Most officials such as Lu Zhenfei, Zhang Shenyan, and Meng Zhaoxiang have never taken a sea boat, and it is now June, which is the typhoon season, so there is no way to go north by sea.

Although it is fastest to travel by land on horseback, many officials are too old and infirm to ride.

Therefore, in the end, he simply requisitioned more than 300 boats, brought thousands of Beijing officials, tens of thousands of personal servants and their respective luggage from Nanjing, and traveled north to the north.

When I walked to Shanyang County, Huai'an Prefecture, there was good news.

"Ladies and gentlemen, there is good news." Lu Zhenfei finished reading the Tang newspaper sent by the messenger, and the smile on his face could no longer be hidden, "Wu Sangui has been defeated and captured a few days ago. ”

"Really? Wu Sangui was also captured? ”

"It's okay now, the northern border of the Ming Dynasty is finally calm."

"Hey, it can only be said that half of the pacification has been pacified, although Beizhi, Liaodong and Shandong have been pacified, but Shanxi, Shaanxi and Sichuan have not yet been pacified, and they have to fight."

"It's wrong, it's wrong, Zhang Ge is wrong."

"Jiannu has been destroyed, and the trouble in the heart of the Ming Dynasty has been eliminated, as for the thieves and the thieves in the west, they are just the disease of mustard moss, and they can be pacified as soon as the soldiers of the Great Tomorrow arrive."

"I'm afraid it's not that easy."

"Back then, the thieves and the thieves were very fierce."

"Hey, this time is also that time, today's Ming army is no longer the Ming army of the past, with the strength of Jiannu and can be destroyed with one blow, let alone the thief and the thief, it can be destroyed by turning over."

In the cabin of the official ship, several elders and more than a dozen scholars and waiters had a heated discussion.

Except for a few people such as Zhang Shenyan, the rest of the elders, Shangshu and squires were very optimistic, believing that the Ming army's suppression of the rogue thieves and the pacification of the northern border was just around the corner.

Lu Zhenfei was also looking forward to and excited.

The expectation is that the Ming Dynasty can be reunified as soon as possible.

Lu Zhenfei still has expectations for the government governance after the reunification of the Ming Dynasty, because with the return of Beizhi, Shanxi, Shandong, Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces to the Ming Dynasty, there will inevitably be a large number of vacancies of governors, prefects, prefectures and counties, and the number of left officials will be even more.

This matter is undoubtedly a huge political resource for him.

Lu Zhenfei even secretly made up his mind that the local officials in these provinces must be able to select and appoint talents, and assign those officials who are honest and self-disciplined and brave to serve as officials in these provinces as much as possible.

Since the ranks of officials in these provinces have almost been uprooted, which is equivalent to a complete cut from the old officialdom, the newly appointed officials can drastically reform the bureaucracy, and if they have no such chronic disease, they will have the opportunity to completely eradicate it, and the officialdom in the north will be completely renewed.

Then you can use the northern officialdom to whip the old officialdom in the south.

The ultimate goal is to refresh the entire Ming officialdom.

Regardless of whether he can succeed, Lu Zhenfei's wish is still very good.

Needless to say, Lu Zhenfei's excitement is naturally because of his merits!

Although he did not make much contribution to the process of Daming Zhongxing, no one can deny the fact that Daming realized Zhongxing in his first and auxiliary positions.

With this, he is enough to enjoy the temple.

He was a very popular minister during his lifetime, and he deserved to enjoy the temple after his death.

When the scholar reaches his point, what more can the husband ask for?

Lu Zhenfei suddenly felt a little dizzy in his head, what's the matter?

I only drank a small half jar of clear wine just now, why did I get drunk?

But soon, an uninvited guest pulled Lu Zhenfei back to the ground from the clouds.

The uninvited guest who boarded the boat in a small boat was the red man in front of the saint - Gao Qi Di.

"There is a will!" As soon as Gao Qiqian roared, Lu Zhenfei and more than a dozen other senior officials in the cabin hurriedly lifted their robes and prepared to kneel down to receive the order.

"A few pavilion elders and all the ministers and lords are slow." Gao Qiqian said again, "Before leaving, Long Live Lord specially told that the public opinion of the government and the opposition has already reached a conclusion on the dispute over the Great Rites Sect. ”

"In the final analysis, it is a sentence that Sage Kong said."

"Self-denial is benevolence, and the core is the word self-denial."

"It can be seen that the essence of etiquette lies in self-denial, not in restraining others."

"Restricting people has their own laws, and the establishment of etiquette and religion lies in Confucianism's self-cultivation and self-denial, rather than imposing it on others."

"For the world, the law does not prohibit it, but Confucianism can strictly bind themselves with higher moral standards."

In view of this, the abolition of those rituals that are broad, decadent, ignorant, mere formalities, and designed to bind the world, such as forcing subjects to kneel to receive the holy decree, is contrary to the Confucian concept of benevolence and love for others. If the subjects do not respect the emperor, is it respectful to kneel to accept the holy decree? I'm afraid that the emperor will be scolded behind his back. ”

"This ......" Lu Zhenfei and other cabinet ministers felt a little confused.

Why did the saint suddenly make this out? Don't let you kneel anymore?

But when you think about it, what the Holy One said seems to be reasonable.

Kneeling to receive the order must be to respect the emperor? It's more of a deterrent.

However, did Confucianism establish etiquette to make the subjects fear the emperor?

At this time, the ministers did not know that their emperor was about to declare an all-out war on formalism, and that anything that was merely formalistic or contrary to human etiquette would be eradicated.

After saying a lot, Gao Qiqian asked again: "A few pavilion elders and all the ministers and lords, do you understand what the Lord of Long Live means?" ”

"Understood." Lu Zhenfei said happily, "The holy order cannot be violated, and the ministers stand to receive the order." ”

"That's right." Gao Qiqian nodded, unfolded the holy decree in his hand and said in a sharp voice, "Several pavilion elders, six hall officials and Zhuqing, the capital has been restored, and the northern territory is generally peaceful. ”

Hearing this, Lu Zhenfei and the other adults buzzed in their brains.

Is this not even the form of the Holy Decree? Fengtian carries the emperor's edict and says that you don't want it?

Gao Qiqian didn't care what the reaction of these cabinet members was, and then read down: "I have decided to return to the old capital and rebuild the new Ming, and I can try to discuss three things on the way north." ”

"First, I want to reset the Beijing Guozijian."

"Beijing Guozi Jian is the same as Nanjing Guozi Jian."

"The difference is that Nanjing Guozijian cultivates military ministers, while Beijing Guozijian cultivates Wenchen."

"In the future, all Ming students, regardless of the food students, Zengguang students or episheng, will automatically enjoy the qualifications to apply for the Beijing Guozijian and Nanjing Guozijian, and in the future, all Ming military ministers must graduate from Nanjing Guozijian, and Wenchen must graduate from Beijing Guozijian, and they cannot be officials unless they graduate from the two Beijing Guozijian."

Hearing this, Lu Zhenfei and other cabinet officials were stunned.

Liu Lishun even blurted out: "Could it be that the Holy One can really predict the prophet?" ”

Meng Zhaoxiang also said: "Yes, we were still discussing the matter of resetting the Beijing Guozijian just now, but the Holy Lord's will came immediately, and it happened to mention the matter of resetting the Beijing Guozijian. ”

Liu Lishun said: "Now it seems that it is imperative to increase the number of prefecture schools and county schools. ”

At this moment, even the only oppositionist, Zhang Shenyan, has nothing to say, because there are only 60,000 or 70,000 students in the whole world, and even if the schools in the northern provinces are restored in the future, there will be about 100,000 students, and then Beijing Guozijian will also run a school according to the scale of Nanjing Guozijian, that is to say, 20,000 students will be admitted every year.

20,000 students are admitted out of 100,000 students, which is really too high.

After a pause, Gao Qiqian continued to read: "Second, the trial of Hong Chengchou, Wu Sangui and other subordinate generals, I mean, the punishment of subordinate and subordinate generals needs to be distinguished, the general should be mainly killed, and the second minister should be punished by the heart, that is, the second minister will always live in remorse and pain. ”

"Then, how to kill people and how to punish the heart."

"Qing and the others can have an in-depth discussion on the way to Beijing on the way north."

"Murderous?" Lu Zhenfei and other cabinet officials were a little surprised.

They originally thought that it would be inevitable that Hong Chengchou, Wu Sangui and other ministers would inevitably die after being captured, but listening to the meaning of the holy will, it seemed that Wu Sangui and other generals would definitely die, but for Hong Chengchou and other ministers, they seemed to be inclined to keep their dogs alive? And then make them regret their stupid choices in the first place?

It's just that how to kill people and how to punish the heart?

The Holy One meant to let them discuss it.

After another pause, Gao Qiqian read again: "Third, liquidate the northern gentry!" ”

Hearing this, the cabin suddenly became silent, and almost all the cabinet officials sank their faces, so their vital interests were at stake.

By the way, a very important reason why things can go so smoothly in the capital is that most of the cabinet ministers and the members of the six ministries and nine secretaries are northerners, and they all hope to return to the capital.

For example, in the cabinet, only Wu Linzheng is from Haiyan among the five cabinet elders.

Among the six Shangshu, only Wu Jinxi, the Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, is a native of Wujiang, Suzhou.

Therefore, Chongzhen's proposal to return the capital has little resistance in the court.

On the contrary, the resistance in the Internal Affairs Office is very great, because the scholars of the Internal Affairs Office are basically southerners, and it seems that only Ma Mingluo, the main officer, is from Baocheng County, Shaanxi.

This is also one of the reasons why Chongzhen decided to return to Beijing.

Because the influence of the Internal Affairs Office or Shiziying in Jiangnan is too great, in the long run, the power of the imperial court will definitely be seriously encroached upon by the Internal Affairs Office, and at that time, the imperial court will become a puppet of the outer court, and the real control of the state power will become the internal affairs government or the internal court, which Chongzhen does not want to see.

Chongzhen still hopes that the imperial court and the internal affairs government can perform their duties and not interfere with each other.

In fact, the separation of powers does not necessarily have to be the separation of legislative, judicial and administrative powers, the separation of powers of civil ministers, military generals and emperors is also the separation of powers, if necessary, the separation of four powers or even five powers is not impossible, the key is that the top-level design of power must be in line with the national conditions of the Ming Dynasty.

He hasn't figured out exactly how to do Chongzhen yet, but he still has enough time to explore.

As a traverser, Chongzhen knew very well that the separation of powers between the legislative, judicial and administrative powers was not suitable for the Ming Dynasty, so Chongzhen dreamed of finding another set of power structures suitable for the Ming Dynasty in order to extend the Ming Dynasty's national glory as much as possible.