The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 301: Prince Xing Zhu Youju

Tang Hao led the fleet and spent more than a year to finally return to Ming Dynasty.

He seemed quite worried at the moment. After all, according to the time, it was already past the time when his wife was due to give birth.

In other words, he missed the day of the birth of his first bloodline, and he didn't know what the situation was.

As soon as he returned to Shandong Qinghe Shipyard, Tang Hao learned good news from Chu Tianfang.

Chu Tianfang was a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and a close confidant of Zuo Yidao, so he was responsible for guarding the Qinghe Shipyard.

It was through the Jinyiwei channel that Tang Hao learned of the good news from His Majesty the Emperor Zhu Houzhao.

This news can be summed up in just four words - mother and child are safe!
After hearing the news, Tang Hao couldn't help laughing out loud, and suddenly felt that the Ming Dynasty had become lovable.

Of course it means something to him that mother and child are safe.

In this era when medical technology and medical equipment are quite backward, and he was not by his side, his wife Zhang Jingshu carried the baby for ten months alone, and then gave birth to a big fat boy for him, Tang Hao. This was simply a great joy!

After hearing this, all the generals came forward to congratulate.

Tang Hao simply held a celebration banquet at the Qinghe Shipyard, one to celebrate the victory over Japan, and the other to celebrate his wife's safe birth of a child.

At the banquet, people were toasting each other and the atmosphere was very lively.

After all, those present were all warriors and soldiers, and they could be said to be family members, so the atmosphere was very warm.

However, after some people drank some horse urine, they began to lose control of their mouths.

One-eyed Lei Xiong picked up the wine glass and said drunkenly: "My Lord, with the merit of destroying the country this time, you will definitely be promoted to Duke, but we brothers don't know when we can be granted the title!"

"To be honored as a marquis and appointed as a general is a wish of every brother..."

"Lei Xiong!" An Guo suddenly shouted coldly, "Get out if you're drunk, don't make a scene here!"

"You are now a captain of the Beijing Army and the commander of the Killing and Punishing Battalion. How can you not be a general? Are you still dissatisfied?"

"If it weren't for the Marquis's continuous support and giving you the opportunity to make achievements, you would have died in the bloody selection along with those followers of the Twelve Marquises!"

The military positions of generals in the Ming Dynasty were divided into two types: permanent and dispatched.

Permanent official positions had ranks and were mostly hereditary, especially in the various garrisons and local command offices. Dispatched official positions had no ranks and were mostly temporary or long-term assignments.

Among the main permanent military positions, the highest rank is naturally the Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion. For example, Tang Hao, the Commander-in-Chief of the Central Military Governor's Mansion, has a first-class rank, similar to the Commander-in-Chief of the Central Military Region!
The next level is the Du Commander Envoy Division, with the Du Commander Envoy ranking as the second rank, the Du Commander Tongzhi as the Second Rank, and the Du Commander Shishi as the Third Rank, similar to a provincial military region.

The next level down is the local guard post. The commander is awarded the third rank, the commander is the third rank, and the commander is the fourth rank.

The local garrisons were divided into Qianhu Suo and Qianhu Suo. The chief Qianhu of a Qianhu Suo was of the fifth rank, the deputy Qianhu was of the fifth rank, the Qianhu of a Qianhu Suo was of the sixth rank, the trial Qianhu was of the sixth rank, and there were also the general flag of the seventh rank and the small flag of the seventh rank!
This is a permanent military position for military generals in the Ming Dynasty, and it is also the specific basis for issuing salaries.

In addition to permanent military posts, there are dispatched military posts.

For example, the chief garrison officer of Jiubian Military Town and the chief officer of a provincial theater can mobilize all the soldiers in the military town in the war zone according to the size of the combat mission, similar to the commander or army commander of later war zones.

The deputy commander-in-chief, usually called a deputy general, assists the commander-in-chief or is responsible for operations in a certain strategic direction. Depending on the specific responsibilities, he is similar to the deputy commander or army commander in later war zones.

The generals are responsible for guarding various roads, sections and other jurisdictions, with a force of 5,000 to 10,000, similar to the division commanders or brigade commanders of later generations; guerrillas, leading the rangers to and from defense, infantry and cavalry mobile units, not necessarily cavalry, the next The military strength is from one to three thousand, similar to the brigade commander or regiment commander in later generations; the garrison, which leads troops to guard a city or a certain area, has the same strength of one to three thousand troops, similar to the regimental commander in later generations.

The generals and guerrilla officers are mostly filled by officials such as the capital commander, while the garrison officers are mostly filled by thousands of households.

For example, Lei Xiong, the commander of the Zhanpei Battalion, was originally the commander of a battalion with more than 6,000 men under his command. Although he was nominally only a garrison commander, his actual strength was enough to rival that of a lieutenant general.

However, the Beijing Army’s combat troops are different from those of the Nine Frontiers. After all, they are under the Emperor’s nose, so only the Emperor can give them higher-level military positions. Therefore, Tang Hao could only give the rank of a thousand-man commander to garrisons such as An Guo and Chang Kuohai.

There is a very sensitive issue here.

Because the Five Military Commission was in name only, the promotion and transfer of military officers of the Beijing Army were still nominally under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War.

Of course, Yang Yiqing, the Grand Marshal of the Ministry of War, had a hard time. Just after taking office, he was tricked by Tang Hao and sent to Shaanxi to solve the problems in the horse administration. Therefore, the Beijing army was still under the command of Marquis Zhongshan.

However, even so, if Emperor Zhengde Zhu Houzhao did not nod his head, Tang Hao would not be qualified or would not dare to promote these trusted generals on his own.

Military power has been a sensitive issue since ancient times.

Tang Hao did not want to promote these generals and end up causing Zhu Houzhao's suspicion and fear, thinking that he was cultivating his own clique in the army. If that happened, more than just one or two people would die.

After An Guo's angry curse, Lei Xiong finally came to his senses. Seeing Zhongshan Hou sitting in the main seat with an expressionless face, he immediately bowed to Tang Hao in panic and apologized.

"My Lord, I...drank too much...and said some things I shouldn't have said. Please forgive me..."

Then An Guo also pleaded for mercy: "My Lord, you know how bad-tempered One-Eyed Lei is. He just complained because he was drunk. Please don't take it to heart."

The rest of the generals also spoke up. After all, they had fought together for so long and there was still some comradeship among them.

"That's enough!" Tang Hao glanced at the generals unhappily, "Don't I know your little tricks?"

"I once said that no matter who they are, whether they are generals or soldiers, as long as they are willing to fight bravely for the Ming Dynasty, they will receive the military rewards they deserve!"

"Come to think of it, what One-Eyed Lei said is not wrong. After all these years, your positions should indeed be promoted. Don't worry, I will make the decision!"

After receiving Tang Hao's personal promise, the generals were overjoyed and stood up to toast Tang Hao.

At the end of a big banquet, I don't know how many people were drunk at the banquet.

After the banquet, Tang Hao was helped back to the room by Zuo Yidao.

Zuo Yidao also attended the banquet, but he did not drink because he was a member of the Imperial Guard and could not drink at this time.

After Tang Hao sat down, his eyes immediately regained clarity.

"Yidao, what do you think about what happened at the banquet today?"

Zuo Yidao was silent for a moment after hearing this, and then tentatively replied: "After so many years of fighting, Lei Xiong and An Guo only received rewards, but never received official positions or titles. They must be somewhat resentful."

"It's normal. After all, the soldiers sacrificed their lives for the Ming Dynasty, but they couldn't be promoted to marquis or general. No one can accept this."

Hearing this, Tang Hao looked at Zuo Yidao with suspicion.

"It's unexpected that you can say that."

Zuo Yidao is a member of the Imperial Guard!

The Emperor's close confidant.

But he expressed his dissatisfaction with the court!
Zuo Yidao smiled bitterly and spread his hands.

"I've drunk too much and I'm talking without thinking."

"You kid!" Tang Hao cursed angrily, then took out a secret letter from his arms.

"Send someone to take it back to the capital, so that Your Majesty can prepare first. I will discuss it with Your Majesty in detail after we return to the capital."

Zuo Yidao took the order and left.

Tang Hao sat alone and pondered for a long time.

The soldiers were dissatisfied with the money and property rewards, which was naturally a good thing. The Five Military Commandery was still just an empty shell until now, because the central court did not have enough high-ranking military generals.

The merit of annihilating Japan this time is enough to give birth to a group of high-level military honors, at least a few earls and marquises, which can barely support the Five Military Commandery!

As long as the five prefectures are rebuilt, the military honor will truly begin to rise. With its own base camp, it will also have the right and qualifications to protect the interests of the soldiers!
But the question is, how can we make the civil officials and gentry compromise?

The best way to deal with these greedy people is to give them enough benefits!

Tang Hao pondered for a long time again, and finally fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Tang Hao led the meritorious soldiers on a boat to Tianjin and rushed back to the capital as quickly as possible.

Finally, in the early summer of the seventh year of Yongle, Tang Hao and his party arrived at the gate of the capital.

Unexpectedly, there was a huge crowd of people outside the city gate of the capital at this moment, and it was very lively.

There are also three important court officials, the Minister of Personnel Wang Ao, the Minister of War Yang Yiqing, the Minister of Rites Zhu Youqiu, as well as the popular eunuch Zhang Yong, who are here to welcome you!
That’s right, Prince Xing Zhu Youju has been promoted to Minister of Rites, which is the result of the struggle between members of the royal family and civil officials and gentry.

The last time Yang Tinghe searched for evidence of Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao's guilt, he failed and ended up losing a censor. Later, due to the inexplicable attitude of the Emperor, both sides stopped fighting.

However, soon after, Prince Ning Zhu Chenhao began to revolt.

It is also very interesting to say that there were some outstanding talents in the imperial examination in the sixth year of Zhengde, such as Yang Shen, the son of Yang Tinghe, who was the great talent who wrote "Linjiangxian".

Originally, after this examination, Yang Shen was chosen as the number one scholar because of his extraordinary talent. However, when the Minister of Rites Zhang Sheng and other officials such as the examination supervisors were taking the test papers of the top 50 candidates to see the emperor for his decision, a candle flame fell on them and directly burned them.

His Majesty the Emperor was furious. He ordered a new strategist to be appointed and severely punished the Minister of Rites Zhang Sheng. He sent him directly to the Nanjing court to retire. It was estimated that he would never have any chance of being reinstated in this life.

As soon as Zhang Sheng left, the position of Minister of Rites became vacant, and according to the system, it should be elected by the court.

As a result, at this critical juncture, Prince Ning Zhu Chenhao started to make trouble again. He accused Yang Shen, the son of Yang Tinghe, the chief minister of the cabinet, of making friends and cultivating cliques for his father!

The most famous person among them is Cui Xian!

Cui Xian came from a family of officials. In the 18th year of the Hongzhi reign, he took part in the imperial examination. At that time, Cui Xian's test paper was under the curtain of Liu Wuchen, the examiner. The examiner thought that his essay was profound, archaic, harsh and strict, and guessed that he was not a man of virtue, so he rated him as low and did not admit him.

At that time, Yang Tinghe and Zhang Yuanzhen were both in charge of the imperial examination. Yang Shen served Yang Tinghe in the examination room of the Ministry of Rites. After seeing Cui Xian's unique and witty writing, Yang Shen liked it very much and recommended it to his father. Yang Tinghe then promoted Cui Xian to be the champion of "The Book of Songs". When Cui Xian knew about it, he called Yang Shen "little master". The two became close friends and Yang Shen respected Yang Tinghe as "master".

When Prince Ning Zhu Chenhao made this matter public, it instantly caused an uproar.

What is a "seat master"?
He is the chief examiner of the provincial and metropolitan examinations, and the successful scholars respectfully call him "Zuozhu".

The Ming Dynasty followed the imperial examination system of the Tang and Song dynasties, with scholars taking three levels of examinations: county, provincial, and national. Those who passed the county examination were called "xiucai"; those who passed the provincial examination were called "xianren"; and those who passed the national examination were called "huishi". The chief examiners for the provincial and hui examinations were appointed by the Ministry of Rites.

Especially for the imperial examinations, the chief examiner was often selected and appointed by the emperor himself. Scholars who participated in the provincial and imperial examinations and passed the examinations as juren or jinshi had to pay homage to the chief examiner of their undergraduate degree as the master, and the master called these disciples "disciples".

In other words, the civil officials and gentry actually used this special relationship to secretly promote the younger generation, cultivate their own cliques and select successors, and the chief examiner of the imperial examination became one of the most coveted jobs that every civil official and gentry competed for, one that was enough to bring honor to the family.

After all, once one becomes an examiner, he can bestow favors on the vast number of scholars, which is indirectly equivalent to having his own interest group, cultivating his own followers, and forming his own power.

Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, there were also important officials in power who selected examiners from their own party to show favors to the candidates in order to win over these scholars, or they supported someone to serve as an examiner in exchange for the benefit of supporting someone as an examiner. This was the exchange of interests in the imperial examination system.

For example, Wei Zhongxian once wanted to win over He Fengsheng, so he sent someone to inform him to serve as the chief examiner in order to show favor to He Fengsheng. However, He Fengsheng himself naturally disdained to be associated with Wei Zhongxian, so he did not agree.

The relationship between the host and the students has always been positive in the court and the public. They do not object to the behavior of the chief examiner establishing a personal favor with the examinee, because the title of the host comes from the teacher, but it is more respected than the teacher. Because the host has the dual identities of teacher and career guide, the host of the Ming Dynasty is generally the emperor's loyal minister. For example, cabinet ministers such as Xie Jin, Fang Xiaoru, Yang Shiqi, Yang Tinghe, Xia Yan, Yan Song, Xu Jie, and Gao Gong have all served as chief examiners of the joint examination. Once they have power, they will promote and reuse their own students.

Li Dongyang, the old fox, openly expressed his support, saying: "The master's disciples have existed since the birth of the imperial examination. He even abolished this practice in the Song Dynasty because he was afraid that candidates and examiners would sacrifice public interests for personal gain. The result was that party disputes became more intense. Party disputes became more intense."

Therefore, the disciples all serve their master with great respect. In addition to the moral obligation between teachers and students, there are also some utilitarian factors involved.

To put it bluntly, the relationship between the master and the disciple is like the relationship between a tree and monkeys. The bigger the tree, the more monkeys there are; when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. This is a community of interests. The master supports and protects the disciple; the disciple relies on and obeys the master.

But the problem is that you can't say this kind of thing in front of His Majesty the Emperor, and you can't make it public.

After all, the unspoken rule of "master and disciple" in the imperial examinations was an act of establishing private favors under the imperial system. The autocratic imperial power required all subjects in the world to be loyal to the emperor, and such behavior was not allowed. That was why the Song Dynasty once abolished the ban on calling each other master and disciple.

However, the emperor essentially still needs to appoint officials layer by layer to govern the entire country. He cannot rely on one person to govern the entire country, and the selection of talents cannot be entirely decided by him alone. These all require a fixed mechanism to operate, so the relationship between the master and his disciples is inevitable.

Therefore, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty could only turn a blind eye, but they were slapped in the face as a result.

The ruthless Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao did just that, and even provided evidence.

The result was that Emperor Zhu Houzhao became furious again and ordered Cui Xian and Yang Shen to be thrown into prison and tortured. Who gave them the courage to defy the court and the imperial power like this!

In order to save his only son, or to protect the tacit exchange of interests in the imperial examination and maintain the unspoken rules of the imperial examination for his master's disciples, Yang Tinghe chose to bow to Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao. The final result was that Cui Xian was exiled to the border, Yang Shen failed again, and Xing Wang Zhu Youlang was promoted to Minister of Rites.

In this court struggle, the royal family members won a great victory!
Tang Hao thought about the information conveyed by the Jinyiwei and fixed his eyes on Prince Xing Zhu Youlang.

His Royal Highness Prince Xing, although seemingly inconspicuous, has undoubtedly become the biggest winner in these court struggles!

Even though Prince Ning Zhu Chenhao was jumping happily, any discerning person could see that this Minister of the Ministry of Rites was not far from death.

However, in stark contrast, Prince Xing Zhu Youqiu not only had an extremely good reputation, but also rose to higher and higher positions.

To be honest, Tang Hao was a little frightened, or even worried at this moment.

After all, he knew very well the methods of Zhu Youlang's son Zhu Houcong. It seemed that the son really inherited from the father. This Zhu Youlang was probably not a simple person. He was worried that he and Zhu Houzhao would get out of control in the future and really shoot themselves in the foot.

But now is not the time to think about these things, after all, people are still waiting there.

Tang Hao immediately rode his horse forward, and when he got close, he dismounted and knelt on the ground respectfully.

Zhang Yong also sang the imperial edict loudly, and all the subjects present knelt on the ground.

The general idea is that the Japanese are despicable and shameless. First, during the Hongwu period, they killed and imprisoned Ming angels. Then they disguised themselves as Japanese pirates and went out to sea to plunder the Ming coast and massacred Ming people... After listing all kinds of crimes committed by Japan, it was finally the Ming Dynasty's Zhongshan Marquis who led an expedition across the vast ocean, completely wiped out the rebellion and conquered Japan.

When Zhang Yong finished singing, the whole of Kyoto suddenly cheered and turned into a sea of ​​​​joy.

Thanks to the previous public opinion offensive by Tang Hao and Zhu Houzhao, the people in the entire capital were extremely disgusted and hated the Japanese.

Now, when they suddenly heard that the Marquis of Zhongshan of the Ming Dynasty had wiped out the rebellious Japan and enhanced the prestige of the Ming Dynasty, all the people and scholars could not help but cheer and rejoice.

"The Ming Dynasty will be victorious!"

"The Ming Dynasty will be victorious!"

"The Ming Dynasty will be victorious!"

At this moment, the cohesion and national confidence of the Chinese nation reached its peak!

After a round of cheers, a strange voice suddenly emerged from the crowd.

"Zhongshan Hou is mighty!"

"Zhongshan Hou is mighty!"

"Zhongshan Hou is mighty!"

Tang Hao was stunned when he heard this, and then a smile slowly appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Zhu Houzhao, you really know how to have fun!
(End of this chapter)