After listening to Huang Liji's remarks, Zhu Youzhen finally understood why these officials of the imperial court in the past could still understand the power of strengthening the border towns in western Liao, but they were wary of Dongjiang Town, and always wanted to limit the power of this overseas military town to a certain range.

The reason is that Liaoxi Town is separated from the capital by a mountain pass, and it takes more than 20 days to contact each other. If there is any disturbance in the Liaoxi army, the capital will soon receive the news, or cut off the communication between inside and outside the pass, or send people to the army to persuade them, and the officials in the court and the central government will feel that they can control the town of Liaoxi.

However, Dongjiang Town is different, it is not only an overseas military town that Mao Wenlong single-handedly defeated, but also a sea away from the nearest Denglai in Shandong, and it is particularly inconvenient to contact the DPRK and China.

It was difficult for the imperial court to divide the loyalty of the Dongjiang Town army to Mao Wenlong, and it was impossible to understand the internal intelligence of Dongjiang Town in time, so it was naturally difficult for the officials in the court to trust Dongjiang Town and Mao Wenlong's loyalty to the Ming Dynasty. For the power that is difficult for the imperial court to grasp, according to the habit of civil officials, it is natural to weaken and limit it to avoid raising tigers.

The root of this line of thinking, in the final analysis, is that Ming officials have lost confidence in the country's future. They undoubtedly already think in their hearts that the country is on a downward slope, so for the enemies of this country, they do not think about developing their own strength, and then relying on their own strength to destroy each other. They are waiting for the other party to decline, so that they will become worse than themselves, and die before Daming. And since it is a bad comparison, curbing the emergence of all emerging forces has become the goal of officials' efforts.

Whether it is Dongjiang Town or the Southwest New Army, this kind of seemingly vigorous armed group is obviously incompatible with this declining Ming Dynasty. In the eyes of civil officials such as Huang Liji, these warriors may not be the medicine to save the Ming Dynasty, but they are likely to become a poison that buries the last bit of luck of the Ming Dynasty, and they will naturally adopt a suppressive attitude.

However, Chongzhen and these civil officials have different ideas after all, Zhu Youzhen, who has hundreds of years of knowledge than them, and the biggest difference between the thoughts of these civil officials is that these civil officials think that the world is fixed and unchanging, so once there is a problem, they will look for answers from history.

But Zhu Youzhen does not see it this way, he knows that with the development of the times, the completion of science and technology and the industrial revolution, the continents that were originally not connected to each other will become a complete world. The unsolvable contradiction between population and land in the agricultural era, and the cyclical law of dynastic succession, will be alleviated or partially resolved by the transformation of capitalist production relations and the development of social productive forces.

For example, the obstacles to the sea, mountains and rivers, which officials such as Huang Liji feared, would hinder the imperial court's control over overseas and remote regions, will not be obstacles in the coming new era. People will soon find that Korea, the Ryukyus, Japan, Yunnan-Guichuan, and even the Western Regions, India, and the Nanyang Islands will no longer be geographical terms without any concepts, but places that they can go to in their lifetime.

Perhaps the physical distance of these places has not changed, but the psychological distance of people has greatly decreased. This narrowing of the psychological distance will contribute to the formation of the concept of the state and strengthen the influence of the Ming court at the local level.

Therefore, although Zhu Youzhen understands the concerns of Huang Liji and others, he does not intend to approve of their propositions. He couldn't help but look at Sun Chengzong, who was hesitant, and asked, "Mr. Sun, do you think so too?" ”

Sun Chengzong hesitated for a moment before replying: "What Huang Shoufu said is not unreasonable, in the past, the two emperors Taizu and Chengzu set up a Beijing army to protect Shenjing, which also means that the outside is light and the inside is important, which is also the reason why my Ming Dynasty has been stable for more than two hundred years. ”

Zhu Youzhen subconsciously let go of his right hand and flicked it lightly on his thigh a few times, and after a while, he stopped his movements and said calmly and firmly to the two of them: "The purpose of my establishment of the General Staff is to ensure that the army of the Ming Dynasty can obey the orders of the imperial court and defend the interests of the country. If the General Staff does not have confidence in controlling the army, then what is the point of the existence of the General Staff?

The ancestors said that the outside is more important than the inside, but I have never heard of deliberately weakening the border army to keep the Beijing army strong. What's more, in terms of the current internal and external situation in the Ming Dynasty, if the strength of the army cannot be guaranteed, it will not be able to deal with the powerful enemies that come one after another inside and outside. We can't wait for the fire to burn on ourselves before we think about digging a well to get water to put out the fire.

As for the financial constraints of the imperial court, which can only be maintained by borrowing from those merchants, this is not a crisis in my opinion. I thought that the imperial court was short of funds, but we couldn't find a place to borrow, and we were really in crisis.

Moreover, it is not a waste to spend money on our army. I had heard the Western missionaries say that if a king does not spend money on his own army, then he must spend money on the army of his enemies.

I think that's right, we can still spend money on our own army, at least it means we still have an army of our own. As long as the imperial court still has the army in its hands, what do we have to worry about those merchants? Aren't the businessmen who should be worried? ”

The scoundrel revealed in and out of Chongzhen's words made Sun Chengzong and Huang Liji stunned. Huang Liji suddenly felt that the weather was really hot today, even if he had just drunk a bowl of sour plum soup, he still felt that the clothes behind him were a little slimy.

Zhu Youzhen paused, glanced at the two important ministers in front of him who were a little at a loss, and then slowed down his tone and said: "Of course, I am just making an analogy, not that the imperial court intends to repay the debt.

I also know that you are all worried about the Marquis of Loyalty, after all, in addition to being in charge of the Southwest Governor's Mansion, Madame Qin is also a Shizhu Tusi. If she is allowed to hold the military power in the southwest for a long time, the Tusi of the southwest and the armies of the southwest may become her wings. If the Marquis of Zhongzhen is alive, there will be nothing wrong in the southwest, but if someone from the Ma family comes to power, it may not be.

Just like Mrs. Xiangxiang was loyal to me in the Ming Dynasty, but in the generation of Gao Chongming and An Bangyan, she became a rebel of the Ming Dynasty. I don't think it's as good as this, the loyal marquis has made a lot of contributions in the peace of the chaos, so I simply transferred her to Beijing and took over the post of governor of Gyeonggi Prefecture.

The governor of the Gyeonggi Metropolitan Government held a high position and was powerful enough to reward him for his contributions. She left Sichuan, you don't have to worry anymore, Shizhu Tusi took the opportunity to become bigger, and it was difficult for the imperial court to balance it. As for the vacancy of the Governor of the Southwest Prefecture, the General Staff can recommend candidates for me to pick. ”

Although Huang Liji was still giving Sun Chengzong a look, Sun Chengzong felt that the solution proposed by the emperor had reached his bottom line. After all, what Sun Chengzong wanted was to suppress the military forces that were not from the new army system, not to suppress the entire Ming martial arts group.

He immediately saluted and replied, "The minister obeys the order, but how should Yu Dudu be placed?" ”

Huang Liji didn't wait for Chongzhen to reply, and hurriedly admonished: "Your Majesty, this matter still has to be discussed in the long run, the governor of the Gyeonggi Metropolitan Mansion controls the entire army near the capital. How can this critical position be easily delegated?

Letting Yu Zhigao serve as the governor of the Gyeonggi Metropolitan Government was just an expedient measure at that time, not because of how loyal Yu Zhigao was to His Majesty, but because this person had nothing to do with the high-ranking officials and eunuchs in the capital at that time. Now that the political situation in the DPRK and China has stabilized, His Majesty should appoint this position to his cronies and ministers, instead of replacing it with another foreign minister, and I am afraid that the lords will be dissatisfied. ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded at Huang Liji and said, "Mr. Huang, don't worry, wait for me to say a few words to Mr. Sun, and then explain it to you."

Mr. Sun, now our overseas trade volume in the Ming Dynasty has exceeded 40 to 50 million yuan a year, and the tariffs alone amount to millions of yuan a year. The coastline of my Daming is thousands of miles from south to north, and there are countless fjords suitable for ports. As soon as the maritime trade began, money rolled in, but so did the danger from the sea.

In order to protect our coastal and maritime merchant ships from piracy, it is only natural to set up a naval command center that controls the navies of the coastal provinces and uniformly protects the sea routes.

Therefore, I intend to follow the model of the General Staff and set up a naval staff headquarters, with Yu Zhigao as the head of the naval staff headquarters. The current General Staff will be renamed the Army General Staff, and the Navy General Staff Headquarters will be one rank lower than the Army General Staff..."

After Zhu Youzhen explained his arrangements for Yu Zhigao to Sun Chengzong, he said to him while Sun Chengzong was still thinking: "I have already explained what I want to explain to Mr. Sun, if Mr. Sun has nothing else to do, you might as well go back and prepare first, after all, Mr. Sun is also going to attend the banquet in Diaoyutai tonight." ”

Regarding Chongzhen's eviction order, Sun Chengzong was not dissatisfied. He really didn't want to continue to participate in the conversation between the Emperor and Shousuke, and it would be a bad choice for him to support either side.

Looking at the back of Sun Chengzong leaving in a hurry, Zhu Youzhen thought in his heart for a while before turning his head to Huang Liji and said openly: "Mr. Huang, don't you understand today?" The so-called reform is nothing but a bloodless revolution. The reason why it did not shed blood was not that we chose to compromise, but that those who opposed reform chose to back down.

If those people think that they have taken a step back, we will not move on, it is nothing more than their own fantasy. Since we have chosen the path of reform, before the new Ming Dynasty is established, all the forces that hinder reform must be removed.

Either they will stand on our side and build a new Da Ming, or let them be buried with the old Da Ming. There is no third way between these two paths, and if we show the slightest weakness, the forces that oppose reform will come against us.

With the experience of Zhang Jiangling, does Sir still expect any compassion from our opponents? And if you want to implement the reform without the support of the military, it is a dead letter.

In my eyes, there is no difference between nobles and relatives and palace attendants, and there is no difference between literati and military ministers and villains and gentlemen. In my opinion, there are only two types of people in the DPRK and China, those who support reform and those who do not..."