Chapter 2 Determining the country is the meeting
He Xi opposes the induction of heaven and humans to the present. A rolling torrent has formed.
After completely throwing the Celestial Sensation into the trash, many things will have to change.
Before that, the most important affairs of the country were sacrifices to the Rong. Sacrifice is the protection of heaven, the legitimacy of the court, and the unity of people's hearts.
In Rong, it is naturally the combat effectiveness of the army. maintain the power of domination.
Precisely because worshiping heaven is so important. So in many etiquettes, there can be no one-day problem. Once something goes wrong, it is not impossible to behead someone at every turn.
Now that the induction of heaven and humans ceases to exist, many people have to face a problem, so how can they show their legitimacy.
He Xi does have the benefit of hindsight. That is to hold a conference.
What a conference is, it is a conference that determines the country. He summoned all the famous people in the world to the capital to discuss national affairs.
Important local officials pushed a series of people, including senior ministers and princes, to come to the capital for discussion.
In fact, He Xi didn't leave much room for them to discuss. After all, what should Ming Dynasty do in the future. He Xi has already decided. It cannot be swayed just because a few people say a few words.
But the posture has to be shown.
Just like the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven, many people actually know, what is the use of offering sacrifices to heaven? No one can tell, what's the use? It is just a footnote to the legitimacy of the regime. Now this is the meeting that will determine the country. It's essentially the same, but times have changed. It’s just a ceremony to worship heaven in the new era.
What He Xi needs is a harmony conference and a victory conference that can be successfully held and concluded smoothly.
Of course, you have to look homely.
If there are some things and new ideas, things can be done. He Xi did not hesitate to organize it as the outcome of the conference.
But if someone really doesn’t know what’s good or bad, he will slap his nose in his face. It's like losing etiquette during the heaven-sacrifice ceremony. It is a political and principled mistake.
There are still some issues in Dingguo Council.
First, all the feudal princes were invited to the capital to renew their friendship. This is very important.
After all, the matters between the Ming Dynasty clan and vassal kings are no longer just matters between clan lords and vassals. It is a matter between the Central Plains and the tributary countries of Nanyang, East Asia, and the Western Regions.
Over the years, with the explosive growth of Daming's industry, Daming's relationship with overseas markets has become closer.
Today, under the unification, the internal market integration of Ming Dynasty begins. He Xi can foresee that the future industrial development of Ming Dynasty will develop rapidly.
This rapid development will also affect foreign relations.
This must be reorganized.
And He Xi also felt that Ming Dynasty must also sort out the vassal kings to a certain extent. For example, King Yan. King Yan's territory is too big.
He Xi didn't want to fall out with King Yan. But not falling out does not mean that there are no other means to restrict it.
And these situations are not just here in King Yan, but also in other aspects. In short, during the previous war between the North and the South, whether it was Nanjing or Beijing, their external influence was greatly reduced. Now that the Ming Dynasty is unified, many things have to be rearranged.
Of course, He Xi didn't want to meet these feudal kings' swordsmen. That would be bad. So everyone needs to talk too.
These vassals needed the support of the court, and the court also needed these vassals to reduce the cost of Ming Dynasty exercising its power overseas.
In short, seek common ground while reserving differences.
Beyond that, there are other aspects.
The military issue has been discussed before.
On top of that is the financial mess.
The new Nanjing banknotes have disappeared into thin air. After He Xi took control of Nanjing, he officially confirmed the abolition of Nanjing's new banknotes. And in the third year of Longwu, it was withdrawn from circulation.
But essentially, it was a robbery.
Billions of new banknotes became waste paper. A large number of industries became so-called counterproductive, filling the finances of the Beijing court. But even so, the banknotes have to be sorted out.
Too much money was issued.
The most intuitive manifestation is that silver coins are basically no longer circulating in the world. Because everyone thinks that it is not cost-effective to exchange silver coins for one thousand yuan.
Previously, I was focused on the war and did not start to rectify matters in the financial field. Now it's time to deal with it properly.
Moreover, Beijing alone does not have the final say regarding banknotes, and its influence is too wide-ranging.
All forces need to be invited over.
Of course, the most important thing is to invite everyone here to endorse Emperor Longwu's legitimacy.
What I said before was all external, but the other thing He Xi did was internal.
That's the change of leadership.
Zhu Yuanzhang passed away in the 28th year of Hongwu. He Xi and Zhu Xiongying raised troops in Beijing, and the following year was the first year of Longwu. It is now the fifth year.
According to He Xi himself, it was already his second term as chief assistant.
Of course, if He Xi didn't talk about this matter herself, no one would remind He Xi.
After all, even Zhu Xiongying felt deep down in his heart that He Xi was probably just talking.
But in He Xi's heart. But there is no such idea.
Taking advantage of this conference, He Xi also wanted to make big moves in personnel matters. Of course, such big knives are mostly available below the cabinet level and cannot reach the cabinet level.
After all, most of the members of He Xi's cabinet are young and can be used for more than a few decades.
But the people below are different. When I was in Beijing, the ministers in many departments below were rushing to put things on the shelves, but some people adapted. But some people don't adapt.
Now the solution must be resolved.
He Xi still has to carefully consider many things.
He even wondered whether the National Congress should be set to be held every five years to discuss current major issues and change the chief executive.
Form a routine. From now on, Ming Dynasty will do this.
Thinking of this, He Xi got even more headache.
When he is in his current position, many of the experiences of later generations are of little use to him.
He himself doesn't know what impact each of his choices will have on the future.
Therefore, behind the perfection is all his hard work.
The national conference was scheduled for the fourth year of Longwu, but the invitation for the conference was sent out in the third year of Longwu. Awaiting responses from various places.
-------
The third year of Longwu is the most critical year for Beijing.
This year, Guanzhong was launched to fight Guangwu. A series of battles established Beijing's victory. And also in this year, King Yan learned the news that Timur wanted to conquer the east.
Make decisive decisions and strike preemptively. Attack, Chahatai Khanate.
The foundation of the Chahatai Khanate is Shule. Of course, they no longer call this place by its name.
King Yan fought with Timur at the Battle of Shule, which lasted several months.
First, King Yan attacked first.
The Chahatai Khanate never expected that it would be a fragile defeat. Qiu Fu, as the vanguard, attacked Shule City. The Mongolian name is Hashar. At that time, here in the Ming Dynasty, there was only one name here: Shule.
It's just that this Shule City is not a city from the Tang Dynasty. Full of exotic customs. To be precise, the taste of Arabia.
In fact, Shule City is not strong.
At least, in the eyes of Yan Jun, it is not strong.
The firearms level of the Yan Army was inferior to that of the main force of any of the Northern and Southern armies, and even inferior to that of the second-line troops of the Northern Army.
But there is no problem in destroying Shule City.
However, King Yan held on and there was no need to attack Shule.
The reason is very simple. King Yan wants to fight Timur at the gate of Shule City.
Now the problem between King Yan and Timur is almost the same as the problem between the Northern Army and the Southern Army in the Battle of Hejian.
If we only talk about the elite combat strength, the strength of King Yan's headquarters plus the strength of the original regiment supported by the Northern Army,
It can definitely crush Timur's army.
However, King Yan's own Han soldiers were his core strength. The total number of both sides totaled only tens of thousands. Although there are many Mongolian levies, their actual combat effectiveness is not much different from that of Timur's headquarters.
If the battlefield is spread out on the grassland, King Yan doesn't think he will lose, but it is not very convenient to win.
And if the war is concentrated at one point, on the preset battlefield prepared by King Yan, King Yan has full confidence in Timur.
What King Yan fears most is nothing else. But Timur did not come.
But Timur finally came.
It is inaccurate to say that he did not know what King Yan was thinking and did not guess what King Yan wanted to do.
