The Holy Emperor of Ming

Chapter 90: Feed the Horse
"Your Majesty, you were wise not to kill Hou Changping.

All the officials heaved a sigh of relief." Li Xunhuan smiled respectfully.

"I just think that his crime does not deserve the death penalty." Zhu Houzhao said truthfully.

If the Ming edict from the Taizu period was followed, Hou Changping would definitely have died, a death that could not have been any more cruel, and a very cruel death.

But the era of the Ming Dynasty edicts has long passed.

Zhu Houzhao also read the Great Ming Edict and felt that something was not right.

If most crimes are punishable by death, then at most the death will be more painful, and it seems that most crimes are the same, with no distinction between big or small, light or heavy.

Even Taizu himself abolished many of them in his later years, and Taizong did not use them.

Also, officials should not be his enemies but helpers.

Criminal laws that are too cruel do more harm than good.

Zhu Houzhao felt that if Hou Changping was only guilty of corruption, he had no other crimes.

Well, since he was the first one to step forward and admit his mistake, and the situation was special, he could be forgiven this time.

As for those who took the initiative to stand up, the lightest punishment would be the removal of their official positions and honors.

After the New Year, huh, it’s not that simple anymore.

"Old King, I will leave the military cabinet to you alone for now. Set it up as soon as possible.

Just let me know if you need anyone.

After the New Year, we will start to organize the army." Zhu Houzhao said impatiently.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I understand." Wang Shouren said solemnly.

He is the only Grand Commander in the military cabinet now, and it has not yet been formally established.

This means that he will have tremendous power in the future.

But he did not feel much joy, only caution and solemnity.

"Old Li, please pay more attention to the Talent Recruitment Hall. If there are any good talents, please report to me in time." Zhu Houzhao looked at Li Xunhuan again and said.

"Yes, I will do my best to look for it." Li Xunhuan said seriously.

“By the way, if you have any suitable friends in the martial arts world, you can introduce them to the Imperial Guards.

Jinyiwei needs more and more experts. "Zhu Houzhao thought of something.

"I understand." Li Xunhuan responded, already thinking in his mind which friend would be suitable to join the Jinyiwei.

"What do you think? Should I revise some Ming Dynasty laws?" Zhu Houzhao said with a jumpy mind.

"Your Majesty, are you planning on arresting corrupt officials and punishing them?" This was a private matter, so Wang Shouren did not care about the separation of military and politics and asked directly.

"Yes." Zhu Houzhao nodded.

"Your Majesty can take a look at the corresponding Ming Dynasty laws. If you have any questions or dissatisfaction, you can discuss it with the Cabinet, the Ministry of Justice, and the Dali Temple." Wang Shouren suggested in a measured way.

"Yeah." Zhu Houzhao nodded thoughtfully.

After Wang Shouren and Li Xunhuan left for something busy, Qiu Yue and a man who looked a little unreliable came.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you and wish you the best." The two men bowed and saluted.

"An An." Zhu Houzhao replied casually.

“You should all know about the establishment of the Wuxian Hall and the Baiyi Hall.

No matter what, you must do it well for me.

Remember, no matter who you are, as long as you have enough talent, tell me, understand?" Zhu Houzhao reminded.

"I understand." Qiu Yue and Ling Lingfa saluted. They already knew the details of the incident from the eunuch who informed them.

"Do you have anything you want to ask?" Zhu Houzhao asked.

“I don’t have any more, but I would like to ask Your Majesty to send some experts to sit in the Talent Recruitment Hall.

After all, there might be some powerful generals coming to the Wuzhaoxian Hall." Qiu Yue said calmly.

"Your Majesty, I also need an expert to take charge. There are many experts in the martial arts world." Ling Lingfa immediately followed.

"Okay, I will send four people in the innate realm to you from the inner court, and you can arrange it yourselves." Zhu Houzhao agreed very straightforwardly.

"Your Majesty, I would like to ask, if a person who has committed many evil deeds comes here, should I accept him?" Ling Lingfa suddenly asked with a slightly exaggerated expression.

"Of course, those who have committed many evil deeds will be taken down directly. My Ming Dynasty does not need people who have committed many evil deeds." Zhu Houzhao said without hesitation.

"But if this person who has committed so many evil things has done evil things in other countries, I would like him to work for the Ming Dynasty.

Do you want to take it?

If we take it down, will it violate your Majesty's order? Will it damage the reputation of your Majesty and the Ming Dynasty?" Ling Lingfa asked seriously.

Zhu Houzhao was stunned. It was really possible.

After thinking for a while, he said, "First, check whether these so-called evildoers have harmed the people?

If he is injured, don't say anything, just take him down.

If there is no such thing, and it is just a fight in the underworld, or offending the powerful, then don't worry about it.

I will let the Jinyiwei contact you, and they will investigate for you.

Many of the people recruited by the Baiyi Recruiting Hall will also join the Jinyiwei."

"Yes, I understand." Ling Lingfa said with satisfaction.

The two men retreated to prepare, and what happened in the court quickly spread.

"To enter the Dao through literature! The strength of a grandmaster! No wonder His Majesty values ​​him so much."

"The only Grand Commander of the Military Cabinet at present! First rank! Lord Wang Shouren has suddenly become extremely powerful."

"Lord Wang Shouren is the official most trusted by His Majesty."

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Wang Shouren became the Grand Commander and rose to the first rank, which caused countless shock, envy and jealousy.

"Your Majesty is a man of talent and wants to recruit talents from all over the world so that he can unify the country."

"I heard that your majesty couldn't find a candidate for the Grand Commander of the Military Cabinet, so he had no choice but to choose Lord Wang Shouren and recruit talents from all over the world."

"Hey, our Ming Dynasty is full of talented people, why should we look for people from other countries?" "Will this recruitment hall occupy the quota for Jinshi?"

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The affairs of Zhaoxian Hall have attracted more people to discuss because it is more exciting and involves the interests of more people.

Officials, scholars and others were all dissatisfied.

The Ming Dynasty is full of talented people, why should we look for people from other countries?

But the officials could not resist and could only say a few words in secret.

The scholars' dissatisfaction was largely dispelled by the 600 vacancies for Jinshi next year.

That’s six hundred!

More than double than in previous years.

This means that their chances of passing the exam are more than doubled, several times, or even more.

For example, if 300 Jinshi were admitted this year, a Juren ranked 310th and failed.

Three years later, the school still admitted 300 people, and he still ranked more than 310th, which was still a failure.

Maybe he will always rank around 310th all his life and will never pass the exam.

But if 400 or 600 people were admitted, he would have passed in one try.

The difference between the two is so huge that every scholar knows it, and they can't help but be ecstatic.

Many candidates secretly hoped that His Majesty would catch more corrupt officials next time, so that maybe 600 people would still be admitted three years later.

"Husband, why don't you confess your guilt? We haven't committed any other crimes. At most, we will lose our official positions and fame. Life is more important."

"Humph, women's opinions, you make it sound so easy. Without my official position and fame, what's the point of my life?"

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There was also discussion about Hou Changping's voluntary confession.

But under the cover of the first two things, it is less.

In the next few days, only three people voluntarily confessed their crimes.

Of course, there are far more corrupt officials in the entire capital city than just these few.

It's just that he is reluctant to give up his official position, fame, and has a lucky mentality.

Such a major event naturally spread immediately to the top leaders of various countries.

State of Song.

"This Zhu Houzhao is really ridiculous. How can he let a young man with no military achievements take up the position of a great general?

They also said that people from other countries could take the position. This is ridiculous and absurd.

Even those who cannot resist the temptation to go to Ming are definitely villains or commoners.”

"How many people in history were there who were born with great talents like the Marquis of Huaiyin, the Marquis of Guanjun, and the Marquis of Zhuge Wu?
We, the Song Dynasty, don't need to pay any attention to it. Let Zhu Houzhao do whatever he wants.

If the Ming Dynasty's Jinyiwei want to spread the news, let them do it, don't offend them.

Our current relationship with the Ming Kingdom is friendly." Zhao Ji said confidently and condescendingly.

Sui Dynasty.

Yang Guang was in no mood to care about anything else.

His eyes were slightly red, like a mad beast, staring at the city in the distance.

The few high-ranking officials of the Sui Dynasty who knew the news firsthand had their eyes flickering slightly and were quite cautious.

But at this time, they couldn't say anything.

At this moment, the focus of the Sui Dynasty was on this war.

Mongol Yuan Dynasty and Jin Dynasty.

The top leaders of both countries attach great importance to it.

But they were confident in the great talents in their own country and would never go to the Ming Dynasty.

I am just worried that the great talents of Sui and Song will go to Ming and make it even stronger.

As for the more distant countries, there is less worry.

These are the ideas of the top leaders of various countries, but it will take time for the news to spread thoroughly among the countries and reach the ears of those talented people.

It will also take time for it to spread throughout the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Houzhao can only wait patiently now for talented people to come and join him.

Looking forward to it, December 18th.

The Cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue came up with the latest plan based on Zhu Houzhao's ideas.

Compared with the Sui and Song dynasties, the salaries of Ming officials were relatively low, but on the surface they were not too much.

According to the official salary, an official of the ninth rank would have no problem supporting a family of several people.

The most important problem was that the salaries of Ming officials were not paid in silver or grain, but were often replaced by spices, physical objects, or even completely useless banknotes.

Many times, this is quite a pitfall.

The cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue came up with several proposals, all of which were relatively conservative and were rejected by Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao now believes in one truth.

If you want the horse to run, you have to feed it.

Emperor Wu's dragon cavalry, tens of thousands of war horses, including the white dragon, made him deeply understand this truth.

If you want people to work hard, you have to feed them first.

Otherwise, everything else is false.

He once again applied what he had learned from the battlefield and the military to official politics.

This is also the reason why the proportion of stolen silver given to the Jinyiwei and Dongchang was previously determined.

Therefore, he vetoed several proposals from the Cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue in recent days.

Until today, there is a plan that makes the three elders of the cabinet and the Minister of Revenue feel their hearts beating faster and even panic.

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(End of this chapter)