After in-depth discussions between the grandfather and grandson, the preliminary agreement reached is as follows:

The first is to reward the civil servants and generals who participated in the expedition to establish the state.

General soldiers like Du Song cannot be promoted in actual official positions. They can only add the title of Governor of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion, and then add honorary titles such as Prince Shaobao. Other deputy generals, staff generals, etc. are basically

The capital officer was promoted to one level.

Naturally, Chai Guozhu, Zhang Chengyin, etc. who died for their country were promoted to a higher level and received relatively generous pensions.

As new officers were promoted, old officers retired. In this year, Datong Commander-in-Chief Ma Gui and Sichuan Commander-in-Chief Liu Wei both retired because of their age.

In terms of their successors, Li Rubai, the former deputy commander-in-chief of Liaoyang, was promoted to the commander-in-chief of Datong. Ma Chengzhao, the former commander of Henghai Guards, took over as commander-in-chief of Sichuan Guards. Xiao Bozhi, the former commander of Kuandian Guards, was appointed deputy commander-in-chief of Liaoyang. As His Highness Taisun

The two new commanders of the two guard armies that consumed the most effort were both appointed by Taisun: the commander of the Kuandian Guard was Liu Zhaosun, the adopted son of Liu Wei, and the new commander of the Henghai Guard was Cao Wenzhao.

.

The two civil servants who participated in the expedition to Liaodong, Yang Gao, held the title of Minister of the Ministry of War and served as governor of Jiliao. Xiong Tingbi was transferred to Yunnan as governor - Chen Shiji was not as good as Sun Chengzong. He alone could not control Mu State. Meng

To support the jade mining industry. Moreover, Siam had begun to exert its strength at this time, and Ming Dynasty must make preparations in advance in the south.

For this reason, all Kuandian Guard troops directly transferred their military status to Yunnan: the climates in the southwest and northeast are completely different, and these Liaodong men had to adapt in advance.

The rewards for military officers and civil servants are relatively simple: the promotion of official status can satisfy many people. But the rewards for ordinary soldiers are even heartbreaking for rich people like Zhu Youdong.

Rules before the Ming Dynasty: Military merit only counts for the first rank. As an ordinary soldier, you have two choices after getting the first rank on the battlefield. One is to be promoted to an officer (if there is a vacant position). The other is to receive a silver reward. According to

The price in the middle and late Ming Dynasty was generally fifty taels per head.

This system actually had some rationality at the time.

Due to long-term arrears in military pay, officers at all levels had to use limited resources to protect their servants in order to maintain their combat effectiveness. Therefore, military towns in the Ming Dynasty often claimed to have tens of thousands of soldiers, but the number of servants who could really fight was only the so-called number.

One-tenth or even one-hundredth. So after a battle, getting hundreds of heads is a rare victory. One head is fifty taels, and a great victory means paying tens of millions of taels. Calculate it like this

It's not too expensive.

This time, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty obtained a total of nearly 20,000 Jianzhou Jurchen heads...

Although Zhu Youdong had already agreed before this battle that beheading would not be allowed during the war, and the assessment would be unified after the war. But no matter what, in the end, everyone gathered 20,000 heads. So in this case, Zhu Youdong directly paid 1 million

Two silver coins.

In addition to the two million taels he gave Wanli, and the changes in uniforms for the entire army in the past few months, he was fired for 3.2 million taels in one battle. No matter how rich Zhu Youdong is,

It really hurts.

"Hey, we must quickly carry out currency reform, military merit calculation reform, and even the national fiscal and taxation system reform. Otherwise, I won't be able to fight a few wars just by making money from my business! Cao Sanxi, after all this trouble, we have a lot of money in our pockets.

How much silver do you have left?"

"Your Highness, we currently have around three million taels of silver that we can use."

"Well, I remember that you told me before that after the establishment of Ming Sea Trade, especially after Funing Town stepped up its anti-smuggling efforts, our Nanhua Palace would have a surplus of at least three million every year?"

"Yes, but I would like to say something offensive. With His Highness's bold style, I may not be able to make ends meet here one day."

"Ah~hahaha~~" Zhu Youdong scratched his head in embarrassment: "Shopkeeper Cao, don't worry, we should have no major expenditures in the short term of two or three years. We have to prepare reserves for future currency reform.

Well, I remember this."

"Hey, I hope this is the case for your Majesty's virtue."

Hearing that his God of Wealth was still dissatisfied with him, Zhu Youdong had no choice but to lower his head and continue begging for mercy. The two of them were half joking and half serious about financial expenses when Yuan Keli hurried over.

"Your Highness, the Ministry of Rites just sent news that the eldest uncle died suddenly at home."

"...Hmm." After pondering for a while, Zhu Youdong sighed: "We still have to have a bottom line when doing things. As the saying goes, it will not harm my wife and children. In order to prevent some officials from randomly flattering me, we have to make some gestures.

.”

"Yes, I understand. I will go to the Guo Mansion in person later to express my condolences in the name of His Highness." After saying this, Yuan Keli said again: "Your Highness, the position of the eldest uncle is vacant, who is the candidate?"

"Does Mr. Yuan want to become an official now?"

"I have no such idea for the time being, and even if I want to serve as an official, I don't want to go to the Ministry of Rites."

"Forget it, Mr. Wen has just been promoted to Vice Minister. If he is asked to take over the position of Minister of Rites, many officials who have nothing to do with this matter may have a bad impression of us. In short, we will not do this.

Involved."

"Yes, I understand. Your Highness can still restrain himself at this time. I admire you."

"Where, I still need Mr. Yuan to remind me from time to time."

"Your Highness." Yuan Keli brought up another topic: "Eunuch Wei has just sent someone here, saying that Li En arrested someone in Ciqing Palace and caused a lot of noise in the palace. Eunuch Wei will go to Ciqing Palace in person now.

Blocked."

"Nonsense! Someone's coming, hurry up and prepare the sedan. Forget it, I'll run by myself."

Although Xinghua Palace is outside the palace city, it is not very far away after all. Zhu Youdong ran for about 20 minutes and arrived quickly. Then he saw Lao Wei pointing at Li En's nose and scolding him fiercely.

.

"Okay, you've made great progress. Eunuch Li, you went to Ciqing Palace to cause trouble without even saying hello? Do you know who lives here? My father! Mother! My younger brothers and sisters! You are too brave.

Or what? How dare you provoke me?"

"Hey, hey, Eunuch Wei, what's the matter? No matter how bold our family is, we don't dare to make him angry. Isn't this Wang An, the head of Ciqing Palace, just recruited in Dongchang? It's said to be Ciqing Palace

There are several selected servants and many chamberlains who are involved in driving a wedge between Master Qiantose and Young Master and his son. Therefore, our family just wants to bring these people to the East Factory for questioning."

Seeing Wei Zhongxian treating the dignified ceremonial supervisor and eunuch as a grandson, who looked like he was nine thousand years old in history, Zhu Youdong frowned even more: This time he won a great victory on the battlefield and in the political dispute.

After a great victory, it seems that the people under his command have become a little inflated: first Yuan Keli wanted to help Wen Tiren seize the position of Minister of Rites, and then Wei Zhongxian, who had been pretending to be a grandson for so long, showed his true nature!

A person who travels a hundred miles is only half a century old. He may be killed when he becomes emperor in the future, not to mention that he is still a grandson now?

"Wei Zhongxian!"

"Ah? Ouch, you are finally here, please take a look..."

"Kneel down!"

"ah?"

"Gu! I want you to kneel down for Eunuch Li!"

After Wei knelt down with a puzzled look on his face, Zhu Youdong personally bowed to Li En: "My dear friend, my servant doesn't understand the rules. If he commits the following offense, he will be offended. Please don't worry, my dear friend, I will definitely give you an explanation for this matter.

"

"My words are serious, who are you? How dare you ask me for an explanation? Eunuch Wei was also in a hurry and didn't take the matter seriously. Haha, he didn't take the matter seriously."

Looking at Li En, whose face was obviously relieved, Zhu Youdong also breathed a sigh of relief. Then he approached Li En and said softly: "This matter will be resolved until Wang An. Don't make any more trouble."

"Yes, young master, I understand."

…

On April 10, 1612, Zhu Youdong returned to Beijing and organized a military parade in front of the imperial court that day. At that time, millions of soldiers and civilians in Yanjing shed tears for the warriors who died for the country. They were also shocked by the military appearance of the Ming Dynasty military towns.

On April 20, Guo Zhengyu, the Minister of Rites, died suddenly at home. The next day, Wang An, the head of Ciqing Palace, accidentally fell into a well and died.

Soon after, the emperor issued an edict to reprimand the ministers who had written a letter asking the emperor to study hard some time ago. Two censors from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, led by some officials, continued to impeach him. Therefore, the ministers who were reprimanded, such as Yang Lian,

Zuo Guangdou and others had to submit a letter to resign. At this point, the Donglin Party's power in the court was almost wiped out.

On the first day of May, the emperor's grandson Zhu Youdong left Beijing again and went south. Before leaving, Zhu Youdong personally mentioned seven words to each of his subordinates: A person who travels a hundred miles will be half-ninety!

...

Zhu Youdong walked away coolly, but he left a lot of feathers in Beijing.

The most miserable person here is Zhu Changluo of Ciqing Palace.

After Guo Zhengyu committed suicide and Wang An was arrested, Zhu Changluo thanked guests behind closed doors and saw no one in the Ciqing Palace. The daily activities of applauding his favorites and selected attendants were also completely stopped, and tea and rice were also used as much as possible.

few.

This state lasted for more than half a month, and even Wanli couldn't stand it: after all, he was still his son.

Then Wanli called Zhu Changluo to his side.

After the father and son stepped back, Wanli said: "Why, you haven't figured it out yet?"

"Hey...Father, son, son, son is really..."

"Hey." Looking at Zhu Changluo, who was listless and had gray hair on his temples when he was only in his thirties, Wanli sighed and said: "I used to care about you and teach you too little. So I have changed my mind about some things.

, but you didn’t.”

"Father?"

"Since ancient times, the relationship between the emperor and the crown prince has been extremely difficult to get along with. Among them, the most difficult thing is the crown prince. I came to the throne at the age of ten, and my feelings are not obvious yet. But what Mr. Zhang and the queen mother gave me back then... ugh

, in short, as for this prince, if you say you don’t do anything, the emperor will think you are useless and will not be able to shoulder the important responsibilities of the country in the future. If you do something, the emperor will think you are ambitious and can’t wait to get the throne... Ru Donger

According to common sense, it seems that the great-grandson who is so troubled should restrain himself a little. So, you think that I will temporarily weaken Dong'er's authority, and then do some bad things.

However, what you didn't expect is that this kind of situation will only happen to those emperors who can control the power alone and are extremely powerful. For example, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Taizu of this dynasty, Chengzu, etc. But I am not like that.

King.

Since the fall of Renzong in this dynasty, the emperor has gradually been unable to hold power alone. Many times, I was bullied by the civil servants until I was the only one sulking in the palace. As an emperor, I have been subject to too many restrictions...

..I ask myself, my skills are pretty good, but I still look like this. If you succeed to the throne in the future, how will you be able to deal with those ministers?

Therefore, I am actually happy to see Dong'er seize power, especially military power. This is for the sake of the future generations of my Zhu family. I have never had all the power, and naturally I have no intention of controlling everything.

Thoughts. You guys have completely used the wrong idea."

Looking at Zhu Changluo who was still silent, Wanli shook his head secretly: "Relax, you have to remember that Dong'er has grown up now. If you forcefully suppress him, if he really makes up his mind to fight back, it will not be good for the country."

There will be chaos. I can see clearly that this child is a stubborn donkey. You have to guide him according to the trend and never force him to lower his head... After all, he still values ​​filial piety and family affection. So in the future,
Chapter completed!