On the seventh day of the eighth month of the twenty-seventh year of Chongzhen, news of the fall of various parts of Shandong reached the capital.
The cabinet chief, Xie Sanbin, was shocked and began to feel frightened.
Once Shandong falls, the rebels will enter Zhili and threaten the capital.
Both from a military and public opinion perspective, this was very unfavorable to the imperial court in Beijing.
For this purpose he came to the Ministry of War.
He planned to persuade the officials who were unwilling to cooperate before to issue troop mobilization orders to King Ding as soon as possible.
Unexpectedly.
Those officials changed their previous attitudes and cooperated.
All official documents involving Prince Ding must be expedited for special approval.
He came to the Ministry of Rites and encountered the same situation.
The Ministry of Rites cast an official seal as quickly as possible and sent someone to deliver it to Prince Ding Zhu Cijiong.
Xie Sanbin stood there and thought for a while, and finally figured out the whole thing.
Those officials who had previously opposed Prince Ding's command of the military were not only not punished, but were promoted at the instruction of Chongzhen.
But it was just a promotion in rank, not a promotion in position.
The slogan shouted by the Crown Prince in his campaign to support the king was to purge the court of corrupt officials.
As the Minister of Revenue and Prime Minister of the Cabinet, he was one of the main targets of the purge.
In addition to him, his followers will also be cleared out.
Those officials from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Rites who opposed Prince Ding's control of the military were promoted under his promotion.
In the eyes of the Nanjing court, these people were all his followers.
After the rebels enter the capital, they must be liquidated.
Previously, the rebels were blocked in southern Shandong, and officials from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Rites had no sense of crisis.
As the rebels captured dozens of cities in succession, they approached the city of Jinan.
Officials from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Rites began to panic.
Because according to this trend, the rebels will sooner or later attack the capital.
At that time, no matter how they argue, they will be treated as Xie Sanbin's followers.
As for the outcome, they can also find the result from the Jingnan Campaign more than two hundred years ago.
In June of the fourth year of Jianwen, Zhu Di entered Nanjing and killed Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng and Fang Xiaoru, the important ministers relied on by Zhu Yunwen.
In addition, a number of court officials including Zhuo Jing and Bao Zhao were executed.
For the sake of their own fate and the fate of their entire clan, those officials who once opposed Prince Ding's control of the military had to give up their principles and agree to his control of the military.
On the morning of the eighth day of the eighth month, Prince Ding Zhu Cijiong received his official seal and the procedures for mobilizing troops.
He stared at the bottom of the official seal for a while, and then read softly: "Governor-General of Military Affairs, Mighty General, Deputy Commander-in-Chief."
He is very familiar with this position.
When Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Houzhao, conferred an official title on himself, his official title was Governor-General of Military Affairs, Generalissimo, and Commander-in-Chief.
Compared with the official position of Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, his official title had an additional word "deputy".
Now that his father has granted him this official position, it is of extraordinary significance.
The official from the Ministry of Rites next to him said, "Congratulations, Your Highness! Your Highness will surely have smooth sailing and immediate success on this expedition."
The official from the Ministry of War also said: "When Your Highness becomes prosperous in the future, please help me, my old minister."
Zhu Cijiong said solemnly: "Please go back, everyone. I still need to go to the palace to see my father."
"Yes, yes, I'll take my leave!"
After they left.
Zhu Cijiong simply arranged his clothes, came to the Palace of Heavenly Purity, knelt down and saluted: "Your son pays homage to the emperor, father!"
Chongzhen stood up from the dragon throne, walked to Zhu Cijiong, patted his shoulder and said earnestly: "From now on, you are the general leading the army."
Zhu Cijiong lowered his head and said, "Father, there is one thing I don't understand."
"speak."
"I don't believe my elder brother will rebel..."
Before Zhu Cijiong could finish his words, Chongzhen stopped him and said, "It doesn't matter. It has already happened."
Zhu Cijiong raised his head: "But..."
"No buts. You have two missions when you go south this time. One is to bring back the money, and the third is to distribute the land to the people."
"Money? Land?" Zhu Cijiong was stunned: "Your Majesty, I am stupid, please give me some advice."
Chongzhen asked Zhu Cijiong to stand up, and after dismissing his attendants, he said, "Do you know why it is difficult for dynasties to last for more than three hundred years?"
Zhu Cijiong shook his head: "I don't know."
Chongzhen said slowly: "Three hundred years is not the limit of the dynasty, but the limit of land annexation. Natural disasters are only superficial, and the reality is still a man-made disaster. The more serious the natural disasters, the more serious the land annexation. When the land annexation is serious to a certain extent, the people who can't survive can only rise up..."
Prince Ding Zhu Cijiong opened his mouth in disbelief.
He had not received any imperial education, so when he first heard such remarks he was so shocked that he was speechless.
After explaining the reason for the land, Chongzhen continued to ask: "Zhu Cijiong, there is another most important and direct reason for the decline of dynasties. Do you know what it is?"
Zhu Cijiong had just recovered from his shock and after careful consideration, he quickly replied: "I thought it was taxes."
"Oh?" Chongzhen was somewhat surprised by Zhu Cijiong's performance. "Can you tell me more?"
"Yes." Zhu Cijiong lowered his head: "I will start with what your father just said about land annexation. The more serious the land annexation, the less land the ordinary people have. When the government collects taxes, it often lets the ordinary people bear the lion's share, while letting the wealthy gentry and the rich households with money and land bear the smaller share..."
"When the court can no longer collect taxes from the rich, the dynasty will decline."
After saying this, Zhu Cijiong raised his head somewhat arrogantly, waiting for Chongzhen's praise.
Although he did not receive imperial education, he came into contact with a large number of grassroots generals and soldiers when he was in the Liaodong army.
He often had long conversations with those people.
At first they spoke reservedly and didn't dare to say some things at all.
The more contacts I have, the more I dare to say.
Zhu Cijiong discovered that it was not the imperial court nor the people themselves who were causing the suffering of the people.
But the local government and local dignitaries.
So he developed his own insights and theories.
Chongzhen smiled and asked, "You mean the direct cause of the dynasty's decline was the inability to collect taxes from the powerful and wealthy?"
Zhu Cixiong nodded: "Your Majesty, I do have this intention."
"Haha," Chongzhen patted Zhu Cijiong's shoulder with some relief, but shook his head and said, "That's right, but what you just said is still the appearance, not the essence."
Zhu Cijiong lowered his head first, then raised it again and asked, "Excuse me, what is the essence of what Father is talking about?"
Chongzhen said earnestly: "It is power."
"Power?" Zhu Cijiong didn't understand.
He didn't dare look directly at Chongzhen and could only look at the top of the hall.
The beams and pillars there are as complicated as the situation in the Ming Dynasty.
"Yes!" Chongzhen nodded: "In any dynasty, money is dependent on power. It seems to be a taxation issue, but it is actually a power issue."
"Since ancient times, the imperial power has never been extended below the county level! When the Ming Dynasty was first established, Emperor Taizu Gao used his sword to kill people from the south to the north, letting everyone know the majesty of the imperial power. During the Jingnan Rebellion, Emperor Chengzu demonstrated it once again."
"Since then, nothing like this has happened again. More than two hundred years have passed, and the people below, especially the gentry and wealthy families, have forgotten the majesty of the imperial power."
"Now, it's time to let them see it again!"
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