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

Sun Zhiyi was not familiar with the Ottoman Empire, but the problem was that when it came to playing political tricks, most of the cabinet members, including Sun Zhiyi, had rich experience in struggle.

Sun Zhiman looked at Xie Jinglin and said: "Jing Lin, we are not familiar with the Ottoman Empire, but Catherine must be familiar with it. Venice has been fighting with the Ottoman Empire for hundreds of years, and she knows the Ottoman Empire well. I want to know the inside story of the Ottoman Empire. You are right to find her..."

Cheng Shijie rolled his eyes without waiting for Xie Jinglin's reaction: "It seems like that's really what happened."

Sun Zhili asked excitedly: "Where is she now?"

"Yongyan, have you forgotten something more important?"

Sun Zhiman said: "Your Majesty, please rest assured that nothing will go wrong with the enthronement ceremony! If the Ministry of Rites cannot handle this matter, there will be no need for its existence!"

The biggest difference between the Dingxin Dynasty and the Chongzhen Dynasty is that the original departments were split. The largest division was actually the Ministry of Industry. The Ministry of Industry had four departments under its jurisdiction, namely Yingxian, Yuheng, Dushui, and Tuntian. Each department has a doctor, a doctor, and a Yuanwailang respectively. The Department of Water Resources of the Ministry of Industry was reorganized into the Ministry of Water Resources. Based on the Tuntian Cleaning Department, the Ministry of Agriculture was established. The Ministry of Industry was established with the Department of Cleaning and Repairing Officials, and the Department of Machinery was established with the Department of Cleaning Officials at Yuheng.

The Ministry of Works still exists, although it is only equivalent to the previous functions and powers, which are much smaller, similar to the functions of the Works and Planning Commission. The Ministry of Rites is also divided into a large number. The Ministry of Rites established the Ministry of Education on the basis of which the Ministry of Rites now only has the Ancestral Temple Department, and its powers have been further split.

If the Department of Etiquette cannot handle Cheng Shijie's enthronement ceremony, it is estimated that there will be no need for the Department of Etiquette. The functions of the Food Department, which was originally responsible for it, were partly allocated by the Ministry of Education, and part of it was established and placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health.

Sun Zhiyi actually believed that Cheng Shijie split the six departments into nineteen. So far, the Ming Dynasty has as many as twenty-one, and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs has been added, which means there are many more officials. In the past, during the Chongzhen Dynasty, there were six ministers As well as the left and right censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, they are all second-level officials. There are usually only eight people at this level. Including the first and second grade officials in Nanjing, there are only sixteen people.

After Cheng Shijie's reforms, the Ming Dynasty now has a total of twenty-one ministries, and there are twenty-one second-rank ministers. However, the biggest change is the cabinet members. Now, entering the cabinet is the first grade of official position.

The cabinet member itself has become an official position of the first rank, and Sun Zhiyi, the prime minister of the cabinet, is the first rank, the real head of civil and military officials.

As for the directors of the provincial management committees, they are from the second rank, which is the same as the original rank, but with greater real power. Since then, the Dingxin Dynasty has abolished the Six Ministries in Nanjing. Since then, although the number of officials has increased, the expenditure has been less than before.

After all, the treatment of officials in the Dingxin Dynasty and the Chongzhen Dynasty was absolutely different, and that was the pension system. In the original Ming Dynasty, no matter how many officials you held, as long as you retired, the court would not pay a penny of salary, but it did give officials The treatment of a gentleman and the privilege of tax exemption.

The Dingxin Dynasty gave retired officials normal salaries. For example, now Sun Chengzong has officially retired and serves as a regular servant of Sanqi. He does not need to return to his hometown. If he is happy to live in the capital, he will live in the capital. If he is happy to live in Jinzhou, he will live in Jinzhou. If the emperor is unable to make a decision, he will summon the standing servants of the scattered knights. Currently, the officials who serve as the standing servants of the scattered knights include Sun Chengzong, Yuan Keli, Xu Guangqi and even Cheng Shijie’s former boss. His immediate leader is Sun Yuanhua. Sun Yuanhua is different from Sun Chengzong. He He serves as the director of the Zhejiang Management Committee and a regular attendant of the Sanqi.

Sun Chengzong could receive a retirement salary of 1,200 taels of silver every month, which also included all medical care and did not have to work. However, Sun Chengzong was not willing to take Cheng Shijie's salary in vain. Together with Xu Guangqi, he participated in the compilation of "History of the Ming Dynasty", which can be regarded as Use the remaining heat.

Sun Chengzong retired from the cabinet with the treatment of a first-grade official. If it is other cabinet members, except the prime minister, other personnel will enjoy the same treatment, but the first level is lower than the first level.

This pension benefit covers not only officials at all levels, but also enterprise employees. The retirement income can reach about 80% of the normal salary level. This area is a huge financial pressure.

But the problem is that Ming Dynasty now has a lot of extra income, such as the silver from Iwami Yinshan stolen from Xiaobenzi, and the seizures from Mughal, Ceylon and Indochina. Most of the areas controlled by Ming Dynasty Supporting retired workers throughout Ming Dynasty is the confidence and strength of Ming Dynasty.

Catherine and Francesco Elizzo were called into the cabinet court for questioning by Sun Zhiman. Francesco Elizzo hurriedly complained to Sun Zhiman: "Your Excellency, the barbaric Western Europeans and the Ottomans now covet Venice." Wealth, created out of nothing, gathered an army to launch an attack on Venice, trying to destroy Venice! For the sake of the friendship between the two countries, please lend a helping hand to help Venice tide over the difficulties. If Ming Dynasty is not willing to help us, our city-state of Venice He is about to disappear from the world!”

Sun Zhidao frowned even more: "I have always kept the friendship between your country and the Ming Dynasty in my heart, and I deeply sympathize with your country's current situation, but... Europe is really too far away, even if the Ming Dynasty wants to care about it, , I’m afraid it’s beyond our reach…”

Although Sun Zhiyi has reached an agreement with the cabinet, he will not sit idly by. As Cheng Shijie said, the city-state of Venice was the first European country to establish diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty and had the best relationship with the Ming Dynasty. It can be said to be a brotherly state. If the Ming Dynasty sat back and watched the city-state of Venice perish, then the Ming Dynasty's prestige in Europe would be severely damaged. I am afraid that Europeans would no longer take the Ming Dynasty seriously, which would be extremely detrimental to the Ming Dynasty.

But the problem is that Sun Zhiyi will definitely not let Francesco Elizzo feel that Ming is very willing to help the Venetian. This help comes too easily, which will definitely make the Venetian not cherish it.

Through the exchanges between Cheng Shijie and Sun Zhili, he has understood the relationships and grievances between European countries. For example, the Netherlands was originally a vassal state of the Spanish Empire, but due to its sudden increase in power, it began to provoke Spain and join forces with outsiders to deal with Spain, its former master. .

For Sun Zhidan, who has always emphasized the concept of loyalty to the emperor, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands is just a bastard, and Portugal is not a good thing. As for the United Kingdom and France, they are both extremely barbaric and aggressive. Now they are relatively powerful. Weak, inconspicuous, and when they become strong enough, they will surely overthrow the Netherlands and Spain, causing a bloody storm all over the world. I am afraid that even the Ming Dynasty will not be able to escape their clutches!

Instead of just sitting back and watching them grow and develop, it is better to strike first and nip them in the bud to avoid future troubles!

Sun Zhidao whetted Francesco Elizzo's appetite, and at the same time signed the "Joint Supplementary Agreement between Ming Dynasty and Venice" with him. In this supplementary agreement, Venice officially became a vassal state of Ming Dynasty and professed vassalage to Ming Dynasty.

The City-State Republic of Venice enjoys a certain degree of autonomy and adopts bilingual management. The official language of the City-State Republic of Venice is Chinese. All written official documents and official state letters must be written in Daming Chinese.

At the same time, the Ming Dynasty gave textbooks such as the Four and Five Classics to the Venetian City-State Republic, and established Confucianism in the Venetian City-State Republic, with no less than five primary schools, no less than one middle school, and no less than one university.

The Ming Dynasty allowed the subjects of the city-state Republic of Venice and those who practiced classics and Ming Dynasty to attend the imperial examination in the capital, and they were selected regardless of the number. At the same time, Venice was allowed to send 150 public students to the Ming Dynasty every year, and at the same time, the number of additional students was not less than 300. As a self-financed overseas student, Venetians are allowed to live and settle in the various capitals of the Ming Dynasty, but they must abide by the laws of the Ming Dynasty and must not do anything that harms the feelings of the people of the Ming Dynasty.

During the traditional festivals of the Ming Dynasty, such as the Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Qingming Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, etc., people have to give everyone a holiday so that they can participate in festival activities.

At the same time, the northern section of Crete was officially ceded, totaling more than 3,400 square kilometers of land, and used as a military port for the Ming Dynasty garrison. An area of ​​about six kilometers long and eighteen kilometers wide was carved out in the Venetian Adriatic Sea. As the Ming Dynasty's residence in Venice. The Ming Dynasty's troops stationed in Venice were composed of navy and army troops. Organized into a reinforced regiment, it has a fleet consisting of twelve Sea Wolf-class ships, six Sea Shark-class ships, and four Great Shark-class ships. Together with supply ships, the entire fleet consists of a total of twenty-five warships and armed merchant ships.

The army has three infantry battalions, one artillery battalion, and one cavalry battalion. The total number of the army in the regiment is more than 3,800, and including the navy, the number exceeds 6,000.

This Ming army is stationed in Venice and is responsible for protecting the security of Venice. Venice needs to provide the cost of the Ming garrison, providing fodder, supplies and subsidies for more than 6,000 people and horses every year.

With the signing of the supplementary agreement, Francesco Elizzo finally breathed a sigh of relief. With Ming as Venice's backer, let's see who dares to peek into Venice's wealth.

Sun Zhidao pointed to the signed agreement and said: "Venice is a small country, with a population of less than one million, and its territory is only equivalent to a prefecture in the Ming Dynasty. As for the county they placed in Northern Candia that was ceded to us, this county is about the same size. , is this place useful?”

"Useful, very useful!"

Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "Of course Crete is very good. It is only three hundred kilometers away from the African continent. In the Mediterranean, south of the Aegean Sea, Crete is mountainous. Only the north is the coastal plain, where olives, grapes, and citrus are grown. Etc. The origin of ancient Aegean culture, there are mature farms, the best seaport on the Mediterranean coast, and the colonial base carefully built by the Venetians for hundreds of years!"

To be fair, the natural conditions of Crete are not as good as those of large islands such as Luzon and Mindanao, but the problem is that this is a tentacle extending into the Mediterranean and Africa.

"Since it is so good, we should drive away the Venetians, otherwise the Ming Dynasty will not be able to own the entire island of Crete." Now that Sun Zhiyi has tasted the benefits of external expansion, he has long coveted Europe and the African continent. Three feet, this is understandable, precisely because Ming Dynasty has always understood relatively little about the world.

With the advent of the Age of Discovery, Ming Dynasty became more and more aware of the entire world. All Ming Dynasty people discovered that the entire world was larger than imagined. Ming Dynasty was not the center of the world, but only a corner of the world.

Crete's unique natural conditions must be mastered by Ming Dynasty.

"Yongyan, you have to eat your food one bite at a time and do your things one by one!"

Cheng Shijie said calmly: "Venice is, after all, every country in Europe that has pledged itself to our Ming Dynasty. We can't look too ugly to Venice as a vassal state. If we look too ugly, then who would be willing to become our Ming Dynasty's vassal state?"

"Okay, I admit that I am a little impatient about this!"

Sun Zhili smiled bitterly and said: "However, it is not difficult to do this, as long as it is done in a secretive way..."

"Remember, don't be careless because of this, and remember, don't let others take advantage of you."

Cheng Shijie is not worried about the resistance of the Venetians. Human nature is common across the world. This is the tragedy of a small country with few people. There is no need to compare it with the Netherlands, even with North Korea, or even with the Ming Dynasty alone. Both are stronger than Venice.

Even if Portugal and Spain are only considered as their native territories, they can be described as small places compared to the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, it is a matter of course for the Venetians to become Ming people. The only suspense is how long this assimilation will take. can be completed.

In terms of "exporting culture to the outside world", the Ming Dynasty had too many professionals, and almost every Confucian scholar was an expert.

Putting aside his worries, Francesco Elizzo's mood was completely different when he visited Beijing. He was dressed in the traditional round-necked robe of the Ming Dynasty, with Ming Dynasty hair on his hair, and stood next to several Ming Ming soldiers. Under the protection, we started to visit Beijing city.

Since Cheng Shijie's enthronement ceremony was about to be held, there were many people and businessmen from all over the country going to Beijing. It could be said that Francesco Elizzo would never see so many people in Europe.

"This is the atmosphere of a great country!"

Francesco Elizzo sighed sincerely: "It's a worthwhile trip, it's really a worthwhile trip!"

Catherine looked at the consul and didn't know what to say. If Francesco Elizzo was just an ordinary person, he would probably become a spy for Venice and betray the interests of the Venetian city-state republic.

Several Portuguese people were arguing with a Ming Dynasty vendor, and the two sides were having a heated argument.

Francesco Elizzo stepped forward and said: "Friend, you are not very polite to us Ming people like this!"

"What kind of Ming Dynasty are you?"

"Our city-state Republic of Venice has officially become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and the Venetians are naturally people of the Ming Dynasty!"

Francesco Elizzo proudly said: "Be polite to us Ming people!" (End of this chapter)