To understand the overt and covert struggle between Li Dongyang and Boss Liu, we must carefully analyze the historical background at that time.
Every political issue does not exist alone. It has its own origin, development and change. The kind of person who can govern the country with a slap on the head is definitely a protagonist whose template is unparalleled.
Let’s first take a look at Li Dongyang’s fatal throat-sealing knife.
In this world, there is no perfect system, nor are things static.
Ever since Zhu Shou made up his mind to open up 20 ports for trade and launch his age of navigation, the accompanying negative impacts and various troublesome problems would make him miserable for decades.
Comparatively speaking, the problem of the Shipping Company is the least conspicuous among them.
Who is Li Dongyang, the rich and handsome man of the Ming Dynasty? He is a politician with no flaws in his body. No matter who his opponent is, it is difficult to find a way to get rid of him.
There are many problems with Zhu Shou's policy of opening up the sea, and everyone with a discerning eye is looking at it, but no one is stupid enough to say anything about it.
So why did Li Dongyang choose to speak out at this time?
The reason is very simple. Although the problem of the Municipal Shipping Department is small, it is the key to all problems, because it is related to the flow of money and taxes.
As we said before, the Ming Dynasty's shipping department mainly did one stupid thing, which was to hand over the Ming government's money to foreign businessmen for free, allowing them to come and go happily, and experience the "Central Dynasty"
"Taste.
Are all officials really idiots?
This is not the case. Officials who are much smarter than them have naturally realized the problems that businessmen are aware of. Therefore, Xiong Xuancai, the eunuch who promoted the shipbuilding industry, said: Your Majesty, this will not work. We have to collect taxes, no matter how much they are.
Wait, otherwise the foreigners would think that we Ming people are all fools.
Before the time travel, Zhu Houzhao had no interest in the ocean at all, so he did not follow the instructions of others and instead issued an edict to teach him a lesson.
After traveling through time, Zhu Shou, stimulated by the Age of Discovery, took a step forward. Twenty treaty ports were opened. Except for the two special ports of the East China Sea Company, in the remaining eighteen ports,
There is no special agency to collect taxes! Even the shipping department is still the same three.
Maritime merchants from various countries could only hand over one-thirtieth of their commercial taxes to the Donghai Company. However, the maritime merchants of the Ming Dynasty even went so far as to evade taxes and colluded with the Donghai Company to pay a lot of taxes that should have been paid to the court.
Give it to Donghai Company for the lowest price.
Now the civil servants in the court have quit. The Donghai Company is the emperor's inner treasury and is controlled by the eunuchs. The leader is Luo Xiang, one of the Eight Tigers, who is known as "the most vicious". Who dares to ask him for money?
The Shipping Department was too supervised, and the Donghai Company was also too supervised. Seeing the white money flowing into the emperor's inner treasury, the civil servants had great opinions.
Although Zhu Shou was arrogant, Zhu Houzhao's memory still existed. He knew the rules of the court, the principles and laws, and the commercial taxes of the twenty ports should be handed over to the court.
Then several big questions arise: Should it be handed over to the central government or to the local governments? What about Donghai Company? Does it need to pay taxes? How to prohibit smuggling? How to collect and transport tax money?
Deeper questions also arise: Should the treasury be responsible for the revenue and expenditure of the Donghai Company's dividends, the immigration fees of Yizhou, and the emperor's sea opening policy, or should the internal treasury be responsible for the revenue and expenditure?
Li Dongyang raised a small question, which was not enough to anger Zhu Shou, but this question implicated countless big problems. The eunuch group and the civil servant group, the central and local governments, the national treasury and the internal treasury, etc., were all trapped in the trap of these problems.
From a technical perspective, this problem was a dead end in the Ming Dynasty. Many knowledgeable senior officials were aware of this, but they could not think of a solution.
Therefore, as soon as Li Dongyang proposed it, everyone understood that this sword was striking at the soft underbelly of the emperor's policy of opening up the sea, and there was no way to parry it...
How could Prime Minister Li only have one sword?
This attack is just a small test. Let’s see how the emperor responds. The next few cuts will be about “internal treasury expenditure issues”, “East China Sea Company management issues”, and “port regulation issues”. In short, the sword will cut them all.
The emperor was dazzled, and finally he would come up with a solution: Emperor, let's just play with the palace ladies instead of going to the sea to do things. This is not good. As for Japan, Yizhou, etc., forget it.
Prime Minister Li's political skills were unparalleled in the early Zhengde Dynasty. He was several blocks ahead of Boss Liu, and only Yang Tinghe in the later period could compete with him.
Boss Liu, Prime Minister Jiao, and Prime Minister Yang are all very familiar with his sword skills. They are all capable ministers in governing the country. The little emperor doesn't know it. Don't they know it?
But how to break it? All three of them had difficulties.
This is not a conspiracy. Li Dongyang rarely engages in conspiracies. This is an upright way of governing the country: if the economy and taxation are not done well, why talk about the Japanese and Yizhou countries? It is simply playing the piano randomly.
Therefore, no matter what faction they are, they must face up to this problem. As for the Kaihai faction, they need to seriously solve the problem, otherwise the consequences will be very serious.
Li Dongyang doesn't play tricks, but that doesn't mean Boss Liu doesn't play tricks.
We all know that Prime Minister Jiao is the most educated gangster in the Ming Dynasty, so as his eldest brother, how can Boss Liu underestimate the enemy's gangster tricks?
Let’s put aside Li Dongyang’s conspiracy to govern the country for the moment, and let’s take a look at the two thorough investigations proposed by Prime Minister Jiao.
First, check out the salt lesson.
The salt introduction system of the Ming Dynasty has been bloody criticized since the day Chong Bago was established. We will not repeat it here.
How did Prime Minister Jiao’s conspiracy set up Prime Minister Li?
Let us go back to the beginning of last year. At that time, the salt method was gradually collapsing, the side bank was empty, and the open method no longer worked. What should we do?
Zhu Houzhao sent ministers Wang Qiong and Zhang Xian to clean up. Now the opportunity came.
If a system is not changed, there may be many opportunities for loopholes to be exploited, but once it is changed, it will no longer be a loophole, but a hole! This point was extremely obvious in the reform of a certain country in later generations.
The same was true in the Ming Dynasty. The huge hole was drilled, and the person who drilled it must be a relative of the royal family. It is said that most people are not so bold.
Qingyun Marquis Zhou Shouyu and Shouning Marquis Zhang Heling were the two royal relatives. They each sent their families to buy Changlu and salt from the Huaihe River.
Zhou Shouyu's Qingyun Marquis was posthumously named, and was originally Chang Ningbo. He was the younger brother of Queen Xiaosu. Queen Xiaosu Zhou was the concubine of Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, the biological mother of Xianzong, the grandmother of Xiaozong, and the biological great-grandmother of classmate Zhu Houzhao.
As for Zhang Heling, he was the uncle of classmate Zhu Houzhao.
Therefore, Han Wen, the Minister of Household Affairs at that time, firmly disagreed with these two morons stealing national property. Yes, it was Han Wen, the founder of the fifty-three reactionary group. He was everywhere. But Zhu Houzhao privately issued an edict and approved it.
These two guys seized state-owned assets.
The eunuchs were naturally jealous when they saw the uncles robbing things, so Cui Gao, the weaving eunuch, also wanted the salt from Changlu. The then prime ministers Liu Jian and Li Dongyang strongly opposed it.
Now Zhu Houzhao was unhappy: "You have to take care of the imperial uncles who are robbing things; you still have to take care of the palace slaves who are robbing things. Do you take me, the emperor, seriously?"
The emperor and the prime ministers fought for a long time, and finally each took a step back and followed the advice of the Ministry of Household Affairs: half of it would be enough.
So who is responsible for this matter? Wang Run, the censor of the salt patrol, Ning Ju and Yang Qi, the transport envoys, etc.
Wang Run and Yang Qi were disciples of Li Dongyang. Ning Ju was a disciple of Liu Jian. Now Ning Ju and Yang Qi have resigned, and only Wang Run, the salt patrol censor, is still in office.
Prime Minister Jiao proposed a thorough investigation, but who of the two uncles dared to investigate? How could the eunuch group investigate?…
Therefore, the purpose is very clear: Prime Minister Li, hand over your students as scapegoats, lest the uncles and eunuchs take turns to come forward and reduce you to dog meat.
So what about checking the Neijia font? What’s the killer move against Li Dongyang?
If you think so, you are wrong. It is true that Jiao Fang is the most educated gangster in the Ming Dynasty, but he is rich in knowledge after all. As for Eunuch Liu, he has the reputation of "doing not avoid relatives when doing internal affairs, and not avoiding enemies when doing external affairs". Look at him
Just get old farmer Cao and old man Xu into the martial arts academy and sit in the cold palace.
The salt inspection class was about Li Dongyang, but the inspection of the Neijia lexicon had little to do with Li Dongyang. Boss Liu's purpose was to get rid of a group of officials in the DPRK who were at odds with him.
Why do you say that? Let’s first look at what the Neijia font does.
Neijia Ziku is the first of the ten inner treasuries. It is subordinate to the Inner Transport Depot and is responsible for storing silver, vermilion, yellow pill, black plum, garcinia, and mercury. It is under the charge of Chen Jing, the eunuch of the Inner Transport Depot.
Some people may find it strange, isn't Chen Jing one of classmate Zhu Shou's three little tigers? Why does Boss Liu want to mess with him?
People who think this way do not know the operating rules of Shiku. It is true that Chen Jing is the eunuch of the palm seal, but he is only responsible for the safekeeping and storage. He is not responsible for the source, use and destination of the goods.
So who has the obligation to take care of this?
Let’s first look at what silver and vermillion are used for.
According to the "Ben Jing Feng Yuan" records: "Yin Zhu, mercury and sulfur are forged, specially used to kill insects and cure sores, and use poison to fight poison."
Huangdan, also known as plumbaum, is made from lead, sulfur, saltpeter, etc., and is used to treat vomiting and coughing up blood. Black plum and garcinia also have the effect of curing various types of blood disorders and stopping bleeding.
Anyone who has read the history of the Ming Dynasty knows that Xiaozong died of "constant nosebleeds", while Zhu Houzhao finally "died of vomiting blood." As for the specific cause of death, there are different opinions.
However, according to the historical habit of classmate Zhu Houzhao who liked to make elixirs with Tibetan monks, this Neijia character library was undoubtedly specially designed to cooperate with Zhu Houzhao's elixir refining.
As for whether eating it will lead to immortality or cure diseases, this cannot be verified.
Which departments in the court are obliged to accompany the emperor in making alchemy?
The first one is, of course, the Qintian Prison of the Shengun Concentration Camp; the second one is the Taiyuan Hospital; and the third one is the Ministry of Household Affairs. These are all indestructible.
These departments are not critical, and after Boss Liu took office, he did not spare any time to deal with them. Now he finally seized the opportunity, and naturally he would retaliate with grievances and revenge.
Sure enough, within a few days, Boss Liu used this incident to kill 173 civil servants!
Seeing this, everyone understood that Li Dongyang slashed the emperor and the Kaihai faction, and Boss Liu not only slashed back, but also chopped down a piece of land that he had no time to clean up before.
Therefore, the struggle between educated people and educated hooligans is complex and changeable. If you don’t analyze it carefully, you really don’t know what they are doing.
Zhu Shou didn't understand either, but it didn't matter. He was the emperor and had the right not to understand. Didn't a certain great man say: The more your subordinates fight and fight, the higher your leadership skills are proven.
So the otaku emperor, who somehow fit the great man's comments, expressed his views readily: "Xuan, change the Municipal Shipping Department to the customs to coordinate the taxes of various places; thoroughly investigate the salt class and the Neijia Dictionary, if anything can be done
Those who commit crimes will never be tolerated!"
Regardless of the east wind or the west wind, I am still standing tall and motionless. Zhu Shou's move is quite regal.
Otaku is indeed a one-dimensional creature.
The ministers were dumbfounded: Isn't this just beating the old master to death with random punches? Also, Your Majesty, what is customs?