However, Zhu Youxiao believed that these people would not dare to stop him too directly.
After all, he is still the Emperor of Ming Dynasty.
Both the military towns in Liao and the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River did not want the emperor to be too strong, but at the same time they had to recognize the emperor's rule over them.
Because their privileges can only be obtained by recognizing the emperor's status.
After all, they have no other emperor worth investing in.
The current Donglu is not worthy of their surrender, because no one will know that Donglu will become the lord of the Central Plains in history.
Even Donglu himself hasn't had this idea yet.
Otherwise, Li Ruzhen, who historically belonged to the Liaodong military town, would not have committed suicide rather than rebel and defect to the Eastern captives when he was questioned by the court for not actively rescuing.
Therefore, in Zhu Youxiao's view, those who opposed him did not dare to completely break with himself until he had no other choice.
What he needs to guard against now is that these people are doing something secretly.
The risk of directly killing the king to replace the emperor is too high. After all, if it fails, the nine tribes will be exterminated.
What's more, it hasn't been long since the death of Zhou Yanru and others.
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao felt that it was very unlikely that these people would take action against him, but they would probably take action against his cronies to prevent him from doing certain things.
After all, as long as the emperor's cronies are cut off, the emperor will truly become a widower. At that time, the emperor will not be able to get out of the Forbidden City without the support of officials from outside the court.
Of course, Zhu Youxiao did not rule out that there would be people who would take direct action against him, the emperor.
But Zhu Youxiao did not feel anxious because of this, nor did he decide to compromise because of fear of death and become a tolerant, kind and good emperor who was liked by the powerful gentry.
In Zhu Youxiao's view, at this time when the Ming Dynasty is in deep trouble, he is destined not to be the Emperor of Peace.
Because even if he did not take the initiative to innovate to eliminate the shortcomings and save the Ming Dynasty, there would still be a large number of scholar-bureaucrats within the Ming Dynasty's ruling class who were dissatisfied with the status quo and wanted the emperor to reform.
What's more, at this time, the conflicts within the ruling class are also very acute, and different forces will intensify internal fighting with each other due to competition for interests.
As long as one force has the upper hand, it will force the emperor to implement a New Deal and use the New Deal to eliminate dissidents.
This is something the emperor cannot escape.
If you evade or do nothing, you will be killed.
Because, sitting in the position of the decision-maker, inaction is also an act.
Even if they are not killed by the forces within the ruling class because of inaction, they will be killed by external forces because of internal strife that leads to external forces becoming bigger, or they will be killed by the peasant uprising that is not successfully suppressed because of the internal strife of the ruling class. Kill the big peasant rebels.
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao knew that once he became the emperor of Ming Dynasty, an empire that had developed for more than two hundred years, he would not be able to stay aloof and must do something.
After all, if you don’t act, you will be assassinated, and if you act, you will be assassinated. It is better to act boldly, maybe you can really save the day.
It is precisely because of this that Zhu Youxiao is so unscrupulous.
He would rather be assassinated for offending vested interests than be like Emperor Jiaqing of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, who was almost assassinated in the Forbidden City because he failed to improve the people's increasingly worse living conditions.
Of course, Zhu Youxiao would not be truly defenseless.
Zhu Youxiao's long-term plan is to strengthen the forces of his cronies as much as possible, win over most of the forces with interests and the concept of loyalty and filial piety, and try to shift conflicts outward as much as possible when opportunities arise in the future. Sharing the cake will definitely offend others, but taking the cake away If it gets bigger, it will be a situation where you are good and I am good and everyone is good.
The short-term plan is to strengthen the factory security force, use severe punishment as much as possible to increase the risk of risky moves, and use spy power to keep an eye on everyone for him.
As for the rest, we can only look at fate.
In fact, Zhu Youxiao also wanted to divert domestic conflicts directly through external plunder.
But the problem is that now he must first strengthen his imperial power, that is, take back his power to share the cake, before he can expand the cake.
Otherwise, according to the current model, the Ming Dynasty's pie is actually getting bigger, and almost all the silver in the Americas has flowed into the Ming Dynasty. As a result, only a small group of people are rich. Therefore, domestic conflicts have been getting more and more acute.
Back to the topic.
Zhu Youxiao had clear opinions on what kind of emperor he should be and how he should protect himself.
But now Zhu Youxiao feels that he has to strengthen the protection of his trusted forces, and take the initiative to prevent some forces from attacking the forces around him instead of attacking him as the emperor.
Because as an emperor, he can't wait for others to cut off all his cronies and then get killed himself.
Therefore, Colonel Zhu You ordered Wei Zhongxian: "Dongchang should continue to strengthen its ability to investigate the world and set up various industrial shops for sentinels. It is best to have Dongchang's informants in every market town, as well as various Yamen schools and The families of various dignitaries and eunuchs have also increased the number of informants. They must not only investigate those traitors who have proven evidence. For example, the powerful officials and gentry who were found to have colluded with Shanxi merchants after the confiscation of Shanxi merchants this time must keep a close eye on them, but there is no rush. Launch an attack to prevent them from jumping over the wall in a hurry, and even release the news to the outside world, saying that you haven't found anything yet, to paralyze them! In addition, we must also protect several loyal ministers who I rely on now! We must also send more spies to their homes. Fang Congzhe's son is This is a lesson. Although your Dongchang learned about this matter in time, you failed to make good use of it to dig out the people behind it. You should reflect on it!"
Wei Zhongxian knew that the incident involving Fang Congzhe's son had embarrassed both his Dongchang and Jinyiwei. After all, the capital was considered the territory of the factory guards, but the chief assistant's son had been kidnapped.
Therefore, he immediately replied with a dignified attitude: "Your Majesty, don't worry! I have already asked Dongchang to send more eye spies in accordance with your order. The ministers and their relatives are all being watched by people from Dongchang. Who is it?" I have a new concubine and a new maid and servant, and the servants are asking the people below to report it as soon as possible!"
Zhu Youxiao nodded: "It is my will to allocate another five hundred thousand taels to Dongchang!"
"This slave will thank the Emperor on behalf of Dongchang! This slave and everyone in Dongchang will definitely live up to the Emperor's trust."
Wei Zhongxian thanked him gratefully.
But what Wei Zhongxian didn't expect was that as soon as he arrived at Dongchang to convey Zhu Youxiao's instructions, he heard Xu Xianchun hurriedly report: "Mr. Factory! News just came from the market that Xu Guangqi's mother Qian is dead! It seems that you are right, someone really wants to use such a method to cause trouble."
After hearing this, Wei Zhongxian's expression became solemn and said: "Just now in Qianqing Palace, the emperor was talking to our family about this matter. He asked our Dongchang to strengthen surveillance of the courtiers' families. Unexpectedly, this happened! Xu family in Jiangnan Have any of our people over there responded to the news? Is this true? If true, the emperor will really be angry! What our Dongchang does is to eliminate the conspiracy of those insidious villains before they happen. Before that, we must nip in the bud those things that may bring trouble to the Emperor!"
"Don't worry, Mr. Factory! We have received news from Jiangnan. Someone bribed a maid next to Qian and wanted to kill Qian. The chronic poison started a few months ago. However, we found out that we We took control of the maid, and through our spies in the Xu Mansion, we persuaded the Qian family and important figures in the Xu family, and outsourced the Qian family. Now the people who were poisoned were just prisoners sentenced to death for pimping. Now that The gangsters who assassinated the Qian family didn’t know that we ruined their business, so they really thought that the Qian family was gone. Now we’re asking the factory boss to give an order, what should we do?”
Tian Ergeng, who was transferred to Dongchang by Wei Zhongxian's request and was responsible for monitoring hundreds of officials, reported to Wei Zhongxian.
Wei Zhongxian nodded after hearing this: "Our family must go to the palace immediately to ask for instructions from the emperor!"
…
"Who is so vicious! He is using the same method to deal with Zhang Juzheng to deal with me! Investigate me strictly! Follow the clues to investigate, and be sure to find out who is behind the scenes! Fortunately, I have strengthened the power of Dongchang, allowing you to deal with these in advance Be prepared for things to happen, otherwise you will really be tricked by them!"
After knowing this, Zhu Youxiao breathed heavily, and then gave Wei Zhongxian instructions.
