Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 307 First Snow
The scenery of the Northland, thousands of miles of ice, thousands of miles of snow drifting.

Looking at the inside and outside of the Great Wall, there is nothing but mangmang;

The mountain dance silver snake, the original Chi wax figure, wants to compare with Tiangong test.

On sunny days, look at the red dress, which is extremely enchanting.

There are so many splendid rivers and mountains, which has attracted countless heroes.

……

Winter has quietly entered, and the city of Beijing has welcomed its first snow.

Snowflakes fell all night long, and the next day the city of Beijing was dyed white, even the splendid Forbidden City.

During the day, Beijing seemed very busy. An official sedan arrived at the Meridian Gate Square and stopped on its own initiative outside the square.

The Jinwu Guards on the Meridian Gate Tower are wearing armor and standing at their posts to guard the palace gate.

General Chang Feng's back is straight and straight. After the battle to regain Jianzhou, his whole person has been fully tempered, and now he looks somewhat like a young general.

zizi...

A fat official wearing a third-grade official uniform emerged from the official sedan. His two wide official boots stepped on the snow, which made a regular sound.

Although the city of Beijing is covered in ice and snow, a warm sun is hanging in the sky, showing the vitality of the empire.

Chen Kun was only in his thirties, and he already had a maturity that was obviously inconsistent with his peers. He was looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar palace gate with emotion.

In the past, he was just an insignificant official in the Ministry of Household Affairs, but now he has become the most powerful governor of Xuanda, an out-and-out frontier official.

Chang Feng and Chen Kun's eyes met. The former was surprised by the latter's youth, while the latter also considered the other's age.

One of the characteristics of the Hongzhi Dynasty is that officials and generals are gradually getting younger, but this breaks the tradition of judging seniority based on seniority. Many officials and generals who are willing to do practical things will be promoted.

The palaces are surrounded by towering buildings, and the streets are crowded with beautiful things.

The current meeting of the situation, the family of the emperor through the ages.

……

After being informed, Chen Kun came out of the waiting room next to him.

He walked into the palace gate with excitement and followed the little yellow gate. What appeared in front of him was Fengtianmen Square. At this time, the snow on the palace road had been cleared and extended to the back of Fengtianmen.

Chen Kun walked on this palace road again, feeling as if he was in another world.

After more than a year as governor of Xuanda University, he has been fully tempered, so he cherishes his current position and achievements even more.

Being suddenly called to Beijing this time made him very excited and anxious.The excitement was naturally due to the fact that he was about to meet the Lord of the Ming Dynasty, while the anxiety was due to the unpredictable fortune and misfortune, but he did not know whether the end of this palace road would be thorns or flowers.

But he knew that no matter whether it was reward or punishment, being loyal to the emperor was his greatest duty as a minister, and it was also the prerequisite for being able to continue on this palace path.

Ah chirp!

Liu Jin stood outside the Qianqing Gate and suddenly couldn't help but sneeze loudly. Then she reached out and rubbed her reddish nose. She didn't like the cold winter weather.

"Eunuch Liu, why are you out here?" Chen Kun saw Liu Jin standing in front of the Qianqing Gate from a distance, and he was flattered and came forward to greet him.

Liu Jin waved his hands disapprovingly, but said half-truthfully: "It's not because of you! Now that you are favored by His Majesty, the Za family, as His Majesty's slaves, will naturally come out to greet you!"

"Eunuch Liu, you have offended me. Please forgive me! This is a petty thought and disrespectful!" Chen Kun knew that Liu Jin was a popular eunuch around the emperor, so he immediately forced a large amount of food stamps into his hand.

Now the most popular currency in the capital is no longer silver, but this kind of easy-to-carry food stamps.

Although this dynasty has learned a lesson from the Ming Dynasty's banknotes, due to the bankruptcy of the reputation of the Ming Dynasty's banknotes, the banknotes in the hands of many people have become waste paper, so they have a natural resistance to banknotes.

However, since Hongzhi came to the throne, he has launched measures such as rectifying the salt administration, clearing land and reorganizing finance, and especially regaining Jianzhou to resettle millions of disaster victims, which invisibly won the favor of the people at the bottom.

The most important thing is that food stamps have strong circulation. Not only can they be exchanged for rice directly with rice banks and the government, but they can also be used to pay taxes to the court.

It is precisely because the Ming court recycled the food stamps issued through taxation and other methods, which gave the food stamps a high use value and was quietly replacing the status of silver.

Liu Jin found that Governor Xuanda, who smiled like Maitreya Buddha, was very pleasing to his eyes. He immediately smiled and said: "That's easy to say! Mr. Chen, come inside quickly, don't keep His Majesty waiting too long!"

The reason why Liu Jin came out to wait here was that, on the one hand, Liu Jin knew that Chen Kun was an official who understood people and the world, and on the other hand, he just wanted to bring the person to Emperor Hongzhi as soon as possible.

Although he was greedy for a little money, he was more loyal than anyone else and always put the emperor's happiness as his first priority.

Qianqing Palace and Dongnuan Pavilion look like spring all year round.

Zhu Youtang, who was wearing regular clothes, seemed to be writing calmly and confidently. When he saw that local officials had already sent congratulatory forms, he realized that this year had passed so quickly.

Now, he feels that he has not been to Yangxin Hall for too long, especially the Taiye Pond has not been thawed for too long, and as a result, he has to huddle up in Dongnuan Pavilion to work.

Fortunately, I am not a mediocre person. This year I not only rectified the finances, but also recovered Jianzhou, and even promoted the land clearing in an orderly manner.

Seize the day and live up to your time.

Zhu Youtang knew that he had touched the interests of the powerful class, and that the mysterious force in the capital was not weak but strong, so he cherished every day even more.

"Chen Kunjing, the Governor-General of Chenxuan, wishes to greet His Majesty!" Chen Kun, who was wearing a third-grade official uniform, walked in and threw himself on the ground with excitement and choked with sobs.

This……

When Liu Jin saw Chen Kun who was full of drama, he didn't expect that this fair and fat man could release his emotions in such a way and live up to the image of a loyal official.Zhu Youtang was also slightly stunned, but when he looked at Chen Kun who was kneeling in front of him, his eyes were filled with warmth: "My blessing! Chen Aiqing, please get back on your feet!"

"Your Majesty, I am willing to kneel. It has been too long since I knelt for Your Majesty, and I want to take this opportunity to make up for it!" Chen Kun was already filled with tears, and he seemed to express his loyalty sincerely.

Zhu Youtang could feel that Chen Kun was indeed very loyal to him. It was undeniable that this was an era where it was easy for officials to be infatuated with imperial officials, so he said calmly: "Chen Qing is guarding the border for me, which comforts my holy heart. As long as If Chen Qing can serve me with all his heart and soul from now on, we will be kings and ministers working together for decades. Chen Qing doesn’t need to be so eager to show his loyalty. Let’s get over it first!”

"I will do my best in the future and be willing to go through fire and water for His Majesty!" Chen Kun found that what Zhu Youtang said made sense, so he kowtowed three times.

Liu Jin carefully looked at this all-round and exquisite Governor Xuanda, and also vaguely felt Chen Kun's loyalty to the emperor. I am afraid that his future achievements will not be much weaker than Liu Zhong's.

Naturally, Zhu Youtang could not recall Chen Kun back for no reason. He immediately picked up the secret book that Chen Kun sent earlier and said, "Chen Qing, are everything you said in the secret book true?"

"Your Majesty, after I took office, I put more emphasis on staying up all night, and at the same time incited some Beishun herdsmen and leaders to rebel. After repeated verification, this matter is absolutely true. There has indeed been a major disaster in Beishun this winter. Recently, cattle and sheep froze to death and starved to death. Nearly half dead!" Chen Kun finally knew the emperor's intention to suddenly summon him back to the capital, and he immediately said with certainty.

Everyone knows that farming societies depend on the weather. Once natural disasters such as floods, droughts or locusts occur, local crops often fail.

It’s just that herdsmen also depend on the weather for their livelihood. In addition to fearing natural disasters such as drought and locusts in the grasslands, they are also afraid of cold winters and plagues.

This winter, Beishun State encountered a major cold wave that has only occurred once in decades, so the temperature was much colder than in previous years.

Due to the sudden drop in temperature, feed and water sources for cattle and sheep have been restricted, and a large number of cattle and sheep have died due to cold and starvation.Coupled with the fact that Manduhai wanted to unify the grassland and continued to conquer, the Beishun country's ability to resist disasters was actually not strong.

It is worth mentioning that in the history of China, there are actually very few records of disasters in the prairie.

This is easy to understand. The people in power in the previous Ming Dynasty longed to share the blessings of peace.They prayed in their hearts that the Mongolian cavalry would not invade, but they would not take the initiative to pay attention to what kind of disaster the prairie was experiencing.

Just because China does not keep records in this area, it does not mean that there is no disaster in Mongolia. In fact, the truth is the biggest weapon to restrain Mongolia's population growth.

The reason why Zhu Youtang recalled Chen Kun to the capital was actually to confirm the disaster situation in Mongolia.

After all, there is no record of this disaster in the original Chinese history.Now it has been confirmed by Chen Kun himself that he does not think that he has changed the direction of history, but that the original dynasty did not pay attention to this disaster.

The real situation is probably that the benevolent emperor Zhu Youtang was influenced by the civil servant group, but he wanted to share the blessings of peace with the surrounding forces, so he had no idea of ​​raising an army at all.

In the original history, even though Dayan Khan called himself Dayan Khan, the Manchu civil and military officials turned a blind eye, but chose to coexist peacefully with Dayan Khan.

It can be seen from this that the only thing they care about is whether Dayan Khan will lead his troops to attack, but they never have the idea of ​​sending troops to solve Dayan Khan, so naturally they don't care about the disaster situation in the grassland.

However, history has undergone subtle changes. Although this natural disaster occurred as scheduled, the tyrant Emperor Hongzhi is now sitting on the dragon throne.

Zhu Youtang tapped his fingers lightly on the chair handle, but asked very seriously: "Chen Qing, who is solely responsible for the disaster in Beishun Country this time?"

"Your Majesty, this matter is not difficult to verify! Although Beishun must be led by Dayan Khan every time he goes on an expedition, the real person in power has always been Mandu Hai. This time, Mandu Hai is also responsible for disaster relief! Originally, their plan was You want to buy cotton-padded clothes from us, but Beishun's national funds are already empty!" Chen Kun attached great importance to the construction of the intelligence system and appeared to report very seriously.

Zhu Youtang looked at the fat young man with eyes, and couldn't help but nodded with satisfaction.

Now that the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia have shaken hands and made peace, especially the Ming Dynasty, he has adopted the Mongolian princess Iksin as his concubine, so the most important thing at this stage is information.

Although the original writers of history promoted Dayan Khan as the leader of ZTE, the history books obviously weakened Manduhai, and even wanted to delete the woman Manduhai.

It's just that although Dayan Khan in history was very capable, 15 years old was only a junior high school student after all, so Zhu Youtang did not think that Dayan Khan could already master everything.

Not to mention, even the orthodox heir, Emperor Wanli, could not take charge until he was 20 years old.

Dayan Khan, who is now only 15 years old, is not the orthodox heir. He is even regarded as a son-in-law, so he is far inferior to Emperor Wanli politically.

Even though Dayan Khan has become the commander-in-chief of the conquering army, his prestige and team have not been established in the army, and he is especially unlikely to have management skills. Therefore, Manduhai must be the real leader.

On the other hand, Manduhai was a woman who chose to marry a young child to take power, and she personally raised Dayan Khan. How could she lose power so easily?
Because of this, Zhu Youtang knew that the opponent he was playing against was still Manduhai, the real master of Beishun Kingdom, not Dayan Khan who was not yet an adult.

Zhu Youtang now had a decision in his mind, so he asked very seriously: "Chen Qing, after the Beiyuan crisis is resolved, do you know why I kept you in Xuanda?"

"I'm stupid!" Chen Kun didn't dare to think he was smart, so he immediately handed over his hand respectfully.

Zhu Youtang looked at the fat man and opened his heart and said: "I hope you can understand one thing: whether it is Beishun or Beiyuan, the north has always been a serious problem for the Ming Dynasty! Now Liu Zhong is in Huguang to help me clear out my land, one foot at a time." Hidden Field, I also hope that you can plan for it slowly and relieve the Ming Dynasty from the troubles in the north."

Although he chose to embark on the road of marriage, he knew in his heart that this was actually short-term stability.

In the original history, the Ming Dynasty pursued this kind of short-term stability and watched Dayan Khan unify Mongolia and gradually grow bigger, which ultimately left hidden dangers for subsequent dynasties.

Although Zhu Youtang granted Dayan Khan the title of King of Beishun, he knew clearly that it was impossible to reconcile the relationship between the two parties. Once Mongolia was unified, he would definitely point the finger at the Ming Dynasty again.

Because of this, he needed to completely dismantle the regime when Beishun was not truly unified, instead of allowing them to become a scourge to China for the sake of temporary stability.

"Your Majesty, I know that Your Majesty is an emperor through the ages, and I have a good plan in mind!" Chen Kun's heart was filled with excitement, and he immediately expressed his attitude seriously.

I thought that the gap between him and Liu Zhong, who worked hard to clear his father's land, was getting bigger and bigger, but I didn't expect that His Majesty still valued him so much, and even compared himself to Liu Zhong.

Although Liu Zhong is indeed doing an extraordinary feat, as long as he handles the current affairs well, his achievements are not much weaker than Liu Zhong's.

Zhu Youtang's eyes lit up slightly, and he immediately gave Liu Jin a wink.

Liu Jin knew that the matter was of great importance, so he immediately sent away the irrelevant people and arranged for two Han generals to guard the door to ensure that the conversation between the monarch and his ministers would not be leaked.

After about a stick of incense, Chen Kun left with light steps.

Zhu Youtang looked at the plan handed over by Chen Kun and suddenly realized that the well-rounded officials may not be talents, and it seemed that he had picked up a capable minister.

Now I only need to wait quietly for a year and a half, but I hope that Chen Kun can really bring him a big surprise.

(End of this chapter)