"Oh? What's the best solution?" Chongzhen asked, staring at Li Banghua.
"I think that your Majesty should stick to the capital and send the prince to Nanjing to supervise the country. If the capital is defeated and your majesty dies for the country, half of the Ming Dynasty will still be alive!"
Damn it!
Everyone in the hall cursed in their hearts at the same time.
Wu Mengming swallowed. Except for him, no one dared to say such treasonous words in front of the emperor.
Li Banghua's mouth is really smelly and hard!
"Bold!" Without Chongzhen saying anything, Wang Chengen stood up immediately next to him. He pointed at Li Banghua's head and said angrily: "Bold Li Banghua dares to slander the current emperor. He should be executed according to law."
Li Banghua was not afraid and continued: "The capital is the foundation of our dynasty and cannot be abandoned. Moreover, King Wu Sangui Qianliqin is on his way to the capital. If your majesty abandons the city at this time, the last elite of the Ming Dynasty will be handed over to others."
"On the other hand, banditry and tyranny will not last long. The slaves in Liaodong are the most serious concern of the Ming Dynasty. As long as the capital is there, the slaves dare not march straight in. If the capital changes hands and the slaves use this as a basis to send troops south, the Ming Dynasty will be in danger. "
Chongzhen raised his eyebrows and couldn't help but look at Li Banghua with admiration.
What he said was so good, he clearly analyzed the current situation of all parties and the future situation.
It’s exactly like history!
This Zuodu censor is a talented person.
"Then Li Yushi will tell you why the bandits will not last long." Chongzhen continued the test.
"Yes." Li Banghua was very happy to see that Chongzhen was not angry, and he immediately put his heart back in his stomach.
He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and continued: "Taxation is the foundation of the imperial court."
"The sources of taxes for the imperial court are only land tax, Lijia official service and miscellaneous taxes. The bandits claim to be exempt from land tax, so the only taxes that can be levied are Lijia official service and miscellaneous taxes. Among miscellaneous taxes, commercial taxes are the largest."
"The source of commercial taxes is merchants, and thieves come all the way to exploit and kill merchants and gentry, seven out of ten."
"The thieves without tax can only keep robbing. When one day they can no longer grab money and food, they will disperse on their own."
Chongzhen strongly agrees with Li Banghua's point of view. Not only him, but historians agree. In that agricultural-based feudal era, the policy of equalizing land and eliminating grain was destined to be unworkable.
According to statistics, 70 to 80 percent of the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty came from land taxes.
Skipping this part is tantamount to digging your own grave.
Chongzhen was very satisfied with Li Banghua's performance. He stood up and waved Wu Mengming, Wang Zhixin and Li Ruolian to leave.
After they walked out of the palace, Chongzhen came to Li Banghua and said, "Li Yushi really knows people well. I plan to let you join the cabinet as the first assistant. How about it?"
The emperor wants me to be the chief assistant? Li Banghua shouted in his heart that something was wrong.
Chongzhen was emperor for seventeen years and had nineteen chief ministers.
The minor case may be dismissal from office, and the serious case may be beheading.
The power seems great, but the risks are also very high, and sometimes you have to take the blame for the emperor.
Now among the civil servants, no one is willing to fight for this hot potato position of chief minister of the cabinet!
but.
The more times like this, the more difficult it is to face the difficulties!
After thinking quickly, Li Banghua felt that this was an opportunity.
He quickly said: "Your Majesty, the cabinet has huge affairs and many rules. However, it has always been the rule to first join the cabinet and then be appointed as the chief assistant. It is somewhat against the rules for me to directly serve as the chief assistant."
Chongzhen smiled lightly: "My words are the rules."
Upon seeing this, Li Banghua no longer hesitated, knelt down and thanked: "Your Majesty, Li Banghua, thank you for your kindness."
"Don't thank me so early. I haven't finished speaking yet. Li Banghua, are you afraid of death?"
Li Banghua was stunned for a moment, then thought about it and said seriously: "If your Majesty allows me to die, I will not be afraid of death."
"Why?"
"I don't have many ambitions in this life. Some may be a very popular minister, some may be wealthy, some may have a name in history books."
"Today, your majesty has appointed me as the chief minister. The wish of a highly respected minister has been fulfilled. Those who can be killed by your majesty will definitely leave their names in the history books. I don't care whether it is a good reputation or a bad reputation. Only mediocre people will be forgotten by history. .”
Li Banghua's words entered Chongzhen's heart. He stood there and looked at the old minister quietly.
At this time, he had only one thought: Li Banghua was the person I was looking for.
but.
Before that, there is one more thing that needs to be confirmed.
Chongzhen turned around and said in a solemn voice: "I need a powerful minister who can suppress the powerful ministers in the court."
"I will give him great power, one person is subordinate to ten thousand people. He can kill courtiers, eunuchs, nobles, clan members, whoever he wants, I will not care. As long as he can get money, there is no way to be greedy. I won’t care if it’s divided.”
"If I live for one day, I can protect his glory and wealth for one day."
"but!"
"If I die, that person's fate may be even worse than Yan Song's!"
"He may leave a mark in history, or he may be infamy for thousands of years, or he may have a mixed reputation."
"Can you handle it?"
Wang Chengen looked at Chongzhen in disbelief, feeling that the emperor's figure in front of him was very strange.
Is your Majesty going to delegate power?
What he hates most since he came to the throne are powerful ministers.
and.
At a time of internal and external troubles, will decentralizing power at this time exacerbate the risks of the Ming Dynasty?
Li Banghua raised his head, his old cheeks were full of wrinkles, but his eyes were bright.
He stood up seriously and knelt down to kowtow again: "Your Majesty, please rest assured, I don't want to be Yan Song, I just want to be Zhang Jiangling (Zhang Juzheng)."
"Okay! Li Yushi will leave for now, I have to go to court."
"According to the order!" Li Banghua exited the side hall.
When Li Banghua walked out of the hall, Chongzhen withdrew his expectant eyes from him.
He did this for two reasons.
First of all, Chongzhen has killed too many people since he ascended the throne. There were eighteen officials above the second rank, and more than a hundred officials below the second rank.
Not to mention the cabinet, he was in power for seventeen years and had nineteen chief ministers (two of whom were re-elected twice).
There are powerful officials and traitors, as well as pillars of the country; there are corrupt people, and there are also people who deny themselves and serve the public.
Often the new first assistant is replaced before he has established a solid foundation.
As a result, government orders could not leave the capital (it was useless to leave the capital, because party loyalty had been transferred from the court to the state capital), and the country became increasingly chaotic.
Those who were lucky were dismissed from office, those who were unlucky were executed.
Does it make sense?
It makes no sense!
So everyone in the officialdom is in danger.
In the late Chongzhen period, the Donglin Party had no real power, and the party struggle in the court entered a stable stage.
Where did the contradiction go? It doesn't go away, it just shifts.
Part of it was transferred to the state capital, and part of it turned into a conflict between king and minister.
Whatever Chongzhen wanted to do, they opposed it.
Only in this way can value be reflected.
The purpose of re-appointing Li Banghua was to restart the party struggle in the court and transfer the contradiction between the monarch and his ministers into a party conflict.
He wants to borrow Li Banghua's hand to make money and kill people!
Where does the money come from?
In the short term, it depends on house confiscation, and in the long term, it relies on taxation.
Who to kill?
Civil servants who fight among themselves, corrupt courtiers, nobles who are rich enough to rival the country, and businessmen who surrender to the enemy and treason!
Chongzhen calmed down his emotions and ordered: "Wang Cheng'en, summon all officials to discuss politics."
