Chapter 512 Internal Strife

Watching the ministers below exchange glances with each other, Chen Ming sighed slightly in his heart. The expressions on these people made it hard for him to believe that their first reaction to this matter was to promote talents for the country, rather than to separate themselves from their group. Put the slightest benefit first. Don't forget, Chen Ming's eyes are extraordinary.

Since the Fu Han Army captured Beijing, the function of 'Qi Watching Technique' has been strengthened. Now he looked at the Gonggun princes in the Manchu Dynasty. It was true that there were no pure ministers among these people, but from Chen Cong, Chen Min, Chen Yi, to ordinary courtiers, at least half of them, the first reaction was really It's not about promoting talents, but thinking about how to obtain the greatest benefits for one's own group.

This is a scene that all dynasties have to face. The many heroes of Liu Bang's time, the kinship generals and important ministers with foreign surnames under Cao Cao, the Jingzhou Group and Yizhou Group under Liu Bei, the Guanlong aristocratic group and the Guandong clan during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and even the Huaixi and Zhejiang Groups during the time of Zhu Yuanzhang, are During the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, there were also Suo'etu and Mingzhu Groups, and the Fuhan Army is the same now. Moreover, in the process of Chen Han's creation from scratch, apart from Chen Ming's own contribution which is irreplaceable, it is difficult for other people to distinguish between high and low. This also makes Chen Han's court full of hills, such as Chen Cong and Chen Quan. , Chen Min, Chen Yi, etc. are completely a small group of one person. Although it is far from being so unscrupulous as to attack the party, it is still harmful to national interests. This is the tragedy of Chen Han and the tragedy of China.

Internal strife, internal fighting, and clique formation are not human moral issues, but a kind of ‘spirit’ contained in Chinese civilization!

Perhaps we can use the word ‘spiritual’ to describe it. Anyway, Chen Ming believes that "infighting" is rooted in Chinese civilization.

One carrier of Chinese civilization is the Chinese dynasty, and the development of the dynasty also promoted the progress of Chinese civilization. From the very beginning of Chinese history, the establishment of dynasties has been accompanied by changes in dynasties. Why are there changes in dynasties? That's the struggle. Take a look at traditional Chinese myths: Nuwa mended the sky, Jingwei filled the sea, Yu controlled the floods, and Foolish Old Man moved the mountains. Is there any compromise between the two? Either the east wind prevails over the west wind, or the west overpowers the east wind.

This spirit of resolute struggle has allowed China to develop little by little from a small tribe on the Loess Plateau thousands of years ago to the powerful country that now dominates the entire East. This spirit is instilled in the bone marrow of the Chinese people and cannot be erased. The people's immediate mentality when faced with oppression is to curse him and let them perish. "Shang Shu·Zhao Gao" says, "To appeal to the sky with mourning, and to die." It means to cry out to heaven and curse them to perish. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, Tang and Wu gathered people's hearts, rebuilt a new dynasty, and still respected the destiny of heaven. Later, it became a replica of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's "Do princes, generals and ministers have any kind of relationship?" This sense of life-and-death struggle has been with China for thousands of years. It can be said that it has brought great success to the Chinese people, but also brought huge disasters.

Because this spirit is not only applied externally by the Chinese, but also applied internally by them involuntarily. Especially when the overall situation is in control, without the words "taking into account the overall situation", it will be more fun to fight under the constraints of restrictions. Of course, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, even if Daxia is about to fall, those "upright scholar-bureaucrats" will continue to fight as they should.

This does not mean that Chen Ming has opinions on Chinese civilization, or that he directly denies Chinese civilization. Chen Ming has always believed that the reason why China has developed to this point, stood in the East for thousands of years, and dominated the Eastern world is the influence of this traditional culture!

Chen Ming just felt emotional because of this scene. He believes that the reason why the essence of Eastern civilization, which is completely different from the "spirit of compromise" of Western civilization, has been formed and consolidated for a long time has a great relationship with the fact that China has no "rivals" in the past dynasties.

Thousands of years have passed. Where have the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turks, and Khitans gone? Only China still stands in the fertile soil of the Central Plains.

China's national environment is not like that of Europe, where one company has never been dominant. Isn't this the reason for their "compromise", and as for the t-dynasty, is it just the emperor's self-promotion? Isn't it a manifestation of the extreme strength of national sentiment and civilization?

Therefore, China has lacked compromise and negotiation since ancient times. The dual structure makes it easy for a few ambitious people to steal the big position by accepting suggestions and criticisms. Even in his previous life and in the 21st century, it was still the same. Behind people's criticism is often their own desire to replace it. Under the long-standing culture of 'one family dominates', people do not know how to solve problems through negotiation. In his previous life, Chen Ming was very disgusted with those "wages" who clamored for "discretion". He felt that one day China would really become "discretion", and what would eventually result would be the division of the country and war. Because the vast majority of Chinese people are used to substitution!

This problem reached a peak in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and was also prevalent in the late Qing Dynasty in the original time and space. This was true in the Republic of China, and it was also true in the Red Dynasty. The only difference lies in the level of ‘ideal’ contained in this struggle.

"I have this memorial." Just when Chen Ming was thinking wildly, a man suddenly stood up. After taking a look, he found that he was not familiar with him. Chen Ming had been away from Nanjing for more than a year, and many people in the court had changed. Some were promoted and went to other places, and some were punished and either went home or went to other places. He didn't know at least one-third of the people in the room.

Chen Cong's eyelids twitched. Chen Ming didn't know this person, but he did. This person was Liu Wenwei, from Jiangyin. He was not a great talent. He had a little talent in poetry and a little reputation in the Jiangnan area, but nothing else was outstanding. Liu Wenwei was very good friends with Jiang Shishuan and Peng Yuanrui. Jiang Shishuan was one of the three great masters of Jiangyou, along with Yuan Mei and Zhao Yi. He was very famous in Jiangnan. Before the Fu Han Army started the uprising, he resigned from his official position and returned home to give lectures. He was not affected by the tide. He and Peng Yuanrui were both Jinshi in the same class and both entered the Hanlin Academy. However, Peng Yuanrui's father Tingxun and his brother Yuanyun were all Hanlin in the family for two generations. They had much more roots and background than Jiang Shishuan. Jiang Shishuan chose to resign from his official position and return home to give lectures in the academy. Liu Wenwei was favored by him, so he became a little famous and also got in touch with Peng Yuanrui. Peng Yuanrui had been in the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty for ten years until his father passed away. He returned to his hometown to observe mourning. Then the tide of the Fu Han Army swept the world, and Peng Yuanrui jumped on the new ship. Peng Yuanrui entered the Chen Han Dynasty later than Jiang Xin. He was a servant beside Chen Hui before, and recommended Liu Wenwei, who was later placed in the Ministry of Culture and Education.

Liu Wenwei was recommended by Peng Yuanrui and was personally received by Chen Hui. After a conversation, Chen Hui saw through what kind of person he was. This person is not very proficient in the common things of the prefecture and county. If he is sent to the local official, he will be a fool who takes the blame. But this person has a bad temper and a strong and upright character. Chen Hui took him to the Supervisory Yuan, which was like a fish in water. In the past few years, there have been several times when he was rewarded for his meritorious service, and there have also been times when he was embarrassed and punished and demoted, but he often achieved the position of a fourth-rank patrol censor and was able to attend the court.

Chen Cong had never offended Liu Wenwei. Although the current Supervisory Office could not "report on the news", the real power in his hands was still real. But Chen Cong's officials had been stabbed by Liu Wenwei several times. After all, Chen Cong was in charge of Chen Han's money bag, which had too much oil and water. One of the incidents even involved a capable assistant of Chen Cong.

Chen Ming tapped his fingers on the armrest. A eunuch named Sun Xu standing behind him naturally understood what Chen Ming meant and whispered in Chen Ming's ear: "Your Highness, this is Liu Wenwei, the inspector of the Supervisory Office, from Jiangyin." Chen Ming did not know these officials, but Sun Xu must know them. To stand out from the eunuchs sent back to Nanjing, Sun Xu not only learned the rules well, but also had a full brain, especially an outstanding memory.

Chen Ming nodded expressionlessly and said calmly, "Go ahead!"

"I think the former mayor of Shanghai, Yue Wenhai, can be the governor of Shuntian Prefecture." Liu Wenwei couldn't help but speak loudly when Chen Ming asked him to speak. "Nanjing is about to open its port. Yue Wenhai has served in Shanghai for many years. He is more involved in foreign affairs than Jiujiang."

Chen Cong's eyes widened instantly. What is Liu Wenwei going to do? Chen Ming looked at the straight air column above Liu Wenwei's head and remembered this name in his heart. No matter how knowledgeable this person is, at least he speaks with a fair mind.

There was a loud bang in the hall. No one thought that Liu Wenwei would come up with this reason. This is Yue Wenhai's biggest advantage. Compared with Xiao Lou's advantage, that is, he has really managed the government affairs of a prefecture. Jiujiang Prefecture is much larger than Shanghai, which is only a prefecture-level city upgraded from a Shanghai county. This is Xiao Lou's advantage!

Looking at Chen Ming's expressionless appearance, the ministers below didn't know what the prince was thinking, but they still had to say what they should say. Both sides have their own supporters. Without Chen Ming's statement, the result of the court meeting could only be postponed.

After the court meeting, Chen Ming returned to the Prince's Mansion, which was converted from the Governor's Office of Liangjiang, and said to Xiong Bingzhang, Wang Huizu and others with a wry smile: "People's hearts are not the same as they used to be." Just when he had secured his throne, some messy things inevitably enveloped him.

On the way back to the Prince's Mansion, Chen Ming thought that the people in the court should pray to the God of Time Travel, praying that the God of Time Travel did not travel through him when he was twenty years old. Chen Ming, who was still very idealistic at that time, absolutely could not bear to see all this in front of him.

At that time, he was very influenced by a certain argument, thinking that a new and modern dynasty should be a perfect new dynasty, and there should be zero tolerance for corruption, dereliction of duty, forming cliques for personal gain, infighting, etc. All officials in the world should be clean and self-disciplined, honest and dedicated, and dedicated to their duties.

There is no tolerance for all illegal phenomena and abuse of power for personal gain.

If it were Chen Ming at that time, half of the officials at the court meeting today would probably go home and eat rice. Although after doing so, he would soon find that the second batch of officials he promoted were no different from his predecessors.

But now Chen Ming is not the Chen Ming of 20 years old. He had been in society for several years before crossing in his previous life. And he knew even more that even modern capitalist countries, such as the United States and the United States, which are now synonymous with honest and clean government in his eyes, were also in a mess in modern times.

The real historical facts are too different from his imagination. At that time, the impact was very great. To a certain extent, it distorted his three views!

It is not that the so-called "modernized" countries must be "zero tolerance". It is ridiculous to think that the ideology and morality of officials in modern countries should be completely different from those of officials in the old dynasties. It is a brand new country that needs to be scrutinized for any "crime".

Take corruption as an example. In the original time and space, the ‘beacon of freedom’, the old Americans, when the Civil War ended and the US economy really took off, the corruption at all levels of the US government was more than a little bit higher than that of the 21st century Great T Dynasty. Officials and businessmen were in cahoots with each other and did all kinds of bad things.

Just like the famous political organization Tammany Hall, even the parliamentary elections in New York and New York were under its control. It monopolized as many as 40,000 high and low political positions in states and cities. They passed state and city legislation to promote the passage of new city charters that were beneficial to them, and then controlled the power to approve proposals for New York municipal engineering projects, thereby collecting huge kickbacks. Businessmen who contracted New York municipal engineering projects sometimes even had to give 65% of the project money to get a project. When the big boss of this organization was in charge of the construction of the New York government office building, 40 chairs and 3 tables were discounted by 179,000 US dollars. What does 179,000 US dollars in the mid-to-late 19th century mean?

Even in the 21st century, there have been many corruption cases involving hundreds of millions of dollars in the United States, including the 250 million dollar corruption case in New Jersey. So the golden age of the United States is a model of the alliance between officials and businessmen. France also has the famous Panama scandal, with a debt of more than one billion francs. Once it was exposed, it was shocking. The three cabinet prime ministers of the Gallic Rooster, the famous Radical Party leader Clemenceau, as well as important officials such as the Minister of Public Works, the Minister of the Army, the Speaker, and 200 members of parliament, and some famous newspaper reporters were involved. This is even more true in the United Kingdom. At this time, John Bull, even Wellington, who completely ended the myth of Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo, the so-called British Army Marshal, initially rose to power by donating an official position, purchasing the rank of second lieutenant and joining the British Army.

In 21st century China, I wonder how many people who have been brainwashed by the "Dukki" would know that when the British Empire sat on the throne of the world's ruler in the 19th century, the British government was also famous for corruption, and the sale of official positions and corruption were still rampant. So Chen Ming felt that some of his ideas at the time were so naive.

No one stipulated that modern countries must be more honest and upright than feudal dynasties, right? No internal fighting, no internal fighting, no internal fighting...

"Your Highness, this is human nature." Wang Huizu, Xiong Bingzhang and others were not surprised at all. "When a person begins to feel that he has the ability and ideal to realize his original wish, the first thing he thinks of is to find an official position. In China, officials and civilians are two different levels of classes." Many of the new words in Chen Ming's mouth are now used by Wang Huizu very fluently. "In China, no matter who you are, the first thing you want to do is to be an official and hold power. When the classes are equal, there will be honest officials like Bao Zheng and Hai Rui, and there will also be countless evil and profit-seeking people. There are many people like the former in every dynasty, and the latter are endless. Because of the current situation, the current world, abiding by the law can only provide people with a difficult and relatively slow way to make money. This "wealth" refers not only to money, but also to fame and power."

For officials in the world, no one can escape the three words of fame, wealth and power.

Officials in high positions naturally have a desire for leisure and hate to work. They do not want to rely on their own strength and efforts to improve their situation, so they will inevitably seek crooked ways.

It is a law to directly embezzle and accept bribes, and it is also a law to form a clique for personal gain. Both the former and the latter are prohibited by all dynasties. Especially the latter, which is a bad policy of all dynasties, but it is impossible to eradicate it. In the final analysis, it is caused by the desire for personal gain. Although it will violate the laws of the country, in their view, this is at least the easiest and most reliable way to get rid of their unsatisfactory lives, even if it is not the only way.

"There are more and more people who are obsessed with profit in the court, and party struggles will inevitably intensify. For example, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the dynasty was overthrown, the country changed hands, and the land of my country was submerged. There may have been factors of party struggles among various factions. However, our dynasty has been newly established and the imperial power is stable, so this is not a big deal." In Wang Huizu's view, the infighting in the court of Chen Han at this time is far from being called "party struggle"!

Compared with the disputes between Donglin, the eunuch party, the Zhejiang party, the Qi party, the Chu party, the Kun party, and the Xuan party in the late Ming Dynasty, the infighting in the court of Chen Han now is not worth mentioning.

"Your Highness is the founder of the country, respected by the whole world, and the court officials are so happy that they can be knocked down with a backhand. The current disputes in this country are different from those in the late Ming Dynasty." In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the power of the monarch was squeezed by the civil service group and could not stand, so Emperor Zhengde offered to establish an emperor, and Emperor Tianqi offered the killer weapon of nine thousand years. As a result, Emperor Zhengde and Emperor Tianqi both fell into the water, had no offspring, and were smeared by the pens of literati. Chongzhen, a fool who was fooled by the Four Books and Five Classics, cut off the nine thousand years after he came to power, but could not bring up his own nine thousand years. As a result, the Chongzhen Dynasty, which was full of righteousness, fell.

Chen Han is completely different from him.

Chen Ming's current authority may not be as good as that of the Ming Taizu who covered the sky with one hand, but when Chen Ming officially ascends the throne in February next year, his authority will be greater than Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, and his imperial majesty will be heavier. Because every battle from weak to strong was won by Chen Ming.

The civil service group of the Ming Dynasty was able to make it impossible for the emperors in the middle and late stages of their reign to gain an edge, so would they dare to show their teeth in front of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di?

If a party struggle wants to destroy a country, then the power of the monarch must be shaken first. Chen Han’s current struggle in the court is far from being a party struggle, because Chen Han, who has just established a country, has not yet reached a consensus with these bigwigs in Nanjing and local officials. They can only be said to be a "group" that huddles together for warmth, and they are not even a "group", let alone a "party".

Chen Ming smiled slightly at the consolation of the people around him. In fact, he didn't care about the things in the court. Is Chen Han now as corrupt as John Bull at this time? Isn't Britain in the 21st century very clean, and there are few reports of corrupt officials. All the situations have come out step by step. The British can do it, so there is no reason why Chen Han can't!

It's just that some of the rules in his mind apply to the 21st century in his previous life and the 20th century, but not to China in this era!