I followed the guidance of Aunt Luo Xia all the way into the Yongle Palace, and the celadon incense burner in the palace was rising with cigarette smoke, making the hall full of fragrance, refreshing and refreshing.

At this moment, the Empress Dowager is sitting in front of the couch half-leaning on the soft couch, with her hands on her sideburns, closing her eyes to recuperate, and the bookcase in front of the couch is full of documents and military newspapers, which shows that the Empress Dowager attaches great importance to the progress of the Eastern Crusade and does not slack off at all.

Inevitably disturbed the Empress Dowager to take a rest, Aunt Luo Xia signaled to me, then moved lightly, to the side of the Empress Dowager called twice, the Empress Dowager woke up instantly, her eyes flowed, and she looked at me, and there was a look of tiredness in her eyes, which could not be concealed.

I knelt down in my robe, respectfully kowtowed to the Empress Dowager, and said:

"Chen'er greets the imperial grandmother, and the imperial grandmother is blessed. ”

Aunt Luo Xia hurriedly raised the backrest to make it more comfortable for the Queen Mother, and after helping the Queen Mother to sit down, she went to make tea for the Queen Mother very intimately, and personally served it to the Queen Mother.

The Empress Dowager sighed helplessly when she saw me, and Aunt Luo Xia beside her was waiting diligently, which was indirectly persuading herself not to blame Chen'er too much.

"Chen'er, get up, come, come, come to the imperial grandmother. ”

The Empress Dowager's love has not diminished, and I am also grateful, so I hurriedly got up and carried my robe and moved quickly to the side of the Empress Dowager's bed, kneeling down upright, and listening to the Empress Dowager's instructions.

"Imperial grandmother, Chen'er is not filial, which makes the imperial grandmother worried and angry, please ask the imperial grandmother to surrender!"

The words are sincere and affectionate, and they are busy and bow down again.

The Empress Dowager stretched out her hand to help me up, seeing that I was sincere and simple, a good boy who was respectful and filial, and her tone was a little gentle, and said:

"Chen'er, Wan'er's matter, have you ever complained about the mourning family? The grievance family is ruthless and breaks up your loving couple. ”

I shook my head hurriedly and said:

"Chen'er doesn't dare, if you are distressed, the imperial grandmother is even worse than Chen'er, not to mention, in the heavenly family, state affairs are family affairs, and every qiē should be focused on state affairs. ”

Seeing that I could understand things so well, the Empress Dowager also nodded with satisfaction and continued:

"Chen'er, you are the grandson-in-law of the mourning family, and the mourning family has some heart-wrenching words, so I have to tell you. ”

When I heard this, I bowed my head and listened, and my expression was awe-inspiring.

"It has been more than 40 years since the mourning family was canonized as the crown princess by the royal crown princess in 28 years and has now become the empress dowager, of which there have been four generations of emperors. Now it is the year of the sixtieth year, it is the year of peace of mind, when the leisure time is teasing the grandson for fun, how can I help, the heavens are unkind, so that the mourning family is forty and widowed, fifty widowed, in the end, even the emperor and grandson of the mourning family have not been able to keep, the white-haired people send the black-haired people, the pain of life is nothing more than this. ”

As far as I can remember, I have never seen the Empress Dowager mention such a sad past, let alone see the Empress Dowager crying sadly. His heart is pitiful, and his feelings are so sad that I don't even feel red when I hear it.

"In order to preserve the royal prestige, the mourning family ignored the rumors of the world, bitterly held the government, and worked hard to be lonely, dreaming of sleeping at night, exhausting his efforts, and maneuvering between the ministers and the feudal towns, only leaving a place for the royal orphans and widows, and not letting the Northern Wei Dynasty be cut off in the hands of the mourning family. Mourning the family's thoughts, can Chen'er understand?"

In the end, the Empress Dowager was a little excited, but she suppressed it all her life, and the last question also had extraordinary expectations for me, I didn't dare and couldn't disappoint the Empress Dowager, bowed my head again, silently shed tears, and said:

"Chen'er understands that Chen'er will never disappoint the imperial grandmother!"

"The Empress Dowager ......"

Aunt Luo Xia also looked sad when she saw it, and she was busy wrapping silk handkerchiefs to gently wipe away the tears of the Empress Dowager, and persuaded the Empress Dowager to take care of her body, and not to be sad again.

The Empress Dowager nodded silently, then slowly calmed down, and helped me up again, looking at me with tears on her face, sighing at the pure filial piety of the child in front of her, she was very relieved, and said with a smile:

"Look at you kid, the boy doesn't flick when he has tears, it's so easy to cry, how to protect Wan'er in the future?!"

After speaking, the Empress Dowager personally wiped my tears for me, I blushed slightly, secretly screamed in my heart for repentance, hurriedly cleaned up my wolf face, sat upright, served the Empress Dowager, and said respectfully:

"Chen'er has no form, and I ask the emperor's grandmother to forgive. ”

State affairs do not involve personal affairs, and the Empress Dowager is even more so, and her tone has changed to stern, saying:

"It's too early to ask for forgiveness, Chen'er, have you taken it upon yourself to interfere with the state town's grain payment?"

I pondered for a moment, and I had a premonition in my heart that the Empress Dowager had come to this meeting for this matter, and she was not busy, and said:

"Chen'er is involved, but it is his duty, and there is no transgression, and he also asks the imperial grandmother to find out. ”

When the Empress Dowager saw that my face was no different, she obviously felt that what she had done was worthy of her heart, and her eyes were also slightly bright when she looked at me, and she was not without appreciation, and said:

"The Imperial History Observatory has the right to supervise the administration of local officials, so you are exercising your powers by sending thirteen inspectors to the prefectures and towns to secretly inspect the prefectures and towns, and assisting the prefectures and towns sent by the Ministry of Household to raise grain, grass, silk and other things is also considered to be worrying about the country, but you are collecting evidence of corruption and illegality in the state and town assassins, and you are inevitably acting too vigorously and acting too obviously, aren't you afraid that it will affect the overall situation of the Eastern Crusade?"

Last time, I told Dugu Xin that in this game of chess, I will take black first.

And my first move is to take advantage of the eastward crusade of the governors of several major states and towns to depose or replace some of the assassins who have long been rebelled by the governors, and become the eyes of the imperial court to be placed in the places of the prefectures and towns, so as to play a supervisory role, so that the governors of the prefectures and towns will be more scrupulous, which can buy some time for the imperial court.

The history of the assassin was originally the chief executive sent by the imperial court to manage a town and state, and the governor was originally the military governor of a state and town.

However, due to the continuous military affairs of the Northern Wei Dynasty for a long time, and the situation has changed a lot, the general manager of the army has become more and more valued by the imperial court, and coupled with the performance of military exploits, his position and authority have gradually overwhelmed the history of the assassination, so that there has been a situation in which the general manager of the state and town has military and political power, making the history of the assassin virtually useless, and now, this situation has become a foregone conclusion, and the disadvantages are very obvious.

Nominally, the history of the assassin still manages the power of local administration, but it has long been reduced to a subordinate of the governor and is deployed by the governor of the state and town, which greatly weakens the control of the imperial court over the local state and town, so that the governor of the state and town gradually has the tendency of a feudal town, and the threat to the imperial court is deepening day by day.

In addition, the county magistrate is the parent official of the local town and the prefecture, and the county magistrate is related to the people's livelihood and livelihood, and his position is humble but his responsibility is heavy, if it is used by non-people, it will not only harm the locality, but also easily provoke the people's unrest, and the embankment of thousands of miles will be destroyed in the anthill, and the pros and cons of the administration will be equal to the joint, so the monarch has to pay attention to it.

Although it is said that with the current situation of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the matter of eliminating the hidden dangers of the feudal towns still needs to be slowly figured out, but restricting the rights of the feudal towns has long been a top priority.

What I think, how can the Empress Dowager not know, but now it is an extraordinary period, the battle of the Eastern Expedition is a matter of importance, absolutely not to be lost, now I take advantage of the state town governor to go out on the expedition, to do this trick of drawing salaries from the bottom of the kettle, it is difficult to ensure that this group of town and state governors will be in disobedience, perfunctory or have other plans for the Eastern Expedition, at that time, the situation of the Eastern Expedition will be very variable, how can the Empress Dowager not be worried.

Now that the Empress Dowager's interrogation is also reasonable, I slowly reported my thoughts truthfully, and said:

"Imperial grandmother Rongyu, Chen'er recently reviewed the cases reported by the local criminal department, and found that there were many unjust, false and wrongful cases, so he sent the inspector to secretly inspect the thirteen state towns to find out the connections involved, and then found that the governor of the state and town was suspected of storing grain, stationing troops, and collecting wealth.

The Empress Dowager's expression did not have much turbulence, it can be seen that she has long been aware of this matter, and the imperial court has always implemented the policy of appeasement to the governors of prefectures and towns, focusing on appeasement, so they have "turned a blind eye" to many of their deception of the imperial court, as long as it does not involve the crime of rebellion and rebellion, it will not be too suppressed and intervened, but it will not be blindly indulged, some things still have to follow the laws of the imperial court, and the court has also been able to suppress the expanding ambitions of some governors of prefectures and towns because of the Empress Dowager.

"So, the real intention of you to let the superintendent of the imperial history secretly assist the household department in collecting grain, grass, silk and other materials in the state and town is to consume the internal savings of the governor of the state and town?

It is conceivable that the imperial grandmother has already cut off the heart of the state town, but has been waiting for the right opportunity, and this best time is the final outcome of the battle between the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty.

I nodded solemnly and said:

"The emperor's grandmother, Shengming, the governor of the state and town has been able to run rampant in the local area for many years, relying on only three things, military power, grain and grass, and goods. Before the autumn harvest of grain was about to be harvested, Wang Shangshu sent inspectors to the localities to collect grain, verify the acres of land and household registration, so that the localities could no longer shirk excuses or establish arrears as in the past, and reduce the amount of grain handed over to the imperial court, so as to ensure the supply of grain and grass during the Eastern Crusade. ”

As for the impeachment and reporting of the local assassination, it is indeed as the imperial grandmother said, so that the imperial court can collect the income of the local government for many years of expropriation and oppression of the people, and all the income from the local government can be collected and returned to the treasury in the name of rectifying the rule of officials. In this way, the imperial court can solve the shortage of grain, grass and goods. ”

When the Empress Dowager heard this, she was silent for a moment, and couldn't help but be impressed by the quickness of the child in front of her, but she also had to remind her of the possible impact of this plan, and said:

"The upper army is scheming, the second is the enemy, the second is the army, and the next is the siege. This method is very wonderful, and it is quite the essence of the art of war, but Chen'er, aren't you afraid that this move will anger the governor of the state town and force them to defect in front of the battle?"

When I heard this, my eyes were firm, and I continued:

"They don't dare to rebel, oh no, it should be said that they don't dare to rebel for the time being. Privately withholding grain and grass, stationing soldiers, and accumulating wealth to fill the private treasury, from the outside, this move has long been tantamount to rebellion, so the governor of this state and town is very secretive, and he will never dare to make more plans with the imperial court here. And Chen'er implements this plan, only the private treasury income that has been found out and confiscated will be classified into the local illegal assassination history, the violation of the national law is in the front, and the imperial court strictly enforces the law in the back, and this move will not take the initiative to climb to the governor of the state and town, and the grain and grass obtained are all used for the Eastern Expedition, and the property and goods paid will eventually be returned to the hands of the state and town, so reasonable and legal, the state and town will not find a reason to rebel. ”

Aunt Luo Xia's eyes lit up when she heard this, and she looked at the child who said this sentence in a little surprise, quite emotional, and secretly thought about the feasibility of this plan in her heart, and turned to look at the Empress Dowager, and saw that the Empress Dowager had an appreciative look on her face, as if she had moved her mind to Chen'er's mention.

But Chen'er's last sentence of 'the money and goods paid will eventually be returned to the hands of the state town' also made her think about it, Aunt Luo Xia took the initiative to ask, and said:

"Chen'er, what do you mean ......?"

I was silent for a moment, but I decided to get these words out of my mouth, and I clasped my fists and said:

"Please forgive the imperial grandmother for Chen'er's outspoken crime, and have counted the many years of conquest by the imperial court, but there are conquers one city and one place, and the commander and his soldiers are either bloody and slaughtered the city, or indulged in the looting and looting of the soldiers, and killed Li Shu, which is like a bandit and loses the hearts of the people. In this regard, Chen'er has continued to write to the emperor's grandmother about this matter, and the emperor's grandmother has benevolence and righteousness, and has a far-sighted vision, so at the beginning of the Eastern Expedition, he told the generals of various provinces that the Eastern Expedition has conquered a city and a pool, and it is necessary to do nothing against the people of the Northern Qi Dynasty, and violate the military law, so as to demonstrate the benevolence and righteousness of our army and collect the hearts of the people of the Northern Qi Dynasty. And the emperor's grandmother also promised to be in the three armies, and when she returns from victory, the court will reward her meritorious deeds!"

The Empress Dowager bowed her head slightly and said:

"That's true. ”

The Northern Wei Dynasty has always implemented the government soldier system of integrating soldiers and peasants, serving as soldiers in wartime and serving as the people when entering.

And after a victory is fought, the merits have always been occupied by the children of the scholar clan, and it is difficult for ordinary soldiers to be promoted by virtue of their military exploits. Moreover, even if there were rewards from the imperial court, most of them went into the hands of the commander-in-chief officer class, and even fewer could be distributed to the soldiers.

Therefore, the most direct way for soldiers to get rewards is to loot and sweep the enemy's city after victory, so the greatest temptation of war for low-level soldiers is to sack the enemy's city after victory, which gradually formed an unwritten convention with the nature of barbaric and bloody plunder.

This is a common occurrence in times of war, and it is also a sign that the commander of an army cannot more effectively restrain his soldiers......

The Empress Dowager gave such a strict order before the war, and promised that the court would reward the meritorious deeds after the war, which can be regarded as a post-war reward promised to the soldiers, and these will be a huge expenditure for the Northern Wei court, if the court can not fulfill the promise in the end, then for the Northern Wei Dynasty, the future will face an unprecedented soldier mutiny, the consequences are unimaginable!

This is what Chen'er said, the wealth is taken from the private treasury of the state town, and it will eventually be returned to the hands of the state town, and this step will also be the first step to decompose the military power of the state town. If the emperor's grandmother is gracious, can the previous practice of the imperial court awarding rewards to the commander-in-chief and then the commander-in-chief distributing them to the lower-level officers can be changed to the imperial court directly distributing the rewards to the lower-level officers, and then deliberately promoting the lower-level officers, and giving knightly rewards to those with outstanding military achievements, so as to show the court's heart of cherishing talents and loving talents, and collecting military public opinion for the imperial court, which is also of great benefit to the gradual decomposition of the military power of prefectures and towns. ”

Aunt Luo Xia listened to my words, and secretly praised herself in her heart, taking the money and goods of the state town to reward the state town, and finally the military heart and public opinion were all returned to the imperial court, how can such a good deal as icing on the cake not make people tempted?

Chen'er's child's wisdom and talent are really extraordinary!

"It's really terrifying!"

The Empress Dowager couldn't help but sigh in the end.