On the first day of the first month of the 19th year of Zhengde, Zhu Houzhao came to Fengtian Hall to receive New Year congratulations from all the civil and military officials.

According to the rules, at this time, as the emperor, he would give money to his ministers to celebrate the festival.

But before the Zhengde Dynasty, this behavior of "issuing year-end bonuses" was basically just a formality.

After all, before the Zhengde Dynasty, the empire was not well-off and the disaster relief and military support were not enough. The spare money he received was given a "year-end bonus"!

Moreover, in order to save money, you must not give up on Jiaozhi.

Therefore, the so-called gift of money to celebrate the festival is that all gifts are worthless treasures, just for good luck.

All officials are human beings, so they naturally value these superficial benefits. The rewards given by the court are getting thinner and thinner, so they are naturally unavoidable and disinterested in the court, so they secretly embezzled and accepted bribes to get benefits.

Now, since the empire's finances are abundant, Zhu Houzhao has never let this New Year's gift of money be just a formality, but rather a ritual system to reward officials.

The money given is naturally all silver dollars, and the amount is not small, equivalent to three or even five times the monthly salary of many officials.

The court officials are now beginning to value the reward, after all, it is three to five times the monthly salary, hundreds or thousands of silver dollars, which is enough to buy a villa in Xiaoyongfang, Xuanwumenli Street.

Some officials who performed positively in the year naturally had a brighter face, especially when some local prefectures and county officials with outstanding political achievements were arranged in the center of the hall for the first time to accept awards and rewards from the emperor, for them, it was enough for them to have more confidence to insist on their duty to make decisions for the people.

"Although the law is ruthless, the heavenly family has feelings." This is what Zhang Cong felt in his heart at this time.

When Emperor Zhu Houzhao ordered people to carry the whole box of silver dollars to Fengtian Hall and open it, the silver dollars placed in the box made him and the officials present shine involuntarily. However, perhaps because of his identity, these officials were not good at acting too much, so they lowered their heads and buried their heads, but their hands that had nowhere to put them clearly revealed their excitement.

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help laughing secretly when he saw this. He had to admit that although the officials in the court were all wearing exquisite public uniforms embroidered with birds and animals, and although they were all wealthy, the excitement they showed when they saw the silver dollar was still no different from the robbers who were robbing the house.

Zhu Houzhao didn't believe it. These imperial officials didn't know that these silver dollars were plundered from the Empire's four major overseas plundering companies, namely the Infrastructure Bureau, the Grain Bureau, the Empire Maritime Trade Corporation, and the World Investment Bank plundered from overseas colonies.

Even in this magnificent hall, Zhu Houzhao could feel the bloody smell on the silver dollar.

However, at this time, no official would come forward and say that the money was a profit from the people, and no one said it was ill-gotten gain.

"The Tian family gave rewards, and Yan Song, the Minister of Agriculture, promoted sweet potatoes and potatoes with remarkable results. He solved the famine in Nanzhili, allowing three million mu of mountain land to have grain to be paid. He was given a special silver salary of five times the monthly salary and one thousand silver dollars!"

At this time, the internal officials began to sing the title, and some officials began to listen with all concentration, hoping to get the best reward in the year-end evaluation of the Ministry of Personnel.

For a moment, Yan Song heard that he was the first one, and was excited and crawled on the ground: "Thank you Your Majesty! Thank you Your Majesty for your kindness, what kind of virtue is me? I can get this honor. All of this is your Majesty's contribution!"

"Get up, it's very effective to promote sweet potatoes. This is what you deserve. You don't have to give such a big gift!"

Zhu Houzhao glanced at Yan Song helplessly, and was willing to blame him but also ruthlessly. After all, it is difficult for a minister like Yan Song to let go of his dignity and servitude to him.

Other officials with outstanding performance were also called out the names. Although they were not as excited as Yan Song, they also sincerely thanked Zhu Houzhao.

These officials may not care about the amount of money themselves. After all, many of their officials are rich, but the real money and silver given by the emperor is naturally more decent. After being held by a group of officials, they all wished to devote themselves to the Ming Dynasty.

After giving money to the Spring Festival, Zhu Houzhao will also give him a banquet.

According to previous examples, it would be exempted from giving a banquet.

Because, according to the meaning of the Confucian ministers, wise monarchs should reduce the gift of banquets and advocate frugality to avoid increasing expenses in the palace.

However, Zhu Houzhao aimed at promoting the consumer market in the Ming Dynasty, and also wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of giving banquets to cultivate the relationship between the monarch and the ministers, and give an official who went to Beijing to receive the opportunity to contact him. This would also facilitate his understanding of people's livelihood, so he would not be exempted from giving banquets.

While giving the banquet, Zhu Houzhao would also solemnly congratulate all the scholars and people of the Ming Empire as the emperor of the empire to enhance the feelings of the king and the people to enjoy together.

It’s just a pity that there is no radio technology and television media in this era, and Zhu Houzhao’s New Year congratulations can basically only appear on the front pages of major newspapers and magazines in the Ming Dynasty the next day.

Despite this, Zhu Houzhao's New Year's greetings have been a must-have ceremony for the Empire's New Year since the beginning of Zhengde until now. The greetings are basically written by the great talents in the attendant's room, such as Tang Bohu and Wen Zhengming. They are brilliant and easy to understand.

The scholars and officials like to carefully study Zhu Houzhao's congratulations every New Year, hoping to find out some new trends of the court.

The people only felt comfortable to listen. After all, it was the emperor who congratulated him. There were many so-called New Year goals, which made the entire empire look a little humane from the upper to the lower level, and the people's numbness and indifference were much less, and they began to pay attention to the court.

But this also caused a phenomenon. Emperor Zhu Houzhao's sense of existence among officials and the people became stronger and stronger, so that Emperor Zhu Houzhao's prestige became higher and higher. After all, one person often showed his face in front of one person and showed his presence, and the other person would remember this person over time.

This is the case with the Ming Dynasty now. Officials and people all over the world know that there is a great emperor who will lead all the people of the Ming Dynasty to create a prosperous era. There is one of the Ming Dynasty who admires the emperor.

Zhu Houzhao did not expect that he would have the glory of a leader in the Ming Dynasty, but he knew that he was not a leader, and he was just doing what he should do.

Xu Jie, the new Tanhualang sitting on the mat on his right, did not look at Zhu Houzhao like this. In his opinion, the wine, yogurt, glass goblets and potato beef on his mat all appeared because of the emperor in front of him.

In his opinion, the Emperor in front of him clearly had the cognition and experience that he did not have.

Of course, what made Xu Jie even more grateful was that because he was among the top three in the palace examination, he had the opportunity to have a meal with other officials who were excellent in the assessment and could even see His Majesty's face clearly.

Zhu Houzhao hoped that the Ming Dynasty could become an open and passionate empire. Strongness was the characteristic of the Ming Dynasty. However, if it could continue to promote and improve Chinese civilization in its prosperous era and turn it into an empire with romantic feelings and magnificent brilliance, it would be better to make up for the regret that Chinese civilization was once interrupted since the Song Dynasty.

Because of this, when the New Year's banquet was given, Zhu Houzhao did not restrict the ministers, and allowed these civil and military officials to recite poems and write poems to interpret their literary and artistic talents. Zhu Houzhao even made a name for himself.

New officials such as Xu Jie really wanted to let Emperor Zhu Houzhao know his talent and appreciate him, so they were quite active. However, they were greatly influenced by Cheng and Zhu Neo-Confucianism. Few people could write poems by Li Du and Su Xin, and it was difficult for them to produce any excellent works for a while.

Zhu Houzhao was not discouraged by this. He believed that under the leadership of his emperor, the empire would not lose the beauty of Chinese civilization in addition to industrialization.

Kunqu opera, which has begun to rise recently, has been heard from the stage.

Zhu Houzhao looked at the officials below and smiled slightly. He didn't know what it would be like if these people knew there were movies in this world, but what he could know now was that when Cui Yingying and Zhang Gong were secretly tangled with their parents on the stage, some Confucian officials were still quite angry and only poured wine into their mouths. They obviously couldn't accept the rebellious behavior of the male and female protagonists in the West Chamber.

But some officials who are interested in learning from the Party kept applauding. This drama that appeared in history late next year and promoted the spirit of resisting feudal thoughts has appeared, and now it has made these officials whose thoughts have begun to change begin to resonate with them.

...

After the New Year of the 19th year of Zhengde, the first thing that the Ming Dynasty encountered was the fact that the King of Korea, Li Yi, sent a minister, to accompany Cao Shen, to congratulate Cui Chonghong and others.

certainly.

It is naturally impossible for the Korean envoy to see Zhu Houzhao directly at the beginning. Generally, the host and guest departments of the Ministry of Rites are first received and arranged to stay in the Huitong Hall.

Then the Ministry of Rites reported to Zhu Houzhao. Zhu Houzhao gave banquets and gifts according to the customs. Generally, the missions sent to the Ming Dynasty would not be given up to suffer losses, and even allowed the members of the delegation to trade with the people of the Ming Dynasty at the prescribed location.

The same was true for the Korean envoys such as Cui Chonghong. As soon as they arrived at the capital, they lived in the Huitong Hall, and then waited for the court to allow them to trade with nearby people and meet with senior officials of the Ministry of Rites, the cabinet and even the emperor.

The first person to meet Cui Chonghong was Xi Shu, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, because he was in charge of the host and guest office.

Xi Shu naturally had a headache for these tribute envoys, because he knew that none of these envoys were honest and honest, and they were all greedy and wanted to gain some benefits. Some even relied on their own as foreign envoys to oppress the people.

As an official of the court, Xi Shu sometimes cannot be too polite to these foreign envoys to avoid being scolded to damage the national system, but he dare not be too strict with these foreign envoys to avoid causing disputes between the two countries and being scolded to ignore the overall situation.

Therefore, Xi Shu could only try his best to maintain a neither humble nor arrogant attitude and said to Cui Chonghong: "I have reported to the cabinet for the envoy's tribute to the tribute under the order. You will stay in the Huitong Pavilion for the time being, and there will be corresponding news at that time!"

After Xi Shu finished speaking, he was about to leave the Huitong Hall, but at this time, Cui Chonghong called Xi Shu: "Sir, wait! Cui granted the order of my king to come to the Heavenly Kingdom to pay tribute, not just to pay tribute in exchange for rewards, but to hope to meet His Majesty the Emperor of the Heavenly Kingdom! This is Cui's intention, please accept it with a smile!"

Cui Chonghong said that, and took out a large silver dollar bill. Xi Shu shook his sleeves on the spot when he saw this: "Who do you think of my Celestial officials as! I will pretend that this has not happened. Otherwise, once the people from the Dongchang Inspectorate know, even if you are an envoy of North Korea, you will not be able to escape the crime of owl and peeling the head!"

The Ming Dynasty had just cracked down on corruption and bribery, so Xi Shu naturally did not dare to accept the benefits of the Korean envoy at this time. Moreover, he also knew that the emperor had declared that the Ming Dynasty had the power to rule the extraterritorial law. All crimes committed in the Ming Dynasty would be ruled according to the laws of the country, and the bribes he received from the outside world would naturally be ruled according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

Cui Chonghong had inquired about the character of the high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty before. In his impression, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, Mr. Xi liked silver dollars, but he did not expect that Mr. Xi would actually refuse to accept his silver dollars bills. He couldn't help but be shocked: "What's going on? The administration of the Ming Dynasty will become so clear now?"

After Xi Shu left Huitong Hall, he never saw Cui Chonghong again, and North Korean envoys such as Cui Chonghong could only continue to live in Huitong Hall.

However, Zhu Houzhao received a report from Kang Hai on the handling of the tribute of the Korean envoys.

According to Kang Hai's meaning, he was given some silk cloth to these Korean envoys according to convention, and gave them banquets and entertainment at the same time.

But Zhu Houzhao did not want to implement this tribute system anymore. Sometimes he didn't understand why in this era, the Ming Dynasty was obviously a strong empire, but like a weak country, he was willing to suffer losses in some interests. Is it just for the sake of good neighborliness and friendship?

But friendship is not so friendly. In Zhu Houzhao's opinion, as a powerful empire that is the greatest friendship, but there is no need to let yourself suffer losses and use money to exchange for harmony in the surrounding environment.

Because in this way, the benefits of the people in your country are still lost, and peace for the people in your country do not require you to use money to buy from weak small countries.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao intended to reform the tribute system that emerged under the guidance of Confucianism, and he did not need these false names of all countries to pay tribute.

"Your Majesty, are you talking about reforming the tribute system?"

Kang Hai was surprised when he heard Zhu Houzhao's purpose. Because the tribute system was implemented for more than a hundred years, he never thought that the tribute system needed to be changed.

Zhu Houzhao nodded.

Kang Hai didn't know whether he should oppose or support him. He knew that His Majesty, his emperor, was different from Emperor Xiaozong. He never waited for the civil ministers to propose reform suggestions and then decided to change it himself. Instead, the emperor put forward the reform opinions and the ministers below put forward opinions on opposing or supporting them.

Although Kang Hai was glad that His Majesty the Emperor could tolerate different opinions when it came to such matters involving the reform of the government, and even had the patience to communicate with his ministers until the most complete plan was discussed.

But this also led to officials having to take the initiative to think about why the emperor wanted to reform a certain government policy.

For example now.

Kang Hai had to start thinking about why the emperor wanted to ban the tribute system. He could not directly ask Emperor Zhu Houzhao why he wanted to reform the tribute system. In that way, he would be despised by the emperor and despised his position and eat without seeing the disadvantages of the tribute system.

Of course, because there was an emperor who asked his ministers to think about the rationality of the existing system of the empire, Kang Hai had to often think about the relevant systems of the empire's government. He also thought about the quality of the government system, rather than completing it step by step according to convention.

Now Kang Hai can also guess that the Emperor Zhu Houzhao wanted to ban the tribute system because the Ming Dynasty was actually at a disadvantage in this system. Basically, the Ming Dynasty had to spend a lot of money to entertain these missions and give gifts.

However, after banning the tribute system, Kang Hai did not think of a solution to how to communicate with these foreign countries.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty was the sect leader, so the Ming Dynasty could not ignore these foreign vassals, and the safety of these foreign vassals would also affect the safety of the Ming Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, I dare to ask, after the tribute system is abolished, how should these tributers be dealt with? In addition, how should the Ministry of Rites contact you?"

Kang Hai asked.

"This is divided into two types. If it is a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, they are equivalent to our lackeys. They can come to pay tribute, but they must sign a tribute treaty!

For example, the North Korean country can pay tribute once every three years. Calculated by the population, each person pays one silver dollar. Then the North Korean country should pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty every three years, which is equivalent to the population. Of course, the tribute silver dollar can be mortgaged with the right to lease the right to mine mining and tariff collection!

Of course, North Korea also needs to provide the Ming Dynasty with a population count every three years! And the Ming Dynasty does not need to give gifts to the North Korea country. The Ming Dynasty will only guarantee to give them three years of peace!”

"If it weren't for the vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, there was no need to pay tribute, but they would also be regarded as enemy countries by our Ming Dynasty. I will not allow an empire that is equal to the Ming Dynasty! The Ming Dynasty will not be responsible for the security of their country!"

Zhu Houzhao said.

Kang Hai was shocked after hearing this and thought to himself: "Trades are paid once every three years. Calculated by one person and one silver dollar for the vassal state, the number of silver dollars is equivalent to the population. North Korea alone is estimated to have to pay millions of silver dollars. Millions of silver dollars are still a huge sum of money for the Ming Empire, and even a huge sum of money for North Korea!"

Therefore, Kang Hai couldn't help but say: "Your Majesty, this will cause a huge burden to the vassal states, I'm afraid they will no longer be willing to recognize the Ming Dynasty as their sect leader."
To be continued...