Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

Zhu Youtang ignored the astonished woman and walked straight towards Kunning Gate.

I originally thought that the other party was a quite peaceful princess. I didn't want her to seek an official position for her son, but she actually wanted to excuse Sun Ming. Anyone with a conscience knows that the death of a person like Huichang Hou Sun Ming would not be a pity.

The Princess of Chongqing couldn't see that Sun Ming's sentence had her own will, but she even wanted to punish Song Cheng herself. She was really a stupid woman.

His court doesn't need a woman who can tell her what to do, not even a aunt who is close to the emperor.

Liu Jin also looked at this Chongqing princess with contempt, who was trying to confuse right and wrong, and then led the accompanying eunuchs to the front to clear the way for His Majesty.

"how so?"

Princess Chongqing looked at Zhu Youtang's leaving figure with an unbelievable astonishment on her face.

Although she had already heard that the prince became different after he ascended the throne, no matter how his temperament changed, she would still be his biological aunt.

But who would have thought that the emperor would reprimand her so mercilessly, which would embarrass her so much.

The most important thing is that she had already taken advantage of the Huichang Hou Mansion in advance, but as a result, things were not as smooth as she thought, and had even been messed up.

Princess Chongqing's face was horribly gloomy, but as if she suddenly thought of something, a sinister smile appeared on her face: "Let me see how arrogant you can be!"

In the palace garden, an inexplicable cold wind suddenly blew, and the few dead leaves flying in the wind seemed to make the world become confusing.

"I have met your Majesty!" Queen Chang Yourong was waiting in the neat palace road behind Kunning Palace, and bowed to Zhu Youtang who had returned.

After this period of training, she became more and more like a beautiful and dignified queen, and she gradually integrated into the identity of the queen. At least she already knew what she should do and what she shouldn't do.

She didn't understand the affairs of the court, so she focused on taking care of the harem so that the emperor would not be disturbed every time he returned. She also had to reasonably arrange the time for each concubine to sleep.

As for being jealous, it does not belong to her. This is a basic skill of Mu Yitianxia.

Originally, the most important thing at this stage was to conceive the dragon seed as soon as possible and give birth to a heir for the Ming Dynasty. However, there were some things that could be rewarded without hard work.

Zhu Youtang looked at the noblely dressed queen in front of him, but seriously warned: "From now on, on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, no outsiders will be allowed to enter the palace garden!"

The Princess of Chongqing's intention to deliberately create a chance encounter this time was naturally impossible to hide from her own eyes.

In order to prevent other royal relatives from following suit, he decided to block this road first, so as not to encounter such indiscriminate pleas for mercy again.

Although it is impossible for me to be ruthless enough not to have contact with these royal relatives, I am now taking the initiative to set up an obstacle so that they can understand that it is not easy to come along the palace road to see me.

Although the emperor's favor is very tempting, the emperor's power is also inviolable, so he needs the emperor's relatives to behave with their tail between their legs.

"I accept the order! Your Majesty, the breakfast has been prepared. Please come inside to enjoy it!" Chang Yourong felt Zhu Youtang's dissatisfaction, but pointed inside gently with a pretty face.

Zhu Youtang had the habit of having breakfast in Kunning Palace on every first and fifteenth day. On these two days, the queen usually slept with her, and their relationship continued to heat up in this simple relationship.

When Chang Yourong saw Zhu Youtang leaving after breakfast, his pretty face suddenly became cold and he said, "Who just disturbed His Majesty in the palace garden?"

"Reporting to the Empress, the Princess of Chongqing just came to see Your Majesty in the palace harem!" Upon hearing this, an accompanying palace maid reported immediately and politely.

Chang Yourong's brows furrowed slightly, with a trace of anger in his beautiful eyes: "Go down immediately! Because worshiping Emperor Zhenwu must be sincere, from now on, each gate of the first and fifteenth palaces will be guarded by guards. There will be no official." No entry allowed without permission!"

She has not forgotten her important responsibilities. She must manage the harem well and not cause His Majesty to be troubled by harem matters.

Since the princess of Chongqing took advantage of the opportunity to go to the palace garden to disturb the emperor, she could also temporarily seal the palace garden so that the emperor would not be harassed by these royal relatives.

"Yes!" He Shanggong felt the queen's majesty, but knew that this matter had touched the queen's back, so he responded respectfully.

The sky is blue, and the walls of the Forbidden City show a rare luxury of this era.

While the candidates in Fengtian Palace were still scratching their heads to answer the questions, Zhu Youtang was already riding the dragon chariot along the palace road, but he was preparing to "check in for work."

Zhu Youtang looked at the palace road leading to Xihua Gate, but felt a sense of weight.

Although the Princess of Chongqing cannot affect her progress at all, seeing this kind of royal family who only cares about their own interests, I found that it is not easy for China to truly take off.

In fact, the key to the prosperity of a country and a nation is money.

Even though the Ming Dynasty's finances are still relatively healthy and the annual fiscal revenue is not small, people's livelihood projects and the army are a huge expense, and they still have to support a large number of royal relatives, civil and military officials, and relatives.

If China is compared to a great roc with its wings spread, then the royal relatives, military relatives and corrupt officials are like blood-sucking insects attached to the great roc, so even if the great roc flies, it will be short-lived.

That's why, even though the salt tax and grain tax have increased significantly, his fiscal budget at the beginning of this year was only three million taels.

But everything needs to be compared. Judging from the assets in the inner treasury of previous emperors, Zhu Youtang now belongs to the "rich emperor".

However, Zhu Youtang never felt that he was wealthy. He had already spent more than half of his money just to build a Tianjin Royal Shipyard to produce large-scale transport ships.

In fact, many time-travel novels are lies. The country only has so many resources. How can it be possible to easily get tens of millions of taels from a corrupt official's family, and earn hundreds of millions of taels of silver just by clearing the land?

Zhu Youtang believes that he has done a good job and has even racked his brains to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, but the expectation of a few million taels per year is already the limit.

In fact, the most effective way to raise money in the past dynasties is to increase taxes. After all, each person only needs to pay a small amount of one tael of silver, so in theory, he can collect terrifying tens of millions of taels.

For example, the emperor who made alchemy in the back not only completely solved the problem of Japanese pirates through additional levies and dispatches, but also built large-scale projects such as Chengtian Palace, Beicheng Outer City, and Three Main Halls.

But he always kept a bottom line in mind. The following dynasties were able to refrain from raising taxes on the people in the early stages of the dynasty, so there was no reason for him to embark on this path.

While he was thinking wildly, the dragon chariot entered through the Xiyuan Gate and soon arrived at the Yangxin Hall.

Although he was labeled lazy by many literati for stopping daily lectures and scripture feasts, he was actually very self-disciplined and rarely missed a day of work.

As usual, Zhu Youtang came to sit down in front of the imperial cabinet and began to deal with today's government affairs.

Although Ming Dynasty's jurisdiction covers two capitals and thirteen provinces, Ming Dynasty's tentacles have now extended to the East China Sea and Indochina Peninsula, so he is often in contact with these two places.

Xu Shiying's memorial has been delivered to the case, but what appears in front of him is a small exquisite sandalwood box with a leaf lock.

After the leaf lock was invented, he also started the secret box system, and his correspondence with Xu Shiying and other important local officials were delivered through a small locked wooden box.

Click!

Liu Jin took the key that was paired with the Governor of the East China Sea, Xu Shiying, and quickly opened the box. Inside was the latest report from the Governor of the East China Sea, Xu Shiying.

Zhu Youtang was worried that Xu Shiying would not be useful earlier, but now it has been proved that he has chosen the right person. Xu Shiying will run Donghai in a sound and impressive manner.

After Xu Shiying's multi-party coordination, not only did he gain a firm foothold on Shenji Island, but he also completely entered the North Korean cotton market through agents.

It’s just not Xu Shiying’s character to be complacent, nor is it in line with Ming Dynasty’s fundamental interests, so it has been advancing into the Japanese market since the beginning of this year.

Japan has just officially entered the Warring States Period and is in a turbulent social period.

The Emperor of Japan is actually a virtual emperor, and has been a puppet for thousands of years. The person with real power has always been the general who conquered the barbarians, commonly known as the shogun.

The shogun is responsible for organizing the shogunate to manage the entire Japan. He is not only the highest officer of each daimyo, but also the object of allegiance to all daimyo.

It is said that this political system is relatively stable, but the sixth shogun Ashikaga Yoshitsune was assassinated in his house in Kyoto by Akamatsu Mitsuke, which marked the beginning of the decline of Shogun Mofu.

Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, who was only nine years old, was elected as the seventh shogun. He only reigned for less than a year. He fell off his horse and died in the next year. The real cause of death remains a mystery.

After everyone's discussion, his younger brother Ashikaga Yoshimasa took over as the eighth shogun, but by this time the real power of the shogun had been lost.

Although Ashikaga Yoshimasa and his son Ashikaga Yoshinaga tried to restore the power of the shogun, they failed, and the dispute over the position of the shogun resumed.

Since Ashikaga Yoshimasa had no heirs, he found Ashikaga Yoshisai from the side branch, who was elected as the tenth shogun just this year.

It's just that Ashikaga Yoshimasa's head wife, Hino Tomiko, doesn't like Ashikaga Yoshimasa and is plotting to abolish the new general and replace him with an obedient baby.

Because the shogun has too much time to take care of himself, daimyo from all over the country are now independent and increasingly do not regard the shogun as a piece of cake, which has led to continuous wars in Japan over the years.

Zhu Youtang saw that Xu Shiying had been in contact with the Ouchi clan, the guardian of Iwami Kingdom. Since the Ouchi clan was one of the two major families that traded with the Ming Dynasty, the two parties quickly established the best business partnership.

This result is actually to be expected. After all, the Ouchi family is not very powerful in the country, and now it is natural to take the opportunity to embrace the thick thigh of Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youtang's eyes were firm, and he wrote seriously: "According to ancient books, there are silver mines in Shijian, and local people have begun to mine silver. However, there is a large secret mine. You have a good relationship with the Ouchi family, and use cotton cloth to Yi silverware, the price is estimated based on the silverware. When the time is right, you can hire people locally to cast silverware and sell it to China and North Korea because of its large secret mine!"

The largest silver mine in Japan is naturally the Iwami Silver Mine. After its discovery, this silver mine maintained an annual production capacity of more than 500,000 taels per year, and it has been mined continuously for a hundred years without depletion.

Now that I have encountered it, I naturally want to find ways to get this silver mine, so that it can become one of the important sources of income for the Ming Dynasty's finance.

It's just that silver is a metal after all. Even Japan uses gold as hard currency, so it cannot give overseas silver too high a status and needs to weaken its monetary attributes as soon as possible.

Because of this, he now needs to redefine silver and turn it into a raw material for silverware, rather than a currency that can be exchanged for Ming products.

Zhu Youtang had just finished writing a letter to Xu Shiying. He looked up and saw Liu Jin walking hurriedly, with a pinched face that clearly indicated that something bad was going to happen.

It’s just that after this period of training, no matter how big things happen now, I have been able to keep my composure even if the mountain collapses in front of me.

Zhu Youtang blew the wet handwriting on the letter, glanced at the letter in Liu Jin's hand and said calmly: "What's the matter?"

"Your Majesty, this...this is the memorial just sent by the Secretary of General Affairs. Please read it!" Liu Jin said nervously as he handed over the memorial.

Zhu Youtang opened the memorandum handed over by Liu Jin. After seeing the content above, he couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "Haha... Zhu Ji really went to the memorial to resign. The Chongqing Princess is actually better informed than me!"

When the Princess of Chongqing said that Zhu Ji was going to retire and return to his hometown, although she quickly tried to push away the rumors that were being spread by the outside world, she realized that she was very sure about the matter.

Although I had already mentally anticipated this matter, when I saw Zhu Ji's resignation letter before him that he was going to retire and return to his hometown, I still couldn't calm down for a long time.

"Your Majesty, how could Princess Chongqing know in advance?" Liu Jin swallowed and expressed her doubts.

Zhu Youtang put down the memorial that Zhu Ji had requested and said with a self-deprecating smile: "The network of relationships in the capital is more complicated than I thought, and it is also bigger than I want!"

It was obvious that there would be no intersection between the commander of the Jinyi Guards and the majestic imperial princess, but as a result, the Chongqing princess, who had no sense of presence, knew such an important matter in advance. The royal relatives, national relatives, military officials and civil servants were probably always in a network of relationships.

"Your Majesty, what should we do now?" Liu Jin realized that the problem was more serious than imagined, so she asked seriously.

Zhu Youtang didn't think too deeply. He pointed at Zhu Ji's resignation letter and said, "He is planning to run away. Naturally, we cannot let him get his wish!"

The reason why he chose to tolerate Zhu Ji for so long and watch the tainted Jin Yiwei do whatever they wanted, wasn't it because he wanted Zhu Ji to be brought to justice in his position as Jin Yiwei?

Now Zhu Ji seemed to have sensed the danger, but chose to run away, which undoubtedly disrupted his overall plan.

If I agree to Zhu Ji's resignation now, even if I later find Yang Han, a fellow Jinyiwei officer, to stand up and testify, I am afraid that Zhu Ji will have escaped long ago.