Chongzhen raised his head and was shocked.

He knew that the first battle between Huang Degong and Duoduo had come to an end.

After reading the contents of the report, Chongzhen was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. He asked the eunuch to pass the report to Li Banghua and said, "Huang Degong is worthy of being Huang Chuangzi. He actually defeated the main force of the Jiannu. It's a pity that he only killed 200 enemies."

After Li Banghua glanced at the newspaper, his face became solemn.

"Your Majesty, the actual number of enemies killed should be more than what is written in the Tang newspaper. Huang Degong reported less."

"Oh? Tell me about it." Chongzhen couldn't help but look up at Li Banghua.

Whenever the front line sent in reports, the civil officials would always doubt the number of enemy kills in the reports, but without exception, they all believed that the front line had falsely reported the number of enemy kills.

After all, the more people you kill, the more rewards the court will give you.

The civil officials ostensibly wanted to save money for the court, but in reality they wanted to suppress the military generals and make them bow to the civil officials.

This trick is really effective.

If the civil and military officials leading troops outside the Ming Dynasty wanted to avoid being constrained, they had to make friends with ministers in the court.

To put it bluntly, it’s a gift!

Li Banghua, the chief minister of the cabinet, actually broke out of the previous vicious circle.

He was right about the person.

Li Banghua clasped his fists and bowed: "Your Majesty, first of all, it is written in the Tang report that after the battle, both sides sent several teams of 100 people to carry the wounded and collect the bodies. The number of enemies killed by our army was reported based on the bodies of the Jiannu left at the scene, and the number was inaccurate."

"Secondly, the Jiannu had a habit of looting the bodies of their comrades when they retreated, so there were only a limited number of bodies left at the scene."

"We actually killed more enemies than we did before. Moreover, it is midsummer now, and those seriously injured Jiannu will most likely die."

"According to my guess, the Jiannu casualties are around a thousand."

Chongzhen nodded.

Li Banghua continued, "Although Huang Degong defeated the Jiannu's left wing, the Jiannu cavalry was too strong. If he continued to pursue them, he would be dispersed and annihilated by the cavalry. So his strategy of retreating and holding on to the camp was fine."

"Well!" Chongzhen became more and more satisfied with the performance of the Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty.

This cabinet chief was not only able to stabilize the civil service group, but also to consider the military generals, and at the same time handled the relationship between the emperor and civil and military officials very skillfully.

The only worry is that he is old and frail, and coupled with the heavy cabinet work, it is unknown how long he can last.

"Since we have won the first battle, the next step is to wait for Dorgon to take the bait."

"Your Majesty, rest assured. I have arranged for people to set up smoke signals and bonfires along the way. Once we find that Dorgon's army is on the move, we will pass the news to the capital and Huailai Guard as quickly as possible. No matter how fast the Jiannu cavalry is, they can't be faster than the smoke signals!"

"Next..." Li Banghua hesitated, not knowing whether he should continue.

Chongzhen smiled calmly: "It doesn't matter, I have made up my mind."

"Someone come."

"I'm here." The eunuch outside the door hurried into the hall and knelt on the ground.

"Summon Liu Wenyao and Li Xianzhong to an audience."

"As you wish."

After the eunuch who delivered the message left, Chongzhen continued to say to Li Banghua: "Lord Li, let's continue to discuss the policy of governing the country. Where were we just now?"

Li Banghua thought for a moment: "Speaking of production...production relations and productivity."

"Oh, right!" Chongzhen stretched out his right index finger and poked his head gently. "There are two ways to make production relations adapt to productivity. One is rebellion, and the other is reform."

"Mr. Li, listen to me first!"

Li Banghua was about to speak when Chongzhen stopped him.

"Let's not talk about the rebellion for now. Let's talk about the reform first."

Li Banghua breathed a sigh of relief. Before this, he even thought that the Ming Emperor in front of him would rebel against him.

Fortunately, the thing I worried about did not happen.

You can't blame him for thinking too much. The Ming emperor's style of doing things has become more and more weird and unpredictable recently.

political reform...

Li Banghua thought for a moment and then said, "Your Majesty, there are many records of political reforms in history. I have only selected some of the famous ones."

"During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Qin State had Shang Yang's reforms; during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, there was Wang Anshi's reforms; during the reign of Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty, there was the Wanli New Deal led by Zhang Juzheng."

"What's the result?" Chongzhen asked.

"The result..." Li Banghua looked a little frustrated: "Except for Shang Yang's reform, which can be called a success, the other two reforms failed in the end."

"Does Lord Li know why the reform failed?"

reason?

Li Banghua had no way to answer.

Because the reasons are too complicated and the reform involves too many people and interests.

Take Wang Anshi and Zhang Juzheng as examples. When they were alive, they were able to implement reforms through iron-fisted means.

But once you die, all your efforts will be wasted.

Even though Shang Yang succeeded in his reforms, he still could not escape the fate of being killed in battle or torn to pieces.

Seeing that Li Banghua was silent, Chongzhen said, "Reform is difficult, but not difficult!"

"I have read a sentence in a book: Don't touch the interests of the upper class, and don't touch the ideas of the lower class; touching the interests of the upper class is like taking his life, and touching the ideas of the lower class is like digging up his ancestral grave."

"The ideas of the lower class are the source of the interests of the upper class!"

"If the reform can take both into account, it may succeed. But... it's difficult, you can't have your cake and eat it too!"

Li Banghua didn't care at first after hearing Chongzhen's words, but after he repeated this sentence silently in his mind several times, his whole body was shocked.

The interests of the upper class!

The thoughts of the lower class!

The ideas of the lower class are the source of the interests of the upper class?

The meaning of this sentence is profound!

"Your Majesty...I am afraid that my understanding is different from what Your Majesty said, so please allow me to speak out what I think."

"Mr. Li, please speak freely. There is no right or wrong in discussing national policy today."

"As you wish." Li Banghua paused, "Take the Ming Dynasty as an example."

Having said this, Li Banghua couldn't help but pause again.

After all, this topic is too sensitive, and as the prime minister of the cabinet, he has to deal with it with caution.

"Zhang Juzheng's reforms aimed at the performance evaluation system for civil servants affected the interests of officials; the land survey affected the interests of the royal family, nobles, guards and aristocratic families; as for the Single Whip System, it also affected the interests of many people."

"Although the military commanders at the border were given the power to make arbitrary decisions on border defense, they had no say in the court, so Zhang Juzheng's reforms failed."

"If the royal family, nobles, officials, and aristocratic families are regarded as the upper class, then Zhang Juzheng's reforms will damage the rights and interests of these people, and the result is doomed to fail."

"Your Majesty, am I right?"

"Mr. Li is right."

"Then..." Li Banghua looked up at Chongzhen, "What do you mean by the lower class people's thoughts, Your Majesty?"

"field!"

"Ah?" Li Banghua was speechless. "Ideas... shouldn't ideas be something ethereal? Why is it fields?"

Chongzhen did not answer the question directly, but said: "On your way back, Lord Li, just go to the street and find a poor person to ask. Ask them what they will do after they have money, and you will understand."