Chapter 704 varies

Taking off the traditional literati Confucian shirt and putting on a simple and convenient fancy dress, Chen Zilong has a sense of rebirth. Walking out of the residence, Chen Zilong also devoted himself to this investigation. Daming has too many practical problems, and it is better to devote himself to real work and change the country little by little, as it did in the past.

The quarrel at the court over Nanzhili and Huguang finally ended, and the Ming cabinet reached a consensus after many meetings and reported to the emperor for approval. Because of the absence of the celebrant and the celebrant supervisor, the power of the Ming cabinet has increased greatly, but this kind of military affairs must still be approved by the emperor. The power of the civil servants seems to be getting stronger and stronger under the new system, but in fact, because the reform of the army is underway, the management rights of the military are being stripped away little by little.

At this time, a twist from Jiangnan once again sparked disputes between the government and the opposition. Chen Xie, one of the ministers of the Ming Cabinet, played Zhu Cihong and clarified his point of view, the past household registration system has continued to this day, and it has been unable to keep up with the pace of the development of the Ming Dynasty and has become an obstacle to development. Therefore, His Majesty was asked to convene a meeting in front of the emperor to discuss the abolition of the lowly and craftsman titles. And said, "This move is related to the future of Daming, and it is imminent!" Therefore, please be cautious and handle it as soon as possible. ”

After getting this recital, Zhu Cihong's reaction was not strong, and the cabinet's reaction was like a volcanic eruption. Zhou Yanru directly reached out to rub his eyebrows, Jiang Feng Yuan pressed his chest, Hong Chengchou slapped the table and jumped to his feet, and the others were flat, but their expressions showed anger. This is all Chen Xie's anger, this is the ancestral system, it is not impossible to change it, but you should discuss it with everyone first. Look at the wording on this recital, and discuss "repeal". It is not a discussion of "whether to abolish or not".

It seems to be a tepid recital, but in fact, there is a strong will between the lines. Hurry up and discuss, hurry up and abolish it, don't let me bother too much, I don't have time to grind my teeth with you. Do you still have a majesty in your eyes? Is there still a cabinet?

Jingshi is arguing, but Chen Xie is doing another thing. When a fleet arrived at Huating, it began to load the ships with munitions, and it took three days of busy work to complete the loading of the munitions purchased by the Dutch. There were 600 cannons, 20,000 rifles, and some ammunition. A whole five ships were loaded, and they were all merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty. The destination of these merchant ships was not India, but Europe. This was the first time that the Ming sent a fleet to Europe.

This fleet set off with a fleet of twenty warships. This voyage will take the sea route through Natuna for supplies, then through Temasek and across the Strait to India, where a convoy of twenty warships and an infantry division carrying thirty merchant ships are waiting to be on the way.

On the eve of his departure, the commander of the expeditionary force met with Chen Xie in Songjiang Mansion and listened to instructions. For this voyage. Chen Xie's request is not to go to Europe, because it is too unrealistic.

Pointing to the huge world map. Chen Xie first pointed to Dar es Salaam: "This is a long voyage, and your task is not to conquer Europe and show off force. The first task is to build supply points and bases, where garrisons are needed. Cape Town, this is Dutch territory, we have come to a consensus. Allow us to build our own supply points and bases here. The secondary task is to control the Arabian and the Red Sea, with India as a springboard, and after entering the Red Sea, this place is called Jeddah. Build a supply point and military base here. That's the ultimate goal, Suez. Sue the Japanese civilized soldiers, they will stay at these two bases for five years, and then rotate. All kinds of supplies, sent from India. I hope that in the next ten years, the imperial army will be able to control all of Egypt. In another ten years, a canal will be dug to connect the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. As a result, the route to Europe was greatly shortened, and the entire east coast of West Asia and Africa would be within the control of the Ming Empire's navy. There is another sentence that Chen Xie did not say to this soldier, that is, "There is really a day when I leave the Ming Dynasty, I hope to see the rise of the Ming Empire in the true sense, not the cancer patients in the Manchu Dynasty." ”

This voyage is said in the official records of the Ming Dynasty, "This is another great voyage after Zheng He went to the Western Ocean during the reign of Chengzu, and it is also a great voyage to bring peaceful development and co-prosperity to the people of the world." History said, build a new voyage. This official statement has been widely recognized by the people of Asia, Africa and Latin America. At least that's what they wrote in their textbooks, and some West Asian and African countries even wrote directly in their textbooks, "The Ming Empire's ocean-going exploration behavior objectively brought civilization and progress to the people of West Asia and Africa."

The caliber of the Ming folk historians is relatively close to the records of European and American historiography, and they all call this voyage "Jianxin Expedition". It is believed that this is a military action of the rise of the Ming Empire's sea power consciousness, which objectively promoted the prosperity of the Ming Empire for 500 years and the status of the world hegemon.

The above are all relatively polite statements, and a European named Marx mentioned in his writings: Chen Xie, who is known as the most outstanding military strategist, politician, thinker, and musician of the Ming Empire in the past hundred years, is essentially a nationalist and imperialist. He is a representative of the world bourgeoisie, and his hands are stained with the blood of the peoples of the world. The seafaring expedition that took place in the fifth year of the founding of the Ming Empire opened the Ming Empire's worldwide plundering operations. The once great empire in Asia, no longer satisfied with plundering in Asia, instigated this large-scale military operation, and continued to increase its military investment in Africa and West Asia in the next four decades. This operation and the subsequent expedition across the Pacific Ocean were essentially for the purpose of world colonization, and both were the product of the drive of capitalist interests.

The expedition involved 40 warships, 63 merchant ships and supply ships, a division of infantry, and a number of marines. Upon arrival in Cape Town, the fleet escorted ten merchant ships on their voyage to Europe, arriving in the Dutch port city of Amsterdam in the spring of the following year.

The quarrel of the Jingshi was not dry, and Chen Xie's recital on the abolition of the corresponding household registration system was still very smoothly placed on the round table of the imperial meeting. The reason is simple: Zhu Cihong needs a strong external force to balance the entire political pattern that seems to be too strong for the civilian bureaucracy.

However, at this imperial meeting, the first issue that was brought up was not household registration, but a proposal put forward by Li Yuzhi, the secretary of the ministry, to abolish all the governors of the world, on the grounds that "there is no external trouble, and the national treasury is harmed in vain". During the period of internal strife and external troubles in the Ming Dynasty, a number of governors were set up to command all armies in a unified manner. At present, there are only three governors remaining, one is the governor of Jiliao, one is the governor of the trilateral provinces, and the other is Chen Xie's three provinces and overseas prime ministers.

The reason is very strong, there is no external trouble in the Ming Dynasty, and now the Mongolian Tartars are all raising sheep and cattle for the Ming Dynasty in exchange for food and daily necessities. Don't worry about them jumping, from Horqin to Chahar, there are garrisons in Chifeng, Chengde, Ulanqab, Baotou and other places, and even in Kulen in the depths of the desert, there is a Ming cavalry stationed. These troops were stationed in these places, apparently to protect trade routes and fight horse bandits. In fact, it is to occupy the mountain as the king and not leave, playing a role of surveillance. Whenever there is any movement on the grassland, you must first pass this level.

As for the Mongolian lords, how can they have the heart to fight with the Ming Dynasty, they are all enjoying the huge benefits brought by the wool trade. As long as you raise more sheep, you will have food, clothing, and luxury. Beat? Hit a fart, raise sheep for Lao Tzu. These people have learned not to keep goats, but sheep from Tessie, which produce a lot of wool and do not eat grass roots.

The most important thing is the relative fairness of trade, the former Ming merchants came, and that was called a black heart. Now the Ming businessman is here, although he is still black-hearted, but he doesn't dare to be too black-hearted. The garrisons everywhere, once they received a report from the Mongol tribes, would take action against the black-hearted merchants. The fines for arresting people are all light, and some black-hearted people even give you black money with money, the grassland is too big, and you don't know where to die when you die.

Straight to the point! After Li Yuzhi's proposal was put out, the atmosphere of the imperial meeting was not right. After the abolition of the governors of various places, Chen Xie could not take care of the affairs of the three provinces. In fact, it is of little significance that Chen Xie has always hung this title, Shandong has basically given up, Jiangnan is mainly concentrated in Songjiang Mansion, and the only real thing that is Chen Xie's territory is nothing more than Liaodong.

The biggest effect of this bill is not actually the actual territory, but to make Chen Xie's actions in Jiangnan unjustifiable. In this way, Chen Xie's identity is embarrassing, you are a cabinet minister, you don't stay in Beijing well, what is the matter if you stay in Jiangnan for a long time? There is also to squeeze the emperor by the way, make him embarrassed, and disintegrate the invisible alliance between Zhu Cihong and Chen Xie by the way.

This can be regarded as a powerful counterattack against Chen Xie, but Zhu Cihong, as the emperor, is relatively calm at this time. After seeing through the intentions of the civil official group, Zhu Cihong laughed instead of being angry. I think this person is really stupid, it's been so many years, and he's still doing that in the past. first make a fuss about righteousness, then smear and then stink, and finally a general attack.

In this regard, Zhu Cihong decided to throw the question back, and nodded very simply: "I think it is feasible!" and nominated Chen Xie as the candidate for the next first assistant, and asked the imperial council to discuss. "Zhu Cihong can be regarded as a bad thing for Chen Xie, and his speech is half-literate and half-white.

At this time, the cabinet wants to come,, summer is coming, and the cabinet in autumn is not far away. (To be continued......) R1292