Everything seemed to be in good order, which was good news for Joo Yoon-young, as it saved him a lot of trouble.
This is perhaps the best possible course of action for the court, given that many things are still ongoing. Even if he considers himself a diligent emperor, the Ming Dynasty is currently in a state of peace and prosperity, which can barely be considered a golden age.
However, many things were not so easy, and many things were indeed being carried out continuously. This meant that Zhu Yunying needed to be even busier, and the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty could not be idle at this time and needed to do some things.
There's no need to elaborate on domestic affairs. The relocation of the capital just needs to proceed in an orderly manner. There are no plans to completely move the court to Beiping Prefecture for the time being. Only some government offices and institutions have begun to relocate one after another, which will not delay the important affairs of the court for the time being.
Besides the plan to relocate the capital, the relevant departments are now on high alert, systematically advancing the policy of merging land tax and poll tax.
Although these policies had been piloted in both northern and southern Zhili provinces before, and some experience and insights had been gained.
But this is far from enough. Ultimately, the fact that such policies are being implemented nationwide, with such intensity and scope, means that all officials, both civil and military, need to start paying attention to them.
This is a policy that concerns national policy and people's livelihood, and it is obviously not a trivial matter. We must treat it with even greater care.
The truth is, once something involves national policy and people's livelihood, things become complicated. For Zhu Yunying, this certainly required even greater attention. The Ming Dynasty had finally begun to show signs of prosperity and a prosperous era.
If things take a sharp turn for the worse due to unforeseen circumstances, or if we go down a wrong path, it would be truly heartbreaking. We must maintain a thriving state and absolutely cannot allow any turmoil to occur at this juncture.
While maintaining a certain level of stability is necessary, it doesn't mean Zhu Yunying will do nothing. Necessary changes are still essential, because he believes that some of the policy changes he makes will make the Ming Dynasty even stronger and more prosperous.
Ideally, there would be less growing pains from reform. Even better, there would be no growing pains at all.
Bao Zhao, Lian Zining, and others like them can't afford to be idle now; their duties also require them to uphold the laws and regulations of the court. At this juncture, they need to pay even closer attention to these matters to prevent officials from using policy changes to harass the people.
These were things that Zhu Yunying had always attached great importance to. He knew very well that even the best policies needed proper implementation. If corrupt officials were to be encountered, they might misinterpret good policies, and the people wouldn't think much of it; they would simply assume that the court itself was corrupt.
This naturally explains why Zhu Yunying always cared so much about supervision; he didn't have much confidence in some officials.
Therefore, in addition to the three judicial departments supervising, the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot also became important at this time.
Even though there have been voices around Zhu Yunying over the years criticizing institutions like the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, it hasn't changed his resolve. He won't disable his own eyes and ears, nor will he be fooled by some civil officials into thinking that the world will be at peace without the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The so-called benevolent ruler has little appeal to him.
These were Zhu Yunying's characteristics, and he intended to continue doing so; many people were probably aware of this. However, these people were likely trying to persuade the emperor, hoping to bring him back from his misguided path.
After all, these were considered duties by some civil officials and scholars. Their job was to assist the emperor, so that he could reflect on his mistakes and then govern the country well again.
Zhu Yunying was well aware of these things, so even if some people wanted to change things, they couldn't. Once an emperor becomes stubborn, he becomes incredibly stubborn, and his stance on certain issues naturally clashes with that of his civil and military officials.
Zhu Yunying was still considering supervising some officials to ensure the orderly implementation of the land tax reform policy.
Fu Youde and his ilk were quite anxious. These military officers felt that the court had undergone some changes. Although the Ming Dynasty had been established for over thirty years, it had been a period of constant warfare.
Regardless of the scale of the wars, there have been wars in recent years, which naturally means that the value and status of military merit have been demonstrated, and this can be considered the value of their existence.
But things are different now. The Ming Dynasty may very well be free of war for some time to come.
It's obvious. The Ming Dynasty is currently busy implementing the national policy of merging the poll tax into the land tax within its borders, and is busy building the Yellow River dike. These things require countless amounts of money and grain, and also require a great deal of effort.
This naturally means that even though the Ming Dynasty appears to be relatively powerful now, it cannot spare more money, grain, and troops to do other things; that is the reality.
What's more, what many military officers wanted to complain about was that last year a eunuch led a huge fleet to sea, which required a lot of money, food, and military manpower. Now these people are going out to sea to fight low-level Japanese pirates or to fight some natives in Southeast Asia, which is simply incomprehensible to them.
These things could also be said to have damaged the interests of military merit, since in their view, fighting was basically only on land.
In the northwest, there's the Oirat Mongols. Liang Guogong Lan Yu is there, eagerly preparing for war, hoping to win a victory and secure a posthumous title.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
