Chapter 236
When Catherine heard Cheng Shijie's words, she suddenly burst into laughter and laughed at herself, saying that she worried too much.
As Cheng Shijie said, the current Venetian city-state republic, starting from the beginning of the 10th century, after gaining independence from the Roman Empire through war, it quickly became a prosperous commercial center. During the Crusades, Venice took advantage of commerce and war, Occupied a large area of territory.
With its strong economy, Venice's culture, shipbuilding, architecture, painting, and sculpture have all made extraordinary achievements. Even though Venice has lost a large number of overseas colonies, the nationality of the Venetian City-State Republic is still very popular in Europe.
People from other countries tried their best to squeeze in and obtain the citizenship of the Venetian City-State Republic. Some people did not hesitate to spend one hundred thousand ducats, which was equivalent to ninety-five thousand taels of silver. Even when Venice faced the invasion of the Ottoman Empire, there were many sailors and soldiers, including merchants.
However, the Duke of Venice would rather die than surrender. As for leaving after completing your studies? If your brain is flooded, just leave!
Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "As early as more than 200 years ago, your city-state Republic of Venice, after the ten-person parliament became a life-long parliament, your Venice was controlled by the oligarchs. This is the beginning of your decline. If you don't change this situation, there will be more in the future." It is very dangerous to endure more failures because the wealth of the oligopoly cuts off the space for promotion. Your Venetian nobles will always be nobles, while the civilian class has no room to change their destiny!"
Catherine sighed and said: "My father is no longer the Governor of Venice. This is something I can't change!"
Cheng Shijie smiled faintly: "I believe that our Venice will become more and more prosperous and dynamic. A vibrant country has unlimited future. If anyone leaves after completing their studies, they will not be willing to repay you for training them for several years." Even more than ten years in Venice can only prove that he is an idiot! If all such idiots get out, Venice won’t need to feel bad!"
This reminded Cheng Shijie of future generations. People on the Internet have always felt sorry for the brain drain, and even hated those who left for Europe and the United States. But in fact, this kind of thing is actually unfounded. It is undeniable that it is a pity for some people to go out, and some people are not worthy of regret.
The Wudaokou of the beautiful country has been instilling the values of foreigners in professors and students. In that environment, their students will have the understanding that the moon of the beautiful country is rounder than that of China. In fact, it is normal.
Real talent doesn’t go out unless they have other ideas. Cheng Shijie knows very well that he is a trainee of Hansteel Group, and even now he has not resigned from Hansteel Group.
Because he has different feelings for Hansteel Group. The state-owned enterprise system is a fair one and is suitable for the environment with Chinese characteristics. At least talents will be reused instead of being buried.
Of course, some "talents" just think they are talents, not real talents. Just like the author, I once thought that I was a talent and wanted to write different themes and stories to prove that I was better. As a result, the author understood that the author is just an idiot.
While others were writing about hot topics, only the author was writing about niche and unpopular topics. As a result, he did not take advantage of the rapid development of the Internet. After more than ten years in the Internet industry, he was still a loser.
To be fair, Catherine thought that although Cheng Shijie greedily accepted her one million ducats and provided a solution to Venice's problem, he also prescribed medicine for Venice's illness. However, the medicine did not work, which was something Catherine could not predict.
…
In Beijing and the Forbidden City, Wen Tiren, the chief minister of the cabinet, who was preparing to leave for duty, heard the news of Zheng Zhilong's defeat and dropped the book in his hand.
For Wen Tiren, this was already an extremely embarrassing performance, but now he couldn't care less. He just stared at his staff, trying to confirm whether the other party was joking with him: "What did you say? Say it again. , how could Zheng Zhilong fail?"
Wen Tiren's staff told Wen Tiren the battle report they had just received.
For a long time, Wen Tiren sat on the soft couch blankly without any reaction.
In fact, for Cheng Shijie, an uncontrolled general, Wen Tiren and the entire civil service group did not like Cheng Shijie. Of course, if Cheng Shijie, like Zu Dashou, was willing to share his profits with the civil service group, then Cheng Shijie would immediately He will become a pillar of the country in the eyes of the civil service group.
But the problem is that Cheng Shijie does not shun the civil service group. Instead, he steals meat from the civil service group at every turn. For example, Liao's salary was originally the purse and small treasury of the civil servant group.
But as Ning Haijun pressed Jiannu to the ground and rubbed him, Jiannu's vitality was severely weakened and he was out of control. Guan Ning's army appeared to be very incompetent. Emperor Chongzhen repeatedly misappropriated the Liao pay of Guan Ning's army. Without Cheng Shijie, they could instigate Guan Ning's army to mutiny, thus forcing Emperor Chongzhen to compromise.
But the problem is that now Emperor Chongzhen is eager for Guan Ning's army to mutiny, because Ning Haijun has stationed more than 20,000 troops in Guangning, a step away from Jinzhou, and has surrounded Jinzhou from three directions. Once Guan Ning's army dares to mutiny, Ning Haijun will Go north to suppress the rebels as soon as possible.
As Cheng Shijie's territory in Liaodong grew larger and larger, the imperial court couldn't get involved at all. It appointed officials to Liaodong and recruited one faction to fight against another in Liaodong. The civil service group played very smoothly and had absolutely rich experience.
But the problem is that Cheng Shijie has all the people in Liaodong. The people have weapons seized by Ning Haijun, as well as bows and arrows and crossbows from Jiannu, including muskets, especially revolvers. These things are very deadly, no matter how strong they are. The big man, even when faced with a revolver, fell down with one shot.
Almost everyone in Liaodong has weapons, and it is expressly stipulated that in order to prevent attacks by slaves, all weapons can only be used for self-defense, but weapons cannot be taken out of the house without the permission of the Liaodong Management Committee.
This is extremely fucked up. If the officials sent to Liaodong by the civil service want to exploit the place, the risk is extremely high. They want to impose exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, right? Okay, if they close the door and I don’t hand it over, what can you do to me? Breaking in? Beware, the person inside will kill you with a shot or a knife! The worst thing is that those idiots and Cheng Shijie who supported them were shot to death. Those officials died in vain!
The officials sent to Liaodong were unwilling to go. They were given one hundred thousand snowflakes of silver to clear the magistrate's office in three years, but they didn't know if they were destined to stay here for three years. There was no way they could be officials.
The key is that Cheng Shijie doesn't play by the rules. As long as a corrupt official is found out, not only will the person die, but the whole family will also suffer. No matter where the officials are, as long as something happens in Liaodong, their homes will definitely encounter bandits and their property will be robbed. If I don’t say anything, all my family members will disappear.
Of course, this is just a special operation team controlled by Cheng Shijie in the hands of Chen Guodong. It has only one responsibility, specifically to deal with corrupt officials. Under the deterrence of this special operation, he went to Liaodong to serve as an official? No matter what the means, I absolutely do not want to go to Liaodong to serve as an official. The only people sent there are unlucky ones that my grandma doesn't care about and my uncle doesn't love.
When such unlucky people arrive in Liaodong, they can only work as officials, serve as Cheng Shijie's officials, listen to Cheng Shijie's words, and implement various management regulations in Liaodong. They are still alive and can live a good life.
The problem of corrupt officials that Zhu Yuanzhang could not solve was solved by Cheng Shijie. Cheng Shijie did not need a joint trial by the three departments or official evidence from the court. No matter how many protective umbrellas there were, he would deal with whoever had problems.
This special operations team was established for a year and a half and has carried out fifteen outings. It is secretly called the Soul Seduction Order by officials, and it can kill the whole family with one hook.
After trying impeachment to no avail, slander to no avail, and crackdown to no avail, Wen Tiren and the civil service clique went to great lengths to provoke a fierce battle between the two evil dragons, Cheng Shijie and Zheng Zhilong, and got a person who could sit back and watch the fight. A perfect opportunity to fight.
In fact, Wen Tiren also contributed a lot here, and even wrote to the governor of Fujian himself many times, asking the governor of Fujian to mobilize the people around Zheng Zhilong to kill maritime merchants. This was the lifeblood of Ning Haijun. After Ning Haijun launched a large-scale campaign, Wen Xiuren could no longer sit still and simply sent people to Fuxiamen to facilitate contact with Zheng Zhilong.
He dreamed of a big fight between Cheng Shijie and Zheng Zhilong, preferably in which both sides would be injured. As for how much the people would suffer and how many people would die, he did not consider it at all. He only wanted Cheng Shijie to die!
Wen Tiren's hatred of Cheng Shijie was not entirely due to jealousy. Of course, he was indeed madly jealous of Cheng Shijie. He became the head of the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty, and at most he was only powerful in the court. However, Cheng Shijie, who was much younger than him, had already become a very powerful person. In the Ming Dynasty, the feudal official had the power of life and death.
Cheng Shijie was not a Jinshi, so he could not threaten Wen Tiren's status. But the problem was that behind Cheng Shijie were Xu Guangqi and Sun Chengzong. In the original history, with the Dengzhou Rebellion, Sun Yuanhua, a student, was executed, and Xu Guangqi's body also passed away.
But now Xu Guangqi is in good health. After a serious illness, he is getting better and better after recuperation. In particular, Cheng Shijie worships Sun Chengzong as his disciple. These two great gods have absolute strength to crush him.
Especially Sun Chengzong and Xu Guangqi, because of their relationship with Cheng Shijie, were relied on by Chongzhen as the pillars of the country.
Wen Tiren and Cheng Shijie are at odds with each other. The most important reason is that there are rumors that Cheng Shijie is a descendant of Mohism and Legalism, and is responsible for revitalizing Mohism and Legalism!
At first, he thought it was a rumor, but after carefully studying Cheng Shijie's political actions and his style of dealing with people, he was horrified to find that this guy was almost the incarnation of Mohism and Legalism!
The most obvious point is that things are done in accordance with the law, and there is no hierarchy in punishment. Within his jurisdiction, no matter whether he is a gentry, a high-ranking official, or a trafficker and a pawn, once he commits a crime, he will be dealt with according to the law, and he will be punished according to the punishment he deserves, and there is no room for flexibility.
As for Mohist thought, it is too obvious in him. First of all, this guy has an almost fanatical interest in mechanical arts, natural science, etc., and strives for excellence. ”, “Heaven’s Will”, “Minggui”, “Fei Ming”, “Fei Yue”, “Economic Burial”, “Economic Use” and other ideas were all put into practice one by one under his strong promotion...
Okay, let's play "non-attack", this guy is more aggressive than a mad dog!
Legalism and Mohism, the two most glorious schools of thought during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, had a profound impact on China's development trajectory. Although these two schools of thought have gradually declined since the Western Han Dynasty when Confucianism was the sole focus, and the Mohist school in particular has almost disappeared, this does not mean that Confucianism can sit back and relax.
The inheritance of the Mohist family has never been cut off. No matter how declining it is, it has always gritted its teeth and persisted. It has survived two long years, and finally achieved the sudden rise of the current army, sweeping Liaodong with lightning speed.
The most serious thing is that Mohism is a fatal threat to Confucianism and must not be tolerated!
The battle between civil servants and military generals has turned into a life-and-death contest between Confucianism, Legalism, and Mohism. Either you die or I die!
However, Wen Tiren never thought that before he knew it, Cheng Shijie had turned into a huge mountain, weighing him down so hard that he even dreamed of overturning it!
However, the news he received gave him a headache. Zheng Zhilong was defeated by Cheng Shijie. Thousands of various battleships were lost, one-third of the main battleships were lost, and more than 300 main battleships were wiped out. Especially Zheng Zhilong's elite The sailors suffered more than 15,000 casualties, while the losses of the marines were not heavy, but still exceeded 10,000.
Whether it is a land battle or a naval battle, the Zheng Group appears vulnerable! Such bad news made Wen Tiren devastated. The wolf-like Jiannu became paralyzed when he met Cheng Shijie. The majestic Zheng Zhilong also burst into tears when he met Cheng Shijie.
Could it be said that Cheng Shijie is invincible?
Seeing Wen Tiren's face as if he was constipated, his staff member Yang Siyuan forced a smile: "Please don't worry, Mr. Ge, this small failure is nothing to mention to Governor Zheng, it's just a drop in the bucket... Besides, Cheng Shijie's losses were also quite heavy, only You need to concentrate all your strength to make a thunderous strike, and then he can be wiped out..."
Wen Tiren let out a long sigh and said, "This time, Cheng Shijie can't hold it back anymore!"
"If you really can't suppress him, then you can only put him on the fire and roast him!"
"Siyuan, do you have any good ideas?"
"Students do have some foolish opinions!"
"But it doesn't matter!"
"Then let's get rid of the fire under the cauldron!"
"But how to draw it?"
Yang Siyuan said gloomily: "Push Cheng Shijie out and remove him from the position of governor of Liaodong!"
"Move away?"
Wen Tiren smiled lightly and said: "Do you think it will be easy to move Cheng Shijie away? Believe it or not, as long as Cheng Shijie on the front foot just leaves, Jiannu on the back foot will reappear?"
It was extremely difficult for Wen Tiren to be the chief minister of the cabinet. To be fair, Cheng Shijie knew many things, and he also knew that Cheng Shijie knew that Shanxi merchants were collaborating with the enemy and treason.
But can this first assistant not know?
Of course, Wen Tiren also knows, but Cheng Shijie can pierce this layer of window paper, but he cannot, because he is a party with vested interests. If he betrays his own class, Wen Tiren will be more beautiful than Pan Renmei of the Song Dynasty, or rather Like Su Dingfang in the Tang Dynasty, he was very crippled by the hack.
It will definitely be infamy for eternity.
"Siyuan, you don't know that Cheng Shijie has been in Dengzhou for less than a year. Now there are Cheng Shijie's people in Dengzhou and Cheng Shijie's influence. If he leaves Liaodong, who can guard Liaodong?"
In fact, Wen Tiren also knew very well that he must not let Jiannu resurrect, otherwise if the army came to the city again, he, the chief assistant, would be finished.
Emperor Chongzhen was a man who held grudges. None of the members of the original cabinet were missing. Emperor Chongzhen found an opportunity to deal with them all. Not only the cabinet, but also the officials at the six ministries and above the ministry level were all settled by Qiu Hou.
Wen Tiren didn't want to have his house confiscated by Emperor Chongzhen. Is it easy for him to make some money after being the chief minister all these years?
"Then let him return to Beijing and serve as the Grand Governor of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion, and let him fight with Wei Guogong and others!"
"Wei Guogong, he doesn't even dare to fart!"
Wen Tiren smiled faintly and said: "Zheng Zhilong can be considered a wolf after all. A wolf is no match for a tiger. This is understandable. But Duke Wei is just a dog. If you let the dog fight the tiger, the dog won't even dare to bar its teeth."
Yang Siyuan thought for a while and said: "There is only one last way."
"any solution?"
"Three people make a tiger, and a crowd makes a fortune!"
This is the simplest and most trouble-free way, just use a pen, it is relaxing and enjoyable.
Wen Tiren immediately wrote two words "Qiucheng" and handed it to his disciples and former officials. These former disciples and officials immediately understood the meaning of the chief minister.
"I impeach Cheng's consort, the captain, for deceiving the king and neglecting his superiors..."
Princess Consort Wei Shang, who was originally a great favor to the Tian family, but Cheng Shijie actually took in several concubines. Where does this princess belong to?
"I impeached Governor Cheng and awarded military merit privately..."
"I impeach General Cheng, bully the scholars and gentry, and wantonly blackmail and kill. This is to destroy the foundation of the Ming Dynasty..."
This matter was not only caused by officials in the DPRK and central government, but also by scholars from various provinces. Among them, the most violent ones were the scholars from Jiangnan. Jiangnan was a paradise for tax evasion. This was the sum of the salt tax and tea tax paid in a year. A magical place for less than two hundred taels of silver!
But Cheng Shijie is now blocking Wusongkou to collect taxes, which is taking food from their mouths. These Jiangnan scholars recite poems, compose poems and write articles, which is very hard and expensive. Otherwise, how can they have money to go to the Qinhuai River to praise the singer.
The memorials to impeach Cheng Shijie and the vicious articles came flying in like flakes. He was embarrassed to go out and say hello to people if he didn't receive one or two hundred a day.
Cheng Shijie knew nothing about the turmoil in the DPRK, and of course, he had no interest in knowing.
In fact, his relationship with Gao Qiqian is one of interest. Because he is a tiger, Gao Qiqian can snatch food from the mouths of Jiangnan gentry.
Cheng Shijie didn't pay attention to what was going on in the capital, but Gao Qiqian, who had been engaged in power struggles all his life, was keenly aware of this problem, so he ran back to the capital without saying a word.
Gao Qiqian came to the capital in a very embarrassed state. He deliberately made himself stink, and then exposed his tanned skin in Jiangnan, and came directly to Emperor Chongzhen to apologize.
Gao Qiqian hugged Emperor Chongzhen's thigh and cried.
After crying for a long time, Emperor Chongzhen felt a little strange: "Gao Daban, what are you..."
"Your Majesty, this slave is feeling miserable!"
The rising and falling tears are like broken pearls, pattering down.
Under Emperor Chongzhen's repeated questioning, Gao Qiqian was reluctant to express his grievances. He told Emperor Chongzhen that Zheng Zhilong bribed the gentry officials because he could not defeat Cheng Shijie and was unwilling to hand over the benefits he had swallowed. .
Emperor Chongzhen is still wondering why there are so many memorials to impeach Cheng Shijie these days.
It turns out that the root lies here.
Gao Qiqian was definitely an expert when it came to framing people. He immediately took out the secret report from Jin Yiwei.
The Jinyiwei have long lost their prestige in the early Ming Dynasty, but the centipede insects are still alive. It may be a bit difficult for them to steal military intelligence, but let them find out what color underwear the officials who dance the most are wearing tonight. , that’s no problem at all.
Gao Qi is guarding the Yangtze River estuary and specializes in collecting merchant shipping taxes. Now he is not short of money, and the remuneration for Jin Yiwei is quite generous. This kind of low-risk, high-return job has always been everyone's favorite. Jiangnan Jinyiwei suddenly transformed into the most professional The paparazzi, just tell me which one you want to investigate, and I guarantee that they will uncover all the scandals of their eighteen generations of ancestors for you!
These officials from Jiangnan have dirty butts to begin with. Since the Ming Dynasty had always been kind to the scholars and gentry, their seizure of fertile land and tax evasion were not big problems.
But the problem is, these things have already happened, plus selling salt and iron to the rebels, receiving property looted by the rebels, and cashing in the rebels, including driving up prices. As for bullying men and dominating women, this is all childish.
The key is that the most amazing thing about Gao Qiqian is that he lists a long list of numbers, including how much land a certain official has, how many shops he has, how much bank deposits he has at home, and how many loan sharks he has.
Seeing that the minister who was crying to Emperor Chongzhen about poverty all day long was so rich, Emperor Chongzhen's face turned green with anger: "You are such a good minister of mine!"
Emperor Chongzhen gritted his teeth and said: "Gao Daban!"
"The slave is here!"
"Leave this matter to you!"
"Slave, you don't know what to do?"
"Search the house!"
Gao Qi was ecstatic that the opportunity to make a fortune had come.
"Slave, take your orders!"
It turns out that Emperor Chongzhen's temperament has been well understood by the ministers. It can be said that he loves face and has a strong vanity. As long as everyone makes a fuss, Emperor Chongzhen will compromise.
But the problem is, this time they miscalculated.
We are not afraid of rogues being capable, but we are afraid of rogues being educated.
Gao Qiqian learned bad things from Cheng Shijie. When Cheng Shijie decided to beat Zheng Zhilong, what really tempted Emperor Chongzhen was the more than ten million taels of silver.
What could impress Emperor Chongzhen?
Only money could not defeat Emperor Chongzhen, which only meant that there was too little money.
But which of these officials and gentry is not worth millions of taels of silver?
Gao Qiqian moved very quickly. Starting from the capital city, he ransacked three houses in one day, and copied more than 1.6 million taels of silver alone.
Soon, Wen Tiren figured out the taste. These officials whose homes were confiscated all had one characteristic. The person who was most ruthless and ruthless in impeaching Cheng Shijie was also the one who had the most fun.
Wen Tiren thought hard and couldn't figure out why Emperor Chongzhen changed his gender.
(End of chapter)
