Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 366 The Emperor Retired from Returning to Beijing
"My son, I am glad to see you in person. You have inherited the throne for quite some time now and have handled government affairs in an orderly manner, but there are still many problems.

For example, you would be unwise in how to deal with old ministers with great prestige when they have different political views. However, this is also a common problem for new rulers. You should learn from it and know that a monarch should always put the interests of the country above his own grudges!
We should not give up eating because of choking, or sacrifice public interests for personal interests. We should prevent the occurrence of factional disputes and not take the initiative to provoke them.

Now the smuggling forces in the southeast want to collude with the Japanese pirates to cause chaos in the southeast. Fortunately, Zhu Wan is quite effective in the southeast coastal defense, so the Japanese pirates always return in defeat. However, I heard that you took away his power to supervise the military affairs of Fujian and Zhejiang. I was shocked and had to tell you a few words. You should not dismiss all his people just because of the rift with the cabinet chief. The building can fall, but its beams and pillars can still be used..."

Zhu Houzhao wrote a family letter to the current emperor Zhu Zaile. As the emperor emeritus, he could not sit idly by and watch his prince disregard the interests of the world because of Xia Yan's incident.

This was a phenomenon that Zhu Houzhao did not want to see. Historically, the downfall of Yan Song led to the killing of Hu Zongxian, and the downfall of Zhang Juzheng led to Qi Jiguang being demoted again and again, which greatly damaged the defense capabilities of the border towns.

It seems that every time a cabinet minister falls, his party members are no longer available.

When the imperial court employs people, it does not focus on their talents or virtues, but rather on who is behind them.

So, he had to stop this from happening.

Zhu Wan was deprived of power this time because Xia Yan was disliked by the emperor, but fortunately, as the emperor emeritus, he was in the southeast and transferred the imperial guards to strengthen the military strength in the southeast, thus avoiding the occurrence of large-scale unrest caused by Japanese pirates.

Zhu Houzhao didn't know whether his letter could convince Zhu Zailei. He thought Zhu Zailei would realize how important Zhu Wan was to the stability of the entire southeast, but he had to say it anyway.

The winter sun emerged from the clouds, and Zhu Houzhao also left the palace, stepped on the snow as thick as rice grains, held the hand of the palace maid, and prepared to board the car to Fuzhou.

However, before Zhu Houzhao left Hangzhou City, he saw a young man standing outside his imperial carriage with his back bent, followed by a team of eunuchs, all carrying seasonal fruits and various rare treasures.

This young man was none other than his eldest grandson Zhu Yizhuo, the son of the current emperor Zhu Zailei. After Zhu Zailei ascended the throne, he was named the crown prince.

"My grandson has met my royal grandfather and grandmother!"

After Zhu Yizhuo finished speaking, he knelt down and paid great respects to Zhu Houzhao and his wife Xia.

Xia was naturally not very happy to see her eldest grandson coming to Hangzhou to see her. Although Zhu Houzhao felt almost the same, he also smelled something different. He guessed that Zhu Yizhuo would not come to Hangzhou to see his grandfather for no reason.

"Get up, you are the prince now, why are you here instead of paying attention to your official duties?"

Zhu Houzhao asked a question that seemed very calm, which made Xia Shi roll her eyes at him angrily. She always felt that Zhu Houzhao, as a grandfather, was somewhat unkind, and it seemed that her grandson was not happy to see her. So Xia Shi hurriedly held Zhu Yizhu in her arms and asked about his well-being.

But Zhu Yizhuo naturally did not dare to anger Zhu Houzhao, so he had to reply cautiously:
"Right now, my father has ordered my grandson to supervise the military affairs of Fujian and Zhejiang and concurrently serve as the governor of Zhejiang. First of all, of course, he is here to rectify the southeastern coastal defense. Secondly, my father has specially ordered my grandson to show filial piety to my grandfather, and to ask my grandfather to move north after the spring. My father said that the affairs of the court are complicated and changeable, and without my grandfather's guidance, he doesn't know how to be an emperor..."

After hearing what Zhu Yizhuo said, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but fall silent. He had basically guessed that the purpose of Zhu Yizhuo's visit was to invite him, the retired emperor, to go back. But when he heard Zhu Yizhuo say it himself, he still felt a little unhappy.

The reason, of course, was that Zhu Houzhao could guess that the gentry in the southeast must not want him, the retired emperor, to continue staying in the south. Of course, his emperor son would certainly not want to see him, the retired emperor, causing trouble outside.

"What? Do you want to send me back so that you can put me under house arrest to prevent me from causing trouble for you and your son?"

Zhu Houzhao also began to take advantage of his seniority and spoke directly, then he snorted, waved his sleeves, and simply returned to the palace, ready to lie down, showing an attitude that he would not leave here.

In fact, deep down, Zhu Houzhao didn't want to return to the north now. With the current climate, the warm and humid south is obviously more suitable for his retirement. If he returns to the north, he can only stay in the deep palace with heating. As an old man, he naturally doesn't want to spend the rest of his life in the palace.

Zhu Yizhuo prostrated himself on the ground in fear: "Grandson, I dare not!"

Although Zhu Yizhuo did come with the intention of persuading Zhu Houzhao to return to Beijing to live in seclusion, he did not dare to force Zhu Houzhao to return to Beijing. Now that he saw that Zhu Houzhao was angry, he could only deny and explain quickly.

Zhu Houzhao also knew that although he was the crown prince, he was just a messenger, so he did not do anything to Zhu Yizhuo. In addition, after Xia Shi persuaded him a few times, he did not become so stiff with Zhu Yizhuo and allowed Zhu Yizhuo to deliver the gifts and food he brought. However, he also clearly rejected Zhu Yizhuo's request to return to Beijing.

Zhu Houzhao would never allow the southeastern gentry to return north as they wished. Wouldn't that allow these southeastern gentry to continue to disregard the laws of the country and the interests of the country and do shameful things?
Zhu Yizhuo had no choice but to write back to his father in this way and did not dare to force Zhu Houzhao to return to Beijing.

But Zhu Yizhuo himself had no intention of leaving the southeast. He followed Zhu Houzhao all day long and showed filial piety to him. He was very respectful and attentive. Before Zhu Houzhao even said what he wanted to eat, Zhu Yizhuo had already prepared it for him. Wherever Zhu Houzhao decided to go, the place would have been cleaned as soon as he made up his mind.

Zhu Houzhao could see that his grandson appeared to be showing filial piety to him, but was actually there to monitor him.

However, Zhu Houzhao didn't care and he continued to do what he should do.

Zhu Houzhao even took the initiative and instructed his son Zhu Yizhu on how to be a good governor of the southeast:

"What your father has to do now is to destroy Japan as soon as possible. Only by destroying Japan and presenting it to me will it be your greatest filial piety to me. When I go to Japan at the time, you won't be bothered by seeing an old man like me. Now we have to destroy Japan. As the governor of the southeast, you have a heavy responsibility. You must make preparations before the war, and you must do a good job in government affairs such as warships, food, weapons, propaganda and mobilization!" Zhu Houzhao said and asked Zhu Yizhuo how much he knew about the military and political affairs of the southeast, and what arrangements he would make next.

Zhu Yizhuo never expected that his royal grandfather would start to ask him to prepare for the war against Japan, so he had to answer and prepare carefully one by one.

……

"Father is still Father after all. He is truly devoted to the world! He is truly a sage king throughout the ages!"

Emperor Zhu Zailei, who was already old, couldn't help but sigh after receiving Zhu Houzhao's letter. Although he was afraid of Zhu Houzhao and wanted to get rid of his influence, he really respected his father from the bottom of his heart.

After all, he, like Zhu Houzhao, was also working for the Ming Dynasty and their starting point of interests was the same. Now Zhu Houzhao's letter had dispelled his doubts that dismissing Xia Yan would make Zhu Houzhao unhappy. Rationally, he also believed that he could not do anything to Zhu Wan because of Xia Yan. After all, Zhu Wan did have military talent.

In fact, Zhu Zailei did not dismiss Xia Yan not only because he was concerned about Xia Yan's prestige and the retired emperor Zhu Houzhao behind him, but also because he took into account Xia Yan's outstanding abilities and the world still needed such an experienced and wise prime minister.

Zhu Zailei knew what his father was worried about, so he explained in his reply:
"I have received the letter from my father, and I admire it deeply... I also know that the Southeast cannot do without Zhu Wan, but now the Southeast has both my father and Zhu Wan, so I think that removing Zhu Wan's power now will not harm the overall situation, and my father will not just watch it and ignore it!
I, your son, am depriving Zhu Wan of his authority for the following reasons:
One is to warn the Prime Minister;
The second reason was to appease the hearts of the southeastern nobles. Since you are now the emperor, you should naturally balance the forces. Removing Zhu Wan's power was naturally done for the southeastern nobles to see.

Third, I want to follow my father's order and send troops to the East. But before sending troops to the East, we must first increase troops in the Southeast and increase the power of the Southeast. Although Zhu Wan is good at fighting, he is pedantic and stubborn. He is not willing to lead a large army to attack Japan. Moreover, he has lost the hearts of the Southeast nobles and is difficult to be a leader. Therefore, I send Yi Zhuo to the Southeast.

Let Zhu Yizhuo come to the southeast, one is to show filial piety to his parents on behalf of his son, and the other is to recruit soldiers in the southeast to strengthen the royal family's control over the southeast!
My father has been in the south for a long time now, and I miss him very much. Moreover, the affairs inside and outside the court are quite complicated. Inside, there are many political parties and societies, and each has its own ideas. Some even say that the imperial power should be limited to achieve a thorough constitutional government. Outside, although the various vassal states were established by royal families and nobles, they allowed businessmen to seize power and want to establish some kind of republican system. Some of the vassal states even intend to form a federation. I don’t know how to deal with the current situation in the world!

There are even other forces interfering. For example, the chief secretary of my 40th brother (Zhu Zaiyuan, son of Elizabeth and Zhu Houzhao) recently sent a letter saying that the parliament of his country has recently obstructed his administration of state affairs. There are even local dignitaries who say that a noble who does not believe in religion is not worthy of being the King of England! I don’t know how to instruct my 40th brother to govern Britain, so I need your guidance!”

It was early spring of the following year when Zhu Houzhao received the letter. He was naturally very pleased with Zhu Zailei's explanation, but he could not fully believe the contents of the letter from his emperor son. As the leader of the empire, he had to remain vigilant.

Zhu Houzhao also knew that the world had now entered the steam industrial age, and industrial civilization was gradually replacing agricultural civilization, which meant that the bourgeoisie would rise to become the world's main class of power.

Therefore, it is not surprising that some of the overseas vassal states of the Ming Dynasty have completely transformed into so-called republics. Naturally, it is not surprising that there are various political parties and societies with new political ideologies in the country.

Zhu Houzhao had anticipated this many years ago, but the reason why he chose to enfeoff royal family members and nobles overseas at that time was because of the backwardness of transportation and information exchange. The Ming Dynasty, as an imperial ruling core, would certainly not be able to rule the entire world. Even if it unified the world militarily, it could not avoid the independence of regions thousands of miles away in the future.

Therefore, instead of spending huge military costs to unify the world, it is better to enfeoff royal family members and nobles overseas before conquering the world, let them build their own countries first and replicate the Chinese civilization.

"This phenomenon is inevitable. As a central empire, no matter what its system is, it must be required not to abandon Chinese civilization, and to put the interests of the central empire and the interests of China first."

This is the only solution Zhu Houzhao can give to Zhu Zailei now. This kind of world dominated by Eastern civilization is the first time he has encountered it, and he doesn't know how to deal with it specifically. But what he can be sure of is that the Ming Dynasty, as a central empire, is just like the Western-dominated world in later generations. Naturally, it cannot tolerate foreign countries being too powerful and wealthy.

Zhu Houzhao still did not agree to Emperor Zhu Zaile's request in the letter and chose to return to Beijing. In any case, having him as the emperor in the south could at least strengthen the royal control over the south, and would not allow these southern gentry to have too much freedom because the political center was in the north.

"Your Majesty, the Emperor is now old and weak, and should not travel all year round. I have also heard that because of the Emperor's travels, many people have been disturbed, and there are even shameless officials who have extorted women from the people or bribed them with large sums of money. This is not only detrimental to the Emperor's reputation, but also detrimental to the people's desire for peace. Therefore, I think that the Emperor should be invited to return to Beijing to retire!"

After Lin Ye, the Imperial Censor of the Ministry of War, submitted a petition to the emperor to allow the retired emperor Zhu Zailei to return to Beijing to retire, Zhao Wenhua, the Minister of Works, also requested the emperor to allow the retired emperor Zhu Zailei to return to Beijing to retire when he met Zhu Zailei.

Yan Shifan's suggestion obviously convinced these officials with southeastern aristocratic backgrounds, causing them to begin to submit petitions to Emperor Zhu Zaile, requesting him to allow the retired emperor Zhu Houzhao to return to Beijing for various reasons. Some said harshly that the retired emperor was disrupting the order of the court, some said tactfully that the retired emperor was old and needed to return to Beijing to recuperate, and some said superficially that the court needed the retired emperor to stay in the capital.

Zhu Zailei also made it clear: "I have sent the crown prince to the south to invite him, and have also repeatedly asked him to return to Beijing in letters for state and family matters. Now that the weather is not warm, I am afraid it will be difficult for him to set off. I believe he will definitely return to Beijing around the Dragon Boat Festival. You don't need to say more. The old emperor likes to travel around the mountains and rivers. Although we all have a loyal and filial heart, we can't force him, otherwise he will be unhappy."

Seeing that Emperor Zhu Zailei had taken practical action to have the retired Emperor Zhu Houzhao return to Beijing, these officials naturally had nothing more to say. For them, this was the only way now. After all, the retired Emperor Zhu Houzhao held the military power, and they could not force the emperor to lock Zhu Houzhao up and bring him back.

The chief minister of the cabinet, Xia Yan, saw all of this, but he neither persuaded the retired emperor Zhu Houzhao to return to the capital as many civil officials had requested, nor did he stop the emperor Zhu Zaile from inviting the retired emperor Zhu Houzhao to return to the capital. He knew that those who wanted the retired emperor Zhu Houzhao to return to the capital might not have good intentions, and if he stopped the retired emperor Zhu Houzhao from returning to the capital, it would undoubtedly make the emperor even more dissatisfied.

Xia Yan didn't want to make things too awkward with the current emperor, so he naturally fell silent.

However, Xia Yan could also see that there were ministers in the court who obviously had bad intentions. In his opinion, Yan Song was the worst. And just at this time, he received a secret report from his confidant Gao Shi. The content of the secret report was about a member of the Loyal Emperor Society of the Ministry of Works reporting that Yan Shifan colluded with Yan Maoqing of the Ministry of Revenue to embezzle 300,000 silver yuan from the national treasury.

Yan Song, who was also in the cabinet, accidentally heard the cabinet secretary Gao Shi reporting to Xia Yan about his son Yan Shifan's corruption. He became uneasy for a moment. When he saw Xia Yan coming, he could not help but bow his head and said, "Prime Minister Gao Yi, can you spare my son's life?"

Thanks to the book friend Mo You La Jiao for the 100 Qidian coins reward. Thank you to the book friend 20190310141641280 for the 500 Qidian coins reward.



(End of this chapter)