Hall of Heaven.
At the end of the fourth month of the 15th year of Hongzhi, the court meeting was held as usual.
After three whips, the civil and military officials entered the court and stood on the left and right.
Every month, the Cabinet, the Six Ministries, the Imperial Censorate, and other departments would report the situation of the month to the Emperor.
By the time the various departments finished reporting, it was already noon. The sun was high in the sky, and spring was bright.
Just as the officials were about to end the court session and retreat, Zhu Houzhao stood up beside Emperor Hongzhi.
"Reporting to the emperor, your son has something to report.”
The officials looked at Zhu Houzhao in surprise, wondering what he wanted to report. You should just listen to the process of learning from politics and governance. Taking ten thousand steps back, why would a crown prince like you meddle in state affairs?
Emperor Hongzhi was also very curious, but he still nodded solemnly and said,""Crown Prince, please speak."
Zhu Houzhao lifted his robe and walked to the front of the hall. He said in a powerful voice,""Reporting to Imperial Father, your son begs for the removal of the Kaizhong system.”
The hall fell silent.
The officials were stunned for a long time.
This little bastard was really something! Was this still the Crown Prince of the Zhu Clan? Why did he do all these things like digging up the graves of his ancestors? Wasn't he afraid of the wrath of the heavens?
Imperial Censor Yuan Ting of the Left hurriedly stepped forward and said,""Your Highness! Be careful with your words!"
The Minister of Rites also stepped forward and said," Your Highness, do you know that the Kaizhong system is a national policy set by Emperor Taizu of our dynasty? Emperor Taizu is so far-sighted. The Kaizhong system has benefited the dynasty for a hundred years and has satisfied the grain and fodder needs of the nine borders. How can it be abolished?”
A single stone caused a thousand ripples. For a moment, all the officials stepped forward to refute and rebuke the Crown Prince.
Zhu Houzhao said calmly,"Of course I know that the opening of the middle system is a national policy set by Emperor Taizu Gao."”
"But any national policy must satisfy the current state system. According to what you said, isn't it suicidal for the Sui Dynasty to abolish the nine-grade system and promote the imperial examination?”
"The Tang Dynasty abolished the land sharing system and dictated the land system. Isn't that also against the strategic policy formulated by our ancestors?”
Zhu Houzhao cupped his fists and asked in return,""Forget it, bengong won't ask you anymore. Even if I ask you, you might not know.”
He then cupped his fists at the Imperial Censor of the Left, Yuan Ting.
This made the etiquette department so angry that their faces turned red. Was this blatant looking down on others and bullying me for not having enough knowledge? Is it better to be the censor of the left capital of the Imperial Censorate?
Zhu Houzhao asked Yuan Ting,"I would like to ask Lord Yuan, why was the Tang Dynasty's land distribution system abolished?"”
Yuan Ting blurted out,"Because of the severe annexation of land in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the system of equal land automatically collapsed.”
"Isn't it the same now?" Zhu Houzhao shrugged.”
"Is the opening system only in name now? Were there any merchants who were willing to transport grain to Jiubian in exchange for salt?”
What was this? What did he mean by the system of opening only existed in name?
For a moment, the hall was in an uproar. The officials had no idea what the Crown Prince was going crazy about today. What good would it do for you and your Zhu family to abolish the system?
Alright, even if the system of opening the middle was not as thorough as it was during the reign of Emperor Taizu Gao, this was at least a system set by the ancestors. Anyone could propose it, except for the crown prince.
"Why not?" Yuan Ting retorted.”
Zhu Houzhao took out the first booklet that he had compiled yesterday and spread it out."Lord Yuan, please take a look. This is the data of the thirteen provinces of the two capitals transporting grain to the nine borders in exchange for salt from the first year of Hongzhi to the fifteenth year.”
Hiss!
The Third Cabinet Elder narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhu Houzhao.
It seemed that the Crown Prince had come prepared. The data was already done. Who helped him? Yang Tinghe? Impossible! Yang Tinghe wouldn't be so rebellious as to help the Crown Prince abolish the Kaizhong system.
That was the data that the Crown Prince had made himself?
When did he become so hardworking? Your hard work makes us a little scared!
Emperor Hongzhi stroked his beard and smiled slightly. His smile was filled with gratification.
No matter what, today proved one thing. His son had grown up and started to participate in politics. He had started to dig up the loopholes in the country!
Regardless of whether he was right or wrong, his father would support him. Even if he was wrong, Emperor Hongzhi would encourage him. He could not dampen the Crown Prince's enthusiasm!
By then, Yuan Ting had already finished reading. He was dumbstruck as he held the booklet. For a moment, his expression was complicated.
Emperor Hongzhi asked Yuan Ting curiously,""Censor Yuan, what do you see?”
Yuan Ting's body trembled as he stuttered,""This, this…Your Majesty, I found in the Crown Prince's statistics book that from the first year of Hongzhi until now, the amount and frequency of merchants transporting grain to the nine sides has been decreasing every year.”
Oh?
Emperor Hongzhi's interest was piqued.”
The data in this booklet was very intuitive. It briefly calculated the situation of merchants transporting grain to the nine sides in the past fifteen years.
It was not an exaggeration to say that it had decreased drastically.
Emperor Hongzhi took a deep breath and looked at Zhu Houzhao in a daze. He did not forget to pass the book to the cabinet.
After the cabinet finished reading, they were also quite shocked. They looked at the crown prince with a complicated gaze.
Zhu Houzhao smiled sinisterly and asked Yuan Ting,""What can this set of data prove?”
Yuan Ting swallowed his saliva and said with difficulty,""This…Your Highness, it means that the influence of the system is weakening.”
However, he quickly braced himself and said,""Even so, we can't just abolish the opening system. Even though the merchants have reduced the number of times they transport grain, it's still beneficial to the Nine Sides. If we abolish the opening system now, who will bear the burden of transporting grain to the Nine Sides?”
After Yuan Ting finished speaking, all the officials nodded. Even the cabinet nodded in agreement.
Before they could find a countermeasure, if the opening system was abolished, the impact on the food supply of the Jiubian army would be too great.
Jiubian was responsible for defending against the Tartars and the Wala people, so they couldn't afford to run out of food.
Therefore, even if the system was too big to be dropped, the Ming government could not give up easily.
"We won't let the merchants transport the goods. We'll be responsible for the transportation ourselves." Zhu Houzhao said indifferently.”
Yuan Ting laughed heartily. He was young. It was a good thing that the Crown Prince had discovered the problem, but he was still too naive and young.
" Your Highness, do you know that Emperor Taizu Gao proposed the middle system because the country was short of money and could no longer afford the high transportation fees?" he instructed." That's why merchants were responsible for transportation. We'll give them salt."”
The reason was simple. The country had a budget and could not afford to pay for the transportation costs. However, the country had salt. The country could not immediately convert the salt into money for external use, but they could use it as credit to endorse merchants.
The merchants were responsible for paying for the transportation costs, and the state would give them salt to manage the salt industry.
This was a closed loop of the open system.
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