First Minister of Ming Dynasty

The newsboy clutched a stack of newspapers and walked through the streets, yelling at the top of his voice.

"Great victory! Great victory!"

"The army has recovered Youzhou, and the land of Yanyun has returned."

……

"Youzhou? Is it the Youzhou that Xitaizi mentioned?" An old lady asked casually.

The neighbor smiled and said: "Isn't it? These days are always performing these plays, but I heard that Youzhou is the capital, the nest of the dog emperor of the Yuan Dynasty!"

"Hey! It's still like a human being, with a big name and a small name!" The old lady muttered, turned around suddenly, and went after the newsboy, "Then my old lady wants to buy a copy!"

The neighbor couldn't help shouting: "You are old and illiterate, what are you doing buying this?"

"What are you doing? Don't do anything! Hide it at home, this thing can be passed down from generation to generation, and ward off evil spirits!"

After the old lady finished speaking, she had disappeared at the intersection.

Needless to say, this old man is not slow to run!

The neighbor was stunned, and suddenly realized something!

Why am I slower than the old man?

buy!

Must buy!

I want to keep it at home as a family heirloom!

In this way, this newspaper was reprinted more than a dozen times, but it was not enough.

Really long time to see.

Not surprisingly, the good news continued to pass along the business route.

When we arrived in Suzhou, all the female workers in the Women's Textile Factory were silent in front of the newspaper. After a long while, someone tremblingly said: "We, the national debt we bought, isn't it, isn't it?" going up?"

Just after she finished speaking, Shen Rulan suddenly said: "I heard from Zhou Qianhu that after the Northern Expedition, the world will be unified. The merchants and goods of the Ming Dynasty are far away, and the north and the south are integrated. Our business has a lot to do!"

5 Chapter Sixty

It is indeed very possible, the market in the north is open, those grasslands are expensive, and even go west, leading to the Western Regions, where there are more countries, silk is a good thing these people have been coveting for a long time.

There is even a Silk Road waiting for them!

Shen Rulan, who has just begun to look like a businessman, longs for Daming to win more territory and own a bigger territory. Anyway, the bigger the business, the better.

From a market perspective, it does.

It's just that some other people don't think this way... For example, there are a few yamen who feel that the land of Yanyun has been separated from the Central Plains for a long time. Although the people have contacts, the situation is different and the customs are different.

Compared with sending officials to rule in the past, it seems that it is more convenient to rule with the policy of restraint.

Those who hold this point of view are actually dominated by the Ministry of Rites.

Tao Kai, the newly appointed minister of rites, believes that only after 20 years of hard work and enlightening millions of people in Yanyun can he keep up with the footsteps of the south.

Before that, it seems that the northern issues should be considered as appropriate, but I am afraid that the strategy in the south will be difficult to implement in the north.

Tao Kai also took the village community promoted by Zhang Ximeng in the Central Plains as an example.

These villages are collectively worked by the common people, and within five years, the land will not be equalized.If it is placed in the Yanyun Land further north, shouldn't the time be longer?

If a yamen can upset Lao Zhu so much, the Ministry of Rites will definitely do its part, even above the Ministry of Household Affairs.

The Department of Accounting just got a little bit more corrupt. Lao Zhu replaced the Secretary of the Department of Accounting a few times, and separated out the Taxation Department. Next, he plans to set up a special Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

After all this tossing, the Ministry of Finance was finally settled.

But when it comes to the Ministry of Rites, even if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is separated, Lao Zhu still can't understand the strategy proposed, and he is very, very angry, and wishes to abolish that kind of strategy.

"Mr. Li, tell us, what is going on in the Ministry of Rites? Why don't you go and serve as the Minister of Rites! Why do we feel awkward when we look at the things they made!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was very confused, he still really couldn't figure it out, Qian Yongren was taken to Shandong by him, and Cui Liang also went home to sell roasted yams.

So many officials of the Ministry of Rites have been replaced, but they still look like this!

Are there people in the world who are not afraid of death?

Do you have to line up to give away the head?

Li Shanchang's face is very dark, and the recovery of the Northern Expedition, he can't keep up with this kind of showing his face. As a result, if something happens to his subordinates, he is asked to take the blame. Is our old Li the same as the Emperor Dayuan, who belongs to the iron pot?

This time Li Shanchang simply made his words clear.

"Your Majesty, now that the land of Yanyun is restored, among other things, do you want to start a course to recruit scholars? Do you want to build a school? There are many other things, such as arranging officials, collecting taxes, building cities, and registering households to Qimin , sorting out the fish scale book, the yellow book... there are so many things!"

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly, "Mr. Li, don't you still not want to endure hardship? I feel that someone has come to rob them of their benefits, and they are as virtuous as Qian Yongren. Why don't you send these things from the Ministry of Rites to Dadu never mind."

Li Shanchang immediately said: "Your superior is wise, is this minister going to deliver the decree?"

Lao Li's smoothness made Zhu Yuanzhang stunned.

"Mr. Li, do you really agree with this?"

Li Shanchang said: "That's true. As long as the superior has an order, I will do my best without any hesitation."

Now Zhu Yuanzhang hesitated, "Mr. Li, these people are so virtuous, let them go to the land of Yanyun, can they really manage the place well?"

Li Shanchang was secretly happy, he had already felt a trace of Zhu Yuanzhang's veins, this emperor is a donkey, and he insisted on fighting against you.

If you say you can't kill him, he must do it.But if you agree with him, this guy might change his mind.

Of course, these are all useful when facing Zhu Yuanzhang alone.

If Zhang Ximeng is here, you should stop thinking about it as soon as possible, otherwise the monarch and his ministers will join hands and pretend to be smart, and they will die a miserable death!

Li Shanchang saw that Zhu Yuanzhang had doubts, so he smiled and said: "Superior, since ancient times, it is not reasonable to distribute corrupt officials to the frontier? Su Shi was driven to Hainan! Now the land of Yanyun is almost It seems that there is nothing wrong with sending some incompetent officials there to the most barbaric place in the world!"

"Of course not!" Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head resolutely and said: "The land of Yanyun, separated from the Central Plains for hundreds of years, is like a land of alienation. It is reasonable to send elite soldiers and strong generals. Send a bunch of useless officials. , what should we do if we are lazy in government affairs and cause civil uprisings?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said solemnly: "Mr. Li, we think we should choose the one with the best ability."

Li Shanchang's heart moved, the person His Majesty is talking about is not me, is it?

But think about it, Zhang Ximeng is not bad, and it happens that Zhang Ximeng is in Dadu, so it's not bad to let him take charge.

It would be even better if Zhang Ximeng could be held in Dadu.

It's a pity that Li Shanchang didn't dare to say a word, for fear of trapping himself.

"This matter has to be decided by the superior, I really don't know!"

Zhu Yuanzhang took a deep breath, waved his hand, and let Li Shanchang back down.

Then Lao Zhu thought for a long time, picked up the pen, and wrote a letter to Zhang Ximeng.

Lao Zhu has made it very clear in the letter.

Restoring Yanyun is obviously a very good thing, the whole world celebrates it, and the people are happy.

But there is a group of people who feel that if Yanyun is taken down, there will be a lot of people to share the benefits. In addition, there are Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu... almost doubled!

How can this work?

Even if these places are to be collected, it will take 20 years to prevent northerners from entering the dynasty.

"Enjoy Jiangnan, I'm afraid they will touch their big cake... This is the virtue of courtiers, we can't wait to kill them immediately!"

Zhu Yuanzhang wrote all his anger in the letter, and Zhang Ximeng could feel the anger of old Zhu blowing away two thousand miles away.

Are these officials too smeared?

Why do you have to continue to offend Tianyan?

Wouldn't they obey Lao Zhu?

It seems that from a historical point of view, it is really not possible... After all, so many people have been killed before and after, and corrupt officials are still being killed repeatedly!

Zhang Ximeng read the letter, thinking in his heart, and gradually, he understood.

If you have to talk about it, it seems that the Ministry of Rites is really wronged.

Don't get me wrong, Zhang Ximeng has no intention of defending them... With the recovery of Yanyun, the territory of the Ming Dynasty is getting bigger and bigger. How to rule the new territory does require a strategy.

The Ministry of Rites was originally in charge of rules and regulations, but now it is also responsible for establishing schools and teaching culture, so it is only natural for them to come out and take countermeasures.

The other ministries are behind, pushing the Ministry of Rites forward.

And the Ministry of Rites is still a bunch of old ministers.

The foreign affairs department went out and got a new head.But nothing else has changed.

According to the habits of this group of people, it would be unreasonable not to suppress Yan Yun!

Zhang Ximeng can even guess that the 20-year enlightenment theory is something they have taken it easy and edited several times. If their original version suggested, it is estimated that the northern Han people will continue to be slaves and handmaids, like cows and horses!

"My lord, the Ministry of Rites is so hateful, or it should be abolished altogether. I think the responsibility of education should be kept alone, and they don't need to get involved in other things."

Zhang Ximeng chuckled, "Madam's advice...it's just that we should be famous as teachers!"

"Famous teacher?" Jiang Nan was puzzled, but found that Zhang Ximeng picked up the brush.

"Could it be that the master wants to write something?"

Zhang Ximeng smiled and nodded, "It's been brewing for a long time, and finally I have the opportunity to write it."

As he said that, Zhang Ximeng wrote three words on the paper without hesitation: Great Unification!

Jiang Nan frowned slightly, watching carefully, what exactly is her husband going to write?

Zhang Ximeng held his breath and concentrated on his pen, and started to write... Since the first emperor swept Liuhe and unified the land of China, he established the rule that books have the same text and carts have the same track, and the weights and measures of writing have been unified.

Since then, the world has been unified, and it is called the Great Unity.

Just this big unification, is it enough?

Characters, gauges, weights and measures, and the system of prefectures and counties... These constitute the basis for governing the country after the Qin Dynasty.

But just these, can it eliminate differences and make people really unite?

As if that wasn't enough.

After all, in recent years, civil and military differences, and conflicts between regions have existed widely.The first Fudan School aroused dissatisfaction from many people.

Restoring the land of Yanyun now will have a greater impact on the entire court.

It is understandable that some people are dissatisfied.

Just how to get rid of these false ideas?

It is necessary to come up with a new theory.

Zhang Ximeng wrote with a pen, inheriting and developing the spirit of great unification, and building a new situation of a higher level of unification!

The new unification must include a common code of conduct, a common cultural identity, eliminate geographical divisions, establish a market covering the entire Ming Dynasty, and facilitate the exchange of goods and personnel.

The so-called new great unification means that within the Ming Dynasty, everyone must be treated fairly. This point has already been said on the issue of men and women, and it is generally the same when it comes to the north and the south.

Any contempt for other regions is undesirable.

Treat everyone fairly, promote enlightenment, establish a common memory, pinch the whole country together, and let everyone achieve ideological unity.

In addition, those checkpoints, tax cards, and local forces in various places colluded together to blindly exclude foreigners, restrict foreign goods, and even bully foreigners...all are absolutely not allowed.

A smooth national market must be established to ensure the smooth flow of goods.

The great unification of books and carriages on the same track is only a primary unification at the level of tools and utensils.

The unity of civilization and unity of soul is the further unification.

The smooth exchange of goods and personnel, and close exchanges and cooperation with each other are the material guarantees for the great unification.

All in all, today's Ming Dynasty needs to surpass the Han and Tang Dynasties, and it needs to make a fuss about the great unification.

The reason why Zhao Song couldn't afford the title of great unification was because Zhao Song never recovered Yanyun, and Kyushu was incomplete.

The Great Yuan Dynasty swept across the world, and its territory was unprecedentedly vast. Can it really be called a great unification?

The Yuan court treated the people differently, reused the Mongols and Semu people, and regarded the people in the south as cattle and horses. It could not be fair and reasonable internally, and it was not a unified one.

A true unification requires not only a vast territory, but also fair and reasonable treatment of everyone in the territory.

This is the real unification!