The Ming Dynasty’s Prodigal Son - Chapter 1380

[1380. Chapter 1310 Earth-shattering]

Seeing Fang Jifan standing still, Zhu Houzhao continued to wave to him: “Come on.”

Fang Jifan’s eyes rolled around and he saw several eunuchs standing in the corner.

So he said with a smile: “Your Highness, the emperor’s duties are nothing greater than etiquette, etiquette is greater than points, and points are nothing greater than name. Only name and implements can’t be fake. Although your highness is the crown prince now, he supervises the country according to the decree, and is just like the emperor. Reviewing memorials is the responsibility of the emperor and the prince, and I dare not specialize in it.”

Zhu Houzhao sighed: “Old Fang, you are brave in other things, but you are so cautious about these things. “Yeah.”

Fang Jifan smiled and ignored him.

Zhu Houzhao immediately raised his head: “So many memorials are sent every day. Most of them are useless. They are full of nonsense. It is annoying to read. Lao Fang, since I am the supervisor of the country, what do you have in mind?”

” Your Highness, supervising the country means guarding the country. The key to guarding the country lies in the word “keeping”. Your Highness should not do anything, just follow the steps. Really important matters, as long as they are not urgent, can be dealt with after His Majesty returns to Beijing. Zhu

Houzhao slapped the case and said angrily: “I dare you to let me be the prison chief here.”

Fang Jifan shook his head: “Your Highness, please calm down.”

The identity is different.

In the past, you could call Zhu Houzhao Xiao Zhu and have fun with him.

But since he was the supervisor of the country, he was acting as a fake emperor, that is, the imperial power was imposed on Zhu Houzhao. Fang Jifan had never meant to offend the imperial power.

It’s not that Fang Jifan is weak, it’s about the era and the kind of things he did.

Zhu Houzhao threw away his ink pen and sighed: “There is a memorial here, saying that another drought occurred in Henan. In the cabinet’s draft, it was written that the Ministry of Household Affairs was ordered to provide relief and to succeed the vassal. What do you think?”

Fang Jifan said: “In recent years, natural disasters have been frequent. If we just provide relief, I think it may not be a complete solution.”

Zhu Houzhao frowned: “Then what should we do?”

“Place them.” Fang Jifan said: “Henan has a large population. Although the land is fertile, it can After all, land is limited. With such a large population and frequent disasters in recent years, how many people will die from a natural disaster even if the court can provide relief in time?”

Zhu Houzhao nodded: “That makes sense, so what do you think?

Fang Jifan said: “We might as well move out some of the victims.”

“

Move out.” Zhu Houzhao’s eyes lit up: “Yes, we should move out. Aren’t we in Beijing short of people? By the way, Lao Fang, how can we move out?” ?”

Fang Jifan coughed…

“Purchasing land and building a new city is not easy to house so many people at once, and it costs a lot of money. We have to feed and clothe them, and most people have just come out and can’t adapt yet. The young and strong must be trained in skills, and the old and the weak need to be provided with adequate medical care to ensure that they can live and work in peace and contentment. Not only that, each workshop must also bear some responsibilities. Your Highness…I think…the most important thing right now. The important thing is that the times are difficult for the community…”

Zhu Houzhao began to think about it.

The cost is staggering.

Human life is like a piece of grass. If you want people to survive, you must provide for them. One hundred, one thousand, or ten thousand people are fine, but what if the scale is huge?

Zhu Houzhao said: “When I was in Xishan, I shared the joys and sorrows with the people, and I know how hard their lives are. Alas…”

At this point, Zhu Houzhao couldn’t help but sigh.

The life in Xishan is enough to make Zhu Houzhao, a heartless guy, feel something.

He said: “They are all the emperor’s subjects, but now that the emperor is gone, they are the subjects of this palace. Jifan, please calculate, how much silver will be needed to relocate the population?”

Fang Jifan said : “Countless.”

This is the truth.

Migration is something that cannot be opened mouthed.

If it is a natural migration, that’s fine. But if they are allowed to migrate during a disaster year, it will be the impact of hundreds of thousands or even millions of people. This is an extremely terrifying thing.

Once they are not properly handled, these tens of millions of people will breed dissatisfaction and resentment, and then chaos will occur.

And with so many people moving out, they must be able to support their families.

Relief from the imperial court alone is not enough.

Although the current manpower in the capital is tight, there needs to be a benign process. This sudden population increase is bound to have an impact.

Fang Jifan always believed that the current situation was overcrowded.

Take the Chief Minister of Henan Province as an example. All the land there that should be reclaimed has been reclaimed. Many tenants can only rent two or three acres of land to eke out a living.

But these two or three acres of land, in terms of the yield per mu in this era, how can we have enough to eat?

Obviously, a family can rent ten acres of land, or even thirty acres or fifty acres of land, which is enough, but because there are too many people, they can barely survive by treating them.

This excess population is just a problem in good years, but it will be a disaster in bad years.

To solve this problem, we must make a fuss about this population. Otherwise, relying on the court’s annual relief will not be able to solve the fundamental problem. The population in the future will only increase and increase, and it will keep snowballing until the court Until relief is no longer possible, by that time, a dynasty will naturally enter the process of rise and fall.

Zhu Houzhao suddenly stood up and paced back and forth.

In his mind, Zhu Houzhao thought about the scene when he lived with the refugees in Xishan.

With sewage flowing across the river, I lived in a shed, working at sunrise and resting at sunset. I could barely eat enough every day, so I felt that this was a gift from God, and I was constantly grateful.

So…compared to the original refugees in Xishan, these disaster victims are probably…living a more difficult life.

Zhu Houzhao said: “The national treasury allocates some money and food for the relocation of the people. But in my opinion, the treasury cannot cope with it, so we have to use internal funds. How much it will cost, how much manpower and material resources are needed… I don’t care. , Internal funds must be spent at all costs… All assets, stocks, and deposits now amount to more than 97,643,700 taels, among which stocks are the largest. However, if these stocks are sold at a price, It will inevitably cause turmoil in the stock market.”

Fang Jifan couldn’t help but feel sour when he heard that his internal funds actually amounted to nearly 100 million taels of silver. Has His Majesty saved so much money?

“This is easy to do. You can use stocks as collateral and get a loan from Xishan Bank. However… if this is the case, it will inevitably cause inflation, but… Your Highness can rest assured that Xishan Bank will keep this inflation under control.”

” That’s it.” Zhu Houzhao said: “The current monthly income of the inner treasury is quite a lot. The dividends from the listed companies, as well as the dividends from the banks and many workshops in Xishan, and the loan repayments are all child’s play. Where? Lao Fang, let’s each take out a piece of land. Let’s take more of this palace’s land. Let’s do something big.”

Zhu Houzhao then said: “In the next six months, Xishan Bank will take out some land.

When thirty million taels of silver come out, as long as the bank has no problem, I will immediately send the stocks in the bank to be used as collateral. Now… I will personally issue an edict. “

Zhu Houzhao is a resolute person.

He is a hothead, and once he makes up his mind, not even nine cows can pull him back.

Historically, the problem of more people and less land ran through the middle period of the Ming Dynasty to its demise, and no one could solve it.

But now… there seems to be a solution.

After all…there is money in the inner treasury now.

Fang Jifan couldn’t help but said: “Your Highness, would you like to write a memorial to Your Majesty?”

Zhu Houzhao wrote an edict with a few strokes.

This edict has nothing to say at all, and only makes an understatement: “Prince Fengtian supervises the country, and the edict says: Even if the Henan Chief Envoy is ordered to relocate the disaster victims to the various prefectures, the disaster victims will move voluntarily, and all the needs along the way will be borne by the government…”

Zhu Houzhao lowered his head. The head said: “My father’s temperament is too hesitant. When the memorial was handed down, he made up his mind, fearing that the victims would all starve to death. This is a top priority. Relieving disasters is like putting out fires. It is no joke. Moreover. My father loves his people like his sons, so there is nothing wrong with doing this. Even if he knows that I have made up my mind on his behalf, he must be very happy. Old Fang, why are you so verbose? You are becoming more and more like my father.”

Fang Jifan sighed and said, “Yes, His Majesty has always loved the people like a son. If he were in the same situation as His Majesty the Crown Prince, he would definitely do the same. Our Emperor is a wise man and has a kind heart.”

Zhu Houzhao threw the edict to the eunuch aside: “Immediately…send it to the Supervisor of Ceremonies for sealing, and then to the cabinet, and tell them that they can’t delay for a moment. If they delay, I will chop them up.”

“Yes.”

After explaining these things, Zhu Houzhao suddenly seemed to be relieved. , extremely happy: “I don’t think it is difficult to govern the world. With Lao Fang assisting me, I can sit back and relax.”

Fang Jifan hurriedly said: “Your Highness, this is your own decision, but with “

It doesn’t matter, I didn’t say anything.”

“You were the one who instigated it,” Zhu Houzhao said angrily, “If you don’t believe me, I’ll check it out.” As he said that, he looked at the eunuch in the corner who was writing notes.

Fang Jifan blushed to his ears: “Your Highness, this is a big mistake. I just made a suggestion. Your Highness…”

“Same.” Zhu Houzhao waved his hand back: “It’s useless to say this now. It’s better to think about it. What’s next? , how to deal with these victims, this is not a joke, if anything goes wrong, you will not be able to survive.”

Fang Jifan said: “Your Highness can’t survive.”

Zhu Houzhao was not convinced: “You will die. It’s more miserable.”

Fang Jifan thought about it carefully and found it very reasonable.

He suddenly felt that he had been tricked. Why did he seem to be taking the blame this time?

Thinking about it carefully, I felt that something was wrong. How could I come up with this idea? It is clear that to govern a big country, we should cook small dishes. If everything is secretive, it will pass.

Could it be that…we have reached the point of being crazy about succeeding the vassal and serving the country and the people?

Fang Jifan sighed inwardly.

(End of chapter)