I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 129 You'd better live in the Forbidden City

Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and spoke slowly.

"In a sense, the interests of civil officials and the emperor are the same. Civil officials come from scholars, and scholars come from aristocratic families. From the Qin and Han dynasties to our dynasty, aristocratic families have controlled the most important resource in the world, that is, land.

With land, there are people, and with land and people, there is wealth. With wealth, one can study without distraction, take the imperial examinations, pass the three examinations in a row, and become an official. Furthermore, the foundation of civil officials is the landlords of all sizes.

The emperor is the biggest landlord in the world, and more importantly, he controls the distribution of land. So in this respect, the interests of the two are the same.”

Zhu Zaigui felt a little dizzy after hearing this, and couldn't help asking, "The emperor is the biggest landlord in the world and holds the power to distribute land. It's very mysterious."

“Father, it’s not mysterious.

The land of the emperor belongs to the emperor. The world belongs to the emperor, so he is the biggest landlord in the world. In order to gain support, the emperor uses land deeds and house deeds to determine the land and houses owned by the noble families, and also selects talents from them through imperial examinations to govern the country. At this time, the two are combined into one.

Zhu Zaigui was still a little confused. He looked at Emperor Jiajing and found that he was looking at the moonlight outside and seemed not to care about the conversation between him and his son, so he asked again.

"The land has been divided up, so how can the emperor become the biggest landlord in the world?"

"Father, don't worry. In addition to enfeoffment of the royal family and nobles and giving them large amounts of gifts, Emperor Taizu also controls the land of the world in a certain way."

"In what way?"

"Guardian!"

Zhu Zaigui was startled, and his expression gradually became serious.

"During the Tumu Fortress Incident, all the nobles were killed or wounded, and the emperor was left with a limp."

Zhu Zaigui immediately asked, "Military power?"

"Yes. During the Jingtai period, Yu Shaobao was appointed as the Minister of War to supervise the Beijing Camp and set up the Ten Regiments Camp. Many military commanders were appointed by Yu Shaobao in the name of the Ministry of War, and the Five Military Commandery became an empty shell. The official hats of the Ming Dynasty's official army were controlled by the Ministry of War.

Then, the more than 20 guards directly under the emperor, except for the Four Guards Camp, the Warrior Camp and other small imperial guards, were all under the management of the Ministry of War, and their food and salaries were under the management of the Ministry of Revenue.

Then he controlled the governors and provincial governors of various border areas, and used this method to seize the official hats of the border troops. He then blocked the food and wages of the border troops through the Ministry of Revenue and local governments.

At this time, whether the emperor was willing or not, he had to rely on civil officials to manage the armies of the world. And these petitions were all approved by the cabinet at that time. "

Zhu Zaigui was so shocked that he murmured, "Why is Yu Shaobao like this? Why are all the officials like this?"

"Because Yu Shaobao and the officials felt that the emperor was not doing a good job and the Ming Dynasty was about to fall, they had to step forward and support the crumbling empire in this critical moment.

To accomplish great things, one must first seize power, so they will do this. As Grandfather Huang said, once power is given away, it will be difficult to take it back.

During the Hongzhi period, Emperor Xiaozong appointed civil officials such as Wang Shu and Liu Daxia, saying that they were reforming the Five Military Commission and eliminating malpractices, but in fact they completely abolished the Five Military Commission.

Not only did the appointment and dismissal of military officers come under the control of the Ministry of War, but even the land and household registration of the garrisons previously managed by the Five Military Commanderies were transferred to the Ministry of War, and then the land under the name of the garrisons,

Zhu Yijun spread his hands and said, "All gone. Everyone knows where they went."

He leaned forward and asked, "Father, do you know what this means?"

Zhu Zaigui was a little confused and shook his head.

"It means that the emperor is no longer the biggest landlord in the world. The biggest landlords in the world have become civil officials. Even the right to distribute land has been quietly taken away by civil officials.

Father, this also means that the Ming Dynasty has completely lost its checks and balances. Without the checks and balances of the imperial power and the nobles, the civil officials have become unrestrained monsters. And power without checks and balances will become extremely greedy and vicious. "

Zhu Zaigui couldn't believe it. "Have they become that bad?"

"Father, human hearts are greedy. There are only a few civil officials like Yu Shaobao who are dedicated to the public. Most of the civil officials in the world only think about themselves and their families.

Without checks and balances, the civil officials can do even worse evil than the eunuchs."

Zhu Zaigui shook his head in panic: "How is it possible? How could the civil officials be worse than the eunuchs?"

"No matter how bad Liu Jin was, Emperor Wuzong could have killed him with a single finger. The Jin clique controlled the nine frontiers and, for their own selfish desires, colluded with the northern barbarians and sold out the country. However, they could only find the excuse of the Gengxu Rebellion and, relying on the prestige accumulated by the emperor for decades, barely eliminate some of them.

The Southeast family violated the ban on smuggling and colluded with Japanese pirates, wreaking havoc in the area for decades, but nothing could be done about it. "

Zhu Zaigui remained silent, and Zhu Yijun continued to add fuel to the fire.

"Civil officials were not checked and controlled. They controlled the imperial examinations and selected their own officials. It was no longer the emperor who selected the best people in the world. They were linked together by the relationship of being of the same year, the same school, and the same subject.

On the upper side, they controlled the six ministries of the cabinet and the government; on the lower side, they went deep into the local areas as gentry and clerks. They took advantage of all the resources and benefits that could make money, such as land, population, and commerce.

What’s even more abominable is that they also tried every possible way to evade paying taxes, and did not take responsibility for border control, grain transport, and court operations. When something went wrong, they did not bear the consequences, but instead threw the burden on the court and the blame on the emperor and the eunuchs.

Zhu Zaigui was feeling anxious and stood up suddenly, pacing back and forth in the room.

Zhu Yijun's words almost destroyed his cognition and world views of the past thirty years.

Deep down, Zhu Zaigui didn't believe that civil servants could be so bad.

But he is just mediocre and eccentric, not a fool.

What Zhu Yijun said is all well-documented and every word is true.

More importantly, Zhu Zaigui is now the crown prince.

It won't be long before he ascends the throne as the Son of Heaven. From the perspective of the Emperor, the truth that Zhu Yijun told deeply hurt the heart of the future emperor.

In the past, he was just Prince Yu, and whether the Ming Dynasty would be his was still uncertain, so there was no need to worry about it.

Now he is the crown prince, and the Ming Dynasty will definitely be his in the future. At this time, Zhu Zaigui begins to understand the feelings of his old father, Emperor Jiajing.

Silver! My silver!

Authority! My authority!

"But, they..." Zhu Zaigui thought of the tens of thousands of civil servants and millions of scholars and Confucian scholars, who formed a huge group and stood in front of him like Mount Tai, and hesitated for a moment.

Emperor Jiajing spoke up, "Those learned people tell you the truths of saints every day, in fact, they want you to agree with them, to agree with the scholars and Confucian scholars, to make you feel that they follow the truths of saints, observe propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame, and are all dedicated to the public and the emperor.

In fact, it's all bullshit! These people are a bunch of thieves, whores, selfish hypocrites!"

Zhu Zaigui's Adam's apple trembled up and down rapidly. Thinking of the number of civil officials and their strength, he felt like he was trapped in a net, wrapped tightly and unable to move.

How to fight!

It would be better to be a peaceful emperor.

Thinking of this, Zhu Zaigui sat back in his chair dejectedly.

Emperor Jiajing glanced at him, having guessed his reaction long ago, and said quietly, "Third brother, that's why I leave the Forbidden City to you and the Western Garden to Jun'er.

You, stay in the Forbidden City honestly, select beauties, live a happy life, and be the benevolent and wise king in their mouths. "

Having said this, Emperor Jiajing suddenly turned his head and stared at Zhu Zaigui so hard that his scalp numbed.

Zhu Zaigui swallowed his saliva and said, "Father, please speak up if you have anything to say."

"Third brother, you must remember this!
The Ming Dynasty belongs to us, the three of us, not to those civil officials outside.

You can be confused about small things, but you must never be confused about big things!"

Zhu Zaigui nodded repeatedly.

(End of this chapter)