NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7
07: The real source of the internal troubles of the Ming Dynasty during the Chongzhen reign, Zhu Youjian was confused
“Gao Xun, hurry up and tell me what happened during the Chongzhen reign…….”
Zhu Yuanzhang was very disappointed with Zhu Youjian’s performance. He was uncertain about major events, and his emotions would show on his face at the slightest sign of trouble.
It would be strange if such an emperor was not manipulated by others.
But thinking that this was a member of the old Zhu family, and listening to his words, his performance was acceptable, he was too lazy to care.
The most important thing at the moment is to figure out the real reason why Chongzhen had reached such a point.
Zhu Di frowned and looked at Zhu Youjian, and took over Zhu Yuanzhang’s words and said,”I don’t know where this kid learned the problem. He speaks like a corrupt scholar, and he doesn’t even know where the core of the matter is, which makes people very irritated.”
According to later generations, the peak period of the Ming Dynasty was tied to Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di.
These two people were the core existences that laid the foundation for the glory of the Ming Dynasty, and naturally had many expectations for the situation in the last years of the dynasty.
Since Zhu Gaoxun, as the leader of the emperor chat group, knew clearly about the future, it would be better to ask Zhu Gaoxun.
In the cognition of the two, although the contact time with Zhu Gaoxun was still short.
But the momentum, demeanor, and determination he displayed were not comparable to Zhu Youjian.
So after Zhu Gaoxun opened his mouth, the two quickly turned their attention to Zhu Gaoxun, wanting him to explain in detail.
At this time, Zhu Youjian was still immersed in Zhu Gaoxun’s words, and seemed to have not heard what Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di said.
After being asked, Zhu Gaoxun hesitated for a moment, and then said:”From a superficial point of view, the biggest internal threat of the Ming Dynasty is undoubtedly the rebel Li Zicheng…….”
When Zhu Gaoxun opened his mouth, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di immediately pricked up their ears and listened, nodding repeatedly, obviously very satisfied with Zhu Gaoxun’s method of telling the story from the superficial to the profound.
“Li Zicheng was supposed to be a postman at the Shaanxi Post Station in the Ming Dynasty. In the second year of Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian chose to abolish the post station to save the court’s expenses. His original intention was good, but compared with the entire Ming Dynasty, the expenses saved by abolishing the post station were just a drop in the bucket……..”
“Without their official positions, these postmen lost their livelihoods, so they rebelled. Li Zicheng was the most outstanding among them. In just over ten years, he conquered a large part of the Ming Dynasty.”
“Li Zicheng led the army in battles for more than ten years, and was able to conquer a large area of the country. He must have had some extraordinary qualities…….”Zhu Yuanzhang pondered and said,”It’s just that Taiyuan Prefecture is a long way from Yingtian, how come the Ming Dynasty is in danger?”
Zhu Yuanzhang had actually noticed this question a long time ago, and now he just picked a suitable time to ask it.
Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxun touched his nose, glanced at Zhu Di who was”wandering in the sky”, and said,”In the first year of Yongle, my father issued an edict to designate Beiping Prefecture as Shuntian Prefecture. In the fifth year of Yongle, Shuntian Prefecture began to build the Forbidden City, and in the eighteenth year of Yongle, the capital was officially moved to Shuntian Prefecture.”
Zhu Yuanzhang subconsciously glanced at Zhu Di and snorted unhappily, which made Zhu Di very embarrassed. Although the capital had not been moved in his own time and space, the matter of moving the capital was something he had already decided with Yao Guangxiao, and naturally it could not be changed.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang was very unhappy with Zhu Di’s actions, thinking that this bastard could rebel and become emperor, moving the capital was not a big deal.
Even Zhu Yuanzhang himself was thinking about moving the capital at this moment.
Moving the capital involves many aspects, both good and bad. Zhu Yuanzhang naturally understood the deep meaning of Zhu Di’s doing so.
“So this Huagai Palace is also the Huagai Palace of Shuntian Prefecture?”
“That’s right.” Zhu Gaoyi nodded and said,”The Huagai Palace in Shuntian Prefecture was built by my father according to the layout of the Forbidden City in Yingtian Prefecture that your grandfather built.”
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Zhu Di and smiled,”You bastard, you have a conscience.”……”
Zhu Di had been staring at Zhu Gaoxun secretly, but now that he was praised by Zhu Yuanzhang, he felt as if he had eaten honey in his heart,”I still have a lot of government affairs to follow my father’s steps.”……”
Zhu Yuanzhang chose to ignore Zhu Di’s attempt to win credit, which put Zhu Di in an awkward position again.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Gaoxun and urged him,”The external cause of the Ming Dynasty’s demise was the Little Ice Age. This Little Ice Age was caused by the……”
Zhu Gaoxun explained the concept of the Little Ice Age. Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di nod repeatedly, he continued,”Of course, the Little Ice Age is only one of the factors. More reasons are nothing more than corruption among officials and gentry, serious land annexation, too many clans that burdened the court, and class solidification that left the people without a path to rise…….”
“The most serious of these are the solidification of classes, serious corruption among officials, and drastic land annexation. These points have led to the fact that the people of the Ming Dynasty have no way to survive. To put it bluntly, the people don’t even have soil to eat, because the soil belongs to the landlords!”
Zhu Youjian, who had come to his senses long ago, was confused again when he heard Zhu Gaoxun’s words.
In his mind, the reason why the people couldn’t survive was actually because of corrupt officials and natural disasters. He didn’t expect that it was serious land annexation?
Zhu Youjian was not unaware of the land annexation, but he just didn’t care.
Because he thought it was not a big deal, the real big thing was those civil officials who were unwilling to do things!
Now hearing Zhu Gaoxun’s words, he gradually realized that things seemed to be very different from what he thought.
In fact, this is the reason why the court has lost control over the grassroots. The emperor is high above, how can he know the real situation among the people.
Zhu Youjian is mediocre to begin with. What he knows is what is in front of him, and he can only know what is in front of him…….Because after he killed Wei Zhongxian, he did not cultivate a person of the same level, so naturally he could only turn a blind eye.
Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di took Zhu Youjian’s performance into consideration, and their evaluation of him in their hearts dropped a level.
If an emperor does not even know why the people rebelled, then no matter how perfect he is, he is unqualified.
Obviously, Zhu Youjian is the unqualified one.
And Zhu Gaoxun’s explanation well illustrates the internal troubles of the Ming Dynasty.
As for the specific situation, there is no need to go into details.
Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di both understood that it was enough to listen to the summary. If you go into details, it may take three days and three nights to finish.
With this thought, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said,”With such internal troubles, what about external troubles? How did the Ming Dynasty of Chongzhen perish?”