Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 1: Prince Heung
The Palace of Prince Xing, the Governor of Huguang Province of Daming.

Crown Prince Zhu Houcong walked out of the Zhongzhengzhai in the palace with his hands behind his back, and looked around the palace in the afternoon.

then.

He couldn't help but smile slightly.

Because he had learned from the Chief Secretary Yuan Zonggao yesterday that the current emperor was indeed seriously ill.

This means that he really will become the next emperor.

That is the Jiajing Emperor in history.

However, the current Zhu Houcong is not the Jiajing Emperor in history, but a time traveler from later generations.

Zhu Houcong had no idea at that time that he would suddenly become a baby in the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, and the famous Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houcong in history.

But after so many years, he gradually accepted the reality that he was Zhu Houcong.

And during these years, he had already begun to look forward to the day when he would become Emperor Jiajing.

Zhu Houcong knew that the military strength of the Ming Empire had greatly improved after the military reforms of Emperor Zhengde.

However, as military spending increased, the Ming Empire's financial problems became more serious, and people's livelihood issues also became more serious.

Even in the 15th year of the Zhengde reign, even in the prosperous Huaiyang region, cannibalism occurred due to inadequate disaster relief.

Because of the lack of public construction in recent years, when droughts and floods hit Huguang one after another, large areas were affected and famine spread to 15 prefectures.

The current cabinet chief, Yang Tinghe, is naturally very dissatisfied with this situation.

Because of Zhengde's military reforms, on the one hand, the status of civil servants declined seriously, and on the other hand, it indeed caused greater hardship for the people throughout the world.

Therefore, the upright civil servants represented by Yang Tinghe urgently hoped that the new emperor would support them in reducing military strength and military supplies, saving expenses, alleviating the people's difficulties, and at the same time enhancing the dignity and authority of civil servants.

But Zhu Houcong did not believe that the Ming Dynasty had to sacrifice its military strength in order to ensure people's livelihood.

He hoped that after becoming emperor, he would be able to make the Ming Empire strong and its people prosperous.

Zhu Houcong also hoped that after becoming emperor, he would be able to make the Jiajing Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty better.

And now, in terms of exercising power, he must first learn from Jiajing in history.

Because whether you are doing the most self-interested thing or the most altruistic thing, you need to have great power to do things, otherwise you will not be able to move forward.

Zhu Houcong is now only curious: if he can learn to exercise power like Jiajing and use the political tactics that can completely control the entire Ming Empire to achieve the great cause of strengthening the country and enriching the people, how much positive effect will it bring to Chinese civilization?
Because he wanted to learn how to wield power like Jiajing, Zhu Houcong has not shown any characteristics of a time traveler since he traveled through time.

He has been keeping a low profile.

Try your best to keep the outside world from knowing that he is a young man with hidden ambitions.

Moreover, before he received the clear edict that allowed him to inherit the throne, he was not sure whether he would miss the throne if he showed his talents too early.

After all, this situation has happened in history!
Shi Miyuan, a powerful official in the Southern Song Dynasty, deposed Crown Prince Zhao Hong before he became emperor because the crown prince showed his intention to get rid of him too early.

Although it would be difficult for the Ming Empire established by Zhu Yuanzhang to have another powerful minister like Shi Miyuan, no one could say for sure whether someone would rather take other risks than prevent him from becoming emperor because he revealed unpleasant political attitudes too early.

In short.

Only when he obtained the imperial edict from Emperor Zhengde, which officially allowed him to inherit the throne, did he have the ability to win over a group of nobles and bureaucrats within the ruling class, which was not a monolithic entity, as his base and gain recognition as the monarch!
The person who can decide whether Zhu Houcong can become emperor smoothly is Yang Tinghe.

This chief minister of the cabinet was respected by Zhengde because he was Zhengde's teacher and inherited the legacy of Hongzhi. He was quite prestigious among the harem and the scholar-official community.

But Yang Tinghe was a conservative who believed in Neo-Confucianism.

Therefore, in recent years, Zhu Houcong, like Emperor Jiajing in history, behaved very low-key, and even deliberately did some things to confuse Yang Tinghe and his supporters.

to this end.

Since he began his elementary education, he has been studying Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism seriously in the palace and strictly abide by the etiquette norms required by Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.

Because Zhu Houcong was a Confucianist and a vassal without real power, the civil officials made him withhold the rice from his palace, which was even worse than that of other vassal states. According to the Ming Dynasty's financial system, the rice from the vassal states was always allocated directly to the local clan members by local civil officials from the tax reserves.

Even whether the rice subsidy should be paid in its original form, that is, in the form of grain, or in a discounted form, such as in silver or banknotes, was determined by local civil servants, who would then submit the matter to the emperor for approval.

Specifically, after local civil officials collected tax grain, the tax grain would be divided into two parts: one for shipment and one for retention. The shipped part would be transported to various warehouses in the capital, while the retained part would be used to pay the royal family and vassal salaries, official salaries, and student food stipends.

In other words, the power to distribute rice salaries to royal family members was in the hands of local civil servants.

Under normal circumstances, local civil officials would decide whether to withhold the payment of rice salary in order to extort bribes, or to pay the rice salary in full and on time, or simply not pay it out by finding other excuses, depending on whether the vassal states in their territory were easy to offend.

natural.

The more obedient and rule-abiding the princes were and the less they caused trouble, the more serious the amount of rice owed to them would naturally be.

The more arrogant and shameless the princes were, and even the more they dared to cause trouble and even bring lawsuits to the emperor, the more the civil servants dared not to default on their payments, and the emperor dared not to be branded as being harsh on the royal family because of a small amount of salary.

Since Zhu Houcong now wanted to appear obedient and not fight with the civil officials, it was natural that the civil officials would delay or withhold part or even all of his rice salary under various excuses.

It's easy to find excuses.

It was simply because the disaster had been severe and the tax arrears were serious, so there was not much left, and the little left could only be used for disaster relief.

Local vassal states had no power to interfere in local administration, and naturally could not check the accounts to confirm.

Fortunately, Zhu Houcong's Xingwang vassalage had only been passed down to him for two generations.

The population is not large.

Even if the rice levy was withheld due to unpaid wages, the savings over the years and the income from the granted land were enough to support them.

However, his rice salary was withheld and embezzled, and he could not seek redress. He had to treat these civil servants who withheld and embezzled his rice salary with respect. This was very frustrating for Zhu Houcong.

Why should good people be pointed at guns?

But the day after Yuan Zonggao told Zhu Houcong that Emperor Zhengde was indeed seriously ill, that is, today, the Deputy Envoy of Huguang, Wang Shan, delivered the rice that was owed to Prince Xing's Palace.

Zhu Houcong was not surprised by this.

Because according to the rules of succession to the throne set by Zhu Yuanzhang, once the heirless Emperor Zhengde died, he would be the most likely member of the royal family to inherit the throne.

The local civil servants were naturally worried that after he became emperor, this vassal king would bear a grudge against him for this incident and hinder their careers.

Although as a wise king he might not openly force them to make up the unpaid rice levies for the sake of his reputation, who knows if he might secretly try to stop their progress.

Therefore, at this time, the local civil officials in Huguang no longer dared to owe him salary.

When Wang Yu sent the rice salary that was owed to him, Zhu Houcong naturally held a banquet in person to express his gratitude as usual.

So, in the afternoon of that day, he walked out of Zhongzhengzhai where he used to study and prepared to go to Chengyunmen to meet Wang Yu.

The layout of Prince Xing's Palace is similar to that of the Forbidden City, with an inner court and an outer court.

The Chengyun Gate is the main gate of the outer court.

Zhu Houcong usually met with external officials here.

When Zhu Houcong arrived at Chengyun Gate, Wang Yu immediately bowed to the ground and said with great fear and trepidation: "I kowtow to you, Your Highness!"

There have never been any secrets in the Ming Dynasty court, it is like a sieve.

Since Zhu Houcong knew the news that Emperor Zhengde was seriously ill, Wang Yu, an official of the Military Preparation Department who held real power in the local area and was ordered by Yang Tinghe to secretly keep a close eye on the dynamics of Prince Xing's Palace, would naturally have known the news of Emperor Zhengde's serious illness through his own channels a long time ago.

But Wang Yu did not expect that within half a year, Emperor Zhengde would really become increasingly ill after falling into the water, causing his mentor Yang Tinghe to start asking him about the situation of the Prince of Xing. This gave the Prince of Xing Zhu Houcong, a royal family member who would not have been taken seriously, the possibility of becoming the next emperor.

Therefore, Wang Yu was really worried that Zhu Houcong would hold a grudge against them, the officials from Huguang, for owing rice to the Prince Faxing's Palace. He was also afraid that any disrespect on his part would make Zhu Houcong, who might very well become the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, dissatisfied. So he behaved very respectfully in front of Zhu Houcong.

(End of this chapter)