Looking at the dilapidated South Gate Tower in Changping, Chongzhen sighed in his heart.

The city of Changping in front of him is even more dilapidated than it was five years ago.

Chongzhen beckoned Wang Jiayan to step forward and asked, "Wang Qing, do you still remember the situation when you and I came here after breaking through from Beijing in March of the Jiashen year?" ”

"How not to remember." Wang Jiayan said abruptly.

"The ministers obeyed the holy order, led more than 50 families to pretend to be hungry and entered Changping City first, opened the city gate at night, and received hundreds of saints and superiors to ride into Changping Prefecture, and the monarchs and ministers and horses were well fed."

"I still think about it, it's like a dream." Chongzhen was also emotional.

Then he turned back and asked Sun Fanzhi: "Sun Fanzhi, how many dings are there in Changping Prefecture?" ”

Sun Fanzhi replied: "Back to the Holy Heaven, according to the fish scale atlas approved in the sixth year of Wanli, Changping Prefecture also led the three counties of Shunyi, Huairou and Miyun, and there were more than 98,000 Ding. ”

Chongzhen nodded and said, "That is, more than 200,000 mouths." ”

The Ming Dynasty fish scale atlas generally only records the number of dings.

The reason is also very simple, women and children do not need to pay the Ding tax, so there is no need for statistics.

After a pause, Chongzhen asked again: "So now, how many people are left in Changping Prefecture?" ”

Sun Fanzhi sighed lightly and replied: "At present, there are only more than 3,000 Ding and 6,000 mouths left in Changping Prefecture. ”

Hearing this, the accompanying scholars suddenly looked stunned, the ancients often used Dingkou ten not to exist one to describe the disaster, but the loss of Dingkou in Changping Prefecture is not only nine out of ten?

While speaking, Junchen and his entourage have entered Changping City from the south gate.

After entering the city gate, there are two ancestral halls, and from the remaining architectural forms and scales, it can be seen that these two ancestral halls must have been magnificent before they were destroyed by the war.

The garrison mansion, Shenshou Palace, nursing home, preparation warehouse and even Changping Prefecture City are also dilapidated, and there is hardly a intact building in sight.

The dwellings were even more dilapidated.

Some people heard the movement and walked out of the dilapidated house, and saw Chongzhen Junchen and his party hurriedly avoiding the house, only looking secretly through the crack in the door, and behaving extremely indifferently.

Sun Fanzhi wanted to step forward to reprimand the people, but was stopped.

"Don't blame them, it's me." Chongzhen sighed and said, "If it weren't for the inaction of the seventeen years after I was the emperor, I wouldn't have let the mountains and rivers hang upside down, and the people would have become the fish and meat of thieves and slaves, so all the mistakes were my fault." ”

Wang Jiayan and Sun Fanzhi sighed when they heard this, but everyone soon became excited again.

The old atmosphere before Chongzhen's seventeenth year has become a thing of the past, and the important thing is the new atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty after that.

Chongzhen asked again: "Sun Fanzhi, I asked you to check the current situation of the gentry clan in Changping Prefecture, what is the situation?" ”

Sun Fanzhi replied: "The gentry clan in Changping Prefecture is dominated by the surname Chen and the surname You, but the main branch of these two clans has been exterminated by thieves and Jiannu, and now only the side branches remain. ”

"In addition to Huangzhuang, the cultivated land in Changping Prefecture is the most numerous."

Speaking of this, he continued: "But now, more than a dozen side branches have emerged claiming to have the right to inherit the real estate and cultivated land of the Chen family and the You family, and are asking for inheritance. ”

"It's a beautiful idea." Chongzhen sneered, "Have the Chen family and the You family ever sent thieves to build slaves?" ”

"Naturally." Sun Fanzhi said, "The two families first descended the thieves, and then the slaves, and the funny thing is that neither the thieves nor the slaves let them go." ”

Chongzhen said coldly: "Go back and tell the side branches of the Chen and You families that it is not impossible to inherit the real estate and cultivated land of the Chen and You families, but the crimes of the Chen and You families must be liquidated first." ”

Speaking of this, Chongzhen turned back to the other scholars and said, "The same is true of the rest of the prefectures and prefectures. ”

"Ministers, obey the holy commandment." Zhu Yanzuo, Ji Yunhong and dozens of other Qinwang scholars immediately complied.

These dozens of scholars are about to be sent by Chongzhen to various state capitals in Beizhi to investigate the crimes of the gentry clan collaborating with the enemy.

This is also what Chongzhen has planned for a long time, whether it is open or covert, as long as you have surrendered to thieves or slaves, you must deal with it, and the confiscation of family property and cultivated land is the minimum, and if the crime is serious, you have to arrest all the Chengding to repair the railway.

In a word, adults must be held accountable for their actions, and those who do wrong must be punished.

In order to win leniency for the northern scholars, this does not exist, Chongzhen has thought about seriously dealing with the northern scholars from the beginning, otherwise there will be no way to solve the dilemma of land annexation.

So before doing the processing, Chongzhen must get first-hand information.

……

Most of the cabinet ministers such as Lu Zhenfei and Meng Zhaoxiang advocated leniency.

The only one who advocates serious handling is Zhang Shenyan, the second assistant.

Although Zhang Shenyan is an authentic Shanxi person, he has no intention of shielding the northern scholars.

"Right is right, wrong is wrong, right should be rewarded, wrong should be punished, there is nothing to say." Zhang Shenyan said loudly, "The gentry of the northern provinces first surrendered to thieves, and then to slaves, and abandoned the Ming Dynasty as if they were contemptible, if such a shameful act was not punished, then how could the national law exist?" Where is the axiom? ”

"Despise the mountain, no one is against punishment, punishment must be punished."

can be called the second assistant Zhang Shenyan, of course, the only one is the first assistant Lu Zhenfei.

After a pause, Lu Zhenfei continued: "The question is the intensity of the punishment and how to define the scope? It is extremely undesirable for the servants to think that the punishment is too harsh, or that the scope of the attack should be extended to all the gentlemen in the northern provinces, because it is not conducive to stability, and will cause unrest and dispersion of the people's morale. ”

"What's worse is that it creates a bad atmosphere." Meng Zhaoxiang went on to say, "After hearing the news, the gentlemen of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Sichuan will inevitably lament the death of rabbits and foxes, so as to strengthen their hearts from thieves, so that even if the great soldiers can recover Shanxi, Shaanxi and Sichuan, they will pay ten times as much manpower and material resources." ”

"What Elder Meng Ge said is extremely true." Wang Yingxiong, the general political envoy, said, "You still need to learn to calculate the general account." ”

Wang Yingxiong, a native of Ba County, Sichuan, was poor and unable to study when he was young, so he was able to study and take the imperial examination only after receiving funding from the clan.

Therefore, Wang Yingxiong still has feelings for the Wang family in Ba County, and subconsciously does not want the Wang family to be liquidated, although the Wang family does have the bad deeds of succumbing to the West thief.

"Wang Yintai's argument is ridiculous." Zhang Shenyan retorted sharply, "There are murderers in the market, and there is a risk of death when the officials go to take it, so the government needs to be lenient with the perpetrators to slack their will to fight back?" ”

"How can the two be confused?" Wang Yingxiong frowned and said, "How can the Northern Shi clan kill people. ”

"What Wang Yintai said is extremely true." Liu Shizhen, the secretary of the Criminal Department, said, "The northern scholars are just seeking self-preservation, and their hearts are actually unwilling to turn their backs on the Ming Dynasty. ”

"A good one seeks self-preservation." Zhang Shenyan sneered at each other, "If according to the theory of the Great Sikou, Wu Sangui, Jiang Hao and other traitors are just seeking self-preservation, and Hong Chengchou, Sun Zhiqi and other ministers are also only seeking self-preservation, in view of this, Wu Sangui, Hong Chengchou and others also need to be treated leniently?" ”

"Elder Zhang Ge, you are using strong words." Liu Shizhen said, "Wu Sangui and others led the wolf into the house, Hong Chengchou and others helped to abuse, the chaotic ministers and thieves of their generation have done countless evil things, and they are burdened with countless blood debts, but most of the gentry of the northern clan are only forced by the situation and have to stoop to be thieves, but they have not done evil things since the thieves, how can they not be lenient?" ”

"It's good that he hasn't done anything evil, and the big priest deserves to be punished for this!" Zhang Shenyan was furious and said, "If the thieves didn't have the help of the northern gentlemen, how could they sweep the north in just a few months? If Jiannu did not have the help of the northern gentlemen, how could the money and grain be used against the Ming Dynasty repeatedly, and how could the copper and iron craftsmen build cannons and birds? ”

"In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the entire territory of several northern provinces fell in January, all thanks to the northern scholars."

"After Jiannu entered the customs, he used troops on the Huanghuai defense line three times, causing hundreds of thousands of casualties or abductions of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians in my Ming Dynasty, which was also due to the northern scholars!"

After a pause, Zhang Shenyan reprimanded Liu Shizhen sharply: "Such evil deeds and such bad deeds, when they reach the mouth of the great priest, they have become not evil, and this argument should be punished!" ”

Liu Shizhen was so red that he was speechless for a while.

Because Zhang Shenyan's words are completely no problem in terms of morality or law.

But from the reality and the sophistication of human feelings, it is absolutely impossible to deal with it like this.

Let's not talk about anything else, just a sentence of law that does not blame the public is enough to explain the problem.

With such a large-scale political liquidation in several northern provinces, does Daming still want peace in the north?

Without the strong support of the gentlemen of the northern provinces, the laws and decrees of the Ming Dynasty would not be able to move an inch in the northern provinces, and it would be impossible to exercise effective rule over the north.

But this kind of talk can't be put on the table.

There are some things that can be said but not done, and some things that can be done but not said.

Leniency with the northern scholars belongs to the latter, and they can do but can't say it.

But Zhang Shen said that he had to bring this matter to the table.

This made the other cabinet ministers and the six ministers very speechless, Zhang Shenyan said that you are such a maverick, it is easy to have no friends, and finally become a lonely person.

In the end, Lu Zhenfei could only say: "This matter is still discussed after the face of the saint, now the Beijing Guozi supervisor, the servant Guan Sheng's move seems to have the intention of replacing the Ministry of Rites with the Guozi test, I don't know if you think so?" ”

"This must not be." Wang Duo, who was the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, immediately stood up and objected.

"How can the thousand-year-old ceremony of talent selection be easily abolished? This is absolutely not possible. ”

The power of the Ministry of Rites was originally not much, and now the Holy Lord is vigorously promoting the innovation of the Ministry of Rites, many of the Rites have been abolished, and the powers of the Ministry of Rites have been repeatedly reduced.

However, Wang Duo's remarks did not resonate.

In fact, the cabinet officials present tend to replace the Ministry of Rites with the National Examination to select officials, not to mention anything else, but the admission of tens of thousands of students every year is far better than the admission of three or four hundred people every three years in the Ministry of Rites Examination.

Because after the addition, the chances of the children of each family in the test will be greater.

But there is a premise, that is, the right of selection must be exercised by the officials!

[There is another chapter in the afternoon]