The nineteenth day of the twelfth lunar month.
The court meeting.
Zhang Zhou was not here, but the things discussed that day were closely related to Zhang Zhou.
The first thing was that Huo Si was defeated in the grassland and retreated to the Donghetao area in dejection. He was blocked by the Tumote Department. Huo Si was almost wiped out in the army. Under these circumstances, they could only withdraw to the west, probably towards the area where the Walas once lived, and withdraw from the competition for the Monan Mongolian territory.
The Ming Dynasty completely stood by and watched in this battle, which was equivalent to treating the fire sieve as the leader and being eaten by a group of hungry wolves on the grassland. For a time, the dispute between the DPRK and the Central Committee about why the Ming Dynasty did not send troops to help ended. Get up.
"Your Majesty, you have used the barbarians to control the barbarians, but you have paid no attention to the Di barbarians who have gathered together, causing the destruction of their ethnic groups. This will inevitably affect the prestige of our Ming Dynasty in the small foreign countries. Our government has always put benevolence and righteousness first. There was someone who sent troops to Duoyan and the Three Guards without warning, and later put the Mengoljin tribe to death. Who will serve in the Ming Dynasty in the future?"
"How can the power of the Celestial Empire be extended to the four seas of China? Even North Korea, which had previously been loyal to the Ming Dynasty, wanted to overthrow the crown prince's accession to the throne and cause civil strife. The foreign countries have long complained."
What Confucian officials emphasize is to govern the country with rituals and music, which cannot be compared with Others talk about intrigues.
Although everyone can see that the Ming Dynasty has been in an absolute hegemony position in foreign affairs in the past two years, this hegemony is regarded by those traditional Confucian officials as a turning point of "prosperity and decline". There was a lot of talk about the doctrine of the mean in the hall, which almost made Zhu Youtang so angry that he wanted to leave the table.
Listen to what these people are saying, are they speaking human language?
They are all trying to fight barbarians with barbarians, and they still talk about benevolence and righteousness. The Ming Dynasty did not kill all the Huosi tribe. That is very merciful. , now that they have been defeated, they still have to blame Ming Dynasty for not sending troops to help them
As for North Korea, it is the result of your internal fighting, what happened to Guan Daming
There are also the three guards of Duoyan, if they had an early morning Just be loyal to the Ming Dynasty and don't do anything treacherous. Why would the Ming Dynasty send troops to destroy you?
Just as he was talking, the newly appointed minister of Dali Temple, Yang Shou, said, "Your Majesty, the little prince Batu Meng of Tatar is here to report, It is disrespectful to the superior state to claim that the land of Hetao is given to them for living and pastoral purposes. Your Majesty, please dispatch troops and horses from three sides to station in the land of Hetao to prevent the Tatars from taking advantage of the situation. "
This. Speaking of Batu Mengke, after uniting several tribes and crippling the fire sieve, he directly proposed to Ming Dynasty, asking Ming Dynasty to give him the land between the East and West Loops to use as pasture.
Zhu Youtang said, "As the co-leader of all grassland tribes, Batu Meng never had any loyalty to the Ming Dynasty. However, he repeatedly invaded our border areas of the Ming Dynasty on the grounds that the rewards for paying tribute were few. "Such an ambitious person, doesn't he know that such a formation will definitely not be approved by the country?"
Li Dongyang walked out and said, "Your Majesty, maybe Batu Munch is because of this." After the defeat in the battle of Guanshan, he urgently needed to establish his prestige on the grassland, so he was eager to fight with the Huoshan Division, and after the victory, he proposed unreasonable ideas to the court in exchange for the grassland tribes' support for him.respect. "
"Humph"
Zhu Youtang snorted coldly, "It is so obvious that you want to make excessive requests to the court in exchange for prestige on the grassland."
No matter how angry the emperor was, Zhu Youtang did not directly decide to send troops to fight against Batumengk.
We had won on the battlefield before, but now it was the twelfth lunar month of winter, on the grassland. There was snow everywhere, and it was easy for Ming's army to lose sight of Bei after entering the grassland. In this environment, even Ming's firearms were not lethal enough.
Besides, he and Zhang Zhou didn't. It was agreed that these two years will be mainly responsible for preparing for war. Before we can prepare, we will start war
"Reject Batu Meng's memorial," Zhu Youtang said, "reprimand him for disobeying his ministers." Yang Shou said, "If he dares to raise troops to invade, I will make him never come back."
Yang Shou said, "Your Majesty, the grassland is now weak. If the Ming Dynasty does not take the opportunity to send troops to suppress its reputation, several major tribes in the grassland will be destroyed." Together, there are signs of attacking the Central Plains, but by then it will be too late. I ask your Majesty to send troops to the grassland."
"I ask your Majesty to send troops to the grassland."
There were actually more than a dozen civil servants present, who united to attack Zhu Youtang and sent troops.
This will put Zhu Youtang out of trouble
Wait a minute
Am I dreaming
Every time I said I would send troops to the grassland. , a bunch of people jumped out to stop, okay, now just because Batu Munch defeated the fire sieve and put forward an unreasonable idea in the memorial, asking the court to give him the land of the Loop, you are so filled with righteous indignation< /p>
Or do you think that I don’t want to use troops anymore and are deliberately going against me?
At this time, Zhu Youtang couldn’t help but cast his eyes on “Xiong Da, Xiong Er”, the left minister of the Ministry of War. Neither of them had the intention to speak.
Then Zhu Youtang glanced at the three cabinet members, and finally fixed his eyes on Ma Wensheng's head, saying, "Ma Qing's family is here now. In the cold winter, the grassland is still not peaceful. Do you think the Ming Dynasty should send troops at this time?"
This hint is quite obvious.
I have told you, now There are a lot of difficulties. You, Ma Wensheng, should know what I mean. Others can be unprincipled people like Qin, Mu, and Chu. You, Ma Wensheng, shouldn't be confused.
Ma Wensheng said, "Your Majesty, now the Tatars have not invaded." In our border areas, winter is going on everywhere. The soldiers are sending out troops at this time. They are afraid that they will not have enough cold clothes, and the grassland is easily affected by climate, terrain, etc., so it is not suitable to send troops. ”
When Zhu Youtang heard this, he was relieved.
Fortunately, you civil servants are not completely opposite to me, otherwise I really only need Bingkuan to do it. Enough.
"But the old minister thinks. "Ma Wensheng said, "The little prince of Tatar is not willing to obey me now, so he must fight back."
Zhu Youtang frowned and said, "How to fight back?"
Ma Wensheng said, "Please When His Majesty issued an edict to reprimand him, he proposed that he withdraw from Guanshan, Weininghai and other places.It was used as the base of the Ming Dynasty and proposed to build forts around it. He should also issue an order to take in the depressed and homeless tribes who were oppressed by them on the grassland, and let them graze in Guanshan, Weininghai and other places, so as to form a barrier against the Ming Dynasty's frontier fortress. ”
“Wow”
Many ministers present were filled with emotion after hearing Ma Wensheng’s advice.
Many people said on the spot that this suggestion was very good, almost I just want to say that he is just responding to Batu Meng’s shameless cheek.
Zhu Youtang said, “As far as I know, there has been nothing in the area around Weining Haizi for more than a year. The tribe grazes here, and Maoerzhuang, which is only more than a hundred miles away from Weining Sea, is already building a city. As for Guanshan, it is the hinterland of the Tatars. Is such a decree useful?"
Ma Wensheng raised the wat board and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, this is to fight back against the lies of the little Tatar prince. Demonstrate the national prestige of Ming Dynasty. ”
Zhu Youtang asked, “If the Tatars are not angry because of this and take the opportunity to send troops to Weininghai, will I have to attack with the troops and horses from Datong?”
A question is like putting a slap directly to Ma Wensheng's face.
You old man Ma is very bad.
You are saying that you don't support Ming's sending troops, but you are encouraging me. To intensify the conflict with the Tatars, and to make it clear to Batu Meng that I only want Guanshan and Weininghai, wouldn't Batu Meng just "find the right direction" and send his troops to these two places?
When the Tatars send troops to Weininghai, do you want me to send troops at that time?
Liu Jian came out and said, "Your Majesty, it is necessary to show the power of the Ming Dynasty." .
Zhu Youtang said with a stern look on his face, "Okay, since we want to show our prestige, we should be more direct. From now on, let Xinjianbo lead his troops to patrol the Weining Sea frequently, and build forts in the Weining Sea, and follow up." Maoerzhuang formed a response. I also believe that with Uncle Xin Xin in Datong, the Tatars would not dare to invade easily. The next thing"
About the defeat of Huosi and Batu Meng's petition to seal the Loop, Zhu Youtang revealed it.
Although Zhu Youtang also felt that there was no need to bother with the Tatars in the winter, but he also knew that even if these officials of the Ming Dynasty agreed to let the Ming Dynasty concentrate on preparing for war in the next few years, the Tatars would not sit still and wait for death. p>
In this case, there is no need to put Ming in a very low position. If it is time to be tyrannical, be tyrannical.
Anyway, with Zhang Zhou supporting him, the Tatars will come. Send troops to attack, let Wang Shouren go first. If Wang Shouren can't defeat, Zhang Zhou will lead the troops himself
I don't believe that the Tatars can make any progress on the border under the siege of the Ming Dynasty's many artillery and muskets. If it doesn’t work
The next step is to make an announcement from the Minister of Revenue, Ji Zhong.
“Your Majesty, the Hainingwei Salt Farm has produced millions of kilograms of salt since autumn. Wanyin, the salt produced has been sold all over the south of the Yangtze River. The local government requested an order to expand the scale of the salt field and put the surrounding salt department and salt field under its jurisdiction, using this as a model to promote the surrounding salt fields."
Zhang ZhouThe development of a salt farm in Hainingwei has achieved results.
The beach drying method adds water trucks to deliver water, and the efficiency is more than twice that of the surrounding salt fields that use firewood to fry salt
The labor cost is greatly reduced, and what’s even more amazing is that, Even the surrounding salt fields themselves saw that this trick was so effective, and took the initiative to improve and promote it.
Zhu Youtang frowned and said, "The salt field in Hainingwei was set up by me for salt and shipbuilding purposes. If it is merged with the surrounding salt department, the Taicang surplus salt and silver produced will be How to deploy? Maybe the Ministry of Revenue thinks that more money should be spent on shipbuilding."
Zhu Youtang was very vigilant.
He could see that the Ministry of Household Affairs took the initiative to promote it and also proposed a merger, which must be up to no good.
It seems to be promoting good experience and merging the salt fields of the two Zhejiang provinces into a whole, but in fact it is plundering Zhang Zhou’s achievements. Once merged, how much salt will Hainingwei’s salt fields produce? Even if some quotas are allocated in the end, most of them will still have to be sent to the three sides and other places.
According to the regulations of various salt fields in the Ming Dynasty, the salt tax from the salt fields in Liang Zhejiang was mainly used in Gansu, Ningxia, Yansui and Guyuan. The salt was released and the salt was extracted by salt dealers at the Liangzhe Salt Fields.
However, after the change to Yinkaizhong, that is, the color-folding method, the salt produced in each salt farm has actually been blurred in terms of marketing scope, but the salt produced is still the same as before. Trafficking in the three sides of the country has become a regular practice. Liangzhe is also the backyard of the salt tax in the three sides of the country.
Now Zhang Zhou has set up a new stove in the backyard. During the salt production season in winter, the salt produced has made everyone jealous.
When Zhu Youzhong didn't answer, he added: "The salt tax from Zhejiang and Zhejiang is mostly used for border affairs, but in the past few years, grain has not been transported to the three sides and other places in large quantities. I have I have made some calculations. If the salt produced in the new salt farm in the future will be changed to the new salt, it will be the New Deal Salt Yin, and it can only be exchanged by the salt merchants with the grain bank without adding the quota of the nest and the amount of salt produced. How much salt is used to supplement military supplies in various places in the Nine Borders?" Zhong Zhong said, "Your Majesty, only one salt farm in Hainingwei uses the new method."
Zhu. Youtang nodded and said, "As for the salt produced at the Haining Wei Salt Farm, I don't intend to use it for border affairs. Whether it is the sale of the salt produced or the tax revenue from the salt, it will all be used for shipbuilding. Previously. I proposed to build a ship, but the money and food that the imperial court could allocate was less than 20,000 taels of silver. How could such a small amount be enough to build a few ships? If Tang Yin, the governor of the Bohai Sea, had to raise it all by himself, then I don’t know how long it would take to raise it. "It's been a month."
Ji Zhong looked very sad and said, "I don't understand why we waste so much money and food on going to sea."
Zhu Youtang said, "I don't think so." Ask, does it cost less to forge artillery in the north? Do you think that I am just wasting money and not doing anything practical? Preparing for Japan has been done along the southeast coast, so shouldn’t we be prepared in advance? ”
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty,, there has always been a saying of "preparing for Japanese".
In fact, Japanese pirates and pirates have always existed, and it is also related to the maritime ban of the Ming Dynasty, but it was not until the Jiajing period that it became a major event that affected the Ming Dynasty.
Now the emperor is using "prepare for Japanese" as an excuse to build ships, and the ministers can't find too many faults.
After all, the emperor himself said that the total amount of money and food consumed by the household department was less than 20,000 taels, and Zhang Zhou and Tang Yin had to raise the rest by themselves. If you have to be picky about this, , then these officials are too unreasonable.
For the ministers, the most regrettable thing now is not how much money was spent, but the fact that the "value" created by Zhang Zhou can be returned to the treasury, and they can only watch Zhang Zhou go from being an inconspicuous person to a wealthy person. Salt matters can create wealth. While they are unwilling to do so, they are also thinking about how to convince the emperor to put "national affairs" as the top priority. To put it bluntly, they put everything under the control of the court ministers
It’s strange that the emperor can listen.
It turned out that there was a third major event involving Zhang Zhou in the court meeting.
It was about weeding out the old, weak, sick and disabled in the Beijing camp, but because Zhang Zhou was not here, Zhu Youtang did not let Chen Kuan come out to talk about it. But in fact, at the implementation level, Chen Kuan also came forward a lot. , and Zhang Zhou, as the person in charge, kept a low profile on this matter, as if even Zhang Zhou knew that doing so would offend a large number of people.
The meeting ended.
A bunch of ministers came out with mixed emotions, each lamenting the "unfair fate" in their hearts.
Why are we so diligent and diligent, but we can only get a reputation as mediocre, while Zhang Zhou can accomplish so many things by fishing every day and drying nets two days, even without coming to the court meeting? Even if we want to target it, we can't.
After the court meeting, Ma Wensheng, the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, specially invited Li Dongyang, meaning that he would go to the Ministry of Civil Affairs to discuss the big plans and assessments for the coming year, but in fact he wanted to talk to Li Dongyang about Zhang Zhou .
"You should find Yu Qiao"
Li Dongyang was invited to the Ministry of Personnel, but he still seemed reluctant. Most of the previous communication with Ma Wensheng was completed by Xie Qian.
Ma Wensheng said, "Bin Zhi, I still want to tell you something. His Majesty recently asked for a list of officials above the prefecture level from various places. He took it and said that he wanted to make some adjustments to the employment in the northwest. . I don’t know if this is Zhang Bingkuan’s intention, or if it’s His Majesty’s impromptu decision. I always think that Your Majesty might want to support some rising stars to help the north prepare for war.”
Li Dongyang looked cold.
The emperor is still not satisfied with the current employment in the northwest.
The main reason is that there are too few people in Zhang Zhou’s faction. What the emperor wants is for Zhang Zhou to be able to respond to a hundred requests in the northwest, so that any government order can be effectively conveyed, instead of just like now, only A very small number of officials who were promoted by Zhang Zhou still seem to be in harmony with each other.
Li Dongyang asked, "Could it be that His Majesty wants to use these people to enter Yanwu Hall?"
Ma Wensheng shook his head and said, "Originally, I thought that if Zhang Bingkuan wanted to cultivate his power, he must use Yanwu Hall."Taking the Tang Hall as an opportunity, I found that His Majesty didn’t seem to have much expectations for the Yanwu Hall, and I don’t know how he discussed it with Zhang Bingkuan. If it were simply a matter of dispatch by local generals, some of them seemed to have no qualifications or experience in military affairs. His Majesty also designated a few people with special intentions. ”
Zhu Youtang chooses people.
Of course, he chooses according to Zhang Zhou’s opinion.
What is Zhang Zhou’s biggest bargaining chip? Naturally, he knows what he still has now. Who are the people who are just humble officials in the court, but may become famous ministers in the future? What are the specialties of these people and whether they can help themselves
Although this kind of advance insight is likely to It's just talk on paper, but a person's ability will be reflected in his future official career.
When Ma Wensheng observed the few people he drew casually, he felt that the emperor's vision was very accurate, regardless of these people. The ability shown now, at least in terms of future potential, is full.
Only when Ma Wensheng feels a "crisis" will he specifically talk to Li Dongyang.
If the emperor wanted to choose only some incompetent people, Ma Wensheng would naturally feel that the emperor was just giving random instructions.
Li Dongyang said, "After Zhang Bingkuan entered the court, except for Wang Qiong, Lu Wan, In addition to Wang Xian, there are Zhu Feng and Wang Shouren. Except for Zhu Feng and Wang Shouren, the others are not newbies. From what he has seen, it is unknown whether they are secretly inspired by someone. But if you choose from some local officials, most of whom he has never met with his own eyes, are you worrying too much without substantial contact with Mabu Tang?"
What Li Dongyang meant.
Zhang No matter how awesome Zhou is, he is just a person, not a god.
His choice of Wang Qiong, Lu Wan, and Wang Xian does not mean that these people were all picked out by his discerning eye. , after all, these people have been in the officialdom for a long time and have shown a lot of ability.
Even Wang Shouren can only say that Zhang Zhou and Wang Shouren were Jinshi in the same year and knew each other< /p>
Now you think that Zhang Zhou can pick out the people who will influence the situation in the future from a group of local officials he has never seen before
Isn’t this groundless worry
Ma Wensheng sighed "I hope I'm overthinking it, but when His Majesty selects candidates, he often doesn't look at the evaluation and just selects them based on their names and experience. This may break the rules of the Ministry of Personnel's major assessment. As the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, I have to use this as a warning. It's good for you to have an idea. "Please remember to bookmark, the latest and fastest website without anti-theft and free reading