Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

Tongzhou is located at the northern end of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and is also the terminal station of water transportation.

In the first year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, Sun Xingzu, the Marquis of Yanshan, built Tongzhou City on the old site. The perimeter of the city wall was nine miles, and the walls were three feet and five feet high. There was a door in each of the four directions, and each door had a tower.

In the 14th year of Zhengtong, although the Ming Dynasty had already repelled Ye first, because it wanted to better protect Xicang outside the city, the court decided to build Tongzhou New City.

Tongzhou New City is located to the west of the old city and is connected to the old city.

After Xicang was included in the new city, several more granaries were built, all of which were used to store grain transported from the south, making it the largest storage granary in the north.

To this day, Tongzhou Grain still stores Cao grain. It is naturally the largest granary in the entire north and even the world. It is also the grain reserve of the Ming Dynasty.

When it comes to food, although the average amount of food in Tongzhou warehouse is very small for people across the country, if you want to resolve the food crisis in Beijing, it can be said that you can use cannons to swat mosquitoes.

In an agricultural society, food is the real hard currency.

If in other times of financial distress, then the food here cannot be easily used. It's just that now the Ming Dynasty's finances are getting healthier and there are fewer and fewer wars in the nine borders, so the demand for Tongzhou grain has dropped to freezing point.

The Northeast Prefecture really needed the support of Tongzhoucang, and it was Tongzhoucang that provided food support for the Ming Dynasty to develop and establish the state.

After these years of development, Northeast Prefecture has conducted mutton trade with Mongolia and Jurchen, and has also started agricultural production in the Prefecture, so it is no longer dependent on Tongzhou's granary.

In addition, although Emperor Chenghua lost the political struggle to the civil servant group, he left Zhu Youtang with more than 20 million shi of grain and this solid Tongzhou granary.

The rice fields are like mountains and the granaries are full.

Pier Lifu was brought to the Tongzhou Granary and looked at the countless rice in front of him. Although he already knew that Tongzhou Granary contained countless rice, he was still deeply shocked at this moment.

"You must be careful when transporting food: all personnel must go to the designated area according to the regulations of Tongzhou Granary, and they are not allowed to carry fire certificates with them, otherwise the miscellaneous family will not be able to save your heads!" The eunuch who led over faced the shocked people, Just be cautious again.

Although Tongzhou City has enough grain, the Royal Rice Bank needs to recruit personnel to transport the rice back to the Royal Rice Mill for processing and then sell the polished rice.

According to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, the governor of the grain reserve was concurrently served by the right minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. At this moment, Wu Yu stood at the top of the city and looked down at the group of laborers who came to transport grain.

Since this matter had been finalized a long time ago, when the Royal Rice Company came to collect food, it was natural for them to open the door of convenience and allow them to take the food away from here.

But he couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly when he thought of the powerful people in the capital who were cultivating rice for profit under the call of the British Duke Zhang Mao and the Marquis of Xiangcheng Li Jin, and wanted to get their hands on a large amount of polished rice that would soon be unsaleable.

"The capital is short of rice, are those people crazy?"

"I told you not to buy high-priced rice, but you don't believe it!"

"The emperor is behind the Royal Rice Store. How can we really be short of rice?"

…

Zhonglifu looked at the almost endless granary in front of him and the endless amount of food in front of him, and suddenly found that his earlier idea was very funny.

Earlier, there were rumors in the capital that the imperial granary had bottomed out and the Royal Rice Store was out of rice. Even many of them believed this rumor and started robbing rice. Little did they know that everyone had forgotten that there was a Tongzhou granary in the Ming Dynasty.

Although they didn't know how much food there was in the endless granary in front of them, they knew clearly that even if the people in the whole city were allowed to eat it, they wouldn't be able to finish it.

"There's no need to grab rice now, right?"

"Whoever robs is a fool. This rice is enough for the whole city to eat until they die!"

"Stop talking here. Let's transport the food back first. Don't let those idiots get fooled by the profiteers!"

…

This group of laborers were all recruited from the city of Beijing. Now that they saw the rice in front of them, they seemed extremely at ease and immediately invited them to work together.

It's just that they are the second batch of laborers, and the first batch of laborers in front have already transported grain back to Beijing City, and at the same time brought back the news that the Royal Rice Company was transporting grain from the Tongzhou Granary.

Golden rays of light instantly fell from the sky over the capital, and the entire city of Beijing was bathed in the autumn sun.

"Tongzhou Granary? Yes, we still have Tongzhou Granary!"

"There is so much food there that it can fill up the whole city. Who dares to say that we in Beijing are short of food?"

"I told you not to listen to the rumors that it was raining. The Royal Rice Store asked you to wait for three days, but there is a fool who spends more than ten times the price to buy high-priced rice!"

…

After the people in Beijing heard the news, they immediately changed their tune. The people who originally spent more than ten times the price to buy rice out of panic became fools in the eyes of others.

No one wants to be taken advantage of in the eyes of others, and they no longer worry that the Royal Rice Store, which is backed by the Tongzhou Granary, is really short of rice. Naturally, they no longer patronize those rice stores that want to take advantage of the situation.

Just like this, although the doors of the Royal Rice Store were still closed and all the rice shops in the capital sold rice at a uniform high price, the people in the city did not go to trade. Even if they were hungry, they would wait until the Royal Rice Store reopened.

Xiangcheng Hou Mansion, study room.

Bang!

After Li Jin learned the ins and outs of the matter, he seemed furious and smashed the tea cup in his hand, causing broken porcelain and tea to fly everywhere.

Butler Li knew very well that Li Jin had a cruel heart under his gentle and elegant image, and was immediately so frightened that he did not dare to breathe heavily.

"How could he do this!"

Li Jin had already learned that the Royal Rice Store was not releasing a smokescreen, but that people did not need southern grain and Korean rice at all. The Tongzhou granary under their noses had countless grains, and the lucky disappearance was an unprecedented rage.

In order to be able to buy out the entire empire as soon as possible, he even mortgaged his ancestral home, just to make a good comeback by monopolizing rice.

But now all his plans have come to nothing. Not only is he facing the fate of bankruptcy, but he also has to face the wrath of other powerful people. It can be said that he has suffered a complete failure.

Butler Li noticed that Li Jin suddenly looked at him and immediately explained: "Master, this is a villain's negligence. I didn't expect the emperor to use Tongzhou warehouse, let alone the emperor to use Tongzhou warehouse!"

In fact, he has not completely forgotten Tongzhou Granary, and has always been aware of the existence of Tongzhou Granary.

It's just that the biggest function of Tongzhou Granary is to supply food to Jiubian and distribute rice to vassals and nobles. There is no excess food to supply the capital.

It was precisely because of this habitual thinking that he never connected Tongzhou Granary and Royal Rice Store, and even his brain automatically ignored the existence of Tongzhou Granary.

The most important thing is that emperors have always only cared about the rule of the dynasty and often did not care about the price of rice in the capital. Naturally, they would not conflict with the powerful groups because of the price of rice.

"What did you just say?" Li Jin's face straightened and he asked seriously.

Butler Li faced Li Jin's gaze and said enigmatically: "Master, this is a villain's negligence!"

"That's not what you said!" Li Jin's face suddenly darkened.

Butler Li tried his best to think back, and Dang even bit the bullet and said, "I didn't expect the emperor to use Tongzhou warehouse!"

"That's not the case!" Li Jin denied again.

Butler Li swallowed and said cautiously: "I didn't expect the emperor to use Tongzhou warehouse!

"Yes, that's it! Tongzhoucang is the food of the Ming Dynasty and the guarantee for the soldiers of the Nine Borders. It's not his turn to use it indiscriminately!" Li Jin's eyes flashed with joy, and he immediately reprimanded Zhu Youtang with righteousness. .

Although it is said that the world belongs to the emperor, in the actual operation process, the two are actually separate.

For example, the Ministry of Revenue has always controlled Taicang, which belonged to the Ming Dynasty, while the emperor controlled the inner treasury. Taicang and the inner treasury were actually managed separately.

A strong emperor could naturally ask for money from Taicang like Jiajing did, but Longqing's attempt to add a pile of gold and silver objects was blocked by Ma Sen, the Minister of Household Affairs.

Now the Tongzhou Granary belongs to the grain reserves of the Ming Dynasty, while the Royal Rice Store is the private property of the emperor. Naturally, the two cannot be confused.

Hongzhi transferred the grain from the Tongzhou granary to the Royal Rice Company. This behavior was naturally unacceptable. How could he squander the Ming Dynasty's granary to the emperor?

When I was young, I was in Yongfang, Zhou Mansion.

Zhou Jing would change into a set of Chengzi clothes every day when he returned home from the office. Then he would go to the backyard full of Jiangnan charm to enjoy the sunset and drink a pot of good tea.

He was born into a family of officials. His father was Zhou Xuan, the former Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment of Nanjing. He came to the capital when he was very young and even entered the Imperial College for further studies.

Due to his wealthy family and outstanding talent, at the age of only twenty, he had already obtained the fame that scholars all over the world strive for, and even entered the Hanlin Academy as a Shujishi.

Although he now occupies the high position of Zuo Shilang in the Ministry of Rites, he was not comfortable with his job during this period, and he also had some worries about the future.

Although the locust plague has been over for a long time, he still doesn't think it is a good idea for all the people to eradicate the locusts. The real effectiveness is for the emperor to fast and admit his mistakes to God.

As for his own future, Hongzhi was even more upset.

If in the past, he, the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites, who had the qualifications and reputation, could not reach the rank of Six Ministers in one step, he could still be the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Personnel, who controlled the promotion of hundreds of officials in the world.

It's just that the student's intention is already obvious. He wants to win the position of six ministers, but he can only go down to the local government to serve as governor.

Zhou Jing once thought about resigning and returning home after losing the political battle. He also thought about ending up in a nursing home in Nanjing, but he never thought about serving in a local government.

As soon as he was introduced as a Ci minister, since he was still going to serve as governor, it was really an anecdote for the ages.

"Uncle Zuo Zong, please, for the sake of the common people in the world, you must lead everyone to stand up and stop the emperor from doing such nonsense!" Li Jin, the Marquis of Xiangcheng, came here and said with a mournful face.

He knew that pure commercial competition had been defeated, and now the only way to turn defeat into victory was to encourage the conservatives in the court to stop Hongzhi's "random behavior".

Throughout the entire civil service system, ministers were the active actors in restraining the emperor's behavior.

If he hadn't met the tyrant Hongzhi, the emperor would not only give daily lectures, but also hold sutra banquets and listen to lectures twice a month. How could he be as comfortable as Hongzhi is now.

Zhou Jing looked at the visitor in front of him, but asked very seriously: "Do you mean to ask me to come forward to stop the Royal Rice Company from transporting grain from the Tongzhou Granary?"

"Uncle Zuo Zong, this matter has indeed offended His Majesty, but the laws of this country cannot be messed with!" Li Jin knew that Qingliu had been defeated by the emperor, but he still encouraged him by holding on to his weakness.

Zhou Jing continued to drink the tea in his hand and asked calmly: "Why are you doing this?"

"The Tongzhou Granary guarantees the food rations and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of soldiers from all over the world. If the emperor uses up all the food in the Tongzhou Granary, how can the Ming soldiers resist the Tatars from going south?" Li Jin's eyes flashed with tears, looking worried about the country. People are authentic.

Zhou Jing took a sip of tea and said calmly: "Go slowly, I won't send you away!"

"Uncle Zuo Zong, what do you mean by this?" Li Jin was stunned and looked at Zhou Jingdao in surprise.

Zhou Jing put down the tea cup, raised his eyelids slightly and said: "I really don't like many of the emperor's actions. I still think that the fault of the locust plague is the king! But this time, if the emperor had not repeatedly come out to calm the price of rice, the people in the capital would have eaten the high-priced rice. , sucking the blood and marrow of you powerful people from Tunmi. Now you ask me to stand up for you to stop Tongzhou Liang, and let the people of the world stab you in the back. Do you really think that I am a fool?"

"I...I am trying to stabilize the world!" Marquis of Xiangcheng Li Jin realized that the old man in front of him was not easy to fool, but he still played the emotional card.

Zhou Jing carefully examined the Marquis in front of him, but said mercilessly: "You should think about what to do with the rice in Tun! If it is really for the stability of the world, sell the rice in your hands at a fair price immediately, so the emperor There is no need to use the Tongzhou granary, and the people in the capital do not need to eat high-priced rice, isn't it a best of both worlds?"

"Don't even think about it!" Li Jin knew that this was indeed the best solution, but she just screamed as if her tail had been stepped on.

Zhou Jing's expression suddenly changed, and he uttered one word without mercy: "Get out!"

Li Jin was shocked. He didn't expect Zhou Jing to react in such a big way, nor did he expect that this old man would directly break up with him.

Just seeing Zhou Jing's hateful eyes, I knew that this person was not fooled by me at all, and even wanted to let me sell the rice in his hand at a fair price.

Li Jin stood up and glared at Zhou Jing hatefully, then turned and left, deciding to go and fool others.

Although Zhou Jing hit a wall here, he did not intend to give up.

After all, if Hongzhi is allowed to mobilize Tongzhou warehouse to deliver polished rice to the Royal Rice Bank, his side will undoubtedly lose, so the only way to explain now is to stop this behavior.

Only by cutting off the Royal Rice Line's source of rice would they have a chance to turn defeat into victory.

Just when Li Jin was thinking about how to turn defeat into victory, what was supposed to come finally came.

Jiang Bin's nine clans have been arrested and brought to justice, and now the Ministry of Punishment wants to implement the imperial decree. No one in Jiang Jing's family is spared, including Jiang Wei, who was once certified as the reincarnation of the golden phoenix by Dongfang Dao.

If they could choose again, they would definitely choose the tyrant's concubine without hesitation, but it was already too late. (End of chapter)