novelAbuy Chapter 16: Xia Xuanshi is promoted to Zhaoyi!
Chapter 16: Xia Xuanshi is promoted to Zhaoyi!
"Get up and sit down."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Xia Tianxin stood up and nervously sat down next to Zhu Houzhao.
Although Zhu Houzhao looked so young, was about the same age as her, and acted very approachable.
But whether it was just her imagination or not, Xia Tianxin always felt very nervous in front of Zhu Houzhao.
"Where are you from?" Zhu Houzhao asked casually.
Xia Tian replied nervously, "Your Majesty, I am from Yingtian Prefecture in Southern Zhili."
Yingtian Prefecture...
Zhu Houzhao frowned slightly; he disliked Yingtian Prefecture.
When Emperor Taizong Zhu Di forcibly moved the capital to Beijing, the officials of Yingtian Prefecture were extremely unwilling.
Even now, there are still some civil officials in the south who are determined to move the capital to Yingtianfu.
My heart came from Yingtian Prefecture this summer. Is it just a coincidence?
Zhu Houzhao shook his head, banishing those thoughts from his mind, and asked, "What skills do you have?"
"I am proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and I have also learned a few dances."
"Dance for me."
"it is good."
Xia Tianxin stood up, took a deep breath, and began to dance gracefully.
Her dance moves were light and graceful, like a swallow flying in the palm of your hand.
While dancing, Xia Tianxin also sang, her voice melodious, gentle, and lingering.
As she danced, Xia Tianxin's brocade robe fell off, revealing only a thin, plain dress underneath.
The white gauze fluttered with the dance, making her appear ethereal and fairy-like.
Zhu Houzhao reached out and pulled Xia Tianxin, who was still dancing, into his arms.
"Your Majesty..." Xia Tianxin whispered, leaning against Zhu Houzhao's chest, her cheeks immediately turning red.
"Your Majesty, the dance isn't over yet..."
"Let's jump somewhere else."
Zhu Houzhao picked up Xia Tianxin and carried her to the dragon bed.
The bed curtains fell, the candlelight went out, and a blush spread across Xia Tianxin's face.
"Your Majesty, please be gentle..."
……
The next day.
The sun was high in the sky, and the sun was shining brightly.
Zhu Houzhao lay lazily on the bed, reminiscing about the fun of the previous night, before summoning a palace maid to help him and Xia Tianxin change their clothes.
Xia Tianxin, her face flushed, changed her clothes with the help of the palace maids.
His Majesty is strong and vigorous, in the prime of his life. He was so energetic last night that she still feels a bit sore all over.
But deep down, she felt sweet.
Zhu Houzhao looked at Xia Tianxin's infatuated smile and couldn't help but reach out and pinch her cheek.
"By imperial decree, Xia Xuanshi is promoted to the rank of Zhaoyi, and is to reside in the Jade Pavilion of Zhongcui Palace. She is also to be rewarded with one hundred bolts of silk and ten boxes of jewelry."
Xia Tian was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed. He quickly endured his physical discomfort and knelt down to receive the decree.
"Your Majesty, I thank you for your kindness."
Zhu Houzhao helped Xia Tianxin up: "No need to thank me. Today, I will have the Imperial Kitchen prepare an extra dish for you at Zhongcui Palace to help you recover."
Xia Tianxin blushed and lowered her head, replying, "Thank you, Your Majesty."
Zhu Houzhao smiled slightly and left the palace first.
The next moment, the palace maids and eunuchs of Qianqing Palace all knelt down in front of Xia Tianxin.
"This servant greets Your Majesty..."
Xia Tianxin had never seen such a scene before, and was immediately taken aback, momentarily at a loss for what to do.
"No need for formalities..."
Xia Tianxin imitated Zhu Houzhao, waving her hand and saying.
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
The palace maids and eunuchs rose, all with fawning expressions, and stood respectfully before her.
She clearly felt that her status and position in the palace had changed from then on.
……
Today, Zhu Houzhao does not need to attend court; instead, he handles government affairs in the East Warm Pavilion.
The governor of Ganzhou submitted a memorial stating that the floods this summer had caused severe damage to Jiujiang Prefecture, Jiankang Prefecture, Raozhou Prefecture, and other places.
The homes of tens of thousands of disaster victims were destroyed, the fields yielded no harvest, and the problems of food and sleep for tens of thousands of people could not be solved.
The governor of Ganzhou begged Zhu Houzhao to exempt Ganzhou from this year's taxes and to allocate 100,000 taels of silver and 300,000 shi of grain to relieve the disaster victims.
If this amount of silver and grain had been available a month ago, Zhu Houzhao would have had to grit his teeth to get it out.
But now, Zhu Houzhao has issued a handwritten order to Yu Huatian, which can be directly handled by the eunuchs of the Imperial Horse Administration.
Thanks to the Western Depot's efforts to recover overdue taxes, Zhu Houzhao's imperial treasury is currently well-stocked with silver and grain.
The problem is that Zhu Houzhao cannot rely solely on annual taxes to maintain the operation of the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty's annual expenditures were staggering.
Every year, the salaries of the imperial family members had to be paid out, the salaries of Ming Dynasty officials had to be paid out, the military pay for soldiers guarding the borders had to be paid out, construction projects had to be paid out, and disaster relief also had to be paid out...
However, the only annual income comes from taxes levied twice a year, in summer and autumn.
Zhu Houzhao knew that the demise of a dynasty always began with economic problems.
He also knew that a large part of the reason for the fall of the Ming Dynasty was that the Chongzhen Emperor at the end of the Ming Dynasty was so poor that he could not even pay the soldiers in Liaodong.
Therefore, the most urgent task is to enrich the revenue streams of the Ming Dynasty.
We can't rely solely on taxes to barely make ends meet.
But how can we generate revenue for the imperial court without increasing the burden on the people of the Ming Dynasty?
This made Zhu Houzhao fall into deep thought, and after several moments of contemplation, he had a flash of inspiration.
The most profitable thing in the world is monopoly!
Zhu Houzhao intended to establish a state-owned enterprise, similar to those of later dynasties, to engage in commercial activities and generate revenue for the Ming Dynasty.
As for what to sell, Zhu Houzhao had already decided.
That's table salt!
Salt is one of the most important consumer goods for ordinary people, because they will lose their strength if they don't eat salt.
Starting from the Spring and Autumn Period, the government monopolized the salt trade, thereby rapidly accumulating enormous wealth.
In the early Ming Dynasty, the Ming court implemented the "Open Market System," which allowed merchants to transport grain to border towns in exchange for salt permits.
With this salt certificate, one can collect salt and transport it to designated locations for sale.
The advantage of doing this was that the entire process involved exchanging grain for salt, all in kind, without silver, making it difficult to embezzle.
The downsides are slow efficiency and high losses.
However, in the fifth year of the Hongzhi reign, the Ministry of Revenue and the Cabinet colluded to abolish the Open Market Law and replace it with the Corvée Law.
The silver-for-salt law stipulated that merchants could directly purchase salt permits with silver, thus ensuring that the imperial court received the silver.
However, most of this silver ended up in the hands of local officials, which not only damaged the national treasury but also caused food problems in the important border towns.
Because corruption became easy, corruption in the border towns got completely out of control starting from the Hongzhi era, and the soldiers in the border towns never received their full pay until the end of the Ming Dynasty.
Later, both the Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houcong and the Longqing Emperor Zhu Zaiji attempted to abolish the "commutation of silver" system and revert to the "open market" system.
However, due to strong resistance from the civil service, the matter was ultimately dropped.
Moreover, because Emperor Xiaozong had no real power, the privilege of issuing salt permits fell from the emperor's hands to the hands of his relatives, nobles, and officials.
For example, Zhu Houzhao's two maternal uncles, Marquis Wang Yuan of Ruian and Earl Wang Qing of Chongshan, and Zhu Houzhao's two maternal uncles, Marquis Zhang Heling of Shouning and Marquis Zhang Yanling of Jianchang, all had the privilege of issuing salt permits.
What Zhu Houzhao wanted to do was to take back all the privileges of issuing salt permits into his own hands!