Why did the emperor rebel?

Chapter 782 You must have seen it too

After sending Shen Yi and the others away from the palace, Zhu Qiyu fell into deep thought while looking at the flickering candlelight in front of him.

At the end of any dynasty, financial problems cannot be escaped, and the same is true for Ming Dynasty.

Of course, the reverse of this sentence is also true.

When the financial problems are so serious that they can't wait for the fire, a dynasty will come to an end.

After wandering for a hundred years, Zhu Qiyu saw with his own eyes how diligent and thrifty his younger emperor, who was wearing a patched dragon robe, was. However, you must know that just 20 years before that emperor ascended the throne, the imperial court was still able to carry out the three major Wanli campaigns.

It is said that Wanli abandoned the government, imposed harsh mining taxes, and Tianqi favored the eunuchs and covered the sky with one hand, but when they were in power, although Daming had many disadvantages, they were not forced to have no money and food.

But in the reign of Chongzhen, in just ten years, the treasury of Ming Dynasty was empty. Where did the money go?

Of course it won't be in the hands of the common people, otherwise, there won't be wars everywhere.

Although Zhu Qiyu lingers in the Forbidden City, after a hundred years of vicissitudes, his vision is much more thorough than that of Chongzhen.

These money and grains are nothing more than entering the pockets of officials from all over the country, and entering the hands of merchants who travel north and south.

Think about what Xu Jie called Qingliu, but the acres of land in his family can exceed 20 mu, and there are tens of thousands of weavers. Such people are called role models in the officialdom, which shows how rotten the officialdom of the Jiajing Dynasty has become.

After several times throughout the late Ming Dynasty, Hai Rui was the only one who could truly be called Qingliu.

Not for anything else, just because of this person, dare to tell the truth!

Public security is sparse, and Hai Rui wrote that "people in the world have not been straight for a long time, Your Majesty".

Jiajing is famous for his tricks, playing tricks on the court with applause, but, as an emperor, Zhu Qiyu still thinks he is pathetic.

It is true that his ability to sit firmly on the throne is inseparable from being able to control the court, but control and control are different.

The great ceremony made everyone recognize what kind of emperor Jiajing was. Therefore, the ministers of the Jiajing Dynasty were afraid of the emperor's power, but at the same time they were bold and deceived others.

While flattering and flattering, Haiyan and Heqing, at the same time claiming to be a clean stream, not to associate with the strict party.

Jiajing can control the court, but he cannot control the hearts of the people.

Throughout the Jiajing Dynasty, it seemed that singing and dancing would lead to peace, and everything was under the emperor's control, but in fact, it was nothing more than gold and jade, and it was ruined.

In all the courts, only Hai Rui dared to tell the truth.

When he first took office in Chun'an County, Hai Rui revealed the biggest fig leaf in the officialdom.

A mere seven-rank county magistrate, the annual regular silver accounting is nearly 2000 taels of silver, which is more than ten times the salary.

There are 420 seven counties, 160 three prefectures, and 32 prefectures in the whole country. Officials one by one lie on the people's bodies to suck blood and exploit them.

However, in Jiajing's ears, what reverberates every day is the emperor's sage, the world is peaceful, all people praise, Haiyan and Heqing.

After a long time, Jiajing himself believed it, and practiced Taoism in the Taoist temple with peace of mind. Didn't he know that the Daming Sheji was already on the road to overthrow in his hands.

Faithful words are harmful to the ears and good for deeds, this is what Zhu Qiyu reminds himself all the time.

If there are no ministers in the court, the emperor will be deceived. No matter how stable the emperor is, if he cannot see the suffering of the people and hear the truth of the world, the society will eventually collapse.

Because of this, Zhu Qiyu is unwilling to use many methods, and Zhu Qiyu is unwilling to break some bottom lines, so many times, he chooses the more difficult path.

But the more difficult the road is, it may mean that it is the right direction.

The Tao Te Ching says that to govern a big country, if you cook a small fish, you must be cautious at all times, and you must not act recklessly.

So even after seeing the situation for a hundred years, Zhu Qiyu still thinks twice when implementing every decree.

Needless to say, among them, financial issues are the top priority.

The way of governing a country is difficult to say, easy to say, and the most important thing is nothing more than finance and officials.

When the treasury has money and food, and officials can guard their duties, the national power will naturally flourish.

The matter of Shanglinyuan, to put it bluntly, is a matter of official administration.

Zhu Qiyu knew in his heart that there were a lot of people like Chen Yong in the court.

In a deserted yamen, the future is hopeless. My mind is only thinking about how to make money, keep my official position, corruption and bribery, but I can't do things well. This is actually the status quo of many yamen today, especially in the local area. This situation is not uncommon.

And speaking of it, the rise of this trend is actually inseparable from Wang Zhen.

Going forward Taizong, Renzong, Xuanzong dynasties, not to mention other dynasties, at least the official administration is still considered clear, which not only has the deterrence of the Hongwu Dynasty's severe punishments, but also the constraints of the emperors of the past dynasties.

But when Sanyang passed away, Zhu Qizhen listened and believed, allowing Wang Zhen to take power. In just a few years, the administration of officials was completely destroyed.

Wang Zhen accepts bribes recklessly. Anyone who enters the audience needs to pay at least a hundred taels, and as many as a thousand taels, which makes bribery prevail in the officialdom.

Selling officials to sell titles, and clearly marking the price of the official position of the court, made the selection system useless, and countless people who did not cultivate their virtues and only knew how to flatter their horses took office.

After these people took office, they flattered and bribed their superiors, exploited the people and drained their power, making the officialdom extremely polluted.

Of course Zhu Qiyu could tell that just now in the hall, Chen Yi lamented how lightly he handled the officials.

However, apart from his favoritism towards Wang Wen, Zhu Qiyu is more aware that the Jingcha last year was not in essence a thorough action aimed at clarifying the administration of officials.

At that time, he had just ascended the throne, and there were a large number of stubborn imperialists in the court. Rather than saying that it was an action to rectify the administration of officials, it was more like using the officials as a sharp knife to eliminate dissidents.

No matter how the outside world discusses, Zhu Qiyu himself has a very clear understanding of these things.

In that Beijing inspection, the criteria for measuring officials were not only talent and virtue, but more importantly, their attitude.

Taking advantage of that opportunity, he relegated some ministers who did not cultivate their virtues, lacked talents, and more importantly, firmly supported the Supreme Emperor.

However, out of the consideration of stabilizing the court, many ministers who are neutral or close to the new emperor, even if there are problems, still do not criticize them too much.

If it is purely from the perspective of government affairs, this is actually problematic.

However, what Zhu Qiyu also understands in his heart is that in many cases, reason and interest must be balanced.

Of course, he is not a willful and reckless monarch like Zhu Qizhen, nor is he a scheming man who only cares about his own interests like Jiajing, but this does not mean that he is a gentleman who can only stick to reason. just.

Zhu Qiyu knows what his direction is, and he also knows the purpose of everything he does. If he sticks to his heart, nothing will go wrong.

As for the trade-offs, gains and losses, it is a road that a king must go through, so there is nothing to say.

Since the core purpose of Jingcha is not to rectify the administration of officials, it is obviously inappropriate to use this point to criticize Wang Wen.

It's just that these words cannot be said on the bright side, and in the eyes of the courtiers, they can only be the emperor's preference for Wang Wen.

Of course, even if the core purpose of Jingcha is not to rectify the administration of officials, it still has a certain effect on clarifying the officialdom.

At least, what Zhu Qiyu can guarantee is that most of the important ministers in the court today can uphold the integrity.

Not to mention Yu Qian, who is a moral model who is pure and simple, has no money left in his family, and wholeheartedly contributes to Ming Dynasty. Other important ministers, such as Shen Yi, Chen Yi, and even Jiang Yuan and Zhu Jian, have different personalities. , The positions are also different, but at least in terms of virtue, there is no major problem.

Of course, as important officials of the court, it is impossible for them to live on their salary purely like Yu Qian. They usually have silver, charcoal, ice, and other gray incomes. However, such things as corruption and bribery basically do not exist. .

Zhu Qiyu is sure of this point.

This is also the reason why so far, except for Yu Qian and Wang Wen, he has seldom favored ministers, or basically did not accept many ministers as his right-hand man.

The trust of the emperor is often a double-edged sword. If there is a slight carelessness, if the person he trusts does not cultivate his virtues, then he will be a traitor and a traitor. The impact on the court and society is incalculable.

The son of heaven occupies the ninth level, impartial, which is actually the most idealized state. Unfortunately, this is basically impossible.

Moreover, even if Zhu Qiyu was able to guard himself carefully, what can be guaranteed now is only the basic integrity of the important officials in the court. Many officials at the bottom still have old habits that are hard to change. The Shanglinyuan incident is a typical incident.

Even if the officials in the capital are like this, not to mention the localities, I'm afraid it will be even more serious.

Zhu Qiyu knew all these things in his mind, but as a mature emperor, the most important thing was to be calm and not to act willfully, even if he did the right thing.

With the help of Shanglinyuan Supervisor, Zhu Qiyu could have set off a rectification of officials, but obviously, now is not a good time.

Although the administration of officials is a big problem, there are many things that need to be dealt with urgently in the court, such as military settlements, mutual markets, water transportation, taxes and labor, and they still need to be dealt with one by one.

As for financial issues, it is closely related to the administration of officials, but it is not the same.

Still the same sentence, historically, finances have been nothing more than increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. The so-called cutting expenditure is actually to rectify the administration of officials and check the accounts.

If the administration of officials is clear, the burden on the people will be lightened, and the national strength will naturally gradually recover. This is why most successor kings first rectify the administration of officials.

However, Zhu Qiyu's identity is different from that of an ordinary successor, so instead of cutting down on expenditure, he chose open source.

The mutual market is an attempt, and now it seems that it is quite successful.

Then, next, opening the sea is also a way.

Zhu Qiyu has a vision of the next hundred years, so he can naturally see that Daming was actually dying in the last years of Jiajing, but he gave birth to Zhang Juzheng, who continued his life for decades.

In fact, Zhang Juzheng's reform was not done by him alone, and more importantly, it was actually supported by the Longqing switch.

A whip method, to put it bluntly, is also to clarify the administration of officials, and its core is to unify all taxes and pay silver taels.

Many people will focus on the difficulty of implementing a whip method, but in fact, the most difficult part of a whip method is not how to implement it, but that the Ming Dynasty needs to have so many silver taels, and the people need to have so many coins. Silver taels can be truly implemented.

And all of this is inseparable from the Longqing switch.

Therefore, for the Ming Dynasty, opening the sea is not only about communication and prosperity of commerce, but more importantly, only opening the sea can truly get rid of the long-standing abuses of exorbitant taxes and reorganize the administration of officials.

Not to mention, the economic benefits brought by Kaihai itself are enough to make people tempted.

However, everyone understands the truth, but it is not easy to do it.

Not to mention that the sea ban is the ancestral family law, even if this rule is bypassed, the actual difficulty of opening the sea is not small.

Like the mutual market, the first consideration of Kaihai is nothing but safety.

One of the most important reasons why the imperial court banned the sea at the beginning was that pirates were rampant. This problem has not been resolved so far.

Zheng He's seven voyages to the West, in addition to the national prestige, also included the intention to exterminate pirates.

However, this is obviously very difficult. The sea is turbulent, and anything can happen. In addition, the sea is vast, far better than the land. Destroy all grassland tribes.

Therefore, from a rational point of view, the best way is to ban maritime trade. As long as the people of Ming Dynasty do not go to sea, they will be safe on land.

This is a helpless way, but it is also the safest way.

In fact, if Zhu Qiyu hadn't seen the benefits that the Longqing switch had brought to the country, and seen the cornerstone of the law reform, he would not have this idea.

But still that sentence, it is too difficult to put it into practice.

It is impossible for him to explain this truth to the ministers, but if he wants to open the sea, he must solve the problem of maritime safety. If he wants to solve it, he needs to spend a lot of manpower and material resources. Western!

But what even Zhu Qiyu had to admit was that, for the imperial court, going to the Western Seas today was a loss-making business, and it was a huge loss.

Therefore, he was able to promote the mutual market at the beginning of his ascension to the throne, but there has been no news about the opening of the sea for a long time.

What's more, even if he went to the west, he could only take advantage of this incident of going to the Linyuan prison to lay the groundwork for it.

If you really want to do it, if you don't spend a few years, I'm afraid there is no hope.

However, it is still the same sentence, no matter how difficult it is, as long as the direction is right, you must do it!

Rubbing between his eyebrows, Zhu Qiyu put away his chaotic thoughts.

Although it is said that meals should be eaten at one bite, and things should be done step by step, but time is not waiting for me...

"Shu Liang?"

"The servant is here."

In the empty palace, at some point, there was already an additional admiral of the East Factory who bowed and stood by.

"Zhu Yi, how are your preparations going?"

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, everything will be carried out according to your order, and the little prince has already started..."

(End of this chapter)