Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 865

The two major evils of the Ming Dynasty, one is the suzerain vassal, and the other is the corruption of the bureaucratic group, and the officials and gentry colluded to conceal a large amount of land.

In the past dynasties of China, except for the Song Dynasty, where the two taxes accounted for less than half of the fiscal revenue, the main income of the other dynasties relied on the two taxes.

The bulk of the Ming Dynasty's finances were also the two taxes, and the large amount of land property concealed by the collusion between the vassals and the officials and gentry undoubtedly caused a significant reduction in the Ming Dynasty's income and financial difficulties.

Among these two long-standing disadvantages, the suzerainty can be thrown away by the imperial court. To the world, the absence of suzerains will not only reduce a part of the privileged class and reduce social conflicts, which is a good thing, but also reduce the burden on the imperial court. Therefore, even if there are wise suzerains and vassals in the clan, or most people do not do evil, they will still be sacrificed and abandoned mercilessly, because the clan does not bear responsibility in the operation of the state machine and is completely redundant.

Although this is suspected of crossing the river and demolishing the bridge, if this continues, the country will perish, and the clan has enjoyed more than 270 years of blessings, which is enough to repay Taizu's achievements in restoring the Central Plains.

Another long-standing disadvantage is that officials and gentry are corrupt and colluding, but they cannot be treated like suzerains and vassals, because they are needed for the operation of the country, the world needs officials and gentry to govern, and civil officials are needed to manage. It is much harder to deal with this long-standing malpractice than suzerain and vassalism.

This problem, whether it is China or the world, has not been resolved so far.

Reforming officials and gentry is a long-term thing, but getting rid of the burden of suzerain and vassal is just around the corner.

As long as one of these two long-standing disadvantages is resolved, the Ming Dynasty will be able to live a hundred years with ease.

Now that the clan has compromised and the relocation of vassals into Taiwan has begun, the suzerainty problem in the Ming Dynasty has basically been resolved, and the rest is the struggle within the civil official group.

In mid-July, in the city of Nanjing, the turmoil caused by the clan was quelled, and the move to Taiwan was firmly established. The refugees in Jiangbei had nothing to say. After all, the clan and royal family were all going to the island, so ordinary people like them have no reason to distrust the court.

At the end of July, the first batch of refugees began to be transported to Taiwan and Champa. Taiwan had no time to sow seeds, but Champa has three crops a year, so it should be no problem to catch one season.

In a blink of an eye, it was August, and the Ming Dynasty was back on track, and began to recruit scholars in the autumn.

This time, Enke not only opened the liberal arts, but also conducted martial arts, but the rules changed, and the liberal arts students had to test archery and blunderbuss, and the martial arts students had to test literary and hyphenated characters.

Of course, it was the first change. The newly added subjects were only for the examiner's reference and did not play a major role in the grades. But even so, it still caused an uproar, even much bigger than the discussion caused by the exam questions.

Many people in the shilin came out to attack, saying that they were insulting to the gentlemen. In the end, Wang Yan said a few words, "Advocating literature and martial arts. Wen can draw the pen to secure the world, and martial arts can immediately determine the world. What's wrong? Li Taibai has Are they insulting to gentlemen? Are Ban Chao and Xin Qiji so gentle?" He snapped back.

Theoretically speaking, there is nothing wrong with advocating literature and martial arts, but many people don't say anything, but they still have opinions in their hearts. They don't take it seriously. After all, the status of literati has been high for so many years. Military officers lack talents, and the status of the entire class is low. This kind of discrimination is the result of hundreds of years of accumulation, and it may be difficult to change in a short time.

Although the imperial examination has become the main topic of the ruling and opposition parties, except for the changes in the examination questions, the newly established subject examinations are basically useless, because most of the scholars participating in the examination can't shoot arrows and guns, and few of them participated in martial arts. Being able to read and hyphenate basically has no effect on grades, so it is just a quarrel between the ruling and opposition parties.

This situation made Wang Yan a little disappointed, but he was not discouraged. The Han people are very utilitarian. Since the court has set up these two new subjects this time, and they can get extra points if they do well in the test, after three years, they will be able to read and write. Warriors dare not say how much it will increase, but literati who can shoot arrows and guns will definitely increase a lot.

The Ming Dynasty was busy with the civil and military imperial examinations, and the Qing court in the north was not idle.

After the summer harvest, the food shortage that lasted for more than half a year in the Qing Dynasty finally eased. After Dorgon reconciled with Daishan, the strength of the Eight Banners soldiers was restored to a certain extent.

When Daishan marched west to Mongolia, the Jungar Khanate was unprepared, so he was killed in a hurry, and Daishan took away a large number of cattle, sheep and people.

This battle restored some of the strength of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and also made the Tuxietu tribe in the three Mongolian tribes in Mobei, which originally only maintained tributary relations, surrender.

For Man Qing, this should be celebrated, but Dorgon was not happy because Wang Yan planted another thorn in his back.

Beijing, Prince Regent's Mansion, Dorgon's study, Dorgon and Daishan stood in front of a sand table, observing the situation in the world.

Dorgon heard that this sand table was a must-have for Wang Yan every time he fought, so he asked the Ministry of Industry to make one for him.

The Manchu Qing occupied Beijing and seized a lot of wealth from the Ming Empire. Among them, the most noteworthy thing is the various materials stored by the Ministry of Households. This allows the Manchu Qing to quickly understand the system of the Ming Dynasty and clearly understand the various places. population, resources, fertile land and wealth.

When Liu Bang entered Guanzhong and Xiao He entered Qin, the gold, silver, treasures and palaces were all given to Xiang Yu, but all the documents of Qin State were collected. This is Xiao He's move, which made Liu Bang obtain an invisible wealth. It enabled the Han to absorb the Qin system, and enabled the Han army to know at a glance when they were fighting, where there was food and where to replenish their troops, they could know in advance. Therefore, Wang Chong of the Eastern Han Dynasty said, "The reason why the Han was able to control Kyushu is because of the power of documents."

The Beijing Ministry of Household Affairs stores materials from all over the world, so Dorgon asked the Ministry of Industry to make a sand table, and officials from the Ministry of Industry quickly made it, and it was even more detailed than Wang Yan's sand table.

At this time, Dorgon and Daishan were bent over beside the sand table, discussing while watching. Daishan looked at Yangzhou and asked casually, "How is Feng Quan's peace negotiation in Nanjing?"

Dorgon straightened up after hearing this, "A few days ago, there was a message that he had met Wang Yan, and that guy wanted Shandong and Henan when he opened his mouth. .”

"Old Fourteen!" Daishan frowned and straightened up, "You said that the Southern Dynasty raised prices on the ground, are you interested in talking? Or do you want to procrastinate?"

The question of Daishan made Dorgon very uneasy. Since the negotiation till now, there has been no progress. He has been thinking about it for half a year.

"Second brother, what do you think?" Dole took a few steps in contemplation, left the sand table, sat down, and decided to have a good talk with Daishan.

Dai Shan went to sit next to him and said in a deep voice: "I think we have to think about this issue. If Nan Chao wants to raise the price on the spot, then we can pay back the money on the spot and talk to them slowly. It doesn't matter. But in case Nanchao wants to delay, we should consider Nanchao's intention."

Dorgon nodded, a little worried, "I'm also very worried about this, Wang Yan is cunning and insidious, last year I sent people to Guangzhou to pretend to negotiate a peace, and played a trick on the Southern Dynasty's monarchs and ministers, this time I am afraid that the Southern Dynasty will hold grudges To retaliate and deliberately deceive us, in fact, we must attack Yangzhou."

"Is there any news about the old fifteen in Yangzhou?" Dai Shan suddenly asked, "What's the move of the Ming army in Jiangbei?"

"Before, the Ming army besieged the city for a long time without attacking, and the soldiers were neglected for a long time. The old fifteen seized the opportunity to go out of the city and surprise the Ming army, breaking the two camps of the Ming army. Surrounded by the siege, so far there is no new movement.”

Dai Shan smiled after hearing this, "After the fall of Jiangnan, we lost two kings in a row, and our morale was low. The old fifteen can break through two battalions, which is considered a small victory. We should publicize more in the banner and the green battalion, so as to inspire Morale!"

Speaking of morale, Dorgon was also very troubled, "The old fifteen said in the letter that if the morale in the city was not too bad, he could defeat Liu Shun's entire army. Unfortunately, there were too many green camps to use, and the number of bannermen was too small, so only Liu Shun was defeated. Two battalions."

"Let's not talk about morale, I ran a little far." Daishan moved his body, moved closer to Dorgon, and said: "In Yangzhou, if there is a peace negotiation, it will be our bargaining chip, but if the negotiation fails, it will be our bargaining chip." Weakness!"

Dorgon knew this a long time ago, otherwise he would not be so anxious.

Yangzhou is too close to the south of the Yangtze River. Although it can threaten the south of the Yangtze River and can be used as a stronghold for the Qing army to go south again, but also because it is too close to the south of the Yangtze River, the Southern Dynasty can quickly mobilize troops and horses to besiege Yangzhou and cut off Yangzhou from the outside world. , and Beijing is too far away from Yangzhou, and Huai'an is in the hands of the Ming army, it will be difficult for the Qing army to respond and support.

"It's time to make a decision!" Dorgon pondered for a while, "Now there are [-] troops stationed in South Korea and North Korea, and a sharp sword is placed behind my Qing Dynasty. If there is a fight in Yangzhou, we will be very passive."

"What is the old fourteen thinking? Taking advantage of the Ming army's unstable foothold in North Korea, why not attack North Korea first?" Dai Shan narrowed his eyes and said, "If it is to attack North Korea, I should go. After all, I am familiar with North Korea."

Daishan was very dissatisfied with North Korea's defection to Nanming, mainly because some people in Manchuria said that it was because he searched North Korea too hard, which caused North Korea to fall to Nanming.

Dorgon shook his head, "I want to fight North Korea. Now North Korea is like Jiangdong Town in the past. If we don't pull out the nail behind us, our Qing Dynasty's actions will be restrained everywhere, and we must always consider the threat posed by North Korea." , It makes me sleepless, but if you want to fight North Korea, Wang Yan will definitely besiege Wei and save Zhao, if you want to fight Yangzhou, then the old fifteen will be in danger."

Dorgon paused, and took a deep breath, "So I'm considering whether to withdraw the old fifteen from Yangzhou and let him guard the front line of Hefei and Xuzhou, so that we won't be so passive on the southern line."

"In this way, we will give up a large piece of land in Huainan." Daishan pondered for a while, "Old Fourteen, have you made up your mind?"

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(End of this chapter)