Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 291 Xiaxiang critical attack, the emperor said plus one
The time has quietly arrived in May, and a heavy rain suddenly descended on the city of Beijing.

The sky was still clear just now, but in the blink of an eye, dark clouds rolled over the sky, as if there was no time for the people to breathe, and the rain swept across the entire capital like a ruin.

Workers in several dyeing workshops outside Zhengyangmen had only just pulled the cloth when the violent rain had already fallen. The soybean-like rain made it difficult to open one's eyes.

"The rain is coming! The rain is coming!"

When some experienced people saw the dark clouds rolling in the east, they realized that the rainstorm was coming, and many enthusiastic children yelled for help.

Such propaganda is commonplace in this era, and it may be regarded as the "weather forecast" of this era, and the way of dissemination is word of mouth after seeing it.

It's just like the lightning that suddenly appeared in the sky. Although you can see the trace of the lightning in advance, the speed of the thunder is beyond compare.

crackling...

This torrential rain was like a tyrant coming. The raindrops as big as soybeans were like dense bullets, attacking this century-old city without hesitation.

People in Beijing have laundry and other things to dry in their homes. Although some people responded in a timely manner, the vast majority of residents had to brave the rain to take things back.

Since Liu Ying became the team leader of the cooperative female workers of the Royal Cloth Shop, she has stayed at home almost every day and worked hard at weaving, but it was still a bit late to come out to collect the clothes.

The remnant clouds harvest the summer heat, and the new rain brings autumn hills.

As if in an instant, the torrential rain had already occupied the ancient city. The soybean-sized raindrops hit the green bricks or stones that still had residual heat, and clouds of faint blue mist soon emerged.

This is the case in this era. Even in the face of a very common rainstorm, if the response is not timely, the things to be dried at home will be baptized by the rainstorm, and even cause certain property losses.

In the face of the unpredictable climate, especially before the weather forecast system, even if it is ordinary rainstorm, human beings seem so small.

"kill!"

The four gates of the Forbidden City suddenly shouted and killed. A group of men in armor came in taking advantage of the heavy rain, and shouted and killed within ten meters from the open city gate.

Zhu Xizhe, the commander of the Jinwu Guard in charge of Donghuamen, learned that a traitor had killed Donghuamen, and immediately fell to the ground, and his crotch was already wet in an instant.

The same situation happened in Bei'anmen. Faced with the sudden appearance of the rebels, when he learned that the rebels had entered the palace gate, the supreme officer who was guarding the gate was frightened and at a loss.

Although Wu Xun's background has a high degree of loyalty, he is a counselor who has never been on the battlefield after all, and encountering a sudden mutiny also exposed the attributes of crowdsourcing.

Boom!

A bolt of lightning appeared in the sky, and a loud bang came from the billowing black clouds.

At this moment, the downpour seemed to drown everything, and the shouts of killing were also drowned in the rolling thunder.

It's just that when the soybean-sized rainwater fell on the [-]-acre water area, even though the raindrops fell violently, the lake surface was soft and strong, and all the violent raindrops were absorbed.

Xiyuan, Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Although the torrential rain poured down outside, it only made the place darker, and the sandalwood stove next to it was still billowing with green smoke.

Zhu Youtang was not affected by the torrential rain outside. He had been reviewing the memorials here all the time, but after the three young men came here to report in the rain, his face suddenly became stern.

His eyes were piercing, and his whole body became more and more mature. Through this bloodbath of the capital's dignitaries, his prestige was raised to a higher level.

It's just that this killing didn't contain selfishness. In fact, he never minded that the rich and powerful in the capital made a lot of money, but if the way to make money was by squeezing or even killing his own compatriots, then it would be a different matter.

For dignitaries who have no bottom line, and animals who don't care about the life and death of their compatriots, he will naturally make them feel the pain of beheading or beheading.

However, this bloodbath had a negative effect after all. Some dignitaries chose to stand on the opposite side of themselves. The last eight words left by Sun Ming showed the aspirations of some dignitaries.

It would not be inconceivable if someone from this group of dignitaries wanted to overthrow him.

Perhaps in their view, killing some of their compatriots is not a fault, but Zhu Youtang is no longer worthy of sitting on the dragon chair.

Seizing the door is actually a false proposition.

It is justifiable for Yingzong to seize the door. After all, Yingzong, as the Supreme Emperor, took advantage of Emperor Jingtai's critical illness to return to the throne. It is also a reasonable approach.

It's just that as the only emperor in the world, no one can replace him openly, even if King Xing replaces him, it's just usurping the throne.

Although there is no theory of seizing the door, it is also necessary to prevent treacherous officials from seeking power and usurping the throne. It is difficult to guarantee that there will be conspirators who want to support King Xing to replace him.

Since the development of the Kingdom, the elites in the capital have indeed weaved a huge network of relationships through marriage and other means, but they may not unite to deal with themselves.

In view of the lessons learned from the incident of seizing the door, in addition to being wary of one's own diet, the guards of the imperial city need to pay more attention to it.

"Your Majesty, there was indeed a problem with the rehearsal of Donghuamen and Bei'anmen just now. The two generals guarding the gate were slack in the heavy rain. Not only did they not wear armor, but they were also very afraid of fighting! The soldiers only rushed to the palace gate, and they were surrounded by them in the rainstorm!" Wang Xiang brought Chang Jing and Chang Feng to kneel in the hall, reporting guiltily.

Zhu Youtang sighed deeply, then said lightly: "What about now?"

"All gatekeepers are in armor and standing at their posts. The two officers guarding the gate have been arrested and left to His Majesty's disposal!" Chang Jing exchanged glances with Chang Feng and reported seriously.

Zhu Youtang placed his left hand on the case, and tapped his fingers lightly. At this moment, needles could be heard in the hall.

The emperor's personal guards were originally 26 personal guards, and the Jinwu Guards were responsible for defending the imperial city.It's just that after the change of the civil fort, most of the elite troops of the 26th Guards lost more than half, and they have completely declined since then.

Different from the three major battalions, the 26 guards after the heavy damage were not only not rebuilt, except for Tengxiang Left Guard, Tengxiang Right Guard, Wuxiang Left Guard and Wuxiang Right Guard, which were under the command of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, and the remaining personnel were handed over to the The Ministry of War is in charge.

In the past, Zhu Youtang could only focus on the origin of the top general who guarded the gate, but the situation has changed a lot now, so he knows that the guards of his palace need to be loyal in action.

Borrowing the exercise method of later generations this time undoubtedly exposed a big problem.

Zhu Youtang knew it was time to make a change, Dang Li said indifferently: "Those two people are about to be dismissed, and the general who led the siege first will be promoted! Chang Jing, Chang Feng, you two brothers still need to practice, and you must not insult King Kaiping." And the prestige of the founding father, so although the two of you are in charge of the Jinwu Guard, you have to take turns to go to the frontier to take turns!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your cultivation!" Chang Jing and Chang Feng's eyes lit up slightly, and they immediately expressed their respect respectfully.

Zhu Youtang knew that foreign relatives were harmful, and Wang Mang of the Han Dynasty was usurping the throne by foreign relatives, but in this power game, whoever holds power is actually a threat to the imperial power.

In the original history, one of the biggest reasons for the destruction of the Ming Dynasty was that the power of the civil official group was too great, so that in the end the court could not collect taxes at all.

As a qualified emperor, one cannot completely negate any one party, but requires the forces of all parties to achieve mutual restraint, so as to ensure that everyone holds their own thick thighs.

Zhu Youtang's financial liquidation has already damaged the interests of the Wuxun Group, so he decided to reuse his relatives, so he turned his head and looked at Wang Xiang: "Wang Qing, the first pass of Jinyiwei's redundant personnel was screened out quite well, and the second pass Emphasis on Jin Yiwei's riding skills! Jin Yiwei is mainly responsible for information collection and delivery, I hope they can send the information to the capital immediately, don't even have the ability to ride a horse by then, what is the use of such a mediocre person?"

"The minister leads the decree!" After taking over Zhu Ji's position, Wang Xiang carried out an epic cleansing of the Jinyiwei's interior according to the emperor's wishes, expressing his position respectfully.

Zhu Youtang gently raised his hand, motioning for the three to leave.

It is difficult for any department to avoid decline. Jinyiwei was originally the sharpest knife of the Ming emperor, but he had to choose to abandon it during the Chongzhen period.

In addition to the hereditary children of Jin Yiwei, the children of Wu Xun, the children of foreign relatives, the children of the emperor, the children of officials, and the relatives of eunuchs all crowded here, and it became a waste shelter.

The Ming army was dissatisfied with the salary, and the full salary was invincible.

Although these words are suspected of being exaggerated, they also have a certain truth, and the biggest root cause in the late Ming Dynasty was dissatisfaction with wages.

Why did the later Ming court continue to collect Liao pay, suppress pay, and training pay from the people under natural disasters? Isn’t it because raising soldiers requires huge expenses?
Zhu Youtang didn't want to raise tens of thousands of trash, so he might as well expand the SHIELD camp if he had some money.

Fortunately, Zhu Ji's evil deeds were exposed, and he could use Zhu Ji's incident to clean Jinyiwei.

In fact, it is not the ultimate goal to find the moths of Jinyiwei, but to take this opportunity to clean up all the related households of Jinyiwei, so that Jinyiwei can regain its vitality.

Just like this, the number of Jinyiwei should be reduced to [-], and at the same time, all the thousand and hundred households of those related households should be eliminated as much as possible, and replaced with some capable Jinyiwei like Lu Song, Mou Bin, and Zhang Cai.

Wang Pang and the other three saluted respectfully, and then left cautiously.

The summer rainstorms always come and go in a hurry, and the sky outside has cleared up.

When the three of Wang Xiang left, two middle-aged men in fifth-rank official uniforms walked up to them.

The Baijiayuan under the charge of Zhang Sheng and Xie Qian can be said to be thriving. Zhang Sheng has established branches in the two capitals and thirteen provinces, while the "Ming" magazine under the charge of Xie Qian is booming.

The two of them followed the little eunuch into the palace, saluting respectfully, and then presented the latest issue of "Ming" through Liu Jin.

Zhu Youtang took the "Ming" magazine from Liu Jin and began to read it.

In the latest issue, the contents involved medicine and breeding, which undoubtedly greatly improved the practical value.It's just that communication pragmatism is at the back, and now he mainly wants to control public opinion in his own hands.

Although Chongzhen has some personality flaws such as being suspicious, the biggest problem is that public opinion is not in the hands of the emperor, but is controlled by the scholar-bureaucrat class of the civil official group.

Under such circumstances, many people don't know what Zhu Chongzhen is thinking, let alone an emperor who "guards the gate of the country, and the king dies in the country".

Zhu Youtang doesn't mind the history books labeling himself a tyrant, but he knows the importance of public opinion now.

Like this time, the new policies related to the country's finances were passed on to the localities through the "Ming" magazine, so that scholars and common people all over the world knew what the imperial court was doing and why they had to kill so many dignitaries.

As for the Liu Daxia incident earlier, if it hadn't been made public through the "Ming" magazine, I am afraid that all people in the world will only think that they have killed a moral gentleman indiscriminately.

Just like this, "Ming" magazine is like its own self-media, no matter how the literati groups below arrange themselves, they can announce the truth of the matter through their own mouthpiece.

Zhu Youtang read it quickly, and found that Xie Qian used a large space to create character designs for Wang Yue and Song Cheng this time, so he nodded slightly and said: "This issue is doing well! How is the current sales situation?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the last issue sold [-] copies!" Zhang Sheng no longer intervened in the editing work, but instead took charge of the sales of the publication, and immediately seemed delighted.

Zhu Youtang frowned slightly, but shook his head slightly: "This sales volume is still too low! Open the provincial, prefecture, and county three-level agency as soon as possible, and cooperate with local law-abiding merchants. I want to reach A single issue sold 30 copies!"

Although the sales volume of "Ming" is quite high now, since the price is two yuan per copy, the amount of a single issue has reached 1 taels.Just to achieve the best printing effect, it cost 20 taels to build two sets of copper movable type printing plates, and it also required a transportation fee to send the printed "Ming" magazine from Beijing and Nanjing to other places.

Of course, in this era when publications are not very developed, the publication industry is in the initial stage, and it is already something to be proud of to have a revenue of 24 taels in the initial stage.

Zhu Youtang decided to learn from the methods of later generations and switch to the localities to promote "Ming", not because he wanted to make money from the literati community, but because he wanted to thoroughly grasp the public opinion of this country.

"Your Majesty, is this [-] percent too high?" Zhang Sheng hesitated for a while, and finally couldn't help asking.

Zhu Youtang waved his hand lightly, and said with a firm attitude: "If the provincial general agent can reach 30 copies in one phase, not to mention that your Baijiayuan will actually generate a lot of income, and it's only natural for people to work so hard to get this share! Master Zhang, broaden your horizons a bit. What we want is that "Ming" will become a must-read for scholars all over the world. After a single issue reaches [-] sales, not only will its influence increase, but the economic benefits will be even greater than you imagined. !"

In fact, it is impossible for Zhang Sheng to know that the advertising value contained here is far beyond imagination.

"Follow the order!" Zhang Sheng knew that although Zhu Youtang's promotion method would benefit many merchants, it was indeed the best way to promote "Ming" to the whole country.

After Zhu Youtang sent Zhang Sheng and Xie Qian away, seeing that it was getting late and he had no intention of fishing, he returned to the Forbidden City on a dragon chariot.

Perhaps because of the heavy rain that had gone through a drill, the Jinwu Guards at Xiyuanmen and Xihuamen appeared to be full of energy and did not show any slack.

Zhu Youtang knew that China didn't have so many rebels, as long as he wasn't the kind of emperor who did bad things, the people below would still be steadfast in their allegiance to him.

Just like earlier, some people dared to label themselves as tyrants, but after the financial rectification incident, there have been several cases in the capital where they were violently beaten for arranging themselves.

I may be gradually drifting away from the powerful group, but whether it is the people at the bottom or the soldiers of the army, in fact, there are more and more people who are sincerely loyal to me.

After the rainstorm, the sky is full of stars, and the Qianqing Palace is brightly lit.

Zhu Youtang flipped the board tonight and found Beauty Lian. Seeing that Liu Jin was about to leave, he said lightly, "Call Beauty Moon over!"

(End of this chapter)