Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Youjian gave Yang Wu Hou so many preferential treatments, naturally he wanted to use him to do things.

Just when Yangwu Hou Xue Lian was happy, Zhu Youjian said to him:

"Mr. Xue is working in the Central Military Command Office, right?"

"Now that I am going to establish a fiefdom overseas, I have to resign from this position."

"After retiring, civil officials can be transferred to become advisors."

"As a first-rank governor, Xue Qing should also be qualified."

These words made all the nobles look delighted, but Marquis Yangwu was a little surprised.

Although most of the nobles present did not speak much in the court, everyone knew that the Counselor was able to participate in court discussions and had more real power than the Five Military Commanderies, which had become a completely nominal position.

The emperor intends to transfer retired military officers to become advisors, which is a good thing for all the nobles and they are certainly happy to see it.

But for Yangwu Hou Xue Lian, things were different—

Although he also wanted to serve as a counselor and have some real power, he did not want to do so by himself.

However, the emperor's words clearly meant that he wanted him to be the first to take action. While proposing to retire, he also asked to be transferred to the position of advisory minister.

This means that he will attract the attention of all civil servants, and all the illegal and taboo things that Yangwuhou Mansion had done in the past might be dug up by the civil servants.

So deep down, he didn't want to be the first to stand out.

However, under the emperor's aggressive gaze and the gloating eyes of other nobles, Yangwu Hou Xue Lian could only smile bitterly in his heart and accept the order:
"I will obey your majesty's orders."

"I just hope that Your Majesty will show some leniency when the Yangwu Marquis's Mansion is targeted by the civil officials."

Zhu Youjian still had some sense of responsibility, and said to him:

"As long as they are not guilty of the most heinous crimes, I will pardon their death penalty and at most exile them overseas."

"But you nobles should also be careful not to break the law and invite impeachment from officials."

"When you become a minister of state, you should be more respectable. You shouldn't be scolded by others and feel ashamed to participate in the affairs of the government."

Most of the nobles listened to the emperor's warning but turned a deaf ear to it.

In fact, most of them have already seen that although the emperor has been strict with the nobles and even wants to collect taxes from them, he has no intention of abolishing the nobles. For those who have something to do with the rebellion, such as Yang Wuhou, he has only sent them overseas to establish a fiefdom.

Even going back further, although Marquis Wuqing was stripped of his title because of his involvement in the eunuch party's rebellion, he still had the opportunity to regain his title by making meritorious contributions.

The emperor still valued meritorious officials and even started a new round of conferring titles on the descendants of meritorious officials.

Zhu Youjian looked at their indifferent attitude and felt that these nobles were useless.

But in the current situation, he can only protect these corrupt nobles as a helper in his fight against the civil servants.

Only after future meritorious officials have been conferred titles could he send these people overseas and force them to achieve great things.
-
After the Adviser's statement was made, the nobles were appeased.

No one talks about industry anymore. Compared to money, power is more important.

These nobles expressed their support for Yangwu Hou Xue Lian, and planned to become the counselor minister after Xue Lian became the counselor.

Being pressured by the emperor and so many nobles, Xue Lian, Marquis of Yangwu, had no choice but to submit a memorial to the emperor, proposing to retire from the Central Military Commandery and to be transferred to the position of Minister of State Affairs.

This incident undoubtedly caused an uproar in the court.

Civil officials were extremely wary of the power to recommend military officials in court.

Back then, they had finally managed to kick the five ministries out of the court recommendation. How could they now allow military officers to re-participate in the court recommendation as advisors?

Therefore, the civil servants all opposed this.

Memorials flew into the cabinet like snowflakes.

Because it was a period of martial law, the emperor could issue imperial decrees directly without going through the cabinet. The cabinet did not have much power and could only forward these memorials to the emperor.

What made them happy was that the emperor did not take the matter into his own hands, nor did he issue an imperial decree to make a direct decision. Instead, he allowed the court and the public to discuss the matter extensively and reach a resolution.

For a time, public opinion that had been suppressed due to the martial law some time ago suddenly became hot.

The newspapers were discussing this matter, arguing whether military officers could be transferred to become advisory ministers after retirement.

The attitude of "Dibao" and "Jingbao" on this issue was neutral. As the mouthpieces of public opinion of the court, they did not have any obvious tendency.

However, Ming Pao and Datong Newspaper, as the forum of scholar opinion, strongly opposed this matter, believing that the ability and integrity of military officers were not enough to serve as advisors.

The nobles were naturally unwilling to be outdone by this situation. They supported the Guardian newspaper founded by the children of the guards, which spread opinions that were beneficial to the military officers.

But in general, there were still many voices of opposition among the literati. Some even mentioned the arrogance of the military commanders in the early years of the country and the rampant military commanders in the Five Dynasties, and believed that the power of military commanders should be suppressed as much as possible and they should not be given the opportunity to participate in the affairs of the court.

As the incident progressed, some people began to target the Xue family of Yangwu Marquis. Yangwu Marquis Xue Lian had committed many illegal acts in the capital and was quite criticized.

His scandal was immediately exposed in the newspapers, and even some victims stood up to appeal for justice and filed a petition with the Supreme Court of Aristocrats.

Disputes also arose within the Xue family. After the fifth generation Yangwu Marquis Xue Han died during the Jiajing period, because he left no son, disputes arose within the Xue family for thirty years. It was not until the sixth year of the Longqing period that the sixth generation Yangwu Marquis was decided.

Now that Xue Lian had offended the scholars, some of the Xue family saw an opportunity and began to jump out, planning to overthrow Xue Lian and replace him with someone else to inherit the title.

They are all members of the Xue family, so the evidence they provide is naturally more detailed.

For a time, Xue Lian was wanted by everyone, and some even believed that killing him would not be enough to appease the public anger.

Zhu Youjian was also shocked by this situation.

He didn't expect that Yangwu Hou Xue Lian had so much shit under his butt, nor did he expect that the influence of civil servants would be so great.

As a result, the debate, which should have been a back-and-forth one, became almost one-sided.

Now it is not a question of whether Xue Lian can serve as the Minister of State Regent, but whether he can still keep the title of Marquis of Yangwu.

Looking at Xue Lian's crimes, Zhu Youjian wanted to depose this man for a moment.

However, thinking of his promise to Yang Wuhou, he sighed and decided to protect this person.

This is a question related to his credibility among the nobles, and Xue Lian cannot be touched at this time.

So he summoned Yangwu Hou Xue Lian to the palace and gave him a severe reprimand. Finally, he asked him:
"What's going on inside the Xue family? Can you calm this matter down?"

Xue Lian was also somewhat angry about someone from the Xue family jumping out. If the emperor didn't need him, this might have been really dangerous.

So he gritted his teeth and said:

"Your Majesty, please give me some time."

"I will move these people out first." Zhu Youjian frowned and understood what Xue Lian meant.

After knowing that this person was planning to relocate some members of the Xue family overseas, he let them "die of illness."

He still felt a little bit reluctant about this, and he was also somewhat dissatisfied with Yang Wuhou's illegal behavior. After careful consideration, he said:

"You can migrate out, but you also need to give an explanation."

“Now is the time to unite and deal with the criticism from the civil servants. We cannot cause any more disturbances.”

"In this way, I will give you one viscount and three baronships, so that your family can be at peace."

"From now on, the title of Marquis of Yangwu will be inherited by your line, and they are all branches."

Xue Lian was delighted to hear this decision, knowing that the emperor had confirmed his line's right of succession.

Even if he could not withstand the storm and had to give up the title, the title of Marquis Yangwu would still be inherited by his descendants.

Those who became branches completely lost the right to inherit the title of Marquis Yangwu.

However, after being delighted, Xue Lian thought about the fiefs of these people and asked:

"Do the fiefs of these viscounts and barons belong to the Yangwu Marquisate?"

Zhu Youjian looked at him with a fake smile and asked:
"What do you say?"

"Why doesn't it belong to the Yangwu Marquisate if it was separated from your Yangwu Marquis Xue family?"

"The fiefdoms and garrisons they have allocated to you will be regarded as punishment for you."

"After committing so many crimes, I have to give an explanation to the outside world."

As he spoke, Zhu Youjian threw the case concerning Xue Lian's crimes directly in front of him.

If these crimes were committed by ordinary people, they would have been executed several times by law.

However, because the Xue family of Yangwu Hou had a hereditary bond, even if he was sentenced to death, he would still need to be judged by the nobles among the eight councils.

In order to appease the heart of the meritorious official, Zhu Youjian had to pardon him from the death penalty, unless he committed the ten most heinous crimes, then he would not be pardoned.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian did not expect the aristocratic court of the Dali Court to convict Yang Wuhou, because the final decision-making power was in his hands.

Even the civil officials would not object to this matter, because the item on discussing the nobility also includes the third-rank and above officials and the second-rank and above officials.

This is a privilege shared by civil officials, military officers, and nobles, and they could not object to it.

Xue Lian knew this, so he was somewhat fearless. When he realized that the civil officials would impeach him, he even asked the emperor to pardon him.

Zhu Youjian had no way to punish him now, so he could only use his mistake as an excuse to divide some of the Xue family's fiefdom and garrison soldiers and give them to other members of the Xue family.

According to the rule that a viscount has two thousand households in every 200 square li and a baron has one thousand households in every 100 square li, Xue Lian needs to allocate 70,000 square li of fiefdom and five thousand households to his clansmen.

As a vassal state of the marquisate, the Yangwu Marquisate could have a fiefdom of 400 to 160,000 square li, as well as two guards and ten thousand-household units.

Seventy thousand square miles and five thousand households were almost equivalent to dividing half of the territory. This really made Xue Lian feel a little painful. He realized the current emperor's means -

Even if he didn't sentence him to death, the emperor had plenty of ways to make him feel uncomfortable. In the future, Yangwuhou would face challenges from a viscount and three barons.

What he needs to do now is to try his best to arrange this viscount and three barons to become his own people and quell the disputes within the Xue family.
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After Xue Lian brought back these conditions, the dispute within the Xue family was quickly settled.

Even after the emperor's punishment was disclosed in the newspapers, some people almost felt sympathy for Xue Lian.

This was before the fiefdom was established, but half of the fiefdom and soldiers were divided away.

From then on, Marquis Yangwu was just a lame marquis, and the fiefdoms and garrisons directly under him were only equivalent to those of an earl.

This made some nobles take it as a warning and restrain their behavior to avoid being targeted by the emperor and being punished in a similar way.

Most people were satisfied with this, especially after the emperor directly transferred the money he earned from purchasing the Yangwuhou Mansion coal mine into compensation for the victims, many people praised it even more.

When civil officials and scholars launched attacks on Marquis Yangwu again, not many people responded.

However, Xue Lian's transfer to the position of Minister of State Affairs was blocked.

No one thought that this nobleman who was punished by the emperor was still qualified to serve as a minister in the court.

However, the nobles did not give up. The current leader of the nobles, Duke of Yingguo Zhang Weixian, stood up in this situation and requested to retire completely and become a counselor.

Faced with this request, the civil servants in the court really had no way to object.

As a veteran of four dynasties, Zhang Weixian had assisted three emperors in ascending the throne. With such tremendous contributions, is it possible that he is not worthy of being an advisory minister?

Especially at this time, a new discourse was aroused in the newspapers. The Guardian published an article entitled "Military Attachés Are Officials Too", calling for military attachés to be treated as officials.

The content of this article can be described as sad and indignant. It recounts the incident in which Qi Jiguang called himself "a running dog" in the face of Zhang Juzheng, and believes that military officers are now almost servants of civil officials.

The article aroused the approval of many military officers and even the emperor was alarmed, so he asked the Privy Council and the Censorate to investigate the collusion between civil and military officials to prevent harm to the country.

In this case, how could the civil officials in the court oppose Zhang Weixian's proposal to become a counselor?

Did they tell the emperor that they just wanted to suppress the military officers and treat them as "running dogs"?
It can be said that because of this article, the public opinion situation has completely reversed. From almost unanimous opposition to the military attaché to the advisory minister, it has now become a mixed bag.

As if to add to the situation, Xu Xigao, Duke Dingguo, who was also relatively old, also requested to retire and become a counselor.

The emperor therefore convened a court meeting to discuss the possibility of transferring the nobles to the position of advisory ministers:
"There are currently five dukes, one county duke, twenty-two marquises, and thirty-four earls in the imperial court."

"It is certainly not feasible to transfer all of these people to the position of advisors, but rejecting all of them would also hurt their patriotism."

"Everyone, please discuss how many positions there are for the nobles as advisors, and set a rule."

The ministers looked at each other and found it difficult to refuse all of them.

Not to mention the distinguished nobleman like Duke of England Zhang Weixian, even if any other duke were to become an advisor, it would cause great controversy if they objected.

Each duke represents a force, and those who take the lead in opposing their officials from becoming counselors will have to pay a price.

The fact that the Chengyi family and the Donglin Party had been fighting for decades without falling had already given civil officials a great warning. If they did not want to stir up arguments every time in the court, it would be best to establish a rule to set a fixed number of ministers for the nobles.

As the Privy Co-Director, Yuan Keli could be said to be the most senior civilian officer in the court. He took the lead and said:
"I think the number of ministers of honor and honor should not exceed ten."

"The nobles who have served as the left and right commanders of the Five Military Commands shall be given priority. Others are not qualified."

This proposal was supported by many civil officials, but military officers and nobles were very dissatisfied.

Since civil officials of the second rank and above can be transferred to become advisors after retirement, why must meritorious officials be of the first rank to be transferred to become advisors?

They raised objections one after another, believing that civil and military officials should be treated the same. (End of this chapter)