As expected, once the Emperor spoke these words, everyone was silenced.
At this moment, no one dared to risk their life by claiming the Grand Secretary had no military merits.
How many of the civil and military officials in the entire court actually have military merits? If those without military merits cannot be rewarded, then everyone can just sit and watch those military officers rise in rank and accumulate wealth.
Because their interests were at stake, most people found it difficult to step forward and claim that the Grand Secretary's contributions were insufficient.
They looked around and then fixed their gaze on Zhu Ci.
Nowadays, only this Prince of Ning can step forward to offer counsel.
Oh, the Censors of the Censorate should also step forward and offer some counsel.
Zhu Ci kept his eyes downcast and his mind focused; he certainly wouldn't step forward.
Didn't he hear the Emperor say that the decision has already been made? Has the Emperor ever changed his mind once he has made up his determination?
His peerage certainly could not rise any further, but it wasn't as if he couldn't make further progress.
For example, exchanging for a better fiefdom.
When he was enfeoffed as a prince, the Great Ming's territory was still small and good locations were scarce, which is why he was granted the title of Prince of Ning.
Now that his territory has expanded, could he get it exchanged for something else? Besides, what if the Emperor is pleased enough to grant him a hereditary title?
Given his unique status, it wouldn't be impossible to request a hereditary title, even if it were a lower-ranking one.
If one were to oppose the Emperor at a time like this, as a result, the hereditary title was lost, it would be a great betrayal to one's descendants.
Zhu Ci remained silent, Zhu Yujian remained silent as well.
Never mind him, the entire Censorate was very quiet.
Several of the current Six Ministers are not veterans, several others have been removed due to corruption, so they have no idea just how resolute the Emperor became once he had made up his mind.
They knew, besides, when the Emperor bestowed the former Nangong and the Prince Rui's Mansion from the Manchu era upon the Grand Secretary, didn't everyone already have a good idea of what was coming?
What is the commotion about now?
It is already too late.
Many officials who wished to object were quite eager to try.
Even if they could not oppose the peerage, they would at least demand that the Emperor change the title and the fiefdom.
The Grand Secretary originally made his fortune in the Zhejiang area, if his fiefdom is also placed there, won't he become a local emperor of the Zhejiang region in the future?
How could that be possible?
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: You still don't understand my style of doing things? No matter, I'll let you get to know it this time. *Cat covers mouth and smiles mischievously*. jpg
Next update at 12:00 PM~
Chapter 277
Zhu Ci, on the other hand, didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
Fu's influence was no longer limited to Zhejiang; it had long since begun to radiate throughout the entire Jiangnan region.
Not to mention that his merchant caravans cover both land and sea; for Fu, the location of a fiefdom makes no difference to him.
Moreover, a fiefdom is merely a requirement for a Prince's title; otherwise, whether or not he has a fiefdom makes little difference to Fu.
His wealth had already accumulated sufficiently; he did not need a fiefdom to add luster to his life.
And he would basically stay in Beijing for the rest of his life; it was impossible for him to go to a fiefdom.
Seeing the officials below, one by one, feeling frustrated by the Censorate's perceived failures, they felt that the Censors of the Censorate had not fulfilled their responsibility to offer remonstrance.
Fu could only step forward himself and bow with his hands clasped, saying, "Your Majesty.."
But before he could say anything, Zhu Ci waved his hand. "Shut up and go back. This matter has nothing to do with you."
Fu was suddenly caught between laughter and tears. Wasn't what they were discussing right now exactly his issue of nobility? How could it have nothing to do with him?
Of course, in reality, all he could do was wait for a result. Once this Imperial Decree was issued, to avoid any suspicion of bias, the Grand Secretariat would be signed by the two Vice Grand Secretaries.
Fu wanted to say something more, but the Emperor simply waved his hand decisively: "Since there is nothing else, the court is adjourned."
The officials below looked on in bewilderment as the Emperor departed with such effortless grace.
No, who said everything was settled? There are still many things to do.
I spent the entire morning obsessing over the issue of the Grand Secretary title and haven't done a single proper thing!
Fortunately, there were no particularly urgent matters that needed to be handled at the moment.
It was just that everyone could also see that His Majesty's attitude was extremely firm.
Although everyone felt helpless, they ultimately swallowed all their objections.
The newly appointed Minister of Works had a fairly good relationship with Zhu Ci. As he stepped out of the palace gates, he complained in a low voice, "His Majesty is so headstrong; is he not afraid that in the future, the history books will.."
“The history books will only say that His Majesty and the Grand Secretary shared a rare and harmonious bond, a rarity in this world.”
Zhu Ci interrupted him directly, then looked at the Minister of Works with a meaningful gaze and said, "Don't be foolish. The Grand Secretary's rank has nothing to do with you. On the contrary, because the Grand Secretary is being widely praised, His Majesty might just raise the status of others as well."
Zhu Ci understood Zhu Ci to some extent.
Although Zhu Ci was quite stingy with rewards in terms of titles and land, he was extremely generous with rewards in terms of salary.
He has already begun to adopt the practice of using high salaries to ensure integrity; he avoids granting titles whenever possible, but he is willing to grant nominal positions, which, when accumulated, are equivalent to an extra salary.
Besides this, although he rarely bestowed fertile land, he would bestow state-owned shares.
Since the population is currently low, much of the fertile land is in the hands of the state. Naturally, the state is responsible for cultivation, sales, so on, which necessitates the establishment of state-owned enterprises.
State-owned enterprises will also provide jobs, allowing some people to make a living even without farming, even live quite well.
Zhu Ci has already begun working to transition this land from an agrarian economy to a market economy.
However, it cannot be rushed, because he also intends to provide some protections for state-owned enterprise employees, such as medical and pension benefits.
This would require a lot of money; if it were to cover many people, even the National Treasury could not bear the burden.
This might be unfair, but there is no other way.
Only after truly beginning to think from the perspective of the state did Zhu Ci realize that sometimes it wasn't that those in power could not see the grievances of the common people, but rather that they were simply powerless to act.
Because the Manchus had ravaged the land for so long, many cities had been slaughtered until so few people remained. To allow these cities to regain their vitality as quickly as possible, tax exemptions were the most basic requirement, in addition to that, some policy support was also needed.
And there were quite a few such cities; after making his decision, Zhu Ci discovered that more than half of the country was essentially in a state of tax exemption.
On the other hand, because the south had suffered less from the fires of war, it was still under a normal taxation status.
However, even with normal taxation in the Jiangnan region, it would still be difficult to support the expenses of the National Treasury.
Especially since Zhu Ci is about to grant massive rewards.
At this time, no one would say with high moral integrity, "Your Majesty, I do not want my rewards."
So everyone could only worry together about what to do with the National Treasury.
Your Majesty, how about.. increasing the taxes?" Huang Daozhou said. "The Jiangnan region has benefited greatly in the past; now should be the time for them to show their loyalty to Your Majesty.
Nanjing had previously been the capital, so any relatively good policies were basically implemented in the capital and its surrounding areas first.
Even without mentioning those things, that area has experienced almost no warfare under the Emperor's protection; therefore, when the Emperor faces difficulties, the common people must naturally share his burdens.
Zhu Ci glanced at him and said helplessly, "You really are quite bold; there has been a precedent for rebellions over there."
Although the previous uprising was led by landlords and wealthy households, those landlords and wealthy households must also pay taxes now, because they possess much land, they naturally have to pay more.
If things were to kick off again at that time, we would have to dispatch troops to suppress them, which would be quite a nuisance.
Huang Daozhou did not dare to speak, merely casting a glance at the newly appointed Prince of Yue, Grand Secretary Fu.
Fu spoke, "Your Majesty, why not increase the tariffs?"
Zhu Ci looked at Fu with a smile; in fact, he was thinking the same thing.
He had not discussed this matter with Fu in advance.
After all, when he and Fu were together in private lately, they didn't spend their time discussing various government affairs like they used to.
Most of the time, they were just clinging to each other, talking of love and flirting, when the flirting went too far, they would become entangled together.
Before he could even speak, Fu spoke up; they were indeed in perfect sync.
However, Zhu Ci did not agree immediately. He pondered for a long while before saying, "Go and investigate what kind of goods are currently being imported and exported. Don't use a one-size-fits-all approach; increase tariffs by category instead."
Don't add tariffs to daily necessities, but for luxury goods, increase them as much as possible!
Fu pulled a memorial directly from his sleeve and said, "I have already organized it; please review it, Your Majesty."
Huang Daozhou and He Tengjiao, standing to the side, were utterly dumbfounded.
The Six Ministers were also shocked standing nearby.
The Grand Secretary's preparations were a bit too thorough.
Looking at the Emperor's satisfied expression, they suddenly understood why the Emperor favored the Grand Secretary.
There were many officials capable of sharing the burden, but there were few who could foresee the Emperor's difficulties and thereby alleviate his worries.
Fortunately, the Grand Secretary never formed factions and rarely targeted specific officials; otherwise, anyone who opposed him would meet a miserable end.
In fact, Fu was not exactly clairvoyant; when he and Zhu Ci were alone together, it wasn't as if they spent all day indulging in debauchery instead of attending to serious matters.
The two of them would occasionally discuss matters of state, although many of those things were just casual complaints uttered by Zhu Ci in a daze.
Zhu Ci did not take it to heart, but Fu listened.
However, there were some matters he could not resolve, so he could only take things one step at a time.
Coincidentally, this is something that can be resolved now, or at least, there is a way to resolve it.
After reading the list, Zhu Ci handed it back to Fu and said, "Let's proceed according to this."
After he finished speaking, his brow furrowed again. "It's still not enough."
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