Chapter 650: One String of Notes Exchanged for One or Three Pounds of Silver
After hearing what Zhu Biao said, he was actually helpless. He had always been thinking about how to give his descendants a better future, so he used all means, even some bad ones, to make these officials obey him.
But judging from the current situation, it doesn't seem so easy, especially these officials, who are guarding against him like a thief. He finally understood it the moment they guarded against him.
Now under this situation, everyone is actually thinking about how to get more benefits. Even though these officials have been frightened by him, their original intentions do not seem to have changed at all.
They always think about how to climb up, how to let everyone see their glory. Because of this, they have no motivation to do something big.
Because each of these officials is thinking about how to make themselves remembered by their descendants. To put it bluntly, they want to make themselves more famous in the family tree.
It can even be said that every person in ancient times could not resist the temptation to make themselves more famous through blessings. It is precisely because of this temptation that these officials would not be stopped from wanting to be officials just because of such a small thing done by Zhu Yuanzhang.
It even made them want to fight against the imperial power more vigorously, because they felt that this would make the emperor understand that it was impossible for him to fight against all the officials.
In their eyes, as long as the emperor's authority is undermined, the emperor will obey them. They would rather return to the situation during the Song Dynasty.
Why do many officials always advocate retro style? Because by the Ming and Qing dynasties, the concentration of imperial power was stronger than that of all other dynasties combined. Some people even say that Emperor Qianlong may be the most complete emperor since ancient times.
The more it gets to this point, the more officials are talking about so-called bone restoration, and some reforms and changes even want to restore that kind of system, but it is impossible.
Because during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the repayments became more and more concentrated, the emperor had more power, and was more able to deal with officials. Why were there so many literary inquisitions during the Qing Dynasty?
Because of the Manchu environment, they all understood the little thoughts of the officials or the Han people. They already knew the Han people very well when they were in Liaodong, so even though they gradually accepted Hanization later, they were actually always wary of the Han people.
At the beginning, these Han officials were thinking about how to teach these people, how the emperors could gradually become more sinicized, and even how to retain more power.
However, what was unexpected was that these foreign emperors were even more wary of the Han people like they were thieves, and it was impossible for them to reveal even a little bit of their power.
It is even possible that they have already concluded why the cabinet and eunuchs deceived the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
This is because the emperors of the Ming Dynasty treated the cabinet officials as officials, which made it impossible for these emperors to concentrate power. Later, the cabinet and eunuchs even divided the emperor's power.
Therefore, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty were always very busy trying to figure out how to separate the cabinet ministers from the Han ministers.
Even later on, the so-called Grand Council was set up, and those officials were used as slaves.
Yes, he entered the Grand Council, and it seemed that he had great power, even second only to the emperor, but in fact he did not have a so-called position.
The Grand Council is like a staff team, but not like a staff team. The opinions they put forward are more concentrated than those of the staff team, but they do not have the power of the emperor's staff team.
It is impossible to command other ministers. If the emperor is unhappy with you, he can just kick you away.
Therefore, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty seemed to be quite good to Dacheng. After all, they did not treat their ministers as slaves and they respected these officials very much.
It was not until the late Ming Dynasty that an emperor like Chongzhen appeared. Chongzhen did not treat his ministers as subjects, but instead guarded against them like thieves.
Even Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty was a little too impatient. He always felt that it was the ministers who did wrong, not the emperor himself.
Many people said that if Chongzhen had not made such a fuss at this stage, or even if he had just done nothing like his predecessors Jiajing and Wanli, the entire empire might have been able to recover.
But precisely because he was eager to do things, and because he never felt that he was inadequate in talent, he even wanted to emulate the diligence of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. However, the harder he worked, the more chaos he caused throughout the world.
So how do many people evaluate Emperor Chongzhen? They say he was not the king who caused the country to fall, but he took the blame for the country's fall.
But actually speaking, he was not qualified to be an emperor at all, because he was never aware of his own shortcomings.
He did not trust his ministers, just like Zhu Yuanzhang did not trust his ministers, but he did not have Zhu Yuanzhang's talent. Zhu Yuanzhang did not trust his ministers, but he could handle many things himself.
Zhu Yuanzhang was even much stronger than many of his ministers, because Zhu Yuanzhang himself had seen a lot of the world when he was wandering around the world.
When he started his career, he had experienced too many dangers and realized how vain people's hearts were, so he was able to distinguish which ministers were sincere and which were fake.
Especially since he had the merit of establishing the Ming Dynasty, he was able to mobilize the army. Although there was corruption among the army and court officials at that time, it was not as centralized as in the late Ming Dynasty.
In the later period, officials have been tied together with businessmen in the world. They have formed a huge interest group. If you dare to touch them, they will immediately rebound.
Even his and other interest representatives in the court were all very arrogant and there was no way to eliminate them.
Chongzhen himself was well aware of this, and even most of those he eliminated were marginalized figures, none of whom could truly touch upon his position.
It is precisely because of this that after Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself in Meishan, none of the officials wanted to be buried with him. In fact, the ones who were buried with him were not the emperor, but the entire Han dynasty.
Seeing foreign races invading and occupying the Central Plains, these Han officials had their own personality, attention to details and integrity. Even though they might lack some abilities, they did not lack integrity.
If Chen Han were here, he would definitely feel some sympathy for Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao.
Because the crown prince Zhu Biao always felt that he was a bit sorry for the officials in the world, and he really put forward many harsh conditions for them. Sometimes he also felt that many officials were indeed wrong, and some officials were even corrupt, which made him very disgusted.
But to be honest, he never felt that any of these officials were wrong, or that these officials really deserved to die.
Many officials have no choice but to do this; they are forced into this position.
He knew very well what his father was doing. He was forcing those officials to engage in corruption and forcing those officials to oppose the people of the world.
This forced the officials to be caught and the emperor became famous.
This was indeed one of the means he used to be emperor. It was very powerful, but a bit unfair to the officials of the world.
When it comes to the attitude towards officials, Zhu Biao wanted to be nicer to officials all over the world. When Chen Han put forward that condition, he also felt that there was some reason for Chen Han to do so.
Use more salary to support these officials so that they can feel more balanced in the future. Chen Han even mentioned to him that if the anger of his sons could be reduced, it would help officials all over the world feel more balanced.
Because there were many times when Chen Han had told him this in front of him.
"Old man, the reason why you haven't eliminated corrupt officials is because those corrupt officials are unbalanced. There is a saying that goes, "What is worrying is not the lack of wealth but the imbalance of wealth." You set the salaries of officials so low, but the salaries of your sons so high.
"It's even more than ten times more than a first-rank official. Do you think this is fair?
"Since you yourself feel it is unfair, how can the officials of the world feel it is fair? Sometimes they engage in corruption not for the sake of corruption, but because they feel that it is not reasonable for you, the emperor, to treat your son so well, but to treat us officials so badly.
“You must know that the officials of the world are the ones who help you govern the world, and even if your children and grandchildren have nine important towns to garrison, to be fair, most of the work is done by local officials and grassroots officers and soldiers.
"Your children and grandchildren live in luxurious palaces and enjoy life. Even in a cold and bitter land, they live a richer life than the deputy general.
"It is true that you worked very hard to build the country, and it is true that you have made great contributions to the people of the world in expelling the Tartars and restoring China, but it is actually against the views of the world to allow your children and grandchildren to be so wealthy without considering the facts."
After figuring this out, Zhu Yuanzhang let out a sigh of relief and smiled, "Well, you grandchildren all have your own ideas, why are you talking so much to an old man like me?
"To put it bluntly, I'm going to die soon. Aren't you going to decide what to do next?"
When saying this, Zhu Yuanzhang still felt very sad in his heart. He always believed that he had done a good job and was worthy of the world, himself, and his descendants.
But he didn't expect that Chen Han would tell him so much after he arrived. After Chen Han had many statements that matched his policies, he felt that it was indeed as Chen Han said.
Sometimes there are indeed some things that are wrong with me.
Zhu Biao smiled slightly after seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude, "Of course, even if it was Chen Han, that monkey boy did not blindly deny your policies. Think about it, he also praised you.
"When he first came here, he said so many nice things. He didn't say anything wrong about you. He was just a little dissatisfied with you in some specific implementations. But to be honest, no one is perfect, and no gold is pure, right?"
After hearing what Zhu Biao said, Zhu Yuanzhang also felt that it was right. "Then apart from this, didn't that monkey kid tell you anything else? He should know that my temper is impossible. Let me tell you what good things you can do to make me angry?"
Zhu Biao laughed loudly, "It seems that just as Chen Han said, you are the one who really understands him."
"Come on, come on, you two, stop trying to be nice in front of an old man like me. Tell me what's going on."
Zhu Biao pulled out another memorial from his sleeve, "Dad, it's just as you said, there is something I have been considering. Do you remember what Chen Han said last time, now that the Ming Dynasty has colonies again, a lot of silver has come in.
"At the same time, a large amount of silver was used as a reserve for issuance. Now the treasure notes with reserves have allowed the value of the treasure notes to continue to flow back. Now there is good news. News has come from the market that the current value of one guan of treasure notes for silver has reached one guan of treasure notes for one tael or three qian of silver."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard Zhu Biao say this, he almost jumped up from his chair, "How could such a good thing happen?"
Zhu Biao nodded, "Indeed, this is a good thing. At first, I didn't believe that your son could have such a good thing, so I sent many people to investigate and found that it was indeed the case.
"According to what Chen Han said, there are three ways to slowly increase the value of today's treasure notes. The first is to strictly control the amount of issuance. It must be specifically controlled according to the amount of taxes, so it is impossible to reach a specific value, but a rough estimate can still be made.
"As long as it is 20 to 30 percent more than the annual tax, the treasure notes on the market will be able to circulate freely and smoothly without depreciation."
Although Zhu Yuanzhang was a little confused, he felt that it made sense.
Because just like what this monkey boy Chen Han said, why must the issuance of banknotes be linked to taxation?
This is because taxation can have the most obvious correspondence with productivity and can be linked.
Zhu Biao then said: "The second is to establish a mechanism for the recovery of treasure notes. As for the recovery, Chen Han made it clear that we allowed treasure notes to be used to deduct taxes before, but the deduction ratio was too small, so it was not enough for treasure notes to replace the physical tax payment, and there was no way to recover the treasure notes.
"According to the policy formulated by Chen Han this time, taxes will be paid directly in the form of treasure notes. Since the value of treasure notes is so high compared to silver, our treasure notes are more valuable, and the enthusiasm of ordinary people to pay taxes with treasure notes will be much higher."
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled after hearing this. This was the result he wanted.
Zhu Biao said again: "The third point is the most important one, that is, our Daming Bank already has sufficient reserves, and even continues to inject them every month."
……
(End of this chapter)
