Since the Ming Tumubao Incident, the empire has entered an era of civilian rule.

The style of advocating literature and suppressing martial arts is getting deeper and deeper, making it not a very honorable thing to be a soldier, but to be looked down upon.

Now that it is a troubled time, when the empire has the highest requirements for the combat effectiveness of the army, Zhu Youzhen does not want the world to still regard soldiers as vulgar people.

There is a strong correlation between the combat effectiveness of the army and the collapse rate and the sense of honor of the servicemen.

In the Han and Tang dynasties, the army's combat effectiveness was very strong, which was related to the fact that most of the generals came from the family of the gate lords and the soldiers came from the good family, that is, at that time, it was believed that the soldiers were people with a better class, at least they were not discriminated against.

Therefore, the soldiers at that time had a sense of honor and combat effectiveness.

Most of today's Ming army is just a mess, even if they become generals, they have no concept of family and country, there are few dead fighters and many surrenderers.

What Zhu Youzhen wants to change now is to make the political status of the soldiers, especially the officers and men of his own guards, realize that once they join the guards, they will become aristocrats, and unlike the common people, they must have stricter quality requirements, and of course, they must also have a higher social status.

Now Zhu Youzhen wants to use his royal authority to forcibly protect Yan Yingyuan and others in front of him, that is, in front of the Yangzhou officials and businessmen, he wants to take the opportunity to tell the gentry all over the world that the dignity of his own guards, including the dignity of himself as an emperor, cannot be slandered in the slightest.

Mao Bijiang died, and the officials and businessmen in Yangzhou were even more nervous, but the Kou Baimen in front of them was still light and light, and smiled: "In this case, the people's girls are waiting to be killed!" ”

"It's not a pity for you to die, but I am unkind to kill a woman, I heard that you Kou Baimen is known to be chivalrous, and you are a hero among women, since you say that my sons are vulgar people, I want you to see with your own eyes, what is the real talent!"

After Zhu Youzhen spoke, he turned to Li Ruolian and instructed:

"Sent a decree to Jin Xuan of the General Political Department, Kou Baimen was originally the concubine of the rebel minister Baoguogong, and the court forgave his sins because of his innocence, but he never thought of repentance, and despised the officers and soldiers of the Ming Guard, so he was forcibly conscripted as a medical soldier of the General Political Department, and he was guilty of meritorious service! First let her follow the accompanying old lady doctor to learn the way of trauma first aid, stay in Yangzhou in addition to provoking students not to learn, officials not to think about politics, think about this person, wouldn't it bring bad to the atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty. ”

Kou Baimen was taken down by Li Ruolian's order to be a brocade guard.

Zhu Youzhen did not punish Yan Yingyuan and the three here, on the contrary, praised the three of them, and ordered the three of them to return to their hometown in the imperial boat with him.

Yan Yingyuan and the others were naturally overjoyed, they didn't expect that they were not punished by His Majesty, but had an opportunity to get close to the Son of Heaven.

"Yan Yingyuan, if he attacks Yangzhou with the Qing army one day, if I let you defend this city, how do you plan to defend it?"

"Back to Your Majesty, Yangzhou and Zhenjiang, Taizhou depend on each other, to guard Yangzhou is to guard Zhenjiang, Taizhou three cities, Zhenjiang is not lost, Yangzhou back road continues; And Yangzhou is bordered by the big lake in the north, Taizhou in the east, Taizhou is the gateway of Yangzhou, as long as Taizhou is guarded, Yangzhou can be guaranteed, if these two cities are lost, it is best not to guard, otherwise it will harm the people's ears in vain, if you have to defend it, you can only accumulate grain and build a high wall! ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded, and smiled at Shi Kefa: "This person is more knowledgeable about military affairs than you, you were also the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, and you were responsible for staying in Jiangnan, did you think so much at that time?" ”

"Wechen can't think about Captain Yan, I'm really ashamed!" Shi Kefa is relatively generous, and he calmly admits his shortcomings.

"So the celebrant is more suitable for you, there is no shortage of virtuous ministers in the outer court, but it is difficult to have a Ming Duke in the inner court, you love to be united for the country!"

"Do the holy thing!"

……

After dealing with the matter of Mao Bijiang and Yan Yingyuan and others, Zhu Youzhen was in a good mood, and he was now more cold-blooded than before, as if he had completely substituted himself into the role of a real emperor.

As an emperor, how can he achieve great things without a few lives under his hands.

Since ancient times, it has been a success, not to mention the generation of emperors that Zhu Youzhen wants to be.

"It's getting heavier and heavier, let everyone in!"

Zhu Youzhen gave an order, and pointed to Wang Botong, the prefect of Yangzhou, to the shadow in the curtain: "Who is this?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, this person is Li Xiangjun, and now Your Majesty has occasionally passed Yangzhou, and the salt merchants in Yangzhou have the courage to invite her to dance for Your Majesty, which can be regarded as a sign of the loyalty of the subjects."

"Don't take it as an example!"

Zhu Youzhen smiled faintly, and shouted loudly: "Miss Xiangjun, it has been several months since the Dantu were separated that day, and now that we meet in Yangzhou again, can we see each other by pulling the curtain!" ”

Although Zhu Youzhen is the emperor, he does not pretend to be reserved on this occasion, and he simply does whatever he wants.

However, none of the officials and businessmen present dared to laugh at it.

The court full of brocade guards and the heads of people who ventured into the frontier, except for Zhu Youzhen, who could still let loose his bones, no one was still in the mood to have fun with the king on such an occasion.

Li Xiangjun skillfully opened the curtain, and the jade pendant between the graceful waist swayed with the wind, revealing a thousand styles.

"I've seen Your Majesty!"

The voice is tactful, like a yellow warbler in the beam.

Zhu Youzhen's ears were crispy, and when he took the entrance of tea, he waved his hand: "Come here, I have something to say." ”

Li Xiangjun had no choice but to come over, leaned over and asked, "Please give instructions from Your Majesty." ”

"How about I stay overnight at Dantu tonight and revisit my hometown?"

After Zhu Youzhen said that, he didn't wait for Li Xiangjun to agree, so he gave Li Ruolian a look: "Someone will take her to go first, and an hour later, we will board the ship and go to Zhenjiang Dantu." ”

After speaking, Zhu Youzhen said to Wang Botong, Zhang Liangchao, Wei Ming and others: "What are you thinking now, I all know, at the moment this salt government has not changed the meaning, as long as you are dedicated to the country, I will naturally not do anything to you, open the law is still counted, however, the payment of silver and salt has to be changed back to the payment of grain and salt, now that the war is imminent, there is a shortage of food on the front line, since you are rich on the first side, you should also have the obligation to benefit one party, and the responsibility of transporting grain must be borne!" ”

Zhu Youzhen had indeed thought of not stopping the salt introduction system for the time being, so as to avoid intensifying the contradictions with the gentry.

However, Zhu Youzhen decided to restore the salt introduction system to the way of paying grain and silver before Hongzhi, which would be equivalent to returning the power of the market to regulate the price of salt to the macro control of salt prices by the imperial court.

After all, in this case, it is up to the household department of the imperial court to determine the amount of salt according to the situation of the salt industry over the years and the food needs of the army.

From a certain point of view, Yanyin is a kind of securities, and now it is the era of war, Zhu Youzhen wants to take the securities back from the market and control them by himself, so as to make himself more able to mobilize the national strength of the entire Ming Empire to confront Jiannu.

The salt merchants in Yangzhou also breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this, for them, as long as the salt introduction system was not abolished, they were responsible for the salt business, they could accept it.

As for the payment of grain and silver, they did not mind, but the cost of the former was a little higher, after all, they had to bear the cost of transportation, and even if they did not bear the cost of transportation, they would face the threat of war in the front-line areas of Shangtun (tuntian cultivation for commercial payment).