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Section 12 Adjustment (Part 2)

While the Ming army was busy preparing for the pre-war preparations, Gong Yan suddenly came to Deng Ming's camp.

"Why is Gong Shangshu here?" Deng Ming was quite surprised when he saw the old master, but he immediately realized that his name was a bit outdated, so he changed his words: "Why is Governor Gong here?"

"I'd better call me Shangshu," Gong Yong looked in a good mood and said as if nothing had happened: "I'm not a governor yet."

"Why isn't it?" Deng Ming asked with some wonder. He remembered that Gong Yong had gone to Wen'anzhi to seek an official position early.

"Because Wen Yiling (Wen Anzhi) is not given." Gong Yong did not hide it and said bluntly: "I thought Yiling should be at the age of doing what he wants, but he still couldn't see it."

Gong Yan told Deng Ming that Wen Anzhi was still worried about Gong Yan burning the god-masters of the Ming Dynasty, saying that his ancestors and ancestors were above him and would never appoint Gong Yan as the governor of Sichuan in the Ming Dynasty.

"Aren't you having a very happy conversation?" Deng Ming asked strangely. He remembered that when he passed by Fengjie, he saw Wen Anzhi and Gong Yan laughing, and the two kind old men seemed to be not angry at all.

"Of course I can't let you see it." Gong Yong smiled: "Before you arrived at Fengjie, Yiling also said that he would hire Shangfang Baojian to kill me. I said that I am not an official from the Ming Dynasty, so why did he ask Shangfang Baojian to do? Yiling said that this was avenging his ancestors of all generations."

It sounded like the two were quarreling fiercely, but Gong Yan obviously didn't take it too seriously. Deng Ming couldn't help but guess whether he had been scolded too many times over the years, so he no longer cared about it.

"So that's it." Deng Ming hesitated for a moment. If Wen Anzhi had not made any statement, Deng Ming could give the position of governor to Gong Yan, but now that Wen Anzhi opposes, Deng Ming will not be able to come forward again.

"You don't have to give this official position to me," Gong Yong observed his expression and saw Deng Ming's hesitation: "Yiling said that even if I got the position of governor from you, he would not admit it."

It seems that Gong Yong and Deng Ming have touched Wen Anzhi's bottom line this time. However, Gong Yong has his own solution. He told Deng Ming that after hitting a wall with Wen Anzhi, he did not go to Jiangnan to complain to Deng Ming directly, but set off for Sichuan to contact the two prefects and the court.

Liu Jinge and Yuan Xiang naturally had to give Gong Yan a face, and the Academy was actually moved by Gong Yan. Most of the congressmen felt that this old man was capable. Although Meng Zhengfa in the academy had been slandering Gong Yan, most professors admire Gong Yan's knowledge. Now the entire western Sichuan atmosphere is deeply influenced by Deng Ming's thoughts without jun and father, so he is not very resistant to Gong Yan.

However, even if the people in western Sichuan do not object, Gong Yong still needs Deng Ming's formal recognition - no matter how much power Deng Ming voluntarily gave up, most people still think that his words are the golden rule in western Sichuan.

"The Council agreed to let me coordinate the relationship between the western Sichuan prefectures and resolve the conflicts, and also agreed to resolve the conflicts between western Sichuan and Kuidong. Isn't this what the governor should do?"

Deng Ming was still a little hesitant. Wen Anzhi was not young anymore and had always given Deng Ming great support. Although Deng Ming admitted that Gong Yan was very talented, it would be ungrateful if Wen Anzhi was angry.

"You guys have a lot of thoughts!" Gong Yong talked for a long time, and saw that Deng Ming did not agree at all, he snorted: "Your Wenshu said that the Ming Dynasty officials could not give me anyway, and I really didn't want me to look at the south and kowtowed and apologized. The courtyard in western Sichuan was originally a grass-roots team. Yiling said, you also agreed to disband the courtyard as soon as the emperor came back, so if I took a position given by the courtyard, Yiling would not bother me."

"Oh, that's right." Deng Ming knew that Gong Yan was arrogant and would not lie on this issue, so he agreed happily and recognized the appointment that the court would give him. However, Wen Anzhi did not agree to use the governor or any other title of Ming Dynasty official. Deng Ming thought about it: "Just call him the governor, the head of Sichuan Province, the chief."

"Customize your name." Gong Yong didn't care about the title, but after he was appointed to this position, he immediately proposed a reform plan, that is, to establish a defense envoy.

The position of defense envoy was proposed by Niu Jinxing in the past. Because after Zhu Yuanzhang set up the thirteen provinces, some of the prefectures were large and some were very small, Niu Jinxing planned to add a defense envoy between the provinces and the prefectures and gather those small prefectures in the hands of a defense envoy. Later, this set of reform ideas was completely copied by the Qing Dynasty and changed its name to Daotai.

However, Gong Yong's suggestion was rejected by Deng Ming. He did not want to strengthen control at all, nor did he intend to use the traditional official system. Therefore, whether it is called a defense envoy or a Taoist peddler, such officials are redundant to Deng Ming.

Gong Yong tried this matter. Since Deng Ming opposed him, he would not insist, because now his position as governor is to coordinate the various prefectures without other real powers. The work of the defense officer is to further strengthen the provincial control over the local area. Gong Yong felt that there was no need to take over power when Deng Ming was away. Anyway, he had already mentioned it. If Deng Ming felt it was necessary in the future, he would naturally remember this matter.

Another point is that Gong Yong demanded the position of governor to be substantive. In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang tried his best to decentralize power at the provincial level, established three positions: governor, supervisor and commander, separate administrative, procuratorial and military power, hoping that these three could restrain each other and reduce corruption.

The effect of this system is hard to say. After all, it was a few hundred years ago. No one has experienced it personally, but it undoubtedly does not conform to the idea of ​​centralization. In the early Ming Dynasty, the establishment of a governor was originally used for local inspections, but gradually evolved into a governor who had the power of the whole province, completely controlling the following three envoys. Since the inspectors could not supervise the governor, the central government simply set up another inspector to supervise the governor, the original supervisor.

Another reform of Niu Jinxing was to make the messy governor system of the Ming Dynasty. Each province only set up one governor to clarify the power and responsibilities. Not long after Niu Jinxing prepared the system and rules, Li Zicheng was defeated and withdrew from Beijing. After the Qing Dynasty entered Beijing, he found that Dashun's administrative system was obviously more reasonable than the Ming Dynasty, so he grabbed it and used it himself. According to Niu Jinxing's idea, the substantive and standardized governors were completed across the country.

Gong Yong's request was confirmed by Deng Ming, and Deng Ming also felt that the governor should be a permanent entity, and the power and jurisdiction did not need to be changed frequently: a Sichuan governor today, and a Sichuan governor tomorrow will be divided into a Sichuan governor and a Sichuan governor tomorrow. If you find that officials seem to be unable to manage it or have any special needs, another western governor in charge of two or three prefectures will help - this change will only increase the chances of chaos, shirkness and disputes. However, Gong Yong did not expect that the purpose of the governors of Dashun and the Qing Dynasty was to strengthen centralization and fundamentally establish that the governors have full authority in the administration, justice, and legislation of a province; and in Deng Ming's idea, the governor was the governor who only had administrative power, and was more like the governors conceived by Zhu Yuanzhang. However, the discussion between Gong Yong and Deng Ming is far from going deeper to this point.

It was beyond Deng Ming's expectation that Gong Yan was able to get the support of the Academy so easily. He himself did not have much disgust with Gong Yan's burning of the God Card, but he did not expect that all classes in Sichuan could easily and widely accept Gong Yan.

"What's the matter? You can throw the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty into the hands of the cannibalism for a few broken stones in Myanmar. What's the point of burning a few wooden brands?" Gong Yan replied with confidence.

"The Burmese people are not a life-saving person." Deng Ming retorted.

"That's about the same." Gong Yong pointed out that Deng Ming's rebellious things were gone, but Sichuan scholars could get the benefits from it every time, so they were very tolerant of Deng Ming. After accepting Deng Ming's actions, many people no longer criticized Gong Yong for burning the God Card. Even Meng Zhengfa stayed in Sichuan for half a year and learned about Deng Ming's large number of deeds, he no longer put Gong Yong's affairs on his lips all day long.

"On the way, I met that boy Lu Liuliang." Gong Yong seemed to have a good impression of this young man: "I am quite proud and have no shame or arrogant attitude towards me. But it doesn't matter. When he goes to Sichuan for a year, I won't remember the fact that I burned the God Lord Card."

"There is another Mr. Zhang." Deng Ming remembered that Zhang Dai and his family also took a boat to Sichuan half a month ago.

"I avoided him," Gong Yan replied calmly: "Zhang Tao'an (Zhang Dai) hated Donglin the most in his life, saying that he wanted to kill the thieves in Donglin, put them in a pot and then add fire to the fire. Because I burned the God Lord Card, I was one of the few people he hated the most. He thought I was the emperor's chief minister, and he remembered the name wrongly, so he wrote my words "Yu" as Yu... But it doesn't matter. When Zhang Tao'an stayed in Sichuan for a few years, he was embarrassed to put you in a pot and add firewood under him, so he naturally didn't think about killing me."

After being recognized by Deng Ming, Gong Yong talked about the strategic issues in front of him. He worked hard to come from Sichuan, of course not just for the governor's power in Sichuan. What Gong Yong is most worried about now is that Deng Ming will follow Li Zicheng's old path.

"It's hard to get rid of the tiger, this is what we mean. It's very simple for us to leave these governors and turn home, but if we abandon these governors, we will replace them with new governors. Maybe they will resist the Qing court to the end because they don't believe we will do our best to protect them." Deng Ming explained.

"The emperor thought so back then, thinking that if he went back to Shaanxi and came back again, no one would surrender without fighting. But after thinking about it later, he should have left early." Gong Yong felt that Deng Ming's current mentality was as anxious as Li Zicheng back then.

Deng Ming was silent for a moment and shook his head: "No matter how clear we know, we must retreat without fighting. Well, I promise that if the situation is unfavorable, we will definitely withdraw as soon as possible. My lowest goal is: even if we cannot stop the Qing court from clarifying the truth and replacing the governor of the Southeast, at least let others know that we will try to protect them."

Deng Ming then showed Gong Yan the pre-war preparations he made. Deng Ming worked hard to collect topography and landform information in Jiangbei these days, and drew a large number of maps of the Huaiyang area with contour lines. Although it was very rough and had a large error, it was better than the traditional maps of the original ones. The old maps were really unavailable, just like abstract paintings.
Chapter completed!
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