Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 55: In the name of the king, annex land!
During the Ming Dynasty, no matter whether eunuchs were in power or treacherous ministers were in power, there was still a sense of righteousness in the court and the country. This was especially true during the Jiajing period, when Wang Yangming's theory of "attaining conscience" was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and cultivated many scholars, and the study of Neo-Confucianism and the School of Mind flourished.

But a bright heart mostly depends on each person's character. For example, Gao Gong "prides himself on his talent and is arrogant and domineering", but his "open heart and true heart" is his nature.

Xu Jie, a famous official of the School of Mind, was "deceitful and powerful, secretive and secretive", but "had no image of a Confucian scholar, and was trapped in the tactics of hegemony" which was also his nature.

Hence the saying: “One kind of rice can feed a hundred kinds of people”.

It is not difficult to select 6,000 talented people from the existing Jinshi and Juren to fill the official positions, but what is rare is that the people selected are kind-hearted by nature.

What's even more difficult is that one's nature can be concealed. Haven't you seen Li Shen, a Tang Dynasty poet who wrote "Who knows that every grain of rice on the plate is the result of hard work?", who earned hundreds or even thousands of strings of cash for a meal after becoming an official?

They only eat fresh chicken tongues at every meal, which leads to mountains of chicken carcasses with their tongues pulled out.

Faced with power, few people can maintain their original intentions.

Even Zhang Juzheng at this moment couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat when he thought of the scene of six thousand disciples filling the court.

You have to know that Yan Song was in charge of the central cabinet for twenty years, and he worked hard, but he had less than ten thousand disciples and former officials.

Having been in the cabinet for only a short time, and having even less time to handle practical matters, Zhang Juzheng felt like he was in a dream as he was trying to catch up with Yan Song's power.

But Zhang Juzheng was not like Yan Song and Xu Jie. He had no idea of ​​establishing a faction. He would have thousands of disciples, and his first thought was to ensure that the national policies would be implemented accurately and smoothly in the future.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!" Zhang Juzheng said as he knelt down.

Zhu Houcong helped him up with both hands and said: "Work hard. If you do well, there are important tasks waiting for you in the court."

This almost makes it clear who will be the chief minister of the cabinet.

Zhang Juzheng nodded heavily, his face solemn and his eyes shining...

The audience with the Emperor has just ended.

Zhang Juzheng, who had just returned to the cabinet, was summoned by Prince Yu's Palace.

If one plan fails, try another one.

The civil and military officials in the court seemed to be getting anxious, and their methods became increasingly rough, even using Prince Yu's trick.

But rough means do not mean they are useless. From a broader perspective, Prince Yu is a prince, and Zhang Juzheng is a cabinet elder. They are monarch and his subject. When the monarch summons his subject, how can the subject refuse to meet him?
Zhang Juzheng sighed, and asked the Cabinet Secretary to deliver a letter to Gao Gong, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, informing him of the court's plan to appoint 6,000 officials. He ordered Gao Gong to first screen the candidate Jinshi and Juren waiting to be appointed.

Logically speaking, the selection of talents to enter the court requires the cooperation of the Ministry of Personnel, after all, the Ministry of Personnel has the most detailed list of Jinshi and Juren.

Zhang Juzheng deliberately did the opposite for a simple reason: the list of candidates listed in the Ministry of Personnel was not credible. The richer the place, the less credible the comments on the Jinshi and Juren in the list.

seeing is believing.

What Zhang Juzheng believed in was the money in the names of these two thousand candidates for Jinshi and three hundred thousand candidates for official positions.

Take the example of the common people donating land to scholars. This is the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty, but it is neither reasonable nor rational.

The Ming Dynasty law stipulated that students and imperial students were exempted from 80 acres of land.

For those who have not yet entered officialdom, the maximum amount of land they can be exempted from is 1,200 acres.

All exemptions are based on the premise that students, supervisors and juren are fully free from work and continue to take examinations to pursue official titles.

But in reality, the land was donated continuously from the moment of becoming a student, and even if one later became a Jinshi or an official, the donated land would not be returned. Moreover, after tasting the sweetness, students, Jiansheng, Juren, Jinshi, and officials began to conceal the real amount of land in various ways.

Zhang Juzheng rose from the bottom of society, and he knew all too well the ways scholars evaded taxes, such as reducing the rope when measuring land, using tricks, sprinkling taxes, widening the rope, hiding fields, and hiding household registration, etc.

Putting aside his nature, Zhang Juzheng recognized Gao Gong's ability and was full of respect for him as a person. He believed that Gao Gong could find the 6,000 most honest Jinshi and Juren from the vast amount of Jinshi and Juren files.

As for the gratitude towards his mentor who selected talents for the court, Zhang Juzheng didn't mind giving some to Gao Gong.

The most important thing is that Zhang Juzheng had a grand idea in his mind.

……

Prince Yu's Mansion.

Prince Yu Zhu Zaihou, who was always fond of reading, had no intention of reading since he got up this morning. After washing up, he put on the prince's court robes and sat in the chair in the middle of the outer hall with his eyes closed.

Around noon, it was spring and summer, so it was inevitable that the temperature would be a bit hot. I didn't know whether Prince Yu was wearing his court robes with multiple layers or if he had something on his mind, as beads of sweat were forming on his forehead.

The verbal fight in the cabinet, the president of the Hanlin Academy, Wang Xijue, breaking into the cabinet, the cabinet deputy assistant Zhang Juzheng, holding a knife to his neck in an attempt to force the cabinet elder, and Zhang Juzheng entering the palace for an audience, all these events constantly stimulated Prince Yu's tense nerves.

Prince Yu knew that he could not meet his father or worship at the ancestral temple at that time, but by wearing this robe, he could invite his master Zhang Juzheng to come.

Although waiting is the most anxious time.

Tan Lun, the palace secretary, stood beside Prince Yu and fanned him personally to ease his anxiety.

But in Tan Lun's opinion, Prince Yu brought it upon himself. When he gained the support of Yan Song, Yan Shifan and his son, and the entire Yan Party, and abandoned Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong, he thought his position as crown prince was as secure as a rock.

However, they have forgotten the proverb "Rely on mountains and they will fall, rely on water and it will flow, rely on people and they will run away". Under the will of the current emperor, it is as difficult as ascending to heaven to rely on external forces to sit on the throne of the crown prince.

On the contrary, Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong were able to gain power in the court.

If the chief minister of the cabinet is absent, the second minister will become the chief minister; if the minister of the Ministry of Revenue is absent, the vice minister will become the minister.

Although Gao Gong was expelled from the cabinet by the emperor, his actual power not only did not decrease, but instead increased one step further.

One can't help but sigh at the magic of fate.

Yan Song, Xu Jie and Yan Shifan, who he had relied on, were sent to prison, while Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong, who he had given up on, were at the peak of their careers. Tan Lun felt embarrassed for Prince Yu.

Concubine Li also changed into the dress of the prince's concubine. As she was walking out of the inner palace, she saw Prince Yu's face covered with sweat. She hurried to the wash basin beside her, wrung out a face towel, walked lightly to Prince Yu, gently wiped the sweat off his face, and said softly, "Prince, Master Zhang is a magnanimous person and will not hold grudges. If the prince can take the initiative to express his apology, I believe Master Zhang will definitely be willing to make peace with the prince."

"Send someone to ask if Master Zhang has arrived?" Prince Yu did not respond to her. He turned to look at Tan Lun and asked.

Princess Li was stunned for a moment, then she understood what he meant, so she stopped talking and put the face towel back into the basin.

Tan Lun immediately went out and saw Zhang Juzheng coming from the courtyard. He called back, "Your Majesty, the elder is here!"

Zhang Juzheng paused.

He and Tan Lun are old acquaintances. They used to address each other by their courtesy names, but now that he is called "Grand Master", it seems as if something has changed.

(End of this chapter)