My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 117: Requesting the Elimination of the Liao Vassal State

[New main mission: Achieve close relations with three cabinet elders, currently 1/3.

Mission Reward: Orange item lottery chance*1]

The relationship between the three ministers has become close?

This is the system forcing me to be a slave to three surnames!

But when he saw the chance to draw for the orange item, Su Ze swallowed his dissatisfaction. It was just to increase the reputation of the three elders!
I, Su Ze, am not a personal retainer of a certain elder, but a public official of the imperial court! It is normal for me to improve the reputation of the three elders, right?

After taking on the new task, Su Ze looked at Shen Yikuan and listened to what Shen Yikuan had found out.

The development of the Liao King case was beyond Su Ze's expectations.

Historically, the King of Liao was abolished as a vassal. Except for Hong Chaoxuan, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice who had a feud with Zhang Juzheng, all other cabinet ministers supported this move.

It was politically correct for civil officials to support the abolition of the feudal system.

Especially in provinces like Huguang where land conflicts are serious, eliminating a vassal king can ease many social conflicts. Even if the land of these vassal kings is not directly distributed to the people, they will not continue to encroach on the people's land.

But this time, Su Ze also learned about the development of the Liao expedition from Shen Shixing's letter, which seemed to be different from the history before Su Ze traveled through time.

Looking at Shen Yiquan who was looking worried, Su Ze asked:
"What exactly happened?"

Shen Yiguan sat down and began to speak:
"I heard from a fellow student who is observing the Ministry of Justice that yesterday, Minister Hong's memorial was sent to the cabinet, suggesting leniency in the case of the Prince of Liao, but Elder Zhang voted against it."

"Your Majesty retained this memorial, but after the Ministry of Justice learned of this, there was an uproar within the ministry, and many officials submitted letters supporting Minister Hong's memorial."

Su Ze quickly grasped the key point and asked, "What is the attitude of Minister Mao of the Ministry of Justice?"

The last time, the Minister of Justice Mao Kai responded to Zhang Juzheng at the cabinet meeting and recommended Tan Lun to be the Governor-General of Ji and Liao. Su Ze judged that Mao Kai had already defected to Zhang Juzheng. Since such a thing had happened in the Ministry of Justice, the attitude of the Minister Mao Kai was very crucial.

Shen Yiguan said: "Minister Mao is at home on sick leave and has not made any statement."

Luo Wanhua asked again:

"The Prince of Liao's evil deeds were notorious. How did the Ministry of Justice exonerate him?"

Shen Yi Guan said angrily:
"What else can I say? It's nothing more than insufficient evidence to impeach the King of Liao. Some people are even digging up ancestral teachings and the Ming Dynasty Code, saying things like 'officials shouldn't be punished,' and claiming the King of Liao is a relative and needs to be handed over to Your Majesty for trial."

Luo Wanhua immediately said:
"Leave it to His Majesty to judge the crime? Have these guys in the Ministry of Justice become stupid after reading the legal books?"

Shen Yiguan sighed and said:
"With the Daifan case before, if Your Majesty were to sentence and remove the Liao vassal, the royal family would surely be in an uproar. The Ministry of Justice is not stupid, but is trying to help the King of Liao escape punishment."

Luo Wanhua was even more confused and asked:

"Could it be that the Prince of Liao bribed the Ministry of Justice? Why are they trying to exonerate the Prince of Liao?"

This sentence also made Shen Yikuan silent. He also didn't understand why the Ministry of Justice was so united this time to help the King of Liao overturn the verdict.

Su Ze, who was silent for a long time, said: "The Ministry of Justice is not for the King of Liao, but for the dispute between the cabinet departments."

"Cabinet dispute?"

Su Ze nodded. From the information Shen Yiquan said, Su Ze had already guessed the situation.

The struggle among cabinet ministers was the hidden thread of the officialdom struggle throughout the Ming Dynasty.

Simply put, it is a power struggle between the cabinet, which is the decision-making body, and the six ministries, which are the executive bodies.

The Minister of Justice Mao Kai lacked control over the Ministry of Justice. Although he defected to Zhang Juzheng, he did not dare to express his position under pressure from the Ministry of Justice and could only pretend to be sick at home.

Hong Chaoxuan, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice, had served in the Ministry for a long time, so he became the thug nominated by the Ministry of Justice to compete for power with the cabinet.

Hong Chaoxuan exonerated the King of Liao not only because of his personal vendetta against Zhang Juzheng, but also because the Ministry of Justice wanted to compete for power with the Cabinet. The King of Liao case just happened to be the key to the power struggle between the two sides.

The root cause of the disputes among cabinet departments is that the cabinet as an institution is not legitimate.

The cabinet has the title of prime minister but not the power of a prime minister; it has the responsibilities of a prime minister but not the power of a prime minister. The value of the cabinet depends entirely on the abilities of the cabinet ministers themselves.

When the cabinet was strong, the six ministries were purely executive bodies. They could only carry out the cabinet's orders and became subordinate officials of the cabinet.

When the cabinet is weak, the six ministries will also compete for the cabinet's decision-making power.

Naturally, the Ministry of Justice was not fighting for the outcome of the Liao King case, but was fighting with the Cabinet for the right to try the case.

This was not the will of Hong Chao, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice, to choose one person, but the common will of all officials of the Ministry of Justice.

Since Xu Jie was dismissed from his post as prime minister, the Longqing Cabinet's assistant ministers became more and more domineering, and the Six Ministries gradually became vassals of the Cabinet. The Liao King Case became the fuse of the dispute between the Cabinet and the ministries, and it broke out completely after Hong Chaoxuan's memorial was sent to the capital.

The reason why the Ministry of Justice was the first to emerge is that as a professional institution, the promotion path is relatively single, and the internal members are often more cohesive and easier to form a group.

Moreover, these specialized departments often have an atmosphere of "I am an expert, so you should listen to me."

Su Ze had also come into contact with people from these departments in his previous life. They often advocated elite autonomy, advocating that professionals do professional things, and were disgusted with the so-called "outsiders leading insiders."

Slogans such as "Professors run the school" and "Professors manage the hospital" were also shouted out by them.

But what is the actual effect?
In Su Ze's opinion, the academic cliques were engaged in a system of personal vassalage, somewhere between slavery and the caste system, and were even worse than the feudal bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty.

Su Ze explained to the two:

"The Ministry of Justice is unhappy with the cabinet's interference in the Liao King case and wants to ensure its independence, so it strongly opposes the proposal put forward by Lord Zhang."

"This matter is no longer about the Liao King case itself, but a matter between the cabinet and the six ministries."

Luo Wanhua still looked confused, but Shen Yikuan seemed to understand something.

Su Ze picked up the letter on the table that Shen Shixing had written to him when he first arrived in Huguang, picked up his pen and began to write a reply. He needed to know more about the case of the King of Liao from Shen Shixing.
-
On November 8, the dispute between the Cabinet and the Ministry of Justice escalated again.

The Six Ministries and the Censorate also joined the battlefield.

The newly appointed Criminal Censor Shen Shu followed up with the Ministry of Justice and wrote a letter criticizing the cabinet for interfering in the Ministry of Justice's cases. Zhang Juzheng was eager to convict the King of Liao purely for personal revenge.

Soon after, other officials from the six ministries responded and supported the Ministry of Justice, believing that the case of the King of Liao was filed too hastily, and many of the facts were just the "one-sided statements" of the plaintiff. Many witnesses also voluntarily withdrew their lawsuits after the Liao investigation delegation arrived in Jingzhou. The court should not treat the royal relatives and princes in a high-profile manner one by one, which would chill the hearts of royal families all over the world.

And as Su Ze expected, these officials from the six ministries and the thirteen censors from the six departments who wrote the letter soon moved from the specific case of the King of Liao to the topic of criticizing the cabinet's overbearing style.

What surprised Su Ze even more was that the slogan put forward by Xu Jie during his administration, "Return power and blessings to the sovereign; return government affairs to the various departments; return the appointment and dismissal of punishments and rewards to public opinion", was also dug up by these officials. They even attributed this sentence to the late emperor's will, requiring the cabinet to "return government affairs to the various departments" and requiring the elders to stop interfering in the specific affairs of the six ministries.

The political storm unfolded so rapidly that no one could keep up. More government offices were implicated, and the entire capital was shrouded in a cloud of gloom. Even Zhu Yijun of the Eastern Palace sensed the tension in the court and wisely avoided raising the matter of the Hundred Plays Festival with Emperor Longqing.

In the gloomy sky, a white dove flew into the history museum. Su Ze opened the letter cage on the pigeon's feet and took out Shen Shixing's letter.

When Su Ze said that his pigeons could fly a thousand miles a day and communicate with Shen Shixing in Jingzhou, Luo Wanhua and Shen Yikuan did not believe it.

But when they saw the urgent letter written in tiny calligraphy by Shen Shixing in the envelope, they couldn't help but believe it.

"Brother Zilin, what if this pigeon training method is used in the military?"

Shen Yi Guan said excitedly.

Su Ze shook his head and said:
"This carrier pigeon was tamed by Su by chance. There is only one. How can it be used in the military? Brother Jianwu, please come and read Brother Rumo's letter."

In order to prevent the [Carrier Pigeon] from being too scary, Su Ze specially let the carrier pigeon fly for two more days.

However, this speed is faster than the court's 800-li express delivery, and Shen Yikuan can get first-hand information from Jingzhou in advance. He also understood the value of this letter and read it hurriedly.

As he read, Shen Yiquan's brows furrowed.

Shen Shixing wrote that after the delegation to investigate the crimes of the King of Liao arrived in Jingzhou, the chief envoy, Hong Chaoxuan, simply ignored the key evidence that reported the King of Liao.

In order to accuse the King of Liao of his greatest crime, raping the county lady to death, Hong Chaoxuan went to Jingzhou. Instead of interrogating the accuser, the county lady's husband, Zhao Ru, the Prince of Liao's etiquette officer, he skipped Zhao Ru and questioned the county lady's family.

The maternal relatives of these county ladies were all relatives of the Liao vassal state. They were also afraid that the Liao vassal state would be abolished like the Dai vassal state, so they changed their statements in court and said that the county lady died of natural causes and that it was her husband Zhao Ru who falsely accused her in order to blackmail the King of Liao.

Shen Shixing's adoptive father was a government official and was very familiar with the methods used by government officials. He knew that Hong Chaoxuan was deliberately avoiding the important issues and trying to exonerate the King of Liao.

Shen Shixing wrote in his letter:

"The County Lady's body is still at Zhao Ru's house, but Minister Hong, citing her noble status as a relative, refuses to perform an autopsy and even forces Zhao Ru to bury the County Lady."

"The two maids who came with the county lady as a dowry were also reportedly raped by the Liao prince. After they fled back home, they were detained by the county lady's family and were not allowed to come out for questioning by the government. Minister Hong did not even question them."

"There was also a guest at the Liao Palace, Li Shirong, who complained to the government about the Liao King's crimes. However, Minister Hong refused to accept the case and ordered Li Shirong to return home. That night, Li Shirong tragically died at home, and Minister Hong refused to investigate."

Shen Shixing concluded his letter by writing:

"The evil deeds of the King of Liao are known to everyone in Jingzhou, yet the ministers, due to factional disputes, condoned such a villain. This is truly incomprehensible and does not warrant further questioning."

After reading it, Shen Yi Guan slammed his hand on the table and said, "How dare the Hong Dynasty choose such a mediocre official! He actually got to be the Minister of Justice!?"

Luo Wanhua's face also looked unhappy. It was obvious that these officials had crossed the bottom line of scholars for the sake of political struggle.

Su Ze's face was calm. This was just the beginning. In the historical timeline before Su Ze traveled through time, even when the Qing army entered the pass, the party struggles in the Southern Ming Dynasty continued. The fight lasted until the demise of the Ming Dynasty. It was only after several rounds of killings by the Qing army that the situation was settled.

Shen Yiguan said:
"If these scoundrels who have harmed the country lose the opportunity to eliminate Liao, they will be the eternal sinners of the Ming Dynasty!"

Su Ze looked at Shen Yi Guan who was filled with righteous indignation, took out a memorial, and said to Shen Yi Guan and Luo Wan Hua:
"Brother Jianwu, Brother Yifu, I am preparing to submit a letter impeaching the King of Liao and requesting that Your Majesty abolish the Liao vassal state. Would you two like to sign it?"

Shen Yi Guan was so excited that he quickly snatched the memorial from Su Ze's hand, but he was disappointed after reading it.

He originally thought that Su Ze had some new way to impeach the King of Liao, but this memorial was very conventional. It just listed several major crimes of the King of Liao and the illegal activities of the Liao vassal in Jingzhou, and requested His Majesty to abolish the Liao vassal and, like the Dai vassal, lift the clan ban and grant land to the clan members to buy out their rice salaries.

Shen Yiguan said dejectedly:

"Brother Zilin, even if it's you, a memorial like this wouldn't be enough to bring down the King of Liao, right?"

Shen Yiguan warned again:

"Brother Zilin, the atmosphere in the court has changed these days. Anyone who petitions for severe punishment of the King of Liao will be attacked by the censors as a minister who flatters the emperor."

Shen Yi Guan glanced at Su Ze, as if Su Ze really did not need such a hat, Shen Yi Guan said:

"Such a petition is futile. Brother Zilin, please don't get involved in this mess."

Su Ze said:
"Brother Jianwu, this memorial expresses my stance. Eliminating the illegal vassal states is something I, Su, insist on. If Brother Jianwu is unwilling to sign, then forget it."

After hearing what Su Ze said, Shen Yikuan snatched the pen from the table and signed his name next to Su Ze's.

Shen Yi Guan handed the pen to Luo Wanhua again, and he raised his head and said to Su Ze:

"Brother Zilin, what do you think I am? A villain who only seeks profit and avoids harm?"

"You're right. This memorial expresses our stance. Even if it doesn't work, we've tried our best. How can we be afraid of what others say?"

Luo Wanhua also quickly wrote down his name and said:

"Brother Jian is right. We are writing this petition only for justice and are not afraid of what others say!"

Su Ze didn't say much. When he returned to his seat, he put the memorial into the [Portable Ming Dynasty Court].

——[Simulation Start]——

A day later, the "Memorial to Eliminate the Liao Vassal State" was sent to the cabinet, and cabinet minister Zhang Juzheng voted for it and sent it to the palace.

Two days later, the "Memorial to Eliminate the Liao Vassal State" was kept by the emperor.

After the censors received the "Petition to Remove the Liao Vassal State", they began to launch a frantic attack on the host.

The court was under too much pressure, and the Liao vassal case was left unresolved.

——[Simulation End]——

[Do you want to spend 100 prestige points to ensure that the "Memorial to Eliminate the Liao Vassal State" is executed?]

It actually requires 100 prestige points?
Su Ze looked at his remaining 90 points of prestige. According to his official position, it would take him three days to accumulate 100 points.

Su Ze quickly asked in his heart:
"System, can you wait until the prestige value is high enough before deducting it?"

[Yes, but the memorial will be deferred after deducting prestige points.]

Su Ze breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't expect that the Liao vassal state, which was destined to be abolished in history, would change because of the butterfly effect of his time travel. It would take so much prestige points to enforce it.

Just defer it. Fortunately, the system can wait until the prestige value is sufficient before deducting it, so as not to waste this simulation opportunity.

Su Ze decisively chose to confirm, and then submitted the memorial before the officials from the Ministry of Public Administration left the office.

(End of this chapter)