Chapter 196 If I praise him more, won’t he want to divide my world? (Please subscribe!) "Your Majesty, please calm down!" Lu Chang said quickly.
"Calm down your anger? How can you calm me down?" Zhu Yuanzhang roared: "I just praised Ouyang Lun a few words, and this guy dared to share his filth. If I praise him a few more words, wouldn't he want to divide my world? ??”
Huhu——
Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that his chest hurt.
"Your Majesty, please take care of your dragon body!" Lu Chang shouted.
"Lv Chang, shut up. Apart from telling me to calm down and protect my dragon body, what else can you do?" Zhu Yuanzhang covered his chest and pointed at Guo Zida: "Tell me again why those businessmen ignored the plaques issued by the imperial court. And the commendation documents?”
"Your Majesty, I heard from a businessman that they have received so many plaques and commendation documents over the years that they can't even hang them in the ancestral hall, but the monument is completely different. There is only one in the entire Ming Dynasty that can record names. On the Great Wall Monument, as long as the monument does not collapse in the future, people will remember their contributions in future generations, so they look down on the plaques and commendation documents issued by the court."
Guo Zi said quickly.
The feeling is that if too many plaques and commendation documents are issued, they will become less valuable.
Zhu Yuanzhang reacted quickly. This time he was not so angry. These businessmen really saw it clearly! Understanding is understanding, Zhu Yuanzhang's face is still quite gloomy.
"No, didn't I hear that there are only a dozen contractors for repairing the Great Wall? Then why are there so many businessmen chasing the supplier quota? Businessmen who don't have quota will definitely choose us to get plaques and commendation documents Ah!" Zhu Yuanzhang continued in confusion: "I think you just didn't do this seriously!"
After hearing this, Song Lian, the Minister of Rites, hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, in the past, for a plaque or award document, you had to donate 10 taels to the court before you can apply to the Ministry of Rites. Even if everything is in line, you still have to wait for one or two years. It’s time-consuming, money-consuming and labor-intensive, and often only those nouveau riche businessmen would choose it.”
"Now Beizhili only needs to donate more than 1000 taels of silver to have their names engraved on the Great Wall monument, and it is planned to be completed by the end of this year. After such a comparison, businessmen will naturally know which of the two is best."
"I heard that no less than a thousand wealthy businessmen rushed to give Ouyang Prince Consort money. The money added up to more than 1000 million taels. The money distributed by Beizhili this time came from this, and it was called project bonus. !”
Project bonus?
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, "What kind of project bonus is it? It's obviously just a clever excuse to share the stolen money!"
"We have never been so generous with our money!"
"The reward for the ninth grade is 100 taels, and the reward for the fourth grade is 600 taels. If there are so many officials in Beizhili, it will be almost a few hundred thousand taels!"
"Li Shanchang, you are the censor of Zuodu, responsible for supervising the illegal activities of all officials. How do you plan to deal with the situation in Beizhili now?"
When facing Zhu Yuanzhang, he had to ask.
Li Shan's expression has changed over time. This time, he didn't escape the problem after all! But fortunately, he also thought about this matter for a while.
"Your Majesty, I believe that Ouyang Prince Consort's behavior is not to gather people to divide the spoils. Nowadays, repairing the Great Wall is a major matter, no less than a battle with thousands of troops. As the commander-in-chief, it is normal for Ouyang Prince Consort to use some encouragement before the battle begins. .”
"It is said that Ouyang Prince Consort collected the money in front of tens of thousands of people in Beizhili. The people at the scene did not say a word of dissatisfaction, and the money was also registered and divided strictly in accordance with the established rules. These people in Peiping all know."
"In addition." Li Shanchang paused, and then continued: "Didn't His Majesty distribute money to his subordinates in this way at the beginning?"
Forehead. Zhu Yuanzhang's face froze, "Can Ouyang Lun be like me? At that time, I needed everyone to conquer the world together, and all we did was to lose our heads!"
Li Shanchang muttered: "What Ouyang Lun is doing now is also a matter of losing his head!"
Zhu Yuanzhang: "."
"That's right." Lu Chang nodded repeatedly, "I also heard His Majesty say that the emperor's crimes are the same as those of the common people."
Zhu Yuanzhang: "."
bastard!
What's going on with you guys today?
Let me tell you, you all have to fight back!
Zhu Yuanzhang maintained the last trace of rationality and did not say these words. He just stared at Li Shanchang and Lu Chang with his tiger eyes, wishing to eat them.
Facing such an angry Zhu Yuanzhang, it would be a lie to say that they were not afraid, but as courtiers, they fully approved of Ouyang Lun's granting project bonuses to his subordinates!
In a word, Ming officials have suffered from Zhu Yuanzhang for a long time! Officials are different from the common people. As a vested interest group of the Ming Dynasty, no matter how hard they are squeezed, they will not rebel like the common people. Since Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, the suppression and exploitation of officials has been increasing year by year. sharp.
The officials in the capital are okay. In addition to their salaries, the Queen and the Crown Prince will give some rewards from time to time. In addition, most of the officials in the capital have higher grades and higher salaries, so they can still make do with it. But the local officials are miserable. , If you are not greedy or corrupt, you can only live a life of simple meals. Who can withstand it as time goes by? Of course, there is one exception, that is Zhu Yuanzhang. As an emperor, he has simple meals every day. Two dishes and one soup are enough. It's been like this for years.
Because of this, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that officials all over the world must be like him.
So when they heard about the "project bonus", the officials gave it unanimous praise! If this matter is widely recognized, officials will have one more benefit and a little more hope.
Therefore, even for the sake of "project bonus", Li Shanchang, Lu Chang and others are willing to confront Zhu Yuanzhang. Of course, this degree must be grasped well, otherwise it will be counterproductive.
"Ahem, Your Majesty, I have been studying the new city plan formulated by Ouyang Prince Consort these days, and I have made many new discoveries." Guo Zi quickly changed the subject.
Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily: "Have we not discussed this plan many times? Are there any new discoveries?"
Guo Zi smiled and said: "Your Majesty, what we discussed most before was the first phase of Ouyang Prince Consort's new city plan, but this plan is divided into three phases. I now feel that the last two phases are the genius!"
"If we can really succeed, then our Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty will become a barrier that the nomadic cavalry in the north can never cross. Neither a small group of rangers nor a large group of cavalry can do it!"
Guo Zi's voice was loud and confident, and what he said shocked Zhu Yuanzhang and other officials. "Guo Shangshu, I know that you have a close relationship with Ouyang Prince Consort, but I'm afraid it's not good to brag like this in front of His Majesty!" Li Shanchang, as the leader of the Huaixi Party, naturally has a crush on the new members headed by Guo Zi and Wu Jingzhi. The forces are naturally vigilant. They cooperated for a common goal just now, but now the rebuttal is that one is a disagreement in ideas and the other is party strife.
"I think Li Shanchang is right. The Great Wall has been used to resist the nomadic cavalry in the north since ancient times. However, due to the long border, it is impossible to resist the cavalry army. It can only resist sporadic ranger troops. Even so, the Great Wall of Ming Dynasty can still The people inside can live a stable life.”
"But you said that the Great Wall planned by Ouyang Lun has been repaired and can even resist the cavalry army. Guo Zi, you are just bragging for Ouyang Lun!"
Zhu Yuanzhang was worried that he had no place to vent his anger. Guo Zi handed it over directly, and he would not be polite.
If it had been at any other time, Guo Zi would have been unable to withstand the repeated angry attacks from Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Shanchang, but this time Guo Zi was obviously prepared and said calmly: "Your Majesty, minister. The relationship with Ouyang Lun is indeed good, but you and Mr. Li said that I was bragging for Ouyang Lun, and I don’t admit it!"
"Because what I said is definitely not a boast, but a fact!"
"I have carefully studied the "New City Plan" of Beizhili, and it is very clear in it that this time the Great Wall will not only be repaired, but also expanded and thickened to make it taller! In the transcript of the New City Plan, it says The Great Wall will function as a highway and a railway!"
"The Great Wall has high walls and is extremely strong, just like the city of Peiping. It is as solid as a rock. Moreover, the two places are constantly connected, and the travel time is greatly shortened. Even if there is a large enemy attack, we can guarantee the fastest support. , so it is completely possible to block a large group of cavalry from outside the city wall!"
"What I said is not false!"
When Guo Zi spoke, he looked resolute and confident.
Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Shanchang fell into a brief silence.
"I know about the expressway. With Ouyang Lun's construction capabilities, it is indeed possible to run horses and drive on the Great Wall without any problems, but what is a railway?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked in a deep voice.
"Your Majesty, this railway is described in the details of the 'New City Plan'. The railway is a long car with two parallel rails laid on a normal road. The speed is faster than the fastest horse carriage. It is said that the fastest speed can reach half an hour. Run a hundred kilometers! A thousand kilometers only takes five hours!"
"What's more important is that the cars running on this railway will not get tired and can keep running!"
Guo Zi explained excitedly.
hiss--
After listening, Zhu Yuanzhang, Li Shanchang, Lu Chang and others all fell into deep thought.
After a while, Zhu Yuanzhang was the first to speak: "Compared to the railway you mentioned, I believe that the repaired Great Wall can completely resist the northern rangers."
"Master Guo, what you said is too fantastical. It only takes five hours to travel a thousand kilometers. This is absolutely impossible!" Li Shanchang shook his head decisively.
"Master Guo, Master Ouyang often says some strange things and has many wild imaginations. You must not take it seriously!" Even Wu Jingzhi couldn't believe it this time.
"Well, I don't really believe it, but this is written carefully in the new city plan! Do you want to take a look again?" Guo Zi said helplessly.
"Your Majesty, whether you believe it or not, I suggest that the imperial court should give full support and never give up any more, otherwise the people will definitely scold the imperial court!"
After listening to Guo Zi's words, Zhu Yuanzhang's mouth twitched several times. Although he vaguely felt that the "Great Wall" and "Railway" described by Guo Zi would really be useful, Zhu Yuanzhang felt deeply depressed, frowning and biting his back molars. , clenched fists!
Zhu Yuanzhang's emotions were very complicated at this moment.
He hoped that what Guo Zi said was true. In this way, the Great Wall would become a huge moat, completely blocking the invasion of the northern nomadic cavalry, and at the same time blocking Bei Yuan's idea of re-invading the Central Plains.
This will be an unparalleled achievement! Even Emperor Qin, Han Wu, Tang Zong and Song Zu couldn't do it! But because of this, Zhu Yuanzhang was bitter and envious. If Ouyang Lun and a group of fame-seeking businessmen were able to accomplish this extraordinary feat, how embarrassing would he be as the emperor?
People with high emotional intelligence may say that His Majesty is a wise man. All of this was done under the wise guidance of Zhu Yuanzhang, and he accomplished things that even kings and emperors failed to accomplish. He is regarded as the emperor of the ages! As for people with low emotional intelligence, they will definitely complain crazily. It’s okay if you, Zhu Yuanzhang, didn’t help when you became emperor. Instead, you withdrew the funding for repairing the city wall and put pressure on Beizhili. Finally, after the Great Wall was repaired, you ran out to win again. Fruits and honors, do you want to be shameless?
Now even officials such as Li Shanchang and Lu Chang are on Ouyang Lun's side, which makes Zhu Yuanzhang even more depressed.
If you think about it carefully, if you really don't get a cent, people all over the world will definitely call him Zhu Yuanzhang. At this time, allocating funds to Ouyang Lun's "New City Plan" can stop everyone's mouth.
"I thought about it and found that what Guo Aiqing said does make sense. Now that Ouyang Lun's new city plan has been well received, as the emperor, I should also express my opinion."
"Guo Zi, you are the Minister of Household Affairs. Can you tell me how much money the court should allocate this time?"
Guo Zi's face lit up and he immediately said: "Your Majesty, the imperial court usually allocates 200 million taels for repairing the Great Wall. In view of Ouyang's grand plan for the new city this time, 200 million taels is indeed too much to spend. I feel that the four .500 million taels is more appropriate!”
500? !
If this had been done before, this would have been half of the Ming Dynasty's annual tax revenue. Anyone who dared to say this would probably have to be dragged out by Zhu Yuanzhang to remove skins and stuffing grass, and use half of the money to build the Great Wall. The Ming Dynasty would not be able to survive. .
But things are different now. In the past two years, driven by Yong'an Mansion, the economic heart of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Dynasty's tax revenue has increased rapidly. In addition, with Dongying Island as a blood bag, Ming Dynasty's annual income has tripled. Now the national treasury has at least There were 2000 million taels of silver lying around, and more money kept coming in.
It is no exaggeration to say that Ming Dynasty is the most generous existence now! It would be an understatement to call him a nouveau riche.
It is precisely because of this that Guo Zi, as the Minister of Household Affairs, dared to call for an allocation of 500 million! !
"Five million? I think it's a little short!" Song Lian, the Minister of Rites, stood up and said: "As far as I know, some of the Great Wall contractors invested 500 million this time. If the imperial court also takes 500 million, wouldn't it make people think that I The imperial court is now not as powerful as a businessman??"
"What does this mean for the imperial court? What does it mean for Your Majesty?"
"Since the Great Wall was built for the Ming Dynasty, it doesn't matter if you spend more money. Why not increase the maximum 500 million and directly allocate 1000 million!!"
(End of this chapter)