Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 240 Imperial Power Standard
"Shanyang defended?!"

Only then did Gao Hongtu react.

The four of Shi Kefa were also overjoyed.

"Great, Shanyang actually defended."

"This is really an accident, but the more accidents like this, the better."

"The Huai'an mansion is guarded, and Jian Nu will not dare to go south to Yangzhou easily. If Yangzhou mansion is not lost, Nanjing will be as stable as Mount Tai. I congratulate the four elders. The great crisis of the Ming Dynasty has been resolved."

Gao Hongtu said happily: "You Laoyintai will announce this victory to the whole city, no, to the world, so that the scholars and common people in the world will also be happy."

"Your officer obeys." Liu Shizhen bowed and went excitedly.

Watching Liu Shizhen leave, the four of Shi Kefa were happy again for a while.

Even Gao Hongtu, who has always been unsmiling, couldn't help laughing this time.

"I didn't expect it, I really didn't expect it." Gao Hongtu stroked his beard and smiled, "I didn't expect Yan Yingyuan and Mao Xiang to have some skills, but they actually guarded Huai'an, ha ha."

Shi Kefa once again bowed to Xuzhou, and said: "I have already said that the reason why the Holy Majesty sent Yan Yingyuan, Maoxiang and other scholars to Huai'an Mansion to practice Xiangyong and defend the city must have his deep meaning here. I don’t believe it in every possible way, but I should believe it now, right?”

"Okay, I admit that I really misjudged this time."

Gao Hongtu simply admitted the fact that he was blind.

At the same time, I have a new understanding of Chongzhen's selection and appointment of personnel.

Zhang Youyu curled his lips behind Shi Kefa's back, apparently not admitting that he was wrong.

At that moment, Zhang Youyu said again: "Four elders, let's continue discussing the sale of bonds..."

"What else is there to talk about?" Gao Hongtu said with a smile, "Da Situ just go back and wait to collect the money. When the news of Huai'an's success spreads across Nanjing tomorrow, the gentry and merchants in the city will flock to buy the bonds sold by the imperial court, crying." .”

"That's the reason." Shi Kefa and the other four also nodded happily.

……

At this time in Shanyang City.

Mao Xiang met Hou Fangyu on the street.

Mao Xiang was very surprised: "Brother Chaozong?"

Hou Fangyu glanced at Yan Yingyuan, hesitant to speak.

Yan Yingyuan said tactfully, "Brother Pijiang, I have to say goodbye beforehand."

"Brother Boheng, I'll talk to you later." Mao Xiang sent Yan Yingyuan away.

Hou Fangyu also turned his head and told Fan Chengmo who was accompanying him, "Go ahead and wait for me."

"Yes, my lord." Fan Chengmo agreed, and went to the front street to wait alone.

"What's the matter, Brother Chaozong?" Mao Xiang smiled, "Could it be that there is some secret to discuss with me?"

"Brother Pijiang, you and I are old friends for many years, so I won't hide it from you." Hou Fangyu didn't hide anything, and straightforwardly explained why he came, "I'm here this time as a lobbyist."

"Being a lobbyist?" Mao Xiang's face turned cold, "Whose lobbyist should he be? Jian slave?"

Hou Fangyu said: "Brother Pijiang, this is not the place to talk, can we talk in another place?"

"Okay, then go to my apartment." Mao Xiang snorted coldly and said, "Hou Chaozong, you'd better think it over before telling me, otherwise our brotherhood will come to an end."

At that moment, Mao Xiang took Hou Fangyu back to his apartment.

After pouring a glass of water for Hou Fangyu, Mao Xiang said, "Hou Chaozong, you can talk now."

Hou Fangyu lowered his head and sorted out his words, and said, "Brother Pijiang, you must have already known about the fact that Chongzhen asked Du Yinxi to share an acre of land in Xuzhou and Guide Mansion, right?"

"I know." Mao Xiang nodded and said, "I also support this matter."

"You also support it?" Hou Fangyu said dumbfounded, "Brother Pijiang, you actually support Jun Tianmu? Do you know what this means?"

"I know." Mao Xiang said solemnly, "The Holy One has made it clear long ago that the northern gentry who committed the crime of collaborating with captives and thieves will have all their lands confiscated. Your Shangqiu Hou family must have committed the crime of collaborating with thieves, so they were fined I took all the property, so I took refuge in Jiannu with a grudge, am I right?"

The last sentence was a rhetorical question to Hou Fangyu.

"Accomplice to thieves? This is just an excuse." Hou Fangyu said angrily, "Whether our Hou family or other noble families in the north have accomplice to thieves or captives, in the end it is impossible to escape Chongzhen's poisonous hands."

Mao Xiang frowned and said, "Hou Chaozong, don't speak so harshly."

"I'm telling the truth." Hou Fangyu said, "Chongzhen wants to use our northern gentry and nobles as fat pigs to slaughter, and use our land to enrich his internal funds. Such a faint and tyrant, you want to protect him?"

Mao Xiangdao: "Hou Chaozong, as I said just now, I support the matter of land equalization."

Hou Fangyu sneered and said, "Making Pijiang, one day when Chongzhen finishes cleaning up the noble families in the north and turns the butcher knife on the noble families in the south, I hope you can still remember what you said today."

Mao Xiang laughed and said: "I want Brother Hou to know, I don't have to wait until that day, I can tell you clearly today that I fully support the Holy Majesty's implementation of the national policy of equal farmland in Jiangnan!"

"Ah?" Hou Fangyu said dumbfounded, "Mao Bijiang, are you crazy?"

"I'm not crazy, it's Hou Chaozong, you can't see through." Mao Xiang said coldly, "The reason why the Ming Dynasty fell to this point, you and I discussed it many times when we were studying in Nanjing, the reason is nothing more than the lack of national use. , and the lack of national use in the Ming Dynasty is because a large amount of land is concentrated in the names of the clan and the nobles."

"Not to mention the clan, you don't even have to pay the regular tax, it's all moths."

"Although the regular taxes of the rich and noble families cannot be avoided, Ding Yin and Yao slaves rarely pay the full amount."

After a pause, he said: "In view of this, if the national policy of equalizing the land per mu is not enforced, the embarrassment of the shortage of national resources will never be resolved, and it will be absolutely impossible to rejuvenate the Ming Dynasty."

Hearing this, Hou Fangyu also lost his mind for a moment.

He couldn't help but see the scene of talking with Zhang Fu, Zhang Cai and others about the affairs of the world.

As for the illness of the Ming Dynasty, they all knew that it was nothing more than insufficient national expenditure.

And if they want to cure the incurable disease of insufficient national use, they are also very clear, that is the average farmland.

However, to be clear, none of them dared to make such a claim. The reason is very simple, because they themselves and their families are the medicinal materials in it.

They also want to revive Da Ming, but they are unwilling to use themselves as medicine to torture.

After a long while Hou Fangyu said: "Although that's the case, but your family is also one of the wealthy gentry, are you really willing to donate the land under your own name to the imperial court for free?"

Mao Xiang said resolutely: "Anyway, I, Mao Xiang, are willing."

"Crazy, you are really crazy." Hou Fangyu said, "It's simply unreasonable."

Maoxiang said: "It's not speculative, just half a sentence, Hou Chaozong, you and I will cut off our friendship from now on, please go back."

"Madman! What a lunatic, poor and pathetic lunatic." Hou Fangyu shook his head while saying, "You were deceived by the dog emperor Chongzhen, and you will regret it in the future."

Mao Xiang grabbed the teacup on the coffee table.

Serving tea means seeing off guests, which means you should go.

Hou Fangyu snorted coldly in anger, and left with a flick of his sleeves.

Watching Hou Fangyu leave, Mao Xiang sneered: "How dare you come here to be a lobbyist with this little knowledge? You're overestimating your capabilities."

After a pause, Mao Xiang suddenly said to himself: "However, after Hou Chaozong said this, I suddenly remembered that Brother Wuheng seemed to have something to say, so let's go to him."

……

At present, Maoxiang came to Xingyuan, governor of Hecao.

After Lu Zhenfei left, Governor Xingyuan gave Yan Yingyuan and Mao Xiang two people to act as agents.

When Mao Xiang walked into the lobby, Yan Yingyuan was checking the account books in the hall. The main reason was the consumption of money and food, especially the consumption of equipment and materials in this month's defense of the city.

"Pijiang, you came just in time."

Yan Yingyuan put down his brush and said, "Now I understand the meaning of His Majesty's words."

"That sentence from the Holy Majesty?" Mao Xiang sat down on the opposite side, and asked casually, "What words."

Yan Yingyuan said: "The Holy Majesty once said to us that once the cannon is fired, ten thousand taels of gold is said. It is said that war costs money. I didn't believe it before, but now I believe it. War really costs money and food."

Mao Xiang was stunned for a moment and said, "You mean, the battle of Shanyang cost a lot of money and food?"

"Yes, it consumes a lot of money and food." Yan Yingyuan nodded and said, "I did a rough calculation just now, and the sum of the various equipment and materials consumed, at least [-] taels of silver is gone."

"What? Five hundred thousand taels are gone?" Mao Xiang was taken aback.

Yan Yingyuan went on to say: "This is only the money for equipment and supplies. I haven't counted the pensions for the brave men and peasants who died fighting to defend the city. The two expenses are also high, even if it is conservatively estimated, it will cost upwards of five hundred thousand taels of silver."

Mao Xiang was dumbfounded and said: "Doesn't this mean that one million taels of silver will be gone?"

"I'm afraid it's more than that." Yan Yingyuan said, "Because of the future repair of the city wall, the demolished houses in the city will need to be compensated, the fields outside the city will also need to be backfilled, and the canal wharf will also need to be rebuilt. These expenses will have to be borne by the imperial court. The refugees who were born because of this war also needed the court to feed them with food at first..."

Mao Xiang sighed and said: "It's really not good to be in charge of the family. I don't know how expensive the firewood is. I have never been an official before. I always feel that those local officials are incompetent and greedy. But today I know that it is really not easy to be an official."

"There is nothing easy in the world." Yan Yingyuan said, "If you want to say it is difficult, is there anyone who can be more difficult than the Holy One? But the Holy One is not easy, and it looks like nothing is wrong on the surface?"

"By the way, when I mentioned this, I remembered it again." Mao Xiang said suddenly.

"Before the Jiannu army arrived, you had something to say, what exactly do you want to say?"

"Is there? What did I say?" Yan Yingyuan pretended to be stupid, "Why can't I remember?"

"Brother Boheng, don't pretend to be stupid." Maoxiang said angrily, "You also said that I was hot-blooded and had no brains, and promised me that if we were still alive after this battle, you would tell me the whole story."

Yan Yingyuan saw that he couldn't avoid it, so he had to say: "You talk about this."

"Yes, that's the matter." Mao Xiang nodded and said, "Please explain it to me quickly."

Yan Yingyuan thought for a while, then asked Mao Xiang: "Brother Pijiang, what do you think of Mencius's theory of the people?"

Yan Yingyuan may have learned more about the world and understood people's hearts better because of his experience in Jiangyin classics. Anyway, he has seen that Chongzhen's admiration of Mencius's people-oriented thought is only a means, not an ultimate goal.

In other words, Chongzhen may really care about the people in his heart, and he also wants to let the people live a better life, but Yan Yingyuan does not believe that he will put the common people of Li above the imperial power.

This can be seen from the fact that he started to set up a scholar battalion.

Even the cabinet officials in Nanjing didn't see it, but Yan Yingyuan already saw the deep meaning of Chongzhen's move. One day in the future, the Scholars Camp will become a huge bureaucratic group comparable to the six cabinet ministries.

Then, the two big bureaucratic groups will become rivals and start fighting openly and secretly.

Then, as the emperor, Chongzhen could check and balance and mediate in the middle. In this way, the six cabinet departments could only become the right-hand man of the imperial power just like the scholar camp, and could no longer return to the previous cabinet department with monopoly power.

Therefore, what Chongzhen really admired was not the people-oriented thought, but the imperial power standard!Everything Chongzhen did was aimed at strengthening Zhu Ming's imperial power, not weakening it.

But Yan Yingyuan wasn't sure whether Maoxiang could see through this point.

Therefore, we must first ask Mao Xiang clearly about his views on people-oriented thought, and then decide to what extent to speak.

Because Yan Yingyuan was worried that if he came up to tell the whole story, it might destroy Maoxiang's belief. Young scholars are indeed easy to be passionate, but they are also easy to dampen their enthusiasm.

Mao Xiang said without hesitation: "What is there to say about Mencius's people-based theory? This is the most reasonable thing in the world! Even the Holy One respects it very much. My scholars should take this as the yardstick and practice it!"

Hearing this, Yan Yingyuan had a basic judgment on Maoxiang.

Well, this is a hot-blooded young scholar who really believed the words of the Holy Majesty.

This kind of words can't be said too deeply to Maoxiang, Yan Yingyuan said at the moment: "Brother Pijiang, that's why I say you are a real visionary, because the Holy One is a eternal sage who really puts the common people in his heart Sooner or later, he will definitely start to solve the disadvantages of too much concentration of farmland in the hands of the clan, gentry and aristocrats."

After a pause, he said: "Instead of waiting for the Holy Master to do something and passively handing over the land under the name, it is better to take the initiative to donate all the land now, so that you can at least win a good reputation."

"Hey, I don't agree with Brother Boheng's words." Mao Xiang waved his hand and said, "If our Mao family donates the land under our name, it is not for the sake of a good reputation, but for the relief of Ming Dynasty, and to tide over the time together. difficult."

"Oh, that's right." Yan Yingyuan said repeatedly, "What brother Pijiang said is absolutely true."

After saying this, Yan Yingyuan warned in a low voice: "However, brother Pijiang, don't tell others about this matter. Although the Holy Majesty will inevitably equal the land in the south of the Yangtze River sooner or later, he will not act rashly until the north is restored."

Mao Xiang said: "You don't need to tell me, I know it too."

Yan Yingyuan suddenly asked again: "By the way, why is Hou Fangyu looking for you?"

(End of this chapter)