In the first year of Chongzhen, on the sixth day of the second lunar month, in the Chengyun Hall of the Xuanfu Imperial City.
Zhu Cixi must be unhappy now!
Because he had just been born and had not done any bad things, he was called "treasonous son, treasonous son", which made no one happy!
Moreover, as a baby, Zhu Cixi was supposed to sleep after eating and eat when he woke up, so that he could thrive. But today he was taken to court by his father Zhu Youjian... Although he was accompanied by a wet nurse, he could have a full meal at any time. But it was still very noisy in the court. There were a lot of uncles and grandfathers talking about national affairs, which affected the baby's sleep and growth!
What makes Zhu Cixiang even more uncomfortable is that his incomprehensible father sometimes asks for his opinions as a baby, and sometimes shows off in front of him... saying how awesome, brave, and wise he is. .
This doesn’t look like a reliable father!
The Ming Dynasty will not be destroyed again, right?
Just after the baby Zhu Cixiang fell asleep angrily again, Zhu Youjian finally realized his conscience and asked Zhu Cixiang's wet nurse and personal eunuch to take his son back to the harem and give him to Queen Zhou to take care of.
Seeing his son being taken away, Zhu Youjian's mind finally returned to national affairs. He glanced around and found that a team of important ministers in Xuan Mansion had already arrived.
Although Zhu Youjian already had a "New Beijing Camp", he controlled the Shuntian Mansion, the Rong Government, the Xicheng Military and Horse Division, and the Ninety-Six Gates of the Outer Seven Inner Gates in Beijing. However, Zhu Youjian was still unwilling to return to the Forbidden City. Instead, he split the outer court and the ceremonial supervisor into two, and took a rather streamlined small court to stay in the Xuan Mansion.
Of course, the imperial court still has to focus on the one in Beijing. All the academicians and the chief officials of important yamen such as the Sixth Ministry and the Metropolitan Inspectorate stayed in Beijing to preside over the daily affairs of each yamen. The only people who came to Zhu Youjian's side were the heads of the Li Supervisor and the Royal Horse Supervisor, six ministers, a right capital censor, and some important officials from Zhan Shifu, Rong Government, and Jinyiwei. Now they are basically all Standing on the Chengyun Hall.
"Okay, everyone is here..." Zhu Youjian said with a smile, "I have been neglecting government affairs for some days, and I will become a coward if this continues! Why don't we start handling government affairs properly today... ...Is there any important government matter? Please tell me, sir!"
"Your Majesty," Bi Ziyan, the right minister of the Ministry of Revenue, came out to announce, "the situation in the eight prefectures of Beizhili has been unstable recently. People in many prefectures and counties have resisted inspections and house clearances, and there have even been riots."
Bi Ziyan was Zhu Youjian's loyal minister in his previous life. In the early years of Chongzhen, he served as the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs and was in charge of the national finance. When financial resources were exhausted and he could not make ends meet, he relied on his careful coordination and careful calculation to support him for nearly 10 years. .
However, in this life, Zhu Youjian did not let him be the Minister of Hubu, but only gave him the right minister of Hubu. The vacancy in the Ministry of Household Affairs left by Feng Quan after his transfer was given to Wen Tiren, who had betrayed his nobles. At the same time, Qian Qianyi was asked to fill the vacancy of the Right Minister of Rites left by Wen Tiren. Qian Qianyi's disciple Qu Shishu succeeded him as a Hanlin bachelor.
In the two months since he took office as Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, one major event has happened between the Ministry of Revenue and finance and taxation, which is the financial and taxation reform of the eight prefectures of North Zhili. Of course, this reform cannot be smooth sailing, and the struggle has been fierce almost from the beginning.
"The land and household clearance is related to the survival of the country and must be implemented no matter what!" Zhu Youjian's attitude towards the land tax reform in Bafu, Beizhili, is very firm. "Some people are making trouble now, but they are deceived or instigated by others. .....There will always be people who make trouble with me for paying a few more kilograms of grain for an acre of land, but they can't do it. Because the eight prefects have brought 1,000 elite soldiers, which is enough to scare Xiaoxiao. If things get serious Well, I will raise my own troops to fight them!"
For Zhu Youjian, it would be better to make a big fuss!
If the problem gets bigger, it will be easier to resolve, and the effect will be the best.
Although Bi Ziyan leans towards Donglin, he still agrees with Zhu Youjian's resolute rectification of the Zhili Bafu field tax... He also did this in his previous life, but he did not have as hard a means as Zhu Youjian. The effect is not ideal, but it still alleviates the financial pressure a little.
Seeing that Bi Ziyan stopped talking, Zhu Youjian nodded approvingly - he didn't let Bi Ziyan stand in front now because he wanted to protect this guy... The rectification of the Eight Prefectures in North Zhili was just the beginning. ! There will be many places in the future where Bi Ziyan will be needed.
"Your Majesty," Zhang Fengyi, the right minister of the Ministry of War, came out again and said, "another urgent document has been sent to the governors of the three sides and the governor of Shaanxi... The civil uprising in Shaanxi has become more and more intense, and it has already started a prairie fire. I think that the imperial court should Quickly dispatch a large army, and use ministers who know the military as governors of the three sides and governor of Shaanxi."
"Don't worry..." Zhu Youjian said, "When I finish defeating Ma Mengshan, I will send my best troops to Shaanxi."
The reason he wasn't in a hurry was because Li Zicheng already had it in his hands!
And after the Chinese New Year, he sent Sun Chuanting and Liu Yingkun to recruit troops in Shaanxi together. Now there are 60,000 of the 80,000 troops in the four towns of Jing, Chang, Xuan, and Da, and there are still 20,000 left to recruit in Shaanxi.
Zhu Youjian offered a high salary of 30 taels (stone) a year, which will definitely recruit strong soldiers in the miserable Shaanxi Province, and the person who does this is the very reliable Sun Chuanting - he was in extremely difficult situations in his previous life The next two times he organized Qin soldiers and became the mainstay of the Ming Dynasty.
As long as the Qin soldiers can be pulled out again this time, there is no fear that they will not be able to destroy the rogue bandits in Shaanxi!
Moreover, the bandits were afraid of the cavalry. Zhu Youjian was extremely confident in his cavalry in front of the tent. Although there were only 12,000 cavalry, they were enough to deal with 10 times the number of bandits.
And the reason why he wanted to send troops to Shaanxi was not only to personally command the front army, but also to relieve the natural disasters in the northwest... If the natural disasters are not rescued, the bandits will not be able to quell them.
To save the disaster in Shaanxi, to be precise, to save the victims in Shaanxi, Zhu Youjian must have a lot of wealth, especially food. What disaster can he save with nothing?
"Your Majesty," Zhang Fengyi continued, "the Ministry of War also received a report from the Tianjin Navy, saying that a large Western barbarian ship arrived in the port a few days ago, with hundreds of barbarian soldiers and generals on board, as well as several court officials... ...The leader is Zhangqian Army Councilor Sun Yuanhua."
"Okay! It's finally here!" Zhu Youjian clapped his hands, "I've been looking forward to seeing it for a long time... Sun Yuanhua should have brought back many 3-pound regimental cannons and Portuguese gunners this time, so that he can use them in the field. With artillery, if I send troops and men to Mengshan, we will be sure of success!"
It turned out that Sun Yuanhua came back with foreign soldiers, foreign generals, foreign guns and foreign cannons, and he returned with a full load! With the addition of "Sun Dapao", the upcoming "Second Out of Qishan", no, it should be the Second Out of Yanshan, has a great chance of winning.
This time it's not a black shot; Maybe he can kill Huang Taiji with one shot... If he is really lucky, the world will be at peace.
Among all the items Sun Yuanhua brought back, the most valuable ones are 36 3-pound regimental cannons equipped with field gun mounts that can be deployed mobilely in the field. If it were not for these 36 cannons, Sun Yuanhua would have come back long ago. . However, Chongzhen ordered the 3-pound regimental cannon instead of the 12-pound Hongyi cannon. The 12-pound Hongyi cannon is actually a naval gun. After being converted into a land combat artillery, it was too bulky and difficult to transport, so it could only be used to defend and siege cities. The Ming army doesn't need this for the time being...
However, the Bokalao Cannon Factory did not have the 3-pounder gun in stock, so Sun Yuanhua had to ask the Bokalao Cannon Factory in Macau to make it now. Moreover, he hired a group of young craftsmen from Foshan, a major iron smelting town, to go to Macau to learn how to cast 3-pound regimental cannons. He also hired another hundred apprentices from Foshan to go to Macau to learn how to operate cannons. He himself also learned from the foreigners.
In February of the second year of Chongzhen, Sun Yuanhua came north to Tianjin with foreign soldiers, foreign generals, foreign guns, and cannons, as well as hundreds and dozens of gunsmiths and gunners from Guangdong. It is no exaggeration to say that he has become the second artillery expert in the Ming Dynasty. As for the person who knows the most about cannons in the Ming Dynasty, of course it is the Emperor of Ming Dynasty Zhu Youjian himself.
