In the Wenhua Hall in the Forbidden City of the capital, Emperor Chongzhen is holding an imperial meeting here.
On the two sides below, on one side are the eunuchs who hold the writings, headed by the eunuch Wang Chengen; on the other side are the cabinet and six ministers, headed by Du Yinxi, the chief minister of the cabinet.
Du Yinxi became the chief minister of the cabinet after returning to the capital from Kaifeng to clear land, check out hidden households, and complete farming.
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen was heard saying to these ministers: "The ills accumulated over the past two hundred and seventy-five years of the Ming Dynasty must be cleaned up. The current situation, the rebellion of thieves, has been driven to the southwest border area by Mr. ;The remaining problem is the Liaodong Jianlu."
When he said this, he felt a little emotional, and paused, as if thinking about it, and then continued: "However, Jianlu, who was the most troublesome in the past, is now being dragged into Liaodong and is not allowed to enter the customs. According to Mr. If the Denglai Navy can destroy the Jianlu Navy, this matter will be considered stable."
After hearing this, Wang Chengen smiled and said: "Long live my lord, don't worry, the Denglai Navy is an elite transferred from the Fujian Navy, and they will definitely be able to defeat the Jianlu Navy!"
Du Yinxi was from Nanzhili, that is, from Jiangsu. Of course he had heard of the Fujian Navy. Therefore, he also followed suit and said: "As soon as the Liaodong Naval Battle begins, the Jianlu Navy will definitely be defeated!"
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen also laughed and said: "Sir, you have analyzed this for me, and I also believe that the Denglai Navy will win! However, this war has not yet concluded, so I can't sleep well. In case of building a What should I do if the captives take a detour to the grassland again?"
The Jianlu invaders detoured through the Mongolian grasslands several times to invade the pass. According to later generations, the direct and indirect economic losses to the pass were unimaginably huge! This is something that no one in power can bear.
However, even though Emperor Chongzhen said this, he never issued an order to urge Denglai Navy. Even if some ministers had suggestions, he did not issue an order.
In fact, the lesson that the imperial court interfered in the frontline war and resulted in a huge defeat on the frontline is still before our eyes. The most recent one? It was the Battle of Songjin. If my husband hadn't traveled through time, the country would have been destroyed by now.
Of course, there is another very important reason why Emperor Chongzhen no longer interferes on the front line. It is that he already has the confidence and no need to rush to interfere anymore.
The previous interventions were all because the imperial court could not afford a long-term war, and the army was in short supply of food and pay, so it had to rush.
But now, for the imperial court, although the taxes north of the Yangtze River are not collected into the national treasury, the wealth of the vassal kings in various places is used for local military affairs. Otherwise, Duke Xingguo would not be able to persist in his military campaigns in the north and south for more than a year.
Also, the reform of the salt policy not only did not reduce the treasury revenue due to the reduction in taxes, but also increased the tax revenue several times because of the large increase in salt production!
What reassured Emperor Chongzhen the most was that the profits from the glass factory continued to replenish the national treasury.
At this time, after talking about things in Liaodong for a while, Emperor Chongzhen began to talk about the main issues he had summoned his ministers to discuss.
He looked at the chief assistant Du Yinxi and said: "Du Qing, you have already experienced the changes in Kaifeng. I have also known the effects in Wuchang through the prince, and they are very good. Sir, since these two If the pilot in one place is successful, it will be time to start in other places. Do you have any arrangements?"
When Du Yinxi heard this, he thought for a moment and replied: "Your Majesty, Duke Xingguo has already carried out these changes in Shu. The ministers believe that Shu will have no worries. In other places, Jiangnan is the main priority. It is better to let His Royal Highness the Prince sit in Yingtian Mansion and supervise the reform of Jiangnan. Before that, the chief officials from various places in Jiangnan can travel to Wuchang and Kaifeng first, so that they can be well aware of it!"
After Wang Chengen heard this, he added: "If the local officials cannot understand these changes, they can send officials who are familiar with these changes to take charge of the areas that need to be reformed!"
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen nodded with a smile and said: "This is a good idea. Do you have any objections? If not, Du Qing will take the lead and write a memorial with specific arrangements. I guess your husband will be back soon. Look. See if you have any opinions, sir!"
After hearing this, no one among the ministers had any objections, and they didn't say anything about Emperor Chongzhen asking Duke Xingguo to see the matter first.
Because many things have proven that Duke Xingguo has a lot of ideas. Often they thought it was a very sound measure, and after Emperor Chongzhen showed it to Duke Xingguo, they could come up with some useful supplements.
Either they couldn't think of it, or they couldn't see it. In short, many of Duke Xingguo's additions could take local issues into consideration.
Based on these supplements, people who didn't know understood it and thought that Duke Xingguo was an older official who was experienced in political affairs!
Therefore, it was discussed that local innovation should be promoted nationwide using Kaifeng and Wuchang as samples.
Originally, Emperor Chongzhen was also prepared to end the discussion at the Wenhua Hall.
However, at the end of the day, he suddenly remembered something and said angrily: "Are those students in the Imperial College still making trouble?"
Upon hearing this, Wang Chengen, who was in charge of the East Factory, quickly responded: "Although it was not as hotly discussed at the beginning, it is still the main reason for opposing the steam engine!"
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he said unhappily: "If you haven't stopped for so long, your husband is about to come back. How can I explain to you? Wang Daban!"
"The slave is here!" Wang Chengen heard this and responded quickly.
He heard Emperor Chongzhen tell him: "Send people to arrest those who caused the most violence, and interrogate them clearly to see if anyone is instigating them behind their backs!"
Upon hearing this, before Wang Chengen had time to agree, Zuo Maodi, the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, immediately came out and reported to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, you must not do it."
"Huh?" When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he stared at him a little unhappy and snorted.
Zuo Maodi did not dare to neglect, and quickly said: "Your Majesty, I have never been guilty of any words in the Ming Dynasty! Even if Haigangfeng made rude remarks to Emperor Shizong back then, he was not guilty in the end!"
Emperor Shizong was Emperor Jiajing. The matter he was referring to was Hai Rui's most famous letter, the "Public Security Shu", which was equivalent to pointing a finger at Emperor Jiajing's nose and scolding him.
Everyone knows that this kind of thing is very serious. Therefore, even Hai Rui himself bought a coffin and waited to be sentenced to death after submitting a letter.
In the end, Emperor Jiajing just imprisoned him and did not kill Hai Rui until his death. He also left a will to pardon Hai Rui, and he was reused during the reign of Emperor Longqing.
After Zuo Maodi mentioned this matter, he quickly followed up and said: "These students in the Imperial College are only against steam engines. They are not slandering the government and disturbing the people. If you use this to use factory guards, it is not the behavior of a wise king!"
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen frowned and was silent for a while, but said a little unwillingly: "The steam engine is related to the future of the Ming Dynasty. It is very important. Fang Kongzhen wrote a letter to object, which is understandable. After all, his son I almost died because of the steam engine. But those people from the Imperial College have nothing to do with them. They are jumping up and down like this. Do you really think I won’t care?"
After Zuo Maodi heard this, he replied to Emperor Chongzhen again: "Your Majesty, as far as I know, among the people who made the most fuss in the Imperial College, there were disciples of the Fang family. In addition, this matter of the steam engine may not actually have anything to do with the Imperial College. It’s irrelevant.”
"Well, how do you say this?" Emperor Chongzhen was a little curious and asked immediately.
Just listen to Zuo Maodi's reply: "Steam engines are related to things that have never been found in the Four Books and Five Classics. And most of the students in the Imperial College read the Four Books and Five Classics in the hope of passing the imperial examination and serving the court. But now the momentum of the steam engine is due to Duke Xingguo's praise and His Majesty's approval made the students of the Imperial College, perhaps not just the students of the Imperial College, but all the scholars in the world panic, fearing that the knowledge they had studied so hard in their humble youth would be completely useless. Therefore, this time about the steam engine, These scholars are the ones who make the most noise, and this is the reason!"
For those who are already officials in the court, they actually don't mind that much. As Zuo Maodi said, the people who are most concerned and worried about are those who are still studying the Four Books and Five Classics.
After listening to this, Emperor Chongzhen thought for a while and felt that what Zuo Maodi said made sense, so he asked him: "Then what do you think, how should this matter be handled?"
"Your Majesty, this academic matter should be dealt with in a scholarly manner!" After hearing this, Zuo Maodi immediately responded, "Since Duke Xingguo brought up the matter of the steam engine, he must be proficient in this aspect. . Weichen believes that the best way to handle this matter is for Duke Xingguo to handle it himself!"
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen did not comment, but turned to look at the others and asked, "What do you think?"
In fact, Wang Chengen was the most indifferent. He was asked to use the East Factory to arrest people. He had no burden because he was an eunuch and could not urinate in the same pot as a scholar.
However, Du Yinxi and others were scholars. Of course, they were from the faction of Duke Xingguo, but they were also partial to Zuo Maodi's proposal, so they all wrote memorials one after another to express their agreement with Zuo Du Yushi's suggestion.
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen frowned and said, "In that case, let's wait until Mr. comes back to discuss this matter!"
Of course he knows how much Zhang Mingwei attaches importance to this matter, and he also knows that Zhang Mingwei can definitely deal with those students. But leaving Zhang Mingwei to deal with it himself, he always felt a little ashamed of Zhang Mingwei, because Zhang Mingwei had to do everything!
With this in mind, after he finished speaking, he still told Wang Chengen: "Send someone to watch. If you find that those students are colluding with someone, or someone is instigating behind the scenes, I will definitely deal with him!"
Wang Chengen listened and quickly agreed.
At this time, they really didn't expect that there would be a big shot behind them.
