Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 594
"It sounds good to say that it is Yiling, but it is not good to say that it locks us up."

"That's right, when the news spreads down below, the local gentry may be disturbed first."

"Don't be chaotic. If there is a chaotic situation right now, King Qi will definitely take the initiative to operate!"

"Moving is death, not moving is death, it is better to do it!"

"We also have some strength in the army, so I don't believe that he can cover the sky with one hand!"

At the beginning of March, the matter of Lingyi was not hidden from the officials for too long, and it was exposed in just half a month.

Having been rectified by Zhu Youjian so many times, if conservative officials don't learn to be smart and increase intelligence, it will be a failure.

In the Fangfu of Mingshifang, officials of the fifth rank and above of the conservative parties all sat in the meeting hall, discussing the agenda of this meeting in whispers.

No one expected that Zhu Youjian was planning to relocate to the mausoleum in the opposite direction, and wanted to transfer the population of the gentry and powerful gentry to the vassal king for free according to the name of the vassal king.

The target population this time is not the mud legs in their mouths, but a large number of gentry and powerful.

"quiet!"

When Fang Kezhuang and Feng Quan's voices sounded, more than a hundred senior members of the old-school fifth rank shut their mouths one after another, and Fang Kezhuang, Feng Quan, Wen Tiren, and Zhou Yanru sat at the top of the table.

Although the four of them presided over the discussion, it was obvious from the expressions of the four that Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru didn't want to get involved in this matter at all.

The way the two of them watched their noses and noses and their hearts looked at their hearts had already made many officials retreat. After all, they had never won a confrontation with Zhu Youjian for so many years.

Now that they know that he is going to carry out the operation of relocating the mausoleum in reverse, the officials naturally don't want to fight him head-on.

In other words, it's not that I don't want to, but that I don't have the capital to fight.

On the means of production, on political influence, on military strength, on the aspirations of the people...

These various things, they are not as good as Zhu Youjian.

In the face of such a situation, wanting to start a conflict with Zhu Youjian is against his will, unless someone can attract more troops and officials from the Yanshan faction.

Besides, it's useless to recruit the army. Whether it's Zhu Youjian's reputation in the army or among the people, it has reached the point where he can instigate an army or a civilian force with a single call.

In this situation……

"Isn't the Tianqi eleven-style rifle able to shoot three hundred paces away? Why not..."

"shut up!"

In the silent environment, I don't know if that idiot actually came up with the idea of ​​assassinating Zhu Youjian.

Indeed, after the appearance of rifles, the cost of assassinating princes and dignitaries has become lower, but this does not mean that it is easy to assassinate Zhu Youjian.

"What about after killing him?" Feng Quan, who was sitting in the main seat, cursed:
"What will the people in the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies think? There are so many county kings in King Qi's Mansion, and any one who supports them will be the new emperor. At that time, I'm afraid it will not be as simple as Yiling, but nine clans!"

Feng Quan didn't expect that such a fool could appear in this group of people, and he could come up with a scene like assassinating Zhu Youjian.

If there is at least a way to survive in Yiling, then the assassination of Zhu Youjian is to use the nine tribes to gamble on whether the group of arrogant soldiers in the governor's mansion of the Five Armies have good intentions.

The conflict between civil servants and generals of the Ming Dynasty never disappeared, but was hidden underwater.

Whenever there is an opportunity to blatantly kill civil officials, the people in the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies will not be relentless. They first framed Zhu Youjian's death to the emperor, prince and civil officials, and then supported Zhu Cihong, the eldest son of the county king of Qi Wangfu, as the new emperor, and sent troops to "put down the rebellion." ".

At that time, the group of them may really become the people who "insert the label and sell the first".

Feng Quan just wanted to stop Zhu Youjian, not to put his head on the flagpole!

"It's ridiculous!"

"Assassinate him today, tomorrow we will be killed."

"Such characters don't know how to squeeze into us..."

All the officials began to complain about the man who said to assassinate just now, just based on his words, all the people in the mansion had to be buried with him.

Fortunately, he was stopped by Feng Quan in the end, otherwise, when the news spread, everyone and their nine clans would die.

"Things are difficult right now, and what I'm most worried about is that he plans various matters by himself to liquidate us."

Fang Kezhuang of the Donglin Party looked worried, and Feng Quan also felt that he and his party had no capital to negotiate.

They have been hiding the specific population of Jiangnan, concealing and underreporting many taxes, in order to benefit the squires below.

As a result, it is better now. Daming has developed to the point where it can operate normally without the taxation of the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River.

Tax resistance in this case?King Qi can completely exempt Jiangnan Juan from taxes for one year, and then clean up all the uncooperative Jiangnan gentry in one go.

"He was so happy before, I'm afraid he was testing whether Daming can afford to lose the taxes of the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River."

Feng Quan felt a headache, especially for Zhu Youjian's age.

At that time, the five parties of Qi, Chu, Zhejiang, Xuankun and Xuankun insisted on the idea of ​​killing Zhu Youjian. Now 20 years have passed, and the leaders of the five parties have changed one after another. As a result, Zhu Youjian has become stronger up.

Now Zhu Youjian is going to attack the squires below them. Once the squires fall, they, the conservative party officials, will become rootless and can only drift away.

Feng Quan had a toothache, but looking at them, Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren couldn't help it.

They can see that today's conservatives have fallen to the point where no one can use them.

The current situation is so clear, whether it is Fang Congzhe, Sun Ruyou, Zhu Guozuo, Shen Yun, etc., or the former leaders of the various parties, it can be said that as long as you are a smart person, you will know what to do.

The results of it?Right now, this group of people can't even understand such a simple situation.

"It's never bad to move mausoleum overseas, at least the king of Qi, who is the check and balance of the squires, is missing. Besides, the vassal kings overseas will definitely rely on the squires who go to sea to strengthen their local rule."

Zhou Yanru couldn't bear to see these idiots anymore, so he couldn't help saying:

"The imperial court has strong soldiers and horses, and the King of Qi has the hearts of the people in his hands. A direct confrontation is not only unfavorable, but also unacceptable and impossible."

"The most urgent task at the moment is to inform the gentry everywhere to quickly sell the houses and fields in their hands, and either take the initiative to relocate overseas, or take the initiative to relocate to the immigrant provinces where the imperial court needs people."

"Anxi, Beiting, Shanyu, Modong, Donghai, Nanzhou, Jiugang, Luchuan..."

"These are places where the imperial court needs to strengthen its rule. As long as they move to these places, even King Qi will not be too entangled."

Zhou Yanru's idea is obvious, that is, to sell all assets before King Qi wants to do something, and move some provinces that King Qi will not do.

If all the squires do this, then Zhu Youjian will definitely not do anything to them.

"If this kind of news is released, I'm afraid it will cause chaos among the gentry in the world."

Fang Kezhuang, who was born in Shandong, hesitated to speak, but Zhou Yanru didn't even bother to continue talking when he saw this, he got up and bowed:

"This is the end of my words, how to do it, I think you are already clear."

"Fan land, overseas, or mausoleum, I think the gentry below know the choice better than you."

That's all Zhou Yanru said, and he left Fangfu.

Seeing this, Wen Tiren also got up immediately, and after bowing to Feng Quan, he also left Fangfu.

Many people who had made up their minds also left Fangfu one after another, leaving only some officials who were unwilling to give up their property or could not bear the pressure of the squires.

All this was revealed to Zhu Youjian by the person placed in it by Qi Wangfu the next day.

"There are really a few smart people..."

When Zhu Youjian got the news, he was sitting in Cunxin Hall having dinner with Yuan Xipin.

When he learned that someone actually proposed to sell the property one step ahead and move to a remote province, he immediately guessed that it was one of Zhou Yanru, Wen Tiren, and Feng Quan.

As expected, Zhou Yanru was indeed more impulsive than Wen Tiren and Feng Quan, and not as sophisticated as he expected.

"Your Highness, the person who mentioned the rifle during the discussion, do you want to..."

Lu Wenzhao bowed and reminded Zhu Youjian cautiously behind Zhu Youjian's back. Zhu Youjian also wrote lightly when he heard the words:
"It's up to him to choose. If he wants to resist, he can follow the "Law of the Great Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Youjian is not a fool, it is impossible for him to leave Qi Palace in this critical period.

All he has to do is to live in the mansion from this year onwards and start to solve the affairs of the gentry.

For him, the affairs of the gentry are not difficult. He is no longer the person who was afraid to speak out when the gentry held his money bag.

Even if the gentry of the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River refused to pay the land tax and grain, Daming still had an annual income of 5000 million taels.

The big deal is that all the railways and infrastructure will be suspended for one year, and only the salaries of officials and the army will be paid, and then the gentry will be established with a thunderous blow.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian stood up: "I'm full, eat slowly."

Zhu Youjian comforted Yuan Xipin, Zhou Sujie and others with a kind smile, then turned and left.

Seeing this, Wang Chengen, Lu Wenzhao and others followed up one after another. Compared with the calm and breezy atmosphere of Prince Qi's Mansion, the East Palace at this moment is full of uneasiness.

When Prince Qi's Mansion no longer provides asylum, the new policies of the East Palace will soon be unable to be carried out.

"Are these all dismissed memorials?"

"Yes, Your Highness..."

Inside the Chunhe Palace, Zhu Ciran, who had matured a lot, frowned slightly as he saw more than sixty copies of the memorials that had been returned.

Du Yinxi, who was standing beside him, couldn't help stepping forward to open a few memorials when he saw this, but when he saw the reason for being rejected, he immediately turned around and bowed:

"Your Highness, they are not dismissing with reason, but just venting."

"Vent? Why do they vent?" Zhu Ciran was no longer as calm as before, but rather irritable:
"They take the salary of the imperial court and rely on the people to support them. Now all the new policies are beneficial to the people. Why should they reject them, and why should they vent in front of the lonely?!"

Zhu Ciran picked up a memorial and slammed it hard on the gold bricks of the Chunhe Palace.

Seeing this, the people around didn't make much movement, they just lowered their heads.

It seems that this is not the first time Zhu Ciran has been so angry. The young man who loved to laugh and advocated freedom has also become irritable and irritable in the intrigue of the government.

Faced with such a situation, even Du Yinxi didn't know how to appease Zhu Ciran.

But at this time, Sun Chuanting, who had just returned from work, saw the angry Zhu Ciran, and walked in frowning.

Seeing him coming in, Zhu Ciran seemed to have a backbone, and couldn't help but stepped forward to hold him:

"Master Sun, these..."

He complained to Sun Chuanting, but Sun Chuanting just glanced at it and said:
"You are His Highness, if officials don't pick you up, you can still issue a government order, but if the local government doesn't pick you up, you can still send it to the local yamen."

"If the local yamen don't accept it, then you can depose them."

"Last year, we selected [-] officials from the government school graduates to enter the East Palace. Except for the hundreds of people sent out by His Highness, the rest were not sent out."

"These people are kept to deal with local officials."

The style of doing things passed on by Sun Chuanting is that of King Zeng Qi.

If the place is not obedient, then replace it with obedient people, not from a provincial chief secretary's office, but from a town, a county, or a government.

It is better to cut off a finger than to injure an arm, and the most painful thing is to cut the flesh with a soft knife.

"Students know how to do..."

Zhu Ciran called himself a student, and it could be seen that the two had become masters and apprentices, and Sun Chuanting, the master, also came to tell the good news.

"There is news from the south that Hong Hengjiu has already boarded the ship at the beginning of the month, and it is estimated that he will arrive in the capital in early April."

"It seems that he has made a decision. With King Qi here, he can only vote for you and not all officials."

"After he came, he could be relied upon in the court. He should be better than you and me in governing the court."

Sun Chuanting admires Hong Chengchou very much. It's not that he thinks he is inferior to Hong Chengchou, but that he feels that he is better at military affairs, and it is easy to stand from a personal perspective when dealing with government affairs.

Hong Chengchou is different, he is also good at military affairs, but he handles government affairs from the perspective of Ming Dynasty.

Sun Chuanting's idea is that corrupt officials must die, but Hong Chengchou depends on their achievements. Even if they are corrupt, as long as they have real achievements, Hong Chengchou will not control them.

With such a style of dealing with things, it is hard to say who is good and who is bad, but judging from Daming's current situation, Hong Chengchou is obviously more suitable for Daming.

This is something he never shied away from, and he often said it in front of Zhu Ciran, so Zhu Ciran couldn't help nodding his head when he heard the words.

The arrival of Hong Chengchou will allow Donggong to have the capital to disperse the power of the Yanshan faction before Zhu Youjian takes over.

The influence of Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou is not only in the Dudu Mansion, after all, they are civil servants of the economic side.

During their term of office, most of the officials who served in the Northwest and Southwest also received their recommendation and kindness. Therefore, even if they did not repay their kindness, they would not stand on the opposite side.

At present, many officials in the DPRK were recommended to Beijing by them. If the arrival of Sun Chuanting gave the East Palace the power to resist, then the arrival of Hong Chengchou gave it the power to fight back.

"I know how to do it, thank you, Master Sun..."

Zhu Ciran took the gift of his disciples in return.

Seeing this, Sun Chuanting also returned the gift and said: "I'm here only for this matter. Your Highness will continue to deal with the government affairs. There is also a lot of government affairs accumulated in the Wenhua Palace."

After all, Sun Chuanting slowly withdrew from the Chunhe Palace.

Zhu Ciran watched him leave, until he disappeared completely before turning his head to look at those memorials.

He had to admit that without Sun Kewang, it would be a bit troublesome for him to deal with government affairs.

But right now, he has just sent Sun Kewang to the place, so it would be inappropriate to call him back to the capital immediately.

In this regard, he can only hope that Sun Kewang will make some achievements sooner, so as to give him a chance to be promoted.

"How is Sun Kewang?"

Zhu Ciran walked back to his seat and sat down, Du Yinxi bowed to him when he heard the words:

"It's not long since I arrived in Shanshan County, but I heard that he has brought the people to reclaim the original fields in Shanshan County with a tractor."

"Looking at the situation, even if you can't get a first-class achievement at the end of the year, you can still get a second-class."

After ten years of reorganization in Tianqi, the evaluation of local officials in Daming is divided into four grades: A, B, C, and D. A represents a huge improvement of the locality, B promotes the obvious improvement of the locality, C remains the same, and D is slightly worse than when he took office.

Class A can be promoted to an official position, Class B is generally transferred to a higher-ranking official of the same rank, Class C is neither rewarded nor punished, and there is no transfer, and Class D is demoted by one rank.

A, B, C, and D are the fourth grades, only A and B have room for promotion. A grade can be promoted to one level of official position every year, and B can be promoted to one level after three years of maintenance.

This sounds easy, but it's actually quite difficult.

Right now, there are 15 ranks of officials in the Ming Dynasty. If you want to rise from a ninth-rank local village official to a second-rank official at the peak of real power, if you don’t count the ninth rank as an official, you have to hold the first rank for at least [-] consecutive years. This is not easy.

If it is a second class, it needs to be held for 45 consecutive years.

Considering that most of the government students graduate at the age of eighteen or nineteen, if they want to reach the top of the officialdom, they have to win the first grade at least five times in the officialdom before they can sit on the second-rank official position before Pentecost .

However, it is simply a fantasy for most officials to win the first grade five times.

However, Zhu Ciran is still very confident about Sun Kewang, who has won five first-class awards for five consecutive years.

"There are more than 200 tractors. I think that as long as Sun Kewang recruits enough immigrants, he will definitely be able to get the first class."

"It's just that after he was promoted this time, he was from the sixth rank, so it's not easy to arrange an official position."

"It's better to let him stay in Shanshan County for another year. After taking the official position of the sixth rank, transfer him back to Zhan Shifu to serve as the Fucheng."

Zhu Ciran still missed Sun Kewang a little bit, after all, when Sun Kewang was around, he could still spare some time to ride a bicycle on the city wall of Miyagi.

Now that he has only been away for four months, Zhu Ciran already feels very tired, and he can't imagine that he still has to wait for a full 22 months.

Thinking of this, Zhu Ciran pinched his temples.

"It's nothing for two years. Fortunately, after two years, that person should be back soon..."

Zhu Ciran didn't know what to think of, suddenly a smile appeared on his face.

"boom--"

"It's gone! A bird ate it today!"

Just as Zhu Ciran was smiling, a gunshot rang out in Suiye City, Anxi, five thousand miles away.

Accompanied by gunshots, wild geese were shot down one by one, and the cavalry of the Ming army happily went to pick up the birds and prepared to roast them for dinner at night.

When the last wild goose was shot, Li Dingguo also threw the rifle in his hand into the arms of the soldiers next to him.

"Okay, go and clean up your bird soup, and don't forget to bring me a bowl."

Li Dingguo opened his mouth with a smile on his side face, and the guards beside him left the city with smiles.

When Li Dingguo was left alone at last, he put away his smile with relief, and turned his head to look outside Suiye City.

Ten months passed in a flash, and the entire Suiye City has changed completely compared to last year.

The city walls rammed with sand and soil were torn down and replaced by concrete walls made of cement, gravel, river sand, and stones.

Most of the buildings in the city were also demolished, and small cement courtyards covering four quarters of the area were erected. However, due to insufficient wood, only cement tile houses could be built.

This four-mile-long city is no longer empty, and the streets are sparsely populated with many active people.

Li Dingguo turned his head and looked out of the city, and saw many farmers in the fields of Suiye City, thousands of tractors were plowing the land, and along the north side of Suiye River, the people who cultivated the raw land were clearing stones, waiting Land reclamation after spring plowing.

Li Dingguo's political management ability may not be good in history, but here, under the training of Zhu Youjian, Li Dingguo can be regarded as the best in terms of political management ability and emotional intelligence.

Although he is not as talented as Sun Kewang, he is good at using resources and long-term planning.

He knew very well that Suiye City would be the two bridgeheads for Daming to regain the Central River area in the future, so Suiye City must reclaim enough land to maintain the army's supplies in the future.

After ten months, Suiye City's arable land has reached more than 700 mu, and its population has reached more than [-] people.

With these populations and fields, it is not difficult to feed the Suiye Camp stationed here, on the contrary they are quite rich.

"According to this speed, it will not be difficult to reclaim another [-] mu of land this year."

A voice came from behind Li Dingguo. He turned his head and saw that it was Man Gui's eldest son, Man Xian.

He is different from his father's high-ranking officials, he is just a military quartermaster of the Suiye Camp.

He is responsible for the implementation and supervision of the reclamation of Suiye City, and he can be regarded as Li Dingguo's helper.

Judging from his 28-year-old age, it is not difficult to see that he has not made much achievements in the military, otherwise he would not just be a regular seventh-rank military quartermaster.

Facing his words, Li Dingguo couldn't help looking at the vast wheat field, but he refused to accept it:

"The machines in the province have not been distributed yet. If another 3000 immigrants come here, then another thousand machines can be distributed."

"In the 22nd year of the apocalypse, there will be more than [-] mu of fertile land here, which is enough to support all the way to Ma Xizheng."

"The 22nd year of the Apocalypse..." Hearing Li Dingguo's words, Man Xian smiled and said, "Do you want to go back to the capital?"

"I want..." Li Dingguo said bluntly: "But I don't think about its prosperity, but the people there."

His gaze stayed on the branch of the Tianshan Mountains in the north, looking at the white snow that never melted all year round, and he couldn't help but put his hand on the handle of the knife at his waist.

"Ping wiped out the northern captives and recovered Hezhong, and I can return to Beijing to report on my duties as a general."

"Even Your Highness, there is no reason to prevent me from returning to Beijing."

"..." Man Xian couldn't help being silent when he heard the words, he didn't dare to speak like Li Dingguo.

If he dared to say that, Man Gui on the way back to Beijing would have someone arrest him and bring him back to the capital immediately.

Therefore, he could only pat the shoulder of his comrade who was eight years younger than himself:

"Take a good rest and get through the current matter first. Don't think too much about it for too long. At least His Highness hasn't left yet."

"Hmm..." In response, Li Dingguo no longer looked at the vast northwest, turned around and walked down the Suiye city wall with Man Xian.

　Update before five o'clock in the afternoon

　　
　
(End of this chapter)