Daming: I am the Crown Prince

The Minister of Rites Chen Di came to the Wuying Palace, not to give advice but to report on state affairs.

After all, his qualification as the Minister of Rites was not very long. If Ren Hengtai had not broken the law knowingly, Chen Di might still be just the Right Governor of Yunnan.

However, he also had his own advantages, he was talented and had experience in governing a region. Therefore, although he had relatively little experience among the six ministers, he was relatively trusted by Zhu Yunhuan.

"Your Majesty, the matter of opening an additional imperial examination has already been decided." Chen Di said directly, "But the number of candidates to be selected for this additional imperial examination still needs to be decided by Your Majesty."

The joint examination was held only last year, which was a normal process and there was nothing to complain about. The only change was that it was divided into the southern list and the northern list, which was said to take care of students from both the north and the south, but everyone knew it.

It was simply that the current emperor, who was still the crown prince at the time, felt that the southern scholars performed too well in the imperial examinations, and it was difficult for the northern scholars to pass the exams, so he divided the list into two on the grounds that the northern scholars were too far away to come to Beijing.

Even now, many scholars in the south still have complaints. It seems that being divided into two lists does not seem to have any direct conflict with students in the north.

However, the imperial court only selected a few Jinshi, and some were reserved for northerners. Southern students thought that this was taking up their places.

"We need to be more careful about this matter. The Talent Selection Ceremony has always been a major event for the imperial court." Zhu Yunhuan said seriously, "As for the number of candidates this year, let's first look at the talents of the students this year!"

Naturally, Chen Di would not have any objection to this. He also understood that the imperial examination was the main way for the court to recruit talents.

It has been 30 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and many rules have begun to be improved. There is no longer a system of holding imperial examinations every three years as in the early years of the founding of the country. Now the imperial examinations are carried out normally according to the rule of holding them every three years.

Of course, the additional special examinations are a separate matter. This year's special examination is the first time that the Ming Dynasty has held special examinations. It also sets the standard for future special examinations. Basically, only a new monarch is eligible to hold special examinations.

Zhu Yunhuan then looked at Chen Di and asked, "You should also ask about the affairs of the Honglu Temple. How are the envoys accompanying the fleet preparing?"

Chen Di immediately replied, "Your Majesty, these are all carefully selected envoys, and they will surely let the foreign countries know the majesty of our Great Ming."

Zhu Yunhuan was naturally quite satisfied with Chen Di's answer.

He did not want all the envoys he sent out to be Han envoys, and he did not want those envoys to cause trouble for no reason.

However, he also did not want the envoys he sent out to only know how to talk nonsense, or to think about influencing some barbarians in foreign countries. They should be dignified when necessary, and sometimes only the big fists can prevail.

Or maybe you have to beat someone into submission before you can slowly reason with him. After all, sometimes customs and cultures are different, and the perceptions of some things are also different.

We can empathize and put ourselves in their shoes, but we still need to consider things from the perspective of the Ming Dynasty, rather than promising many benefits to foreign countries in order to persuade them.

This is how Zhu Yunhu understood this principle. Perhaps because of him, Chen Di and others were more careful in selecting the envoys for this mission, and they basically knew what to do.

Then Chen Di carefully reported, "Your Majesty, we have also made some preparations at the Duke of Kaiguo's Mansion."

Zhu Yunhuan said somewhat unhappily, "You don't need to worry too much, I know all these things."

Chen Di decisively chose to keep silent. Chang Lan's health was getting worse and worse. Now it was no longer the case that the imperial physician was invited once a day. Instead, some imperial physicians basically stayed in the Kaiping Palace.

As Chang Yuchun's wife and the grandmother of the current emperor, some of Chang Lan's affairs are also important affairs of the court. The Ministry of Rites in particular must make adequate preparations.

There are even some theories about Chang Lan's future burial place, after all, Chang Yuchun was buried in the Xiaoling Mausoleum.

Normally, being buried in the imperial mausoleum is a treatment only afforded to truly meritorious officials and the emperor's immediate family members.

These are actually easy to understand. For example, Chang Yuchun was buried with Chang Yuchun in the Xiaoling Mausoleum, so he certainly could not be buried in his hometown. However, there are also opinions on whether Chang Lanshi should be buried with Chang Yuchun or buried in his hometown.

In short, one thing that is certain is that the wives or children of some meritorious officials will be buried in the ancestral tombs in their hometowns. There is no need to consider the imperial tombs, as they cannot become the family cemeteries of meritorious officials.

Although he was not happy about Chen Di bringing up these things, Zhu Yunhuan had to consider some of the more realistic issues.

If you really think about it carefully, there are some things that can only be decided by Lao Zhu or him. No one else can make the decision, including Lan Yu, Chang Sheng and others.

In fact, there are some things that Zhu Yunhuan himself cannot decide. After all, his "imperial tomb" is basically determined. Even if it has not been built yet, Zhu has basically selected the location.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang had been emperor for more than ten years before he started to build the imperial mausoleum, the country had just been founded at that time, so the situation was naturally somewhat different from now.

But when it came to Zhu Yunhuan, even if it was just a show, he started preparing to build the imperial mausoleum when he ascended the throne. This was also a custom in all dynasties, so naturally there was no need to feel it was a taboo.

It seems that I have to go to Kaiping Palace. After all, she is Zhu Yunhuan's grandmother, and her identity and status are different. Especially since the old lady is in poor health now, as a grandson, I still have to go and see her.

After Chen Di left, Bao Zhao came to Wuying Palace.

Bao Zhao reported carefully, "Your Majesty, we have been ordered to preside over the Taicang case, and we have now found out many things."

Zhang Fusheng directly took the memorial. This matter was a major matter that His Majesty was concerned about, so it must be dealt with as soon as possible. Some other matters might not necessarily need to be taken so seriously.

Zhu Yunhuan opened the memorial and asked, "The officials who committed the crime have been investigated, but what about the merchants and gentry involved?"

Bao Zhao answered decisively, "Your Majesty, the officials involved will naturally be dealt with according to the laws of the court. As for the merchants and gentry involved, once their crimes are clear, they will also be dealt with according to the law."

Zhu Yunhuan was basically satisfied with the answer from the Minister of Justice, and he also hoped that it would be implemented in this way.

In the final analysis, the court already had laws, and some things should be implemented in this way. Otherwise, the "Great Ming Law" and "Great Edict" would become a decoration.

After watching carefully, Zhu Yunhuan said with some dissatisfaction, "So the recovery of the stolen goods is still a little slow?" Hearing Zhu Yunhuan's dissatisfaction, Bao Zhao quickly explained, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. We did not cover up the crime. It's just that the recovery of the stolen goods needs to be handled by local government offices, so it has been delayed a little."

Zhu Yunhuan could basically understand these things. The criminal officials were directly arrested and questioned, and the trials were all orderly. Naturally, some cases were relatively easy to investigate and determine the charges.

However, recovering stolen goods is a rather complicated matter, because some officials like to recover stolen goods so that they can take advantage of them and make a fortune.

Similar to Wei Xiaobao's raid on Aobai's house, such situations often occur when recovering stolen goods. It is not because the Ming Dynasty now has severe punishments for corrupt officials that people will be deterred, and there are bold people everywhere.

Zhu Yunhuan thought about it carefully and said, "We need to hurry up with these matters. We have taken advantage of the court, so how can we let them be complacent!"

Zhu Yunhuan also knew that it was impossible to recover all the stolen goods and money. In the process of recovering the stolen goods, some corrupt officials might also commit evil deeds.

However, his principle is that if you break the law and are caught, you must confess your crime and face the punishment. If those corrupt officials are caught, they will also be severely punished. It is that simple.

Bao Zhao also breathed a sigh of relief. Although His Majesty hated corrupt officials, fortunately he was relatively restrained. At least he did not plan to recover the stolen money on a large scale.

Corrupt officials must be severely punished, but this will not be a large-scale crackdown and will not implicate more innocent people.

That would be all. As for recovering the stolen goods, the court's intention was to return all the money they had taken, including the principal and interest, and the offenders would be brought to justice and confess their crimes.

It seems that there is no need to worry too much about other things. After all, there are still differences between Emperor Chengkang and Emperor Hongwu in some things. This is good news for Bao Zhao and others. There is no need to be so nervous.

After solving two major issues in succession, Zhu Yunhuan felt much more at ease. Being an emperor was not an easy job for him, and he really had no time to think about beauties in the harem, wine and women, and the like.

This is a career-oriented emperor who wants to create a prosperous era and implement some of his ideas. He has lofty ambitions, which naturally means he needs to work a little harder.

Fortunately, although you may feel physically and mentally exhausted, you also feel a great sense of accomplishment psychologically, which is much more interesting than pleasure.

Especially seeing that many things have changed significantly under his influence, Zhu Yunhuan feels even more satisfied and happy.

Not to mention anything else, under his influence and his efforts, the current Ming Dynasty is very different from the Ming Dynasty in history, and it seems that the imperial lineage will basically not change.

Baochao, the maritime ban, etc., these are all huge changes, even a series of changes from beginning to end. The dredging of the Grand Canal has also been advanced a lot, which will definitely have a great impact on people's livelihood.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yunhuan became more and more proud and continued to devote himself to the task of reviewing memorials. He still had a lot of things to deal with.

Zhang Fusheng, Daoyan and others were used to the emperor occasionally laughing. Perhaps it was because his majesty saw interesting memorials or was happy to see some officials doing practical things.

There is nothing strange about these things. Your Majesty has great ambitions and is wise and powerful.

After finishing a day of government affairs, Zhu Yunhuan suddenly asked, "Master, do you feel that I have too many things to do every day, but I still can't handle some things in time?"

Daoyan quickly flattered him and said, "Your Majesty is diligent, which is rare in ancient and modern times. It is also because of your Majesty's diligence that the country is so prosperous today."

Although this flattery was a bit blatant, Daoyan thought it was okay. Even Xia Yuanji next to him didn't have any objections, and he more or less agreed with this statement.

The reason is naturally very simple. Everyone can see how diligent the emperor is.

In the past there was Emperor Hongwu, and now there is Emperor Chengkang. These two emperors of the Ming Dynasty are both examples of diligence. Looking back at the history, there are few emperors who are so diligent.

This is not just about being diligent in government. After all, some emperors were diligent in government, but what they did was not of much help to the country. They were just busy doing nothing.

But Emperor Hongwu and Emperor Chengkang were different. They did a lot of things.

The changes in the Ming Dynasty are obvious to all. They were able to turn the country from a chaotic era into a peaceful one, and the people began to live and work in peace and contentment and recuperate. These are the most intuitive changes, and this is also their achievement.

Hearing Daoyan say this, Zhu Yunhuan actually became happy, "Well, you don't need to do these flattering things, Zhang Fusheng is usually a flatterer."

Zhang Fusheng immediately knelt down, seeming to be very aggrieved, "Your Majesty, I have always been loyal and would never do anything to flatter you."

Zhu Yunhuan could naturally accept Zhang Fusheng's occasional behavior. After all, he was his trusted eunuch, who had followed him for several years, so he was naturally trustworthy.

This is no longer just a simple relationship between the monarch and his subjects, it is also what some people call "master and servant". At times, Zhang Fusheng can be regarded as the representative of Zhu Yunhuan.

Zhu Yunhuan smiled and said, "I am busy every day, so I am diligent in my work. But I see there are still many memorials on my desk. Even if I stay up all night, I can't finish reviewing them all at once."

Daoyan said carefully, "Your Majesty, please deal with the urgent and important matters first, and these things that are left behind can be dealt with slowly."

These are the truth. Urgent matters have definitely been dealt with first, and the remaining memorials do not seem to be matters that are particularly urgent and need to be dealt with immediately.

This is the truth, but Zhu Yunhuan still said, "I am afraid that these things that seem not urgent now will become big things due to delays."

Daoyan was speechless at this point, because he knew that what the emperor said was possible. If some things are delayed, small things may indeed become big things. This is the fact.

However, Daoyan was a little embarrassed about how to deal with such a situation. He thought he was full of wisdom and talent, but he still had no better way to deal with these things.

Zhu Yunhuan just smiled, stood up and stretched, "Someone needs to share my worries. I can't make all the decisions on big and small matters!" (End of this chapter)