Unconsciously, the Ming Empire has reached the threshold of constitutional monarchy!
That seems natural!
Because Ming Dynasty now has all the favorable conditions to realize a constitutional monarchy!
First of all, Ming Dynasty now has evil capitalism - because of Chongzhen's founding and New Confucianism, coupled with Zhu Cixiang's financial reforms, all the unfavorable conditions that restricted the germination of capitalism in Ming Dynasty have disappeared, so Ming Dynasty has now crossed the Having crossed the threshold of capitalism, we are now a country in the primary stage of capitalism.
Of course, the industrial revolution is still far away! Without developing the factory handicraft industry to the end, the large-scale machine industry will not have enough soil and technology accumulation - even if Zhu Cixi can use his golden finger to point out the steam engine, it will be shelved for a long time due to lack of sufficient demand.
However, the leader and spokesperson of the bourgeoisie has already appeared, that is, Zhu Cihong, the founder of the Ming Dynasty and the creditor of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Cixiang, the prince, is also special. He is obviously the successor of the feudal monarch, but he has been surrounded by a group of bourgeois ladies since he was a child. When I grew up, Chongzhen set up an "isolation network" to isolate me from the feudalism of the Ming Dynasty. The only feudal military aristocrats who are close to him are Wu Sangui and Li Zicheng... Who do you want Zhu Cihong to trust? As the successor of the Ming Dynasty, should he trust Wu Sangui or Li Zicheng?
Therefore, after arriving in the southeast, the only people Zhu Cixi could rely on were maritime merchants, salt merchants, silk merchants, cloth merchants, and rice merchants.
And Zhu Cihong himself is actually a capitalist... He knows how to build a financial system that can firmly grasp the profiteers in the southeast and turn them into his helpers.
It can be said that profiteers in the southeast have now been kidnapped by Zhu Cixiang using the financial system. Once Zhu Cixiang collapses, they will all go bankrupt!
Secondly, the Ming Dynasty ruled by Chongzhen still had a strong sense of feudalism!
Well, although feudalism and capitalism are sworn enemies in textbooks, they actually have a relationship of inheritance.
Because feudalism is actually a system of decentralized governance, capitalism often thrives under this kind of decentralized governance - early capitalist free cities usually do not appear as gravediggers of the feudal dynasty; The contractor was a feudal king who gave a piece of land to a group of businessmen in order to raise money for the war. From a certain perspective, these merchants are also the vassals of the monarch, and they also bear the obligations of vassals. Moreover, the autonomy they have is no different from other feudal lords.
Moreover, most of the early successful capitalist countries were jointly founded by aristocrats and capitalists. Even a country like the Federal Republic of the Netherlands was jointly founded by the Earl of Nassau family and Amsterdam profiteers? There was a time (today) when Amsterdam profiteers kicked out the Nassau-Orange family, and were almost wiped out by Louis XIV!
So Zhu Cixiang, who now controls the southeast, is actually a vassal of the Ming Dynasty - Chongzhen confederated the four provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Min, and Guangdong to Zhu Cixiang. Zhu Cixiang raised huge amounts of funds for the Chongzhen Emperor's empire.
Under the protection of Zhu Cixiang, the capitalist industry and commerce in Jiangsu, then Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong were fully protected and developed rapidly - without protecting and developing industry and commerce, Zhu Cixiang's finance would be empty. The printed tickets are all waste paper.
In order to keep his power and live a happy life as the king of the Southeast, Zhu Cixiang had to be a good capitalist father!
Otherwise, if Chongzhen's father got angry, he would kidnap his Southeast King and take him to Beijing to accompany him like a tiger. How would he be able to live like this?
In addition to Zhu Cixi, a special vassal (he is the heir to the throne, so his territory is not fully feudal, but at most semi-feudal), Emperor Chongzhen also created a lot of Wangzhuang, Xunzhuang and vassal states, as well as two of the same clan. A friendly country, there is also the Yanning fiefdom of the emperor's grandson, King Yan.
Chongzhen's purpose in setting up these feudal manors was also very real... This was the lowest cost and most efficient method of occupying land!
At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang also used this method to occupy a large territory. If it had not been for the reduction of vassals and borders after the Jingnan Campaign, and it spread to the Chongzhen period, Saibei and Kouwai would have been very reliable Han territories.
Chongzhen had to go through many difficulties to conquer these territories again. Of course, he had to firmly hold them, and he could not leave them empty and wait for the Hulu Yi Di Yu party to slowly develop and grow there!
So he had to immigrate to Shibian from the mainland. The people in the mainland of the Ming Dynasty were just a group of honest farmers who were unlikely to be able to fight. The fighting ability of the civil servants in the Ming Dynasty was worse than that of the farmers. If the civil servants were allowed to take the peasants to establish states and counties outside the Great Wall and outside the mouth, it would be tantamount to subsidizing the enemy, and the cost would be too high and unaffordable!
Therefore, Zhu Youjian could only "contract" outside the Great Wall and outside the mouth to his ministers - these guys have force! With their guidance, farmers can gain a foothold outside the Great Wall and outside the mouth. Otherwise, how could these farmers become capable and courageous warriors as soon as they put down their hoes? And there is no way to organize them who are like scattered sand!
A large number of farmers from the Central Plains have established themselves outside the Great Wall and outside the mouth, and those territories have naturally become Chinese. In a few decades at most, it will be the same as in the mainland.
This method can not only raise money, but also occupy land, and can also alleviate the pressure of overpopulation in the mainland. It really kills three birds with one stone.
But this good method of killing three birds with one stone is not without its shortcomings. The shortcoming is that it will form a "new aristocratic" group with strong combat effectiveness!
Now there are more than 2 million new military households in the Ming Dynasty, and there are as many as 1 million military households living in Zhili, Xuanda, Yanning, Liaodong, Western Liaoning, Southern Liaoning, and Northern Liaoning.
And these more than 2 million military households are the main source of officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty... Before the advent of the industrial revolution, they were the strongest force in East Asia, and they were among the most powerful soldiers in the world.
Not to mention anything else, the number of cavalry these military households can support alone is no less than 200,000!
Whether we are roaming the grasslands or dominating the New World, we need them!
Therefore, pacifying these 2 million military households is the key to the stability and continuation of the Ming Dynasty's rule.
To appease these people, of course, we must ensure that they can participate in the politics of the Ming Dynasty and gain sufficient voice... Without the right to speak, it won't be long before the scholar-bureaucrats become beggar soldiers!
The imperial examination system of the Ming Dynasty obviously could not guarantee the right to speak of these border warriors. Therefore, using the method of constitutional monarchy to allow these military households and the new nobles above them to participate in court affairs is the best way to appease and protect them.
Emperor Chongzhen didn't know the harm of Junxian, and he didn't want everything to be concentrated in the hands of Zhu Cixiang... Although Zhu Cixiang was very good in this life, in his previous life he was the most rebellious son in the world!
So it seems like a good idea to hold a Kuritai conference to restrain this traitor...
"This agreement with the people, the nobles, the clan, and the world is not bad!" Zhu Youjian thought for a long time, and finally nodded, "The world is virtual, but the people, the nobles, and the clan are real. Then this stipulation meeting should be based on these three people. The people attending the meeting may be recommended by the tax councils of various provinces, or recommended by more than 2 million military households, or recommended by my clan king of the Ming Dynasty... Boss, Third child, you two should stay in Beijing for a while and discuss the specific measures. When we go to Kaiping Kaikulitai Conference next year, we will discuss it with the second child and the others. If everyone thinks it is good, then I will let you After he ascended the throne as the Great Khan of Mongolia, he formally issued an edict to the world, announcing the time for inner meditation and the content of the agreement with the world."
"Father is wise!"
"What my father did was truly an act of opening up the world. It will surely go down in history and be admired by all generations!"
Zhu Cijiong and Zhu Cixiang hurriedly gave Emperor Chongzhen a high hat. Although Chongzhen was half helpless and half deceived in setting up this monarchy, he had to admit that he had indeed become the pioneer of a new era.
