Because Emperor Gao, the Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, was the birth of September 18th, and this year happened to be exactly three hundred years old.

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao issued an order to go to sacrifice to Xiaoling in person, thinking of taking this opportunity to preach the orthodox nature of the Zhu Dynasty to the scholars and people all over the world.

As the imperial power gradually became undermined by civil servants and the accumulation of class contradictions over the years, the people-oriented foundation of the Zhu family dynasty has begun to shake.

It is precisely because of this that many Han people who took advantage of tricks or only focused on personal fame and fortune began to deviate from their rule and even defected to the Tartars.

What Zhu Youxiao had to do was to warn the scholars of the world through this sacrifice to Xiaoling that the king they should truly be loyal to was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, that is, Zhu Youxiao, because only Zhu Youxiao was the most orthodox king in China.

Whoever betrays Zhu Youxiao is betraying him or betrays the entire Chinese orthodox, is an unfaithful and unrighteous person.

Since we were going to worship Xiaoling Mausoleum, it could be considered a southern tour. Zhu Youxiao did not want to go to Nan0 Beijing simply once.

Zhu Youxiao discovered that as the kings of the Ming Dynasty were wrapped in the capital for a long time, the scholars and people in the south now almost forgot the existence of his king.

These scholars and people seem to have no idea who was guarding the countryside under Yanshan Mountains, and guarding the national gates countless times with the emperor, thus resisting the Hu cavalry, giving them a life of luxury and wealth.

People in the south cannot forget who conquered this peaceful country and who protected them for hundreds of years.

Therefore, he wanted to go to Jiangnan as a king to this area with the most powerful reactionary force, but the most developed and most dynamic social and economic form.

Before this, Zhu Youxiao had asked the Minister of Works, Huo Weihua, to clear the canal transportation and rectify the road of the world. Now, after the establishment of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the first project after the transformation of the capital was to comprehensively expand the important water and land routes in the south. This was not only to facilitate economic circulation in the north and south and lay the foundation for rapid military dispatch in the future, but also to pave the way for Zhu Youxiao's future southern tour.

Moreover, Zhu Youxiao strictly ordered that local provinces and prefectures were not allowed to levy on the grounds of their southern tours. All itinerary arrangements were the responsibility of the Ministry of Rites, while road rectification and palace construction were all responsible by the Royal Engineering Company, and the silver was also distributed by the court.

Because Zhu Youxiao was about to leave for Jiangnan, not long after Zhu Youxiao returned from the Military Academy, Li Mingrui, the Grand Secretary of the Dongge and Right Minister of Rites, who was responsible for the itinerary, and Huo Weihua, the Minister of Works, who was responsible for the road traffic control, handed over the sign to ask for a visit and reported to Zhu Youxiao the arrangements for the southern tour.

After hearing the arrangements between the two, Zhu Youxiao did not think there was any major problem. Li Mingrui had been dormant at the bottom for many years before, and his mind had long been calm and restrained. Now even if he had entered the cabinet and the country was in charge, he did not show any pride. He still did things himself, considering and meticulously.

Huo Weihua is also a veteran of the three dynasties, and his work is not rigid and rigid. Now he is in charge of the project funds that are almost equivalent to the half-year income of the treasury, but there is no sign of deficit. He miraculously completed the task of rectification of the imperial road and construction of the palace in less than two months.

However, Zhu Youxiao still put forward some additional suggestions and said: "This time I go to Jiangnan, not only to worship Xiaoling Mausoleum, but also to educate the places. In addition to Xiaoling Mausoleum, the loyal ministers and generals of the previous dynasty, especially heroes who have made contributions in fighting foreign aggression, I will also go to their tombs to see them, such as the tombs of Duke Mu of Yue and Yu Shaobao by the West Lake, as well as Qi Shaobao and Yu Wuxiang, etc. The Ministry of Works and the Royal Engineering Company must renovate the ancestral halls and tombs of these loyal ministers and generals, and find someone to guard and clean them."

Huo Weihua responded and said, "Your Majesty is wise. It is a good government act to educate the scholars and the people with respect for loyal ministers. Now the world is declining, and people's hearts are not as good as ever. I wonder if I should simply build a temple in West Lake where both loyal ministers and treacherous ministers are buried. Another temple of loyal ministers will be built to gather heroes from ancient times, especially some heroes whose whereabouts are unknown and forgotten, for the people of the world."

"Real report! Don't be afraid of spending money. These things are more than building a few more palaces in front of me." When Zhu Youxiao said this, Huo Weihua couldn't help but feel a little moved and bowed deeply to Zhu Youxiao. In his opinion, a king can have this enlightenment, which is naturally a blessing for the country and the country.

On this side, Zhu Youxiao also instructed Li Mingrui: "Your Ministry of Rites should also take this opportunity to encourage all the scholars and civilians to praise these loyal and martyrs in poetry, lyrics, operas, etc., and newspapers should also promote the positive stories of these characters. In addition, those who slander the loyal ministers of the previous dynasty such as Wang Anshi Wang, etc., your Ministry of Rites should also be severely punished. In severe cases, you can directly report them to the Ministry of Justice or the Dongchang."

"I have received the order, and I have already prepared the Ministry of Rites and the Hanlin Academy to revise the genealogy and organize the heroic stories of loyal ministers and generals of all dynasties during this period. Anyone who is lost and unexamined, must make sure that the files are complete so that the scholars and people in the world can appreciate their past style."

After Li Mingrui said that, Zhu Youxiao nodded quickly: "Very good. The old scholars in the Hanlin Academy should do some serious things. They should not just ask the Four Books and Five Classics. Even if they read them deeply, they will not become Confucius. It is better to learn more about the stories practiced by the ancestors."

Strengthening the idea of ​​loyalty to the emperor through publicity and respect for loyal ministers and good generals is an important purpose of Zhu Youxiao's southern tour, especially when he is about to implement reforms, restraining the scholars and the people through thoughts is undoubtedly a good measure. Of course, Zhu Youxiao cannot rely on this to make those vested interests willingly divide the cake.

With the development of Royal Industrial Corporation and Royal Bank, Zhu Youxiao has now begun to gradually control the commercial economy, especially the entire north. The finances have basically gotten rid of the dilemma of relying on pitiful agricultural taxes to maintain military and civilian expenditures. At the same time, with the expansion of the Imperial Guards' recruitment and expansion in various places and the training of military schools began, Zhu Youxiao did not have to worry about not having the army to provide guarantees.

Regarding the reform, Zhu Youxiao had secretly summoned important officials of the Royalist Party before this and discussed how to reform, that is, how to attack the gentry in the world, how to force or coerce these privileged classes to give up their privileged status, and also make their own contributions to the Ming Dynasty.

In the end, Zhu Youxiao and his royalist ministers who valued national interests more than him unanimously decided to choose three places to conduct pilot reforms first. The implementers chose Xunjie, who are also a royalist who is willing to take drastic strategies and dare to take action against stubborn forces.

After some discussion, Zhu Youxiao and a group of important officials of the royal party decided to temporarily implement the policy of staked acres in Qin. The commercial economy in Qin was underdeveloped. Both ordinary people and gentry made a living by land, but the land was almost occupied by gentry or rich peasants, while the people who were responsible for tax payment occupied a small amount of land.

Because of this, the people have never had land to plant, and the court has never had taxes to collect. Sun Chengzong also said in his memorial that among the common people, one ten people with land does not have one ten, while the other people without land accounts for nineteen. In addition, many times, the owner of the land is no longer able to find the landlord, and it is unrealistic to collect taxes by households.

This problem can be solved well by taxing land acres instead of taxing by taxation, and can also allow a large number of landless farmers to exempt the burden of labor taxation, and can more freely exert labor in other industries, gradually changing from farmers to workers.

Of course, Zhu Youxiao did not intend to pay additional taxes when taxing land acres, and still implemented a low-value taxation model on Qin, which could reduce the exploitation of rich peasants and prevent them from giving up land to serve as tenants for landlords or working in cities. In this way, the agricultural economy of the entire Qin land would be controlled by the gentry class.

Before the privileges of all gentry classes were abolished, Zhu Youxiao could not expect to increase his income in Qin. Any progress was made step by step, it was the first step to liberate a large number of landless people in Qin.

In addition, Zhu Youxiao also planned to implement the integration of officials and gentry in Shandong. The reason why he chose to go to Shandong was because among the northern provinces where Zhu Youxiao had strong control, the gentry group in Shandong was the most powerful, and many of them were deep-rooted large gentry for many years. They were also the most difficult major gentry to deal with, such as the Shenggong Mansion of Kong Yan, because almost every dynasty favored them, including the Qing Dynasty in later generations.

The Kong family in Shandong East is considered to be the representative of the gentry in the world. In Zhu Youxiao's view, as long as the Kong family and other major gentry are forced to admit that officials and gentry will receive food in Shandong East, and then they will be less obstacles when they are promoted to other provinces in the future.

In addition, there is a commercial tax collection. Zhu Youxiao did not intend to touch the money bags of officials in the world because that would not only offend the gentry in the world but also offend all officials.

After all, this is the money bag of officials. If he moves, it will be equivalent to destroying the unspoken rules of the entire officialdom. Of course, what is more important is that even if he uses the rich silver to support the fire and waste dividends like Yongzheng, the more knowledgeable chief of the Qing Dynasty, did not stop the officials from asking for the people. Instead, it made the people pay only a credit for the extra money from the court.

The imposition of commercial tax is naturally a target for the increasingly developed commercial economy in the south. In the late Ming Dynasty, when the scale of commercial tax was already greater than the scale of agriculture, not levied commercial tax was simply a condolence to these Jiangnan chaebols. While they could not allow them to enjoy the national dividends, they did not produce any blood.

Zhu Youxiao planned to pilot the collection of commercial taxes in the southern Zhili area north of the Yangtze River under the jurisdiction of the governor of Fengyang. This is a thoroughfare between the north and the south, with a prosperous economy and a prosperous place in the Ming Dynasty. It is naturally more loyal to its Ming Dynasty, and the resistance to implementation is relatively small.

However, Zhu Youxiao did not intend to directly state that the commercial tax would be imposed in Fengyang. He first issued an order to say that on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the birth of Emperor Gao of Taizu, that is, Zhu Yuanzhang, Fengyang was also a place of dragon development, so he reduced half of the taxes of the people of Fengyang and directly removed the labor service. He also explicitly required that the lease of Fengyang tenant farmers collected by Fengyang landlords not be increased within ten years, and the rent standard should be determined by the local prefecture.

Zhu Youxiao's move was naturally to further isolate merchants, landlords and gentry by leveraging favors to ordinary farmers before levied commercial taxes in Fengyang area.

Before that, Zhu Youxiao had already communicated with Sun Chengzong, Denglai Governor Yuan Keli, and Fengyang Governor Ma Shiying. The three of them had been in the local area for a long time, so they naturally knew the shortcomings of the local area and expressed their approval for Zhu Youxiao's series of plans. Now they are just waiting to come to Zhu Youxiao in person to discuss the specific pilot reform rules.

When he thought that he was about to make a southern tour, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but ask Wang Chengen, the chief supervisor of the Sili, who was also serving in the Western Warm Gallery: "Did Sun Chengzong, the governor of Shaanxi and 0, the governor of Denglai Yuan Keli, and the governor of Fengyang Ma Shiying set out?"

"Report to Your Majesty, the Lijian has just received their memorials, and the three of them have only set off for a few days." Wang Chengen replied, and Zhu Youxiao said after hearing this: "Let them not have to come to the capital, just go to Ji0nan to wait for me first. In addition, immediately send an order to Lu Xiangsheng. The first cavalry battalion immediately ends the rest period, and promote Zhu Youjian to be the commander, leading the cavalry battalion and the infantry battalion's commander, leading the commander of the three infantry battalions in Beijing to lead the commander."

Wang Chengen, Li Mingrui and Huo Weihua were all shocked. They did not expect that His Majesty would bring so many elite troops out of the city, and even the letter to King Zhu Youjian had to follow him. However, since ancient times, the emperor had to stay in the capital, and the three of them were silent and dared not ask Zhu Youxiao why he did not leave the letter to King Zhu Youjian. Of course, they were unwilling to believe in the king Zhu Youjian in their hearts.

As ministers of the royalist party, they all know that they and Your Majesty are grasshoppers on the same rope, and they are worried that if Your Majesty has no son and will become a king in the future, they will definitely not be able to end up. This is also one of the reasons why they really want Your Majesty to kill Your Majesty, but at the same time they dare not really advise Your Majesty to kill Your Majesty to kill Your Majesty, because Your Majesty has never had a son. If Your Majesty really ascends the throne in the future, then whoever is the first to kill Your Majesty to kill Your Majesty will die the most miserable future.

However, sometimes some things must be asked, after all, the capital cannot be without a boss for a day. After looking at each other, the three of them decided to grit their teeth and ask who Zhu Youxiao asked to supervise the country. However, when they saw that the other two stood up, they both retreated tacitly.

Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but laugh and scolded: "You have no need to say that a group of old foxes who are self-protection. I can't guess your thoughts, but I also made it clear that no matter what, the king of faith cannot supervise the country, and must follow me and cannot let him stay in the capital!"

"Your Majesty said so much, but I don't know who should be the governor?" Huo Weihua stood up and asked Zhu Youxiao, relying on his old minister of the three dynasties.

"Li Mingrui, you are the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet. You are here to draft the order. The Grand Secretary of the Jinshen Hall and the Minister of Rites Qian Qianyi will be given the title of Prince Taibao, the Grand Secretary of the Wuying Hall and the Left Minister of the Ministry of War, and the Young Master Lu Xiangsheng, the Chief Master of the Imperial Horse Supervisor and the Secretariat Supervisor Liu Ruoyu stayed in Beijing. The minor matters can be judged first and then reported, and the major matters can be requested first!"

When Zhu Youxiao said this, all three of them responded, but at the same time they all sighed.

Li Mingrui even knelt down directly: "Your Majesty, I am brave enough to tell you. Although Your Majesty has a deep affection with the Empress, please consider the country and the country. Please send your Majesty the people to choose those with excellent talent and virtue to serve as the harem!"
Chapter completed!