Chapter 227 The South made a big mistake this time!
Tian Jing’s eyes were numb.
It took a long time to come back to reality.
He raised his head and looked at Xia Zhibai, with a tired look on his face, and said in a vicissitudes of voice: "Since you see things in the world so clearly, why do you still come here? Those things you proposed, and What’s the point? Isn’t the result already determined?”
Xia Zhibai nodded and shook his head.
He stood tall, with a calm expression on his lips, and said calmly: "That said, people always have a competitive heart. I made the steam engine. My original intention was to seek some benefits for the people of the world, and It has become a tool for local officials and gentry to exploit local people. "You and I are actually very insignificant in this political whirlpool."
“But from another level, this political turmoil is essentially a continuation of the ‘Guo Huan Case’. The essence of the ‘Guo Huan Case’ is that the imperial court is tightening control over local financial resources, and local governments are not They will not give in. On the surface, it can be said that the court has won a great victory, but in fact it is not. "
"This struggle is not over."
"It's just a short intermission."
"How do you say this?" Tian Jing frowned, with a bit of surprise.
The Guo Huan case is not over yet?
How is this possible.
Didn’t the case be closed more than a year ago?
Moreover, the imperial court also used this to plunder more than 20 million shi of grain from all over the world. Isn't this a great victory? In Xia Zhibai's mind, how far should the great victory of the imperial court go? Is it really going to be such a great victory? The world is clean, even from the officials to the common people, every family is clean?
Xia Zhibai sighed: "Are you surprised?"
"If you have been in the court before, or even served in the court, you can clearly sense the relationship between the place and the court. "
"Under the Guo Huan case, everyone from the imperial court to the six ministries and local wealthy merchants suffered great disasters. Imperial officials were killed and spared, and most local people suffered financial losses. But if you really look at the data released by the imperial court, you will clearly find that outside the imperial court, only the north is really suffering."
"Although the south is also suffering from injuries, it is fundamentally different. Didn’t get to the root of it.”
"The South harvests a lot more grain, but the South has been at peace for longer, produces more grain, and has a more developed economy. There is nothing wrong with harvesting more grain. But compared to the entire army of the Chief Secretary of Shandong, Shanxi, and Peking in the North, How many chief secretaries in the south were uprooted like this? "
"Do you really think your Majesty doesn't want to plow them all?"
"Your Majesty did it."
< br>"The result of just taking action was the riots in the south, which eventually turned into riots across the country."
"In order to quell the public dissatisfaction, His Majesty had no choice but to kill Wu Yong, the "Trial Judge" whom he appointed, and then "Guo The Huan case was also quickly concluded.”
Tian Jing's face changed slightly.
He has completely understood.
His Majesty is using the corruption of "Guo Huan" to attack the local officials and gentry forces, and use this to arbitrarily interfere with local financial resources.
There were many vassal kings sitting in the north and hundreds of thousands of military households on display. The chief ministers in the north had no resistance and cleaned up the court. But when the court extended its hand to the south, Riots broke out in the south immediately, and then the riots became more and more violent, and there was a faint danger of spreading to the whole country.
After a stalemate for a while, seeing signs that the situation was getting out of control, His Majesty finally chose to retreat.
With Wu Yong's death, things calmed down.
In the end, His Majesty purged all the chief officials of the twelve chief secretaries across the country. However, compared to the thoroughness of the north, the south basically only moved the instructions and did not touch the local financial resources at all. In fact, His Majesty lost the game.
Under this circumstance, the imperial court approved Xia Zhibai's memorial to unify the northern salt market. There was a reason for all this.
As the saying goes, the lips are dead and the teeth are cold.
The imperial court has completely taken action on the northern salt market. When the imperial court takes control of the northern salt market, His Majesty's strength will inevitably extend his hand to the south. Moreover, when Xia Zhibai went north at that time, he was not only responsible for the salt market. , also participated in the iron smelting industry.
Salt and iron have always been a source of great wealth.
So the South immediately took action, which was to directly 'steal' the steam engine blueprints, build the salt factory in the South in advance, and then repeat the same trick, triggering local riots, putting pressure on the court, and forcing The imperial court continued to make concessions, allowing the southern grasslands to remain in control of the south.
Tian Jing said with a surprised look on his face: "Aren't you afraid that by doing this in the south, you will make His Majesty angry and start killing people?"
Xia Zhibai smiled, shook his head and said: " What are you afraid of?”
“The ones who died are people like you, Deputy Tian Yun. No matter how many people die, the South will not feel bad. Moreover, the South’s economy is already developed, and Yanshi is not the South. The biggest financial source, the biggest financial resource in the south is essentially land, but they still understand the principle of one day at a time. "
"The reason why His Majesty is able to secure the world today is that he controls an army of millions."
"Once the imperial court controls the financial resources of the South and completely solves the financial dilemma, whether it is officials, gentry, merchants, or scholar-bureaucrats in the South, Your Majesty kills them like wild dogs, but it is precisely because the court cannot control it now that they are allowed to make noise in the local area, provoke the court again and again, and even force the court to give in. "
"The local government and the court have been playing games. . ”
“There are winners and losers.”
“Whether the Ming Dynasty can last depends on whether the court can suppress the south and whether it can collect taxes from the south. , then the Ming Dynasty will always be stable. If one day it cannot collect money, the Ming Dynasty will not be far from destruction. "
Tian Jing's pupils shrank slightly and he did not dare to answer these words.
He said solemnly: "In the opinion of the great scholar, how will things go this time?"
Xia Zhibai was silent. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it has been unable to control its financial resources.
Zhu Yuanzhang made several attempts, but they all failed without exception.
In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang chose to compromise in history and chose to turn a blind eye to these small actions of the South. As long as the court could collect the money and the South could obey his orders, he just let it go.
Xia Zhibai said: "If we go by the current situation, we will basically continue to compromise."
"The Guo Huan case has just passed, and the people have just stopped. If there is such a big mutiny again, it will The stability of Ming Dynasty has too great influence."
"In order to calm the people's resentment and calm people's hearts, His Majesty will most likely choose to take a step back. At this time, officials from the top and bottom of the Salt Transportation Department, as well as some local Chief Secretary officials. , will be pushed out and executed to quell the people's grievances, which can be regarded as an explanation from the south to His Majesty and the world."
Tian Jing smiled bitterly.
Although he had already guessed it, he was still a little annoyed when he was reminded again.
Tian Jing sighed and said: "Let me tell you, how can this official be promoted so easily? It turned out that he was pushed out to die. But with the current strength of His Majesty, will he really make compromises with the local government? And provoke The people behind the disputes in the south are basically on the bright side. Can your majesty really tolerate this anger? "
Xia Zhibai sneered: "What if you can bear it? What if you can't bear it? "< br>
“This is politics.”
“Politics is the art of compromise.”
"Last year, the 'Guo Huan Case' concocted by His Majesty, didn't it finally make His Majesty retreat with the guarantee of more than 20 million shi of food delivered by local officials? As long as the benefits provided are large enough, even if the emperor , It’s not impossible to compromise.”
Tian Jing smiled bitterly.
Having said that, I couldn't help but feel a little sad just hearing the news.
That's the emperor.
The supreme emperor.
Although he also knows that this is normal.
The emperor is also a human being, and he also needs to weigh the pros and cons of all parties. He cannot really do whatever he wants, but under the compromise of all parties, these new 'officials' have undoubtedly become the biggest scapegoats, and even they Half of the feet have already stepped into the soil.
Han Chuang has been studying hard for decades and ended up like this?
How sad and sad!
He even had nowhere to stretch.
He finally understood the sadness of "If the king wants his minister to die, he must die". A helpless and miserable feeling suddenly filled his whole body, completely defeating his energy and spirit, and he sat paralyzed. He sat on the chair and his eyes were blank for a long time.
Looking at Tian Jing's despairing look, Xia Zhibai also felt helpless.
Everything is fate and nothing is up to you.
But he didn’t believe in fate.
Xia Zhibai turned around, faced Tian Jing, and said slowly: "You are not so frustrated. As I said before, this is normal. If no action is taken, , it is basically a peace negotiation between the imperial court and the local government. Everything will be settled by then, but it is far from that time yet. ”
"Just as you said."
"Your Majesty is extremely powerful today."
"Your Majesty will not allow others to ride on you again and again. This time, the South is clever but clever. Mistakenly, they thought that by stirring up the world again through the aftermath of the "Guo Huan Case", they could force His Majesty to make concessions again. However, they did not know that this had already touched His Majesty's objections."
"Your Majesty's compromise is for the sake of it. The world is stable."
"It is to stabilize the world."
"It was the best choice under the balance of interests at that time."
"But we must not let this become a handle for others to take advantage of us."
"The last compromise was mainly because the South came up with There was enough food to make His Majesty feel that he would not be able to obtain more food than this if he continued to struggle, so he accepted it as soon as it was ready. However, this time it was Nanfang who took the initiative and told His Majesty something in an almost fair and honest manner. "
"The imperial court cannot interfere in the southern economy."
"Otherwise they will cause trouble."
"Once they cause trouble, it will not end well for the court."
"In terms of the Guo Huan case, this kind of move is actually understandable. After all, His Majesty was too hasty at the time and wanted to seize all the financial resources with one stroke. , will naturally arouse local dissatisfaction, and it is inevitable to take action."
"But this time is different."
"This is the south taking the initiative to warn the court and threatening the court not to interfere with the south. financial resources, otherwise they will continue to cause riots in the local area, forcing the court to completely fail, and even forcing the world to be in chaos."
"No emperor can tolerate such provocations."
"Now that Your Majesty is governing the world, the South is so arrogant. When future generations of emperors succeed, won't the South be even more indifferent? Then they will ignore the imperial court and even refuse to pay taxes to the imperial court. Then won't the Ming Dynasty still demand the south? Look at the face of the South?”
“The South has made a big mistake this time!”
(End of this chapter)