Because it was a period of national mourning, the court was nervously preparing for the battle in Liaodong, and Zuo Zhan ordered that in addition to the palace where the sacrifice was prepared, everything in the palace was simple, the huge Forbidden City was empty, and the north was particularly deserted.

In the palace of diligent administration, Zuo Zhan did not dare to slack off in the slightest. At present, the main government affairs of the imperial court are to pacify Liaodong and provide disaster relief. In recent years, natural and man-made disasters have continued in various localities, such as droughts and locusts in the northwest, floods in the Central Plains, and pirates in the southeast. The Donglin Party, as always, opposed the reopening of mining taxes and the increase of commercial taxes and fees, and suggested that Liaodong's military expenses should be apportioned to the people in various places.

Zuo Zhan understood that mercantilism was still in its infancy, and that agriculture and handicrafts were the foundation of the Ming Dynasty, and that the foundation of agriculture was peasants and arable land. After more than 200 years in the Ming Dynasty, land annexation was already very serious, and the feudal kings and powerful people in various places not only embezzled a large amount of peasants' land, but also concealed the amount to evade taxes. In order to meet the target of annual revenue, the local officials constantly increased the burden on the peasants.

Under normal circumstances, the people can still make ends meet, and in the event of natural and man-made disasters, they have to sell their land. In this cycle, not only did the imperial court collect less and less taxes, but more and more displaced people from all over the country, which eventually led to the abandonment of agriculture and the increase of the imperial court deficit year by year.

Thinking about this, Zuo Zhan decisively approved the excerpts calling for disaster relief in various places, and then threw the Donglin Party's proposal into the garbage basket. For those ministers with strong words and fierce words, Wei Jinzhong came forward to list the evidence of the crime and confiscate the family property. Ye Xianggao wanted to jointly protest, but now that the war is imminent, no one dares to shake the morale of the army, and those Donglin Party members who have been raided are indeed extremely evil, so they can only secretly contact and protect each other.

The reason why the Left War dared to eliminate maladministration by cutting through the mess with a quick knife was by no means a move to rush for quick success and quick gain. After nearly four months of running-in, he successively reorganized the cabinet and the chief of ceremonies, and set up the military aircraft department, so that the military and political powers were all in one. In order to raise funds, he secretly sold the treasures and antiques in the inner treasury, and many government affairs were able to bypass the difficulties of the account opening department and complete it as quickly as possible. What's more, he had figured out the factions of the Ming Dynasty, dividing them into kings, ministers, honors, and nobles, as well as eunuchs and merchant groups.

The monarchy is the power of the emperor, and the peak of the Ming Dynasty was during the period of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di. Zhu Yuanzhang not only had big cases such as empty seals, Hu Huaixian, and Lan Yu, but also abolished the prime minister system that had existed for nearly 2,000 years. The officials under him were as heavy as the tombs, and they had to say a life and death to their families before going out in the morning, although this was mostly a slander of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but it also reflected the strength of the monarchy at that time. Zhu Dijing was difficult to ascend the throne, moved the capital to Beijing, completely weakened the power of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Huaixi, and added Dongchang to monitor the ministers, and the monarch's power reached its peak.

The so-called gentleman's Ze was cut in the fifth generation. After the Tumubao Rebellion, the nobles declined, and the vassal power began to become an important political force. The great ceremonial controversy of the Jiajing era marked the beginning of the challenge of the monarchy's power. Xia Yan, Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng were all at the pinnacle of the courtiers' power, and they once overwhelmed the emperor's limelight. For example, Wanli's private life was erosive and profligate, and Zhang Jiangling and others set him a monthly consumption standard, and he would not pay the excess. This example has become the system, and now the expenses of the Left War are also applying this standard, and the decline of the monarchy can be seen.

Subject power refers to the power of the scholarly class. Because Zhu Yuanzhang was born as a cattle herder, he was extremely hostile to the landlord class and the bureaucratic class, so the early vassals were the lives of the young lady's body and maids, specializing in dirty work. As the emperors became more and more lazy, the celebrant entered the center of power, checked and balanced each other with the cabinet, and everyone was at peace and sound, and developed peacefully for nearly a hundred years. By the time of Zhang Juzheng, the power of ministers reached its peak. Some sycophants praised him as the prime minister of the Ming Dynasty, but people proudly said: "I am not the prime minister, but the regent", which means that the prime minister is a fart, and I am the regent.

Of course, Zhang Juzheng is a generation of famous ministers, and a whip law is famous through the ages. I am also an admirer of him, and when I devoted myself to research, I found an important omission in him. Because of his excessive power, many people stood up against it, and he treated these opponents equally: all rolled up and got out, and there were also his fellow scholars. After his death, the divided vassal power began to form parties, the more famous ones were the Donglin Party, the Chu Party, the Zhejiang Party, the Qi Party, and the Eunuch Party under the command of "Nine Thousand Years Old". These parties fought endlessly in the last years of the Ming Dynasty until the fall of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

Xunquan refers to the military general group, which was extremely prosperous at the beginning of the founding of the country, for example, several dukes of Zhu Yuanzhang were all military generals (although Li Shanchang, the Duke of Korea, was not a general who commanded the army, but belonged to the chief of operational staff and logistics). After Zhu Dijing's martyrdom, he was rewarded aggressively, and only military generals could get the duke. After the civil fort, the military generals were wiped out and collectively retreated to the second line. The generals were not only controlled by the ministers, but also under the supervision of the eunuchs, and completely lost the command of the army, which was also an important reason for the defeat of Sarhu.

The so-called power comes out of the barrel of the gun, and the truth is within the range of the cannon. If Zuo Zhan wanted to revive the Ming Dynasty, he must improve the status of military generals and restore their command, so he arranged military generals such as Sun Chengzong and Xiong Tingbi to key positions, and issued an edict to promote young generals, and Xunquan began to receive targeted support. Of course, with the establishment of the Military Aircraft Department, the appointment of military generals and the transfer of troops were directly responsible for Zuo Zhan, which indirectly strengthened the monarchy's power.

Gui refers to the royal family and people with titles. Before Zhu Yuanzhang became the emperor, he successively engaged in the work of herding cattle, beggars, and monks, and struggled to survive at the bottom of society. In order not to suffer for his descendants, he instituted a detailed system of stipends. Whoever is in his bloodline, he can receive a salary when he reaches the age of ten, and when he dies there is a high allowance, which is the predecessor of the Western cradle-to-grave welfare system.

At first, there were only twenty-six princes in various places, and the royal family who received salaries was only a few hundred. By the end of Wanli, this number reached a staggering 90,000, becoming the largest burden on the imperial court's finances. (Although Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants in the late Ming Dynasty had millions, there were five more suits, so don't think that his descendants can all receive money.) However, Li Zicheng treated them equally, and the imperial family did not give birth to any grass wherever he went, and in the end, this family system became the biggest tragedy in the last years of the Ming Dynasty. ）

At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Ming Dynasty had six dukes, twenty-eight marquises, and countless others. Zhu Yuanzhang in line with the fair attitude of "drinking gold bottles together, and the white blades are not entangled", he killed a lot during his reign, and Zhu Di eradicated a batch after the martyrdom, and the number of people with knighthoods was not many. After hundreds of years of evolution, many nobles have fallen into the middle of the family, and the more famous ones are the British Duke Zhang Weixian, the Duke of Chengguo Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Zheng Guo Chang Yanling, and the Duke of Mu Qi Yuan in Yunnan.

Eunuch power refers to the power of eunuchs, and their growth is already dramatic. During the period of Zhu Yuanzhang, the eunuchs also poured the water for washing their feet in the night pot, with low wages and little oil and water, and belonged to the more bitter eunuch generation. During the Zhu Di period, it became the East Factory, which was used to monitor the Jinyi Guards and hundreds of officials, and the promotion of power brought about an increase in oil and water, and there was a qualitative leap in life. However, at that time, the eunuchs were illiterate and could only be the emperor's peripheral minions, and they did not belong to the core class of power. From Zhu Zhanji taught them to read and write, they began to enter the ranks of the regular army. With the establishment of the celebrant eunuch, the eunuch power was like the Yellow River flooding out of control, and the great eunuchs Wang Zhen, Liu Jin, and Wang Zhi appeared one after another.

At present, Wei Jinzhong is still a potential stock of the great eunuch, and he is working the front line towards the dream of "nine thousand years old". Under his leadership, Dongchang has achieved a series of remarkable results, and has won the "trust" and "dependence" of the Left War.

The merchant group is quite honest. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, capitalism had sprouted in Jiangnan, and many people even started overseas trade. Because their political status is very low, ranking at the bottom of the Shinong industry and commerce, they do everything possible to make friends with the eunuchs, and the Donglin Party gradually becomes their dependence.

The idea of the Left War was to promote the development of mercantilism and reopen overseas trade, so he was willing to support these merchants from the bottom of his heart. However, at present, the imperial court is in financial difficulties, and they need to make more efforts, and for those profiteers who disregard the general interests of the nation and the fate of the country, Wei Jinzhong will turn them into the Donglin Party and distribute them together.

After analyzing the various forces of the Ming Dynasty, Zuo Zhan believed that the monarchy was the weakest. Think about the change in Tumubao, the untimely death of Wu Zong, the fact that Sejong was almost strangled to death by the palace maid, the death of Guangzong Red Pill, and the death of Emperor Tianqi in the water, there are a pair of invisible hands manipulating it, and if you are not careful, you will repeat the mistakes of history. Besides, he is not a person of this era, and he still needs to explore and learn about the government, and he can't be in a hurry.

After thinking about it, he could only adopt the method of reusing eunuchs to stabilize the regime, although Wang An was loyal, but he had too many contacts with the Donglin Party and could not be given heavy responsibilities. Although Wei Jinzhong and Wei Chao were greedy for power and money, they were sophisticated and ruthless, and they were pawns that could continue to be used. As for Cao Huachun, Fang Zhenghua, Gao Shiming, and Li Fengxiang, who are willing to die for the country, they still need to be observed and experienced at the moment.

For the dozen or so auxiliary ministers left behind by Guangzong Tuogu, the strategy of Huairou was used to divide and rule. These people were already divided into different factions, for example, the head of the cabinet and the auxiliary Fang Congzhe belonged to the Zhejiang Party, Zhu Kuiyuan, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and Xiong Tingbi, the chief soldier of Liaodong, belonged to the Chu Party, Ye Xianggao, Sun Chengzong, Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou, Han Yi and other important ministers belonged to the Donglin Party, and among the other non-party personages, only Huang Kezhang served in the Ministry of Industry.

In this way, it seems that the power of the Donglin Party is in full swing, and it has the momentum to overwhelm all factions. Fortunately, since Ye Xianggao was responsible for the abolition and merger of idle institutions, cracks have appeared within the Donglin Party, and many people are very dissatisfied with his attitude of treating everyone equally, and they have written impeachment one after another. Zuo Zhan was naturally overjoyed, and took the opportunity to change Ye Xianggao to the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, nominally the second assistant of the cabinet, but he no longer had real power. There are also Yang Lian, Han Yi and others, who are ruthless people who are jealous and hateful, and when they saw that the little emperor successively searched out huge amounts of assets of unknown origin from the homes of the Donglin Party, they instantly severed their relations with the Donglin Party and became non-party people who were only loyal to the emperor.