I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 316 New Information
Our Nine Thousand Year Old Zhu Houxuan did not take the series of actions in the capital to heart. The fate of those people was already determined when the Royal Bank entered the Ministry of Revenue.

He was thinking about the gains and losses of his recent administration as regent in Nangong. In the past few months, he seemed to have the upper hand and had defeated all the civil and military officials without any chance to fight back, which made them all feel awe of him. However, he was very clear-headed and knew that the things he had done were only superficial issues. When it came to issues involving fundamental interests, he could not push forward at all.

Everything he has done in the past few months was actually carried out under the existing rules. The scope of his actions did not exceed the scope of the existing rules. With his current strength, he could not break through the scope of the existing rules at all. Many problems of the Ming Dynasty were problems with the existing rules. To put it bluntly, the series of victories he achieved in the past few months were actually a series of victories in power politics.

He was thinking about how to carry out a series of political reforms in the Ming Dynasty. The problems of the Ming Dynasty could only be improved through a series of political reforms. He also had a very clear understanding of his current situation and what was needed for political reform.

But political reform cannot be driven by political tricks alone; it requires imminent internal and external pressure; a clear political line; interest groups willing to fight for it; sufficient distributable benefits; and a strong core organization.

The future Emperor Jiajing was quite good at political tactics, a natural born political animal. He started the Great Ceremony Debate at the age of fifteen, and used it to make the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty extremely happy. But that was all. Emperor Jiajing was good at governing people but not good at governing affairs. It was useless if he could not get things done if he could make people obedient.

All the factors necessary for political reform are indispensable, and political tactics are merely a means to reduce resistance. They are a temporary driving force when there are insufficient distributable benefits. Zhu Houxuan's current problem is not that there are insufficient distributable benefits, but that he does not want to distribute them at all and can no longer distribute benefits to the old feudal groups.

If there is no imminent internal and external pressure, the ruling class has no motivation to make political reforms. The existing interest system is good for everyone, and the subordinates only make a few troubles occasionally. Why bother to do it? It is easier to believe in the wisdom of future generations.

This is the main problem Zhu Houxuan faces. He is now only in the core position of the Ming Dynasty's ruling class. He can represent the Ming Dynasty's ruling class, but he cannot represent the entire ruling class. The gentry class is the main body of the Ming Dynasty's ruling class.

The Ming Dynasty is just over 150 years old, and many problems have begun to emerge, but it has not yet reached the point of collapse. The gentry, who are the ruling class of the Ming Dynasty, have no imminent internal or external pressure, so they have no energy to carry out any political reforms. Moreover, a series of events in the late Ming Dynasty in history also show that even if there are imminent internal and external pressures, as long as the knife is not on their necks, the gentry will not feel the urgency of political reform.

This is the main problem Zhu Houxuan is facing now. The existing ruling class has no intention of carrying out reforms and is just occupying the toilet without doing anything. However, a series of decrees issued by Zhu Houxuan need to be executed by these ruling class. The existing ruling class of the Ming Dynasty is very wary and disgusted with things that touch their interests. They are either hypocritical or directly oppose such decrees. Zhu Houxuan does not have the ability to kick the existing ruling class away.

A clear political line requires genius, or at least half a thinker. Otherwise, one will always be led by short-term goals and end up not moving forward.

Although Zhu Houxuan was neither a genius nor a thinker, his identity as a time traveler directly made up for this, and his political line was always very clear.

In a class society, if there are no interest groups willing to fight for them, the monarch alone cannot accomplish anything. Everyone from top to bottom will think you are sick, and will pretend to obey but secretly disobey you, telling you that the reform has achieved great results. They will put an end to any of your attempts at reform with formalism.

Zhu Houxuan has been cultivating new interest groups, but the time is still too short. At this point in time, this interest group is not strong enough.

Finally, a strong core organization cannot be solved by political tricks. Political tricks can create a group of lackeys, but they cannot gather people with ideals. Lackneys can only fool you. Only those with ideals can be truly firm.

Therefore, to carry out political reforms in the Ming Dynasty, it is not enough to rely solely on political tactics. Although Zhu Houxuan is now acting as regent and exercising the power of the emperor, this is only the beginning, and the difficult road is still ahead.

Just when Zhu Houxuan was lost in thought, Chen Hong had already observed Zhu Houxuan's condition several times at the door.

"Come in!" When Chen Hong was observing Zhu Houxuan's condition at the door again, Zhu Houxuan said directly, "Is there anything urgent? I see you have come here several times?" Zhu Houxuan stood up and looked at Chen Hong.

"Last time, the Shanxi merchant came with someone to ask for a meeting, saying that he had urgent military information to inform Your Highness," Chen Hong said quickly.

"Shanxi merchant? Qiao Rongzhi?" Zhu Houxuan immediately thought of who it was.

"Exactly!" "Urgent military information?" Zhu Houxuan immediately thought of something, "Bring him to see me immediately!"

Chen Hong immediately took the order and left.

After a while, Chen Hong came in with two people dressed as businessmen.

"I, Qiao Rongzhi (Wang Jixian), pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Prince of Jing." The two businessmen hurriedly saluted.

Zhu Houxuan nodded, "Just tell me if you have any military information! If it's valuable, I won't be stingy with rewards..."

Wang Jixian nodded repeatedly: "Your Highness, the military situation I am here to report is that the Mongols will march south in large numbers this year, and the scale will be far greater than in previous years..."

Zhu Houxuan paused and looked at Wang Jixian seriously: "How do you prove that your information is true? What is the source of your information?"

"My source of information..." Wang Jixian looked embarrassed.

Zhu Houxuan understood what was going on at a glance, "Are you going to the grassland to do business? If so, just tell me directly. I won't pursue this matter..."

Wang Jixian breathed a sigh of relief. "Your Highness, I know this is the source of my information. I have a small caravan that just came back from the grassland a few days ago and brought back this news..."

"I heard that this year the trade route from Xuanfu to the grassland was suddenly cut off, and the supplies the Mongols obtained through trade were greatly reduced, so this year they decided to increase the scale of their southward migration," Wang Jixian continued to explain.

"The trade route of Xuanfu?" Zhu Houxuan said thoughtfully.

"Yes, Xuanfu is the largest trade route to the grassland," Wang Jixian said quickly.

Zhu Houxuan nodded. The fact that Xuanfu could become the largest smuggling route to Mongolia could be seen from the terrain alone.

The capital city is located at the northernmost part of the North China Plain and is the material distribution center of the entire north. From here to the grassland through Xuanfu is indeed the closest, best and lowest transportation cost route. Moreover, outside Xuanfu is the core area of ​​the Mongols, so it is not surprising that Xuanfu became the largest smuggling route.

Then why did the smuggling route from Xuanfu to Mongolia "suddenly" be cut off this year?

The answer came out instantly!

Because Zhu Houzhao has been staying in Xuanfu for the past six months!

Here is a topographic map of Hebei Province. The red frame is the Xuanfu area, which is now the Zhangjiakou area.

(End of this chapter)