The aftermath of Ye Zongliu's rebellion soon passed. Thirteen years after the Ming Dynasty became orthodox, the court returned to peace again.
Of course, natural disasters continued to occur. Fortunately, during the Ming Dynasty, which was in its heyday, there would be no problems.
However, in recent years, there have been some personnel changes in the court.
As early as the eleventh year of Zhengtong, Yang Pu had passed away, and the Sanyang of the Yongle Dynasty came to an end.
Li Xian, the second assistant to the cabinet, became the first assistant, and Ma Yu became the second assistant to the cabinet.
Zhu Qizhen's other two teachers also achieved positive results. Wang Zhi became the right minister of the Ministry of official affairs, and Yan Jingxiu became the left minister of the Ministry of household affairs. They all became high-ranking figures in the imperial court.
In the inner court, Jin Ying was appointed as the eunuch in charge of the ceremony. This is a relatively virtuous eunuch. He even received a death-free edict from Emperor Xuande because of his loyalty and seriousness in handling affairs. He was extremely favored.
With the full cooperation of the cabinet and the inner court, government affairs were handled extremely efficiently. The Ming Dynasty, despite frequent natural disasters, created a pretty good world, although it was not as good as Renxuan in the past, nor as famous as Yan Keng during his time in the cabinet. The "orthodox rule" is not bad, but it is already good.
A stable political structure has been formed.
However, during this period, a small episode also occurred.
When Zhu Qizhen was still young, in order to help the young emperor cope with court meetings, he would choose eight things to bring to the inner court in advance every day, and then tell them the next day.
Now that Zhu Qizhen has grown up, this system has not been abolished. It has just changed from the original eight things to all.
As a result, the court meeting changed from the original situation of ministers reporting matters, ministers discussing, and the emperor making the final decision, to this -
The minister came out: xxxxx.
Zhu Qizhen recited the decision made last night and glanced at the cheat sheet from time to time.
After answering the question, the ministers retreated, and the next one came next.
The other ministers didn't say anything. Anyway, these things were discussed between the cabinet and the emperor. Maybe the seal of the Supervisor of Ceremonies has been stamped, so there is no use for them to interfere.
Just like acting.
The main reason is that the court meeting has been a system that has lasted for hundreds or thousands of years. It is really difficult to abolish it. Even if it is just a pretense, a grass-roots team must be established. This is why Yan Keng insisted on convening the meeting even though he knew that the young emperor could not handle government affairs.
After fifteen years of orthodoxy, Zhu Qizhen finally couldn't stand it anymore. I got up early in the morning and pretended to be with you. What the hell is this?
Labor and management get up at four o'clock every day and act with you on time at five o'clock. What does this mean?
It's ruined.
However, he also knew that he could not abolish the morning dynasty explicitly.
So, when the ministers came to the Meridian Gate one day, they received a notice from the eunuch:
"Your Majesty is not feeling well. Please go back. You will not go to court today."
Same thing the next day.
After a few days, it became "His Majesty is ill", and then "His Majesty is bedridden".
This time, the ministers were a little panicked - the Crown Prince is still young (three years old), brother, please don't burp at this time!
Some people heard that Zhu Qizhen asked the cabinet to send official documents when he was seriously ill. They were moved to tears. He also wrote a letter asking the emperor to rest and recuperate, praising the emperor for caring about the world.
Then this disease lasted for a full year.
Zhu Qizhen was "bedridden" for a whole year. His illness neither continued to be serious nor cured, and he was left hanging like this. Every day, official documents from the court were due for approval.
Now all fools know what's going on.
But they are actually so happy——
After all, you get up at four o'clock, and we have to wait outside the Meridian Gate at three o'clock. Beijing is such a big city, and it's easy for people in their decades to get up at one or two o'clock!
That was all before. After all, it was really being discussed and you could speak and participate to some extent. But what about now? Sleep standing up somewhere else?
Therefore, except for a few officials who stood up and made a few remarks, most of the courtiers acquiesced in this matter.
But if you don't go to court at all, that won't work. If you really live in the harem like a certain emperor, and the officials can't see each other from the time they take office to the time they retire, then there will be some problems in the world, and he will still be separated to some extent. Hold a court meeting for a while to meet everyone.
However, Zhu Qizhen, who had already tasted the benefits of going to court as before, firmly refused, and this approach was continued by many emperors.
So from then on, the Ming emperors no longer went to court frequently. They lived in the inner court, using the Dongchang Jinyiwei as their eyes and ears to convey their will through the cabinet and control the world.
Although the emperor does not go to court, it does not actually affect the operation of political affairs. They just do not hold court meetings, and it is not that they do not work. Otherwise, the world will not have the surname Zhu in a few decades.
Therefore, in fact, this had little impact on the Ming Dynasty, and everything was still developing steadily.
Time passed by and it was the seventeenth year of orthodoxy.
The Ming Dynasty has been generally peaceful in recent years.
Zhang Fu died in the 16th year of Zhengtong. The veteran avoided the historical ending of dying in a frustrated battle in Tumu Fort and passed away peacefully in his mansion.
He was posthumously named the Prince of Dingxing County, with the posthumous title of "Zhonglie".
As a rising military general, Wang Ji was ordered to conquer the south, put down the Miao rebellion and small uprisings, and guard the south of the Ming Dynasty.
The heart of the Ming Dynasty showed a stable and peaceful situation.
But in the northern grasslands, a force is rising.
Because Zhu Di sent Lan Yu to sweep across Mobei and pursue Mahamu fiercely, although the Junggar tribe relied on the endless desert to escape the disaster, they finally survived the death of Lan Yu, the evil star, but the price was too high. It was very tragic that the main force of the Junggar tribe was basically buried on the grassland.
When Tuohuan succeeded to the throne, the Junggar tribe had been reduced to a second-rate tribe.
Fortunately, Tuohuan robbed a wave of Jisi prefectures and instantly accumulated considerable wealth, which gave the Junggar tribe the conditions to rise.
Using a large amount of gold and silver, they won over several small tribes as vassals, and then launched a war of conquest on the grasslands.
What's even more comical is that several other tribes followed suit and also wanted to rob Jisu Prefecture and become rich. However, at this time, the Ming army was already on guard, and Jisu also had its own garrison.
They were entangled by the garrison, and then the Ming army arrived. In the end, not only did they not get half a cent of benefit, but they lost a lot of people.
This accelerated the process of removing Huan and reunifying Wala.
In the fourth year of Zhengtong, Tuohuan died, and his son ascended the throne first, and officially launched the Unification War in the ninth year of Zhengtong.
At this time, the Ming Dynasty was experiencing natural and man-made disasters, uprisings in the southeast, and refugees everywhere. It was no longer able to control the grasslands like Hongwu and Yongle, and could only rely on Ji Wei to barely maintain its rule over the grasslands.
It just so happened that Wala had not yet been completely unified at that time, so the two sides hit it off immediately.
The Ming Dynasty granted Ye Xian the title of King Shunning and allowed him to pay tribute, but Ye Xian no longer harassed the border and Jisu tribes. The two sides entered a period of peace. You will unify, and I will quell my rebellion.
After these years of conquests in the north and south, tribes one after another were annexed by the Junggar tribe, or became their tributaries.
By the time of the 14th year of Orthodoxy, Wala officially completed its unification and occupied the entire Mongu.
After another three years of recuperation, their strength grew again.
Ye Xian finally set his sights on the Ming Dynasty in the south.
(End of chapter)
