The Wenhua meeting did not come to an end until noon. We discussed many issues in all aspects and roughly drafted a charter for some major subsequent strategic plans. This made the Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun, who had already begun to gain weight, a little tired. After the meeting, he did not return to the Qianqing Palace for dinner, but dined directly in the East Wing of the Wenhua Palace.
The east side hall of Wenhua Hall was the place where he used to study, and it has been used frequently in recent years. All the decorations are according to his wishes, maintaining the appearance before Gao Pragmatic resigned and returned to his hometown to take the imperial examination ten years ago. This means that the seat beside him when he ate was still occupied by Gao Pragmatic's seat.
Naturally, this seat is empty now, but there are four dishes, one soup, and a pair of bowls and chopsticks on the table. All the emperor's attendants were driven out of the palace, including Chen Ju.
"Pragmatic, I know you don't like drinking. In the early years, I always liked to force you to have a drink with me. That's because young people are ignorant. With your generosity, you won't blame me, right? But today I won't force you, I Drink my wine, you eat your food, we can just chat casually." The emperor poured himself a drink and said to himself.
"You have helped me so much over the years. Although promoting you seems to be the way of a king and a minister, I have always felt that judging from the troubles you have solved for me, these rewards are actually not enough. As for you, You should know it in your heart." Zhu Yijun took a sip and sighed: "But the country has its own rules. Even if I am the emperor, I can't do whatever I want, and the foreign court will definitely not agree. When the time comes, you may be the one to do it. It’s moldy.”
"But after Bei Yuan was destroyed this time, the situation will change drastically for us. I think Mr. Shen's attitude today is very revealing. You know, his attitude in the cabinet a few days ago was not what it is today. The one who firmly opposes your joining the cabinet, but proposes to confer a knighthood on you... Well, of course, it is a military knighthood, and it is not hereditary."
"Judging from today's situation, it seems that both he and Mr. Wang have figured out that since they can't suppress it anyway, they might as well stop suppressing it. But I'm still quite surprised. Are they planning to give up against us? I I always feel that this matter is still a bit up in the air, and they might have other ideas."
"But there is something wrong with what you did this time, especially the way you abandoned the army and returned to Beijing on your own is not very authentic. People who understand know that you are to avoid being attacked by some people in the outer court. Those who are blind may still think you are It was made for me to see.”
Zhu Yijun snorted softly and turned the Yuci small wine glass around: "What are I looking for? Are you going to bring hundreds of thousands of troops back to Beijing to show me your military might? Ha, what if you can?" Doing this would not be pragmatic. I don’t know you yet?
Hey, if no one has handed over your military power, I guess what you want most after fighting two decisive battles is to hand over your military power as soon as possible. And today I sent an order to you to wait for the imperial guards to return to Beijing together. You will still think about it for fear that there is some taboo here, and then you will write a short essay to report your actions to the court after leaving for a day, right? "
"You are good at everything, but you are too serious." Zhu Yijun lamented, raised his glass to the empty seat of Gao Pingshi, and said: "You know very well that there is no other person in the world who can talk to me freely. Even Yili can't do it, but you just refuse to do that. You insist on being the king and the minister all the time... Sometimes I want to ask you, are we just the king and the minister? Huh? "
"What we said back then was to create a prosperous world together! But how can we create it together? I can't get out, so naturally I can only give you the power to realize it. If the military power is not given to you, how will you realize it? The simplest truth in the world is that you can do as many things as you have the strength to do, and I can’t possibly not even understand this.”
"Of course, I am the emperor, I have great power, and I am subject to many restrictions. There is nothing I can do about it. I knew it when my mother punished you by demoting you three levels in a row." Zhu Yijun's face turned red and he narrowed his eyes. : "Now my mother doesn't care about me, but all the officials in the world are taking care of me... Haha, I am really alone, alone!"
After finishing speaking this time, Zhu Yijun was silent for a moment, as if thinking about something. After a long while, he took another bite of vegetables and ate it. While chewing, he said: "Pragmatic, you know, after taking Beiyuan, I suddenly felt a little confused. Two hundred years My old enemy suddenly disappeared, and I don’t even know what I should do now.”
"And what Wu Dui and Liang Menglong said, to be honest, I was a little uneasy when I heard it. Building a town to guard Chahar, and three cities on the left and right to control a large area of grassland. Is this plan really feasible? Did they propose it after discussing it with you, or did they just act on their own and talk nonsense?"
"I guess it was you who told them about growing potatoes, but I'm afraid they just opened a dyeing workshop to give them some color. Do you really think that growing potatoes can stabilize three cities, and then... well , just like what you said before, 'a point leads to an appearance', how to control Chahar? Why do I always feel a little uneasy."
"However, I agree with their point of view, that is, Tumut should be reliable for now, and your student probably won't have any objections. The question is how long can this situation last? How to ensure that your student His children and grandchildren are also like him?"
"Also, Liang Menglong didn't explain clearly what he just said. He only said that assuming that the number of troops in Chahar is ten points, how to distribute these ten points to the three cities, but he did not say how many people these 'ten points' actually are. In addition, how many people should these ten points be? Where will it be transferred from, or is it a new addition? He didn't say... Is it because he hasn't had time to discuss it with you, or because he doesn't know what he's doing? "
"Oh, yes, there are more. If we plant potatoes in Chahar, we don't know how much grassland it will take up. You should have considered these issues, right? Anyway, I think they will be planted not far from the city. Then the remaining pastures will be far away from the city. How will we build horse farms then? Who will graze?"
"You have served as the deputy envoy to southern Liaoning, and you must know that our Ming Dynasty's horse administration is a bad debt. [Note: Gao Jingshi's post of Jin Fuhai Gaibei was concurrently held by Liaodong Yuan Masi Qing, that is, Gao Jingshi presided over Liaodong's horse administration. ], will Chahar also become a bad debt by then? Don’t create a Bazhou horse bandit like Beizhili did in the past, and cause harm to Hebei for decades, that will be a big trouble. "
At this time, Zhu Yijun had almost finished the pot of wine, his eyes were a little blurry, and he murmured to himself: "However, maybe I am too worried. You have always been very organized in doing things. These problems must have been solved long ago." Let's think about it all. Well, I understand, you are planning to wait until you join the cabinet to deal with these things, so as to stop some people's bad mouths? Well, what a great idea, as expected of you... belch!"
Not long after Zhu Yijun finished eating alone in Wenhua Hall, that is, in the afternoon less than two hours after Wenhua's meeting ended, Gao Pangshi, who was in Yanqing Prefecture, had already received a letter from Fei Ge. I learned about the process of Wenhua’s meeting in the morning and the general arguments of the imperial meeting.
Yanqing Prefecture was established in March of the twelfth year of Yongle (1414). Some time before that, Emperor Zhu Di visited the north and was stationed in Tuanshan (now Tuanshan, Jiuxian County, Yanqing). Because the Guichuan River was flat and the land was fertile, Longqing Prefecture was established. , under the jurisdiction of Yongning and Huailai counties, settled by immigrants, and directly under the jurisdiction of Xuanfu, the capital.
When Longqing Prefecture was established in the twelfth year of Yongle, the prefecture city followed the old city of the Yuan Dynasty. In the fifth year of Xuande's reign, Xue Lu, Marquis of Yangwu, carried out renovations. In the second year of Jingtai, Ji Guang, the deputy commander of the army, rebuilt the city. In three years, Liu Zhengdao, deputy director of the Thousand Households Office of the Queen of Yongning, dug a moat around the city. In the seventh year of Tianshun, Zongwen, the prefect of the prefecture, and Wang Rong, the garrison commander, began to rebuild the brick city, which was not completed until the Jiajing period.
In November of the first year of Longqing, Longqing Prefecture was changed to Yanqing Prefecture to avoid taboo on the year name. In the eighth year of Wanli period, Jiayan, the prefect of Zhizhou, built the northern city. In the 16th year, as the North became increasingly wealthy, Xishui Gate was opened there. Last year, the local commander-in-chief and generals were ordered to build more Nanguan, and built new brick walls, corner towers, enemy towers, gates, water gates, etc. in Xixinbao as an important part of the new defense line of the capital.
At this time, Gao Pingshi had just inspected the defense and returned to the camp. After bathing and changing, he was dressed in a dark blue robe. He was originally going to take a lunch break, but at this time he got the news from Beijing and couldn't help but go to the window and think deeply.
As expected by the emperor, Gao Pingshi was thinking about the direction of the situation in Wenhua Zhao Dui today, especially the change in Shen Shixing's attitude, and the emperor's insistence that he return to Beijing with the Imperial Guard.
Politics has always been extremely complex, because everyone in it has his or her own thoughts, and every decision they make or just a change in attitude may bring about overall changes.
But politics is sometimes extremely simple. Its general trend is like the so-called wheel of history, rolling forward unstoppably. And there is a saying that is extremely insightful: War is the continuation of politics, and politics is the continuation of economics.
The so-called general trend actually boils down to changes in the economic landscape. People living in it will always adapt to these changes involuntarily, even if they often do not even know it.
In Gao's pragmatic view, it is difficult for people in this era to realize independently that changes in the economic landscape will affect politics. Therefore, the change in Shen Shixing's attitude probably comes more from direct response to political changes. In other words, he probably just realized that the situation had changed and that the Practical School could no longer suppress it.
But Gao Pragmatic doesn't think Shen Shixing will give in, because whether he gives in or not is not determined by his character, but by the interests of the group he represents - they will not tolerate Shen Shixing giving in. That is to say, Shen Shixing's change today should just be an adjustment of his fighting strategy.
How to adjust it? Are you keeping a low profile for a few years and waiting for the situation to change before you come out to cause trouble? Or take the initiative to retreat, let me show off my sharp edge, attract the emperor's attention, and use the emperor's hands to cut off dissidents?
It all seems possible. However, the emperor's attitude seems to be expected. He does not feel that I pose any threat to him. Instead, he is considering using this opportunity to destroy Beiyuan to build momentum for us.
Gao Jingshi thought of "we" rather than "I" here, because he knew that the emperor was not only building momentum for Gao Jingshi, but also for himself.
For such a great achievement as the destruction of the Beiyuan Dynasty, let alone the routine operations of welcoming the emperor in the suburbs and offering sacrifices to the Imperial Ancestral Temple, it stands to reason that even going to Mount Tai for enshrinement would be justified. After all, this would eliminate the old enemy that had existed since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. And strangely enough, the Ming Dynasty was the first dynasty built on "most of the enemy's corpse" since ancient times. It did not completely kill the enemy. Of course, this has a lot to do with the fact that the Yuan Dynasty was an empire built by nomadic people. It’s big and indeed very special.
But in any case, this victory was of absolutely extraordinary significance to the Ming Dynasty. To a certain extent, it was a complete acquisition of the Chinese-style "imperial legal system."
Hey, wait, as if that’s not enough, there is something even more special about this matter: now that the northern part of the country is unified, the Ming Dynasty has indeed eliminated the pressure from the northern barbarians that the Han people have faced since ancient times, but the problem is that the Great Khan Tumen of the Northern Yuan Dynasty still ran away. Got it!
Uh, what is this? Suddenly got stuck after 99% completion? It’s so fucked up…
But this also has an advantage. Before all the birds are gone, a good bow cannot be hidden! It seems that I am still safe for the time being. Even if the emperor has completely matured to the point of acting purely rationally and regardless of old friendships, he should not do anything to me now - there is only one premise: I do not seek death myself.
As long as the emperor wants to continue his efforts, truly achieve complete victory, and become the master of ZTE that is better than his second ancestors, and is as prestigious as Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, then he should continue to use me vigorously. So... he asked me to bring the imperial guards back to Beijing to receive a welcome in the suburbs, and to sacrifice prisoners to the Ancestral Temple with him. The purpose should not be complicated. It is to demonstrate martial arts, intimidate the officials, and use one's will to become the will of the world. Build his own great cause.
Gao Pragmatic's brows gradually relaxed, and he often exhaled a breath, feeling much more relaxed. He walked back to the desk, picked up the "minimalist version of the meeting minutes" sent by the carrier pigeon and looked at it again.
After watching for a while, his brows gradually wrinkled again.
"It is not so easy for Chahar to completely turn into a 'Han region'. Brother Huanzhou and Duke Mingquan still underestimated the operational methods required to assimilate the nomads while ensuring the combat power of the nomadic cavalry." Gao pragmatically touched. The beardless chin murmured.
Assimilating the Nomads is not difficult, especially after a complete victory. For example, for the remaining small tribes in Chahar that were not taken away by the Tumen, Gao Pragmatic could suggest that the emperor break them up and throw them into the interior of the Ming Dynasty to mix with the Han people. After at most three generations, these people will basically live with the Han people. The Han people are no different.
If Gao Pragmatic adopts a method similar to the "household registration naturalization system" implemented by Jinghua in southern Xinjiang, in three generations their household registrations will all become Han Chinese, and even their descendants will not even be able to speak Mongolian at all. In a nutshell: break up the settlements and don't allow people to live together. This will be easy.
It's just that this is not in line with Gao's pragmatic plan. He went to great lengths to conquer Mongolia largely because he hoped to use the nomadic characteristics of the Mongols to strengthen the Ming Dynasty's cavalry capabilities. In this case, what's the use of just breaking up the remaining Mongols and throwing them into the Han people? With the size of the Ming Dynasty here, the Han people do not lack this population at all, right?
It seems that even Senior Brother Huanzhou and Duke Mingquan may not have a deep understanding of this issue. I have to handle this matter myself after returning to Beijing. I just don’t know how my reward for merit will develop after I welcome the emperor in the suburbs and present the captives to the Ancestral Temple.
Damn it, as long as I can join the cabinet, it will be easier for me to arrange important things in the future, but don’t give me any evil tricks...
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