Raising chickens and pigs and digging for wild vegetables, the county magistrate's promotion wa

Chapter 582 Eating lamp ash, letting out a light fart!

As Emperor Zhu finished speaking, Li Shanchang, Xu Da, and other civil and military officials looked at each other in bewilderment.

What happened to Shangdi?

Was he provoked again by his good son-in-law?

Li Shanchang suppressed the urge to burst into laughter and stroked his beard, saying, "When you rise to power, you must not use the standards of Ningyang County and Dengzhou Prefecture to compare other places, after all, the situations of Ningyang County and Dengzhou Prefecture are quite special."

Upon hearing Li Shanchang's words, Emperor Zhu's face darkened even further.

Before visiting Ningyang County and Dengzhou Prefecture, Emperor Zhu would not have found the phrase "Hongwu Prosperity" particularly jarring.

After all, this has been the case for thousands of years. As long as the common people can have enough to eat, or as long as the number of people who starve to death is small, it is enough to call it a prosperous age.

The scene described by Du Fu in his poem, "Recalling the prosperous days of the Kaiyuan era, even small towns had ten thousand households. Rice flowed like oil and millet was white as snow, and both public and private granaries were full," seemed more like the poet's imagination to Emperor Zhu.

However, after visiting Ningyang County and Dengzhou Prefecture, and witnessing firsthand how people secretly used excess grain to brew wine, only to be loudly mocked as fools by some scoundrel, Emperor Zhu now found the phrase "Hongwu Prosperity" particularly grating.

It's like someone is standing right next to you, loudly mocking you.

"Wow, what a prosperous era!"

"Is a prosperous era defined by people not starving to death?"

"Tsk, the fools in my county have so much grain they can brew wine, and I haven't even dared to call it a prosperous age, yet you, sir, are already talking about it?"

"Or, why don't you go and talk to Chen Da and the other people who were forced into hard labor in the coal mines and tell them about this prosperous era?"

The thought of that despicable scoundrel's face made Emperor Zhu shake his head vigorously.

The Ningyang County and Dengzhou Prefecture under that scoundrel's rule were indeed unbelievably wealthy.

If Ningyang County had the excuse of receiving many gifts and policies from the imperial court, what about Dengzhou Prefecture?

In just two years, the area has transformed from a disaster zone ravaged by tsunamis and earthquakes into what it is today; this transformation cannot be accomplished by a single trading post alone.

What's even more infuriating is that there are more than twenty scoundrels who are just like that bastard, who have proven with their actions that as long as you follow a certain routine, the success of Ningyang County and Dengzhou Prefecture can be completely replicated.

It was precisely because of the success of more than twenty counties that the phrase "Hongwu Prosperity" sounded all the more jarring.

Emperor Zhu gave a slight hum and said, "I specifically had people retrieve materials from Luanxian, Jinghai, Leting, Zunhua, Boye and other places to review."

"It would have been better if we hadn't looked, because once we did, it really gave us a shock."

“Brother Shanchang said we can’t compare other places with Ningyang County and Dengzhou Prefecture, but what if we compare other places with the counties we just mentioned?”

"The county magistrates in these places are all kids about the same age as Biao'er."

"These kids don't have any particularly outstanding skills; they're just bold in learning, thinking, and doing."

“We dare to learn from that scoundrel about distributing land, setting up workshops, building roads, reservoirs, and canals; we dare to learn from that scoundrel about standing up for the people; we dare to learn from that scoundrel about using a large number of laborers.”

"But they just happened to learn it and actually did it."

"In these more than twenty counties, the population, the living standards of the people, and the amount of money and grain in any of them are all increasing."

"Although the data on paper is worse than that of Ningyang County, it is much better than that of other prefectures and counties."

At this point, Emperor Zhu sighed softly again.

"Let's set a rule today: from now on, no one in our Great Ming Dynasty is allowed to mention the Hongwu Prosperity."

"Until all the people in the world can eat their fill, dress warmly, and have more grain than they can eat, let us, the ruler and his ministers, work together to lead the people toward a prosperous age."

"We can't let a bunch of teenagers laugh at us."

As Emperor Zhu finished speaking, Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen, and other civil and military officials fell silent once again.

Other officials may not know the names of the counties that Emperor Zhu just mentioned, but which of the officials present did not know them?

It's a place where all the scholars from Ningyang County served as county magistrates!

After a long silence, Yang Siyi spoke again: "Your Majesty, I still oppose abolishing the original five-year plan now."

Emperor Zhu grunted in acknowledgment, then turned his gaze to the other civil and military officials: "What about the others? What do they say?"

Minister of Personnel Hong Yi directly cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I also feel that the original five-year plan should not be abolished directly."

"In fact, the five-year plan, which was formulated and implemented starting in the second year of the Hongwu reign, came to an end in the sixth year of the Hongwu reign."

"It's almost the fifth year of Hongwu's reign, so it's just a matter of waiting another year."

"This year is a good opportunity to see how the workshops and markets can benefit the Ming Dynasty and its people."

"Besides, it would also be a good opportunity to consider adding smaller government offices before the prefectures, counties, and villages."

"If the trial in Ningyang County goes well, it can be extended to the other twenty-odd counties, and then gradually promoted to the whole of the Ming Dynasty."

"If you just push it away..."

Hong Yi chuckled self-deprecatingly: "The Ministry of Personnel really can't muster that many officials."

Emperor Zhu nodded slightly.

Minister of Works Xue Xiang jumped out, bowed to Emperor Zhu, and said, "Minister Yang and Minister Hong are both wrong!"

"Leaving aside other things, brick kilns, cement kilns, paper mills, breeding farms, small coal mines, small iron smelting workshops, and quarries are things that each county urgently needs to promote."

"If the five-year plan remains unchanged and local magistrates are allowed to proceed according to the original plan, when will these small workshops be able to be established?"

"If we don't expand these small workshops, when will this road be finished?"

Minister of Revenue Yang Siyi spat out, "Spread out these small workshops?"

"You, Lao Xue, really are all talk and no action!"

"Do you know that these small workshops require a lot of manpower?"

"Especially those small ironworks and coal mines, would anyone who works a day in those two workshops have the energy to farm?"

"If the people don't grow grain, what will you eat? If the people don't raise silkworms, what will you wear?"

"You have nothing to eat or wear, and you still want to be a government official?"

"Don't even mention Dengzhou Prefecture and Ningyang County!"

“Ningyang County had a large number of prisoners. From the first year of Hongwu to the second year of Hongwu, almost all the prisoners were sent to Ningyang County to do hard labor.”

"Not to mention Dengzhou Prefecture, in addition to a large number of prisoners, there were also a large number of Korean laborers. In particular, the Sun Gupu rebellion sent tens of thousands of forced laborers to Dengzhou."

Where else could we find so many laborers for forced labor?

"If the spring planting in the fifth year of Hongwu is affected by the opening of these small workshops, then you, Xue Xiang, will be a sinner of the Ming Dynasty!"

Minister of Rites Qian Yongren immediately became anxious.

"No change?"

"If the original five-year plan isn't changed, then what the hell do we do with the Imperial Academy? What about the local community schools, county schools, prefectural schools, and county schools? And what about that university in Dengzhou Prefecture?"

"What about the imperial examinations held in the fifth year of the Hongwu reign and those held afterward?"

"None of these are included in the five-year plan!"

Minister of War Yue Shaofeng, his face equally dark, said, "What about these post stations? This is no simple matter!"

It turns out that the overall quality of officials in the early Ming Dynasty was not high.

Fortunately, Xu Da and Chang Yuchun, along with other high-ranking officials, were also present. Emperor Zhu himself was also quite capable in combat, which prevented the civil officials from staging a full-blown brawl.

Even so, they glared at each other like fighting cocks.

Minister of Revenue Yang Siyi even adopted the posture of debating with a group of Confucian scholars.