Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

As the sun rises, the entire square is dyed a layer of light gold.

Zhu Youtang was sitting on the imperial couch, protected from the elements. He was holding a copy of today's morning reports from various ministries in his hand. When he saw Ni Yue, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, coming out of the queue, he knew what he was going to say.

Ni Yue is tall and tall, with a cold and serious expression, giving people the appearance of a loyal minister and good appearance.

In fact, there is a bad habit of "judging people by their appearance" in the Ming Dynasty officialdom. Regardless of your personal talents, the better your appearance, the easier it is to get promoted. Therefore, it is unlikely that "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo" will appear.

Ni Yue was now in his prime and was determined to be one of the future leaders of the Ming Dynasty officialdom. He coughed in advance, walked from the end of the class to the front of the imperial palace, and then knelt down and played: "Ni Yue, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, and his colleagues in the Ministry of Rites, played together: Your Majesty has just ascended to the throne for the first time. , grant amnesty to the world, and the gift of enthronement can be shared with the capital and the court. Now please give it to the civil and military ministers, military and civilians in the capital: Duke, Marquis, Prince Consort, and Uncle, everyone will give twenty taels of silver; civil servants of the first and second grades, Fifteen taels of silver; third-grade, ten taels of silver; fourth-grade, eight taels of silver...First- and second-grade officers, six taels of silver; third-grade, four taels of silver; fourth- and fifth-grade, three taels of silver; sixth- to ninth-grade officers , two taels of silver; miscellaneous jobs, record cubs, one tael of silver..."

Although the emperor and his ministers already knew the content of the memorial, the process was not sloppy at all, not to mention that the essence of the early Ming Dynasty was "thousands of officials listening to the government."

Officials participating in the morning court were not allowed to make any sound, they were also not allowed to spit, let alone go to the latrine. To avoid indecency, courtiers usually arrived without breakfast but with a piece of ginseng in their mouths.

Except for the officials who came to the imperial court to perform affairs, most officials only needed to come with their ears. Even some officials who were far away and had poor hearing actually came here to join in the fun.

The meaning of the early Ming Dynasty was "listening to politics" rather than "discussing politics", so when the comfortable sunshine came from the east, many low-level officials were unwilling to listen to Ni Yue's chanting and had already begun to desert.

The years are quiet, but that old guy is so nagging.

Xu Pu, who was wearing a second-grade official uniform, was probably the senior official who listened most attentively, and the corners of his mouth could not help but raise slightly.

He knew that to become a true civilian leader, status and prestige alone were not enough. He also needed to have certain "political achievements."

Why were Wan'an, Liu Jue and Liu Ji of the Chenghua Dynasty called the "Three Pavilion Elders"? It was precisely these three people who were simply useless. They did nothing in the face of the harassment of the factory guards and did not do anything for the civil service group. profit".

Since you don't think about everyone, why should everyone support you?

After Ni Yue read a large number of memorials according to the memorial, he asked Zhu Youtang for an edict: "Please follow Taizong's example and do the favor of enthroning, so as to create a situation of ZTE!"

"Your Majesty, please follow Taizong's example and show your kindness in enthroning, so as to create a new situation for ZTE!" Zhou Hongmo, the Minister of Rites, immediately led all the officials of the Ministry of Rites to agree.

As cabinet ministers, Wan An and Liu Ji were able to be on the cloud platform. At this time, they saw Ni Yue petitioning with officials from the Ministry of Rites, and they couldn't help but look at Zhu Youtang curiously.

As long as Zhu Youtang adopts their voting opinions yesterday, the enthronement will be issued.

In fact, the two of them were only belatedly thinking about it. If they could think of benefiting the civil servant group after taking the throne, they would definitely gain a lot of points. But Xu Pu was the first to react, and His Majesty would not easily make the civil and military officials in the court happy, and it was even less possible for the two cabinet ministers to stop his enthronement.

"Ni Aiqing, do you have statistics on how much money the Ministry of Rites' plan will cost?" Zhu Youtang looked at Ni Yue who had finished his work and asked lightly.

Ni Yue seemed not to have thought that Zhu Youtang was concerned about money, so he vaguely gave an amount and said: "Based on my rough calculation, the consumption will not exceed three hundred thousand taels!"

The officials present couldn't help but exchanged silent glances when they heard that 300,000 taels of national funds would be used to grant the throne, and that it would be a permanent enthronement.

Now, the state's funds under the rule of Emperor Chenghua are abundant, but money must be carefully calculated. Such uncontrolled spending will definitely not last for many years before being stretched.

Of course, they hoped that Zhu Youtang would agree to the enthronement plan of the Ministry of Hospitality and Ceremonies. After all, even a low-ranking official of eighth or ninth grade could get four taels of silver, and four acres of silver could buy an acre of fine land.

"I believe that the rule of the country is greater than that of Fengtian, and that its preservation is not more important than that of the ancestors. When Taizu was still alive, he promoted treasures but banned gold and silver, so today's gold bank reward is against the ancestral law!" Zhu Youtang faced the expectations of all the officials present. His eyes pointed out the shortcomings in it.

The Ming Dynasty currently has many problems. Although the official currency today is still the Ming Dynasty banknotes, the Ming Dynasty banknotes have long existed in name only. The main currency in circulation among the people is gold and silver, and even copper coins have been replaced by broken silver.

It's just that Zhu Youtang intends to take good care of the country, so naturally he cannot admit the status of gold and silver so hastily, and even introduce new official banknotes in the future.

Huh?

The officials then looked at Zhu Youtang belatedly, feeling that the edict just now had already laid the groundwork, and now they directly rejected the gold bank reward in a high-sounding way, using the ancestral method.

Wan An and Liu Ji were secretly shocked. If these two things were not a coincidence, then the new king's thoughts were really too deep, probably even worse than the previous emperor.

Xu Pu looked at the disciples in the center of the gate tower in shock, but he never expected that Zhu Youtang would use this reason to directly veto his long-planned move.

"Your Majesty, the treasure banknotes have been overflowing this morning. Two hundred coins are not worth even one tael. Please take it back!" Li Min, the Minister of Household Affairs, glanced at Xu Pu not far away, and immediately stood up and objected.

"Li Shangshu, I didn't say that I would reward you with treasure money!" Zhu Youtang said with a bit of displeasure when he saw that Shangshu of the Ministry of Finance jumped out to openly object so quickly.

Huh?

Li Min was well aware of the situation of the treasure banknotes, and was about to state the dangers of issuance of the treasure banknotes indiscriminately, but found that it was not the case. After seeing Liang Fang's stern eyes, he stepped back in despair.

Facing the doubtful looks of the officials, Zhu Youtang turned to look at Liang Fang next to him.

Liang Fang nodded gently to Zhu Youtang, then took out an imperial edict and read out: "Today I ascend to the great throne for the first time, and I award the civil and military ministers in Beijing, as well as the military and civilians, etc.: Duke, Marquis, Prince Consort, and Uncle. Three citations of salt; serving civil servants and generals, two citations of salt; young officials, widowers, elderly, sick, supervisors, doctors, officials in Beijing, Zhiyin, errands, elders in the workshop, craftsmen, cooks, musicians, etc. One quotation of salt; another special gift, one quotation for every registered stove household in the world! The quotation is not limited to three thousand quotations, and can be resold to salt merchants, or to the imperial shop at the official price, I appreciate this!"

Since he could not veto the proposal of enthronement, Zhu Youtang did not intend to be led by the civil servant group, but decided to use this opportunity to rectify the salt policy.

It is said that the current salt policy is caused by the excessive distribution of salt. Now all the officials in the capital are asked to hold salt. Let's see if the salt in their hands is worthless or has been robbed?

"Your Majesty, the salt supply has been overflowing now, causing the salt production to be blocked. Now the salt merchants are no longer willing to transport grain to the border warehouses. Please take back your order!" Li Min, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, learned that Zhu Youtang wanted to use salt to lead the trade. After receiving the reward, he stood up and petitioned again.

"Your Majesty, please take back your order!" All the officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs followed Li Min's lead and immediately agreed.

Wan An and Liu Ji exchanged silent glances, looked thoughtfully at Xu Pu below, and then chose to watch the fire from the other side.

"The matter of salt quotation is the last wish of the late emperor! The late emperor said before his death that it was not his excessive reward but the collusion of local officials and merchants to steal the salt profits! Now that I have personally taken charge of the government, I should respect the last wish of the late emperor. This matter does not need to be discussed again! Now the elected officials can I went to Huaibei to prime minister Yan Zheng, what do you think of Wang Yue?" Zhu Youtang immediately moved out that Emperor Chenghua vetoed these objections, and then directly threw out his own plan.

Looking at the whole dynasty, only Wang Yue, who was banished to Anlu by Emperor Chenghua, was the most suitable.

Wang Yue made good friends with the eunuchs and cut himself off from the civil service group. He already had the upright temper of a soldier. Once Wang Yue is re-activated, he will most likely hit the key points of the salt policy for himself and clean up the maggots seduced by the officials and businessmen.