Wanli Xinming

The Ming Emperor made more tours to the north and fewer to the south. The main reason was that the empire's troubles were in the north and not in the south, so the emperor's inspections were not needed to have a deterrent effect.

But there are exceptions. After Emperor Yongle seized power, he made several southern tours in order to win over the people of Jiangnan.Wuzong ascended the throne at a young age and admired the scenery of the south of the Yangtze River. He started a "Southern Tour Controversy" for dozens of ministers who visited the south.Emperor Jiajing also visited the south for the funeral of his parents, but was almost burned to death in the fire.

Emperor Longqing's reign was short, and after the peace talks, the imperial war eased, and the emperor could leave the capital - but his body was no longer strong enough to support inspections, so no one made suggestions.

Through a northern tour, Zhu Yijun solved the Mongolian issue through a two-pronged political and military approach, which enabled him to have the conditions to tour the world.However, at that time, the legal affairs were complicated, and Zhang Juzheng always had to be in the capital to support him, so the southern tour was not put on the agenda.

Although today's Ming Dynasty is still conquering the south and north, and there are many major projects, the emperor can still spend the money for the southern tour.Of course, Zhu Yijun holds the largest industrial and commercial consortium in his hands and does not need any money from the court.

Today's Ming court has almost no binding force on the emperor Zhu Yijun: through the New Army and the re-establishment of the Privy Council, he firmly holds the military power; through the Yinzhang Zhizhuo and the National Security Bureau, he controls the political power; and through the industrial and commercial consortium , the emperor's financial power was no longer restricted by the court.

Although the Dongchang was abolished and the Jinyiwei was reorganized, the outer court, represented by Zhengshitang, knew very well that the emperor's control over the country had reached an unprecedented level.Even Emperor Gaozu and Chengzu could only lag behind today in terms of freedom of spending money.

Therefore, when the emperor said he was going to Nanjing, Liang Menglong had nothing to comment on.The only concern is that the local officials will make extravagant efforts to welcome the emperor, or make arrangements for sharing or adding miscellaneous factions, which will disturb the local morality and undermine the sanctity of the place.

But Liang Menglong also knew very well that apart from his strong interest in governing the country, he did not care about pleasure. In the 16th year after he ascended the throne, apart from reorganizing Xiyuan, the emperor did not repair anything for the sake of his eyes and ears. Any garden.

It should be said that it is time to revive the Ming Dynasty - such an emperor has nothing wrong with him except not listening to his ministers.

Now that the emperor is very quiet and restless, the prime minister can only cooperate.After the monarch and his ministers discussed the itinerary, Liang Menglong resigned.

Before the end of the year, the "uncovering case" was settled at an extremely fast speed.Song Jiu, the steward of Shen Shixing, wrote a limerick after drinking, nailing his master to the pillar of shame of "deceiving his master and destroying his ancestors".Although Song Jiu himself had long been executed with a stick, the court did not let him go. His entire family was confiscated and all members of his family were exiled.

Qiao Liwei, as the first offender in the case, was sentenced to eviction and his home was confiscated.Because the emperor's power has been highly concentrated and stable, the unveiling case was not implicated. Therefore, the families of Song Jiu and Qiao Liwei survived and were only exiled.

As for the Longqing Party case, core members such as Shen Yiguan and Zou Yuanbiao were not jailed or sentenced due to fierce opposition from Shen Shixing, but they were inevitably dismissed from office.Party members such as Li Zhi, Ding Jilu, and Lu Dongzhi were either demoted or transferred to the borders of the empire such as Annan and Burma.

Shen Shi killed Song Jiu with a stick, "betrayed" Shen Yiguan, and refused to resign despite the turmoil, and finally retained his position as deputy prime minister.At the end of the 15th year of Wanli, Earl Hai Rui of Qingzheng passed away in the capital. The emperor felt sorry for him and buried him with the courtesy of a marquis.The Zhengshitang asked for the posthumous title of "Zhongjie", and the emperor changed his posthumous title to "Zhongzheng" because "the world regards him as Geng Jie, but I regard him as a 'mirror mirror'".

The 15 years of Wanli in this time and space passed uneventfully.

Several sections that impacted history taken by Huang Renyu in the original time and space are completely different from this time and space: Zhang Juzheng has not been liquidated, the Wanli New Deal has been upgraded to the Wanli Reform, and is still advancing in full swing; the empire's area has expanded several times, and the Northeast, Northeast, and The southwest has undergone large-scale development, which has greatly alleviated land conflicts; due to the deepening of primary industrialization, the handicraft industry is transitioning to centralized production;

Because of the establishment of the bank and the issuance of Longyuan, a financial system matching this production base also grew; because of the establishment of the Gewuyuan, there was a spurt in science and technology; because of the promulgation of patent laws, production technology has made great progress;
The Ming Dynasty has regained its prestige. From Korea and Japan to Manchuria, no one dares to look down upon it; from the northeast and northwest to the Luo wilderness, the empire is like a giant that has finally regained its health, stretching out to the ocean and the vast land that belong to mankind. a huge fist
On the 16th day of the third month in the spring of the [-]th year of Wanli, the Holy Emperor set out from the capital.On this southern tour, most of the itinerary was on the canal in order to avoid the expense of local reception.

In the fourth year of Wanli, water transportation was changed to sea transportation. The imperial court continued to retain the canal yamen to coordinate various regions to maintain the smooth flow of the canal. It also changed the customs duties to local taxes, allowing provinces along the river to collect cross-river money.Since the cost of shipping plus customs fees is still much lower than that of land, the canal without its water transport function is still prosperous.The local officials where the canal is located are not responsible for protecting the canal, but they have the benefit of customs duties, creating the first-class fertile position in the world.

After the New Year, the Political Affairs Hall was about to issue a decree, notifying all provinces of the general route and time of the emperor's southern tour.Later, the emperor also issued an edict specifically for this matter, requiring that no large-scale construction projects be carried out in various places, and palaces should be built without authorization, which would waste people's resources.

Since the southern tour passed through the Queen's hometown of Suzhou, Queen Mother Li did not have the opportunity to compete with the Queen for this companionship.With the queen at her side, Zhu Yijun was too embarrassed to bring too many concubines, so the queen could only choose a few honest and courteous companions.

Empress Dowager Chen originally wanted to join in the fun, but after the spring came, she kept coughing and couldn't support herself, so she had to accompany Empress Dowager Li to stay at home in the capital.The prince is 11 years old and in good health, so he can accompany him on the southern tour this time.

Some ministers advised the emperor to leave the prince to supervise the country in case of emergencies. After being scolded by Zhu Yijun, there was no more noise.As for the accompanying ministers, unlike when the emperor first visited Saihanba in the north, almost all the prime ministers and ministers were dispatched this time except for Luo Wanhua and a few others who stayed behind.

At this time, the emperor had been on the throne for 16 years, and his control over the court and the world far exceeded that of his ancestors. Therefore, he only mobilized more than [-] imperial troops to accompany him on this tour, and added Qi Jiguang, the First-Class Protector of the State, as the Minister of Guards for the Southern Tour. , the commander-in-chief accompanies the generals.

As a result, the entire team of the emperor, ministers, guards, and the various people who served them easily exceeded 8000 people - what these people fed by horses was the bulk of the emperor's expenses on the tour. After all, these people had enough food, clothing, housing and transportation. Can't make do with it.

The mighty fleet stretched for more than twenty miles.For the emperor's safety, the entire northern section of the canal was blocked to speed up the boat's progress - the first stop was Tianjin.