After listening to what Zhou Linzhi said, Shen Gai was silent for a while.
How could he not know these things?
But the reality is that he can't do anything.
He shook his head.
"Maozhen, you must know that I am not the one who can make the final decision on this matter. I cannot make the final decision on all foreign-related matters, especially those involving the Ming Dynasty. I must fully consider the opinions of the Ming Dynasty. , otherwise no decision can be made.
Whether it is tariffs or the seizure of industries controlled by clans and war criminal families, these are the prices we must pay in exchange for the support of the Ming Dynasty. Without this price, there would be no support from the Ming Dynasty, and no support from the Ming Dynasty. How long do you think I can stay in this position? "
Zhou Linzhi's expression froze.
Yes, what Shen Gai said makes sense.
Under the current situation, it is crucial for Ming Dynasty to support Shen Gai in power.
Shen Gai indeed launched a coup to depose Zhao Hao and ushered in a new era.
But there is no doubt that the coming of the new era mainly depends on the Ming Dynasty. No matter how awesome Shen should be, he still has to rely on the military power of the Ming Dynasty to achieve a decisive victory. This fact cannot be changed.
Under the premise that Zhao Jun was deposed and the Southern Song Dynasty was nominally destroyed, Zhao Dun, the leader of the Jiangnan Kingdom, was obviously unable to provide power legitimacy for Shen Gai's rule.
Therefore, there is an unprecedented crisis in the important issue of the legitimacy of Shen's power in power, and the only one who can solve this problem is the Ming Dynasty.
The entire Jiangnan Kingdom was established with the permission of the Ming Kingdom, and the status of the leader of the Jiangnan Kingdom was also canonized by the Ming Kingdom. In other words, the legitimacy of the existence of the Jiangnan Kingdom's regime was given by the Ming Kingdom, because the Ming Kingdom agreed. to exist.
As the actual person in power of Jiangnan Kingdom, Shen Gai naturally derived his power from the Ming Kingdom.
The Ming Dynasty used its strong military power to provide power legitimacy for Shen Gai's rule. The Ming Dynasty discussed everything with Shen Gai and controlled the Lin'an court through Shen Gai's channel, which invisibly promoted Shen Gai's influence. status and real power.
It also recognized Shen Gai's actual status.
After the coup, Shen Gai's actual status was far from as high and stable as he seemed on the surface. His actual status was actually quite unstable. He even needed to arrange all the troops except the army under his direct control out of Lin'an. Temporarily stabilize his position.
At that time, the Ming Dynasty wanted to take action against the family of war criminals. It initially entrusted Shen Gai to help and promised to share part of the profits with him afterwards. Shen Gai was very happy and eager to try, but he encountered the political Waterloo of his life and failed.
No one is willing to cooperate with him. Even the army under his command cannot fight against those people and is afraid of the power of those political families.
Later, he was even chased to the door of his home in Lin'an City and his base camp and scolded, forcing him to run into the Ming Guo Office. This was the only way to resolve the crisis and prevent the situation from further escalating.
Afterwards, he took the initiative to invite the Ming army into the city to deal with several families of war criminals who were making trouble. He also added a three-day curfew to Lin'an City, which saved his face.
Since then, Shen Gai has become more aware of his position.
He finally fully realized the fact that without the support of the Ming Dynasty, the legitimacy of his governance was in jeopardy.
His so-called political authority is not his own political authority at all. No one is afraid of him, Shen Gai, because everyone can see clearly that he, Shen Gai, is a dog of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhang Shi's persuasion to him at that time was very meaningful——
"In the current situation, whether the officials in the Lin'an court support Xianggong is not the most important. What is most important is whether the Ming Dynasty supports the Xianggong. The reason why Xianggong can hold the position of Pingzhangjun and the state affairs is because of the support of the Ming Dynasty. It’s not the support of the Lin’an court!
Because of the support of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty valued the Xianggong and the Xianggong's cooperation, so that what happened later would happen. Now the court only recognized the Xianggong's status because the Xianggong and the Ming Dynasty had finalized a peace treaty. How could the Xianggong lose a big thing for a small amount? "
This is a word that awakens the dreamer.
Shen Gai initially thought about reviving the Jiangnan Kingdom, and he still had some unrealistic ideas. He wanted to build a strong army to get rid of the control of the Ming Kingdom and restore the independent status of the Jiangnan Kingdom to a limited extent.
But now he knows that he has to be a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, not a loyal minister of Jiangnan Kingdom, so that he can best maintain his position.
Once he wants to be a loyal minister of Jiangnan Kingdom, it is almost the time when his political life and physical life will come to an end.
Under such a premise, is it possible for him to question and prevent Ming Dynasty's national interest actions?
This is like a troublemaker inciting his five-year-old son to beat me. Can he successfully defeat his own father?
Do you still need to rely on him for food?
Zhou Linzhi was not a fool. He was well aware of Ming's influence on Jiangnan and the deterrence of its garrison after the second Ming-Song war. He also knew that the Lin'an court could not get rid of Ming's influence on major events.
But this time, Mingguo really bit everyone.
This sight of devouring the high-quality assets of Jiangnan Kingdom is really not good-looking. It really makes everyone feel worried and uneasy. Who knows whether Ming Kingdom will do anything more excessive in the future?
Although Zhou Linzhi's family is not involved in overseas business, he is also worried that his family's more than 100,000 acres of land will become fat meat in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty. He is also worried that the hard work of several generations will be wasted. He is also worried that his family will be exiled to some remote place to do hard labor. No generation can stand up.
What strategy did the Ming Dynasty use to deal with corrupt officials and the "superior people" they called them? These high-ranking officials and dignitaries have all heard of it, so they are so afraid.
So he thought he had to do something.
"The Ming Dynasty has been trying to intervene in the sea trade between our country and other countries since a few years ago, but my country has pushed back many times. Now that it has gained power, it is not known what terrible things it will do. My husband, even if The Ming Dynasty is very important to us, so we need to be on guard at some point, right?"
Shen Gai narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhou Linzhi.
"Defense? How to defend? With what defense? Our 50,000 troops? Maozhen, you have a good intention, but you need to know more about what can and cannot be done."
"this……"
Zhou Linzhi put it bluntly, he was just a traditional bureaucrat. He grew up reading the Four Books and Five Classics. Before he started working in the Privy Council, he worked in clerical jobs. He was a fairly traditional Confucian bureaucrat, and his understanding of the economy was very shallow.
The reason why I came here to discuss these matters with Shen should be because I felt that the Ming Dynasty had destroyed the interests of his allies engaged in overseas trade, which was equivalent to destroying his interests.
His interests were touched, and he had to do something. Otherwise, how could the people behind him continue to work for him?
But in fact, he had no idea how to deal with the Ming Dynasty's economic invasion, and he was just talking.
Shen Gai has been in power for a long time and of course knows more about economic issues than Zhou Linzhi and has a deeper understanding. Therefore, Shen Gai knows the consequences of this matter better than Zhou Linzhi.
"Maozhen, believe it or not, if we oppose these measures of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty does not need to do anything. As long as we withdraw our troops, we will immediately rebel against the rebels here, and we will not be able to suppress them. When the rebels attack Lin'an, If the Ming Dynasty takes advantage of troubled waters, we will be doomed."
Shen Gai made his words very clear.
The 50,000 troops of the Lin'an court could not suppress the 72 smoke and dust of the 36th Route to rebel against the king. As long as the Ming Dynasty withdraws its troops and returns to the north and declares that it will no longer care about the affairs of Jiangnan Kingdom, Lin'an will definitely be filled with smoke within three months. The imperial court will send it as soon as it says it will be sent, and it will never be sloppy.
So Shen Gai's attitude is very clear.
"I know the current situation better than you! Don't forget what is really important just for the sake of petty gains. For us, what is really important is the support of the Ming Dynasty and the garrison of the Ming Dynasty! Only when the imperial court has one hundred thousand When we have elite soldiers, it is time to discuss with the Ming Kingdom. Now, you must be patient!"
Zhou Linzhi had nothing to say.
No matter how traditional he is, no matter how high-spirited he is, he is still relatively honest when it comes to life-related matters.
So he stopped talking about this problem and turned to a more important matter.
"Even if Ming Dynasty affairs can be tolerated, can Sichuan and Shu continue to tolerate it? If Sichuan and Shu don't listen to orders now, won't the imperial court lose face?"
