Ping An Biography

Chapter 102 The Sea

After some preparations, the imperial court selected June 27, the first year of Hongxi, as an auspicious day. On this day, Zhu Zhanji held a grand enthronement ceremony in the imperial city, and became the fourth king of the Ming Dynasty, and changed his name to Xuande the following year.Zhonghe Shaoyue was played in the Fengtian Hall, and thousands of civil and military officials knelt on both sides of the Royal Road under Danchi to pay homage to the new emperor's guard of honor.The guard of honor holds banners, flags, umbrellas, caps, axes, battle-axes, halberds, etc., and marches forward slowly and steadily to show its majesty.

The form of etiquette is only seen by a few people, and what really matters to many people in the world is the enthronement edict.Like many enthronement edicts, the beginning is the amnesty of the world, "From before the twelfth day of June in the first year of Hongxi to after the fifteenth day of August last year, officials, soldiers, civilians, etc. have committed crimes, except for treason, treason, and murder of descendants. And slandering grandparents and parents, wives and concubines killing husbands, servants and maids killing their masters, plotting and murdering, poisonous nightmares, poisons and poisons, robbers are not forgiven, the rest has been discovered, not discovered, has been married, has not been married, the crime is no big or small, it is salty Amnesty. Anyone who dares to be pardoned for accusations based on previous incidents shall be punished for his crimes. [-]. Since the fifteenth day of August last year, military officers, generals of the Banner Army, Lishi, Xiaowei, Sheren, and Yu Ding have all committed crimes against the rebel party. The evil is not forgiven, and the rest of the criminals have made meritorious service to atone for their crimes and were sent to the army, etc., and sent to the Ministry of War to Charlie, and resumed their duties..."

The imperial edict is very long and rich in content, covering almost all aspects of the daily government affairs of the empire.Among them, there are regulations on the treatment of criminals, craftsmen, and soldiers in various situations, and there are quite detailed regulations on reclamation, taxation, procurement, supply methods, etc.This edict was written by Yang Shiqi. In terms of author and content, it determined the bureaucratic team headed by Yang Shiqi in the early stage, as well as the program and tone of governing the country that the Xuande Dynasty would implement.

...Many prisoners can be pardoned, and Da Ming has ushered in another brand new beginning.However, there are also many people who ended before the new beginning, and there is another one who was lucky enough to hear the grand Zhonghe Shaole, but it was like a death knell to her, and that was Wang Meiren.Not long after Emperor Xuande came to the throne, she finally died without warning in the palace where she was held.

During the detention, Wang Meiren was emotionally unstable, sometimes frightened and sometimes depressed, and sometimes went crazy and talked nonsense.She said that the first emperor (Renzong) did not die of illness, but was poisoned to death. At first, she said that the poison was poisoned by a certain concubine who had been buried because of jealousy. Later, she said that the new emperor Xuande had long been disobedient and wanted to ascend the throne as soon as possible. , before going to Nanjing, the yin|conspiracy plan was planned... But what she said was useless, and what she said from such a person, people all regarded it as nonsense.Then she died.

……

Zhang Ning was writing a memorial at home, and wanted to give some advice in front of the new emperor, because Xuande must feel very fresh when he ascended the throne just now, and he was in a good mood to accept advice. It is very good to write a letter at this time.Of course, he also played the persuasion form before. He went to sleep for the first two days after returning home, and he made up the form not long after waking up.

What are you talking about at this point?He has thought about it, and he can't talk about the private affairs of the Zhu family. Although the family and the country are one, most people say that this kind of thing is nothing to find out. I heard that Li Shimian, who was in charge of the royal family's private life during the Hongxi Emperor It seems to be unlucky; Zhu Zhanji didn't mention the vassal king for the time being, and Zhang Ning felt that he shouldn't talk about the King of Han, saying that this matter might also arouse the hatred of the brothers of the King of Han. At least they are still in front of the vassal. Wang, I can't afford to offend him for a while... Of course, the memorandum can't completely write nonsense that Zhu Zhanji doesn't care about. It is meaningless to write such words.In the end Zhang Ning decided to write a proposal for the Vietnam War.

At the turn of summer and autumn, the weather was hot and there were many mosquitoes. Zhao Erniang was very diligent today. She was busy grinding ink and playing a fan.

He held the pen in the air, looked at the window and thought for a while, then rolled up his sleeves, and began to scribble and draft.

Zhang Ning and Zhu Zhanji had been together for a few days, and privately felt that the emperor should be a very high-spirited person.Zhu Zhanji should have been influenced by Emperor Yongle and learned a lot since he was a child, and he may also be influenced by Emperor Yongle's "heart-heartedness".

Based on such speculation, Zhang Ning believes that Zhu Zhanji must be unhappy with his order to withdraw troops from Vietnam.However, it is an established national policy to reduce the burden on the people and develop the economy. Jiaozhi County does not pose a big threat to the national defense of the Ming Dynasty. From the decision-making level, it will be a matter of time to withdraw the troops; On the surface, he must think that Zhang Ning is talking nonsense, and the emperor is not a person who is ignorant of current affairs.

So Zhang Ning came up with a balanced approach, which he called "withdrawing troops with dignity".At this time, the largest resistance army in Jiaozhi County was Li Li's troops. In Yongle, they launched the Lanshan Uprising. They called themselves King Pingding, and they have not been eliminated until now. Yu Laden, Kazafi and his ilk, who can be regarded as stubborn illnesses, are difficult to deal with. In Jiaozhi County, they are regarded as the savior by the local people, but in the imperial court, he is anti-human, anti-king, and anti-universal values. negative character, a chaotic|party leader.

Zhang Ning's suggestion in the letter is to launch the last war in Vietnam first, defeating Le Loi's army first, and earn enough face. It is not in vain to spend so much money and lives in Vietnam for so many years; then negotiate the withdrawal of the army to recognize Le Loi's rule Vietnam's legal status and other conditions allowed him to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

...He thinks that this proposal is very likely to be supported by Emperor Xuande. Otherwise, regarding the consistent style of the Central Plains Dynasty, if there are surrounding areas that refuse to submit to the vassal, what face does Emperor Xuande have?For an ambitious monarch, such a thing must not be allowed to happen.

The purpose of Zhang Ning's memorial is not only for this, but also includes his own "career planning" plan.The plan is not detailed for the time being, and there is only one big framework, because considering potential hidden dangers such as life experience, it may be meaningless to formulate a detailed plan now; but it is impossible to have no plan at all.

His current career is to be an official, but a country's affairs include all aspects. As a middle- and lower-level bureaucrat, he can't get involved in everything. He has to find a direction for development.Before and after the end of Yongle, Zhang Ning's direction was "interview envoy", but he didn't want to do that job for a long time, and felt that it was not suitable for him.

His plan is to write this paper first, and it is very likely that he will be approved, and then he will be able to prepare the groundwork.Then he was ready to start talking about Zheng He's fleet going out to sea.

At this time, the ocean affairs, like the withdrawal of troops from Vietnam, were costly projects that cost lives, money, and money. Therefore, some ministers had already suggested that they stop, and the Ming Dynasty would cancel these two projects sooner or later.The motivation for stopping is similar, that is, to reduce national expenditure and people's livelihood; in order to adapt to the times, it is difficult to reverse the process.

But in Zhang Ning's view, these two things are actually very different, and the result may change.

It is indeed difficult to reverse the withdrawal of Vietnam's troops, and in Zhang Ning's view, attacking and occupying Vietnam has no meaning other than opening up territory, and the essence of laboring and losing money cannot be changed.However, the Zheng He fleet's voyage to the West is different. At present, it seems that it is a waste of life and money, but if the strategy is appropriate, it is not impossible to turn losses into profits.

Of course, there are many chains of interests involved, the interests of gentry and landlords, and the emperor's concern that a large number of navies may lose control.All of these can be resolved through negotiation and negotiation.The key is to be able to earn back money for the court, visible benefits, this is the key; when the time comes, maritime affairs will become a major financial revenue, rather than a burden of life and money, why should we stop?

This big event is enough for Zhang Ning to achieve a lot in his career.Moreover, from his modern perspective, this event is of great significance, and his own career and work is a meaningful event that will last forever, so why not do it?It's much more interesting than plotting tricks to mix up the Zhu family's past and old grievances.

While writing the memorial, Zhang Ning focused his eyes on the distance, feeling a lot of emotion for a while, then turned to Zhao Erniang and said: "Life is meaningless..."

Zhao Erniang had no choice but to look at him innocently for such nonsensical words, but it was a pleasure for her to be able to talk to Zhang Ning, and the content of what she said was not important.

He sighed and said: "I don't see the tombs of heroes in Wuling, and there are no flowers and no wine to hoe the fields. Fame and career will eventually turn into dust, maybe sooner than imagined..." He thought of Zhang Juzheng, a whip method that he had worked hard all his life, Disintegrated into nothing shortly after death.Zhang Ning may have been influenced by the mentality of the scholars of this era, and he was contradictory. Then his eyes sparkled and his tone changed, "However, when people look back on the past, if they can not say 'what a pity it was at that time', but become ' Fortunately, there is so-and-so', this should be a meaningful thing?"

Zhao Erniang shook her head and said, "My boss told me such a big thing, but I don't understand it. But let me tell you, you have the ability to be an official, and you can provide clean and comfortable houses, food and clothing, and other services for the people in our yard." With pocket money, we are all doing well, so it is very 'meaningful'."

Zhang Ning thought about it seriously, nodded vigorously and said, "That's a good sentence, very real."

People want to live a better life, there is nothing wrong with this instinct.Zhang Ning has seen the living environment of ordinary people in the market in this era. Zhao Erniang should be born in a place similar to that, or it might not be as good. After all, Zhang Ning saw Yangzhou itself as a relatively affluent area; With a little more money than now, what kind of life can I live.A cleaner, tidier and brighter living environment, better clothing and food, decent, etc., are all what people want.

After he said a few words, he put down the brush, picked up the draft and read through it word by word.The memorial had to be revised several times before being transcribed, with fewer typos and neat writing, at least to give the emperor a good impression.

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