In fact, Zhao Junchen was also trying to find a reason to leave Huo Zhengyuan in the room to continue talking.
Huo Zhengyuan has been presiding over Nanjing affairs in recent months, and two things have attracted Zhao Junchen's attention.
First, Huo Zhengyuan was stimulated by Jiang Zheng's attack and injury, and his personality also changed. He showed unprecedented courage and responsibility, and even dared to confront Zhou Shangjing head-on.
But it's a pity that due to various unexpected changes and Zhou Shangjing's superior skills, Huo Zhengyuan suffered repeated setbacks today and was almost completely defeated. Therefore, Zhao Junchen was a little worried that Huo Zhengyuan would be devastated because of this and become the useless person he once was.
He only knew how to protect himself, so Zhao Junchen thought he should find ways to encourage Huo Zhengyuan to regain his confidence.
The second is that when Huo Zhengyuan was in Nanjing, when he was in contact with various forces, both the seventh prince Zhu Hejian and the first assistant Zhou Shangjing were intentionally or unintentionally trying to sow the trust between Zhao Junchen and Huo Zhengyuan, and seemed to want to take advantage of Huo Zhengyuan for a long time in the future.
The situation of staying in the south and taking full charge of the ocean-going project split the "Zhao Party", allowing Huo Zhengyuan to compete with Zhao Junchen in the future.
Huo Zhengyuan did not hide anything about these things that were causing discord when he reported them to Zhao Junchen, but Zhao Junchen could also see that Huo Zhengyuan was careful and under great pressure when talking about these things. He was obviously also worried about Zhao Junchen's relationship with him.
There was a rift, so Zhao Junchen also needed to clearly express his trust.
All in all, in Zhao Junchen's opinion, Huo Zhengyuan is in urgent need of a spiritual massage.
In fact, Zhao Junchen attaches great importance to Huo Zhengyuan far beyond what the outside world imagines.
The reason for this emphasis is also very simple - in Zhao Junchen's future plan, Huo Zhengyuan is his temporary successor.
Although Huo Zhengyuan is more than 20 years older than Zhao Junchen, Zhao Junchen's future situation is like walking on thin ice. There is no telling when an accident will happen and he will die.
Zhao Junchen couldn't even guarantee whether he would still be alive tomorrow.
Who knows if Zhou Shangjing will take a desperate risk and send a few assassins to take out the money? Considering that Zhou Shangjing is already dead, if he determines that Zhao Junchen is a serious problem in the future, I am afraid that anything can be done.
Who knows whether the next target of the seventh prince Zhu Hejian's poison plot will be Zhao Junchen? It would be fine if Zhu Hejian still used diamond powder to poison, but what if he used conventional poisons such as crane crown red and arsenic?
Considering Zhao Junchen's mixed reviews from both the government and the opposition, who knows whether a radical will suddenly appear among the people, shouting the righteous slogan "Down with corrupt officials", and then stab Zhao Junchen in the chest with a knife?
No one can guarantee that these situations will not occur.
Therefore, once an accident happens to Zhao Junchen, someone needs to step forward, continue along the path Zhao Junchen has pointed out, and complete Zhao Junchen's unfinished business.
In fact, Huo Zhengyuan himself may not necessarily agree with Zhao Junchen's various ideas and plans, but he is an extremely smart person who can fully understand the necessity and urgency of these ideas and plans.
Based on this alone, Huo Zhengyuan is already the only one among the many officials of the "Zhao Party", and Zhao Junchen has no choice.
Therefore, before Zhao Junchen has cultivated a qualified successor who fully meets his expectations, Huo Zhengyuan is the successor closest to Zhao Junchen's expectations.
Although he is more than twenty years older than Zhao Junchen, we can only blame Zhao Junchen for being too young. From the perspective of a successor, Huo Zhengyuan at this age is just right.
*
After Zhao Junchen and Huo Zhengyuan were the only two people left in the room, Zhao Junchen first pondered for a moment, thinking about how he should organize his words to comfort and encourage Huo Zhengyuan.
But at the next moment, Huo Zhengyuan's words quickly diverted Zhao Junchen's attention, and Zhao Junchen quickly understood one thing - his worries about Huo Zhengyuan were completely overblown.
Huo Zhengyuan took the initiative to sit next to Zhao Junchen, tilted his body slightly towards Zhao Junchen, and lowered his voice: "Minister, there were so many people in the room talking just now. Although they are all confidants of the cabinet minister, there are three things here that are still important to me.
It is not convenient for too many people to know the inside story, so I want to report it to you privately."
Zhao Junchen was stunned for a moment and then asked: "What three things?"
Huo Zhengyuan said with a serious expression: "The first thing has to do with the lowly people. A few days ago, I used the lowly people in Nanjing to work for us. I made a private promise to them that as long as the lowly people are willing to work hard and work hard,"
The Zhao Party will fully support them in leaving their place of origin and restoring their status as normal common people!"
After hearing this, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but frown.
Huo Zhengyuan naturally understood Zhao Junchen's thoughts and immediately added: "Of course, I also understand that this matter is quite tricky and extremely difficult to implement. Even if our 'Zhao Party' goes all out, we may not achieve much!
Therefore, I want to take the lead in consulting the cabinet ministers. Should we keep our promise and really make an effort to promote this matter? Or should we just deal with it half-heartedly? If it is the latter, then we must find another way to completely block it.
Stop the mouths of the lowly people to prevent them from being dissatisfied and then spreading everywhere that our 'Zhao Party' has broken its promises and damaged the credibility of our 'Zhao Party' in the government and the opposition..."
Good guy, Huo Zhengyuan just took advantage of those lowly people. The lowly people also used their own flesh and blood to help Huo Zhengyuan achieve the planned goal, but Huo Zhengyuan was already thinking about how to kill the donkey.
No wonder Huo Zhengyuan wanted to discuss this matter with Zhao Junchen in private. Such a treacherous matter is really not suitable for public discussion.
At the same time, Zhao Junchen also understood Huo Zhengyuan's mentality at this time very well.
With the current influence of the "Zhao Party" and the outstanding achievements of the low-ranking people in rescuing the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, it stands to reason that it would be easy to help the low-ranking people in Nanjing leave their place of origin and restore their normal status.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! But this is not the case.
If there are only dozens or hundreds of low-income families, it would not be difficult to get them out of the low-income family. But the problem is... If Huo Zhengyuan wants to keep his promise, he must help thousands of low-income families leave their place of origin and change their identities. This is
This means that the untouchable class in Nanjing has almost completely disappeared.
However, the existence of humble status may seem inconsequential, but both the government and the opposition parties have benefited a lot.
In the Ming Dynasty, those with low status had the lowest social status. Their status was passed down from generation to generation. They were not allowed to take part in the imperial examinations, serve as officials, purchase land and property, and were not allowed to marry ordinary people. They could only engage in various "low jobs". They were simply banned forever.
Turn over.
Among the lowly people, they are further subdivided into different types, such as lazy people, beggars, companions, happy people, fishermen with nine surnames, etc.
In addition, although craftsmen and military households do not belong to lowly status in the traditional sense, their actual situation is not much different from that of lowly status.
Among them, because of the existence of lowly statuses such as lazy people, beggar households, and companions, the government is equivalent to controlling a group of free labor. The powerful can apply to the Ministry of Rites at any time to borrow these lowly statuses as maidservants and enslave them at will;
And because of the existence of craftsmen and military households, the army can have a cheap and stable supply of personnel and weapons. The gentry and dignitaries have also been using the technical capabilities of craftsmen to make money, forcibly expropriating all kinds of equipment from craftsmen and selling them.
among the people;
Because of the existence of music records, the government could run workshops and prostitutes, which not only increased extra income, but also increased the number of places for the gentry and the powerful to have fun;
The above benefits are only for officials and powerful people. In fact, even ordinary people will benefit a lot from the existence of humble status.
For example, the fishermen with the nine surnames, who are never allowed to go ashore and can only make a living by fishing, have greatly reduced the price of fish and meat in the surrounding areas. Moreover, the wives and daughters of the fishermen with the nine surnames often work part-time as prostitutes on fishing boats, which also contributes to the
Ordinary people with a little spare money provided a place to vent their desires.
At the same time, because of the existence of humble status, ordinary people also develop a certain sense of superiority and psychological balance, which objectively maintains social stability.
All in all, all walks of life in the government and the public have benefited from the existence of low-level registration. If the "Zhao Party" wants to change the household registration of people with low-level registration on a large scale, it means that everyone except the low-level registration class itself will have to change their household registration.
Damage to the interests of.
Things like this, even if they seem trivial, are often the most difficult to implement, and the resistance is unimaginable.
Therefore, after the lowly people had lost their use value, Huo Zhengyuan was naturally unwilling to do such a thankless thing.
If he were to change positions, Zhao Junchen would probably have the same mentality.
After carefully considering the various pros and cons, Zhao Junchen said slowly: "This matter... Let's put it off for now. There is no need to push it. Our power in Nanjing is weak. It is not suitable to actively provoke more enemies at the moment. Otherwise, we will have to
We are increasingly besieged from all sides!
However, we must continue to ask the court for credit for the merits of the lowly people, and we cannot let them completely lose their hope. I have a vague hunch that those lowly people will still be useful in the future! As for whether we will really make a real effort to promote it in the end
Let’s discuss this matter after the situation in Nanjing has completely settled.”
Zhao Junchen's decision was roughly the same as Huo Zhengyuan's idea, so Huo Zhengyuan immediately nodded in agreement and said: "As for the second thing, it still has something to do with Ji Ji..."
Subsequently, Huo Zhengyuan informed Zhao Junchen of an extremely critical piece of news.
That is to say, after the humble warriors ambushed the "Chaofeng" dead soldiers, although most of the captured "Chaofeng" warriors were quickly and forcibly taken away by the Jinyi guards, the humble warriors still hid one in time.
The matter of the dying "Chaofeng" soldier.
After listening to Huo Zhengyuan's report, Zhao Junchen's eyes suddenly flashed: "You mean, we have a living witness of a soldier who died under the seventh prince's command?"
Huo Zhengyuan smiled and nodded: "That's right, but this information is extremely confidential, so I can only report it to the cabinet minister privately... Hey, I have been busy in Nanjing during this time, so this matter can be considered
The only gain is that it was not a complete failure."
Zhao Junchen couldn't help laughing, and he was in a good mood for a while: "Master Huo is so humble! With such a harvest, our chances of success will be greatly increased when we do many things in the future! As long as the time is right, this dead scholar will
The evidence is enough to completely change the direction of the situation between the government and the opposition..."
As he spoke, Zhao Junchen's eyes kept flickering.
Obviously, in just a few words, Zhao Junchen had already hatched several conspiracies in his mind.
Moreover, the conspiracies that Zhao Junchen thought of were not just against the seventh prince Zhu Hejian. Some of the conspiracies also pointed at Emperor Deqing, Zhou Shangjing, the inner court forces... and even pointed at the prince whose relationship with Zhao Junchen had tended to ease.
Zhu Heyu!
Zhao Junchen originally wanted to protect the crown prince Zhu Heyu, and would never watch Emperor Deqing depose Zhu Heyu from the throne.
After all, Prince Zhu Heyu has gradually changed his stubbornness and idealism, and has become Zhao Junchen's ally to a large extent.
But now, Zhao Junchen suddenly felt that a deposed and re-established crown prince seemed to be more beneficial to him!
Seeing the change in Zhao Junchen's expression, Huo Zhengyuan knew that Zhao Junchen was constructing some key plans in his mind, so he did not dare to disturb him and just waited quietly.
After about an incense stick, Zhao Junchen finally came back from his thoughts and solemnly explained to Huo Zhengyuan: "We must do our best to conceal the news about this matter, and we must not let anyone notice the existence of this living person! Treat him
After his injury has improved slightly, he will be handed over to us immediately, and we will arrange for him to be transferred out of Nanjing! While he is in Nanjing, we will not need this death witness certificate, but after returning to the capital in the future, we will wait until a critical opportunity
, this witness will definitely play a key role!"
Huo Zhengyuan also had a serious expression and nodded in agreement.
After arriving in Nanjing, Zhao Junchen finally heard some good news, and his mood improved greatly. Thinking about his recent situations, he couldn't help but sigh: "The agencies are too clever, but they are misled by their cleverness! Hey!
, think about it carefully, although I have been forced to travel here and there recently, it can be said that it is difficult to return home, and various plans have been repeatedly frustrated, but my luck is pretty good, and it can even be regarded as a blessing.
Got it!
Your Majesty was unwilling to let me return to the capital early, so he forcibly drove me to Nanjing, which gave me the opportunity to stop Zhou Shangjing's ambition to embezzle the United Shipping Company! However, Zhou Shangjing did not take advantage of the situation in Nanjing to kill the seventh prince out of selfish motives.
, but it also allowed me to find a better plan, which will give me a greater chance to control the situation in the temple in the future! I don’t know how the expressions of His Majesty and Zhou Chief Assistant will change after they know this situation!"
Huo Zhengyuan knew how to advance and retreat, and did not ask about Zhao Junchen's follow-up plan. He just smiled and cheered: "You are such a noble person, God is also helping you!"
Zhao Junchen shook his head, smiled, and asked: "You just said you have three things you want to report to me, what about the third thing?"
Huo Zhengyuan's expression became serious again, and he said coldly: "The third thing is related to the Jin Gentry! When Xiaguan was in Nanjing, after seeing the intensification of the conflict between the Jin Gentry forces and the Huangzhuang forces, he and Jiang Zheng visited Nanjing City
In addition, he explored the property situation of the Jin gentry forces and the Huangzhuang forces in detail, thinking that he could collect evidence from both sides, further intensify the conflict between the two sides, and let them stab each other, and our "Zhao Party" could fish in troubled waters. Who would have thought about the situation in Nanjing?
The changes were too fast, and this plan never had a chance to be implemented, but... the various situations that the official saw during his visit were still shocking!"
Later, Huo Zhengyuan reported to Zhao Junchen in detail all the things he discovered during his visit, especially focusing on the various evil deeds of the Jiangnan gentry class.
Finally, Huo Zhengyuan frowned and concluded: "In short, although both the Huangzhuang forces and the Jin Gentry forces have done a lot of evil, the scale of Huangzhuang is far smaller than that of the Jin Gentry forces, so the various negative impacts caused by the Jin Gentry forces will be smaller.
Far better than the power of Huangzhuang! In the view of Xianguan, the harm of the Jin gentry power is not only that they conceal their land and annex land, but that after they have mastered a large amount of land, they have no intention of using it to cultivate food!
Take Nanjing as an example. At least 70% of the vast hectares of fertile fields outside Nanjing are not planted with rice. Instead, they are mainly used to grow tea, raise silkworms, peanuts, etc. A hundred years ago, there was a saying called "Suzhou and Hangzhou"
"The world is full" means that as long as the food harvest in the Jiangnan area is good, the people in the world will not have to worry about food rations. But now... Xianguan estimates that the food output in the Jiangnan area may not even be able to feed the local people in Jiangnan.
A large amount of grain can be transferred from the Huguang area to make up for the shortfall..."
Speaking of this, Huo Zhengyuan was a little indignant: "The national grain stocks are depleting day by day, and the people are increasingly unable to fill their stomachs. In order to increase the national grain stocks, Zhao Gechen even risked the disapproval of the world and forcibly implemented the agricultural reform policy. However,
Those Jin gentry, on the other hand, just because planting tea and mulberry trees are more profitable, they completely ignore the overall situation, further worsening the hidden danger of food shortage in our dynasty, and they also completely ignore Zhao Gechen's agricultural reform decree..."
In fact, these things Huo Zhengyuan said are well-known secrets. Even if Huo Zhengyuan didn't tell them, Zhao Junchen knew them all.
But Huo Zhengyuan still specifically mentioned it, mainly out of two considerations.
First, Huo Zhengyuan was very aware of Zhao Junchen's concern and attention to the hidden danger of food shortages in the Ming Dynasty. The ocean-going plan promoted by Zhao Junchen was ostensibly for Emperor Deqing's great cause of seeking immortality, but in fact he wanted to purchase food from various countries in Southeast Asia.
In order to make up for the food shortage in the Ming Dynasty, Huo Zhengyuan must report the relevant information to Zhao Junchen in detail;
The second is that Huo Zhengyuan wants to take the opportunity to remind Zhao Junchen that when Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing confront each other next, he may be able to bring this matter out to force Zhou Shangjing to make concessions. As long as Zhou Shangjing immediately returns the "United Shipping Company" in Nanjing, then Zhao Junchen can temporarily
The Jiangnan gentry's disobedience to the imperial government's agricultural reform decree was not investigated.
But what greatly surprised Huo Zhengyuan was that after Zhao Junchen heard his report, his expression was calm, neither surprised nor happy. He was neither angry because the Jin gentry ignored the agricultural reform, nor did he regard this situation as a serious matter.
Surprised by the opportunity, I just shook my head and sighed.
Afterwards, Zhao Junchen said expressionlessly: "In fact, I am well aware of the things that the great scholar Huo said, but I have decided... Quan will treat himself as a blind man and just ignore it!"
Huo Zhengyuan couldn't help but be stunned.
Do you think you are blind? Ignore?
Huo Zhengyuan never expected that such words would come out of Zhao Junchen's mouth.
You must know that when Huo Zhengyuan was still in the capital, he had witnessed with his own eyes all the efforts Zhao Junchen had made. In order to reverse the hidden danger of food shortage in the Ming Dynasty, he looked like he was doing everything he could, regardless of the cost.
He braved the disapproval of the world to publicly implement the agricultural reform plan, and invested a huge amount of resources to secretly plan ocean-going plans. He frowned and stared at the ledger of national grain stocks all day long, and tried every means to squeeze out the government.
Produce more food for circulation between the government and the public...
But now, faced with the behavior of the Jin gentry who ignored the agricultural reform decree and continued to abandon rice farming, Zhao Junchen actually didn't care at all?
Is the person in front of me really Zhao Junchen himself?
Seeing Huo Zhengyuan's surprised expression, Zhao Junchen stood up slowly, walked in front of Huo Zhengyuan and said: "Since arriving in Nanjing, my mood has also undergone some changes, and then I have reflected on my past.
Behavior! Then, I wanted to understand one thing - after noticing the food shortage crisis in our country, I actually wanted to take precautions before it happened, or even try to turn the tide... This approach is really too stupid and too stupid.
So arrogant!"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Stupid? Arrogant?" Huo Zhengyuan became more and more stunned.
"Yes! Not only stupid! But also arrogant!" Zhao Junchen sneered: "Master Huo, I would like to ask you, if you discover a hidden danger in advance, if you ignore it, this hidden danger will be in March or May
It will completely break out in a year, and the world will be turned upside down by then, and everyone will suffer a lot... What should we do under such circumstances?"
Huo Zhengyuan said blankly: "Of course we should stand up in time and try our best to stop it!"
"Wrong! Big mistake! I originally thought so too, but now... I have fully realized my mistake! The correct approach should be to prepare solutions for the hidden dangers in private and propose them to the outside world.
Warning, then sit back and watch this hidden danger completely explode, and finally stand up to clean up the mess!"
"This..." Huo Zhengyuan couldn't understand it at all.
Zhao Junchen kept sneering: "Under the avalanche, no snowflake is innocent! If a hidden danger can cause earth-shaking effects after a thunderstorm, it can only mean one thing, and that is that all walks of life, both the government and the public, are responsible for this hidden danger.
Benefiting from its existence, everyone is nourishing the growth of this hidden danger intentionally or unintentionally!”
Speaking of this, Zhao Junchen suddenly thought of many things in later generations, such as real estate and financial bubbles.
After a pause, Zhao Junchen sneered even more and continued to explain: "So, if you discover this hidden danger three to five years in advance and want to stand up and try your best to prevent this hidden danger from happening, it will only mean that
One thing is that you will be the enemy of all those with vested interests! The vested interests here refer not only to the powerful, but also to the vast majority of the common people!
Then, you will despair and discover that you clearly stood up three to five years in advance, intending to reverse the situation and prevent hidden dangers and thunderstorms, but in fact you could not do anything during these three to five years and only focused on fighting with others.
Those with vested interests are wrangling, and the final result is that this hidden danger will still be exposed when it should be exposed. You have not changed anything, you have just wasted three to five years in vain, and you have made too many enemies for yourself!
Therefore, even if you stand up in advance and try to solve the hidden dangers, it does not mean that you can really solve the hidden dangers in advance! What is even more ridiculous is that after the hidden dangers are completely exposed, those with vested interests will come forward to accuse you and put the blame on you.
On your head, it means that without your messing around in the past three to five years, the situation would never have deteriorated to this extent! In the end, not only will you not be able to turn the tide, but you will become what thousands of people are referring to.
sinner!"
After sighing again, Zhao Junchen said leisurely: "On the other hand, if you had discovered the hidden danger in advance, only given a slight warning, and then ignored it, sitting back and watching the hidden danger completely explode, leaving a mess on the ground, the situation would be much better.
Because you have warned in advance, you do not have to take responsibility after the hidden danger is completely exposed. Moreover, after the hidden danger is completely exposed, the relevant vested interests will inevitably suffer a heavy setback in power, and everyone will truly realize the seriousness of the situation.
When changes are necessary, it will be easier for you to control the situation, and maybe you can clean up the mess faster and better!
And because I understood this truth, I decided to ignore the evil deeds of the Jin gentry... It is impossible to reverse the food shortage predicament of our government. When the situation is completely eroded, it will not be too late for me to intervene, but
It’s just a pain to the people of the world!”
After hearing this, Huo Zhengyuan looked at Zhao Junchen blankly, as if it was the first time he really knew Zhao Junchen.
Huo Zhengyuan originally thought that he had discovered a huge change in his temperament due to the various changes in the situation in Nanjing.
But now, Huo Zhengyuan was shocked to find that the changes that had taken place in Zhao Junchen were far more significant than his own!