Zhu Youtang glanced at the memorial and said casually,""Oh, tell me, how do you solve this?”
He did not take it seriously and continued to read the memorial.
The major lakes in Zhejiang and Nanzhi were in the flood season, and Jiangnan was in the rainy season. The imperial court needed to mobilize manpower and financial resources to prevent floods.
Every year at this time, it would be the time when the Japanese slaves would flood. It would not be long before Wei Wenli would fight the Japanese slaves in eastern Zhejiang. This time, nothing could happen. Ming couldn't afford to lose a second time.
Zhu Houzhao naturally did not know what Emperor Hongzhi was worried about.
He slowly said," Father, your son suggests that the Department of Lifting and Salt exchange as little salt as possible. Even the powerful bureaucrats are temporarily holding back and not exchanging salt. Let the salt of the Ming Dynasty be maintained at the normal expenses of the common people."”
"Oh."
Emperor Hongzhi nodded casually and continued to quickly flip through the memorials sent by the ceremonial supervisor.
" If the imperial court does these things," Zhu Houzhao continued," those powerful officials and merchants will have a keen sense of smell. They will definitely guess that the imperial court is short of salt, and they will compete to sell the salt in their hands.”
"Of course, these things can only be circulated among the upper echelons on a small scale. They can't be known by the lower-level officials and the common people.”
"At that time, the officials who hold salt, the merchants who seize large amounts of salt, and some landlord tyrants will definitely start selling the salt at a discount to the people.”
Zhu Youtang pondered for a moment, put down the booklet in his hand, and asked Zhu Houzhao with a smile,""My son is right. You want to use this method to transfer the salt to the people.”
"But we are the royal family. We can't let the commoners poke at our backbones, right? The salt still had to be exchanged in the end. What you said just shifted the target of the salt.”
"We can't bully the commoners just because they are a vulnerable group. In the end, we still have to exchange these salt for the commoners. However, we don't have much salt. If we really want to exchange for it, who knows how many years it will take?”
" The big merchants, the powerful and powerful bureaucrats, they have money. It's not a problem for them to delay the exchange. They don't lack this bit of salt to gain benefits, but the common people are different.”
"This is a hot potato. If we throw it to the people, what will the people do?”
Zhu Youtang first expressed his approval of Zhu Houzhao's opinion. This was a father who knew how to educate his child. He did not strike his son's confidence. He first praised Zhu Houzhao and then pointed out the pros and cons so that Zhu Houzhao could understand why this method was not advisable.
After he finished speaking, he began to flip through the memorials in his hands. The memorials on the table were piled up like a mountain. Every day, the ceremonial director would bring over many memorials for Emperor Hongzhi to read.
Emperor Hongzhi did everything himself, big or small. In fifteen years, he had already become familiar with all the matters of the country.
He was a promising Son of Heaven.
Zhu Houzhao continued," That's right. Father is right. When it comes to governing a country, the people are ultimately governed."”
"What if we don't exchange the salt for the people and instead exempt them from land tax?”
"In this case, the common people bought salt from the big merchants and bureaucrats at a discount, and finally exchanged the discounted salt for tax-free benefits.”
"And we don't have so many salt debts. Won't the problem of salt flooding be solved?”
Zhu Houzhao spoke very slowly.
After he finished speaking, Emperor Hongzhi suddenly froze. He stopped flipping through the memorial and looked at Zhu Houzhao in disbelief, his mouth slightly open.
The shock in his eyes could not be concealed.
He looked at Zhu Houzhao with a burning gaze, as if he had discovered something amazing. He stood still, as if he had turned into a fossil.
"Father, what's wrong? Is this inappropriate?"
Emperor Hongzhi took a deep breath and said in shock,""Son, this, you, how did you come up with this?”
As long as he digested Zhu Houzhao's strategy, Emperor Hongzhi would know how great this policy was.
That was not right.
Emperor Hongzhi was stunned again.
From the initial recall to the current resolution of the accumulated salt debt…
This was like a huge scheme that was being manipulated by Zhu Houzhao bit by bit, one loop after another!
What he, the emperor, couldn't do, his son could?
From this, one could tell what kind of complicated emotions Emperor Hongzhi was currently in. He had even lost the ability to control his expression.
He looked at Zhu Houzhao in disbelief. He could not believe that his son had come up with such an exquisite plan!
Yang Tinghe again?
Emperor Hongzhi was starting to feel a little absent-minded. Did he place Yang Tinghe in the wrong position? It wouldn't be too much to promote him to the cabinet, right?
"Someone told me," Zhu Houzhao said.”
He didn't say that he thought of it himself. How could a father not know what kind of person he was?
But at the same time, Zhu Houzhao did not want to tell Emperor Hongzhi about Su Ce.
Little brother is now in control of one trap after another. If father finds out, he will definitely think of ways to make little brother a high official in the imperial court.
The officialdom was full of scheming, and Zhu Houzhao was afraid that Su Ce's body would not be able to withstand it.
Su Ce was silently guiding Zhu Houzhao, and Zhu Houzhao was also silently protecting his little brother.
He also hoped that his little brother could quietly recuperate in the Green Vine Courtyard. If his illness was cured, Zhu Houzhao would definitely send his little brother to the cabinet to become a first-grade official without a second word!
But now was not the time.
Emperor Hongzhi glanced at Zhu Houzhao and smiled.""Yang Tinghe? Hehe, alright, you have to learn more from your teacher.”
" En," Zhu Houzhao said noncommittally. He did not know why, but he felt that it was unfair for his little brother. Many things were thought of by his little brother, but his father did not know and always thought that it was Yang Tinghe.
However, Zhu Houzhao also knew that with Brother Ce's personality, he probably wouldn't care about these things.
This little brother had a big picture and a high level of thinking. He was obviously young, but he was always like a god, using his high and mighty wisdom to look down and control all living beings.
"Imperial Father, is this strategy feasible?”
Zhu Houzhao asked.
"Of course, it's too desirable!" Emperor Hongzhi said excitedly.”
The common people benefited, the court benefited, and the interests of the big merchants and bureaucrats were sacrificed to solve the problem of salt debt accumulated in the country for hundreds of years. This was what Zhu Youtang had always wanted to do but could not do.
But now, it had been realized within the rules. One could imagine Emperor Hongzhi's mood!
The most wonderful part of this scheme was that even if the big businessmen and bureaucrats knew that they had been set up, they could not refute it and could only suppress their anger!
This was simply too brilliant, too great, and too wonderful!
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