The day after Chongzhen's showdown with the cabinet ministers in the Wenhua Palace, he went to Fengtai to inspect the Army Military Academy and the Guards.

After commending the trainees for their hard work and calling on them to learn from the martyrs and heroes of the Great Patriotic War, Chongzhen continued: "... When I founded the Army Military Academy, I said that the first duty of a soldier is to defend his family and country. But recently, I found that some soldiers still have too superficial understanding of the words "protecting the family and defending the country".

Some people believe that to protect the family is to protect the family, and to defend the country is to fight for the country. Of course, this is true, but how to protect one's family and what it means to fight for the country has become a matter of opinion, and it is difficult to unify it.

So today I want to tell you what it means to protect your family and what it means to fight for your country. What is home, everyone should be very clear, and the so-called family refers to the parents and elders who raised you and raised you; Brothers and sisters who have grown up with you and loved each other; A wife who will get along with you day and night and help each other day and night; Your future love is like a jewel of your child... These are your family.

How to really protect the family, I think: it should be for them to live in a peaceful era, have clothes to wear, have rice in the tank, and don't have to worry about being bullied when they go out. The elderly can enjoy their children and grandchildren, the prime have a decent job to support their families, and the younger can pursue their dreams.

As for the so-called country, I think: there is no country without a home. It is because of the thousands of hopeful protected families that we have a country worth defending.

Therefore, the purpose of protecting the family is to protect the family to live a prosperous and dignified life; To fight for the country is to live a prosperous and dignified life for thousands of families. Defending the country is not just about defending the lives of our families and the survival of the country. It is more important to defend our lives and the values on which our country depends.

In order to achieve such a great goal, we must defeat those barbaric nations and backward countries that try to subvert the values of our country, and use our civilization and steel to educate and enlighten them, so that they know that there is a difference between man and beast, and that if they want to live a civilized life, they should build with their own hands, instead of trying to rob the fruits of others.

In the nearly 200 years of great voyages initiated by Europeans, the unknown regions of the world have been basically explored. We have to admit that we are lagging behind the Europeans in the task of exploring how the planet we live in. But the doors of the New World have been opened to Europeans, but these Europeans have not fulfilled their task of leading the world's civilization forward, and they have achieved nothing but plunder and slaughter.

As a Chinese civilization with a long history and never been broken, we have the responsibility to establish a new world order, so that the world of Chinese civilization will become the world of the new world. Channel the barbarians of the New World into civilized society, and prevent them from becoming barbarian nations like Hou Jin, who only know how to plunder and kill. This is the mission that the Ming army should undertake to the outside world.

Of course, if we want to build a country where every family can live a prosperous and dignified life, we must not only crush external enemies, but also be vigilant to eliminate those internal enemies.

What is the internal enemy of the Ming Dynasty, that is, those who try to get something for nothing, rob other people of the fruits of their labor to support themselves. Such enemies are not uncommon within the Ming Dynasty, they are insatiable ** officials; They are bandits who gather in the mountains, forests, lakes and rob pedestrians; They are profiteers who hoard in the year of famine; They are warlords who treat their soldiers as slaves and drive them arbitrarily; They are also those local tyrants and gentry who raise bandits and thugs and run amok against lawlessness.

Just like the gentry involved in the recent boiling Taihu Lake bandit case, they are all dignified and good people in the township. But behind the scenes, he colluded with bandits to rob passing merchants and rob women for his own sexual pleasure. If all parts of the Ming Dynasty were filled with such good families, would the people of our country still be able to live a prosperous and dignified life? ”

The emperor's sudden questioning made the cadets below unable to react for a while, until Chongzhen asked again. The students lined up on the playground reacted one after another, and immediately someone shouted: "Can't, can't..."

The students' answers gradually changed from uneven to unanimous, and also expanded from a few students in the front row to the entire line. After hearing the overwhelming answer, Chongzhen raised his hands and pressed them down with satisfaction, making the students quiet.

Only then did Chongzhen continue: "Yes, we must not agree, we must not let these internal enemies hinder our dream of building a beautiful homeland. Just as those foreign enemies like Houjin cannot interrupt our enthusiasm for building a country. Therefore, the army of the Ming Dynasty must always be vigilant and vigilant against the attack launched by internal and external enemies against us.

I thought that in order for the people of the Ming Dynasty to have peace in building their homeland, the army of the Ming Dynasty did not have the freedom to talk about peace. The Ming army is either on the battlefield to bring down the internal and external enemies, or it is preparing for the next war..."

Zhu Youzhen, who returned to the principal's room for a short rest, suddenly remembered the calligraphy on the wall that he had seen in a certain classroom before, so he turned his head to the principal of the military academy next to him and said: "I just saw in a certain classroom that there is a pair of calligraphy stickers hanging on the wall, which reads: The whole world is not the king's land, and the shore of the land is not the king's minister. I think this is a bit petty, and I should change it. ”

The principal was very knowledgeable, and quickly asked people to find pen and ink and ask Chongzhen to write an inscription himself, so that he could replace the calligraphy. Zhu Youzhen didn't say much, picked up the brush and wrote two lines of words, after several years of exercise, Zhu Youzhen found that his big characters were much better.

Just when he was still admiring his font, the people around him had already read out the inscription written by Chongzhen, "The whole world is not Han land, and the coast of the land is not Hanchen." Your Majesty's high opinion is really beyond the reach of your ministers..."

Regarding the compliments of the officials around him, Zhu Youzhen did not take it to heart. After only stopping for a while, he immediately left the military academy with his attendants and went to the Guards barracks next door.

However, the emperor's speech in front of the cadets was soon published in the Ming Times, showing the emperor's attitude in front of the people of the world. After nearly seven years of ascending to the throne and ruling the country, Chongzhen's reputation has always been very good among the people, whether it is to help the local government, defend against foreign enemies, or conquer overseas feudal countries and other affairs, Chongzhen has handed over a qualified examination paper.

Even those old-fashioned bureaucrats who have always criticized the emperor for not being good at reading and not humbly studying the classics did not dare to overestimate the ability to govern the country. Therefore, when Chongzhen officially stated his attitude and branded the gentry who colluded with the Taihu bandits as enemies within the Ming Dynasty, the voice of public opinion in the government and the opposition attacking Wei Zhongxian became quieter.

At the same time, the commercial newspapers under the control of the Ming Merchants' Association quickly published several articles, either supporting the emperor's speech at the military academy, or criticizing some of the remarks of the Taihu bandits, and even some merchants directly complained about being oppressed by the local tooth shops while doing business in Jiangnan.

With the rise of these businessmen, Shilin Qingliu, who once controlled the public opinion of the Ming Dynasty, once again found that their voices were not only inferior to the Daming Times, which represented the emperor and the official mouthpiece of the imperial court, but now even the newspapers controlled by the merchants dared to openly criticize and ridicule them.

What annoyed them the most was that because the newspapers controlled by the merchants published a large number of rumors and were subsidized by the merchants' associations, these cheap vernacular newspapers were extremely influential among the common people. Compared with the low circulation of newspapers in the hands of Shilin Qingliu, it is simply incomparable.

Soon public opinion in the capital began to reverse, and the focus of the people's attention shifted from Wei Zhongxian to the cases of the Taihu bandits, especially the cases committed by the gentry who colluded with the bandits. Because the content of the cases published in the Daming Times was extremely detailed, many tabloids also recreated them when they were reprinted, turning these cases into extremely popular public cases in the market. This not only impressed the people of the Ming Dynasty even more, but also made them regard the Jiangnan gentry as sanctimonious hypocrites.

Ling Mengchu, then vice mayor of Shanghai, quickly sniffed a disturbing change in public opinion. He had always been dissatisfied with Wei Zhongxian's comeback, and he didn't care about insisting on opposing Wei Zhongxian's proposition at the moment, so he hurriedly sent his entourage back to the family with a letter, asking the family to cut off the Taihu bandit case, and not to continue to be unclear.

In addition, he also asked Song Yingsheng and Shen Tingyang to intercede with Han Yiliang and Ma Shiying, hoping to remove his family and in-law family from the incident.

When the public opinion in the capital turned to Nanjing and Suzhou, gentry like Ling Mengchu who quickly changed their positions abounded. And the Suzhou gentry who originally tried to shout and kill Wei Zhongxian have now become like ants on a hot pot one by one, worried that they will be settled by the Autumn Queen and be involved in the Taihu Lake bandit case by Wei Zhongxian to take revenge.

Just when these gentry were anxious, Wei Zhongxian invited the Suzhou gentry and the wealthy families of Dongting and Dongshan to a banquet on November 11 in the name of Suzhou weaving. Although I don't know what Wei Zhongxian meant, the gentry and wealthy families who received the invitation did not dare to shirk it anymore, and basically arrived at Suzhou Weaving Mansion on time.

At noon on this day, the Eight Immortals Table in the Weaving Mansion was placed from the lobby to the front courtyard, turning the Weaving Mansion into a temporary restaurant. The gentry and wealthy families who came to the banquet still filled these seats, and at a glance there were at least eight or nine hundred people.

However, although it was a banquet, the rich gentry soon found that the treatment of the guests was still different, and there was only one bowl of glossy noodles in front of each person at the outermost table; The seats under the lobby are eight bowls and eight plates, but they are also ordinary dishes; Only the tables in the hall have some acceptable delicacies from the mountains and seas, but they will not exceed 15 yuan per seat.

Although the guests sitting on the outermost side felt that they were humiliated, they could only sit in their seats with a sigh of relief, intending to see what Wei Zhongxian, the former nine thousand years old, was going to do.

After waiting for everyone to sit down, Wei Zhongxian slowly walked out of the back hall, bowed to these gentry and wealthy families, and then stood in the lobby and said with a smile: "In the past few months, the miscellaneous family has been busy handling the errands assigned by His Majesty, so they have not been close to everyone, which has made everyone have some misunderstandings about the miscellaneous family and His Majesty, and even a lot of rumors have spread outside.

The miscellaneous family invited everyone to come and sit down, which can be regarded as clarifying the misunderstanding between us, and it can be regarded as a peaceful place. It's just that now there are enemies like Jianyu outside, and there are natural disasters in various places inside**, and the imperial court is moving around, and the treasury is really empty. Therefore, the miscellaneous family can only watch the people cook, and all the gentlemen are loyal and patriotic gentry mansions, so I don't think it will be said that the miscellaneous family is not well entertained, right? ”

"No, no, the father-in-law is serious..."The gentry sitting in the lobby quickly stood up and said to Wei Zhongxian with a smile. The guests outside also knew what Wei Zhongxian meant through the words passed by the servants, and they also got up one after another to express their attitude.

Wei Zhongxian glanced at the situation inside and outside, and then took a glass of wine from Gao Yun's hand and said: "Since this is the case, then the miscellaneous family will first toast you three glasses, all the previous rumors, even if it passes..."

Seeing that Wei Zhongxian said so generously, all the gentry were in a trance for a while, and they all felt that this Wei Gonggong was really not as unreasonable as rumored.

But soon, everyone knew that it was too early for everyone to be reassured. After toasting three glasses, Wei Zhongxian spoke again: "If you can come to the banquet today, you are naturally loyal and patriotic. Since this is the case, the miscellaneous family will get straight to the point.

The country is now in the autumn of exhaustion, but the people everywhere are suffering from natural disasters from time to time. Therefore, His Majesty said, even if you are hungry, this water conservancy must not be repaired. The Huai River, the Yangtze River, Taihu Lake, Chongming, Haiyan River, and the Qiantang River have all fallen into disrepair and will need to be repaired in the next few years to avoid relying on the sky for food.

As courtiers, how can we let Your Majesty go hungry to govern the country, so the miscellaneous family suggested to Your Majesty that there are many loyal and patriotic people in Jiangnan, and if you can make them donate one or two, Your Majesty can rest in peace.

However, His Majesty was benevolent and unwilling to force his courtiers to donate freely, so he decided to borrow money from loyal patriots. For every 5,000 yuan per piece, 3% will be repaid every year for the next 99 years, so that loyal and patriotic people will not suffer, and the country will be able to alleviate the current financial difficulties..."

The rich gentry inside and outside the lobby were suddenly dumbfounded, some people even dropped the chopsticks in their hands, and the rich gentry who sat on the outermost side and ate the noodles suddenly felt that the bowl of noodles in front of them was really expensive. However, when they thought of the gentry sitting inside eating the feast, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.