Chapter 363

Zhu Laosi: Oh, for those who died due to work injuries,

not only must they be compensated, but their families must also be exempted from labor:

For the soldiers and craftsmen building the project, if there are any who were injured or died, the authorities should add comfort to their families and exempt them from miscellaneous corvee.

When winter came and the weather turned cold, it was not suitable for construction, Laosi said:

You are not having an easy time either, so let's stop work for now, and wait until next February when spring comes,

the weather is warm, and we will continue construction, no rush, no rush:

The Emperor told Vice Minister of Works Zhen Yong and others: Today the weather is turning cold, the construction soldiers can temporarily stop work,

start next year, go to work in February, and be sent home in October.

Zhang Jie knows that when he says this, everyone will have a question in their heart,

and that is that the Emperor's order is one thing, but the actual situation is another,

you Zhu Laosi said the workers work for half a year and go home in October, but do the people below really execute it 100%?

Of course not, there are policies above and countermeasures below, etc.,

which have always been twin brothers that are inseparable,

sometimes even one's own orders cannot be 100% executed,

let alone orders issued to others.

Even if the person issuing the order is an emperor with supreme power,

and this emperor is also an emperor on horseback who won the Jingnan Campaign,

and lived for four more years for his father in the history books,

holding military, political, and civil power, possessing huge prestige, and deciding everything in the court regardless of size.

So Zhu Laosi also realized this problem and specifically ordered,

to compensate those workers who worked overtime, for those who worked overtime for one month,

reward two ingots of paper money and one dou of rice, and for those who worked overtime for more than ten months, add two bolts of cotton cloth:

Ordered the Ministry of Rites: For craftsmen building Beijing who have not been replaced after the deadline,

those who have worked for more than one month will be rewarded with two ingots of paper money and one dou of rice; for more than ten months, add two bolts of cotton cloth.

And for those workers who are still willing to stay and serve, each person will be rewarded with five ingots of paper money,

one bolt of silk and cloth each, and one jin of sappanwood and pepper each: Dingmao,

Ordered the Ministry of Rites to build, for soldiers and civilians willing to stay and serve, reward each person with five ingots of paper money, one bolt of silk and cloth each, and one jin of sappanwood and pepper each.

Such treatment cannot be said to be ungenerous.

As long as the overtime pay is enough, it doesn't matter if you work like an ox or a horse.

The result was that during the Sui Yangdi period, the people, in order to escape labor, mutilated themselves, calling it "blessed hands and blessed feet."

And during the Zhu Laosi period, there were actually people who voluntarily participated in the construction of the Tianshou Mountain project,

making Laosi feel a bit embarrassed, saying: Don't do it, you can just farm at home with peace of mind.

Dinghai, three father and son from Kaizhou stated: Received the grace of the country,

living peacefully in the fields, with nothing to repay, today Tianshou Mountain is being built, willing to work together as father and son.

The Emperor said: Is there nothing else to do? Ordered the Ministry of Revenue to examine it.

Reported back: Father and son have nothing else to do, repaying is out of sincerity. The Emperor summoned them, and told them:

Your intentions are sincere and good. For the people, wanting to repay the country's grace, it is not just about labor.

If you can be content with your lot and follow reason, focus on the fundamentals and abandon the trivial, cultivate filial piety, fraternal duty, loyalty, and trustworthiness,

be harmonious at home, be generous in the village, follow the teachings and orders, and not violate the law, making the village follow suit, all being good people.

This is repaying the country, why bother to work, you go back and encourage it, and see the old and young in the village, and also tell them my words.

These operations of Zhu Laosi fully prove what is called governing a large country is like cooking a small fish and the devil is in the details.

It is no wonder that his name of Taizong can to a certain extent be compared with Tang Taizong Li Shimin, who was called the dragon-chapter and phoenix-posture,

the appearance of the sun, and the model of emperors.

What, you say why Zhu Di is clearly Chengzu, how did he become Taizong?

Well, here we have to thank his good descendant, the Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houcong, the Longevity Emperor,

Loyal and Filial Emperor, and Flying Yuan True Monarch.

In the sixteenth year of Zhengde of the Great Ming, the most stable crown prince in history, who personally led the army but only beheaded three people,

the most controversial emperor of the Great Ming, who did not live in the palace, but built a leopard house to be a player inside,

and self-proclaimed the Great Marshal of the World's Soldiers and Horses, Zhu Shou, the Great Ming Wu Sect Zhu Houzhao, passed away at the age of only thirty-one.

After his death, the Great Ming faced a huge problem, one that would shake the foundation of the country if not handled well,

causing the court and the public to be shocked—the Great Ming Empire had no successor to the throne.

Yes, although according to historical records Zhu Houzhao was licentious and lawless,

but in the sixteen years he ascended the throne, let alone a son, he didn't even have a daughter!

This is simply more miserable than the very famous Song Renzong Zhao Zhen, who did not establish a crown prince for thirty years.

Although Song Renzong also eventually had no heirs, he had to adopt the great-grandson of Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi, the grandson of Prince of Shang Zhao Yuanfen,

the thirteenth son of Prince Pu Anyi Zhao Yunrang, Zhao Shu, as his adopted son, who was the fifth emperor of the Song Dynasty, Song Ying Sect;

but Zhao Zhen's own body was fine,

and in his life, he had three sons and thirteen daughters, a total of sixteen heirs.

It can be said that, just in terms of fertility, the successive emperors of the Great Song,

were just Song Huizong Zhao Ji, who was called 'everything except being an emperor'.

Unfortunately, the survival rate of newborns in ancient times was truly too miserable,

even if theoretically possessing the top medical conditions of that era,

but Zhao Zhen's three sons all died young, and even eleven of his daughters died young, with only five daughters living to adulthood.

So Zhao Zhen insisted on not establishing a crown prince for thirty years for a reason:

He always wanted to have a son himself, and then pass the Great Song throne to his own son,

realizing the father-to-son succession in blood inheritance.

Unfortunately, this wish was not realized until his later years,

and he could only adopt Ying Sect as his adopted son to prevent the Great Song from having no successor.

Continuing back to how Zhu Laosi changed from Ming Taizong to Ming Chengzu.

Wu Sect Zhu Houzhao died young and had no heirs,

the Great Ming throne was actually left vacant, and for a time the court and the public were panicked,

and if one was not careful, it would be another great turmoil affecting the world.

At this time, Yang Tinghe, a high-ranking official who served in the three dynasties of Xianzong, Xiaozong, and Wu Sect,

and was also the Chief Grand Secretary of the Great Ming Cabinet, stood up.

Everyone may not be very familiar with Yang Tinghe, but should know his son, the great talent Yang Shen.

Even if you are not familiar with Yang Shen, you must know one of his works.

The opening song of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," which has entered every household in the Huaxia land,

"Linjiang Xian," "The rolling Yangtze River flows east, the waves wash away the heroes.

Right and wrong, success and failure turn to empty. The green mountains are still there, how many times the sunset is red." is his work.

It can be said that as long as it is a 21st-century Chinese person, almost everyone has heard this opening song.

Ming Wu Sect Zhu Houzhao died without heirs, and Yang Tinghe, according to the "Great Ming Ancestral Instructions" system of "father dies and son succeeds, if the imperial dynasty has no son,

then it must be brother ends and younger brother succeeds," welcomed the eldest son of Prince Xingxian, Zhu Houcong, as emperor,

and during the period when the new emperor had not yet arrived in the capital, he took charge of the government for thirty-eight days, abolished the corrupt policies of the Wu Sect dynasty,

cut more than 140,000 redundant officials and personnel, and saved more than one million shi of canal grain, which is known in history as the beginning of the "Jiajing New Deal."

During this period, the power of Yang Tinghe, who held both military and political power, was almost comparable to his later junior,

Zhang Juzheng, Zhang Taiyue, who said the famous "I am not a minister, but a regent!"