Chapter 248: Your Majesty is always jumping back and forth between genius and fool
After finally comforting the two injured uncles, Ou Zanghua was about to sneak out of the palace to take care of some private business, but was taken to the southwest corner of the inner city by the eunuchs.

That is the place where court warriors trained and competed in martial arts - Wuying Hall.

Before I entered, I heard a series of muffled noises coming from inside, accompanied by the roar of a dragon.

When Ou Zanghua walked in, he saw Emperor Zhengde with his hands in claws, fighting with ten palace masters.

As he watched, Ou Zanghua felt something was wrong, and couldn't help but ask Zhang Yong beside him: "Prime Minister Zhang, could it be that Your Majesty is practicing the legendary 100% accurate grab and piercing heart dragon claw hand?"

Zhang Yong glanced at Ou Zanghua before he said, "Master Ou, this is the authentic Shaolin Dragon Claw Hand."

“Oh,” Ou Zanghua suddenly realized, and then whispered: “As expected of a Buddhist martial art, it has a hidden flirtation.”

"What did Lord Ou say?"

"nothing!"

Emperor Zhengde then stretched out his claws, grabbed the breastplate of the last palace master and threw it aside, and the anger in his heart finally came out.

Zhang Yong immediately came forward with a tray. Emperor Zhengde wiped his hands with a towel, drank a sip of tea, and then said, "It has to be Ou Qing. This is my modified version of the Shaolin Dragon Claw Hand. I was thinking about what to call it before. The name Ou Qing came up with suits my heart!"

"Zhang Banban, from now on this set of Kung Fu will be called the Heart-piercing Dragon Claw Hand!"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Ou Zanghua stood aside and silently apologized to Shaolin in his heart.

Emperor Zhengde sat casually on the steps and asked in confusion: "Ou Qing, I am the emperor, why do all the civil and military officials in the court disagree with what I want to do?"

Ou Zanghua thought about it and felt that this issue involved too many things and was far beyond what he and Zhengde could handle at the moment.

So he lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, I don't know."

"You are the third place in the imperial examination chosen by me. Don't you really know that?" Emperor Zhengde looked at Ou Zanghua and asked with a smile.

"Because I don't know what Your Majesty wants to do." Ou Zanghua looked up at Emperor Zhengde with calm eyes.

"What do I want to do?"

The Zhengde Emperor was stunned for a moment, thinking for a while before saying, "I want to restore the Western Regions Protectorate of the Han Dynasty and the Shanyu Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty, and take Annan back! I want the Ming Dynasty to return to the Yongle era of prosperity!"

"Then Your Majesty, why do you think the Yongle Dynasty was so powerful?" Ou Zanghua asked in return.

"Because Emperor Taizong is a man of great talent and vision!"

"That's one of the reasons," Ou Zanghua nodded and continued, "The second reason is that Emperor Taizong has good intentions."

"What good?"

"The good Emperor Renzong escorted him."

Among the thirteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty, the most overlooked is the fat Emperor Hongxi.

Everyone talks about the Yongle era, what is a prosperous era?
If one has both military and literary skills and can survive all kinds of hardships, that is called a prosperous age.

If they messed up, they would be Emperor Yang of Sui and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.

During the reign of Emperor Yongle, there were a series of operations including the five expeditions to the northern desert, the compilation of the Yongle Encyclopedia, the seven voyages to the West, the expedition to Annan, and the relocation of the capital. Each of these was a huge expense. Without Zhu Pangpang to back up the general of the northern expedition, the empire would have collapsed long ago.

"For example, if Your Majesty wants to restore the Protectorate of the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty, with the population of the Ming Dynasty, it is no problem to organize an army of 100,000 people to march west. But we have the people, but where is the money?" Ou Zanghua looked at Emperor Zhengde and asked seriously.

In fact, the ancients were not stupid, especially Zhu Yuanzhang who cleared the game with just one bowl.

The Ming Dynasty did not miss any place where money could be collected. In addition to the most important land tax, there were also a wide variety of other taxes.

For example, when trading in the market, you have to pay customs duties.

When buying and selling bamboo, wood, firewood, and charcoal, you have to pay a bamboo and wood tax.

Goods entering or leaving the capital city had to pay port taxes.

You have to pay taxes to cross the dam and the gate.

Merchants who store goods and livestock have to pay a collapsed house tax.

As for the other two major taxes besides the land tax, the salt tax and the tea tax, the Ming Dynasty attached great importance to them.

With so many taxes, the Ming Dynasty should not be short of money. However, the reality is so cruel that except for Emperor Yongle who could spend money freely, other emperors were bound by the economy.

So where is the problem?
In his previous life, Ou Zanghua thought that the problem lay with the bureaucratic class. After coming to this era, he discovered that the big landowners and bureaucrats were responsible, and the Ming Dynasty itself also had certain problems in spending money.

For example, in the education industry, Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty attached great importance to education. According to the records of Ming History, the prosperity of schools in the Ming Dynasty was so great that even the Tang and Song dynasties could only look up to it.

There were not only prefectural schools and county schools, but also clan schools and community schools. Instructors, students, juren and students all enjoyed privileged treatment and were exempt from paying taxes or performing labor service.

The imperial court also provided farmland to some schools, namely school land or tribute land.

The court paid for students' classes and examinations.

The key is that this investment cannot be cut. Anyone who dares to move will be infamous for eternity!
In addition, there are water conservancy projects. The Ming Taizu believed that it was not enough to simply distribute land to the people, but they also had to be allowed to cultivate the land well.

The best way to manage finances is to start with farming.

Taxes come from farmland, and farmland benefits from water, but also suffers from water.

Therefore, from its establishment to its demise, the Ming Dynasty attached great importance to water conservancy construction.

Even Chongzhen was so poor that he couldn't even afford three dishes, but he still managed to control the Yellow River twice. It was truly touching.

At least in this matter, the principal is somewhat irrelevant.
Speaking of money, Emperor Zhengde's face turned even worse.

He recalled the unpleasant things again.

It was September of the first year of the Zhengde reign. The young Zhengde Emperor had just ascended the throne, and the eunuch Cui Gao was sent to Jiangnan to supervise the production of dragon robes.

So, Cui Gao went to the Ministry of Revenue and said that the emperor needed to buy a few more clothes but had financial difficulties. Your Ministry of Revenue happened to have some leftover salt permits that did not take up the normal budget. Could you give us more than 10,000 permits?
Although Cui Gao's request was very high, the Ministry of Revenue was also going too far.

Han Wen, the Minister of Revenue at the time, did not buy it at all. He said that the income from the purchase of salt could only be used for national defense construction, and the Ministry of Revenue had already allocated funds if the emperor wanted to spend money.

When the eunuch Cui Gao failed to get the money, Emperor Zhengde stepped in himself, but he not only failed to get the money, but also provoked a nest of trolls.

The six departments, thirteen provinces, and the Censorate, the Ming Dynasty's strongest rocket force was exerting its full power, almost driving the young Zhengde into autism.

Emperor Zhengde asked the cabinet to coordinate again, but none of the three cabinet ministers agreed.

Then, Emperor Zhengde released Liu Jin, one of the three strongest men in the Ming Dynasty.
So the whole court is a miser, they can't just conjure up money themselves, right? !

Emperor Zhengde's heart skipped a beat, it seemed like he could really conjure up money!
"Mr. Ou, I have an immature idea. Please give me some advice."

"Your Majesty, please speak frankly."

"How about I print a new set of treasure notes with a face value of five million taels? We cannot use the name of treasure notes. We should change it to gold notes?"

"Hiss! Your Majesty, the last person who did this had his skull blown off."

"?!"

Emperor Zhengde spread his hands and said angrily: "This won't work, and that won't work either. Ou Qing, tell me, what should I do?!"

Ou Zanghua was also helpless. He was not an expert in Ming history, so how could he know what to do?
Fortunately, I didn’t do anything else in my previous life, but I did read a lot of short videos and novels.

So after thinking for a while, he suggested: "Your Majesty can integrate the resources of the imperial farm and hand them over to a trustworthy person who knows how to do business to trade and make money. Perhaps this can alleviate the problem of the inner treasury funds. As for the Ministry of Revenue, we can only discuss it after the inner treasury funds are sufficient."

"A trustworthy person?" Emperor Zhengde looked at Ou Zanghua silently.

Ou Zanghua was speechless for a while, and then he reminded: "Your Majesty, I am the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, and I cannot do this."

"Ugh!"

Emperor Zhengde sighed, then thought for a moment and said with a smile, "Isn't the Cabinet spying on my imperial estate? I will hand over the management of Weiyang Palace to the Honglu Temple, and no civil or military officials are allowed to interfere! And Ou Qing will spend some time managing Weiyang Palace. As for who will do the business and who will do what, it will all be arranged by Ou Qing!"

"No matter how much you earn, I will split it 20% with the Honglu Temple. I get 80% and the Honglu Temple gets 20%. How do you think?!"

"His Majesty."

"Ok?"

"Are you really a genius?!"

"Hehe~"

(End of this chapter)