Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 252: Marriage? Wishful thinking!
In the capital city, inside the imperial palace, Zhu Changgan rubbed his cold hands. It was freezing cold in Kyoto now, and he felt refreshed after coming out from Chen Yuanyuan's place.

In general, Zhu Changgan was satisfied with the five major camps and the Pinglu Army. The Battle of Ningjin and the Battle of Liaoyang both proved the morale and combat effectiveness of the Ming army.

Next, as long as the Ming army advances step by step according to plan, Shengjing will probably not be a problem.

The only regret may be that I can’t be there during the day and feel all this indestructibleness.

In the court, what made Zhu Changgan angry was the "stubbornness" of the group of scholars and officials.

As Sun Chengzong said, although the soldiers in the Ming army were passionate and fought for glory for their country, it did not mean that they were sensible. They could be generals, but not necessarily officials.

Officials are the ones who enlighten the people. Many of them don’t even know their own names and cannot figure out how much salary they can receive in a year. How can they be considered wise?

This idea was not just held by one person, but by all the courtiers in the court. This made Zhu Changgan realize the urgency of breaking the dominance of Confucianism.

"Your Majesty, Xu Cifu and Liu Zhifeng request an audience with you."

"Let them in."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Wang Cheng'en walked out and signaled everyone to leave. According to the rules he summed up, the emperor was in a good mood every time he came out of Chenghua Palace, and he would deal with state affairs, so that not only him, but also the emperor's close ministers had developed a habit.

Whenever the emperor went to Chenghua Hall, they would wait outside the Qianqing Palace early to discuss state affairs with the emperor.

……

"Your Majesty, I wish to see you again."

"Your Majesty, I, Liu Zhifeng, pay my respects to you."

"Be flat!"

Xu Cifu stood up and said, "Your Majesty, regarding the five-year compulsory education program you mentioned earlier, I have already started construction in Northern Zhili..."

During the Ming Dynasty, starting from Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, students were treated very generously. For example, if a student passed the academy examination and the prefectural examination, he would be called a scholar, which meant he did not need to serve as an official. If he passed the imperial examination, he would be able to turn his life around and enter the class of scholars, reaching heaven in one step.

But it was precisely because these gentry were given too many privileges that, after passing the imperial examinations, they began to seek benefits for their families and began to occupy and annex large amounts of land.

Zhu Yuanzhang also pushed for the establishment of community schools throughout the country, that is, for children under the age of 15 to learn to read and write, mainly to enable them to learn moral etiquette, policies and laws. Unfortunately, after several attempts, it was unsuccessful.

One of the main reasons is lack of money.

But it was precisely because of this that the eight-legged essay became popular, the imperial examination system became increasingly rigid, and official schools declined. Instead, schools run by gentry became popular, especially those run by clans and private schools, which became the mainstream in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

In this way, those students were won over by the gentry and became their vassals. The power of the gentry clans also grew stronger, and in the end they developed into clan schools.

The clan school only accepts the children of clan members, or the children of relatives and friends. If ordinary people want to enter, they have to pay homage to the teacher and sit through the teacher's ceremony, that is, they have to become someone's direct descendant before they can enter the clan school to study.

Only in this way will people teach you seriously and even provide financial support for you to take the imperial examination.

Once he passed the imperial examination, the first thing he would report was to his family rather than the imperial court. Even if he was willing to do something, he was powerless because he had to take care of the interests of the gentry behind him.

This is also the key reason why taxes collected became less and less in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

This is also the reason why imperial power did not extend to the countryside, the Lijia system collapsed, and local government orders had to rely on gentry.

Today, most of the gentry in several provinces south of the Yangtze River have been wiped out by bandits. Everything seems to be new, but if this ecosystem is broken, a new gentry class will soon be formed.

Everything will happen again.

"Your Majesty is wise!" Liu Zhifeng knelt on the ground again.

Zhu Changgan narrowed his eyes and asked with a smile: "Where is Shengming?"

Now he finally understood why Qianlong liked Heshen. As an emperor, he could not be surrounded by only honest officials and loyal ministers. He needed someone who could wave the flag and cheer for him, and who would know what to do with just a glance from the emperor.

For example, Liu Zhifeng was not an upright official. He had many minor faults, such as being greedy for money, being lustful, and having six concubines at home. However, these crimes were not enough to warrant his dismissal or execution.

His biggest point is that he can understand what he wants to do with just a few glances, such as building a five-year education system. I just mentioned it, and Liu Zhifeng started to cheer for the next thing.

Liu Zhifeng's expression suddenly froze, and he kowtowed quickly, saying, "Holy Emperor... built a free school, and the students who received education will certainly be grateful to the court and loyal to our Ming Dynasty."

"Five years of compulsory education will allow children of the people to learn to read and write, do math and keep accounts. The best of them will then take the Ming Dynasty exams and become local officials. This will cut off the roots of the gentry and the powerful."

Zhu Changgan looked at Liu Zhifeng and nodded, "Okay, I'll leave this to you."

"Your Majesty, I am the Minister of Justice and am not good at studying politics."

Liu Zhifeng's Adam's apple kept rolling, but he felt indescribable pain in his heart. This move was so cruel that once it was implemented, it would undoubtedly offend all the gentry in the world.

But the key point is... he could never have imagined that this would happen to him.

How could Zhu Changgan not know what the other party was thinking? He stared at him like a nail, "This school is not the same as that school. The people from the Ministry of Rites can't do it well. In my opinion, only you can do this."

"Your Majesty...thank you for your grace!" The muscles on Liu Zhifeng's face twitched, and he could only agree reluctantly.

Zhu Changgan thought for a moment and said, "Issue another decree to encourage children of the people to go to school. If a child attends a compulsory school for three years, the family's tax will be reduced by 10%, and if the child attends a compulsory school for five years, the tax will be reduced by 20%. "

"You two can discuss the remaining details and submit a memorial to the emperor when the time comes."

"Yes, Your Majesty..."

After Liu Zhifeng and Xu Cifu left, Zhu Changgan leaned on the dragon throne and entered the sage time.

Building compulsory schools can not only reform the education system of the Ming Dynasty, but also change the political ecology of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Changgan also has another consideration.

Maintain stability.

The Ming Dynasty was plagued by famine and war, and there were too many refugees. Building free schools in various places could bring them together, provide them with relief food for survival, and keep them under the supervision of the Ming court.

As long as we can get through this winter, by next year, sweet potatoes will be widely available and the situation of people starving to death will no longer exist.

As for the teachers in the school... the Independent Commission Against Corruption has become a hot spot nowadays. Many frustrated scholars and juren have been trying their best to get in, but only a few can finally get in. Now they have a way out.

This strategy will benefit the present and future generations.

Confucianism is the only doctrine?

I will open a river in the sky to drown you all. There will no longer be any distinction between the four classes of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans according to the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty.

The emperor looked calm and waved his hand to let everyone go out. He was just about to take a nap when he was woken up by Wang Chengen's footsteps.

"Your Majesty, this is great news, great news!"

"What good thing?"

After asking, I found out that Wang Hui and his team had solved the problem of developing metal fixed-load ammunition.

With the primer, combined with the previous smokeless gunpowder, there is a huge improvement in both range and accuracy.

When Wang Chengen reported the good news, he was jogging, "Your Majesty, Wang Sizheng said that the new bullet can reach a range of 600 steps, and has amazing killing power within 300 steps."

The accuracy is 300 steps. Before this, the accuracy of Ming Dynasty's muskets was only 150 steps, or 200 steps at most. Now it has suddenly increased to 300 steps.

This news made Zhu Changgan's eyes flash suddenly, and he stood up suddenly, "Okay, take the reward!" After such a long time, and with his own theoretical support, he finally made this thing. With this thing, Zhu Changgan finally had strong confidence.

Rifled ammunition, wheat grain ammunition, and paper shell fixed bullets have advantages when facing the Tatars, but they are not particularly powerful when facing the British and Spanish.

Only the metal fixed-load ammunition can truly achieve the reversal of two generations.

"Come on, accompany me to take a look." Zhu Changgan was extremely excited and just about to leave when a voice broke the silence in the palace.

"Urgent news from Liaodong, urgent news from Liaodong..."

Ok?
Zhu Changgan turned his head suddenly, frowning. What happened?
The smiling muscles on Wang Chengen's face froze, and he quickly ran a few steps to get the thing and handed it to the emperor.

Zhu Changgan frowned as he looked at Li Banghua's "urgent report". In addition to Li Banghua's analysis of the situation, this battle report also contained a handwritten letter from Dorgon.

Zhu Changgan suddenly laughed as he watched, "Dorgon wants to marry into the Ming Dynasty?"

I thought there was something big in the war report, but I didn't expect that it was Dorgon who proposed to make peace with the Ming Dynasty. Dorgon said frankly in the letter: "The way of making friends with neighbors is no different from Tang's relationship with Ge and King Wen's relationship with Kunyi. The emperor of the Ming Dynasty is still very young..."

Before this, Huang Taiji had also written a letter to the Ming Dynasty, but at that time he compared himself to King Wen and the Ming Dynasty to Kunyi. Now he called himself Kunyi and hoped that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty would marry their Manchu princess.

During the reign of Nurhaci, the daughters of the Khan, princes, and beile were collectively called "gege". It was only after Huang Taiji established the Qing Dynasty that they were called princesses. For example, the legitimate daughter born to the empress was called "Gulun Princess", and the daughters born to other concubines were called "Heshuo Princess".

"Does Dorgon have a daughter? The daughter of Huang Taiji?" Zhu Changgan smiled and threw Dorgon's letter directly into the brazier. "He has a good plan. He thought that he could stop the 150,000-strong army of the Ming Dynasty with the gentleness of two taels of meat."

Do you want to have a peace talk with yourself now?

"wishful thinking!"

"Pass on my order. The Manchu barbarians have insulted our Ming Dynasty. The army has rested and will immediately flatten the Manchu Shengjing."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Wang Chengen said solemnly.

……

In Liaodong, as the imperial edict of the Ming Emperor arrived, there was jubilation in Liaoyang City.

Except for Chongzhen, others were really afraid that the emperor would agree to Huang Taiji's peace talks. They had finally reached Liaoyang, and Shenyang was only an arrow's throw away. They were really unwilling to just go back like that.

This kind of thing has happened in history. Yue Fei was about to see the city wall of Bianjing, but was called back by twelve golden medals.

All he could do was sigh: "All the states and counties we have gained will be gone in one day! It will be difficult for our country to recover! There will be no way for the world to recover again!"

What followed was the Shaoxing Peace Agreement.

The opportunity to recapture Bianliang was completely ruined.

Following Li Banghua's order, the war horses neighed, their black armor flashed a sharp light under the sun, and they rushed out of Liaoyang City like a tide.

……

As the Ming army moved, the Qing Dynasty's warning fireworks and trumpets continued to sound.

One sound after another, one after another.

The Qing Dynasty's scouts kept marching forward, and they were obviously extremely nervous facing the actions of the Ming army.

The road from Liaoyang to Shengjing was relatively flat, and the Ming army roared like a tide.

On the Qing side, Dorgon and the princes and nobles seemed to understand that with the Ming army of 150,000, they did not think that their own 80,000 Eight Banners cavalry and the Mongolian Eight Banners cavalry could hold off the entire Ming army.

Therefore, the Qing soldiers along the way only dared to harass and engage in battle with small groups and did not dare to attack on a large scale.

In addition, they dug many deep pits, trenches, and traps in an attempt to block the Ming army's path.

Today's Ming army, whether it is the Pinglu Army or the Nine Frontier Army, no longer shrinks when facing the Manchu Tartars. Even if they are at a disadvantage in a frontal charge, they still dare to charge forward.

What's more, they have five major battalions of troops, so they are more confident.

……

Li Dingguo clenched his fingers, his eyes blazing with fire, and he kept swallowing his saliva, "What's going on? The people in front should hurry up!"

"Why are you in such a hurry~" Zhang Shize looked at him and said jokingly, "The commander said we should be cautious, cautious, and cautious again."

"How can you count your military achievements on your fingers every day?" Ma Xianglin couldn't help shaking his head and laughing.

"I am different from you. You have already achieved a lot of military merits. We came late, so we need to work harder." Li Dingguo said with a smile.

Huang Degong said in a gruff voice, "If you can tear off Dorgon's head, it will replace all our military merits!"

"Haha~"

There was a laugh among the crowd.

Even though they said this, everyone still said to their subordinates, "The commander said to be cautious, so let's be cautious too."

"Follow the person in front of you and don't fall into the trap."

Li Banghua watched the Ming army extending toward the northwest and had his own considerations. As a commander, he never underestimated the enemy.

"There are trenches ahead, and there are about 5,000 Tartars."

As the signal flags were waved, the generals and deputy generals began to divide their forces and lead their subordinates to speed up.

Tens of thousands of people instantly separated to both sides.

"Cannon~"

Boom boom boom...

The sound shook the heaven and earth, like thunder.

As the second round of artillery fire began, specialized engineers in front of the army began to set up wooden and iron plates to cover the trenches.

The front line was like a flood, and thunderous shouts suddenly rang out.

"kill!!"

Blood pits continued to pile up on the front line, one after another.

……

The Ming court refused to accept the marriage alliance or peace talks, and the news that the 150,000-strong army had attacked to a point ten miles away from Shengjing spread throughout Shengjing in a flash.

Everyone who heard the news, whether it was princes, nobles, ministers, or common people, felt their scalps tingling.

The Ming army is coming to attack.

The sky is falling...

(End of this chapter)