Daming: Brother, there is no future for monks, let's rebel

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't think Liu Ji dared to lie to him.

However, what he heard was a bit too magical, and Zhu Yuanzhang suspected that he had heard it wrong.

Ordinary people can eat meat at will. If the Ming Dynasty can really become like this, wouldn't it become an ancient dynasty?
Liu Ji nodded seriously: "Mr. Chang, I don't dare to deceive you."

Just as he was about to continue saying something, he realized that there were not many people in front of them and it would be their turn to get food soon.

Liu Ji quickly told Zhu Yuanzhang: "Mr. Chang, wait a moment. If you want to eat something, just tell the person who is cooking."

"Our canteens in various departments in Yanjing are open to officials free of charge. You can order whatever you want. There is just one requirement. You must eat all the food you order. If you waste food, it will be harmful to you. The promotion had an impact.”

"So strict?" Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned.

Even if he is famous for his cruelty, he will not ruin his official career just because officials waste a little food.

While he was talking, the people in front had already finished their meals.

The cafeteria lady in charge of serving food immediately became enthusiastic after seeing Liu Ji: "Mr. Liu, you haven't been here for a while. What would you like to eat this time?"

Although queuing is fair and just, people cannot do it after all, and there is no selfishness at all.

For example, the canteen lady who prepares meals has a completely different attitude towards Liu Ji than other officials.

Liu Ji was already used to this kind of thing, so naturally he didn't take it too seriously. He smiled and said to the cook in the cafeteria: "Give me a portion of braised pork, crispy salted chicken, fried bamboo shoots, and stir-fried three shredded shredded vegetables." , if you have seaweed and pumpkin soup with rice, rice will be enough.”

When Liu Ji was ordering food, the cafeteria lady's spoon was flying up and down at an extremely fast speed.

In the blink of an eye, the two meat and two vegetables ordered by Liu Ji were served.

The speed was actually no slower than Liu Ji's speed in reporting the name of the dish.

And here, the aunt in the cafeteria has no problem with her hands shaking at all.

Moreover, this cafeteria lady should be very familiar with Liu Ji.

The amount of food is obviously slightly less than that of other officials.

This is not because he dared to deduct Liu Ji's food.

It's because Liu Ji's appetite is not particularly large.

If too much is given to Liu Jicheng, the cows and chickens will be left unfinished and wasted, which may affect Liu Ji's evaluation.

After all, Liu Ji is not yet the top leader in Yanjing, there is Liu Song above him.

Liu Ji finished ordering and left in no hurry.

Instead, he stood aside and waited for Zhu Yuanzhang with a smile.

"This gentleman looks a bit unfamiliar. It must be his first time here." The lady in the cafeteria had sharp eyes, and she immediately recognized Zhu Yuanzhang's unfamiliar face.

I just don’t know what his aunt’s expression would be like if she knew that the person in front of her was Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang curiously ordered seven or eight side dishes: "Give us a little less of each. We want to taste what all the dishes in the canteen taste like."

Although the cafeteria lady's attitude towards Zhu Yuanzhang was not as enthusiastic as Liu Ji's, she did not give him a cold face.

Smiling, he took a large spoon and quickly served Zhu Yuanzhang almost all the dishes.

After Zhu Yuanzhang finished cooking, Liu Ji took Zhu Yuanzhang to the dining table.

After all, Liu Ji is the apparent second-in-command of Yanjing and the actual controller.

So along the way, many people are very enthusiastic

He greeted Liu Ji warmly.

Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang, who can always be with Liu Ji, also attracts the attention of many people.

However, these people were very wise and did not ask any more questions.

After sitting down, no one dared to disturb Liu Ji anymore.

After all, this is a canteen, not a restaurant outside.

If you come to disturb Liu Ji while he is eating, it will not increase his favorability in front of Shangguan, but will make people annoying.

"Mr. Chang, please sit down." In front of Lao Zhu, Liu Ji always behaved very cautiously.

He first put his dinner plate on the table, pulled out the chair for Zhu Yuanzhang, and asked Zhu Yuanzhang to sit down first.

After Zhu Yuanzhang sat down, he carefully sat opposite Zhu Yuanzhang.

Before Zhu Yuanzhang started eating, he raised the question he had just asked: "Just because you waste food, your promotion will be affected. Isn't this too harsh?"

Liu Ji smiled and shook his head. : "Your Majesty, there is no need to worry. Regarding the promotion and promotion of officials here in Yanjing, in addition to the rules set by His Royal Highness, there is also a set of scoring standards for officials' daily behavior."

"His Royal Highness the King of England once said that although the morality of officials is not the most important indicator, it is also indispensable."

"So there will also be inspection censors who will grade the officials' daily performance."

"This rating, although not particularly important, will still have an impact on officials at critical moments."

"For example, if two officials have similar political performance, in this case, the daily market rating will play a key role."

"As for wasting food, the daily points deducted are relatively large."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled again: "Liu Song must be in favor of Qi Wu's proposal, right?"

Lao Zhu could even imagine Liu Song's inexplicable excitement after hearing Zhu Han's proposal.

Liu Ji said with emotion: "Mr. Chang really has a keen eye."

"Because of this incident, Liu Song even put aside his previous opinions towards His Royal Highness."

"This kid Qiwu really has a way." Zhu Yuanzhang even had the urge to implement this policy in Yingtian Mansion.

But after thinking about it for a long time, I finally gave up on this plan.

After all, any policy depends on the right time, place, and people. If it is placed in Yanjing, it is an exquisite national policy that is beneficial to the family, country, and the world. But if it is moved to Yanjing, it may become something else.

Zhu Han has emphasized this point more than once.He was just afraid that Zhu Yuanzhang would be greedy for power and advance rashly, which would cause chaos in the newly peaceful world again.

Speaking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang thought of another thing: "By the way, you just said that the people here in Yanjing can eat a meal of meat in three to five days. Is this true or false?"

Of course Zhu Yuanzhang knew that what Liu Ji said was true, and he probably wanted to confirm it.

"How do you know that people can eat a pound of meat every three to five days? Is it possible that you still send people to people's homes every three days to investigate? Or is this just your intention?"

Mentioning this, a strange smile appeared on Liu Ji's face: "Your Majesty, of course the country must rely on data to speak, not on one person's assumptions."

"The key reason why I dare to say this is because of the data surveyed by our Yanjing Yamen Statistics Department. Our Yanjing markets currently consume about [-] chickens, [-] ducks, and more than [-] pigs every day. There are about a thousand other game animals of various kinds.”

"In addition to locally raised meat, many of these meats are trafficked by traders from other places."

"Although the price of meat in Yanjing is relatively low, due to the alarming consumption, it is a very suitable market for many big businessmen." "So much?" Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned when he heard this, because even Yingtian Mansion The consumption is not even one-third of that of Yanjing.

This shows how huge the meat consumption in Yanjing is.

After all, he is the emperor, and Zhu Yuanzhang can clearly know what this means.

After lunch, there was actually time for a lunch break.

"You guys are living a much more comfortable life than we are." Zhu Yuanzhang complained angrily.

After all, when he was dealing with government affairs, he didn't have any lunch break.

Unlike these ordinary officials, all government affairs in the world are on his shoulders.

Almost as soon as Dean Zhu finished his lunch, he had to go to deal with government affairs.

Often I have to keep my head buried in paperwork and only have time to rest for several hours.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang knew that the officials in Yanjing handled government affairs very efficiently.

But he always felt that these officials were not working at all, but wealthy landlords who were enjoying life.

Liu Ji smiled awkwardly: "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the King of England said that only by having better rest can you work better."

"After all, if you don't have enough rest time, you won't have enough energy to work."

Lao Zhu said angrily: "You guys always have something to say."

After the lunch break, Liu Ji just went out for a trip. After visiting a school, he returned to his office to work.

He stayed there for several hours, and his lower limbs didn't leave until night.

Although he didn't go anywhere, Zhu Yuanzhang would not feel bored.

Of course, the government affairs handled by Liu Ji are usually decided by him alone.

But today, as the emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang must be here, so of course he would not dare to make the decision casually without authorization.

Therefore, no matter whether they are big or small animals, they will all ask Zhu Yuanzhang's opinion first.

If Zhu Yuanzhang's opinion is not suitable for the current situation in Yanjing, Mark will not hide it, but will speak it out freely.

He knew Zhu Yuanzhang's temper very well. If it was such a major national matter, he would not hold a grudge even if he disagreed with Lao Zhu.

On the contrary, if you hide it and don't say anything, you won't have any objections to Lao Zhu until he finds out later.

After this afternoon, Zhu Yuanzhang finally saw the prosperity of Yanjing.

He felt that if he governed the entire world, he would have to deal with as many things as Liu Ji.

The reason for this is that the matters managed by the Yamen in Yanjing are too detailed.

From the operations of various yamen to ordinary people's autumn harvest and spring planting, even a small workshop opened in a certain village will report this to Liu Ji.

This is completely different from traditional governance of the country.

The previous Ming Dynasty was not much different from all those feudal countries. What was important was that the imperial power did not go to the countryside.

The imperial court mainly focused on the general direction. Even if the county magistrate was in charge of matters, it was only in the county seat.

As for various villages, they are actually managed by local gentry and clan elders.

Moreover, in many matters, the court mainly focused on one general direction.

How to implement the rest is left to the lower-level officials at each level.

For example, when it is time to sow seeds in spring, the court will encourage mulberry farming.

However, the previous approach of the imperial court was not to go directly to the fields to instruct farmers on how to farm.

Instead, encourage those officials to pay attention to mulberry farming.

But the situation in Yanjing was indeed different. In a memorial, Zhu Yuanzhang even saw an official's estimate of the farmland harvest around a certain village or town.

And among the expected harvests, the consumption of food in villages and towns was calculated.

According to his calculations, the village's food supply in the coming year may not even be enough for the village's own use.

Yanjing Yamen needs to prepare in advance and provide certain support.

He also lodged a serious protest with the superior government.

The main reason for the village's poor harvest was that the construction of Yanjing City attracted too many laborers.

This resulted in insufficient collision rates in these villages, thus resulting in a decrease in farmland efficiency.

Therefore, this first-level official requested that Yanjing Yamen slow down its efforts to absorb strong labor from surrounding villages and towns.

to ensure the normal functioning of these villages.

Dare to directly raise dissatisfaction with higher-level departments in the memorial.

Dean Zhu has only met Liu Song and a few other officials like this.

"This person is good. He dares to speak out. He is a good official."

Regarding Zhu Yuanzhang's evaluation, Liu Ji did laugh: "Your Majesty, you have misunderstood. I do not deny that this person is indeed trying to do things for the Ming Dynasty, but the reason why he dares to speak out is for himself."

"Because of the situation in this village, if the current situation continues, he will definitely not be able to complete the project on time this year. This will affect his own career."

"This official is naturally extremely concerned about the local situation."

Lao Zhu frowned: "Isn't this also because Yanjing is absorbing a large number of people, so his mission cannot be completed?"

Liu Ji slowly shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, this is not the case. His Majesty the King had already anticipated this situation when he planned the fight."

"So this year, as long as the food can basically guarantee the requirements of these villages, they can be self-sufficient."

"This is actually not a difficult task for them to complete. After all, His Royal Highness also brought high-yielding grain seeds."

"As long as they work diligently, it may be difficult to achieve any particularly dazzling results. But just completing this year's opening is a very easy task."

"The fact that this person has not completed the work can only mean that he has not done his best work, and may even have made some shady deals with some local people." As he spoke, a trace of disdain appeared on Liu Ji's face. smile.

"Your Majesty, this kind of person can certainly hide things from high and low in the previous court, and he is as comfortable as a fish in water."

"But in this area of ​​Yanjing City, it is absolutely impossible to do this."

"If he doesn't take the initiative to bring it up, the Yamen may not notice his problem for a short time."

"But since he has taken the initiative to commit suicide, we don't need to be polite to him. The morning meeting will immediately send the supervisory censor to investigate."