Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1942 Return of the Dynasty to Japan (Forty) Court Controversy
The new wind blows the cold, and the winter plum shines on the snow.

The midwinter in the capital is getting colder and colder, but the people of the capital took to the streets one after another on this day to celebrate spontaneously.With the sound of firecrackers and the sound of gongs and drums, more than a hundred teahouses in the capital announced free tea today without exception, just to celebrate the victory in Busan.

It is said that even Emperor Wanli, who has no serious illnesses, minor ailments and has not been in power for a long time, passed down an oral order early today that all Zhonghuang stores in Beijing will sell at a [-]% discount to show the sincerity of sharing joy with the people.

With Huangdian like this, Jinghua Department Store will naturally not be indifferent, and also launched a big bargain activity with [-]% off sales.Different from Huangdian, Jinghua Department Store has a more complete range of products, and the supply of goods is abundant. Such activities can bring benefits to more ordinary people.For a time, the capital was boiling, and all the people were happy together.

In the past, the joy of the people could affect the court to some extent, but after the victory in Busan this time, the court's attitude was somewhat ambiguous.

Early in the morning, the congratulatory essays were indeed sent to the cabinet and the supervisor of ceremonies in a steady stream, but there were also many officials knocking on the que together, begging to see His Majesty the Emperor.

His Majesty the Emperor is not very easy to see, because a few days ago he just used the reason of being blinded by the wind, that’s all, the entire court this month, according to the words of the Supervisor of Rituals, is that "the emperor is resting, all officials have something to do, you can report The cabinet drafted a bill report".As a result, a large number of officials had to join hands to ask to see you elders.

Unlike the emperor, there was no reason for the court elders to refuse to meet hundreds of officials—it was okay to refuse one or two officials, but it was unthinkable to refuse a group meeting.

As a result, the cabinet's almost shabby Datong room was crowded with visiting officials, and several cabinet elders put on an amiable and approachable appearance and asked the visitors what they wanted.

Although there were many visitors, 80 to [-] people, the meaning of the visit was quite the same, that is, I asked the cabinet to report to His Majesty: Since the Japanese pirates have been driven out of North Korea, my Ming Dynasty should stop fighting and return victoriously, stop fighting and rest, and rest and recuperate. .

Of course, since the soldiers are on strike, shouldn't the "hundred and three business taxes" imposed by Mr. Gao Ge in the five provinces in the south of the Yangtze River be stopped?
Oh, that's what happened.

All the elders in the cabinet have come to understand, but it is difficult to respond to these words - because there seems to be no intention of withdrawing troops and returning to the court in the high-level and practical report on victory.

Since Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue left their posts, there are almost no cabinet ministers who dare to clearly oppose Gao Pragmatism in the cabinet, especially in the context of the current victory in the imperial war, and no one wants to test Gao's position in the emperor's mind. How much higher status than yourself.

"About when the court war will end, Elder Gao Ge hasn't said anything about it yet, and the emperor didn't mention it yesterday either..."

As the chief assistant of the dynasty, although Wang Jiaping didn't want to express his opinion, he had to.

"Our Celestial Dynasty sent troops to aid the war, and what we did was to uphold justice for Zhong Fan and regain the lost land. Now that we have achieved great success, why don't we stop our troops?" All the officials shouted.

Wang Jiaping stretched out his hand to keep everyone from making noise, but these officials didn't buy into him, they continued to express their opinions one after another, and one of them said the loudest: "This battle is not a matter of our celestial dynasty. Wan went to court without saying anything, and doubled the payment in the south of the Yangtze River, so that all industries were ruined and the people were in dire straits.

Today, Gao Nanning takes the position of a local official, and doesn't care about the hardships of the people. He only wants to promote his personal achievements. "

At this moment, Liang Menglong couldn't bear it anymore. He was planning to resign immediately, and he was not afraid of offending others, so he sneered and said, "Where did you get the so-called 'all industries are ruined, and the people are in dire straits'? I There are also many former colleagues, friends, students, and former officials who are from Jiangnan, why don’t you hear that Jiangnan has reached the point where ‘every business is ruined, and the people are in dire straits’?”

Some people in the crowd sneered and retorted: "Mr. Liang Ge, although you have many colleagues, friends, students and old officials, there is one person who personally plows the fields and sells goods in the streets?"

Uh, this one really doesn't.

Liang Menglong was at a loss for words for a while, but immediately responded: "What you said seems reasonable, but it is actually nonsense. Gao Rixin's wages are not collected from those who 'plow the fields with their own hands and sell goods in the streets'. The taxes are all levied on big shops of luxury merchants and mining companies, and the levies are less than one hundred and three (3%), so it will be possible to 'abolish all industries and make people miserable'?"

When he said this, Zhou Yong also stood up and added: "What Mr. Liang Ge said is very true. As far as I know, all the industries under the name of Mr. Gao Ge who are in the south of the Yangtze River also pay this tax. How come I have never heard of it. So difficult?"

"What a joke!" The crowd yelled: "He Gao Nanning is rich and powerful, and he is the richest man in the world. This battle is for him to win military exploits, so the salary of a mere hundred and three is not a problem. But what is the benefit of an ordinary merchant's family? , should be compared with Gao Nanning?"

As soon as the conversation started, the two sides began to fall into quarrels from the scope of taxation to the amount of taxation, from whether the taxation would cause the destruction of all businesses, to whether the country should levy business taxes.Round after round, endlessly.

I don't know how long it took, and suddenly someone came rushing from outside and shouted: "Pingwo Jinglue, Pingwo Admiral, Pingwo General Military Officer and other 64 civil and military generals jointly signed a report: King Li Zan of Joseon requested Attached to North Korea, the letter of credence is already on the way to be presented to Li Shanhai, the imperial envoy of North Korea to repay his kindness and lead the deliberations!"

There was an instant silence in Datong's room, almost a needle could be heard.However, this moment of silence lasted only a few breaths, and then there was an uproar immediately.

"North Korea wants to attach it again?"

"The battle has been won, why do you want to attach it?"

"This matter is quite strange. Could it be that there is fraud in it?"

"What benefit do I get from the land beyond transformation?"

"Nonsense! Thinking about North Korea, the three thousand miles of rivers and mountains have all been destroyed, and it all depends on the power of my celestial dynasty to restore them. Today, the king of Joseon feels my heavenly grace, and he wants to prove his loyalty by enclosing him. What is there to talk about? What's more, now that my elite soldiers and good generals are gathered in North Korea, North Korea dares to cheat!"

"Exactly!" Another human said: "Besides, my emperor inherited the great rule, restored Annan, swept away Meng Yuan, and shocked the four barbarians! If we can use the grace of survival and death to make North Korea feel grateful, how can it be?" Isn't it just a sign of great power and virtue? This is what God can't take, and you will be blamed instead!"

"This is a joke! I heard that in North Korea, there are only two groups of celebrities who can speak Chinese, and the people's language is not the same as that of China. If I merge such a place, how can I rule it?"

"That's right, and not only that! North Korea is very close to the Wa Kingdom. Although the Wa Kingdom has retreated today, who knows that it will not have evil thoughts in the future? If I allow North Korea to be attached to it today, the first to receive the Wa Kingdom's soldiers in the future will be me, Daming That's right. For this remote and barren land, facing the danger of Japanese pirates coveting, where is the benefit?"

That's all right now, the topic just now hadn't come to an end yet, and a new topic came up, and it was also full of quarrels.The most important thing is that this time, the refusal to attach to North Korea has the upper hand.

In particular, the faction that rejects North Korea’s internal attachment has found a precedent—someone mentioned that Li Shimin refused Kangju, and used this as an analogy that today’s North Korean internal attachment should be rejected by Ming Dynasty like Li Shimin did back then.

This situation means that Gao Pragmatism is not there, otherwise he will definitely think of Mexico's proposal to merge with the United States and be rejected by the United States.

It stands to reason that someone wants to take the initiative to merge into your country, isn't it a good thing, why should you refuse?In fact, this kind of thing happened in ancient China. In the end, the court gave the same answer as the Americans: no.

As the faction that now opposes the inclusion of consent says, it was during the period of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty.At that time, China—that is, Datang, once again brought the Western Regions into its territory.

As we all know, China first opened up the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty. At that time, they were looking for the Yuezhi to fight against the Xiongnu. Although the Yuezhi found it, they had already gone to the Amu Darya and Syr Darya in later generations, and they were interested in fighting against the Xiongnu. not big.Some Yuezhi continued to go south, occupied northern India, and established the Guishuang Empire; some remained in Central Asia and established a series of oasis countries.

In that era when the weak preyed on the strong, it was common for small countries to be bullied by powerful countries.The small Yuezhi country in Central Asia has been crushed to death by the Western Turks, and they have to pay food and money constantly, otherwise they will be beaten.After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin marched into the Western Regions, and his business was more impressive than that of the Han Dynasty.

The small country of Yuezhi finally saw the hope of getting rid of the Turks, so it took the initiative to make friends with Datang.Their caravans went to the Central Plains in an endless stream, and they dominated the Silk Road.According to the surnames of the royal families of these small oasis countries, the Tang Dynasty collectively called them the nine surnames of Zhaowu, which were the Sogdians at that time.

The thriving Silk Road brought great wealth to the Zhaowu nine surnames, and the Tang Dynasty's attack on the Western Turks made them no longer worry about their own safety.

More importantly, Datang's tolerance made them feel that they were not excluded or discriminated against, so that Sogdians could not only do business and settle in Datang, but even serve as soldiers and officials, enjoying the official national treatment of Datang.

Comparing the two, Kangju, the largest of the nine surnames in Zhaowu (roughly located in present-day Uzbekistan), came up with the idea of ​​enclosing Datang and merging it into the territory of Datang.Just like Mexico wanted to join the United States at that time, the Kangju people also wanted to become the citizens of Datang and take shelter under the wings of Datang.

In fact, it has always been regarded as a sign of the prosperity of China that the small foreign kingdoms actively applied for internal attachment, and after getting Kangju, Datang's territory will go deep into Central Asia, which will be of great help in the fight against Western Turks.

Another point is that after Kang Ju joined the Tang Dynasty, the other eight small Zhaowu kingdoms might follow suit, which is very attractive, so the ministers who agreed to accept Kang Ju at that time accounted for more than half of the court.

However, an accident happened. After careful consideration, Li Shimin kindly rejected Kangju's offer, saying that Anxi Dufu would take extra care of Kangju, but Datang only wanted to restore the homeland of the Han Dynasty, and had no intention of annexing the nine surnames of Zhaowu.

Hey, does His Majesty Tian Khan really think so?Well, apparently it's not that simple.

Although Li Shimin's words are beautiful, in fact, he had planned it long ago. At that time, Tang's annexation of Kangju was not a good deal, but it might drag the country down.

You know, at that time, the Tang Dynasty had just destroyed the Eastern Turks and opened the Anxi Protectorate, but its control over the Western Regions was not yet stable.And Kangju is located at the westernmost end of the Western Regions, which has exceeded the limit that the Tang military can control.

Datang's military strength in Anxi was no more than [-] at its peak, which was a small army compared to the hundreds of thousands inland.It's not that the Tang Dynasty didn't pay much attention to the Western Regions, but that the food produced in the Western Regions could only support so many soldiers at that time.

According to the art of war, only one-thirtieth of the food and grass transported thousands of miles can be delivered to the frontline soldiers, and the rest are all eaten on the way.Therefore, it is obvious that it is unrealistic to transport grain from Chang'an to the Western Regions. We can only rely on the local food in the Western Regions to support soldiers. Therefore, more than 2 soldiers and horses are actually the upper limit of the number of troops that Datang can support in the Western Regions.

Then, if Kangju becomes Datang territory, once a war breaks out, Datang will have to send troops to protect Kangju.However, Kangju's own country has few small soldiers, and there is no danger of geographical advantages, so it is very easy to be breached. This obviously requires the protection of the Tang Dynasty.

However, Anxi didn't have such ability. With so few soldiers and horses, it was already very difficult for the Anxi Protectorate to control the Western Regions with a radius of thousands of miles. How could they divide their troops to defend Kangju?If the Western Turks attack and Kangju falls into the enemy's hands, Datang will not only lose face, but will also chill the hearts of foreign vassals, which will greatly weaken Datang's prestige in the Western Regions.

Therefore, accepting Kangju will do more harm than good to Datang. If you accept Kangju now for the sake of face, you may lose more face in the future.Li Shimin was the emperor immediately, and his military talent was extremely high. Naturally, he could not fail to see this clearly, so he rejected Kang Ju's request.

Now more than half of these officials are opposed to accepting North Korea's internal attachment, and they cited the old story of Li Shimin's refusal of Kang Ju's internal attachment. Obviously, they did not understand the inner logic of Li Shimin's refusal at all.

Of course, they couldn't even figure out the real reason for Li Shimin's rejection of Kangju, so they couldn't see the reason why Gao Pragmatic tried every means to force North Korea to join him.

Today's North Korea is not the same as the former Kangju, and it is not applicable to "the same principle can be obtained" at all.

In fact, not to mention Liang Menglong and Zhou Yong, the elders of the Real School, who knew the intentions of high pragmatism, even Wang Jiaping...even Zhao Zhigao and Shen Yiguan, who were from the Mind School, could see the clues.

However, whether you know it well or can see the clues, all the cabinet elders tacitly did not express their position this time, until someone asked at the end: "Yuanfu, all the cabinet elders, how does the cabinet plan to draft a vote on this matter?"

Although Wang Jiaping didn't want to cause public outrage, he was already very dissatisfied with the group of people who had been arguing for a long time just now, and now he had to ask the cabinet how they planned to draw up votes, which made him uncontrollably angry.

"How does the cabinet draw up votes, and when does it need to discuss with all the officials?" Wang Jiaping said coldly: "Even if the matter is big and requires all the officials to come together, it should be above the court. You are here today." , who dares to say that it can represent all officials!"

The crowd didn't expect Wang Jiaping to get angry suddenly, and they were a little stunned. The audience was silent for a few breaths before someone said sadly: "Yuanfu is such a powerful official, since Yuanfu disdains what I say, then It's useless to stay for a long time, so let's say goodbye!" So everyone walked out with cold faces.

Wang Jiaping originally wanted to see who the person who said this was, but unfortunately the crowd was crowded and his eyesight was not very good, so he couldn't find the instigator.

A discussion broke up unhappily.
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(End of this chapter)