What's the hardest thing to do? Zhu Youzhen thought that it was the first step, and the longer the process, the more difficult it was to take the first step. In fact, there are some things that seem to have no possibility of success, and when you have the courage to take the first step, you have at least grasped some possibility.

Just like when the fifth anti-encirclement and suppression failed, and the Central Red Army abandoned the Jiangxi base area and moved, almost no one would know that they were the great Red Army that created the miracle of the Long March, not the second Shi Dakai.

As the supreme ruler of the empire, no matter what Chongzhen does, there will be no shortage of supporters and opponents, and all he needs to do is to make as many supporters as possible and weaken the opponents into a minority.

After eleven years of reform, the imperial court has gained the broadest support in Hebei, and in a sense, the former Beizhili has become the basic plate of Chongzhen. It was not that, as in the past, the emperor only received support from the local landlords and gentry, and the loyalty of the local people was transferred to his name through the local gentry and landlords.

This was the strict control of the imperial court directly over the peasant households through the veterans' associations, peasant associations, commune organizations, county councils, and schools. The control of the Hebei gentry over the common people who worked on their land had been weakened to the lowest level ever. Public power has entered the countryside and villages, reconstructing the power base of the Ming Dynasty.

It is precisely by virtue of his thorough mastery of the Hebei region that Zhu Youzhen has the confidence to step out of the challenge to the southern gentry class. The drought in Henan in the twelfth year of Chongzhen also forced him to give up the strategy of slowly dealing with the southern gentry, and decided to use a radical and violent method to break the control of the Jiangnan gentry on the local government.

However, Chongzhen also knows very well that without the impetus of external forces, these ministers in the cabinet will not take this step so easily. Therefore, after he confessed to Qian Qianyi, he immediately recruited Cui Chengxiu, Feng Quan, Sun Zhiqi and others, and began to create a situation to force the central ministers to express their attitude towards famine relief.

As a result, the Daming Times began to compile reports on the disaster situation in various parts of the north, and at the same time began to call on all strata of the Ming Dynasty to work together to fight against the once-in-a-century drought in the north. Chongzhen personally wrote an article published in the Times, believing that the fight against drought is not only the business of the people in the disaster area, but also the business of the people of the whole Ming Dynasty.

He also believes that this is a war between man and nature, and the imperial court must not stand idly by and watch the people in the disaster area fend for themselves. The imperial court must lead and unite the strength of the whole country to win this war with the mentality of resisting the invasion of foreign enemies. Traitors who betray the motherland on the real battlefield are punishable by death, and those who hoard grain on the battlefield to fight drought and sabotage the fight against disasters are also enemies of the people and should no longer be protected by the law.

Cui Chengxiu and Feng Quan immediately responded to the emperor's call and led the gentry in the north to form a charitable association for disaster relief and donations, and took the initiative to donate money to the south and overseas to buy food to help the victims. Many large landowners and grain merchants in the north have also openly stated that they will never hoard grain in such a year of famine, nor will they make a fortune in the country.

The momentum of public opinion that originated in the capital soon swept through the northern provinces and won the support of the gentry and common people in the affected provinces. Then came the voices of Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Yunnan and other southern provinces, which put the cabinet ministers who were still wavering into a dilemma.

Although the influence of the Jiangnan gentry was great, it was not as good as the public opinion of the northern gentry who followed the movements of the cabinet at this time. The most important thing for officials in the Ming Dynasty is reputation, as long as the reputation is not corrupted, even if they temporarily lose their official positions, there is always hope for a recovery. But once the reputation is ruined, this official can't do it anyway.

Now that the tide of the capital and the north has been blowing, and saving the disaster has become politically correct, any official who dares to question this point is undoubtedly tantamount to political suicide. And the charity association led by Cui Chengxiu and Feng Quan has won the praise of the northern people, which has even washed away a lot of the stains of the eunuch party on the two of them.

Cui Chengxiu and Feng Quan are not alone, they have their own departments and the support of many northern gentry under them. The reputation of these two men was high, and it immediately aroused the vigilance of the cabinet ministers. In the current situation, if the cabinet collapses and anyone can benefit, it is obviously these two eunuch backbones who have the ability to reorganize the cabinet.

Of the six cabinet ministries at this time, the most powerful ones were naturally reformist officials, followed by the new Donglin Party that broke away from the Donglin Party. Although most of the reformist officials have an unclear relationship with the eunuch party, and some of them are even the so-called eunuch party at all, the eunuch party itself is a political alliance that is attached to Wei Zhongxian's surroundings in order to resist the dominance of Donglin, and there are not many eunuch backbones who really support Wei Zhongxian.

After Chongzhen ascended the throne, he easily wooed Huang Liji and other ministers and drove Wei Zhongxian and Cui Chengxiu out of the capital. After Huang Liji formed a cabinet, he quickly severed his relationship with Wei Zhongxian and Cui Chengxiu, which led to the emergence of reformist officials. These reformist officials, though from the eunuch party, did not have a good opinion of the outdated political alliance.

Under the current situation that the reform has entered a stable stage, the reformist officials have steadily occupied the upward channel of officialdom, and they naturally will not invite Cui Chengxiu and Feng Quan back to their heads. And out of their understanding of these eunuch backbones, these officials were more wary of their resurgence than the Donglin party, fearing that they would liquidate themselves as traitors after they gained power.

As for the new Donglin party, although their political attitude is softer than that of the Donglin party, and they are willing to co-govern with the reformist officials who have reformed their ways, this does not mean that they are willing to accept the backbone of the eunuch party who persecuted the Donglin leader to re-enter the ruling circle.

Therefore, under the pressure of public opinion in the capital and even in the whole north, many officials began to change their attitudes, believing that under special circumstances, the use of certain special means by the imperial court to tide over the difficulties should not be regarded as an infringement on the property of the local gentry.

In particular, after the publication of the letter of Wang Qi, the prefect of Guide, some young scholars also changed their attitudes, believing that the current ruling ministers of the imperial court should first consider the living, rather than repeatedly pondering whether the policies they issued would offend the local gentry.

Qian Qianyi, who was already moved, finally took the first step on the eleventh day after the secret talk with the emperor, and handed over the emperor's proposal to the cabinet for a small discussion.

After three days and four nights of closed-door meetings, the cabinet finally approved most of the emperor's proposals. Only as for the plan to collect surplus grain, everyone thinks that the plan is too radical, and it is better to put it on hold for a while, unless it is difficult to fill the gap in the disaster area with overseas grain transportation, and then consider it at that time.

After listening to the cabinet's report, Zhu Youzhen did not categorically veto the cabinet's decision, and after thinking about it, he decided to take a half step back, "Since the gentlemen think that the plan for the collection of surplus grain should be shelved, then in other words, everyone thinks that this is obviously the final solution, not an absurd strategy." ”

After Qian Qianyi exchanged glances with his colleagues, he nodded to the emperor on behalf of the cabinet and said, "Yes, Your Majesty." We all agreed that the collection of surplus grain is a fierce medicine, and now the disaster situation in Henan and other places has not yet reached the point of no return, so there is no need to use this fierce medicine now. ”

Zhu Youzhen was silent for a moment before continuing: "Since the plan is shelved, not completely abolished, then we can always make preparations.

The collection of surplus grain is a process, and the training of these middle school students is also a process, although we cannot implement the collection of surplus grain now, but to carry out some training for these middle school students, I think you gentlemen will not object, right? ”

Qian Qianyi subconsciously looked at his colleagues, but this time no one gave him a look, he thought for a moment, and then replied vaguely: "Regarding the training of middle school students, the minister thinks that there is no problem, and it is good to be prepared." ”

Zhu Youzhen closed the minutes of the meeting submitted by the cabinet and said to everyone: "Then implement the resolution of the cabinet first, Jiang Qing will summarize the minutes of the meeting and hand them over to the Daming Times newspaper to send out, so as to first reassure the hearts of the people in the disaster area and the people of the whole country."

Regarding the matter of this disaster relief committee, I will take the lead, and Mr. Guo and Jiang will be my deputies, and if there is any problem, I will report it to me as soon as possible..."

While the Ming Dynasty concentrated all its efforts to deal with natural disasters, the Kingdom of Spain, thousands of miles away, was also facing a great difficulty.

This small third-rate country in Europe before the Age of Discovery was once ruled by a variety of foreign peoples, among whom the Moors had the most profound influence. More than 400 years of pagan rule made the Spaniards the most ardent Catholic conservatives.

Even if the country conquered the Americas, established a worldwide empire, and became a first-class European power, it did not convince the Spaniards to abandon their overly conservative Catholic teachings.

Because of this, the Spaniards ignored geopolitical and practical interests, gave up consolidating their global maritime interests, and used the vast wealth they plundered in the Americas to ignite the flames of the European wars of religion.

But while the gold and silver of the Americas may be endless, the Spanish war potential was not, and by 1639, the old empire had finally shown itself beyond its reach.

In the northern Netherlands, the Spanish army was surrounded by the Dutch and French. In Germany, the defeat of Sweden and the forcing of Saxony to sign the Treaty of Prague with Brandenburg and the Habsburg royal family had basically won the war, but because of the French participation in the war, the victory of the Habsburg royal family was wiped out.

In the same year, Spain sent troops to France, and the Holy Roman Empire attacked from the north and south, and once advanced to Paris, the capital of France, but was finally defeated by the French army. In August 1638, the French navy defeated the Spanish navy, leaving the Spanish Netherlands in a state of isolation, and the French army was constantly approaching the Pyrenees, as if trying to break into Spanish territory.

The various battlefields in the north had almost exhausted the last manpower and material resources of the Spanish Kingdom, and at this time, the rear of the Spanish Kingdom was still on fire. Margaret, the Duchess of Mantua, appointed by the Spanish as the Portuguese governor, was an arrogant and politically unwise Spanish nobleman who was able to serve as Portuguese governor only because of her Habsburg blood.

The Duchess of Mantua recklessly exercised her power, replacing the unreliable Portuguese aristocracy with Spaniards and Italians and forming the Portuguese administration. She tried to turn Portugal into a Spanish province without leaving any power to the Portuguese, and her policies finally coalesced the various classes of Portugal who had lacked the courage to resist into a grand anti-Spanish coalition.

If it weren't for the Duke of Bragança, the leader of the nobility, who was too timid to assume his share of responsibility to the Kingdom of Portugal, the anger of the Portuguese would have been ignited long ago. In the Catalonia region of Spain, they resented the kingdom no less than the Portuguese.

The nobles of Madrid knew very well that sooner or later these two places would rise up in rebellion, but they did not know who would raise the banner of rebellion first. Philip IV's most trusted prime minister, Olivares, is not ignorant of this, but still believes that things are still under his control.

It wasn't until news of the hijacking of the Peruvian silver ship last year that the kingdom's chief minister panicked and felt that everything was out of control.