I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 186

Chapter 185

No permanent friends, only permanent interests.

This is true of people and people, and it is also true of countries and countries.

Just like Ming Dynasty, who spared no effort to support the Korean War. The Korean War, one of the three major conquests of Emperor Wanli, emptied the treasury and indirectly left a mess for Tianqi and Emperor Chongzhen.

But the question is, is Daming really selfless?
To put it bluntly, it is also for the national interest.

Once the little days occupy North Korea, it's like putting a knife on Daming's waist, and the little days are sleeping and snoring in North Korea, and the emperors in Beijing can't sleep.

Therefore, Emperor Wanli could only fight, whether he could not fight or could not afford to fight, he had to fight. This principle is the same as Yang Guang's three conquests of Goguryeo and the nature of Datang's attack on Goguryeo.

How can you allow others to sleep soundly on the side of the couch?

The seven-year Wanli Korean War emptied the treasury of Ming Dynasty and lost tens of thousands of elite troops, but it had to be fought for the benefit of the country.

In fact, there is no pure friendship between countries, but only interests.

As the second in line heir of the Contarini family, Catherine considers issues from the perspective of political logic, and hits the nail on the head, directly pointing out the key points: "Show our value!"

Giovanni was born as an outstanding child of the Corona family, so he naturally understood what Catherine meant: "You mean, let us sell out the interests of Venice?"

"What did you say?"

Catherine said seriously: "We are just cooperating. In the words of His Excellency Duke Cheng, this is called win-win cooperation."

"win-win?"

Catherine smiled faintly: "Our Venetian city-state republic is in Europa. It can be said that we are enemies all over the world. The Holy Roman Empire attacked us, the Ottoman Empire attacked us, the French Empire, the Dutch Empire, and the Spanish Empire all attacked us. Is it because we are Venetians? Have you disobeyed God?"

"Actually, we all know that they attacked our Venice because they have accumulated hundreds of years of wealth for our Venice!"

"That's the problem!"

Catherine pointed to the steel ingots on the big ship: "We have no friends in Europa, and even if we have money, we can't buy what we want, but the territory under a governor of Daming can far exceed the production of all the countries in Europa." Steel, with steel we can build more cannons, well-made armor, sharp long swords, and better guard our Venice!"

Giovanni suddenly realized: "You mean we want to open a sea trade route with Daming? This can be done. Daming's products are too rich. Their tea, tea, white sugar, silk, porcelain..."

Venice is a country of commerce, as long as it mentions doing business, Giovanni is also interested.

"These things are very precious, but they don't help our city-state much. What we need most are things that can make Venice stronger!"

When Catherine said this, Giovanni said excitedly: "I see, you want their artillery?"

Giovanni worked as a skilled worker in a factory affiliated to the Gun Bureau for more than six months, and his hands were covered with blood blisters. During this period of time, he first saw the Feilei cannon and the three-inch cannon made by Ning Haijun. , The power of the flowering cannonball left a deep impression on him.

Catherine said: "Yes, it is their extremely powerful artillery!"

"This is the powerful weapon of the Ming Empire!"

Catherine smiled and said, "There is nothing that cannot be sold. The only reason is that the price is not enough!"

As Luo Yonghao said in a speech: "In the eyes of prostitutes, there is no woman in this world who is not for sale. The upper limit they can understand when they hear a rumor that a woman is not for sale is whether the price cannot be negotiated? This It is the upper limit of their understanding of not selling.

Catherine is an aristocrat from a merchant country, and also a typical businessman. Catherine, who has a merchant mindset, absolutely does not believe that Daming will not sell artillery. The only possibility is that the money given is too little. If the money is enough, she will definitely Sell.

Catherine has seen too many chaste women, they will become shameless in front of money, but in the same way, greedy officials will sell everything they can sell.

"Duke Cheng seems...very rich, not easy to buy!"

"That's not enough money!"

Catherine said with a smile: "For money, he is willing to sell grain to their hostile merchants, and for money, he will also sell artillery to our Venice. Our Venice poses no threat to them!"

Catherine is very confident, but it is a pity that she will be disappointed. Cheng Shijie is not a businessman in his heart, he is just a commoner, a commoner with a bottom line and principles, and he will definitely do some things, whether he makes money or loses money, some Things, he will definitely not do.

When Cheng Shijie led the Ning Haijun's triumphant army to Tianjin Port, he was really stunned. Tianjin Sanwei, thousands of "elites", who can be regarded as Cheng Shijie's old acquaintances, and tens of thousands of people gathered at the Tianjin Port Wharf.

The sound of cheers rushed straight into the sky.

What Cheng Shijie didn't expect was that there was a yellow umbrella in the crowd.

Umbrella is a symbol of the power of emperors, generals, dignitaries and dignitaries.In ancient China with strict hierarchy, the material, color and size of umbrellas are like the black yarn on the head and the court clothes on the body.Yellow represents the royal family, could it be that Emperor Chongzhen is here...

In fact, not only the emperor, but even all civil and military officials came.

Just as Cheng Shijie was stunned, Fu Zonglong, Fan Jingwen, including Sun Chengzong and others had already run down, especially Sun Chengzong, that kneeling was really sincere, and his knees hurt even listening to the voice.

Cheng Shijie thought to himself: "When will you not have to kneel when you see the emperor?"

Cheng Shijie was about to salute, when Emperor Chongzhen, like an agile monkey, made two steps in three steps, bypassing Fu Zonglong, Fan Jingwen and other officials, came to Cheng Shijie, held Cheng Shijie's arm with both hands: "Excuse me, Cheng Qing! "

"How can my minister, He De, let His Majesty..."

Speaking of this, Cheng Shijie's eyes were red. Because he shed more tears, his lacrimal glands became more developed, and he cried when he wanted to, and stopped when he wanted to, and he could send and receive freely.

Emperor Chongzhen smiled and said: "I wanted to go to Liaoyang to see what the capital city where slaves were established in the past, and what it looks like to build slaves in Shengjing now. It's just... the civil and military ministers strongly opposed it, so I had to use it. I came to Tianjin Going out to meet him in person can be considered as compensation for Cheng Qing, right?"

"Break the evil minister, break the evil minister!"

Emperor Chongzhen laughed and said, "I owe you so much!"

Cheng Shijie didn't have any reaction to this matter, he thought it should be taken for granted, but the problem was that the group of civil servants was sour. Since Jing Nan, there has never been a military general who can be a marquis, let alone a military general, and there are no civil officials!
Since Jing Nan, there has not been a single military general in Ming Dynasty who can become a Marquis, not a single one!Isn't Qi Shaobao's contribution big enough?No seal; Li Chengliang's military exploits are much more prominent than Qi Shaobao's, but he is only granted the title of Uncle Ning Yuan!
The pattern of using literature to control military affairs has lasted for nearly 200 years. You suddenly broke out a duke from the military generals and overwhelmed all the civil officials at once. The pattern of civilian officials suppressing military generals has not been completely destroyed.

No, absolutely not!
Civil servants objected collectively, but the problem is that this time Emperor Chongzhen was surprisingly stubborn, and Cheng Shijie's military exploits were too outstanding, and he was more than enough to be named Duke. can drown them!
The witty civil servant had an idea, and proposed that he should not be granted the title, and Lu Xiangsheng should also be granted the title. Anyway, the generals should not be allowed to dominate the family!Although Lu Xiangsheng is invincible in the front line, he is still a civil servant in essence. If he is also a marquis, it will be a kind of check and balance for the growing power of generals.

Therefore, Lu Xiangsheng picked up a marquis, and he was a champion.

Well, Lu Xiangsheng is indeed worthy of the Marquis of the Champion. He is indeed the champion of the three armies. At least he can beat seven or eight like Cheng Shijie. Cheng Shijie is really not Lu Xiangsheng's opponent without using a gun.

Emperor Chongzhen smiled and said, "Cheng Qing, what are you thinking?"

"I'm wondering if Your Majesty is tired of staying in the palace and wants to come out for a walk!"

"Why does Cheng Qing have such an idea?"

"Since ancient times, there has never been an example of the emperor going out of the capital to meet his courtiers for more than 200 miles. If you were not in a hurry, you would not go out of the capital!"

"Do you really think so?"

"Other than that, I really can't think of any other reason."

Of course Chongzhen didn't come out to play all by himself, he couldn't handle his daily state affairs, and he was not Emperor Zhengde, Emperor Chongzhen didn't actually like to play, he just wanted to inspire Ming's martial spirit.

This time, after traveling more than 200 miles from Beijing, I finally saw clearly what the quality of the 20 elite of the Beijing camp was.

What Chongzhen wore this time was not a dragon robe, but a golden armor. In order to take care of Emperor Chongzhen's small body, although his armor looked golden, in fact, it was just a piece of paper armor painted gold. .

Of course, Daming really needs a martial spirit.

Daming's economic downturn these years is not only affected by the weather in the Little Ice River, but mainly due to military expenditures. In fact, if it is not for the rebellion of slaves and bandits, at most three to five years, Daming will be able to recover.

It's just a pity that in order to defeat Jiannu, we had to increase taxes on the common people. Because of the tax increase, countless ordinary people could not survive and had to rebel.

Since then, a vicious circle has been formed. For the sake of Liaodong, the only option is to expand the army, but the army costs money. The more the army expands, the more battles are fought and the more lost, and more and more places rebel.

As Ning Haijun began to disembark slowly, the sound of orderly footsteps overshadowed the discussion of the crowd on the pier. As more and more Ning Haijun soldiers disembarked, they thought they were in a neat formation.

Different from the troops in the Liaoyang period, the equipment of the Ning Navy has returned to its original appearance. It is dominated by spearmen, and the swords and shields and artillery have also been replaced by Franco-style two-wheeled artillery. When the Ning Navy has more than two thousand cavalry, More than [-] artillerymen and [-] to [-] infantrymen began to complete their formation, and the entire pier of Tianjin Port became audible.

Watching Ning Haijun line up silently, during this period, Cheng Shijie did not issue a single order, all of which were completed by Ning Haijun under the command of their respective officers.

When Emperor Chongzhen saw this scene, he was very envious. He smiled and said, "Cheng Qing, I should really learn how to run an army from you!"

"No, Your Majesty, you have always been our role model, and you don't need to learn from anyone!"

Cheng Shijie smiled lightly: "As the king of a country, you don't need to learn how to run an army, you just need to learn how to run a commander!"

"Maybe, but Wen Shoufu should learn from you how to govern a country."

Emperor Chongzhen blew himself up a bit, showing his dissatisfaction with Wen Tiren.

These words are very, not disrespectful to Wen Tiren, the chief minister of the cabinet.Because Wen Tiren did almost nothing in office, as long as he accidentally impeached a minister, his role was to pretend to be deaf and dumb.

It's not that Wen Tiren is incapable, but he knows that the more he does, the more mistakes he will make.
Although Ming Dynasty has been going downhill these years, and domestic party struggles and conflicts have become more and more serious, Cheng Shijie is also helpless if Cheng Shijie is the chief assistant of the cabinet.

Cheng Shijie said with a smile: "Master Wen is already sitting very well, if it is replaced by someone else, it may not be better than Master Wen."

Cheng Shijie naturally knew that Wen Tiren's eyes and ears must be there right now. On the pier, it was not the place to really talk about things. No matter how much Cheng Shijie hated Wen Tiren, in this case, Cheng Shi would still help Wen Tiren to say something fair. It will be even more unbearable for someone to be the chief assistant of Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Chongzhen looked up to the sky and sighed, looking over Cheng Shijie's head to the distant sky, with a melancholy expression on his face.

Cheng Shijie really wanted to remind Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, now is not the time to mourn the spring and the autumn. There are so many people watching!"

Fortunately, Emperor Chongzhen still had Cao Huachun and Gao Qiqian by his side, the two of them hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, it's time to return!"

"Cheng Qing get in my car!"

"Broken evil minister!"

Cheng Shijie didn't want to ride in the jade chariot of Emperor Chongzhen. Although the name sounds very nice, isn't it an old-fashioned two-wheeled carriage?
More than 200 miles, buttocks still not upside down?

Cheng Shijie walked towards his carriage: "I have a carriage!"

"Then I will take Cheng Qing's car!"

Emperor Chongzhen got into Cheng Shijie's four-wheeled carriage. Originally, Cheng Shijie's carriage was only a two-horse carriage, which was in line with Cheng Shijie's identity.

Now that he is a duke, Cheng Shijie can ride in a troika. In ancient times, the troika was the standard for the carriages of generals, prime ministers, and princes.

Watching Emperor Chongzhen get into Cheng Shijie's carriage, Emperor Chongzhen and Cheng Shijie began to return to the capital.

The ministers outside were sour again.

Sitting in Cheng Shijie's carriage, just as the carriage moved forward, Emperor Chongzhen felt sleepy and fell asleep unknowingly. When Emperor Chongzhen woke up, Cheng Shijie was already grilling meat skewers in the carriage.

Emperor Chongzhen was awakened by the fragrance.

After eating five or six skewers of meat, Emperor Chongzhen said seriously: "Organizing people to reclaim wasteland is not an original method of Cheng Qing's. Many people are already doing it. Why have they all failed, but only Cheng Qing succeeded?"

"It's actually very simple!"

Cheng Shijie laughed and said, "That's Liaonan!"

"What is the difference between southern Liaoning and the mainland of the Central Plains?"

"The difference is huge!"

Cheng Shijie said with a faint smile: "There are no gentry there, and there is no gentry to exploit. Naturally, I can continue to operate. If it is really in the prefectures and counties of the Central Plains, I have no choice!"

"Gentleman?"

Cheng Shijie looked at Emperor Chongzhen and said, "That's right, no matter in Ning Haijun or in southern Liaoning, there were no gentry there. Otherwise, no matter how much wasteland is reclaimed, they can only feed those greedy bastards!"

Emperor Chongzhen was a little disappointed: "Can't the mainland be reclaimed?"

"It's not impossible to reclaim wasteland, it needs investment!"

Cheng Shijie said with a smile: "Unless the government takes the lead, rich businessmen invest, and organize ordinary people to run large farms, the current refugees or ordinary people are too poor. They don't have overnight food, and they don't have seeds, cattle, farming tools, and fertilizers, so they open up wasteland. There's basically no way out!"

"Businessmen are greedy..."

Emperor Chongzhen was puzzled: "Then what is the businessman willing to do?"

"If there is money to earn, they will definitely be willing to do it!"

Emperor Chongzhen heard a similar question from Bi Ziyan, the former minister of household affairs.

"The gentry has already lost its tail... how to solve this problem!"

"unless!"

"Unless what?"

"Unless they are allowed to run businesses and factories, and let them understand that the profits of running factories and doing business are far higher than the profits of farming, they will invest in factories!"

Cheng Shijie runs collective farms in southern Liaoning. He does not distribute the land to individuals to avoid that the refugees do not have seeds, farm tools and fertilizers for reclamation. Because the refugees have no money, he only provides cattle, seeds and fertilizers. Collective farming , it was actually a collective farm.

Because Cheng Shijie has money, he can invest and let the common people reclaim wasteland by themselves. What do they use to reclaim wasteland?

It wasn't that Cheng Shijie was stingy and was reluctant to allocate land to the refugees and let them cultivate wasteland by themselves, but because the refugees were unable to cultivate wasteland.

In this case, only collective farms can be managed.

Emperor Chongzhen was still in a bit of trouble: "No one has ever done such a thing as setting up a factory. It violates the ancestral system..."

For thousands of years, the people of the country have been guarding a dozen acres of land to work at sunrise and rest at sunset. It has been passed down from generation to generation. The small-scale peasant economy has long been deeply rooted in the soul of the Chinese people. It is indeed a bit embarrassing for them to set up factories.

Cheng Shijie said with a smile: "But you can make a lot of money by running a factory. A landlord with a thousand acres of land can earn less than a small shoe and sock workshop for a year!"

(End of this chapter)