Chongzhen was silent for a long time, and Xinuan Pavilion was very quiet for a while, and you could hear a needle drop.
All the ministers were silent.
Among these people today, Li Biao and Qian Longxi are the core figures of Donglin, and Wang Qiashu, Minister of War, is a peripheral member of the Donglin Party. Wang Qia was highly regarded by the imperial court because he was recommended by Zhao Nanxing, the censor of Zuodu.
Bi Ziyan, the Minister of Household Affairs, was a member of the Lu Party and a native of Zibo, Shandong Province.
Wang Yongguang, the official secretary, and Cao Yubian, the censor of Zuodu, were both from Shanxi. Behind them were Shanxi merchants.
Wang Yongguang is relatively neutral and does not count as a party member. Bi Ziyan is also a relatively upright official. Wang Qia is a famous upright official. When he was patrolling Zhejiang, he did a lot of good things for the people. When he left office, the people went ten miles out of the city to kneel to see him off, which was highly regarded by the public.
Generally speaking, Chongzhen's cabinet arrangements are pretty good.
"The Commander-in-Chief Zuo is an important minister. This matter should not be taken lightly. Guards in royal robes will conduct a detailed investigation and report later."
The ministers below all understood that Chongzhen did not want to touch Mao Wenlong. There was not much sincerity in the investigation.
Qian Longxi was still waiting to say anything more, but Li Biao secretly pulled him and signaled that he should stop talking.
"Today's topic is about the issue of subsidizing Duoyan. Governor Yuan is worried that Duoyan is at the end of his rope and has turned to Jiannu, causing the loss of our northern barrier in Ji Town. What do you think?"
Chongzhen took a sip of tea and said slowly.
"I believe that Duoyan must be saved because her lips are dead and her teeth are cold. The imperial court should allocate funds to purchase rice grains in the south of the Yangtze River to support the Haraqin and Duoyan tribes. Once Duoyan surrenders to the Jiannu, Shanhaiguan will no longer be a member of the Eastern Anti-Jiangnu. barrier. There are so many mountain passes in the Great Wall that it is impossible to accumulate enough troops to defend. The capital will be directly threatened." Qian Longxi said.
Opposite the ministers, Chongzhen asked the eunuch to hang up a map of the Great Wall. Qian Longxi pointed to the densely packed mountain passes and Guancheng from Shanhaiguan to Zhangjiakou, indicating that there were simply not enough troops to hoard heavy troops at every mountain pass like Shanhaiguan.
"Sun Tzu said: Be prepared on the left but empty on the right, be prepared on the right but empty on the left. If you are prepared everywhere, you will be empty everywhere." Qian Longxi said. "There are so many mountain passes where we don't know where the slaves will come from, and there is no way to defend them."
Chongzhen took a breath of air-conditioning. Looking at the dozens of mountain passes made his scalp numb. In the past, this place was all Mongolian, and Duoyan was divided into thirty-six families, each of which was not very powerful. The pressure along the Great Wall in North Zhili was not great.
If Duoyan voted for Jiannu, Jiannu was a unified political power. They could concentrate a huge amount of troops. Coupled with the vassal Mongolian tribes, there were so many mountain passes that it was impossible to tell which one they would attack. Whichever one they fight, they're likely to break through quickly.
"Bi Qing, how much food will be needed to support Duoyan?" Chongzhen asked.
"In reply to Your Majesty, there is no money in the treasury. Now the treasury is basically empty. The rice grains stored in Taicang and other places can barely sustain the supply. There is no money or grain at all." Bi Ziyan took a deep breath, even though Qian Longxi said All of them make sense, but he still tells the truth.
"Autumn taxes have just started to be collected, but they still have to make up for last year's arrears of wages and salaries. Liaodong is also in a hurry, and the nine sides have not paid wages for half a year. I am incompetent and I really can't come up with any money."
Chongzhen was also a little helpless. He didn't even talk about it when he had no money. What did the cabinet think? Didn't they know the financial situation? Why did Qian Longxi and the others still emphasize the need to provide pensions to Duoyan.
The more Chongzhen thought about it, the uglier his face became. What did Yuan Chonghuan mean? Do you want to embarrass me? Raise this kind of question that cannot be implemented.
Suddenly, the emperor thought of something, from the time he took over as governor of Jiliao and refused to leave, until the Ningyuan rebellion.
Coupled with Luo Yangxing's secret report, he had secret contacts with Huang Taiji, and a white lama came to Ningyuan City from Shenyang and has been hiding in his yamen, living in seclusion.
The emperor's face slowly turned red, and after a while, he tried his best to calm down.
"Tushan, what's the situation with Duoyan and Jiannu now?"
Chongzhen did not intend to dwell on the problem of lack of money. Let’s first ask what the situation is.
If money is not needed, is it feasible?
After all, he still has tens of millions of taels of private money in hand.
This money came from selling the gold nuggets and goldware he had accumulated over the past two hundred years to Yang Fan's bank and exchanging them for silver.
If it was really necessary, he wouldn't be reluctant to give up money. After all, he didn't want to see that the entire North Zhili Great Wall was occupied by slave-building forces.
Tushan was originally unwilling to attend this meeting, but he had no choice but to come. He knew that telling the truth would offend people like Dong Lin.
Tushan is a mature man, and he has a clear understanding of the situation in the court.
He is one of the few people who understands things clearly.
In the final analysis, the party struggle in the court is actually a conflict between the north and the south.
After the Western Jin Dynasty invaded China, Yiguan moved south, and the economic center of gravity shifted to the south of the Yangtze River.
This process started from the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty until it was completely completed in the Southern Song Dynasty. From then on, China's political center was in the north and its economic center was in the south.
This imbalance caused the conflict between the North and the South.
Starting from the Northern Song Dynasty, the imperial examination began to expand in scale. There were so many scholars in Jiangnan that they almost monopolized the officialdom.
There are only so many positions in the court, and the struggle for power between the northern and southern gentry has reached a fever pitch.
Only if the highest-level courtiers have representatives of the region's interests, can they protect the interests of their region in a game of chess across the entire empire and the country. Will not be overly obligated.
There is no one above, good things will not happen, and huge sacrifices will be made.
Therefore, the struggle between the two sides is becoming more and more cruel, using all possible means. This made it difficult for the emperor of the Song Dynasty to protect himself, which eventually led to the Jingkang Incident.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, Qin Hui and those who stopped Yue Fei's Northern Expedition even negotiated peace with the Jin State and ceded all north of the Huaihe River to the Jin State, in order to deal a devastating blow to the northern gentry.
Just give them and their territory to the Kingdom of Jin and tell them to get out completely. It's like firing them.
In the end, their goal of dominating the court was established. Anyway, their foundations were all in the south, and there would be no loss if the north could not be cut off.
In the Jin and Yuan dynasties, northern aristocratic families cooperated with the Jurchens and Mongols, and a large number of northerner Shihou warlords emerged.
They helped Kublai Khan conquer the south and completely bulldozed the power of the southern gentry. This time it was the southerners' turn to suffer heavy losses.
In the new dynasty, they have nothing to do.
The destructive tactics of eight prostitutes, nine scholars and ten beggars were not something the Mongols could have thought of. It was the revenge of the northern gentry, directed at them.
Because there are many scholars in the south, it can be seen how deep the resentment of the northern gentry towards them is.
Therefore, the southern gentry supported Zhu Yuanzhang, Chen Youliang and others to rebel against the Yuan Dynasty. Through the Ming Dynasty, he regained control of the country. The northern gentry was suppressed again.
Zhu Yuanzhang succeeded in the commoner rebellion, why could Li Zicheng not copy his successful model?
Because the Yuan Dynasty did not use intellectuals from the south, Zhu Yuanzhang had many talents under his command. There are as many scholars as there are scholars.
The Ming Dynasty was a world of scholars. Talents were all in the court and held official positions. It could be said that there were no talented people in the wild.
Li Zicheng searched for more than ten years, but only found a man named Jinxing, and a lame man named Song Xiance. This team is far from Zhu Yuanzhang. It's surprising that he succeeded.
What Tu Shan didn't know was that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the northern gentry once again used their old tactics, represented by Shanxi merchants. Since they couldn't win in the court, they moved the battlefield. Choose to let Jiannu enter, flip the table and reshuffle the cards.
During the Qing Dynasty, all policies were aimed at suppressing the south, such as the Literary Prison and the compilation of the Sikuquanshu. Increase taxes in Jiangnan. The Eight Banners garrisoned Hangzhou, Jiangning, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, etc. and built flag cities.
This shows that the basis of Manchu Qing rule was the alliance between Manchu and Mongolia and the northern gentry.
