"Tomorrow" does get better.

The establishment of the crown prince is not only a matter of Wanli's heart, but also further strengthens his imperial power.

Even the things that were unanimously opposed by almost the Manchu courtiers were done by him, which naturally greatly enhanced his confidence, and then according to the situation in the court, Wanli implemented a series of measures.

In fact, these measures were implemented as early as when Zhang Juzheng was in power, but they only started because of the resistance of various forces. Now that the emperor himself promulgated and supervised it, the situation is different, and it has been well implemented in a short period of time.

But that's just the beginning. After really tasting the allure of power, Wanli became out of control, and began to use means to constantly suppress the power of the cabinet, and actually achieved a monopoly on power within a few years, even if he still only went to the early court for three or five days, but he was able to live deep in the palace and control the court.

Such a clever trick was unleashed by a young man who was less than 30 years old, which immediately shocked and frightened the Manchu officials, and for a while, the name of "Little Shizong" spread quickly and widely among the government and the opposition.

The so-called Shizong is the Jiajing Emperor of this dynasty, that is, Wanli's grandfather Zhu Houxi. This son of heaven devoted himself to cultivation, not only did he not go to court early all the year round, but also left the palace and took refuge in the Yuxi Palace, which was built for cultivation, and only saw a few foreign ministers.

But it was in these circumstances that Jiajing relied on his extremely smart mind to control all the courtiers by means and achieved the most complete monopoly of power. And today's Wanli actually inherited his grandfather's extraordinary ability, and also relied on power to control the Manchu officials, which is a copy of Jiajing.

Of course, Yang Zhen, the governor of Jinyi and the confidant of the Son of Heaven, also played a very key role. It is precisely because of the Jinyi Guard under his command that he can send all kinds of key information to the palace in a timely manner, that Wanli can quickly and accurately make various decisions, so as to control the overall situation.

In addition to these, Yang Zhen put more effort into the people. Jin Yiwei's all-pervasive power was sent by him to find enough high-yield grain, and after a few months, he successfully found sweet potatoes, corn and other fresh crops that had not yet been widely popularized, but had been brought into the Central Plains.

Yang Zhen then put these crops in his fiefdom and tried to promote them. As the Marquis of Changping, who was enshrined by the Son of Heaven, he had hundreds of hectares of fertile fields in the Zhili area, and he just took advantage of it at this time.

At the same time, after Yang Zhen rented the surrounding fields at a high price, these new crops have been widely planted and promoted in several surrounding states and counties.

Originally, the peasants who were not too confident in this new thing, but did not dare to disobey the orders of Yang Dudu, when the harvest season came, their attitudes completely changed when they saw the sweet potatoes and corn full of fields. If they only grow traditional crops such as wheat or rice, they would not have been able to make such a huge harvest, and at most they would have barely enough to feed their family. But now, not only can these crops feed the whole family, but they can also be sold in the market for money, which is too attractive to farmers.

As a result, in just a few years, these two major crops were able to spread rapidly, not only in the north, but also in the south. Soon after, another major characteristic of sweet potatoes was also discovered by farmers, it did not occupy the most fertile land, and it was not as particular about taking care of rice and wheat, which made farmers even more eager to do so.

And it wasn't until decades later, when the amazing Xiaoice Season completely fell, that the world realized how valuable these two crops were.

If there were no two crops that could withstand the severe cold, I was afraid that hundreds of people in the world would die of hunger and cold. But now, although the output in the fields is still much reduced, at least with sweet potatoes and corn, people can make ends meet.

The early dispersal of these two crops did not stop there, but more importantly, it prevented the chaos that should have existed in the world.

The people of the Central Plains have always been content with the status quo, and unless they really can't get by, they will rebel in order to survive. But now, because it is still possible to mix food and clothing, and the government's taxes are quite stable, the people will naturally not take the risk of making trouble.

Although many people were still forced to rebel with the continuous seriousness of land annexation, only a small number of desperate people responded to them.

Moreover, once they raise their troops, the counterinsurgency army they encounter will no longer be those officers and soldiers with low combat effectiveness in history. Because with the continuous improvement and popularization of breech guns, the officers and soldiers of the guards in various parts of the Ming Dynasty have been equipped with a large number of these advanced weapons.

When the rebels with forks, rakes and hoes, and at most a few spears and knives attacked a certain county town, they were often greeted by rumbling artillery and muskets, and the two sides barely got close, and the rebels had suffered countless casualties.

This happened only a few times, and the rebels collapsed completely. Since the rebellion really has no chance of success, the only way to do this is to give up.

And at this time, the homeless people who had no land to grow were not completely without a way out to support themselves - going to sea was a good way for them to be given by the court and the local gentry.

As Wanli's imperial power continues to grow, it will no longer be as difficult for him to break some rules as before. For example, the sea ban was completely abolished in the twentieth year of Wanli.

When he knew that there were countless lands and people beyond the sea that could be conquered, and that there would be countless riches for the Ming Dynasty, His Majesty the Emperor, who was greedy by nature, could no longer bear it.

Although the bureaucrats in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were dissatisfied with this, under the threat of Jinyiwei, they had no choice but to support the decision of the Son of Heaven. As a result, the smuggling act, which was originally only dared by these local forces, became a carnival for every ambitious person in the coastal areas.

In just two years, no less than 50 fleets went to sea to find new sources of money in completely unfamiliar foreign countries.

Although the pace of the Ming Dynasty's voyage was slightly slower than that of European countries, with the support of strong national strength and the assistance of continuous progress of guns, the Western countries that appeared in the surrounding areas were all facing extinction.

Perhaps these so-called adventurers, in fact, the colonists are also ruthless people, who can completely subvert small countries by powerful force. But when they encountered the Ming army, which was far superior to them in terms of ships, troops, or weapons, all they could do was to stand by and wait for death.

As large quantities of gold and silver were obtained from overseas, opposition to the opening of the sea in the imperial court diminished and eventually disappeared altogether. And the imperial court began to shift more of its focus to the maritime affairs.

In this way, the two places were looked at by those who were knowledgeable in the court. One is Macau, which originally belonged to the Ming Dynasty, but was later rented by the Frangi people at a very low price, and the other is the Wa Kingdom.

Without much controversy, the Son of Heaven gave an order, and the Ming warship sailed to the port of Macao. Under the threat of artillery in the Black Hole, the Portuguese, who had occupied the area for many years, had to flee back to the sea in despair. Their fleet had already fought against the Ming Dynasty, and there were countless casualties. At this time, even if you are dissatisfied, you will not dare to disobey the will of the Ming Dynasty.

As for the Wa Kingdom, originally because it has always had a close relationship with the Ming Dynasty, there are still voices in the DPRK and China that they should not be conquered by force. However, under the strong insistence of Yang Zhen and the Yang Chen brothers, who had become members of the cabinet, the imperial court finally made the decision to send troops to attack.

However, the excuse of sending troops to attack the Japanese state is also quite embarrassing, and it actually uses the fire in Beijing a few years ago as a reason, coupled with the harassment of the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty by the Japanese invaders earlier.

In this regard, the people of the Wa Kingdom were naturally very dissatisfied. However, in the face of power, no matter how reasonable they said, it would not help, and the final result was that the Ming army completely attacked the Japanese mainland, completely subverting the country that was still in a semi-divided state.

In addition to continuing to retain their so-called emperor, all other daimyo and shoguns were slaughtered. This island country became the first colony of the Ming Dynasty, and until a few hundred years later, a large number of Ming troops were still stationed on the island.

With these two springboards to the sea, the Ming fleet was able to go to sea more smoothly, go to more distant places, and directly fight with those maritime countries in the West for the world.

For many years, when this period of time is mentioned in the history course of the Ming Dynasty, people will be full of pride to say such a paragraph -

The rise of the Ming Dynasty began in the Wanli Dynasty, to be precise, in the fifteenth year of Wanli.

Although there was no major event in the government and the opposition this year, if you really want to talk about it, you will just set up a prince.

But this point established the absolute authority of the emperor, which made the Ming Kingdom unite as one, and quickly broke the rules, putting the original forbidden things such as navigation and commerce in the top priority......

And if you want to talk about where the starting point of all this is, you have to mention a person who has always been ignored in history, but in fact is extremely important, the commander of the Jinyi Guard at that time, Changping Hou Yang Zhen!

Hundreds of years later, whether he is forgotten or not, Yang Zhen does not care. At this time, he paid more attention to being with his family, watching his children grow up, and at the same time, he kept receiving news that the national strength of the Ming Dynasty was thriving.

When he saw the news that came back from the sea about the Ming fleet in Europe as if it were no one, and constantly conquered small countries and turned them into his own colonies, Yang Houye, who was already in his sixties, but was still in good spirits, couldn't help but laugh heartily.

At this moment, he unconsciously remembered that decades ago, in the early summer, when he first came to this era, the small courtyard, and the pair of powerless, helpless Yang family brothers......

Who would have thought that it was this pair of brothers who completely changed the entire history of the Ming Dynasty and weaved a splendid Ming Dynasty!

(End of book)

This is the end of this book, and I will send a postscript in the evening or tomorrow, I hope you can take a look。。。。。。