In the seventeenth year of Hongzhi, Crown Prince Zhu Houzhao was already fourteen years old. Young people paid attention to food and exercise, so they all grew to nearly one meter six. Although he did not look like an adult man yet, he was no more than a seven-foot-tall man. It's not far away, even among the old men in the court, not many can grow to seven feet.
Although five years is not a long time, the original ministers in the court were all old people. So over the years, people have passed away one after another, and those familiar names in the past can only be left on paper.
In the fourteenth year of Hongzhi, Wang Yue died of illness. The imperial court returned the title of Prince Weining to him, and gave him the posthumous title of "Xiangmin" as a posthumous title to the Taifu. Now he is called "Wang Xiangmin" when he is mentioned again.
Earlier, at the end of the twelfth year of Hongzhi, Cheng Minzheng passed away in his hometown.
The one that made Zhu Houzhao sigh most was Wu Kuan, who was demoted to Guizhou. Just last month, he learned that Wu Kuan had also gone. Zhu Houzhao felt that Wu Kuan was better than Cheng Minzheng. Although he also had trouble with him, when Qi Kuan was in the eleventh year of Hongzhi, Wu Kuan was also sent to the local area to handle this matter, and he did a good job.
In addition, he was also the teacher of Emperor Hongzhi.
Therefore, the imperial court issued a decree to restore his title of Minister of Rites and give him the posthumous title of "Wen Ding" as the crown prince's Taibao. Wu Kuan still received the honor of being a literati after his death.
This incident was also praised in the court to praise Hongzhi's benevolence.
Another thing that is less noticed is that Fu Han, the Minister of Rites, also passed away in the fifteenth year of Hongzhi. He died in office. In the past few years, the prince has exerted more or less pressure on various ministries, so Mr. Fu There is no blessing in old age. You will go to work today and die tomorrow.
His posthumous affairs were also properly arranged by the court.
The person who succeeded him was Zhang Sheng, the number one scholar in Chenghua for five years, who took over from Zuo Shilang, nothing special.
The most special one is Liu Daxia, the current Minister of War, who was a favorite of Emperor Hongzhi.
As mentioned above, during the Hongzhi period, the status of the six ministries was not under the cabinet, and one of the important figures was Liu Daxia. Historically, Liu Jian, who was the chief minister of the cabinet at this time, and Ma Wensheng, the official minister, were somewhat embarrassed and dissatisfied.
Of course, the current Minister of Personnel is Wang Hao.
He lectures in the academy every day. Zhu Houzhao has to fight for this position for him. Otherwise, how can he promote those people he knows who have similar ideas?
But Emperor Hongzhi liked Liu Daxia very much, and there was nothing Zhu Houzhao could do about it.
It is true that Liu Daxia's political achievements were good. He served as chief envoy in Guangdong, was ordered to regulate the Yellow River, and supervised food and wages in Xuanfu. He did everything well.
But Zhu Houzhao didn't like this person.
In the thirteenth year of Hongzhi, after Liu Daxia was recommended to be an official again, he was a bit of a show-off. Whatever suggestions he made, he would first resign, and then the emperor would not allow it. Say what you have to say, and then approve his suggestions. This is the behavior of civil servants that the prince hates the most.
In addition, as the Minister of War, he blindly wanted the court to take a defensive stance in the northern military strategy.
It was okay in the past few years. Zhu Houzhao was not eager to use troops, but after seventeen years of Hongzhi, the conflict between him and the Minister of War will definitely intensify...
But Emperor Hongzhi really loved Liu Daxia...
Considering that the emperor was in poor health recently, and Zhu Houzhao also knew the deadline, he himself was also considering that maybe he shouldn't make any big news.
After driving away Liu Daxia, the emperor probably has to give an account.
I have been waiting for it for so many years, and I am not in a hurry for this moment.
Moreover, the courtiers will also look at your behavior as a prince. If it goes against the emperor's wishes, especially when he is still seriously ill, it is not in line with the moral values at this time.
But just because he doesn't cause trouble for Liu Daxia doesn't mean that he allows Liu Daxia to cause trouble for him.
The reason why this sentence comes out is because of... the incident in Zhejiang.
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At dawn, Zhu Houzhao was awakened by Liu Jin.
Starting from the 16th or 9th month of the Hongzhi period, the emperor issued an imperial edict requiring the crown prince Zhu Houzhao to pay homage to the imperial palace. Even during every morning court meeting, he and the emperor had to receive ministers at Fengtian Hall together with the emperor.
Make the pilgrimage and participate in the morning umrah.
The Wu Dynasty was added by Emperor Hongzhi himself later. Most of the time, Zhu Houzhao would go there, and occasionally he would go to do other things.
The current emperor and prince are truly inseparable.
It's the same today.
In fact, after getting used to the ancient routine of going to bed almost as soon as it gets dark, I don't feel that it is so painful to get up early in the morning. Of course, it will still be cold in winter.
For formal court meetings, the crown prince must wear a crown suit, which is the so-called nine-piece suit, while the emperor wears a twelve-piece suit, which includes pictures of the sun, moon, dragon, mountain, etc.
The crown prince's crown is dark in color and has components such as ruffles, knee coverings, and ribbons. It is overall very dignified and elegant. In addition, he also wears a black hat, which is the Wusha Yishan crown.
Now he can hold up the dress.
There was nothing during the morning court. The ministers stood on both sides, and the prince stood on the steps, right next to Emperor Hongzhi.
After the court, Emperor Hongzhi would tour the palace, and the prince would usually follow him.
Today the emperor suddenly mentioned something,
He was walking in front, but turned sideways when he spoke, "Prince, you sent the eunuch to guard Zhejiang. Do you know how he is doing there?"
Zhu Houzhao stepped forward to support the emperor. He was now tall enough to reach him. He knew something was wrong from the meaning of these words. "My father suddenly mentioned Zhejiang, but what went wrong?"
"Hey." Emperor Hongzhi raised his hand, "Liu Daxia originally wanted to bring it up in the court, but I was afraid that you wouldn't be able to step down. So I didn't agree to it."
"Father, what does Liu Daxia want to say?"
"You used a businessman in Zhejiang to get money, and you used the guarding eunuch to support him. You have told me about this a long time ago, but in front of Liu Daxia, I can only pretend not to know." The emperor said from his sleeves. He took out a memorandum and said, "Look again, Liu Daxia advised me to save money and silk for emergencies, and to stop fasting and festivals to save waste. Bring Suzhou woven velvet brown and Zhejiang ministers back to Beijing early to relieve the hardship of the army and the people." I mentioned the Zhejiang guard eunuch’s corruption of money and money, please verify it after you go back.”
"In addition, now Liu Daxia knows that Zhejiang has provided you with a lot of money, and you are the prince. If he asks you to allocate money for disaster relief, would you agree or disagree?"
Zhu Houzhao understood it as soon as he heard it...
In fact, Liu Daxia had always known that the prince was accumulating military power, and he did not agree with the large-scale use of troops by the imperial court. The reason he used was naturally that there were too many people.
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However, as he grew older and taller, and as the prince's confidence and power grew, most of the courtiers became more reserved in front of him than in front of Hongzhi.
Of course, these two people are conscious and always remember the courtesy of being a minister.
"This time I called the two masters here for the sake of Zhejiang affairs. In September of the 16th year of Hongzhi, Wang Jing, the Minister of Honglu Temple in Nanjing, was promoted to the Youqiandu Censor to inspect Zhejiang. His official position did not last long, and his father called him back to Beijing. That means. Therefore, the candidate for the new governor of Zhejiang must also come out."
The prince shook his sleeves and said, "This candidate is not that special at first, but because of Zhejiang's silver, it is attracting much attention now. I mean, you Wang Dehui (Wang Huazi) has worked hard in Shandong in the past few years and is loyal to the emperor." Love the people, the reputation is still good. There should be no problem if you upgrade it to one liter."
"I accept the prince's orders, so I will do my best." Wang Hua didn't have many ideas anyway, so he still had to listen to the orders.
"There are reports from Zhejiang that I have set up internal officials in Zhejiang and received a lot of money. Have you heard about this?"
Wang Hua told the truth, "I have indeed heard about it. I also know that in May of this year, Li Dongyang, a scholar in the cabinet, returned to the capital from the funeral of Kong Bi in Queli, Shandong. He reported to the emperor what he saw along the way. The counties and counties were in ruins and the people's livelihood was miserable. So. I also criticize the prince for amassing money privately, and basically hope that His Highness can put the people first and release money to provide disaster relief."
"What do you think?" Zhu Houzhao asked him.
"As the chief envoy of Shandong Province, I am unable to relieve the emperor's worries and cannot bring peace to the people. I think that your highness should hand me over to the Ministry of Finance for discussion and resolution in order to quell the grievances of the public."…
"People rely on farming, and Shandong suffered a drought this year. When the drought hits, there is nothing to eat, and there is nothing you can do."
At this time, Wang Hao said again: "Dehui, what happened in Shandong is just a reason. The ministers in the court really don't understand your highness. Your highness is the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty. If the people of the Ming Dynasty suffer a disaster, how can they not provide food?" The principle of disaster relief. The real intention of some of them is Zhejiang."
Wang Hua couldn't understand.
But Zhu Houzhao smiled and said, "I have been operating in Zhejiang for several years. I don't know how many sea trade smuggling companies in Zhejiang have benefited. Now part of the money has been taken away. Don't the people there? Any reaction? In addition, there are some peace-seeking factions in the court who feel that I am competing with the people and want to raise troops in the north. What will be the reaction? After all, I am worried about this money."
Maybe the spokesperson of the southeastern businessmen in the court would not be Liu Daxia, because Liu Daxia would not be in cahoots with a group of businessmen.
However, southeastern merchants who are good at business will be officials, and apart from their own clans, they themselves will also bribe local officials.
Mei Kejia's business has been getting bigger and bigger in the past two years, how can he not be remembered?
After that, if you follow the clues, you can always reach the end and find the prince.
Of course they will not go to the prince, but Wei Bin is not immobile, so they will naturally have the power to push Wei Bin to step down.
Now that this power has emerged, Zhu Houzhao can counterattack.
"After you go to Zhejiang, you don't have to protect Wei Bin's slave, who is greedy for money. I will punish him. You only need to find out the relationship between local businessmen and officials. It is best to know whether they have power in the capital. Of course, Someone will help you after you go there." Zhu Houzhao has been planning the sea ban for a long time, but local businessmen have made a lot of money from smuggling. If the court has a decree in the future, as long as they have an official channel to speak out, they will definitely speak out. So he also had to find out what was going on.
"Businessmen disrupting government will be a major crime in another five hundred years!"
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