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Chapter 562: Civil and Military Achievements
In the fifteenth year of Zhengtong, the emperor directly selected one thousand candidates in the special examination of that year, and they were all between eighteen and thirty years old. There was an uproar in the court and the public. Many important officials of the Ming Dynasty thought that the emperor had started to act recklessly again, and the people did not understand what their emperor was going to do. Those who were the main force of the imperial examination who were over thirty years old could not accept it and felt that they were being targeted by the emperor.

"Yu Qian, now the three of us old guys are busy with the affairs of Zhishi. You are in charge of the cabinet. You must stop the emperor from acting so willfully!" Yang Shiqi and the other two looked at Yu Qian tremblingly.

"Three Yang elders, although the emperor is very willful, it is better for us to observe him for a while before we figure out his purpose." Yu Qian said with other ideas.

"Yu Qian, do you have any ideas?" Yang Shiqi looked at Yu Qian meaningfully.

"Three Yangs, why don't we go and see the Queen Mother first? I believe she can help us solve our doubts."

"No!" Upon hearing Yu Qian's proposal, Yang Rong, who had been silent on the side, immediately spoke up to stop them. "When the Emperor returned from his northern expedition last year, he issued a decree prohibiting the harem from interfering in government affairs. We should try to avoid interfering with the Empress Dowager from now on."

"This"

"Yu Qian, what Lord Yang Rong said makes sense. You must remember it in the future." Knowing that Yu Qian wanted to rely on the empress dowager to suppress the emperor, Yang Shiqi shook his head pessimistically.

"Three Yangs, our Ming Dynasty governs the country with filial piety. The Empress Dowager has always been wise and open-minded. Your Majesty should respect her." Yu Qian still insisted on his own ideas and did not understand the Three Yangs' obstruction.

"Yu Qian, Empress Dowager Sun was wise and open-minded, but what about the Grand Empress Dowager?" Seeing Yu Qian's naiveté, Yang Rong shook his head again in disappointment. "We can't pin our hopes on uncontrollable factors. Instead, we must establish an absolutely authoritative rule: the harem and eunuchs who support the emperor are not allowed to interfere in government affairs."

"Hey! Three Yangs, we were talking about the emperor's crazy recruitment of officials, how come we are bringing the empress dowager into this?" Yu Qian said somewhat embarrassedly when he saw that he could not convince the Three Yangs.

"Yu Qian, why don't the four of us ask to see the emperor together and see what his underlying plan is." Seeing that Yu Qian was humiliated by Yang Rong, Yang Shiqi on the side quickly tried to smooth things over.

"Huh? Okay! We do need to have a good talk with His Majesty about how to handle the issue of the crown prince. The previous dynasty has been arguing for too long."

The emperor spoke to the important ministers of the previous dynasty about the handling of the enthronement, and then allowed the officials in the court to quarrel, without expressing his opinion to any party, and simply accelerated the construction of a palace for Prince Zhu Qiyu of Cheng to high standards. This caused a lot of discussion in the court and the country, and no one could figure out the emperor's true thoughts.

When Yu Qian and the Three Yangs came before the emperor, Yu Qian explained their purpose. However, the emperor smiled and explained, "My dear ministers, the thousand newly minted scholars have been arranged. I have asked Shi Biao to take them to Tumu Fort."

"What? Why did the emperor send these thousand people to Tumu Fort?" Yu Qian and the three Yangs widened their eyes in shock.

"I intend to reform the military system. These one thousand newly minted scholars will enter the military camp for two years of training, while learning various military knowledge and literature. They will then be assigned to important positions in the Ming army."

"what?"

"Also, I have had the Supervisor of Justice issue an edict appointing Fan Zhong to the cabinet as one of the ministers. The cabinet will be fixed at seven members, and each cabinet must have one or two military representatives."

"what?"

The emperor's decision was too sudden. Every national policy was to decentralize power from the civil servants. They were the top talents in the Ming Dynasty and soon realized that the emperor was guarding against them.

At this time, Yu Qian, who was a little too proud of himself, couldn't help but hesitate. He also wanted to stop the emperor's order, but the emperor used an open and aboveboard strategy, and they had no way to stop it even if they wanted to.

"Your Majesty, the issue of enthroning kings in various places has been debated for a long time. It is time to give a clear answer." Yu Qian asked about the issue of enthroning kings at this time.

"Lord Yu, the three Yang elders, what are your opinions?"

"Your Majesty, we all support the enthronement of the king and his entry into the capital. It will not only save the financial expenditure of our Ming Dynasty, but also completely put an end to the rebellion of the enthroned king. It is indeed a great thing that benefits the country and the people." The three Yangs first looked at each other, and then Yang Shiqi replied.

"Well, then your cabinet should draft the decree, and it will serve as the final decree for the three Yang elders."

"Yes! Your Majesty."

"The three Yangs are the pillars of our Ming Dynasty. They will surely go down in history. I also intend to arrange for the three Yangs to be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple."

"Your Majesty, I, your humble servant, thank you for your grace." San Yang knelt down on the ground excitedly.

The emperor quickly helped the three Yangs to their feet, then said with deep emotion, "Three Yangs, it is I who should express my gratitude. Thank you for always turning the tide and saving our Ming Dynasty from disaster. I hope that future ministers will all take the Three Yangs as their idols."

The emperor's praise was extremely high. It was the ultimate ideal of ministers in all dynasties, and now it was realized by the Three Yangs. Yu Qian on the side couldn't help but look at the Three Yangs with envy. He also wanted to achieve the success of the Three Yangs.

At this time, Qimuge and Queen Qian were both pregnant. According to the emperor's original idea, Qimuge's child would be given to Queen Qian to raise, and Qimuge would continue to guard the emperor. However, Qimuge took the initiative to resign from the position of Jinyiwei Commander, and was willing to stay in the deep palace to be the emperor's woman. Finally, the emperor gladly named Qimuge as a noble concubine.

After the Battle of Tumu, the Ming Dynasty was like a giant dragon licking its wounds silently. Because the emperor had already judged the ambition of Oirat Yesen, he had been suppressing his restlessness and watching the upcoming great changes in the grassland, and a series of reforms also began within the Ming Dynasty.

The emperor selected talents from the special examination to send them to Tumu Fort for training. For the Ming Dynasty scholars who studied hard just to become officials, their reaction was actually the most intense. Since the first special examination in the 15th year of Zhengtong, there were very few candidates for the special examinations starting from the 16th year of Zhengtong.

However, the emperor seemed to have anticipated this situation long ago, and simply selected talents from among the candidates, and then sent them to Tumu Fort in Shanxi continuously according to the standard of one thousand places every year.

Today, Tumu Fort is not only the place where the emperor's mausoleum is built, but also a strange large military camp. All the candidates are selected from scholars across the country. They train hard every day. After two years, others can no longer tell their identities. Then they are all arranged into the army of the Ming Dynasty.

Although the emperor never commented on the debates in the court, the accelerated construction of Prince Cheng's palace still frightened the kings from all over the country. These kings had originally rejected this decision, and now seeing that the emperor was so persistent, they all began to collude secretly.

However, no matter how they jumped up and down, the issue of ennobling the kings was debated for a long time in the court. In the end, under the emperor's imperial edict, the ennobling kings from all regions obediently moved to the capital and were forbidden to associate with ministers and generals. The royal family members who left the capital without permission were considered traitors. The ennobling kings from all regions did not think of resisting, but they were no longer the same as before Zhu Di's Jingnan Rebellion. They were like tigers with their teeth pulled out, and they were completely powerless under the emperor's power.

The conferring of the title of king and the entry into the capital was undoubtedly the biggest surprise to the Ministry of Revenue, because they could receive the huge wealth and land of the kings from all over the country, but the emperor handed it over to the Ming Royal Chamber of Commerce in advance, and it became the property of the emperor's inner treasury, which made the officials of the Ministry of Revenue happy for nothing. They then realized that the emperor was the biggest beneficiary of this conferring of the title of king and the entry into the capital.

The capital city also became lively because of the kings from all over the Ming Dynasty coming to the capital. Seeing that the kings from all over the country had been dealt such a severe blow by him, the emperor immediately threw out a carrot that had touched honey. He allowed the kings to take the imperial examinations, and then enter the court to serve as officials, and he also chose a capable one from among the kings to join the cabinet.

The emperor's carrot could be said to be a fatal temptation. The kings no longer complained about the emperor's tyranny, nor did they have any objections to the property and land confiscated by the Ming Royal Chamber of Commerce. They all began to express their love for the emperor.

In the 18th year of Zhengtong, the Wala tribe on the grassland had another change. The Yuan Dynasty's Grand Master Yesen proclaimed himself "Great Yuan Tiansheng Khan" and established the reign title "Tianyuan", and then a fierce conflict broke out with the Great Khan Toghtobukha.

Yesen's ambition had been exposed at this time. All the Mongol tribes saw Yesen's true face and expressed their dissatisfaction and resistance to Yesen of the Oirat tribe. However, Yesen still acted as he pleased and acted alone, as if he didn't care about other people's opinions at all.

Until the great Khan Toghtobuhua was suddenly assassinated, although the killers were all unknown assassins, the tribal leaders on the grassland still put the blame on Yesen. Then Yesen fell into the dilemma of being betrayed by everyone, but Yesen himself felt very aggrieved.

"Brother, why did you want to assassinate Toghtobukha? We are fully capable of defeating him fairly!" Bayan Temur looked at his elder brother in disbelief.

"I didn't! It's not me! I never bother to do such a thing." Dayuantian Shengda Khan Yesen had a bitter smile and confusion on his face, because he really did nothing.

"Brother, do you think the tribes on the grassland will believe your explanation?" Bayan Temur was already certain that Yesen had done this.

"Humph! I am now the only Great Khan on the grassland. Who dares to obey my orders?"

"Brother, I hope you can continue to be so proud." Bayan Temur was completely disappointed with his elder brother.

Because of the sudden killing of Khan Toghtobuhua, all the tribes on the grassland turned their attention to Yesen, and then the grassland fell into endless fighting. Of course, all of this was done by the Jinyiwei at the instruction of the Ming Emperor, because they felt that it was time for the grassland to fall apart.

The Ming court soon received this news, but did not immediately send troops to the grassland. Instead, they felt that the Mongolian grassland was not too chaotic yet, so they continued to accumulate their strength.

Adhering to the principle of pacifying the country before resisting foreign aggression, the emperor had been solving the internal problems of the Ming Dynasty for four years. Under the emperor's personal firm will, he freed the Ming Dynasty from the problem of the inner palace and eunuchs interfering in politics. He also learned from the practices of the later Qing Dynasty to limit the rebellion of the princes to the greatest extent. At the same time, he carried out a thorough transformation of the Ming Dynasty's army. In the past four years, he trained a large number of highly educated military talents, and gradually became able to compete with the civil service group.

In order to restrict the civil service group of the Ming Dynasty, the cabinet allowed representatives of the army and the kings to participate, and at the same time strengthened the absolute separation of military and politics, reformed the court bulletins into newspapers close to modern ones, increased the praise of the emperor and the dissemination of ideas, and completely put the public opinion of the Ming Dynasty in the hands of the emperor himself.

In the 20th year of Zhengtong, Yesen was attacked and killed by his own subordinate Alazhiyuan, and then the grassland fell into real chaos. Bayan Temur led his tribe to ask for help from the Ming Dynasty. Then the Ming Dynasty, which had completed the accumulation of national strength, entered the grassland again and pacified the tribes on the grassland like autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.

After the Ming Dynasty pacified the grassland, it still handed the grassland over to the various tribes to rule, but began to recruit soldiers from the tribes to form an anti-Japanese army to enter the Japanese mainland from the Silla Peninsula to fight, and at the same time went to the Southeast Peninsula to attack.

After pacifying the grassland, the emperor's popularity reached its peak. The people of the Ming Dynasty selectively forgot the emperor's experience of being captured and began to sing praises to their emperor.

"Your Majesty, in order to congratulate our Ming Dynasty for conquering the grassland, I have specially refined a batch of elixirs." Xu Bin came to Su Ning holding a plate of red elixirs.

"Elixir?"

"Yes! The main ingredient is cinnabar, and the auxiliary ingredients include pearl powder, rhino horn powder, thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum and other precious materials." Xu Bin talked to Suning with a proud look on his face.

"Xu Bin, why do you suddenly want to present the elixir to me?" Su Ning looked at Xu Bin in front of him meaningfully.

"Your Majesty, my great Ming martial arts are unrivaled, and Your Majesty should live as long as the heavens."

"Live as long as the sky? Has there ever been an emperor in history who lived as long as the sky?" Suning said with a sneer.

"Huh? Your Majesty, that's mainly because they don't have the fate of becoming an immortal. But Your Majesty is completely different. He has been blessed by the divine power and has a much better chance of becoming an immortal."

"Xu Bin, I have always known that you were tinkering with some elixir and selling it to dignitaries in the capital. I never thought you would set your sights on me." Su Ning looked at Xu Bin in front of him with disappointment. He had indeed tolerated him for a long time.

"Your Majesty, I am your subject."

"Xu Bin, can you tell me the reason?" At this time, Su Ning was really curious about why Xu Bin "poisoned" him. You know, the ingredient of cinnabar is highly toxic mercury.

"Your Majesty, I really mean well. I just want to share your worries!" Seeing that Su Ning knew exactly what he had done, Xu Bin got really angry.

"Xu Bin, since you don't want to talk, I won't force you." Seeing Xu Bin's stubborn attitude, Su Ning felt extremely disdainful and said to the Jinyiwei outside the palace, "Come here! Take Xu Bin away and castrate him."

"Yes! Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty, you cannot treat me like this! I really have good intentions and want Your Majesty to live a long and healthy life!" Xu Bin was still shouting as he was dragged away by the Imperial Guards.

At this time, Xu Bin was at a loss. He didn't know why the emperor treated him like this. He knew that his "magic pill" was a luxury that the powerful people in the Ming Dynasty fought over. However, no one answered his doubts and he was soon dragged to the cleansing room by the Jinyiwei.

　A little card, very painful

　　
　
(End of this chapter)