Chapter 52: The Struggle between the North and the South

The North-South Bang case is an old case.

As a major case with great influence in history, it directly led to the admission of the imperial examination score list, and even the different score lines in various places are also the legacy of this policy.

Zhu Qizhen can't even think about it.

This story was emphatically mentioned by the lecturers who talked about the history of the country back then.

In the thirtieth year of Hongwu, Liu Sanwu's main examination was because it was a vague name exam, so Liu Sanwu chose all the southern jinshi. Taizu determined the character on the basis of Liu Sanwu's fraud, and re-examined the north-south list system.

Yang Shiqi slowly finished talking about this matter with some memories, for others, these are all anecdotes, but Yang Shiqi is a first-hand witness.

He retracted his gaze of memory and asked Zhu Qizhen: "Your Majesty thinks that Old Master Liu, has he cheated?" ”

Zhu Qizhen said: "Naturally, there is none. ”

Zhu Qizhen also has an understanding of the temperament of some scholars.

That's really seeing reputation as more important than life, and it's not comparable to those Shilin scum in the late Ming Dynasty. Let Liu Sanwu cheat, that's more difficult than killing him.

Yang Shiqi said: "Your Majesty thinks that Emperor Taizu wants to retake the exam and divide it into the north and south lists? ”

Zhu Qizhen said: "Naturally, it is to balance the north and the south? It was originally a declarative sentence, but it was said by Zhu Qizhen as a question sentence, but when he said the words north and south, he suddenly understood.

Yang Shiqi saw the change in Zhu Qizhen's eyes, and said: "Your Majesty thinks that after dividing the north and south lists, the northern lifter will be able to beat the southern lifter?" ”

Zhu Qizhen said: "I'm afraid not. ”

Yang Shiqi saluted Zhu Qizhen and said, "Your Majesty Shengming." Not to mention, does Your Majesty know that there were three subjects in the Xuande period, and now there are two subjects in the orthodox period, a total of five subjects, among the top three, how many northerners are there? ”

Zhu Qizhen didn't pay attention and asked, "But how many people are there?" ”

Yang Shiqi said: "Three people. ”

Zhu Qizhen immediately said: "Ma Yu, who else is Cao Nai?" ”

Yang Shiqi said: "Yang Ding, the orthodox four-year leader, is from Xianning, Shaanxi. ”

Zhu Qizhen was shocked when he heard this.

As I said before, in the Ming Dynasty system, the imperial examination almost had a lifelong authority.

Whenever there is anything in the officialdom, you have to ask the name of the department.

Although not everyone will be limited by the family name, most people will not be able to break through this shackle. Therefore, how well you take the imperial examination can largely determine the rest of your life.

From this point of view, there are a total of fifteen people in the top three of the five subjects, and there are only three northerners. In addition, the ancient officialdom supported each other by fellow villagers.

From this point of view, it is conceivable what position the northerners of the Ming Dynasty occupy in the imperial court.

Zhu Qizhen said

said: "In this way, Mr. promoted Ma Yu and Cao Nai to the cabinet, but it was to balance the north and the south. ”

Yang Shiqi said: "Your Majesty is smart, and the old minister, as the first assistant of the cabinet, naturally has to think about the country, and only the British Duke in the cabinet is a northerner, so I am afraid that it will not be good for the government." ”

Zhu Qizhen naturally knew that the British official Zhang Fu was actually only in charge of military affairs, and had never interfered in civilian affairs. It doesn't make a difference.

Zhu Qizhen suddenly thought about it a little more in his heart, he was thinking about nothing else, but the origin of the Ming generals.

Except for a few southerners, most of them are northerners, especially Jing Nanxun, who followed Taizong's beginnings.

"It turns out that the struggle between the nobles and the civil officials is not only a civil and military dispute, but also a dispute between the north and the south. The northerners take force as the way to forge ahead, and the southerners take articles as the way to make progress. Zhu Qizhen thought silently: "Later, the economic imbalance between the north and the south of the Ming Dynasty has anything to do with the imbalance between the north and the south of the DPRK and China?" ”

Zhu Qizhen has no answer to this question for a while, and may not have an answer in the future. But Zhu Qizhen had some more ideas in his heart, and this idea was not mentioned for the time being, Zhu Qizhen turned the topic to the main topic and said: "What Mr. means is that the large-scale investment of the imperial court in Hebei will cause dissatisfaction among the southerners. ”

Yang Shiqi said: "The minister is from Jiangxi, and Yu Qian is from Zhejiang, but the old minister is also a minister of the Ming Dynasty and a courtier of His Majesty, and there are still some things to say." ”

"Emperor Taizu started from the southeast, but he hated the morale of Jiangsu and relied on Jiangxi scholars, so that some people in the court said that the Manchu Dynasty was half of Jiangxi. This situation was beneficial to the Jiangxi scholars and unfavorable to the imperial court. It's just that some things are also hard to return. Lao Chen can only adjust one or two like this. ”

"The north can't afford to learn from it, and this situation will continue."

"It's just that Your Majesty thinks that the southerners are dissatisfied with this, but it is true, but the northerners may not be satisfied with Your Majesty's actions."

Zhu Qizhen was taken aback and said: "The southerners are dissatisfied with me, I can understand, but why are the northerners not satisfied with the water control?" ”

Zhu Qizhen couldn't figure this out at all.

The imperial court's finances were tilted towards the north, showing that the north was more important than the south, which was reflected in Zhu Qizhen's Zhengdan edict.

But most people think that Zhu Qizhen is just talking.

Under Yang Shiqi's appeasement, there was no movement. Now it's time to get serious, and to throw all this money into the north, so to speak, to throw all the taxes from the south into the north.

They don't want to.

This Zhu Qizhen can be understood.

But what do the northerners think?

Why did the imperial court spend money on building water conservancy for the benefit of the people, and they were not happy?

Yang Shiqi said: "Now there is not enough grain in the north, and it depends on Cao Yun to transfer grain from the south, but if Your Majesty's plan is realized, then Your Majesty still wants to maintain the canal?" ”

Zhu Qizhen said: "Naturally, I don't want to

After all, the canal also takes time to repair every year. ”

Yang Shiqi said: "So where does Beijing's grain come from? ”

Zhu Qizhen said: "Naturally Hebei? As soon as Zhu Qizhen said this, he immediately found the key point of the problem, and said: "They are worried that if there is enough grain in the north, then the eight million stone grain supplied by the imperial court to the border army and the four million stone grain supplied to the Beijing division, a total of 12 million stone grain, will come from the north, and the south will be relaxed." ”

Yang Shiqi said: "Not all ministers adhere to this idea, but there are not a few northern ministers who have this idea. ”

Zhu Qizhen had an indescribable sense of absurdity for a while.

He tried his best to do this thing, but it turned out to be a thing that was not human inside and out.

This is the official of the Ming Dynasty, who is benevolent and righteous in his mouth, but he can't match the idea in his heart. Speaking of the big tomorrow, do it in the countryside. The interests of the imperial court are not comparable to their own interests.

It's obviously a great thing, but it's extremely dissatisfied from everyone's point of view.

Yang Shiqi said: "Your Majesty, sometimes you can't do things with great fanfare, at least not now. Although Luchuan has now won a great victory and Yunnan has arrived, the drought in the north has not yet passed, and if it does not rain in June this year, there will not be much harvest in autumn today. ”

"Your Majesty must be more prepared."

"There are things that can be done and can't be said, and there are things that can be said not to be done."

"Your Majesty wants to repair water conservancy, the household department has no money, Your Majesty wants to use the inner treasury, the cabinet will naturally not object, and will also send orders to all levels of prefectures and counties, everyone knows the intentions, but Your Majesty's big plan of five rivers and three lakes will have to wait."

"At least when this year passes and the food shortage in the north is alleviated, it's not too late."

Zhu Qizhen saluted Yang Shiqi and said, "I know, thank you Mr. for mentioning it, I almost made a big mistake." ”

Yu Qian also heard a cold sweat on the side, if this critical moment of disaster relief caused a storm in Beijing, the impact on disaster relief could be imagined.

Zhu Qizhen saw that it was getting late, so he would let Wang Zhen settle Yang Shiqi and Yu Qian to stay in the cabinet. If the master and apprentice talk, they won't talk about it.

Yu Qian still needs to learn from Yang Shiqi.

But Zhu Qizhen couldn't sleep at night.

He only understood one thing at this moment, Yang Shiqi's existence was actually a good thing for him, as long as he needed to persuade Yang Shiqi.

Yang Shiqi is naturally able to settle the hundred officials.

Yang Shiqi seems to be the first assistant minister, and also the lubricant between the emperor and the ministers.

But Yang Shiqi is old and can't support it for a few years.

The ministers after Yang Shiqi, can they do this lubricant well?

Zhu Qizhen didn't know that at this moment, there was a deep feeling that his biggest enemy and biggest friend were all alone, no, a group of people.

Hundreds of officials and bureaucrats.