After reading these two memorials, Liu Jian and Li Dongyang realized that there was a huge problem with the Empire's tax system. The poor were over-burdened while the rich were under-burdened.
If this continued, it would be detrimental to the empire.
"I accept the decree!"
Liu Jian received the decree and took the Dragon Spring Sword from the Emperor.
After Liu Jian and the other two left the palace, they realized that their clothes were completely soaked. They knew very well that the Emperor had already conducted an in-depth investigation of all the officials in the court.
Obviously, this was Cao Zhengchun's doing.
His Majesty didn't investigate their property. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to defend themselves.
The empire had been suffering from this for a long time, and it had finally reached the point of scraping the bones to cure the poison.
Liu Jian and the other two sighed and made up their minds. They absolutely could not let down the Emperor's great kindness. Otherwise, if they made the Emperor unhappy, their lives would be in danger.
After Liu Jian and the other two left, Zhu Houzhao opened a memorial placed at the corner of the table.
The memorial wrote:
Liu Jian's ancestors produced 25,000 taels of silver.
Li Dongyang's ancestral property was forty-five thousand taels of silver.
Xie Qian's ancestors had 57,000 taels of silver.
These three people could be considered upright and upright people. Otherwise, with their high positions, how could they only have this much property?
A eunuch who had been in office for five years could also be greedy for 100,000 silver taels!
Zhu Houzhao would not take back all the land in the world, nor would he divide the fertile land equally. If these cultivated lands were taken back, it would be an even greater waste if no one cultivated them.
The only thing Zhu Houzhao did was to increase taxes.
After measuring the fertile land in the world, they would pay taxes according to the yield per mu. They would collect two buckets of rice per mu of land and no longer collect a stone.
With such taxes, the aristocratic families and landowners would have to pay more taxes, while the poor would have their taxes reduced.
In Zhu Houzhao's eyes, this world was his. These wealthy families and landowners who avoided paying taxes were his greatest enemies. In Zhu Houzhao's eyes, these people were even more abominable than those corrupt officials.
It was the empire's chronic disease!
The next day.
Liu Jian, the chief assistant of the cabinet, found the Minister of Revenue and started a nationwide land measurement operation!
Zhu Houzhao quietly waited for news from Liu Jian and Li Dongyang.
Zhu Houzhao wanted to see if Liu Jian and Li Dongyang had any real capabilities and if they were really his Zhang Juzheng!
Half a month later, the Imperial Academy of Medicine came to Da Tong Prefecture to prevent the plague.
A month later, the Bureau of Military Personnel sent 100,000 soldiers to join forces with the 200,000 soldiers of Da Tong Prefecture. They lied that they were sending a million soldiers from Da Tong Prefecture into the desert to wipe out the Tartars.
What surprised Wang Shouren was that the Tartar tribe had no ability to resist at all. Logically speaking, there should be people guarding the Tartar tribe, but the Tartar tribe was like a plate of loose sand.
Wang Shouren didn't know that Emperor Zhengde's secret order wasn't to kill the King of Tartar in front of the battlefield. Instead, he wanted the Dragon Guarding Mountain Villa to go deep into the grasslands and eliminate the leaders and bloodlines of the Tartar people.
The leaders of the Tartar tribes had already been killed or injured. They were naturally powerless against the Empire's army.
The empire's soldiers destroyed the Tartar tribes while they robbed the horses and livestock of the Tartars.
In the blink of an eye, three months had passed!
In just three short months, the Empire's Ministry of War had 50,000 cavalrymen…
Three months later, Datong Prefecture opened the granaries to release grain. The grain from the Ministry of Revenue had already been transported to Datong Prefecture. Other than providing food, there was also charcoal for the winter.
……
Other than peace in the empire, another major event had already begun.
The Empress Dowager drafted a decree to select beautiful women to enter the palace.
Within a month, the people sent 100,000 beautiful women, and the female officials selected 3,000 of them to enter the palace.
Entering the palace was the dream of all women in the world.
If she couldn't become an imperial concubine, she could be a palace maid for a few years. When she left the palace at the age of twenty-six, she could find a good family. After all, a woman who had entered the palace was a person who had seen the world. Even the woman's family would soar.
However, the palace gates were high and dangerous. How difficult would it be for an ordinary woman to jump through the dragon gate?
Not only did he have to be handsome, but he also couldn't have any flaws on his body. Even a mole would be brushed off.
She had to be tall and healthy.
The first task of the women who entered the palace to serve the emperor was to give birth to the dragon son. Therefore, the palace had extremely high requirements for the woman's figure.
The Empress Dowager had even personally selected some women she liked. When the Emperor came to Cining Palace, she would arrange for a few concubines to serve him.
In the Empress Dowager's eyes, the most important thing was to quickly give birth to the dragon heir.
The inheritance of the dragon vein was the most important. With the Dragon Empress, Ci Ning Palace would be lively and not deserted.
……
In the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Zhu Houzhao was reading the memorial submitted by Wang Shouren.
The Battle of Datong had ended three months ago.
Wang Shouren and Qi Jingtong led the Bureau of Military Personnel two thousand miles deep into the desert, destroying thirty-six Tartar tribes and seventy percent of the Tartar Kingdom's population.
In autumn, the Bureau of Military Personnel led 100,000 cavalry back to Datong Prefecture.
When they left, there were only 10,000 cavalrymen. When they returned from Menggu Plains, there were already 100,000 cavalrymen!
Tartar was almost destroyed.
The Empire's territory had increased by 1,000 miles, and the Ministry of Works had sent laborers to build a city 500 miles away from Datong Prefecture. Other than these laborers, there were also some Tartar slaves who worked day and night to build a border city!
Because winter had arrived, the Empire's troops had returned to Datong. They would train during winter and then fight against the Tartars in spring.
The news of the destruction of the Tartar Empire shocked all the countries around the empire. In the past three months, these countries sent envoys to the empire to pay tribute. They were afraid that the empire would send troops to destroy them like how they destroyed the Tartar Empire.
Zhu Houzhao looked at the memorial submitted by Wang Shouren and smiled.
The Tartar Kingdom no longer had the power to fight back, and the countries around the empire basically had no power to resist. As for the Jurchen tribes in Liaodong, they were no match.
The total population was only a few hundred thousand. They only needed to send a general who was good at fighting to lead the Liaodong army and mobilize the hundreds of thousands of soldiers in Liaodong. It was enough to wipe out these tribes.
The sun was shining brightly.
Zhu Houzhao was in a good mood.
The haze from when he had just ascended the throne was swept away!
The current Empire was a truly powerful country. The country was rich and the people were strong.
At this time, there were 18 million taels of silver in the imperial treasury. Other than the silver from the eunuchs, there was also a portion of silver from the corrupt officials in the court. The cabinet, Liu Jian, had received an edict to measure the fertile land in the world.
During this period of time, Liu Jian had uncovered many corrupt officials. These corrupt officials did not end up well. They were beheaded and their houses were raided.
Many aristocratic families wanted to send money to Liu Jian, but who knew that Liu Jian was like a stone in the toilet. He was smelly and hard, and not only did they not send their money in, but several aristocratic families were also seized by Liu Jian and their property was confiscated…
All of the cultural relics in the imperial court also witnessed the tough behavior of the cabinet chief assistant, Liu Jian.
This Liu Jian could definitely be called the chief assistant of the powerful.
The most important thing was that the civil and military officials in the court could not topple Liu Jian at all because the Emperor of the Empire stood behind Liu Jian!
With the Emperor backing Liu Jian, who could bring him down?
Dream of a fool!
……
"Since Your Majesty ascended the throne, you have been heroic and defeated the Tartars. You should ascend the altar to worship the heavens and grant amnesty to the world!”
Liu Jian entered the palace, and the warm air from the Palace of Heavenly Purity hit his face.
Ever since His Majesty ascended the throne, he had helped the empire to recover. Liu Jian had seen the empire prosper again and a great country rise…
In the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Zhu Houzhao held a heater in his hand. The Tartar Kingdom had been beaten by the empire and had no room to breathe, but there were still some foreign races in Liaodong.
For example, the Jianzhou Jurchen and the Yeh Nala tribe, these tribes living in Liaodong, had rebelled repeatedly.
During the Chenghua years, the empire had already wiped out the Jurchen tribe in Jianzhou. However, in just a few decades, the Jurchen tribe in Jianzhou had revived…
The population of these Jurchen tribes reached hundreds of thousands…
Zhu Houzhao listened to the words of Liu Jian and raised his head.""I've just ascended the throne and should have granted amnesty to the world. However, if the crime is not punished, the law will be broken. From today onwards, the death penalty will not be pardoned.”
"Yes!"
As soon as the chief assistant finished speaking, a eunuch entered the hall and reported,""Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager has summoned you to Cining Palace!”
After the eunuch finished speaking, Liu Jian stood up and said,""I will take my leave."
Zhu Houzhao waved his hand." The Spring Festival is approaching. There's no need to work so hard. Pass on my decree. All the civil and military officials will take a month off. There's no need to attend court. They can just work in the government office."”
"Yes."
After Liu Jian left, Zhu Houzhao got up and headed to the Cining Palace. At this moment, there were many beautiful women in the Cining Palace. These beautiful women were all selected from innocent families.
Virtuous and dignified, handsome and beautiful.
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