Chapter 157: Gun or Pen?
Knowing that his elder brother still had feelings for him, Zhu Chong believed that Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma must feel the same way, otherwise Yang Chen would not appear here and would not tell him so many things.

Now Hu Weiyong actually dared to pretend to obey his elder brother but actually disobey him. Zhu Chong didn’t mind letting the other party know that his elder brother Zhu Biao was kind-hearted, but he, Zhu Chong!
The King of Qin of the Ming Dynasty is not a kind person! Even if you are the prime minister of the dynasty, it is useless!

In Zhu Chong’s eyes, what would he do if anyone, other than his own family, dared to offend the person he loved the most?
One word!

Kill without mercy!

“No hurry. I know you want to solve it in the most direct way, but do you know that the reason why your father asked me to go there is to find evidence?”

“What evidence?” Zhu Chong asked with a puzzled look on his face.

“Politics has never been about fighting and killing.”

As Yang Chen spoke, a silver coin appeared in his hand. He discovered this thing by accident and thought it was good, so it later became his toy.

The silver coin rolled back and forth between his fingers, and the sound was heard.

“Ruling a dynasty and ruling a country can be roughly said to rely on three things.

The gun, the pen, and the purse.

The gun represents the army, the pen represents the civil officials of the court, and the purse represents the taxes collected by the people.

Now the pen is firmly controlled by Hu Weiyong’s Huaixi clique. If you kill them directly, what will those grassroots people who follow Hu Weiyong think?”

A look of confusion lingered on Zhu Chong’s brows. The next moment, he said bloodthirstily and cruelly:

“Kill them all! Since they are not loyal to the Ming Zhu family, what’s the point of keeping them alive!”

“As expected of him being Old Zhu’s biological son, his way of thinking is really simple.” Yang Chen glanced at the other party and said secretly in his heart.

In the end, I chose not to say these words.

Take a deep breath and explain patiently:

“You must understand that many innocent officials were forced to join the Huaixi clique. Some of them believed that they were loyal to His Majesty, while others deliberately supported Hu Weiyong.

If you kill them all, how will you find those who are loyal to Hu Weiyong or were deceived into joining Hu Weiyong’s gang?

If you kill someone by mistake, you will be making a policy that loses the support of the people, which is a taboo in governing a country!”

Yang Chen’s words were like the humming sound of an ancient bell, constantly reverberating in Zhu Chong’s mind.

Although he is a member of the royal family, in fact his political awareness is not as high as that of an ordinary second-rank official.

“To tell you the truth, Zhu Chong, your elder brother asked me to take you with him. The reason your father agreed was actually to let you learn more from me, so that you wouldn’t be unable to govern the country when you go abroad in the future. If your lineage is cut off and someone with ulterior motives takes over, then an enemy with a territory as large as the Central Plains will be born. Tell me, how much trouble will that cause to the Ming Dynasty?”

Seeing that Zhu Chong was still in a daze, Yang Chen couldn’t help but remind him.

“Ah? Brother Yang, what you said is true?”

“Otherwise what do you think!”

Yang Chen naturally said in the tone he usually used to educate Zhu Xiongying:

“Think about it, the policy of enfeoffment of vassal kings has been approved by your elder brother, the emperor. In the future, as the King of Qin, if you still eat and drink in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, it will be completely inconsistent with your elder brother’s policy. Not only will it bring shame to you, but also to your father.

As the saying goes, like fathers, like sons, like daughters. As the son of the founding emperor, all other descendants have already found their own foothold overseas, but you, the King of Qin, are still doing nothing in the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

You and I are going to Ningming County. It seems that we are going to govern the county, but in fact we are going to find out what stage Zhenjiang Prefecture is in. By observing this place together, the two of us can get a general idea of ​​the entire layout of the Ming Dynasty.

Allowing you to experience it in advance is to test whether my method is useful at the lowest cost, and also to let you learn to change, so that you won’t leave Ming Dynasty in the future and still rely on only the three tricks you have.

Violence! Violence! And more violence! According to your previous way of governing the country, even if you were allowed to lead a civilized army, within twenty years, the civilized army would become barbaric natives, just like the Duan clan of Dali who was destroyed by the Yuan Dynasty.

The Dali Kingdom was deep in the heart of Yunnan. How many Han people fled there? What happened? Not only did the Han people fail to assimilate the local indigenous chieftains, but they were assimilated by the local culture and customs. What a ridiculous reality.

Zhu Chong, who originally thought that this matter was simple, now felt overwhelmed.

This is not bad news for him, but rather great news. What does it mean that he can follow Yang Chen and learn from him?
This shows that his father is not completely disappointed in him!
What made him even more excited was that in the future he would have the hope of establishing a vassal state outside the Ming Dynasty.

When he thought that he could become emperor, Zhu Chong’s heart beat faster and faster. The pounding of his heart was so strong that the edge of his clothes in front of his chest could be seen beating visibly.

He even said with some doubt:
“Do my father, elder brother, and mother really want me to be like this?”

How could Yang Chen not see Zhu Chong’s mentality, so he took out the original white paper from his arms and put it on the table and said:
“In fact, there is no need for you to continue to dwell on the past. As the saying goes, marrying a virtuous wife brings prosperity to three generations, while marrying an unvirtuous wife brings disaster to the family.

If I hadn’t appeared, you would be recorded in the official history as worse than a beast. This is a fact. After your father found out that you were poisoned to death by several women, he commented that your death did not deserve a pity. This is also a fact.

Given the bastard status you have, you deserve such an evaluation. But it’s okay now. You haven’t really done such a cruel and inhumane thing. At most, you have had this idea in your mind. As long as you don’t really do anything out of line, I think everything can still be turned around.

As the saying goes, a prodigal son who returns is worth more than gold. Your father has given you this opportunity, and I can use your identity to get things done. This is a win-win situation.”

The more Zhu Chong listened, the more ashamed he felt. Looking back now at the things he had done, they were sins worthy of being cut into pieces.

I don’t know how I was bewitched and listened to Deng’s instigation.

“Lü Bu is right. Alcohol and sex can lead to misleading people.”

He couldn’t help but say this with emotion while shaking his head, as if he was cursing his past self.

“It is true that wine and sex can lead people astray, and this is human nature, but you have to understand that throughout history, those who have left their names in history are all strong-hearted people without exception. They can withstand temptations that ordinary people cannot resist, and finally stay out of the mud without being stained, leaving their own good names in history books. If you want to save your father’s face, you must get rid of these worldly pleasures.

Those who are controlled by human nature are mortals. Only those who can control human nature are qualified to rise to another level and compete with others. This has always been the case since ancient times. This is an unchanging truth. “

After saying that, Yang Chen stood up and patted Zhu Chong on the shoulder.

Zhu Chong, who had figured it out, had his previous sadness on his face disappear in the blink of an eye, and was replaced by resolute determination.

He is the son of Zhu Yuanzhang and the second son of Empress Ma. As the second child in the family, even if he is not as good as his eldest brother, he cannot bring shame to the Zhu family.

He lowered his eyes to look at the white paper that Yang Chen had just taken out and placed on the stone table. There were a few words clearly written on it.

“Zhenjiang Prefecture Economic and Social Reform Plan (Hongwu Year 12 Edition)”

“Good doc.”

This comment flashed through Zhu Chong’s mind for the first time, and then he looked up at Yang Chen and asked:

“How do you want to do it.”

Yang Chen glanced at the other party and said in a low voice at a moderate speed:

“I have already inquired about Zhenjiang Prefecture. It was once an important place guarded by your eldest brother Mu Ying. It was also here that he became an important military official. He was first appointed as a front-line commander by your father.

Of course, these are not important. What is important is that Zhenjiang Prefecture is close to the Yangtze River and has two upstream water veins of Zhangjiang. It has three counties under its jurisdiction. Ningming County is the county closest to the Yangtze River. I have also investigated the poisonous salt mine you mentioned last time. It is in a mountain in Jintan County far away from the Yangtze River. In addition, there is also a Qingshan County. This place is very poor, but strangely, it has a lot of fertile land.

The local prefect was a subordinate of Hu Weiyong, and was in charge of the daily lives of 430,000 registered citizens in Zhenjiang Prefecture and the three surrounding counties.

Everything Yang Chen said had been marked one by one in the white paper, which made Zhu Chong feel very novel. To be honest, it was the first time he had seen such a clear record.

I have never seen my subordinates register so clearly in Shaanxi before.

“Brother, it’s not without reason that my father asked me to stay with him. No wonder my eldest nephew always mentions this teacher. The fourth one also mentions him. Although he is always bullied, he still sticks with him. I can learn some skills from him, which is enough for me to use outside.”

While reading a book and listening to Yang Chen’s speech, a conceptual blueprint quickly appeared in Zhu Chong’s mind, which contained all the general information about Zhenjiang Prefecture.

“In the Ming Dynasty, the least prosperous prefectures had a population of at least 200,000, and at most 2.26 million. For example, Jiangsu Prefecture was very good. After years of development and various wealthy businessmen operating here, it attracted many people to come and make a living.

As a result, the population has exceeded two million. Zhenjiang Prefecture is not far from Nanjing City and close to the Yangtze River, so a population of more than 400,000 is already a lot.

However, in such a place, after being managed by the prefect and the six offices stationed here by the six ministries, a large area of ​​land was left uncultivated, and the people were not qualified to cultivate the original fertile land. I sent people to investigate and found that Zhenjiang Prefecture had taken away all the young and middle-aged people from every household for various reasons.

Guess where they went?”

Zhu Chong smelled a hint of displeasure. He looked up at Yang Chen and found that the other party already had signs of anger on his face. Even so, Zhu Chong still answered subconsciously:
“Killed?”

“You were the one who was killed! Hundreds of thousands of people were killed, and even Hu Weiyong couldn’t stop it.”

I was just about to praise the other person, but I didn’t expect that this guy was so stupid that he was the only one who could think of such a reason for killing civilians.

Zhu Chong did not feel that there was anything wrong, but waited for Yang Chen to tell him the truth.

“The main reason why there are so many vacant properties in Zhenjiang Prefecture is that there are serious signs of local land annexation.

First of all, the local prefect took advantage of the loophole that the people could not get from the court’s policies and told the people that the court would recruit a lot of labor service. He then ordered people to take away a large number of young people to serve as civil engineering laborers. Without the young and middle-aged people in the family, the old and the young could only live off the land, and there was no one to cultivate the fields.

In order to survive and have food to eat so that their children would not starve to death, they had no choice but to rent the land to wealthy businessmen. However, the wealthy landlords took advantage of the people’s illiteracy and secretly changed the contract, so that the land finally fell into their hands.

In the end, they had no choice but to sell themselves to the landlords as tenant farmers, otherwise they would not be able to survive. “

Yang Chen’s voice was very calm, but Zhu Chong could tell from it that the other party was very angry. Not just ordinary anger, but anger that made him feel heavy and depressed.

Looking at the booklet in his hand, Zhu Chong seemed to know what he should do next.

He clenched his teeth, as if he had made up his mind, and said to Yang Chen:

“Brother Yang, tell me, what do I need to do next?”

Yang Chen looked at Zhu Chong, whose eyes were shining, and smiled slightly as he said:

“Go here and use thunderous means to eliminate all the pests that are detrimental to the court, find out who made them do this, and then abolish them!

This move will be the determination of the Ming Dynasty to make every effort to reform. At that time, your name will be registered at the front. I hope that you and I can work together to create a good beginning and let all those hiding in the dark know that the Ming Dynasty is serious this time, and it is not a false performance that gives them the opportunity to take advantage of loopholes! “

“Okay! I am willing to cooperate with you, Brother Yang. As a scholar, it is not appropriate for you to kill people. Let me handle this troublesome matter. But after the murder, how should Zhenjiang Prefecture deal with it?”

When Zhu Chong thought about how he could kill people to his heart’s content without having to sneak around, and that the people he killed were bad guys, he couldn’t help but licking his dry lips. This was his favorite thing to do.

It will give him an inexplicable sense of accomplishment.

Yang Chen placed his fingers on the stone table and tapped slowly, raising his eyebrows and reminding:
“You go on to open the white paper.”

Hearing this, Zhu Chong obediently began to flip through the pages, and soon he saw the result of clearing up the local filth.

At the same time, Yang Chen’s voice sounded in his ears.

“As a prefectural-level administrative unit, the prefect is the highest official. After cleaning them out, you will become the highest commander of the prefecture.
(End of this chapter)