I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty's cabinet is accepting a performance report from Li Zhixiang, the commander-in-chief of the expedition to the Mughal Empire. It is said that this kind of performance report only needs to be reported to Cheng Shijie alone.

But the problem is that when troops were sent to attack the Moguls, the cabinet also had different voices. Cheng Shijie did not speak out, because the consequences of speaking out are very serious. Different voices are allowed and the minority obeys the majority. Of course, the most important thing is , Cheng Shijie has veto power.

The biggest difference between Cheng Shijie and Emperor Chongzhen is that Cheng Shijie will not take care of everything. Just like Chongzhen has to deal with dozens or hundreds of memorials every year. Some memorials are actually pure nonsense. Those local officials really have nothing to report. Just report the folk gossip or gossip.

Just like Lu Xiangsheng, he even reported that the former chief minister of the cabinet, Huang Liji, had a concubine named Yao Yao. Some relied on his outstanding literary talent and directly wrote long nonsense of tens of thousands of words. Of course, this was also This is not a special case of the Chongzhen Dynasty. In order to show a sense of presence in front of the emperor, this situation has always existed.

The emperors of the Ming Dynasty dealt with things in different ways. When Zhu Yuanzhang encountered such a minister who did nothing and did not complain, he would beat him up. Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, was a weirdo, so he just beat him back. The even worse one was Emperor Wanli of Ming Shenzong. When encountering such a minister, he would immediately swear.

This is not made up by the author. It is recorded in "Records of the Ming Dynasty" that Emperor Wanli swore at three people in his life, namely Zou Yuanbiao, the minister of the Ministry of Justice, Luo Yuren, the official minister, and Shi Xingxin, the minister of the Ministry of War. Of course, Emperor Tianqi ignored it directly. , only Chongzhen has a good temper, and responds seriously to all matters, no matter how big or small.

It is precisely because of this that it encouraged those ministers to have a sense of presence. Cheng Shijie was even more unique. Yang Yigui, the prefect of Quanzhou, presented a memorial to Cheng Shijie. There was a woman named Yang in Quanzhou. Her husband died by jumping into a lake to die in love. Please build a chastity memorial arch. Cheng Shijie directly Reply, I ask Yang Yigui, the prefect of Quanzhou, to support the Yang clan and not treat him harshly. Anyone who violates this will be severely punished.

Cheng Shijie doesn't believe this kind of nonsense at all. The Ming Dynasty's marriage system is to marry first and love later. A widow who just got married and didn't even have time to have a wedding would commit suicide for love? Obviously, this was some corrupt Confucianism who wanted to use this to promote enlightenment. Cheng Shijie not only made Yang Yigui responsible for supporting the Yang clan, but at the same time, he also labeled Yang Yigui as someone who would never reuse him in his life.

There were also officials who reported to Cheng Shijie about the affair between his uncle and his sister-in-law, the affair of a commoner's wife, and the extravagance of money, all of which were left in the northwest to use their spare time. Since then, these officials have learned well.

If it is not a major matter, do not file a memorial. If you do not file a memorial if there is a major matter, you will also be held accountable. The five mutually exclusive systems of the Military Supervision Bureau, the Imperial Guards, the Military Intelligence Bureau, the Anti-Corruption Bureau, and the Letters and Calls Bureau are responsible for accidents occurring in various places. , or natural disasters, natural disasters and man-made disasters must be reported. If any link is concealed and other links are reported, it is dereliction of duty.

Since then, it is almost impossible for local officials to control the sky with one hand. In the Ming Dynasty, the Military Supervision Bureau is responsible for supervising the fairness of rewards and punishments for military officers. Of course, the members of the Soldiers Committee are also responsible for supervising the Military Supervision Bureau, and the Jin Yiwei is responsible for supervising officials. On the contrary, The Corruption Bureau is responsible for keeping an eye on Jin Yiwei, the Letters and Calls Bureau is responsible for keeping an eye on the Anti-Corruption Bureau, and the Military Intelligence Bureau is independent from the Wudao system.

In fact, there is not much work that Cheng Shijie needs to do. The cabinet is mainly responsible for guiding the overall situation, while each department performs its own duties. Li Zhixiang's report is very detailed. In fact, Cheng Shijie already knows all these situations.

Li Zhixiang continued: "Three hundred and sixty-two tons of gold were seized..."

Shen Boyun raised his hand and asked: "How many taels are these 362 tons?"

Cheng Shijie explained: "Not much, just a few million taels!"

"what?"

Sun Zhili asked in surprise: "How many million taels of gold? How come there is so much gold in Mughal?"

Cheng Shijie said: "What they like most is gold, and Delhi is the largest city in India. If you cleanse Delhi, the harvest will be huge!"

"You can't control millions of taels of gold even in decades!"

Zhou Yandong's eyes glowed green: "This Mughal is so rich? Sending troops to attack the Mughal is the most correct thing for your Majesty to do!"

Cheng Shijie continued: "Actually, the biggest gain is not how much gold we grabbed, but the Ganges Delta, which is tens of millions of acres of farmland with abundant rain and sunshine. With a little tidying up, it can become a land rich in food." Excellent fertile land! It was by seizing this fertile land a thousand years ago that Tibet increased its strength and became the lifelong enemy of the Tang Dynasty! Now that the Ming Dynasty has obtained this fertile land, there will be no food crisis for at least two hundred years! "

Sun Zhili rubbed his hands together excitedly and said repeatedly: "Great, well done, well done! This piece of land is worth more than tens of millions of taels of gold! General Li, you have made great contributions again." !”

Cheng Shijie shook his head and said: "Not a general, but a marshal. I officially confer Li Zhixiang as the marshal of the navy~"

"It should!"

Although the scale of the battle Li Zhixiang fought was not large, and the casualties he paid were very few. More than 3,000 people were killed and injured. In fact, more than 2,800 people were killed because they were not accustomed to the climate. If it were not for repeated strict orders, they were not allowed to drink. Do not eat raw water or eat local food, otherwise the consequences will be more serious.

It can be said that the losses caused by the Mughal army to the Ming Dynasty Expeditionary Force were not as good as their Ganges River water and poor environmental sanitation.

Li Zhixiang is now officially the first marshal of the Ming Dynasty, and he deserves it. If anyone can get back millions of taels of gold, Cheng Shijie can also make him a marshal.

The cabinet is also short of money now. Railway construction in the Ming Dynasty is a bottomless pit. Although Cheng Shijie has not taken the steam engine train now, in fact, the Ming Dynasty already has many railways. The earliest railway is the railway from Maoshan to Changsheng Port, which is responsible for Transporting iron ore.

Having been in operation for more than two years, this railway has increased the transportation capacity of the original cement road dozens of times, but has only made many people who make a living transporting iron ore unemployed.

Then, Li Zhixiang reported other seized materials and property to the cabinet. This was Cheng Shijie's intention to ask Li Zhixiang to report to the cabinet, because Cheng Shijie wanted to use facts to prove that foreign war was necessary, and Ming's original approach was somewhat outdated. .

Under the influence of Cheng Shijie, the Ming Dynasty has become radical. After all, according to reports from Zhanzhou and Xinming, the cabinet already knows that the Ming Dynasty now has at least three times more cultivated land, and there will be no food shortages in the next few hundred years. .

No one would complain that they had too much money, and of course no one would complain that they had too much food. As Li Zhixiang continued to report, the atmosphere in the entire cabinet became lively.

Xie Jinglin, who is in charge of foreign affairs, said: "Your Majesty, Prime Minister, ministers and ministers, there is another important matter now. How should it be resolved?"

"whats the matter?"

Xie Jinglin said: "The Ottoman Empire sent an envoy to Beijing to lodge a serious protest with our Ming Dynasty!"

Cheng Shijie asked: "What are they protesting about?"

"Protest against our support for Venice. They say that Venice is the biggest enemy of the Ottoman Empire. We are disrespectful to the Ottoman Empire by helping Venice. They demand that we stop supporting Venice immediately!"

Sun Zhimao asked subconsciously: "Is the Ottoman Empire rich?"

The cabinet ministers also looked at Li Zhixiang, and their meaning was very clear. Does the Ottoman Empire want to bully it? Can it be robbed? What the Ming Dynasty doesn't want to grab the most now is the small book. There is no way. After sending out troops several times, there are fewer and fewer things that can be grabbed. There are many other things, such as Kyushu Island. Now more than two-thirds of the area has changed. It became a no man's land.

As for where the little notebooks from Kyushu Island have gone, 99% of them have fallen into the arms of Aunt Amaterasu. After all, in Cheng Shijie's opinion, only dead notebooks are good notebooks.

Li Zhixiang shook his head and said: "I don't know much about the Ottoman Empire!" Cheng Shijie sighed and said: "I know a little about this country. The religious atmosphere is extremely strong. They even value religion more than the country!"

Sun Zhiman asked in confusion: "Why are they all fanatical believers? Isn't there a normal country?"

Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "We should thank Emperor Xin. During the Shang Dynasty, our China, like other countries in the world, had divine power higher than royal power and political power!"

In both the Eastern and Western worlds, in the early days of state power, due to the extreme worship of gods, the influence of God's revelations on political life penetrated into all aspects. Those who claimed to be able to communicate with gods had the power to influence politics. This is theocratic power.

With the deepening of human understanding of natural phenomena and the improvement of productivity, the worship of gods gradually decreased, and secular political power began to try to get rid of the control of divine power. Conflicts and even wars broke out between the two powers.

In the end, secular power defeated the divine power, and the state power became the strongest force to dominate individuals, while the divine power retreated to the personal spiritual world and life realm, and based on voluntary choice as the basic principle.

In ancient China, it was not that there had never been a dominant religion, but that the source of God's control of everything was strangled by Emperor Xin. The reason why the Shang Dynasty perished was because of the struggle between divine power and royal power. As the old aristocracy held divine power, , such as Bigan and his like, they betrayed the Shang Dynasty, seduced the Western Zhou Dynasty, and led the Zhou army to attack the Shang Dynasty.

As a result, Duke Zhou was not an idiot. It was naturally impossible for him to find a father for himself, so he casually killed the leading party of the Shang Dynasty, deleted the written records, and disappeared into the long river of history.

Sun Zhidao said: "Venice is now a vassal state of our Ming Empire. Who do they think they are?"

"Who is the Ottoman Empire? What right does it have to protest against the Ming Dynasty!"

“Did the Ming Dynasty need to let the Ottoman Empire teach us how to do things?”

"Yes, don't pay attention!"

"Let them reason with the cannon!"

"Why should they interfere in Ming Dynasty's affairs!"

The cabinet is now almost one-sided, and the opinions are almost unanimous. Just ignore it and just do it!

Cheng Shijie nodded slightly. A country's prestige is a very expensive and fragile thing. It is extremely difficult to establish and even more difficult to maintain. Two thousand years ago, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in order to establish the national prestige of the Han Dynasty in the Western Regions, drew all the countries in the Western Regions into an alliance against the Xiongnu. The first expedition to Dawan resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of troops, which was extremely costly.

But the benefits were astonishing. In the following hundreds of years, all the countries in the Western Region became the servants of the Han. Under the orders of the Han, they madly besieged every grassland regime that was hostile to the Han. This was how the Huns were besieged to death.

It is not difficult to imagine that without those two tragic expeditions, no matter how much money the Han Dynasty spent on diplomacy, it would not have such an effect. The prestige of the country is so expensive, and like life, once lost, it is difficult to regain it. Got it back.

Cheng Shijie understands this truth.

Sun Zhiyi, the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, also understands, and naturally other cabinet ministers also understand. In the past, if you said you didn't understand, it was because your strength did not allow it. But the problem is that now Ming has enough strength to crush its opponents. If you want to fight, you can fight. Who is afraid? who?

Cheng Shijie said: "Batches of Europeans set sail to the sea, stirring up the seven seas with their endless energy, and colonizing everywhere. It was a coincidence that the Ming Dynasty also planned to colonize everywhere. Conflicts were inevitable. In this area, the Ming Dynasty did not have a spokesperson for its interests. That’s unjustifiable.”

"What about Spain?"

"Spain is a big country, and a superpower. As a superpower, it is naturally impossible for it to be a pawn, let alone the spokesperson for the interests of our Ming Dynasty!"

Cheng Shijie said: "Venice is now the spokesperson of our interests for the Ming Dynasty, and now the Europeans plan to kill this spokesperson for the interests. If the Ming Dynasty sits idly by, I am afraid that no European country will dare to develop such a close relationship with the Ming Dynasty again."

"Then get ready for a big fight!"

Sun Zhibo said: "The military department can prepare for war, and the cabinet will do its best to improve logistics!"

Cheng Shijie nodded and said, "Okay, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will expel the Ottoman envoys and issue a war ultimatum to them because they are unreasonable. Ming Dynasty decided to let them know why the flowers are so red!"

Zhou Ning bowed and said: "Your Majesty, the General Staff will come up with a battle plan as soon as possible!"

"First of all, we must ensure that the Ottoman Empire strikes first!"

Cheng Shijie said: "Inform us that all merchant ships in the Ming Dynasty should try not to disperse. The merchant ships must be escorted by the navy. At the same time, speed up the construction of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Ocean fleets, and strive to form an army as soon as possible!"

……

Francesco Elizzo looked at the Ottoman Empire's envoys and moved into the concierge. He worriedly said to Catherine: "The Ottomans are coming. They must use diplomatic means to prevent the Ming Dynasty from accepting us... "

Catherine thought that the city of Venice was in danger, and she suddenly said with worry: "The Ming Dynasty is not a small country, and it will not care about the threat of the Ottomans. Your Excellency, Consul, I am afraid you don't know that the ancestors of the Ottomans, as early as 800 years ago, Defeated by the Tang Dynasty, they had to retreat to the Red Sea!"

"Those are a bunch of lunatics!"

"Your Excellency Archon, please calm down first, this matter is not that bad!"

Catherine continued: "With the arrogance of the Ottomans, they may be self-defeating and offend the Ming Dynasty! Venice was the first to submit credentials to formally establish diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Ming Dynasty and Venice are as close as brothers!"

At this moment, a group of soldiers from the Ming Army came to the Concierge Courtyard.

The leading official, Li Xin, looked at the Ottoman Empire envoy and said: "My dear Li Xin, the current minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Ming Dynasty, has been ordered by the Prime Minister of the Cabinet to formally inform you that the Ming Dynasty has not established diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire, and will not establish diplomatic relations. , the Ottoman Empire has no right to interfere with the Ming Dynasty..." (End of this chapter)