The next morning, it happened to be a regular pilgrimage meeting once every five days.

Chongzhen slept very peacefully in the palace of Queen Zhou because of the good news the night before, and he was full of energy in the morning.

He knew that the ministers had not heard of the good news delivered by Yang Ge last night, so he deliberately suppressed it first, and wanted to take this opportunity to forcibly carry out several other appointments in internal affairs by the way.

Therefore, he deliberately did not mention the military exploits and commendations of the thieves, but first asked people to discuss the "rewards and punishments for the proponents of the reform of the Lijin" that the cabinet had been pressing for many days.

"The Great Age of Genes"

As an emperor, if it is the kind of existence that is a one-man thief and a one-man man, he does not like to "pretend to be a pig and eat a tiger", they prefer to be direct and arbitrary.

But many emperors in the Ming Dynasty have been constrained by the cabinet and ministers for a long time, and there are always many obstacles to implement a little thing, and in this case, it is inevitable that they will develop some bad tastes, and they always want to slap the opponents in the face.

Chongzhen at this moment, I'm afraid he has a little bit of this mentality.

The court meeting soon began in earnest. After a few daily routine topics, it was time for the first event of the day.

Chongzhen himself spoke and set the tone for what was about to be discussed:

"Ladies and gentlemen, there is a major event that must be agreed upon at today's court meeting. It has been more than two months since the implementation of the law of centigold. The three southern provinces have also reported the amount for April and May, which has really reduced the military expenditure of hundreds of thousands of taels of households.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Households, in the remaining six months of this year, at least 1.5 million taels of direct expenditures of the Ministry of Households can be reduced. ”

As soon as Chongzhen's words came out, there were really a few officials in the household department who were angry and wanted to jump out directly to admonish.

But it seems that considering that above this hall, it is not better than handing over the fold in private, and a group of household officials took the initiative to take the lead in opposing the policies promoted by the household department itself, which is a bit unusual, so I put up with it for the time being.

However, they also winked at each other, always trying to push a person with little suspicion of a position to provoke the head. After the last eye contact, it was the turn of Zhou Shipu, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, to come forward.

This Zhou Shipu is a person from Guide Mansion (Shangqiu) in Henan, and Hou Sui, who has been a household secretary for many years, is a fellow villager and an old colleague (Hou Sui is also from Shangqiu).

Seven years before Chongzhen, when Hou Sui was the secretary of the household department, Zhou Shipu successively served as the left and right attendants of the household transfer department. Later, Hou Sui fell and was imprisoned, and Zhou Shipu was transferred to the Ministry of Industry and promoted to Shangshu.

However, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Household have always had close contacts in work, and the Ministry of Industry is a big spender. According to the darkness of officialdom at the end of the Ming Dynasty, it is obviously impossible for the government project funds allocated by the Ministry of Household Affairs to be spent by the Ministry of Industry in the end, at least a considerable part of them will be directly returned to the funders with kickbacks and share the fertilizer with each other.

Therefore, Zhou Shipu is obviously very resistant to "having two or three million taels of silver every year, which will be collected by the local government and spent directly on the local government in the future, without going through the household department to get oil in his hands", and he has a very strong common interest with those former officials of the Hou faction in the household department.

So, Zhou Shipu took the initiative to jump out against the emperor's suspicion: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the method of centrificizing gold has great drawbacks. In the long run, it will lead to the disaster of the Tang Dynasty's feudal towns.

The former Song Dynasty and I spent 600 years to divide the power of the local army and finance, so that there was such a long time of peace and prosperity, Your Majesty must not be short of money for a while, perverse! ”

Chongzhen was quite annoyed when he heard this, but he now has confidence, and his anger doesn't need to be too shallow, so he said with a smile:

"Zhou Qing! In your opinion, is the method of money just a matter of money? I see that you are all blinded by lard! The immediate priority is to eradicate all evil! Pacify the thieves!

What I want is the combat power of the local garrison! What you want is for all military forces to protect their hometown! If the law of centijin can improve the military strength of the provinces, shouldn't it be pushed hard! You all want to collude with the gangsters, but you can't do it! ”

Chongzhen's words, the tone was relatively flat at the beginning, and the more he talked about it, the more he spoke loudly, progressing step by step, directly putting Zhou Shipu and others in a big rebellious position where "not supporting Li Jin means not supporting the improvement of the combat effectiveness of the local army, and colluding with thieves".

Zhou Shipu's tone was stopped, and he didn't dare to speak for the time being.

Chongzhen took advantage of the victory to pursue, and added a few words of humiliation: "Zhou Qing, how clean is your own engineering department, don't you need to say it?" I heard that I sent Zhang Yixian to the cashier of the household department and the Ministry of Industry, but you still pushed back. Clearly saying that it is ashamed to be with eunuchs, what you actually think, you know it in your heart! ”

It turned out that just a few months ago, Chongzhen felt that this Zhou Shangshu was too greedy, so he overrode public opinion and sent a eunuch to the household department and the ministry of industry to serve as a cashier to find out how every amount of money allocated by the household department to the ministry of industry was spent.

In history, Zhou Shipu finally had a big conflict with Zhang Yixian on the grounds of "being ashamed of being checked by eunuchs" and was deposed by the emperor.

After the deposition, he returned to his hometown of Shangqiu to live, and in the second year (the fifteenth year of Chongzhen), he met Li Zicheng to attack Shangqiu. Zhou Shipu was a little late at the last moment, and after Li Zicheng broke the city, his family hanged himself.

(Note: However, some historians believe that he is afraid of being caught by Li Zicheng and humiliated, and he may not be loyal to the Ming Dynasty and swear not to surrender.) Because Li Zicheng is never soft on the vassal kings and corrupt officials who have accumulated huge wealth, and he doesn't have to accept surrender at all, and the money he kills them is also Li Zicheng's, and he can also get a reputation for killing greed)

Now, because of the butterfly effect of Shen Shuren and the struggle of the gold system, the contradiction between Chongzhen and Zhou Shipu has been ignited in advance.

Who made Zhou Shipu look bad, and today he wanted to be this up-and-coming bird, and let those people from the Hou faction in the household department owe him a big favor, but he kicked him on the iron plate.

After being insulted by the emperor, Zhou Shipu was still a little angry, and said bluntly: "The minister is really ashamed to be with the eunuchs!" But today's events have nothing to do with it! His Majesty said that the gold can improve the combat strength and morale of the garrisons in the local provinces, but I am afraid that it is just wishful thinking.

In the opinion of the ministers, this is nothing more than a new method of collecting money made in the locality, and in the end, so much money was collected, but the soldiers were not trained well, and I don't know whose pocket it all fell into! ”

Chongzhen was ecstatic in his heart, he actually wanted to engage Zhou Shipu since the day he sent the eunuch to check the accounts. I didn't expect to pick up the grass and beat the rabbit today, and I only wanted to engage in a few disobedient thorns on the side of the household, but even the Ministry of Industry jumped out without a long eye.

I pressed Yang Sichang's good news and didn't mention it, but first mentioned the reform, and it really got a miraculous effect!

Only then did Chongzhen take out the good news and signal Wang Chengen to hand it over to the secretaries for circulation: "Who said that after the implementation of the law of centigold, there has been no change in the distribution of military salaries, the morale of soldiers, and the training and preparation for war?"

How long has the Fifth Battalion been suppressed? Surrender and surrender again, as soon as the troops were dispatched, they all said that they had won the battle, and when they asked about the results of the battle, the king of thieves was not completely annihilated! Who has taken the head of a thief chieftain?

This time, only two months after the implementation of Huguang Lijin, the morale of the new army was greatly boosted, the military salary was full, and the people were safe. Is this called no increase in combat power? ”

As soon as the emperor said this, the Manchu Dynasty was in an uproar, and he really didn't expect that on the battlefield of suppressing thieves, he would make such a big contribution all of a sudden. Anyway, this is the ambush of the two battalion thief chiefs themselves!

Of course, this kind of credit has been made by others before, and it is even greater.

For example, in the fourth year of Chongzhen, Cao Wenzhao killed the first generation of thieves Wang Jiayin.

In the eighth year of Chongzhen, Gao Yingxiang killed Cao Wenzhao to avenge Wang Jiayin, and his prestige rose to the head of all thieves and became the new "King Chuang".

But the following year, Sun Chuanting killed Gao Yingxiang again, which was also a miracle, and only then did there be another generation of new "King Chuang" Li Zicheng.

From this point of view, even if someone kills Li Zicheng now, the credit is only on the same level as Cao Wenzhao and Sun Chuanting. Unless in the future, when Li Zicheng commits a bigger crime and his head becomes more valuable, the credit for killing Li Zicheng will rise to another level.

And the thief chieftain that the Shen Shuren has destroyed now is at least one level lower than Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai, and Ma Shouying. Even if you kill two people once, the credit is slightly inferior to the above giants.

Therefore, Shen Shuren's military exploits this time can only be said to be worse than Cao Wenzhao, Lu Xiangsheng, and Sun Chuanting during the Chongzhen period, and barely ranked fourth in contemporary times. If you count Yang Sichang and Hong Chengchou's overall planning efforts, he Shen Shuren ranks sixth at most, and it is not an "immortal achievement".

But in any case, as a "model of efficacy to promote reform", it is properly enough.

The emperor dropped such a bombshell, and the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty did not dare to mention a single objection except for singing praises of virtue. Whoever makes the emperor uncomfortable at this moment is joking with his own future.

Chongzhen saw the Manchu Dynasty's civil and military hearts, and his heart was also very happy, and finally he didn't forget to give Zhou Shipu a knife, and said coldly:

"Zhou Qing, I asked people to check the accounts of the household department and the Ministry of Industry, but it is not finished yet! When the big thing here is over, I'll settle it with you slowly! ”

As soon as these words came out, the other civil officials who were not clean in terms of money and food became more and more silent, knowing that they must not hand a knife to the emperor to check themselves at this time.

Chongzhen Zhi was satisfied, and after announcing a few measures, seeing that everyone was cooperating, he said a decision he wanted to finalize a long time ago:

"In this case, there is another matter, which I will discuss by the way. Jiang Dejin, the head of the household department, has made meritorious contributions to the implementation of the gold, and Cheng Guoxiang, the secretary of the household department, has been ill for a long time, so I am determined to promote Jiang Dejin to the secretary of the household department, and the secretaries can discuss it. ”

Such a major personnel decision is not something that the emperor can decide with a word, and the process that should be followed still has to be followed.

At the court meeting, the cabinet scholars discussed and discussed together, and finally the appointment of the emperor was approved in principle, and the relevant documents were added after the court meeting.

Jiang Dejin stood in the queue of civil officials, and he was also in a fierce mood. He has worked hard for more than a year for this step from deputy to full-time, and has recruited so many subordinates and presided over so many reforms, and now this step has finally been officially taken!

He couldn't help but turn his head and look at Shen Tingyang, a subordinate behind him, who is now only one of the carriers, his little brother has received well, he can help him do great things, and it is not in vain that he has always supported the reform he proposed in the household department, which can be regarded as a mutual benefit and win-win situation.

After discussing Jiang Dejin's promotion, Chongzhen pushed the boat down the river and then proposed to promote Shen Tingyang, the head of the household carrier, to the head of the household department.

After going to Nanjing to preside over the reform and promotion of the gold in the southern provinces, and strive for this year's pilot project, the law of the gold will also be promoted in Sichuan, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang next year, and the reform of the Cao Yun to the sea will be further deepened.

At this point, the Hou faction in the household system was finally completely powerless to resist. The emperor was able to kick Shen Tingyang to the "Sixth Department of Pension" in the south, and they were already very grateful, and they didn't dare to make more trouble.

Even if they directly give Shen Tingyang Nanjing Hubu Shangshu, they don't care.

Anyway, Nanjing's six departments are actually in charge of the affairs of the southern Zhili region, and if you want to manage the other provinces in the south, it depends on whether you have the strength to do so, and whether the household departments in Beijing cooperate or not.

At the same time, Jiang Dejin was also thinking in his heart: "The Shen family must unite well, anyway, the officials of the household department in Nanjing are not worth much, and Brother Ji Mingxian is too qualified, and he was only Langzhong before, so he can only be a waiter when he is promoted to Nanjing for the time being."

And as long as he behaves well after he goes, we will find a way to help him move up another level within a year or two, and it is okay to be a household secretary in Nanjing. I believe that his son Shen Shuren will also accept our favors, and will be more cooperative in other aspects in the future, so he will repay the favor. ”