Text Volume 3 Road to Empire_Chapter 812 Jinghua Smoke Cloud Twenty-two
For Jiang Dejing's worries, Huang Daozhou is not incomprehensible. In other words, before he became a judge of the Mongolian ministries, his thoughts may be no different from that of Jiang Dejing now.
In the final analysis, none of them could believe that Chongzhen, who had broken away from the ancestral system, would lead the Ming Dynasty to a correct path. After all, from a historical point of view, whenever a dynasty is in a difficult situation, there will be people who try to change the law and innovate to solve the various contradictions faced by the dynasty, so that the dynasty can be revitalized again.
However, with the exception of the Shang Dynasty reform, most of the reform innovations were failures. After all, the so-called reform of the law is all taking a path that no one has taken before, and not only is there no experience to draw on, but most of the targets of the reform are directed at the vested interests.
For those with vested interests, they are naturally averse to any change in the law. They want this world to be eternal and unchanging, so that their children and grandchildren can inherit their wealth, power, and status and become masters of this eternal world.
They could assist Chongzhen in vigorously building water conservancy, and they could tolerate supporting the imperial court in developing industry and commerce for a certain period of time, but they really couldn't bear it, and allowed the emperor to open up the wisdom of the people and incite the courage of the people to rebel against the superiors.
For more than a decade, they have been able to endure such reforms, not because they approve of the content, but because they are clearly on the verge of collapse. If they don't accept the reforms, they will have to carry the whole family to the funeral of the collapsed dynasty.
But when the reforms began to bear fruit, and the dynasty stopped sliding into the abyss and began to turn its head upward, vested interests believed that now that the dynasty had overcome the difficulties, the state policy should return to the right track, which meant that it might be time for the reforms to stop.
But for the Zodiac Zhou, who had spent several years in the steppe, this eternal worldview had gone bankrupt. Look at those members of the Golden Family, their fathers and ancestors have not enjoyed a prosperous and wealthy life in the Central Plains, but now even if they are the leaders of the Golden Family, their daily life enjoyment may not be as good as that of ordinary scholars and doctors in the Central Plains.
Huang Daozhou believed that Temujin and Kublai Khan would never have imagined that their descendants would be driven out of the Central Plains and wander the steppe again, and even today they would need to struggle between the Later Jin and the Ming Dynasty to survive.
Since then, some of the deep-seated ideas in his mind have been shattered. He began to think that what the emperor said, natural selection, survival of the fittest, and the concept of social development was correct. In this case, reform should be the flow of water in a river, flowing all the time, that is, reform is only in progress, not completed.
It is not so important where the emperor wants to take the Ming Dynasty, what matters is whether the benefits of the reform can outweigh the disadvantages caused by the reform, and if not, it should be reversed.
Although Huang Daozhou's ideas on reform may not be the same as those of these friends, he believes that everyone still has one thing in common, that is, reform can no longer be controlled by the emperor alone, and at least the direction of reform should be recognized by everyone, which is the need to ensure the healthy operation of politics.
Of course, Huang Daozhou can't tell Jiang Dejing his inner thoughts without any scruples, which may make others see him as an outlier. But for Jiang Dejing's heartfelt words, he couldn't be perfunctory, so after thinking about it for a while, Huang Daozhou couldn't help but say: "Although what you said is good, the imperial court is now facing two major problems, one is to feed the army; The first is to provide relief to the victims.
Both of these problems will require a lot of money to fill, and if the state does not collect taxes, what will be used to feed the army and the victims. And there are not many objects that the state can collect taxes, either from the low-level commoners who cannot pay taxes, or from the large gentry who still have surplus wealth at home, obviously we all know which of the two choices should be chosen.
With all due respect, if we continue to cling to the stereotyped ideas of the local gentry, that the gentry should be treated favorably and not pay taxes, or pass on their own taxes to the commoners, then I do not think Your Majesty will allow our ideas to become the policy of the imperial court.
If we have been marginalized by the court, then many of us should part ways with us and find their own way out.
Therefore, I would like to take advantage of today's rare opportunity to be alone, and I would like to persuade you. It's time to adjust our political opinions, and if our political ideas are contrary to His Majesty's ideas, how can His Majesty support us to enter the decision-making center of the imperial court?
If our political ideas cannot be elevated to the will of the imperial court, then no matter how much such ideas are supported by the gentry, they will not have any impact on the country, which is a waste of paper. ”
Jiang Dejing felt very uncomfortable when he heard this, but he still asked modestly: "Then in your opinion, how should we adjust our current political philosophy?" ”
Huang Daozhou spread his hands and said: "You know, if you decide the case, I still have some experience, but when it comes to political ideas, you have to rely on Brother Zhongbao." In addition, as soon as Brother Ni and I go, Qian Ge Lao's side may not be without a backhand, so you should be careful. ”
After Jiang Dejing thanked Huang Daozhou for his concern, the carriage fell silent, and both of them silently thought about their hearts. When the carriage came to a fork in the road, Huang Daozhou said goodbye and got off the train, but unfortunately heard Jiang Dejing say quietly in the carriage: "If you are mediocre and selfish today, it will be a good thing for Da Ming." ”
Huang Daozhou paused slightly, then stepped off the carriage without hesitation and walked towards his own carriage parked on the side of the road. Jiang Dejing looked at Huang Daozhou and didn't have the slightest intention of turning back, so he knocked on the wall of the carriage, and the coachman who was suitable for his own family continued to move forward.
Not to mention how Jiang Dejing digested Huang Daozhou's advice to him, on January 24, less than two days after Ni Yuanlu and Huang Daozhou left Beijing, Qian Qianyi really came to his office in the Wenhua Hall with a box of files.
Qian Qianyi put the box on his desk and said officially: "These are the cases of misappropriation, theft, and sale of grain reserves in various places in the course of disaster relief last year, as well as some cases of embezzlement of disaster relief materials.
His Majesty has ordered that the case be handled as soon as possible, led by the Cabinet and assisted by the Three Law Divisions. I have declared to Your Majesty that it will be hosted by you and co-organized by Han Yiliang and Hui Shiyang. If you have any questions, please report to me first..."
At first, Jiang Dejing thought that the other party just wanted to stumble his hands and feet, so that he had no time to meddle in Wang Hanru's case. However, as the disaster relief and corruption cases unfolded, he realized that this was simply a dung tank, and these cases involved a wide range of areas, a large number of people, and complex cases, and the stench emitted by stirring was enough to make people difficult to breathe.
Since he took over these cases, the intercessors have continued to come to the door, not only friends and teachers, but even distant relatives of their own family have written letters to intercede. What annoyed him even more was that there were people staring at him, waiting for him to make a mistake.
At this time, he finally reacted, and now he wants to compete with Qian Qianyi for the right to elect in the party, there is no chance. Even if he spends all his energy on the case at hand, he has to be careful not to be dragged into the water, so what is there to talk about competing for the position of first assistant?
Jiang Dejing's concession to Qian Qianyi also made his supporters a little incredulous, but before they could try to persuade Jiang Dejing or find a new candidate to come out, the public opinion of Wang Hanru's case suddenly reversed.
Because of the departure of some clans in the capital, coupled with the continuous revelations of disaster relief corruption and fraud cases, the case of Wang Hanru, which was originally in the center of public opinion in the capital, began to decline. At this time, the Kaifeng clan headed by King Zhou suddenly turned back on Wang Hanru's case.
On February 3, the Kaifeng clan of King Zhou and others suddenly re-wrote to the imperial court, believing that although Wang Hanru had forcibly expropriated their property last year, they could still understand the other party's actions for a reason, considering the plight faced by the people in the Kaifeng area at that time.
And last winter, Wang Hanru, who had already been guilty, did not leave his work, but tried his best to support the circulation channels of disaster relief materials in the Kaifeng area, so that most of the victims in the Kaifeng area survived this winter safely and maintained the local social order.
The backlash of the Kaifeng clan such as the king of Zhou deprived the officials and gentry who attacked Wang Hanru of the most legitimate reason for criticism, and also made the ordinary people begin to sympathize with Wang Hanru's plight. Especially when the Daming Times exposed the corrupt officials who embezzled disaster relief materials, compared with these corrupt officials, Wang Hanru was about to become a saint.
At this time, Qian Qianyi, who had finally caught the pulse of public opinion, began to fight back against the officials who had attacked Wang Hanru and himself before. On the one hand, he recalled Wang Hanru to return to Beijing to report on his work, and asked him to explain to the cabinet whether he had violated the rules in the process of disaster relief; On the other hand, they strongly condemned those officials who embezzled, stole and misappropriated disaster relief materials, and said that they would severely punish those corrupt officials this time and resolutely crack down on the protective umbrella behind those corrupt officials.
Qian Qianyi really didn't talk casually this time, after expressing his attitude, he immediately asked the emperor to belittle 29 officials below the fifth rank who had publicly criticized the cabinet's inaction before, and transferred 34 officials below the sixth rank who were not active enough in last year's disaster relief activities.
Qian Shoufu's unusually resolute and resolute measures suppressed the situation between the DPRK and China, and also enabled him to regain control of the court and get out of the precarious predicament of collapse. Of course, the push of the money dumping forces did not stop it, not only because of Qian Qianyi's sudden tough posture, but because of the emperor's support for Qian Qianyi's tough posture.
In the face of the upcoming change of the first assistant, it is obvious that everyone does not want to directly carry the emperor and the first assistant who are consistent, and this kind of powerful opponent is obviously not something that any political force in the DPRK and China can contend with. They can only choose to take a step back and see how the next situation changes.
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