Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 61 Brewing New Deal
Nanjing Imperial Palace Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Youjian woke up from his sleep and pushed away Concubine Yuan Gui, who was as smooth as jade.

At this time, the moon and stars are still sparse outside the palace.

But the bell of the fifth watch has echoed in various places inside and outside the palace walls.

Zhu Youjian had to sit up. From the moment he became the emperor of Ming Dynasty, he was doomed not to sleep in anymore.

Although there were no telephones or even telegrams in this era, the news sent to Beijing was still sent to the Qianqing Palace like snowflakes.

As long as Zhu Youjian delays for an hour, he can only stay up until late at night to deal with various political affairs.

Chen Yuanyuan rustled in her dress and came in from the outside to help Zhu Youjian change his clothes and put on his shoes.

Zhu Youjian squinted his eyes and let Chen Yuanyuan's jade hands do things to him, and he didn't get up until the other maids came in with cold water, and then he woke up.

The plump breasts of Chen Yuanyuan and the court maids made Zhu Youjian a little distracted after waking up.

However, the rapid sound of the bell forced him to restrain the impulsive movement in his heart, and he got up and went to the outer cabinet of the Qianqing Palace, sitting on the desk covered with yellow silk, preparing to continue writing the new policy and plans that he would implement next. , And waited for the eunuch who was on duty to write important memorials and official documents that needed to be read by the emperor.

The palace attendant of the Qing Dynasty brought over ice cubes. Summer in Nanjing is very hot. Even in the Little Ice Age, it is still as hot as a steamer. If there are no ice cubes, even in the early morning, people will not be able to stand the stove-like baking.

Zhu Youjian now has a deep understanding of why the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di insisted on moving the capital, and there may be reasons for this.

Snatching the cattail fan from Chen Yuanyuan, Zhu Youjian untied his yellow robe, half leaned on the chair with disheveled clothes and fanned while looking at the sloping vegetable bed outside the hall which was gradually being illuminated by the sun.

Nanjing Palace City is a palace created by filling a lake, so the foundation has subsided since it was built, and water has soaked out.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the year, simply opened up a vegetable patch outside the palace because of this. Although it has been a hundred years since the Ming Dynasty moved its capital to Beijing, there are still people here all the year round, so you can still see the vegetables that have been sun-dried.

From the vegetable bed outside the hall to the moss growing at the foot of the door inside the hall, as well as the mottled and peeling beams and columns, Zhu Youjian had to admit that although Han Shoujing had repaired the imperial palace in Nanjing, it was still better than the palace in Beijing. The palace was quite dilapidated.

But now Zhu Youjian naturally can't spend the country's financial resources on improving his living environment. He can only wait for the future when the country is rich and the people are strong, before starting large-scale construction projects.

Shi Kefa, the eunuch who is on duty today is Shi Kefa, and at this time he has already appeared outside the gate of Qianqing Palace with a stack of memorials in his arms: "Slave and servant send greetings to the emperor."

Shi Kefa is now a minister, which is equivalent to Zhu Youjian's domestic slave, so the name of Zhu Youjian has been changed to that of a domestic slave to his master, calling himself a slave and maidservant, and calling Zhu Youjian the emperor.

This is different from the slaves who were all over the court after the Manchu Qing replaced the Central Plains in history. In the Ming Dynasty, there were only eunuchs and Jin Yiwei and other retainers.

"Come in, have all the cabinet ministers been to Nanjing?"

Now Zhu Youjian has also adapted to the way of making Shi Kefa call himself a slave. When he saw him coming in, he directly asked him about his business, and did not ridicule him.

These days, as Qian Qianyi's treason case came to an end, Zhu Youjian began to implement the New Deal in Nanjing.

And these days, he has personally begun to draft the content of the new deal, and is waiting for the seven cabinet ministers to gather in Nanjing, and then he will finalize the content of the new deal with the cabinet.

The political system of the Ming Dynasty is the most complete imperial political system after the development and accumulation of successive dynasties. Except for the financial system and the military system of the guards, which are outdated and need to be reformed, there is basically no need for major changes in other aspects, especially the official system. Zhu Youjian did not want to carry out any reforms Willingness to change.

Even though he is actually a time traveler now, as the emperor, the ruler of the empire, he still decided to let Daming continue to follow the path of dictatorship, at least during his time as emperor.

After all, he has many advanced ideas and a social production model that is hardly tolerated by the small-scale peasant economy in today's society, which needs to be forcibly implanted into this ancient world where men farm and women weave.

This means that he must have the supreme imperial power in this world, so that he can enforce his own reforms.

The fundamental reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty was that its internal decay had reached a very serious level, and it was irreversible without major surgery.

Therefore, even though Zhu Youjian knew that he might become Wang Mang after implementing the New Deal after moving south, he still had to make a complete change for Daming.

No doctor can be [-]% sure of the success of the patient he wants to heal. Even if Zhu Youjian wants to treat the terminally ill Daming, it is impossible to guarantee that he will be able to save Daming.

But as long as there is one percent hope, you can't give up.

Now that the dictatorship of the monarchy continues, and the system of dictatorship in Ming Dynasty has been perfected, Zhu Youjian feels that there is no need to change the official offices of the six cabinets.

He decided to still use the cabinet to assume the pivotal role between imperial policy and specific administrative implementation.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister system, the central role played by the prime minister will not disappear. Although the cabinet does not have the name of a prime minister, it has the reality of a prime minister. It is impossible for Zhu Youjian to make himself a model worker like Zhu Yuanzhang. He has to rely on the cabinet To implement and convey one's own political will.

And he, the emperor, only needs to control who is in the cabinet.

"Fan Jingwen, chief assistant of the cabinet, has arrived in Moling, Wu Ra has arrived in Jiangling, Ma Shiying has escorted the confiscated property of the Hou family to Zhenjiang, Lu Zhenfei has arrived in Nanjing, and Li Banghua has brought Liu Liangzuo's head and escorted the confiscated property of the Gong family to Zhongshan. It is estimated that in three days they will all be able to enter the pilgrimage to see His Majesty."

Shi Kefa is very suitable for the affairs of the Supervisor of Rituals, he has a good memory, and his speech is clear and logical.

Zhu Youjian was very satisfied after listening to it, so he ordered: "Well, in three days, I will order the members of the cabinet to come to the Wenhua Hall to discuss the reform of the New Deal of the Ming Dynasty, and pass it on to the Supervisor of Rites, the officials of the Imperial Academy, the Ministry of the Academy, and others. The governor of the Jinyiwei East Factory and the officials of various departments listened to the government, and the crown prince also came to listen to the government, as did the kings of Yue and Ning."

Shi Kefa couldn't help being startled, he knew that His Majesty's special preparation to summon the cabinet ministers this time must be to carry out some major reforms, and it is naturally right for the prince to listen to the government and familiarize himself with His Majesty's national policies, but he did not expect that His Majesty would let King Yue and Ning The two princes of the king also listened to the government.

"Could it be that Your Majesty intends to re-select the candidates for the crown prince, but it is the ancestral system to establish a heir and an elder, so how can he change it without authorization, but now he is only an eunuch, so it may be inappropriate to talk about state affairs indiscriminately."

Thinking of this, Shi Kefa couldn't help sighing.

(End of this chapter)