Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 348
This guy!
Chongzhen put down the gauze curtain and began to look for the next candidate.

However, I searched and searched and couldn't find a suitable candidate. Not to mention the officials of the court, even among the more than [-] Qinwang scholars, there was no suitable candidate.

Fang Yizhi and Song Yingxing are suitable, but they have to build steam engines.

Compared with the God Cannon, the steam engine is obviously more important to the current Daming.

At present, Chongzhen searched for candidates in "Original Memory". After thinking about it for a long time, he really thought of one candidate, that is, the author of the picture of military weapons, and the former right servant of the Nanjing Ministry of War Bi Maokang.

With this recollection, Chongzhen remembered that Bi Maokang's illustrations of military weapons contained self-generated firecrackers.

This self-generating gun is actually a flintlock gun, but there is only a very simple full picture. Even the firing mechanism cannot be seen clearly in the picture, and the text description is only a few hundred words.

No wonder Chongzhen didn't think of him before.

At that moment, Chongzhen said to Gao Qiqian outside the car window: "Gao Banban, immediately send someone to Shexian County and call back Bi Maokang, the former right servant of the Ministry of War in Nanjing."

……

At the same time, at Li's residence at the end of Bird Clothes Lane.

Li Xiangjun looked lazy and was doing makeup in front of the mirror.

Li Zhenli came in quietly with a bowl of fruit, hesitant to speak.

"Mom." Li Xiangjun saw it in the mirror and said, "Do you have something to tell me?"

"Girl, what's the matter between you and the current sage?" Li Zhenli asked in a low voice, "He didn't even say to let you enter the palace, but to give you a title?"

"Mom, I don't want to enter the palace." Li Xiangjun said.

"What?" Li Zhenli asked anxiously, "Are you stupid, girl? Why don't you want a title?"

After a pause, Li Zhenli said again: "Our women's youth is only a short ten years, don't think that you are tender now, the Holy Majesty cares about you, but when you are over thirty, you are old and pale, and the Holy Majesty will not even look at you much." Take a look at you, at this time, if you have the status of concubine, you can still live comfortably..."

"Mom, my daughter's ambition is not here." Li Xiangjun interrupted.

"What?" Li Zhenli was stunned for a moment, then said in astonishment, "Then what is your ambition now?"

"My daughter is going to be my second wife." Li Xiangjun's beautiful eyes flashed a strange look, and he said, "Open up the territory for the Ming Dynasty, and go down in history as a general."

"This..." Li Zhenli suddenly realized that she couldn't understand Li Xiangjun.

What kind of generals do you think you are a girl, and what kind of history do you have?
Taking advantage of the fact that the Holy Majesty still cares about you, why don't you rush into the palace to ask for a name?
After thinking about it, Li Zhenli decided to persuade Li Xiangjun again: "Girl, even if you don't think about yourself, you have to think about your future children. If you don't enter the palace, your children won't be able to have a name."

Li Xiangjun frowned, it would be really tricky to have a child.

But soon Li Xiangjun was relieved again, and the future will be discussed later.

In case she is really pregnant with the dragon species of the Holy Majesty, it will not be too late to enter the palace again.

[If you don't like Li Xiangjun, you can leave, please don't abuse me]

……

When Chongzhen was busy building technology trees, there was a moderate quarrel in the cabinet.

In the past few months, Chongzhen has fulfilled his promise, and has not interfered in the affairs of the cabinet in the slightest. All major and minor matters are decided by the three cabinet assistants, without approval from the supervisor of ceremonies.

Among them is the disposal of Wuding chieftain Wu Bikui's rebellion.

In mid-September, Wu Bikui, chieftain of Wuding, Yunnan, rebelled. In less than half a month, he successively captured Dayao, Yao'an and Dingyuan cities, threatening more than [-] people!
Fortunately, Mu Tianbo reacted quickly, and quickly gathered chieftains from all walks of life to put down Wu Bikui's rebellion in one fell swoop.

After Wu Bikui was suppressed, how to deal with the chieftain of Wuding became a problem. According to the memorial of Mu Tianbo, the Duke of Qian, the chieftain of Wuding was converted into a native.

But Tang Fantai, the Chief Envoy of Yunnan, also gave a secret performance, saying that Mu Tianbo was close to the villain and alienated from the gentleman, and had already made Yunnan angry. The chieftain's lips are dead and his teeth are cold. If there are more ambitious people instigating it, there will be chaos in Yunnan.

This Tang Fantai's judgment is undoubtedly very accurate.

Because the Shadingzhou Rebellion that happened later confirmed his judgment.

Regrettably, Shi Kefa and Xie Xuelong didn't take it seriously, but approved Mu Tianbo's request to change the chieftain of Wuding to be governed by Liuguan.

There was no quarrel in the cabinet over this important matter.

What led to the quarrel in the cabinet was another matter.

Just yesterday, an envoy sent by Li Zicheng finally arrived in Nanjing and proposed to trade grain with cattle, sheep and horses.

So after going straight today, Shi Kefa called Xie Xuelong and Lu Zhenfei to his straight room to discuss whether he would agree to Shunchao's trade request?
As a result, the three of them quarreled while talking.

Shi Kefa is not in favor of trade, but both Xie Xuelong and Lu Zhenfei are in favor.

Xie Xuelong said excitedly: "Shoukui, my Ming Dynasty has now lost its horse-producing land. How is the situation similar to that of the Southern Song Dynasty? The defeat of the Southern Song Dynasty was due to the lack of cavalry. The Ming Dynasty cannot repeat the same mistakes."

Lu Zhenfei frowned and said: "The Southern Song Dynasty may not be defeated because of the lack of cavalry, but if I, Ming, want to form cavalry, I must get horses from Mongolia. Right now, Mongolia and my Ming are separated by Jiannu, so we can only pass Pseudo-shun, now that Pseudo-shun offered to exchange cattle, sheep and horses with me for food, what's wrong?"

But Shi Kefa insisted: "My Ming Dynasty is not in a hurry to launch the Northern Expedition, so the cavalry is not that important, but there is already a famine in Pseudo-Shun. If we agree to trade with Pseudo-Shun at this time, isn't this a move to capitalize on the enemy? ? Why not take this opportunity to weaken the pseudo-shun national power?"

Shi Kefa's consideration is actually not wrong.

Taking the opportunity to weaken the power of the Puppet Shun will be beneficial to Daming in the long run.

"Shou Kui!" Xie Xuelong said anxiously, "Right now, we, Da Ming and Pseudo-Shun are allies."

"No." Shi Kefa said, "I, Da Ming, and Pseudo-Shun did not have an alliance agreement, but the Holy Majesty and the Pseudo-Shun Emperor had a gentleman's agreement, but this is not a formal alliance."

Xie Xuelong clapped his hands and said: "Even if the two are not allies, if the Puppet Shun suffers a great loss of national power due to famine, and then is destroyed by Jiannu, it may not be a good thing for me, Ming Dynasty."

"This is really unfounded worry." Shi Kefa said with a smile, "with the restraint of my Ming Dynasty, Jiannu would never dare to launch a war of annihilating the country against the pseudo-shun, so even if the national strength of the pseudo-shun suffers heavy damage, it is enough to protect itself. So, why does our Ming Dynasty have to exchange precious food for cattle, sheep and horses that are not urgently needed?"

"Why are cattle, sheep and horses not urgently needed?" Xie Xuelong was already very unhappy at this time.

Anyone who is said to be worrying about the sky will not be happy, let alone he is the second assistant.

Xie Xuelong said again: "If I, Ming, want to form cavalry, I must have a large number of horses."

"But now, Ming Dynasty, I am not in a hurry to form a cavalry." After saying this, Shi Kefa suddenly said, "Mr. Xie Ge, you are so eager to reach a trade with Pseudo-Shun, is it because of those Zhancheng soldiers?" Is it because of the rice?"

Xie Xuelong's face completely collapsed, because Shi Kefa revealed his insidiousness, he really wanted to sell rice.

Because the Xuzhou War in the first half of this year delayed the farming season, the prefectures of Xuzhou, Guide, and Kaifeng could only replant wheat and wheat, so the Xie family judged that there would be a big gap in the food supply in the north this year.

Although there is a surplus of grain in the south of the Yangtze River, it is estimated that it will not be able to fill such a big gap. Huguang is not doing well this year, so the Xie family bought a batch of rice from Champa.

But what the Xie family didn't expect was that more than a month ago, the gentry and merchants in the south of the Yangtze River suddenly became angry and asked the court to lift the sea ban. The cabinet lifted the sea ban without bearing the pressure.

By the way, the Jiangnan gentry and merchants proposed to open the sea ban, which has a lot to do with the development of industry and commerce.

Because capital is inherently profit-seeking, inherently loathes all constraints, and inherently pursues a free trade environment. With the vigorous development of Jiangnan's industry and commerce, the volume of foreign trade has begun to surge. Only Yuegang, Ningbo, and Guangzhou's Panyu Port have become difficult. Meet the needs of foreign trade.

Therefore, the Chamber of Commerce requested the lifting of the sea ban.

As a result, as soon as the sea ban was lifted, foreign businessmen from various countries came in droves.

Sea-going ships engaged in ocean-going trade need ballast stones.

The merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty generally used porcelain as ballast stones, and the merchant ships of Xiyi used rice as ballast stones. Then the price of rice in the Jiangnan market collapsed, leaving the Xie family with only two choices, or let this A batch of rice rotted in their own warehouse, or they sold it at a low price at a loss, and then at this moment, the pseudo-shun messenger arrived.

Xie Xuelong immediately saw the business opportunity. If it works well, not only will the Xie family not have to lose money this time, they might even make a fortune.

The three cabinet ministers are actually well aware of this matter.

But when Shi Kefa said it directly, he felt like a slap in the face, and it was over.

Seeing that Xie Xuelong's face was not good-looking, Lu Zhenfei suggested: "Shou Kui, Mr. Xie Ge, this is a big matter. Otherwise, let's ask His Majesty for instructions, how about asking His Majesty to make a decision?"

"It's not necessary." Shi Kefa said, "This matter will be decided by this cabinet."

This time Lu Zhenfei's face also collapsed. This really doesn't give you any face. Although you are the chief assistant, you can decide the critical moment with one word, but we are also the second and third assistants of the cabinet. Please respect ours opinion?Is it really okay to ignore me and Mr. Xie Ge in the slightest?

……

So, as soon as Chongzhen returned to Guozijian from Wuyi Lane, a major incident occurred in the court.

Li Ruolian quickly came to Chongzhen and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, the matter of Shi Kefa's corrective edict has been leaked! Now the censors of the Manchu Dynasty are busy writing memorials to impeach him."

"Shi Kefa corrected the edict?" Chongzhen was startled when he heard the words, "What kind of edict is he correcting?"

"It's the secret edict that Shi Kefa wrote to Meng Zhaoxiang when the Donglin Party tried to seize the internal funds of the Holy Spirit last time." Li Ruolian said, "It was suddenly exposed last night."

"Hey, tell me about this." Chongzhen heaved a sigh of relief.

He added: "As long as Meng Zhaoxiang and the others don't pick up on this matter, and Shi Kefa himself refuses to admit it, and no one can find evidence, let those censors impeach him."

Li Ruolian sighed and said, "Shi Kefa has already admitted it."

"What?" Chongzhen said in astonishment, "Why did he admit it?"

Li Ruolian said: "This matter has something to do with the old servant of Shi Kefa's family."

It turned out that Shi Kefa's old servant was old and wanted to go back to his hometown to take care of his life. At the same time, he recommended his grandson to Shi Kefa as his long-term follower, but Shi Kefa refused.

So the old servant held a grudge.

Shake out the things that were legally corrected in the past.

The old servant also took out a note with the word Jiaozhao written on it.

The old servant said that when the Donglin Party conspired to seize the internal funds of the sage, Jiuqing came to ask Shi Kefa for help when he was in distress. When Shi Kefa had nothing to do, he suddenly found an extra note on the table, which said Jiaozhao.

After that, Shi Kefa discussed the details of the edict with Jiuqing who went to the disaster.

What the old servant said is the truth, but if it were someone else, they would definitely not admit it to the death.

But Shi Kefa is a gentleman, facing the testimony of the old servant and the collective questioning of the official censor, he admitted it directly, and it is irreparable even if he wants to recover.

"This Shi Kefa!" Chongzhen said angrily, "He is looking for death on his own."

Li Ruolian sighed and said, "Correction is also one of the top ten unforgivable crimes. Since Shi Kefa has admitted it, even you, the Holy One, cannot forgive his crimes. At most, the crimes are not as good as those of his family."

Such things as coercion are not much different from killing the king.

Since Shi Kefa admitted it, even Chongzhen could not save him.

But Chongzhen is Chongzhen after all, and will not be blinded by appearances.

"Li Ruolian, don't you think this matter is a bit weird?" Chongzhen said quietly.

Li Ruolian said: "I also feel that this matter is a little strange. Shi Kefa has dismissed the old servant for several months. This old servant will not report sooner or later. Why did you choose to report at this time?"

Chongzhen asked: "This old servant, have you Jin Yiwei investigated?"

"Investigated, but found no useful clues." Li Ruolian said with some shame.

Chongzhen didn't mean to blame. Today's Jinyiwei is no longer the original Jinyiwei. Jinyiwei's center of gravity has always been in the north. In the capital, the strength of the South Zhili was originally very weak.

Because in the Chongzhen Dynasty, Jinyiwei's funds were pitifully small.

With such a pitiful budget, it is impossible to retain real talents.

Without available talents, Li Ruolian is useless even if he has three heads and six arms.

Looking at Li Ruolian, Chongzhen hesitated, wondering if he should give Jin Yiwei another chance?
Chongzhen himself really hated Jinyiwei, because Jinyiwei mainly served as Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes and ears from the beginning of its birth, and was specially used to monitor civil and military officials.

There are also functions such as collecting intelligence from outside, instigating rebellion, and even assassinating enemy generals, but that is only incidental.

The main duty of Jin Yiwei is to monitor the civil and military officials in the court and prevent officials from rebelling.

At the craziest moment, Jin Yiwei would even monitor all court, Chinese, military and military officials at [-] degrees without any dead angle. He even knew exactly which minister slept in which concubine's room last night, and what he said to the concubine.

This makes people very speechless, as for not even having the most basic trust?

If Jinyiwei is to be retained, the internal functions must be eliminated, and the external functions must be strengthened.

(End of this chapter)