Reborn Ming Dynasty as Emperor

Chapter 508 Why Li Mingrui Can't Be the Chief Assistant
In the blink of an eye, seeing that the winter moon had entered, Zhu Youxiao and his party also came to Lingnan, Zhaoqing, the residence of the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.

This trip to the Southwest is basically over. Although in the process, Zhu Youxiao beheaded Panshui chieftain Long Yinglin, which led to a fight among various chieftains in Guizhou, and even the court was deeply affected by it, but fortunately The fact that the flames of war did not spread to other chief secretaries does not affect the overall situation.

And what makes Zhu Youxiao quite satisfied is that most of these literati who were exiled in the southwest and once opposed him can still be reformed, and the edges and corners have obviously been smoothed out a lot. The arrogant scholars have completely tasted the hardships of the people at the bottom, and they no longer have high expectations and low abilities. They begin to obey the rules and transfer empty talk to practice.

But there are still some hard-tempered people who are still very arrogant. Master Zhu You must not let them continue to suffer. For those who are still nostalgic for prosperity and have begun to realize their epiphanies, Zhu Youxiao will let them go to a better position Make use of the remaining heat, such as converting to an imperial literati.

With the increase of literacy rate and the rise of market culture, the role of public opinion in political society and even cultural society is becoming more and more important. They are also one of the weapons used by the people at the bottom to express their political opinions, and they are also the political purpose of the upper rulers. one of the most effective ways.

As an emperor, Zhu Youxiao, an emperor who wants to dictate the capital empire for a long time, must have a large group of imperial literati, who are responsible for guiding public opinion in a direction that is conducive to Zhu Youxiao's rule of Ming Dynasty.

As an emperor, it is impossible to let his butt sit on the side of one class, which is very likely to be overthrown by another class. In order to maintain stability and balance, he needs to use public opinion to help him maintain a kind of "football" all the time. In the state of "stepping on two boats", taking into account the interests of all classes, try to blame the losses on the outside world that does not belong to this country as much as possible.

Since Cao Sicheng was relegated to the newly appointed governor of Gansu by the court, Shang Zhouzuo, the first governor of Guangdong and Guangxi to implement the policy of further opening up the sea and trade, was transferred to the capital as the censor of the left capital. Governor Qu Shixu took over.

In the original history, Qu Shixi would shine in the later Nanming Yongli period. Although it was a bit pedantic and unrealistic, as Qian Qianyi's student, he had many Donglin people's faults, but fortunately, he was still loyal. A man who died heroically with Zhang Tongchang after the failure of the Anti-Qing Dynasty.

Now in this life, Qu Shisi is still Qian Qianyi's disciple, and because of Qian Qianyi's relationship, he was able to become the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. He can be regarded as a relatively important official in the conservative school.

However, although this Qu Shixi is a conservative figure transformed from the former Donglin Party, although he is pedantic, he is not self-closing. Because of this, Zhu Youxiao put a person like him on the post of governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. Today, Macau and Guangzhou have the most exchanges with Western fans, and the Pearl River Estuary is also one of the most developed places for maritime trade. Zhu Youxiao is not at ease that an official who knows Western style will be the governor of these two provinces.

Perhaps it is precisely because Qu Shisu was a student of Qian Qianyi and was considered a conservative figure, the cabinet scholar Li Mingrui who was in charge of inspecting the chief planner deliberately used his power and did not tell His Majesty Qu Shisu the specific time when Zhu Youxiao entered Guangdong and Guangxi. , so that Qu Shixu didn't have time to prepare to pick him up.

Because most of the sea trade is now concentrated in the Pearl River Estuary, the position of the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi has become a fertile government office with the same reputation as the salt department and the copper mine. The officials behind the big merchants are very worried about this position being held by the old-fashioned people, because in this way, it will be difficult for them to do bold tax evasion.

Therefore, any reformist official wants to replace Qu Shixu all the time, and some courtiers even want to promote him, but Zhu Youxiao disagrees, and the officials have no choice, and Li Mingrui can only use this matter Put some eye drops on Qu Shixu.

Because there are countless Dongchang spies distributed all over the world, Zhu Youxiao is well aware of the open and secret struggles among these officials, and also knows what Li Mingrui is planning, but Zhu Youxiao did not expose it. Competing, he, the emperor, has almost gotten used to it over the years, as long as he doesn't go too far, he won't be too strict.

"Your Majesty, this Qu Zhitai is quite arrogant. We have all arrived at the gate of the city, but no official came to pick him up."

Looking at Zhaoqing's city gate, countless people living on the city's side come in and out of the city gate in an endless stream. The public security forces (public security forces, also known as police) guarded by some elite veterans who were cut down from the original guard Liu Rushi, who stopped some peddlers at the gate of the city to collect some tips, saw that no official appeared at the gate of the city, and the whole gate of the city was also a little annoyed because of the messy scene with too many people mixed together, so he couldn't help but sink his head A few words.

Both Li Mingrui and Wang Chengen remained silent. Under such circumstances, a woman like Liu Rushi is suitable for complaining, but the two of them can't express any thoughts. If they say bad things about Qu Shixu, they will be suspected by His Majesty as deliberate slander, and they will also plead for Qu Shixu His Majesty suspected collusion, so the bigger the official, the more he had to learn to be silent.

But Zhu Youxiao smiled slightly, and couldn't help but glance at Li Mingrui, feeling in his heart that although Li Mingrui is not inferior to Lu Xiangsheng in terms of courage, wisdom and resourcefulness, his ability to obey and flatter himself is no worse than Qian Qianyi, and he is even better at coordinating all aspects than Lu Xiangsheng Contradictions of interests, he knows himself better than Qian Qianyi, but Zhu Youxiao has never asked Li Mingrui to be the chief assistant of the cabinet, not only because he is a leader of the reformist faction, and his power in the financial world is no less than himself and his son-in-law Captain Gong Yonggu also has something to do with his evil intentions and not being pure enough, he likes to plot against others.

Zhu Youxiao didn't know when he would be tricked into this cunning old fox's trick again today.

"Go to the city. I have already said that this inspection does not require much fanfare. The two Governors of Guangxi, Qu Shisi, are just following the order." Zhu Youxiao walked over by himself first, but at this time, there was a series of ringing bells. Zhu Youxiao looked back, but saw a group of people galloping towards the gate of the city on bicycles.

The bicycles these people ride are the bicycles recently manufactured by Royal Industries, but now they are called Apocalypse bicycles.

This kind of bicycle, which is very common in later generations, is an expensive and rare thing at this moment, because even Daming, which has a preliminary industrial foundation, making such a semi-automatic bicycle is a project that tests the level of machining.

However, despite the high price of this bicycle, its sales were astonishing as soon as it came out, and it also earned Zhu Youxiao a lot of money, but now he did not expect to see this kind of bicycle in the distant Lingnan.

(End of this chapter)