"If it's good, it's about the tomb, and if it's not good, it's about locking us up."

"Yes, when the news spreads below, the local squires are afraid that they will be restless first."

"Don't mess up, if it's chaotic right now, King Qi will definitely take the initiative to open the knife!"

"Moving is death, not moving is death, it's better to do it!"

"We also have a certain amount of strength in the army, so I don't believe that he can cover the sky with one hand!" At the beginning of March, the affairs of Lingyi did not hide from the officials for too long, and all of them were exposed in just half a month.

has been rectified by Zhu Youzhen so many times, if the old-fashioned officials don't learn to be smart and increase intelligence, it will be a real failure.

In the house of Ming Shifang, the officials of the old faction and the party above the fifth rank all sat in the hall, discussing the topics of this meeting one after another.

No one expected that Zhu Youzhen was going to reverse the migration of the tomb, and wanted to relocate the gentry and powerful people to the vassal king for free according to the nominal name of the vassal king.

This time, the target of the population is not the mud legs in their mouths, but a large number of gentry and heroes.

"Silence!" When the voices of Fang Kezhuang and Feng Quan sounded, more than 100 old-fashioned five-grade members closed their mouths one after another, and the four people sitting in the first place were Fang Kezhuang, Feng Quan, Wen Tiren, and Zhou Yanru.

Although the four of them presided over the discussion, it was obvious from the expressions of the four that Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru did not want to get involved in this matter at all.

The appearance of the two of them looking at their noses and noses and hearts has already made many officials retreat, after all, they have not won the confrontation with Zhu Youzhen for so many years.

Now that they learned that he was going to carry out the operation of reverse migration, the officials naturally did not want to fight him head-on. Or rather, it's not that I don't want to, but I don't have the capital to fight.

On the means of production, on political influence, on military strength, on the aspirations of the people...... These various things, they are not as good as Zhu Youzhen.

In the face of such a situation, it is against his idea to want to clash with Zhu Youzhen, unless someone can pull in more troops and officials of the Yanshan faction.

Besides, even if he pulls in the army, it is useless, whether it is Zhu Youzhen's reputation in the army or among the people, it has reached the extent that he can rebel against an army and a civil force with a single shout.

In this case......

"Isn't the Apocalypse 11 rifle capable of shooting 300 paces away? Why not ......"

"Shut up!" In the silent environment, I don't know if that idiot actually came up with the idea of assassinating Zhu Youzhen.

Indeed, after the advent of the rifle, the cost of assassinating the prince and the powerful became lower, but this does not mean that the assassination of Zhu Youzhen was very simple.

"What happens after you kill him?" Feng Quan, who was sitting on the main seat, scolded: "What will the people of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies think? There are so many county kings in the palace of King Qi, and if you support one of them, you will be the new emperor, and then I am afraid it will not be as simple as Xiling, but the nine clans! Feng Quan didn't expect that there would be such a fool in this group of people, and he could actually come up with such a scene as assassinating Zhu Youzhen.

If there is at least a way to survive in Xiling, then the assassination of Zhu Youzhen is to use the nine clans to bet on whether the group of arrogant soldiers and fierce generals in the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies have good intentions.

The contradiction between the civil officials and the military generals of the Ming Dynasty has never disappeared, but it is hidden underwater. Whenever there was an opportunity to blatantly kill civilian officials, the people of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies would not be soft, first framed Zhu Youzhen's death to the emperor, the crown prince and civil officials, and then supported Zhu Cihong, the eldest son of the prince of Qi Wangfu County, as the new emperor and sent troops

"Counterinsurgency". At that time, I am afraid that this group of people will really be successful

The person who "sold the first mark". Feng Quan just wanted to stop Zhu Youzhen, not to check his head on the flagpole!

"It's ridiculous!"

"Assassinate him today, and tomorrow we will be killed."

"Such a person, I don't know how to squeeze into our ......" The officials began to complain about the person who just said the assassination, and just by his words, all the people in this mansion had to be buried for him.

Fortunately, he was stopped by Feng Quan in the end, otherwise when the news spread, everyone and their nine clans would not want to live.

"Things are difficult to do right now, and what I'm most worried about is that he is planning all kinds of things to liquidate us and others." Fang Kezhuang of the Donglin Party looked worried, and Feng Quan also felt that his party had no capital to negotiate in their hands when they heard this.

They have been hiding the specific population of Jiangnan and underreporting many taxes, in order to benefit the squires below.

As a result, the Ming Dynasty has developed to the point where it can operate normally without the need for taxes from the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River.

Tax resistance in this case? The king of Qi could have exempted Jiangnan from paying taxes for one year, and then cleaned up all the uncooperative Jiangnan gentry in one go.

"He was so happy before, I'm afraid he was testing whether Daming could afford to lose the taxes of the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River." Feng Quan felt a headache, especially for Zhu Youzhen's age.

At that time, the five parties of Qichu, Zhejiang, Xuankun and Kun all persisted with the idea of boiling Zhu Youzhen to death, but now 20 years have passed, and the five parties have changed one leader after another, but Zhu Youzhen has become more and more powerful.

Now Zhu Youzhen wants to do something to the squires below them, once the squires fall, then their group of old-fashioned party officials will become rootless and can only drift away.

Feng Quan had a toothache, but looking at their group of people, Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren really couldn't help it.

They can see that the old school has been reduced to the point where no one can use it. The current situation is so clear and clear, whether it is to change the party Congzhe, Sun Ruyou, Zhu Guozuo, Shen Yu and others, or to replace the previous party leaders, it can be said that as long as he is a smart person, he knows what to do.

The result? At the moment, this group of people can't even understand such a simple situation.

"It's not bad to go overseas, at least the King of Qi, who is a counterweight to the squire, and the overseas vassal kings will definitely rely on the squires who go to sea to strengthen their local rule." Zhou Yanru really couldn't stand this group of fools, so he couldn't help but say: "The imperial court is strong and strong, and the king of Qi is in the hearts of the people, and the head-on confrontation is not only unfavorable, but also not good, and it can't be done." ”

"The top priority at the moment is to inform the squires everywhere to sell their houses and fields quickly, either take the initiative to move overseas, or take the initiative to relocate to the major immigration provinces where the imperial court needs the people."

"Anxi, Beiting, Shanyu, Modong, Donghai, Nanzhou, Jiugang, Luchuan......"

"These are all places where the imperial court needs to strengthen its rule, as long as it moves to these places, even the King of Qi will not be too entangled." Zhou Yanru's idea is obvious, that is, to sell all the assets before the king of Qi wants to make a move, and move some provinces that the king of Qi will not do.

If the squires did this, then Zhu Youzhen would definitely not do anything to them.

"If this kind of news is released, I'm afraid it will make the gentry of the world chaotic." Fang Kezhuang, who was born in Shandong, hesitated to speak, but Zhou Yanru didn't even bother to continue talking when he saw this, and got up and said: "My words have come to this, how to do it, I think you already know it." ”

"Domains, overseas, or mausoleums, I think the squires below know the choice better than you." Zhou Yanru said that, and left the house.

Seeing this, Wen Tiren also immediately got up, and after facing Feng Quan, he also left the house.

Many people who had made up their minds also left the house, leaving only some officials who were reluctant to give up their property or could not withstand the pressure of the squire.

All this was revealed to Zhu Youzhen the next day by the people who were installed in it by the Qi Palace.

"There are really a few smart people......" When Zhu Youzhen got the news, he was sitting in the heart hall and eating with Yuan Xi's concubine.

When he learned that someone actually proposed to sell his property one step ahead of schedule and move to a remote province, he immediately guessed that it was one of Zhou Yanru, Wen Tiren, and Feng Quan.

As he expected, Zhou Yanru was really more impulsive than Wen Tiren and Feng Quan, and he was not scheming enough.

"Your Highness, the person who mentioned the rifle in the discussion, do you want to ......" Lu Wenzhao bowed behind Zhu Youzhen and cautiously reminded him, Zhu Youzhen also wrote lightly: "It depends on his choice, if he wants to resist stubbornly, then follow the "Da Ming Law". "Zhu Youzhen is not a fool, at this critical time, it is impossible for him to leave the Qi Palace.

All he had to do was to live in the house from this year onwards and start to settle the affairs of the gentry. For him, the gentry's affairs are not difficult, and he is no longer the person who was held by the gentry and did not dare to speak out loud.

Even if the gentry of the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River refused to pay the land rations, the Ming Dynasty could still have an annual income of 50 million taels.

The big deal is that the railways and infrastructure are all suspended for a year, and it is enough to spend only the officials and the army, and then run the gentry with a thunderous blow.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian stood up: "I'm full, you can eat slowly." Zhu Youzhen smiled kindly and comforted Yuan Xifei, Zhou Sujie and others, and then turned to leave.

Seeing this, Wang Chengen, Lu Wenzhao and others followed one after another, but compared to the light clouds in the Qi Palace, the East Palace at this moment was full of uneasiness.

When the Qi Palace's palace no longer provided shelter, the new policies of the East Palace soon could not be implemented.

"Are these dismissed notes?"

"Yes, Your Highness......" In the Chunhe Palace, looking at the more than sixty copies of the returned recitals, Zhu Ciran, who was already a lot more mature at the age of eighteen, frowned slightly.

Seeing this, Du Yinxi, who was standing beside him, couldn't help but step forward and open a few notes, but when he saw the reason for the rejection, he immediately turned around and said, "Your Highness, they are not rejecting it with reason, but just venting." ”

"Venting? Why do they vent? Zhu Ciran was no longer as calm as he was back then, but said a little irritablely: "They take the court's money and rely on the people to feed, and now these new policies are all policies that are beneficial to the people, why do they reject it, why do they vent in front of Lonely?!" Zhu Ciran picked up a piece of music and slammed it on the gold brick of Chunhe Palace.

Seeing this, the people around didn't make much movement, but just lowered their heads one after another. It seems that it is not the first time that Zhu Ciran has been so angry, and the young man who once loved to laugh and advocated freedom has also become impatient and irritable in the deceitful government.

Faced with such a situation, even Plug Yinxi didn't know how to appease Zhu Ciran. At this time, Sun Chuanting, who had just returned from work, saw the angry Zhu Ciran, and he walked in with a frown.

Seeing him come in, Zhu Ciran also seemed to have a backbone, and couldn't help but step forward and hold him: "Master Sun, these ......" He complained to Sun Chuanting, but Sun Chuanting just glanced at it and said: "You are Your Highness, if the official does not accept it, you can still issue a decree, and if the local government does not accept it, you can also send it to the local yamen." ”

"If the local yamen don't accept it, then you can depose them."

"Last year, we screened 800 officials from among the graduates of the official school to enter the East Palace, and His Royal Highness sent out more than 100 people, and the rest of them were not sent out."

"These people are kept to deal with local officials." The style of doing things that Sun Chuanting conveyed is the style of the former King of Qi.

If the local government is not obedient, then replace it with obedient people, not from the yamen of the provincial political secretary, but from a town, a county, and a government to change people little by little.

It is better to cut off one of his fingers than to hurt one of his arms, and a little bit of flesh with a soft knife is the most painful.

"The student knows how to do it......" Zhu Ciran called himself a student, and it could be seen that the two had become masters and apprentices, and Sun Chuanting, the master, was also here to tell the good news.

"News came from the south that Hong Hengjiu had already boarded the ship at the beginning of the month, and it is estimated that he will arrive in the capital in early April."

"It seems that he has made a decision, with the King of Qi here, he can only vote for you and not for hundreds of officials."

"After he came, you can be regarded as relying on the court, and he should be better than you and me in governing the government." Sun Chuanting admires Hong Chengchou very much, not that he thinks he is inferior to Hong Chengchou, but that he feels that he is better at military affairs and is easy to stand from a personal perspective in dealing with court affairs.

Hong Chengchou is different, he is also good at military affairs, but he handles the government from the perspective of the Ming Dynasty. Sun Chuanting's idea is that corrupt officials and corrupt officials will die, but Hong Chengchou has to look at their merits, even if they are corrupt, as long as they have real merits, Hong Chengchou will not care about them.

With such a style of doing things, it is impossible to say who is good and who is bad, but judging from the current situation of Daming, Hong Chengchou is obviously more suitable for Daming.

This is something he never shy away from and often says in front of Zhu Ciran, so Zhu Ciran couldn't help nodding and admitting it after hearing this.

The arrival of Hong Chengchou will allow the East Palace to have the capital to disperse the power of the Yanshan faction before Zhu Youzhen takes up the domain.

The influence of Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou is not only in the Governor's Mansion, after all, they are civil officials on the side of the strategy.

During their tenure, most of the officials who served in the northwest and southwest were also recommended and honored by them, so they would not stand on the opposite side of some things, even if they did not repay the favor.

At present, there are many officials in the court who were recommended by them to enter Beijing, if the arrival of Sun Chuanting gave the East Palace the strength to resist, then the arrival of Hong Chengchou is to have the power to fight back.

"I know how to do it, thank you Master Sun......" Zhu Ciran gave the disciple a gift in return. Seeing this, Sun Chuanting also returned the salute and said: "I am here for only one thing, Your Highness will continue to deal with the government affairs, and the Wenhua Palace has also accumulated a lot of government affairs." With that, Sun Chuanting slowly withdrew from the Chunhe Palace.

Zhu Ciran watched him leave, and only turned his head to look at those music until he completely disappeared. He had to admit that without Sun Kewang, he had some trouble dealing with government affairs.

However, at the moment, he had just sent Sun Kewang to the local level, and it was a little inappropriate to immediately recall him back to the capital.

In this regard, he can only hope that Sun Kewang will do some meritorious deeds as soon as possible, so as to give him the opportunity to promote him.

"How is Sun Kewang?" Zhu Ciran walked back to his position and sat down, and when he heard this, he also said: "I just arrived in Shanshan County not long ago, but I heard that he has already reclaimed the original fields in Shanshan County with a tractor and the people. ”

"Looking at this situation, even if you can't get a first-class merit at the end of the year, you can still get a second-class merit." After the reform of the Ming Dynasty in the tenth year of the Apocalypse, the evaluation of local officials was divided into A, B, C, D, and four classes, the first class represents a huge improvement in the locality, the second class is to promote the obvious improvement of the place, the third class is to keep the same, and the D class is slightly worse than when he took office.

The first class can be promoted to a higher rank, the second class is generally transferred to a higher level to hold an official position of the same grade, the third class is not rewarded or punished, and the second class is demoted to a higher rank.

A, B, C, and D are fourth, only A and B have room for improvement, and Class A can be promoted to a first rank of official position every year, and Class B can be promoted to one rank for three years.

It doesn't sound difficult, but it's actually quite difficult. At present, the eighteenth rank of the Ming Dynasty's official position, if you want to be promoted from a local village official of the ninth rank to the peak of real power, you will not be counted as a member of the ninth grade, and you will have to get the first class for at least fifteen consecutive years, which is not easy.

If it is the second class, it will take 45 consecutive years. Counting that most of the government students graduate at the age of eighteen or nineteen, if they want to reach the pinnacle of officialdom, they must get at least five first-class grades in the officialdom before they can sit in the official position of the second grade Shangshu before fifty years.

However, for most officials, winning the first class five times is simply a fantasy. However, for Sun Kewang, who has won the first class five times in five consecutive years, Zhu Ciran is still very confident.

"There are more than 200 tractors, and I think Sun Kewang will definitely be able to get the first class as long as he recruits enough immigrants."

"It's just that after his promotion this time, he is from the sixth grade, and the official position is not easy to arrange."

"Let's continue to let him stay in Shanshan County for another year, and after taking the official position of Zhengliupin, I will transfer him back to Zhan Shifu as the governor." Zhu Ciran still misses Sun Kewang a little, after all, when Sun Kewang is there, he can still find some time to ride a bicycle on the wall of the palace city.

Now that he has only been gone for four months, Zhu Ciran already feels very tired, and he can't imagine that he will have to wait for a full twenty-two months.

As soon as he thought of this, Zhu Ciran pinched his temples.

"It's nothing for two years, but fortunately, after two years, that person should be back soon......" Zhu Ciran didn't know what to think, and suddenly a smile appeared on his face.

"Bang-"

"It's falling! A bird ate it today! Just as Zhu Ciran was smiling, a gunshot rang out in Anxi Broken Leaf City, which was five thousand miles away.

With the sound of gunfire, geese were killed and fell, and the cavalry of the Ming army also happily went to pick up birds and prepare them to roast and eat at night.

When the last wild goose was shot, Li Dingguo also threw the rifle in his hand into the arms of the soldier next to him.

"Alright, go clean up your bird soup, and don't forget to bring me a bowl." Li Dingguo said with a smile on his side face, and the guards next to him left the city with a smile when they heard this.

In the end, when Li Dingguo was the only one left, he put away his smile with relief and turned his head to look at the outside of Shattered Leaf City.

Ten months have passed in a flash, and the entire Shattered Leaf City has simply changed compared to last year. The rammed walls were torn down and replaced with concrete walls made of cement, gravel, river sand, and stones.

Most of the buildings in the city were also demolished, and small cement courtyards covering an area of four points were erected, but due to the lack of wood, they could only be built into cement tile houses.

The city with a circumference of four miles was no longer deserted, and the streets were sparsely populated with people who were moving.

Li Dingguo turned his head to look outside the city, and saw that in the fields of Broken Leaf City, many farmers were plowing in spring, and thousands of tractors were ploughing the land.

Li Dingguo's ability to govern in history may not be good, but here, under Zhu Youzhen's tutelage, whether it is governance ability or emotional intelligence, Li Dingguo can be regarded as superior.

Although he is not as talented as Sun Kewang, he is good at using resources and planning for the long term. He knew very well that Shattered Leaf City was the two bridgeheads of the Ming Dynasty to recover the Hezhong region in the future, so Shattered Leaf City had to reclaim enough land to maintain the supply of the army in the future.

After ten months, the cultivated land of Shattered Leaf City reached more than 44,000 mu, and the population reached more than 3,700 people.

With these populations and fields, it was not difficult to feed the Broken Leaf Battalion stationed here, on the contrary, it was very rich.

"At this rate, it will not be difficult to reclaim another 20,000 acres of land this year." A voice came from behind Li Dingguo, and he turned his head to see that it was Man Gui's eldest son, Man Xian.

Unlike his father's high-ranking officials, he was just a quartermaster of the Broken Leaf Battalion. The reclamation of Broken Leaf City is all carried out and supervised by him, and he can be regarded as Li Dingguo's helper.

Judging from his twenty-eight-year-old age, it is not difficult to see that he actually did not have much achievements in the military, otherwise he would not have just served as a quartermaster of the seventh grade.

Facing his words, Li Dingguo couldn't help but look at the vast wheat field, but he was unconvinced: "The machines in the province have not been sent yet, if another 3,000 people come here, then another 1,000 machines can be sent." ”

"In the twenty-second year of the Apocalypse, there will be more than 100,000 acres of fertile land here, which is enough to support the people all the way."

"The twenty-second year of the Apocalypse......" Hearing Li Dingguo's words, Man Xian said with a smile: "You want to go back to the capital, right?" ”

"I want to ......" Li Dingguo said bluntly: "But I don't think about its prosperity, but about the people there." His gaze stayed on the branch of the Tianshan Mountains in the north, looking at the white snow that does not melt all year round, and his hand couldn't help but put his hand on the hilt of the knife at his waist.

"After pacifying the northern captives and recovering the river, I can also return to Beijing as a general to report on my work."

"Even Your Highness, there is no reason to stop me from returning to Beijing."

"......" Manxian couldn't help but be silent when he heard this, he didn't dare to speak like Li Dingguo. If he dared to say this, Man Gui, who was on the way back to Beijing, would immediately let people arrest him back to the capital.

Therefore, he could only pat the shoulder of this comrade who was eight years younger than himself: "Have a good rest, get over the current matter first, don't think too long, at least Your Highness hasn't left yet." ”

"Hmm......" responded, Li Dingguo no longer looked at the vast northwest, turned around and walked down the broken leaf city wall with Manxian.