After setting goals for the second half of his life, what Zhu Zaijing had to do next was very simple.
start to act!
The Jiajing period can be said to be the most intense and cruel period of party struggle in history.
Therefore, those who stayed behind were all very smart people.
Because they were not smart, they were killed by their political opponents...
Although cheap daddy Jiajing has everything wrong with him, he has left himself an all-star cabinet team.
Xu steps, high arch, Zhang Juzheng.
There are also famous officials such as Hai Rui, Qi Jiguang, Tan Lun, Zhao Zhenji, etc.
These courtiers above can be called luxurious, and they brought some hope to Zhu Zaijing but also brought a lot of doubts.
Can I really control them?
Before traveling through time, I was just a history blogger, often posting my views on the history of various periods online.
These people were ministers selected by the Jiajing Dynasty.
Who is Jiajing?
In terms of intelligence and IQ, Jiajing was one of the top three emperors in the Ming Dynasty, and one of the top ten or even the top five emperors in the history of the feudal dynasty.
The court ministers, civil and military officials, and the smartest people in the country were manipulated by him, and they were divided and fighting with each other.
Each one is a chess piece in Jiajing's hands.
A ruthless man who has not been in court for twenty years but has firmly controlled the power of the country in his own hands.
Zhu Zaijing sat down and thought calmly, and it didn't take long for him to come to a conclusion.
I am an ordinary person.
It is impossible for me to control them like Jiajing, to make them work hard, to make them work obediently like chess pieces.
All I have is passion, a vision from the future, historical knowledge, and a heart for the country and the people.
That's all.
Is that all?
Isn't this enough?
He is the emperor, how many people can he infect and influence?
How many people can you change?
The answer is many, many.
I can't control the courtiers like chess pieces, but I can infect and influence them.
Because today's Ming Dynasty officials still have some conscience and a desire to plead for the people.
It has not lost its integrity and bottom line like it did in the late Ming Dynasty.
He hasn't evolved into a shameless person who is too cold for water!
Thinking of this, Zhu Zaijing's worried heart calmed down a little more.
"Long live Lord, are you awake?"
At this time, there was a sound from outside the house.
Zhu Zaijing looked at the voice and guessed it was a eunuch.
"come in!"
Sure enough, it was a eunuch who came in.
He glanced at this person, the famous eunuch Feng Bao in history.
Feng Bao has a good historical reputation. He has loyally assisted Wanli in history, cooperated with Zhang Juzheng internally and externally, and made great contributions to Wanli's resurgence.
"Long live Lord, how did you sleep?"
Feng Bao came over with a flattering look on his face, knelt on the ground, and helped Long Qing gently beat his legs.
"It's okay, I'm just a little tired from yesterday's enthronement ceremony."
The current timeline is December 26, 45th year of Jiajing.
More than ten days have passed since Jiajing's death, and Zhu Zaijing's enthronement ceremony was just completed yesterday.
"My slave knew that you were tired, so I never woke you up or came into this room for fear of disturbing you!"
"What are you here for?"
Zhu Zaijing looked at his face. He looked like a very kind and reliable person. He looked like a harmless and honest person.
In history, Feng Bao entered the Clerk of Ceremonies during the Jiajing Dynasty, and had already reached the second-in-command position, that is, the position of eunuch Bingbi.
The position of the head of the Supervisor of Ceremonies is now vacant.
And Feng Bao is the most promising eunuch to ascend to this position, so he comes to flatter him!
Zhu Zaijing remembered that in history, the top eunuch in the Longqing Dynasty was a eunuch named Meng Chong recommended by Gao Gong.
From this point on, the confrontation between Feng Bao and Gao Gong began.
After that, Meng Chong looked for women and various elixirs for Long Qing every day. Gao Gong couldn't stand it any longer, and recommended Chen Hong to be the eunuch in charge of the ceremony.
This completely angered Feng Bao. Both times, he was usurped by Gao Gong Hengdao, and the eunuch with the palm print who was close at hand missed him because of Gao Gong.
Then Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng, as everyone knows, joined forces to get rid of Gao Gong.
"I just saw that the emperor was tired and wanted to give you a leg kick!"
hehe!
"Feng Bao, you are in charge of Dongchang now, right?"
"yes!"
"I have...I have an errand here, do you want it?"
"Please give me your orders, Your Majesty!"
"I have just ascended the throne and am not very familiar with the officials. I want to get to know them well."
"You have been in charge of Dongchang for all these years. Are you familiar with these officials?"
Feng Bao rolled his eyes, "Yes, Your Majesty!"
"You also know that the treasury is empty now!"
Feng Bao paused and did not reply immediately.
He heard that the emperor wanted to kill some fat sheep to enrich the treasury.
But he still needed to make sure.
"Huh?" Seeing that the latter didn't answer, Zhu Zaijing increased his tone.
"This slave knows!"
"Um!"
"You also know that the position of Chief Ceremony Supervisor and Chief Printing Eunuch is also vacant now, right?"
Feng Bao's eyes suddenly lit up.
"This slave understands! This slave understands, Your Majesty!"
"I'm going to ask you to do something tonight!"
"yes!"
I have just ascended the throne, so it’s not too much to have a new emperor take office with only three things in mind, right?
I have just ascended the throne, so it is reasonable to deal with some corrupt elements, right?
What?
I am definitely not here to make a small amount of money. Please don’t slander me!
There will be a court meeting tomorrow, and there will be a series of personnel appointments and dismissals, as well as various position transfers.
With the appointment of two people, he wants to change history.
One is Feng Bao. He will let him take up the post of eunuch in charge of etiquette and eunuch tomorrow.
After all, he was determined to get rid of Xu Jie as soon as possible. Of course, a sensible eunuch like Feng Bao had to use his ideas.
The purpose of getting rid of Xu Jie was to let Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng take power as soon as possible.
Both men were historically reformists.
The famous whipping method was not invented by Zhang Juzheng. Someone had proposed it as early as the Jiajing Dynasty.
Later, when Gao Gong was the chief minister of the cabinet, he experimented in some areas.
Later, Zhang Juzheng became the chief minister and promoted it nationwide.
In order to start reforms as soon as possible, Xu Jie, the spokesperson of the Jiangnan gentry, must be eliminated as soon as possible and the reformists should be brought into power as soon as possible.
The second one is Zhang Juzheng, who will be appointed Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs tomorrow.
This was to allow Zhang Juzheng to take over the household department in advance and pave the way for a whipping method later.
Historically, there have been many problems and hidden dangers in promoting a whipping method across the country. As a time traveler, I can help him in this regard.
By taking control of the Ministry of Household Affairs as soon as possible, he can understand the inside and outside of the Ming Dynasty's economy in more detail and better implement reforms in the future.
But putting these issues aside for now, Long Qing has something more important to consider.
"you come back!"
"The slave is here!"
"Have the Qianqing Palace and the guards in the palace been changed?"
"Back to the Emperor, they have been changed a long time ago. They are all soldiers from Prince Yu's Palace, and the cooks in charge of the Emperor's food have all been replaced by old people from Prince Yu's Palace."
After hearing this, Zhu Zaijing felt relieved.
"Okay, okay!" He nodded with satisfaction, "Go and gather all the soldiers and eunuchs who came out of Prince Yu's Mansion. I...I have something to say to them."
Feng Bao nodded, immediately walked out of the Qianqing Palace, summoned all the eunuchs, and delivered the emperor's order.
"Feng Bao, please fix my hair."
I just put it up casually, but I still haven’t fixed my long hair. How troublesome it would be to take a shower!
After all, I have traveled through time and have no experience in this area.
And it is impossible for the original owner of this body to put his hair up himself.
"yes!"
Feng Bao came over and tied it up with three strokes, five by two, and every hair stayed in the most suitable position.
After a while, a lot of people gathered in front of Qianqing Palace. There seemed to be more than a hundred people densely packed, including eunuchs and guards.
Of course, these are the ones who are in charge, and those who actually do the work cannot have this opportunity.
Zhu Zaijing, wearing a gray robe, walked out of the Qianqing Palace.
"See Your Majesty!"
Everyone knelt down.
"They're all flat!"
Zhu Zaijing walked up to them and cleared his throat.
"You are all people who came from Prince Yu's Mansion, and you are all people who watched me grow from a thousand years old to a thousand years old."
"You are the people closest to me!"
Everyone was at a loss when they heard these sudden words.
Feng Bao listened in surprise.
"My safety, my food and drink are all in your hands, half of my life is in your hands!"
"You are the people I trust most. I entrust my safety to you, and I believe that you will never let me down."
"What you have done is a supremely glorious thing. You are not doing dirty work, but you are responsible for me, the emperor. You are all glorious! You are as respectable as those ministers in the court!"
For a moment, some of the guards' eyes became wet.
"You are by no means despicable people. Instead, you are great. Without you, I cannot sit back and relax. Without you, the safety of this palace cannot be guaranteed."
"It is no exaggeration to say that you are the ones holding up half of the Ming Dynasty!"
"I! Thank you for this!"
…
Everyone was stunned and dumbfounded.
When have they ever seen such a scene?
Everyone couldn't help but be moved, and some elderly eunuchs burst into tears.
"His Majesty…"
"Your Majesty, I can serve you and my servant will die without any regrets!"
What Zhu Zaijing wants to do is simple: respect them.
Eunuchs and soldiers, the former is inherently psychologically twisted and cares about his own self-esteem.
And soldiers, in this era, are looked down upon by most people.
These people are directly responsible for their own safety. If you want them to be truly loyal to you, it is very simple to respect them and reward them.
Let them know that they are not worthless working tools like cows and donkeys, but they are doing very great things.
This was said by the emperor himself, and one can imagine the psychological impact it had on them.
For the emperor, there were two people he could not afford to offend.
One is the cook who cooks for you, and the other is the doctor who treats you.
It's not easy for these two types of people to kill you.
Even overlords like Lao Zhu never said a harsh word to his cooks, and frequently rewarded them with generous gifts.
In this way, you don’t have to worry too much about your safety for the time being.
After that, Zhu Zaijing personally chatted with some guards and eunuchs, learned about their daily lives, and encouraged them.
Finally, he ordered each person to be rewarded with one hundred taels of silver.
The national treasury had no money, but the emperor's private treasury had some money.
Encouraged and rewarded, of course the vigilance cannot be let go.
After everyone dispersed, Zhu Zaijing began to give orders.
"Feng Bao."
"My slave is here."
"After that, my meals will have to be tested by three people before they can be served."
"My slave understands."
"Also, all the eunuchs and maids in this palace must keep a record of their family members before entering the palace. Those who have no family members or are orphans will be kicked out by me and will not be allowed to stay in the palace."
Feng Bao was stunned.
Most of these eunuchs and maids entered the palace in their teens, and of course they had family members.
But all of them were children from poor families. They were either bought into the palace to be eunuchs, or they were brought out to reduce the burden on their families because they couldn't afford to eat.
But as long as there are family members, they can be found.
Because the household registration system in the Ming Dynasty was relatively complete, as long as the person is present on paper, he can be found.
This may be the only thing they care about.
Whoever has a problem in the future will suffer directly along with his family.
On the contrary, it is those orphans and those without family members who are the least afraid of death.
Because there are no worries.
Therefore, they are most easily exploited by people who want to frame them.
"Also, according to my decree, every eunuch and maid who enters the palace from now on must find out the details and family situation before entering the palace."
"You must not have orphans!"
"Moreover, the addresses and family conditions of the family members of these eunuchs and maids must be checked every year. If the family members move away or die, then the eunuch will be cleared out."
"My slave understands!"
Feng Bao finally understood. This man was just like the previous one, suspicious and distrustful of others.
Even eunuchs have to be so defensive.
Zhu Zaijing is not overly worried, but trying to minimize the risk.
After all, living longer is the last word.
Right, King Sima Xuan?
I have to work for another thirty years, but I can’t die on the way.
In short, it’s always good to be careful.
Be careful when sailing a thousand-year-old ship!
