There are many problems that Ming Dynasty has to deal with.

Some are close, some are far, and some are right in front of you.

It is said that people who have no long-term worries must have immediate worries. The emperors and ministers of the Ming Dynasty all knew this.

Opening up sea trade with other countries is not just for business tax, but most importantly, isn’t it for the sake of long-term prospects?

Why did the Ming Dynasty build so many warships and merchant ships? Why did the Ming Dynasty expel the Hongyi people from Southeast Asia?

Is it to appease the Nanyang vassals?

Is it for justice and justice?

Yes, but not much. To put it bluntly, it’s for Nanyang’s food.

Nanyang’s spices, rubber, sugar cane, and oil palm are all accessories. The most important thing is that Nanyang’s climate is suitable, the soil is fertile, and there is enough food!

There will be great disasters in the future of the Ming Dynasty. This is the early warning issued by the bachelors of Qin Tianjian and the bachelors of the Ming Academy of Sciences to the monarchs and ministers of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youxiao also sent people to investigate openly and secretly, including questioning experienced farmers and officials with relevant experience, or investigating records of past dynasties, conducting field research in various places, etc.

The conclusions finally reached made Zhu Youxiao very worried, because these conclusions ultimately pointed to one point. Everything showed that Ming Dynasty would really face a very difficult period in the future.

The climate during that period was chaotic, with severe droughts in the north, floods in the south, and snowstorms in the grasslands...

What kind of scene would it be if all kinds of natural disasters came together?

Drought has spread to several provinces in the north, with no harvests for thousands of miles. Millions of people have lost the food and fields they depend on for their livelihood. Without the help of the imperial court, they can only flee and migrate. How many people will die?

There is no rooster crow for thousands of miles, and the bones are exposed in the wild...

The floods in the south will also cause disasters in the most important areas of the Ming Dynasty, the Lianghuai River and the Huaijiang River. The food production in the south will be reduced, and the floods will destroy everything along the way, including houses, towns, farmland, factories...

The industries that Ming Dynasty had worked so hard to build in the south would be destroyed, and the post-disaster treatment and plague would make Ming Dynasty's headache even worse.

All of this will ruin the good situation of Ming Dynasty.

Once there is a freezing rain or snowstorm in the grassland, and the livestock freeze to death and starve to death, the hungry and cold grassland nomads will turn into ferocious wolves, eating everything in sight. The Ming Dynasty's rule in the grassland will only last a few years, and the foundation will inevitably be destroyed.

shake!

Therefore, the next few years are the years that the court must pay attention to, and the years that Ming Dynasty needs to work together to survive.

And all of this requires money, food, a strong central government, and a powerful figure to handle it.

That’s why the imperial court opened up sea trade and exchanged goods with other countries. That’s why the imperial court lifted the ban on merchants and craftsmen and allowed them to develop freely. That’s why the imperial court created today’s industrial and commercial system and continued to build water conservancy projects in order to avoid catastrophic disasters in the future.

For several years, the imperial court had no food, no money, and no one, so that the country's operations deteriorated rapidly.

And if you want to get through it, there must be someone with strong skills and enough ability to coordinate everything.

Who else could this person be?

It can only be Zhang Haogu.

It can only be the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty who single-handedly carried out the New Deal across the country, established the Ming Dynasty's industrial, commercial and agricultural systems, created a new army, and established a new party.

Only Zhang Haogu has the ability, qualifications, and determination to accomplish this; and only the new party, which is full of young people, positive, and high-spirited, has so many people full of ideals who are willing to go to the disaster area at that time.

To stabilize the place, the situation will not be corrupted due to corruption of disaster relief funds.

The reason why Zhu Youxiao said so much in front of all the civil and military officials was not only to calm Zhang Haogu's heart and express his respect and trust in Zhang Haogu, but also to remind those who have small thoughts among the civil and military officials not to think about those things.

If you are crooked, do things well and be obedient, in the next few years, whoever is disobedient will chop off the head of anyone who does not make Zhu Youxiao comfortable!

And if we want to resolve these long-term concerns with peace of mind, the first thing that needs to be resolved is the near-term worries!

The Manchus in Liaodong, who were almost beaten to death with a stick during the Chenghua period, made the military towns in Liaodong feel proud of themselves. In the end, an evil slave came to devour the master, and became a foreign trouble for the Ming Dynasty, not to mention the Liaodong people.

The army and the town were no longer obedient.

In order to keep Liaodong and the Manchus in check, the imperial court deployed manpower in all aspects, involving too much manpower and material resources, and consuming too much money and food every year.

Forget it in normal times, the imperial court has money to support it and food to use, but the year of disaster is coming soon. If so much money and food are invested every year, what can be used to provide disaster relief and quell the disaster?

There are soldiers and horses in three towns in southern Liaoning, soldiers and horses in two towns in the grassland, plus 40,000 militiamen. The imperial court has three camps in Zhili and 12 towns of soldiers and horses.

These added up to an army of 260,000, which not only besieged the Manchus, but also caused trouble to the Liaodong military town and the province.

The 260,000-strong army, not to mention the 40,000 nomadic militiamen on the grassland, and the 220,000 new troops, the imperial government's economic and administrative divisions. These are all completely off-the-job soldiers, not engaged in production, and only full-time military personnel for training and exercises on weekdays.

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There are still 130,000 off-duty full-time soldiers in the ten towns of South Zhili, and these 350,000 full-time soldiers are provided every year. The military pay, food and grass given by the court are staggering figures, not to mention the wear and tear of ordnance due to annual drills and training.

That is to say, the imperial court now has a lot of tax revenue. The opening of the sea and the lifting of confinement have allowed industry and commerce to flourish. The annual money and grain are enough to support the various expenditures of the imperial court. Officials in various parts of the Ming Dynasty now receive sufficient wages, and there is also money to support integrity.

The court also had extra benefits during the New Year holidays. Did the officials of the Ming Dynasty dare to think of these things before?

Who among the officials of the Ming Dynasty could get a full salary every year?

Not to mention it’s not enough, it would be great if I could give you some!

Sometimes, wages are not paid for three to five years, seven to eight years, or even more than ten years!

Nowadays, the Tianqi Dynasty pays 10% of the salary to officials in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, plus the support of honest money, additional benefits, etc., and also supports 350,000 full-time soldiers who are part-time, 80,000 nomadic militiamen who are part-time in the grasslands, and Liaodong.

Those hundreds of thousands of people, as well as millions or more of money invested in scientific research every year, plus a series of benefits provided by the imperial court to the people, including universal education and universal medical care, have given the people of the world something to rely on for their retirement.

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With so much expenditure, the imperial court still has a lot of surplus every year. Who does it rely on?

Don’t rely on Zhang Haogu, but rely on Mr. Zhang!

It was the New Deal that lifted the restrictions, opened up seas, and flourished industry and commerce, which lightened the burden on the people and gave the court enough income to support everything; and the New Party and the New Army, one responsible for governance and the other for deterrence, allowed

For the New Deal to be implemented smoothly, these are mutually reinforcing and interdependent relationships.

Zhang Haogu held the New Army, the most powerful military organization in the Ming Dynasty, with one hand, and the New Party with a large number of young talents to govern the local area. Only then did the New Deal be implemented smoothly, and the Ming Dynasty had a prosperous age comparable to Zhenguan and Yongle.

A good day for ordinary people.

When the people live a prosperous life, the world will be stable.

Zhu Youxiao knew this, as did the emperors of the past dynasties, but they all had various constraints, or were controlled by others, or lacked strength, or had an unstable foundation, etc., so they could only repair the original tatters of the Ming Dynasty.

However, it could not be completely cured, and in the end, it had no choice but to do so. The ministers of the Ming Dynasty were more aware of the symptoms of the Ming Dynasty, but they themselves were the beneficiaries, could they still overthrow their own class?

It was Zhang Haogu who had such determination and awareness.

Zhu Youxiao knew very well what the foundation of Ming Dynasty was and why Ming Dynasty was seriously ill. The difference between him and other Ming emperors after Yongle Renxuan was that he was lucky, he had Zhang Haogu, and they were careful enough

, set the Ming Dynasty right step by step, and we have the current situation of the Ming Dynasty and the ZTE.

Doesn't Zhu Youxiao know that Zhang Haogu is powerful?

Does Zhu Youxiao not know how powerful the New Party is now?

How could Zhu Youxiao not know this?

The New Party controls the four departments of officials, households, rituals, and industry, and is in charge of the promotion of officials in the Ming Dynasty, the finance and taxation of the Ming Dynasty, the repair and construction of the Ming Dynasty, and the imperial examination education in the Ming Dynasty. Although the Ministry of Punishment is controlled by the Donglin Party members, it has no choice but to press it.

The New Deal will do things, but what about the Ministry of War?

Can the Ministry of War mobilize the new army without the approval of Zhang Haogu, the chief minister of the cabinet?

It is difficult to mobilize the guardsmen!

There are more members of the New Party in the Ming Dynasty, which is spreading in the north and is developing towards the south. They control the government and military affairs of the entire north of the Ming Dynasty, as well as Jiangnan, Hubei and other places. The New Army is all members of the New Party.

It can be said that all the financial and military affairs of the Ming Dynasty are now in the hands of the New Party.

An ordinary emperor would have been so frightened that he couldn't sleep, or he would have been preparing to launch a great purge.

But if Zhu Youxiao doesn't use it, what happened to the New Party?

Aren’t the people of the New Party his ministers?

Just kidding, he is the dean of Datong Academy, and all the civil servants and generals of the New Party are his students.

The friendship between teachers and students is not only between him and Zhang Haogu, but also between him and the New Party.

There are also many factions in the New Party. Today's three giants, namely Zhang Haogu, Zhang Ruitu, and Lu Xiangsheng, are only the three giants in the DPRK and China, not the three giants in the military. What's more, he is among these giants.

Without the overt and covert support of him, the great emperor of tomorrow, how could the new party be where it is today?

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao is not worried about the new party's power at all. These are all under his control. Some of the restrictions he places on Zhang Haogu are really for Zhang Haogu's good. He wants to complete this eternal relationship with Zhang Haogu.

The good stories passed down the friendship between their monarch, ministers, teachers and students.

And Zhang Haogu did not live up to his trust. Although he was in charge of major military and political affairs, Zhu Youxiao always knew all the major and minor matters. Zhang Haogu would not hide it from him, especially those involving military transfers, government appointments, and financial expenditures.

Zhu Youxiao knew everything about everything.

Zhang Haogu used power, but he did not use it well, let alone occupy it.

Zhu Youxiao remembered that Zhang Haogu once said in a casual chat in the past that rights are public assets of the state and are not privately owned by one person or a family. When using rights, one must be cautious and vigilant. Do not be arrogant and do whatever you want, otherwise there will be disaster.

Zhang Haogu's consistency in words and deeds is what Zhu Youxiao admires the most. He holds power, but is not greedy for power. He has been an official in the court for ten years, and has gradually become the first minister of the Ming Dynasty. He has been in charge of the power of the Ming Dynasty for five years, but he has never done anything for himself.

Seek personal gain.

The Zhang family did not occupy an acre of common people's land in Linqing, and did not have any huge business. It is said that a person can achieve enlightenment, a chicken or a dog can ascend to heaven. Zhang Haogugui was the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty. The new party was in power, but they were not greedy for money or power, and they did not care about the family.
To be continued...