Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 226 Do you really think that no one dares to intervene in the Fengxianguan?

Zhu Houzhao glanced at Dai Guan and said nothing. He only ordered: "Drag him out. The Cabinet and the Silijian Duty Room are important places. How can we allow people to shout and make a scene here! Drag him to the Ministry of Revenue. As a court official, you must abide by the eight-hour work system set by the court. Now that you are still in the office, continue to do your job well. You can't take the salary for nothing!"

As Zhu Houzhao spoke, he continued to review the memorial prepared by Wang Qiongpiao. At this time, the Jinyiwei had been ordered to come over and pull Dai Guan up.

Dai Guan did not expect that he would be ignored by the Emperor, and continued to shout: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Listening to both sides will lead to enlightenment, while only believing in one side will lead to ignorance. You must not block the channels for speech!"

No matter how Dai Guan shouted, Zhu Houzhao ignored him.

Soon, Dai Guan was dragged directly to the Ministry of Revenue by the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

Lu Shenshi, the deputy director of the Ministry of Revenue, thought that Dai Guan would be executed, but when he saw Dai Guan being dragged back in a miserable state by the Embroidered Uniform Guards, he was quite shocked and wondered what was going on. Didn't the emperor execute him?

At this time, the Jinyiwei conveyed Zhu Houzhao's original words, and Lu Shenxing, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Revenue, finally understood it. However, his surprise was not reduced in the slightest, and he wondered what the emperor meant.

But no matter what, he knew he had to obey the emperor's order and let the head of the Ministry of Revenue wear a crown and continue to work.

"Master Dai, you've come just in time. Please calculate the customs revenue from Malacca and hand it over to me before noon tomorrow. The Grand Tutor is urging us!"

As Lu Shenxing spoke, he handed a batch of account books to Dai Guan, but Dai Guan simply flicked his sleeves and swept the account books that the officials had sorted out to the ground. He looked at Lu Shenxing with disdain and just put Liang Guan on the table.
"I have made up my mind. I resign!"

Dai Guan said this and left, but when he reached the threshold, he stood for a moment, ready to wait for the officials from the Ministry of Revenue to come and keep him and express his regret for him.

But Lu Shenxing, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Revenue, only shouted: "You may resign, but you still have to do your work! Before His Majesty grants you the right to resign, you will still be an official of the Ministry of Revenue!"

Dai Guan snorted. He didn't expect that the official from the Ministry of Revenue had no intention of trying to keep him or feel sorry for him. He just said:

"What a bunch of vulgar and cowardly people!"

Although the Ming Dynasty was still a country with a strict hierarchy, it did not seem to be well managed in some aspects, such as in the officialdom. Because of the superior status of scholars and the long-standing tradition of using small officials to check and balance big officials, sometimes some officials who claimed to be noble and upright were so democratic that they did not take their superiors seriously at all, and even dared to impeach their superiors. Although such officials often gained a reputation for being unwilling to bow down to the powerful, it was not conducive to the operation of court affairs.

Because the governance of an empire is not something that can be achieved by simply being noble and upright. It also requires officials from the entire system to handle various public affairs in accordance with established systems.

From tax collection to expenditure, military recruitment and deployment to logistics and post-war pensions, prison administration and education management, the stability of the empire's rule is inseparable from the contributions of every low-key official.

But in Dai Guan's eyes, these officials who only knew how to do things silently according to the court rules were nothing but mediocre and cowardly people. They dared not submit memorials to criticize the emperor, nor did they dare to resign and become hermits. They were destined not to leave their names in history a hundred years later.

But what he didn't know was that it was these "ordinary officials" who, most of whom were not pretentious, had no great ambitions and were sometimes timid and cowardly, who supported the foundation of the empire, even though they sometimes tried to take advantage of the court and engage in corruption.

Lu Shenxing was very angry at this time: "Look at your ability, what can you do!" Lu Shenxing could not help but shook his head, and could only pick up the account book and let the people below to reorganize it. The officials below also looked at Dai Guan's back helplessly. He hated this kind of boss who was self-righteous but could not do anything well and made things more troublesome for himself, so he had to work overtime again, so he couldn't help but say in his heart: "I really hope that Your Majesty will allow him to resign!"

The next day, Han Fu, the Minister of Revenue, saw that the customs duties of Guangdong and Guangxi had not been calculated yet, so he could not help but call Lu Shenxing, the Deputy Minister of Revenue, and said, "What's going on? The calculation results of the customs duties of Guangdong and Guangxi have not been submitted yet?!"

"Grand Minister, calm down. The head of the Ministry of Revenue, Dai Guan, wants to resign. In addition, he previously wrote a memorial to Your Majesty to advise him and then said he would go home and wait for death. As a result, we are short of manpower and can only finish the work tonight!"

Lu Shenxing replied.

"How ridiculous! If he wants to resign, he should write a letter of resignation. Before getting your Majesty's approval, he is still an official of the Ministry of Revenue. Who gave him the power to leave his post without permission? You are his superior, why don't you take care of him and report this matter to me!"

Han Fu, the Minister of Revenue, had learned from Wang Qiong that Dai Guan was not favored by the emperor, but was simply ignored by the emperor. Therefore, his attitude naturally became tough, and he directly questioned Lu Shenxing loudly.

"I was just about to report this, but since you, the Grand Tutor, have not returned from the palace, I can only report this now," Lu Shenxing replied.

"Send a letter to the Censorate and the Ministry of Personnel, and tell them about Dai Guan's absence from his post. Your Majesty is now intending to regulate the distinction between superiors and subordinates. Although the Ministry of Revenue cannot control him, the Censorate and the Ministry of Personnel can!"

After the Minister of Revenue Han Wen said this, Lu Shenxing personally wrote a letter to the Censorate and the Ministry of Personnel.

The Ministry of Personnel received the letter from the Ministry of Revenue first. Because Zhang Cong had become the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and Dai Guan had quite a few objections to Zhang Cong's move of settling people in the border areas, the Minister of Personnel Zhang Cai, in order to save some face for Zhang Cong (after all, Zhang Cong was about to become the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel), directly ordered that Dai Guan be dismissed from his post as a commoner and never re-employed, and reported this to the cabinet.

Being dismissed from office and becoming a commoner means that one will no longer have the privileges of a scholar, and never being employed again means that one will never have the chance to become a scholar again. This is the most severe punishment that the Ministry of Personnel can impose!

On the other hand, the censor Xue Fengming of the Censorate happened to learn that the Ministry of Revenue had written to the Censorate regarding the matter of Dai Guan, the head of the Ministry of Revenue. Then he learned that the Ministry of Personnel had already dismissed Dai Guan from his post as a commoner and would never re-employ him. He then directly submitted a memorial to impeach the Ministry of Personnel for colluding with the Ministry of Revenue to suppress Dai Guan, the head of the Ministry of Revenue.

But Xue Fengming's efforts were in vain. His memorial to redress Dai Guan's injustice and impeachment of the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Revenue could never reach the emperor's presence, because Zhu Houzhao only read the memorials from the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate.

If all the censors, assistant censors-in-chief, deputy censors-in-chief, censors-in-chief and local inspectors, and officials from the entire supervisory system went directly to the emperor, Zhu Houzhao himself would be too busy to handle it.

……

Xue Fengming's memorial impeaching Zhang Cong naturally fell on deaf ears. Zhu Houzhao, who was now intent on improving the Ming Dynasty's administrative system, would naturally no longer pay attention to the impeachment of an imperial censor.

Zhang Cong successfully arrived in the capital, and at the same time as Zhang Cong, people from the Jinyiwei and the Dongchang also arrived. Zhu Houzhao met with Zhang Cong, the Jinyiwei and the Dongchang people, and finally confirmed that there was no so-called refugee persecution by the government. Therefore, he issued an order to the Dongchang:
"Arrest Xue Fengming, the 13th censor of the Metropolitan Censorate, and investigate his slander against important officials in the court. He and the author of the refugee map will be handed over to the Metropolitan Censorate for handling. In the future, if a censor of the Metropolitan Censorate fabricates evidence to slander others, the East Factory can directly investigate. We will set up an inspection department to specifically inspect the Metropolitan Censorate's censors. Do these censors really think that they are censors and no one dares to stop them?! The censors supervise all officials, and the East Factory is just the right place to inspect them!"

Thanks to my book friend Mo Yue Luo Yu for the reward of 100 Qidian coins. Thank you to my book friend Xiao Xiao Xiao Ke Ke for the reward of 1000 Qidian coins. I found that after writing this, the protagonist still cannot do without the East Factory and the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The civil servants of the Ming Dynasty are used to freedom. The more powerful and the smaller the official, the more they jump around. Senior officials can't do anything about them, and sometimes even the emperor can't do anything about them. The East Factory and the Embroidered Uniform Guard have to put a tight ring on them. They don't do their jobs properly and just know how to make noises.

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(End of this chapter)