Zhu Youzhen no longer cares about the strangeness of Zhang Chonghui's face at this time, since he ascended the throne, he has been fighting alone in the transformation of the Ming Dynasty, and every step is either to think about it again and again, or to strive for the opportunity to succeed in the first line with the courage to break the boat.

Those reformist officials who stood with him at the beginning were in fact just using the name of reform to keep their own power and prevent them from being liquidated by the Donglin Party in the past. Their support for reform did not outweigh their loyalty to him as emperor.

After stumbling from the initial reform to the present day, many officials who initially supported the reform have some other views on the continuation of the reform. At the beginning, they supported reform, first, there were non-governmental Donglin Party members who were eyeing their positions; The second is that the whole country is in a situation of internal and external difficulties and facing collapse, and the officials of the court are helpless and difficult to come up with a solution to the current predicament.

It was in this situation that the officials of the court chose to obey the emperor's orders and reform the political and economic system of the Ming Dynasty, so as to find a way out for themselves and the country.

Of course, in the minds of many officials, whether the reform can succeed or not is not so important, as long as the emperor can know that he supports the new policy issued by the emperor, then their goal can be achieved. Even if the reform fails in the future, the emperor must always remember that these people are loyal servants who share weal and woe with the emperor.

It's just that in the eighth or ninth year of Chongzhen, the officials of the court suddenly discovered that the future of the Ming Dynasty suddenly became brighter. The rebellion of the Tusi in the southwest was flattened, and the displaced people in the northwest were basically resettled, and the Jurchens and Mongols, who were once the confidants of the northern Ming Dynasty, now one begged for peace, and the other was mostly embraced by the Ming Dynasty.

What's more, the treasury is no longer empty, and although the imperial court is now extremely tight for a year, because of the budget system, the ministries are still living. Even if there was a natural disaster with a large area, because of the large tax revenue brought by overseas trade, the emperor was able to use the silver from the inner treasury to deal with the famine.

In this way, as long as the weather is good for a few years in a row, then Daming can return to the past when it was too peaceful and happy. In that case, why should we continue to carry out reforms that touch everyone's interests? This kind of slackness psychology can be regarded as the most common psychology of officials under the Ming Dynasty now.

Zhu Youzhen naturally could not tolerate the ideas of these officials, and for him, the previous reform was only the beginning, and if the pace of reform was stopped now, the small achievements made before would soon disappear.

However, if he wants to threaten these officials with party disputes and the oppression of external hostile forces, it is obvious that the effect is not so good. After all, these officials are not stupid, and they can judge whether the internal and external troubles of the Ming Dynasty can threaten their own interests.

So at this time, Zhu Youzhen needs those young officials who have not yet been corrupted by power to surround him and continue this reform. Zhang Chonghui, who was overthrown by officials and caused the overthrow of his family, has been regarded as one of the few young officials who can persist in reform to the end under his long-term investigation, so Chongzhen is not afraid to reveal his plans for the entire reform blueprint with him.

No matter what you do, without like-minded comrades-in-arms, it is difficult for a person to persevere. As the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youzhen is the same, not to mention that he needs to resist more temptations when he gets up with others.

As long as he acquiesces in stopping the pace of reform, those officials will definitely hold him up to the sky, not to mention the lord of the Ming Dynasty, at least he will be able to get the status of a Tang Dezong in history.

As the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the predator at the top of feudal society, everything in this country, as long as he wants, can easily get his hands on it. Without the shock of the old crooked neck tree in the coal mountain, Zhu Youzhen doubted that he would be able to persevere to this day, rather than be bewitched and indulged by the almost unlimited power of his hands.

Therefore, even if he finds one, Zhu Youzhen needs to find a supporter who shares his ideals. Although Xia Yunyi has a simple sympathy for the people at the bottom, after all, he has never fallen to the bottom of the society to live, so he still has certain illusions about the gentry class, and he can't really understand his dedication to reform.

But Zhang Chonghui is different, although he was born in a famous family, but because of the Wanli New Deal promoted by his grandfather, the entire family was liquidated by the bureaucratic gentry class, and he really almost sank to the bottom of society. In his reform policy against the entire bureaucratic gentry, he should have understood his intentions to anyone.

Therefore, after Zhu Youzhen opened his heart, he continued without any worries, "Whoever is the real supporter of reform, the vested interest strata in the past will naturally not really support reform, after all, reform is to force them to give their own interests to other social strata."

Therefore, it is the fourth and fifth estates that can really support the reform to continue. The reform that the Fourth Estate wants is to be able to share a political status commensurate with the wealth of their society, so as to ensure that the first three social estates cannot easily seize their wealth with the power of their hands.

It is also because the fourth and fifth estates are considered to be figures with considerable assets, so their support for reform will not be greater than the vigilance of the fifth estate against the use of violence to break down the class division.

In other words, the Fourth Estate is willing to support reform, but it should not be limited to triggering a revolution in the Fifth Estate, otherwise they would prefer to compromise with the first three social estates.

So, at the end of the day, the only forces that really support social change are the people of the fifth estate. But the Fifth Estate was not just a supporter of reform, they were also the main force of the revolution, as long as someone guided them. ”

Zhang Chonghui finally calmed down a little, and he repeated Chongzhen's words: "The main force of the revolution? ”

In response to Zhang Chonghui's question, Zhu Youzhen nodded and said: "Yes, they are also the main force of the revolution.

Speaking of this, we must first understand who the fifth estate is: yeoman farmers, tenant farmers, hired laborers, factory workers, small traders in the cities and villages, etc., as well as the unemployed at the bottom mentioned earlier.

For this stratum of the people, any social change that can change their current situation on the verge of bankruptcy will win their most ardent support.

But conversely, if the slightest bit of movement accelerates them to the brink of bankruptcy, they will become the most resolute force in destroying the old system. Reform and revolution are sometimes just a layer of paper.

In the fifth estate, those who are most inclined to violent revolution rather than orderly social change are the unemployed at the bottom. Because they have nothing, the more they destroy the old system, the more they will be rewarded.

Whether at the top of the old system or as an advocate of reform now, a stable social order is my highest priority. Without a stable social order, there will be nothing left.

In the final analysis, if we want to stabilize the social order, we must stabilize the fifth estate, and the only way to stabilize the fifth estate is to reduce the number of unemployed people at the bottom. The fifth estate, except for the unemployed at the bottom, is able to create material wealth with their own labor, but most of the unemployed at the bottom are unable to create the material wealth needed by society.

So is the reason for this situation to be caused by the unemployed at the bottom themselves? I don't think most of them are, and that more of the unemployed at the bottom have been deprived of the means of production by the previous social classes, and have to become homeless and vagrants who cannot rely on labor to support themselves.

The purpose of agrarian reform was to redistribute land to these displaced people, so that they could live and work in a fixed manner, so that they could support themselves and their families through their own labor. However, with the situation of the Ming Dynasty with many people and little land, it is obviously impossible to distribute land to every peasant who has lost his land.

So the problem comes back again, in order to absorb these landless displaced people, we have to vigorously develop industry, and use factories with a higher concentration of manpower to absorb these bottom unemployed.

But factories are not built overnight, and we must find ways to control them before industry grows to accommodate the majority of the unemployed.

A series of laws, such as the Law of Exile, are cruel to these unemployed at the bottom, but if we let them go, the imperial court will face an even cruel choice.

The unemployed at the bottom who have left their hometowns, what do they have to rely on to survive in this era? I don't want to say it, I think you should know it too.

It may not be a good thing to exile them overseas. But at least everyone else can live, that's the choice I made.

If you want to repeal the Exile Law, then pray that the Ming reforms will go further and allow our industry to grow enough to feed the population that our land can't carry. Compassion alone cannot save people..."

Zhu Youzhen shook the tea cup in his hand, drank the remaining tea, and then said to Zhang Chonghui, who seemed to be greatly impacted: "The time for afternoon tea is over, let's talk next time we have time." ”

Zhang Chonghui came back to his senses, got up and saluted the emperor to leave, and when he walked to the door, he suddenly heard Chongzhen say to him: "It is not possible to govern state affairs with a compassionate heart, but as a person, I think it is good to be able to preserve this kind of compassion for the people at the bottom." I hope you can keep it up..."

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