiers as slaves in various places, and at the same time, investigate old cases in various places."
Upon hearing the words "old case," Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen, Chang Yuchun, and others immediately perked up.
The matter of searching mountains and seas is somewhat complicated and difficult to explain in a few words.
Even if it is carried out year after year, month after month, there are still areas that cannot be covered.
To put it bluntly, the territory of the entire Ming Dynasty is simply too vast, and to conduct a thorough, comprehensive search would be as difficult as climbing to the heavens.
However, investigating old cases is a different story.
If there are case files, you can start by examining them.
If there are no case files, you can start with "The White-Haired Girl" and the "Complaint Meeting".
As long as the victims are still alive, these long-standing cases can be gradually clarified.
While considering the matter, Li Shanchang said, "It will probably take several months, or even a year or two, for the opera troupe to take the lead."
"Instead of waiting for the opera troupe to be formed before starting, it would be better for the Censorate to send out special inspectors to start by checking the old files in various prefectures and counties."
"First, clarify all the old cases with files, and then clarify the old cases without files through opera troupes and grievance meetings."
As Li Shanchang finished speaking, Liu Bowen's eyes widened immediately.
Should the Censorate send out an inspecting censor?
Damn it!
Do you even know how many prefectures and counties the Ming Dynasty had?
More than a thousand!
The Ming Dynasty had more than a thousand prefectures and counties, but the Censorate had only about a hundred censors at most.
Are you planning to work those imperial censors to death?
The key question is whether those officials will destroy the case files before you send out imperial censors under the guise of investigating old cases.
It's also possible that the files were destroyed beforehand?
This problem is almost unsolvable.
Liu Bowen couldn't help but reach up and scratch the back of his head.
Li Shanchang continued, “First, under the guise of revising the history books of the Hu Yuan dynasty, we will require all prefectures and counties to compile statistics on various unjust and wrongful cases from the Hu Yuan period and archive them for future reference.”
"The Jinyiwei (Imperial Guards) in various localities were ordered to collect and organize the case files."
"Once these things are in the hands of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, things will naturally become much easier."
Liu Bowen's eyes widened once again.
Why let the Embroidered Uniform Guards, who are skilled at framing and extracting confessions through torture, do the work?
Well done, Lao Li, it has to be you—those officials may not be afraid of the censors, but they are absolutely afraid of the Embroidered Uniform Guard who can stop children from crying at night!
Emperor Zhu nodded as well.
It doesn't matter who does the work.
Actually, whether or not there is a case file is not very important.
The real issue is whether we can completely resolve the problem of those local gentry and elders who are not quite right in the head.
To prevent anyone from spreading rumors that we and Shen Wansan built the city on equal footing!
While complaining in his heart, Emperor Zhu bent his fingers and tapped the table.
"Let's leave the old case as it is for now."
"Next, let's talk about the common people's practice of keeping slaves and the practice of enslaving soldiers."
Emperor Zhu's face gradually darkened: "Officials below the third rank in the imperial court are not allowed to keep slaves, but those local landlords in the countryside are trying every means to turn our people into slaves."
"There are also cases of conscripting soldiers into slavery; there have been several such cases recently."