Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 339 National Origin
Zhu Houzhao learned the whole story from Zhu Zailei. Having ruled the country for more than fifty years, he did not find such official corruption strange. He did not get so angry as he did when he was a young emperor and directly confiscate the property and exterminate the clan. In fact, he was not as emotional as Zhu Zailei at this time.

But this does not mean that Zhu Houzhao would underestimate this issue or underestimate Xu Jin as a person.

"In this matter, you should continue to follow Pan Gu's advice and treat this money as a lesson to be learned. The illegal income that has flowed into the pockets of some people can be recovered sooner or later. If I send the East Factory to investigate now, the blame cannot be placed on Xu Jin. Instead of doing this, we can only play the long game and catch the big fish first."

Zhu Houzhao knew that even if he asked the East Factory to arrest Pan Gu and the person in charge of Xu's Iron Factory, he still had no evidence to deal with Xu Jin. After all, Xu Jin was not involved in it. Even if Xu Jin sacrificed himself to save his own country, he would have to reward Xu Jin.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao did not think of taking direct action against the Xu family. After all, the current Zhu Houzhao is no longer the young Zhu Houzhao. He is more methodical in doing things and thinks before acting.

Moreover, when it came to the matter of establishing a crown prince, Zhu Houzhao did not intend to handle it casually. He did not know who was designing these things, whether there was a bigger manipulator behind the scenes, or whether the eldest prince Zhu Zailei in front of him was directing all of this himself.

The older he gets, the more complicated his thoughts become, and the less decisive he becomes in doing things. Zhu Houzhao did not notice that his behavior had changed, but the only thing that did not change was that he insisted on his own thinking and analytical conclusions.

He didn't understand where some civil servants got the courage to ask the prince to protect them by using the reason of supporting someone to be the crown prince. Did they really not know that he was never an emperor who believed what others said? Or was it human nature that led them to think that if I support you, you should repay me. Therefore, they thought that since they supported your eldest son to be the crown prince, your eldest son would naturally take care of the interests of me, the civil servants?
Zhu Zaile followed Zhu Houzhao's instructions and did not continue to publicize the matter. Instead, he listened to Pan Gu's arrangements and spent some extra money to buy galvanized steel pipes from the Sanxin Iron Works to replace the original inferior steel pipes. He also continued to buy a batch of inferior steel from the Xu family's iron work.

The second prince Zhu Zaituo also got hold of evidence of Zhu Zaile's "bribery" through Pan Gu, and thought he had a better chance of winning the battle for the throne.

Xu Jin also learned indirectly that the eldest prince Zhu Zailei did not punish Pan Gu and did not even stop purchasing inferior steel from his Xu family. He was very happy and relieved about this.

Naturally, Xu Jin did not insist on getting such benefits from the eldest prince in such a shady way. He also knew that once the eldest prince revealed this matter, it would affect him, but he still chose to do so, simply to test the eldest prince.

Xu Jin was not worried that the fact that his Xu family's iron factory sold inferior steel would be revealed to the emperor, because it was Pan Gu who took the initiative to contact his Xu family from the beginning to the end, and he was not aware of it. His Xu family also did not know that this batch of steel pipes would be used to make water pipes.

Therefore, Xu Jin believed that even if the emperor knew about it, he was only loyal and did not want the court to lose its interests in vain, so he asked his Xu family to refund the money and take back the steel sold to Pan Gu. At that time, his Xu family should not only not be punished, but also be praised by the emperor.

But if that happened, it would mean that the eldest prince Zhu Zailei was not willing to take care of the interests of these civil servants and was not willing to be consistent with them. He would lose the possibility of promotion into the cabinet, and the eldest prince Zhu Zailei would also lose the opportunity to gain the support of these upright civil servants.

Therefore, Xu Jin was testing the eldest prince Zhu Zaile by doing this.

Obviously, the actions of the eldest prince Zhu Zailei were to take care of the interests of a clean civil official leader like him and to give him face, so he was very satisfied and couldn't help but say: "Your Highness is kind and benevolent! He has the demeanor of a wise monarch and will be worthy of being a ruler in the future!"

Of course, Xu Jin also reciprocated the favor. His student Wang Zibi, a lecturer in the Hanlin Academy, soon submitted a memorial to the emperor Zhu Houzhao, again requesting him to follow the rites and laws and establish the heir to establish the foundation of the country. The implication was that the eldest son Zhu Zaile should be made the crown prince.

"Qingliu is also a human being, and his eyes are full of interests."

After seeing this memorial, Zhu Houzhao said something to himself.

As for matters involving the selection of a crown prince, the cabinet chief Xia Yan did not dare to make a random draft, so he submitted it to the emperor himself to handle. Zhu Houzhao's handling opinion was very simple, and he replied: "The matter of selecting a crown prince will be discussed again in five years."

Apart from some truly pedantic civil servants or young civil servants who were inexperienced in the ways of the world and who did not understand why the Emperor wanted to postpone it for another five years, Xu Jin and other upright civil servants did not express any further opinions.

Because, in fact, they are not forcing you, the emperor, to appoint a crown prince immediately. They are just expressing their attitude to the eldest prince Zhu Zailei. After all, you, the eldest prince, have given us such a huge benefit, so we have to express our gratitude.

The chief minister of the cabinet, Xia Yan, saw all of this. Although he didn't know what the Emperor Zhu Houzhao was planning, he could guess that the Emperor was reluctant to appoint a crown prince because he was worried about the power falling into the hands of others and choosing the wrong person. But he was also worried that if the crown prince position remained vacant, more villains would take advantage of it to compete for profit.

"Your Majesty, the issue of appointing a crown prince should not be left unanswered for too long. I am worried that over time, the court officials will not focus on state affairs, and people will become demoralized, officials will become corrupt, and factional strife will arise."

Xia Yan advised.

Zhu Houzhao was also worried that this would lead to some problems. After all, in history, the struggle for the foundation of the country during the Wanli period consumed a lot of national strength and also led to party struggles, causing the country to decline. This was because the court officials and the emperor fought all day long over the issue of appointing a crown prince, which resulted in the neglect of government affairs.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao did not rebuke Xia Yan for exaggerating, but he certainly could not just accept the request of the upright civil officials and make Zhu Zaile the crown prince.

It was not only because he did not want these seemingly righteous but actually selfish civil servants, the representatives of the bourgeoisie, to succeed easily, and did not want his imperial power to be easily handed over to the civil service group, but also because he was still not sure whether Zhu Zailei was suitable to be the future emperor of the Ming Dynasty!

Zhu Houzhao admitted that his eldest son was actually quite good in many aspects, such as talent and character.

But that’s not enough!
Zhu Houzhao was not sure whether he could stand up for the interests of the people, or even be willing to sacrifice his own interests for the interests of the country and the people.

Because he was choosing the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the helmsman of the empire, and it was not as simple as just choosing the patriarch of the Zhu family. He needed his successor to be a statesman rather than a politician, and a so-called politician must dare to take action against his own class in the face of the interests of the country and the people.

Or to put it simply, Zhu Houzhao was not sure whether Zhu Zailei had the integrity and courage to stand up for the people of the world.

This is not something that everyone can do. As long as one is an ordinary person, there will be a weak side. Zhu Houzhao knew that he could make the Ming Dynasty come to this point not because he was smarter than those experienced civil servants, nor because he was lucky, but because he had the courage to be the first in the world and the courage to risk the world's condemnation.

The more wealthy a person is, the less courage they have. Wanli gave in and finally, as requested by the civil officials, made Zhu Changluo the crown prince. As a result, his situation went from bad to worse and internal strife continued in the Ming political arena for decades. Zhu Houzhao was not sure whether Zhu Zailei had the courage to do so.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao only said to Xia Yan: "Xia Qing, I have the final say on when to appoint a crown prince, and I also have the final say on who to appoint as the crown prince! I don't want to appoint someone as the crown prince based on the request of a few people! I am selecting the emperor for the whole world, and the majority are silent, so I can only be very cautious!"

"This is my responsibility. I don't want to let the world down. However, this is not your responsibility. What is the meaning of your existence as the Prime Minister? I hope you understand that it is not to urge me to appoint a crown prince as soon as possible, but to prevent me from worrying about such a big matter as choosing who to appoint as the crown prince and having no time to take care of the government. You should preside over the government for me and prevent the government and the people from being lazy! I don't want you to be the second... Wang Ao! To be the spokesperson for all officials!"

Zhu Houzhao almost said that he hoped Xia Yan would not become the second "Shen Shixing", but when he thought that Shen Shixing's era had not yet appeared, he had to change his words. However, he did believe that the dispute over the national foundation in the late Wanli period caused the government to be neglected and the relationship between the monarch and his subjects to be unbalanced, which was not unrelated to the incompetence of the cowardly and fearful Prime Minister Shen Shixing.

Because as the chief minister, he was already the second most important person in the Ming Empire, especially in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, he was actually the same as the prime minister, and even the people called him "Prime Minister". He was already the decision-maker of the empire, but he could only play the role of peacemaker and could not take charge of the daily government affairs for the emperor or manage the officials. He had no prestige and could not do anything. To say that he was just sitting in an office and doing nothing was the least of his worries.

Of course, Zhu Houzhao knew that the reason why Shen Shixing was like this in history was also related to the miserable end of the responsible prime ministers Xia Yan and Zhang Juzheng in history. This made Shen Shixing afraid and he had to protect himself and not offend either the emperor or the civil servants.

However, Zhu Houzhao's Ming Dynasty did not have this problem. Since Ma Wensheng, no prime minister had been punished. Even Jiao Fang had a good end. He even gave the highest honor to Zhang Cong, who had offended all classes in the world.

Therefore, Xia Yan was deeply touched after hearing Zhu Houzhao's words, and hurriedly bowed and said: "Your Majesty, Xia Yan, will remember your Majesty's instructions!"

Although Zhu Houzhao's tone was plain, it rang in Xia Yan's ears like a huge bell or drum.

Xia Yan sat in the cabinet duty room in a daze for the entire afternoon. His situation was different from Zhang Cong's. Before becoming the prime minister of the cabinet, his proactive policies, whether increasing welfare subsidies, reducing taxes outside the Great Wall, or lowering bank interest rates, benefited people from all walks of life and won their support and fame.

Even if he chose to follow Xiao's rules and Cao's, or more precisely, Zhang's rules and Xia's, many people only criticized him for being weak, but did not question his morality and ability.

However, now the warning from Emperor Zhu Houzhao made Xia Yan realize that he was not only weak, but also incompetent as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet. If the government was in disarray, it was not just because the issue of establishing a crown prince had been pending for a long time, but was also related to the fact that he had not done a good job as the prime minister of the empire.

"The country is no longer the same as it was when the country was founded. The people at that time only knew how to farm, and the scholars at that time only knew how to study. The Ming Dynasty was no more than two or three things, and the cabinet was no more than the emperor's documents. But today, it is not that the emperor is lazy that makes the assistant ministers the real prime minister, but that the state affairs are becoming increasingly complicated and need assistant ministers to be the real prime minister. I, Xia Yan, must be aware of being a prime minister!"

After Xia Yan figured it out, he slammed his palm heavily on the nanmu chair.

At this time, Ning Hao, the Left Vice Minister of Rites, Fei Cai, the Chief Academician of the Imperial College, and Zhang Xing, the Junior Minister of the Ministry of Rites, came to see Xia Yan and said directly to him, "We have come here to disturb the central government without permission, but we really want to consider the interests of the people in the country. We specially ask the Prime Minister to make a statement before the Emperor and appoint a crown prince as soon as possible!" Xia Yan did not expect that these officials would come directly to the cabinet to find him about this matter. It was obvious that they were forcing him.

But Xia Yan has made up his mind now, and he doesn't want to be led by these civil servants. Although he knows that these civil servants are actually acting out of public interest and may have simple thoughts, he now has his own ideas and knows that he can't be a person who tries to please the emperor while agreeing with these civil servants. Therefore, he just said directly:
"His Majesty has already approved this. The matter of appointing a crown prince will be discussed again in five years. Why are you in such a hurry? The cabinet is the center of power, and you are all important officials of the various ministries, courts, temples and temples. Who told you to neglect your official duties and come to the cabinet to do this?"

Xia Yan said in a serious tone.

The officials present did not expect Xia Yan to be so serious and majestic. Some of them were not used to it and felt a little resistant. They thought that they were all civil servants and had a good relationship with him, so why did he act like a prime minister?

Ning Hao, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, even said directly: "Why do you say that? You are the Prime Minister of the world, and you should consider the people of the world. Government affairs are only a matter of one day, but the foundation of the country is a matter of great importance to the empire for thousands of years. You should not lose sight of the main point and pursue the trivial. I hope the Prime Minister will take on the responsibility of Bi Gan and advise the emperor and father to appoint a crown prince as soon as possible!"

"As the prime minister, you should do so!" At this time, Fei Cai, the chief academic officer of the Imperial College, also echoed.

Xia Yan became even angrier, because he could feel that these officials were not afraid of him, nor were they afraid of the rules of the court. It seemed that they had really forgotten the hierarchy in the distribution of administrative power because of the idea that everyone was equal under the emperor. He could not help but slam the table, stood up, and shouted:
"His Majesty has already ordered that we discuss this again in five years. Are you trying to force me to force His Majesty and force me to disobey His Majesty's order? What are you thinking?"

After Xia Yan finished speaking, he said, "I don't want to delve into this matter any further. The affairs of the cabinet are complicated. If there is no important matter, please return to your departments immediately. If you stay in the cabinet and discuss national affairs privately and try to use the cabinet to force the emperor, I will order the cabinet guards to send you all to the Censorate!"

After Xia Yan finished speaking, he directly asked the Cabinet Secretary to bring the memorial and no longer paid any attention to these civil servants.

For a moment, these civil servants were unable to get used to Xia Yan's sudden outburst. They just stood there in a daze for a moment, and then they left without turning around.

Many times, when people become people in power, they must have the awareness of people in power, which means they cannot always be gentle. Although Xia Yan's behavior at this moment made the civil service group dissatisfied, it did maintain the order of the court and prevented the court affairs from being neglected because of the issue of choosing a crown prince. Sometimes he was the only one who acted as a bad guy, but he maintained the conscience of the entire empire.

However, the role of the cabinet chief in ensuring the stable and orderly conduct of the empire's daily government affairs could not last only one day. New things happened every day in the court of the Ming Empire, and new phenomena would appear every day after accumulation.

This day was the first month of the lunar calendar. According to the custom, Emperor Zhu Houzhao would visit the Fengtian Hall to accept congratulations from his ministers. However, as Zhu Houzhao caught a cold, he ordered his ministers to pay their respects to the throne outside the Fengtian Hall.

However, because Zhu Houzhao had been delaying the issue of appointing a crown prince in recent years, and because of his various policies that did not consider the interests of the bourgeoisie but only the common people, many civil servants were resentful. Also, as time went by, discipline and the rule of law inevitably began to become lax, and the emperor himself did not come despite being ill, so many courtiers who came to pay their respects were late or did not come at all.

Xia Yan discovered this phenomenon. He even found that even one of the censors who was responsible for calling out names in court etiquette was absent. This made Xia Yan very angry. He had been worried that because the court had been caught up in the dispute over the foundation of the country for a long time, state affairs would be neglected, officials would be lazy, and discipline would be lax. Now, Zhu Houzhao's advice made him realize his responsibility as the prime minister.

then.

After the court ceremony, Xia Yan immediately sent a letter to the East Factory Supervisory Office and the Ministry of Personnel, and submitted a memorial to the emperor, saying: "As a censor, Censor Guo Weifan should be strict with himself, but he was late for the court ceremony, neither asking for leave nor apologizing. He really disrespects the government and has no respect for the emperor. I propose to remove him from his post and suggest that the East Factory Supervisory Office conduct a thorough investigation!"

Xia Yan's memorial was quickly approved, and Guo Weifan was immediately dismissed from his post and questioned. Xia Yan personally asked for approval again and ordered Guo Weifan to be beaten with a stick 100 times, and then he was beaten to death on the spot!
Several other officials who were late or deliberately did not come to pay tribute were also dismissed and exiled.

Although Xia Yan's behavior maintained the order of the court, it also angered the civil servants because they felt that Xia Yan's punishment was too harsh. After all, they were all civil servants, and you, Xia Yan, were not the emperor. Why were you so domineering?

Censor Tao Xi submitted a memorial to impeach Xia Yan.

Immediately afterwards, Right Censor-in-Chief Yuan Zongru also impeached Xia Yan.

However, Zhu Houzhao ignored all of this. Instead, he was very relieved. As an emperor, he knew that Xia Yan was doing the right thing. He also knew that when the Prime Minister was constantly impeached by his subordinates, that was the time when he, as the emperor, should be most relieved. If the Prime Minister was not impeached by anyone or even praised by his subordinates, then he, as the emperor, should be worried.

Among the civil servants, Zheng Shen, the Zuo Tong Zheng, still ignored his job and submitted a memorial to the emperor, advising him to appoint a crown prince as soon as possible.

However, before his memorial reached the emperor, Xia Yan criticized it as "meddling". He then sent a letter in his capacity as prime minister, requesting the Ministry of Personnel to transfer Zheng Shen to Nanjing as a minister, which was tantamount to demoting Zheng Shen.

Zheng Shen was naturally very dissatisfied and scolded Xia Yan for abusing his power.

Naturally, the civil servants could not accept Xia Yan's behavior that was becoming more and more like a prime minister. In fact, the eldest prince Zhu Zailei was also somewhat resistant to Xia Yan's behavior at this time. It would be a lie to say that he did not want to be the crown prince. Therefore, he still admired those civil servants who actively suggested that he be made the crown prince. Naturally, he felt uncomfortable with Xia Yan's behavior of suppressing them.

But Zhu Zailei also knew that Xia Yan was right to do so, otherwise the court would become more and more chaotic because of the endless dispute over the foundation of the country.

"Remember, everything you say and do is a test for you!"

The words of Emperor Zhu Houzhao still lingered in Zhu Zailei's ears, making Zhu Zailei realize that he could not complain about anything now. The only thing he could do was to complete the government affairs in his hands.

Although it cost a lot of money, the construction project of tap water supply and heating supply in Shuntian Prefecture was still very successful. Zhu Zailei successfully brought tap water that could be used at any time to the people of the capital, and also brought warmth to the people of the capital.

This project is beneficial to people's livelihood and will also help promote the economic development of the Ming Dynasty.

"Our prince is so kind. Now that we have running water, I finally don't have to run to the backyard ditch to fetch water in this severe winter!" An old lady couldn't help but sigh to her friend.

Zhu Zailei, who was passing by incognito, couldn't help but feel a sense of joy after hearing this. He liked this feeling very much, the feeling of being praised by the people, but this also made him want to become the emperor and bring more benefits to the world.

Of course, these political achievements also brought him opportunities for promotion again.

Not long after, at the instruction of Zhu Houzhao, the Ministry of Personnel ordered the promotion of Zhu Zaile to the position of Left Censor-in-Chief and Governor of Henan, while also serving as the Censor-in-Chief of the Henan Section of the Liangjing Railway.

Henan is a large agricultural province, and Zhu Houzhao's purpose was very clear, which was to allow Zhu Zailei to have more experience in managing a large province where the majority of the population is agricultural.

but.

It was not only Zhu Zaile who was promoted. Soon, the second prince Zhu Zaitu, who had been transferred back to the Ministry of Revenue and was familiar with the affairs of the ministry, was also promoted to Governor of Suzhou and Songjiang in order to hone his experience in managing maritime trade.

And precisely because of this, many court officials have begun to see the purpose of Emperor Zhu Houzhao's arrangement, but have not exposed it. The second prince Zhu Zaituo also understood it and became more confident in getting the position of crown prince.

However, he was still somewhat jealous because Zhu Zailei followed Zhu Houzhao's instructions to give benefits to the Xu family, and the civil officials still strongly supported Zhu Zailei and even repeatedly submitted petitions to the emperor, so he could not help but say: "As long as the emperor really wants to issue an edict to make my brother the crown prince, I will announce the matter between him and the Xu family to the world!"

When the second prince learned that the eldest prince had taken office as the governor of Henan, he came up with a plan.

Zhu Zailei had thought that his other brothers would use various means to compete with him, but he knew that instead of worrying about being defeated by others, it would be better to do his own job well.

Zhu Houzhao also knew that these princes would inevitably compete with each other and might even form factions, but he also knew that he could not stop it. He simply turned a blind eye and continued to live every day with a calm appearance and careful observation. However, due to the retirement of Cabinet Grand Secretary Wang Tingxiang, the issue of nominating a cabinet assistant minister was put on the agenda.

However, the person recommended by Wang Tingxiang happened to be Xu Jin, the Minister of Education and President of the Hanlin Academy.

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(End of this chapter)