unclear

Chapter 845 Surprise
Hong Tao is not a stubborn person, and he is willing to listen to other people's opinions even when he is most proud. It's not that he is humble, but he is a cunning person. Whenever he hears that there is a possibility of losing money, he pays special attention to it.

Yuan Keli's reminder was very reasonable. Although the army was invincible in the north, it might not be very useful in the southwest. There were three reasons for this.

First, they are not used to the local climate. Most of the army soldiers come from the north and are not very adapted to the hot and humid climate there, so there may be a large number of non-combat casualties.

Second, poor transportation. Transportation in the Sichuan Basin has been a major problem since ancient times, and the areas occupied by the chieftains were either close to the plateau or belonged to the Hengduan Mountains. The infrastructure was basically zero, which was not conducive to the passage and supply of the army.

Third, the tool is not suitable. In fact, this is the key! If the weapons and equipment are suitable, the first two points can be overcome. However, the characteristic of muskets being afraid of moisture has not been solved yet. We can't let the army fight with engineer shovels, which would be a bit of a waste.

"I will obey your Majesty's order..." Seeing that the emperor had given in, the two Yuans quickly expressed their support.

As long as the southwest is not in chaos, it is also necessary to crack down on the illegal salt and tea dealers. Disbanding the Nanjing court sounds like a big deal, but it is actually much easier than the new salt and tea law and the transformation of the natives into officials.

Let's put it this way: wherever the Ming army and navy can play a role, it's easy for the emperor to do anything he wants. Otherwise, it's very difficult. This emperor didn't have any profound political skills, and he rarely played palace fighting with court officials. He just relied on his powerful flying bricks.

From this point of view, he was indeed suspected of being a tyrant, and he would confiscate property and impose hard labor at any time. During the more than ten years he was in power, at least hundreds of gentry families were uprooted and wiped out.

The reason why he did not gain much bad reputation in the court and the public was that he firmly occupied the latter position of civil and military achievements and remained undefeated in many foreign wars. Since ancient times, the emperor who could protect the people from foreign invasions was not much worse, and was easily accepted by the people.

Second, they firmly controlled public opinion, and whenever they attacked their political opponents, they used both civil and military means. On the one hand, they raided homes and arrested people, and on the other hand, they wrote in newspapers about their opponents, portraying them as villains who brought disaster to the country and the people.

In this way, without deliberately exaggerating, the emperor became a great hero who saved the people from danger. Even if the facts were not entirely so, and those who were confiscated and forced to work were not all evil and treacherous, the common people really couldn't care less, and public opinion would be the same.

Logically speaking, the emperor only had these two tricks, and it would be easy to find a way to break them after using them many times. But in reality, even though everyone knew what the emperor was going to do, no one was able to deal with it.

As for military affairs, the army and navy were firmly controlled by the emperor. Even if Yuan Keli wanted to do something, there were a large group of staff officers around him who would keep a close eye on him and stop him immediately if he did not follow the rules.

Even if the General Staff becomes a one-man show, there are still the Army Staff and the Navy Staff below it. Without the cooperation of these two departments, not a single soldier can be mobilized. At the same time, they will be impeached, and the matter will go directly to the emperor, making it impossible to hide it.

As for the literary magazines, "Ban Yue Tan" and "Shang Bao", after more than ten years of development, have long been famous and trusted by the people. An article published by them can be spread more widely than several contemporary great scholars.

The scholar class itself has no fighting power, and it must be achieved indirectly by inciting the people and the army. Now the army can't catch them, and the people have been fooled by the newspapers. It's useless for a group of scholars to understand. So the emperor's tricks have long been seen through, but no solution has been found so far, and the reason is still the newspapers.

If you want to start a new newspaper, you must go through the strict approval of the Imperial Household Department. Even if you finally pass the procedure, you will still be subject to strict supervision by the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard. If you violate the rules, you will face severe punishment, even property confiscation and hard labor.

The right to interpret what is considered a violation lies with the Imperial Household Department. Ban Yue Tan and Shang Bao did the same thing, but the Imperial Household Department said nothing.

Anyone who insisted on this issue would be investigated by the Jinyiwei and the Dongchang like a leech. There was a high probability that they would be found to have violated the law, which would then be infinitely magnified through newspapers, and eventually ruined.

To put it bluntly, the emperor just didn't want anyone to publish newspapers, but he didn't say it clearly, and deliberately made up such a set of fucked-up rules to cheat people. But no one could find fault with it, because this set of rules had long been written into the Ming Dynasty Law, and the emperor did not disregard the national law at all, but instead became a model of law-abidingness.

"Your Majesty, someone needs to go to Nanjing to dismantle the imperial court. As the Minister of Personnel, I have no choice but to do so."

Even though he was one of the core members of the royalist faction, Yuan Yingtai did not want his colleagues in Nanjing to suffer too much. After all, they were all Jinshi, and intellectuals should not do things too bloody. Moreover, there were many old friends there, so he would lend a hand if he could, even if he was criticized.

"Not right, not right! Dalai is the Minister of Personnel, and he should be in charge of the overall situation. I have already chosen the candidate for the imperial envoy. I will ask Wang An, the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, to go to Nanjing. It should not be considered that his influence is too small, right?"

Hong Tao really didn't mean to offend Yuan Yingtai. The abolition of the Nanjing court did not mean dismissing all the officials there one by one. Some of the young or talented ones must be kept as reserves. It was impossible to decide who to keep and who not to keep by oneself. It had to rely on the selection of the Ministry of Personnel, so Yuan Yingtai could not leave.

"...Now that Master Wang is leaving the palace and heading south, who should be in charge of the Imperial Household Department?" Upon hearing this candidate, Yuan Yingtai and Yuan Ke immediately looked at each other, with many doubts flashing in their eyes.

The position of the Chief of the Imperial Household Department is an important link between the outer court and the inner court, and it cannot be left vacant. If Wang An goes to Nanjing, who should take his place? Can he work well with the officials of the outer court? What should be done when Wang An finishes his work in Nanjing?
This was not just a matter of a job change for one person, but it was likely a sign that the structure of the inner court had changed. In other words, Wang An might have lost power, and the inner court would certainly undergo a huge change.

Regardless of whether the new seal holder will affect the emperor's future ruling style, as a foreign minister, we should pay enough attention to it. It is best to know the candidate in advance and be mentally prepared in advance.

"Let Cao Huachun take charge for now. He is also a veteran of the Imperial Household Department and will not be unaware of the importance of things. I originally planned to send two land guards to follow to ensure stability, but now it seems that it is not enough. Minister Li, where is Huang Taiji now?"

The replacement of the seal of the Imperial Household Department was a done deal, and there was no need to ask the court officials for their opinions. Hong Tao pretended not to notice the surprised expressions of the two ministers, and after announcing the replacement, he continued to arrange the dismissal.

(End of this chapter)