In terms of geographical location, the richest place in the Ming Dynasty is still Nanzhili, Suzhou, Yangzhou and other places to which Nanzhili belongs, are places where commerce and trade are very developed, these places have always been considered to be the land of bright lights, and its economic strength even exceeds Nanjing, but unfortunately because there are too many southerners in the imperial court, and the relative concentration of ancestral homes in Nanzhili, this also leads to the unrestricted protection of local interests, and the rich Nanzhili, when the imperial court encounters difficulties, will not help.

Nanzhili is also the place where the gentry and wealthy families are most concentrated, but after Su Tiancheng took charge of Dengzhou, Laizhou and other places, because of the unprecedented development of commerce and trade, many powerful businessmen secretly moved to Shandong, this is not that these businessmen can't earn silver in Nanzhili, the key is that their identity and status are difficult to be confirmed, the hierarchy of the imperial court is still strict, and the political status of Shinong industry and commerce, businessmen and merchants will always be ranked behind, but this is not the case in Shandong.

Of course, as the richest people in the Ming Dynasty, they are not those pure businessmen, but the gentry who combine government and business, especially some gentry families in the south, some people are officials in the court and localities, and with the support behind them, they can use their special status to earn silver, so the real rich people may not go to Shandong.

Su Tiancheng knows this very well, he will not underestimate the strength of these scholars, as long as he can occupy Nanzhili, the Zhu family's country will be equivalent to the collapse of more than half, the imperial court has lost its economic resources, turmoil will soon appear, there is no silver to maintain the operation, whether it is the officials in the imperial court, or the armies in various places, they will begin to rebel.

Su Tiancheng's next action must be carefully planned, and there can be no large-scale troubles in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, otherwise the vitality will be greatly damaged. It will also be very difficult to govern in the future, which is actually asking for trouble for yourself.

On April 30, the governor of Hangzhou City, Yamen.

With Zhu Xianxuan and others coming to Hangzhou, almost all of Su Tiancheng's elites came to Hangzhou. When everyone came to Hangzhou, the main thing was to discuss the next action plan.

This is a meeting proposed by Su Tiancheng, after careful consideration, he believes that it is necessary to unify everyone's thinking, let everyone do things under the unified requirements, many things also need to be explained, the day of the expedition will last for a period of time, and what needs to be done must not be delayed. We must not let the conquest lead to a delay in construction.

The lobby of the governor's yamen.

Zhu Xianxuan, Yang Sichang, Fan Jingwen, Hong Chengchou, Lu Xiangsheng, Lu Shanji, Xu Eryi, Zhang Pu, Bi Maokang, Qu Qingze, Sun Chuanting, Li Juesi, Song Yihe and others, including the officers above the commander of the Jiangning battalion guard, the prefects of various parts of Shandong, as well as Wu Weiye, Su Pingyang, Su Jun, Su Ertong, etc., gathered together, these people are the most core force that Su Tiancheng can rely on, among these people. A lot of it was only recently that the decision was actually made. followed Su Tiancheng, and it was precisely because of the participation of many people that Zhu Xianxuan would write a letter to Su Tiancheng, asking Su Tiancheng to ascend the throne and become emperor.

The format of the meeting is a bit special, everyone is sitting, and the lobby is full. Only Su Tiancheng stood alone.

Looking at the people who were a little unaccustomed or a little surprised, Su Tiancheng smiled and spoke.

"When Chongzhen was four years old, I participated in the imperial examination of the imperial court, and later I was fortunate to become the leader of the palace examination, and more than ten years have passed. At that time, I didn't expect today's scene, I know very well that I can get to this point today is because of the help of all of you here, without your efforts, I would not be able to achieve today, so today you are all sitting, I am standing and talking, this is also respect and gratitude to you. ”

"The first question that needs to be explained to you, and it is also the matter that you are most concerned about, that is, the matter of my title as emperor, the King of Jin specially wrote to me, and Lord Qu came to supervise it, believe me to make an explanation, you all know the way, but here I still need to emphasize it, and the conversation with Lord Qu, there is one thing, I did not say it explicitly, that is, the meritorious man who followed me, and the reward after the matter was completed, I have always been straightforward, I don't like to beat around the bush, the reward is certain, You have worked hard, as the saying goes, you can get melons and beans, you must have a harvest if you pay something, if you can't do this, you don't need to follow me Su someone to mix, but you have to remember one thing, that is, we do things according to the rules, no rules can not be a circle, no matter who it is, you can't mess with the rules, otherwise no matter how much credit you have, you will be severely punished. ”

"The matter of being called the emperor, I will not mention it for the time being, but we are still facing a lot of things, the basic conditions of Shandong are better, the development of agriculture and commerce is very fast, and the living conditions of the people are much better, but Zhejiang and Fujian are worse, especially Zhejiang, which suffered a major locust plague last year, and the people are displaced, and now they need to recover quickly."

"This involves a ruling problem, that is, officials at all levels, how to do things, it is useless to say too much, keep in mind the four words, people-oriented, as long as officials at all levels are required to demand themselves with these four words, then we can overcome all difficulties and do everything well."

"We have taken Zhejiang and Fujian, followed by Nanzhili, Huguang, Sichuan, Jiangxi and other places, and then we have to cross the Yangtze River to unify the north, of course, we can't forget, there are Houjin Tartars in Liaodong, they have long coveted the land of my Central Plains, and our decisive battle with Houjin Tartars is impossible to avoid."

"Taking Zhejiang and Fujian, the most gratifying thing for me is that it did not damage the interests of the people too much, we eliminated those rich people who did evil in Fujian, and wiped out the army led by Liu Zeqing in Zhejiang, in the process, we obtained a large amount of silver and land, I have always emphasized that it is taken from the people for the people, and the government at all levels has done a lot of work in relieving the people with this silver, which also enables us to quickly stabilize the situation."

"These days, I have been thinking about a problem, that is, the problem of land, you are very clear, because of the reality of land annexation, a large number of people do not have arable land in their hands, which leads to the greatest instability, land is the lifeblood of farmers, they lose everything if they lose land, but I also know very well that there is another thing, that is, to solve the problem of land, it is by no means a complete solution that can be completely solved overnight."

"I once handed over this issue to the school to discuss, and you all put forward a lot of suggestions, so I summarized these suggestions, and once again thought about them carefully, and after thinking for a long time, I finally understood that if you want to solve the land problem, you still need to start from us people, that is, those of us who hold power."

"The reason why there is a situation of land annexation, the core is still in our own body, all dynasties, the imperial court rewarded meritorious people, nothing more than rewarding land, this kind of practice, disguised aggravation of land annexation matters, so I thought of a rule, from now on, all officials who do things in the government are not allowed to own land."

After Su Tiancheng said this, the lobby instantly became extremely quiet.

Land is wealth, this is the unanimous understanding of everyone, not being able to own land, in the eyes of everyone, is unacceptable, is enough to shake people's hearts, maybe after this decision is announced, Su Tiancheng's hard-working foundation may collapse in one day.

Su Tiancheng had thought about this question for a long time.

"I know your feelings, officials can't own land, this seems incredible, if we do this, who will support us, if we are poor officials, how can we do things with peace of mind."

"Therefore, I have taken into account the problem of Yulu, whoever is an official relies on Yulu to support himself and his family, as long as he becomes an official, he can live a worry-free life."

"The Ming Dynasty gave the officials a lot of money, in my opinion, it is impossible to support the family, even if it is a seven-grade county, the annual amount of money is less than a hundred taels of silver, these silvers are obviously not enough, so we need to start from the top of the money and greatly improve the income of the officials."

"I have discussed this point with many people, the officials of the government must be streamlined on a large scale, and the income must be greatly improved, taking the county of Qipin as an example, the monthly income of the county is not less than one hundred taels of silver, so that the county is enough to support the family. With such a fortune, there is no need to own much land. ”

"Wealth is what everyone has to pursue, maybe the county of the seventh grade, get these Yulu, or feel that it is not enough, but I must emphasize one point, the core of the people-oriented, is the self-restraint of the officials, since you are the parents of the people, you have to think about your own responsibilities, you have to think about doing things for the people, if you are full of your own wealth, are going to get rich, then you can't do this parent official."

"The father-in-law of the Southern Song Dynasty once said a sentence, Wenchen does not love money, military generals do not hesitate to die, the world is peaceful, I believe this sentence, you all know the Tao, follow me to do things, you need to do this, I will not force everyone to accept such a point of view, if you don't want to, you can go to business and make a fortune, but since you have stepped in and become an official, then you must do it according to such requirements."

"You are all clear about the situation in Shandong, in fact, it is in accordance with this requirement, and it is precisely because of this that Dengzhou, Laizhou and Qingzhou can develop rapidly in the shortest possible time." (To be continued......)