I was compiling the daily records during the Wanli reign

"Please, Grand Secretary Shen, return to court to take charge of the overall situation!"

This saying began circulating among the people in March of the fifteenth year of the Wanli reign and continued until October.

Public opinion was outraged, and the police's repeated bans were ineffective.

Meanwhile, everything Shen Nian did in Ji and Liao became known to the people of the two capitals and thirteen provinces.

Some impoverished people who were ravaged by land annexation even secretly went to Liaodong, preferring to become refugees there rather than suffer in their hometowns.

A large number of local officials who had been trained by Shen Nian were also full of complaints, believing that the court was in chaos. They submitted memorials to the emperor, requesting that Shen Nian return to the capital. However, all the memorials were rejected, and some officials were even dismissed.

At this moment, the imperial court in the capital was in even greater chaos.

The five Grand Secretaries—Shen Shixing, Yu Youding, Wang Jiaping, Xu Guo, and Shen Yiguan—were no longer able to control the court.

The censors remained silent, while the Hanlin Academy officials buried themselves in writing history.

Some officials in the six ministries secretly formed cliques to protect their positions, while others were muddle-headed and had no idea what to do.

Faced with this situation, the five cabinet ministers chose to persuade the young Wanli Emperor to establish an heir apparent.

They felt that given the current physical condition of the young Wanli Emperor, he was very likely to die young like the late emperor; they had given up hope on the young Wanli Emperor who did not perform the suburban sacrifices, the ancestral temple ceremony, the court audiences, the imperial decrees, or the lectures, and hoped to cultivate the eldest son, Zhu Changluo.

However, the crown prince that the young Wanli Emperor wanted to establish was Zhu Changxun, the third prince born to his favorite Consort Zheng.

……

November 3rd, afternoon.

The five Grand Secretaries, Shen Shixing, Yu Youding, Wang Jiaping, Xu Guo, and Shen Yiguan, knelt outside the Qianqing Palace, pleading with the young Wanli Emperor to see them.

The five of them had not seen the true face of the young Wanli Emperor for a full year and two months.

A moment later, Zhang Cheng, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, walked up to the five men.

"Five Grand Secretaries, if you have something to say, you can send me to inform His Majesty that he does not wish to see you!"

In the first half of the year, cabinet ministers requested an audience with the young Wanli Emperor, but the young Wanli Emperor gave the same reason: His Majesty is ill and unable to see them.

In the second half of the year, there won't even be any excuses needed.

Shen Shixing, with his neck stiff, said, "Eunuch Zhang, please inform His Majesty that if His Majesty does not see us today, we will continue to kneel!"

Shen Shixing unusually stood his ground for once.

"Hmph!" Zhang Cheng snorted coldly and strode away.

Two hours later, night fell, and the five cabinet ministers remained kneeling.

Just then, Zhang Cheng, the eunuch from the Directorate of Ceremonial, came over again.

"Five of you, stop kneeling! His Majesty will not see you. The Forbidden City is about to be sealed off. If you don't leave now, I'll have to have someone drag you out!"

"We will not leave until we see His Majesty!" Shen Shixing's attitude was extremely firm.

……

About fifteen minutes later.

The five Grand Secretaries were dragged from the Qianqing Palace to the front of the Wenyuan Pavilion by several eunuchs.

Shen Shixing glared and said, "Tomorrow we'll continue kneeling in front of the Qianqing Palace!"

At this moment, Shen Yiguan frowned slightly and said, "Grand Secretary Shen, as the saying goes, a small beating will be followed by a big one. If we continue to pressure His Majesty, we may not just be dragged away. If we keep kneeling, who will draft the motions?"

“What’s the use of the draft? The Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs still has the final say. If Grand Secretary Shen doesn’t want to kneel, he doesn’t have to!” Wang Jiaping said, glaring.

"Then kneel down!" Shen Yiguan said, flicking his sleeves as he left.

After he walked away, Xu Guo spoke up: "Gentlemen, I think it's unlikely that kneeling and begging His Majesty to make the eldest son the crown prince will be effective. His Majesty is completely ignoring the chaos in the court. I suggest that we jointly write another letter requesting Minister Shen to return to court and asking Ziheng to return to the capital. The court is in chaos now, and only Ziheng can restore order and restart the new policies!"

"I second that!" Wang Jiaping said first.

Yu Youding, who was standing to the side, nodded and then looked at the chief minister, Shen Shixing.

Shen Shixing thought for a moment and said, "I also agree to let Ziheng return to the capital, but the strength of just a few of us is not enough. I would like to trouble you all to mobilize all the officials in the capital!"

“No problem!” the other three nodded in unison.

……

It was early morning on the fourth day of the eleventh lunar month.

After the palace gates were opened, Shen Shixing, Yu Youding, Wang Jiaping, and Xu Guoxian handed a memorial to Fang Ping, the second-ranking eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, who was currently the third most powerful official in the Directorate of Ceremonial.

Then he knelt again in front of the Qianqing Palace.

As for Shen Yiguan, he was displeased when he heard that the four Grand Secretaries had invited Shen Nian to return to the capital, so he sat alone in the Grand Secretariat to draft a proposal.

……

Inside the Qianqing Palace, the young Wanli Emperor sat on his throne, flipping through a book.

At this moment, he is actually feeling very empty.

He had originally thought that after Shen Nian left the court, he would be able to handle the affairs of the court well and concentrate all the power of the world in his own hands.

Who would have thought that, due to his excessive indulgence in pleasure and his poor judgment in choosing his subordinates, he abandoned the original new policies in order to suppress the remaining forces of Zhang Juzheng, and in less than five years, he had made a mess of the country.

At this moment, he was afraid to see the memorials that pointed out the problems in the Ming Dynasty, and he was afraid to see the officials who would immediately point out the ills of the current government.

The more he feared it, the less he wanted to attend court; the less he attended court, the more chaotic the court became.

At this time, Fang Ping compiled the contents of the memorials submitted by the five Grand Secretaries and reported them to the young Wanli Emperor.

Emperor Wanli glared and said, "Didn't I say that Jiliao still needs Minister Shen? Tell them to go back and do their jobs properly, and stop kneeling!"

Helpless, Fang Ping had no choice but to go out and convey the imperial edict from the young Wanli Emperor.

However, this time the four cabinet ministers were quite stubborn, kneeling in front of the Qianqing Palace and refusing to eat or drink.

As night fell, the four cabinet ministers were once again dragged away by the imperial guards.

……

The following day, the four Grand Secretaries once again knelt and offered their remonstrances at the Qianqing Palace.

At the same time, officials from the Hanlin Academy, the Six Ministries, the Censorate, the Six Departments, and meritorious officials all knelt at the Meridian Gate to plead for Shen Nian to return to the capital and take charge of the overall situation.

They're not even handling official business anymore!

Everyone can see that the Ming Dynasty is currently facing serious problems, and if it is not saved, the Ming Dynasty will perish.

After the officials took action, led by students of the Imperial Academy, scholars and common people in the capital responded one after another.

In less than half a day, the line of kneeling remonstrances stretched from the Meridian Gate all the way to the Chengtian Gate, and it was still growing.

Some scholars were so emotional that they even shouted out the promise Shen Nian had made to the world: to feed the world!

"Please invite Minister Shen back to Beijing, so that everyone in the country can have enough to eat!"

"Please bring Minister Shen back to the capital, so that the people of the world can have enough to eat!"

……

Thousands of people surrounded the imperial city, creating a deafening noise that even the young Wanli Emperor in the Qianqing Palace could hear clearly.

Upon hearing these shouts, Shen Yiguan reluctantly went to the place where the four Grand Secretaries were kneeling and knelt down as well.

He dared not stand against the majority.

At this moment, both Zhang Cheng and Zhang Jing were somewhat frightened.

Hundreds of officials knelt in remonstrance, and the authorities dared to punish and expel them. Now, the number of officials and civilians combined is over a thousand, and some members of the Imperial Guards have even spontaneously knelt on the ground and shouted.

If they dare to obstruct them, they might be trampled into mincemeat. Currently, the only ones who can disperse these people are the five Grand Secretaries.

As dusk approached, the shouts were still deafening.

The young Wanli Emperor paced back and forth in the Qianqing Palace, growing increasingly agitated. He felt that if the commotion continued, things would spiral out of control.

He pondered for a moment, then said to Fang Ping beside him, "Place a screen in the east wing, and then let the five elders in!"

The screen was placed there because the young Wanli Emperor did not want people to see his fear, helplessness, and emptiness from the expression on his face.

Fang Ping, who was standing nearby, was overjoyed and hurriedly went to invite the five Grand Secretaries.

……

After a while.

The five Grand Secretaries arrived at the east wing of the Qianqing Palace and heard the voice of the young Wanli Emperor through the screen.

"Tell me, how can we drive away those troublemakers outside the Meridian Gate?" asked the young Wanli Emperor, this was the question he cared about most.

"Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty has reached a critical juncture. The court is in chaos, the new policies have been abandoned, and large numbers of rebels have emerged in Jiangnan and the Southwest... We do not wish to become ministers who bring about the downfall of the nation, nor do we wish Your Majesty to become a ruler who brings about the downfall of the nation... The only one who can save the country is Minister Shen!"

"The officials and common people outside are all kneeling and remonstrating for the country. The matter of establishing an heir can be discussed later, but if the court is not revitalized and order is not restored with new policies, the Ming Dynasty will perish!"

……

After Shen Shixing finished speaking, Wang Jiaping, Xu Guo, and Yu Youding began to discuss the problems currently facing the court.

They felt that the young Wanli Emperor had no idea what the Ming Dynasty was like at that time.

Upon hearing the words "the emperor who lost his country," even the young Wanli Emperor felt a tremor in his heart.

Although he was in the deep palace, he was still quite aware of the current situation in the world. Apart from Ji and Liao, the rest of the country was in chaos.

After thinking for a moment, the young Wanli Emperor finally couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"I can allow Minister Shen to return to court and rejoin the cabinet. However, I need the five of you to agree to two conditions. First, the matter of establishing an heir must not be discussed again. I am still young, and there is no rush to do so. Second, I need the five of you to persuade Minister Shen that after returning to court, he must focus on matters of the court, not interfere with the inner court, not interfere with my actions, and certainly not oppose me. I need him to write a letter of commitment!"

The young Wanli Emperor was a person with extremely strong self-esteem.

He knew that Shen Nian had the ability to change the world, to restore order to the world, and to make the Ministry of Revenue's coffers bulge again, but he did not want Shen Nian to change himself.

The five cabinet ministers all understood.

The unspoken meaning of the young Wanli Emperor was that after Shen Nian returned to court, he could still do whatever he wanted, and the former could not interfere. The young Wanli Emperor merely regarded Shen Nian as a money-making machine to clean up messes.

Shen Shixing thought for a moment, then cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I am confident that I can persuade Minister Shen to write a letter of commitment."

At this moment, Shen Shixing had to agree; persuading Shen Nian was easier than persuading the young Wanli Emperor.

The young Wanli Emperor nodded.

"Very well, once I see Shen Qing's promise, I will issue an edict ordering Shen Qing to return to court, appointing him as Grand Secretary and concurrently Minister of Personnel."

Upon hearing this, Shen Shixing, Wang Jiaping, Xu Guo, and Yu Youding were overjoyed, but Shen Yiguan couldn't help but frown, yet there was nothing he could do.

……

Half an hour later, the five Grand Secretaries arrived at the Meridian Gate.

Shen Shixing informed the officials who knelt in remonstrance that Shen Nian's return to the capital was progressing well and that he would definitely return at the beginning of next year. He then instructed the officials to persuade the people to leave.

Soon, the officials and ordinary people, feeling a sense of hope, began to leave.

That same day, Shen Shixing wrote a private letter to Shen Nian and ordered it to be sent to Liaodong Town by express courier.

……

Five days later, in Liaoyang City.

Shen Nian received a letter from Shen Shixing.

He wrote in a very tactful way, saying that the young Wanli Emperor missed him very much, and that all the officials missed him very much. They hoped that he would return to court and join the cabinet to restart the new policies. He also mentioned the letter of promise that the young Wanli Emperor had Shen Nian write.

After thinking for a moment, Shen Nian did not immediately agree to return to the court, but instead made a request.

"During the restart of the new policies, the power of the Directorate of Ceremonial to approve imperial edicts and the special powers of the Eastern and Western Depots will be abolished. The inner court shall not interfere in politics. Either His Majesty shall handle the memorials personally, or the cabinet shall take charge of all government affairs!"

Shen Nian returned to the court, and what he wanted to do was to centralize power.

The first step in centralizing power is to transform the cabinet ministers into a cabinet of prime ministers.

Without the interference of the Directorate of Ceremonial, all government decrees were issued by the Cabinet, allowing Shen Nian to possess absolute power and carry out the next round of disruptive reforms.

As for the young Wanli Emperor, he would never personally handle memorials now, because his abilities are limited and he doesn't want to be criticized by Shen Nian.

……

Five days later, Shen Nian's reply letter was delivered to Shen Shixing.

If this had happened three years ago, Shen Nian's request would have been considered rebellious.

But now, the edicts of the empire are almost entirely controlled by the Directorate of Ceremonial, and the young Wanli Emperor is completely a hands-off ruler. It would be better to let the Grand Secretariat manage the empire than to let the Directorate of Ceremonial oversee it.

Immediately, Shen Shixing took Shen Nian's letter and requested to see the young Wanli Emperor again.

After learning of Shen Nian's request, Emperor Wanli hesitated at first, but he also knew that Zhang Cheng and Zhang Jing had caused unrest in the court for the past three years, and he wanted to pin the blame for all the chaos in the court on the two of them.

Furthermore, he had absolutely no belief that Shen Nian would rebel.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "I can agree. Once Minister Shen arrives, he will carry out this request!"

Shen Shixing was overjoyed.

……

On the first day of the twelfth month, Emperor Wanli issued an imperial edict summoning Shen Niannian, the Minister of War and Governor-General of Jiliao, back to the capital. Because of his contributions to the development of Jiliao, he was allowed to enter the cabinet to participate in state affairs and concurrently serve as the Minister of Personnel, to rectify the administration of the court and the affairs of the country.

Upon the issuance of this imperial edict, many young officials in government offices were extremely excited, and ordinary people bought wine and meat to celebrate.

Inside the cabinet office, Shen Shixing couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

"The savior of the Ming Dynasty is finally returning! No one can stop Ziheng from becoming the second Zhang Taiyue, but he will certainly not repeat Zhang Taiyue's fate!" (End of Chapter)