On November 12, the fifth year of the Ming Dynasty, the weather was already very cold, but the cold weather could not stop the citizens of Nanjing from rejoicing in the New Year. Although there is still more than a month before the New Year, there are already people selling New Year's goods in the capital, after all, in the past few years, Nanzhili has been in good weather, coupled with the imperial court policy, so ordinary people have two surplus money in their hands.

Ten miles outside the Jubao Gate in Nanjing, in a pavilion, Ma Jiyuan, who was dressed in cloth, and his friend Fang Fengnian of the same year were saying goodbye.

Fang Fengnian is also dressed in cloth, after all, Ma Jiyuan is now deposed, and it will not affect it if he wears an official uniform.

There are a few cold dishes in the gazebo, all of which are appetizers such as peanuts, and there is a wine jug on a small stove next to it, and the aroma of rice wine wafts out of it.

Fang Fengnian poured Ma Jiyuan a glass of rice wine, and then asked, "Boyu, are you really not going to make a comeback this time when you return to your hometown?" You must know that we still have a lot of Nanzhili and Zhejiang scholars to support! ”

Ma Jiyuan drank the wine, then twisted his long beard and said: "Good wine, it's still Shaoxing's rice wine for appetite!" ”

"Boyu, your good brother is about to implement a new policy, are you still in the mood to taste rice wine?" Fang Fengnian looked at Ma Jiyuan's question and asked very angrily.

Ma Jiyuan put down his wine glass and said with a smile: "Hehe! Shutian, I have read the new deal, to be honest, if this new deal is implemented in the year of the Apocalypse, the old man will definitely support it! But now is the wrong time! ”

"Oh? Boyu actually has such an opinion, let's hear it! ”

"Shutian, in the later period of the Chinese dynasties, a large number of land were annexed, the two Han Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty, and the former Ming Dynasty. It is the annexation of land, a large number of displaced people have no way to live, so they flow to the place, if it is a normal year, it is better, but in a disaster year, the grain harvest is lost, and the world is immediately in chaos! That's why the old man said he supported this new deal! ”

Fang Fengnian is not a newcomer to officialdom, he has also been a magistrate for a few years, and he still has some understanding of government affairs, and now he heard Ma Jiyuan say this and hurriedly asked: "So Boyu, do you support the new policy?" Then why do you still take the lead in opposing it in the court? ”

"The old man just came and said, the timing is not right! Now the world is in turmoil, the only thing that is relatively stable is the provinces of Nanzhili, if the new policy is implemented, the people will immediately be in chaos, and some of those families have been prosperous for hundreds of years, where can they be solved in a short time? Don't look at the Xu family in Huating now, but the Xu family has only been developed for less than 50 years, and the Zhang family in eastern Zhejiang, the Wu family in Taicang, and the Zhou family in Hangzhou are really small! ”

What Ma Jiyuan said is the real Dashi family in the south of the Yangtze River, such as the Zhang family in eastern Zhejiang, which is Zhang Huangyan's family, which can be traced back to Zhang Zhao in the Three Kingdoms period. The Zhang family has been developing in Jiangnan for thousands of years, and these big families and local forces are intertwined, which is not comparable to the nouveau riche Xu Jie's family.

And these Han Dashi clans, in the original history, until the Qianlong period of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, were slowly decayed under the blows of the literary prison of the three emperors of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong. Of course, this kind of big family did play a role in stabilizing the place in the troubled times, and Zhu Hongsan was able to seize the provinces of Nanzhili so easily, and these Dashi clans also made a lot of efforts behind the scenes.

But the era of peace is different, a large amount of land is concentrated in the hands of these big families, and these big families control foreign trade, from land output to production and operation, and then to foreign trade exports, the imperial court can not intervene at all, so that the contradictions between the court and the local government are more and more prominent.

In fact, this conflict broke out in the Wanli years, the Suzhou weavers in the twenty-ninth year of Wanli occurred in the Suzhou weaver group * incident, when the Wanli Emperor sent the tax envoy Sun Long to prepare to tax silk in Suzhou, who knew that the local weavers were instigated to burn down the Suzhou Mansion three seats, killed the tax official Huang Jianjie, and many people who were responsible for collecting taxes were killed. The Suzhou tax made Sun Long's nose and face swollen after being beaten, and he fled back to the capital in a hurry. In the end, the imperial court didn't dare to do anything, just arrested Ge Xian, a foreman who provoked trouble, but he didn't dare to kill him, but he was released after a few years.

And the most intriguing thing about this mass* incident is the attitude of officials at all levels in Suzhou Prefecture in this matter. After the incident, the entire government of Suzhou City, the government mission, and the surrounding army seemed to disappear overnight. Three consecutive days of large-scale riots, burning the government office, killing the "imperial court officials", such a major event, but did not see the figure of the Suzhou magistrate, let alone a large-scale suppression, the government that maintained local law and order, as if the world had evaporated.

Even after Sun Long fled to Hangzhou, the incident basically subsided. The prefect of Suzhou symbolically posted a notice demanding the arrest of the culprit, but no actual action was taken. Ge Xian, the foreman, can also calmly organize a meeting to discuss and make a decision to surrender on his own initiative. After being arrested, it was obviously a major crime of treason, but he did not kill or sentence for many years, but he was only supported by good food and drink, and after a certain number of years, he was automatically released. In the highly authoritarian Chinese feudal society, such a thing happened really a strange thing.

From this incident, it can be seen that the energy of these big families in Jiangnan can actually kill the officials of the imperial court, and finally force the Wanli Emperor to fart, where is this kind of strength that the nouveau riche Xu Bengao can do?

Ma Ji has been in Nanzhili for a long time, so he naturally knows the energy of these scholars, so he resolutely opposes the new policy in the court.

Although Fang Fengnian had never been an official in Nanzhili, he still knew about the Suzhou tax resistance incident during the Wanli period, and after listening to Ma Jiyuan, he asked: "Then what should I do according to Boyu's meaning?" ”

"This is simple, wait until the Central Plains is unified and the world is stable, and it is slowly being figured out!"

As an official of the Ming Dynasty, it was not easy for Ma Jiyuan to see this, and the method he gave was also used by the Manchu Qing Dynasty in later generations, and it took three emperors nearly a hundred years to wipe out the major families of Nanzhili. But as the emperor, Zhu Hongsan can't wait, Zhu Hongsan, as a traveler, knows that in less than a hundred years, the West will usher in the industrial revolution, when the West will transition from factory handicraft industry to machine industry, replacing manpower with machines, and replacing individual factory manual production with large-scale factory production.

If China is still like the Manchu Qing Dynasty, slowly solving these big families and slowly liberating the productive forces, when all the solutions are settled, Western warships will drive to the door. In order to prevent China from following the old path of the Qing Dynasty, Zhu Hongsan made up his mind to carry out industrialization in Nanzhili, the richest part of China, completely breaking the local small handicraft industry and replacing them with mechanized large-scale production.

And Ma Jiyuan didn't know this, not that Ma Jiyuan was not capable enough, but that the limitations of the times limited him. Even if Zhu Hongsan told him, Ma Jiyuan couldn't understand it.

Fang Fengnian also admired Ma Jiyuan in his heart when he heard him say this, and couldn't help asking, "Boyu, are you really not ready to recover this time?" ”

Fang Fengnian originally thought that Ma Jiyuan was just retreating, and he was ready to make a comeback in a few years after returning to his hometown. Ma Jiyuan is fifty-five years old this year, the same age as his sworn enemy Tong Yangjia, although he is considered an old man, but the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty is seventy years old, and Ma Jiyuan still has a lot of green years.

Who knows that Ma Jiyuan sighed: "Hey! Shutian, this time the old man is not ready to recover when he returns to his hometown, even if His Majesty summons the old man and does not come out! ”

"Why is Boyu like this?" Fang Fengnian is also very strange, this is not like Ma Jiyuan's character! Ma Jiyuan's temperament is Jiang Guizhi's old and strong, why did he retreat this time?

"Shutian, Your Majesty has disappointed the old man too much! Back then, His Majesty promised in front of the old man that he must return a Qingming officialdom to the Ming Dynasty, but now you look at it, the cabinet old man accepted bribes, and the local governor used the infrastructure project to make a big profit, which is no longer the old man's original intention, so more is better than less, the old man still returns to his hometown to farm, and ends up idle! ”

Fang Fengnian heard Ma Jiyuan say this before he knew that this old and angry young man was sad, but isn't officialdom like this? What is the officialdom that is as clear as a mirror, that only exists.

"Boyu, you're gone, but what are we going to do?" Fang Fengnian is talking about their classmates in the second year of the Apocalypse.

"Shutian, I have already explained you to Ma Mingyuan before leaving, my second brother is very smart, but he doesn't have any talents in his hands now, don't worry!"

Fang Fengnian heard Ma Jiyuan say this, and he didn't think about it, now Ma Mingyuan wants to borrow the second year of the Apocalypse Alumni Association, but Ma Mingyuan is not no one in his hands, it's just that his Chongzhen Alumni Association for ten years has not yet become a climate, if his classmates experience it in the local area in a few years, will we still have a good life?

Thinking of this, Fang Fengnian remembered the fact that King Qin came to him a few days ago: "Boyu, King Qin came to me a few days ago, but he didn't say anything, I just hope to take care of it in the future!" ”

Speaking of his grandson Zhu Jiang, King of Qin, Ma Jiyuan's expression became serious: "Shutian, you remember, now that the throne has been decided, there must be no wishful thinking." When King Qin comes to you and Jade Di again, remember not to promise him anything, you know? ”

Fang Fengnian has always been the most Zhu Jiang in Ma Mingyuan's family, and he was a little unhappy when he heard Ma Jiyuan say this: You Ma Jiyuan is Ma Mingyuan's elder brother and the emperor's father-in-law, they will never be able to deal with you. But we are different, you pat your ass and leave, how can we get mixed up in the court without looking for a big tree?

Ma Jiyuan looked at Fang Fengnian and bowed his head and didn't speak, and said anxiously: "Shutian, you are also familiar with history books, and you also know that seizing the heir has always been dangerous, either from high to the top or into the eighteenth layer of hell. What's more, the crown prince is not at fault, and he does his best to handle the government, you must not think anything wrong! ”

Fang Fengnian saw that Ma Jiyuan was so serious, and hurriedly promised: "Don't worry, Boyu, I will go to King Qin when I go back and let him die!" ”

Ma Jiyuan nodded reassuringly when he heard Fang Fengnian say this, stood up and said, "Okay, it's not too early, I have to rush to Lishui tonight, please go back to Shutian!" In the future, when Shutian is free, you can come to Ningguo Mansion to find me, although there is nothing to eat, but Shaoxing rice wine is enough! ”