Before hanging himself, Chongzhen lifted the table

Chapter 210
However, for now, there is still too little news about Jianlu.If you can't grasp Jianlu's dynamics, you still have to be careful when Jianlu is holding back his ultimate move.

Thinking of this situation, Emperor Chongzhen summoned Wu Sangui and asked him to find a way to find out about Liaodong.In addition, a message was also sent to Zhou Yuji to ask him to pay attention to the grassland developments.As for the Dongjiang Army, they also asked Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming to send warships to Liaodong and North Korea to inquire for information.

As for conquest, for now, we don’t have the strength yet.

This is not to say that the military strength is not good, but that if the expedition to Liaodong is carried out, food and grass will be a big problem.

In fact, the most important issue in any war is the issue of food and grass.During the two or three years when Emperor Chongzhen was conquering the world, he actually made some tricks when it came to food and grass.

When he rescued Ningwuguan, he actually did not bring any food and grass. He ran to Xuanfu and ransacked the houses of eight major Shanxi merchants. His food and grass supplies supported Emperor Chongzhen in the battle of Ningwuguan.

The ensuing war in the Gyeonggi region happened to capture the grain and grass that Li Zicheng had hoarded in Zhending, which solved any subsequent grain and grass problems that might arise. At the same time, Li Zicheng was forced to leave the Gyeonggi region because of the grain and grass problem.

During the subsequent war in the capital, Emperor Chongzhen actually began to have problems with his food supply, which was only supported by the food control implemented in the capital city from the beginning of the year.

In the original battle of Changping, on the surface, the ancestral graves were being dug up, so they fought with all their strength, but in fact, the factor of food and grass might not be eliminated.

After the Battle of Changping, Emperor Chongzhen led his troops south to rescue Jiangnan. Also subject to food and grass restrictions, it was impossible for him to lead a large number of troops south.As for the food and grass for 5 horses, he actually targeted the Kong family in Qufu and the big salt merchants in Yangzhou. After arriving in Nanjing, he slaughtered the Nanjing nobles, which supported him until the great victory over the pass. The battle defeated Li Zicheng's army.

Then the food problem was exposed, and he had to drop everything and go south to find Zheng Zhilong in person. He gave Zheng Zhilong both soft and hard advice, and gave Zheng Zhilong a vision for the future. In the end, he raised 100 million shi of additional food support every year.

When we went north to Sichuan, we consumed less food because of the Yangtze River water transport.In this way, the food problem did not become a major problem for Emperor Chongzhen during his southern and northern campaigns.

But now, the war between Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi is still going on, and various places are in need of improvement. In fact, many places cannot collect food, so Emperor Chongzhen simply exempted taxes for a year.

At this time, the imperial court did not have enough food to start a war.It would be nice to be able to recuperate and prevent famine in various places!
Therefore, for Liaodong and Emperor Chongzhen at this time, they could only pay attention to the news and prepare for future conquests.As for now, it really can't be done.

Starting from the 20th year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen was still focused on farming.The promotion of sweet potatoes cannot be accomplished in one go.Fortunately, based on the foundation of the previous two years, it has been promoted in central and northern Shanxi, Shandong and Gyeonggi.Therefore, in this new year, we can continue to promote it to Henan, Shaanxi and other places on this basis.

Potatoes and corn are also very good staple food supplements, but Emperor Chongzhen was not sure whether they had been introduced to the Ming Dynasty.He issued an order to ask officials across the country to recommend local crops, and even promised that if good crops were handed over to the court, and they were approved by him, they would be promoted to the third rank.

Cement-based infrastructure construction, including the construction of official roads and water conservancy facilities, especially the management of the Yellow River, is also being carried out vigorously.

However, what Emperor Chongzhen did not expect was that in May of the 20th year of Chongzhen, a piece of news came, forcing him to interrupt what he was doing.

This news is not good news, but a big defeat for Guizhou.

Previously, Du Yinxi led the army to advance steadily and even captured Zhenyuan. The situation was excellent.

Zhenyuan is known as "the key to Dian Chu and the gateway to eastern Guizhou". Since King Zhao of Qin established the county more than 200 years ago, it has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times.With one foot on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and one foot on the rolling Yangtze River, it was the central station of China's ancient southern water Silk Road and the most important military channel connecting the Central Plains and the southwestern frontier.

Unexpectedly, after this, the officers and soldiers from all walks of life began to compete for credit. Originally, they were able to attack forty miles a day, which was originally planned to be thirty miles.At the beginning, it seemed to be okay, and Du Yinxi didn't pay too much attention.

His prestige in the military was naturally inferior to that of Emperor Chongzhen.Maybe Emperor Chongzhen would resolutely carry out the matter with just one sentence, but even if Du Yinxi was the commander-in-chief, some things had to be repeated repeatedly.

Now that the rebel army is showing weakness and the imperial officers and soldiers are huge, the military orders issued by Du Yinxi cannot stop the officers and soldiers from all walks of life to compete for credit.

Finally, when the army attacked Duyun Prefecture, the imperial army was ambushed by the remaining Dashun army and the coalition forces of the rebel chieftains. As a result, Ai Nengqi and Wang Xiang were killed in battle, and the entire army was basically wiped out. Sun Kewang and Zeng Ying were injured, and all the troops were injured. Most of the casualties.Then the rainy season arrived in Guizhou, and logistical food and grass transportation was inconvenient, so the army was forced to retreat to Zhenyuan to rest.

Emperor Chongzhen knew at a glance that it was probably the surrender of the Great Western Army in Shu and the Shu generals competing for credit, which ultimately led to this fiasco.

Therefore, when he held an imperial meeting in the Wenhua Palace, he proposed: "I am determined to personally conquer Yunnan and Guizhou and put an end to the chaos in Yunnan and Guizhou as soon as possible."

Fan Jingwen, the first assistant, was still in Shaanxi. At this time, Jiang Dejing, the assistant minister of the cabinet, heard this and immediately went out and said: "Victory and defeat are common matters for military strategists. You can order Mr. Duge to regroup and be more careful." Yes, there is no need for His Majesty to personally conquer it!”

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Another assistant minister Fang Yuegong also came out and said to him: "Now the world has mostly decided that the cement made by your Majesty is a rare thing in the world and will benefit the country and the people. If your Majesty is committed to people's livelihood, I believe that Your Majesty will perform another miracle, and that he can revive the Ming Dynasty more than leading troops to fight!"

Yungui and other places have actually not been taken seriously by the court because they are too remote compared to the capital.And compared to other places, they are all high mountains and deep valleys, with few products and not much to care about.

Therefore, the other six ministers and others all agreed with the two cabinet ministers and felt that it would be better for the emperor to stay in the capital.

However, Emperor Chongzhen had his own reasons and immediately said to them: "I am going to the southwest. In addition to making it easier to quell the rebellion in the southwest, I also want to open up a channel to the West for the Ming Dynasty. No one else has a clue about this matter, except I have to go there myself!"

Xiyang is the name given to the Indian Ocean starting from the Ming Dynasty and has been used until later generations.

When Jiang Dejing and others heard this, they all had questions on their foreheads. Why did the Ming Dynasty want to lead the land to the West?
Looking at their expressions, Emperor Chongzhen knew that they could not understand.This is not because they are short-sighted, but because they are limited by the times and cannot understand the importance of the Ming Dynasty's need for a road to the West like Emperor Chongzhen from later generations through historical development.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen didn't want to explain more, but just said: "This matter is of vital importance to our descendants. I must take precautions and get it done while I have the ability!"

If it had been in the past, these civil servants might have quoted scriptures and argued with the emperor to refute his words. Why did they think the Ming Dynasty wanted to lead to the West?

But now, Emperor Chongzhen has enough prestige. Once he makes a decision, no ministers dare to question it.

This matter is settled.

Emperor Chongzhen looked at the prince sitting at the bottom and said to him: "After I go to war, there is one thing that you need to do with your heart." Upon hearing this, Zhu Cixiang quickly bowed and waited for the order: "Please give me your permission, father!"

The things to do well are nothing more than things closely related to recuperation and recuperation. This is what Zhu Cihong did when he was the supervisor of the country in the past two years, so he is very confident.

What they never expected was that they heard Emperor Chongzhen say: "I think that among the 360 ​​Five Elements, the number one in each of them will be number one. Therefore, you select some industries with the largest population and hold the first competition of the Ming Dynasty to determine the winner." The top pick, third overall pick, and second pick will be treated with courtesy."

Upon hearing this, everyone in the Wenhua Palace, except Emperor Chongzhen himself, was dumbfounded.

When Emperor Chongzhen was leading troops on an expedition, the Prince Supervisor organized the imperial examination. This was nothing, within the scope of their understanding.

However, now the emperor says that all walks of life must participate in the competition to get the number one, third and second place, what does this mean?

Could it be that those who work in the industries with the largest population, such as farmers, businessmen, boatmen, girls from Fengyue Tower, etc., have the imperial court preside over their competition?

This is too outrageous, right?
We also need to give them the treatment of being promoted!

For a long time, none of the people in the Wenhua Hall responded, thinking that the emperor was out of his mind.

If it were in the past, these civil servants would definitely start spray-brushing their reputation one by one.But at this time, the emperor was not someone they could criticize casually.If you don't have a certain amount of courage, like Zodiac Zhou, you won't dare to spray.

Emperor Chongzhen knew what they were thinking by looking at their expressions. At the same time, he also knew that this was the first time in history and it was normal for them to find it difficult to understand.

So, he gave an example and said: "Do you have any feeling, now that everything is in ruins and waiting to be revitalized, what is lacking most?"

After nearly two decades of devastation caused by war, everything is really in need of improvement. Everything is lacking!
So the prince replied: "Mason?"

Emperor Chongzhen did not answer for now, but just looked at the ministers below.

When these civil servants saw this, they had no choice but to answer under the gaze of the emperor.

"Old farmer?"

"groom?"

"..."

With the previous foreshadowing, and based on the situation they encountered, the civil servants made guesses about people from all walks of life.

After Emperor Chongzhen listened for a while, he interrupted them directly and said: "Talents! Talents from all walks of life!"

After finishing speaking, he immediately added: "It is not just scholars who are talents. As long as they do well in their profession, no matter whether they are plasterers, farmers, or whatever, they are all talents! The imperial court is lacking in all aspects. If Talents emerge in large numbers in all walks of life, rather than doing nothing, so I believe that it will be just around the corner for the Ming Dynasty to become stronger again!"

"Not to mention anything else, this time the cement was fired because I mobilized talents from several industries and was able to fire it before the end of last year. Please tell me whether the talents from all walks of life are the correct ones. Is it what the imperial court needs?"

Although these people in the Wenhua Palace heard what the emperor said and cited facts as examples, they felt it was ridiculous when they thought that the imperial court would hold imperial examinations in various industries.

They were hesitating, but the prince regarded his father as an idol, and felt that it made sense, so he immediately said: "Father, I will definitely handle this matter, so that my father will not have to worry about it when he personally conquers Yunnan and Guizhou!"

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen glanced at the ministers, then looked at Zhu Cixiang and said: "This matter is easy to say, but it is still difficult to do it for the first time and there are no rules to follow. But you just need to remember that this matter The selection of talents is mainly based on practical talents in the imperial court, rather than showy skills, which are just good-looking. For this purpose, we prepare and organize competitions."

After Zhu Cihong heard this, he immediately responded: "My son, I obey the order!"

Emperor Chongzhen looked at the others and said seriously: "You must assist the prince to do this well, and don't think it is just a child's play and refuse to take it seriously. Let me say it here first. When you are officials, you must be good officials. , An official who can do things is a talent. Otherwise, he is in an official position, but he is doing nothing. In this way, no matter how many books he reads, he will still be a mediocre person, not as good as a skilled plasterer. If he can't do it well, he just has no food to eat. If the official does not do his job well, it will harm the people of the place!"

Having said this, he raised his voice, looked at the ministers below, and emphasized: "From now on, I don't care what your public opinion is, your reputation, or your moral character. If you can't do what I tell you, then you are not worthy of being an official." So simple!"

Some people suddenly felt uncomfortable when they heard that the emperor's words became more and more severe, and he also made the issue of whether or not they should be officials and how they should be officials.If you want to evaluate the number one scholar, you can just judge the number one scholar. It won’t hinder them from becoming officials!

So, I heard Jiang Dejing say: "Your Majesty, I don't know if the top pick, top pick, and second pick in each industry are treated as candidates. Can they be officials?"

According to the system of the Ming Dynasty, if one has the merit of being elected, then one can be qualified to be an official.By the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were even high-ranking officials in the border areas, ministers in the Ministry of War, etc., all of whom were just from high-ranking positions.

The status of candidates in various industries and whether they can become officials is what they, the civil servants, are most concerned about.

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen immediately said what he was thinking: "You have to be promoted and treated, but you cannot be an official for the time being. I will wait until I see what kind of talents I can select before I make a decision!"

In fact, he had already had the idea to prepare for the establishment of a technical research institution like the Academy of Sciences in the future, instead of doing it in one step. That would be too big a step!
In the following days, Emperor Chongzhen explained many other matters, and then led the Biaoying camp southward.

The previous two troops of Huang Degong and Wu Sangui stayed in the north, not only to strengthen the northern defense line and prevent the Jianlu who annexed North Korea from invading again, but also to prepare for the future conquest of Liaodong.

(End of this chapter)