"Your Majesty, Qin believes that in order to govern the country today, we should push aside the inherent shackles of Neo-Confucianism and follow the methods of Legalism and Tao Zhu. Confucianism can adopt some of the principles of Xunzi and Mencius."
Wei Zhongxian and Zhu Youxiao both frowned when they heard this, and the emperor even said:
"Wouldn't this overthrow the entire situation, and the world would inevitably be in a state of uproar?"
Gao Jingfei nodded:
"It is true, but the hidden dangers in this world have been laid since the Han Dynasty. After the Mangxin Rebellion, only a few moths were swept away, and the Han Dynasty continued for more than two hundred years. However, the roots of Confucianism date back to the Song Dynasty.
It was already rotten from the beginning. They have controlled the power for thousands of years and one family has become the dominant one. Without the threat of external enemies, they naturally began to decay internally. Youdao said, "If a country has no foreign patients, the country will perish." Now is the time of the Great Revolution. Let's see
Is Your Majesty determined to do so..."
"It should be noted that although the Legalist system is good, dynasties that have adopted the Legalist path have always been able to be strong and vigorous for a while, but the flaw of the Legalist system is that it is too overbearing and strong. Few who implement this method can have a happy ending. Not to mention that there are many vested interests in this world.
, if they want to change and use their money to supplement the imperial court, they may provoke a strong counterattack, and they will face a situation where they are almost enemies of the 'people of the world'!"
"Let's not talk about what happened to Shang Yang and Wu Qi in the past. In the early years, Zhang Wenzhenggong just sorted out the land and carried out a whipping method. Everyone knows what happened to him. How long has it been until now?"
After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao and the other two people had ups and downs in their hearts, especially Wei Zhongxian. Although he wanted to immediately innovate and clean up the world, he couldn't help but feel worried about the future.
Because although he is not in the same camp as Zhang Juzheng and other civil servants, they are all working for the Ming Dynasty and the royal family. Even if there is no change now, I am afraid that he will inevitably be liquidated in the future, especially the emperor and the court officials.
Fortunately, the emperor's body and bones are now healed after receiving Taoist treatment...
Thinking of this, Wei couldn't help but look at the man in front of him gratefully again.
Gao Jingfei ignored what the two of them were thinking, paved the way for what he said above, and finally got to the point.
"Your Majesty asked me how to govern the country. Qin is a man of few talents and little knowledge, but he also has a little knowledge."
"How can a country be strong? One is power, and the other is money. What is power? It is the one who has strong soldiers and horses! What is money? The world of economy is the exchange of those who have what they have and what they don't have!"
The emperor and Jiu Qiansui couldn't help but nodded in unison.
They have had vague ideas about these before. In fact, they have seen similar theories in books and lectures, but the writing in those books is rather vague. They are embarrassed to say it so straightforwardly, especially Confucianism.
Literary men all like to save face and are shy about speaking and making money in order to show that their style is honest. Under this influence, if the emperor is obsessed with making money, he will also be discouraged and obstructed by the civil servants.
In fact, they were just afraid that the emperor would take money from their pockets.
Now after listening to the Taoist's words, I realized that the two words "power" and "money" are the foundation of a country and a dynasty, and are truly wise words.
"If Your Majesty wants to control the world and control the world's money, you must first have an army that is loyal to Your Majesty."
When Zhu Youxiao heard this, he couldn't help but get excited. He imagined other grand scenes of controlling power and wealth in the world. Even Wei Zhongxian, who was thinking about it, became immersed in it.
But Gao Jingfei immediately poured some cold water on them and said:
"From what I can see, in the past my Ming Dynasty was chasing the grasslands in the north and conquering Jiaozhi in the south. The capital camp has long been out of use. As for the guards in various places, although their numbers are huge, there is no need to say more!"
"Looking at the troops of the Ming Dynasty, the frontier armies from all over the country are undoubtedly the most powerful. However, the upper ranks of the frontier armies are domineering and greedy, while the lower ranks of the soldiers are poor and have many complaints. Those who dare to fight are mostly accompanied by generals and servants, but they still survive when encountering strong enemies.
I will not kill the enemy for my country!"
Tianqi and Wei Zhongxian naturally knew that the guard post had been in dire straits for many years. During the Longqing and Wanli dynasties, due to the maritime troubles and the rectification of famous ministers such as Yu Long, Qi Hu, etc., their morale was slightly boosted. However, after that, those capable ministers were eliminated.
The outcome of the run by the civil servants and elites was rather bleak, and there would no longer be anyone useful to the court.
However, the two of them disagreed with Taoist's statement that the border army was corrupt and useless.
Gao Jingfei saw what the two were thinking and chuckled:
"I know that Your Majesty and the Governor still have hope for the Ming Dynasty's border troops, but I will only say one thing. The living environment of the Ming Dynasty's nine borders is harsh. The border troops they created may be strong in combat, but the conditions of the border troops are also the most difficult. Don't say
Compared with the soldiers in the capital camp in the rich land of Jiangnan, even the guardsmen in Jiangnan are far inferior."
"You must know that although Jiangnan is rich, it has nothing to do with the poor military households. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the military households who used to be able to raise millions of soldiers without spending any money have long become the slaves of the generals. But
Compared with the soldiers on the border, they are still good. Even if they have to endure exploitation by superior officials, they can at least eat some brown rice and cereals every year. Even if they are not enough, they can dig some wild vegetables and go down to the river to touch some shrimps and snails to quench their hunger."
"But how can the border troops have such conditions? In the past few decades, the weather in the north has become more and more abnormal, especially in northern Shanxi and northern Shaanxi. The changes brought about by extreme cold and drought are that grain production has dropped significantly.
How can people and horses eat the food and grass?"
"When all the grass roots, tree bark, and birds and animals are eaten away, soil erosion will be further aggravated and the land will be desertified. Without green mountains and green waters, it will be even less attractive for birds and animals. Even farming has become a luxury. This makes the North
How do the local people survive? Your Majesty, does your Majesty know what the consequences will be if these people don't have enough to eat?"
While talking, Gao Jingfei also manipulated illusions to form a concrete popular science picture of the soil erosion process in front of their eyes. Zhu Youxiao and Wei Zhongxian were shocked to see it.
They didn't expect the situation in the North to be so serious. Hearing Gao Jingfei's question, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but turn pale and uttered two words that he didn't want to mention:
"rebel?"
At this time, the two emperors no longer thought that the Taoist in front of them was being alarmist.
Because in the past few years, the court had received many reports of disasters from many prefectures and counties in the North, but the cold words and numbers did not allow them to have an intuitive feeling. In the past, the court usually received such reports.
It's just a matter of handing out some disaster relief money.
Now that they saw the scene of the Taoist casting a spell, the two of them understood that that kind of natural disaster affected the environment of the entire Northland, and it could not be compensated and prevented by the court's disaster relief money and food.
Especially based on their understanding of the ethics of those officials, they don’t know how much money and food will be left if the disaster relief money can actually be distributed to the victims!
When Gao Jingfei heard the emperor spit out those two words, he just smiled and said:
"Most ordinary people will leave their homes with their families to seek food elsewhere, which is what the court calls refugees. However, refugees are not terrible. What is terrible is that among the refugees are mixed soldiers who used to protect their homes and country.
.In the situation where military pay has not been continued for years, and there is corruption and embezzlement at all levels in the government, it is already considered the best if 30% of the military pay distributed to the soldiers in the three border areas can be achieved."
"Imagine how those brave warriors who are also suffering from the disaster and have no enough food to eat can be willing to stay at the station and wait to die? Once these frontier troops take the lead, millions of refugees will turn into floods and beasts and attack the mainland of the Central Plains!
Qin predicted that when the situation develops further, it will be those border troops who overthrow the Great Tomorrow!"
This is considered a spoiler, and in fact it is true. Although it was Hou Jin who got the advantage in the end, the Ming Dynasty was indeed overthrown by the refugee army led by the frontier army. There are many famous Chuang and Shun armies in history.
The leader of the rebellion, and his top brass were all from the Northwest Frontier Army.
Even though Li Zicheng himself was not a frontier soldier but a postman, his uncle Lao Chuang, Wang Gao Yingxiang, and a bunch of old camp team members were also!