Brocade clothing as the country

Chapter 1135 Missionary Notes
In July of the 31st year of Wanli, Li Hutou, the leader of the Huwei Army of the Zhongyong Hou Imperial Army, died in battle outside the Great Wall.

At that time and now, countless people have written down reliable or outrageous guesses and descriptions in their notes, and a lot of true or false news has also been circulated.

In the fourth year of Taichang, when a Portuguese missionary left Tianjin, Jin Yiwei found a booklet during a routine inspection. Although it was written in Portuguese, in Tianjin Wei, language is not a problem, and soon all content translated.

This booklet describes various political secrets of the Ming Dynasty, many of which are taboos. The missionary was severely punished and sent to Luzon to do hard labor for life.

But Jin Yiwei's ability to keep secrets is really bad. The translated content of this booklet spread to the market. Several private bookstores saw the business opportunities in it, printed a large number of them, and made a fortune. Waiting for the government to notice When this book was officially banned, various versions had been circulated in various places in Ming Dynasty, and there were even traces in Nanyang and Beidi, and the government's ban proved the authenticity of the content recorded in this booklet from another angle. , Whether this argument is reasonable or not, the folks have always judged it this way.

Most of the contents of the discussion of the two attendants in the restaurant came from this booklet, or were deduced from the contents of this booklet.

After Wang Tong ascended the throne, the ban on this pamphlet ceased to exist, and the enthusiasm of the people for pursuing high-level secrets gradually calmed down. Finally, there was a saying that this pamphlet was not written by a Portuguese priest at all, but by Emperor Wu. This party intentionally released public opinion, because a lot of the content on it is not something a priest can know, even though there are indeed two white men in the upper echelons of the empire.

Some people even said that someone had seen this missionary in Luzon, but this man was already a big businessman in Luzon, and was in charge of a certain kind of commodity licensing. Of course, no one could verify this.

"The era of the crown prince Zhu Changxun was different from that of any prince in Ming Dynasty. It was a time of great expansion outwards, rapid expansion of wealth, and rapid development of everything. The control and influence of civil servants on the empire was minimized. The military system Under Wang Tong's genius reconstruction, the financial system not only made great achievements, but also became the most solid pillar of the imperial power."

After the 25th year of Wanli, the influence of the Ministry of Households on Daming’s finances has become less and less. It must be known that the Ministry of Households once refused to store taxes other than land taxes and salt taxes. At that time, it did so so that the industries of civil official groups could not pay taxes. , but this later became a loophole and weakness.

Originally, the industrial and commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty and various taxes that had not been collected before were collected by the Department of Public Security of Jinyiwei. Later, even the functions of the Department of Shipbuilding became the Department of Public Security, because the Jinyiwei system reformed by Wang Tong has rules and regulations. Constraints, efficient execution, and more money collected.

Obviously, it is inappropriate for an internal guard like the Jinyiwei to hold the power of taxation. After several parties entangled, the Daming Taxation Bureau was established. The taxation department should be a civilian function, but the taxation bureau was born out of Jinyiwei, and most of them are military-born characters. , As a result, the strong color of this department is very strong.

Generally speaking, the establishment of each yamen in the Ming Dynasty is very small. Officials and servants in the establishment have to hire a large number of helpers in order to run errands. The tax bureau has given sufficient personnel budget from the beginning. In addition to the tax officials and tax collectors who make calculations, there are also tax soldiers who are responsible for strong enforcement.

The establishment of the tax bureau caused an uproar in Ming Dynasty. The huge establishment of the tax bureau and the strong execution of the tax army were all regarded as deviant and disruptive actions, especially in Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Huguang, which were accustomed to tax exemption. , Jiangxi and other places, there are even more voices of opposition.

But they soon discovered that they had no way to fight. The tax soldiers were nothing. They, those who came from them, are in control. Those people are used to using force to solve problems, and they don't think there is anything wrong with killing people.

As for the military system, there is no need to say more about it. Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang and Ming Chengzu Zhu Di went down from generation to generation. The emperor's control over the world's army became weaker and weaker. The army gradually became an army of civil servants. The emperor established a Beijing camp to command The power was quickly taken away by the civil servants, and it was necessary to establish the Imperial Horse Guard's imperial army. Since Wang Tong established the Huwei Army in Tianjinwei, this situation began to be slowly reversed.

By the 25th year of Wanli, the Forbidden Army, the main military force in the north of the Yangtze River, had become the backbone, and there were still a large enough navy.

Such an independent army system was obviously not suitable for the previous system. On Wang Tong's suggestion, Emperor Wanli changed Xiyuan into the Imperial Palace, where all orders to the army were issued, and a system was rebuilt.

The military and financial power held by civil servants gradually returned to the imperial side, and the Ming emperor's authority became more and more important. Similarly, the important officials under this imperial power system became more and more prominent.

More importantly, no discerning person is needed, everyone can see who made these changes now. The first thing that comes to mind is Wang Tong, and then the names of civil and military officials that shoot up like rockets.

"The emperor and empress doting on the prince made the prince a cowardly and loyal person, but this character made the royal family extremely worried. Everyone knows that those generals are not very loyal. The worried emperor once said to the prince in private However, now this country seems to be like thorns. I want to pull out all the thorns on the thorns so that you can hold it well. Anyone who is familiar with the history of this country will know that at the beginning of the founding of this country, the first emperor Zhu Yuanzhang I also said the same thing to my grandson.”

Politics is the intrigue of people. After the 23rd year of Wanli, the power structure of Ming Dynasty has actually been out of balance. Wang Tong, who was named the king of Lelang County, is too powerful. Although he has no real job, everyone knows that he The influence of the army and the financial system is too great, even surpassing the emperor.

".The emperor found out embarrassingly that the several actions he made back then, the unreasonable suspicion, frivolous beatings and warnings, and Wang Tong's obedience and modest retreat, created a situation. Now any suppression of Wang Tong It will arouse dissatisfaction and backlash from all sides, but the long-term indulgence and physical weakness have left the emperor with little time. He must solve all this for the prince while he is still healthy. What the emperor has to do is Take control of the army first and win the support of key figures, especially Li Hutou, the commander of the forbidden army."

This booklet called "Merian's Notes" brought a style of writing to Dahua, a language similar to Pinghua, with no allusions and rhetorical embellishments, but it also had an accent that was not found in vernacular, and it was somewhat close to the center. It is said that Wang Tong called it the "translation style", which was later attached to the "Fan Yi style", and an unfounded great Confucianism was also pulled out. This is a later story.

". Li Hutou was born in a military officer's family in the capital. His father used to be Wang Tong's guard, and later served as a senior official in the Jinyiwei. He made great contributions to various events in the capital, but this is not the main thing. Li Hutou himself He has a very deep friendship with the emperor and Wang Tong, and the eunuch leader Zhao Jinliang also has a very deep relationship with him, it can be said that Li Hutou is a figure acceptable to all parties."

".The emperor sent envoys to inquire, or inquired during a summons, to test Li Hutou's attitude towards Wang Tong. What he said in detail is untestable, but Li Hutou's position is obviously not what the emperor wants. Perhaps Due to physical reasons, perhaps feeling the difference in the current situation, the emperor began to take extreme measures, an inexplicable chaos, an unreasonable transfer, and a fatal wound on the back."

In addition to Emperor Wanli who asked about Li Hutou, someone from Wang Tong's side also asked. Li Hutou gave a very straightforward answer, "Your Majesty is not such a person, and neither is Eldest Brother."

". Afterwards, it is speculated that the reason why the emperor did not act in Beijing, Tianjin and Beizhili provinces was that Wang Tong's information in these places was too well-informed, and the intelligence system was also pervasive. But what the emperor did not expect was that Wang Tong's intelligence capabilities Far stronger than he estimated, and in terms of the ability to control the army, the officers of the Forbidden Army, known as the Tiger's Mighty Army, were more loyal to the group itself than to the imperial power. After the assassination, the battle ended quickly, and the assassins He was arrested, the person sent by the emperor to take over the military power was controlled, and the news was quickly passed to the capital."

".It turns out that the most honest person in these events is Li Hutou"

".Wang Tong got the news two days earlier than the emperor. He lived in the capital and left with his whole family overnight. Incidentally, he was escorted by the armored cavalry of Jinyiwei. The surveillance force arranged by the emperor was completely ineffective. Instead, it is to cover Wang Tong's departure from the capital."

".Tianjin Wei is Wang Tong's city, where there are tens of thousands of fully armed militiamen and a huge private fleet to protect him."
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(End of this chapter)