There are few people in the world who really know Ning Zhongyuan, and in this Wuchang City, I am afraid that except for Cui Wancai, the only one who really knows Ning Zhongyuan the most is Cheng Yuanzhi, an old fox.

Cheng Yuanzhi did not rush to draw a clear line with the Ning family after Ning Zhongyuan raised troops, of course, this is due to the fact that everyone is a grasshopper on a rope, and it is also due to Cheng Yuanzhi's understanding of Ning Zhongyuan.

Such a person can achieve great things, and the later development has indeed proved this, whether it is a lone army occupying Wuchang, or laying down several provinces, it reflects Ning Zhongyuan's singleton temperament, and even when Fu Erdan is fighting to the death, Ning Zhongyuan can be fearless and take the remaining remnants of the army to meet it.

Now that the climate of the Ning family has been completely changed, the three families are advancing and retreating together in life and death, but Cheng Yuanzhi knows very well the ability and position of the Cheng family, if there is no Ning family in front of him, the big guy has already been cut by a thousand knives, so the idea of competing with the Ning family has never been there, and the biggest expectation is nothing more than to stay longer on the Ning family's ship and sit more steadily.

Cheng Yuanzhi looked at these nephews and nodded slightly, he still knows these nephews well in his heart, although they are not very promising, but after all, they are not so bold that they are much stronger than the Zheng family.

Cheng Wang raised his head slightly, glanced at Cheng Yuanzhi, and said cautiously: "Father, is there a hand.......iwork of the Zheng family in this matter?"

Speaking of which, Cheng Wang is not a pure rice bucket, he smelled something different through his old man's temper, if there was no participation of the Cheng family, then the Zheng family must be more or less unclean.

Cheng Yuanzhi snorted coldly, "Don't worry about those things, this matter is not over yet..... You all stay in the house for the old man all this time, and you are not allowed to go out at will! ”

Cheng Wang felt that his father was in a bad mood, so he didn't say anything more, and took the Cheng family children kneeling below, kowtowed and went out.

When everyone went out, a trace of worry appeared on Cheng Yuanzhi's face, the family is big, and it is inevitable that there will be some mistakes, especially in this case, it is not easy to maintain it.

............

In the study room of the Chu Palace, the candles were bright, Ning Zhongyuan, Ning Zhongjing and Cui Wancai were sitting in separate columns, and the expressions of the three of them were a little dignified.

"King Chu, the shadow side has already gotten the results...... Lin Ziyan's death should be a little strange, maybe it was the person behind it..... The Zheng family should not be too deeply involved. ”

Cui Wancai thought carefully, he knew that every word he said now would determine the life and death of countless people, so he had to be a little careful.

Ning Zhongyuan's eyes narrowed slightly, and he sneered: "They want to change the courtyard now, I'm afraid it's too late." What if you vote for the Qing court now? The net worth of property has not been stripped of nothing, so it is not good to please...... It is not an exaggeration to say that they are pig brains. ”

"Hehe, it's just a rush to the doctor, but now it's about to create a country, is it under control? If too many people are implicated, it will inevitably cause panic. Ning Zhongjing said in a low voice.

"Hmm......" Ning Zhongyuan didn't answer this question directly, but diverted the conversation, and he said in a tone of relief almost faintly: "I've already thought about it, let's take the throne in the future and let Yu'er come..... My body can't support it for too long, and if there is another accident in the future, I'm afraid that the Fu Han army will be harmful and unprofitable. ”

The two of them were silent, they naturally understood what Ning Zhongyuan meant, at the moment, the Fu Han army could not withstand too many fluctuations, at least in the past few years, it was necessary to maintain a core and an authority, so that there would be no danger of splitting, and Ning Zhongjing's body was obviously unable to support this heavy task.

If it is an ordinary teenager, Ning Zhongjing and Cui Wancai are naturally not at ease, but how can Ning Yu treat them with ordinary people? Although he is still young, he has laid a huge foundation like Li Shimin, the king of Qin back then, and his prestige in the army is even higher than that of Ning Zhongyuan, so it is indeed a good idea to succeed to the throne directly.

Of course, after Ning Zhongyuan said this, he couldn't help but sigh, he really had a chance to ascend to the throne, even if he was just an emperor for a day, who would want to let it go easily? It can only be said that in Ning Zhongyuan's heart at this time, he really regards the interests of the Ning family and the Fu Han Army as more important than his personal interests.

"In that case..... Then I can't be merciful anymore. Unexpectedly, after Ning Zhongjing learned Ning Zhongyuan's thoughts, a trace of ruthlessness appeared on his face, everything he did was also for the family, since Ning Yu was on the throne, then the contradiction might not be able to be eased......

Since there is no way out, then fight a way, it is better for others to die than to die yourself......

Cui Wancai also nodded, "Only by cleaning the interior first, and handing it over to Yu'er in the future, will it not embarrass him, and the stakes will be borne by us old men." ”

Ning Zhongyuan smiled slightly, as long as the political affairs hall unifies the thoughts, there is no great difficulty below, as for the army, there is no need to worry, after the previous military reform, the main positions in the Fu Han army are currently held by the Ning family and the descendants of the Ning family, not to mention other small and medium-sized families, even the Cheng family and the Zheng family can't get in.

When the officers cultivated by the Eagle Battalion and the Lecture Martial Arts Hall grow up, then the entire Fu Han Army will have a big change of blood, completely replacing those old-school officers, and maybe there will still be a Young Hawk faction or the Lecture Martial Arts faction in the army at that time, but after all, they are all under the control of the Ning family, so there is no need to worry too much.

"I'll bear the infamy, and I won't have a few years to live anyway. At this time, as long as I can ensure Yu'er's normal replacement, even if I sacrifice more, I will admit it. ”

As soon as these words came out, Ning Zhongjing and Cui Wancai couldn't help but move in their hearts, it seems that this bloody storm is coming soon.

In the next two days, Ning Yu began to meet with some of the ministers below, from the political hall to the Privy Council, and then to the Supervision Yuan, he had to brush his face well, after all, he was away all the year round, and there were many people who had not seen him, which was not good for Ning Yu, no matter who it was, he still had to know it in his heart.

"The Metropolitan Governor, Guo Xiu, the head of the subordinate department, has arrived."

Guo Xiu, the new director of the official department, hurried all the way over, and now the Fu Han army is about to create a country, and many rules and regulations have not been completely decided, so some of the chief officials in the political hall are already busy jumping to their feet.

The former director of the political affairs hall was sent to the newly opened Zhejiang and became the political envoy of Zhejiang, and the new director of the official department, Guo Xiu, was not from a famous family, in fact, he was also born in a poor family, but he was quick to think and be upright, and he also followed Ning Zhongyuan to do things in the early years, which was quite valued, so he received this position at this critical time.

"Guo Xiu, have the current arrangements of the provincial officials been properly arranged, have they been fully rolled out? Has the selection of back-up talents already begun? For this imperial examination, have you made a corresponding training plan? ”

Ning Yu's every question was asked very slowly, enough to ensure that Guo Xiu could hear clearly, but for many officials, this way of questioning is also a kind of psychological pressure, especially many officials who only know how to read dead books, and they can't do such on-the-spot improvisation.

It's just that Guo Xiu seems very calm, although he is very clear about the identity of the young man in front of him, but he doesn't have the slightest nervousness, and says directly: "Qiyu Metropolitan Governor, at present, the officials of the five provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, and Zhejiang have all been in place, and they have gone deep into the prefectures, counties, and towns. ”

"The selection of reserve talents has also been launched, and the relevant talents will be selected from the grassroots officials, and then there will be the use of the government affairs university of the Fuhan Army and the retired talents in the army to ensure the sufficiency of follow-up talents. As for the talents in the imperial examination, at present, the government observation of various ministries will basically end until the beginning of the spring of next year, and the arrangements will continue to be made for the next step at that time. ”

Guo Xiu answered unhurriedly, which made Ning Yu feel a little satisfied. It's just that Ning Yutou is also clear about Guo Xiu's mention of the issue of local stability, as early as a month ago, there were turmoil in some counties in the south of the Yangtze River, most of which were instigated by the local gentry to resist the Fu Han army, of course, under the bayonets of the Fu Han army, these so-called turmoil was just a whirlwind and a spin.

In the current system of local political power, Ning Yu has not made much adjustments, after all, the foundation of the system of one country cannot be lightly changed, and if it is changed indecently, it will be a joke in vain, so the current local political power system of the Fu Han Army still follows the past system, which can be said to remain the same.

In Ning Yu's vision, every place occupied must be well digested locally, it can be said that so far the Fu Han army has not done enough at this point, after all, the Fu Han army has risen too fast, like Hubei and Hunan provinces have a foundation after all, plus a large number of gentry are united, so it is not particularly difficult to swallow.

However, for the three provinces of Jiangxi, Anhui and Zhejiang, after all, they are new places, and there is no way to completely digest them, so Ningyu's requirements are not so high, and the most important thing is to crack down on the local forces loyal to the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the regimental training forces, especially the private armed forces of the local gentry, which is the focus of Ningyu's attack.

Like the previous turmoil in the south of the Yangtze River, it was because these local forces were unwilling, so Ningyu could be regarded as having learned a lesson, and after the Fu Han army fully occupied Zhejiang, it did not directly occupy Fujian in one step, but began to consolidate the existing chassis. Of course, in this process, many benefits must be given, and the stick of the Han army should also be shown.

Fortunately, the southern provinces were originally not loyal enough to the Qing court, and the big guys also knew in their hearts that Jiangnan was just a chicken that lay golden eggs in the hands of the Qing court, and sooner or later it would be completely slaughtered, so there were not many officials and gentry here who were martyred against the Manchus. The big guy is also quite informed and interesting, and he is still more cooperative after the Fu Han army came.

"The primary responsibility for local appeasement lies in the selection of officials, so the officials must firmly grasp the principle of selection, remember not to beat people to death with a stick, talent is rare now, as long as it is not such an official who harms the people and cripples the people, the Han Army still has to pay attention to certain methods and principles."

What Ning Yu said was actually not groundless, because since the rise of the Fu Han Army, some people have been a little dizzy, and they began to talk about having both ability and political integrity when selecting talents, which is why Ning Yu seems to be a big joke.

However, in Ning Yu's view, a good person who doesn't understand anything is at most just a waste with good character and is not competent for complex work in the local area, so more emphasis is placed on talent and the focus that Ning Yu wants to express.

"Subordinates understand that only by punishing the former and punishing the latter is the right way to employ people."

After Guo Xiu retreated, Ning Yu also began to consider the future government affairs, the current Fu Han army is strictly not much different from the Qing court, the system is basically similar, and the talent selection channel changes are not very large, so the result is at most a more honest local government, but there is no benefit to the improvement of the inherent shortcomings of the Qing court.

In fact, in today's Qing Dynasty, the depth of local malpractice is quite terrifying, this kind of malpractice often causes the government and the people to tear apart, especially for the rule below the county level, it is vividly reflected, since the Song and Ming Dynasty gentry co-governance situation, has not been fundamentally improved, in the long run will cause the loss of central authority.

In particular, the death of the former Ming Dynasty suffered a great loss in this regard, and the situation that the government decree did not leave the county seat almost ran through the entire Ming Dynasty, which caused a very serious point, that is, the central government's control over the local government became weaker and weaker, and the financial resources that could be tapped from the local area became less and less, so that the available finance and taxation of the central government of the Ming Dynasty became very low.

Although the Qing court learned the lessons of the Ming Dynasty in this regard, they made reforms for the local finance and taxation, so that the central finance and taxation have been greatly increased, which is stronger than the Ming Dynasty, but the problem is that it is only stronger, the reason is that it is limited by the productive forces, and cannot completely control the local grassroots, and the local gentry are still needed to achieve co-governance.

Ning Yu knew in his heart that if he wanted to completely control the locality, in addition to suppressing the power of the local gentry, the more important point was to expand the current official system tenfold, and directly penetrate the low-level officials into the township system, but in order to achieve this, the fiscal and tax base needed to be expanded more than ten times.

Ultimately. When productivity and money are not in place, Ning Yu is worried that no matter how much it is, it will be empty, so the top priority to do at this stage is to make more money, only when the money is in place, this thing will be easy to do.