However, Shi Kefa's depression and uneasiness are not only because of Chen Hongfan.

As soon as this incident came out, Chongzhen was of course extremely unhappy, and called the military affairs and the cabinet together to reprimand him for a long time.

However, the people present were all ministers who were old in government affairs and guessing people's hearts, and it can be seen that the emperor was quite dissatisfied with the prince's arbitrariness in Qingjiang and the wanton destruction of the war and plan he had already decided.

It's obvious, and as many people know, it's a matter of time.

In the end, the emperor is a young prince, a prince, and then a seventeen-year-old emperor.

His mind cannot be measured from the perspective of ordinary people, guessing. In the emperor's heart, family affection ranks second at most, and what is really difficult to shake in his heart is only the supreme imperial power.

When trusting the crown prince, the emperor might as well share a little imperial power to this son of Yunwen Yunwu. But if this son goes too far, once there are signs of suspicion in the emperor's heart, things will evolve in another direction.

The crown prince is indeed too powerful in Qingjiang!

It is conceivable that there will be more attacks on the prince in the future. It's not that the prince is not doing well, or that the prince is not good enough, in fact, the prince is too good.

Under the big tomorrow, there is no need for such an outstanding and excellent prince. The civil official group has long hoped to handle government affairs on its own, without the need for the emperor's monopoly on affairs.

This trend of thought, in fact, was very widespread in the late Ming Dynasty, and it was hidden in the hearts of high-ranking officials, but it was often revealed in the mouths of the bottom and ordinary people.

Huang Zongxi and Gu Yanwu's hypocrisy ideology did not come out of thin air, and it could become a system, attack the imperial power, and the various statements that were very supportive of civil politics were actually the most vivid embodiment of the trend of thought of scholars and doctors in the late Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the arrest of Chen Hongfan and the disgrace of the cabinet's military affairs are a good thing, at least in the emperor's heart, he is wary and dissatisfied with the means and authority of the crown prince.

Only a little gap, after a long time, can make it burst the embankment.

As for the matter of the envoy to the north, although Chen Hongfan was arrested anyway, Zuo Maodi and Ma Shaoyu continued to go north, and half a month passed, and the mission had already been reported, and now the mission had entered Jining Prefecture, which was controlled by the Dongyu, and Luo Yang, the former governor of Jinyi Wei who had surrendered, was now the governor of Tianjin, and had sent a horse team south to receive the mission north to Linqing, Dezhou, and then to Tianjin.

After arriving in Tianjin, you can rendezvous with the grain ship, and when the time comes, whether to transport the materials to the north, or Wu Sangui himself to pick them up, or to negotiate with the Qing court, and successfully accept it.

I don't have a clue about this for the time being, so I can only walk and see.

Shi Kefa was depressed, and the most dissatisfied thing was that his Donglin was divided and used by others!

Since Gu Gao went to Qingjiang, to about half a month now, the gentry in Jiangnan have cooperated with Qingjiang, and a large amount of pig iron ore, copper, gold and silver, cloth, grain, raw silk, sulfur, saltpeter and other materials have been sent over in a steady stream.

The thing is what happened after Gu Gao went to Qingjiang.

Shi Kefa knew this well, Gu Gao and his party must have some kind of tacit understanding with the prince's Qingjiang camp. In this way, the veins and various resources controlled by the gentry in Jiangnan will continue to be sent to Jiangbei.

Regarding this matter, Shi Kefa is not against enriching Huaiyang, nor does he want to embarrass the prince.

The division between state affairs and party affairs is still clear to Shi Kefa.

This man, at that time, people described him as a gentleman, although he did not do well in many things in peace negotiations, but there was no problem with his own conduct.

What Shi Kefa was worried about was that the crown prince originally had too much fiscal and tax revenue to be restricted by the central government, a large amount of silver in hand, and tens of thousands of new troops and several towns in Xuzhou, Huai'an, and Yangzhou were controlled by him...... That's a big problem!

Shi Kefa and Ma Shiying, including a considerable number of people, have the same opinion.

Daming is already like this, the emperor has been in power for more than ten years, how many people have been disposed of, and now the country is weak and the people are poor, and the people in the world are miserable, and it is nothing more than if it continues to flutter. But I recognize the reality, I am afraid that there are still one or two hundred years of peace to pass.

However, the comrades of Donglin forgot their righteousness when they saw the profits, and they were willing to be controlled by others just for the sake of reducing a little money.

Shi Kefa thought about it, and he was extremely depressed.

The prince now has silver on hand, and the exact amount of money and income from donations is unknown, but according to some clues, there must be at least millions of dollars.

This number is enough to make everyone in the Jiangnan court tempted.

And among the family, there are also quite a few people who can't read. Prisoners can donate, which is equivalent to having the status of a student, traveling, and dealing with their parents, which is very convenient.

And the situation can also be tried in one piece, some people can't try, but they may be invited to hit the test, and this may also be there.

Now there is a strong voice in the Jiangnan area, and even the cabinet, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Household cannot drag it out. At the cabinet meeting a few days ago, Jiangnan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Huguang, and Yunnan and Guizhou implemented donations in an integrated manner, including how many donation points, how much money should be put into the treasury of the central ministry, how much can be left in the localities, what are the procedures for dissolving the province to the treasury, how much is the fire consumption, and these detailed rules are already being discussed.

At the time of the cabinet meeting, everyone, including Li Banghua and Wang Duo, was very happy with a smile on their faces.

The annual income of the dynasty is now only seven million. The crown prince in Huaiyang alone has already exceeded this number. Of course, Huaiyang Qingjiang is a special case, and the income of other places will not be much more than Huaiyang, as for the income of the salt class, Huaiyan is the most salt class, and there is no comparison anywhere else.

However, the income from the donation may exceed that of Huaiyang by several times or even more than ten times.

In the south of the Yangtze River, how many families with silver are there? How many of these children are willing to donate to the prisons? Moreover, how many people have made a fortune in overseas trade and are willing to take a large sum of silver out and donate an official hat on their bodies?

According to a rough calculation, all of them add up, and I am afraid that if you donate the same, you will have a silver income of 20 million.

With such a sum of money in hand, reforming the battalion system, demarcating defense areas, organizing a new army, and compensating exiles, including farmland and water conservancy, can be carried out calmly.

As far as the future of the Ming Dynasty is concerned, at least half of Jiangnan can be saved.

I have never heard of a court with abundant wealth and sufficient soldiers, and the family is in the heart, the military is subject to literature, and the politics are also under the advance of the Qingming Dynasty, but the country is destroyed by others.

At this time, the ripple effect of donation is gradually becoming known.

Of course, it is not the cabinet or the military affairs department that is praised by the public mouth, but the prince who is far away in Qingjiang.

When I think about it, everything was led by the nose by the crown prince, and everything was replaced, including the central system, the military system, cleaning up the hearts of the people, reorganizing the program, cleaning up the finances, and opening up sources and reducing expenditure.

Many things, which one is not led by the prince, and everyone is just following behind?

The only Shi Kefa and Ma Shiying reached a consensus, and the matter of discussing peace together was also found by the prince and hit him hard, causing a big loss of face.

Thinking about it at this time, and then showing open-mindedness, how can the embarrassment and resentment in my heart be completely dissolved?

Just when he was wandering in the study and was uneasy, a handsome servant came in quietly, asked for a peace on the spot, and then whispered: "Master, Master Gao is here to worship, can you see me?" ”

In the past few days, the cabinet and the military affairs department have taken the lead, Chongzhen is very angry, and after the next court, everyone is closed to the guests, making a look of apology and knowing.

But Gao Hongtu came over, but he had to see it.

Immediately, he nodded and said, "Please come here." ”

Although they are not the best in the family, they are like-minded people and members of the cabinet, and they have been friends for many years, so it is natural to meet in the inner study.

After a while, the boots outside were loud, Shi Kefa took two steps, and saw that his subordinates were holding lamps and candles to lead Gao Hongtu in, so he nodded to Gao Hongtu and said, "Qi Zhai is here, it should be for the donation of the bureau, right?" ”

Gao Hongtu said with a smile: "This is the top priority, tomorrow the household department should report the method to the cabinet, and the cabinet should also show it to the top, otherwise, the emperor should blame me for waiting for the corpse." ”

Seeing that Shi Kefa nodded silently, Gao Hongtu changed the conversation again, and only said: "But the students are here, not only to donate to the bureau, but also to report to you, Xianzhi." ”

Meeting each other in a private house, although discussing official business, but there is no need to be so serious, this is also one of the benefits of a private house meeting, if there is anything wrong or missing, you can make up for it.

So Shi Kefa was stunned and said, "What do you say? What kind of big thing should be so serious? ”

At this time, sitting opposite each other, the family came up to serve tea, Gao Hongtu only smiled and did not speak, and when the servants all retreated, he took out a small bag from his arms and said to Shi Kefa: "Look, this is another thing sent by Jiangbei." With your talent, you will know the deep meaning at first sight, and what an important article it is. ”

Since the Jiangnan gentry and Qingjiang reached a compromise on the matter of Lijin, and Qingjiang Xingying kept buying the mineral vein resources in the hands of the Jiangnan gentry, Gao Hongtu's attitude towards the crown prince changed.

He, the head of the household, didn't take it seriously, and he could ask for it at any time.

After all, being an official is only for a while, and being a gentry is a lifetime. Many people don't understand how much advantage the gentry of the Ming Dynasty have in the township, how much power they have, and what kind of big family they can manage, they can't see this, but they just see that the officials at that time didn't take the official position in their eyes, resisted the emperor, and resigned at every turn.

Because the atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty is like this, those who offend the emperor and protect the scholars, after retiring, there is hope for restoration in the future.

Even if they don't have the opportunity to recover, they still live comfortably in their hometown in the countryside, and the gentry have the right to decide on any big or small matter, and the magistrate cannot live in his position unless he relies on the gentry.

(To be continued)