Xia Yuanji did not stand unconditionally in opposition. Instead, he kicked the ball to the cabinet and other ministers. His attitude was very clear: as long as you nod, the Ministry of Revenue has no objection. If you don't nod, the Ministry of Revenue alone will not be able to do anything. .
In a word, it’s up to you.
Xie Jin, Ru Yu, Yu Xin and others were all a little uneasy. Xia Yuanji was in charge of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and his attitude was crucial. If he opposed it clearly and the Ministry of Household Affairs did not give money to build Beiping City, then Zhu Yunwen's ideas would be in vain.
But now Xia Yuanji seems to be standing with the cabinet, Ministry of War and other officials, but in fact he is supporting Zhu Yunwen in disguise.
For such a major event as relocating the capital, officials have two positions, support and opposition. Not opposing is equivalent to supporting, and there is no ambiguity. Xia Yuanji's attitude was like a sharp blade passing through, and a crack suddenly appeared.
But for such a big event, no one should think about staying away from it. Tie Xuan looked at Xia Yuanji indifferently and said, "Xia Shangshu's words are inappropriate. All countries in the world have a certain number of children. If the imperial court builds large-scale construction projects and spends wantonly, causing the treasury to be empty, How should you explain to the world that you are unable to pay for a health center and have no money to provide disaster relief and rescue the people?"
Xia Yuanji glanced at Tie Xuan and replied calmly: "Tie Shangshu, are you saying that Mr. Xia supports moving the capital? I believe you all can hear what I just said, and there is no need to elaborate."
"you!"
Tie Xuan didn't expect Xia Yuanji to be so unkind.
Xia Yuanji turned sideways and stopped looking at everyone.
The Ministry of Household Affairs has the final say on matters related to the Household Affairs Bureau. No matter what you say, you can't control it. Regarding moving the capital, King Zhu Di of Yan gave six words: "If the capital is Beiping, the world will be peaceful", which shows that he supports moving the capital.
Although he leads the household department and does not understand the art of war, he also knows that the main enemy of the Ming Dynasty is in the north, and he also knows that it is beyond the reach of the whip.
It is more than 2,000 miles from Nanjing to Xuanfu Town, more than 2,200 miles to Shanhaiguan, more than 2,500 miles to Datong, and more than 5,000 miles to Jiayuguan. With such a long distance, once a major military situation occurs, the capital will have no time to react. Although the too long depth protects the capital, it also leaves too many flaws.
On the other hand, if the capital is moved to Peiping, the distance from Peiping to Datong, Yanmen Pass, Shanhaiguan, etc. will only be more than 600 to 700 miles. It will save more than 1,000 miles to Jiayuguan than in Nanjing. Xuanfu Town is not far from Peiping. Northwest direction.
Although the Ming Dynasty lost a certain strategic depth due to this, it was able to receive military intelligence reports in time and calmly deploy troops and generals. Instead of receiving the intelligence, half a month had passed since the war started. When the court reacted, preparations were made. It would take two months at the earliest to send out troops and arrive. How could the nomadic cavalry give Ming two months?
Xia Yuanji could not express his support for moving the capital because he would be isolated by the civil service community, but Xia Yuanji did not want to violate his conscience and oppose moving the capital, a major event that related to the foundation of the Ming Dynasty and future generations.
Seeing that Tie Xuan was frustrated, Yu Xin quickly made up his mind: "Your Majesty, there are not enough grain-producing areas around Peiping. It is simply not enough to support hundreds of thousands of soldiers and millions of people..."
Zhu Yunwen pointed to the road: "So, I have decreed that the Huitong River will be dredged, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal will once again connect the north and the south. Water transportation will inevitably flourish. In three years, it will not be a problem to transport two million liters of grain per year, plus 300,000 immigrants. The cultivated fields, the northern plains, and the salty fields are more than enough to support a population of two million, right?"
Yu Xin's pupils froze, and he was horrified.
Xie Jin, Ru Jin, Xu Huizu and others were also shocked. So, Zhu Yunwen's idea of planning to move the capital to Peking can even be traced back to the second year of Jianwen?
It's now more than ten days until Jianwen's fifth year. He actually hid his idea of moving the capital for three years and only brought it out now that the time was almost ripe!
What a terrifying thought, such an astonishing city, and such a powerful strategic determination!
Xie Jin finally understood that the idea of moving the capital proposed by Zhu Yunwen was actually only two steps left to build Beiping City and move the capital. He had already laid the groundwork through dredging Huitong River, Shanxi Immigration, Qingjiang Shipyard, Tianjin Port, etc. All the conditions to build Beiping City!
There are stable grain transportation channels, a considerable population size, and people and craftsmen willing to participate in civil construction. What other reasons can stop Zhu Yunwen?
It wastes people and money and is not recognized by the Ministry of Household Affairs.
If food security is in danger, the canal will solve it.
The popularity is not enough, so immigrants come to make up for it.
To oppose the relocation of the capital, you must find a defensible reason and excuse. You cannot say that you are opposed to it. It is useless to just say that I don’t want to. You must say that you are Chou Yin Mao, but Zhu Yunwen has solved all Chou Yin Mao. How to say?
Zhu Yunwen had been planning for nearly three years, and now he revealed his thoughts. It was like he was attacking Annan. He had prepared everything in advance. All that was left was an opportunity and an imperial edict to send troops.
Zhu Di raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead. Zhu Yunwen was really a terrible person. He completed many preparations before moving the capital silently, but no one could see through this. Behind his seemingly simple behavior, there was a hidden meaning. He has a long-term plan, just like a clever chess player. When he makes a move, he has already thought of the next seven or eight moves.
This kind of forbearance, calmness of planning, and silence of thunder are really life-threatening. Look at a group of important ministers such as Xie Jin, Ru Yu, Yu Xin, etc. who were also caught off guard. Everyone who was always good at talking could not find anything to object to.
Ru Yun and Yu Xin had already visited Xie Jin several times. Xie Jin had no choice but to bite the bullet and said, "Your Majesty, moving the capital is a big matter and it is not appropriate to make a decision lightly. You might as well discuss it with the officials after returning to Beijing before making a decision."
It was not cost-effective to directly offend Zhu Yunwen, so Xie Jin chose to "delay" until he returned to Nanjing, and let everyone speak in memorials to see the opinions of the ministers.
Zhu Yunwen naturally understood the thoughts of Xie Jin and others, and wanted to drown himself in the memorial. He couldn't help but smile: "The matter of moving the capital is not a scourge that cannot be negotiated. Since you are mostly opposed, you might as well return to the capital for a few debates. Yang Shiqi, as the Imperial College, you To offer wine, would you like to organize a big debate?"
Yang Shiqi didn't expect that he would be called upon even though he was standing so far back, so he had to squeeze forward and said, "I obey your will."
Xie Jin and others were a little uneasy.
A big debate is a way to solve problems. All points of view are brought out. You say something and I say something, and the more you argue, the clearer the matter becomes.
But the problem is that the interests of officials are not part of the debate. During the debate, you cannot say: My family has a shop in Nanjing but not in Peiping, so I think it is inappropriate to relocate.
Everyone knows this kind of thing, but it is not suitable to be debated on the stage, otherwise it will be easy for others to take advantage of it and label it as "selfish" or "disregarding national interests".
Putting aside the interest relationship, when it comes to real debate, how much chance does the civil servant group have of winning?
But in any case, the matter was put on hold for the time being. After arriving in the capital, officials naturally came to write letters of impeachment repeatedly. Exhausted, I wonder if Zhu Yunwen can still insist on moving the capital.
Zhu Yunwen ended his first proposal to move the capital with one sentence: "The Ming Dynasty needs a group of officials who are interested in profit - the life and death of the country, and do not want to avoid it out of misfortune or personal gain. I hope you are such officials."
The first proposal to move the capital by the Peking City Wall was just to send a clear signal, telling officials that they had plans to move the capital.
Now that this move is over, the rest depends on how the ministers will counterattack. There are still four or five months until the Grand Canal is open to traffic, so Zhu Yunwen has time to deal with these matters.
Zhu Yunwen stayed in Peiping and continued to go deep into the people and businessmen to investigate the public sentiment and business conditions. Until the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, Tang Buping returned from Jizhou with a horse and brought shocking news.
"The case of migrant workers and craftsmen on the line of the Great Wall from Xifengkou to Shanhaiguan has been preliminarily identified. It is because the prefect of Jizhou, together with the commanders of Kaiping and Funing guards, used the imperial court to recruit a total of 80,000 soldiers and civilians in the name of building the Great Wall. They forged rosters and made false claims. For 120,000 soldiers and civilians, 40,000 people came to pretend to be the emperor and defrauded the court of 480,000 taels of wages and salaries."
Looking at this document, Zhu Yunwen was very heartbroken.
The Ming Dynasty is now very strict about financial audits, and it is not easy to commit corruption, especially when the supervisory censor and the security bureau go deep into the prefectures and counties. But who could have imagined that the supervisory censor became a decoration, and even Qianhu from the Security Bureau was involved and took the initiative to cover it up.
Well, the multiple supervisions became a decoration and directly evolved into a major case in Jizhou. Zhang Bing pleaded guilty for this, Ping An pleaded guilty for this, a number of officials in Beizhili pleaded guilty for this, and the Ministry of War and the Fifth Army Governor's Office also pleaded guilty for this. The Metropolitan Procuratorate pleads guilty for this, and the Security Bureau pleads guilty for this!
Things went beyond everyone's expectations. I originally thought it was just a small case of underpayment, but unexpectedly it involved many officials. There was a problem with the local government, the local health office, the Beizhili Supervision, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate. There was also a problem with the Security Bureau. If the Ministry of Revenue had not been responsible, this kind of thing would have been completely covered up without any explanation, and the imperial court would have thrown away nearly half a million guan of finance for no reason!
There is a problem with the Security Bureau, which makes Zhu Yunwen very sad. You must know that the Security Bureau is a force directly controlled by Zhu Yunwen. It does not belong to the Ministry of War and the Fifth Army Governor's Office. Now there is a problem with this force, which makes Zhu Yunwen temporarily doubt that he can still The local security bureau can no longer be trusted.
Historically, Zhu Di set up the Jin Yiwei, but he was suspicious and worried about the Jin Yiwei, so he set up Dongchang for control. This kind of control did not appear without reason.
Zhu Yunwen also set up the East Factory, but its responsibilities had nothing to do with the temperance and supervision of the Security Bureau. They only involved the verification and investigation of the authenticity of the impeachment memorial against Beijing officials.
But now, Zhu Yunwen realizes that the security bureau is getting bigger and bigger, and without the power to control it, problems will occur sooner or later. While arranging the cabinet Xie Jin, Ru Yu, and Yu Xin to deal with the Jizhou shortfall case, Zhu Yunwen pointed the knife at the Security Bureau: "In addition to the Security Bureau, a Penalties Bureau is set up, which is above the Security Bureau. Gu Sanjian As a commander, he has the authority to review all personnel of the Security Bureau. Once he is found to have violated the discipline of the Security Bureau, he can be dealt with first and then reported."
