Zhu Youzhen looked at the officers and soldiers below, suddenly paused, and continued to speak for a while: "The monarchs set out on this expedition, maybe some people have the idea of serving the king; Maybe some people are thinking about making meritorious contributions on the battlefield and receiving rewards, bobbing a wife and a son in the future, and so on.

All of the above thoughts are human nature and are understandable. But before you go to war, you have to think about it, why are we fighting this war with the Mongol Chahar tribe? ”

The officers and soldiers below who were originally looking eagerly at the emperor suddenly became a little hesitant, and many thoughts appeared in their hearts, but they all felt that it was not enough to answer the emperor's question.

When the Ming army was at its strongest, the soldiers were always very clear about what they were fighting for. Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was to "sweep away the dust and clarify the universe", and the Yongle Emperor called for "Jingtian to serve the difficulty".

However, since then, the Ming army has lost the faith to fight for it, and has gradually become the private soldiers of the generals.

Most of these officers and soldiers in the audience still have in their hearts the idea that it is natural for them to be soldiers and eat food. Since the Emperor did not lack their salaries, and did not spare any money to equip them with the best equipment, then they should serve His Majesty in battle.

Although the newly appointed missionaries in the army preached to them every day that the army was fighting to defend the homeland and the country. However, most of these missionaries were literate people selected from the Jinyi Guard and the army, and their own standards were uneven.

Most of them knew what they were doing but didn't know why, and there was nothing wrong with reading them out according to the documents handed out above, but as soon as the soldier asked them a little, they immediately became speechless.

Therefore, Chongzhen's vision of instilling the concept of protecting the family and defending the country in the army, and transferring the soldiers' loyalty to the commander and the emperor to the loyalty to the country and the people, can be described as slow progress. In fact, his rectification of the Beijing camp transferred the loyalty of these soldiers to the generals to himself.

Looking at the officers and soldiers below who were still silent, Zhu Youzhen finally continued to speak, "It is so that we can build our own homes well, so that the people of Daming can safely walk on the land of Daming and support themselves with labor, without worrying about accidents on the road."

The Chahar Ministry led by Lin Dan Khan did not want to develop production well and take care of its own people, but wanted to use force to plunder the wealth created by the people of the Ming Dynasty to satisfy their own selfish desires, isn't this an act of a bandit?

Think about it, where do the various materials you are wearing now come from? Did it fall from the sky? ”

Suddenly, the officers and soldiers below took the lead and shouted: "Naturally, it was given by His Majesty. ”

Suddenly, a cadre of officers and soldiers shouted, Zhu Youzhen stretched out his hand and pressed it, and only after the officers and soldiers quieted down did he say with a smile: "I can neither plow the fields, nor weave cloth, nor strike iron." You say that these are my rewards, and I am really ashamed.

What do you wear, what you use every day, not come from the people? The imperial court required at least 500 peasants to pay taxes to support one cavalry..."

Chongzhen's eloquent words on the stage were more likely to touch the hearts of these officers and soldiers than the dull preaching of the missionaries on weekdays.

In particular, many soldiers who had been at the bottom of the ladder accepted the emperor's statement more in their hearts. But the officials standing behind the emperor felt very awkward about Chongzhen's statement.

In their childhood education, it was only natural for the imperial court to collect taxes from the common people and provide them to scholars, officials, and emperors.

Theoretically, the wealth of the world should belong to the emperor, who can reward his subjects and take it back for no reason, which is also the basis of the dynastic order.

Today's speech, however, is shaking this foundation. Sun Chengzong, Yuan Chonghuan and others were faintly uneasy in their hearts, but in the face of the cheers of the soldiers in the audience, they were obviously not suitable to come out to stop the emperor's statement, so they could only remain silent.

So there was a strange scene in the colonel's field, the soldiers were enthusiastic about the emperor's speech, but the officials on the stage, except for some military attachés, were very cold.

Finally waiting for Chongzhen's speech to finish, Sun Chengzong and other officials were busy persuading the emperor to return to the city.

When Chongzhen walked on the way back to Beijing, he was quite excited. Today is the first time since he crossed over, he said what he thought without scruples, and the life that has been bound by various rules and etiquette for more than half a year finally made him abandon it once and be his true self.

Zhu Youzhen was in a happy mood, and he didn't even feel dazzling in today's sunshine. He looked up at the road in the distance, only to see the group of men and horses that were opening the way ahead suddenly stopped.

Lian Shanxiang, who was accompanying him, immediately rode his horse to meet him, and after a while, he returned and reported to Chongzhen who stopped: "It was Yin Bi Ziyan's carriage of Shuntian Mansion that broke down on the road, does Your Majesty have any orders?" ”

"What is he doing out of town in this weather? Give him a horse, and let him accompany me back to Beijing for a walk, I just have something to ask him. Zhu Youzhen thought about it and ordered.

One of the imperial guards gave up his horse and got on his horse with a slightly graying hair.

Bi Ziyan, who is originally from Zichuan, Shandong, is just 60 years old this year. Although he is not young anymore, his body still looks very tough. This is obviously due to his regular daily routine and life, and it is related to the abandonment of some bad habits of the bureaucrats and doctors of this era.

Bi Ziyan Wanli 20 years of Jinshi and first, awarded Songjiang magistrate. He was young and talented, and he was particularly adept at managing complex economic affairs. He successively served as the director of the Criminal Department, a member of the Ministry of Works, a member of the Huaixu Provincial Council, a deputy envoy to Hedong, a member of the Taomin Military Staff, and a political envoy to the Right Bu of Shaanxi.

Since taking over the post of Yin of Shuntian Mansion, he has begun to wholeheartedly sort out the government affairs accumulated before Shuntian Mansion.

Bi Ziyan's time as an official is not short, and in his memory, the busiest government affairs of pro-people officials such as county magistrates and prefects are just handling lawsuits and urging departments.

As for the development of the local economy and the construction of water conservancy, roads, bridges, and other livelihood projects, these are matters that can be done or not done, and all depend on the talents and personalities of the officials who are close to the people. Because although these affairs can add points, they are also easy to cause dissatisfaction among the local people, after all, the imperial court does not have special funds, and it is all up to local officials to raise funds on their own.

Capable officials can persuade local wealthy families to come up with money, but most officials can only choose to make additional contributions, and this kind of unlimited increase will eventually turn a virtuous policy that is beneficial to the local government into a bad government that increases the burden on the local people.

Bi Ziyan originally thought that after he took office, the biggest headache for him would be those cumbersome small lawsuits in the capital. The population of the capital is nearly 700,000, and the officials, gentlemen, businessmen and people live together, and the people at the feet of the Son of Heaven are the most fearless, so some trivial things often go to court.

But when he actually took office, he realized that this was not the case. The administrative reforms implemented by the emperor were first implemented in Suncheonfu. After the implementation of this reform, the two most troublesome government affairs of the governor in the past were now diverted to the hands of subordinate officials.

On the contrary, it was the development of the local economy and the maintenance of local social stability that were dispensable in the past that became his main job.

Bi Ziyan originally thought that this was an extremely simple job, but he soon realized that his estimate had been wrong again.

The instructions issued from the palace seem to be inconspicuous, just focusing on the trivial matters around some ordinary people. But when these directives began to be implemented, the drastic changes in the face of the capital were difficult to understand.

Bi Ziyan can even pack a ticket, and the changes in the style of the capital in the past few decades are not as good as the changes in the past six months.

After the Yongle Emperor rebuilt the city of Beijing, except for the Jiajing Emperor who built the outer city in the south, the layout of the city of Beijing has not changed much.

In the past six months, most of the streets in the capital have been renovated, the main roads have been changed from dirt roads to gravel roads, and the streets of some commercial districts have simply been paved with bricks removed from the abandoned shop walls, becoming smooth but not muddy masonry roads.

The so-called concrete road is paved on the main road from Zuo'anmen in the outer city through Chongwen Gate to Chaoyang Gate in the inner city. On this road, which is as hard and smooth as stone, there is also a road connected by two iron bars.

According to past experience, such a large-scale construction project should not only cause the people of the capital to complain that the forced labor is too heavy, but even the national treasury should be difficult to support.

However, to Bi Ziyan's surprise, not only did the people of the capital not pay additional conscription for such a large road renovation project, but the imperial court did not have a situation where they could not afford it.

He couldn't help but devote his energy to how the economy in Shuntianfu was operating in the process of change.

It was rare to meet the emperor on the way out of the city, and Bi Ziyan was happy to take this opportunity to ask the emperor about the truth.

Chongzhen, who originally planned to inquire about Bi Ziyan's matter, first became the object of this Shuntian Mansion Yin's inquiry.

However, to clarify this problem, even Chongzhen himself is a little overwhelmed. From the 17th century to the 21st century, the 400-year historical generation gap is not something that he can explain in just a few words.

He only thought about it for a while, and then decided to fool this Ming Shuntianfu Yin in order to reduce the trouble for himself.

Zhu Youzhen turned his head to look at Bi Ziyan, and said with a serious expression: "The questions you asked are all very good, where did the funds for the construction of civil engineering come from?" Can such a project be built forever? It is indeed the key to all the problems of Shuntianfu now.

I wonder if Bi Qing has ever heard of a book called "The Wealth of Nations"? I haven't heard of it, it's good that I haven't heard of it..."