OBS Chapter 353 You surnamed Yang, don't go too far!
Chapter 353 You surnamed Yang, don't go too far!
Emperor Zhu chuckled, stood up, paced a few steps, and turned to look at Liu Bowen, saying, "Mr. Qingtian, it hasn't been easy."
Liu Bowen was slightly taken aback, and Emperor Zhu continued, "We've been waiting for this moment, just waiting for Mr. Qingtian to be willing to speak these heartfelt words to us. Now we've finally gotten what we've been waiting for. It hasn't been easy."
Liu Bowen was startled and immediately stood up, bowing respectfully to Emperor Zhu, saying, "Your Majesty, your subject..."
Emperor Zhu waved his hand with a smile, "We hadn't thought about these things before, and we didn't even take it seriously when that scoundrel reminded us. But Brother Shanchang's sudden illness this time has really given us a wake-up call."
After pacing a few more steps, Emperor Zhu sighed deeply and said, "We were wrong. The idea of everyone doing their own job and being content with their own work is fundamentally flawed."
"The descendants of famous doctors may not become famous doctors, and the descendants of great craftsmen may not become great craftsmen."
"The household registration system should indeed be reformed and the household registration book revised. These things should not be implemented only in Ningyang and Dengzhou."
As Emperor Zhu finished speaking, Liu Bowen felt his back was soaked with cold sweat.
Were we wrong?
Ah.
It was the officials in the imperial court, especially those from the Fujian, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang factions, who secretly told Emperor Zhu some nonsense about "each doing their own job and being content with their own profession," which led to the household registration system where one's sons and grandsons could inherit their professions.
He himself happened to be the representative figure nominated by the officials of the Zhejiang East faction.
Now that Emperor Zhu has said he was wrong, he has essentially taken all the blame upon himself, while he, as a representative figure of the Zhejiang faction, has been absolved of responsibility.
After a long silence, Liu Bowen bowed to Emperor Zhu and said, "Your Majesty, I will discuss the household registration reform with my colleagues in the Ministry of Revenue and strive to complete it before the spring plowing in the fourth year of Hongwu."
Emperor Zhu chuckled and nodded, then took out another memorial from the table. "Mr. Qingtian, take a look at this one as well."
Liu Bowen's eye twitched. After taking the memorial and glancing at it, he bowed to Emperor Zhu with despair, saying, "Your Majesty, the Imperial Son-in-Law... he..."
If the previous memorial only proposed prohibiting the outflow of books from the History and Philosophy sections, prohibiting the outflow of agricultural tools such as harvesters, treating students from Goryeo differently from those studying at the Imperial Academy, and sending inspectors to sow discord among Goryeo students, these actions were barely acceptable. However, this memorial requesting the dispatch of merchants to purchase grain overseas was far beyond Liu Bowen's capacity to handle.
Merchants were dispatched to Annam, Goryeo, Champa and other places to purchase grain, inducing the people in the vassal states to sell their grain, thereby reducing the grain reserves of the vassal states. The grain brought back could be used as military rations or to replenish the ever-normal granaries, reserve granaries, community granaries, agricultural granaries and charity granaries in various places.
Yang Shaofeng's claim in his memorial that the granaries were completely full was based on the standard that the people had enough to eat for three meals a day even after two consecutive years of no harvest.
That's fucking ruthless!
With tens of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty, if they could satisfy the standard of "three meals a day" for tens of millions of people who had no harvest for two consecutive years, wouldn't that mean they would have to empty out all the grain from the vassal states of Goryeo, Annam, and Champa?
Three meals a day means eating three meals a day. "Eat enough" means eating your fill at every meal. In ordinary households, apart from the spring planting and autumn harvest season, who would be willing to eat three meals a day?
If calculated according to this standard, even if all the grain from the surrounding vassal states of the Ming Dynasty were bought back for a year, it would not be enough. Moreover, the grain in the granaries also involves the issue of removing old grain and storing new grain, which means that some old grain must be sold off at a low price every year.
Of course, Yang Shaofeng never did things without considering the consequences when writing memorials. Since he proposed to sell the old grain at a low price every year, it meant that Yang Shaofeng had already thought about how to deal with the old grain.
They can be sold at low prices to farms and livestock ranches in various counties for raising various poultry and livestock.
As for whether these vassal states would encounter natural disasters, or whether they still had grain reserves for disaster relief... Yang Shaofeng's memorial didn't mention a single word about it, so Liu Bowen could only assume that those vassal states were not short of food.
Faced with the silent Liu Bowen, Emperor Zhu simply shrugged and said helplessly, "Mr. Qingtian must know what kind of person that dog is. If we don't go along with him, he'll probably write other memorials to bother us."
Then you, Emperor Zhu, would throw his memorial at me, right?
Just as Liu Bowen was secretly grumbling to himself, Emperor Zhu reached out and picked up the third memorial, handing it to Liu Bowen, saying, "Mr. Qingtian, you might want to take a look at this one as well."
Liu Bowen reached out and took the memorial, glanced through it, and then closed his eyes.
Please send more people to Dengzhou to help set up small ironworks and small coal mines in various counties of Dengzhou.
Damn it!
Liu Bowen really wanted to grab Yang Shaofeng by the collar and yell: "You, Yang, don't go too far!"
Just how big is your face, Yang the Madman, that you can just open up small ironworks and small coal mines in every county of Dengzhou Prefecture with your mouth?
Furthermore, you, Yang the Madman, can come to the court to demand people with a wave of your hand, but now that old scoundrel Li Shanchang has taken sick leave, all these things that offend people must be done by me!
That's your mother!
After cursing inwardly for a long time, Liu Bowen finally managed to calm down and said to Emperor Zhu with a pained expression, "Your Majesty, your subject..."
Nine generations of relatives!
Nine generations of relatives!
My entire family, from top to bottom, owes Yang the Madman a debt of gratitude!
Once again suppressing the urge to unleash a torrent of curses, Liu Bowen let out a long sigh and bowed to Emperor Zhu, saying, "Your Majesty, I believe you are right."
"Dengzhou was indeed hit by a disaster, and the mess left by Qu Mingjie and Xu Zheng and other convicted officials was quite troublesome. To quickly restore production, a large number of farm tools, equipment and livestock are needed."
"Various kinds of livestock are relatively easy to deal with, since the Prince Consort has already said that they can be purchased through the border market. However, the production of various agricultural tools and implements is absolutely inseparable from ironworks and coal mines, so... it's better to just let the Prince Consort handle it."
After a slight pause, Liu Bowen added, "It would also be good to see if the Prince Consort can make Dengzhou like Ningyang County. If he can, it would pave the way for other prefectures throughout the land."
"The same applies to the matter of grain. After all, raising poultry and livestock also requires a lot of grain. I think it would be better to approve it as well?"
Emperor Zhu smiled and nodded, saying, "I will do as you say, sir."
Liu Bowen wondered, "Are you going to side with me, Liu Bowen, or with your good son-in-law?"
That Yang the Madman is so arrogant and domineering, it's all your responsibility, Emperor Zhu!
Just as Liu Bowen was cursing in his heart again, Emperor Zhu said to Liu Bowen with a forced smile, "Mr. Qingtian, there is one more thing I would like to discuss with you."