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Text Chapter 540 Finale

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    Speaking of which, the Spanish fleet is not as strong as the Portuguese. The Ming Dynasty can defeat the powerful Portuguese fleet, and naturally it can also defeat the Spanish fleet. What's more, the Pacific Fleet that went on this expedition is still the elite of the Ming Navy. Although the labor expedition suffered some losses, it was defeated  The Spaniards did not make much effort.  However, the Spaniards who fought for the first time were not discouraged. They were organizing a second fleet to go out. It seemed that they would drive the Ming back no matter what. However, at this time, the Ming had already occupied a port in North America and Central America as its own  stronghold and began the real colonization of America. During this period, although the Spaniards also thought about fighting the Ming Dynasty on land, after several contacts, the Spaniards found that they did not have any advantage. The Ming Dynasty's army was not those in the Americas who did not even have iron weapons.  Instead of people, they had a powerful army with muskets and artillery, so after suffering several losses, they could only choose to endure silently and wait for the arrival of the domestic fleet.  In the next few years, the Ming Dynasty and Spain fought countless wars in the Americas. Both sides invested a large number of naval and army troops. The entire west coast of America was raging with war. Even the war on land involved the local Americans. This was mainly  It was the massacre of the Americans by the Spaniards that aroused dissatisfaction among these people. Now seeing the arrival of the Ming Dynasty, based on the idea that the enemy of the enemy is a friend, they began to cooperate with the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty was also willing to cause some trouble for the Spaniards.  So they gave these Americans a lot of help, such as weapons, which greatly increased their combat effectiveness and began to form small groups of troops to harass the Spanish rear.  But the Spaniards were not stupid either. After they felt that the Ming Dynasty and the Americans were united, they immediately changed their strategy.  He began to support some Americans as his helpers.  As a result, the entire Central and South America was in chaos.  There was war everywhere, both on sea and on land.  The Ming Dynasty had a vast territory, a large population, and very developed industry and commerce. This made the Ming Dynasty extremely powerful and could support overseas armies to fight for many years. However, Spain did not have this advantage, so after several years of fierce fighting with the Ming Dynasty, their national power was greatly reduced.  magnitude decline.  In addition, Europe was not at peace, and they had to maintain enough strength to defend themselves. So under this circumstance, the colonial battle between Spain and the Ming Dynasty ended with Spain actively suing for peace.  The Ming Dynasty and Spain signed a treaty and divided their respective spheres of influence in the Americas. The Ming Dynasty occupied the west coast of the Americas, while Spain occupied the east coast of the Americas. If you want to enter the other side's area of ??influence, you must obtain the other side's consent.  As for the division on land.  There is no very clear treaty, but a general provision that "whoever discovers it first belongs to whoever discovers it".  Moreover, both sides must exercise restraint and cannot have conflicts without authorization. This is mainly because the Americas are too large, and there should not be much conflict of interest between the two countries in a short period of time.  Of course, this kind of peace was actually very short-lived, because the war between the Ming Dynasty and Spain did not determine the outcome. To be precise, neither side admitted defeat. Spain only suspended the war because its national strength was not sustainable, while the Ming Dynasty needed  Time seized the territory of America, so such a treaty was reached.  But just a few years later, the Ming Dynasty and Spain clashed again, and then there was a seemingly endless war. This war was called the "War for the Americas" by later generations and lasted for hundreds of years.  , finally ended with the decline of Spain, and the Ming Dynasty took the opportunity to take over Spain's territory in the Americas, successfully occupying most of Central and South America.  Zhou Chong actually paid little attention to these overseas expansions a few years ago. Firstly, the territory of the Ming Dynasty was large enough, and the population growth could not keep up. Secondly, the management of such a large territory was difficult.  There are some problems, such as in Nanyang, where some people want to claim territory and become kings. Unfortunately, before they can take action, they are noticed by the Jin Yiwei, and then the army clears them out. Moreover, Zhou Zhong has always been ruthless towards such separatist forces, and every day  Rivers of blood flowed every time, which greatly deterred those ambitious people.  As his son Zhu Zaiyuan grew up, Zhou Chong was slowly delegating power. After all, his eldest son was the legal heir of the Ming Dynasty. He did not want his son to resent him because of the throne, or even cause a father-son fratricide.  tragedy.  However, although Zhou Zhong was delegating power, he did one more thing in the end, which was to restrict imperial power.  Imperial power is a very dangerous thing, especially for a country as huge as the Ming Dynasty. The safety of the entire country depends on the emperor alone. If you encounter a wise or mediocre emperor, it will be a good thing for the empire, even a  Having an emperor will make the empire more prosperous, but if you encounter a misbehaving or ignorant emperor, it will be a disaster for the entire country. Countless lessons in history tell us that the emperor is too important to an empire.  It's important.  If you want to change the emperor¡¯s influence on the empire, you must weaken the emperor? As long as the power in the hands of the emperor becomes smaller, his influence on the empire will also become much smaller. Even if he encounters a mediocre emperor, the damage caused to the Ming Dynasty will be limited, and if you want to limit the emperor  The first thing Zhou Zhong thought of was the cabinet.  At that time, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the position of prime minister and took over all the government affairs. Unfortunately, the emperor was not a superman. He also needed some people to share his government affairs. So in this case, the cabinet appeared, and  Slowly forming a complete cabinet system, it can be said that the cabinet has completely replaced the original position of the prime minister.  The imperial power and the power of the prime minister have always been complementary but restrained each other. Zhu Yuanzhang's unintentional move was to share the power of the prime minister with several ministers in the cabinet. This way, there was no need to worry about the appearance of powerful ministers in the court, and the cabinet could take on more government affairs.  , which also devolved more power from the emperor. Back then, Zhengde ignored the government affairs, and the Ming Dynasty was still running as usual. These are all the achievements of the cabinet, and if you want to limit the imperial power, the cabinet is the most suitable tool.  So under this situation, Zhou Zhong began to formulate a Supreme Law, which clearly divided the imperial power and the power of the prime minister. In fact, this was a constitution, and after the status of the Supervisory Yuan was elevated.  The judiciary of the Ming Dynasty has become independent from the administration.  Hence the emergence of this constitution.  It not only restricted the imperial power, but also gave the Supervisory Council a formal tool to limit the power of the cabinet. However, the Supervisory Council was also subject to the dual constraints of the imperial power and the cabinet. Under the checks and balances of the three parties, a stable triangle relationship was formed.  With this constitution, the imperial power can be limited within certain limits, and when the emperor wants to violate the constitution, the cabinet has the power to reject the order.  This is also an old method used by the cabinet to deal with imperial power, but now it has been officially written into the constitution, so that the cabinet can have laws to follow. As for the Metropolitan Procuratorate, it can supervise the emperor's use of his power. If it violates the constitution, he will also be punished by the capital.  The Procuratorate warned and even imposed restrictions on imperial power.  ¡°In order to make the constitution authoritative, especially to limit the imperial power, it is not enough to rely solely on the cabinet and the Metropolitan Procuratorate.  The most important thing is to get the support of the military, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.  The emperor is the supreme commander of the army, and all armies of the Ming Dynasty are under the command of the Ming Emperor. However, this is all on the premise that the emperor does not violate the constitution. If the emperor violates the constitution and commands the army, especially when he threatens the cabinet and the Metropolitan Procuratorate with force,  The army will be temporarily separated from the emperor's command. This was also written into the motto of the military academy by Zhou Zhong. Every officer must study the regulations on the army in the constitution so that they understand what they should do under what circumstances.  In addition, although the emperor has the highest command power over the army, the army is still managed by the Ministry of War in peacetime. Only in the event of external war or internal rebellion, the emperor has the right to mobilize the army.  Compared with the restrictions on the military, the emperor had greater power over administration and justice, because the emperor had the right to put forward his own opinions on administration and justice, and even had considerable decision-making power. This was a right derived from the throne itself.  Neither the cabinet nor the Metropolitan Prosecutor's Office can restrict it.  Zhou Zhong's restrictions on imperial power were initially criticized by many people. In particular, many people believed that the reason why Zhou Zhong restricted imperial power was because he was worried that his son's accession to the throne would weaken his power to supervise the country. Therefore,  Only then would the imperial power be restricted. This statement was not only reasonable and reasonable, but also highly motivating. Even Zhou Zhong¡¯s son Zhu Zaiyuan was a little confused by it. Later, Zhou Zhong called him to the study and fully explained his plans for the Ming Dynasty.  After explaining it, Zhu Zaiyuan understood his father's painstaking efforts.  In the 30th year of Zhengde's reign, Zhengde, who was already 45 years old, was unwilling to be lonely and once again launched an army to attack the Uzbeks, hoping to seize the entire Timur Khanate's original territory before the Ottoman Empire. Everything was going very well.  Everything went well, but when the war was about to end, Masanori suddenly stumbled on the battlefield and was seriously injured. It could have been cured, but due to the acclimatization, Masanori had a high fever and finally died in Central Asia.  on the battlefield.  The death of Zhengde marked the end of the old Ming Dynasty, and also marked the end of Ming Dynasty's expansion in Central Asia. When the news of Zhengde's death reached Beijing, Zhou Chong locked himself in his study and cried bitterly.  When he walked out of the study, he immediately asked people to prepare for the enthronement ceremony of his son Zhu Zaiyuan. After all, a country cannot live without a king for a day.  After Zhu Zaiyuan ascended the throne, Zhou Zhong completely let go of the government. Zhengde's body was not transported back to the imperial mausoleum next to Beijing for burial. Instead, it was buried in southern Central Asia, which was the border area between Afghanistan and Palestine in later generations.  The place where Zhengde died in battle, and this was also Zhengde's last wish, because as long as his tomb is here, Ming Dynasty will not give up its rule over Central Asia.  Zhou Chong traveled all the way to Central Asia to attend Zhengde¡¯s funeral. This funeral was not a state funeral for the emperor, but was held in accordance with Zhengde¡¯s orders.??Military burials, surrounded by Zhengde's mausoleum, are the mausoleums of all soldiers who died in Central Asia. They will continue to protect His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty with their bodies.  Zhou Chong cried bitterly again in front of Zhengde's tomb, and then suddenly disappeared from the Ming Dynasty. At the same time, his wives, concubines, and children disappeared. In the entire Ming Dynasty, only Zhu Zaiyuan, the eldest son, was left as emperor. Whenever others asked about Zhou Chong's whereabouts  At that time, Zhu Zaiyuan just smiled bitterly, because he could not tell others that his parents went to play with his brothers and sisters, but he was left to become the emperor.  Many years later, a new means of transportation suddenly appeared in the Ming Dynasty. This means of transportation was called a train. It could travel thousands of miles a day on the rails, and it only consumed coal and water. It was very interesting and even more interesting to run while puffing out black smoke.  What is surprising is that the new invention of the train was not invented by the local people of the Ming Dynasty, but came from Australia in the south of Nanyang. Many Han people have already settled there, and it is developing very rapidly, especially on the southeastern coast of Australia.  It is also a gathering place for Han people. It is said that the lobsters there are bigger than people, and there are also delicacies such as sea cucumbers. It is a good place to relax.  (Complete book) (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel will be better and updated faster! PS: The new book has been uploaded, I hope everyone will support it!
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