Raising chickens and pigs and digging for wild vegetables, the county magistrate's promotion wa

Chapter 1124 These two bastards, all they do is cause us trouble every day!

As is widely known, the famous Yongle Emperor Zhu Laosi actually had little interest in being emperor.

Rather than calling him Emperor Taizong, Emperor Chengzu, or Emperor Yongle, it would be more accurate to say that he was the Grand General of the Northern Expedition of Emperor Renzong (Zhu Gaochi).

Similarly, rather than calling Zhu Yuanzhang the Ming Taizu, it would be more accurate to say that he was the father and head steward of the black sesame glutinous rice ball.

Yang Shaofeng never expected that Zhu Biao's so-called "that would make things much easier" actually turned out to be a letter written to Emperor Zhu.

Then?

And that was it. Heizhi Tangyuan continued to read the battle reports on the suppression of the rebellion in Quanzhou Prefecture, while also pondering the next five-year plan of the Ming Dynasty.

As for the numerous questions raised by Yang Shaofeng, they were all passed on to Emperor Zhu, who was far away in the capital.

Then, Emperor Zhu got so angry in the palace that he started cursing.

"What's the point of having so many sons?!"

"The eldest brother stays in Quanzhou Prefecture every day and refuses to come back to share the burden of state affairs with us."

"Those three bastards, the second, third, and fourth, also ran off to Quanzhou Prefecture to hang out with the eldest brother and that scoundrel."

"Although the fifth brother is still in the capital, that scoundrel is never home."

Emperor Zhu pushed the letter written by the black sesame dumpling in front of Empress Ma, and then cursed with a dark face: "None of them are good!"

Empress Ma ignored Emperor Zhu and simply picked up the letter from the black sesame dumpling. Then she smiled and said, "This is quite interesting. With the emergence of this argument about aristocratic families, officials, and maritime merchants, many things that were previously inexplicable can now be explained."

Emperor Zhu snorted and said angrily, "That's easy. We'll just write the sea ban into an ancestral precept, and no one will be allowed to mention lifting the sea ban in the future."

Empress Ma glared at Emperor Zhu and retorted, "You even stipulated that anyone who embezzles 60 strings of cash will be skinned alive."

"But look at yourself, do you think you can scare those officials?"

"Just like what the Ming Dynasty newspaper said, a newly appointed magistrate in a certain place lost his fear after looking at it for a while, and then, like his predecessor, hung it in the main hall as a scarecrow."

The "scarecrow" that Empress Ma mentioned refers to the censor sent by the Censorate who discovered a corrupt county magistrate. They then joined forces with the Censorate and the Embroidered Uniform Guard to investigate, and found that the magistrate had embezzled several hundred strings of cash.

What's rather funny is the county magistrate's confession: the previous magistrate of this county was also "skinned and stuffed with straw" for corruption, and hung in the main hall of the county government as a scarecrow. The successor magistrate was initially afraid, but after looking at it for a while, he was not so afraid anymore, or rather, greed overcame fear, and finally began to be corrupt as well.

Then, the succeeding magistrate hung up the coffin to keep his predecessor company.

Emperor Zhu's face darkened further. He spat angrily and cursed, "That scarecrow theory must have been deliberately brought up by those two bastards to annoy us!"

Empress Ma glanced at Emperor Zhu and said, "Don't change the subject. We're not talking about scarecrows or anything like that. We're talking about whether this 'ancestral instruction' you mentioned works and how long it will work."

Emperor Zhu grunted twice in frustration and said, "The matter is left as it is. Besides setting an ancestral rule forbidding the opening of the sea, what other method can we use that will remain effective in the long run?"

Empress Ma was almost amused by Emperor Zhu: "What method can work indefinitely? Didn't Biao write in the letter that we should set up more border markets, customs offices, and maritime trade offices, have the Ministry of Personnel revise the system of appointed officials, and have the Censorate strengthen its inspections in various places? Which of these methods is more reliable than your so-called 'ancestral precepts'?"

At this point, Empress Ma couldn't help but smile again and said, "No wonder your good son-in-law and Biao'er privately call you a 'rule maniac,' wishing to set rules for everything."

Emperor Zhu's face instantly turned a riot of colors, and he wished he could rush to Quanzhou Prefecture immediately and hang up his eldest son and his scoundrel son-in-law and give them a good beating.

What's the point of setting rules?

Are we setting these rules for the sake of the Ming Dynasty's stability and prosperity?

We set rules not so that future generations can save themselves some trouble.

Those two bastards, all they do is cause us trouble every day!

The more Emperor Zhu thought about it, the angrier he became. He couldn't help but snort and said, "Your eldest son's method is good, but doesn't he think about where we're going to find so many people to manage the border markets and those customs and maritime trade offices?"

"His first words were to ask the Ministry of Personnel to redefine the system of appointed officials and to have the Censorate strengthen its inspections in various regions. Hmph, he makes it sound so easy, but in the end, won't it be us, Li Shanchang, and Liu Bowen who will have a headache?"

"He eats lamp wick ash and farts lightly; he's been corrupted by that scoundrel!"

"..."

Emperor Zhu expressed his dissatisfaction with grumbling and cursing, but Empress Ma frowned slightly and pointed to a passage in Zhu Biao's letter, saying: "Look here, Biao said that even if the Ministry of Personnel changed the system of appointing officials and the Censorate strengthened its inspections in various places, those officials sent to the coast may still be corrupt and collude with gentry and wealthy merchants."

"And this, making officials in the imperial court and local areas declare their family assets to the Embroidered Uniform Guard for record-keeping, is a ruthless move targeting the officials' very lifeblood."

"Compared to these two, the remaining minor issues are hardly problems at all?"

Emperor Zhu hummed in agreement and said, "These are not a problem; we can handle it for him."

"Being a bad guy is something we're good at."

"What's giving us a headache right now is how long those two bastards will keep causing trouble in Fujian, and what to do about the next five-year plan for our Great Ming Dynasty."

Emperor Zhu rubbed his face and sighed softly, saying, "The Ministry of Transportation has submitted a memorial saying that they want to build a straight road, and plan to build 50,000 li of cement straight road in the next five years."

"The Ministry of Railways said they wanted to build railways, planning to build 20,000 li of railways and 100 stations in the next five years."

"These two are just the bottomless pits that are visible on the surface."

"What really makes us uneasy is the proposal from the Ministry of Rites to build 20,000 community schools and 20,000 libraries—this was also something your good son and your good son-in-law came up with."

"We had no idea when the treasury of our Great Ming Dynasty had so much money."

As Emperor Zhu finished speaking, Empress Ma was stunned.

No, do you use 10,000 li (a unit of distance) as a unit of measurement for building cement roads and railways?

When did the Ming Dynasty's treasury have so much money?

Compared to previous years, almost nothing else in the Ming Dynasty has changed, except for the addition of a border market.

In other words, the border markets were far more profitable than expected?

Or to put it another way: if there were no border markets, or if maritime smuggling were not strictly investigated, and those merchants were allowed to run rampant, how much less money would the Ming Dynasty's treasury collect?