Chapter 788 The Proud Taoist (Thanks to the book friend "Xiangfuzhiren" for the reward)
Emperor Jiajing's eyes remained calm, but Jiang Qingzhi knew that behind this calmness was a raging rage.
At that time, the young Emperor Jiajing was full of enthusiasm to reform the Ming Dynasty, but Yang Tinghe and others were bent on seizing power. He joined forces with Empress Dowager Zhang in the palace and used the Great Ceremony Debate to try to force Emperor Jiajing to surrender.
It is not uncommon for the monarch and his subjects to fight for power, but it is really rare for the monarch and his subjects to fight secretly from the founding to the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
If the emperor and his subjects could work together, how could the Ming Dynasty have come to this point?
Yang Tinghe has a good reputation in history books, but what did he leave behind?
There was a rift between the emperor and his ministers, suspicion between the emperor and his ministers, and endless fighting between the two sides, which led to the Ming Dynasty's national power deteriorating.
Xu Jie!
Famous minister!
But what did he do?
Even Zhang Juzheng, the first thing he did after taking power was to suppress Emperor Wanli.
Zhang Juzheng followed Yang Tinghe's old path. He joined forces with the Empress Dowager in the palace and the powerful eunuch Feng Bao in the palace. The three parties worked together to suppress Emperor Wanli.
After Emperor Wanli, those emperors were suppressed by their ministers and became like puppets.
Until Emperor Chongzhen, this emperor was unwilling to be suppressed by his subjects, so he simply broke off relations with them, demoting them today and punishing them tomorrow.
If you don't make my life easy, then I will make you tremble with fear.
This is following the path of Emperor Taizu Gao - treating civil servants as pigs and dogs!
This struggle between the emperor and his ministers eventually led to the destruction of the Ming Dynasty.
"Three to five years?" Emperor Jiajing frowned. In his mind, three to five years was far from enough.
As the country was founded, the problems of the Ming Dynasty accumulated more and more. In the eyes of Emperor Jiajing, it would take at least 20 years to completely change all of this.
Three to five years!
"not enough."
"Yes." Jiang Qingzhi also knew that it was not enough, but he said calmly: "Your Majesty, the threat from the north is actually related to the attitude of the Ming Dynasty."
"What do you mean?" Emperor Jiajing asked. He suddenly found that Jiang Qingzhi's face was bleeding. He was shocked and said, "This face..."
Jiang Qingzhi touched his face and felt blood. He looked down at the blood on his hand and said, "I hurried along the way... the autumn wind was so cold that it blew a cut on my face. It's warm inside the palace, so the cut healed. It's fine."
"Send the imperial physician." Emperor Jiajing frowned.
"Yes." Huang Jin asked someone to summon the imperial physician, "Send someone who is proficient in external injuries. Also, prepare some of those skin-nourishing substances for Long Wilbur."
Inside the hall, Jiang Qingzhi wiped his face a few times nonchalantly, not realizing that he had smeared blood all over his face, making his handsome look even more ferocious.
"Tell me." Emperor Jiajing asked someone to bring tea to Jiang Qingzhi. The two of them sat opposite each other on the futon, the difference was that the Taoist priest sat cross-legged while Jiang Qingzhi sat cross-legged.
"During the reign of Emperor Taizu Gao, the army went out to attack the Hu people. It was appropriate to use the remaining courage to pursue the enemy. But there is a problem." Jiang Qingzhi took a sip of tea, "Fighting and killing may seem fun, but it did not eradicate the source of the threat from the grassland to the Ming Dynasty."
"Hmm?" This was the first time that Daoye heard someone express dissatisfaction with the policies of Emperor Taizu Gao.
"Emperor Chengzu led five expeditions to the north, dealing a heavy blow to the foreign races that were recovering their strength. But then..." Jiang Qingzhi held the teacup, "then the regime came to an end. The subsequent emperors did not have the ability to suppress civil officials, nor did they have the military proficiency of Emperor Taizu and Emperor Chengzu, so they had no choice but to stop."
The Battle of Tumu was an attempt, and the end result was that the country was almost destroyed by Yesen.
"If we don't fight the foreign tribes on the grassland for a day, they will grow stronger. If we don't fight them for a year, they will covet the Central Plains. If we don't fight them for five years, they will definitely move south!"
This is a fact proven by the laws of history.
Huang Jin came in and saw Jiang Qingzhi sitting there talking freely. The Taoist nodded frequently and he couldn't help but smile.
"Eunuch Huang, what are you laughing at?" Zhang Tong asked.
"We! What we are laughing at is... everything is good."
Jiang Qingzhi said: "In other words, fighting cannot completely solve the threat to the grassland. While fighting, we also have to go out!"
Since the beginning of historical records, the foreign tribes on the grasslands have been the biggest threat to the Central Plains dynasties.
The two sides fought back and forth, either you killed a lot of my heads, or I killed nine out of ten of your houses.
In the end, no one was able to completely defeat anyone.
"Go out?" Emperor Jiajing was puzzled, and then his eyes suddenly flickered, "You mean... send troops directly to occupy the grassland?"
Send troops to capture grasslands, build cities, use cities as foundations, and expand step by step...
A strange light flashed in the eyes of Emperor Jiajing. "Advance step by step. After ten years, twenty years... drive the foreigners out of the grassland. If we lose the grassland, we will also lose the horse breeding land. Without the cavalry, what else will the foreigners have?"
Uh!
Jiang Qingzhi scratched his head
"Yes and no."
"Hmm? What is that?" Emperor Jiajing thought this method was good. "If everything goes well, it will only take two generations of emperors to complete this task. This is a way to ensure long-term peace and stability."
Dao Ye’s idea is good, but it is not suitable!
"Your Majesty, this move is too costly to bear."
If the Taoist's method is followed, the Ming Dynasty will continue to use troops on the grasslands. The annual cost of maintaining troops, sending troops, building cities, conscripting civilians, and mobilizing food and grass...
"I'm afraid Lu Song will resign." Jiang Qingzhi said, "And building a city is not cheap."
Later, the Russians used this method, advancing step by step, building strongholds wherever they went. Using the strongholds as a base, they attacked from all sides, and gradually defeated the grassland aliens.
The method is a good one, but Jiang Qingzhi thinks it is too tiring. And it needs to be continuously promoted.
It was easy to conquer, but it left huge hidden dangers behind. When the country collapsed, the foreign races rose up and broke away from the rule of the old Russians, leaving behind devastation.
Therefore, no matter how big a country is, it will be in danger if it is warlike.
It depends on how you understand the words of our ancestors. In the course of Russian history, the wisdom and foresight of this sentence have been demonstrated.
What is the saying "the sea embraces all rivers"? When the country is prosperous, it will naturally embrace all rivers, and none of them dare to jump out. Once the country is in decline, those rivers will rush out to fight back...
This is what happened later when the Russians and the Eryas had a big fight.
"I think we need to start from several aspects." Jiang Qingzhi said: "The first is conquest, which is the foundation."
The foreign tribes on the grassland are hard-hearted and will not respond to soft words. If you don’t defeat them and make them submit and shout “Long live the Khan”, there will be no talk of long-term peace and stability in the future.
"Secondly, we need integration." Jiang Qingzhi smiled.
"Integration?" Emperor Jiajing stroked his beard, "We can move the foreign races to different places."
Tsk!
Jiang Qingzhi stared at the Taoist priest rudely and cursed Yang Tinghe again in his heart.
"Scatter them all over the place and don't let them stick together."
“After three generations, it will naturally integrate.”
"They must be taught from a young age what the teachings of Confucius and Mencius are."
"Ok?"
"Your Majesty, the teachings of Confucius and Mencius are great! They cultivate the body and the mind." "Is this also the way of fusion?"
“Cultural identity is crucial.”
"But that is the enemy of the Mohist school."
"Everything has its pros and cons. As for Confucianism, I think the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. But when it comes to cultural integration, I think Confucianism is unmatched! Mohism is inferior!"
Straight House.
"Is Jiang Qingzhi back?"
Yan Shifan stood up suddenly, with a fierce look in his eyes, "Where's my father?"
The attendant said, "I didn't see Yuanfu."
Cui Yuan said: "Now that Jiang Qingzhi has returned, the army needs someone to lead it."
Yan Shifan was so concerned that he was confused. He was startled when he heard this, and then he blurted out, "Why did Jiang Qingzhi come back early?"
As soon as the good news arrived, Jiang Qingzhi actually followed closely, which showed that he was in a hurry.
"He is also worried..." Cui Yuan narrowed his eyes, "It's still the same old saying, great merits are not rewarded!"
"His son was born with a special sign, but there are many people born with special signs. If the emperor is suspicious, he will find an opportunity to get rid of him, or even kill him. The outside world is in an uproar, but they just want to use this to attack Jiang Qingzhi. With great achievements, the special sign becomes more glaring. The root of the problem is still the great achievements."
"Young Lord, what you said is correct. Jiang Qingzhi must have known that his achievements this time were too great, and he was worried that His Majesty would be suspicious, so he hurried back to the capital."
Cui Yuan thought of the old Yuanfu who was leading the army back at this moment, and he couldn't help but envy him... The whole world is paying attention! Who wouldn't want to?
The older people get, the more they fear death, and the more they fear death, the more they want to find a sense of existence.
That's what Cui Yuan did.
"Go and find out." Yan Shifan ordered, "See what's going on between His Majesty and Jiang Qingzhi."
When someone went there, Cui Yuan said, "Your Majesty will surely comfort them with kind words and even reward them."
"That's as it should be." Yan Shifan stood with his hands behind his back, his one eye full of coldness, "Your Majesty is suspicious... What should we do?"
Cui Yuan hesitated for a moment, "If we follow suit and add fuel to the flames, that's fine, but once Jiang Qingzhi lies dormant, we'll be conspicuous."
The conspicuous bag will be beaten severely.
When the literati could not find their target, they turned to Yan Song and his son.
"That's what I'm worried about."
Yan Shifan was thinking when someone came in hurriedly, "Young Lord."
"Eh!" The person who came was Yan Song's follower. Yan Shifan was startled. "But is there something wrong with Dad?"
He thought of his father's health and couldn't help but regret, "I should have persuaded Dad earlier."
"The Prime Minister is fine." The attendant said, "The Prime Minister asked me to tell the young minister about Jiang Qingzhi's matter... to help him!"
Yan Shifan closed his eyes and nodded after a long while, "I understand."
……
Yongshou Palace.
"...force them step by step, give candy to those who are obedient, and kill all the disobedient ones. But immigration is a problem." Jiang Qingzhi said.
"Stupid!"
"Master Dao, please tell me."
"Hainan and other places were all wild and desolate in the past, but now they are gradually becoming more populated. Why do you think that is?"
"Oh! Yes, exile, banishment, and officials who have committed crimes are also sent there. If this continues for generations, the wilderness will become Jiangnan."
Isn’t Su Shi an example?
Throw the prisoners into the wild lands, and the demoted officials into those places... In this way, the officials and the "people" were there, and gradually, step by step, those places were enriched and assimilated.
Jiang Qingzhi thought of his ancestors.
At that time they were just a tribe, surrounded by barren land. It was by relying on these means that they gradually turned the Central Plains into a livable place.
Emperor Jiajing stroked his beard and said, "These methods can be implemented slowly."
"Yes."
Jiang Qingzhi looked tired, and Emperor Jiajing said, "Go back and rest!"
Jiang Qingzhi resigned.
He didn't ask about the subsequent rewards, nor did he ask about any suspicions...
The Taoist didn’t say anything either.
The two seemed to be playing a game of charades.
Huang Jin was puzzled. After sending Jiang Qingzhi out, he came back and saw Emperor Jiajing standing in front of the statue.
The back figure seemed a lot taller.
"Everyone thought I would be suspicious of this fool. They were all waiting to see the secret struggle between the emperor and his subjects. They were all waiting for me to destroy the Great Wall myself!"
Huang Jin's heart was shocked.
"When they saw that I was silent, they thought that I was suspicious and condoning them, so they showed up and acted in a very ugly way."
"Little did they know that the idiot had already submitted a memorial before the war. Does Huang Ban know what he said?"
"I don't know."
"This idiot said, 'Master, this battle will definitely be a great victory. Do you suspect me? Listen, he asked me whether I would suspect him before the battle even started.'"
"Tell me, how should I answer him?"
"This slave doesn't know."
"I told him..."
"No one in this world can make me suspicious!"
(End of this chapter)
