It's a good thing they didn't mention the canal. The mention of the canal reminded Zhu Youxiao of the importance of water transportation.
Several northern provinces have suffered from disasters for many years, and Liaodong is also implementing a material and economic blockade strategy. If logistical support is lost, all the hard work of the year will be in vain.
Therefore, the choice of the Governor of Water Transport is particularly important. It can be said that it is the key to victory or defeat in the overt and covert struggle between the two sides.
The Governor of Water Transport is a fat man. Even the Minister of Household Affairs may not be as good as him. The power held by this official position cannot be described as great.
During the Wanli period, there was a man named Li Sancai who served for twelve years and was the longest-serving official.
During his tenure, he could be said to be the spiritual leader of the civil servants, the leader in the fight against imperial power, and the well-deserved leader of the Donglin Party.
The mine supervisors and tax envoys sent by Emperor Wanli were all reduced to disgrace and lost all face by him.
And it was through this fat job that he completely became rich, and his reputation among officials and scholars reached its peak.
At that time, he was praised as "his words are enough to violate the taboos of the world without being dangerous, his deeds are enough to uphold the greatness of an upright man without being extraordinary, and his demeanor is enough to be honest, stubborn and cowardly to be reflected for thousands of years, but there is nothing like it"!
His official career has also skyrocketed, and he has been promoted to the position of Minister of Household Affairs. Although it is a concurrent job, it should not be underestimated.
Suddenly, everyone in the government and the public was calling for Li Sancai to join the cabinet to assist the government.
But although Emperor Wanli at that time was cowardly, he still had a bottom line.
Li Sancai forced Chen Zeng, the mining tax eunuch whom he trusted, to death. He was already disliked, so how could he be allowed to join the cabinet?
Seeing that there was no hope of joining the cabinet, Li Sancai did not pursue any further progress, so he devoted all his energy to consolidating the political status of the Donglin Party.
And he tried his best to win more and greater privileges for the wealthy gentry in Jiangnan.
In the 30th year of Wanli's reign, he asked the emperor to remove the mining tax, a policy that benefited the people, and threatened the emperor by saying that he would resign if he did not remove him.
After all, Wanli was a dignified man. How could he be so bloodless? He immediately decided to remove him from all official positions and drove him back to his hometown.
And the reason why he dared to be so bold, to blatantly oppose the emperor's policies and actions, and even to influence the emperor's thoughts.
In the final analysis, he was too powerful, so powerful that even the emperor was afraid of him.
In addition to the firm support of the Jiangnan clan and Shilin literati behind him, the biggest reason is that his power is so terrifying.
The Governor of Water Transport not only manages a canal of more than 3,000 miles, but also manages the local administrative power of Fengyang Prefecture, Yangzhou Prefecture, Huai'an Prefecture, Luzhou Prefecture, Xuzhou, Hezhou, and Chuzhou Prefecture.
The power spanned several provinces in the north and south, and the entire area that the canal passed through was under the control of the Governor of Water Transport.
The most outrageous and crucial thing is that the Governor of Water Transport has military power in his hands. This is what they really rely on and what the emperor is worried about.
Before the second year of Jingtai, the Ming Dynasty did not have the position of governor of water transportation, because before the second year of Jingtai, water transportation was not that important to the Ming Dynasty.
Only the chief water transport officer and the water transport general officer were appointed by Zhu Di after he moved the capital to Beijing in the 18th year of Yongle.
The headquarters of the government office for the chief military officer and generals is located in the key city of Huai'an, where they coordinate the overall situation.
Candidates for the positions of Chief Military Officer and General Officer are the same as those of the Nanjing garrison. They can only be filled by nobles, not even military generals.
The purpose was to tightly hold the water transport in his own hands. Facts have proved that Zhu Di's prediction was completely correct.
Until the Jingtai era, the canal had always been unobstructed. It had never been in the current situation. It was always blocked somewhere or needed to be dredged and repaired, and the court was asked for money.
But after the defeat of Tumubao, everything began to change. The Mongolian cavalry once again crossed the Great Wall and invaded the Han Dynasty after more than 80 years.
The wanton plunder and destruction of these bandits and horse bandits completely destroyed the agricultural foundation of several northern provinces, and the people were in dire straits because of the war.
At that time, the capital, the capital, had just experienced a large-scale defense battle. The defenders dispatched from various places, as well as the fleeing people, all needed food to eat.
At that time, the capital and even the entire north were not connected to each other, and there was no excess food and grass to maintain the urgently needed food for the defense war.
Therefore, water transportation, which had always had a weak presence, suddenly became a life-saving straw. At that time, just like now, the north relied on the south to supply all materials and food.
It is perfectly fine for the honorable nobles to perform normal tasks according to the rules, but when it comes to such a war emergency, the shortcomings of their abilities in this area are revealed.
During the period before and after the Battle of Beijing, due to the need to transport large quantities of food, troops, and supplies, the number of ships on the canal increased ten times, which was completely beyond the endurance limit.
The sudden busyness of water transportation affairs caught the noble military officials by surprise, because at that time it involved the administration of many provincial capitals and regions, and required coordination among all parties, the military attaches simply could not cope with it.
Therefore, Jingtai Emperor Zhu Qiyu sent a large number of civil servants to the offices of the chief military officers and generals to assist, including many high-ranking officials such as ministers and imperial censors.
After the victory in the Battle of Beijing, the reputation and power of Yu Qian, the number one hero, reached the peak, and it was also the peak of civil servants.
Therefore, these power-hungry people who had long been dissatisfied with being condescended to the noble military ministers began to seize the power of the military generals.
The post of Governor of Water Transport was created for this reason.
However, although the position of Governor of Water Transport was established at that time, the power was still relatively balanced, and the Governor of Water Transport could not yet be determined with just one word.
Civil servants also know that they can't eat hot tofu in a hurry, so they are not eager to get the power that can cover the sky with one hand.
As a result, water transportation at that time formed a situation where both civil and military parties managed it simultaneously.
Their division of labor is that civil servants are responsible for collecting grain from each province according to regulations.
After the inventory and verification in Huai'an were completed, the military officials were responsible for escorting them to Beijing, which is the so-called "supervision by civil servants to urge them and supervisors by military officers to transport them".
In the eighth year of Jingtai, the orthodox emperor Zhu Qizhen, who had been imprisoned for eight years, was restored to the throne through the Seizing of Gates coup and changed to Yuan Tianshun.
At this time, Zhu Qizhen was no longer the orthodox emperor who was immature in mind and only cared about fun, but Emperor Tianshun who was qualified in political means and mentality.
After he ascended the throne, he had a general understanding of the huge power of civil servants. The loss of power gave him, the second emperor, a strong sense of crisis.
So under the guidance of various comprehensive factors, he very decisively executed Yu Qian, the most powerful official at the time, the "chief culprit" that led to the rise of civil servants. (This is speaking from the emperor's perspective, not Yu Qian's fault!)