I was compiling the daily records during the Wanli reign

Chapter 275 A Small Test! Reducing the Power of Eunuchs
September 27th, early morning.

Outside the Nanjing Garrison Command, a list of punishments was posted for the main culprits in a series of cases, including misappropriation of grain reserves from the Ever-Normal Granary, embezzlement of disaster relief funds, and the assassination of Cao Zheng, the Imperial Inspector of Southern Zhili.

Sun Long, the eunuch in charge of textile production in Suzhou and Hangzhou, had his family property confiscated and was sentenced to beheading.

Wang Yue, the eunuch who was in charge of the Nanjing garrison, had his family property confiscated and was sentenced to beheading.

Xu Bangrui, the garrison commander of Nanjing and Duke of Wei, had his family property confiscated, was sentenced to beheading, and his entire family and relatives were exiled three thousand li away.

Zheng Jia, the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture, Zhou Shi'an, the prefect of Suzhou Prefecture, and Yu Xiong, the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture, were all dismissed from their posts, their property was confiscated, and they were exiled three thousand li away.

……

In addition, the imperial court will allocate another 50,000 taels of silver for disaster relief, exempt the three affected prefectures from taxes for three years, suspend all textile production in the three prefectures, and send all dispatched eunuchs back to the capital. The resumption date will be determined based on the development of people's livelihood in the three prefectures.

Upon hearing this result, the people of Nanjing spread the news and were overjoyed.

The imperial court was so generous.

Besides the significant negative impact of this incident, the national treasury had accumulated a certain amount of funds after the new policy reforms, making it willing to spend money to appease the people.

……

September 28th, near noon, outside the city gate in the south of Nanjing.

A vast expanse of people, all of them.

On the east side outside the city, on a makeshift execution platform, Sun Long, Wang Yue, and Xu Bangrui were bound and kneeling on the ground.

The prefects of the three affected prefectures knelt below, awaiting the completion of the executions, after which they would be immediately exiled.

The four imperial envoys sat behind them.

Seated on either side were a group of Nanjing officials of the fifth rank or above, led by Zhang Siwei.

As noon approached, Shen Shixing slowly stood up, walked to the center of the execution platform, and looked around.

The entire execution ground immediately fell silent.

Shen Shixing proclaimed loudly, "Fellow villagers of Yingtian, I am Shen Shixing. After several days of investigation, this case has finally come to light, bringing justice to the persecuted people of Southern Zhili. His Majesty has ordered me to inform you that the court maintains a zero-tolerance attitude towards all officials, nobles, and powerful eunuchs who oppress the people, embezzle public funds, and abuse their power. Every single one discovered will be dealt with without exception..."

This is the best time to appease the people, so Shen Shixing naturally had to say a few more words to demonstrate the court's concern for the people and its impartiality.

Half an hour later, when Shenshixing finished speaking, enthusiastic applause rang out from the people inside and outside the execution ground.

At that moment, Feng Bao's face burned with embarrassment.

He actually wanted to say a few words in his defense and change the public's preconceived notions about eunuchs.

But after thinking about it, he gave up.

Eunuchs enjoyed privileges but also bore the responsibility of shielding the emperor from criticism. Some filth could only be thrown at eunuchs, who not only could not avoid it, but also had to grit their teeth and accept it, swallowing the filth.

Not far away, Zhang Siwei looked serious.

The fact that the imperial court did not include his crimes in this matter shows that they have been very lenient with him.

Last night, he wrote his resignation memorial and sent it to the capital this morning.

He did not want to retire, but if he did not resign voluntarily, the court would dismiss him, and he would be even more humiliated.

Before long, it was noon.

Shen Shixing shouted, "Execute them!"

Swish!Swish!Swish!
The executioner threw away the wooden plaques behind the three men and raised his broadsword.

At this moment, Zhang Long and Wang Yue both had blank expressions. Their mistake was that they regarded themselves as imperial envoys sent from afar, and that they completely disregarded the common people for the sake of the royal family's private affairs.

Duke Xu Bangrui of Wei had tears streaming down his face.

If he hadn't followed Wang Yue's lead in everything, and if he hadn't treated disaster relief as a joke, he wouldn't have ended up in such a state.

"cut!"

With a loud shout from the executioner, three bloody heads rolled to the ground.

The onlookers cheered enthusiastically, while many officials who felt guilty felt a chill run down their spines. They knew that if they followed the example of these three men, deceiving their superiors and showing no regard for the people, they would suffer the same fate.

……

September 29th, afternoon.

Shen Shixing and others have finished compiling all the case files, and the imperial court has already dispatched officials to take over the positions of the officials in Southern Zhili who were killed, dismissed, or punished.

Shen Shixing has decided that the imperial envoy's team will leave Nanjing City early tomorrow morning.

……

As night fell, after dinner, Hai Rui went to Shen Nian's room.

"Elder Hai, please have a seat!" Shen Nian said with a smile as she poured tea for Hai Rui.

Hai Rui glanced at Shen Nian's desk and said, "Ziheng, are you planning to use this matter as a pretext to impeach the powerful eunuchs and advocate for the abolition of their interference in politics?"

“Yes, now is the best opportunity to submit a memorial.” Shen Nian was not surprised that Hai Rui had guessed his thoughts.

Hai Rui shook his head.

"I have just finished writing a memorial, the content of which should not be much different from what you wrote, so you should not submit it! Based on this matter alone, it is impossible for His Majesty to abolish the eunuchs' interference in politics. My submission of the memorial may make His Majesty realize the danger of the eunuchs' interference in politics and punish them. You should not get involved. Do more things and make fewer enemies. It is most important to cultivate His Majesty into a wise ruler!" Hai Rui said slowly.

Although Hai Rui didn't say it explicitly, Shen Nian understood that Hai Rui meant for Shen Nian to conserve his energy for more important matters and not to get involved in the power struggles between the inner court and the outer court because of such impeachments. Hai Rui's thoughts coincided with Zhang Juzheng's.

The goal was to protect Shen Nian so that she could be promoted quickly and do more valuable things.

"Elder Hai, I understand!" Shen Nian bowed slightly.

He knew very well that the best time to get the young Wanli Emperor to abolish the rule of eunuchs interfering in politics was after he assumed personal rule, not now.

……

September 30th, early morning.

Zhang Siwei, along with a group of Nanjing officials, saw off the four imperial envoys outside the Nanjing Garrison Command.

However, to everyone's surprise and yet also expected, Hai Rui, one of the imperial envoys, had already left the garrison headquarters before midnight.

Hai Rui did not need to return to the capital to report.

In addition, he disliked social interactions, so he chose to leave Nanjing ahead of time.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Zhang Siwei, Shen Shixing, Shen Nian, and Feng Bao each boarded a carriage and headed out of the city.

The three men arrived to provide disaster relief, but had no choice but to ride their horses at breakneck speed.

Now that they were not in such a hurry to return to the capital, they all chose to take a horse-drawn carriage.

By carriage, it is estimated that it will take about half a month to reach the capital.

As Zhang Siwei watched the procession of the three imperial envoys recede into the distance, he murmured, "The court will surely need my help in some way, and I will surely have another chance to return to the capital!"

……

On the fifth day of the tenth month, Hai Rui's memorial impeaching the powerful eunuchs was delivered to the capital.

Upon learning of this, officials from the Censorate and the Six Ministries submitted memorials in support of the proposal, earnestly requesting the court to abolish the power of eunuchs to interfere in politics and to appoint them as supervisors in other regions.

The reason why the officials in charge of science and technology were so proactive.

On the one hand, it was due to the death of Cao Zheng, and on the other hand, it was because the people who had suppressed the censors and officials the most in recent years were these eunuchs.

In the capital, the eunuchs of the inner court never consulted with officials of the outer court when they used the secret police and imperial guards to carry out their duties. When the officials of the censorate and the imperial secret police found problems, the eunuchs of the inner court would use the pretext of imperial orders to prevent the officials of the censorate and the imperial secret police from intervening.

The eunuchs dispatched to other regions wielded even greater power. They were supposed to be supervised by the imperial inspectors, but relying on imperial authority and the influence of Feng Bao, they refused to cooperate with the supervision. Many imperial inspectors either avoided them, colluded with them, or were murdered by them, just like Cao Zheng.

Now that the dispatched eunuch has made a serious mistake, and Hai Rui has taken the lead in impeaching him, the officials of the Censorate will naturally not let this opportunity pass.

Even if it's impossible to prevent eunuchs from interfering in politics, their power should be weakened.

Within two days, Emperor Wanli's desk was piled high with memorials.

The cabinet stated that the matter involved the inner court and required the young Wanli Emperor to make a decision personally. This statement actually indicated that the cabinet and the officials of the Censorate shared the same opinion.

In the mind of the young Wanli Emperor, weakening the power of the eunuchs was tantamount to weakening the emperor's power.

He was clearly unwilling and had no choice but to keep all the memorials in the palace without issuing them.

However, the officials in charge of the censorate were quite excited, and they were eager to submit three memorials a day to impeach the eunuchs. Helpless, the young Wanli Emperor had no choice but to summon Zhang Juzheng to the Wenhua Hall.

Inside the Wenhua Hall.

The young Wanli Emperor glanced at the mountain of impeachment memorials beside him and said with a sneer, "Prime Minister, these officials of the Censorate are really going too far! The inner court is just as important as the outer court. If I recall all the eunuchs sent out to the capital and stop the Directorate of Ceremonial from interfering in politics, wouldn't that be like cutting off my own limbs and blinding myself? I'm afraid I'll be busy approving imperial edicts all day long and won't be able to do anything else!"

In front of Zhang Juzheng, the young Wanli Emperor made no attempt to conceal the importance of the eunuchs in the inner court to him.

present.

The officials who understood the young Wanli Emperor best were Zhang Juzheng and Shen Nian.

Zhang Juzheng was dissatisfied with many of Wanli's ideas and actions over the past two years, but sixteen or seventeen years old is an age when people are more rebellious.

In order to implement the new policies, Zhang Juzheng also made some compromises.

For example, in the past two years, he has rarely reprimanded the young Wanli Emperor; as long as it does not affect the new policies, he will follow the young Wanli Emperor's ideas in many ways.

Zhang Juzheng paused for a moment before speaking: "Your Majesty, the censors and officials impeached the eunuchs because the power of the dispatched eunuchs Sun Long and Wang Yue was too great, which not only harmed Your Majesty's reputation but also endangered the lives of the people."

"In the past, the Imperial Censor could supervise the eunuchs stationed outside the capital, but now the eunuchs stationed outside the provinces hold even higher positions than the local governors, which is tantamount to lawlessness. I suggest that Your Majesty issue an edict emphasizing the Imperial Censor's right to supervise the eunuchs stationed in the provinces. Furthermore, even if Your Majesty cannot abolish the system of sending eunuchs to the provinces, you should at least increase the power of the local governors and censors to supervise the eunuchs stationed outside the provinces. Otherwise, the eunuchs' power will damage the imperial reputation and harm the local people's livelihood..."

In short: without stripping the eunuchs of their power, this matter will be difficult to resolve.

Although Emperor Wanli was unwilling, the scandal involving the eunuchs Sun Long and Wang Yue meant that if he did not reduce the eunuchs' control over external affairs, the officials of the Censorate and the Imperial Censorate would inevitably continue to cause trouble.

"I will follow the Grand Secretary's arrangements!" the young Wanli Emperor said helplessly.

Being an emperor is not easy, and being an emperor who has never ruled in his own right is even more difficult. The current Wanli Emperor is in a stage where he wants to control the power of the world, but unfortunately, he is powerless to do so.

Without Zhang Juzheng as a pillar of strength...

The young Wanli Emperor was completely incapable of properly handling state affairs, and was even likely to have irreconcilable conflicts with civil officials outside the court.

"Your Majesty, it is difficult to win the hearts of the people, but easy to lose them. The hearts of the people are above all else. In the future, you should be more prudent in your actions and consider things from a longer-term perspective!" Zhang Juzheng bowed and cupped his hands towards the young Wanli Emperor.

This statement implies that Emperor Wanli's order for eunuchs to weave winter clothes for the instructors and students of the Jingwu Academy was a display of prioritizing the imperial family's prestige over the people's welfare, revealing excessive selfishness.

"I understand, thank you for your guidance, Your Excellency!" the young Wanli Emperor said earnestly.

(End of this chapter)