The incident happened suddenly, but it was not considered urgent. Gao Pragmatic thought about it briefly and felt that there was no need to rush to reply.
The main reason is that he is not sure what Huang Zhiting is thinking now, and always feels that there is something weird in it. It is easy to understand that the generals want to fight, because by fighting, they can gain military exploits, improve their status, and receive rewards. However, Huang Zhiting has no such need. She is his wife, sitting in peace and handling daily affairs on his behalf.
To a certain extent, Huang Zhiting's power in southern Xinjiang is close to Hatun, which obtained regent power when the Mongol Khan was absent. Of course, although Gao Pragmatic is not here, his influence is everywhere, so if Huang Zhiting's "regent" has to be compared, it is more like Wu Meiniang when Emperor Gaozong and Li Zhishang were still alive.
Some people may have doubts here. Most of the doubts stem from the misunderstanding of Li Zhi. They think that Li Zhi, the unlucky emperor who has no independent opinions and is always controlled, is a complete idiot.
In fact, this is not the case. Except that he does not have the exaggerated personal military exploits of his father Li Shimin in his early years, he may not be as good as his father in all other methods, especially his political tactics. However, due to space limitations, it is not convenient to elaborate here. Let’s stop for now and just talk about the issue of Wu Meiniang’s “exerting power and disrupting government”.
The so-called issue of Li Zhi being controlled by Empress Wu in his later years is actually completely opposite to the imagined scene of Tang Gaozong obeying Empress Wu. It can be seen everywhere in the history books that Empress Wu was dedicated to pleasing Tang Gaozong and carefully guessing Tang Gaozong's thoughts.
Knowing that Emperor Gaozong wanted to carry forward the ceremony of kissing silkworms by his mother's eldest grandson, the Empress, Empress Wu had the most silkworm kisses in the Tang Dynasty. Knowing that her husband advocated thrift, Empress Wu took the initiative to change the thirteen pleats on the queen's skirt to seven. Knowing that her husband disliked his relatives being in power, Empress Wu specially wrote an "Internal Instruction" when she was Zhaoyi. After she became the queen, she even made a "Foreign Instructions" and "set an example". Emperor Gaozong When he was alive, the Wu family was completely absent from the court. It was not until Gaozong's death that Empress Wu had the opportunity to place all the Wu family members in important positions in the court.
Even looking through the history books, not only can we not see which prime ministers or generals were appointed by Empress Wu, but what we can see are those who supported Empress Wu to ascend to the lower positions. Except for Xu Jingzong, no one ended up with a good end, but those who were repeatedly dismissed Empress Wu regarded him as a thorn in his flesh and was favored by Gaozong.
For example, Empress Wu hated Empress Wang and Concubine Xiao Shu so much that she had to kill them one by one. Needless to mention the humiliation to her children's family after her death, except for Empress Wang's brother Wang Fangyi, there was nothing she could do. .
Was Empress Wu magnanimous? The history books clearly record how she "wanted to get rid of Wang Fangyi because of his crime, but failed to do so." However, when Wang Fangyi rose to prominence in Emperor Gaozong's reign, what else could Empress Wu do, who was boasted of "taking life and death for granted", besides watching helplessly?
Another example is that Changsun Wuji often obstructed Empress Wu's establishment of a queen, and Empress Wu also secretly resented this. Although Changsun Wuji finally lost power, less than four years later, Changsun Wuji's direct grandson Changsun Yan returned to Beijing and became a fifth-rank official.
What is even more ironic is that less than a month after Empress Wu was called "Queen of Heaven", Emperor Gaozong issued an edict to recover Changsun Wuji's official title, buried him with Zhaoling, and ordered his great-grandson Changsun Yi to attack the title. Zhao Guogong. And where is Empress Wu who "controls the government" at this time?
For another example, when Li Yifu, Yuan Gongyu, Cui Yixuan and others who had made great contributions in supporting Empress Wu to ascend to the throne were exiled and denigrated by Emperor Gaozong, what did Empress Wu who was "in power" do? Why could we only wait until Emperor Gaozong's death before we remembered that these people "had meritorious service in Yonghui" and then started to pursue the title?
If Empress Wu really had such a great influence on Gaozong, if she really controlled life and death and had great power, then it would be no problem to deal with people like Wang Fangyi and Changsun Yan, and it would be even more important to promote Li Yifu, Yuan Gongyu and others. It takes a little effort.
However, throughout the history books, Empress Wu was nowhere to be seen when Gaozong spoke. Only when Gaozong was gone did Empress Wu dare to come forward to deal with the people who once hated her to the bone, and to grant titles to those who had been kind to her. Therefore, Empress Wu could only wait a full seven years after Tang Gaozong's death, and then took advantage of her status as empress dowager to work hard step by step, and then she took the position of empress.
It is worth noting that Empress Wu was actually sixty-seven years old at that time, forty years after the first year of Yonghui when Gaozong succeeded to the throne.
In other words, when Emperor Gaozong died, Empress Wu was already in her early sixties, and ordinary people at this age have basically entered the stage of old age and coma, and their fighting spirit has long since dissipated. It was at this time that Emperor Gaozong made a real mistake. He believed that Empress Wu at this age would not pose any threat, so he issued a posthumous edict: Prince Li Xian ascended the throne in front of the coffin. If there are those who cannot decide military and state affairs, the Queen of Heaven (Empress Wu) will Decide.
Normally speaking, there is no big problem with this edict, because Li Xian's level is indeed not very good. It is natural for Gaozong to worry that he cannot handle the government, but how could Gaozong know that Empress Wu actually lived to be eighty-two years old and had an old lust for power? And Mi Jian? I can only say that people are not as good as God.
Thinking of this, Gao Pragmatic couldn't help but have a thought: Could it be that Zhiting had the intention of becoming Wu Su's second best?
He was startled by his thoughts, but when he thought about it, he found that he was just subconsciously overthinking.
First of all, the social atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty was different from that of the Tang Dynasty. Even in the Tang Dynasty, where women had a higher status, Empress Wu faced huge social opposition when she ascended the throne. However, the status of women in the Ming Dynasty was far inferior to that of the Tang Dynasty. Huang Zhiting was in southern Xinjiang His power comes almost entirely from his own command.
Secondly, in terms of the crucial military, Jinghua's major garrison forces in southern Xinjiang directly obey the orders of Gao Pragmatic, but recently authorized Huang Zhiting to take charge of them. Huang Zhiting's direct troops have always been her wolf soldiers - and this wolf soldiers It is now divided into two parts, one is in Annan to guard Huang Zhiting's Annan fiefdom, and the other is in Dingna City as Huang Zhiting's accompanying army.
Dingnan City and even the central and western regions of Siam have the first and second divisions of the Dingnan Garrison and Huang Zhiting's own wolf soldiers. The strength of the garrison is seven times that of the wolf soldiers. If you look at the entire southern Xinjiang, this power gap is even more disparate.
In terms of military strength, the Jinghua garrison in southern Xinjiang is nearly twenty times that of the entire Huang clan's wolf soldiers; in terms of military power, 95% of the garrison officers are from highly pragmatic servants, and the remaining half are descended generals like Ruan Huang; in terms of control , the special thing about the garrison is that it cannot break away from the Jinghua system to maintain combat effectiveness, but Huang Zhiting never interferes with the Jinghua system.
Finally, Huang Zhiting's personal attitude has always been clear. From the time Gao Pragmatic first met her, her attitude towards the Huang family was not very cordial. This may be related to her loss of support when she was young (referring to the early death of her mother, as opposed to losing her husband), or it may be related to the emergence of traitors among the Huang clan, causing her father to become an alcoholic. Coupled with the fact that her younger brother was not up to par, she seemed quite isolated among the Huang family members.
The Huang clan regarded her as their backer. It was already after Gao Pragmatic regained Annan and moved the Cen and Huang families and other Guangxi chieftains to Annan. At that time, the relationship between Huang Zhiting and Gao Pragmatic was almost clear. The Huang family was not so much embracing Huang Zhiting's thigh as it was Gao Pragmatic's thigh.
Huang Zhiting should be very aware of this, so not only did she not give them any privileges, she also actively advised Gao Pragmatic to disperse them so that they would not be difficult to deal with if there were too many people gathered together.
From all angles, Huang Zhiting did not act to strengthen her own power. Instead, she was particularly accommodating and reused the members of the Gao family. For example, the Siam patrol envoy Gao Ruichu just mentioned was transferred by Huang Zhiting to Gao Pragmatic's consent. Siam is in charge of important towns.
Moreover, Jinghua is the Jinghua of the Ming Dynasty, and most people are natives of the Ming Dynasty. They can accept the "young master", but they certainly cannot accept the "female protagonist". The chieftain's method does not work for them.
Judging from what Liu Xin just mentioned, because Liu Xin and Gao Pragmatic were old acquaintances, and Gao Pragmatic had a very unique view of her, Huang Zhiting deliberately made friends with her. Even listening to Liu Xin's tone, she seemed to hope that Liu Xin could enter the Gao family, which further showed that she had no other thoughts. Otherwise, how could she think of finding a dangerous opponent for herself?
Since she had no intention of becoming Empress Wu, there was only one explanation for Huang Zhiting's behavior: she thought it would be good for Gao Pragmatic.
But this is precisely what Gao Pragmatic cannot understand. Taking Malacca and even the Malay Peninsula is naturally strategic for Beijing. However, the southern Xinjiang has not been established for a long time, and the construction of Dingna City is very expensive. Gao Pragmatic has already taken the lead. After cooling her down once, why did she wait less than a year before having such thoughts again?
Unless the situation in southern Xinjiang or even the Nanyang region changes significantly, Huang Zhiting believes that taking over the Malay Peninsula will not affect the stability of southern Xinjiang and the construction of Nancheng.
This still needs other intelligence to support this, so Gao Pragmatic can only put this matter aside for now and plans to find Gao Mo for details later.
When Gao Pingshi came back to his senses, he discovered that Liu Xin had been sitting aside at some point, tilting his head and looking at him.
"What do I have to see?" Gao Pingshi gave her a fake look.
"It's not ugly." Liu Xin chuckled, turned around naturally, and said, "I'm just curious. Whether or not to attack Malacca is all a matter of your words, but why do you think so much about this matter? Long?"
Gao pragmatic rolled his eyes and said: "I think you are going too smoothly on the battlefield, thinking that the fighting power of the Spanish and Portuguese Empire is the same as that of the natives of southern Xinjiang."
"That's not the case." Liu Xin shook his head and said: "But you yourself said that the so-called Spanish and Portuguese empires can't be reconciled at all. They are just a common-king federation with a lot of internal problems. Besides, Spain is busy in Europe is competing for hegemony, and Portugal alone cannot be a rival to Jinghua."
Gao Pragmatic was silent for a moment and said: "If you look at the strength that Portugal can mobilize in Nanyang, this can't be considered wrong, but have you considered the consequences? I mean...such as the consequences of trade."
"Are you worried that after the war with Portugal, without the Portuguese turnover, Jinghua will not be able to do business with Europe?" Liu Xin shook his head and said: "There were no Portuguese before, so weren't there Arabs?"
"Today is no better than in the past." Gao Pragmatic said: "Portugal has built a series of chain trade strongholds in East Africa, Arabia, and India, and its maritime strength has surpassed the local areas. Now the Europeans' Eastern Route is in Portugal's hands. If Portugal cut off its trade with Ming Dynasty or Beijing due to the war, so in a short time I had to go to India to sell goods."
"Isn't there still a place to sell this?" Liu Xin said, and then added: "Hey, in a short period of time? Does it mean that even if the Portuguese are defeated and lose Malacca, they will still want to do business with you in the end?"
"That's natural." Gao Pragmatic sneered: "Europeans' demand for Ming and Nanyang specialties is far greater than Ming's demand for their products. Even if the Portuguese temporarily interrupt trade, in the face of huge profits, they will eventually Submit to me and acknowledge my control over the Malay Peninsula."
"In this case, what are you worried about? We are the real powers now."
Gao Pragmatic smiled bitterly and said: "I need to build Dingnan City as soon as possible so that I can better control southern Xinjiang and radiate the entire Nanyang region. You are a geography student. Even if you are not very good at history, you should have heard of it. Spice Islands, right? I need to completely master the Spice Islands after controlling Nanyang, and gather more wool while the price of spices in Europe is still high... I need precious metals, a lot of precious metals, gold or silver will do, you understand. ?"
"Of course I know about the Spice Islands, but what do you want with all that gold and silver? Build a palace of gold?"
"I don't have this kind of hobby." Gao Pragmatic shook his head decisively: "And it's not that I need gold and silver, it's the Ming Dynasty that needs gold and silver. China has been short of precious metals since ancient times, and the money shortage in the Ming Dynasty was even more serious. Not only gold and silver, but also gold and silver. Copper is in short supply, especially since the current level of steel cannons is still flawed, and there are too many places where copper is used."
"Copper is easy to deal with. There is a lot of copper in the Philippines." Liu Xin said easily: "The Spanish are very busy. Go and conquer the Philippines. I will point you to a few large copper mines."
"What about gold and silver? Especially the silver that the Ming Dynasty is most in need of. I beat the Spaniards away. Do I still want the silver in America? Yes, the Spaniards are the same as the Portuguese. Even if I beat him, he will Sooner or later, you will have to do business with me, but it will take a while, maybe five years, maybe ten years... During this period, I will need a lot of money."
Liu Xin wondered: "Why? You said that the Ming Dynasty is severely short of money now, why didn't I see it?"
Gao pragmatic couldn't help but sigh: "The one-whip method has been practiced for so many years. Even though it was vigorously promoted during my third uncle's reign, so far, not even half of it has been implemented by all the provinces, prefectures and counties in the world. Do you think Why? In fact, it’s largely because of the lack of money—the lack of currency.”
Gao Pragmatic was afraid that she would not understand, so he further explained: "The Ming Dynasty is currently in a state of severe deflation because of the lack of currency. In other words, things are worthless but the value of currency is very high. Do you think we are now in a state of deflation?" Four taels of silver can buy a cow. If people in barren areas are required to implement a whipping law, where will they get the money?
But suppose that the Ming Dynasty started to have inflation. When the value of a cow reaches twenty or thirty taels, other prices will of course rise accordingly. At this time, the private currency is obviously much more abundant, and the taxes that the people have to pay can be compared. It is easy to exchange for silver or copper coins. At this time, wouldn't a whipping method be implemented? "
Liu Xin frowned and said, "But this only makes it easier for the people to pay taxes, and it doesn't reduce their pressure. What's the point?"
Gao pragmatic explained: "The most significant significance of the One Whip Law is actually to levy taxes and levies in money at the same time. In the past, Chinese dynasties had calculated taxes and levies separately. Only after the two were merged, the imperial court's financial ability It greatly simplifies and improves administrative efficiency.
And this is only a temporary benefit. The bigger benefit is that on this basis, I can further innovate the Ming Dynasty's financial system - do you know how to divide a small family into an acre? "
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