Chapter: 25

Therefore, regarding the huge profits of ocean trade, the top management of Daming is very clear.

Zhu Di was very aware of the resistance to lifting the sea ban, not only from Zhu Yuanzhang's ancestral precepts, but more importantly, the imperial court was worried that overseas trade would drive farmers away from the land, which would cause social instability in Ming Dynasty.

To put it bluntly, the first thing that will be lost when the sea ban is lifted is the interests of the gentry class in Ming Dynasty, whose representatives are civil servants.

How to counteract the resistance of the gentry to ocean trade?

Zhu Di took a deep breath, waiting for Jiang Xinghuo to show him the way hidden in the mist.

Jiang Xinghuo stroked his train of thought and said slowly.

"You also know that since the end of the Song Dynasty, there have been many 'scholar-bureaucrat' classes in the local area, and they have a large amount of land and property, and the Mongols' tax system has made their land annexation more unscrupulous.

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, these people changed and became the gentry class of the Ming Dynasty, and they are widely distributed, ubiquitous, and extremely influential...Having prestige in the countryside, colluding with local officials, they monopolize the land , controlled the population, mastered the guidance of public opinion, and even controlled the examination questions of the lower-level imperial examinations. "

"These gentry are not only landlords but also academics. This has led to the relationship between gentry and civil servants, which is basically a derivative and a derived relationship. It is an intertwined force. There is me in you, and you in me, which cannot be cut off. .”

"Emperor Gao, Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, took measures to weaken this force when he ascended the throne. On the one hand, he investigated land annexation, and on the other hand, he cracked down on corruption... During this process, the status of these land annexers declined sharply. "

"On the other hand, Emperor Taizu Gao began to support a new class at this time. In this land, a new class of military elites gradually rose."

"These noble military officials who founded the country like the Guanlongmen Clan of the Northern Zhou, Sui and Tang Dynasties held a lot of wealth and power, gradually overwhelmed the old land annexers, and even grasped the right to speak in the court."

"At this time, the gentry civil servants became the common enemy of the emperor and the honorable military officials, and the gentry civil officials and the newly rising honorable military officials launched a fierce confrontation."

Zhu Gaoxu was fascinated by this, and couldn't help asking: "Then Mr. Jiang, who do you think will win out between gentry civil servants and honorable military officials?"

"Gentlemen and civil servants."

Jiang Xinghuo replied flatly: "In another fifty years at most, honorable military officials will completely lose their power... In another hundred years, honorable military officials will have to kneel down and lick their boots when they meet gentlemen and civil servants."

How can it be? !

Zhu Gaoxu was a little unbelievable. Whether it was the founding nobleman of the Hongwu Dynasty or the Jingnan nobleman of the Yongle Dynasty today, the power and arrogance were all controlled by the civil servants. The civil servants could not compete with him at all. This is a typical era of warriors ruling the country.

But Jiang Xinghuo actually told Zhu Gaoxu that the gentry and civil servants can win a longer-term victory?

"Why?" Zhu Gaoxu was puzzled.

"Because it is impossible for Ming Dynasty to repeat the founding of the country and Jingnan forever, but it must repeat the imperial examination every three years."

Just a word.

It's like hearing thunder in a silent place.

"Snapped!"

The wine glass that Zhu Di had been holding in his hand fell to the ground.

The exquisite porcelain cup splashed on the ground, turning into pieces of irregular fragments.

Ji Gang didn't have time to clean up the ground, or even wipe off the skin scratched by the tiles. He, who was listening beside Zhu Di, fell into the same sluggishness as Zhu Di.

Ji Gang was born as a scholar, and he was also deeply shocked by these words.

After a long time, Zhu Di just repeated silently.

"...Because it is impossible for Ming Dynasty to repeat the founding of the country and Jingnan forever, but it must repeat the imperial examination every three years."