Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 730 Conspiracy
Yang Menglong wanted to rush back to Henan as soon as possible, and he hadn't been home for more than half a year, so he missed the children and the three charming wives.However, this extremely inefficient cabinet center is destined to have to stay in the capital for a while.

———As soon as Chongzhen’s idea of ​​letting Yang Menglong expand the army was put forward, it attracted strong opposition from many civil and military ministers: the Heluo New Army has expanded to 4000 in just a few years, and it is also known as the best in the world Elite soldiers, Huguang is different from the Nine Borders area, [-] to [-] people are enough, why expand the army?No, absolutely not!The civil servants of the Ming Dynasty have become obsessed with restraining the military generals group. They found that there was an army that was very capable of fighting but was out of their control. They would try their best to destroy it. The death is also unwilling to let the generals rise to overwhelm them.The Heluo New Army was brought out by Yang Menglong, with strict discipline, excellent equipment, strong combat power, and brilliant record, only the Tianxiong Army can compare with them, and the Wenchen Group can be said to be one point for the Heluo New Army They have no influence. Yang Menglong and them can't urinate in the same pot at all. On the contrary, Chongzhen still has a lot of influence on the Heluo New Army. This is undoubtedly poking the lungs of the Wenchen Group. It's too late to dismantle the army, and let them expand the army?dream!
The fact that Chongzhen let Yang Menglong do business with Europeans made Wenchen Group furious.Who doesn't know that doing business with Europeans is huge profits?Originally, this huge profit was monopolized by the Jiangnan Consortium, but now the Huguang Merchant Group wants to jump out and share a spoonful, which is simply unreasonable!Many old ministers were crying, knelt on the ground and kowtowed until their faces were covered with blood, and cried out: "Your Majesty, absolutely not! That foreigner with red hair and red eyes is definitely not a kind person. He is called a sea merchant, but he is actually a pirate. He often plunders the coast. The poor deeds of the city, the coastal residents have suffered a lot, if the country is opened to let them in, I’m afraid it will attract wolves into the house! Your Majesty, think twice!” According to these old masters, more and more foreigners are coming to the coastal areas to make trouble , this will not work!
However, Chongzhen became determined after eating the weighing mound. The more the officials objected, the more he insisted.Do you disagree with the expansion of the Heluo New Army by [-] troops?Grandma, I want them to expand their army by [-], I want to see if you can bite me!Do you disagree with Huguang opening up the country to do business with foreigners?Do you know that the commercial tax in the Huguang area is directly linked to my internal money?I even gave Yang Menglong the right to run a special zone!After a few rounds, none of the things that the ministers wanted to oppose was successful. On the contrary, Yang Menglong took a lot of advantages. Originally, Chongzhen only agreed to expand his army by [-], but now it has been thrown to [-].Now the officials were dumbfounded. According to the old rules, they, the important officials of the central government, did not nod. Yang Menglong, a feudal official like Yang Menglong, could do nothing. Even if the emperor agreed, it would be useless. Measuring, he has already managed Huguang into a relatively independent kingdom. In this relatively independent imperial kingdom, Yang Menglong's words are more effective than the emperor's imperial decree. As long as the emperor nods, he can do it freely!In the end, these guys who have nothing but to make trouble for their own people can only succumb.

Obviously, such a result is difficult to satisfy the cabinet. After retiring from the court, a group of civil servants gathered in the Wen mansion. Wang Yingxiong said angrily to Wen Tiren: "What does the emperor mean by this? Do you want to empty the cabinet? If everything is his imperial decree , and then the local officials act according to the order, what do you want me to do!"

Hou Xun said: "The emperor is determined to support that barbarian, and he will not hesitate to hand over all the local financial power to him, trying to use him to compete with us and other civil servants, but he does not know that he is feeding a tiger to the trouble. If things go on like this, the feudal town will be in trouble." Disaster is not far away!"

Wu Zongda said: "That barbarian goes his own way and is arrogant. Last year, he ignored the laws and regulations of the court and transported all the grain and wages from Huguang to Tianjin by sea. As a result, countless grain workers were deprived of food and clothing and complained. Now he wants to do business with the Western Yi and lure the wolf into the house. Let him make such trouble again. If you go down, the country will no longer be a country!"

When Yang Menglong was mentioned, everyone gnashed their teeth with hatred.It seems that in his eyes, "rules" and "shit" are equated, and he was born specifically to break rules!It is an iron rule that military generals are controlled by civil servants. Even Qi Jiguang has to be pinched here and there by civil servants. However, who dares to point fingers at Yang Menglong? What awaits him is a gleaming dog-legged knife!All food and wages must be transported by water, giving interest groups like them ample opportunities to hide private goods and engage in corruption and corruption. This is also an iron rule. However, the old man did not even say hello and directly transported the food and wages over by sea ship. !As for things like floatation and fire consumption that are related to the wealth of the ministers...go to hell!Last year, for the first time, the princes in power experienced the feeling of not receiving their share of the profits and losses... Even though it was only Huguang that didn't pay, it still made them heartbroken!

How many things this bastard has done to poke their lungs!Let all children go to school, and the original noble status of scholars suddenly plummets——everyone can afford to read, what the hell are you dragging!The minting of currency with a definite face value gave those gangsters a reason to refuse to pay fire consumption; the promotion of sea transportation instead of water transportation caused heavy losses to the interest groups who made a fortune by pointing at the canal; vigorously encouraged the cultivation of flax and used flax to hit the market, causing the price of cotton cloth to fall all the way; Wuyang exploited salt mines and then sold them at a low price, causing the price of salt to fall again and again. This case, one after another, in the eyes of these scholar-bureaucrats, it can be called heinous!If it were someone else, even if they had ten lives, they would mercilessly crush him to death, but this guy's life is so hard that no one dares to punish him, they can only watch helplessly. The more he dances, the more energetic he is, and the more he dances, the happier he is!
The current situation in the Ming Dynasty is that the Donglin Party controls the government, and the Jiangzhe Consortium is the boss of the Donglin Party. Decisions made by officials from the Donglin Party must be based on the interests of the Jiangzhe Consortium, even if the interests of the Jiangzhe Consortium are The interests are contrary to the national interest.With their strong strength, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang consortium basically monopolized industries related to the national destiny such as cotton, tea, steel, salt, and grain. No one could challenge them.However, I don’t know where a rare product like Yang Menglong came from. In Nanyang and Luoyang Daxing Industrial, the steel produced in Wuyang swept the famous Su Steel into the garbage dump with lightning speed - the quality of Su Steel was not as good as The output of manganese steel and high carbon steel produced in Wuyang is only a fraction of others, and the price is extremely expensive. It is strange that Wuyang Steel is immortal.The refined salt produced in Wuyang is like a scourge, beating the hell out of Jiangsu and Zhejiang salt merchants. It is a double pressure on quality and price. It is easy to win over Wuyang salt. The quality can be raised to the same level as Wuyang salt and the price can be lowered than Wuyang salt. Low salt is fine, but is it possible?Isn't this cutting the flesh of those Jiangsu and Zhejiang businessmen!As for linen... last year, Hunan and Hubei planted 80 acres of flax at once. As soon as linen was put on the market, cloth merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang complained incessantly.Although linen is not as smooth as cotton, it has good air permeability, is wear-resistant, and is not easy to tear. Most importantly, it is cheap and is very popular among the people. People do not have much money to spare, so they weigh a piece of clothing. The first criterion for quality is durability, and linen just meets this criterion.As a result, the cotton cloth market has been severely impacted, and the price of cotton cloth has plummeted. It would be strange for the cloth merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang not to complain.The worst part is that after tasting the sweetness, Niduizi is even more motivated to plant flax. It is said that 120 million acres will be planted this year!The Jiangsu and Zhejiang consortium couldn't stand it any longer and roared at the agent they pushed out: "I don't care what method you use, in short, bring him down!"

There are 120 civil servants who are willing to overthrow Yang Menglong. Once Yang Menglong is overthrown, the huge industry he left in Huguang, Wuyang, and Luoyang will become everyone's, and anyone can grab a piece of it to eat fat.The problem is that this guy is simply an immortal little strongman, and it’s not easy to bring him down!

Wen Tiren was quite calm, because he was not a member of the Donglin Party, and no matter how the Donglin Party pointed at him, they couldn't point to the tip of his nose.But that doesn't mean he doesn't have worries...

"The emperor will also promote Wu Sheng, the commander-in-chief of Denglai, to be the commander-in-chief of Shandong, who will also be in charge of Lushun and Shandong military forces, with a total of [-] troops!"

As soon as this remark came out, a group of civil servants almost looked up to the sky and screamed: "Is the emperor crazy! Doesn't he know that Wu Sheng belongs to that barbarian? What is the difference between letting Wu Sheng take charge of the military power in Shandong and letting that barbarian control the entire Shandong! "

Wang Yingxiong even shouted: "Crazy, the emperor must be crazy! If he insists on going his own way, he will cause disasters to the town!"

Hou Xun said angrily: "With the Heluo New Army and Tianxiong Army, it is enough to deal with Jiannu. There is no need for the Denglai New Army to expand the army. The emperor is playing with me! We should jointly write a letter to persuade the emperor to take it back." Destiny! Using literature to control martial arts is the national policy of the Ming Dynasty that has lasted for more than two hundred years, and it cannot be destroyed in our hands!"

The complexions of all the civil servants were very ugly.Wu Sheng is courageous and resourceful, and can share joys and sorrows with the soldiers. He is undoubtedly a good general, but they never choose generals based on whether he can fight, but whether he is obedient!Obviously, Wu Sheng, who is so close to Yang Menglong, is not something civil servants like them can control. One Yang Menglong is annoying enough, but another Wu Sheng will make people die!The most frightening thing is that with the successive victories of the Ming army in the Hetao Plain, the status of soldiers has also risen. Opening up territories has gradually become the yearning of young people. For civil servants, this is a huge threat. Wu's pattern may collapse!

Wen Tiren said: "It is said that the emperor intends to let Denglai's new army replace Guanning's army to guard Shanhaiguan!"

Wang Yingxiong sneered, "Can Denglai's new army survive with such a small number of people?"

Wen Tiren said: "The emperor's meaning is to abandon Ningyuan and Jinzhou, concentrate troops to guard Shanhaiguan, reduce Liao's salary and use it to train the new army, and after the new army is trained, they will go out of the customs and recover Shenyang!"

As soon as this remark came out, everyone in the audience was shocked.They don't care who will guard the Guanning line of defense, but they can't bear Chongzhen's reduction of Liao's salary. How many people live a life of luxury and wealth by taking the share of the 700 million taels of Liao's salary?Liao pay has been reduced, what do they eat!
Cutting off people's money is like killing their parents, and the emperor is no exception!
Wu Zongda lowered his voice and asked: "Chief Assistant, is the news reliable?"

Wen Tiren said: "It's absolutely true. The emperor said it himself when he had a banquet with that barbarian a few days ago. He already knew that the Guan Ning army falsely reported their military exploits and feared the enemy and avoided the battle. He was very angry, so he planned to lay off the Guan Ning army. Use Denglai's new army to replace Guanning's army to defend Liaodong."

The complexions of the civil servants became extremely ugly, they pursed their lips and said nothing, and murderous intent burst out of their eyes.They know that the Guanning army is terrible at fighting. They know that the Denglai new army is very fierce and can fight tough battles. They also know that it is a good thing for the country and the people to let the Denglai new army guard Liaodong and reduce the salary of Liaodong. But...these What does it have to do with them!Is a good thing that benefits the country and the people beneficial to them?Still want to cut Liao pay?dream!

Wen Tiren looked around at everyone and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, now that the warlords are rising together and the separatist power of vassal towns is becoming increasingly obvious, the Ming Dynasty is facing a huge crisis. If we let it go, we still don't know what will happen to the Ming Dynasty, but we will definitely There is no place to die! We have no way to retreat. One step back will lead to the abyss! It's time to make a move and let the emperor and those warlords see how powerful we are. We must let the whole world know that this world , after all, it is the world for scholars like us!”

Hou Xun said: "But now the emperor has been deceived by those warriors, and he can't listen to the bitter words at all!"

Wen Tiren gritted his teeth and said, "Then come back to the civil fortress again. As long as all the fighters who can deceive the emperor are dead, the emperor will be able to listen to our good words!"

As soon as he said a word, all the ministers changed their faces in horror!
(End of this chapter)