The Ming Dynasty's Five Hundred Years

Chapter 106 The Way to Break the Mold
"Does Hu Guang have the guts?"

Li Xianmu was somewhat puzzled. Hu Guang was a sycophantic and obsequious person with little integrity. He was adept at changing his stance according to the wind and flattering his superiors. Obstructing the road was something he didn't seem like to do. In the cabinet, Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, Jin Youzi and others were more capable of doing such a thing. These people were all quite strong-willed scholars who could have been good prime ministers in any era.

"It didn't exist at first, but as times changed, it appeared."

Xie Jin explained: "There are many people from Jiangxi in the court. Wang Gen and I should have been the leaders, but we are both disciples of the School of Mind and have inherited the mantle of Jinghe. As a result, we are estranged from Jiangxi. Many people in the court's literati have surrounded Hu Guang, so there are some things he has to say and some things he has to do."

"I see!"

Li Xianmu suddenly realized that once you become the leader of a faction, you will be unable to control some things and cannot act according to your own personality. Therefore, when establishing a faction, you should focus on selecting like-minded people. If you accept everyone, you may prosper temporarily, but you will inevitably suffer from it in the future.

The saying "What a ruler gains by, he will also lose by" illustrates this principle.

Having been away from the capital for three years, many things are difficult to explain in letters. Only after having a face-to-face conversation with someone like Xie Jin who experienced it firsthand did I learn about these events.

"What's going on in the cabinet? What's the meaning of your difficulties in the cabinet, Senior Brother? Could it be that someone is deliberately making things difficult for you?"

In Wang Gen's eyes, although Li Xianmu was talented, it would take at least a few more years before he could make a difference, so he always reported good news and not bad news.

"It's not that they deliberately made things difficult for him. Yang Shiqi and the others are all gentlemen. It's just that Wang Gen was often rejected when the cabinet discussed matters."

If it weren't for the fact that many matters required the emperor's approval, allowing him, as a cabinet minister, to offer direct advice, he probably wouldn't have had the same comfortable life as when he was in the Hanlin Academy.

The cabinet ministers don't have much power now, but they already have a lot of power to handle specific matters. There are different factions in the cabinet, and Wang Gen is all alone in it, so his words don't carry much weight. Politics has always been about having many helpers; the more people there are, the more power there is.

Unless someone like Li Xianmu, who possessed the late emperor's decree and wielded immense power, had the potential to single-handedly defeat the Confucian scholars.

"I was very happy when Wang Gen was about to join the cabinet."

I soon realized that I had lost the Emperor's favor and that it was only a matter of time before I was kicked out of the cabinet. Wang Gen would inevitably be unable to hold up the cabinet alone, so before leaving, I deliberately took Hu Guang with me. Otherwise, with seven people in the cabinet, he would have an even more difficult time.

Surprisingly, even with a six-person cabinet, things are still very difficult.

This was the root cause of the conflict between Xie Jin and Hu Guang.

"If Huang Huai is willing to stand on your side now, and you can even bring him into the Xin Xue camp, then the situation can be turned around a lot in the future. However, Hu Guang can no longer enter the cabinet, otherwise Wang Gen's energy will be tied up by Hu Guang again."

The position of Grand Secretary is now second only to the Nine Ministers in popularity, ranking alongside the Vice Minister. Wang Gen absolutely cannot afford to lose it.

In the past, political struggles in dynasties revolved around the position of prime minister. In the Ming Dynasty, the struggle was for the position of one of the Nine Ministers. Since the current emperor has increasingly valued cabinet ministers and even rewarded them with the same treatment as ministers, the position of cabinet ministers has become increasingly important.

Moreover, becoming a Grand Secretary is much easier than becoming one of the Nine Ministers. The Nine Ministers are promoted step by step based on merit, while a Grand Secretary is essentially a fifth-rank official, with much lower requirements. A newly rich official like Wang Gen, who had only served as a Hanlin scholar for three years, was able to enter the Grand Secretariat.

After pondering for a moment, Li Xianmu suddenly asked, "What is Hu Guang's stance on the matter of moving the capital?"

Xie Jin also pondered and said, "Judging from Hu Guang's character, he will definitely agree with His Majesty, but it's really hard to say now. He might remain neutral, so as not to offend the emperor or any faction."

The scholars of the three provinces south of the Yangtze River were the most opposed to moving the capital. Huang Huai had his concerns, so how could Hu Guang not have his concerns?
A playful smile appeared on Li Xianmu's face. "Not taking sides is indeed a way to avoid conflict, but it's not always successful."

What if he has to make a statement?

Xie Jin felt a flash of inspiration in his mind, and he immediately realized what Li Xianmu was talking about. He said excitedly, "If he agrees to move the capital, he will lose the support of the people of Jiangxi. If he does not agree to move the capital, he will be disliked by His Majesty and lose the possibility of entering the cabinet!"

"But how could he possibly express his opinion? Unless His Majesty asks him personally, if His Majesty is willing to ask him personally."

"No need!"

Li Xianmu waved his hand and said, "Uncle, have you forgotten so quickly what I asked Lord Jie'an to do just now?"
Soon everyone in the capital will know that I am going to submit a petition to the emperor, requesting that the capital be moved immediately!

I will personally take the memorial to Hu Guang and ask him to sign it. I want to see if he will sign his name!

Xie Jin couldn't help but laugh when he thought of that scene. Li Xianmu's move was absolutely brilliant. He directly drew his sword and forced him into a situation where he had no choice but to make a decision. Whether he signed, didn't sign, or hesitated, it wouldn't work!
Signing would lose the hearts of the people, while not signing would lose the Emperor's favor; hesitation would be seen as indecisiveness, and both would be met with dislike.

"Hu Guang's path is now closed!"

Xie Jin felt refreshed and invigorated. "I never imagined that Hu Guang could be eliminated so easily. Could others do the same?"

Li Xianmu shook his head and said, "That's still different. The reason this move can be used to deal with Hu Guang is because the momentum he has gathered now is still very illusory. It's only because he joined the cabinet that this group of people gathered."

He himself lacked a strong foundation in Jiangxi, and such a gathered force could easily be dispersed. However, figures like Jie'an Gong, or a few others, possessed deep-rooted influence and were unlikely to be abandoned because of a single event. "Mingda, do you think Hu Guang will definitely agree to move the capital?"

"I'm about 90% sure. For someone like Hu Guang, the primary goal is to live, so he won't rebel against an emperor who could easily kill him."

Xie Jin thought about it and realized it was true. Hu Guang would never dare to openly defy the emperor. It seemed that his dream of becoming a powerful figure was about to be shattered.

"The situation in the capital is far more complicated than I imagined, Uncle. I need to sort it out."

"Then I'll head back to my residence first. When you have some free time, you can come and relax at my place."

After Xie Jin left, Li Xianmu closed his eyes and began to analyze what Xie Jin had just said.

Even Li Xianmu couldn't help but frown. The current predicament in the capital was comparable to when his father had just returned from Jiangpu.

In terms of complexity, it is even more so.

At that time, my father was facing several ministers, but my father had a special status and was invincible. In addition, when my grandfather was in power, killing ministers was as easy as killing chickens, so it was easy for him to make a move.

But now Li Xianmu is facing enemies who don't have the kind of real enemies like Yang Jing, Li Yuanming, and Zhan Hui, who want to kill each other.

But the result is the same.

He still intends to take action against those high-ranking ministers, and against the powerful clans and officials from those clans who have established themselves in Jiangnan.

It seems to be the destiny of the father and son: eating, sleeping, and fighting with the literati of Jiangnan. They didn't even intend to fight, but wanted to do something beneficial for the world. In the end, they found that they would always run into the literati of Jiangnan.

Is the existence of these Jiangnan literati really meant to oppose national affairs?

Li Xianmu frowned in thought. Huang Huai was able to attract some of the literati from eastern Zhejiang, and then move the capital to Beijing. The northerners would definitely agree, as these people were naturally his supporters.

Among the southerners, the main opponents would certainly be those from Jiangnan, but Fujian and Huguang might also secretly oppose it, while Sichuan would most likely be indifferent.

"Lure the snake out of its hole and catch them all in one fell swoop."

Li Xianmu softly recited the suggestion he had made to the emperor, "I wonder how many people we can lure out this time. If we can't lure them out this time, then things will be difficult."

In reality, for Li Xianmu, the worst people in Jiangnan were those who harbored ulterior motives and supported moving the capital.

Those who oppose moving the capital are easy to guess: they are unwilling to go to the north because of its harsh climate and the prosperity of Nanjing, or perhaps they want to gain practical benefits from the location of the capital.

But are all those who support moving the capital truly concerned about the nation and its people?
Naturally not.

Some people wished the capital would be moved as far north as possible, so that the Jiangnan region would be far from the emperor's reach. This would make it much easier for them to seize the people's land or exploit loopholes in the country. After all, being far from the emperor's feet would make them true local tyrants.

These are the real traitors to the country, and there have never been many of them. They even managed to curry favor with the emperor and gain special privileges in Jiangnan during this proposal to move the capital.

"Alas, catching them all in one fell swoop is easier said than done."

Li Xianmu found it increasingly difficult. His father had taken action against Jiangnan twice: once with the case of the clerks to investigate the powerful clans, and once with the case of the Yuan Dynasty history to clean up eastern Zhejiang. Although these actions dealt a blow to Jiangnan, they were still far from enough.

Now that it's his turn to do this, he feels that the road ahead is long and arduous, and success cannot be achieved overnight.

"Fortunately, I have a backup plan. It would be a big mistake to think that the relocation of the capital is the end."

Li Xianmu planned his actions meticulously, and using the relocation of the capital to weaken the gentry of Jiangnan was just one step in that process.

He certainly couldn't just abandon Jiangnan after moving the capital.

On the white paper in front of Li Xianmu, the outlines of the provinces of the Ming Dynasty were drawn, with the Grand Canal running through it. On the outermost edge, a long black line was drawn in an arc.

"The fleet that went to the Western Ocean at the end of last year made its second voyage. I don't know when it will be able to return. I hope that the time will be just right."

At the bottom of this picture, several large characters are clearly written.

Jiangnan, Annam, canal transport, sea transport.

Every word is written with vigorous strokes, powerful and penetrating the paper!
What lies within is something that will change the course of history!
(End of this chapter)