Three fluffy cannons rang out, and two "Zhanren Confucians" in red clothes and red scarves held their long swords and took long steps to lead the way. Huang Zongxi, Huang Baijia, Wan Si, and other one or two hundred people had already arrived. After changing into "Confucius clothes" and waiting outside the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City in Nanjing, the counselors were led into the vast and dilapidated Forbidden City.
This imperial pavilion, which was built during the Hongwu period, has been left vacant and devastated by war for a long time, and is now in a state of dilapidation. After entering the Meridian Gate, you can see overgrown grass and dilapidated palaces everywhere. Only Wuying Hall, which was repaired and used by Emperors Hongguang and Kangxi, and the surrounding buildings are still in use.
After Zhu Heji moved into the Forbidden City in Nanjing, he had people take the bricks and stones from the dilapidated buildings in the Forbidden City and build a high wall around the Wuying Hall to isolate the Wuying Hall from other parts of the Forbidden City. At the same time, it also enclosed a large wall. A piece of land.
On this enclosed land, Zhu Heji had someone build a pocket version of the front hall and the back bed.
The so-called front hall refers to the main hall of Wuying Hall and the courtyard outside the main hall, as well as the newly built duty rooms on both sides of the courtyard.
The main hall is where Zhu Heji went to court, held meetings and worked every day. The duty room is where the attendants work. Zhu Heji's attendants and ministers work here. The courtyard outside the main hall is where Zhu Heji held the imperial meeting, so today's consultation meeting was held here.
It is already November of the third year of the Ming Dynasty, and winter has entered. Now is the so-called Little Ice Age again. Even in Nanjing, which is located in the south of the Yangtze River, it is extremely cold after winter. Since the eleventh month of the lunar calendar, Nanjing has already experienced several heavy snowfalls.
Therefore, holding a conference in the open air is not an ordinary crime. If a few of them are frozen, that would be bad.
Therefore, Zhu Heji ordered people to build a "big greenhouse" with brick walls, thatched roof and paper windows outside the main hall of Wuying Palace in early October. He also built a fireplace with a chimney, which could be lit by fire. The whole "warm shed" was warm... it was comfortable, but it lacked a bit of royal style.
There is also a cotton curtain hanging at the entrance of the greenhouse. Once the curtain is opened, you can feel the warmth and comfort inside.
Huang Zongxi walked in and took a look and found that the layout inside was also very interesting. It doesn't look like a big court meeting. It sits on a wooden platform facing north and south. There are three rows of tables and chairs on the platform facing south. One row is in the middle, which is two sets of tables and chairs side by side, and the two rows are arranged on the left and right, forming a figure of eight.
Under the wooden platform are rows of tables and chairs facing north.
There is a wooden sign on the top of each row of tables and chairs under the wooden platform. The words "South Zhili", "Zhejiang", "Jiangxi", "Fujian", "Guangdong" and so on are written on the sign.
Obviously, wherever the counselor comes from, he can sit wherever he is.
Among them, the counselors from Guangdong, Fujian, and Jiangxi provinces have already arrived... They all came with King Zhu Tian and the Ming Dynasty court who moved from Guangzhou. There is also one consultation per county. There are about 200 counties in these three provinces. A total of 200 consultations have been launched, which has already occupied more than half of the greenhouses.
"Master Huang, Wan Fantai, please come to the stage," a "Zhanren Confucian" who was leading the way said to Huang Zongxi very politely, "You two, come with me."
Still sitting on the stage... Huang Zongxi and Wan Sida glanced at each other, and then followed the "Confucian who killed people" on the stage together.
There were already many people sitting on the wooden platform, including King Zheng Jing of Yanping, Prime Minister Zhuge Sanhe, Governor of Zhejiang Chen Yonghua, Admiral Qiu Rong of the Navy's Nanyang Fleet, and Mr. Yu, Gu Yanwu, Zhu Shunshui, Qu Dajun, who had just arrived from Guangdong. Su Yong... all great bachelors!
The two sets of tables and chairs in the middle were still empty, obviously reserved for Prince Zhu Heji and Prince Zhu Tian.
This is the pattern of sitting on the academic stage and sitting under the advisory board...it looks quite fresh.
Huang Zongxi and Wan Sida also found their seats. At the right end of the two rows of tables and chairs arranged in a figure-eight shape, there was their seat - with an origami nameplate on it!
After the two sat down, an attendant immediately came forward to serve them tea and water. The bone china cup produced in Chaozhou is milky white, thin, moist, and slightly translucent. I also brewed Beiyuan Tribute Tea from Fujian, which is fragrant and fragrant, and makes me feel energetic just by smelling it!
Sitting next to them was Gu Yanwu. They had known each other for a long time, so naturally they had to exchange a few words when they met. But before they could talk in depth, a voice with a slight Chaozhou accent started shouting.
"His Royal Highness Prince Ding, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the Prison Kingdom has arrived!"
Zhu Cijiong, Zhu Heji and his father and son are here.
The academicians and counselors in the big greenhouse quickly stood up and saw the "big descendants" of Emperor Chongzhen swaggering in from the gate at the other end of the big greenhouse. They bowed and saluted together and shouted long live the mountain.
"Hahaha......"
"Pingshen, Pingshen!"
Both father and son seemed to be in a good mood today. One was saying he was flat, and the other was just laughing.
The people below all stood up straight and were still peeping at Zhu Cijiong, Zhu Heji... The lighting in the large greenhouse was not very good. Although there were many candles lit, people from a little further away still looked at them. The faces of the two people are not clear. They were just two big bearded men in yellow clothes and yellow turbans, with long swords and empty hammers.
They look a bit like reckless heroes... If it weren't for the Qing court's repeated certifications, no one would believe that they were the descendants of Emperor Chongzhen.
"Sit, everyone, sit down!"
Zhu Heji's loud voice rang out again, and he asked everyone to sit down with a smile.
After seeing everyone sitting down in confusion, Zhu Heji said: "Today is the first session of the Ming Dynasty Council. This council looks quite good. It allows the Gu family and the father to directly listen to the public opinion below. What's the matter? If you want cooperation from below, you can also talk about it openly. This is called consultative politics... You can express your opinions, and the Gu family and the father can also negotiate with you face to face.
Therefore, this session of the Council is the first, not the only one. From now on, holding consultation meetings to discuss politics will become the family law of my ancestors in the New Ming Dynasty! Regardless of whether they are north or south, rich or poor, they are all qualified to send advisors to the court to express their opinions. If you have any difficulties or requests, you can raise them with the court! "
It is political coordination and deliberation, not a representative system!
Not to mention the Internet these days, there are no newspapers or TVs! When a monarch lives in a deep palace for a long time, it is too easy for him to lose touch with the masses.
Once it is separated from the masses, the centralized power is centralized power that is emptied out. If you want to avoid being emptied out and giving blind orders, you must listen carefully to opinions and information from all sides.
The lesson learned from Emperor Chongzhen is that he has lived in a deep palace for a long time and knows nothing about the lower world!
The three additional salaries he gave to his subordinates were only 20 million per year on paper. I wonder if the actual income was 15 million?
This amount of money was actually not too much for the size of the Ming Dynasty's economy at that time... The question is who should get it?
The economic development of the Ming Dynasty was unbalanced, and the currency in various places was also uneven. The economy of the Southeast is developed, sea trade is prosperous, and there is a lot of silver flowing in. It is possible to take out the silver... In fact, when the money is transferred to the court, it still goes to the Southeast to buy grain, silk, cloth, and iron firearms.
The northwest is different. The northwest is already poor, and there is no incremental source of silver. There is only a little stock running there, and the silver taken away by the court will not flow back to the northwest, so the silver is in a state of having a way out but no way out. .
Even a fool knows what the results of drawing money year after year will be!
Coupled with the disasters that have been raging in the northwest for a long time since the end of Tianqi... If you don't go against it, you will have no way to survive!
The reason why there is such a situation where everyone bullies the poor people in the northwest is actually because the economy in the northwest is backward and scholars do not get good educational resources, so they suffer more in the imperial examination system of the Ming Dynasty... Even if there was a North-South exam in the Ming Dynasty, they would not be able to pass the test in other places in the north!
There are fewer Jinshi in the northwest, and naturally not many people in the civil service system are willing to speak for them. Without the right to speak, of course they become a doormat... they become angry and angry!
If Chongzhen had held such a meeting for coordination and discussion, and had asked advisors from Shaanxi Province and Shaanxi Province to go to the Forbidden City to cry out for poverty, Emperor Chongzhen might have adjusted his policy and asked rich men from Guangdong and Fujian to spend three salary dollars on behalf of the Shaanxi people. Isn’t it okay to just hand over the child?
