Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 353 The one who really wants to deal with is the emperor

Zhu Houzhao approved the resolution submitted by the cabinet on cracking down on smuggling, and was recommended by the Council of State Affairs to finally appoint Zhu Wan as the commander-in-chief of Fujian and Zhejiang military affairs, to inspect the coastal areas and crack down on smuggling.

The Ming Dynasty has a vast maritime territory and many powerful families along the coast. Therefore, even though Xia Yan had cracked down on smuggling once before, with the intensification of collusion between officials and businessmen and the human instinct to evade taxes, smuggling has become more rampant today.

Of course, it is also related to the external environment. The "trade restrictions" initiated by Japan and other countries and the war in Japan led to a large number of ronin starting to engage in smuggling trade.

Coincidentally, as the Ming Dynasty opened its seas for many years, the number of wealthy families along the coast increased. These wealthy gentry began to cooperate with these ronin, gradually making smuggling rampant again.

Zhu Houzhao could guess that Zhu Wan would encounter great resistance in his crackdown on smuggling this time. After all, many officials in the court and the public had families that made profits from smuggling.

However, the emperor of the empire and the big families of other participating countries controlled the government. They were unwilling to see the wealth flowing into the Ming Dynasty being taken away by the southern gentry through smuggling.

The emperor and other big families joined forces with workers and peasants to form the Loyalty Society, which firmly controlled the power of the empire. Therefore, no matter what, the court now made the decision to crack down on smuggling.

And Zhu Wan must also complete this task for the court.

No matter how much they criticized Xia Yan or how dissatisfied they were with current politics, many civil servants representing the merchant class could only beat their feet and stamp their chests, unable to do anything.

Zhu Houzhao continued to serve as the emperor of this powerful empire and watched his empire move forward on the road of industrialization.

Engineers from the Ming Academy of Sciences successfully used the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction to create a generator. When steam locomotives had begun to travel between major cities across the Ming Empire, astonishing the common people, many people would not have thought that the Ming Dynasty was about to usher in its electrical age.

However, the generator at that time could not provide enough current for application, and further improvements were needed.

However, Zhu Houzhao was still very concerned about the application process of the generator. After all, once the generator was applied, it would mean that the Ming Dynasty would be able to achieve electric lighting and electric drive in the future.

With the popularization of natural sciences, many people in the public are paying attention to the progress of electrical research, and it has even become a hot topic of discussion among the public.

In addition to the progress in electrical research, another hotly discussed topic among the public was that the expeditionary force led by Yu Dayou might have already established a country overseas, otherwise it would have taken so long for them to receive good news.

Zhu Houzhao didn't know when the news that Yu Dayou had established a country overseas spread. Although it was groundless, it was spread with certain credibility.

With the development of global trade, the people of the Ming Empire also developed a global vision.

Establishing a country overseas is nothing new, but it was basically established by royal nobles appointed by Emperor Zhu Houzhao. It was naturally regarded as treason for a general to lead his army overseas to establish a country.

Zhu Houzhao naturally didn't believe it at first. Moreover, he also knew that as a famous loyal general in history, Yu Dayou would not have the ambition to become emperor himself.

But as time went on, Zhu Houzhao gradually felt that something was wrong after hearing no news about the expeditionary force.

Of course, Zhu Houzhao did not really doubt Yu Dayou's ambition to establish himself as an emperor overseas. Although with the current strength of the Ming army, it would be no problem for any general to lead a team to build a powerful country overseas, the Ming Dynasty's wealth and strong centripetal force did not mean that anyone who wanted to could establish himself overseas.

What Zhu Houzhao felt was wrong was that this rumor became more and more popular as time went on after Yu Dayou's expedition to the West. Some officials had even begun to petition the court to send more Jinyiwei to find out the truth and find out whether Yu Dayou had established a country overseas. After all, the Ming Dynasty was currently using a lot of funds to provide logistical support for Yu Dayou.

"A big storm starts with a small ripple. Suddenly such rumors spread. There must be someone behind this who is trying to stir up trouble."

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but say something to himself, and then he continued to pay attention to the Academy of Sciences' electrical research. He believed that the snake would eventually come out of the hole by itself.

As he expected, not long after, the censor Ruan Gui submitted a memorial impeaching Gao Zhong and Yu Dayou for conspiring to rebellion, and Ruan Gui also detailed Gao Zhong and Yu Dayou's rebellion plan.

First, Yu Dayou would take advantage of the expedition to Spain to establish a country overseas, and then Gao Zhong would gather information for him in the court. After Gao Zhong conspired to kill the emperor, Yu Dayou led his troops back to the Ming Dynasty and joined forces with Gao Zhong to destroy the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, Ruan Gui was not making up stories about the collusion between Gao Zhong, the governor of the Western Factory, and Yu Dayou. He had real evidence. The evidence was that Gao Zhong and Yu Dayou had both studied at the Ming Army Command College and were classmates. They even exchanged poems with each other. There were even some correspondences between Gao Zhong and Yu Dayou showing that they were colluding in rebellion, as well as confessions from messengers.

Otherwise, Yang Lin, as the Left Censor-in-Chief, would not have carefully submitted such a seemingly fictitious matter to Emperor Zhu Houzhao.

After reading this memorial, Zhu Houzhao was both surprised and amused. He was surprised that Gao Zhong and Yu Dayou were still in contact. He was amused that if Gao Zhong really wanted to murder him and go overseas to help Yu Dayou become emperor, at best he would be just a eunuch in the inner court like he is now.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao did not know what Gao Zhong's motive would be if he really wanted to murder him.

Although Zhu Houzhao began to become cautious emotionally, he did not take any action rationally and still let Gao Zhong be in charge of the Western Factory.

However, Gao Zhong himself was quite frightened.

Gao Zhong knew that serving the emperor was like serving a tiger. He also knew that emperors were suspicious. He had heard of and witnessed the fate of eunuchs in previous generations who committed treason. So, he was really afraid that the emperor would suspect him because of this matter.

Of course, Gao Zhong was not stupid. He knew that these were some civil servants who wanted to threaten him and were plotting secretly to frame him.

Therefore, Gao Zhong hurried over to Zhu Houzhao, knelt directly in front of him, and said with tears and snot: "Your Majesty, please understand! I have been in the palace since I was young, and I grew up with your majesty's grace. Later, I graduated from the inner study hall and went to the Daming Army Command College, but it was all for the sake of protecting your majesty! How dare I have the slightest rebellious heart! Woo woo! I don't know which civil servants who hate me have framed me behind my back, making it difficult for me to defend myself and complain! I don't know how to prove my innocence. Today I can only kowtow to death in front of your majesty to prove my loyalty. I hope your majesty will know that this inner minister is loyal."

dong dong!

……

As Gao Zhong said this, he started to knock the gold brick against his head violently, causing blood to cover his forehead.

Seeing this, Zhu Houzhao hurriedly helped Gao Zhong up: "Get up! How could I not know your loyalty? You are Gao Feng's godson, and you are the heir to Gao Feng's property. I don't think you have the courage!"

Zhu Houzhao said a few more words of persuasion, and Gao Zhong turned to be grateful to Zhu Houzhao. However, Gao Zhong's words also reminded Zhu Houzhao that this sudden rumor might really be some civil servants with ulterior motives behind the scenes, and the purpose might be the West Factory, but Zhu Houzhao really didn't know what purpose these people had for playing this.

But what Zhu Houzhao could be sure of was that he could not abolish the Western Factory no matter what, absolutely not!

……

Gao Zhong knew that after his performance, the emperor would no longer doubt him, and he felt relieved.

Moreover, Gao Zhong couldn't help but say to Wan Quan, his most trusted Qingke and his former teacher:
"These vicious scholars and literati are gossiping behind my back! Just because my family and Yu Dayou were classmates, these people made up a story that my family and Yu Dayou were colluding to rebel. Tell me, these people can even make up this. Fortunately, Your Majesty is wise and has not been deceived by these people!"

"Your Majesty is wise, but you still have to be careful in the future. Your Majesty is getting older now, and you can't be rich and powerful for the rest of your life. These civil servants may have the merit of following you in the future. So, in my opinion, they are not doing this to frame you, but to remind you not to go too far just because you are the governor of the Western Factory!"

After Wan Quan said this, Gao Zhong couldn't help but frown. After a long while, he sighed and said, "You are right!"

……

Zhu Houzhao naturally thought that even the eunuchs would have the motive to protect themselves, but in fact, he had never placed his hope of controlling the court solely on the eunuchs. Zhu Houzhao believed that the civil servants he had trained who represented the interests of the common people and the country would not sit idly by and watch some people with ulterior motives spread rumors like this.

Even if he didn't think so, in Zhu Houzhao's view, since Yu Dayou was rumored to be intending to establish a country overseas, there would definitely be someone who would help Yu Dayou.

In any case, as an emperor, all Zhu Houzhao had to do was to wait and see.

……

On this day, Xia Yan could not help but mention this matter to Yan Song, and said: "Rumors like Yu Dayou founding a country overseas can be heated up. It can be seen that Xu Jin and others are still unwilling to accept this. I just don't know what they are planning this time."

Xia Yan was naturally not a stupid man. He knew that he had been suggested to the Emperor to set up a council of state affairs, and even cooperated with the Emperor to support military officials to become council ministers and enter the empire's decision-making level. He had also repeatedly thwarted the conspiracies of Xu Jin and other upright civil servants. He must have been regarded as an enemy by these people.

The harsh impeachment memorials submitted by Han Yiyou and other censors against him are clear evidence of this.

Therefore, Xia Yan has been on guard against whether these upright civil servants will persecute him. Even the rumors that Yu Dayou is establishing a country overseas make him think in this direction.

Yan Song couldn't help but comfort Xia Yan: "Don't worry, Yuan Fu. From your humble opinion, the person behind this rumor is not targeting you, but directly targeting the emperor. Otherwise, they wouldn't be throwing dirty water on Eunuch Gao of the West Factory."

After hearing Yan Song's analysis, Xia Yan also felt that there was some truth in it, so he laughed: "Could it be that these people want to overthrow Gao Zhong and ask His Majesty to abolish the Western Factory?"

"Of course they know this is impossible, but by doing this, they can at least make Eunuch Gao consider their feelings when he does things in the future. These officials who wanted to reduce taxes for merchants originally wanted to use this imperial recommendation to completely control the power of the court. As a result, because of the Western Factory, Your Majesty had the opportunity to expose it through the Huangming Daily, which caused dissatisfaction among officials and scholars of commoner origin. Therefore, the Prime Minister proposed to set up a council and change the imperial recommendation system, which not only led to the execution of many of their accomplices, but also prevented them from getting the chance to return to power."

"It can be seen that Xu Ci Fu also knows that the root of their failure this time lies in the Western Factory and some pedantic officials, such as Hai Rui. So they naturally have to deal with the Western Factory first. I am afraid that Hai Rui and Yang Jisheng will be the focus of their attack in the future!"

Yan Song analyzed.

Xia Yan nodded. He found that although Yan Song was a little cowardly, he was indeed very insightful and had a very clear analysis of the current situation. For a moment, he became more convinced that it was right for him to nominate Yan Song to join the cabinet.

……

It was the day of the imperial examination, and Wen Yuan had just been promoted to the Minister of Personnel. He was also a very upright and rigorous person, so he personally reviewed the assessment results of a group of officials in the capital who needed to be assessed.

Wen Yuan happened to come across Hai Rui, the editor-in-chief of Huangming Daily, and seeing that Hai Rui's assessment result was "dismissed from his post", he asked Ai Li, a doctor in the Ministry of Literature, "Why was Hai Rui dismissed from his post?"

"In reply to the Grand Chancellor, Hai Rui was arrogant and impetuous as an official, extremely rebellious, and had a very bad reputation in the eyes of his superiors. His superior, Chen Dian, a deputy minister of the News Department, said that Hai Rui even repeatedly cursed him with obscene words, so he should be dismissed from his post."

Wen Yuan nodded and wrote it down himself. After all, Hai Rui was the head of Huang Ming Bao, and he also knew that the recent scandal of the imperial examination was exposed by Huang Ming Bao, which Hai Rui was in charge of. He thought that Hai Rui might be impetuous, but he was also a capable official, so he revised it and wrote: "Considering his integrity, demote him to the position of Nanping County Teacher."

When Ai Li saw that Yuan did not choose to dismiss Hai Rui, he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

On this day, the position of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel happened to be discussed. Although Wen Yuan was not a minister of state, he was the Minister of Personnel, so he also attended the court to preside over the selection.

However, after the imperial examination, Xu Jin stopped Wen Yuan and said, "Mr. Wen, please stay. I wonder if you know Hai Rui, the head of the Huangming Newspaper?"

"Of course, Lord Xu, if you have any advice, please let me know," Wen Yuan replied.

"I dare not act rashly, but as for Hai Rui, I ask you to make sure he is dismissed from his post. He has close connections with the Western Factory," Xu Jin said.

Wen Yuan nodded and said nothing more.

Zhu Houzhao soon received a list of names of people who had been dismissed from their posts from Wen Yuan. He was shocked to see that Hai Rui was among those who had been dismissed from their posts. He could not help but ask Wen Yuan, "Why was Hai Rui dismissed from his post?"

"Your Majesty, Ai Li, the doctor of the Ministry of Literature, said that Hai Rui was impetuous and reckless. His superior, Chen Dian, the deputy director of the Ministry of News, also repeatedly said that Hai Rui was disrespectful. The initial trial was for dismissal, but considering his upright character, I changed it to demote him to the position of Nanping County Teacher. The other day, Xu Ge Lao said that Hai Rui had connections with the Western Factory, so after repeated consideration, I changed it back to dismissal."

Wen Yuan replied truthfully.

Gao Zhong, who was standing by, couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat after hearing this. He thought to himself that Lord Xu was so cruel that he said Hai Rui had connections with his own Western Factory. Doesn't this mean that Hai Rui had connections with the eunuchs? This is a crime punishable by death by slicing. Lord Wen was kind-hearted and had to dismiss Hai Rui from his post to protect him from being harmed by a villain. But he didn't expect that His Majesty would only pay attention to a minor official like Hai Rui.

Zhu Houzhao smiled after hearing this. He understood the twists and turns here, and directly ordered: "Redraft it. Hai Rui will be promoted to Deputy Director of the News Department and concurrently in charge of the Huangming Daily, and concurrently the Supervisory Censor! That guy named Chen Dian is narrow-minded, so he should be dismissed! And Ai Li, he should also be dismissed! Yang Jisheng, the Supervisory Censor who impeached Ni Song, will be promoted to Director of the Ministry of Literature."

Thanks to book friend 6411 for the 1000 starting coins reward. Thank you to book friend Yi Jin Bai Tang for the 100 starting coins reward.

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(End of this chapter)