The ruthless emperor in the late Ming Dynasty forced Chongzhen to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 187 Partitioning the North and the South, Two Capitals Standing Together

As soon as Ma Shiying returned to the cabinet, he summoned all the officials above the seventh rank in the eight departments, and then conveyed the emperor's spirit.

When the officials of the eight ministries heard that His Majesty does not want the Ministry of Households to hand over a penny, and that all future taxes will be handled by the cabinet, they all looked disbelieving, and then they were ecstatic.

At the same time, I also admire the emperor's mind and courage from the bottom of my heart. Such a king is truly unprecedented!

It wasn't until all the officials calmed down that Ma Shiying explained in detail about the maintenance of honest banks, funds and bonuses, and promoting agriculture and business.

After everyone listened, they also couldn't understand the emperor's set of economic theories.

Ma Shiying didn't care whether they understood or not, and directly asked the household department to calculate the bonus funds for the Yanglian Bank in each prefecture and county within ten days, and then asked the bank to forward it on its behalf.

Finally, he looked at the Minister of the Ministry of Industry and said: "Shangshu Wang, the Ministry of Industry will send people to Jiangsu and Henan to conduct on-site inspections, and then formulate a comprehensive diversion plan as soon as possible, and we must not slack off, you know?"

"Don't worry, my brother, I will do my best, and I will never make any mistakes." The minister of the Ministry of Industry replied excitedly, making the other ministers envious.

Especially the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Punishment, the Minister of Rites, and the Ministry of Punishment are fine. From time to time, officials who commit crimes want to investigate and deal with them, but the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Rites are completely ineffective.

……

The end of the year is approaching.

With the funding of the Yanglian Bank bonus funds in various states and counties, the sense of belonging of the officials in the entire Nanzhili to the court and the emperor has reached an unprecedented height.

All kinds of miscellaneous taxes were cancelled, and daily necessities such as salt, cotton, cloth, and grain were all controlled at reasonable prices by imperial stores in various places, and officials in various places did not dare to exploit them wantonly. This makes the whole of Nanzhili a thriving scene.

As for the bandits and water bandits that plagued all over the world, they were wiped out by the red lady long ago.

And the first issue of the Daming Imperial Mansion Newspaper finally started to be distributed in several southern provinces in time for the year before.

A total of [-] copies were released on the same day, and the future issues will not be synchronized. For this reason, the Propaganda Supervisor has set up branches in all provinces, prefectures and counties, and has become the third largest inner court department after the Bank and Huangdian .

All the required funds were paid by Chen Yuanyuan's Fengyue Division.

In the beginning, literati from all over the world, in order to boycott the royal mansion newspaper, were determined not to read it, even with white hair, but their ears could not help listening. In the end, many people could not hold back their curiosity and asked the servants to take a copy of the paper. Go home and watch secretly.

The [-] Royal Mansion Newspapers were evenly distributed in the southern provinces and counties, and they played a huge role. Almost all the landlords and gentry in all the states and counties had a detailed understanding of the New Deal.

It is no longer like what people said before, rumors are flying all over the sky, and I don't know which one to believe.

At the same time, the female officials of the propaganda sub-supervisors of the counties also went to the countryside with the bodyguards of the storyteller and a large amount of salt and cloth. While distributing cloth and salt to promote His Majesty's benevolence, they read the contents of the newspaper to the people.

There is no way, as the emperor must have a bowl of water, cloth and salt are distributed to the people in Nanzhili, and the people in other provinces must also be distributed.

With such a large-scale propaganda going to the countryside, almost everyone in the south with a little knowledge knows that the rest of the provinces will definitely implement the New Deal in the future.

Zhu Cihong was also not idle. Although the guards in Nanzhili were not as dense as those in the border towns, there were still some. Now the gentry and landlords everywhere had surrendered, and it was time to deal with them.

For these guards, Zhu Cihong did not reform them any further, but directly abolished them. The guard city was changed to a county or prefecture, a thousand households was changed to a county or town, a hundred households was changed to a village, and all military and artisan households were changed to civilian households.

As for the military officers of the guard, Zhu Cihong also gave them two choices.

The first choice is to give up the official position and directly become a local landlord in the future.

The second option is to give up the land and all real estate, bring your family and wealth to Nanjing, and you can keep your official status.

Almost all military attaches chose to give up their land and real estate, take their families to Nanjing, and accept other arrangements from the court.

Obviously, in the hearts of these military officers, the official positions they have inherited from generation to generation are far more important than land and houses.

Because as long as they have an official status, with the wealth they have accumulated for dozens of generations, they can buy land and property slowly after they arrive in Nanjing.

But if you lose your official status and stay in the local area as a landlord, maybe the land will not be able to be kept in the end, and even the wealth will have to be taken away.

Regarding the choice of military officer, Zhu Cihong was not surprised at all, because in the thinking of ancient people, being an official should always be put first.

In ancient times, killing officials and rebelling was not just talk, so even if it was a powerless hundred households, no one else would dare to kill indiscriminately except the emperor.

Having an official status, even the smallest official, whether civil or military, is equivalent to a layer of protection. Under normal circumstances, no one will feel sorry for you.

This is also why those petty officials from the ninth rank, after being conferred as officials, dare not be as arrogant and domineering as before, and have become very cherishing of reputation.

Because he was afraid of losing his reputation and losing his official position.

For these military attaches, Zhu Cihong also planned to be included in the construction contractor team under the construction supervision department, and let them be responsible for the projects of the construction department and the construction supervision department in the future.

These contractors and construction supervisors belong to a cooperative relationship and have different affiliations. However, if anyone dares to cut corners and violate the standards set by the construction supervisor, he will be fined for rebuilding, disqualified, and jailed and deprived of his official position. Therefore, the deterrence is still huge.

At least this generation of military attache contractors dare not act recklessly for the sake of their official status.

With the abolition of the guards, Zhu Cihong began to prepare for the implementation of new policies and imperial examination reforms in various provinces in the coming year.

First, Nanzhili and Huguang were divided into two, Xuzhou, Huaianfu, Yangzhoufu, Yingtianfu, Zhenjiangfu, Suzhoufu, Changzhoufu, Songjiangfu, Taipingfu, Guangdezhou, and Hezhou to the east of Nanzhili, Chuzhou, etc. are Jiangnan provinces.

At the same time, Zhenjiang Mansion and Changzhou Mansion were merged, and the name was still Changzhou Mansion; Songjiang Mansion and Suzhou Mansion were merged, and the name was still Suzhou Mansion; Guangde Prefecture, Hezhou, Chuzhou, and Taiping Mansion were all merged into Yingtian Mansion.

In this way, there are only five prefectures and one prefecture in Jiangnan Province, including Huai'an Mansion, Yangzhou Mansion, Yingtian Mansion, Suzhou Mansion, Changzhou Mansion, and Xuzhou Mansion.

The reason for the merger is that these prefectures are too small. Most of them have four or five counties under their jurisdiction, and some of them have one or two counties under their jurisdiction.

Secondly, it is not a strategically important place, without mountains and rivers blocking it, there is no need to set up Zhili prefecture and government separately, and thirdly, it can reduce the expenditure of the court.

The capital of Jiangnan Province is still located in Nanjing, and Nanjing is still the accompanying capital of Ming Dynasty.

However, Fengyang Mansion, Luzhou Mansion, Anqing Mansion, Chizhou Mansion, and Huizhou Mansion and Ningguo Mansion to the west of Nanzhili are all set up as Huaixi Province. These six mansions do not need to be merged, and they are all quite reasonable. In Luzhou, that is, Hefei in the previous life.

Huguang is much simpler. It is directly bounded by Jingzhou Prefecture and Wuchang Prefecture. The north of the two prefectures includes the two prefectures, which is Hubei Province, and the south of the two prefectures is Hunan.

Wuchang, the governing body of Hubei Province, Changsha, the governing body of Hunan Province, and the division of the prefectures in Hubei Province are relatively reasonable and do not need to be adjusted. There are too many chieftains in Hunan, which is too complicated, and it is not suitable to be adjusted for the time being.

In this way, apart from Sichuan, there are ten provinces in southern China, namely Jiangnan, Huaixi, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou.

Each of the ten provinces has only one governor, who is in charge of the civil and political affairs of a province. At the same time, the commissioner's department has been abolished, and the commissioner's division has been commanded by the commissioner's department, and eight corresponding branches have been established.

The Zhili prefectures and prefectures do not need to establish corresponding subordinate institutions, but only serve as a transfer station for government orders, and each county can add a commercial house and a farm house.

In the future, after the implementation of the New Deal and the establishment of the system, the eight central ministries will gradually devolve some powers to the provincial branches.

The ten southern provinces are still under the temporary control of Nanjing.

There is no way. With the current situation, I am afraid that for a long time, the division of the north and the south will have to continue, and the two capitals will coexist.

After all, the gap between the rich and the poor between the north and the south is too large. The north has been in war for many years and its population has dropped sharply, while the south has a dense population and is relatively stable.

Zhu Cihong's plan is to wait for the new policies in the south to be fully implemented, then turn around and carry out more radical reforms in the north to completely solve the land problem, and then implement a second round of reforms in the south.

Therefore, the division of the north and the south will take at least another ten years. After the new policies are completely implemented, the two capitals of the north and the south will be abolished at the same time, and the capital Zhongjing will be re-established in the central area.

Of course, the main reason why Zhu Cihong dared to co-exist the two capitals and divide the north and the south was that the conditions were too good.

There are not only two wise queen mothers who are dedicated to him, but also a loyal concubine who can lead troops to fight.

There are two empress dowagers who are in charge of the two capitals in the north and the south, and he and the red lady can take turns. When he reforms in the south, the red lady will sit in the north and command the army.

He reformed in the north, and he could let Hong Niangzi go south to Nanjing to control the armies of the southern provinces.

I am afraid that apart from Zhu Cihong, otherwise, in any dynasty, any emperor would not dare to co-exist in two capitals like this.

Because this is no longer just an extra capital, but two systems, two sets of people, and even the power of the eight civil servants in the Nanjing cabinet exceeds that of Beijing.

This situation will naturally arouse the jealousy and dissatisfaction of the six ministries of the northern cabinet and all officials.

Almost since October, the civil servants in Beijing have realized that if things go on like this, they will have to go back to the countryside to raise their relatives sooner or later, so they have also played a piece, suggesting that the New Deal should also be implemented in the north.

The civil servants of the northern provinces also joined in the fun and submitted their proposals. The officials of the Donglin Party in Beijing unexpectedly united with Wei Zaode and other original members, unanimously supported the New Deal, and strongly suggested that the New Deal should be implemented immediately in the north.

Of course, officials of the Donglin Party do not really support the New Deal, but they cannot do without it. Instead of waiting for the Eunuch Party to lead the New Deal reform in the north in the future, it is better for them to lead it now.

For this reason, Hou Xun and Shi Kefa could only hold their noses and choose to cooperate with Wei Zaode and support him as the chief assistant.

There is no way, Qian Qianyi went to North Korea, and there has been no news so far, which made the Donglin Party's voice in Beijing worse than before. In addition, the officials of the Donglin Party in Nanjing were almost squeezed out by Ma Shiying. Lin party officials all felt a huge crisis.

Similarly, Wei Zaode was extremely envious and jealous of Ma Shiying, a powerful second shop, Fengtian Temple University scholar, prince and grand teacher.

So he joined the Donglin Party decisively and became the leader of the party.

But the reality was cruel and desperate. Empress Zhou reported the situation of the northern officials' performance to Nanjing, and Zhu Cihong directly replied to Empress Zhou to ask Wei Zaode to retire and return to his hometown, vacating the position of chief assistant.

The officials of the various ministries in the city of Beijing who have been splashed with cold water are so heartbroken that they can no longer raise their ambitions. They will either eat and wait for death all day, or resign in anger.

(End of this chapter)