Zhu Yijun, the Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who had come full circle when he regained Mongolia on the left, was now sitting in the warm Xinuan Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace in the open ground, listening to the report of the three Dongchang Dajuan with an expressionless face. .
"In other words, the people thought that the war was over and were celebrating that the Ming Dynasty had once again continued to survive and dominate the world, while some people in the outer court impatiently jumped out and hoped that Rixin would return to the court in triumph immediately. Cancel the additional commercial taxes levied on the five Jiangnan provinces?”
"Yes, Your Majesty." The three great men responded at the same time.
"Is there still a quarrel in the cabinet?" The emperor flipped through a few memorials and seemed not to be interested. He turned to Chen Ju and said: "If these are all here to congratulate you, there is no need to show them to me. I really have something to ask for." Cut it, bring it again.”
Chen Ju said "yes" and stepped forward to quickly put the memorial aside, but did not say a word more. A eunuch on the other side who was also wearing a python robe replied: "Back to the emperor, the quarrel in the cabinet has ended. It seems that the officials are dissatisfied with Yuan Fu's last words."
This sentence aroused some interest in the emperor, and he was even a little surprised. He asked: "Dissatisfied with Mr. Wang? Why?" Zhu Yijun wondered: What happened to Wang Jiaping?
The python-robed eunuch replied: "Roughly, there was no result in the quarrel in the end, so the ministers asked how the cabinet would respond. Yuan Fu said, 'How does the cabinet draw up votes, and when does it need to be discussed with all officials?' So the ministers asked He left in anger, and both parties broke up unhappy."
"There are no tigers in the mountains, and monkeys are kings." Zhu Yijun snorted and said with a mocking tone: "If Rixin really comes back, how can these people dare to be so noisy."
After a pause, he couldn't help but sigh: "I'm afraid Mr. Wang's performance as a first-year assistant is just the same. Since there are 70 or 80 people in this group visit, and most of them are science and technology officials, I guess Wang I'm afraid the gentleman will be impeached soon.
However, now is not the time for him to thank guests behind closed doors...Wang An, please make arrangements to let Mr. Liang Ge and Mr. Zhou Ge know my intentions. At least make sure that Mr. Wang cannot be distracted before Rixin returns to the court. .
Chen Ju, please find an opportunity to pay a personal visit to Mr. Wang, and say that the great victory was achieved when he was in power. I am very satisfied with this, and I am still waiting for a favor... How should you say this specifically? It's up to you. "
The two eunuchs in python robes immediately responded respectfully. Chen Ju is an old acquaintance here and does not need to be introduced, but "Wang An" does.
After Zhang Jing's downfall that year, Zhang Cheng succeeded him as the chief eunuch of the Bureau of Ceremonies and concurrently served as the admiral of the East Factory as usual. This Zhang Cheng actually came from the same sect as Zhang Jing, and they were both the godsons of the great eunuch Zhang Hong. However, the relationship between Zhang Cheng and Zhang Jing was not that good - after all, they were actually very involved.
Although the relationship was not so good, after Zhang Cheng came to power, he gradually came to oppose Gao Pragmatic. He secretly joined forces with Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue to encourage the Xin School to confront Gao Pragmatic. It's a pity that the Heart School did not dare to be too blatant, and only dared to make obstacles behind the scenes. However, the achievements of being pragmatic and pragmatic accumulated more and more, but these methods had no effect in the end.
If you walk too much at night, you will always encounter ghosts. Although Shen Shixing has always wanted to control the intensity of the party struggle, who would have expected that the Jiangnan Cao Army riot would eventually become a big issue. As a result, Shen and Wang, the two pavilion elders, inevitably had to pay for the mischief of the people below because of their lax control, so they both became officials.
Up to this point, Zhang Cheng was not completely exposed. Gao Pragmatic only knew through the Ministry of Internal Affairs that he had secretly visited Shen Shixing several times. Zhang Cheng's real exposure was that he was so frightened by the resignation of Shen and Wang that he went to seek medical treatment in a hurry and went to establish relations with Wu Qing Houfu and formed a marriage.
Although Zhang Cheng himself was an eunuch, he was not the only one in his family. He had brothers. In desperation, he hooked up with Li Chengming, the son of Li Wenquan, the second generation of Wu Qinghou, for his niece. Li Chengming is Li Wenquan's eldest son. In theory, as long as he survives his father, he will be the next generation of Wu Qinghou.
Li Wei, the first generation Marquis of Wu Qing, was the father of Zhu Yijun's biological mother, Queen Mother Li, so Li Wenquan was the uncle of the country, and Li Chengming was correspondingly Zhu Yijun's cousin.
Now, Zhang Cheng's niece is married to the emperor's cousin. Doesn't this mean that she is also a relative of the emperor? Besides, the Wuqing Houfu is not an ordinary Houfu. It has a very unique status, so Zhang Cheng thinks that he should be safe.
The Marquis of Wuqing was indeed extraordinary. After Li Wei's death, his grandson even insisted on giving posthumously the posthumous title of Taifu, Duke An Guo, and the posthumous title Zhuang Jian. Of course, this was a posthumous honor, and his son Li Wenquan inherited the Marquis of Wuqing.
However, the inheritance of Wu Qinghou itself is an exception, because the title of a relative is different from the title of a hero. It is not a nobleman. Such inheritance is unreasonable. But Zhu Yijun didn't care. He wanted to show his filial piety, so when he responded to the objections of Shangshu, he dismissed them with "I would like to express my gratitude to the Queen Mother."
This gives people the illusion that "Wu Qinghou has obtained the holy scroll", and it is also the reason why Zhang Cheng urgently sought medical treatment for his illness.
It's a pity that Zhang Cheng didn't understand one thing. Zhu Yijun was not so good to Wu Qing Houfu because of the "Holy Scroll". He was just that his martial arts was at its peak now, so he needed something to show filial piety as his Holy Son. Just embellishment.
So something happened: the state officials swarmed to impeach Zhang Cheng for violating the rules and colluding with others. Some even said that Zhang Cheng was the admiral of the East Factory, and he actually befriended and became an in-law with a noble man. This was because the noble nobleman of Wu Qing was interfering in politics and was suspected of having evil intentions!
To be honest, Li Wenquan, Marquis of Wuqing, was indeed the nominal Left Governor of the Fifth Army Governor's Office, but now the Fifth Army Governor's Office has become an empty yamen due to the restructuring of the Beijing Camp. He, the Left Governor, has not served in the Production and Construction Corps, which is equivalent to If you can't move anyone, why should you be "intentionally evil"?
However, the truth is not important, what is important is that the rules must not be broken, so the incident became so big that the emperor had to severely punish Zhang Cheng to protect Li Wenquan. As a result, Li Wenquan was only fined three months' salary, but Zhang Cheng got the fate of being "relegated to the emperor and sent incense to Xiaoling Wei Si" and went to burn incense for Zhu Yuanzhang with his godbrother Zhang Jing.
After Zhang Cheng left, the chief eunuch Bingbi became vacant. As the chief eunuch, Chen Ju had the right to recommend, so he recommended Wang An.
Wang An was a native of the present-day Xiong'an New District of Xiong County, Baoding, and was considered a heavyweight in the late Ming Dynasty in original history. He should have been recommended by Chen Ju in the 22nd year of Wanli and ordered to be the crown prince's companion, and he rose to prominence.
When Concubine Zheng planned to make her son the crown prince, and the crown prince was in crisis, she was usually protected by Wang An. So when Guangzong came to the throne, he was promoted to the eunuch of Si Li Bingbi, and he persuaded Guangzong to reuse Yang Lian, Liu Yishen and others. But soon after Guangzong died and Xizong came to the throne, Wang An assisted Tianqi in moving Li Xuanshi out of Qianqing Palace and moved to Erluan Palace.
However, Wang An's end was not good, and he was killed after Wei Zhongxian and the Hakka family gained power. Generally speaking, his position in original history was to be close to civil officials and consciously opposed eunuchs' excessive interference in politics - even if he was a eunuch himself.
Although the civil servants he was close to were from the Donglin Party, Gao Pragmatic didn't mind this. After all, the original history was very different from the present, and the early Donglin Party and the late Donglin Party were not at all the same situation and ideas. Therefore, Gao Pragmatic supported Chen Ju's recommendation, and Wang An was successfully appointed as the admiral of Dongchang.
That is to say, the current Chief Ceremony Supervisor, from the palm print to the chief pen, can be regarded as a highly pragmatic person.
Zhu Yijun explained these two things to Chen Ju and Wang An. Of course, they could understand the implication: the emperor wanted to retain Wang Jiaping, and the time limit for retaining him was at least before Gao Pragmatic returned to the court.
The emperor obviously had a motive for being stuck at such a time, but what could be his motive? This is not difficult to guess. The two of them thought at the same time: fill the gap.
The current cabinet rankings are as follows: Wang Jiaping, a bachelor of Zhongji Palace, Liang Menglong, a bachelor of Jianji Palace, Gao Pragmatic, a bachelor of Wenhua Palace, Zhao Zhigao, a bachelor of Wuying Palace, Shen Yiguan, a bachelor of Wenyuan Pavilion, and Zhou Yong, a bachelor of Dongge Palace.
Here, Liang Menglong had already made up his mind to resign as soon as possible because of his age. If he resigned, Gao Pragmatic would have to take his place as the second assistant Jianjidian Grand Bachelor.
However, what if Wang Jiaping, the first assistant, also leaves the position at the same time? Then Gao Pragmatic will definitely directly replace him as the first assistant!
In the case of a great victory in the Korean War, it happened that both the first assistant and the second assistant were removed from their positions. Why not take the place of Gao Pragmatic, who had once again made great achievements, as the first assistant? What a coincidence, a perfect reward!
To be honest, Chen Ju and Wang An breathed a sigh of relief when they thought of this. Why? Because when the Korean War reached the point where only Busan and two or three surrounding cities were left by the Japanese army, everyone in the imperial court, both internally and externally, was struggling with one thing, and that was what to do with the reward after Gao Pragmatic's triumphal victory.
Why do you say that? In fact, I have mentioned it many times before. According to Zhu Yuanzhang's regulations, military merit is the most important merit. Basically, no one can be knighted except for military merit.
Although Gao Jingshi was a civil servant, he was also awarded the title of Marquis of Nanning because of his military merits. This is very reasonable. However, since he is already the Marquis of Nanning, what if he has another huge military exploit? Ah, of course we can only continue to seal it, but if we continue to seal it, we can only seal it as Duke! It’s reached the top!
Gao Jingshi is only in his thirties, and this is the end of the letter. In the future, if the Chahar tribe who fled to the Western Regions does something else, Gao Jingshi, as the world's best military commander, will go on another Western expedition... Once he triumphs again, Doesn’t that mean that there is no title and no reward? What should we do?
It is precisely because of this "hidden worry" that everyone in the imperial court - whether internal or external, feels that one is the leader and the other is the leader. Well, now, if it "happens" that Gao Pragmatic returns to the court and both the first and second assistants are removed, then the emperor only needs to let him succeed him as the first assistant and use it as a reward, without having to worry about conferring a title on a young and talented young man soon. This is the Duke of the country, and everyone is very happy.
After Chen Ju, Wang An and the three big men left, Zhu Yijun clapped his hands again.
Liu Ping hunched out from the inner room of Xinuang Pavilion, knelt down and said, "What are your orders, Your Majesty?"
Zhu Yijun did not answer immediately. Instead, he walked slowly around twice before asking, "Is the report from Nanyang reliable?"
Liu Ping did not raise his head, but his tone was firm: "Go back to your Majesty, I can trust you."
"Is there really so much fertile land?" Zhu Yijun asked.
"Your Majesty, to be precise, it is fertile land that can be cultivated...after all, most of it is still deserted." Liu Ping said cautiously.
"Well... that's about the same." Zhu Yijun replied casually, then frowned and said: "Rixin has never been stingy, I naturally know this, but a number as big as 80,000 hectares is really astonishing . Do you think Rixin has other motives for doing this?"
"Your Majesty, with Mr. Gaoge's wisdom, even if he really has any intentions, I'm afraid I can't see it. However, based on my humble opinion, Mr. Gaoge has nothing to worry about whether he has deep meaning or not. .”
"Really?" Zhu Yijun frowned, thought about it seriously, and said, "But even if I want to cultivate 80,000 hectares of land, the manpower required is not easy to raise. After all, these lands are used to build the Imperial Manor. , once some people know about it, they will definitely be caught talking nonsense. Although I can ignore them, but there are too many people like this, it is always a bit annoying. "
Liu Ping didn't quite understand the emperor's intention in saying these words, so he didn't dare to answer casually to avoid making more mistakes, so he could only say: "Your Majesty is wise."
"Don't be careless, can't you hear what I mean? I mean, although my reclamation of 80,000 hectares of imperial estate will be a cornucopia in the long run, it will still require mobilizing a lot of manpower, material resources, and financial resources at the beginning, and these lands are all in Nanyang That island...that place should be said to be completely in the hands of Nisshin now, huh?"
Liu Ping was now a little more certain. It seemed that His Majesty the Emperor was worried that since the place was completely in Gao Pragmatic's hands, what if he invested a huge amount of money to complete the reclamation, but then something unexpected happened...
Liu Ping hurriedly said: "The whole world is not the land of the king, and the shore of the land is not the king's ministers. Even if the place was taken by Gao Ge's old subordinates, it still requires the emperor's will to legally possess it. Besides, Xinzheng Gao The family is a famous Confucian sect and a family of high-ranking officials, how could Mr. Gaoge joke about such a thing?"
"Then have you ever calculated how many people and how much money are needed to cultivate these 80,000 hectares of land? Where do the people come from, and is the money enough?"
Liu Ping replied: "Back to your lord, human affairs are said to be difficult, but they are actually easy to handle."
"Really? What to do?" Zhu Yijun was a little curious.
"Just follow Gao Ge's method." Liu Ping explained: "Gao Ge has moved many people to southern Xinjiang in recent years, but the officials in the court did not attack such a big event in groups. Does your Majesty know why?"
"Tell me about it," Zhu Yijun said.
"That's because these people are... How should I put it? If Mr. Gao Ge doesn't send them to southern Xinjiang, then they may have only two options. One is to starve to death, and the other is to... bring trouble to the local area."
Zhu Yijun understood immediately: "Oh, the people he relocated are all disaster victims and refugees, right? Well, this is a good idea."
Zhu Yijun has been the emperor for so many years, and of course he also knows that what Liu Ping just said is actually in a good way, especially "bringing disaster to the local area" - a joke. If he is really going to starve to death, as long as someone in the local area raises his arms, what will happen? It's just as simple as "bringing trouble to the local area", and it might just lead to rebellion.
Liu Ping said: "Yes, I don't know what has happened in recent years. Various disasters have become more frequent. Especially in the north, it is getting colder year by year. Many people in the Central Plains and northwest have a hard time. Once a disaster strikes, the county is connected to the county and prefecture. There are refugees everywhere in Lianyuan Mansion. Mr. Gao Ge sent them to the southern border to reclaim the wasteland, and no matter what he said, he could ensure that they had a mouth to eat. It is precisely for this reason that even those officials have nothing to say."
Zhu Yijun's eyes lit up and he immediately said: "In this case, my Imperial Palace can naturally follow suit, right?"
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