Quickly wear "I am the empress"

Chapter 551 Ming Dynasty: The Emperor Guards the National Gate (40)

In the autumn of the first year of Qiyuan, the Ming Dynasty ushered in the harvest season.

In order to show his attention to agriculture, Zhiyu went to the fields to inspect for a few days.

Zhu Youjian followed Zhiyu into the field and asked casually, "Your Majesty, next year..."

"Are you ready to send troops to the Later Jin?"

Hearing this, Zhiyu stopped and slowly turned to look at Zhu Youjian, "Fifth Brother, do you have any opinions?"

Zhu Youjian shook his head. "I just feel that the Ming Dynasty has been severely damaged in recent years. If we continue to fight after only one year of recuperation, I'm afraid..."

"Besides, a few years ago, there were quite a lot of deaths from the plague."

"If we conscript a large number of soldiers to go to the battlefield, I'm afraid that the farmland in the rear will be left uncultivated."

Zhiyu sighed: "Fifth brother, I have considered all the things you have considered."

"This year I sent people to various places to update the Fish Scale Book in order to solve the population problem of my Ming Dynasty."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Youjian frowned slightly, "What does the Fish Scale Book have to do with this?"

Zhiyu smiled and said, "This is a big deal."

"I asked someone to update the fish scale register because I wanted to stop collecting head taxes and only collect land taxes from next year."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Youjian suddenly realized, "Your Majesty, you want to use this strategy to lure those unregistered residents to register their household."

Zhiyu nodded, "That's right. Without a household registration, it's difficult to leave the house. If the government doesn't collect head taxes, they will naturally be willing to apply for household registration."

Zhu Youjian hesitated, "But the treasury of the Ming Dynasty is already in deficit. If we don't collect the head tax, how will the salaries of officials at all levels be paid?"

"Besides, even if the poll tax is abolished, there is still corvee labor. Will they register their household registration?"

Seeing Zhu Youjian's careful consideration, Zhiyu smiled and said, "The truly wealthy people in my Ming Dynasty have never been the common people."

"The missing poll tax from the people can be made up from other sources."

"I plan to open the imperial kiln to the public and put the products there on the market. I think with the royal seal, there will be a lot of people buying them."

"During this period, I have discussed with the people from the Ministry of Revenue, and the court is preparing to issue an edict to ease restrictions on merchants and encourage them to engage in business..."

Zhu Youjian fell silent upon hearing this. "Your Majesty, if you relax the restrictions on merchants, I'm afraid they will annex the land."

Zhiyu nodded, "I have thought about these things, so I will issue an order that the land of merchants and famous families cannot exceed twenty acres."

Hearing Zhiyu say this, Zhu Youjian was still a little worried, "Your Majesty, this... is it too risky?"

Zhiyu smiled helplessly: "Fifth brother, Daming is already like this, what are you afraid of."

Zhu Youjian touched his nose awkwardly, "That... you can't say that."

"Since you came to power, the changes in our Ming Dynasty are visible to the naked eye."

"If it weren't for the powerful enemies around us, I think it wouldn't take more than a few years for the Ming Dynasty to return to its prosperity during the Chengzu era..."

The corners of Zhiyu's mouth twitched when he heard this. Zhu Youjian was probably the only one who believed what he said.

There are still many people in the Ming Dynasty who want to rebel against her...

Especially those conceited men, each of them wanted to pull her down from the throne and let their kind take her place.

Because of her thundering methods, those people dared not oppose her openly, but behind the scenes, they had many methods.

Apart from officials and common people, the middle-class people in the Ming Dynasty are now constantly showing off. They either run to the wild in groups of three or five to imitate the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, or they stay at home and criticize their wives and daughters in a roundabout way, thinking that this will help them regain their dignity.

Zhiyu looks down upon this kind of people the most.

Their ancestors were able to survive in the Yuan Dynasty, so why are they starting to act badly now because of the appearance of a female emperor?

Of course, Zhiyu didn't tolerate such people.

She found some female officials and had more private contact with their wives and daughters.

After seeing the calm and composed female officials in her court who held great power, she didn't believe that their wives and daughters wouldn't have other ideas...