prosperous age

Chapter 1012 1103 Congratulations

In the Prime Minister's duty room, Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng and Second Prime Minister Wei Guangde reached a secret agreement that they would choose to oppose Wang Yangming's enshrinement in the Confucius Temple.

"Brother Uncle, do you think it is necessary to ask the court to reiterate the school rules?"

Thinking of the lectures organized by the followers of the School of Mind, Wei Guangde felt a little overwhelmed and couldn't help but speak.

Yes, after a few days, when the situation develops, it is estimated that a minister will report the matter to the emperor.

By then, their attitudes will inevitably spread, and what will follow will be the wanton attacks from the followers of the School of Mind.

Although being cursed behind your back won't hurt you, it is still disgusting.

Wei Guangde proposed to reiterate the school rules at this time, in fact, to prevent those students from participating in the lectures on the School of Mind.

The literati also have classes, and scholars without any official titles are undoubtedly at the bottom of the literati community.

No matter what their attitude is, the government treats them like ordinary people without any consideration.

However, the government's attitude towards scholars with official titles, that is, students, was completely different. At the very least, they could not be treated as ordinary people.

The difference in discourse power also determines the difference in people’s views on the two.

What the students say is naturally more important than those scholars who have no official titles.

Therefore, as long as the students can be separated from those lectures and meetings, the influence of such activities organized by the followers of the School of Mind will be greatly reduced in the literati community.

This will definitely be more beneficial for the imperial court.

"Shall we ask the Ministry of Rites to issue an order?"

Zhang Juzheng heard Wei Guangde's suggestion, bowed his head and thought for a moment, then said: "You can mention it to the Ministry of Rites."

When Zhang Juzheng said this, there was a clear lack of confidence in his tone.

Wei Guangde also knew what was going on. Now the Minister of Rites had been replaced by Wan Shihe. He was similar to Lu Shusheng, neither of whom was easy to talk to.

In fact, in the Ming Dynasty, although the Minister of Rites had real power, they were more likely to walk with the upright and were disgusted with the corruption in the court. They were all selected people with high moral character, who at least would not curry favor with the powerful.

Therefore, whether it was Zhang Juzheng or Wei Guangde, they actually lacked confidence when speaking in front of Wan Shihe.

Because they consider issues from the perspective of the cabinet handling government affairs, some details are not taken into consideration at all.

But Wan Shihe would not do that. He would only focus on the Ministry of Rites, so he was only responsible for the duties of the Ministry of Rites and had complaints about some of the decisions made by Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde.

This matter clearly falls within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites. Now that the cabinet has brought it up, it is unknown what Wan Shihe will think.

In particular, it is emphasized that students are not allowed to speak out or form associations. Although this is a rule set in the early Ming Dynasty, it has actually been ignored for a long time now, and not many people still abide by it. It has become the norm for scholars to publicize their reputations through gatherings such as poetry and literary gatherings, hoping to influence the results of the imperial examinations.

Wei Guangde also benefited from this to some extent, but the situation was different now. Wei Guangde, who had already successfully passed the imperial examination, naturally would no longer consider the issue from the perspective of a student.

"Well, it means that students should focus on the imperial examinations, and it is the right way to go to form fewer societies and read more books."

Wei Guangde answered.

There was a reason why the Ming Dynasty prohibited students from forming associations and expressing their opinions.

First, the main duty of students is to study and learn, and if they rashly discuss politics, it would be "against the rules."

Secondly, most of the students are young and energetic with limited knowledge. Once they hear about current affairs, they cannot suppress their passion and speak rashly, which will only backfire.

Third, compared with wise men and celebrities, students are insignificant and their opinions have little influence on local affairs, let alone national policies.

Fourthly, students are the future of the country, and their conduct should be based on the principles of cultivating tranquility, keeping calm, upholding the truth, and guarding oneself. "In our dynasty, we have established sleeping signs, and everyone is allowed to speak out, except students. This is to cultivate their sense of shame and strengthen their moral character, in the hope that they will be able to serve the country in the future."

Of course, whether students are actually allowed to speak out and whether it is legal to do so depends more on the interests of the ruling class.

Generally speaking, if the emperor or the court felt it necessary to reach a certain consensus among the people, they would acquiesce to local discussions, and vice versa.

"Yeah, that's what I mean too."

Zhang Juzheng smiled brightly at this time and said, "By the way, how is Yunnan doing?"

When Wei Guangde heard Zhang Juzheng's question, he shook his head and said, "There has been no news from Yunnan yet, but the armies of the three provinces, led by Li Chengliang and his son, secretly gathered in Yongning Prefecture a month ago.

This place is only three or five days away from Yunnan. Once there is any change in Yunnan, the army can immediately enter Yunnan to quell the rebellion.

In addition, Duke Mu Changzuo of Qian has already mobilized troops from Yunnan and deployed them in Shunning and Yongchang areas. If anything happens, they can also protect Yongchang Prefecture.

What I am most worried about now is actually the Xuanfusi in Ganya, Longchuan, and Nandian. If they are influenced by Mang Yinglong and also turn against us, Yongchang Prefecture may not be able to hold on."

The several Xuanfusi mentioned by Wei Guangde were chieftains under the jurisdiction of the Yunnan Provincial Administration. Although they had submitted to the Ming Dynasty over the years, at this time, Wei Guangde did not dare to guarantee that they would be safe.

After all, they are ready to use guns and knives, and these chieftains will inevitably have more contact with chieftains outside the region. It is hard to say whether they will still remain loyal to the Ming Dynasty or have other ideas at this time.

This is also the reason why Mu Changzuo did not lead his troops to be deployed directly on the border. The borders are all the territories of the chieftains, and it is not very safe to station a large army there.

Instead, they stationed their troops in the provincial capital and pushed the local chieftains to the front line. If Mang Yinglong really led his troops to attack, the Ming Dynasty could calmly dispatch troops to resist.

However, if this worst-case scenario occurs, Yongchang Prefecture will inevitably be devastated by war.

Yongchang Prefecture is under the jurisdiction of the Yunnan Provincial Administration Commissioner's Office, and there are many Han people in the local area, so it will be affected to some extent.

"Didn't they forbid Mu Changzuo from leading the troops into battle? Why did the Ministry of War order him to gather troops in Shunning and Yongchang?"

Zhang Juzheng remembered that Wei Guangde was the one who took out the map and explained in detail the Ministry of War's arrangements for this, but he did not mention that Mu Changzuo would be used to lead the troops into battle.

"Given Yunnan's current situation, Duke Mu will react no matter how slow he is."

Wei Guangde shook his head and smiled bitterly, saying, "The documents sent from the court to Yunnan all point to Myanmar. If he still can't find any trouble, he, the Duke of Qian, won't have to guard Yunnan.

Although there was no written order from the Ministry of War, he had the Emperor's Sword. Relying on the prestige accumulated by the Mu Palace in Yunnan over the years, he commanded the troops to be deployed near the border. No general would dare to disobey his orders.

The Ministry of War received the report from the Duke of Qian, and could only issue a supplementary document. It really couldn't punish him for it."

Seeing Zhang Juzheng frowning slightly, Wei Guangde continued, "The Ministry of War has already issued an order to the Duke of Qian. If there is any change, the troops of Yongchang Prefecture will go straight to Tengchong, and the troops of Shunning Prefecture will go straight to Luliang. These two places just happen to block the passage for the barbarians to advance eastward."

Zhang Juzheng heard that the Ministry of War had already made a plan. Although he was not clear about the value of Tengchong and Lu mentioned by Wei Guangde, he knew that the Burmese troops would have to pass through here to enter the country.

With Duke Mu Changzuo of Qian leading his troops to garrison here, Yunnan will certainly be safe and there will be no worries at the moment.

"I didn't expect that after so many years of peace in the southwest, there would be such a dangerous situation hidden. If it hadn't been discovered by Shandai, it would have almost caused a disaster."

Zhang Juzheng couldn't help but feel secretly relieved when he thought about the chaos that almost happened in the southwest.

Regardless, the court was prepared and had mobilized elite troops to make full preparations. Otherwise, if the Burmese troops really broke into Yunnan, the court and the people would be in chaos. Although everyone regarded the southwest as a barren land and no one wanted to be an official there, it was still the territory of the Ming Dynasty. If something went wrong, the Ministry of War and the Cabinet would be blamed.

"It's just a fluke."

Wei Guangde hurriedly said modestly that he couldn't say anything about Myanmar. It seemed that the war with China had lasted for many years, and they had really taken advantage of it.

"But now, our Ming Dynasty has unexpectedly been plunged into war in the southwest and southeast at the same time. Liaodong is actually not peaceful either. Shandai, tell me, is this due to our negligence?"

Zhang Juzheng said.

Indeed, if current events continue to develop, the Ming Dynasty may really be caught in a two-front war.

If it were in the past, the Ming Dynasty's current tight finances would not have allowed it to support such a war.

Fortunately, the Liaodong issue was resolved at the beginning of the year. Now it is the end of the year, so it should be able to be delayed.

"These are all accumulated problems. It's just that you and I happened to discover them. How can it be said that we have failed in our duty?"

Wei Guangde said cheerfully.

Zhang Juzheng certainly knew that the three-foot-thick ice did not form overnight. Both Liaodong and Myanmar were the source of trouble left over from the Jiajing Dynasty.

However, the situation in southeastern Luzon was completely different. It was completely led by Wei Guangde, who wanted to open up a territory overseas, not to mention that he had always been obsessed with restoring the Old Port Xuanwei Office.

However, Zhang Juzheng could barely accept Wei Guangde's idea.

Nowadays, Western barbarian ships visit the Ming Dynasty more and more frequently, which fully demonstrates that the number of barbarians in the Ming Dynasty’s seas is increasing.

The arrival of these people inevitably led to a struggle for interests between the Ming Dynasty and its former vassal states.

From the reports from officials in Manchijia and Luzon reported by the Jinyiwei, it can be seen that both places have been occupied by the barbarians and that the barbarians have ulterior motives.

The expansion of territory led by Wei Guangde could more or less buy a buffer for the Ming Dynasty. At the very least, the appearance of Ming Dynasty warships in Southeast Asia could provide strong support to the vassal states in Southeast Asia, which would have a significant positive impact on restoring the Ming Dynasty's influence over the vassal states.

"I was thinking, now that the new king has ascended the throne, the local area has recently presented many auspicious signs. As cabinet ministers, you and I should also present a memorial to congratulate him."

However, Zhang Juzheng suddenly spoke to Wei Guangde.

In fact, Zhang Juzheng's telling of this matter to Wei Guangde at this time was the result of careful consideration.

Although he is now the Prime Minister, the provincial governments below have been complaining because of his forced implementation of the performance evaluation system, especially in the Jiangnan region.

After serving in the central government for many years, Zhang Juzheng had become deeply aware of an important problem, that is, the imperial court's three-yearly inspections in Beijing and abroad had become tools for officials to attack each other, making it difficult to truly perform the duties of inspecting officials, and the effectiveness of the inspections was greatly reduced.

The country's deep-seated contradictions cannot be resolved by just a few honest officials. If the court wants to fundamentally resolve the problems, it must implement reforms at the local level.

During the reform process, the behavior of officials must be strictly controlled to avoid lip service, otherwise all efforts will be wasted.

The implementation of the Kaocheng system was to strengthen supervision over court officials so that it could effectively constrain the behavior of officials and ensure the smooth progress of government affairs.

Many officials were opposed to this policy because they were accustomed to the previous relaxed environment, but Zhang Juzheng now imposed strict constraints on everyone, which naturally made it difficult for everyone to accept.

As a result, under the undercurrent in officialdom, the anti-Zhang faction was gradually taking shape.

They opposed the reform policies that Zhang Juzheng implemented for the country and hoped to return to the past.

In order to resolve the undercurrent, Zhang Juzheng had no choice but to consolidate his favor and serve the palace well, just like Yan Song did in the past.

Since the beginning of this year, officials from all over the country have presented rare treasures symbolizing auspiciousness to the little emperor to express their respect and loyalty, including rare white lotus and pure white swallows.

This is also a tradition left over from the Jiajing Dynasty. People at that time firmly believed that the discovery of white animals and plants symbolized auspiciousness and foreshadowed the arrival of good things. White deer, turtles and tigers were all regarded as auspicious signs, bringing hope and joy.

The Jiajing Emperor was fascinated by such matters, so Hu Zongxian, who was stationed in the southeast, catered to his interests and often looked for auspicious signs to present to the emperor, thereby pleasing his heart and ensuring the stability of his own favor.

But now, Zhang Juzheng is also considering this matter.

Although he would not personally seek for any auspicious signs, he would not issue orders to reprimand local governments, and certainly would not encourage them openly. But as a cabinet minister, he should naturally celebrate any auspicious signs that appeared.

It is only natural to write a carefully crafted congratulatory message to express one's respect and joy for this auspicious sign.

However, when they were in Prince Yu's Mansion, they sneered at Xiangrui and others. Lu Diaoyang was not aware of this, but Wei Guangde was very clear about it.

Therefore, before submitting this congratulatory message, he felt it necessary to check with Wei Guangde to avoid any bad words being spread.

"Xiangrui?"

When Wei Guangde heard Zhang Juzheng's words, the smile on his face gradually disappeared, and then he looked at him in surprise.

Zhang Juzheng felt a little embarrassed when Wei Guangde looked at him, so he had to lower his head slightly and stroke his beautiful beard with his hand to ease his embarrassment.

"Brother, how could you think of this?

It is their business to offer auspicious gifts to the localities. We should just not participate. Why should we present a memorial to celebrate?"

Wei Guangde said directly.

However, after he said this, he immediately realized the deeper meaning behind Zhang Juzheng's move.

The young emperor may not care about whether it is auspicious or not, but his mother may not be the same.

It is of course a good thing that one's son becomes emperor and such auspicious signs appear.

Moreover, Wei Guangde also knew that those so-called auspicious signs were indeed extremely rare, and Zhu Yijun treasured these things very much.

Zhang Juzheng wanted to please the palace.

A thought appeared in Wei Guangde's mind and lingered for a long time.

"Shan Dai, you know that when an auspicious sign appears, it is a tradition for all officials to present a memorial to celebrate."

Zhang Juzheng said with forced calmness.

What Zhang Juzheng said was not wrong. When an auspicious sign appeared, officials would submit congratulatory messages. However, because of what happened during the Jiajing reign, officials now kept silent when they saw local officials presenting auspicious signs.

It is conceivable that under the current circumstances, if Zhang Juzheng took the lead in submitting a congratulatory message, the impact would be huge.

"This congratulatory letter"

Wei Guangde opened his mouth to refuse, but then changed his tone and said, "You should go."