Chapter 780: Power grows out of the barrel of a gun

The Northern Jiao-min Lane Lane had not even had its land leveled, and the Ministry of Works had not even produced the blueprints, yet there was already the first criminal. Under the Emperor's example of diligence and high pressure, the Great Ming's administrative efficiency was extremely high.

The Ministry of Revenue really had a huge gap in computing power, so as an expedient measure, they raised the courtyard wall a bit and set up a few bunks, which counted as a prison.

"Uh, an accountant from the Imperial Institute of Technology?" Zhang Juzheng said in surprise, "Is it a green kid fresh out of school who took the fall for someone else?"

Such things happened often. Green kids who had just walked out of the academy didn't know the sinister nature of the human heart. They trusted some promises lightly and used their professional knowledge to do daring things, only regretting it when they were caught.

Wang Guoguang shook his head and said, "No, the accounts he kept could be called seamless. The only oversight was the priority enforcement power of the Tax Inspection Office."

"The Tax Inspection Office dispatched fourteen tax inspection guards and twenty tax inspection eunuchs to thoroughly investigate the cargo details of several city gates entering the city in batches," Wang Guoguang shook his head. "The accountants trained by the Imperial Institute of Technology are truly formidable."

The priority enforcement power of the Tax Inspection Office meant that if they felt you had a problem and couldn't find it in the accounts, they would use physical means to investigate and collect evidence.

Being deceived—at this time, the students who could pass the layers of selection to enter the Imperial Institute of Technology were all talents. How could any of them be simple?

The first batch of the Institute of Technology wasn't recruited through general examinations, but through recommendations and recruitment of students who had repeatedly failed local examinations as scholars or licentiates. Those who could pass were mostly a bit lopsided in their studies, not stupid.

The case involved an oil mill. Business was booming, but since a new accountant arrived last April, tax payments hadn't decreased but continued to maintain stability, with a slight decline in the stability. If one only looked at the continuous account books for a few months, no abnormalities could be seen.

But after nearly a year of changes, tax payments had dropped by ten percent and were still continuing to decline.

However, according to the observations of the tax inspection guards, this oil mill's business was getting bigger and bigger. This year, they even opened more than a dozen new shops, and their oil trade expanded from the capital to Mizhou in Shandong and Chang'an Prefecture in Shaanxi.

The scale was constantly expanding, yet tax payments were steadily declining.

It was a very typical case of shrinking business scale, concealing actual income, and evading taxes. The problem was that the accounts this guy kept were truly beautiful. The Tax Inspection Office inspected them four times in total. In the end, they had no choice but to adopt tailing and comprehensive re-examination of the oil trucks entering the city to finally drag this guy out.

Zhang Juzheng, who had finished listening to the brief introduction of the case, said with deep emotion, "I underestimated them."

Wang Guoguang said with some annoyance, "No, I still have to persuade His Majesty to keep these talents. That 'Limited Freedom Theory' of Lin Fucheng has deceived His Majesty! A traitor who brings disaster to the country!"

"What freedom or not? Before these Institute of Technology students graduated, when the Tax Inspection Office handled cases, it was never this troublesome. There were no problems in the accounts at all."

Wang Chonggu was stunned and said, "Isn't this serving the imperial court in another way? And it saves money; no need to pay salaries, just providing meals is enough."

These arrested accountants had all entered the Northern Jiao-min Lane Prison and were working for the imperial court with extremely low labor compensation.

"It seems so. And the Tax Inspection Office can specifically target these private workshops that recruited Institute of Technology students. By watching them, they can both inspect taxes and recycle talents." Wang Guoguang's brow relaxed, and there was some suspicion on his face.

The Tax Inspection Office once again set two tax inspection conditions: the first was private workshops that hired Institute of Technology students, and the second was expanding business with declining tax items.

The more Wang Guoguang pondered, the more it tasted like this. More precise tax inspection, cheaper use of talents—could it be that His Majesty's original purpose was this?!

Talent recycling plan—how they entered the market is how they return. It's simply a master plan!

His Majesty's tolerance for Limited Freedomists like Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi was actually "listening to both sides to be enlightened," not particularly valuing them. In some aspects, His Majesty was not free at all.

For example, using income tax to legally control the outflow of gold, silver, and brass; for example, "those who criticize the teacher's mistakes shall be beheaded"; for example, sending a group of barking censors to Liaodong for land reclamation; for example, Chen Youren, who beautified Japanese pirates and wrote the "Eastern Expedition Record," was beheaded on the street.

Is the Emperor really a supporter of Limited Freedom Theory? I'm afraid not.

No matter how you put it, the future audit war of the Great Ming will unfold between the Academy faction and the Prison faction.

Zhu Yijun once proposed establishing more professional tax inspection guards. This requires games between various classes and also requires competition; otherwise, the professional level of the guards will decline and they won't be able to progress in a spiral.

The Great Ming Emperor, who personally compiled the third volume, is very good at using the games in the third volume to reach a consensus, allowing the Great Ming to spiral upward in various fields.

Wang Guoguang has sufficient reason to suspect that His Majesty the Emperor did it on purpose.

Zhang Juzheng's idea of not canceling preferential treatment but increasing penalties is the same kind of game. At the legal level, it gives the poor people the possibility to play games with the local gentry. Even if there is still extremely serious bias in judicial practice, at least there are laws to follow.

Having laws to follow, ensuring laws are followed, enforcing laws strictly, and investigating violations—this is the process of judicial maturity and gradual progress.

When the discussion ended, Xu Jue chatted with Luo Sigong, mainly asking about the inspection of chili peppers. Strictly controlling the Grand Coordinator's diet was Luo Sigong's biggest job besides safety.

"You Shouli only dared to interfere with the Grand Coordinator's diet because you were there. If the guards you led weren't there, I'm afraid You Shouli wouldn't dare to tell the Grand Coordinator about these things either."

"Especially the Five-Animal Frolics, keep a close eye on it. If the Grand Coordinator doesn't do it, you make things difficult for You Shouli, and You Shouli will naturally go and tell the Grand Coordinator." Xu Jue carefully instructed the single-minded Luo Sigong not to be so single-minded.

Making Zhang Juzheng have a regular routine, a healthy diet, and appropriate exercise—these three things all hung on Luo Sigong, but he couldn't directly contradict him. Zhang Juzheng was the Marquis of Yicheng; if he offended him too much, and there was a rift between His Majesty and the teacher, it wouldn't be good.

Luo Sigong wasn't smooth enough. Xu Jue taught him a method: make things difficult for You Shouli, the chief steward. The chief steward had the Emperor's backing, so he would naturally interfere with Zhang Juzheng's behavior.

Brine points tofu; one thing subdues another.

Luo Sigong pondered for a moment and found that Xu Jue's method was indeed good. You Shouli was Zhang Juzheng's own person, while Luo Sigong was an outsider. This distinction between close and distant, it was still more convenient to let You Shouli do it. He smiled and said, "Thank you, Grand Eunuch, for your guidance."

"This old servant is just good at some petty schemes of the human heart; it's hard to be on the elegant stage, so it's not guidance." Xu Jue looked left and right, and whispered, "These scholars are all rotten and bad. Commander Luo, you grew up following His Majesty since you were a child, don't learn to be bad from this group of scholars."

"They, they have ten thousand schemes in one heart."

The Eastern Depot, Western Depot, Inner Depot, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Northern Depot—eunuchs plus guards have fought with these scholars since the beginning of the dynasty for more than two hundred years, and never won once. Even if there was a short-term victory, they still couldn't escape the outcome of a crushing defeat, repeating over and over again.

These court ministers all passed the imperial examinations through thousands of troops and horses, and climbed step by step to the center, none of them simple.

Now the eunuchs in the palace have figured it out: it doesn't matter if they can't fight them. His Majesty leads them to fight. If the master is weak, the ministers are weak; if the master is strong, the ministers are strong. It mainly depends on His Majesty. The stronger and wiser His Majesty is, the better the days for these eunuchs and guards will be.

Luo Sigong also said with lingering fear, "Teacher is indeed a bit ruthless."

"Ruthlessness is the ultimate emotion. What Teacher holds in his heart is ultimately the world." Xu Jue waved his hand and said, "I'm leaving."

Xu Jue returned to the Tonghe Palace Imperial Study and told the Emperor word for word the content of the discussion, especially the process of Wang Chonggu changing his face four times in a quarter of an hour, from anger, breaking defense, to horror, to admitting defeat.

After listening, Zhu Yijun was also a bit stunned, then shook his head and said, "Uh, is Teacher too ruthless? However, Teacher's method is better."

Wang Chonggu was a bit wishful. Drastically cutting preferential treatment would easily cause intense conflict. The Great Ming New Deal, in general, is the self-salvation and self-innovation of the ruling class, using a long time to change the economic foundation of society bit by bit.

Zhang Juzheng's ruthlessness well compensated for Wang Chonggu's wishful thinking.

Whether it is an individual or various collectives, when making any decision, they are like walking anxiously in a maze, never knowing whether the road they choose will be covered with flowers or thorns.

The more information obtained, the higher one stands. Seeing more news from the thick fog, one can then choose the road that should be taken in the near future.

Undoubtedly, Zhang Juzheng indeed stands slightly higher than Wang Chonggu, so he can always win against Wang Chonggu.

"Your Majesty, that scoundrel Li Yashi has compiled another prophecy." Feng Bao presented a memorial.

Since the Tian Bing Rebellion in Ruijin, the capital's miscellaneous newspapers have had many discussions about the Tian Bing Rebellion, which can be described as you singing and I appearing on stage.

Everyone conducted fierce debates around rumors, facts, scale, harm, influence, etc. The final result was that most of the miscellaneous newspapers characterized it as "officials forcing the people to rebel."

The local county magistrate indulged the local gentry in opening gambling dens, indulged the gentry in harming the local people, indulged the gentry in exploiting downward, modified the established tax collection methods, and went to the countryside to forcibly collect taxes, eventually leading to the civil rebellion.

The people's resistance was extremely gentle; they just broke through the county town and arrested the local gentry living in the county town.

The Ministry of Rites' articles are very important. The Ministry of Rites had the mouthpieces bring out the example of the Ye Zongliu-Deng Maoqi civil rebellion during the 13th year of Zhengtong in the Ming Yingzong era, which affected Fujian, Huguang, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Jiangxi, with nearly a million farmers rising up.

This Tian Bing Rebellion, which only affected the three counties of Ningdu, Ruijin, and Ninghua, was very restrained, with reasonable demands, and should be handled mainly by appeasement.

In this process, Li Yashi also wrote an editorial article discussing this Tian Bing Rebellion.

The title Li Yashi used was particularly sensational: "Great Ming timely stopped a potential danger that could have harmed the world."

The Great Ming, as an insider, felt it was just a simple civil rebellion, but Li Yashi, as an outsider, was surprised by the optimism of the Great Ming people.

"His statement is also very interesting." After reading the first part, Zhu Yijun agreed with Li Yashi's statement.

The discussions of the Great Ming scholar-officials, because they were in the game, had certain limitations, limited to their own past perspectives, feeling that it was just a civil rebellion, nothing more than suppressing the rebellion.

Even if it reached the scale of Ye Zongliu and Deng Maoqi, the Great Ming still had the ability to suppress the rebellion strongly and in a short time.

Didn't the Emperor raise 100,000 capital camp troops and 130,000 naval troops just for this time?

But Li Yashi, as an outsider, saw it very clearly: once the civil rebellion led by Wan Qianchang, Lian Yuanhou, and Zheng Sanwan was ignited in Ruijin, if handled improperly, the world would be in great danger.

Because the Great Ming no longer had an army that could be used to suppress internal rebellions.

Li Yashi always called the capital camp elite troops "Paladins," holy knights, holy temple warriors, and the holy knight legion under His Majesty's seat.

The elite troops possessed noble morality. Even if this morality needed to rely on strong logistical supplies and high military expenditures to maintain, the core of maintaining this noble morality was belief.

The Great Ming capital camp, with "reporting to the Son of Heaven above and saving the common people below" as its military soul, was invincible when its guns were aimed at the enemy, but when the guns of this army were aimed at the people, the narrative of reporting to the Son of Heaven and saving the common people below would completely disintegrate.

Because the Son of Heaven and the common people who constituted the military soul had produced irreconcilable contradictions.

At the moment this narrative disintegrated, the capital camp and the navy would collapse, because the Emperor could no longer be trusted, and various public opinions of promoting literature and suppressing martial arts would completely destroy this invincible army.

And this army would likely disintegrate internally.

It was as if the Paladins had flashed for a moment and become a legendary story.

Did the holy temple warriors really exist by relying on expensive military expenditures? If so, Qi Jiguang would have long been wearing the yellow robe, instead of the Great Ming army's blade pointing where His Majesty's sword pointed.

The existence of holy temple warriors always had spirit as its core: loyal to His Majesty, loyal to the Great Ming, loyal to the Great Ming people. These three loyalties were the soul of the capital camp, and none could be missing.

The Great Ming people took the existence of the capital camp for granted, because the Great Ming people had gradually become accustomed to the existence of the army, but to Li Yashi, an outsider, such holy temple warriors should not exist in the world.

Besides that, the Great Ming Great Speculation had been going on for fourteen years. The content of these speculations could easily become a strong wind, burning the spark of fire across the entire Great Ming.

In this era of rapid change, what kind of terrible influence would the publicly and large-scale published "Contradiction Theory," "Public and Private Theory" (two volumes), "Production Illustrations," and "Class Theory" (three volumes) have?

This was a place that the Great Ming scholar-officials completely ignored when discussing.

Just like fish wouldn't notice water, and people wouldn't notice air, the Great Ming people lived in such an environment, thinking that all this was taken for granted, while ignoring the dangers within.

These publicly and large-scale published political and economic speculative books would make the next civil rebellion impossible to end.

Even if it relied on the capital camp, after suppression, the foundation of the existence of the capital camp elite troops would disintegrate. What would the next civil rebellion rely on?

Zhu Yijun looked at the miscellaneous newspaper in his hand and continued, "The Wanli Reform has allowed the Great Ming to embark on an unknown road. In maintaining the survival of the country, many experiences accumulated by the Central Plains dynasty will fail. When facing the surging public opinion, the Great Ming should deal with public opinion with caution and more caution."

"This unknown road, I don't know where it leads, but I have been in the Great Ming for fifteen years, and I have seen more people able to eat. The originally barren fields are full of crops, the abandonment rate has been declining year after year, the roads are becoming smooth, and the engineering corps have paved roads in all directions."

"Agricultural production and handicraft production, because of smooth roads and increased currency, have had unprecedented enthusiasm."

"Vibrant vitality, everything competing to grow, is right before my eyes, and this beauty needs every Great Ming person to protect."

"The Great Ming imperial court finally realized that excessive favoritism and preferential treatment artificially cultivated a group of rebels who opposed the Great Ming imperial court's rule. These rebels grew up under the wings of the Great Ming imperial court and grew strong. Fortunately, there have been corrections and changes."

"Yes, these lawless rebels were cultivated by the Great Ming imperial court itself."

"His Majesty the Great Emperor, who is supreme and majestic, stands in front of the world like a high mountain, resisting the monstrous..."

Zhu Yijun stopped as he read. This Li Yashi had learned all the tricks of the cheap scholars. Ma Pi was mainly flowery and disgusting.

Li Yashi felt that the Great Ming people were like spoiled children, with a serious lack of awareness of danger. The imperial court intensified contradictions. If the Field Soldiers in Ruijin really started killing and setting fires, the civil rebellion would definitely sweep across the entire Jiangxi province.

Jiangxi, where gentry were everywhere and land annexation was highly concentrated, would become the prelude to the Great Ming's destruction.

Fortunately, the Great Ming had a majestic Majesty who clearly knew the danger and used all his strength and means to block these storms.

"Delete this flattering passage and publish it in the Di Bao." Zhu Yijun read Li Yashi's miscellaneous newspaper. Except for the parts that were overly exaggerated and inconsistent with facts that needed to be deleted, the whole article could be published in the Di Bao.

It was also to tell the bureaucrats of the Great Ming to pay attention to such group incidents.

Feng Bao said carefully, "Your servant thinks that the two words 'majestic' are not flattery."

Very objective.

Feng Bao served Emperor Shizong and the late Emperor. Other wise monarchs lived in history books and were already in the past. The wise Majesty lived in front of him, so His Majesty was the most majestic monarch.

"Delete it." Zhu Yijun gave a clear instruction.

Feng Bao was silent for a moment and bowed, saying, "Your servant obeys the decree."

The ceiling of feudal imperial rule is very high. After all, as an emperor, the power is unlimited, and things can be done by concentrating strength the fastest. Of course, the floor is also very low. Once he starts to get sick, he is a thief who harms the country and the people.

As the Emperor himself, Zhu Yijun must maintain enough rationality. He can only completely restrain himself.

"Should this prophecy not be deleted either?" Feng Bao asked tentatively.

"Keep him. By the way, have him caught and kept in the Northern Suppressing and Pacifying Division for ten days." Zhu Yijun reminded Feng Bao that being able to spread information did not mean there was no punishment. The prison system had talents, and it was not just the accountants in the Northern Jiao-min Lane Prison.

The joke compiled by Li Yashi was actually very interesting.

【After the 29th year of Jiajing, the Great Ming and Andahan were fighting fiercely in Xuanfu and Datong. Deputy Regional Commander Ma Gui asked Regional Commander Ma Fang, "What is our army's tactic?"】

【Ma Fang replied: The imperial court pretends to issue pay, and we pretend to fight.】

Even in such a difficult situation, in the 40th year of Jiajing, Ma Fang led the border army to win five victories in five battles in Tu'erling, Yinlonghe, and other places. Finally, he set an ambush in Huai'an, and the family soldiers and brave men attacked from the flank, cutting the Andahan army in half.

Ma Fang himself charged into the battle, his saber broke three times, but he still fought fiercely.

After the Battle of Huai'an, Andahan completely lost the military power to attack the Great Ming, and then it was the Great Ming's turn to take the initiative.

Li Yashi compiled this joke, which had a high degree of similarity with this Tian Bing Rebellion. He hoped that the imperial court would not close its eyes, cover its ears, and shake its body, pretending to move forward.

It is true that the Han dynasty had loyal ministers in every generation, but loyal ministers are limited. How many loyal ministers are there to waste?

The problems were known to every public official in the court, but they were never solved from beginning to end.

Because he criticized the cabinet ministers led by Emperor Shizong for their inaction, Li Yashi happily received ten days of imprisonment.

"The only realistic violence is the army. Relying on violence can sort out production relations. Based on production distribution, morality is produced, and morality builds order. Finally, power is born. When the army changes, everything will change accordingly." Zhu Yijun pondered for a moment and said, "Power grows out of the barrel of a gun."

Zhu Yijun wanted to make a vermilion comment on this Di Bao. He really couldn't find more appropriate words to describe this change in the Great Ming, so he had to copy the famous quotes written by the truly majestic Optimus Prime.

In Zhu Yijun's personal understanding, this sentence expresses that armed struggle can seize political power, and at the same time, it also expresses what kind of gun barrel it is, and what kind of world it is based on the gun barrel.

Violence, production relations, distribution, morality, order, and power are layers of progressive relationships. The only realistic and concrete thing here is violence itself.

Violence is not just the army; violence is also gunpowder, steel, silver coins, theory, and the hearts of the people.

"The Imperial Academy of Sciences requests to approve a sum of money, one million two hundred thousand silver." Feng Bao handed over a budget plan and asked His Majesty to approve it, because of the two words "Imperial," these budget plans didn't need to pass the meeting, only His Majesty's consent was needed, and the Inner Treasury could allocate funds.

"Approved." Zhu Yijun looked at it roughly and said.

Feng Bao hesitated and said: "Your Majesty, this is one million two hundred thousand silver. Is this thing really useful?"

One million two hundred thousand silver is equal to two late emperor mausoleums, equal to one year's gold flower silver, just given away like this, just to build a place to blow wind.

What Zhu Yijun approved was the artificial wind experiment, which is a basic scientific research project independent of the glider. Steam engines are the power, artificially creating strong winds, mainly used for ship design, sail optimization, and propeller research. Glider optimization is just one of them.

Most of the graduates of the Maritime Academy went to the Ship Design Institute to support the ship design of the five major shipyards.

What the Imperial Academy of Sciences wants to build is a wind blower with a primitive wind power only at the hurricane level, which is a wind speed of 65 li per quarter. After shrinking through the trumpet-shaped contraction section, the wind speed can reach 120 li per quarter.

The Imperial Institute of Technology requested one million two hundred thousand silver to develop wind-driven construction. Building this thing is purely for model wind blowing to optimize fast sailing ship design.

Zhu Yijun smiled and said: "Build it. The silver wasn't spent; it just accompanied me in another form."

Regarding whether the large-scale artificial wind experimental device should be built, there is actually a great disagreement among the Academy doctors.

Some Academy doctors think it is too wasteful, one million two hundred thousand silver is too expensive, and the Great Ming's main energy can be used for the research and development of steam engines; other Academy doctors firmly support it, ship design should be more professional, at least to achieve mastery through a comprehensive study, rather than building ships based on past experience.

Some Academy doctors think that Prince De Zhu Zaiyu applied for such a huge sum of money for the research and development of steam turbines.

The Academy doctors argued back and forth, didn't argue out a result, and were too lazy to argue, so they directly handed it to His Majesty for holy judgment. His Majesty felt it was necessary to build it, and if His Majesty felt it was not necessary to waste money, he wouldn't build it.

Most Academy doctors opposed it, mainly because they were afraid of wasting money.

Zhu Yijun had nothing else, but he still had a lot of money.

"The memorial of Xu Wei, Governor of Nagasaki." Zhu Yijun frowned and said: "The population of Japan is actually still decreasing. It is estimated that there will only be 7.5 million by the end of this year."

It took three years to drop from 9 million to 8.5 million, and one and a half years to drop from 8.5 million to 8 million. Now, 500,000 people can be consumed in one year.

Reasonably speaking, the imperial court's population reduction policy has marginal effects, and population reduction should be worse year by year. But the estimate given by the Nagasaki Governor's Office is extremely optimistic, and the population reduction effect is better year by year.

The basis for the judgment of the Nagasaki Governor's Office is not the Korean War, nor the slave trade, but because of the false prosperity created by the influx of Great Ming treasure notes into Japan, which led to the high concentration of population, eventually leading to the rapid decrease of population.

In short, the Japanese people are not giving birth.

The excessive concentration of urban population has brought about a very serious collapse in fertility. According to various intelligence collected by Great Ming merchants, the number of coastal port cities has increased, siphoning a large number of women into the city.

These women left the countryside, and the countryside lacked women, so rural fertility naturally plummeted.

These Japanese men in the countryside did not resist too fiercely, but chose to farm until they died.

After the Great Ming opened the sea, a large number of large and small port cities appeared in Osaka Bay, such as Hiroshima, Kobe, Iwaya Castle, Sakai, Wakayama Castle, Takehara, Mihara, Fukuyama, etc. These towns do not have the ability to sail across the ocean, but even if they can only reach Nagasaki, it is enough.

And after these Japanese women entered the towns, because the competition in the towns was too fierce, they actively chose to be prostitutes, that is, to make a living by selling themselves. And because too many people did this, they would cross the ocean to become Nanyang sisters.

In the long run, all prosperity is at the cost of population and silver mineral resources;

When the silver mines are exhausted, the false prosperity disappears, and Japan will fall into a long period of silence, and the population will further decrease.

"Sure enough, it is difficult to destroy Japan by relying on soldiers. It is better to rely on them to destroy themselves." Zhu Yijun gave a vermilion comment on the memorials of Xu Wei and Sun Keyi, reminding them to pay attention to safety, especially to prevent assassination by Japanese pirates. The Japanese have a very rich culture of "the inferior overcoming the superior."

It was mainly because the Emperor couldn't bear to see the morality of the capital camp slide, but Japan chose to walk toward death by itself. ===== CHAPTER 781 =====