Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 344: Public Opinion: Jinyiwei and Civil Officials
"The results of the court election have come out. Minister Wang is the leader and Minister Zhou is the assistant. Mr. Hou has made a great contribution. A great contribution!"

At the Shanxi Guild Hall, a group of merchants could not help but stand up and salute Hou Lu, who also hurriedly returned the salute: "My fellow villagers, I am ashamed to accept your praise, but I still want to say that after this incident, the officials in the court should also understand that we Shanxi merchants can also decide their official careers, not just Anhui merchants."

"Mr. Hou, what you said is very true. This court recommendation is just waiting for the emperor's decision. Now the position of prefect of Quanzhou Prefecture is vacant. When the Ministry of Personnel recommends someone, I would like to ask Mr. Hou for help. The employer will thank you with a generous gift." At this time, a businessman took over Hou Lu's words and shook Hou Lu's hand personally.

Hou Lu understood and started to operate with the businessman in his sleeves, shaking his head and nodding from time to time.

Hou Luxian said, "Quanzhou is near the sea, and trade has been booming recently. The last Quanzhou governor made this much money by smuggling. Shouldn't your boss raise the price again?"

"Can our boss take over the job of the Maritime Customs?" the merchant whispered.

"Okay, but it has to be this amount," Hou Lu said.

The businessman nodded, the two smiled at each other and parted ways, and Hou Lu didn't say anything more.

Those who can enter the guild hall are all merchants that Hou Lu trusts, and they all come here to do business in the officialdom, so there is no taboo between them. This merchant dares to openly talk about selling official positions. What's more, he did not reveal who his boss is, and even the transaction was done in private. Even if there are spies from the Western Factory in the guild hall, they can't be sure who is using the merchants to buy official positions with money.

Even if the Western Factory really wanted to arrest this merchant for interrogation, his boss would say that he had no knowledge of the matter.

Therefore, these businessmen were selling official positions and titles more and more rampant, and Hou Lu was undoubtedly the agent of a big boss in the officialdom who could decide the promotion of officials.

At this time, not only this businessman wanted to buy for his boss, but other businessmen also asked to buy for their own bosses or relatives.

Hou Lu hurriedly put down the teacup and said, "Everyone, please be quiet. Come one by one. Don't be in a hurry. The one with the highest price will win. We will not cheat anyone."

Everyone knew Hou Lu's power in the officialdom, and they were all somewhat afraid of Hou Lu's authority. Seeing that Hou Lu was a little serious, they all shut up and started talking to Hou Lu in an orderly manner.

Soon, Hou Lu decided on the merchant who offered the highest price and said, "Don't worry, sir. Your boss will definitely get the position of Quanzhou prefect!"

Hou Lu did have the confidence and courage to do so. After all, this matter of selling official positions and titles was not the first time he had manipulated it, and he had basically made no mistakes. Moreover, he could even control the recommendation of top officials such as cabinet ministers, so this kind of recommendation by the Ministry of Personnel was naturally extremely simple.

Many times, Hou Lu had a feeling that he held the entire Ming Dynasty in his hands.

As soon as Hou Lu left the Shanxi Guild Hall and was about to take a sedan chair back home, he saw his servant coming to report: "Master, the ceremonial guard of Right Minister Zhao Zhenji will pass by here later. Do you think we should give way?"

"What's the point of being the Right Minister? Even the Minister of State has to bow and salute in front of me, your master. Zhao Zhenji is a native of Shu, not a Huizhou merchant or a Shanxi merchant. He will never be the Prime Minister in this lifetime, so there's no need to give way to him!"

Hou Lu said this rather proudly, then entered the sedan chair, narrowed his eyes, and said, "After the hour of Wei, please ask Doctor Liu from the Ministry of Literature to come to Huiyue Tower to meet me."

After a while, Hou Lu got off the sedan chair and went home. As soon as he got home, he saw a monk coming to visit him: "Mr. Hou has become more and more blessed and long-lived recently. I was invited by Yan Bu Tang to come and ask Mr. Hou for an opportunity to improve himself."

"Which Yanbutang?"

Hou Lu asked.

"Ministry of Agriculture, Yan Song, Mr. Hou, this should not be difficult," the monk asked.

Hou Lu snorted, picked up his robe and left: "Go back and tell your boss that it's too late. The result of the imperial examination has come out, so there's no need to come to me. Also, tell your boss that even if he came to me in advance, I wouldn't help him. This is not about money. Back then, there was a severe drought in Nanzhili. I stockpiled 30,000 shi of grain and was about to make a fortune, but Yan Song's 100,000 shi of sweet potatoes caused me to lose tens of thousands of silver dollars."

"It is true, but my master is working for the court and I have no choice," the monk replied.

"have no choice?"

Hou Lu smiled coldly, but thinking that Yan Song was the Minister of Agriculture after all, a second-rank official, and an important official of the court, he could not offend such a person too much, so he said:
"I can give your master a chance, but I will only do business with officials who are willing to stand up for us businessmen. If your master can advocate for the court to reduce business taxes, he can still come to me next time when a cabinet minister is vacant."

The monk didn't know what to say in response for a moment, so he had to go back and report to Yan Song.

Yan Song had already heard the news from the Ministry of Personnel, and was disheartened when he knew that he was not on the list of candidates recommended by the court. Now that the monk had come back to report Hou Lu's reply, he sighed helplessly: "Merchants control the court, and even the cabinet ministers are controlled by a businessman. If this continues, the state affairs will be worrying!"

Yan Song naturally did not mention the matter again. He went to Hou Lu just to seek help from him. Now that the court had decided to nominate him, it was meaningless for him to wait any longer. As for Hou Lu's request that he should persuade the court to reduce or exempt commercial taxes, Yan Song naturally knew it better than anyone else. Even if he was not an official of the Ministry of Revenue, he could not propose the reduction or exemption of commercial taxes.

Because Yan Song knew clearly that the Emperor was actually against reducing or exempting commercial taxes, and only some civil servants with merchant backgrounds were trying to get the Emperor to reduce or exempt commercial taxes in various ways.

When Yan Song ran into a wall with Hou Lu, Hai Rui, who was in charge of the Huang Ming Daily, had already written a press release based on the findings of the Western Factory regarding Hou Lu's manipulation of the court and had begun printing it out.

In addition, Hai Rui also wrote a commentary article himself. Hai Rui has always been sharp in his writing and never shows mercy to others. He was also very harsh in criticizing the businessmen manipulating the court. He directly denounced this as a sign of the country's demise and also directly demanded that Hou Lu and others be executed.

But just at this moment, Chen Dian, a deputy director of the News Department, came to the newspaper office with a newly printed copy of the Huang Ming Daily and shouted, "Where's Hai Rui? Call him out!"

At this time, Hai Rui also heard the voice and came over: "I am here."

"You did a good thing. Why didn't you tell the News Department before publishing this matter, which involves the imperial court's severe punishment? If it gets out, wouldn't it damage the majesty of the court? Have you thought about the consequences?!"

Chen Dian showed off his power to Hai Rui. The implication was obvious. It was that Hai Rui had announced to the public the findings of the Western Factory regarding Hou Lu's manipulation of the court without informing him in advance.

The media of the Ming Dynasty was indeed under the jurisdiction of the General Administration of Press and Publication, and the Huang Ming Daily was indeed supervised by the News Department. Therefore, Chen Dian also had the right to criticize Hai Rui and prevent the Huang Ming Daily from publishing some news releases that the News Department believed could not be published.

Chen Dian was indeed worried that if the article in the Huang Ming Newspaper was made public, it would shock the world, especially the people behind him. So after reprimanding Hai Rui for a few words, he directly ordered Hai Rui with the authority of the official of the News Department:

"Please collect all the latest issues of today's newspapers. Collect them immediately! Quickly! If this matter is wrong because of your Huang Ming Newspaper, I will definitely remove your official hat from Hai Rui's head!"

Hai Rui looked at Chen Dian for a long while without saying anything. Then he bowed and said, "Master Chen, this article was sent to us by the Western Factory. I don't need to say much. You should know whether we should take back this newspaper!"

Chen Dian couldn't help but choke on his words, looking at Hai Rui, he didn't know what to say. He knew that if it was handed over by the Western Factory, it meant that it was from the top, and if it was from the top, he, as the Deputy Director of the News Department, couldn't stop it. But he couldn't help but hate Hai Rui even more.

Because, if Hai Rui had told him about this in advance, there might have been a chance for this matter to linger. Therefore, Chen Dian could not help but warn Hai Rui: "Master Hai, remember, the News Department is not a decoration, your behavior will only hurt yourself!"

With that, Chen Dian left with a wave of his sleeves. As soon as he got into the sedan chair, he ordered, "Go tell Mr. Hou immediately to flee the capital and take the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway out of the border! Then, notify the senior officials in the various ministries and agencies!"

……

"There is no doubt that Minister Wang will join the cabinet this time. Could it be that His Majesty the Emperor will choose Minister Zhou, whom he doesn't like?" At this time, Hou Lu was having a secret meeting with Wei Ying, a close friend of Xu Jin, in a private residence. And only in front of Wei Ying would Hou Lu humbly bend down half of his body and speak carefully.

Xu Jin's disciple Wei Ying also smiled smugly: "The emperor doesn't like Zhou Luo, but you pushed him up. I'm afraid that the emperor will think that Zhou Luo is unwilling and wants to go further. This will undoubtedly make him hate Zhou Luo even more. But it's good this way. The emperor hates Zhou Luo, so he can only choose Wang Yongping. With Wang Yongping, who has the support of Huizhou merchants, in the cabinet, even if Xia Yan is the prime minister, it will be difficult for him to control us!"

Wei Ying couldn't help but frown as he spoke: "I just don't know why, but my master told me that the Imperial Household Department has not issued the final approval document for the appointment of cabinet ministers."

"Maybe it's just that the emperor is old and isn't as quick as before. You shouldn't be too anxious, elder," Hou Lu comforted Wei Ying.

Wei Ying also nodded. He did not believe that Emperor Zhu Houzhao had any reason to delay the result of the court recommendation. He did use these words to persuade Xu Jin. After all, Wang Yongping had no bad record except for his identity as a member of a bureaucratic family.

Therefore, Wei Ying didn't say anything more and didn't separate from Hou Lu until the early morning.

Hou Lu also took a detour to return to his residence. However, as soon as Hou Lu got out of the car, two Jinyiwei came to him. One of them said, "Hou Lu, right? Come with us."

When Hou Lu saw that it was someone from the Jinyiwei, he suddenly felt as if his soul had been taken away and froze there. He did not come to his senses until he was dragged away by the Jinyiwei and then he hurriedly felt around his body.

A general flag of the Jinyiwei took out a brown pill and said, "No need to search! Mr. Hou, don't play tricks in front of us Jinyiwei. Everyone knows that you serious criminals involved in major cases like to commit suicide. Jinyiwei has been on guard for a long time. Only the emperor can take your life. You are not qualified."

Not long after Hou Lu was captured, the person sent by Chen Dian to report the news arrived, but obviously came back empty-handed.

At this time, the newspaper of "Huang Ming Bao" was gradually spreading as the morning sun gradually illuminated the capital.

"How ridiculous! How ridiculous! The imperial court is a heavy discipline, how can we allow these businessmen to control it! The officials in the court are corrupt!"

Yang Jisheng, the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Justice, was too lazy to even eat breakfast at this time. He immediately put on his official uniform and went to look for his good friend who was a censor in the Censorate.

"This Zhou Luo has gone against the principles of the world. He did not persuade the emperor to establish the eldest son as the heir, which resulted in the throne being vacant. He has long been notorious. Why do the officials in the court still want him to be the candidate for the cabinet? Why hasn't he been dismissed yet?"

Cheng Jia, the Dean of Imperial University, also slapped the newspaper on the table, and then a group of newly-appointed Jinshi scholars from Imperial University came over. Zhu Dashou bowed and said, "Teacher, we would like to take half a day off to go to the Censorate to petition for an investigation of Zhou Luo and request the court to remove Zhou Luo and other treacherous officials!"

"The master will go with you!"

After Cheng Jia said this, he took the new scholars to the Censorate.

Coincidentally, middle and lower-level officials in the court and scholars from major universities could not accept that such an important personnel election of cabinet ministers would be manipulated by businessmen, and that a treacherous minister who had long been hated by everyone was selected as a cabinet candidate. Therefore, they all came to the Censorate and demanded that the Censorate immediately file a case and submit an impeachment petition.

In fact, there was no need for these people to demonstrate, as several censors from humble backgrounds in the Censorate had already begun writing impeachment memorials, and some had even submitted them to Ni Song, the Left Censor-in-Chief and the head of the Censorate.

But Ni Song did not agree to submit the memorial immediately, and directly criticized the censors: "Ridiculous! It's just a newspaper, who knows whether it's true or not, and you dare to make irresponsible comments on state affairs based on it! Everything awaits the emperor's judgment, and the censors of the Censorate should not make irresponsible remarks and cause trouble! Moreover, this matter of the court recommendation involves important officials in the court."

Although Ni Song suppressed the matter for the time being and did not ask the Censorate to immediately submit a petition for impeachment, he could not suppress public opinion. As a result, more and more officials and scholars rushed to the Censorate at this time.

Not long after, Xu Jin also learned about the newspaper. For a moment, he stood there like a sculpture, wondering if this would have any consequences and whether he would be implicated. He was indeed involved in manipulating the court nomination, but Hou Lu was the one who was truly responsible. The only person who could be traced back to him and who had a connection with Hou Lu was his own retainer Wei Ying.

Xu Jin hurriedly came to a wing room in person: "Wei Ying, come to the outer study to meet me later! Come to the study through the secret passage!"

Not long after, Wei Ying came to Xu Jin and said, "Master, you called me?"

"How was the service from the female slave Yun Ji?" Xu Jin asked casually before handing a cup of tea to Wei Ying.

Wei Ying smiled and said, "Of course it is great, it's all thanks to you, Master."

"That's good. No one knows you came to my house, except Yun Ji?" Xu Jin asked.

"No, I have always been doing things according to the master's instructions. Now in the capital, besides you, Mr. Hou is the only one who knows that I am from your house," Wei Ying replied.

Xu Jin nodded and pointed at the teacup: "Drink it."

Wei Ying was a little puzzled, but he drank it out of habit. After a while, he felt uncomfortable in his stomach as if he had swallowed gold, as if his intestines were about to be crushed. He pointed at Xu Jin and said, "Master, you, you, why did you poison me?!"

Xu Jin said nothing and just watched Wei Ying die in pain.

Only after Wei Ying lay motionless on the table did he personally drag Wei Ying into the study, then open the secret room, throw him into the pit below the secret room, sprinkle lime, then cement, then pour water, and then press the mechanism to restore it to its original position.

Xu Jin didn't dare let his servants take action, as he was afraid that the people from the Western Factory would find out.

Not long after, Xu Jin came out and came to Yun Ji. He strangled Yun Ji to death and buried her in the garden. Yun Ji was just a Japanese slave girl. She had no household registration in the Ming Dynasty, and even no one in the Xu Mansion knew that there was such a slave girl. Therefore, Xu Jin did not have to worry about anyone knowing after he killed her.

Soon, after Xu Jin dealt with all this, he continued to attend court as usual. But as soon as Xu Jin arrived at the cabinet, the cabinet secretary Ni Yuanlin found Xu Jin and said, "Grandmaster, my father came to ask, Hou Lu's affairs have been known to the world, and the Censorate may not be able to suppress it. I wonder if you have any good ideas."

"Hou will die! If he dies, Xi will accuse Wen. If he lives, Gao will accuse Xu!"

Xu Jin did not speak, but wrote a line of words on the table with his finger dipped in the tea, and then knocked over the teacup with his sleeve, covering the words with the tea. Seeing this, Ni Yuanlin hurriedly shouted, "Change the tea for the elder!"

Thanks to the book friend Qingqing Ruinsy for the 100 starting coins reward. Thank you to the book friend Mo You Lajiao for the 100 starting coins reward. Thank you to the book friend Yi Jin Bai Tang for the 100 starting coins reward.

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(End of this chapter)