Chapter 67 Royal Prelude
Hu Weiyong, who was standing aside, was quietly looking at Deng Qianqiu, as if he was thinking about something.

Zhu Yuanzhang said hoarsely: "I want to ask you how you came up with this idea of ​​using salt vouchers to replace grain."

"Ah..." Deng Qianqiu was stunned.

His heart skipped a beat. Could it be that the old man... had reported to the emperor and was now coming to settle the score with him?
He still lowered his head and said cautiously: "May I ask your dearest and most beloved Majesty, what is wrong with this salt voucher replacing grain?"

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard the three words "the most holy and wise", he couldn't help but feel sick. He could only frown slightly and said, "What's the matter? Of course the army used this strategy."

"Ah... Your Majesty..." Deng Qianqiu almost screamed: "Your Majesty, this has nothing to do with me. I was just talking nonsense. Who would have known that someone would be so conscienceless as to actually carry it out. Your Majesty, I am innocent. I am only thirteen years old. I... I..."

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard the words "utterly heartless", his joy suddenly faded and was replaced by anger.

His voice became even hoarser, and he angrily said, "Who are you calling a heartless person?"

"I...I..." Deng Qianqiu was speechless for a moment.

He is a man of honor... Of course, people need to have flexible moral boundaries.

Seeing that he didn't say anything, Zhu Yuanzhang's expression eased a little, and he said, "However, this time Xu Da's army reported a victory, and this battle was a great harvest. It is the first such a beautiful victory since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. This battle is not unrelated to the abundance of food and grass. It can be seen that this salt voucher instead of food is indeed a rare strategy for the country. Although the person who proposed this strategy has not been on the battlefield, he has also made an indelible contribution. This time, the meritorious person who proposed this strategy should have a place."

Deng Qianqiu was shocked when he heard this.

He didn't expect that his words would lead to such a great achievement.

No, just now he seemed...

So he lowered his head and coughed, "So that's how it is, Your Majesty, this is nothing, I have been eating your salary for a long time, and what I have done is just a tiny contribution, it is really not worth mentioning, I dare not take credit for it."

Hu Weiyong on the side had already frowned. He had never expected that the idea of ​​using salt vouchers instead of grain was actually thought up by the boy in front of him.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled coldly: "Really? Of course you don't dare to take credit for it. Didn't you just say that this is done by a person who has lost all conscience?"

Deng Qianqiu was stunned. No way, no way, Zhu Yuanzhang, are you so stingy? I have done a great deed, and you are playing word games with me?

You are the emperor of the founding of the country, how can you play tricks like this?
Deng Qianqiu said hurriedly, "I dare to ask Your Majesty not to say that my brother has lost all conscience. Although he and I are half-siblings, we are close, loving and sincere brothers. Even if we have to fight each other, we will never complain. His merits are my merits, and vice versa."

Zhu Yuanzhang: "..."

He took a deep breath and said, "I ask you, how can you ensure that food and grass can be supplied in time, relying on salt permits?"

Deng Qianqiu thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, it depends on the salt permit. Salt permits are profits. Because it is profitable, naturally, many merchants will flock to it for the sake of profit."

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "But Xu Da's army has penetrated deep into the desert, and there may be attacks from the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty everywhere. Even the food supply to the court has been cut off. Can those merchants still supply food in the desert?"

Deng Qianqiu was happy after hearing this, but he was in a much more relaxed mood at this time, so he lowered his head and answered carefully: "Your Majesty... Deep in the desert, it is very difficult to supply food. And the bandit army's harassment has greatly increased the difficulty. But the more so, the more we need to supply food."

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned and asked in confusion: "What's the reason?"

Deng Qianqiu said: "The more difficult the situation is, the more people can supply food. The less food is supplied, the less salt vouchers are distributed. The less salt vouchers are supplied, the higher the value of the salt vouchers. The higher the value of the salt vouchers, the more lucrative the profits. Originally, the profit of supplying food may be 10% or 20%, but because of the critical situation, the supply has been greatly reduced, so the profit may become three times, five times, or even ten times. With such huge profits, aren't these merchants happy and crazy?"

"Let alone the Han merchants... I dare to say that I am afraid that the Hu merchants in the desert who are colluding with the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty will also hear the news and raise food in poverty. No matter what, they must supply food to our Ming army."

Zhu Yuanzhang was shocked after hearing this: "You mean, these people are willing to sacrifice their lives for gold and silver, and even the Hu merchant... is like this?"

"Your Majesty, merchants value profit over separation. This is an eternal truth. There are people who will get themselves killed, but no one will do business that will make them lose money. As for those Hu merchants, they are merchants first, and Hu people second. Since ancient times, money has always moved people's hearts. Isn't this what they deserve?"

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly understood everything.

At this moment, he suddenly discovered that the young man in front of him was actually more mature than ordinary people.

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "So, you are the same. If it is for huge profits, you dare to do such a shameless thing."

Shit... Deng Qianqiu suddenly felt that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was just like his ex-girlfriend and ex-ex-ex-girlfriend in his previous life. Why did they end up discussing something about him? Deng Qianqiu hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, I am... different from them. I am lazy, greedy, content with a small fortune, and I also like beautiful women... I am... wronged..."

Hu Weiyong couldn't help but tremble, and they suddenly faced each other.

At first, he thought that Marquis Ji'an had falsely reported the number of Hu concubines, sixteen...but it was obvious that Marquis Ji'an had lost at least eight of them.

But now that he had met this shameless and vulgar Deng Qianqiu, could it be that he was really so shameless as to ask for sixteen Hu Ji right away?

I almost misunderstood Marquis Ji'an.

Zhu Yuanzhang was a little confused. To be honest, he had never met such a "real" person in his life.

"You are so young, how can you be so unambitious? You need to stand up and serve well."

Deng Qianqiu felt like he was living a year in a day, sweating all over his body. He had to lower his head and concentrate on answering: "I... was born like my father. My father is like this. I heard that my great-grandfather is also like this. And my great-grandfather, my ancestors for eighteen generations, are all like this, taking things as they come and having no ambitions. This is passed down by our ancestors. As the saying goes, it is easy to change the country but difficult to change one's nature. I beg Your Majesty... to forgive me."

Zhu Yuanzhang: "..."

Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to feel that his patience was running out. If this guy had not made great contributions, Zhu Yuanzhang really wanted to take down the imperial platform and give this guy a good beating.

Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang soon remembered something happy.

"Humph." Zhu Yuanzhang then said happily: "In any case, you have offered this strategy, which has greatly reduced the burden of grain and grass for my Ming Dynasty. From now on, my Ming Dynasty will no longer have to worry about the supply of grain and grass. With just a salt voucher, my Ming Dynasty will not have to worry about grain and grass for thousands of years. I will make this salt voucher a ancestral system, and my descendants can follow it. This is your credit!"

After hearing this, Deng Qianqiu fell silent.

"Why don't you reply?" Zhu Yuanzhang raised his eyebrows and looked at him.

Deng Qianqiu hesitated a little, sighed, and then said, "I have something to say, but I don't know whether I should say it or not."

Zhu Yuanzhang was slightly stunned and said, "You can speak freely. I will pardon you."

Deng Qianqiu then said, "Salt vouchers instead of grain are essentially taking advantage of the greed of merchants. This alone can indeed alleviate the problem of grain and grass. I would like to ask Your Majesty, what do you think of merchants?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's face tensed up for a moment, and he snorted coldly, "Humph, they are all opportunists who value profit over loyalty."

Deng Qianqiu said: "Since Your Majesty has such an opinion on merchants, why do you believe that relying on a salt voucher to replace grain can solve the problem that has existed for thousands of years?"

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help showing a puzzled look, and couldn't help asking: "What do you mean by this?"

Deng Qianqiu said: "The reason why this was so successful is because your majesty has just adopted such a method, so that merchants, in order to make profits, have tried every means to raise food and supply military supplies."

"That's because the merchants who value profit over loyalty, as Your Majesty said, haven't found any other ways to take advantage of the situation. But Your Majesty, the merchants can earn 10,000 taels of silver by doing this today. Are they willing to only earn 10,000 taels?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's expression changed slightly.

Even Hu Weiyong couldn't help but fall into deep thought at this moment.

Deng Qianqiu continued, "I can guarantee that it won't take ten years, but only three to five years. Slowly, merchants will try every possible means to find a way. For example, they will make friends with military officials and win them over, and then start to falsely report the amount of military rations they supply, using simpler, more efficient and lower-cost methods to get more salt permits. Or, they can use inferior grain to replace good grain. In short, there are plenty of ways to do this. They haven't done this now because they haven't had time to find a way, nor have they had time to think of a more opportunistic method."

"Just because the current method is effective doesn't mean it will be effective in ten or twenty years, let alone a thousand or a hundred years. This is because human greed is growing. It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality. If someone earns 10,000 taels today, they will want to earn 20,000 taels tomorrow. Today, they can take huge risks to supply military supplies. Then, tomorrow, they can still take huge risks to make huge profits, find loopholes, and earn higher profits. Therefore, I think that replacing grain with salt vouchers can only cope with the problem temporarily. It is a good solution to solve the problem of ten or twenty years. But it is really too much to expect it to solve the problem of a hundred or a thousand years."

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was moved.

Deng Qianqiu's words were actually not to his liking. What Zhu Yuanzhang pursued was a law that would last forever. In his view, as long as a law was never changed, it could be perfectly implemented if his descendants followed this method.

　The first update is here, there will be three more updates today.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)