The system of prime ministers, which has historically held an important position in politics in China, disappeared after Zhu Yuanzhang killed Hu Weiyong and abolished the establishment of Zhongshu Province and the post of prime minister. From then on, the emperor had to handle the affairs of the empire alone without the help of his assistants. In this regard, Zhu Yuanzhang should be complacent, believing that it is the crystallization of his highest wisdom and can keep the Ming regime forever.

More than 100 years ago, Britain established Parliament to restrain the power of the monarch. China, on the contrary, has become more powerful and the disadvantages of absolute autocracy have been increasingly exposed, and it has finally been crushed by internal and external troubles, and has once again been ruled by foreign races.

If a country is compared to a ship, in a feudal society, the emperor is the helmsman. And whether it's a big or small boat, the helmsman is very important. If the helmsman is determined to slam into the reef, whoever stops him will be killed or thrown into prison, and even the sturdy ship will sink.

Zhu Yuanzhang could personally review 150 pieces of music every day, adjudicate 400 kinds of cases, and use diligence to monopolize power. But his descendants, those who grew up in the deep palace and among the women and eunuchs, were bound to be at a loss in the face of thousands of unpredictable imperial affairs. As a result, there was a cabinet and scholars, and there were eunuchs who exercised power.

Among the various official positions in feudal society, the prime minister changed most frequently, and there was no fixed position, no fixed title, and no fixed member, which was determined by the fundamental nature of absolute monarchy. The monarch is inseparable from the prime minister and needs the prime minister's help in handling political affairs, and is worried that the prime minister's excessive power will endanger his own power, which is the main reason for the constant change of the prime minister's official position. But no matter how it is adjusted, it has not departed from this core, that is, the imperial power is constantly concentrated, and the relative power is constantly divided. Moreover, no matter how the prime minister system is adjusted, the contradiction between the imperial power and the prime minister cannot be completely resolved.

After a brief moment of consternation, Cha Rulong thought of what he had before. And the prime minister system, which will change with time and circumstances, does not realize that the "prime minister" mentioned by Zhu Yongxing is no longer a prime minister in the traditional sense. In the cabinet system composed of scholars, scholars can also be regarded as prime ministers without the name of the prime minister, and the cabinet can also be regarded as the province without the name of the province of Zhongshu.

Seeing that Zha Rulong didn't know the essentials, Zhu Yongxing sighed secretly and smiled bitterly. Diverted from the topic. There is still plenty of time, and the reform of the political system cannot be a simple matter that can be accomplished overnight. For now, as the helmsman of the Empire, it is unlikely that he will make any mistake in any direction.

And even when someone else is in power, at the beginning of most autocratic dynasties, the emperor is usually a little more enlightened and tolerant of different opinions, so that he can flourish and open the foundation of eternity. In the hands of later descendants. It gradually became impatient, and gradually became harsh, from enlightened despotism to barbaric despotism, and finally barbarism reached the extreme, and the destruction came to an end with joy to end this dynasty that was spurned by history!

What are your children and grandchildren like? Zhu Yongxing didn't dare to speculate, let alone assert. However, according to his own understanding and judgment, an emperor who has no real power and is in a position of "unification but not rule" can basically be recognized and maintained for a long time. For example, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, and so on.

Only dare to let go. in order to have it for a long time. Under the temptation of power, Zhu Yongxing did not think that his children and grandchildren would have such courage. So. He was going to try to accomplish it in his lifetime. At the very least, it is necessary to lay a solid foundation, such as the "Glorious Revolution" in England, to enact and enact something like the Bill of Rights to limit the absolute power of the emperor.

With such thoughts, in the current world, I am afraid it is difficult to find a bosom friend who can understand Zhu Yongxing. The "Glorious Revolution" will have to wait for more than a decade. Magna Carta has also been left unmentioned because of the strengthening of the English crown, and it will take time to give it a new meaning.

Of course, Zhu Yongxing actually has an ambivalent mentality, which is to continue his absolute authority as emperor in order to lead the country to the correct historical trend. Or continue to delegate power, so that many things are wasted in endless debates and discussions. At the very least, when people's thinking reaches a certain height, when the political mechanism reaches the desired level, and before the serious threat to the state is basically eliminated, his cadre program and arbitrariness will make the country take many detours in its development and become a world power at a faster pace.

"It will probably take more than 10 years for the country to be restored and rebuilt, and it will have the strength to repeat the territory. If it takes too long, you have to do extraordinary things, such as ......"

Zhu Yongxing was not satisfied with this time, whether he wanted to strengthen the country or continue to promote his lofty ideals, he had to take shortcuts. And this must be guided by him, a cheater who sees the world most clearly, and traditional methods, such as "light labor and strict economy", etc., can no longer work so quickly.

As for the statement of repeating the territory, the map that Zhu Yongxing is looking at now is a map of the territory made in the eighth year of Xuande (1443) of the Ming Dynasty. On the map, about half of the Russian Far East, about half of Burma, and half of Bhutan, Sikkim, and Kashmir were all within the territory of the Ming Dynasty. But now, the Nuergandu Division, the Uszangdu Division, the residence of the Five Kings of Xifan, and the Hamiwei have long since lost their actual management rights and have separated from the Ming Dynasty.

To explain it intuitively, there are only two capitals and fourteen provinces in the official administrative region of the Ming Dynasty after Zhongxing. The two capitals are Jingshi (Hebei) and Nanjing (Jiangsu), and the 14 provinces are Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou. As for the occupation zone of Annam, as well as the provinces of Mekong and Ha Tien, they were not within the original Ming territory.

In Zhu Yongxing's view, aggression and expansion and territorial restoration are two different things, and there is no psychological comfort in eliminating the advantages of one or the other. If you want to grab someone else's, you have to take back your own. When the Manchu clique had not been completely wiped out and the wounds of the war had not yet fully healed, Zhu Yongxing had to use the autocracy and authority of the emperor that he intended to weaken if he wanted to continue to attack from all sides.

Relying on self-reliance and hard work alone can of course achieve the goal, but time makes Zhu Yongxing unbearable. Aggression and expansion are not very good, but they are practical and fast! As for benevolence, righteousness and morality, it is between people, and there are only interests between countries.

The recruitment of troops from the north and the transfer of troops from the south and the establishment of the Guangzhou Military Region mean the gradual formation of two strategic directions, north and south. However, in the south, how to fight a predatory war with little investment and quick returns, it is obviously necessary to explain the definition and content of a new type of war.

"First of all, the purpose is clear, the destruction of the country and the seizure of land is still secondary, the most important thing is to plunder the resources and money needed to rebuild the country, and not to make the army fall too deep, and the cost should be as small as possible......" Zhu Yongxing has already shown his naked bandit face, and the audience will be a little stunned when he listens.

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The great country has always inspired the Quartet with generosity and benevolence, but now it wants to do that naked bandit; The Manchu clique, which had always been known as bandits, was now broken and shrunk outside the gates, eager to get a chance to breathe. However, the changes in shape have made their abacus fall short step by step, and they can only retreat step by step, not knowing where to retreat to gain a firm foothold.

The loud sound of the platoon of guns rang out again, and in the narrow area leading to the island's ice, in this small trapezoidal area, the bullets were once again intensively sprayed towards the center. The thick smoke of gunpowder instantly covered the war zone, as if it were swallowing the people in it together.

Under the smoke of gunpowder, the brigade of men and horses rolled on the ice covered in blood, and the frightened horses jumped wildly, neighing and roaring. Stimulated by the smoke and loud noises, the once docile horses became fierce and untamable. Some of the bloodied horses leapt several feet into the air again and again, while others snorted wildly and rolled wildly.

Juehua Island is stuck in the middle of the Liaoning West Corridor, and it has become a choking thorn in the throat of the Manchu clique that has withdrawn from the Guan, and it must be swept away to ensure safety. Otherwise, Shanhaiguan and Jinzhou were in danger of being cut off, and the army of Shanhaiguan could not hold out for a long time because of the fear of being cut off from retreat.

As early as when the Manchu group withdrew from Beijing, they saw this, and urgently ordered the garrisons of Shanhaiguan and Jinzhou to be dispatched to recover Juehua Island, so as to be able to block the Ming army at Shanhaiguan, which was the most ideal state.

However, the Ming army on Juehua Island has been stationed for a long time, has built a lot of fortifications, and took advantage of the cold to water and freeze to reinforce, the Qing army wants to break through, it is not easy. The Qing troops in Shanhaiguan and Jinzhou transferred 3,000 and 2,000 men and horses respectively, but under the artillery and muskets of the Ming army, they could not achieve the goal expected by the Qing court.

When most of the Manchurians were able to increase their troops on Juehua Island after they had left the customs, the Northeast Military Region was also notified and began to use sea ships to transport reinforcements in order to cope with the military operations of the northern army.

In a short period of time, the small Juehua Island was defended by more than 10,000 Ming troops, and hundreds of ships also cruised around the island on the sea, so that the Qing army could only attack from the shore on ice. The Ming army not only dug ice as a trench, but also had shore fortifications and grain hoarding cities to defend, and the tenacious defense caused the Qing army to suffer heavy casualties.

In fact, the harsh environment made it even more difficult for the Qing army to attack Juehua Island. Because it was impossible for the Qing army to be stationed on the ice, if they wanted to attack Juehua Island, they could only set off at sunrise, trek nearly twenty miles of ice in the cold wind, and rest for half an hour after arriving at the battlefield before attacking. If you count the preparation and assembly time before and after. The Qing army began to attack, and by the time they were guaranteed to return to the camp before dark, they had only more than two hours to attack.

The artillery was delivered, but it could not suppress the Ming army, which had more artillery; The impact was fierce enough, but the oncoming rain of death bullets was denser and more ferocious.

The ice was covered with dead bodies of men and horses, fragments of shield carts and weapons, and the continuous failure of the attack made the confidence of the Qing army more and more low. But this nail can't be removed, so they can only withdraw from Shanhaiguan, retreat through the Liaoxi Corridor, and retreat straight to Jinzhou to set up a defensive line. (To be continued......)