Ming Dynasty: The Sixth Brother of the Zhu Family Seeks Immortality

The carriage Zhu Zhankan was riding was running very fast, mainly because his horse, Xiaohong, was strong after being combed by his spiritual energy.

In addition, he occasionally fed it with poor and defective elixirs.

That was why no one except Zhu Zhankan could ride this horse.

Zhu Zhankan leaned against the fence of the carriage and looked at the muscular Xiaohong.

"The task of the sect's divine beast will probably fall on you."

After arriving at the Fengtian Hall, Zhu Zhankan began to get busy.

He didn't do any work, but just used spiritual energy to restrain his breath, and then listened to those people bragging on the side.

The busy day passed quickly.

In a blink of an eye, it was night.

If the emperor was in a good mood, he would entertain the ministers in the palace.

Of course, if there was something important to announce, he might also entertain the ministers.

Chapter 41 Money and grain affairs

Imperial study.

Zhu Di had just finished the congratulatory ceremony in the daytime, and he summoned Xia Yuanji, Yang Shiqi and other important ministers.

The regent, the Prince of Han, the Crown Prince, and the Crown Prince were also called over.

Even Zhu Zhankan, who was in charge of part of the Jinyiwei, was not spared.

At first, Zhu Di was still congratulating his ministers, being polite to each other, and did not get to the point.

Zhu Zhankan was observing what specific changes had taken place in the Golden Dragon of Luck after the ceremony.

According to his observation, the Golden Dragon of Luck seemed to have recovered a lot after the ceremony, and its luck had become much stronger.

This ceremony included worship, dance, music, congratulations, music, and burning incense.

"Could it be that the Golden Dragon of Luck can absorb the incense?"

Soon, Zhu Zhankan denied this guess in his heart.

If the golden dragon absorbs the incense, it can restore its own luck, and then the world will not need to develop people's livelihood and work hard.

Everyone just needs to build an incense table and burn incense to worship the dragon.

The Golden Dragon of Luck can also feed back to the Ming Dynasty, directly becoming an alternative "perpetual motion machine".

"The only explanation is that the Golden Dragon of Luck will get feedback on its luck during the New Year celebration?"

"This guess is quite interesting. In this case, there are other ways for the Golden Dragon of Luck to advance."

While Zhu Zhankan was still thinking hard, the imperial study suddenly fell into silence.

Zhu Zhankan couldn't help but look up and look around. Why did it suddenly become quiet?

Looking up.

Zhu Di seemed a little tired and exhausted, of course, including mental fatigue.

It was not easy to ask the King of Han, who was in charge of the regent, to get some money.

And with the help of the young man of the old family, the King of Han successfully got several million taels of money and grain.

Although the means were a little improper.

But the follow-up problems came again.

After all, the regent King of Han was not as experienced as the prince. He overlooked a major problem, or he didn't think it was a problem at all.

That is, every year's New Year's Day ceremony is to reward money!

In addition to rewarding civil and military officials, it is also necessary to reward the princes of various places!

In previous years, these things were handled by the prince, and Zhu Di was naturally happy to relax.

This year, the situation is different. The King of Han entrusted the matter to the cabinet, and Xia Yuanji calculated it according to the specifications of previous years.

It was found that the reward required nearly two million taels of silver, and this did not include the additional rewards that Zhu Di gave out when he was happy.

Of course, this money was not all rewards, but also included a part of the salary for Zhu's family.

After all, the vassal system during the Yongle period was completely different from the vassal policy set by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Di himself started as a vassal, so his vigilance against vassal kings was naturally very high.

Not to mention that the vassal kings lost their jurisdiction over their fiefdoms, even the most important military power was gone.

Naturally, the vassal kings' original responsibility to defend the Ming Dynasty, defend against other countries, and block traitors at home naturally disappeared.

It is understandable that this was done to prevent other vassal kings from following suit due to the Jingnan operation.

However, after almost all the administrative and military powers of the vassal kings were cut off, considering the royal face, the dignity of the emperor and the political balance, Zhu Di naturally needed to provide compensation.

The method of compensation is very simple - give money!

In the Yongle Dynasty, the amount of money offered by the clansmen was extremely huge.

Of course, there were not so many clansmen in the Yongle Dynasty, so it was not a burden for the court.

But the amount should not be underestimated.

A prince had a salary of 10,000 shi a year, which was roughly equivalent to 1,200 taels of silver.

The salary was naturally only a small part, and there were also farmland and salt permits distributed to many princes, plus annual rewards.

It was not a small amount when added up!

Compared to a ninth-rank official, who only had a salary of 60 shi a year.

This is a lot of money.

In fact, this strategy is equivalent to turning the vassal kings who originally had considerable decision-making power and few dividend rights into vassal kings who had no decision-making power and a large number of dividend rights.

To put it bluntly, during the reign of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, the way to cultivate vassal kings was to cultivate talents and talents, but during the reign of Zhu Di, it was really raising pigs.

The vassal king training system established in the Yongle Dynasty greatly strengthened the imperial power, which may be its only benefit.

As the saying goes, one thing goes up while another goes down.

Strengthening the imperial power naturally brings a group of useless parasites to the country who can only suck the blood of the country!

The most critical point is that the number of parasites will almost only increase before the country is destroyed, not decrease!

Although the rewards and salaries from all parties will not cause difficulties in the operation of the court.

But at the critical moment when Zhu Di wanted to march north, this money really could not be given!

Zhu Di glanced at the crown prince Zhu Gaochi and the prince of Han Zhu Gaoxu.

I wonder if these two guys have any good ideas.

At Zhu Di's signal, Zhu Gaochi pretended to be stupid and ignored the old man's eyes that were about to cramp.

If the prince of Han Zhu Gaoxu noticed the old man's behavior, he would naturally join in.

Unfortunately, he has been obsessed with cultivation and got up early today.

He had no energy to pay attention to Zhu Di.

Seeing several "unfilial" descendants behave like this, Zhu Di looked directly at Zhu Pangpang.

"Prince, what do you think?"

"This matter must be... uh." Zhu Gaochi considered his tone and said carefully: "Father, that, this, I think this matter still needs to be carefully considered. After all, it is related to the court decree. It is not right to change the order every day..."

"Okay, okay!" Zhu Di asked Zhu Gaochi to shut up with a headache.

Zhu Di did not find this performance strange.

Zhu Gaochi, the crown prince, always acts prudently.

The old and mature man is what Zhu Di described as a fat man. Seeking progress while maintaining stability is his governing style.

But now the situation is urgent. Thinking of the money he has finally received, he will have to reward the civil and military officials, nobles and vassal kings.

Zhu Di felt his heart bleeding!

In desperation, he could only cast his eyes on the sleepy Han Wang Zhu Gaoxu.

After all, Zhu Gaoxu still has a name he has seen before.

"Han Wang, what do you think?"

In fact, Zhu Di did have a way to deal with it in his mind.

That way is that the treasury is in a difficult situation this year and no rewards will be issued.

However, this method cannot be proposed by him. Zhu Fatty is unwilling to take the blame, so naturally, the Han Wang can only come.

Zhu Gaoxu suddenly shuddered, woke up, and walked out slowly in the face of everyone's eyes.

"Father, um..."

Got it! Zhu Gaoxu's eyes lit up.