Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 552 Everyone expresses his or her own opinion
"play music!"

"Dong dong dong..."

At noon, as the sound of military music sounded in the mountains and forests, the Ming Dynasty officially entered the 14th year of Hongxi.

The place where the military music was played was the mausoleum that Zhu Gaoxu chose for himself.

Standing on his future tomb after his death, the place now seemed very messy. The floor tiles had not been laid yet, there were no buildings on the ground, and even the steps were just temporary steps made of poured concrete.

His mausoleum was designed by himself and is less than one-third the size of Zhu Di's Changling Mausoleum.

Although Zhu Zhanhe and Huang Fu of the Ministry of Works repeatedly petitioned him to expand the Yongling Mausoleum, Zhu Gaoxu never approved it.

For him, what happens after his death is not that important. Instead of spending millions of strings of cash to build a mausoleum, it would be better to build more than a thousand kilometers of railway named after his reign.

Of course, this is just a thought. Five hundred thousand strings of cash is already a lot for him.

In the Ming Dynasty, many people were unable to live the comfortable life like those in the north and south of the Yangtze River, and some were still struggling to make ends meet.

Five hundred thousand strings of cash were enough to buy more than one million dan of grain, solving the annual food problem for more than three hundred thousand people. It was not only a small amount, but a lot.

"Your Majesty, the tomb can be sealed now."

The voice of an official woke Zhu Gaoxu from his thoughts, and he took a look at the scene in front of him.

In the left chamber of the mausoleum, which had just been repaired, were placed the cannons and muskets that Zhu Gaoxu had used and some existing ones in the Ming Dynasty, and the coffin containing Chi Huan's body was also placed in the middle of the chamber.

The burial ceremony of Chi Huan was conducted with military ceremony. Forty soldiers wearing tiger-guard armor were solemn and dignified. There were feathered banners and drums playing music continuously.

Perhaps in the eyes of some officials, the emperor's spending so much money on the burial of a horse and coming all the way from Beijing was somewhat criticized.

But for Zhu Gaoxu, what was buried was not only Chi Huan, but also his regret that he had never been to the battlefield since the Jingnan Campaign.

Every time I visited Chi Huan, Chi Huan would always kick the stable fence impatiently, or pretend to lie on the ground, wanting someone to put on the saddle and vest for him.

When all its actions received no response, it looked at Zhu Gaoxu in confusion, not understanding why he had to rest for so long this time.

Its purpose was simple, which was to carry Zhu Gaoxu to the battlefield again, vent its horsepower at will, and fight side by side with Zhu Gaoxu.

It’s a pity that it has waited for thirty-two years for such a simple wish but has never come true.

The life span of a horse is usually between twenty and thirty-five years, but there are some exceptions where some horses can live to be over thirty-five years old.

Chi Huan lived to be 38 years old, and it can be said that 85% of that time was spent waiting to go into battle with Zhu Gaoxu.

Its heart was full of regrets, and so was Zhu Gaoxu.

These days, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but think back.

If Zhu Yunwen could do a good job as the emperor, would he have more time to focus on scientific research and train Northeast students to fight on the battlefield?

But every time he thought about it, he would shake his head and deny it.

There is no "if" in history, and Zhu Yunwen would not change his mind.

People always have regrets...

"Let's seal the tomb..."

After he finished speaking, Zhu Gaoxu, wearing a black round-necked robe, turned around and walked out.

Soon, he heard the sound of soldiers moving the tomb door and lowering the door stone behind him.

Walk out of the temporary concrete square and go down dozens of steps.

Before getting on the carriage, Zhu Gaoxu looked back at the place.

Maybe the next time he comes here, he will be dead.

But compared to here...

Zhu Gaoxu looked at a hill in the distance where his mother was buried in the forest.

Zhu Di's Changling had been built long ago, and its scale was even larger than the Changling in history.

Perhaps as Guo Yan said, Zhu Gaoxu was always generous to people around him, but he was "stingy" enough to himself.

This stinginess is just a horizontal comparison among emperors of different dynasties.

Compared with ordinary people or some wealthy families, his life can be described as luxurious.

But compared with emperors of all dynasties, his treatment was nothing.

His money must be put to good use, whether it be for national construction or scientific research.

All this is what he longed for and changed, and its value is far more precious than a mausoleum.

With all this in mind, Zhu Gaoxu headed towards Changling, and there were more than ten carriages parked in front of the sacred road of Changling.

Zhu Gaoxu walked up to the sacred path and saw Guo Yan walking down the mountain with a dozen of his children.

"The Emperor is still in Minglou. Your Majesty, do you want to go there now?"

Guo Yan asked Zhu Gaoxu, who nodded and glanced at his children before asking, "Are Qi'er and Yue'er also in Minglou?"

"Well, I asked them to stay to accompany the emperor." Guo Yan nodded in response. Zhu Gaoxu also nodded to signal them to go down first. He then walked up the shrine and headed towards Minglou.

Soon, he walked into the tall Ming Tower, and when Zhu Di saw him coming, he signaled Zhu Zhanqi and Zhu Qiyue to step down.

"Alright, you two boys, please step back. I have something to say to the emperor."

Zhu Di could even joke with Zhu Gaoxu, and this mental state made the three of them feel relieved.

Zhu Qiyue and Zhu Zhanqi walked out of the Ming Tower, while Zhu Gaoxu looked up at the portrait of Empress Xu hanging there.

Like Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, one is an oil painting and the other is a traditional Chinese painting.

In the oil painting, Empress Xu's appearance was restored to about 80%, but Zhu Di was still not satisfied.

"This painting is not as beautiful as your mother herself..."

Zhu Di sighed, his eyes fixed on the portrait of Empress Xu, refusing to move away.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't say much, he just took out three incense sticks from the shrine, knelt down respectfully, bowed five times and kowtowed three times to the portrait, and then inserted the incense into the incense burner.

During this time, Zhu Di sat on the cushion next to him. Zhu Gaoxu saw this and knew that the old man had something to say to him, so he also sat cross-legged on the cushion.

The father and son looked at Empress Xu's portrait. After a while, Zhu Di spoke up and said, "Recently, I often wake up at night and dream that your grandfather said I was unfaithful and unfilial, and my eldest brother also said he was disappointed in me."

"I couldn't find my mother. I guess she was too disappointed in me and refused to come out to see me."

"Second brother, you said that we both did such a good job, why am I still afraid of your grandfather?"

Zhu Di still had not come out of his identity as a rebel, which made him different from Zhu Gaoxu.

"Then you didn't dream about my elder brother?"

Zhu Gaoxu kept talking about things that were irrelevant. When Zhu Di heard about Zhu Yunwen, an expression of impatience immediately appeared on his face.

"If the little bastard dares to come out, I will definitely teach him a lesson myself."

Zhu Di hated Zhu Yunwen to the core. He handed over the military power of more than 200,000 troops of the three military commanders and the three guards of the palace. In the end, there were only 800 guards left to protect the palace. As a result, Zhu Yunwen wanted to detain him and even attack him.

This humiliation makes Zhu Di want to slap himself a few times whenever he thinks of it. He is angry that he did not listen to his second son and be more cautious towards Zhu Yunwen earlier.

"If grandpa and uncle knew what my eldest brother did, who knows who they would punish first."

Zhu Gaoxu laughed at Zhu Yunwen, and Zhu Di said frankly, "Indeed."

You have to know that Zhu Yuanzhang had so many sons who committed crimes, but he was reluctant to kill them. As a result, Zhu Yunwen deposed four of them and killed one as soon as he came to power, which was even more brutal than the original history.

If Zhu Yuanzhang knew that Zhu Yunwen did this, it would be considered merciful if he didn't hang him up and beat him.

"Okay, let's go. It won't delay your return to Beijing to handle government affairs."

After hearing what Zhu Gaoxu said, Zhu Di felt much better. He stood up, waved goodbye to Zhu Gaoxu and left.

The two men walked out of Ming Tower, and Zhu Zhanqi and Zhu Qiyue were still looking at each other provocatively and confronting each other.

Ever since the last New Year's Eve family dinner, Zhu Zhanqi knew that his eldest nephew probably disliked him for a long time. The two of them were too lazy to pretend, and Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di just shook their heads and sighed when they looked at them.

The second brother was ambitious but somewhat self-willed, which made Zhu Gaoxu glad that he chose the eldest brother.

At least the boss knows how to use people and has Zhu Qiyue's support.

In comparison, Zhu Zhanqi's eldest son Zhu Qishuo has not shown any extraordinary talents so far.

Just from the perspective of being the emperor's grandson, I should choose the eldest brother's lineage.

Of course, Zhu Gaoxu did not fail to consider other heirs, but their abilities were not outstanding, so Zhu Gaoxu had to choose the eldest son.

If we really want to talk about it, among his dozen or so children and grandchildren, he was only satisfied with Zhu Qiyue.

With this idea in mind, he naturally could only choose the boss.

"Let's go..."

After walking down the sacred road, Zhu Gaoxu and Guo Yan got on a carriage, and then, under the protection of the Jilin Guards, they headed for the Changping railway station.

At the same time he was rushing to the train station, after the five courts' judgment, 424 officials were sentenced to beheading, and their relatives and three generations of mourners, totaling more than 16,000 people, were sentenced to exile to Beizhou.

In addition, more than 3,000 officials involved in the incident, as well as their relatives and relatives, totaling more than 45,000 people, were also sentenced to exile to Beizhou.

As for the merchants, although Zhu Gaoxu mainly treated them leniently, according to the Hongxi "Great Ming Law" formulated by him, more than 400,000 people in the third degree involved in more than 60,000 merchants were only exempted from the third degree, and more than 100,000 people in the first and second degrees were still sentenced to exile to Beizhou and Dongzhou.

At this point, the number of prisoners sentenced to exile has reached 180,000, but this does not mean that the matter is over.

More than 30,000 sailors and servants and hundreds of armed merchant ships of the 16 merchant gangs overseas have not yet been dealt with, and the case is not over yet.

The five-bureaucratic inspection team led by Zhang Mengcun and Ji Shu is still investigating all officials who may be involved in the case based on the testimonies in their hands.

At this point in the case, it is no longer a simple matter of investigating the case, but rather a matter of using the case to strike at the Jiangnan officialdom and keep the official positions firmly in the hands of his own faction.

Many officials who had done nothing wrong were also investigated, and the tactics of the Bingmasi and Jinyiwei to break into people's homes at will made the entire Jiangnan officialdom panic.

"Bang!" "Please ask Mr. Zhou Jingwen to come with us!"

The gate was broken open and the women and children in a yard were frightened. Before they could react, a middle-aged Confucian scholar walked out of the study, comforted his wife and daughter, and followed the military commander to the local county government office. His house was also searched through a mess.

Half an hour later, another team arrived here.

"I'm late……"

Yu Qian looked at the broken wooden door and the woman who was cleaning up the mess in the yard. He couldn't help but frown and squatted down, picked up the broken door bolt from the ground and placed it on the threshold.

"Let's go..."

Yu Qian turned away sadly, and the officer of the Imperial Guard beside him bowed and said, "Experience Yu, where shall we check next?"

"Don't check anymore, go back and rest..."

He has seen too many scenes like the one just now in these days.

Yu Qian knew that the development of the Gengxu case to this point was no longer a simple matter of investigating the case.

He was invisibly drawn into the factional struggles between the reformists and the conservatives, and the chaos of using one's position to attack and impeach dissidents made him feel very uncomfortable.

He returned to his residence with the Embroidered Uniform Guards to rest. While others were attacking and impeaching dissidents for the sake of their achievements, he was traveling around various places in Jiangnan, inquiring about the situation there.

When he arrived in Nanjing, he sent a message to Jiang Huai, who also took a day off to keep him company.

At night, he and Jiang Huai sat in the courtyard that Jiang Huai bought in Nanjing, looking up at the moon in the sky.

"But I didn't expect that the situation would be like this when we met again."

Sitting on the stone bench and gazing at the bright moon in the sky, Yu Qian sighed.

When they were in Peking, the two of them often met with the help of Lu Yu, so they became familiar with each other.

Seeing Yu Qian like this, Jiang Huai poured him tea like a gentleman, with a smile on his face: "What's wrong, are you uncomfortable with the investigation?"

"Investigate the case..." Yu Qian pondered for a long time, then shook his head and said:
"The current situation is no longer as simple as investigating a case..."

"This matter is not as simple as investigating a case." Jiang Huai responded quickly, with a mocking tone in his words.

Yu Qian was silent after hearing this. After a long while, he spoke:
"In the past few months, I have been traveling around Jiangnan to handle cases, and I have seen many things."

"I have also applauded Your Majesty for repeatedly launching major cases and punishing corrupt officials."

"But now it seems that there were also injustices and miscarriages of justice in those major cases."

In this major case, Yu Qian saw the dark side of many reformists, as well as the means by which the Jiangnan conservatives colluded with officials and businessmen for petty profits.

All this changed his three views and made him confused.

"Since ancient times, being an official has never been an easy thing."

Jiang Huai comforted Yu Qian, who shook his head and said, "I have seen many businessmen who were not involved in the case but were tortured into confessing."

"The word 'official' has two parts. I originally thought that it was just nonsense because the common people didn't know how difficult it was to be an official. But now I see that it is true."

"In order to eliminate dissidents, they arrested almost all officials in the four prefectures of Su, Song, Jia, and Hu, and it took several months to fill the positions."

"At the beginning of the Yongle reign, the imperial court sent Minister Xia to dredge the Jiangdong River, which eliminated the flood in Jiangdong and benefited the people."

"The river channels in Jiangdong have been in disrepair for a long time, and the officials have not been replaced for several months. In just a few months, many river ports have been blocked."

"More than half a month ago, it was the Spring Festival, but Jiangdong had continuous heavy rains, and the six lakes of Taihu, Pangshan, Yangcheng, Shahu, Kuncheng, and Shanghu overflowed, submerging hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland. The people had no hope of spring ploughing, and I'm afraid many people will sell their farmland this year."

"Zhang Mengcun, Ji Shu and others thought that allocating some disaster relief funds and comforting the victims would be enough, but that was not what I saw."

"If the case continues, the only ones who will suffer will be ordinary people..."

Yu Qian said a lot, but Jiang Huai didn't respond, he just listened quietly.

After a while, Jiang Huai took the initiative to speak: "What do you want to say?"

"This case should be closed. I would like to submit a petition with you to persuade His Majesty."

Yu Qian's eyes were firm, but Jiang Huai frowned and questioned, "Advising Your Majesty?"

"Your Majesty's actions are only a temporary pain for the people, but which is more important, a temporary pain in exchange for a hundred years of health and happiness?"

"Can the suffering of the people be measured?" Yu Qian looked at Jiang Huai in disbelief. Seeing this, Jiang Huai sighed:
"Yu Tingyi, your personality is not suitable for being an official..."

"Or rather, you are not suitable to be an official of the Ming Dynasty."

"You are too pedantic..." Jiang Huai didn't expect Yu Qian to be so pedantic.

Even in the past, I was not so pedantic.

"Please clear up my doubts." Yu Qian was not angry because Jiang Huai called him pedantic, but asked him for the reason.

Although he didn't look angry, Jiang Huai knew that he was angry.

"What you think is just your own opinion, or your narrow-minded view."

"It is true that the people of the six prefectures of Suzhou and Songjiang suffered from floods this year, but just imagine, if these officials had not done nothing over the years, would the water conservancy projects in the six prefectures have fallen into disrepair?"

"It was because of the arrest of this group of people that the problems of the project were exposed, and the court was able to continue to repair it afterwards."

"If we allow this group of people to continue to occupy their positions without doing anything, the water conservancy in the six prefectures will be completely ruined, and what will be flooded will not be just the hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland, but millions of acres of farmland."

"Replacing officials and implementing new policies will all go through a period of pain. The tens of thousands of people who own more than 100,000 acres of farmland are the pain of this major move."

As Jiang Huai finished speaking, Yu Qian said, "The case is so complicated that many innocent merchants and officials have been dragged into it. It has become a party struggle."

"If I do not admonish Your Majesty, the successor king will not be able to check the factional struggles, and the court will inevitably be in chaos and the country's strength will be wasted."

"The way of a king is to maintain checks and balances. This is not wrong. However, from the first year of Hongxi to the present, apart from the construction of water conservancy projects and railways, the people of Jiangnan have hardly benefited from it, and the people are quite resentful."

"Your Majesty treats his subjects as slaves, beating and killing them at will, but he does not benefit the people of Jiangnan. If this continues, there will probably be a change."

Yu Qian had his own concerns, but Jiang Huai comforted him, "Why do you think His Majesty chose this time to take action against the Sixteen Merchants and Jiangnan officials?"

Jiang Huai did not answer, and continued: "Since the construction of the Jiangnan Railway began, Your Majesty has already placed the focus on the south."

"First the poor, then the rich. This is your majesty's philosophy for governing the world in the long run."

"At present, we will focus on the southwest, then the south of the Yangtze River, and finally the north. This is what your majesty thinks."

"Such an idea requires sufficient money and grain, so Your Majesty issued 50 million strings of national debt and took action in Jiangnan."

"Yu Tingyi, the things you are worried about are actually under the watchful eyes of His Majesty every step of the way."

"Your Majesty can see what you can see, and your Majesty is also seeing what you cannot see."

"The Ming Dynasty does not need ministers who advise His Majesty. Your Majesty understands what he is doing better than anyone else."

"You are thinking about the people in the south of the Yangtze River who have been persecuted this time, but your majesty is thinking about the nine provinces of the Ming Dynasty, the two capitals and 18 provincial governments of the Ming Dynasty, the more than 120 million people of the Ming Dynasty, and the more than 70 vassal states."

"Do you know which one is more important?"

Jiang Huai felt that what he said was clear enough. Yu Qian seemed to have been taught a lesson by Jiang Huai and no longer refuted Jiang Huai's words.

The two were silent for a long time. After a while, Yu Qian finally spoke: "Your Majesty is right, but the process is wrong."

"So what if the process is wrong?" Jiang Huai sighed, "As long as the result is good, it's fine."

Jiang Huai also admitted that Zhu Gaoxu made many mistakes in the process of carrying out the major case, but the result was ultimately in favor of the court, and that was enough.

"As subjects, we should have corrected the mistakes in the process and made sure that Your Majesty was not at fault."

Yu Qian started talking, but Jiang Huai looked at him and said after a long silence:

"If you do this, please don't regret it."

"But before you decide, I still want to remind you."

“Even saints have shortcomings and regrets. What you want to pursue is not realistic.”

"In the eyes of others, what you pursue may even seem pedantic..."

As a person in the officialdom, Jiang Huai would never get involved in such things that could lead to him being convicted.

Today he is no longer the Longchuan Jianghuai of the past, and his ideal is not limited to governing the small Longchuan Prefecture, but he has greater ambitions.

He was only thirty-three years old, while the emperor was fifty-two.

His age is there, and he also knows what kind of person Zhu Zhanhe is.

If the emperor passes away in the future, will the Crown Prince, who is both his king and friend, be able to control the situation in the court?

If not, can I step forward to stabilize the situation?
Can the emperor's many policies continue to be maintained? Can the people continue to live a peaceful life?

All these things weigh on his shoulders and are also his future ambitions.

With such ambition on his shoulders, he would never put himself in danger.

What he needs to do now is to recruit a sufficiently honest team for Zhu Zhanhe to govern the country in the future.

"I won't regret it..."

Seeing that Jiang Huai was not prepared to submit a petition to him, Yu Qian did not force him, but stood up and walked out of the yard.

Not long after, he returned to his house, but he was not in a hurry to submit a petition.

Jiangnan is too big and he needs to travel to too many places. He wants to tell the emperor about things in Jiangnan and let the emperor know what the attitude of the people in Jiangnan is towards the court.

After packing his luggage, Yu Qian bid farewell to the Jinyiwei around him the next morning and set out on a tour of Jiangnan on horseback alone.

Jiang Huai did not see him off. Perhaps in his opinion, he and Yu Qian were not the same kind of people, and the two sides were destined to clash in the future due to disagreements.

It's a good thing for both of them that their friendship ends here.

Compared to Yu Qian's pursuit of every detail, Jiang Wenqing only wants to continue the current Hongxi prosperity...

(End of this chapter)