jdhmnovel Chapter 189 Zhu Biao: Send them all to my brother-in-law's place.
Chapter 189 Zhu Biao: Send them all to my brother-in-law's place.
How do you deal with paper money?
According to the proposals submitted by the Secretariat and the Ministry of Revenue, the Ming Dynasty should not print a large number of banknotes in a short period of time, and the denominations should be controlled at one string, ten strings, and one hundred strings. Smaller denominations should not be issued, and banknotes in "wen" (a unit of currency) should not be issued.
To put it bluntly, if they actually created a currency system based on "wen" (a unit of currency), the cost of printing one banknote might be more valuable than the banknote itself.
However, this brings the problem back to square one – the Ming Dynasty's treasury had no money, nor enough copper to mint Hongwu Tongbao coins. If small-denomination paper money wasn't issued, then the paper money would lose its purpose and would only benefit wealthy merchants who needed to make large transactions. Ordinary people would still not have access to paper money, and the court would still not collect much money.
If the imperial court cannot raise funds, then the so-called long-term plan of a century and the short-term plan of five years will once again become empty talk, and it is unknown when these plans will be implemented one by one.
Seeing that Emperor Zhu Chongba had been looking depressed for a long time, Empress Ma finally gave her some advice: "As the saying goes, the one who tied the knot must untie it. Since Magistrate Yang proposed the paper money, and Ningyang County has been upgraded to be directly under the Central Secretariat, why don't you let him use paper money in Ningyang County first?"
After listening to Empress Ma's opinion, Emperor Zhu Chongba's eyes lit up at first, then he sighed and said, "We have thought about it, but you know what the situation is like in Ningyang County. He is the only county magistrate in the entire county government. There are no assistant officials such as the county magistrate, the registrar, or the clerk. All the clerks in the six departments are also vacant. It is already difficult for him to manage Ningyang County well. If we ask him to handle the paper money, we are really afraid that he will not be able to handle it all by himself."
Empress Ma frowned upon hearing Emperor Zhu's words.
If the Ming Dynasty had no shortage of scholars, and even better if it had no shortage of scholars who wanted to become officials, the entire court would not have been troubled by a lack of manpower, and many local governments would not have been burdened with the entire responsibility of a county magistrate, assistant magistrate, and clerk.
It's a pity that some scholars would rather serve the Tartar court than take up an official post, and they all boasted of their noble character and were incredibly arrogant.
Thinking of this, Empress Ma couldn't help but sigh and said, "What's wrong with all these scholars? They keep saying they're taught by sages, but which sage taught them to serve the Tartars and be loyal to them? And which sage taught them to prey on the people?"
Upon hearing the words "plundering the people," Emperor Zhu Chongba suddenly narrowed his eyes slightly and snorted coldly, saying, "Sister, these are not things the sage taught them; their hearts have gone astray!"
After saying that, Emperor Zhu Chongba suddenly stood up and said, "I just remembered that I have some things to do. I'll come back after I'm done with them."
After Empress Ma smiled and nodded in agreement, Emperor Zhu took Erhu and left Kunning Palace. They went out of the imperial city and headed to the prison of the Ministry of Justice.
After traveling through streets and alleys, upon arriving at the Ministry of Justice prison, Emperor Zhu Chongba immediately ordered the jailers to bring over a prisoner.
"Mr. Xia, I just want to know, in what way is our emperor inferior to the Tartar emperor, in what way is our Ming court inferior to the Tartar court, and in what way is our Ming government inferior to the Tartar government, that you are so obsessed with the advantages of the Tartars, and would rather cut off your finger than serve as an official?"
Faced with Emperor Zhu Chongba's question, the Confucian scholar, known as Mr. Xia, simply chuckled and said, "I have been favored by the Great Yuan Dynasty for generations. It is already disloyal of me not to follow Your Majesty on his northern hunt. If I were to serve as an official, wouldn't I become a traitorous minister?"
Emperor Zhu harbored intense murderous intent, yet his face remained impassive. Instead, he continued, "What favors has Hu Yuan ever bestowed upon you? You study the classics, yet how can you not know that even the sages distinguished between the Chinese and the barbarians? Moreover, Kong Xixue is currently compiling the 'Hongwu Dictionary' for me. His father, Kong Kejian, was personally appointed Duke Yansheng by the false emperor Hu Yuan. If he can serve as an official, why can't Mr. Xia?"
The Confucian scholar, referred to as Mr. Xia, sneered, "What are Kong Kejian and his son Kong Xixue? What is the Duke Yansheng? They're all spineless cowards who only know how to kneel and fawn over their new master. If one day... ha..."
Zhu Chongba finally couldn't contain his anger and snorted coldly, "Do you really prefer death to serving as an official?"
Mr. Xia said firmly, "I would rather die than serve as an official!"
Emperor Zhu Chongba grunted and said, "The reason you are not worried about being bullied, and your family wealth is not threatened by others, and the reason you have someone to rely on is because of me. Now you have abandoned your cause and are no longer serving me, which means you are different from my teachings and are not the people I have educated."
After saying this, Emperor Zhu Chongba sighed heavily, got up, and led Erhu out of the Ministry of Justice's prison. Then, they slowly strolled towards the imperial city.
As they walked, Emperor Zhu suddenly stopped and asked inexplicably, "Erhu, just how good do you think the Tartars are to us that they would rather die than serve as officials for us?"
Erhu did not answer, and Emperor Zhu did not expect Erhu to answer either.
Upon returning to the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Zhu summoned Crown Prince Zhu Biao and recounted the words and actions of the Confucian scholar known as Mr. Xia to him. Then he asked, "What do you think should be done?"
Zhu Biao frowned slightly and said carefully, "If these people had ulterior motives, it would be better, but it's difficult to deal with someone like Mr. Xia who doesn't know what he wants."
Emperor Zhu chuckled and said, "Yes, whether they want fame or fortune, or anything else, these are all negotiable. It's not that we can't give them what they want, but we're really afraid that they don't want anything and are just single-mindedly devoted to serving the Tartar emperor."
At this point, Emperor Zhu couldn't help but laugh self-deprecatingly, "Back then, we wondered what Yang the Madman was after. Now it seems that what he was after was probably the ideal of scholars—cultivating oneself, regulating one's family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world—and the world harmony that the sages spoke of."
Upon hearing Emperor Zhu's words, Zhu Biao's eyes lit up, and he chuckled, saying, "How about we just send all these scholars to my brother-in-law's place? He's always complaining about being short-handed—let these people work as laborers for a while, and they'll realize how good it is to be officials."
After a moment's thought, Zhu Biao shook his head and said, "No, there are countless scholars in the world who are unwilling to serve as officials. We can't send them all to my brother-in-law to do hard labor. He might not be able to support them. In my opinion, it would be better to have Wang Qiong make another trip to Ningyang County to see if my brother-in-law has any good ideas on how to deal with these people."