In this era, many things are actually very rough.

What's the use of reasoning? Taking it slow is just to provide a buffer in the early stages.

Zhu Ying did not expect that Hu Jima had the confidence to overturn the table.

That's not how you play cards.

When the smallest card is played to you, Annan, it is already a royal flush.

If I didn't feel that there are not enough talented people now and that education and governance cannot be implemented well, I would have done it long ago.

However, through this incident, Zhu Ying also understood a truth.

Sometimes we really can't be too polite to these small countries.

Being a king on the outside and a saint on the inside may be more useful.

Fortunately, the Beiyuan Mercenary Guild has basically taken shape now, and the next step is to sweep the entire Western Region.

The Western Regions are now at their weakest in the entire historical period and pose no threat to the Ming Dynasty at all.

After the Han Dynasty expanded into the Western Regions, the Central Plains has been migrating people to the Western Regions, either actively or passively. The key to this migration lies in the prevalence of the Silk Road trade.

From the Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, the number of Han people in the Western Regions has always been very large, accounting for a very considerable proportion of the overall ethnic population.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Western Regions had been occupied for nearly a hundred years. Zhang Yichao, a military governor of the Tang Dynasty, was able to gather a Han army and lead the people of all ethnic groups in Shazhou to revolt, expelling the Tubo who had occupied the Hexi region for hundreds of years.

In the name of the Great Tang General, he recovered eleven states including Gua and Sha.

It was precisely because the Song Dynasty was too weak that the countries in the Western Regions that supported the Central Plains were basically purged by the Karakhanid Dynasty established by the Turks.

It was during this period that the Han people throughout the Western Regions either became cannon fodder in this war or assimilated into the Uighur people of the Western Regions.

This became even more obvious after the rise of Mongolia.

Almost all the settled Han people disappeared.

Even the current Ming Dynasty only nominally controls the Western Regions, but in reality it is a clear distinction between you playing yours and me playing mine.

Zhu Yuanzhang also knew that the Western Regions were not very profitable, so he had no intention of wasting military energy there.

However, although it did not have absolute control over the Western Regions, its influence was still great.

Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Hami in his early years and established the Hami Guard.

Hami Guard controls the gate to the Western Regions. As long as nothing happens in Hami, Ming Dynasty's influence on the Western Regions will not weaken.

Therefore, the small countries in the Western Regions vied with each other to submit to the Ming Dynasty and nominally became its vassal states.

One of the reasons why the countries in the Western Regions were so straightforward was that they were highly dependent on the Ming Dynasty economically.

Zhu Ying's early situation was similar to this. He had to spend a lot of money every year to smooth out the relationship with Hami Wei.

Only in this way can the smuggling trade be carried out smoothly.

In fact, there are no Han people in the Hami text, and the country was controlled and managed by the settled Mongolian nobles.

Precisely because they were settled, unlike other nomadic Mongols, they could escape the monk but not the temple, and could only submit to the management of the Ming Dynasty.

The resources in the Western Regions are still very good.

The area is extremely vast. Leaving aside other places, the Tianshan Mountains alone stretch nearly two thousand miles from east to west and hundreds of miles from north to south. The mountains are majestic and the forests cover the sky.

The ice peaks and snow-capped ridges on the top of the mountains tower across the sky like a white jade screen. When spring comes, the snow melts and the torrents rush down, irrigating oases of all sizes.

Now that he has the strength, Zhu Ying naturally wants to incorporate the Western Regions into the direct territory of the Ming Dynasty.

No matter what, the Western Regions are ultimately a hidden danger to the Ming Dynasty. Only when the Ming Dynasty maintains sufficiently strong military strength can it have sufficient deterrent effect on the Western Regions.

Once the military strength of the Central Plains dynasty weakened, could we still expect the Mongolian nobles of Hami Wei to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty?

After all, interests determine everything.

The overall education of the Western Regions is a very long-term direction for the future.

Now we need to use the mercenaries of the Northern Yuan Dynasty to launch an attack on the Western Regions.

Only by making this place gradually chaotic can the influence of the Ming Dynasty be continuously increased.

There is also a traffic issue involved here.

For the time being, Zhu Ying has no plans to build the road to the Western Regions, mainly because the cost is too high and the cost outweighs the benefits.

1.8 billion treasure notes is a lot, but this money will obviously have a greater effect if it is spent on internal infrastructure.

To be honest, there still needs to be enough troops.

At present, the garrisons in the capital are gradually reducing their self-sufficiency, and the Ministry of War has added a military pay and logistics department.

It is mainly used to ensure the soldiers' logistics and military expenditures.

In this regard, Zhu Ying has already begun to carry out reforms.

More than 50 garrisons in and around the capital have been the first to enter the reform stage.

All the soldiers here will have their monthly pay paid separately.

Military pay can be collected directly from the newly established Armaments Department.

In this regard, it is no different from the payment of officials' salaries. You go to collect it yourself every month.

With the establishment of the Ming Royal Bank, the soldiers' salaries will be directly deposited into the Ming Royal Bank.

As long as each soldier signs and confirms, they can go directly to the Ming Royal Bank to collect the money based on their household registration.

From this point of view, the pressure on the national treasury has actually been reduced to a great extent.

Because as soldiers, their daily food, clothing and other expenses are all taken care of by the army, and there is no interest on the military pay after it arrives at the money house.

To put it simply, it is just a row of numbers and there is no risk of a bank run.

The money can be used by the bank itself, or by Zhu Ying himself, for long-term or short-term operations.

You should know that the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank is now preparing to open official lending business.

As long as you have collateral, you can borrow enough money at a very low interest rate.

This is also a great shock to the entire lending environment of the Ming Dynasty.

The interest rates for loans in ancient times were extremely high, almost the same as the loan scams of later generations.

Once the loan is borrowed, the interest rate will be doubled to an unimaginable level, far exceeding the principal by several times or even ten times.

The saying "nine out and thirteen back" is exactly this principle.

Compounding interest is the most normal phenomenon in today's Ming Dynasty.

This is protected by the entire bureaucratic and aristocratic interest group. To put it simply, it is legal and compliant, and the government must support it.

Zhu Ying was well aware of the evil involved. There were countless examples of people whose families were ruined because of borrowing.

Among them, casinos are the most popular.

Often after a wave of borrowing, people have to sell their property, wife and daughter.

This is a long-standing drawback. If we expect it to change all at once, the government will encounter tremendous resistance and it will be difficult to truly resolve the problem.

But from the perspective of money houses, it is completely different.

The money shop here not only provides lending business, but also pawnshop business.

The rules set by Zhu Ying clearly stipulated that all loan businesses could only have a 10% profit.

In other words, if you borrow 100 strings of treasure notes, you only need to pay back 110 strings after one month.

Such interest rates are a huge blow to the entire lending industry in the Ming Dynasty.

"Your Highness, by doing this, you are destroying our livelihood. With such low interest rates, who would come to do business with us?"

"That's right. Now it's just a piece of news. It hasn't even officially started yet, but my shop has no customers. I'm bound to go bankrupt in the future."

"We can't do this. We have to think of a solution. Otherwise, we will all just have to close our doors and starve."

"How about we make some noise? Let the court know that we are not pushovers."

Pawnshop, money house.

People who do this kind of business are never good people. After all, violent debt collection has become their habit.

Now that I have suffered a blow, I suddenly feel unwilling.

Everyone has a few subordinates. Since you have left us without food, then you will make the entire capital city restless.

Don't underestimate such an interest group. Although they seem insignificant, they actually control a large amount of invisible wealth, and the network of relationships behind them is also extremely amazing.

To put it simply, many officials, both big and small, in the court had unclear relationships with them.

But they forgot who they were facing.

Naturally, they didn't dare to provoke the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank, but they had long been accustomed to smashing other shops and causing trouble for public security.

Three days before the Ming Royal Money House started its lending and mortgage business.

The entire capital was suddenly in chaos.

Public security incidents in all aspects suddenly broke out on a huge scale. All the public security departments and their yamen were overcrowded with people, and all kinds of conflicts were completely different.

In today's capital, it is not a big deal for a decent girl to be harassed on the street.

Some people were beaten to death in the street.

These people all owed debts from loans or gambling. The owners of these pawnshops all united together and tried every possible way to create trouble for the government.

From another perspective, it forced the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank to stop these two business segments.

It’s a pity that they offended two killer gods, big and small.

At the morning court session, Zhu Yuanzhang's face turned pale and he threw the stacks of memorials in his hand directly onto the Fengtian Hall.

"This is simply outrageous. Do you think we are old and easy to be bullied?"

"A bunch of dogs who are eating human blood have the audacity to behave so recklessly and disrupt the public order of the capital."

"Pass on my decree. All the public security departments, the Five Cities Military Department, and the Imperial Guards, mobilize them all."

"All those caught will be punished three times more severely. There is no need to interrogate them. Just give them a good beating first."

Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he laughed.

Does this mean that he thinks he doesn't dare to kill anyone, or that he is too old to lift a knife?

Although they are all businessmen, none of those who engage in lending and pawnbroking are good people. Zhu Yuanzhang thinks it would be better if they were all killed.

In essence, they are just blood-sucking leeches that will not create any real benefits for the Ming Dynasty. They are just doing business to make money.

However, there are currently no clear regulations on this issue in the law, and the boundaries are rather vague.

When Zhu Yuanzhang was a child, he remembered very clearly that if his family borrowed one stone of grain to survive, they would have to pay back three or four stones of grain.

Otherwise, how could so many people starve to death?

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang became even more angry.

Call Jiang Li over directly.

"Let's investigate thoroughly. These people who are causing trouble are all secretly instigated by them. We must find out all those who are hiding behind this."

"We know clearly that these people must have a lot of connections with the officials in the court."

"For example, many of the nobles were involved in it."

"You handle this matter yourself. If you catch someone, we will directly confiscate their property. Don't give face to anyone. If anyone comes to you to plead for mercy, you should record all of their names for us. After we finish dealing with this, we will personally settle accounts with them."

Zhu Yuanzhang said coldly.

Such behavior has already touched upon the imperial power to a great extent.

Zhu Ying thought for a while and said, "Grandpa, let your grandson do this together."

"Just on the Jinyiwei side, some things may not be easy to deal with."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "That's fine. Grandson, if you want to get into the lending and pawnbroking business, I think you've already inquired about it before."

"Now is the time to close the net. No matter who it is, if they still want to make money from this, there is no need to be polite."

Zhu Ying replied: "Please rest assured, Grandpa, I will definitely catch them all this time."

The Jinyiwei acted swiftly. With Jiang Lin personally in charge and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince supervising the operation, every Jinyiwei understood the seriousness of the matter and did not dare to be negligent in the slightest.

Gradually, the backstage forces behind these people gradually surfaced.

It's really shocking.

Even Zhu Ying couldn't help but remain silent after seeing this.

The ones who do most of this business are actually not the civil officials, it is mainly the military officers and nobles who are involved.

A profitable business requires manpower.

Military officers have extensive experience in doing this. After all, when they were soldiers fighting in wars, they had committed many immoral acts such as robbery and looting.

This is a pretty big piece of profit pie.

Before this, it was in line with the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

It can also stand up to scrutiny from a moral point of view.

It is only natural to pay back debts, right?

"Your Highness, look at this..."

Jiang Li handed part of the files to Zhu Ying with some embarrassment.

Zhu Ying flipped it open and saw that all the people involved were members of the royal family.

Not only the princes, but also the eunuchs in the palace and concubines in the harem were involved.

There are two particularly familiar names among them.

The eunuch Liu He was the seal-holder of the Silijian, and the eunuch Guo Zhong was the pen-holder of the Silijian.

This person is close to Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Ying, the grandfather and grandson.