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The council hall was silent.
This series of political decrees caught the officials somewhat off guard. At this moment, a minister stepped forward and asked, “Your Majesty, officials are not allowed to engage in business, but are their relatives allowed to?”
“No,” Xiao Ming said decisively. In his opinion, allowing officials’ relatives to engage in business would be tantamount to allowing officials to engage in business through proxies, because officials would inevitably use their power to seek personal gain for their relatives.
The ministers fell silent for a moment. The Emperor intended to completely eliminate their opportunities for abuse of power for personal gain.
Surveying the ministers in the council hall, Xiao Ming continued, “In addition to fostering the establishment of private workshops, the imperial court will focus on establishing a batch of official workshops to control the nation’s lifelines. I have instructed Senior Grand Secretary Pang to allocate six million taels of silver, a large portion of which will be used to build official workshops. This includes the management of military weapons, shipbuilding, salt, and tea.”
Pang Yukun asked, “Your Majesty, if that is the case, there will be quite a number of official workshops. Who will manage these official workshops, and will officials be appointed?”
The establishment of state-owned workshops this time was a plan with two objectives for Xiao Ming.
The development of private capital would inevitably bring tremendous changes to the Great Yu Empire. If Xiao Ming completely handed over the Great Yu Empire’s commerce to private capital, he would become very passive in the future, and even the nation’s lifelines would be controlled by merchants, just like in the West.
So, since he was vigorously developing capital, it was better to simultaneously create his own state capital. This way, he would represent both the official and the capital. He was the Emperor, and also the largest capitalist. Imperial governance would not change due to the interference of merchants, and he could even use state-owned capital to regulate the market.
Merchants seek profit. In the country where he lived in contemporary times, there were many instances of merchants profiting from national calamities, such as the spread of a certain disease leading to a sharp rise in salt prices due to rumors, and private salt being hoarded by merchants and sold at high prices.
In such circumstances, if the salt industry was not controlled by the state, it would inevitably lead to the deterioration of the situation.
It was precisely because of these personal experiences that he encouraged capital while also putting a leash on it.
At the same time, the second purpose of these official workshops was to help him manage the imperial relatives. The “opportunity” Xiao Ming offered to the imperial relatives this time was to completely extinguish their ambition to participate in politics.
According to the statistics compiled by Pang Yukun a few days ago, the current number of imperial relatives in the Great Yu Empire was as high as 470,000. This was even after many imperial family members were massacred by the feudal lords during the northern war.
Such a huge number truly startled Xiao Ming. It was then that he truly understood why the imperial family was called the largest powerful family.
According to Xiao Ming’s understanding, the Great Yu Empire and the Ming Dynasty made the same mistake: providing for the imperial family without compensation.
However, after centuries of reproduction, this gradually became a serious problem for the Great Yu Empire, and now this problem had fallen into his hands.
If he were not of the imperial family, starting from scratch to conquer the world, he naturally wouldn’t need to concern himself with these people. However, since he had inherited the throne, improper handling would inevitably lead to another upheaval within the imperial family.
During this time, Li San had been closely monitoring the movements of these imperial relatives. Now, these imperial family members, who lacked the ability to make a living, seemed to be on the verge of causing trouble for him.
Therefore, he intended to use this opportunity to completely solve this problem by incorporating these imperial family members into official workshops, making them “employees” of these official workshops, giving them the treatment of an “iron rice bowl” (guaranteed employment), exchanging labor for money and grain.
Of course, this “iron rice bowl” would only last for two generations within their family; the third generation would no longer receive this treatment, thereby completely resolving the problem of the tail wagging the dog.
Of course, this was only for ordinary imperial family members, because the relationship between these imperial family members and the imperial family was already very distant, infinitely close to common people, and they would be happy to enjoy this treatment, and their number was also the largest.
As for people like the Duke of Song, they naturally would not be content to be ordinary artisans. Therefore, Xiao Ming planned to incorporate Princess Pingyang into the ranks of official merchants, no longer allowing her to engage in her own private trade among the common people, thereby preventing imperial family members from privately engaging in business.
The logic was simple: it was essentially changing the “pig-raising” model into a “worker” model. At the same time, Princess Pingyang and others who gained profits would also become bound by interests with him.
With the status of official merchants, and still able to receive profit dividends, they could only enjoy all this by supporting Xiao Ming. If they were still not satisfied and caused any trouble, he would have no choice but to resort to force.
Thinking of this, Xiao Ming expressed his thoughts.
Fei Ji and Pang Yukun listened quietly, becoming more and more excited as they listened. As soon as Xiao Ming’s words fell, Fei Ji loudly said, “Your Majesty is wise! This will completely solve the problem of the imperial relatives, and the imperial treasury will save a huge amount of expenditure, while also avoiding the dissatisfaction of the imperial relatives.”
Pang Yukun nodded, but he raised some concerns, “Your Majesty, forgive my disrespect, but from what I understand, imperial relatives like the Duke of Song are merely good-for-nothings. If they are allowed into official workshops, what if they cause trouble?”
“I am letting them enter official workshops, but I never said I would let them hold power. The positions in these official workshops will naturally go to the capable. I believe most imperial family members are willing to change. As for the stubborn ones, I will not tolerate them; they will be dealt with according to the law,” Xiao Ming said.
Pang Yukun nodded. He was now reassured. As he had thought, Xiao Ming’s true purpose was still to resolve the problem of the imperial family.
Among these imperial family members, there were both lazy good-for-nothings and diligent and ambitious individuals. These official workshops would act like a sieve, separating the good from the bad.
Virtuous and capable individuals were naturally more trustworthy than outsiders. Incorruptible and useless individuals could be kicked out when the time came.
And most importantly, these individuals would also be under their constant supervision as a result.
The main task of today’s morning court session completed, Qian Dafu, at Xiao Ming’s signal, announced the adjournment of court.
Xiao Ming was very satisfied with the reaction of the hundreds of officials in the court this time. He had to admit that after his ascension, he felt that these officials somewhat underestimated him.
After all, he was young, and these old foxes thought they could manipulate his decisions with a few tricks.
But after Yu Ming was dismissed, these officials suddenly realized that the Emperor before them was also a ruthless character. It was then that they put away their contempt and recognized the distinction between ruler and minister.
“Report any matters early, otherwise, adjourn the court!” As Qian Dafu’s shrill voice rang out, the morning court session ended.
The hundred officials cheered, “Long live!” and stood up, preparing to leave. At this moment, Xiao Ming kept Fei Ji and Pang Yukun behind.
“What are Your Majesty’s commands?” Fei Ji bowed.
The most taboo thing in reform was officials feigning compliance and decrees not leaving the imperial palace. This was also the reason why Xiao Ming kept Fei Ji and Pang Yukun behind.
After his ascension, his mindset was also slowly changing. Five years ago, he was just a modern, ordinary young man. Five years later, he became the Emperor of the Great Yu Empire.
His psychology had also gradually changed over five years. Now that he was the Emperor, he must be supreme and keep his word!
The chaotic imperial governance during Xiao Wenxuan’s time could not be repeated under him.