Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 49 Write down all their names!
It was May 13th, the sixteenth year of the Zhengde reign.

The cabinet issued an edict in compliance with the order.

At the request of Wang Shouren, the Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief of the Southern Jiangxi Military Affairs, he was ordered to return to his hometown to take care of his illness as the Left Vice Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of War.

Wang Shouren is Wang Yangming. Because his father was ill, Wang Yangming submitted a petition at the end of April this year requesting to resign and return home to take care of his seriously ill father.

Now, after Zhu Houcong received the copy, he naturally approved it immediately, but did not, which would have caused Wang Yangming to suffer the same fate as in history, because his petition to return home was not approved, and his father's illness worsened because he could not see his son.

Zhu Houcong hoped that Wang Yangming's early return home would allow his father Wang Hua to live longer, so that Wang Yangming would not have to mourn too early.

Then, the cabinet issued an edict in accordance with the emperor's order.

He Mengchun, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites and Director of the Ministry of Public Administration, confessed his crimes and was ordered to retire. Yuan Zonggao, formerly the Chief Clerk of the Prince Xing's Palace, was promoted to the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites and was in charge of the Ministry of Public Administration.

Ji Shanyi Hui, the feudal lord's residence Ji Shan, was promoted to the right to govern.

Deputy judge Cai Heng was promoted to Right Counselor of the Ministry of Public Administration.

The good doctor Zhou Wencai was promoted to the director of the Imperial Medical Bureau.

Ouyang Chong, the ceremonial attendant, was promoted to the position of assistant director of the Office of Ceremonies.

Sun Gang, the chief chef, was promoted to the director of the Shanglinyuanjianjiasu Office, and his salary was increased by two levels.

Wang Rong, the Director of Engineering, was promoted to the Director of the Construction Office.

This imperial edict was regarded as Zhu Houcong's bestowal of imperial favor on all the ministers who followed him, including the civil officials in the princely residences, doctors, and cooks. All the civil officials in the princely residences were arranged in the Tongzhengsi.

Zhu Houcong's purpose in doing this was, of course, as he had said to Yuan Zonggao before, he wanted to take advantage of the fact that these civil officials in the vassal mansions had little connection with the outer court to create a propaganda outlet of his own.

As for the other officials outside the imperial court, they did not yet know that Zhu Houcong was planning to use the Tongzhengsi to carry out a reform of putting new wine in old bottles.

The ministers outside the court only thought that Zhu Houcong was sensible and had no intention of letting his followers serve in lucrative and powerful offices, which brought him into direct conflict with these ministers outside the court, causing resentment in the court.

Therefore, all the ministers outside the court only praised the emperor for his understanding of people's hearts, his wisdom and intelligence, his legacy of filial piety, and his ability to restrain his desire to show favor to his close ministers.

The common people were also influenced by these ministers from outside the court. They were also afraid that the emperor would over-favor his close ministers, so they were all very happy and praised the emperor for his restraint, saying that he was indeed a cautious and diligent ruler. They all felt that the days to come would only get better and better.

"Your Majesty is a benevolent ruler after all! The Ming Dynasty is lucky, and the people are lucky!"

After learning about this, Yang Tinghe couldn't help but admire it, because it reminded him of Zhengde who was kind to his close attendants. Now Zhu Houcong was able to be restrained in showing kindness to his close ministers, which was really rare for him.

to this end.

Yang Tinghe felt that since the emperor was so benevolent and restrained, and so willing to be a good ruler who brought stability to China and foreign countries, he should speed up the negotiation of the grand ceremony, and should let such an emperor recognize Xiaozong as his imperial father, sacrifice for the world, and pay more for the world.

In Yang Tinghe's view, sacrificing the king would benefit the world and at the same time fulfill the king's ambition to become like Yao and Shun, which would enable the monarch and his subjects to get along harmoniously and prevent internal strife from intensifying.

Isn’t this a good thing?
Therefore, why should we reform the system, harm the interests of the rich in the world, and make up for the shortage of national funds?

But when he thought of the timid look of Liang Chu, the chief minister of the cabinet, during the discussion of the grand ceremony, Yang Tinghe felt even more upset.

"Served with pen and ink!"

Therefore, Yang Tinghe decided to submit a memorial to congratulate Zhu Houcong on receiving the emperor's grace and showing his kindness, and praised Zhu Houcong for being restrained in showing his grace and being a wise ruler. At the same time, he used this opportunity to advise Zhu Houcong to arrange the grand ceremony as soon as possible and bring peace to the country.

After receiving Yang Tinghe's memorial, Zhu Houcong just smiled slightly.

He had to admit that Yang Tinghe was indeed a conservative who pursued innovation in name but followed the old ways in reality. Not only did he not congratulate him on the smooth progress of the cleanup of the manors, but he praised him for only placing the old people from the fiefdom in the Tongzhengsi, which seemed to be very clean at the moment. It was obvious that he really hoped that he, the emperor, would be more self-restrained, reconcile contradictions, and compromise, rather than expecting him to make drastic changes.

"I personally approved the first draft of the Grand Master's book."

"It won't be up to others."

After Zhu Houcong said this, he asked the eunuch Qin Wen of the Imperial Household Department to give him Yang Tinghe's copy, and then he wrote on Yang Tinghe's copy:

"I am pleased to accept your kindness. I hope you will recover quickly and assist me in bringing peace to the people."

Since people all over the world now hold Yang Tinghe in high regard, Zhu Houcong decided to learn from the example of Emperor Jiajing in history and treat Yang Tinghe with courtesy in the early stage to let people all over the world know that it was not him, Zhu Houcong, who wronged Yang Tinghe. In the future, he could also make an article saying that it was Yang Tinghe who wronged him.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong naturally pretended to attach great importance to Yang Tinghe's opinion, and decided to personally approve it. At the same time, he emphasized in the imperial edict that Yang Tinghe was ill and had not recovered. Although I really hope that Yang Tinghe will get better soon, Yang Tinghe's illness is indeed not cured.

of course.

Zhu Houcong's plan was that in the future, whether Yang Tinghe's illness was cured or not would no longer be decided by Yang Tinghe, but by him.

No matter what the miracle doctor says, it doesn’t count.

He said Yang Tinghe is still sick, so he must still be sick.

He said that Yang Tinghe was not sick, and only Yang Tinghe was not sick.

However, in Zhu Houcong's view, Yang Tinghe was indeed ill. His illness was not unique to him, but a common problem shared by most of the literati in the world.

If this disease is not cured, the entire nation will be in big trouble!

Zhu Houcong's imperial edicts were all copied and sent to six departments, so they were easily known to officials outside the court.

This way.

It didn't take long for the officials in the outer court to find out that the current emperor still valued Yang Tinghe very much, and even personally approved Yang Tinghe's memorials, and even hoped that Yang Tinghe would return to the cabinet as soon as possible.

Although the emperor did not explicitly order a quick court discussion on the ceremony, his attitude towards Yang Tinghe had already made the officials in the outer court very excited.

"Your Majesty is a holy monarch, close to wise ministers and good assistants, so you really rely on the Grand Tutor. But when will the Grand Tutor recover from his illness?"

"May the Buddha bless you, and may the Grand Master recover soon, and help Your Majesty usher in a prosperous and peaceful era!"

same.

The officials in the outer court had to believe that Yang Tinghe was indeed ill. They believed that it was not that Zhu Houcong did not need Yang Tinghe, but that Yang Tinghe needed to recuperate and could not assist the emperor.

For this reason, many officials from outer courts began to visit Yang Tinghe frequently, making Yang's house crowded with people.

There were even many officials from the outer court who took the initiative to go to temples to pray to Buddha for Yang Tinghe, and even set up Taoist temples to invite gods.

Even some nobles, relatives of the emperor, and even eunuchs joined in praying to gods and Buddhas for Yang Tinghe's speedy recovery, and even took the initiative to help Yang Tinghe find doctors and medicines.

Zhu Houcong also knew about these things through the factory guards.

But he kept quiet.

He knew that Yang Tinghe was now very popular among the powerful bureaucrats.

Because his previous disarmament reforms had made many powerful bureaucrats gain a lot of benefits, including the nobles and generals of the Five Military Governors' Office, and by abolishing and stopping the collection of some royal industries, many powerful bureaucrats and even wealthy businessmen benefited a lot.

In addition, the cleanup of farmlands has caused complaints among many powerful bureaucrats, but it is difficult for them to express their dissatisfaction openly.

Now, since Emperor Zhu Houcong respected Yang Tinghe and hoped that he would recover soon, some powerful bureaucrats and even eunuchs who were not politically sensitive naturally dared to express their dissatisfaction with the cabinet and some officials who proposed clearing the land by praying for Yang Tinghe.

However, Zhu Houcong secretly took note of all these people, waiting to settle accounts with them in the future.

Let’s talk.

After receiving Zhu Houcong's imperial edict, Yang Tinghe was moved to learn that Zhu Houcong personally approved all his memorials without the help of the eunuchs of the Imperial Household Department. He looked at the imperial edict with trembling fingers, then looked to the north, tears welling in his eyes as he said:
"Your Majesty is truly benevolent and virtuous, and you love me with all your heart. I will repay you in the future by wholeheartedly assisting you to become a ruler like Yao and Shun!"

"Dad, your majesty's handwriting is quite good. It seems that your majesty practices calligraphy very hard."

Yang Shen followed up with another sentence.

Yang Tinghe nodded and said, "Yes, Your Majesty is so diligent in serving the emperor. It is inevitable that the grand ceremony will be agreed upon so that Your Majesty will recognize Emperor Xiaozong as the emperor's father. As long as Liang Shunde and his men finish clearing the fields, I will return to the court to assist the emperor on the pretext of recovering from illness and personally decide on the grand ceremony!"

"If Liang Chu refuses to leave, I will ask the censors to report him with evidence of his past crimes. Anyway, there are many northern officials and dignitaries who hate him now!"

Yang Shen then said fiercely.

(End of this chapter)