Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 18 Recruiting Talents
In the study room of the palace, Zhu Lang was writing at his desk. After a while, Zhu Lang put down his brush and gently blew the ink off the paper.
The writing on the paper is revealed

"I am a distant vassal of the royal family. How dare I hope for the great succession? The previous emperor suffered and the state affairs are difficult. The adults do not regard me as a mean person. With sincere hearts, they want me to supervise the country, unite the people, and then try to restore our Ming Dynasty."

"I know that I have little moral integrity. After I learned about this, I have been trembling with fear day and night, fearing that I would fail the country."

"There is an old saying that there must be fragrant grass within ten steps. I heard that Chen Zizhuang, He Wuzuo and other gentlemen are all important officials of Longwu and pillars of the country. Now they are also living in seclusion in the countryside of Guangdong Province. At this time, the country is in turmoil and we need wise officials to serve us..."

After the Hongguang and Longwu dynasties, official positions in the world have begun to become less valuable.

Not to mention the Hongguang Dynasty, according to Zhu Lang's memory, during the Longwu Dynasty alone, it seemed that 20 to 30 cabinet ministers were appointed at once.
Some of these people were not optimistic about the future of the Ming Dynasty and avoided it, while others were far away and the Longwu Dynasty had already collapsed before they set out.
Therefore, there are a large number of high-ranking officials in the countryside of Daming.

In Guangdong Province, Chen Zizhuang and He Wuzuo are among the best.

Chen Zizhuang is one of the three loyal people who are as famous as Chen Bangyan in later generations. However, his current official position is much higher than Chen Bangyan. He is a real university scholar in the Longwu Dynasty.

Moreover, this person had been in the officialdom for a long time. He was a senior official who had climbed to a high position step by step and had a long-standing reputation among the literati. He was not a sudden official like Su Guansheng who was promoted because of his support.

He Wuzuo had been serving in the central government of the Longwu Dynasty. He was even one of the ministers who fled to Tingzhou with Emperor Longwu.
It is said that this man happened to fall off his horse when Emperor Longwu was in danger. Because he was recovering from his injuries and did not stay with Emperor Longwu, he saved his life and fled back to Guangzhou.
The news of Emperor Longwu's death was first reported to Guangzhou by this person. As to whether he really escaped the rebellion by chance or had been preparing to flee halfway, no one knew.
Zhu Lang wanted to transfer Su Guansheng to the court, so he had to have a legitimate reason. Since Su Guansheng alone would be too conspicuous, he simply recruited a few more people to shut up those people.

This memorial was the reason for him to transfer people.
He, the King of Gui, is respectful to the wise and humble, and visits the wise in the countryside. Is there anything wrong with that? It is right. With a wise ruler like Zhu Lang who is modest and respectful to the wise and the elder, you ministers should be secretly happy.
In addition to finding a reason to transfer Su Guansheng, this memorial also had another purpose, which was to transfer Chen Zizhuang to the court.

This was also something Zhu Lang had planned a long time ago. Not only Chen Zizhuang, but Zhu Lang would also have to find the remaining Zhang Jiayu in the future.

To be honest, Zhu Lang did not know the actual abilities of these three people. Even if he had met Chen Bangyan, he was not sure whether Chen Bangyan was really a talent for governing the country and the people. Chen Bangyan was like this, not to mention the remaining two.
The only thing Zhu Lang can be sure of about these three people is loyalty.
But Zhu Lang wanted exactly this loyalty. All the civil and military officials in the court shouted that they were loyal to the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Lang had no idea who was loyal and who was treacherous.

Not to mention Zhu Lang couldn't tell the difference, even the ministers themselves probably didn't know until the moment of making a real decision.
These three people are all proven figures in later generations. Now that the Qing army is about to attack Guangdong Province, what he wants at this time is these loyal ministers who swear to die and never surrender.

A pass city was handed over to a minister who swore to fight to the end and to a minister who might surrender to the Qing Dynasty. This was a major event that could determine the entire battlefield situation.

Zhu Lang is now only worried that he doesn't know enough loyal ministers. If he can find a dozen loyal ministers in one go, when he truly has control of the military power, he can send all of them to the front line to guard the pass.

This way he could truly develop the rear area with peace of mind, without having to worry about the Qing army sneaking under his bed while he was sleeping one day.
Why did Zhu Lang insist on letting Chen Bangyan stay in Guangzhou? Wasn't it also because he knew that this person would never surrender to the Qing Dynasty?

Of course, although Zhu Lang was preparing for Su Guansheng's entry into the court in the name of visiting talented people, he would obviously never write Su Guansheng's name in this memorial.

If he dared to include Su Guansheng's name in this memorial, no matter how righteous he was, the three people from the previous dynasty, Ding Kuichu, would never agree to this memorial.

As long as the previous dynasty agreed to this memorial, and once Su Guansheng led his troops into the capital and it became an established fact, Zhu Lang could use this memorial to silence all the ministers.

The memorial clearly stated that Chen Zizhuang, He Wuzuo and other ministers were summoned to the court. If they were waiting, then there must be more than just two people.

Chen Zizhuang and He Wuzuo are both Longwu Grand Secretaries, and Su Guansheng is also a Longwu Grand Secretaries. I, the King of Gui, can recruit one or three, but why can't I recruit Su Guansheng into the court?

I am His Royal Highness the Prince of Gui, who has worked hard for the Ming Dynasty. The imperial edict clearly states that you ministers cannot understand the emperor's intention. Can you blame Zhu Lang for this? You definitely can't.

Of course, even if these excuses can stop the discussion of the people in the court, it is still against the rules.

But what Zhu Lang wants to do now is to seize power. Who cares about the rules at this time?
His Majesty the Prince of Gui can be so deliberate and find an excuse for everyone. What a good intention this is. It's okay for everyone to save face, otherwise what else can we do? Can we still leave? Zhu Lang's memorial seems to be to recruit talented people, but the ultimate purpose is still one.

He wanted Su Guansheng to enter the court, wanted the soldiers under Su Guansheng's command, and wanted to control the military power.

Everything Zhu Lang is doing now is centered around military power, and everything else must give way to this goal.
Zhu Lang took a look at the letter in his hand and felt that there was no problem, so he asked Li Guoyong to copy it again. Li Guoyong quickly copied three copies and then printed them one by one.
Zhu Lang had Wu Jisi called in and asked him to read the letter. Then he asked Li Guoyong to pack the letter paper.

"Send these three letters to the previous dynasty"

"Understood. I will deliver the letter to the three lords of the previous dynasty right away."

Wu Jisi responded. He had done this kind of work more than once and was already familiar with it.

Wu Jisi took the envelope and was about to leave, but was stopped by Zhu Lang.
"It's not for the three of them, it's for Lord Qu."

Wu Jisi looked at the envelope with the names of Qu Shisi, Ding Kuichu, and Lu Daqi written on it, and a trace of confusion flashed across his face.

"Send it to Lord Qu first, and then let him decide whether to send out the remaining two letters," Zhu Lang said softly.

"It is up to Lord Qu to decide whether to send him off or not?" Wu Jisi said hesitantly.

"Yes, if he says he wants to send them, you can send the remaining two letters to Ding Kuichu and the others. If he says it's not necessary, then take the one in his hand back." Zhu Lang narrowed his eyes slightly, with a gleam of brilliance in his eyes.

He had to send this letter anyway, but he also wanted to use it to test the origins of Qu Shisi.

Although it has been proven in the previous life that Qu Shisi was a loyal minister, when Jiao Lian was transferred to Beijing last time, Qu Shisi stood with Ding Kuichu and others.

Zhu Lang could certainly find some reasons for Qu Shisi. The simplest one was that Qu Shisi had to agree to stand with him under pressure from Ding Kuichu.

But this was just his guess. No one knew the actual situation, and he couldn't ask Qu Shisi openly. I painstakingly found such an excuse to transfer Jiao Lian to Guangdong Province. This is obviously good for both you and me. It would be fine if you didn't say anything. Why are you, a man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, stabbing me in the back?

Therefore, he also wanted to try whether Qu Shisi was also like Ding Kuichu, ready to be a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, where the emperor would rule without any hesitation and let the old ministers take care of everything.

Zhu Lang explained the matter quietly. Wu Jisi and the others listened to Zhu Lang's words with a thoughtful look in their eyes.
Wu Jisi confirmed that he had remembered Zhu Lang's instructions, then bowed and took the three memorials to the former government office.
Zhu Lang watched Wu Jisi disappear outside the courtyard, with a thoughtful look in his eyes.
In his estimation, this memorial has a high probability of being approved.

Among the three people in the previous dynasty, He Wuzuo and Lu Daqi were both important officials in the Longwu Central Government, so they naturally stood with him. There was no reason for Lu Daqi to oppose He Wuzuo's entry into the court.

Chen Zizhuang has a very good reputation in the scholar circle and has been an important official for many dynasties. If Qu Shisi wanted to fight against Ding Kuichu and prevent him from monopolizing power, he would definitely not block this memorial.

The most important thing is that Chen Zizhuang and He Wuzuo are both high-ranking officials from Guangdong Province. They have great prestige in Guangdong Province and are the leaders of the Guangdong Provincial Scholars. Ding Kuichu did not dare to veto these two people at will.

Therefore, Zhu Lang concluded that this memorial was very likely to be approved, but even if this memorial was really rejected, Zhu Lang was already prepared.

He must send this memorial before Su Guansheng enters the court. If this memorial is rejected this time, he will send it directly to the front court the day after tomorrow when he accepts the second persuasion.
All the ministers urged him to ascend the throne, and the regent visited the wise men. He wanted to see who would dare to send back this memorial at that time.
(End of this chapter)