Looking at the dilapidated South Gate Tower in Changping, Chongzhen sighed with emotion. Ma
The Changping City in front of us looks even more dilapidated than it did five years ago.
Chongzhen waved to Wang Jiayan to come forward and asked: "Wang Qing, do you still remember what happened in March of the Jiashen year, when you and I, our kings and ministers, came here after breaking through from Beijing?"
"Why don't you remember?" Wang Jiayan said quietly.
"According to the holy order, I led more than fifty servants to pretend to be hungry people and sneaked into Changping City. They opened the city gate at night and received hundreds of horses including the Holy Master into Changping Prefecture. The horses of the king and his ministers were well fed."
"I think about it now, as if in a dream." Chongzhen also sighed with emotion.
Then he turned back and asked Sun Fanzhi: "Sun Fanzhi, how many people were there in Changping Prefecture?"
Sun Fanzhi replied: "Reporting to Your Majesty, according to the fish scale atlas approved in the sixth year of Wanli, Changping Prefecture, which also controls Shunyi, Huairou and Miyun counties, has more than 98,000 adults." Ma Ma
Chongzhen nodded and said, "That's more than 200,000 people."
Fish scale atlases of the Ming Dynasty generally only recorded the number of dices.
The reason is also very simple. Women and children do not need to pay Ding tax, so there is no need for statistics.
After a pause, Chongzhen asked again: "So now, how many people are left in Changping Prefecture?"
Sun Fanzhi sighed softly and replied: "There are only more than 3,000 and 6,000 people left in Changping Prefecture."
Hearing this, the accompanying scholars suddenly became stunned. The ancients often used the phrase "not one out of ten Dingkou" to describe disasters, but the loss of Dingkou in Changping Prefecture was more than nine out of ten?
While they were talking, the monarch and his entourage had entered Changping City from the south gate.
After entering the city gate, there are two ancestral halls. Judging from their remaining architectural forms and scales, it can be seen that these two ancestral halls must have been magnificent before they were destroyed by the military disaster.
The garrison mansion, Shenshou Palace, Yangjiyuan, reserve warehouse and even Changpingzhou City in the back are also dilapidated and desolate, with almost no intact building visible.
Those residential buildings are even more dilapidated.
Some people came out of the dilapidated house when they heard the commotion. When they saw the Chongzhen monarch and his entourage, they hurriedly hid in the house and only looked at them secretly through the crack in the door, showing extreme indifference.
Sun Fanzhi wanted to step forward to reprimand the people, but was stopped.
"It's not their fault, it's my fault." Chongzhen sighed, "If I hadn't done nothing in the past seventeen years, I wouldn't have let the mountains and rivers hang upside down, and the people became the prey of thieves and slaves, so all the mistakes are made.
My fault."
Wang Jiayan and Sun Fanzhi both sighed after hearing this, but everyone quickly became excited again.
The old atmosphere before Chongzhen's seventeenth year has become a thing of the past. What is important is the new atmosphere of the New Ming Dynasty after that.
Chongzhen asked again: "Sun Fanzhi, I asked you to check the current situation of the Jin gentry family in Changping Prefecture. How is the situation?"
Sun Fanzhi replied: "The Jin gentry clan in Changping Prefecture is dominated by two families named Chen and You. However, the main branches of these two clans have been successively destroyed by bandits and slaves, and now only the side branches remain."
"Except for Huangzhuang, these two have the most cultivated land in Changping Prefecture."
Speaking of this, he continued: "But now, more than a dozen side branches have emerged claiming to have inheritance rights to the Chen family and You family's real estate and farmland, demanding inheritance."
"It's a good idea." Chongzhen sneered, "Have the Chen family and the You family ever surrendered thieves to slaves?"
"Naturally," Sun Fanzhi said, "Both families surrendered the bandits first and then the slaves. What's funny is that neither the bandits nor the slaves spared them." Ma Ma
Chongzhen said coldly: "Tell Chen later that the branch of the You family wants to inherit the properties and farmland of the Chen and You families. However, the crimes of the Chen and You families must be settled first."
Speaking of this meal, Chongzhen turned back to other scholars and said: "The same is true for other prefectures and states."
"O ministers, please obey the Holy Order." Zhu Yanzuo, Ji Yunhong and dozens of other diligent princes and scholars immediately responded respectfully.
These dozens of scholars will soon be sent by Chongzhen to various state capitals in Beizhi to investigate the crimes of the Jin gentry clan collaborating with the enemy.
Chongzhen had planned this for a long time. Regardless of whether it was an overt surrender or a covert surrender, as long as there were bandits or slaves who had surrendered, they would have to be dealt with. At the very least, they would confiscate their property and cultivated land. If the crime was serious, all the adults would have to be arrested and repaired.
railway.
In a word, adults must be responsible for their own actions, and if they do something wrong, they must be punished.
It is impossible to treat the northern gentry with leniency just to win over them. Chongzhen had already thought about dealing with the northern gentry seriously from the beginning. Otherwise, there would be no way to solve the land annexation dilemma. Ma
Therefore, Chongzhen must obtain first-hand information before processing.
…
Lu Zhenfei, Meng Zhaoxiang and other cabinet ministers mostly advocated leniency.
The only one who advocated serious treatment was Zhang Shenyan, the second assistant.
Although Zhang Shenyan was an authentic Shanxi native, he had no intention of protecting the northern gentry.
"Right is right, wrong is wrong. If you are right, you should be rewarded, if you are wrong, you should be punished. There is nothing to say." Zhang Shenyan said loudly, "The gentry in several northern provinces surrendered thieves first and then slaves. Abandoning the Ming Dynasty is like contempt.
If such shameful behavior is not punished, where will the laws of the country exist? Where will justice be?"
"Miao Shan, no one objects to punishment. Punishment must be punished." Ma Ma
Of course, the only person who can call the second assistant Zhang Shenyan by his title is the first assistant Lu Zhenfei.
After a pause, Lu Zhenfei continued: "The problem is the intensity of the punishment and how to define the scope? I think the punishment is too harsh, or the scope of the attack is expanded to include all the Jin gentry tribes in several northern provinces. This is extremely undesirable.
, because doing so is not conducive to stability and will cause turmoil in the hearts of the people and disunity among the people."
"What's even worse is that it will create a bad atmosphere." Meng Zhaoxiang continued, "After hearing the news, the Jin gentleman tribes in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Sichuan will inevitably lament the death of rabbits and foxes, and thus become more determined to be thieves.
, Even if the soldiers of tomorrow can regain Shanxi, Shaanxi and Sichuan, they will still have to spend ten times the manpower and material resources."
"What Mr. Mengge said is absolutely true," Wang Yingxiong, the general envoy, said, "You still need to learn how to calculate the general ledger."
Wang Yingxiong was a native of Ba County, Sichuan. When he was young, his family was too poor to study, so he was able to study and take the imperial examination with support from his family.
Therefore, Wang Yingxiong still has feelings for the Wang family in Ba County, and subconsciously does not want the Wang family to be liquidated, although the Wang family does have a bad record of succumbing to Western thieves.
"Wang Yintai's argument is totally fallacious." Zhang Shenyan sternly retorted, "There are murderers in the community, and there is a risk that the government officials might die when they go to Yina. So the government needs to treat the perpetrators leniently to lessen their ambition to retaliate?" Ma
"How can these two be confused?" Wang Yingxiong frowned and said, "How can the northern gentry kill people?"
"What Wang Yintai said is absolutely true," said Liu Shizhen, Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice. "The northern gentry are just seeking to protect themselves. In their hearts, they are not willing to abandon the Ming Dynasty."
"A good one is seeking self-protection." Zhang Shenyan retorted, "If we follow the theory of Da Sikou, Wu Sangui, Jiang Xiang and other traitors are just seeking self-protection. Hong Chengchou, Sun Zhixian and other traitors are also just seeking self-protection. Given that
So, Wu Sangui, Hong Chengchou and others also need to be treated leniently?"
"Mr. Zhang Ge, you are using strong words to make excuses." Liu Shizhen said, "Wu Sangui and others led the wolf into the house, and Hong Chengchou and others helped the tyrants. The rebellious ministers and traitors of that generation did countless evil things and were burdened with countless blood debts. However, most of the gentry and gentry in the north were forced by the situation and had no choice but to do so.
He has not succumbed to being a thief, but he has not done any evil deeds since he became a thief. Why can't he be treated leniently?"
"What a good person who has never done anything evil. The great minister should be punished for this!" Zhang Shenyan said angrily, "Without the strong help of the northern Jin gentry clan, how could the bandits sweep across the north in just a few months? If there were no northern Jin gentry to establish slaves,
With the help of the nobles, how could they get the money and food to repeatedly use troops against the Ming Dynasty, and how could they get the copper and iron craftsmen to build cannons and muskets?"
"In the 17th year of Chongzhen, several northern provinces fell completely in one month, all thanks to the northern gentry."
"After Jiannu entered the pass, he used troops against the Huanghuai defense line three times, causing hundreds of thousands of Ming soldiers and civilians to be injured or taken prisoner. This was also a gift from the northern gentry!" Ma
After a pause, Zhang Shenyan reprimanded Liu Shizhen sharply: "Such evil deeds and deeds have reached the mouth of the great commander, but it turns out that he has not done any evil. He should be punished for this!"
Liu Shizhen's face turned red after being scolded, and he was speechless for a while.
Because there is absolutely no problem with Zhang Shenyan’s words from a moral or legal perspective.
But from reality and from the perspective of human nature, we absolutely cannot handle it this way.
Let’s not talk about anything else. Just one sentence that does not blame everyone is enough to explain the problem.
After carrying out such a large-scale political liquidation in several northern provinces, did the Ming Dynasty still want peace in the north?
Without the strong support of the Jin gentry clan in several northern provinces, Ming Dynasty's laws and decrees would be difficult to implement in several northern provinces, and it would be impossible to implement effective rule over the north. Ma
But this kind of thing cannot be said on the stage.
There are some things that can be said but not done, and there are some things that can be said but not done.
Treating the northern gentry with leniency falls into the latter category. It can be done but cannot be said.
But Zhang Shenyan was stubborn and insisted on bringing this matter to the table.
This made the other cabinet ministers and the six department officials speechless. Zhang Shenyan, you are so maverick, it is easy to have no friends, and eventually become a loner.
In the end, Lu Zhenfei could only say: "This matter should be discussed after meeting the Master. Now we are discussing the Imperial College Supervisor in Beijing. The move of Pu Guan Sheng seems to mean that the Imperial College Examination will replace the Rites Examination. Do you think so?"
"This is absolutely impossible." Wang Duo, who is the Minister of Rites, immediately stood up and objected.
"How can we easily abolish the talent promotion ceremony that has lasted for thousands of years? This is absolutely impossible."
The power of the Ministry of Rites was not much in the first place. Now the Holy Emperor is trying his best to promote the reform of etiquette. Many etiquette laws have been abolished one after another. The power of the Ministry of Rites has been repeatedly reduced. If even the examination of the Ministry of Rites is replaced by the Imperial Examination, then there will be no need for the Ministry of Rites.
If he continues to exist, he, the Minister of Rites, should become an official.
However, Wang Duo's remarks did not resonate.
The senior officials in the cabinet department actually tended to use the Imperial College Examination instead of the Rites Examination to select officials. Apart from anything else, the fact that it only admits tens of thousands of candidates every year is far better than the Rites Examination which admits three to four hundred candidates every three years.
Because after the enrollment is increased, the chances of children from each family passing the exam will be greater.
But there is a premise, that is, the right to select must be left to the officials!
