Chapter 58: Scolding Father to Son
Deng Qianqiu hurried over and smelled the alcohol: "Brother, brother..."

"Shut up." Zhu Yuanzhang glared at Deng Qianqiu fiercely. The ferocity in his eyes scared Deng Qianqiu so much that he shuddered.

Deng Qianqiu's face turned slightly pale, but he felt embarrassed. He opened his mouth and stammered, wanting to curse him so that he could save face.

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang's expression eased a little, his eyes were bloodshot, and he sighed: "Ah..."

Seeing him like this, Deng Qianqiu felt sympathy for him instead: "How pitiful! Brother, you must have encountered some troubles. As men in the world, of course, this is the case. With old people above and young children below, who doesn't have some troubles? Look at me, I just..."

Zhu Yuanzhang interrupted Deng Qianqiu and said, "If I tell you that my friend and I have reunited these days, what would you think?"

Deng Qianqiu was stunned: "Are you talking about that heartless, ungrateful, despicable and shameless villain?"

Zhu Yuanzhang stared at Deng Qianqiu, raised his eyebrows slightly and said, "Hmm?"

Deng Qianqiu sighed, "Brother, you must not be soft-hearted! As the saying goes, once unfaithful, never forgiven. I have a friend, his wife... well, well, you know..."

"Which one, which one..." Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly changed his gloomy expression and seemed to become interested.

Deng Qianqiu coughed and said, "That's it, that's it. How should I put it? Cheating? Flirting? Uh... stealing men!"

"Huh..." Zhu Yuanzhang let out a long sigh: "What happens next?"

Deng Qianqiu said: "My friend forgave her the first time, but after that, she started to get worse."

Zhu Yuanzhang also seemed to start to think: "Why is it getting worse?"

Deng Qianqiu said: "It happens one after another, or...even starts to defeat the majority with a small force."

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly realized and said, "I understand what you mean. But what if he has his own difficulties?"

Deng Qianqiu sneered: "Difficulties? Who doesn't have difficulties?"

Zhu Yuanzhang fell into deep thought. He sat on the ground, and his mind seemed to be even more troubled.

Deng Qianqiu saw that he was silent again, so he said, "Brother, why are you always so sad?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Because I am not like you, who can be careless and lazy when serving as a guard. I have many things to do."

Deng Qianqiu felt that this was a sting, so he retorted: "I also have a lot of things to do, but I know how to balance work and rest."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked disdainful.

Deng Qianqiu felt warm, and returned the brocade robe that Zhu Yuanzhang had put on him to Zhu Yuanzhang, saying, "What are you going to do? Tell me."

"Hmm?" Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Deng Qianqiu dimly, and his mind seemed to move. He said, "Marshal Xu Da, under the order of the emperor, led an army of 100,000 to the north to fight a decisive battle with the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Juyongguan and Anding County. However, I heard that such a large army requires an astonishing amount of food and grass. Although the court tried its best to supply them, it spent a huge amount of silver and money of one million taels, and the waste of food was even more astonishing. However... the supply line is too long, and the food and grass are still in urgent need. This involves military and national affairs. As the saying goes, food and grass must be sent before the army moves. Once the food and grass are cut off, Marshal Xu will be hard to cook without rice even if he is a skilled cook."

After a pause, Zhu Yuanzhang continued, "Winter will come in a few days, and once winter comes, it will be more difficult to dispatch food and grass. Now is the time to wipe out the remnants of the Northern Yuan in the interior. If we miss the opportunity and delay until next year, the outcome will be uncertain."

Deng Qianqiu couldn't help but ask: "Why do you still care about these things?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily, "Don't say I care. You are a centurion of Yiluansi, don't you care? You have been receiving salary from the emperor for a long time, don't you have to be loyal to the emperor?"

Deng Qianqiu was stunned for a moment. What the hell, this is moral blackmail, right? I only get a few taels of silver in salary from the Zhu family?
Taking a deep breath, Deng Qianqiu saw that Zhu Yuanzhang was still frowning, and he softened his heart for a moment. After thinking for a while, he said, "Brother, how much money and food has Xu Da's army spent now?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "The court allocated 500,000 dan of grain, but the loss along the way was alarming. By the time the grain was delivered to the army, only 100,000 dan of grain was left. As a last resort, the court had to allocate another 790,000 taels of silver to teach them to buy grain locally. Unfortunately, the grain production in the north was not high to begin with. Moreover, after the large-scale grain purchases, the grain price also began to soar. The 790,000 taels of silver were used to buy less than 30% of the usual amount of grain, and the silver was already used up."

Deng Qianqiu smiled and said, "A small place suddenly bought a lot of grain. It would be strange if the grain price didn't go through the roof. The person in charge of this must have lost his mind to come up with such a bad idea."

Zhu Yuanzhang: "..." Deng Qianqiu pondered again: "Logically speaking...shouldn't we use the salt permit method?"

"What?" Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned and seemed a little confused.

Deng Qianqiu then realized that it was still the early Ming Dynasty and the salt permit system might not have been implemented yet.

Deng Qianqiu then became more confident and said, "Let me ask you again, how much does the salt tax of the imperial court bring in every year?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "It should be around 250,000 taels of silver per year."

Deng Qianqiu was surprised and asked, "So little?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Stop making so much noise here and tell me what you think."

Deng Qianqiu laughed: "The solution is very simple, abolish the official salt sales."

Zhu Yuanzhang's face changed slightly. Obviously, he did not expect that Deng Qianqiu was so bold as to abolish the salt and iron monopoly.

Deng Qianqiu continued, "Instead, the government adopted an agent model. The court was not responsible for operating the salt trade itself, but controlled the production areas. All salt merchants who wanted to purchase salt had to obtain a salt permit issued by the court."

Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a moment, "Does that mean... let them buy salt permits from the imperial court?"

Deng Qianqiu said: "This salt permit adopts the model of exchanging salt for grain. For example... the salt merchants are required to transport a certain amount of grain, and then they will be given a certain amount of quota."

“Let merchants transport grain?”

Deng Qianqiu smiled when he saw Zhu Yuanzhang's puzzled look. This method must be effective, because the salt permit system was widely adopted in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. You know what, the effect was amazing. With extremely limited taxation levels, the Ming Dynasty launched hundreds of wars of varying sizes over the past three hundred years without any problems with food allocation.

Deng Qianqiu said firmly: "Brother, you still don't trust me? I'm not your cowardly friend. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't say these words. Only since we have a life-or-death relationship, I'd tell you."

Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking about it in his mind, as if he was considering the feasibility of this method.

After a long while, he said, "If this salt permit method is really reported to His Majesty and implemented, it can alleviate the urgent need of the army. I will not take credit for your contribution. This is also a great achievement in the army. However..."

Deng Qianqiu asked subconsciously: "But what?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "If things go wrong, it will affect the lives of 100,000 soldiers. Then we will have to resort to military law."

Deng Qianqiu was horrified: "Ah... No way? I was just joking, I'm still a child, you take my words seriously? Brother, aren't we friends who have risked our lives for each other?"

Zhu Yuanzhang gnashed his teeth and said, "Stop talking nonsense. Stop talking so much. This is a military and national issue. It cannot be trifled with!"

Deng Qianqiu continued to struggle, and then said: "I... I mean... we were just private... just joking."

Zhu Yuanzhang stretched and then stood up.

His mood seemed to have improved a lot. Seeing Deng Qianqiu looking nervous, he actually felt a lot better.

He put his hands behind his back and acted calmly: "Who is joking with you? Do I look like a joker? Do you think the lives of hundreds of thousands of people are a joke? Well, do your duty well, don't be lazy and sleep here all day long..."

When Zhu Yuanzhang said this, he looked like he was disappointed with his son, and he gnashed his teeth in anger: "If everyone is like you, what will happen to the world? The next time I see you like this, I will teach you a lesson."

Deng Qianqiu: “…”

(End of this chapter)