I'm really not doing business

Chapter 714: The Holy Emperor Returns to the Capital, and the Purple Star Returns to Righteousness

The southern tour of Emperor Zhu Yijun of the Ming Dynasty set off a bloody storm, which began with the Hejian Zhang family in Tianjin Wei and ended with a run on the bank in Songjiang Prefecture. Along the way, Zhu Yijun, the real emperor, crushed countless local emperors, physically redistributed the means of production and wealth, split up the Southern Yamen, built two highways and canals in Zhejiang, and carried out large-scale dredging of silver.

The only thing that the Ming Emperor was dissatisfied with about this southern tour was that those guys in Liaodong just talked big but did not really go all out to fight against the Ming, causing Li Chengliang's plan to fail.

The anti-Ming offensive and defensive alliance can be established, but the question is who will make the first move? Everyone knows that Li Chengliang has left, and the Ming emperor's southern tour of the capital camp is immobile, and the Liaodong army formation will inevitably be shaken, but the Koreans, Jianzhou Jurchens, Haixi Jurchens, Wild Jurchens, and Outer Khalkha tribes all hope that the other side will make the first move.

As a result, the battle in Liaodong was delayed until the Ming Emperor was about to return to Beijing, and the plan to achieve success in one battle failed.

In fact, these people united together to form an anti-Ming offensive and defensive alliance in order to make the tribute trade of the Ming Dynasty unlimited again. In the past, there were many people who paid tribute together with Korea. Korea had fleeced the Ming Dynasty for two hundred years, and the Ming Dynasty was somewhat unhappy about it when it suddenly stopped allowing it to fleece. So it formed this offensive and defensive alliance in an attempt to increase the strength of the Ming Dynasty.

But this so-called unbreakable alliance is neither unbreakable nor an alliance.

In Wang Rulong's memorial, the Outer Khalkha tribes were very willing to be the dogs of the Ming Dynasty and the traitors. As long as the Ming Dynasty did not close the trade between Womagang and the Outer Khalkha tribes, they would always be willing. They would even be willing for the Ming Dynasty's tax collectors to go to the vast northern desert to collect taxes. If the Ming Dynasty found it troublesome, the emperor could designate tax collectors to collect taxes, which is the tax farming system.

After attending the naval review, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty did not set off immediately, but instead inspected the Songjiang Prefecture Shipyard again, conducting a very serious and comprehensive investigation of the shipyard that produced fast sailing ships. He also had in-depth communication with the shipyard's general manager on the difficulties the shipyard faced in its development process.

The Ming Emperor, still unsatisfied, finally began his journey back to Beijing in the golden month of September. Since he would no longer conduct inspections along the way, the entire journey back to Beijing took only one month.

When Zhu Yijun's carriage passed through Xuzhou, it stopped for three days. The Ming emperor, along with his civil and military officials, made a special trip to the coal mines in Xuzhou. Zhu Yijun couldn't understand why the local government of Xuzhou had to pay for the coal industry since even southern Shandong could develop the coal industry through coal mining and canals and make a lot of money. Xuzhou also had many coal mines.
Zhu Yijun went to three places, Zhengzhuang, Huzhuang, and Tuntou Coal Mine. Although the kiln dwellers in these places were still living in poverty, they were finally able to receive the labor remuneration they deserved, and new official residences were being built. In addition, the owners of these kilns were finally no longer merchants from Yangzhou and Suzhou, but were managed by the Ming Ministry of Works and local government offices.

Human resources, finances and materials were under the local management of Xuzhou, but production, safety, technology, supporting facilities and other aspects were all under the management of the Xishan Coal Bureau of the Ming Dynasty Ministry of Industry.

"I am initially satisfied with the result, but not particularly satisfied." Zhu Yijun said this to the ministers accompanying him after inspecting the mine. He won, but not completely.

Zhu Yijun was a man who cared a lot about winning or losing, as long as he could win. There was no doubt that in the battle of the Southern Tour, the strong dragon defeated the local snake, and Zhu Yijun won a great victory. However, in Zhu Yijun's view, the war between the strong dragon and the local snake was far from over.

Zhu Yijun left Xuzhou and continued to head north. In that era when transportation was slow, the news that the emperor had returned to the capital made everyone feel relieved. The Northern Yamen were looking forward to the emperor's return, as Prince Lu was too unreliable, while the Southern Yamen hoped that the emperor would leave quickly and never come back. Beheading people every day was too scary.

The most excited person was undoubtedly Zhu Yiliu, the governor of the Northern Court of the Ming Dynasty. When he heard that the emperor was leaving Xuzhou to go north again, he jumped three feet high and excitedly ran around the pillars of the Wenhua Hall several times before standing in front of the door of the Wenhua Hall. He said to Li Yougong excitedly: "Issue an order that you will not attend the morning court tomorrow. Everything will be handled after my brother returns to Beijing!"

"Your Highness, if the court delays for one day, the local authorities will be delayed for ten days. The express delivery has a limited deadline, and the local authorities cannot get things done without approval of memorials." Li Yougong became furious. Efficient administrative efficiency is one of the pillars to ensure the stable operation of the empire. How can we be so lazy?

"What does it have to do with me?" Zhu Yiliu said with a sneer.

This is the most unreliable thing about Prince Lu. He doesn't like to be a clerk. In his opinion, court meetings, court conferences, reviewing memorials, handling state affairs, and reviewing troops and horses are all "a clerk". Having grown up with his elder brother, he can handle these chores very well, but it is precisely because of this ability that he is so annoyed by them.

It would be fine if you couldn't understand it and were fooled, but the most painful thing is that you clearly understand it but still have to suffer this.

"Your Highness!" Li Yougong's mouth twitched. Zhu Yiliu was a bit too irresponsible.

In fact, Li Yougong knew very well that this was what a born noble person looked like. Sometimes, one really did not have the ability, and sometimes, even if one had the ability, one was too lazy to care or deal with it. Anyway, it was difficult for disasters to spread to such a noble person.

A natural noble like Your Majesty is an outlier.

"Li Dayong, I will stop attending court tomorrow." Zhu Yiliu threw his sleeves and said loudly, "I quit! No matter what, I quit. This is not a life for a human being! Do you know how I have survived these seven months?!"

During these seven months, Zhu Yiliu had to get up at four o'clock every morning, and then go to the Wenhua Palace with a belly full of bad temper, listening to a group of old foxes talking insincerely. All kinds of mundane affairs were struggles for power and interests, intertwined and full of intrigue. He tried his best to get a result that everyone could accept, but when it came to implementing it, there were many difficulties. After the implementation, there were a bunch of difficult and even unprecedented contradictions that needed to be resolved.

The court meeting lasted for two hours, with only a quarter of an hour's break in between. This double torture of mind and body would have been fine, but when it was over, after having dinner, they would go to the Beidaying to review the troops. Zhu Yiliu's military strength barely reached the level of the elite soldiers of the Beijing Camp, and the review of the troops would take another hour and a half. After it was over, they would return to Tonghe Palace to meet with various ministers with ulterior motives, and when the lights were turned on, they would begin to review memorials.

When he finished all this, the moon was already high in the sky. After a busy day, he had to rest immediately, otherwise he would feel dizzy during the court meeting the next day.

These seven months were the seven months in which Zhu Yiliu had the most regular work and rest schedule. No work he had done in his entire life had ever been busier than these seven months.

"It's like drilling a mine that never ends, a mine without any light! I've had enough! Tell the court officials that Prince Lu has a heart disease. For seven months, I haven't even seen the face of the most beautiful woman in the world!" Zhu Yiliu was very resentful. He looked at Li Yougong and said loudly: "Let my brother punish me severely. It's better to lock me up in Prince Lu's mansion and never let me out!"

"My brother can handle it anyway!"

Li Yougong was helpless. After a few months of getting along with each other, he found that Prince Lu was not so useless. There was actually only one reason why he was so lazy. Prince Lu made it very clear, and even if it was exposed, His Majesty could cover it up.

Prince Lu does not need to resist the four words "country, mountain, people and people", so he becomes lazy.

With his elder brother the Emperor supporting him, Prince Lu only needed to enjoy his rights and did not need to fulfill any obligations.

This kind of irresponsibility is actually very easy to cure. If His Majesty really dies on the way to the southern tour, and this responsibility must be shouldered by Prince Lu, he will not be so willful.

"Is it okay? Let's suspend court starting tomorrow, is that okay?" Zhu Yiliu asked loudly.

"Okay." Li Yougong replied helplessly, His Majesty said that Prince Lu is a donkey and needs to be coaxed along.

"Hahaha! Beauty from all over the world, here I come!" Zhu Yiliu ran away in a flash. He had no attachment to the Wenhua Palace at all. He even only wrote half of his comments on the memorials.

Even after the emperor returned, he refused to write even one more word.

On September 27, the 13th year of Wanli, the Ming Emperor Zhu Yijun returned to the loyal Shuntian Prefecture and stayed in Tongzhou.

"Let the Imperial Household Department deliver the memorial." Zhu Yijun stretched lazily.

The next southern tour was around the 16th year of the Wanli reign. On the way back to Beijing, the cabinet ministers had confirmed that the necessity of regular southern tours was self-evident. Each southern tour would test the results of the previous one and resolve new contradictions.

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid that's a bit too much." Feng Bao whispered, "There are three carts."

"No? Isn't the unit of measurement for memorials "ben"? Why... are you turning carts?" Zhu Yijun stretched halfway and asked Feng Bao in amazement. Using carts to describe the unit of measurement for memorials is like a donkey in a mill seeing a mountain of grain that needs to be ground.

"When Your Majesty set out from Xuzhou, His Royal Highness Prince Lu returned to Prince Lu's Mansion and refused to come out, so there are so many left." Feng Bao explained the crux of the problem.

"Forget it, kid. Just bring the memorials here. Bring a cart of them here first." Zhu Yijun knew his speed in processing memorials. During his one-day stay in Tongzhou, he could only process one cart of memorials at most.

Zhu Yijun would stay in Tongzhou for one day, Prince Lu would come to Tongzhou to greet him, Li Rusong would return the seal of the commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp to the emperor, and then the emperor would hand over the seal to Qi Jiguang. After the military and political handover, the heads of the six ministries who stayed behind would come to Tongzhou and return the affairs of the six ministries to the Shangshu.

After a tedious handover, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty would issue an imperial edict, not to grant amnesty to the entire country, but to correct some of Prince Lu's unreasonable policies, such as releasing a total of 327 people, including grand secretaries, officials from various ministries, and literati from the Literary Circle who were imprisoned by Prince Lu.

This was also the reason why Prince Lu gave up his position. Whether he did a good job or not, his brother the Emperor would issue an edict to reprimand him when he returned to the capital. This was a common practice. How could a prince do a better job than the Emperor?
"The thirty-six beauties from all over the world brought from the Southern Court should all be sent to Prince Lu's residence. There are also various ship models sent by Songjiang Shipyard, a total of twenty-eight models. Send him a set of each. It will be enough for him to play with for several months." Zhu Yijun dealt with the memorials at hand and instructed Feng Bao to send the "souvenirs" to Prince Lu.

After seven months of hard work, he was bound to be scolded in the end, so he had to be rewarded tangibly. This group of beauties from all over the world specially collected was the tangible reward for Prince Lu.

Prince Lu lacked nothing, except for this beauty from all over the world;
Songjiang Shipyard built a complete set of models, and Zhu Yijun gave a complete set to Prince Lu, so that Prince Lu wouldn't have to worry about the model wall in the side hall of Wenhua Palace all day long, and he could just make one for him.

"Your Majesty, as the chief minister of the cabinet, I have rejected your Majesty's imperial edict." Feng Bao carefully took out the imperial edict, and the edict sent to the cabinet was rejected.

"Ah? For what reason did the cabinet reject my imperial edict?" Zhu Yijun had a puzzled look on his face. This was the consensus reached on the way back.

"Sir, what you mean is that among those people detained by His Royal Highness Prince Lu, some should be killed, some should be imprisoned, some should be sent to the Xishan Coal Bureau for forced labor, and some should be exiled. They have to be killed, and we can't just let them go so easily." Feng Bao said in a low voice.

Zhang Juzheng felt that the emperor was too kind. Although Zhu Yiliu was unreliable, he did his best to protect his brother from getting into trouble. None of those detained were innocent.

Since Zhang Juzheng went into mourning in the fifth year of Wanli and the emperor gradually gained power, Zhang Juzheng seldom exercised his power to refute matters and the emperor's edicts. This time, the cabinet reached a unanimous opinion and he could not let go.

"What's the reason for the killing? Before the southern tour, you advised me to be benevolent and forgiving every day. I've been repeating it so many times that I'm tired of it." Zhu Yijun looked at the floating note on the imperial edict. After reading it, he still couldn't understand why Zhang Juzheng, who always advocated free speech and benevolence and forgiveness, suddenly went against his usual behavior and started to call for the killing of those with different opinions.

"It's still because of the Lin Fucheng incident. Sir, I think Prince Lu did the right thing." Feng Bao said with certainty: "The reason for killing them is very simple. They are just traitors. This will save them from making up stories and making up stories afterwards."

In order to prevent these people from being recorded in history books and talking about their sufferings all day long in the years to come, Zhang Juzheng's solution was to kill them all. That way, there would be no more years and no more history books.

Without a doubt, this is a good way to solve the problem.

"Sir, you are a little paranoid. Let's let him go." After Zhu Yijun understood Zhang Juzheng's thoughts, he smiled and said, "I'm fine. Sir, you are worrying too much."

Zhang Juzheng was not afraid of anything except that the emperor would learn from his master and let the cruel political struggle exhaust his last fighting spirit. Not to mention the New Deal, the Ming Dynasty would have to fall apart. Especially when Zhang Juzheng saw the fleeting old age from the emperor's expression, he became violent.

"I obey your order." Feng Bao could only obey. Feng Bao personally delivered the imperial edict to the cabinet and reiterated His Majesty's proposal, but Zhang Juzheng refuted the emperor's edict again, which was very rare. His attitude was very firm. Wang Chonggu slipped away directly, and went to the Xishan Coal Bureau on the pretext that he had to deal with the affairs of the Xishan Coal Bureau and the two woolen cloth factories. Wan Shihe and Wang Guoguang both agreed with Zhang Juzheng's decision.

"Then don't release it for the time being. Wait until I have reviewed the memorial and then discuss it in court." Zhu Yijun looked at the memorial that was rejected again and did not forcefully push it forward.

The cabinet obviously has its own reasons for being so tough. Zhu Yijun is also very busy, so he will do research after he is done with this busy period.

"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness Prince Lu has arrived." A eunuch ran in hurriedly and said with his head bowed.

"Xuan."

According to the rules, Prince Lu should arrive tomorrow, but Prince Lu never plays by the rules. So when the news that the emperor stayed in Tongzhou reached the capital, Prince Lu rushed to Tongzhou in a hurry. He didn't want to stay there for even a moment longer!
"Greetings, my dear brother. May your health be well!" Zhu Yiliu knelt as soon as he entered the room, and directly held the seal of the governor in his hand, and shouted loudly: "My dear brother, I have fulfilled my mission and did not cause any trouble for Your Majesty. Now that Your Majesty has returned to the capital, I will return the seal of the governor."

"Don't be so polite, you're just a joker. Look at how many memorials you have left for me!" Zhu Yijun looked at Prince Lu who was like a joker, but he couldn't do anything to him. Putting him under house arrest would just satisfy his wishes. As for heavier punishment, it would be impossible while Empress Dowager Li was still around, and Prince Lu did a really good job.

"Doesn't this make me look ridiculous? What can my royal brother do?" Zhu Yiliu answered nonchalantly with an attitude of a dead pig that is not afraid of boiling water.

Zhu Yijun smiled and asked, "Uncle, do you know that I am back?"

"I know, but I guess my uncle didn't even notice that he had an extra seal of regent." Zhu Yiliu said helplessly, "Brother, you can't say that I don't like to work. My uncle is even lazier than me. Once, when Japanese pirates coveted our water and fertilizer, my uncle attended the public trial, and he never showed up again after that."

The person who ranked first in inaction in government affairs was not Zhu Yiliu. Zhu Yiliu at least handled miscellaneous affairs. As for Zhu Zaiyu, the real regent, his attitude towards state affairs could be summed up in four words: he didn't care.

Zhu Yiliu suspected that Zhu Zaiyu only took a second look when the northern barbarians reached the city, mainly because he was afraid that the war would destroy his research.

"Okay, stop talking nonsense here. Just return the seal and go back. I still have a cartload of memorials waiting for your approval! Zhu Yijun, after you approve this one, I'll have two more!" Zhu Yijun felt a headache when he thought of the cartloads of memorials. If he had a choice, he didn't want to work.

Zhu Yijun felt a headache when he saw the mountain of memorials, and began to grind them.

Prince De Zhu Zaiyu did not forget that this was the day when His Majesty returned to Beijing. Even if he forgot, someone would remind him that the Ming Dynasty Imperial Academy also had administrative staff. Prince De brought all the civil and military officials to Tongzhou to return the seal of the Regent, which represented that the political power was returned to His Majesty. Li Rusong returned the seal of General Zhenwu to His Majesty, which represented that the military power was once again in His Majesty's hands.

On September 29th, the Ming Emperor's carriage drove into the Tonghe Palace. Thus, the southern tour came to an end. The Secretary of the Central Secretariat wrote in the Wanli Diary: The Holy Emperor has returned to the capital, and the Purple Star has returned to normal.

Since ancient times, it has been a very dangerous thing for the emperor to leave the center. The return of Ziwei Star to the right path represents that the Ming Dynasty’s government has returned to its former peace.

What made the ministers ecstatic was that after several months of vacation, the Ming Emperor did not slack off, but was as efficient as ever, and dealt with all the miscellaneous memorials owed by Prince Lu within three days.

After reviewing the memorials, Zhu Yijun leaned back in his chair, feeling hopeless. These three cartloads of memorials were really tiring. He took out the set of seals left for Prince Lu and quickly dealt with the overdue government affairs.

"Whether to release him or not, it's a bit troublesome now." Zhu Yijun leaned back in his chair, looking at Zhang Juzheng's impassioned memorial, and felt a headache.

The biggest issue discussed in the court during these three days, apart from the general affairs of the court, was whether the criminal detained by Prince Lu should be released without charge. Moreover, this issue was almost unsolvable, because everyone was doing it for the good of the Ming Dynasty. Why should they listen to you?
The court officials who remained in the capital, led by the emperor, including Zeng Shengwu, Shen Li, Lu Guangzu and others, believed that the person should be released. The court officials who went on the southern tour, led by Zhang Juzheng, including Wan Shihe and Wang Guoguang, insisted on killing the person. Both sides had very sufficient reasons: they were all for the good of the Ming Dynasty and the new policy.

If someone was doing this for personal gain, this matter would be easy to handle, but the bad thing is that it is all for the good of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Juzheng said directly and clearly that Your Majesty's tolerance of public opinion has indulged the voices of rebels in recent years. No matter what, it is necessary to use this incident to conduct a comprehensive reckoning to let them know that the imperial power is sacred and inviolable.

However, Zhu Yijun did not think that their harm was serious enough to kill people. He thought that they were just making a few noises and the sky would not fall. Covering their mouths was an act of incompetence and they should actively correct the problems if they had any.

Both sides were stubborn in their opinions, and the matter became a stalemate and difficult to resolve.

As Zhang Juzheng grew older, he became more and more afraid of things.

Feng Bao whispered, "Your Majesty, I have an idea. Let's lock him up. Locking him up for three to five years is a severe punishment. Are you still short of food for these hundreds of people?"

Since it cannot be resolved, let's put it aside until Zhang Juzheng finds that Your Majesty is not influenced by public opinion and supports the new policy.

"This is not a solution." On the issue of whether to release him or not, Zhu Yijun chose 'peace'. He did not say whether to release him or not. He just kept him locked up and put aside the dispute. There was no need to argue over such a small matter.

It was a trivial matter in Zhu Yijun's eyes, but in the eyes of the court officials on the southern tour, it was no trivial matter. The public opinion in the Southern Court made the already conservative court officials even more conservative, fearing that the public opinion in the Northern Court would become as unsightly as in the Southern Court.

Conservative court officials believed that the public opinion in the Southern Court was too liberal.

"Your Majesty, the weather is turning cold. I'm afraid the former Shaanxi Governor Shi Maohua will only live for a few days." Feng Bao reminded His Majesty that another important official was about to pass away.

Shi Maohua was the pillar of the northwest of the Ming Dynasty. In the turbulent days, Shi Maohua held up the northwest. As one of the mainstays of the restoration faction in the court, Shi Maohua went to Suiyuan and the Hetao Plain despite his illness. Shi Maohua was the backbone of major events such as the Lanzhou Woolen Factory, the migration of military households from Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia to Suiyuan, the establishment of Gansu Province, and the reopening of the Western Regions by the Ming Dynasty.

As the weather turned colder, Shi Maohua, who had managed to hold on for another year, became increasingly ill. He did not even attend the ceremony to welcome the emperor.

"Is there no other solution?" Zhu Yijun asked in a low voice in a bad mood.

"The great doctors have done their best," Feng Bao replied.

"Let's go and have a look tomorrow."

The next morning, Zhu Yijun convened a court meeting as usual. After the meeting, he immediately went to the Military Academy. Shi Maohua had a villa in Beijing, which was a reward from the emperor. He forgot when the property was searched, but it was a large house with three entrances and exits. However, Shi Maohua usually lived in the Military Academy, which was closer to the school. He liked to listen to the soldiers' morning exercise calls.

"Is there nothing we can do?" Zhu Yijun came to the official residence of the Military Academy, saw Li Shizhen and Chen Shigong waiting there, and asked about Shi Maohua's situation.

"Your Majesty, it is incurable." Li Shizhen said with his head bowed.

"Let's go in and take a look." Zhu Yijun calmed himself down and walked in.

"Governor Shi, the emperor is here." The bodyguard whispered in Shi Maohua's ear and helped Shi Maohua stand up to salute. Zhu Yijun waved his hand, indicating that there was no need for courtesy.

"Your Majesty?" Shi Maohua was a little confused about who he was. He looked for a long time before he confirmed that the person in front of him was really the emperor.

"Yes, I'm back from the Southern Court." Zhu Yijun sat in front of Shi Maohua and said gently.

He was old and sick, and his speech was not very clear, even intermittent. Zhu Yijun spoke to Shi Maohua very patiently.

"People are greedy. In the past, they always wanted to restore the system. Your Majesty worked hard and finally restored it. Now they want to reopen the Western Regions again."

"Your Majesty, do you think that poplar trees can be planted in the Western Regions?" Shi Maohua finished this sentence in a halting manner. He also had his own feelings. He still remembered that he hoped to plant poplar trees in the Western Regions, which was the old land of the Han and Tang Dynasties.

"Yes, I promised." Zhu Yijun said confidently, "I can, no matter how long it takes."

"Okay, okay, okay." Shi Maohua was a little tired. He leaned back in his chair and said "ok" three times in a row. He half tilted his head and looked to the west, as if he wanted to see through the mountains and rivers and see the vast Western Regions.

It was very quiet inside the official residence. No one spoke, and everyone even held their breath.

Li Shizhen took a deep breath and walked forward, whispering, "Your Majesty, Governor Shi is leaving."

"I know." Zhu Yijun clenched his hands, nodded vigorously and said, "I know, I will sit for a while."

After a long while, Zhu Yijun whispered, "General Shi, I promised you to reopen the Western Regions. I always keep my word. The Ministry of Rites will give you a posthumous title and bury you in the Western Hills."

Zhu Yijun first met Shi Maohua in the fourth year of Wanli, and he was the foreign official who was received that year. At that time, Shi Maohua was determined to regain control, and even told the emperor that as long as he could regain control, he could defend it even without reopening the Western Regions.

But the fact is that Shi Maohua lied. Having lived in the northwest for a long time, he knew very well that Hetao could not be defended without reopening the Western Regions.

Politics has inertia. In order to recover and rule the Hetao area, the Ming Dynasty paid an extremely high sunk cost. Reopening the Western Regions has become a consensus.

Zhu Yijun must be responsible for his promise and also for history.

After the emperor returned to Beijing, the court officials who were looking forward to rain did not wait for the emperor to pardon the detained officials, so the matter was shelved. This is a common occurrence in politics. For example, after Hu Zongxian's death, Xu Wei was imprisoned for seven years.

This kind of cold treatment means being marginalized, which is the most dangerous because no one cares anymore.

(End of this chapter)