Chapter 415: The Characteristic Road of the Wanli Dynasty
The great victory of Kaipingwei, the death of Su Banghai, and the enemy's collapse at the first touch all represent that the resistance consciousness of the Beibei has completely collapsed. This is the fundamental purpose of the war, completely Eliminate the opponent's will to resist, submit to your own will, and let Ming do whatever you want.
Tuman Khan, Bo'er Ji Jin·Tumen's rule is in danger, and his golden bloodline can no longer suppress the hearts of those who are ready to move.
Kaipingwei, Yingchang, Quanningwei, Daningwei and other places were originally affiliated with Beipingdusi, and the headquarters of Beipingdusi was in Daningwei.
Beijing Pingdusi, starting from the inward movement of Prince Ning’s Mansion during the Yongle period, the guards of the Peipingdusi gradually moved inward, and were eventually abandoned completely.
This is the general trend of promoting civil and military forces. Since Zhu Di personally conquered the country and drove the guests on the road, the general trend of promoting civil and military forces has been established. As early as the move of the capital in the 19th year of Yongle, the Ming Dynasty internally responded to the continuous Northern Expedition. There has been considerable opposition to the hardship caused.
Xia Yuanji, the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu, Fang Bin, the Minister of the Ministry of War, and Wu Zhong, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, in the 19th year of Yongle, objected to Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty to continue to the north on the grounds that the border reserves were empty, both internal and external exhaustion, and the holy body was unsafe. levy.
Xia Yuanji has been the Minister of the Ministry of Finance since the first year of Yongle. This position lasted for 19 years. After Zheng He's voyages to the West, the Northern Expedition of Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, the establishment of the capital Dingjian in Beiya, and the Yongle Ceremony, Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Household Affairs, has been busy supporting Emperor Chengzu's great career, but Xia Yuanji firmly opposed the Fifth Northern Expedition. In addition to several internal and external difficulties in the Northern Expedition, Ming Chengzu's own body was also at stake.
Emperor Chengzu, who lived a military life, suffered from many health problems in his later years, and old injuries recurred repeatedly.
The power of promoting culture and military power has completely become the general trend after Ming Chengzu left. Under the power of calculation, Ming Dynasty continued to abandon its territory, and finally the capital became the first line of conflicts.
But now, Zhu Yijun is getting back bit by bit what Ming Dynasty lost, and getting it back is just the beginning. How to stabilize its rule is the problem that Ming Dynasty must face. Zhu Yijun thought for a long time before he found the key, one word, profit.
Wang Chonggu, the Second Assistant of the Ming Dynasty, sent away his son Wang Qian. Wang Qian was like a cub hiding behind a jackal, tiger, and leopard. When he started hunting around, the lack of Wang Qian caused In a flurry of excitement, the Wang family's residence became completely quiet. This kind of quietness combined with the old man's old age made it look somewhat desolate.
Wang Chonggu pushed up his reading glasses and sighed again when he looked at the accounts in front of him. It was not too little, but too much.
On behalf of the Shanxi merchants, he sent His Majesty 10 million silver, tens of thousands of hectares of pasture, and actively subscribed for shipping tickets. After cutting off the flesh several times, the flesh on his body became more and more. In the eighth year of Wanli, In the first half of the year alone, his family had an income of 320,000 taels. In the second half of the year, there will be sea investment, shipping ticket dividends, and woolen official factory dividends. This year's expected income will exceed 1 million silver.
In the first year of Wanli, when Wang Chonggu returned to Xuanfu to block the holes in the Great Wall, Wang Chonggu went bankrupt and spent more than 2 million silver to block the holes. His current annual income is what he had accumulated in the past twenty years. half.
This speed of wealth growth makes Wang Chonggu very worried.
Wang Chonggu is not afraid that Wang Qian will become a corrupt official when he is away from home. Luo Yao, the former governor of Sichuan, received 340,000 silver in three years. Wang Qian really despises that little money.
Today, as his own assets are gradually growing, Wang Chonggu suddenly feels that money is just floating wealth, and the most important thing is assets. Assets will continuously generate production surplus, and these production surpluses can be realized.
The difference between a full meal and a full meal is that this meal is so full that you will starve to death.
Wang Chonggu was worried. Under the bright water, there was a hidden crisis. After thoroughly studying Zhang Juzheng's "On Class", Wang Chonggu fully understood why Zhang Juzheng took him with him when he first became an official. .
What makes Wang Chonggu even more frightened is that compared to the Songjiang Sun family, Wang Chonggu has no escape route at all. He is the second assistant. If Zhang Juzheng doesn't leave, he can't leave. He is the ruling class who selects officials. Look at his status. As the second assistant, Grand Bachelor of Dongge, the crown prince's Taibao, the Minister of Punishment, and the leader of the Jin Party, the Sun family can appeal to the Yuanxu Islands, the promised land, but Wang Chonggu's identity is destined to have only one way for him to go.
Increase the emperor's kill line.
In other words, continue to push the upper limit of what the current political and social environment of Ming Dynasty can accommodate, and then let His Majesty and the court allow the existence of the behemoth of the Wang family.
Now the Wang family's annual income is as high as one million silver, while the Ming Emperor's gold flowers and silver are only 1.2 million silver a year.
"Your Majesty is right, the Zheshe households are really short-sighted when they stare at the small money of the poor coolies all day long." Wang Chonggu leaned on the back of his chair, thinking about where the Wang family should go, the family and the people. Likewise, the first need is always survival.
"Sir, the cabinet sent good news. The Kaiping Guards were captured by General Wang Rulong in one fell swoop." The chief steward walked to Wang Chonggu and reported the news he had just received.
Wang Chonggu's eyes narrowed and he immediately picked up the good news sent by the cabinet. He opened it and looked at it for a long time. The military guards under Wang Rulong's jurisdiction were one of the border troops. The border troops had no offensive capabilities. This was Qi Jiguang's original assertion. Even after full pay, Ming Dynasty's requirements for the border troops were only to be able to defend the city and repel the invading enemies.
The great victory of Kaipingwei was a manifestation of the offensive capabilities of the frontier army. This was a victory that was beyond the expectations of the imperial court. Thousands of households were shot and killed, and Hai's family members and prisoners were quickly sent back. Winning the capital was obviously not a great victory out of nowhere.
Wang Chonggu stood up suddenly and said quickly: "Quick, quick, go to the palace!"
The reason why he was so eager was because of his doubts. He found their Wang family's To find a way out, he needs His Majesty's support.
Zhang Juzheng, Wang Chonggu, and Tan Lun all came to the palace at the same time. Obviously, they had important matters to discuss. They held general meetings for small things, small meetings for big things, and closed-door meetings for big things. Obviously, this great victory made the leaders happy. The auxiliary, secondary auxiliary, and minister of the Ministry of War paid special attention to it.
"I will see you, Your Majesty. Your Majesty pays you a respectful greeting." Zhang Juzheng led the two of them to bow their heads in greeting.
"No courtesy."
Zhang Juzheng came to confirm this military merit reward. The Ming Dynasty's current merit reward, Kaiping Wei Jieyin, was awarded third-class merit according to merit, but because of the border The army defeated the enemy, Zhang Juzheng asked for additional favors as a second-class merit reward. Zhang Juzheng was the only assistant minister to accept the respect of General Bing Jingtan, and the only chief assistant to Zhenwu. He began to advocate Zhenwu from the first year of Wanli. Zhang Juzheng's request now is in line with his consistent political views.
Tan Lun came to confirm Wang Rulong's military merit reward. According to the merit reward system, the Ministry of War requested the canonization of Wang Rulong as Ying Changbo to reward his bravery.
Wang Rulong suppressed the Japanese in the south and resisted the captives in the north. In terms of military achievements, this was completely enough.
After Zhang Juzheng and Tan Lun reported, they both received satisfactory answers. The Ming Emperor was never stingy in rewarding military merit.
"Your Majesty, I heard that Xindi entered the palace? It is said that this person is a Nestorian saint in Western Thailand. Your Majesty, in the past, Emperor Wu had great achievements in conquering the vast lands of the four barbarians. However, in his later years, the disaster of witchcraft caused great harm. Infinite, using history as a mirror, we can know the ups and downs; using people as a mirror, we can know the gains and losses." Zhang Juzheng, as the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty and the emperor's master, finally couldn't help but talk about the entry of the Taixi Saint into the palace.
It’s okay to be young by nature and like to pursue novelties. There are many beauties from all over the world in the Ming Dynasty. Your Majesty will choose one. Zhang Juzheng is not the kind of stubborn person. Fanyi is not allowed to enter the palace. He There was no objection. Wan Shihe and Hai Rui were also opposed to the incident involving Sanniangzi. Zhang Juzheng remained silent.
But this Cindy’s identity made Zhang Juzheng extremely disgusted.
Saint? It's clearly a heresy.
"Sent her to the Huanxi Bureau as a maidservant." Zhu Yijun accepted Cindy into the palace, but he didn't ask her to come to the palace or send her to a nunnery. That was Zhu Yijun's mercy.
Accepting Cindy into the palace is mainly about attitude. I accepted your gift, but I am very dissatisfied with your gift. Letting Cindy into the palace is to tell Felipe that Antonio’s problem is not impossible. Talk about it, but what you have is not enough.
"Huanyi maid?" Zhang Juzheng smiled, bowed his head and said: "Your Majesty is wise."
It's not that Zhu Yijun dislikes Fanyi, it's actually the red-haired and golden-haired Fans from the West who appreciate it. A little rushed.
"Wang Cifu, the captives have not yet entered the capital. What is the purpose of this visit?" Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Chonggu.
Wang Chonggu hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, I had an idea and came here, mainly to perform meritorious service."
"To perform meritorious service?"
"To perform meritorious service." Wang Chonggu was very He said with certainty that there is another way to increase His Majesty's killing line, and that is to stack Holy Family. What Wang Chonggu is going to talk about next is to use a two-pronged approach, stacking Holy Family and increasing the upper limit of the Ming Dynasty, killing two birds with one stone.
Zhu Yijun nodded and said: "Tell me about it."
"Your Majesty, I think this wool business has great potential!" Wang Chonggu got straight to the point and got to the point.
Why did the Ming Dynasty abandon Kaiping Guard, Yingchang Guard, Quaning Guard, and Daning Guard? The reason is that the supply of food and salary is huge. Kaipingwei has to travel a long way to deliver military food, which is a huge burden for the court. The road is desolate and there are many horse bandits along the way. Moreover, the city wall is not strong and the city is made of adobe. Building the city consumes a lot of money. It was the Rehe Military Fortress. Originally, everyone in the court thought of building a big city, but in the end they could only build a military fortress.
In the final analysis, I just can’t afford it.
After Wang Chonggu made his thoughts clear, the main idea was to follow his plan to resettle gangsters, suppress bandits and train troops, build roads and bridges, build cities, resettle refugees, herd horses and sheep, etc. These things, I have already done it once in Daningwei and Quaningwei.
The difference is that the interests of Daningwei and Quaningwei are mainly in Taotu Mountain, while the eastern foot of Daxianbei Mountain is mainly in horse breeding and farming, rather than sheep herding.
In short, it is the path of kingship characteristic of the Wanli Dynasty.
Zhang Juzheng's eyes also lit up. There were already several private woolen mills in the Ming Dynasty. The price of raw materials has increased due to competition. Raising sheep outside the Great Wall has become a way. Between Kaipingwei and Yingchang, Tens of thousands of hectares of grassland can be used as a wool base.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, during the Hongwu and Yongle years, there was no such condition because of the population. At that time, the chaos of the late Yuan Dynasty had just ended. It took time for the population to recover, and there was another Jing crisis. At that time, the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty was still There are pastures where horses and sheep can be herded. Now the main contradiction of the Ming Dynasty has become the contradiction between man and land, with more people and less land.
"Beyond the Great Wall is not a barbaric land, it is profitable." Wang Chonggu said with confidence. Shanxi merchants were not doing charity by dumping goods outside the Great Wall. Wang Chonggu said that there was profit outside the Great Wall based on facts.
Zhu Yijun and Wang Chonggu communicated the details, and then handed the matter over to Wang Chonggu.
Leave professional matters to professional people. Under the operation of Wang Chonggu, if Kaiping Guard can be upgraded from Guard to Mansion, it will be a great achievement.
"Your Majesty, can the 10% of the dividend from the woolen official factory this year be turned into a fixed 10,000 taels?" Wang Chonggu brought up the old matter again. If His Majesty does not agree today, he Wang Chonggu will only He can become an official.
The woolen official factory’s dividend this year is expected to exceed 300,000 taels, and Wang Chonggu really can’t grasp it. "Okay, but you have to make an agreement. This official woolen factory involves northern border security, so you have to do your best." Zhu Yijun chose Enzhun. At first, a pair of wool, a pair of wool shears, and a fermented urine cleaning The woolen official factory, which started producing wool, was finally fully affiliated with the imperial court.
"I will do my best." Wang Chonggu breathed a sigh of relief and made a promise. He would have done well without any dividends.
While leaving the palace for a closed-door meeting, Spanish envoy Legaz met Cindy Celia.
“Almighty and merciful God, please listen to the prayer of the Virgin Martyr Cindy Celia, grant my supplications, forgive my sins, and I will shine with your omnipresent radiance. Next, keep your heart pure and bring holiness to this faithless land." Cindy prayed to the Holy Cross before meeting Legaz.
Legasi does not look like a believer at all. His dirty soul will only go to hell after death, or even to the Palace of Hell.
Legas understood what Cindy meant, she actually wanted to preach! In this land of saints and good faith, how dare you preach in the Ming Dynasty without the permission of the Ming Emperor.
"Holy girl, today's prayer is your last prayer." Legas looked at Cindy and said with compassion: "As soon as you enter the palace gate, it seems like the depth of the sea. As a gift, you When you enter the palace, don’t pray like this. If someone in the palace sees you, you will be punished by death. ”
Legas had to tell this saint that the more devout she was to the Lord, the more the Ming Palace would reject her. Prayers and ritual utensils were never allowed to appear in the palace. Anything that was not certified by the Ming Court was considered obscene. , is the scope of anti-witchcraft, which is the same behavior as pricking a scarecrow with a needle.
"This..." Cindy was shocked. She felt that she had been martyred. When she prayed, she had to do the next best thing and keep her soul pure. As a result, she couldn't even pray or worship now. ?
"The palace rules are strict, and according to the information from the Minister of Rites Honglu Temple, you may not enter the palace as a sleeping attendant, but as a maid in clothes. This is cruel, but you must survive first." Legas told Cindy what he knew.
Of course someone taught her the rules when she entered the palace. The old nuns in the palace were not only good at postpartum recovery, but also good at rules.
Legas was worried that Cindy would not survive.
"Can I go back to Thailand? I feel the rejection of me by this land of unbelievers." Cindy's face turned pale. She had thought about the difficulties of this trip, but she never expected that it would be like this. difficult.
Sure enough, the place of faithlessness is more terrifying than hell.
“I can’t go back. The imperial edict of the Ming Emperor is no less important than the oracle in this land, especially in the capital.” Legas shook his head. The emperor had already issued the edict, so there would be no Any possibility of change.
Cindy can't go back, and she has to struggle to survive in the palace, which is a hellish level of survival. The Emperor of Ming Dynasty lives in the palace, not in the palace. Cindy wants to reach the sky with her beauty, which is no longer possible.
“This is not a place for the unbelievers. While the people of the Ming Dynasty worshiped the saints, they also believed in themselves.” Legas put a travel diary on the table. This was a travel diary he wrote in Latin. Whether Cindy can understand it depends on her own destiny.
You can imagine Cindy's life in the palace. Because of the language barrier, she couldn't understand what the maids were saying. The life of luxury in the past would become self-reliance, and she would need to work to obtain the necessities of life. The main theme of life is to wash clothes with a stick instead of chanting sutras. Her Lord cannot help her do anything. Good looks are no longer a gift, but a sin that is envied by others.
Suffering will accompany Cindy for the rest of her life.
But what ability does Cindy, a specific individual, have to resist the conflict of interests between two world powers? He could only go with the flow, or maybe it was just Felipe's whim that he chose a saint to test the Eastern Emperor's determination.
Legasil can’t help Cindy. Today is also the last time he meets her and gives her last advice.
"You have only one way to survive. Turn the object of your faith into His Majesty." Ligas stood up and said this. Only she can walk down the road in the future.
"Becoming His Majesty?" Cindy murmured to herself. She already knew clearly that Taixi was different from Daming. She needed to rely on herself to survive, and her expression gradually became resolute.
Cindy entered the palace. The old nanny took her through the necessary procedures for entering the palace, including a physical examination. The physical examination in the Ming Dynasty Palace was extremely strict. In addition to checking her chastity, she also had to undergo a physical examination. Whether there is a foul smell is inevitable. A woman with a strong smell cannot even enter the cleaning bureau. She can only go to the clean room to pour night incense. To put it more bluntly, it is to pour out the food for the reincarnation of grains.
Cindy was very lucky to pass the body test. Zhu Yijun had a stereotype in this matter. Nine adults and above in Taixi have body odor and need to cover it up with perfume, but Cindy did not. She was carefully selected. If the gifts coming to Ming Dynasty smell strange, it is not a gift, it is an offense.
In Legas's travel notes, he recorded some embarrassing things about the Ming Emperor. In addition to being stingy, he also recorded that the Ming Emperor created an extremely luxurious perfume, but its sales in the Ming Dynasty were extremely poor.
The anxious Cindy, after going through the body examination process, already understood the horror of the strict palace rules. She was washed several times by several patron women until she was rubbed until she was reflected, and then she was taken away Arrive at the palace to meet the saint.
Cindy is a woman who entered the palace by decree of the emperor. After the examination, she will naturally have to face the Holy One and ask His Majesty to decide where to go.
Cindy was ready to transform into His Majesty from the inside out, mind and body, but she was assigned to the Clothing Bureau before she could see the Emperor. Unfortunately, the Emperor's kindness and Mercy has not yet come to her.
Zhu Yijun was very busy. He was busy with the affairs of Kaiping Guard. The prisoners of Kaiping Guard had not arrived in the capital, but a rubbing was sent to the imperial court. The rubbing was a stone carving of Kaiping Guard, dated February 2, the fourth year of Yongle. In that month, Emperor Chengzu reset the Kaiping Guard and sent the stone carvings to the Kaiping Guard.
The above are four lines of poetry, written by Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, and the inscriptions were also written by Zhu Yuanzhang himself.
I have a thousand lines of pig iron juice, and I will never cry for my children in my life. Suddenly I heard that the public passed away yesterday, and the grass and trees were wet with tears.
Besides the Qijue poem, there is another line of small words: [I wish I could never serve you again].
Chang Yuchun attacked Yuan Shangdu and changed Yuan Shangdu to Kaiping Prefecture. He passed away just one month later. The Ming Dynasty could not retreat. He wished he could serve the emperor again. These were Chang Yuchun's last words. These four lines of poetry are Zhu Yuanzhang's response.
Kaipingwei, the glory of the early Ming Dynasty, has spanned two hundred years of history and is vividly displayed on the page.
"The order was sent to King Rulong, and this stele was erected at the government office and a pavilion was set up, and another large stele was erected in the city." Zhu Yijun decided to let the stele remain in Kaiping Guards.
In July of the eighth year of Wanli, Paulino and Legas met the Ming Emperor together.
Legaz did not talk about Cindy's whereabouts, not even mentioning it. That was not something he could care about. He took Felipe II's credentials and said a lot of pretentious words. Legaz was not worried. After the conflict between the Ming Dynasty and Spain, he had already made his choice as to where he would go. Felipe dismissed him from his position as special envoy. He was also one of the general staff of Honglu Temple in the Ming Dynasty and was responsible for translating Thai and Spanish works.
"Your Majesty, the king has never been to the Ming Dynasty, so there will be some offense, but no matter what, the contradictions are justified one after another. If the contradictions have not been intensified, how can we get along with each other." Legas responded to each other's conflicts. After expressing his attitude, he was a ruthless messenger.
Countries and people, and people, all have a running-in period. They need to figure out each other's bottom line and temperament. The power of the Ming Dynasty cannot be bullied. On the other side of Legaz, the sun never sets at the helm of the empire. No one is convinced. After a few bumps and enough beatings, you will be convinced.
"Paulino, this is the third time we have met." Zhu Yijun looked at the strong man next to him. Paulino was a muscular man, nearly seven feet tall, with skin tanned bronze by the scorching sun. He looked like Extremely generous.
The galleon trade entered its eighth year. Paulino visited Beijing three times in total. Zhu Yijun liked Paulino's sailing notes very much.
There are always many novel stories on it, such as the Bigfoot tribe they encountered in the Strait of Magellan, and the countless redwood forests on the coast of Brazil. This kind of redwood is an extremely precious red dye. Expensive silk fabrics can only use affordable dyes.
Every year, large sailing ships can carry 52,000 mahogany trees to the Ming Dynasty, and this number has increased year by year. However, the Portuguese and Spanish colonists were frantically competing for the mahogany trees, illegally quarrying, smuggling, and expropriating them. , setting fires, and resorting to all possible means.
"Dear Your Majesty, His Highness Antonio, with the help of Advisor Xu, has become the King of Portugal. According to the original promise of His Highness, this is the letter of credence for the return of the Malacca Strait." Paulino first presented a This is an official document drawn up by Antonio as king.
The return means that Antonio, as the king, recognized the Ming Dynasty's legal principles on the Malacca Strait.
Feng Bao took the credentials in his hand, and then handed back another copy of the credentials. Paulino opened the credentials and compared them in detail. The bilingual credentials in Latin and Chinese were confirmed. The legal ownership of the Strait of Malacca.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, forgive your incompetence. The shadow of war in the mainland has prevented Your Highness from providing substantial help in the ownership of the colony. Your Majesty can only go and get it in person." Paulino looked helpless. The Portuguese King expressed his gratitude to the colonial governor. Control is almost zero.
The West was the first to open sea, and it was Portugal that explored the oceans and continents. It was also Portugal that was the first to establish a maritime university, and it was Portugal that had the most advanced navigation technology. However, Spain was the first to sail around the world, and the first Japanese The empire that did not fall was Spain. Portugal's control over the governorates was extremely weak, which also led to Portugal's internal hesitation on whether to open or ban the sea.
"Antonio's situation seems to be very bad. I can sympathize with him. Do you still need to borrow money this time?" Zhu Yijun nodded. In the Strait of Malacca, Ming Dynasty will take back this letter of credence regardless of whether it is present. With this certificate of credence, I am more famous and upright.
"That's true. A war loan of 2.5 million silver is needed." Paulino did not hesitate. More five-masted transoceanic ships were needed to form a free fleet. Felipe II must be I don’t think it’s worth it, this was the plan from beginning to end.
Zhu Yijun signaled Feng Bao to bring over another deed, and said, "Sign it, and you will get ten five-masted transoceanic ships to return home."
"Thank you for your generosity and Your merciful Majesty." After Paulino checked the deed, he wrote his name.
“I hope Antonio can gain a firm foothold and end this damn war as soon as possible. The huge interest rates on war loans are shocking even to me, but as the Ming Emperor, I need to pay such huge amounts to my subjects. With a proper explanation, even if it is money from internal funds, it still comes from the people. "Zhu Yijun said it beautifully, but he wanted to fight for the Portuguese throne and beat him hard for ten or eight years!
The war treasure, the interest on war loans, and the long-term profits from extension are all exciting!
Felipe only purchased five ships this year, mainly because the fleet repaid last year's loan and did not have enough money to pay for the ships. This long-term order requires Spain to pay the final payment before it can be delivered.
Felipe dismantled a five-masted ocean crossing ship, hoping to imitate it. After dismantling it, it was not installed. Even if it was not installed, the ship design still has reference significance. Spain designed a Although the new three-masted galenic ships did not meet the standards of the Ming Dynasty in terms of craftsmanship, they were far ahead in the West. The three trial-produced galenic ships defeated English pirates and made them cry for their fathers.
After Legaz and Paulino left, Zhu Yijun met the third envoy, an envoy from the Queen of England named George Weymouth, a yellow-haired fan from the Cross family, a shipbuilding family.
There are four copies of the letter, in English, Latin, Spanish and Italian colloquialism. Zhu Yijun opened the original English copy, read it for a long time, and chose to give up. He could only understand roughly, ancient English and later generations. English is still very different.
(End of this chapter)