The emperor decreed, the cabinet refuted, the emperor issued another decree, and the cabinet refuted. In the next few days, the cabinet scholars were terrified, but the pride of the literati and the interests of the group still made them insist on refuting the emperor's decree again and again, and the reason for the confrontation between the monarch and the minister was only for Yang Hongzhang, which made Yang Hongzhang's popularity in the eyes of civil and military officials in Beijing City increase rapidly.

Yang Hongzhang was once again surprised by the ability of these civil officials to collect money, he was responsible for copying Fan Fucui, and did not have the kind of mind of Cao Huachun and Wang Chengen, Zhang Bao and others who followed him to do things were also very Spring Festival, and as a result, Fan Fucui's cellar hid more than 1.9 million taels of silver in his home, and there were countless treasures of all kinds, and there were six industries in Beijing, and last year's net profit was 6,700,000 taels! This kind of data made Zhu Youzhen finally feel better, including Chen Guogong and several other major rebel backbones, and the result was more than twice that of Xue Guoguan and Yuan Dewang in the first time, exceeding the annual income of the Ming Dynasty. This gave Zhu Youzhen another reason to discuss the issue of tax rate reform with his ministers. The nobles and officials are so rich, but the imperial treasury is empty, who will pay taxes if you don't pay taxes?

But what made Zhu Youzhen unhappy was about the appointment and dismissal of Yang Hongzhang, and the scholars in the cabinet were still in a stalemate with him, so he summoned Chen Xinjia and Yang Hongzhang successively. Chen Xinjia said his thoughts nervously, the idea of a very ordinary member of the civilian group, that is, although Yang Hongzhang showed outstanding military talent in several battles against the Qing army, after all, his experience is limited, and the ability required by the general army of a town is all-round. Therefore, it is recommended that Yang Hongzhang go to a certain town to be a deputy general or be in charge of a certain health center, and then be promoted with the increase of seniority.

Zhu Youzhen doesn't know whether he has enough qualifications for Wang Fu, Yang Sichang and Liu Zeqing are also enough, and they are not defeated when facing the Qing army. Yang Hongzhang formed a strong contrast with them, and in the process of this palace change, how many first-class and second-grade officials were watching the fire from the other side, and how many generals were slow to act, only Yang Hongzhang was caught off guard by those rebellions. However, the cabinet insisted on disagreeing, and his decree was ineffective, unless all of Yang Hongzhang's future military expenses came from his internal slaves.

Yang Hongzhang once again proposed to set up a water division by himself, Yang Sichang, Liu Yuliang and other bigwigs did not want to see him rise to the rank of a town commander like a rocket, and they should not care about a Yangtze River water division or re-establish a water division. But Zhu Youzhen was reluctant, Chen Xinjia was right, Yang Hongzhang has great talents, it is too wasteful to go to the water division, and now the henchmen of the Ming Dynasty are mainly big invitations and thieves.

Yang Hongzhang refused to let Zhu Youzhen go back to Jiangnan, so he had to retreat to the second, so he accompanied Zhu Youzhen to look for a long time on the border map, and finally clicked in the southeast direction of Beijing.

Zhu Youzhen looked at it suspiciously for a long time and then asked, "Tianjin Sanwei?" What about the guard? ”

Yang Hongzhang shook his head: "Your Majesty, the guards of the Ming Dynasty have rotted to the bones, and their combat effectiveness is about the same as that of the people, and it is impossible to rely on these people to defend the capital and defend the Ming Dynasty." There are more than 40 guards in Nanzhili, and what the result is, it is not that there are five or six thousand Japanese robbers. The ministers are trusted by the emperor, and what they want to do is never to eat and wait for death. Chen planned to build a city in Tianjin, and build Tianjin into a military fortress of the Ming Dynasty, a military training camp and an ordnance production base. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at the map with bright eyes, and then said, "Let's talk about it specifically." ”

"Your Majesty, you see that the location of Tianjin is actually very important, much more important than Baoding. Now the capital from west to east thousands of miles of the Great Wall set up Datong, Shanxi, Xuanfu, Jizhen and Liaodong and other important border towns, why once the Jiannu army crossed the Great Wall can drive straight in, less than half a month about the entire Zhili looted, and even the front reached Shandong. The reason is that these border towns are all in a straight line of defense, one point is broken, the whole line is broken, and the whole situation is broken. Although Baoding had troops, it was in the southwest of the capital, and it was impossible to rush to the aid of the capital in time, nor could it stop Jiannu from going south.

On the contrary, if I were to hoard heavy troops here in Tianjin, whether Jiannu came from the north or from the east, I would have to take care of the army here. The capital and Tianjin are only 300 miles, and it is an important hub for the southward movement of the canal. It can be a good way to block Jiannu from going south from the eastern front. Echoing the east and west of Baoding, and Tianjin's location is on the only way for Jiannu to go south and return to the north, which will completely disrupt the deployment of Jiannu. Give the minister two years, and he must train an army for the emperor to surpass the Tianxiong Army and the Guanning Iron Cavalry, and if Jiannu dares to come to the minister, he will definitely surprise them. If Jiannu dared to besiege the capital as he did this year, the minister would lead his troops to directly insert into the rear of the Jiannu army, and attack the soldiers of the Beijing camp inside and outside, so that he would not return. If Jiannu does not come, the minister can send at least 20,000 elite soldiers to other border towns every year to replace those guards with low combat effectiveness. In less than five years, the northern defense force of the entire Ming Dynasty will be at least several times stronger. There is no need to rely too much on those self-respecting guys in Liaodong. ”

Zhu Youzhen once again widened his eyes and looked at Yang Hongzhang, who was several years younger than himself, this guy was really a blessed general from God. So he asked impatiently: "What is the matter with military manufacturing?" ”

"Your Majesty, Zhili has many iron ores, which are important raw materials for the production of muskets and artillery. Tianjin was the hub of the canal, which could mobilize gunpowder and craftsmen from all over the country, and Tianjin faced the sea, so it could conduct artillery experiments without any scruples, and the establishment of a new firearms bureau in Tianjin could also quickly transport the firearms of the manufacturing number to the capital or other border towns. ”

"Listening to Aiqing say this, if this Tianjin City is completed, I am afraid it will require a lot of silver taels. And the cost of the firearms bureau must also be indispensable. ”

"Your Majesty, compared to the property and people looted by Jiannu over the years, how many Tianjin can be built. Once Tianjin is established, no matter whether the enemy comes from the east, west, north and south, the capital, Baoding, and Tianjin can support each other as horns, and the defenders of the three places can form an encirclement of the enemy at will. This is a strategic acquisition of geographical advantages, and we must not be reluctant to do so. Moreover, Tianjin is near the sea, we can also establish a small sailor, just like the Phi Dao sailor back then, once Jiannu goes south, the Tianjin sailor can attack from the sea to harass Shengjing. Moreover, the sailors equipped with muskets can be used as infantry when they go ashore, and this distance between Tianjin and the capital can completely build an amphibious army. ”

The matter between Yuan Chonghuan and Mao Wenlong Yang Hongzhang once analyzed it for Zhu Youzhen, and when he heard the water master again, Zhu Youzhen's eyes lit up again. If a large number of Qing troops can be contained with a small number of sailors, and it is less than 300 miles away from the capital, it is naturally a thing worth looking forward to if there is an amphibious force that can be converted immediately. Seeing that Zhu Youzhen was still hesitating, Yang Hongzhang had no choice but to continue to add oil and vinegar: "Your Majesty, Tianjin is strategically located, it is the hub of grain transportation from the south to the north, once it is built, its commercial status will definitely surpass Baoding, according to the new tax rate of the Ming Dynasty, the minister is confident that the commercial tax in two or three years can offset the cost of building the city, and the future income can be used to expand military training and firearms manufacturing." ”

Hearing this, Zhu Youzhen was excited, he also knew that Yang Hongzhang's father was a businessman, Yang Hongzhang's talent in military and economic strategy was already very good, and his business talent should not be bad, if he could really add a big city comparable to Baoding here, these taxes would naturally be windfall income.

Yang Hongzhang didn't speak again, and Zhu Youzhen excitedly turned around next to the map. After a long time, he finally made up his mind: "Well, if there is no Aiqing, it is difficult to say whether I can sit and be the emperor again." If there is no Aiqing, the Daming treasury may still be empty. You got the money, and it makes sense for you to spend it.

Even if it is a big consumption, I will support you, there is no need to rush to produce results, Tianjin must be built well, first of all, it is a fortress, then it is the barracks of the Ming Dynasty, as for business, it is secondary. In my lifetime, I must curb the slaves of the house. When you have trained enough elite soldiers, I will join you in the eastward crusade! Directly tied the emperor Taiji and Dolgon to the capital to worship the ancestors and govern the people.

Hehe, Tianjin General Soldier, I think those old guys have to refute it, is it possible to let a hero like Aiqing continue to be a general? Hehe, if you dare to refute it, I will replace them all! ”

The corners of Yang Hongzhang's mouth twitched when he heard this, this emperor with rich political experience is actually very capricious sometimes, but fortunately, he is ambitious, as long as he can help Zhongxing Daming, he is excited. Yang Hongzhang, such a thing that only needs money to kill multiple birds with one stone, he naturally wants to support it fully.

Zhu Youzhen really did what he said, first let Wang Chengen and other eunuchs privately bring a message to the old men of the cabinet, that is, Yang Hongzhang is a hero, and he has the credit of repelling Jiannu in the past, and the credit of saving the driver in the past, and most of the courtiers also recognize the strategies that Yang Hongzhang said in the chapter...... In short, the emperor wants to reuse Yang Hongzhang, no one can stop it, if there are no more people who don't know each other, the emperor will also turn his face, and it's a big deal that the cabinet will be replaced!

This is more capricious but also more deterrent, after all, this young emperor has even killed powerful ministers like Wei Zhongxian, and even a feudal official like Yuan Chonghuan who was once very trusted has also been killed. It is true that these people are the heads of civil officials, but they are also the emperor's courtiers.

On the occasion of the Spring Festival, after experiencing the invasion and plundering of the Qing army and the implementation of tax rate reform, Fan Fucui and others conspired to depose the emperor, the people of the Ming border town were adjusted one after another, including two eye-catching changes, the trilateral governor Hong Chengchou led the Shaanxi army into Xuanfu, succeeded Lu Xiang and promoted to the governor of Xuanda, and Yang Hongzhang, who had made meritorious contributions, awarded General Zhaoyong as the chief soldier of Tianjin and the prefect of Tianjin, built a city in Tianjin and trained a new army.

The appointment of Hong Chengchou can be regarded as a flat adjustment, and Hong Chengchou's ability and the combat effectiveness of the Shaanxi army are obvious to all, and no one has any objections. Although the scholars of the cabinet wanted to oppose Yang Hongzhang's resignation, the monarch and the ministers had been in confrontation for a long time, and Tianjin seemed to be Yang Hongzhang's specialty both in building a city and training a new army, and there was no problem of insufficient qualifications. The position of the key Tianjin General Army was set by the emperor specifically for the purpose of arranging Yang Hongzhang, and they must oppose it unless they propose a position that can arrange such a meritorious hero.