Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 390 Reform the military households and revitalize the military aristocracy!
Zhu Houcong deliberately frowned: "The Book of Han says 'seek truth from facts'. Since Mr. Tong is my imperial lecturer, you should seek truth and facts, and not make empty words and flattering behaviors!"

"I am indeed not a wise ruler yet. I am far inferior to the ancient sage rulers like Yao and Shun. It is said that Emperor Wen of Han was the most virtuous since the Three Dynasties. I feel that I am still far behind Emperor Wen of Han!"

"Do you agree with me?"

As Zhu Houcong spoke, he looked at the officials attending the imperial lecture.

No one dared to answer.

Even Liao Daonan, who was also one of the lecturers in the Imperial Lectures, was very clear that the emperor was so humble and had no intention of being arrogant. He just wanted to hold high the banner of Confucianism to enrich the country and strengthen the military, and then continue to expand outward and reform internally, so that the meat-eaters in the world would have to continue to suffer great losses because of their own narrow views.

Liao Daonan was therefore eager to stand up and refute the emperor, and he also agreed with Tong Chengxu, saying that the emperor was more virtuous than Yao and Shun, and had a very thorough understanding of the teachings of the sages, so there was no need to hold imperial lectures anymore and be taught by a group of Confucian officials how to be an emperor.

Liao Daonan also didn't understand. In the past, when the emperor held the imperial lecture, it was just to show how diligent he was in studying Confucianism. Then, the Confucian officials would follow suit and show how much they hoped the emperor would love the people!

How come the emperor is really demanding of himself so seriously now, making these hypocritical Confucian officials very embarrassed!
"Your Majesty, although your words are modest, they do make sense. If you really want to compare yourself with the ancient wise emperors, you must continue to work hard to govern the country. You can't be like Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and fall into depravity halfway through."

Wang Ao made a comment at this time.

Zhu Houcong nodded after hearing this and said: "Mr. Zhenze is right. I should not only continue to work hard to govern the country, but also continue to study hard and ask more questions. I can't slack off. After all, there are still hungry and cold people in the world, and the world has not yet been completely peaceful."

"Since today is a lecture, let's just talk about the lecture aspect."

"I cannot just learn the ways of the saints. I must also learn more knowledge that will benefit the long-term peace and stability of the world."

"For example, foreign languages, I have to learn them!"

Zhu Houcong said this and looked at everyone: "You should also learn from this in the future, and know the situation outside the four seas, so as not to be a person who sits in a well and looks at the sky. Therefore, in the future, I will let the foreign ministers of the Huitong Hall come to give lectures and tell me about their language and customs, and you can learn from them. After all, you are either the ruler today or the ruler in the future, and you still need to know the situation outside the four seas."

Liao Daonan was very depressed after hearing this.

He knew that the emperor was continuing to reform and govern the country under the pretext that he was not yet a wise ruler.

He also knew that the emperor suddenly mentioned that he wanted to learn foreign languages, which was obviously an attempt to continue to gain benefits from abroad.

When Liao Daonan thought of the saying "The benefits of the world are predetermined, and either the officials or the people will benefit from them", he worried that if this continued, the benefits outside the world would sooner or later be taken by the court and then completely distributed to the people. By then, even if they, the gentry and wealthy families, waited for an emperor who no longer took the people of the world as his responsibility, they would not be able to obtain enough benefits from overseas.

Therefore, Liao Daonan had to step out and say, "Your Majesty, I think that you don't need to learn the languages ​​and customs of foreign countries. Your Majesty only needs to master the classics to catch up with the wise kings such as Yao and Shun!"

"nonsense!"

Zhu Houcong reprimanded him on the spot and questioned Liao Daonan: "Although the classics are the essence, how can I govern and educate them if they do not learn the languages ​​and customs of foreign countries?"

"I am the ruler of the world, and you are the ministers of the upper country. You all need to care about the world in order to bring peace to the world for all eternity!"

"Let me ask you, the Portuguese people who are active in the south now, do you know where their country is, how far it is from us, how many people there are, and how big the territory is?"

“Will it become the next big problem?”

Zhu Houcong then asked about Liao Daonan.

Liao Daonan said: "I am only a Hanlin official, I don't know these."

"Because you are a Hanlin official, you should be familiar with all kinds of knowledge instead of studying behind closed doors. Otherwise, how can you govern in the future and hold the balance of power for the emperor?"

"The officials of the Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty were probably destroyed by the Mongols because they looked down on the Mongols who suddenly rose up in the north, just like you did."

Zhu Houcong continued speaking.

After hearing this, Liao Daonan could no longer argue, and could only kneel down in fear and confess: "Your Majesty's teachings are extremely correct. I am stupid and have not considered as thoroughly as Your Majesty has, and I obviously do not have the talent to assist in governing the country. I beg to resign!"

"I approve. Go home and re-read the classics!"

Zhu Houcong ordered.

Liao Daonan kowtowed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your help!"

Because Zhu Houcong refuted Liao Daonan and Liao Daonan had nothing to say after his rebuttal, other ministers attending the imperial lecture could not do so even if they wanted to dissuade him.

After all, the emperor has said that this involves the safety of the country.

Who can say more?

Zhu Houcong knew that some ministers did not want him to really improve his knowledge, but only wanted him to learn some Confucian classics and pretend to be a benevolent monarch.

But Zhu Houcong himself knew that as an emperor of a great country, especially an autocratic emperor of a great country, if he wanted to avoid being sidelined and deprived of information, he had to learn more knowledge.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong proposed to learn foreign languages ​​during the imperial lecture.

Before Zhu Houcong, there were already emperors of the Ming Dynasty who had started learning foreign languages.

This emperor was Zhengde.

Zhu Houcong was not short of teaching talents in this area.

The foreign envoy Huozhezhe Yasan, who once taught Zhengde Portuguese, is still imprisoned in the imperial prison, waiting for Zhu Houcong to use him at any time.

Zhu Houcong even arranged some work for him to do in the imperial prison, which was to write down all the Portuguese knowledge he knew in both Chinese and Yi languages, and hand it over to the Imperial Study in the Palace for collection, so that he could read it at any time.

Ever since the last time he built a ship, it was discovered that the corresponding drawings and text files of Zheng He's voyages to the West were lost. In addition to issuing an edict to hold the former Minister of War Liu Daxia accountable, Zhu Houcong also added a number of secretaries in the west room of the Zhiwuying Palace who were specifically responsible for copying books, and arranged for them to copy all the existing files of various ministries, including the "Yongle Encyclopedia", to prevent them from being lost again.

The reason why Zhu Houcong dared to do this was naturally related to the huge increase in financial strength of his Ming Empire.

In September of the sixth year of the Jiajing reign, the first batch of silver mined from Iwami Silver Mine was finally transported to the capital after crossing the sea and river.

Zhu Houcong grinned as he looked at the tens of millions of taels of silver.

The first thing he thought of was to continue reform and enrich the people.

"I originally thought that the income from Iwami Silver Mine could only cover the increased expenses after the reform of the royal family. Now it seems that after the popularization of the ash blowing method in this dynasty, it can produce tens of millions of taels of silver, which will undoubtedly also cover the increased expenses after the reform of the military households!"

Therefore, Zhu Houcong talked about the reform of military households to the ministers in the imperial study on this day. After the reform of the royal family, Zhu Houcong, who wanted to continue the reform and enrich the people, did plan to reform the military households first, and then solve the problem that the military households were not as well off as the Confucian households and civilian households.

Because for him who wanted to expand his base, solving the problem of royal family would only make the royal family more stable. But in order to have absolute control over the military and truly strengthen the military power of Ming Dynasty, and not just the central military power, he had to solve the problem of military households and revitalize the military aristocracy, so that it could check and balance the bureaucratic groups and the chieftains and foreign forces that colluded with them in various places!
Therefore, Zhu Houcong first brought up the issue of military household reform in the Imperial Study.

Before this, he had already consulted the ministers in the Imperial Study about the plight of the Ming military households and the various problems that had arisen after the Wei Suo system was passed down to the present day, and there had also been discussions on how to change it.

only……

The emperor and his ministers all agreed that major changes would require financial support.

Because many problems of the Ming Dynasty had never been solved, it was not entirely because the previous monarchs and ministers were not impartial, but they were essentially financial problems. Even chronic military problems could ultimately be traced back to financial issues.

Therefore, the ministers in the Imperial Study were not surprised.

Yang Yiqing took the initiative to say at this time: "Your Majesty, in this case, why not let the Five Military Commands Office and the ministers and nobles discuss and calculate it in court."

Zhu Houcong nodded: "Yes!"

Wang Qiong also said: "Your Majesty, the most important thing for reforming the military households is to first find out how many military households there are in the Ming Dynasty. Among them, the military household roster files managed by the Liangjing Wujun Dudufu are very important!"

"In my humble opinion, we must prevent the files in the West from being destroyed like they were!"

"Because once the military household register is destroyed, we have to re-check and re-create it, which is not only time-consuming and costly, but also, the number of military households in the country is decided by the local powerful families!"

"If the imperial court raises the status of military households again, then we may find that the number of military households is far higher than that of the previous dynasty! If the status of military households is lowered again, then the number of military households may be far lower than that of the previous dynasty!"

"Especially the Southern Capital Five Military Governor's Office, which is far away from the capital. In recent years, foreign threats have been more severe in the north than in the south. It is also where the powerful families in the south are concentrated, so it is naturally more likely to have accidents!"

After Wang Qiong said this, Zhu Houcong ordered: "Send a reliable minister to Nanjing to keep a close eye on the military household registers of the Nanjing Five Military Commandery, and let the Jinyiwei guard the ones in the capital directly!"

"I recommend Zhang Zheng, the Chief Censor of the River Inspection! He is in Huai'an, so it will be cheaper for him to go to the Southern Capital!"

Zhang Cong played at this time.

Yang Yiqing said: "I recommend Zhang Jiuxu, the governor of Shandong, to go to Nandu to supervise the military household register in the name of changing his post to the governor of Caojiang!"

"Let Zhang Zheng be the imperial commissioner, and Zhang Jiuxu be the alternate imperial commissioner. They will still go to the Southern Capital under the name of serving as the governor of Caojiang. You can nominate a few more as alternate imperial commissioners. If the imperial commissioner is bribed to deceive the court, the alternate will take over!"

After Zhu Houcong said this, Yang Yiqing, Zhang Cong and others all showed expressions of shock and admiration.

They did not expect that His Majesty the Emperor did not worry about who to employ because they each recommended their own cliques. Instead, he took advantage of the fact that the Ming Dynasty had no shortage of officials who wanted to be promoted and adopted a model of imperial envoys plus alternate imperial envoys.

They understood instantly that His Majesty wanted the alternate imperial envoy to keep an eye on the imperial envoy himself and force him to supervise carefully. It was obviously telling the alternate imperial envoy that if he wanted to remove the word "alternate" from his title, he'd better find some problems with the real imperial envoy.

"Yes!"

Yang Yiqing, Zhang Cong and others recommended some suitable officials to serve as alternate imperial envoys.

However, when Zhang Zheng and Zhang Jiuxu arrived in Nanjing as deputy imperial envoys, they found that the Nanjing Five Military Governor's Office had already been caught in fire.

When they arrived, the Nanjing Five Military Governor's Office had been turned into a wasteland, with only smoke and blackened wooden beams, and not a single piece of paper could be found.

"His Majesty was still on guard against us, but he didn't expect that others had already taken action first!"

Zhang Zheng couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Zhang Jiuxu couldn't help but look solemn: "Let's report to the capital as soon as possible!"

"That's right!"

Others echoed.

At the same time, in a painted boat on the Qinhuai River in Nanjing, Ye Guizhang, a Nanjing Hanlin lecturer, was entertaining Liao Daonan, who was on his way to Nanjing after being dismissed from office and returning home. He smiled proudly and said:
"We have long known that after Your Majesty received the huge amount of money from Iwami Silver Mine, he would vigorously solve the problem of the royal family and then the problem of the military households. So someone bribed the soldiers inside and burned the files in Nanjing in advance. Now we have to see how the court will solve it. Does it want to add tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of military gentry out of thin air?"

After Ye Guizhang finished speaking, he opened his Japanese fan, stood at the bow, and looked towards the Nanjing Central Military Governor's Mansion which was not far from here. Looking at the ruins in the area, he couldn't help but smile as he recalled the scene of the raging flames there.

"Haha! That's exactly what's going on. If Your Majesty also wants to ban the imperial examinations for this reason, then the scholars in Jiangnan will be wronged. After all, the arsonists were the soldiers of the various governor's offices, the very military households whose status he wants to elevate!"

Liu Pu, the Xima of the Nanjing Economic Bureau, also echoed this.

Liao Daonan couldn't help but sigh after listening to this: "You are the ones who are bolder in the Southern Capital. In the capital, many lucky people want to take advantage of your Majesty's reforms to get promoted quickly. They all just say that your Majesty is wise. Even if we don't want your Majesty to be so unconventional, we dare not speak out loudly!"

"This is just an appetizer. If your majesty insists on your army's worship of martial arts, there will be even bigger surprises waiting for him!"

"That's right!"

"For so many years, especially in our southern part, the reason why the whole country has been prosperous and peaceful is because only the military households have to bear all the costs. So who would be willing to let the military households be more expensive than the civilian households? The first ones who are unwilling to do so are the military officers and powerful families who have already turned the military settlements into private fields and the military households into private slaves!"

Ye Guizhang and Liu Pu continued to talk and laugh.

Liao Daonan also laughed and said, "So, I should wait for a while before asking for an imperial decree to dismiss me. This way, I can also see His Majesty's disappointed and angry expression after he learns about this matter at the court meeting."

Forbidden City.

Zhu Houcong, who was still unaware of this, only discussed the military household reform with Yang Yiqing and others in the Imperial Study, and then came to Wuying Hall and instructed Huang Jin:
"Please keep a close eye on this military household register of the Two Capitals and Five Military Commands copied by the Imperial Palace, in case some despicable people cause trouble before the imperial envoy arrives in the south!"

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I will bring people from Xingming Academy to guard here day and night in shifts every day!"

"That's good!"

It turned out that when Zhu Houcong ordered the backup of the archives of various ministries, he asked the Jinyi Taibao in the south to secretly send someone to copy the military household register of the five military governors in Nanjing first, and send it to the palace in advance.

Zhu Houcong had been wanting to reform the military households, promote military virtues in the army, and revive the military aristocracy for a long time, so naturally he had been prepared.

Of course, he hoped that the archives of various government offices in the two capitals could also exist. After all, this would provide an extra layer of insurance and reduce administrative costs.

(End of this chapter)