Chongzhen put down the gauze curtain and began to look for the next candidate.
However, no one was found who was suitable. Not to mention the officials in the imperial court and the central government, there was no suitable candidate among the more than 6,000 diligent princes and scholars. They did not have a certain level of engineering literacy to do this job.
Fang Yizhi and Song Yingxing are suitable, but the two of them have to build a steam engine.
Compared with divine artillery, steam engines are obviously more important to the current Ming Dynasty.
At the moment, Chongzhen searched for candidates in the "original memory" again. After thinking carefully for a long time, he really thought of a candidate, and that was Bi Maokang, the author of the military illustrations and the former right minister of the Nanjing Ministry of War.
With this recollection, Chongzhen remembered that Bi Maokang's illustrations of weapons included self-generated fire guns.
This self-generating gun is actually a flintlock gun, but there is only a very simple full picture. Even the firing mechanism cannot be seen clearly in the picture, and the text description only has a few hundred words.
No wonder Chongzhen didn't think of him before.
At that moment, Chongzhen said to Gao Qiqian outside the car window: "Gao Banban, immediately send people to She County to recall Bi Maokang, the former right minister of the Nanjing Ministry of War."
…
At the same time, Li Zhai was at the end of Wuyi Alley.
Li Xiangjun looked lazy and was dressing up in the mirror.
Li Zhenli came in quietly carrying a bowl of fruit, but hesitated to speak.
"Mom." Li Xiangjun saw it in the mirror and said, "Do you have something to tell me?"
"Girl, what's going on between you and the current emperor?" Li Zhenli asked in a low voice, "He didn't even say that he would let you enter the palace or give you a status?"
"Mom, I don't want to enter the palace." Li Xiangjun said.
"What?" Li Zhenli asked anxiously, "Are you stupid, girl? Why don't you want a status?"
After a pause, Li Zhenli continued: "Our women's youth only lasts for a dozen years. Don't think that you are young and tender now, and the Lord will care about you. But when you are over thirty, you will be old and yellow, and the Lord will not even look at you."
Take a look at you, if you have the status of Bin Fei at this time, you can still have enough food and clothing..."
"Mom, this is not my daughter's ambition." Li Xiangjun interrupted.
"What?" Li Zhenli was stunned for a moment and said in astonishment, "Then what is your current ambition?"
"My daughter wants to be a good second wife." Li Xiangjun's beautiful eyes flashed with a strange look, and he added, "I will open up territory for the Ming Dynasty and go down in history as a military general."
"This..." Li Zhenli suddenly realized that she couldn't understand Li Xiangjun.
What kind of military commander do you think you, a girl, should be? What kind of history do you want to achieve?
While the Holy Emperor still cares about you, why don't you hurry up and seek status in the palace?
After thinking about it, Li Zhenli decided to persuade Li Xiangjun again: "Girl, even if you don't plan for yourself, you must plan for your future children. If you don't enter the palace, your children will not be able to have a good name."
Li Xiangjun frowned, it would be really difficult to have a child.
But soon Li Xiangjun felt relieved again, and he would wait until later to talk about the rest of the matter.
If you really are pregnant with the Holy Emperor's dragon seed, it won't be too late to enter the palace.
[If you don’t like Li Xiangjun, you can leave, please don’t abuse me]
…
When Chongzhen was busy setting up the technology tree, there was a minor quarrel in the cabinet.
In the past few months, Chongzhen has truly fulfilled his promise and has not interfered in the affairs of the cabinet at all. All major and minor matters are decided by the three ministers of the cabinet without the approval of the Chief of Ceremonies.
Among them was the handling of the Wuding chieftain Wu Bikui's rebellion.
In mid-September, Wu Bikui, the chieftain of Wuding, Yunnan, led a rebellion. In less than half a month, he successively captured the cities of Dayao, Yao'an and Dingyuan, threatening more than 50,000 troops!
Fortunately, Mu Tianbo reacted quickly and quickly gathered chieftains from all walks of life to put down Wu Bikui's rebellion in one fell swoop.
After suppressing Wu Bikui, how to deal with the Wuding chieftains became a difficult problem. According to the memorial of Mu Tianbo, Duke of Guizhou, the Wuding chieftains were returned to their native land.
However, the Chief Envoy of Yunnan Province also made a secret report to the Tang Dynasty, saying that Mu Tianbo was close to villains and alienated gentlemen, which had made Yunnan angry and resentful. If the chieftain of Wuding was allowed to return at this time, it would undoubtedly make other people angry.
The chieftain's lips are dead and his teeth are cold. If there are any more ambitious people who want to stir up trouble, there will be great chaos in Yunnan.
This Tang Fantai's judgment is undoubtedly very accurate.
Because the Shadingzhou Rebellion that occurred later confirmed his judgment.
Unfortunately, Shi Kefa, Jie Xuelong and others did not take it seriously. Instead, they agreed to Mu Tianbo's petition and changed the Wuding chieftain to be governed by Liuguan.
There was no quarrel in the cabinet over this important matter.
It was another matter that led to a quarrel in the cabinet.
Just yesterday, the envoys sent by Li Zicheng finally arrived in Nanjing and proposed to trade cattle, sheep and horses for grain.
So after going to Zhizhi today, Shi Kefa summoned Jie Xuelong and Lu Zhenfei to his Zhizhi room to discuss whether to agree to Shunchao's trade request?
As a result, the three of them started arguing.
Shi Kefa did not agree with trade, but both Jie Xuelong and Lu Zhenfei agreed.
Jie Xuelong said excitedly: "Shou Kui, our Ming Dynasty has now lost its horse-producing land. How similar is the situation to the Southern Song Dynasty? The defeat of the Southern Song Dynasty was due to the lack of cavalry. The Ming Dynasty cannot repeat the same mistakes."
Lu Zhenfei frowned and said: "The Southern Song Dynasty may not have been defeated because of the lack of cavalry, but if we, the Ming Dynasty, want to form cavalry, we must obtain horses from Mongolia. At present, Mongolia and our Ming Dynasty are blocked by slaves, so we can only go through
Hypocrisy, now hypocrisy offers to exchange cattle, sheep and horses with me for food, what’s wrong with that?”
Shi Kefa insisted: "My Ming Dynasty is not in a hurry to launch the Northern Expedition, so the cavalry is not that important. However, famine has already occurred in the Pseudo-Shun. If we agree to the Pseudo-Shun's request to trade with them at this time, wouldn't this act be an act of support for the enemy?
?Why not take this opportunity to weaken the power of the hypocritical country?"
Shi Kefa’s considerations are actually correct.
Taking this opportunity to weaken the hypocritical national power will be beneficial to Ming Dynasty in the long run.
"Shou Kui!" Jie Xuelong said anxiously, "Right now, the Ming Dynasty and Pseudo-Shun are allies."
"No." Shi Kefa said, "We, the Ming Dynasty, have no alliance agreement with Pseudo-Shun. It's just that the Holy Emperor and Pseudo-Shun Emperor have a gentleman's agreement, but this is not a formal alliance."
Jie Xuelongyi clapped his hands and said: "Even if the two families are not allies, if hypocrisy leads to a great loss of national power due to famine, and then is destroyed by Jiannuo, it may not be a good thing for our Ming Dynasty."
"This is really unfounded worry." Shi Kefa said with a smile, "With the constraints of our Ming Dynasty, Jiannu would not dare to easily launch a war to destroy the country against Pseudo-Shun. Therefore, even if Pseudo-Shun's national power suffers heavy losses, it is enough to protect itself.
In this case, why did we, the Ming Dynasty, give up precious food in exchange for cattle, sheep and horses that were not urgently needed?"
"How come there is no urgent need for cattle, sheep and horses?" Xie Xuelong was already very unhappy at this time.
No one would be happy if others said he was unfounded, let alone the second assistant.
Xie Xuelong added: "If our Ming Dynasty wants to form cavalry, it must have a large number of war horses."
"But now I, the Ming Dynasty, are not in a hurry to form cavalry." After saying this, Shi Kefa suddenly said, "Mr. Xie Ge, you are so anxious to conclude a trade with the Pseudo-Shun, could it be because of the group of people who occupied the city?
Is it because of the rice?”
Jie Xuelong's face completely fell, because Shi Kefa revealed his secret, he was really just trying to sell rice.
Because the Xuzhou War in the first half of this year delayed the farming season, the prefectures in Xuzhou, Guide, and Kaifeng could only replant wheat and wheat, so the Jie family judged that there would be a big gap in the food supply in the north this year.
Although there is a surplus of grain in the south of the Yangtze River, it is estimated that it cannot fill such a large gap. Huguang's business this year is not very good, so the Xie family bought a batch of rice from Champa.
But what the Jie family did not expect was that more than a month ago, the gentry and merchants in Jiangnan suddenly became angry and asked the court to lift the sea ban. The cabinet did not resist the pressure and lifted the sea ban.
By the way, the Jiangnan Jin gentry merchants proposed to impose a sea ban, which has a lot to do with the development of industry and commerce.
Because capital is inherently profit-seeking, inherently averse to all constraints, and inherently pursues a free trade environment. With the vigorous development of Jiangnan industry and commerce, the volume of foreign trade has begun to surge. It is difficult for Yuegang, Ningbo and Panyu Port in Guangzhou alone to
Meet foreign trade needs.
Therefore, the Chamber of Commerce demanded that the maritime ban be lifted.
As a result, as soon as the maritime ban was lifted, foreign businessmen from various countries came in droves.
Sea-going ships engaged in ocean-going trade need ballast stones.
The merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty usually used porcelain as ballast stone, while the merchant ships of the Western Yi Dynasty used rice as ballast stone. Then the price of rice in the Jiangnan market collapsed, and the Jie family had only two choices left, either to let this happen.
A batch of rice rotted in his warehouse, or he sold it at a low price and lost money. Then at this time, the hypocritical messenger arrived.
Jie Xuelong immediately saw a business opportunity. If it works well, not only will the Jie family not have to lose money this time, they might even be able to make a fortune.
The three cabinet ministers were actually aware of this matter.
But when Shi Kefa said it directly, he was embarrassed by Xuelong, which was a bit like a slap in the face, so that was enough.
Seeing that Xie Xuelong's expression was not good-looking, Lu Zhenfei suggested: "Shou Kui, Mr. Xie Ge, this is a serious matter, how about we ask the Holy One for his decision?"
"That's not necessary." Shi Kefa said, "This matter will be decided by our cabinet."
Now Lu Zhenfei's face also fell. This is really not giving him any face. Although you are the chief minister and you can make decisions at critical moments, but we are also the second and third ministers of the cabinet, so we should respect ours.
What’s your opinion? Is this really okay if you don’t look down on me and Xiege Lao at all?
…
So, as soon as Chongzhen returned to the Imperial College from Wuyi Lane, something big happened in the court.
Li Ruolian quickly came to Chongzhen and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, the matter of Shi Kefa's correction of the imperial edict has been leaked! Now all the imperial censors in the dynasty are busy writing memorials to impeach him."
"Shi Kefa is correcting the imperial edict?" Chongzhen was startled when he heard this, "What kind of imperial edict is he correcting?"
"It's the secret edict that Shi Kefa wrote to Meng Zhaoxiang when the Donglin Party tried to seize the internal funds of the Holy Emperor last time." Li Ruolian said, "It was suddenly revealed last night."
"Hey, you're talking about this." Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief.
He added: "As long as Meng Zhaoxiang and the others don't report this matter, and Shi Kefa himself doesn't admit it, and no one can find any evidence, let the censors impeach him."
Li Ruolian sighed and said, "Shi Kefa has admitted it."
"What?" Chongzhen said in astonishment, "Why did he admit it?"
Li Ruolian said: "This matter has something to do with the old servant of Shi Kefa's family."
It turned out that Shi Kefa's old servant was old and wanted to return to his hometown to take care of himself. At the same time, he recommended his grandson to Shi Kefa as his long-term attendant, but Shi Kefa refused.
So the old servant held a grudge.
Let’s get rid of the things that Shi Kefa did to correct the imperial edict.
The old servant also took out a piece of paper with the words Jiao Zhao written on it.
The old servant said that when the Donglin Party plotted to seize the internal funds of the Holy Emperor, Jiu Qing came to ask Shi Kefa for help when he was in trouble. When Shi Kefa was at his wits' end, he suddenly found a note on the table with an imperial edict written on it.
After that, Shi Kefa discussed the details of the correctional edict with the nine ministers who went to the disaster.
What the old servant said is true, but if it were anyone else, he would never admit it even to death.
It happened that Shi Kefa was a gentleman. Faced with the testimony of his old servant and the collective cross-examination of the imperial censor, he actually admitted it directly. Even if he wanted to redeem himself, there was no way he could recover from it.
"This Shi Kefa!" Chongzhen said angrily, "He is seeking death on his own."
Li Ruolian sighed and said: "False edicts are also one of the ten most unforgivable crimes. Since Shi Kefa admitted it, even you, the Holy One, cannot forgive his crimes. At most, they are not as bad as those of his family."
Correcting an imperial edict is not much different from regicide.
Since Shi Kefa admitted it, it is true that not even Chongzhen could save him.
But Chongzhen was Chongzhen after all, and he would not be blinded by appearances.
"Li Ruolian, don't you think this is a bit strange?" Chongzhen said quietly.
Li Ruolian said: "I also think this matter is a bit strange. It has been several months since Shi Kefa dismissed the old servant. This old servant didn't report it earlier and later. Why did he choose to report it at this time?"
Chongzhen asked: "Have your Jinyi Guards investigated this old servant?"
"I investigated, but I didn't find any useful clues." Li Ruolian said with some shame.
Chongzhen did not mean to blame. Today's Jinyiwei is no longer the original Jinyiwei. The Jinyiwei's focus has always been on Beizhi. In the capital, the strength of Nanzhili was originally very weak.
Because during the Chongzhen Dynasty, the funds for the Jinyiwei were extremely low.
With such pitiful funds, it is impossible to retain real talents.
Without available talents, Li Ruolian would not be able to do anything even if he had only three heads and six arms.
Looking at Li Ruolian, Chongzhen hesitated a little, wondering whether he should give Jin Yiwei another chance?
Chongzhen himself really hated the Jinyiwei, because from the beginning of his birth, the Jinyiwei had mainly served as Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes and ears, specially used to monitor civil and military officials.
There are also functions such as collecting intelligence from the outside world, instigating rebellion, and even assassinating enemy generals, but that is just incidental.
The main duty of the Jinyiwei is to monitor the civil and military officials in the DPRK and prevent officials from rebelling.
At the craziest time, the Jin Yiwei would even monitor the civil and military officials of the DPRK and China from 360 degrees, and even know which minister slept in which concubine's room last night, and what they said to the concubine.
This makes people speechless. As for not even having this most basic trust?
If Jin Yiwei is retained, his internal functions must be eliminated and his external functions must be strengthened.
