Zhu Youzhen glanced at Feng Quan quietly, and then said: "Master Feng's idea is very much in line with my heart, I summoned the two of you to come over, just to let one of you, as a messenger of the Ming Dynasty, go to the border of Datong to show righteousness to Lin Dan Khan.

Let him know that the enemies of the Chahar Department are not the right-wing Mongolian tribes, nor my Ming Dynasty, but the Jiannu of Liaodong. This trip is full of dangers, I don't know which of you is willing to risk going to the Chahar Department for the Ming Dynasty? ”

Feng Quan subconsciously held his breath and shrank his body back, lest he be called by Chongzhen's name. Liu Jingting also hesitated for a long time before he made up his mind and said solemnly to Chongzhen: "The minister is willing to serve as this messenger." ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded at him and said approvingly: "With Mr. Liu going, I thought that Lin Dan Khan would inevitably wake up and would not continue this meaningless war." ”

Hearing that Liu Jingting beside him volunteered, Feng Quan let out a long breath and put his mind at ease.

At this time, Zhu Youzhen turned his gaze to him and said, "Mr. Liu is an envoy to the Chahar Department, so Master Feng will have to bear the burden of propaganda work in the rear. ”

"Propaganda work?" Feng Quan, who had just put his mind at ease, asked rhetorically for some reason.

Zhu Youzhen nodded and said: "Explain to the people of the Ming Dynasty why this war is being waged and what is the significance of this war." Let the people know that this war is closely related to their lives, and this is the propaganda work that the secretary is responsible for. ”

Feng Quan suddenly felt a little uncomfortable, he hesitated for a while and then said, "Your Majesty, will it cause the people to be uneasy about publishing military affairs in the newspaper like this?" Besides, most people only care about gossip in the market, and few people care about these national affairs. Tell them why they want to fight, and they may not understand it. ”

Zhu Youzhen obviously disagreed with his statement, "Maybe they won't care about the war on the border of Datong now, but as long as we persevere and slowly spread the word, they will slowly care about it after all."

The people of the Ming Dynasty should not only be my people, but also the citizens of this country. If the people of the Ming Dynasty do not have the consciousness of being a member of this country, then when the Ming Dynasty is in danger, who should we count on to save the country? ”

Chongzhen's new noun about the people made Liu Jingting and Feng Quan refreshing, but after getting along with Chongzhen for a long time, they had heard a lot of new terms from the emperor's mouth, so they were not very surprised, but silently wrote down this term.

Feng Quan was thinking in his heart about how to write an article to complete the task assigned by the emperor, when Zhu Youzhen spoke again: "In addition to publicizing it to the people of the world in the newspaper, the imperial court was forced to send troops to stop Lin Dan Khan in order to protect the people on the border of Shanxi and Shaanxi from being harassed by the Mongol rebels.

Master Feng, you also have to publicize another thing in the newspaper, such as today's disasters, from the people to the Son of Heaven, must be thrifty.

The ancients said: When one side is in trouble, all sides come to help. The Western proverb also says: I am for everyone, and everyone is for me.

Today, there is a severe drought in Shaanxi, and the people are affected by the disaster, and it is difficult for me to feel at ease. It was decided that before the disaster in Shaanxi was alleviated, we would reduce one meal a day, stop eating meat and rice, and the money and grain saved would be used to help the victims of the disaster.

In addition, local officials are required to entertain colleagues and officials at banquets with no more than four dishes and one soup, and they are not allowed to recruit wine and music to accompany them. If any violators are found, the court will deal with them severely. ”

Feng Quan was suddenly taken aback, and hurriedly persuaded Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, the minister is willing to offer five thousand taels of silver to Your Majesty as the cost of Your Majesty's meal reduction, and please take back Your Majesty's life." Your Majesty's dragon body is related to the safety of the society, and you must not harm your body like this. ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled at him and said, "I first thank Master Feng for his donation on behalf of the victims of the disaster in Shaanxi, but if I don't do it, how can the local officials below be shaken?" If you don't correct yourself, how can you be right? ”

In contrast to Feng Quan's urgent persuasion, Liu Jingting was the opposite, and he greatly appreciated the emperor's behavior of sponsoring the victims by reducing food.

Unable to convince the emperor, Feng Quan could only accept the order and retreat. However, Liu Jingting was left behind by the emperor to discuss how to negotiate with Lin Dan Khan.

After Feng Quan left, facing Liu Jingting, Chongzhen obviously relaxed a lot. He changed to a more comfortable sitting position, and then said to Liu Jingting: "Although you may be a little frightened when you go to the Chahar Department this time, you should not encounter any danger in the end, so Mr. Liu, you can rest assured." ”

Liu Jingting was originally mentally prepared, but now he was a little inexplicable by the emperor's words, and couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Why did Your Majesty say that?" Didn't Your Majesty just say..."

Zhu Youzhen cut off his words and said: "Feng Zhenlu is a person, he has the ability, but the backbone, it is a little worse."

I just wanted him to retreat, if he was sent to the Chahar Department, I was worried that Lin Dan Khan would spy on my Ming, so I exaggerated just now.

The reason why I dare to say that your trip is not dangerous is just because Lin Dan Khan does not dare to completely break off friendship with my Ming Dynasty. ”

There was not much news about Lin Dan Khan in Liu Jingting's hands, because he still didn't understand what the basis for Chongzhen to say this, so he asked the emperor again for the reason.

Zhu Youzhen said lightly: "Lin Dan Khan was defeated by the invasion of Jiannu in Liaodong, and had to abandon the fundamental land and return to the homeland of Hetao.

But the news came back from Shenyang that in March and April, Huang Taiji had defeated the garrison tribes left by Lin Dan Khan in Liaohetao, in other words, he had lost his roots in Liaodong.

From last autumn to the present, Lin Dan Khan has fought with the right-wing Mongol tribes, and although he has captured Guihua City and Tumo River, he has no time to manage this land that has just been conquered.

The Mongols have always been fond of savings, and even if Lin Dan Khan looted the right-wing Mongolian tribes, he was afraid that it would be difficult for his tribes and newly subdued tribes to survive this winter.

Whether it was to appease the Chahar people who had lost their homes, or to take in the tribesmen of the right-wing Mongol tribes who had just been captured by him, Lin Dan Khan needed a large amount of supplies.

Jiannu and him are already an immortal existence, and Jiannu itself is not enough materials, so he naturally can't get anything from Jiannu.

And the Mongolian tribes in the Hetao area were beaten by him, and even if there were some supplies, they would not be handed over to him.

The distance between Mobei Mongolia is too far, and even if he obeys his orders, it will be difficult to deliver the materials for a while. Based on his actions against the right-wing Mongol tribes, I estimate that the Mongol tribes in Mobei may not continue to submit to him.

It seems that he wants to ensure that the Chahar Department will not be torn apart due to lack of supplies, and he can only reach out to me.

Therefore, there is only one thing to remember, no matter how nice Lin Dan Khan said when they met, it was just a lie before he prepared for war.

Only when he honestly proposed the amount of materials needed after being defeated on the battlefield did he really intend to make peace with me.

In order to keep a channel of communication with Daming, he may lock you up for a few days, but he will never kill you. Until the war is decided, no matter what you say, he will not listen. ”

Liu Jingting thought for a while before he opened his mouth and said to Chongzhen: "Thank you Your Majesty for mentioning this, if you go to the Chahar Department, you will definitely remain patient and not be deceived by Lin Dan Khan." ”

Zhu Youzhen bowed slightly, and continued: "There are many Mongolians who believe in Lamaism, you go to the two temples of Zhizhu and Fayuan to choose a lama who is profound in Buddhism and willing to serve my Ming Dynasty, of course, you must choose the lama that the Mongolians believe in. ”

"The minister has written it down." Liu Jingting bowed his head and agreed.

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while and then instructed: "Lin Danhan, I don't know his character very well. However, his subordinates may not all support him in abandoning his homeland in Liaodong and coming to Hetao to fight with his Mongolian compatriots.

After you go, you might as well spread the truth that the Mongols don't fight the Mongols under the people of Lin Dan Khan. The enemy of the Chahar Mongols is the Liaodong Jurchens who have taken their homeland, not the Mongol compatriots in Hetao and the Ming friends who support them..."

In mid-June, the Cabinet issued several proclamations to verify the situation in the disaster-stricken areas of Shaanxi Province and reduce taxes and distribute relief grain. Promote the construction of water conservancy and road projects in Shaanxi Province to provide relief through work; The Shanxi Railway Bureau was set up, and it was planned to build a 3,000-mile railway in Shanxi and recruit victims from Shaanxi to alleviate the pressure of relief in the disaster area;

Shaanxi, Henan, and Shanxi will carry out a one-year unified grain requisition policy, and prohibit unlicensed private individuals from purchasing and transporting grain out of the three places.

The content of these proclamations immediately attracted the attention of the people in all parts of the Ming Dynasty, and everyone was very satisfied with the reduction and exemption of land taxes and the relief of the victims.

However, the so-called policy of unified purchase and marketing of grain, as well as the plan to build a railway in Shanxi, aroused fierce criticism from the gentry and scholars in various places.

In particular, the gentry officials in Shanxi and Henan, as the direct victims of their interests, acted quickly. On the one hand, local governments have launched activities to boycott the unified purchase and sale of grain; On the other hand, it gathered local officials to write to the imperial court to oppose these two policies.

They only verbally criticized the railway construction plan, but they took action on the policy of unified grain purchase and marketing. For example, some Henan gentry simply distorted the policies issued by the imperial court and deceived the local people, saying that the imperial court wanted to take away their grain for free to help the victims of the disaster in Shaanxi.

The lies of these gentry suddenly aroused popular revolts in many places, and some homeless people in Henan simply took advantage of the situation to gather the rebellious people to rebel. Sporadic peasant uprisings broke out in the northwestern and southwestern counties of Henan.

Obviously, these people's mutinous troops did not have the idea of attacking the city of Beijing and changing the dynasty, and after they gathered the rebellious people, the first thing they attacked was the local big families. At this time, the gentry in Henan realized that the stones they lifted were the first to hit their own feet.

The gentry in Shanxi, on the other hand, were more shrewd, and although they opposed the unified purchase and sale of grain, they did not dare to make a direct move against the imperial court on the surface. After all, Shanxi is a border town, and there is a large number of border troops.

Moreover, the Mongols gathered troops and horses outside Datong, which seemed to have the intention of knocking on the pass, which also made the Shanxi gentry maintain self-restraint in their rebellion against the imperial court, but the Shanxi officials in the court concentrated their firepower and began to impeach the cabinet members headed by Huang Liji, trying to prevent the implementation of this policy.

As for the gentry in Shaanxi, they had different opinions on the policy of unified grain purchase and marketing, and with the exception of a very small number of ignorant and ignorant miserly rich people, most of the gentry believed that these policies were beneficial to quelling the hidden danger of popular unrest brought about by the drought in Shaanxi.

But they are worried about whether this policy will change its flavor in the implementation of the policy and become a money-making move by some powerful people. If the imperial court requisitioned grain, but did not give relief to the victims, but sold it at a high price, then they might as well keep the grain themselves and give it to the village in their own name.

Most of the Shaanxi gentry also knew very well that if the hungry people in Shaanxi rose up, the first unlucky ones would be them, the local big households, after all, the people who still had grain in their hands in the year of the famine were definitely not poor and small. After a fierce debate, the gentry of Shaanxi finally jointly submitted a letter to the imperial court, explaining the reason for their concern.

ps: The Spring Festival is approaching, and the update may not be stable for a period of time in the future, so please forgive me.