Since the establishment of the National Policy Conference in the 16th year of Zhengde's reign, there were only eighteen top chairs at the beginning.
Now, the number of permanent political participants in this national policy conference has reached twenty-four.
Their distribution is as follows: There are seven people in the State Palace, including the Prime Minister and the Minister of State. The Jiuqing, the Chief of the Royal Study, the Chief of the Sixth Section, and the Chief of the Taxation Department are all civil servants, occupying 19 seats in total. Although the deputy director of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Jingying Rongzheng, is a civil servant, he directly represents the interests of the military together with the General Staff of the Military Affairs Council, one of the governors of the Fifth Military Governor's Office, the Jingying Admiral, and the Chief of Public Security.
But this time the national policy meeting was an "enlarged meeting" held every three years, with much more attendees.
No matter how many people crowded into the original Jinshen Hall at this moment, the pattern remained the same - important ministers guarding the emperor.
The National Policy Hall, which was modified from the Jinshen Hall, is very large, and the space supported by pillars inside is considered a "frame structure."
Now, the throne is in the center, facing north and south. In front of the throne, it was still similar to the original national policy meeting. Tables and chairs were surrounded on three sides, but there were several rows on each side.
The attention of the important ministers would occasionally turn to the eunuchs and eunuchs serving tea and water here, and then they would inevitably look at the emperor.
Five years ago, at the end of the fifteenth year of Zhengde, the ministers and ministers were still very arrogant.
But now, the ministers have no room to comment on national affairs, and their focus is entirely on the factory guards and the enterprises founded under the leadership of the emperor.
Even though there are so many important ministers in the National Policy Palace, and even though the Ming Dynasty has appointed a powerful prime minister, the emperor is still above everything else - for example, of everyone who can sit here now, which one does not need the emperor's nod for appointment?
What everyone never expected was that the first official agenda of this national policy meeting was to determine the style of the "national flag".
No one will think that this matter is not negotiable: in such an important meeting, every move needs to be carefully considered.
Zhu Houcong said loudly in the main hall: "As I said in that letter, the Ming Dynasty is integrated up and down, and this body is the country. Decide on this national flag. In the future, this flag will symbolize both the Ming Dynasty and China. I As the emperor, we must also respect this flag. By setting this flag, you and others will serve in the future not only to be loyal to the emperor, but also to the country and the people of our country. When the people of the world see this flag, they must also know that our Ming Dynasty is the orthodoxy of my country, and the emperor, ministers and people We share weal and woe, and external enemies and internal worries need to be treated separately.”
After a pause, he said: "Treason is worse than treason. Pursuing personal interests at the expense of the country is worse than exploiting the people for personal enrichment. If the Ming Dynasty was a family, the monarchs, ministers, officials and gentry would be like parents and brothers. How could they collude with foreign enemies? And those who harm younger siblings?"
Yan Song and others looked at Zhu Houcong deeply. Starting from the name change of the three main halls... No, from the time when the National Policy Conference was established, His Majesty has actually been emphasizing the concept of the country step by step.
As the governor of Zhejiang, he certainly knew what the emperor was talking about.
These things are especially concentrated in border towns and coastal areas. Internally, it means evading taxes and embezzling state funds.
It's just that in the past, the world was privately owned by the emperor. These matters purely depended on whether the emperor wanted to vigorously regulate it for the benefit of personal rule. Now the emperor has a vague idea that the interests of the country are shared by everyone, and harming the country means harming everyone.
Treason is worse than conspiracy. This crime is really serious and boundless.
The emperor is putting the country above the emperor's legal system...
"This flag was painted by Tang Yin under my command." Zhu Houcong asked Zhang Zuo and Huang Jin to bring a square red silk flag.
Red background, yellow pattern.
"The Zuo Zhuan of the Spring and Autumn Period says: The three-chen flags and flags show the brightness. The three-chen sun, moon and stars are the most noble symbols of China since Yao and Shun. There is a saying in Zhou Li: The emperor bows down to the sun and the moon. Now, I have This Sanchen flag is the national flag of the Ming Dynasty. Its sun resembles me, its moon resembles the ministers, and its stars resemble awns. It resembles the people of the Ming Dynasty. Do you think this is okay, sir?"
On the flag is a sun on the left and a moon on the right surrounded by a circle of yellow stars.
There are no more fine lines on the pattern, but they are all made of bright yellow that can only be used by emperors. At this moment, the bright yellow moon and the bright yellow star symbolize the subjects. The meaning is not only intriguing, but this flag already shows its dignity.
Naturally, no one has any opinions on this matter and says "no". Isn't the emperor citing scriptures?
The Sanchen Banner is the most noble, and His Majesty also said that treason is especially serious.
If there is any flag more noble than the dragon flag, it can only be the Sanchen flag, which itself symbolizes heaven.
The resolution was passed quickly, and Zhu Houcong then issued an edict: "I ordered the Weaving Bureau to weave this flag, and all the yamen, armies, schools, prefectures, counties and villages of the Ming Dynasty will fly this flag high. In the future, there will be three stars of the Ming Dynasty. At the flag, everyone must respect the great power of tomorrow!"
…
From the time he was imprisoned and demoted due to an imperial examination in the twelfth year of Hongzhi, Tang Yin wandered around the world for twenty years, selling literature and paintings to make a living and indulged in alcohol and sex. He was depressed and had a bad health.
Without Zhu Houcong at the Imperial University, his original life trajectory would have been poverty-stricken and riddled with various illnesses by the Jiajing period, and he died of illness in the second year of the Jiajing period.
But now that he is the dean of the Arts Department of Huangming University, he has no worries about food and clothing and is very leisurely.
The problems accumulated in the body during those twenty years were only delayed a little.
At this time, Tang Yin was already lying on the bed.
"Don't worry about that." Wen Zhengming sat beside the bed in his bedroom to comfort him, "Since His Majesty ordered you to try painting the national flag, how could there be any disturbance at this national policy meeting?"
Tang Yin was worried about gains and losses, so he just murmured: "It's not in line with etiquette, it's not in line with etiquette..."
The concept of the country is higher than that of the emperor. Tang Yin is seriously ill and is only worried about the impact his last work will have on his posthumous reputation.
This may be the simplest painting he has ever painted, but listening to what the emperor said when he told him, it is probably the most important painting in Tang Yin's life.
It will become the national flag of the Ming Dynasty and will appear in every corner related to the Ming Dynasty.
But in the future, if the emperor's ambitions are not fulfilled and the successors overthrow everything, he, Tang Yin, will inevitably be slandered and regarded as a frivolous minister beside the faint emperor. He has no sense of etiquette and shame and only wants to be flattered and favored.
"...Li." Wen Zhengming shook his head slightly and sighed.
In addition to Yan Shenggong, the emperor promoted new learning. He even changed the names of the three major halls such as Fengtian Palace, which declared that the legal system was ordered by heaven. He had his own etiquette in mind.
Tang Yin forced a smile: "I'm afraid I won't be able to survive this winter. Zhengming, my youngest son, I will leave it to you."
He has no biological son, only one daughter. This son was adopted and is only five years old now. His daughter was already married, and Tang Yin could only worry about his son.
Incense is always important.
Wen Zhengming is different. He is now the dean of Huangming University, the father of Concubine Shu, and was granted the title of uncle. Although he is fifty-five years old, his body looks much healthier.
This guy did live a long life. He did not die until the thirty-eighth year of Jiajing. He lived to be ninety years old!
Tang Yin felt that he should have entrusted the right person.
Wen Zhengming couldn't help but wipe his tears when he saw his old friend for many years entrusting future generations with his gesture.
Just as he was about to comfort him again, someone from the palace came to deliver the message.
"Congratulations to Dean Tang, congratulations to Dean Tang. The national policy meeting has been agreed upon, and His Majesty has decreed. Please relax and recuperate, Dean Tang. Later, the Ming Bao Bank and the Weaving Bureau are still waiting for Dean Tang to analyze the meaning of the flag and assist in weaving."
"Has it been agreed?" Tang Yin was filled with surprise and his face was strangely red.
"Ouch!" The person who came to convey the order knew how to understand colors. He asked in surprise, "Dean Tang, why haven't we seen each other for several days? How serious is your illness?"
"It's hard to come back..." Tang Yin confirmed the situation and took a breath, "The implication..."
Do you need to tell it yourself? The emperor knew it, and Wen Zhengming also knew it.
When it comes to Ming Bao Xing, I am afraid that I want to put my name on it so that everyone in the world knows that this Ming Sanchen Banner was made by Tang Yin.
This time he fell ill again, both due to his health and weather, as well as the reason for drawing the Three-Chen Flag.
In the beginning, of course, he wanted to be exquisite and painted many patterns and patterns to embellish them.
The emperor said again and again that it should be simpler, but he still felt that what the emperor said meant too much, so he always just thought hard and was in a dilemma.
During this process, even though the final flag pattern was so simple, it took a lot of effort for Tang Yin.
Now that he heard that the matter had been settled, he was certainly a little happy, but also more uneasy.
After such a pattern is spread, will people say, "This still needs Tang Yin to paint it?"
After a while, he smiled casually: "Please tell your majesty, father-in-law, I'm afraid it will be difficult to recover from my illness this time. If you want to inform the world in the Ming Bao Xing, you'd better order someone to come and ask me as soon as possible."
If word eventually got out that Tang Yin died of a serious illness partly because of his "heart and soul" on this simple painting, it would probably be a joke for the ages.
Then just laugh about it.
Later, Lin Xiyuan came in person.
Tang Yin weakly raised his arm and pointed at a large bottle with a scroll in the bedroom.
"Your Majesty has assigned this matter to me since April. Several drafts of my paintings are included in it. Maozhen can read it by himself."
Lin Xiyuan took it over and opened it one by one.
I saw at the beginning that there were five mountains, great rivers, dragons and beasts, and the sun, moon and stars were in various places.
Later, there were patterns with nine cauldrons carrying the sun and the stars and the moon guarding the left and right.
In the end, although there was only Sun, Moon and Star, there were several editions. From extremely decorative patterns to only solid color patterns in the end.
"Do you know why His Majesty had to be so simple in the end?"
Lin Xiyuan shook his head.
Tang Yin's eyes were dazed for a moment, and then he said: "It means noble and important, but it has many uses. There are countless weaving methods, so it must be simple and cheap. What's more, the most important thing is simplicity, His Majesty said, simple patterns can make the Ming Dynasty Many people who are illiterate and don't know allusions remember the things they are most familiar with at a glance. The sun and the moon merge to become bright, the stars are divided into five angles, and the five elements are interdependent. Whether one star or one angle is a person, a family, or an industry, they are all living in the world. In the land of the Ming Dynasty, the background color is red. Your Majesty hopes that the monarchs, ministers and people will all know that it means the continuous inheritance of Chinese blood."
Staring at Lin Xiyuan, Tang Yin finally said solemnly: "The sun, moon and stars are all in bright yellow, and your majesty also wants to tell the people of the world. The Taizu was born in a young age, and he was respected as the emperor because he continued the Chinese orthodoxy. If the monarch, ministers and people have a country in their hearts, then Everyone is honored.”
Lin Xiyuan was shocked: What about the humble status that is still there?
…
The second topic at the national policy meeting is this.
But the introduction is not those from lowly positions, but from military households.
"After the establishment of various enterprises, the problems of the craftsmen households will be solved by the enterprises." Zhu Houcong looked at Yang Yiqing and others, "There are many soldiers recruiting in the border towns, and the capital camp also recruits soldiers. Since the Weisuo army has been stationed, a Huguang army has been stationed. The three guards rebelled. After the local public security department was established, ordinary banditry was able to be uniformly dispatched and dealt with. Taking advantage of the rebellion, the provincial governors first recruited troops, then reduced the guards, and finally changed the old military household system. This is the direction, what are the details? Your Majesty and others will discuss this together."
Each province has several guards, and the number of registered soldiers is "tens of thousands of troops."
In the past, in terms of military strength, there were Dusi, Zhensi, and some other yamen.
There are tens of thousands of troops, but the bandits are still suppressed one after another but are ineffective.
Nowadays, security yamen are set up everywhere, which is an internal anti-theft security force. The young gangsters will be handed over to the public security bureaus and public security bureaus that cooperate with the local prefectures and counties.
And each province can naturally have about 10,000 elite soldiers, which can be regarded as a powerful force.
Many people looked at Cui Yuan.
Outside the capital camp, there are the regional governors of the Five Army Governor's Mansion and the military guards of all the local capitals in the Ming Dynasty. It now seems that in the future, the total number of divisions under the governor's office of each army will be equivalent to the first battalion of the Beijing Camp.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army will obviously have more difficult internal and external combat tasks.
To recruit troops in all provinces, the supply of food and salary is just a common financial pressure, but now it is more difficult to get the local garrison generals to obey.
It is certainly a good time that the Three Guards Rebellion in Huguang was put down. The power of the new three major battalions and the imperial court should be respected, but local guard posts are not only found in the provinces that have been stable for many years, but also in border towns.
There is no room for chaos in the border town.
At the national policy meeting, all the ministers expressed their opinions, and then Yang Yiqing, the new military general staff officer, said: "First the border towns, then the provinces. The border towns will select the model soldiers first, and now the Beijing camp will serve as some, and the Beijing camp will continue to recruit and train new soldiers. The provinces will first use public services. The marquis was appointed as the governor of the five prefectures, the prince was appointed as the commander of the capital, and the county and township nobles were appointed as the important generals of the capital. Others were selected to serve as the public security department, public security bureau, and public security bureau. Some soldiers could also be transferred to serve. In this way for three years, various places All the troops are recruited."
Wang Shouren also agreed: "There is no need to train the army in Beijing. It has made achievements last year, and now it is time to suppress the world. Supplemented by the titles of favor, merit, and titles, start from the army first, and use them more in the Public Security Department, then the Ming Dynasty The armies will gradually take on a new look."
If you want to feel safer, go catch thieves and local gangsters and bullies.
When recruiting troops from various provinces, they will only receive food and wages without doing any serious work in the future. They should not only seek to gain a little profit and free wages for guarding the fields.
If you are obedient, you will first have a title to be granted.
If there is resistance, there will be soldiers recruited from the Beijing camp to suppress it.
The military chiefs of each province and the governors of the five prefectures were naturally all distinguished ministers who had withstood the test in the past few years, were loyal to the emperor, received important promotions from the emperor, and were determined to make contributions.
The governors of all provinces are here, and the envoy from the left is also here.
If both the military and political parties are our own people, the problem of the guard station may seem very difficult, but it will eventually be solved slowly, as long as we are determined.
Zhu Houcong nodded: "Taizu determined the people of the world and set many types of household registration. This is because in the early days of the country, after long wars, the population was withered and all industries were stagnant. Now it is not the early days of the country, and the human, material and financial resources of the Ming Dynasty are many times that of the country. In the early days? There were many people but no fields, all kinds of industries were prosperous but many people escaped, and there was a lot of hardship caused by exploitation."
After looking at these important ministers, Zhu Houcong added: "Many of you, your ministers, were born in the military. After becoming an official of high rank, your first thought was to change your military status, right? This is especially true for your ministers. Don't the people look forward to it?" "
He told the truth.
The characteristic of a military household is that someone must join the army, although military status can also be taken by scientific examination. However, if the military status is not changed, the children in the family will still have to join the army from generation to generation. Therefore, many officials with military status will always find ways to change their military status after becoming officials.
"In addition to military registration, there are many service registrations. Craftsman household, salt household, kitchen household, horse household... Nowadays, since corvee service has to be reformed, there are many enterprises and private businesses that need to employ people. This is the time to save the people of the world from such worries. "Zhu Houcong paused, "Of course, if we change it rashly, some families will lose their livelihood. You and others can come up with a strategy to make a living for many people with military registration, and then change it to civilian registration. .”
If this issue continues to be discussed, it will become the management of today's enterprises and many commercial banks and merchants in the future.
Making a living is not a temporary thing.
As a member of the military, although it is the current obligation to serve, there is also a guaranteed "salary", although after layers of exploitation, it is not much.
But this can at least be regarded as an "iron rice bowl" to a certain extent. After all, those who manage corvee work and dispatch are officials, and they will be given more or less.
If all these are gone, not all of the many conscripted families will welcome them, and instead they will worry about how to earn a living in the future.
To farm, you need to have enough fields to distribute to these people.
To do work, you need to have a certain guarantee mechanism, and you can’t just feed it all to those eighteen companies.
What's more, there is another, even larger group of people.
"Then there are those with hidden households and low status." Zhu Houcong looked at them, "Do you have any clever ideas?"
In fact, it's easy to be humble, as long as the court doesn't decide to beat these people to the point where they will never be able to stand up again. Here, the main ones are Leji, fishermen, villagers, etc.
The hidden households are too large. These are the population living in the families of officials and gentry, and are not included in the official statistics.
The advantage is that it can avoid corvee.
The downside is that once they are held accountable, the authorities will punish them.
They have a relationship with the officials and gentry in which they pay protection fees and are protected. For this reason, they are willing to pay food and contribute to the officials and gentry who are staying with them.
If this part of the population needs to be counted and released, the biggest question is whether the implementation of the new law in local areas will make their survival pressure greater than it is now.
In addition, the "livelihood" of a large number of their families who work as slaves in the homes of officials and gentry begging for food may also be destroyed.
Once the good days when officials and gentry can no longer earn land rent by collecting large amounts of hidden land are over, they will probably have to "lay off employees" under the increasing economic pressure before they can find new profit points.
The current industrial and commercial foundation of the Ming Dynasty cannot support such a huge "employed population."
Fei Hong, the first Prime Minister and Minister of State of the Ming Dynasty, stood up and said: "Your Majesty, after the land is cleared and the yellow book is re-established next year, it is still unknown how many more fields and people will be created. After the governors of the provinces return, they will feel at ease by the end of next year. There are many. Since ancient times, agriculture has been emphasized. As long as there are no wars, farmers have their own land, and taxes are appropriate, people will not flee their hometowns and become hermits. If there are clever strategies, they are only taxes, corvees, etc. in the new law. Even after it is implemented in local areas, it will not harm the people."
After a pause, he looked at the civil servants he was about to take charge of, and said solemnly: "Your Majesty has entrusted you with important responsibilities, and the king and ministers of the court are united. This situation has never happened in ancient times. We will live up to your trust, conduct more inspections, and ensure that The common people are relieved of their worries and have shown kindness to His Majesty. When we gather here again in three years, we hope that we can bring good news to Your Majesty, instead of increasing the number of refugees and making people's livelihood difficult. Do you think so?"
The prime minister's face is for sale, and what he said is the truth.
At this time in the Ming Dynasty, there were probably tens of millions of people who had fled their homes and lived in seclusion, and not all of them were now being supported by others. Most of the fields they farm are still their own, but they are only in the names of the officials and gentry.
Clear it out and return it to them. If the tax and corvee burdens are not heavier than they are now, there will be no major problems.
They just need to be able to deal with the local gentry and low-level officials.
In addition, we have to deal with the worries in the hearts of these hidden people.
After all, they feared the government more than their own masters, so they fled their homes and became hermits.
Zhu Houcong nodded: "Remember, the people are not the enemy, only the gentry who still harm the country and enrich themselves, and the officials who treat the people as slaves are the enemies. After the Ming Dynasty's Three-Chen Banner arrives, the people of the world must be convinced and know that I treat them as respectable and valuable family members. The necessary taxes are not to support me and the officials, but to help them avoid banditry, build water conservancy, build bridges and roads, run schools and educate people, etc."
He also paused for a moment, and then said: "I hope that in three years' time, the monarchs and ministers can formally discuss here whether the Ming Dynasty will no longer be divided into various nationalities. The people of the Ming Dynasty are all civilians. There will be no punishment. Then all the children can take the scientific examination!"
(End of chapter)
