Although Huang Liji knew that the Ming Emperor, who inherited the unification as a prince, had a resolute personality and was very assertive. But in Huang Liji's heart, he was just relieved that the Ming Dynasty finally produced a diligent and loving son of heaven.

In Huang Liji's view, even the smartest son of heaven cannot be born to know. It is still necessary to understand the world and human affairs through continuous learning, so that we can handle national affairs correctly.

Originally, with Huang Liji's plan, Chongzhen should not interfere in political affairs for at least ten years. Instead, while studying, he slowly understood the rules of the operation of the entire Ming bureaucratic system, and when Chongzhen was profoundly knowledgeable, he also understood the sophistication of human affairs. In addition to the daily contact with the bureaucratic system, after cultivating his own team, he will take over the rule of the entire empire, so that it is the best choice for Daming and Chongzhen.

But Huang Liji, who accepted the apocalypse and assisted Chongzhen, didn't expect it at all. The Donglin Party members who were jointly suppressed by him and Wei Zhongxian actually began a crazy counterattack after the death of the apocalypse.

And Wei Zhongxian's departure from the throne soon after also made the political forces that originally balanced the imperial power lose their checks and balances. Without the support of the inner court, coupled with the containment of the Donglin party in the outer court, Chongzhen's imperial power suddenly lost its restraint.

And Zhang Weixian, the British public who originally accepted the apocalypse with Wei Zhongxian and Huang Liji and assisted Chongzhen, saw this situation, and immediately recuperated at home in the name of injury and no longer went to court, and told the Donglin party that he had no intention of interfering in the party dispute.

The British public attitude, who had mastered the entire Beijing army, was ambiguous, and Huang Liji naturally fell into a situation where he was alone. Huang Liji knew that Tianqi left a legacy to Wei Zhongxian before his death, but it was to suppress Wei Zhongxian's excessively large forces, so that Chongzhen could show favor to Wei Zhongxian, so that Wei Zhongxian could faithfully assist Chongzhen, not to completely destroy the power of the inner court.

But the British duke, who also knew the meaning of the apocalypse, actually betrayed Wei Zhongxian at a critical moment, and turned the bluff suppression into a real suppression. Although Huang Liji hated the rebellion of the British Duke, he did not have the courage to resist the situation of Chongzhen, Donglin, and the British Duke's faint alliance.

At the beginning, Huang Li was very favored by the apocalypse, and as the first assistant of the cabinet when the throne was handed over, it was because of his cautiousness and not too much ambition. In the mind of the apocalypse, under the alliance of Huang Liji and the British duke, Wei Zhongxian, who was too ambitious, could be suppressed.

And because Huang Liji has no ambition and is not bold enough, it is impossible for him to collude with the other two and be detrimental to his younger brother. Although Wei Zhongxian is ambitious, his reputation has been smeared by the Donglin Party with the connivance of the Apocalypse as the first traitor of the Ming Dynasty in history. So no matter how great Wei Zhongxian's power is, if he loses the blessing of imperial power, he can take it with just a few small officials.

And the only thing that Tianqi didn't understand was the British Duke, who had always been loyal to the Ming Emperor, and would actually violate his will.

At this time, the advantages of Huang Liji, which Tianqi fancied, became a disadvantage. The cautious Huang Liji did not have the courage to go out and protect Wei Zhongxian from being completely defeated, but instead took a tacit acquiescence.

So Tianqi worked hard to leave Chongzhen's political situation for ten years of stability, but it was torn apart in just three months.

Seeing that Chongzhen's handling of things is becoming more and more sharp, there is a tendency to develop in the direction of rigidity and self-use. Huang Liji finally felt that he was no longer able to abide by the agreement with the apocalypse, and the guardian Chongzhen continued to grow, and he came up with the idea of breaking away from the party struggle.

Until today, Chongzhen summoned him alone, thinking that this private meeting was the beginning of the heart-to-heart exchange between the monarch and the minister. But I didn't expect that Chongzhen didn't ask him to come to confide. Instead, he wanted him to be the vanguard of reform, and first threw out a population theory, which made him lose his mind.

Then he threatened him with his protégés and relatives, which made Huang Liji, who had always been strict in the righteousness of the monarch and ministers, feel very sad and indignant, he thought that the Ming Dynasty had served loyally for so many years, and there was no merit and hard work.

But Chongzhen didn't talk about the friendship of monarchs and ministers at all, and wanted to betray him to the Donglin Party if he didn't agree with him, which was really a bit excessive. But even so, if he wants him to go against Chongzhen and the world's corporals, he really can't make up his mind.

Angering Chongzhen is ruined, angering the world's corporals, and also ruining his reputation. Although Chongzhen rehabilitated Zhang Jiangling, Zhang Jiangling's relatives were surrounded by Wanli and starved to death several people.

Huang Liji thought about it again and again, and felt that instead of being regarded as an enemy by Shilin in the world, it was better to simply go home and farm, even if two generations could not be promoted, as long as his family still existed, there would always be a day to emerge.

When Huang Liji thought about his own safety, the sense of urgency brought about by the crisis facing Daming suddenly disappeared from him.

Zhu Youzhen has been observing Huang Liji's demeanor, and since he heard that he threatened him with the future of his protégé relatives, Huang Liji's body has been trembling. But it didn't take long for Huang Liji's body to slowly regain its calm.

Zhu Youzhen frowned, it seems that the future of his protégé's relatives is still not as risky as the unpredictable hostility of the scholars. Speaking of which, this can't be completely blamed on Huang Liji for being too protective of himself, in the final analysis, Emperor Wanli did too much.

If Wanli did it when Zhang Ju was alive, even if he killed his clan, there would be a name to cover up. But when Zhang Juzheng was liquidated after his death, he also sent troops to surround other people's homes and starved a few people to death, which was more chilling.

The most criticized thing is that Zhang Juzheng was liquidated, and even the changes presided over by Zhang Juzheng were abolished regardless of whether they were good or bad, which is equivalent to saying that Zhang Juzheng offended the people of the world, and in the end, not only did not save the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, but also caused disaster to his relatives.

Therefore, since Zhang Juzheng, no scholar has wanted to promote reform and do something practical for the Ming Dynasty. However, the clear stream of stabbing the king in the face and inviting the prestige of the world's scholars began to fill the court.

Scolding the emperor is just a few court battles, and he has won the reputation of daring to speak out, and with the reputation of Qingliu, he will enter the fast lane of promotion in the future. But if you really want to do something for the Ming Dynasty and the people, not to mention offending the scholars, who will remember you except for the people who benefit? In Daming, the people can't make a sound.

Therefore, there are fewer and fewer scholars who really want to do things for the people of the Ming Dynasty, or they have never come out, but on the contrary, there are more and more clear streams that rely on opening up rivers to attack the king to gain fame.

When Zhu Youzhen was thinking about it, Huang Liji really made up his mind and replied: "Although Your Majesty's intention to save Daming is good, the old minister is really old and frail, and he can no longer worry about His Majesty. Your Majesty wants to collect commercial taxes from the wealthy clans, so you still have to be very cautious. Since Mr. Taiyue's reform, although the new policy has been basically abolished, the rule of using silver to collect taxes has been retained.

In order for the people of the world to pay their taxes with silver, they must first convert the grain they grow and the objects they make into silver through merchants. Your Majesty wants to increase taxes on merchants, but if you use people illegally, and provoke merchants to strike the market, then the grain and cloth in the hands of the people of the world will not be able to turn into silver, and the country will not be able to collect taxes.

If the state cannot collect taxes, the soldiers at the border gates will lack food and wages. Your Majesty's hard work will be aborted. And the world's corporal has studied hard for ten years, and what he has done is what he does, and the minister thinks that there are only four words: promotion and wealth.

When my Ming Dynasty founded the country in Taizu, merchants were still lowly people. However, today, those who are not successful in their careers will take business as their business, and those who are successful in business will raise their children to study, and it is difficult to distinguish between the two scholars.

Lao Chen did not dare to hide His Majesty, even within the old minister's family, the clansmen who could not study also made a living from business, and few of them engaged in farming. Although the old minister has always strictly restrained his relatives and did not dare to violate the laws of the country, as the relatives of the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty, it is inevitable to obtain some convenience.

His Majesty's preferential exemption from the commercial tax of scholars seems to have little to do with scholars. But in fact, this is to increase taxes on the scholars, because the scholars and merchants are already one. Taxi is business, business is business. Those who are really regarded as untouchables are the merchants who walk the streets. And this generation walks in the streets and alleys all day long, being extorted by rogue tax collectors, and the income of one day is just barely making ends meet.

I am afraid that His Majesty's commercial tax reform will not help but not receive the tax of the merchants in the end, but will increase the burden on the ordinary people. The old minister said from the bottom of his heart, and he also hoped that His Majesty Yana. ”

Sure enough, Huang Liji still chose the opposite path to what he hoped for, Zhu Youzhen sighed, although he was not surprised, but at least this Shoufu finally said something sincere to himself.

From the very beginning, Zhu Youzhen never thought that it would be so simple to persuade the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty to assist him in carrying out reforms. Huang Liji is different from Xu Guangqi, the latter is a redundant official who is a scholar, while the former is a bureaucrat who has really fought out of the competition in officialdom.

The difference between the two is that Xu Guangqi can impress with ideals, but for Huang Liji, there are not enough benefits, and he does not want this bureaucrat to take such a big risk and follow Chongzhen to carry out political reforms.

"I can't imagine that Shousuke knows so much about business, and I'm really a little surprised."

"Don't dare, the old minister didn't pay attention to merchants in the past. However, after His Majesty proposed at the court meeting to abolish the preferential exemption of scholars from commercial taxes, the minister recently learned a little about this matter. ”

This is the biggest difference between bureaucrats and academics, bureaucrats are driven by profit to do things, while academics only do things by the rules. When the emperor began to pay attention to the commercial tax, Huang Liji, as the first assistant, immediately began to investigate, wanting to deal with it before the emperor asked next time.