"Accurate!"
"But the title will not be reduced. The title of Qing is obtained by military merit, and such an honor cannot be taken away easily."
After Zhu Yijun said this, he took Qi Jiguang's self-impeachment memorial and gave it to Huang Xun, the eunuch in charge of the Supervisor of Ceremonies: "Approval of the red, ordering Ji Guogong to resign and return to his hometown."
Huang Xun raised his hand and said yes.
"Outsiders may think that your departure was due to the civil unrest caused by the mine investigation, but I know that you left to save my dignity."
Zhu Yijun then said something to Qi Jiguang.
"It is my honor to be able to accept it for my father."
Qi Jiguang bowed his hands and replied.
Zhu Yijun said nothing more and just smiled faintly.
It is now the 30th year of Wanli, and Zhu Yijun is already forty. However, veterans such as Qi Jiguang have not been disappointed with the emperor and the government in this life, and with the help of the panacea of power, they have lived much longer than in the original history. Even though he was young, he still could not withstand the ravages of time, and his health gradually became weak.
Not only was Qi Jiguang himself suffering from illness, he was indeed not as responsive as before, so it was appropriate to retire at this time.
Although Zhu Yijun did not want the officials to be too comfortable, he still allowed the elderly officials to enjoy a few years of peace and happiness.
However, on the eve of Qi Jiguang bidding farewell to Zhu Yijun and leaving Beijing, Zhu Yijun summoned Li Chengliang and asked him and Qi Jiguang to sit next to him for the last time.
"There are only three of us, the emperor and his ministers, here, no civil servants."
"I am doing this purely from a military point of view. I want to hear from you again. In addition to conquering the Mughals to cultivate the fields, what other military affairs should be carried out next."
"It is said in "Zuo Zhuan" that the major affairs of the country lie in sacrifice and military affairs, so I cannot ignore the matter of conquest."
In the Qinzheng Hall, purple smoke was rising from the incense burner, and Zhu Yijun, whose beard was getting thicker, looked at the two of them and started talking first.
Qi Jiguang stood up first and said with cupped hands: "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, the current dynasty, in terms of military and political affairs, should advance in parallel from the north to the south. Among them, the south should be widely opened for farming and commercial ports, while the north should be depopulated and cultivated fields destroyed. , build roads and set up fortresses.”
"Your Majesty, I second the proposal!"
Li Chengliang also stood up and replied.
Because Li Chengliang said this, Qi Jiguang glanced at him.
Li Chengliang noticed Qi Jiguang's eyes and knew that he couldn't bother, so he continued:
"Gai Yin, national policies must be adjusted according to the weather to be considered realistic."
"Nowadays, the climate in the entire north is getting colder year by year, and the food production is getting less and less. If this continues, if some Han people are allowed to migrate to the north, the Tartars will continue to rely on trade and harvesting people outside the border. They live by fishing, hunting, grazing, and continuing to thrive. I am afraid that sooner or later, these people in the north will go south to plunder because the weather in the north will continue to deteriorate and they will no longer be able to farm or even trade to maintain their needs."
"They may even push themselves to be powerful and have the ambition to destroy our Ming Dynasty."
"And because of trade, the northern barbarians can melt pots into arrows, use glue to make bows, and even marry border people to increase their ability to raid. This will definitely increase the barbarian's ambition to invade the Central Plains in the future."
"So instead of doing this, it is better to move everyone away. Those who refuse to move should be punished!"
"In addition, farmland must be destroyed and they must be restored to forests to prevent farmers from appearing on their land. This is because once the Hu people have farmers, there will be nobility who are free from fishing, hunting or grazing. In this way, such nobles will have more energy to Studying and delving into the knowledge and skills of our Han people will become a serious danger to our country."
"As for building roads and fortresses, it goes without saying that although farming will not be allowed to develop in the cold northern Xinjiang region in the future, in order to prevent barbarians from gathering again, it is natural to send large armies to exterminate them at any time, and even to station some troops to guard some It is conducive to the development of agricultural land.”
Li Chengliang's idea has always been to focus on military strikes against the Jurchens and Mongols in the north, supplemented by trade assimilation.
Historically, Li Chengliang also did this.
When Chen Zizhuang, a famous official who resisted the Qing Dynasty in history, mentioned this paragraph when commenting on Li Chengliang, it is a good explanation of why Li Chengliang held this opinion:
"When the borderland is a little peaceful, Han people often go out to dig for ginseng. They gather together day by day and send taxes to Jianzhou."
"Cheng Liang sent Han Zonggong to take it back, and the foolish people settled down and relocated. The ice across the river broke. Wu Da'ai, a southerner, loved his son-in-law to death. He was deeply resentful of Zonggong, so he told the capital to abandon the land."
"The ministers heard the news and complained, but their merits were high and they were not rewarded."
"My husband has learned lessons from Jianzhou Shengju for thirty years, and he will not abandon Kuan Dian, and he will not be continued by Ban Sheng!"
"The border officials could not guard the western part of the Liao Dynasty, but they severely punished Liang Liang and laid the foundation for Kuan. This is why the officials with swords and pens defeated the country.
According to Chen Zizhuang, Li Chengliang was worried that the Hu nobles would become bigger after trading with the Ming Dynasty, so he killed the Hu people crazily and moved away the Han people living in the Jianzhou area outside the customs. It was Kechen Yanguan who harmed the country.
Therefore, both Li Chengliang and Qi Jiguang now suggest that there should not be too many people in the north, not just the Hu people, but also the Han people, because once the climate worsens due to the Little Glacier climate, sooner or later these people will be outside the customs. If the people move inward, the common people may just become refugees, but the Hu nobles are naturally unwilling to be "bullied by dogs when the tiger falls in Pingyang", and will undoubtedly choose to go south to plunder.
Zhu Yijun knew the ending of history, so he admired the unique vision of Qi and Li in his heart, and also agreed with it, so he nodded and said:
"National policies should be based on reality. It does not mean that peaceful trade can solve everything, just like conquest cannot solve everything."
"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"
Qi Jiguang and Li Chengliang replied.
Zhu Yijun then continued: "But wouldn't it be too rough to directly exterminate the population and destroy farmland? It might even be counterproductive. It would actually increase the unity of the Hu barbarians, and resist joining the imperial court and accepting assimilation?"
"What your Majesty said is true, and I only said that the purpose is to achieve this effect, but the specific decree is naturally suitable for coexistence of suppression and appeasement."
"In addition, direct killing is naturally not suitable, but they can be allowed to go to the south to open up territory for the Ming Dynasty. After all, in the south, it is suitable to open up cultivated land."
Li Chengliang replied at this time.
Zhu Yijun nodded: "This is a good idea, but there should be another reason, that is, let the Qintian Supervisor, the Ministry of Industry, and the Academia Sinica jointly publish more documents, saying that the weather in the north is getting colder and there are more and more disasters. In fact, Due to excessive grazing, fishing and hunting, the ecology has been destroyed, which has violated the wrath of God. Therefore, it is necessary to close the mountains, return farmland to forests, and return grazing land to grassland. The people in the north, both Han and Yi, should migrate to the warmer lands in the south. The imperial court will help him buy property in the south, and when the anger of the sky dissipates and the ecology recovers, he will be allowed to return home."
After Qi Jiguang and Li Chengliang heard what Zhu Yijun said, they both looked at each other in shock. They did not expect that His Majesty would think of using such public opinion to achieve this goal.
Naturally, they agreed with this and flattered Zhu Yijun.
At this moment, Zhu Yijun looked at Li Chengliang: "But Duke Lin, if you want to do this well, the Privy Council needs someone who can control the chaos. Therefore, after Qi Qing leaves, you, Li Qing, should continue to serve as Privy Council." One."
"yes!"
Li Chengliang cupped his hands and replied, "Compared with the country's long-term plan, the official career of a minister is not worthy of justice."
"It's not that I don't want you to be the first assistant to another martial artist after Qi Qing, but I really have to think about it. If you have regrets in the future, you will have the honor of the two countries."
"Whether you can have such an honor depends on whether you can do it or not."
At this time, Zhu Yijun made a promise to Li Chengliang, saying that if Li Chengliang could facilitate the Northerners' southern expedition, even if he could not become the chief auxiliary, he could still realize a two-state policy.
Li Chengliang's eyes lit up after hearing this, and he immediately bowed his hands:
"I will live up to my sacred mandate!"
Then, Zhu Yijun looked at Qi Jiguang: "When you return to Dengzhou, you should drive slowly and lightly. Don't pay attention to rumors."
"I would like to thank you for your concern, Your Majesty."
Qi Jiguang replied with tears in his eyes.
The next day.
Qi Jiguang left the capital, and Li Chengliang and other ministers came to greet him.
Before leaving, Qi Jiguang chatted with Li Chengliang alone for a while and asked: "The three guards of Jianzhou have a lot of arable land. Many Han and Hu people migrated and gathered here. We should be the first to move forward and build a large border wall." Guard the village and plant huge trees."
Li Chengliang nodded: "I agree with you."
Qi Jiguang also nodded and smiled.
Then, Qi Jiguang said: "Your Majesty had the foresight to eliminate the Zuowei clan in Jianzhou back then, so that there is no strong chieftain in Jianzhou today."
"Young Master is not bad either!"
"Once the steam locomotive appeared, the difficulty of transportation was greatly reduced. I don't know how much road losses can be saved, and even drifting can be reduced a lot. Because the Ministry of Household Affairs can transport grain and troops directly through the railway, without having to go through many ministries to supervise grain. Dao and even the hands of many petty officials."
"It can be said that it is not difficult for the imperial court to make Northern Xinjiang a prisoner without a ban."
Li Chengliang started laughing.
"This shows that we are all succeeded by others, but the key is to see whether the current saint can be succeeded by others."
"Otherwise, there will inevitably be times when we abandon the new and return to the old."
Qi Jiguang said and looked in the direction of the Forbidden City.
Li Chengliang nodded and looked to the south: "Fortunately, the prince is in Shandong and has started to conduct a population census, which shows that your majesty also has a successor."
…
“Every li chief and every head of the Jia must report the local population truthfully, and the bureaucrats above him must not conceal it, let alone collude with other people to continue to hide and make false reports. Otherwise, once the prosecutors led by this constitution refute the internship history, If the problem is discovered, the principal culprit will be beheaded and the accomplices will be exiled to far away places overseas!"
The prince was under the white clouds in the high sky that day. After the governor Zhang Wenxi issued a decree to a group of Shandong local officials to clarify the population, he also said that he wanted to seriously refute the investigation.
As for Shandong, everyone from the left and right chief envoys down to the prefecture and county magistrates did not even dare to say anything, and looked solemn.
Then, the prince officially began to lead a group of military officers selected from various guards to investigate in every prefecture and county in Shandong.
(End of chapter)
