Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 804 The Prince
Beijing.

Wenhua Hall.

The emperor was on a west tour, and the prince stayed behind to supervise the country, so he was regent in this hall.

When Li Zicheng invaded Beijing, most of the buildings in the Wenhua Palace were destroyed. Later, when Houjin entered Beijing, it was restored in the same way as the destroyed Wuying Palace.

In winter, the weather was fine, and the warm afternoon sun shone down from the clear blue sky. The prince was basking in the sun on the porch in front of the hall, holding a scroll of scriptures in his hand.

It's just that the prince's mind doesn't seem to be on the scriptures, sitting there seems to be thinking about something.

Different from the bustling and noisy outer city of Beijing, the Forbidden City in the deep palace is extraordinarily solemn and quiet, especially the Wenhua Palace where the prince regent is. The emperor left Beijing for more than half a year, and the prince supervised the regent of the country. This place became the hall of the Ming Dynasty political center.

The left-behind cabinet members and members of the Prime Minister's Office also come here to play their affairs every day.

The crown prince, who had been married for less than half a year, also began to grow a beard, and he appeared to be more mature and stable. There were countless memorials reported every day, and most of the reports above were good news such as a bumper harvest here and a stable one there.

In the past few years, the situation in this country was still in danger. Alien races invaded, thieves were everywhere, mourning everywhere, starvation, famine, and wars made everyone fearful and precarious. Even countless gentry and powerful men thought that the Ming Dynasty was exhausted and Zhu Ming was finished. .

Who would have imagined that a king of Shufan Lu who went into exile in the south would turn out to turn the tide, restore the building to collapse, and rejuvenate the Ming Dynasty.

In just a few years, the city of Beijing has changed owners several times. Emperor Chongzhen Meishan hanged himself, Li Zicheng became emperor for a few days, Dorgon was here as regent, and the young Tartar emperor Shunzhi was ushered in from Shenyang, Liaodong. But these people After all, it is still blown away by the rain and the wind.

Now that the Central Plains have recovered, the Ming Dynasty even subdued Mongolia, Jurchen, and even the Western Fans to pay tribute and trade.

Prices in the capital are relatively stable, and new rice is still only one silver dollar and one stone. This is because the imperial court deliberately raised the minimum purchase price of grain to ensure the income of the people who cultivated the land.Beijing’s grain is transported by sea. Tianjin, Tongzhou, and Beijing all have large granaries that store a lot of rice, wheat, and beans. The imperial court has relaxed the policy of limited grain supply and supply by ticket. Today, there are [-]% of government-run grain shops , [-]% of private grain stores have unlimited grain purchases.

Other daily necessities are also abundant, even vegetables, meat, oil, vinegar, etc. are extremely abundant, and Beijing has become so rich and noble.

Into winter.

The freezing of the canal and the freezing of the Bohai Sea will not affect the government and the people in Beijing at all. The supplies are abundant and the borders are stable. There is nothing to worry about.

Everyone is busy buying cabbage and radish for storage, and some are busy pulling coal from the Western Hills, all busy for the winter.

When they met each other, besides asking if they had eaten, they would also chat about current events in the newspapers, such as how the emperor was in Guihua City, how obedient the Ordos Khan was, how he cleaned the emperor's horses every day, hunted yellow sheep and deer for the emperor, and even caught the emperor. One or two gossip, the emperor met a Mongolian beauty in Ordos or something.

It is also said that Zhu Chenggong, the surname of the country, recently sent troops from Jeju Port to Hirado, and he is teaching the little Japanese. They say that the Matsuura clan of the Hirado clan in Japan raised the flag to rebel and wanted to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo. Many princes responded. During the civil war in Japan, as a result, Ming's merchant ships were attacked, Ming's business houses were burned, and Ming's businessmen were also detained. Guo Xingye immediately led the fleet to protect the overseas Chinese.

It is said that Guo Xingye actually went to Shijian Yinshan, which is said to be able to produce millions of taels of silver a year.It is also said that Guo Xingye went to the Besko Copper Mine. It is said that the copper mine produces millions of catties of copper a year, accounting for one-third of Japan's annual copper production.

Some people also talked about Heilongjiang, slaves, Jilin, Yakesa, Qu Dumei, how to beat old Maozi, and how many precious furs the Pioneer Fleet, Pioneer Fleet, and Blackwater Fleet got in the Northeast.

Some people also talked about the establishment of new commercial stations by the Royal South China Sea Fleet in Annan, Champa and other places, and that the Mo family in Annan had fought with the Zheng family, and that the Guangxi imperial camp had sent a coordinator to Gaoping.

Speaking of this, although many of the people in the imperial city roots are new immigrants, they still have a sense of superiority from the people of the imperial capital.

Although many people were struggling with life and death a few years ago, they are now well-dressed, even if there may be patches on the clothes, but at least their faces are rosy, their eyes are bright, and their clothes are clean and tidy.

In the winter of the sixth year of Shaotian, these people seemed to have been completely reborn. Bandits became a historical term, and Jianlu became a thing of the past.

Now everyone likes to talk about the mutton, sheepskin and wool outside the mouth, and the white sugar, brown sugar and cotton cloth in the south.Most of the people living in the outer city of Beijing are handicraftsmen. A large number of shops and workshops have created a large number of practitioners. They work hard and take their wages to buy food and vegetables.

Surprisingly, most of the people in the inner city are the relatives of the emperor, all the officials in the capital, some military officers and wealthy businessmen.

Even in Guanxiang outside the city, many houses and shops were quickly built, and there were also many workshops here.

Landlords and peasants live in the suburbs. They grow land, vegetables, pigs, chickens, ducks and geese.

Crown Prince Hongjia would often roam around the capital in a low-clothes, and sometimes he would go to the suburbs. He likes to go deep into the bottom. I will also observe the life in the market, chat with the shopkeepers, and even take the initiative to chat with other guests of all kinds.

For the crown prince who is only 15 years old, he seems a little more mature and stable than his peers, which may be related to the six years of experience outside the customs, or it may be related to the emperor's personal teaching in the past few years.

After more than half a year as the regent of Jianguo, Hongjia looked at the problem differently from before.

He could feel the weight of the burden on his shoulders.

In recent days, he has keenly discovered that there are two forces surrounding him, competing for strength.They all tried to influence and persuade the prince.

They all looked so upright and selfless, as if they were all for the long-term of the Ming Dynasty.

This summer, a major event happened in Henan, and it is still spreading rapidly.

The cause of the incident was that the students in Fengqiu County stopped taking their exams. Fengqiu County is on the north bank of the Yellow River, just north of Kaifeng. Kaifeng crosses the Yellow River, and then passes through Chenqiao Town, which is Fengqiu County.After the Tartar dog officials dug up the breach of the Yellow River in the copper tile chamber, Fengqiu City suffered a disaster.

Afterwards, the Yellow River diverted its course, and there was no embankment for several years. The Yellow River flooded, and when the flood season came, it became the country of Ze, and countless people were displaced. embankment.

Fengqiu is to the north of the Yellow River and to the west of the Xinhe River. The imperial court simply assigned Fengqiu and Yanjin counties on the north bank of the Yellow River in Kaifeng Prefecture to Weihui Prefecture, and Yuanwu County to Huaiqing Prefecture.

The east of Fengqiu used to be the Daming Mansion in Hebei, but now the Changyuan in the east has also been included in the Weihui Mansion in Henan, and the Dongming in the east of the Xinhe Road has been included in the Caozhou Mansion in Shandong.

Originally, Fengqiu bordered Hebei and belonged to Kaifeng Mansion, but now it borders Shandong and belonged to Weihui Mansion.

The event of Fengqiu and dismissal was caused by the imperial court's relocation of gentry to enrich Gyeonggi.

Some of the original gentry families and local tyrants failed to have five-rank real positions in the new dynasty due to reasons such as standing in the wrong team in the past. Therefore, they were asked by the court to move to Gyeonggi and settle down, and they even had to replace their original places with new ones. The hometown of resettlement.

Fengqiu originally belonged to Kaifeng Prefecture, and it belonged to the land of Gyeonggi in Song Dynasty. After being classified as Weihui, the Fengqiu people were dissatisfied, and the emperor moved the gentry to fill Gyeonggi, especially for those gentry families who did not have five-rank real positions. , but also to change the land, it will provoke countless people to jump.

Agricultural business.

The status of a scholar has always been very high. The Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty once stipulated that when ordinary people meet a scholar with a reputation, they must perform an official ceremony.

The members of the Daming Jing Tongsheng Examination have already obtained the lowest degree of fame and become a privileged class. They must wear blue shirts to distinguish them from ordinary civilians.

Outstanding students among the students will also be granted scholarships, and will also be exempted from their family's servants. Even those who are over [-] years old and willing to retire will be honored, and they will still be free from miscellaneous work. servants.

In addition to the preferential exemption of rations, if the crime is serious, the magistrate must first report it to the superior, and only after the meritorious service is dismissed can he be punished for the crime he deserved.

If it is a trivial matter of ordinary lawsuits, it will only be handed over to the school for punishment, and it will not be regarded as Qimin, and they will all be held accountable.

Properly privileged class.

From the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, only one or two dings of handymen were exempted, then the corresponding number of land taxes were exempted, and then all were exempted, and then all kinds of means were sent by name. Not high, but it is no longer comparable to Xiaomin.

However, the Shaotian Dynasty did not treat the scholars so preferentially. At the beginning of the emperor's army, he required the gentry to pay food as a whole, and then various policies, such as prohibiting the slavery of the Han people, and this year, the traditional government school was taken, and the scholar's reputation was passed. No longer in the prefectural school, and no longer give rice.

The imperial court built many new schools, and all kinds of junior colleges were recruited from scholars, and the outstanding ones would also be given Linmi scholarships. a name.

Moreover, in general junior colleges, after admission, there will be requirements to obey the assignment after graduation, etc. Although it is also allowed to continue to take the exam after the job is assigned, it is indeed very different from before.

The incident of Fengqiu's dismissal of examinations was accumulated little by little, and finally broke out when they were about to move them to Luanping. They thought it was a trampling on the gentry. Luanping was outside the Gubeikou of the Great Wall of Beijing. The land outside the customs is Saibei, which is exile.

But they were innocent, but the emperor trampled on them repeatedly, and even confiscated their land and houses, and exchanged the wasteland outside the pass for them.

Angry Fengqiu students colluded together. In this year's provincial examination, they not only mobilized candidates to stop taking the exam, but also rushed in and tore up the test papers of the few students who insisted on entering the exam.

The scientific examination is the qualification examination for the rural examination. Before each provincial examination, the examinations are conducted by the provinces' education tours. All students who want to participate in the rural examination must pass this qualification examination.

Originally, there were more than 130 scholars in Fengqiu taking the exam this year, but only 23 of them entered the examination hall. Not only did the other 110 do not enter the examination hall, they also rushed into the examination room of Weihui Mansion and tore up the examination papers of the candidates.

This is simply an unprecedented scene.

They not only tore up the test papers, but also openly called on the whole province not to take the test.

Although the scientific examination is only a qualification examination for the rural examination, when the Fengqiu incident happened, many students in other parts of Henan also responded. For a while, the scientific examination in Henan could not be carried out normally.

When the incident was reported to Chen Qianfu, governor of Huanghuai and governor of Henan, he immediately arrested dozens of people including the troublemaker Fengqiu examinee Fengyi Fanxun, and then sent people to other prefectures to arrest the troublemakers as well.

Chen Qianfu arrested more than 300 scholars and imprisoned them. The provincial examination in Henan Province in August failed to proceed as scheduled. This incident shocked the world.

When the incident was reported to Beijing, Du Yinxi, the Prime Minister who stayed behind and a scholar in the cabinet, was furious, and asked Henan to investigate the matter and severely punish the offenders. Those students who should not take the exam will lose their merits and never refer to them again.

For those candidates who are blocked, arrange for them to take the test again.

But Du Yinxi's tough attitude was actually opposed by many officials in the DPRK and China. Many officials thought that such a handling was inappropriate, and even spoke for Fan Xun and other candidates.

For example, Ding Qirui, Ding Qiguang, and Ding Kuichu, officials from Henan, all wrote bluntly, pleading for these scholars in their hometown.

Ding Qirui was a native of Guide Prefecture, Henan Province. During the Chongzhen Dynasty, he served as the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi.He was born in a well-known family of officials and gentry in Henan. Although he held important positions in the Chongzhen Dynasty, he was incapable. When Li Zicheng attacked Kaifeng, he led an army but did not dare to rescue him. Caused corruption in the Central Plains, dismissed and returned home.

Later, the governor who was one year older than him, the governor of Henan Huguangjia, the Minister of the Ministry of War, his uncle Ding Kuichu and Ma Shiying, supported the blessing king Nanjing and proclaimed himself emperor. Ding Qirui also attached himself to Ma Shiying and others, and was awarded the governor of Henan.

Because of the capture and beheading of the official of Guide Mansion appointed by Li Zicheng, he was also appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of War and named the Prince Taibao. As a result, when the Qing army came, he immediately led his troops to surrender.

After seeing Zhu Yihai's Northern Expedition flourishing, he conspired against his brother Ding Qiguang and formed a team to practice, which can be said to be playing the fool to the extreme.His uncle Ding Kuichu became the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi in the Hongguang period, but in the end he quit his business and was only interested in making money. He made more than 80 taels in more than a year, and was dismissed by Zhu Yihai. With his support, he still gave him face. Only the stolen silver was confiscated, but the grade was retained.

Ding Qiguang was once awarded the title of admiral and led a town regiment to train the army.

The reason why Ding’s nephew and uncle jumped out so eagerly was that Ding Qirui’s cousin, Ding Qixiang, also organized a strike test in Shangqiu. There are more than 200 members, all of whom are descendants of noble families.

Ding Qixiang boasted that he was romantic, and wanted to do something grand and grand, just like his teacher Hou Chaozong and the other four princes, to show the pride of a scholar, and even wanted the court to withdraw its intention to relocate nobles to fill the capital.

"Your Highness,"

Liu Chao, the supervisor of the palace, brought over Shen Wenzhong, the general envoy.

When the prince saw Shen Wenzhong, he stood up to greet him, "I don't know if your majesty is still in Guihua City, Ningxia, or has already arrived in Lanzhou."

"Your Majesty is in Ningxia." Shen Wenzhong replied.

"Sit down, Shen Qing," the crown prince gave him to sit, "Recently, there has been a lot of talk in the court about Henan's dismissal from office. Shen Qing was also a student and followed the Holy Majesty for a long time. What is Shen Qing's opinion on this matter?"

Shen Wenzhong didn't hold anything back to the prince, and said bluntly, "I think that these disturbing voices are actually just some people still nostalgic for the various privileges of the gentry in the past. They still want to be exempted from tax and labor, and even want to be exempted from industrial and commercial taxes. I still want to continue to send my name to contribute, and even want to continue to monopolize lawsuits and arbitrarily decide on rural songs,
It's ridiculous that they still dare to dismiss their officials and make troubles, trying to blackmail the court.

Such a bad behavior, but there are still many people who stand up to support them, Henan's Tixue counselor, Fengqiu magistrate, Weihui prefect, and even the chief secretary's political participation, as well as a deputy inspector, and even Ding Qirui's uncle and nephew in the court , and Admiral Ding Qiguang, who is a senior general, actually interfered in this matter,
Hou Xun, Hou Fangyu and his sons also openly accused the imperial court of wrong policies. Zheng Sanjun and other veterans of the former dynasty also came out to oppose it one after another, gaining a lot of limelight. "

Zhu Hongjia was obedient, and from these names, he also knew that Shen Wenzhong was reminding him of the Donglin Party and Fushe.

Hou Fangyu is the fourth son of Fushe, and Hou Xun was the Minister of the Household Department, the Donglin Party, and the Minister of the Military Department. He was the governor of various provinces to encircle and suppress Li Zicheng. He succeeded Ding Qirui to encircle and suppress Li Zicheng.

Ding Qirui's uncle and nephew don't look at Hongguang when he voted for Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng, but he also called himself Donglin before.

Not to mention Zheng Sanjun, the big brother of Donglin who had served as a bachelor.

Nowadays, there are many officials who sympathize with the students who have been dismissed from the examinations in Henan, and the pleas are presented like snowflakes. Many people have begun to think that the imperial court is too harsh on the scholars, and demand that the imperial court listen to the voices of scholars and obey the public opinion.

Although Zhu Hongjia was young, there were Du Yinxi, Xiong Rulin, Zhang Mingzhen, Ruan Dacheng, Ma Shiying, Liu Zongzhou, Wanji and other ministers who stayed behind in the court, but they were not all for personal gain.

Even Liu Zongzhou never admitted that he was a member of Donglin.

Shen Wenzhong used to be a scholar, but later he voluntarily gave up his life scarf and went into business, but the business failed and his wife ran away, and he became a beggar. He didn't have a good impression of Donglin and Fushe, and he didn't think much of himself. Be a member of the readers.

(End of this chapter)