Weichen felt that since so many people were against it, it was better to forget it and give up the matter of opening sea trade. Your Majesty can make it clear about the difficulties of the imperial court, the fact that the heavens are not beautiful, the poor harvests in various places, and the continuous natural disasters, and the things that have accumulated huge military salaries for the border army, and apportionment them all down, mainly to the fields south of the Ming Dynasty! The matter of opening the sea trade can be started now! Tell them that as long as the additional taxes are collected, the matter of opening up the sea trade can be stopped immediately, and the two-pronged approach will be carried out at the same time. Otherwise, you will have to go back and forth for months, delaying everything. Wei Bao sublimated the method that Li Yongzhen had told him a little more and added a little more material.

When Li Yongzhen heard this, his eyes lit up, and he secretly wondered that Wei Bao was really smart, if Wei Bao did what he said, what was the difference between him and these ministers? It's not that His Majesty is dictatorial and that it is all pushed on His Majesty's head alone.

Wei Zhongxian and the ministers couldn't help but look at Wei Bao, and they all felt that Wei Bao was really powerful.

They all feel that in time, after Wei Bao enters the cabinet, even if he is not the first assistant, the cabinet will have to be controlled by Wei Bao sooner or later.

Wei Zhongxian and the ministers unconsciously raised their vigilance against Wei Bao.

The guest behind the emperor looked at Wei Bao's eyes and glowed, although Wei Bao was very young, but Yushu was in the wind, handsome and chic, he liked it as a woman, not to mention that Wei Bao was so talented.

Kebaba felt that Wei Bao was talented, even if he was not pedantic, he was by no means comparable to the ministers who had passed the scientific examination, it was simply perfect.

Wei Bao didn't mean to be in the limelight, but when it came to this, he had no choice but to find a way to stand firmly with the emperor and solve problems for the emperor.

When Zhu Youxiao heard this, he kept clapping his hands and applauding loudly, "Okay, good, good, Wei Aiqing still has an idea, this idea is the best!" If they can come up with the money, we can stop at any time, and we can do as they want! ”

Zhu Youxiao stood up, put his hands behind his back, and walked back and forth a few steps, and the scene was quiet.

"Father-in-law Wei, what do you think of Wei Aiqing's idea?" Zhu Youxiao asked Wei Zhongxian beside him.

Wei Zhongxian did not hesitate, and replied: "Your Majesty, the old slave thinks that Lord Wei's idea is very good, there is nothing better than this idea, Lord Wei is worthy of being a first-class smart person in the Ming Dynasty, with Lord Wei for Your Majesty, to solve problems for the court, the court situation will be much smoother." ”

Zhu Youxiao, Ke Baba, and the ministers present were all stunned, they didn't expect Wei Zhongxian to say good things about Wei Bao, originally they all thought that Wei Zhongxian was going to have opposing opinions.

"Okay, since Father-in-law Wei also said yes, then this matter is settled." Emperor Zhu Youxiao of the Apocalypse still gave Wei Zhongxian face, and the emperor said this, as if he approved it because Wei Zhongxian also agreed to Wei Bao's opinion.

"Your Majesty is wise." A group of ministers leaned over together.

Wei Bao also followed up and said that His Majesty was wise.

This matter, even if it is settled.

The matter of the Ming Dynasty is difficult to say, there is a certain democratic system, but it is simple to say, the monarchy of the Ming Dynasty is very high, in fact, it is the emperor who has the final say.

Zhu Youxiao originally thought it was a difficult thing to solve, but he didn't expect Wei Bao to help him solve it all at once, and he was very happy, "It's all gone, Wei Aiqing, you stay for a while, and talk to me." ”

"The ministers obey." Several ministers leaned over together and agreed.

Several ministers are envious to death, ordinary people can't even want to see the emperor in the court, but Wei Bao can play with the emperor for a long time, talk to the emperor, so as to enhance the relationship, it won't take long for Wei Bao to become the emperor's most trusted person like Wei Zhongxian and Kebaba.

Besides, Wei Bao is really able to do things, it seems that no matter how difficult things are, Wei Bao can help the emperor solve them.

Wei Zhongxian couldn't help but glance at Wei Bao more vigilantly.

In this way, Wei Bao played carpentry work with the emperor for an afternoon, and was kept by the emperor for dinner before leaving.

After Wei Bao left, Zhu Youxiao smiled and said to Ke Baba: "Mrs. Fengsheng, I didn't expect Grandpa Wei to be very cooperative this time, originally I thought that Grandpa Wei would oppose Wei Bao's method today, if it is according to Wei Bao's method, I will definitely be able to send the silver to the hands of the border soldiers before the year." Grandpa Wei is magnanimous this time. ”

Ke Baba nodded and said: "Grandpa Wei is indeed quite magnanimous this time, but he opposed Wei Bao before, and it is understandable, Grandpa Wei is worried that His Majesty will favor Wei Bao too much, and may not favor him." ”

Zhu Youxiao smiled, "That's that Gonggong Wei thinks too much." They all serve the Ming court, and they know what to do. ”

Ke Baba said this, mainly because he knew that the palace was full of Wei Zhongxian's ears and eyes, and he was speaking to Wei Zhongxian.

The emperor was in a good mood today, and said with a smile after a while: "Now that I have Wei Bao, I can make it easier, everyone is rushing to do things for the Ming Dynasty, even if there is a little dispute, it is all a good thing, I am most afraid that I will pretend to be deaf and dumb, and everything is waiting for me to do alone!" If I was left to do everything alone, what else would they do? If the courtiers are like Wei Aiqing, I am willing to come to court every day! ”

"Your Majesty said yes." Kebaba smiled flatteringly.

When Emperor Zhu Youxiao of the Apocalypse was chatting with Kebaba, Wei Zhongxian had already gathered his cronies in the mansion outside the palace to discuss matters.

Wei Liangqing and the others already knew Wei Bao's idea to the emperor.

"Uncle, now it seems that Wei Bao will be able to hand over six million taels of silver to His Majesty, open up sea trade, and open up ten treaty ports, from now on, Wei Bao's power will be even greater, and His Majesty will trust Wei Bao more, uncle must be guarded against." Wei Liangqing said.

"Isn't all nonsense about what you're talking about? Don't we know? Wei Zhongxian frowned and said impatiently.

Wei Liangqing was too frightened to say more.

Wei Zhongxian's nephew Fu Yingxing said: "Uncle doesn't have to worry, it's better to let it be, anyway, His Majesty has approved Wei Bao's proposal, and now the wood is complete." Wei Bao's proposal was not foolproof, he began to open the treaty ports to engage in maritime trade, and on the other hand, he distributed taxes to various places to distract the attention of various places. This point is effective for state capitals outside the coastal areas, and the big households in the coastal provinces will definitely not agree, they will be affected the most, and it will be a double impact, and they will definitely make trouble. Uncle thinks about how many coastal provinces, how many state capitals, and how many big households there are in Daming, if we fan the flames a little, we will definitely make a big mess. At that time, His Majesty knew that the Ming Dynasty's court situation would not be able to play at all without his uncle. ”

When Wei Zhongxian heard this, his mood was a little better, and he nodded approvingly to his nephew, "What you said is right, you really don't have to be too anxious, this is not easy to do!" ”

Wei Bao's silver has long been prepared, and paying the money is not a problem.

It stands to reason that this is a matter set by the emperor himself, and it is something he proposed himself, but Wei Bao actually has no bottom in his heart.

It is easy to pay the money, the key is whether the money can be handed over and whether it can have a good effect.

On the one hand, Wei Bao was involved in most of his energy by the implementation of sea trade, and on the other hand, he wanted to see Cong Gulun Gege, and he was more worried about Cong Gulun Gege, so he instructed Lin Wenbiao to find a way to get Cong Gulun into the capital.

Wei Bao has become a lord, and his every move has attracted attention, and it is dangerous to bring Cong Gulun to the capital, but Wei Bao believes that the Heaven and Earth Society Statistics Office can do it well.

On the day when the emperor personally issued a decree to apportionment of military salaries in various places, Wei Bao handed over six million taels of silver to the internal treasury.

This incident, Wei Bao's payment of six million taels of silver, once again detonated the party dispute between the eunuch party and the Donglin party.

The fierceness of the party struggle in the late Ming Dynasty and the struggle between the old and new parties in the late Song Dynasty were incomparable, and the so-called "the longer the speech, the more the dispute, the more official evils, the deeper the harm to the people, and the more dangerous the closure of the frontier".

The tragedy of history is reincarnated again. What is quite interesting is that the home of the late Ming Dynasty party struggle is not in the "court", but in the "field".

In other words, one of the major characteristics of party struggle in the Ming Dynasty was that all parties to the political dispute began to occupy the main dynamics from speech to action by using public opinion or leading mass movements.

Since the Wanli Dynasty, a large number of official positions have been vacant, and the "strikes" of three generations of emperors have led to a high degree of "inaction" on the part of the government.

In the thirtieth year of Wanli, 1602 as an example, there was a shortage of 3 Shangshu and 10 Shilang in the south and north of Beijing; There is a shortage of 3 governors, 66 political envoys, procurators and other officials, and 25 prefects.

What is this ratio? According to the normal establishment, there should be 12 Shangshu and 24 squires in the six departments of the two capitals, and nearly one-third of them were missing in total at this time.

The court of "lack of officials" is full of thousands of horses, and opinion leaders are lurking among the people.

This is mainly due to the rise of the late Ming scholar class, which historically created the prototype of the political party of "Kusano Discussion of Politics".

The rise of the citizen class provided a boost for the scholar class to participate in politics, and also directly started a short-lived mass political movement in the late Ming Dynasty.

The breeding, entanglement, and combination of these two forces are a label that needs to be highlighted in the late Ming Dynasty, in addition to the exiles, Jianyi, and eunuchs.

Before explaining this judgment, it is necessary to clarify three concepts: the gentry, the scholars, and the burghers.

"Scholars" and "gentry" are the two sides of the Ming Dynasty scholars.

Generally speaking, a gentry refers to a current or former bureaucrat, while a scholar is a person who has the fame of the imperial examination and is waiting to be admitted.

The emergence of "citizens" is more complicated.

Zhu Yuanzhang's ancestral system limited the changes in the Ming DynastyThe establishment of the Ming Dynasty came from an independent armed force that had no one to rely on, and never relied on any class or group.

Zhu Yuanzhang, as the leader of this group, has supreme and unquestionable power and authority.

This enabled him to create a system of his own characteristics for future generations, which was completely different from that of his predecessors, according to his own wishes and ideas, and to kill as many people as he did for this purpose.

The system of the Ming Dynasty is a major turning point in the history of China's political system, which is a well-known historical fact.

Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty and carried out some innovation and upgrading in the system.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang is indeed a very powerful emperor in history in politics.

In Wei Bao's view, it can be ranked in the top three.

The unique features of the Ming system include the abolition of the prime minister system, the drastic adjustment of the official system, and the unprecedented increase in the centralization and centralization of monarchical power.

Strict social control was created, the antique guard system was established, heavy taxes were imposed on Jiangnan, and maritime trade was restricted, so that the society in the early Ming Dynasty presented a "simple" appearance.

In the ideological and cultural fields, we strengthened control, established the country by the law of punishment and killing, and lightened the use of military force, so that the atmosphere of suppression and terror permeated the early Ming Dynasty.

It is undeniable that these three unique features can encapsulate the essence of Hongwu's creation in the early Ming Dynasty, and the rest of the branches can be said to be derived from them.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, tremendous changes took place in the political system, social economy, ideology, and culture.

Zhu Yuanzhang's regime inherited the character of the Mongolian "steppe people" regime, and pointed out that many distinctive characteristics in the Ming system, such as the enslavement of ministers, the exclusive respect of imperial power, the division and subtlety of the imperial family, the martyrdom of palace concubines, and the carelessness of the law, all came from the Jin Yuan.

The Ming system is partly derived from the political traditions of the Han people from the Qin, Han, Tang, and Song dynasties.

The strengthening of autocracy in the early Ming Dynasty should not be entirely blamed on the Mongol and Yuan dynasties, and the expansion of monarchy in the early Ming Dynasty was still a continuation of the Han political tradition that followed the rise of monarchy in the Tang and Song dynasties.

Out of political propaganda, the people of the Ming Dynasty always spared no effort to emphasize their inheritance relationship with the Han, Tang and Song dynasties, and denied their connection with the Mengyuan Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang claimed to be "far away from the Han and Tang Dynasties, with a slight profit or loss, and also participated in the classics of the Song Dynasty".

This has also been the official propaganda caliber of the Ming Dynasty.

From the perspective of racial and military expansion, it proves that Zhu Yuanzhang contracted and "returned" to the political tradition of the Han nationality, or the "Jiangnan standard".

Zhu Yuanzhang made himself ancient and created a set of political systems.

Zhu Yuanzhang's personal decisive role in the creation of the system.

Therefore, the influence of the Hongwu system can only be carried out in an abstract and tortuous way, projected into Zhu Yuanzhang's consciousness, and then acted on the construction of the system through his intentional processing.

Obviously, there will be more cases of "not living up to the name" and "being the same as the real thing".

But the subtle influence of ancient scriptures and ancient systems on Zhu Yuanzhang is undeniable.

Zhu Yuanzhang talked with the minister about the history of the scriptures and was keen on the historical facts of the ancient scriptures.

It can be seen that Zhu Yuanzhang is gradually familiar with the ancient classics, and the ideal political order of the ancient times is indeed what he wants.

In the late Hongwu period, Zhu Yuanzhang did refer to the Confucian classics to govern, which was indeed in contrast to the early Hongwu period.

Zhu Yuanzhang at least has the desire to refer to the ancient scriptures of three generations in the concept of governing the country.

Further, in the Hongwu period, in terms of institutional practice, there was no projection of classical scriptures.

In the thirteenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang took advantage of Hu Weiyong's case to abolish the prime minister system.

Zhu Yuanzhang later declared: Since ancient times, the three princes have argued that the six secretaries have divided their duties, and no prime minister has been established. Since the beginning of Qin, he has been the prime minister, and he has died without heels. Because of this, although there were virtuous ministers, there were many villains who were used during the period, and they were dictatorial and disorderly.

Zhu Yuanzhang's so-called "since ancient times" is a decoration, but he has indeed studied the ancient system, and his desire and idea to restore the ancient system cannot be completely ruled out.

During the Hongwu period, the official system was constantly adjusted, and official names and new institutional names continued to emerge.

The establishment of the four auxiliary officers and university scholars are all made by Zhu Yuanzhang by attaching classics and considering the ancient system.

Hongwu also imitated the "Zhou Li", changed the name to Yuanshi in the matter, and later changed it to Yuanshi.

Zhu Yuanzhang's strong promotion of "The Great Message" is also named after "Shangshu".

To sum up, Zhu Yuanzhang's institutional sources are a combination of four sources, Mengyuan, Han tradition, self-made antiquity, and three generations of imitation.

When the complex sources of the Hongwu system are interpreted in terms of "pluralism to unity".

"Pluralism" means that the sources of the Hongwu system are diverse, and it is also the perspective and approach of interpreting the Hongwu system.

"One Yuan" is intended to highlight Zhu Yuanzhang's casting role.

After Zhu Yuanzhang's mind filtering, deliberate shaping and institutional practice, the multiple elements have been integrated, and Zhu Yuanzhang's unique personal mark is no longer the original face.

This classic political concept embodied in the ancient scriptures has been profoundly transformed by Zhu Yuanzhang.

In the Tang and Song dynasties, the trend of increasing the power of the monarch intensified, and the concepts of absolute loyalty to the monarch advocated by scholars were also used and strengthened by Zhu Yuanzhang.

The servitude of the bureaucrats in the Mengyuan system was inherited by Zhu Yuanzhang, the bureaucratic instrumentalization and service orientation were deepened, and at the same time, the subtleties such as the feudal system and frontier management were also transformed and absorbed by Zhu Yuanzhang.

The legacy of the early system of the Red Turban Army and the original elements of Zhu Yuanzhang himself have also been given new forms.

The Hongwu system should be seen as an evolutionary process of "pluralism to unity".

Although the origin is complex, the Hongwu system was finally determined by the appearance of the founding monarch of the country.

In the name of restoring China, Zhu Yuanzhang gained considerable legitimacy at the beginning of the establishment of the regime.

His regime came from a completely independent and unsupported military bloc, which did not need to rely on or compromise with any social class or geographical bloc.

As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang's own power was able to grow and expand without scruples, and his creation thus gained great freedom, discretion and arbitrariness.

The system of the Ming Dynasty can be said without exaggeration, it is the system of Zhu Yuanzhang.

The same is true of Wei Bao's system, every step of the development of the Heaven and Earth Society is done by Wei Bao himself, and it is the product of Wei Bao's direction.

Therefore, the system of the Heaven and Earth Society is actually the system of Wei Bao, which has the same effect as the establishment of the Ming Dynasty.

Wei Bao does not need to be attached to any force, and the system of the Heaven and Earth Society does not need to be affected by any force.

Wei Bao finally paid off six million taels of silver, and Cong Gulen Gege was also brought into the capital.

Cong Gulen Gege was brought into the capital by disguised as the maid of a large family, and this kind of thing is difficult for Jiannu's meticulous work, and it is not difficult for the Tiandihui Statistics Bureau.

Wei Bao went to visit Conggulun for the first time.

Cong Gulun was taken to the backyard of a deep house compound, and no one took care of her, and it was useless to let her scream and cut her throat.

Just as Conggulen was thinking about whether he was going to kill himself, even the ropes were hung from the treetops.

Wei Bao came, "What are you doing?" ”

Cong Gulen Gege was looking up at the rope on the tree, and when he saw that it was Wei Bao, he was surprised: "It's you!?" ”