Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 565: Eastern Japanese Rebellion

During May of the 17th year of the Hongzhi reign, Li Dongyang requested to retire three times. The Hongzhi Emperor had rejected his request twice. When it came to the third time, the Hongzhi Emperor asked Zhu Houzhao to announce Li Dongyang's retirement at the court meeting.

On May 15, the day of the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, Li Dongyang, the chief minister of the cabinet, stepped out again and bowed to Zhu Houzhao, saying, "Your Highness, since I came to power, I have devoted myself to serving the country. However, I am getting old and my body can no longer bear the burden. Every time I handle government affairs, I am overwhelmed and have fainted many times. I beg Your Highness to allow me to retire and return home to enjoy the company of my grandchildren."

"Although I am no longer in the imperial court, and am far away from the court, I will still do my best for the Ming Dynasty..."

Li Dongyang said a lot. Emperor Hongzhi had rejected him twice before. This time, Zhu Houzhao would not reject him again. He said with a look of pity, "The Lord has devoted all his life to the Ming Dynasty. Just as the Lord said, his body cannot bear the burden. How can I bear to let him continue to stay in the court?"

Xie Qian was stunned for a long time. He looked at Li Dongyang meaningfully. Li Dongyang was only 59 years old and he could still continue to shine in the court. Why did he suddenly choose to retire?

As for the excuses he gave, Xie Qian thought that they were not excuses. He really couldn't understand why Li Dongyang suddenly wanted to retire and return home.

There have been too many strange things happening in the court recently. Not only has Li Dongyang requested to retire, Emperor Hongzhi has not attended court for a long time, and the crown prince has been regent for several months. Everything seems very strange.

The Prime Minister of the Cabinet left the court so suddenly, which made Xie Qian unable to react for a while.

After today's court meeting, Li Dongyang handed over his work to Xie Qian and Fei Hong respectively.

In the evening, Xie Qian entertained Li Dongyang. After a few rounds of drinking, Xie Qian asked Li Dongyang in confusion, "Master Li, what happened?"

"Why do you suddenly choose to retire?"

Li Dongyang and Xie Qian have been partners for a long time. They did not invite Fei Hong to tonight's banquet because they do not have a very good personal relationship with Fei Hong yet.

Li Dongyang would naturally remind Xie Qian that even if Xie Qian did not invite him to a banquet today, he would find an opportunity to invite Xie Qian to a banquet.

He said to Xie Qian earnestly, "Yu Qiao, I have handed over many of my tasks to you now. I don't think I will add any more people to the cabinet in the short term. You have to help the emperor and the prince keep an eye on them."

Xie Qian did not comment and did not rush to speak. He just listened to Li Dongyang quietly. He knew that Li Dongyang still had something to say.

Li Dongyang continued, "Many policy decisions should be handed over to you, Yu Qiao, but I suggest that you hand these matters over to Elder Fei in the future."

Xie Qian was stunned for a moment, and asked in confusion: "Why?"

Li Dongyang was silent for a moment, and then said to Xie Qian: "Yu Qiao, there are many things that I cannot explain clearly. Anyway, you should know that there will be no more people added to the cabinet for a long time."

"There are many things in the cabinet that can be decided by Fei Hong, so let him make the decision."

Xie Qian was silent. If he still didn't understand what was going on with Li Dongyang, then he didn't deserve to stay in the cabinet.

Fei Hong is the prince's man, a close confidant. Emperor Hongzhi has not attended court for a long time. Now Li Dongyang has retired and reminded Xie Qian to hand over power to Fei Hong. This is enough to show that the emperor... wants to entrust his son to someone else? !
hiss!
Xie Qian sucked in a breath of cold air, stared at Li Dongyang blankly, and exclaimed: "Your Majesty?"

Li Dongyang nodded and said, "Don't tell anyone about this. The reason why I retired was because of Chun Jian's suggestion."

"Don't worry. I have the entire Chaling Poetry School behind me, and I am also the Prime Minister of the Cabinet. I have to give up this position to avoid making the Emperor feel uneasy."

Xie Qian said, "But you are loyal to the Ming Dynasty and the emperor!" Li Dongyang smiled and said, "So what? Since you and I became officials, we should know that we are in the officialdom and cannot decide for ourselves. You and I know better than anyone else that it is a crime to possess a treasure."

"Let's not talk about this anymore. Let's drink and chat happily today. Tomorrow, there will be no old man in the court anymore. Yu Qiao, you should do your best to assist the prince."

Xie Qian sighed deeply and said, "Hmm!"

……

At the beginning of May, Li Dongyang, the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty cabinet, officially left the court. The cabinet had no plans to add new candidates for the time being, and temporarily used Fei Hong and Xie Qian as the cabinet team.

It was also in late May that an impeachment memorial from Japan was delivered to the cabinet.

After reading it, Xie Qian frowned slightly and immediately handed the memorial to Fei Hong, saying, "Mr. Fei, please take a look at this."

Fei Hong took the impeachment memorial with suspicion. This was a memorial from the Governor-General of Wajima impeaching several feudal lords.

Since these vassal kings migrated from the inland to Wa Island, they have lost their constraints, and they control the economic development of the area on Wa Island. Except for the military and political affairs which are temporarily in the hands of the Ming court to prevent the vassal kings from rebellion, many economic and personnel powers have been transferred to the vassal kings.

The main reason was that Wa Island was too far away from the Ming Dynasty, and there were not so many bureaucrats going there at that time. Emperor Hongzhi wanted to control the entire Wa Island, so he had to choose people he trusted to manage it.

So he temporarily transferred all the management rights of the Wa Islands to the feudal lords.

However, as the power of these local princes increased, they became more and more lawless. Not only did they wantonly enslave, rape, and massacre the Japanese people, they also arbitrarily arranged personnel appointments and placed their own confidants in important positions. Some of them were even illiterate and all held important positions.

The entire Japanese island was in a state of chaos and the people were in turmoil. Not only the Japanese slaves, but also the people of the Ming Dynasty who migrated there were all deeply affected.

It took a lot of effort for this memorial to be circulated. Many bureaucrats who wanted to report these feudal lords had died in Japan for various reasons. As a result, no one in Japan dared to continue impeaching the feudal lords.

After seeing all these crimes, Fei Hong was furious and immediately said to Xie Qian, "Mr. Xie, the emperor needs to look into this matter!"

"Send it to the Qianqing Palace quickly."

Xie Qian hurriedly said, "Mr. Fei, this matter still needs to be reviewed by the Crown Prince first. I have to trouble you to go there."

Ok?
Fei Hong looked at Xie Qian with some suspicion. Logically speaking, Xie Qian was much more experienced than himself, and the cabinet should follow his lead. Why did he want to report the matter to the prince?

Is he afraid of danger?
Perhaps that was the case. After all, these princes were related to the emperor, and Xie Qian was rather cautious and did not dare to take the blame, so he handed it over to himself.

Fei Hong nodded and said, "In that case, I'll go!"

He doesn't care about so much. I dare to do what you, Xie Qian, dare not do!

If these princes continue to commit crimes on the island of Wa, it won't be long before civil strife breaks out on the island of Wa. At that time, it will be extremely difficult to manage the island. Now we must wipe out the island of Wa! These princes must also be severely punished!
(End of this chapter)