Prince of Chaos

Chapter 703
After everyone left, Dong Qichang was also a little uneasy. Although he had always been a die-hard supporter of the crown prince, the problem of the checkpoint was really too big.

The interests involved here are absolutely intertwined, and it is a chain of interests covering the entire Ming Dynasty.

From the emperor to the small officials in the countryside, almost everyone with some power in their hands is in this net, and no one can be clean.

Even the Ministry of Rites under the leadership of Dong Qichang has checkpoints at the local level. The money collected by these checkpoints is tacit and will never enter the account book of the imperial court.

They are all private plots of various yamen!

Now Zhu Changluo wants to confiscate this private land, which is definitely a matter of breaking the sky.

After all, in the nearly 300-year history of Ming Dynasty, even emperors as strong as Hongwu Emperor and as brave as Emperor Yongle could not get rid of the stubborn disease of the checkpoint.

Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di will not cut off the level, because Zhu Changluo can still figure out their little thoughts.

In a sense, it is precisely because of the existence of these checkpoints that the stability of Daming has been further improved.

After all, when people who want to leave the local area to find a way to live in another place, they more or less have to go through some checkpoints to make it happen.

In the ancient society dominated by farming civilization, the rulers thought more about how to control the flow of people and how to continue the rule more stably.

Therefore, the appearance of checkpoints is also a kind of tacit consent.

Moreover, when setting up these checkpoints, the emperor will also end in person. For example, the eunuch checkpoints all over the important roads of Ming Dynasty are actually acquiesced by the emperor. Although the eunuchs collect the money for these checkpoints, they can still be given The emperor has a lot of points.

Therefore, it is as difficult as heaven to get rid of the persistent illnesses of the level.

After all, in a sense, the toll collected by Zhu Changluo on the hardened cement road is also a kind of checkpoint fee. Moreover, there are some trading markets under the banner of Xishan Huangzhuang, which are actually a kind of checkpoint.

It can be said that the water here is so deep that there is no distinction between public and private, and so deep that no one can be alone.

Zhu Changluo looked at Dong Qichang, who was a bit on pins and needles, and said with a pleasant face, "Show Master Dong some tea."

When Dong Qichang heard that the crown prince would also offer tea after rewarding the seat, Dong Qichang immediately got up and said: "Thank you, Your Highness, I dare not."

Zhu Changluo said with a smile: "It's just a cup of tea. Gu and Master Dong are also masters and apprentices. As a disciple, it is also proper to have a cup of tea with Mr. Feng."

Zhu Changluo could say that, but Dong Qichang couldn't take it so seriously, because Dong Qichang knew that he didn't have much to teach Zhu Changluo, and most of the time the two of them taught by chatting, and most of the time it was Zhu Changluo who gave him instructions.

Therefore, even if Dong Qichang was Zhu Changluo's official teacher, he never dared to pretend to be a teacher of the prince.

Dong Qichang panicked and said, "I dare not accept it."

Zhu Changluo said again: "Master Dong, what's wrong? This is Gu's wish. Is Master Dong going to live up to Gu's wish?"

Now that we've talked about this, Dong Qichang will be ignorant of flattery any more.

Dong Qichang bowed, "Thank you, Your Highness."

After the tea-serving eunuch served Dong Qichang the tea, Zhu Changluo said to the other people in the hall: "Everyone go out, Sun Xian stays here, I just want to have a heart-to-heart talk with Master Dong."

All the eunuchs serving in the hall withdrew.

Zhu Changluo said to Sun Xian: "You don't have to be so tense, relax a little, I just want to chat with you today."

Sun Xian was flattered and bowed to Zhu Changluo.

Dong Qichang was also overwhelmed by Zhu Changluo's sudden politeness, and he didn't know what kind of medicine Zhu Changluo was going to sell in his gourd.

Zhu Changluo looked at Dong Qichang and Sun Xian, Zhu Changluo got up and went to the hall to move his body and said, "Sun Xian, how many years have you been with Gu?"

When Sun Xian heard Zhu Changluo's question, he immediately replied with a low eyebrow: "It has been 15 years since the 20th year of Wanli."

After listening to Sun Xian's words, Zhu Changluo sighed, "It's been 20 years, and Gu Ye, who was never sensible, has grown into an adult, but you have become fat again."

Speaking of this, Zhu Changluo laughed, and Sun Xian hurriedly laughed with him, "This is all the grace of the master. Without the protection of the master, the servants and maids cannot be so fat."

Zhu Changluo smiled and said: "That's a good point. I just talked about the checkpoints with the cabinet and the Military Aircraft Department, and I also promised to remove the checkpoints set up by the eunuchs sent by Da Nei. What's your opinion on this?"

Sun Xian's heart skipped a beat, what should come will still come.

Sun Xian has always been worried about this matter. To be honest, the money collected in those checkpoints is not much distributed to him. Most of the money is used to buy thugs and fans from the eunuchs below. Therefore, this problem is very important to Sun Xian. Language is also a difficult question to answer.

After all, except for the eunuchs who have a roster in Da Nei and have palace salaries, most of the people attached to Dongchang and other 24 yamen have no money to receive.

And these people are indispensable. Without the attachment of these people, Dongchang will be a tiger without teeth. Although the tiger's teeth are average now, it is better than no teeth.

Therefore, Sun Xian didn't know how to respond to these checkpoints that would affect the whole body.

If you tell the crown prince in a big way now that the eunuchs guarding Dongchang and the world can remove these checkpoints, it will definitely be a crime of deceiving the emperor!
Because these guarding eunuchs who were dispatched to the local area took office alone, they must spend a lot of money to build their own team when they arrive at the local area, otherwise the meaning of their guarding will be lost.

And most of this money comes from the checkpoints they set up privately and the filial piety of local officials and wealthy gentry. Of course, these filial piety are all because the guarding eunuchs are strong enough.

If these guarding eunuchs had no money to support their subordinates and thugs, then who would look up to them?

So, looking at it this way, it seems to be an unsolvable problem.

After a fierce ideological struggle, Sun Xian gritted his teeth and said: "Master, don't worry, the servants will definitely obey your will. These checkpoints have long been wanted to be abolished by the servants. Li's banner is evil and evil, the fish and meat people, servants and servants have long since looked down on it."

When Sun Xian said so excitedly, Zhu Changluo laughed again.

Zhu Changluo said: "Your loyalty is known alone. But after everything reaches a certain level, you have to think carefully before deciding. Some checkpoints set by the eunuchs sent abroad are indeed bad, but they are not absolute. For example, they The checkpoints purchased for Ouchi at the local level, these checkpoints are good, at least this guarantees the quality of what Ouchi needs."

"So, Gu's meaning is not to abolish all checkpoints across the board, but to clarify the functions and numbers of these checkpoints first, and then make corresponding countermeasures. Merge those that should be merged, abolish those that should be abolished, and supplement them." The ones above should also be added. After all, the existence of these checkpoints is also related to the safety of Ouchi.”

"Gu is not a person who is eager for success, so Gu also hopes that you can understand the meaning of Gu, and don't do bad things in a hurry just to show your loyalty to Gu."

After listening to Zhu Changluo's words, Sun Xian was almost moved to tears.

The crown prince is really too considerate to be narrow-minded.

If these checkpoints are really cut across the board, I will definitely be hated to death by the eunuchs below.

Although all his power comes from the imperial power to which he is attached, everything he wants to do must rely on the hard work of the people below. If he smashes his job and counts on others to work hard, the final result will be sure. It backfired.

Let’s not talk about it, let’s talk about Zhang Juzheng 25 years ago.

Zhang Shoufu's whipping method and attendance system are good things, but they were strongly opposed by the ruling and opposition parties.

Although, when he was alive, he still relied on the imperial power in his hands to carry it out strongly.

However, in this process, except for those officials who are trusted and appointed by Zhang Juzheng who are obedient, the rest of the officials are not all complaining?
Therefore, when Zhang Juzheng passed away in the end, all the power of backlash appeared.

Suddenly, the savior prime minister who was praised by the world suddenly became a street mouse that everyone shouted and beat.

The young and energetic Emperor Wanli thought that he could control the overall situation, so he took advantage of the trend and wanted to suppress Zhang Juzheng's limelight and establish his own authority.

It's a pity, is this matter as simple as it seems on the surface?

When Emperor Wanli allowed his subordinates to attack Zhang Juzheng for a while, the situation was out of Emperor Wanli's control in an instant, and finally Emperor Wanli himself was justly criticized by all the officials in the world.

Therefore, when some things have reached a certain level and are already cumbersome, you can either turn the table over and do it again, or do it patiently and slowly.

But Zhu Changluo absolutely can't do things like flipping the table.

Because the biggest memory beneficiary on this table is his Zhu family dynasty, how can he overturn his own table?
Therefore, there is only one way left for Zhu Changluo, and that is to be patient and work slowly, slowly peeling off the 300-year-old problems of Daming, and only in this way can he consolidate his position and continue Daming's national status .

Dong Qichang was listening to the conversation between Zhu Changluo and Sun Xian, and he was also relieved. He was also afraid that Zhu Changluo would forcefully carry out this policy in a moment of enthusiasm.

This is different from Zhu Changluo's previous political reforms. Although the original reforms were big steps, in the final analysis, they only hurt the interests of some people, and at the same time gave benefits to many new participants. Therefore, even if there are some noises in these reforms , However, these noises can never shake the results.

However, the problem with the checkpoints this time is different. The people involved in these messy checkpoints with different names up and down in Da Ming are not some people, but everyone.

It is absolutely unwise to smash everyone's small coffers and jobs at once.

Fortunately, the crown prince also realized this in time, and he didn't make a decision, which really made Dong Qichang breathe a sigh of relief.

Zhu Changluo didn't leave Dong Qichang to talk about these things with Dong Qichang.

After talking with Sun Xian, Zhu Changluo said to Dong Qichang: "Master Dong has worked hard all these years. I don't know if the burden on the cabinet and the Ministry of Rites is heavy? I really feel inexplicable in my heart, if all the ministers and workers in the world are as loyal as Master Dong, Gu will be much more at ease."

Dong Qichang hurriedly replied: "It is the duty of a minister to serve the court and be loyal to His Highness. These are what a minister should do."

Zhu Changluo nodded in satisfaction, "Master Dong's loyalty is known to all."

After saying this, Zhu Changluo went back to his case and picked up a memorial, Zhu Changluo said: "This is the memorial of Shen Sixiao's resignation, Gu has already kept him twice, this time you go there for Gu Let's keep it going again. Shen Qing spent a lot of hard work for the court as Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Chief of the Military Aircraft Department these years. The lonely government has just begun, and it still needs the escort of a seasoned minister like Shen Qing. Go and persuade him. "

After finishing speaking, Zhu Changluo gave the memorial to Dong Qichang. When giving it to Dong Qichang, Zhu Changluo still had the rhythm to pat the memorial three times in the palm of his hand, and gave Dong Qichang an encouraging look.

Dong Qichang took over the memorandum, and the excitement in his eyes couldn't stop blooming immediately.

Dong Qichang's heartbeat accelerated involuntarily.

Dong Qichang immediately bowed: "I obey the order."

Zhu Changluo hummed, and then said: "Then Gu won't keep you. After you return to the cabinet, talk to Wang Qing and the others about what was discussed today. I don't want them to distort Gu's meaning, do you understand?"

Dong Qichang replied, "I understand."

Zhu Changluo said, "Okay, let's go down."

Dong Qichang immediately knelt down and bid farewell. After leaving the Ciqing Palace, he took a breath of the outside air, and Dong Qichang immediately felt extremely refreshed.

At this time, Dong Qichang also felt that his energy was much fuller, as if he had returned to his youth.

Dong Qichang returned to the cabinet happily all the way. When he first entered the cabinet, everyone in the cabinet couldn't help but focus on him.

After being so focused by the crowd, Dong Qichang quickly put away his relaxed posture, then cupped his fists and bowed slightly to Wang Xijue, "Yuanfu."

Wang Xijue stood up and took Dong Qichang's arm, very kindly, "Xuanzai sit here."

At this time, both Wang Xijue and the other two cabinet ministers looked at Dong Qichang nervously, they all wanted to know what Dong Qichang talked about with the crown prince in Ciqing Palace.

After all, the matters discussed in the Ciqing Palace today are too big, and everyone can't help but lose their opinions for a while, so they are very eager to know the result now.

Dong Qichang declined for a moment, "Yuanfu has been dismissed from office. In front of Yuanfu, his subordinates are always juniors. How dare he make mistakes in front of Yuanfu?"

Wang Xijue didn't think so, because he was planning to resign and return to his hometown recently. Shen Sixiao was eight years younger than him and was about to resign and return to his hometown. He was already in his seventies, his beard and hair were all white and he was still in the cabinet. This is to be hated by others, so Wang Xijue also has the intention to retire.

After all, these days are different.In the past, Wang Xijue wanted to sit firmly in the position of Chief Assistant, and guide Jiangshan to show his ambitions.

Now seven or eight years have passed, and I have done everything I wanted to do, and I have also witnessed the gradual rise of the image of the Great Ming Zhongxing. At this time, retiring is not only the completion of merit and virtue, but also fame and fortune.

Therefore, looking at Dong Qichang now is the same as looking at the new chief assistant in the future, Wang Xijue must give Dong Qichang enough face, and also gain a good reputation as a friendly colleague.

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Hey, it's too cold, I can't even turn on the air conditioner in my old home in the country, my fingers are frozen, I will try to make up for it tomorrow!

(End of this chapter)