Chapter 508: Peace and Prosperity! It's Just a Joke!
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Beiping.
The city gate.
Yang Shiqi looked shocked.
Since that day when His Majesty the Emperor decided to open the sea, he has been free.
After all, abolishing the national policy of maritime ban and allowing ordinary people to go to sea for trade is a major event that can affect the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty. It cannot be changed in an instant by His Majesty the Emperor.
Next, the entire Ming court will enter a busy period to prepare for the upcoming opening of the sea.
For example, a new private overseas trade policy was formulated, which items can be transported overseas for business by the people, and which items are contraband, and no one is strictly prohibited from taking them overseas privately.
Furthermore, the ports and shipping departments in the East China Sea and Nanyang need to introduce new policies and dispatch dedicated personnel to manage the accounts.
All in all, if His Majesty the Emperor opens his mouth, the courtiers below will lose their legs.
Although the national policy of maritime ban has been abolished, it still requires a lot of time to prepare for its successful implementation.
But Yang Shiqi still carries the title of Chief Envoy of Jiugang and has no official position in the central court, so he has some free time for a while.
As for the name "Nanyang Prime Minister", it is just an honorific title for the princes of the clan such as King Zhao, and no one dares to mention it now in the Ming Dynasty.
After all, in the entire world, the words of the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister are taboo!
So with nothing to do, Yang Shiqi set off for Peiping.
How is His Highness the King of Han, whom he misses so much, doing well?
However, along the way, Yang Shiqi was greatly surprised.
From the imperial capital of Yingtian to the new capital of Beiping, Yang Shiqi also gained a deep understanding of the current situation of the Ming Dynasty with stops and stops along the way.
There is no such thing as a peaceful and prosperous age. Except for major cities such as Fengyang and Kaifeng, most towns are full of refugees. The common people have a good face, but most of them are sallow and thin, and they are malnourished at first glance.
Especially when these ordinary people saw themselves in official uniforms, they subconsciously showed fear and horror. They didn't even have the courage to take a second look, let alone talk to him.
This scene deeply hurt Yang Shiqi and his party.
I don’t know since when, the people of the Ming Dynasty only had fear and fear towards the court officials!
How could such a court dare to claim to be a "peaceful and prosperous age"?
Yang Shiqi's trip was not only attended by him, but also by Wang Jing, the Minister of Rites.
In the past three years, Wang Jing has been busy traveling around the country to promote the new learning and new policies. So far, the new learning has been very effective.
This time Wang Jing went to Peiping to ask His Highness the King of Han for advice on newly learned matters.
Nowadays, the new schools are mainly composed of three schools: Continental Studies, Science and Gongyang Studies. The official schools of major prefectures in Southern Zhili have set up corresponding subjects to teach their children. In the past, the situation where Cheng and Zhu Neo-Confucianism were the dominant family has disappeared.
After all, the Ministry of Etiquette and the Ministry of Education jointly launched the operation, and Gu Penzi's Metropolitan Procuratorate was fully assisting. Even if many Cheng and Zhu Jinshen tried to stop it and made some small moves in secret, they were just committing suicide.
The status of the two ministers and the three ministers is so great. Apart from the chief envoy who can compete with them, who else can stop the local officials?
However, those who can achieve the position of chief envoy of a place are all outstanding people who dominate the livelihood and well-being of the people in a place. They all know more or less things that others do not know.
For example, His Majesty the Emperor’s attitude!
Yes, the new learning was invented by Zhu Gaoxu, the king of Han Dynasty, and it was also promoted by this evil thief.
However, that was when the King of Han was supervising the country and governing the country!
His Majesty has returned to the court, but failed to "rectify the chaos" in time. This has already expressed His Majesty's attitude!
Jie Jin and Jie Gongbao are still serving as ministers of his academic department, and Wang Ji is also serving as his minister of academic affairs, vigorously promoting the new learning!
Even the Imperial Procuratorate used power for personal gain and severely punished the gentry who hindered the promotion of new learning. His Majesty the Emperor saw this, but he did nothing!
Need to explain anything else?
The person who invented new learning was indeed Zhu Gaoxu, the King of Han Dynasty!
But the person who really wanted to promote the new learning to the world was the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di!
Knowing such a secret, the political envoys in various places would not only hinder the new learning, but if they didn't care about their own face, they would really want to turn their horses around and deal with those Cheng Zhujinshen!
Due to various reasons, the promotion of new learning was actually relatively smooth, except for a few stubborn gentry who dared to obstruct it.
However, the promotion of the new learning has reached this stage, and Wang Jing still needs to ask His Highness the King of Han for advice on the next promotion matters.
"Master Wang, what I have seen and heard along the way is really shocking..."
Yang Shiqi sighed softly, with a look of shame on his face, and swallowed back the second half of the sentence.
After Wang Jing heard what he said, his expression remained normal.
After all, Wang Jing was already used to this after traveling around various states and capitals for three years.
What's more, compared to Yang Shiqi who only saw the surface, Wang Jing knew the essence of this phenomenon.
"Master Yang, does he know why the people of Ming Dynasty live in such hardship?"
Hearing this, Yang Shiqi was startled and shook his head subconsciously. UU reading www. uukanshu.net
He traveled around Nanyang for three years and suddenly came back and saw that the people of Ming Dynasty were living like this. He really didn't think about the reason.
Wang Jing sighed and his expression suddenly straightened. , spit out an appalling word!
"Because of the gentry!"
Yang Shiqi: "???"
Gentleman?
How could he be a gentry?
If you really think about it, you and I are also gentry!
Gentlemen and gentlemen, to put it bluntly, are scholars who have achieved fame, as well as officials and gentry who have entered official careers!
How could it be that the people in these places were living in such hardship because of the local gentry?
Aren’t the gentry responsible for educating and rescuing the local people?
how could this be?
Yang Shiqi looked at Wang Jing subconsciously with a confused face.
The latter smiled bitterly, recalling the appearance of His Highness the King of Han when he was educating him, which was exactly the same as the Yang Shiqi in front of him.
"Through the fame granted by the court, the gentry wantonly annexed fields and occupied manors, holding the lifeblood of the local people in their hands. Do you think the people can disobey them? Can they not be afraid of them?"
“They annexed and occupied a large number of fields and estates, and relying on the scholars’ fame and privileges, they either failed to pay taxes or colluded with local officials to default on tax and grain arrears, thereby greatly reducing the court’s tax revenue.”
"The common people had no land to plant and food to eat, and they were resentful and dissatisfied with the court; the court's tax revenue was insufficient and unable to provide disaster relief, so it increased taxes on the people... In the end, all the benefits fell into the hands of the gentry, who drank and had fun while singing and dancing, and watched the world with a smile."
"Oh, this is the real reason why His Royal Highness the King of Han and even His Majesty the Emperor want to promote the new learning!"
Yang Shiqi: "!!!"
Gentleman!
Annex the fields!
Tax arrears!
His Royal Highness, the King of Han, really took action against the gentry!
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