I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 140: Taipusi Jinan Station on Fire

Zhang Juzheng was sitting in a sedan chair on the way to Jinan Prefecture.

The sedan chair was brought by Lu Chengju from Jinan Prefecture. It was a large sedan chair for eight people, eight feet long and six feet wide. It was longer and wider than an ordinary sedan chair and was very comfortable to sit in.

A team of sedan bearers was specially assigned, which were said to be the sedan bearers passed down from generation to generation in the Confucius Mansion in Qufu. There were 32 people in a team, eight people in a group, and they changed shifts every half an hour.

He walks fast and steadily without shaking.

The rotation was also very skillful. When two people took turns, the people sitting inside didn't even feel it and the sedan bearers had been replaced.

Zhang Juzheng sat there for a whole day and felt very comfortable, so he accepted it with a smile.

At this time, he was reading the court reports that were urgently delivered from Beijing. There was an imperial edict on it, which cited the poor handling of pirates in Guangdong as an excuse. It then listed the northern barbarians, eastern Tartars and pirates that were disturbing the border and the Ministry of War and local governments were unable to handle them in time. Then the emperor changed the Beijing Camp Military Affairs Supervisory Office into the Military Affairs Supervisory Office, which was responsible for responding to emergencies and directly handling military affairs.

Zhang Juzheng saw the key sentence, "The Supervisory Office shall receive the emperor's order in person, and send a letter of order in the name of the Supervisory Office directly to the local governors, generals, commanders, and commanders. They shall obey it without error. Those who violate it shall be punished for resisting the order."

The cabinet has the right to draft imperial edicts and decrees, but they must act in accordance with the emperor's approval.

Without the approval of the Imperial Household Department, the Cabinet had no right to issue orders to the six ministries and local governments.

Now the Supervisory Office can receive imperial edicts and send letters and imperial decrees directly to local military and political officials in the name of the Supervisory Office.

Obey the orders without error, otherwise those who disobey will be treated as disobeying the orders.

Military commanders, such as the generals, the commanders, and the commanders-in-chief, certainly did not have the courage to disobey the imperial order. But the same could not be said for the governors-general, who had the confidence to refute the "disorderly orders".

But Zhang Juzheng counted and found that the Governor-General of Zhongxuanda in the Ming Dynasty was Hu Zongxian, the Governor-General of Jiliao was Tan Lun, the Governor-General of Ningxia and Gansu was Wang Chonggu, the Governor-General of Shaanxi was Huo Ji, the Governor of Guangxi and Guangdong was Yin Zhengmao, the Governor of Jiangxi was Wang Yi'e, the Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang was Cao Bangfu, and the Governor of Shandong was himself.

A group of the prince's party.

The Supervisory Office was nominally headed by Zhu Xizhong, but everyone knew that it was the Crown Prince who was in charge. So everyone would definitely follow the imperial edict issued by the Supervisory Office.

Over time, it became a custom for the Supervisory Office to issue imperial edicts.

Therefore, apart from this imperial edict, the rest of the reports in the court gazette were impeachment memorials. The Censorate and the Six Departments lined up to submit impeachment memorials, saying that this was a disorderly order.

It is estimated that after some time, the local governor, provincial judge and retired senior officials will submit impeachment memorials.

is that useful?
Zhang Juzheng sneered, what's the use?

What memorials do you want to submit? If you have the ability, don’t be afraid of the beating in the court and go to the Meridian Gate to knock on the palace gate and cry out for advice.

Or you can learn from Hai Rui and buy a coffin and put it at home before dying.

The Emperor has given up all his pretense and published it directly in the official gazette when you submitted such a harmless impeachment memorial. You can do whatever you want with it!

Why is the emperor so tough?
Because the cabinet also agreed, it was the Prime Minister Xu Ge Lao who led other cabinet ministers to jointly submit a memorial, stating that border affairs were mysterious and changeable, and the Ministry of War and the cabinet had difficulty in responding to them, which led to many troubles. They even cited the Japanese invasion in the southeast, the Gengxu Rebellion, and the Guihai Rebellion, and their failure to respond in time led to a disaster.

I implore His Majesty to take the most foolproof approach.

So the emperor implemented the foolproof method of setting up the Military Affairs Supervisory Office.

The emperor and the cabinet had reached a tacit understanding, and no matter how loud and overwhelming the opposition was, it would be of no avail.

Teacher, you must have reached some kind of agreement with the Emperor and the Crown Prince to get guarantees for your affairs after your death.

Zhang Juzheng put down the official report and breathed a sigh of relief.

Supervisory Office, Coordination Bureau, this is the imperial sword left by the Emperor for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

The emperor wanted to pass the throne to the grandson, but due to the etiquette and legal system, there was still a prince in the middle. The throne must be passed from the prince to the grandson, but the prince was mediocre and too easy to listen to others' advice.

Therefore, the emperor made a long-term plan and left the Supervisory Office and the Coordination Bureau for the Crown Prince to rely on.

The teacher also saw through this, and everyone reached an agreement tacitly.

The situation in the court has stabilized, but his horse policy reform does not seem to be going so smoothly.

Zhang Juzheng took out a flat box from the cabinet at his feet and opened it. There were ten bills of exchange inside. The bills of exchange issued by the Jinan branch of Huijin Bank could be exchanged for gold and silver at the branches of Huijin Bank in 13 provinces, as well as in important seaports such as Shanghai, Ningbo, and Datong.

Each note has a face value of one thousand taels of silver, for a total of ten thousand taels.

It was the gift presented to him by Lu Chengju, the secretary of the Imperial Household Department stationed in Shandong, when he visited him that night.

These corrupt officials are quite quick to accept new things.

It’s only been a year or two since Huijin Bank’s bills appeared, and these guys have become popular.

The key is convenience. Once you hide it in your sleeve, no one will know how much silver you have.

So that night, Lu Chengju took out the box, which was a light gift, and at first glance he realized it was actually ten thousand taels of silver.

Zhang Juzheng was holding up the bill of exchange for 10,000 taels of silver, and he had an idea in his mind: the Imperial Household Department in the four prefectures of Qingzhou, Jinan, Dongchang, and Yanzhou in Shandong had 170,000 horse farmers and 47,000 hectares of horse farms, and most likely all of them could be converted into these bills of exchange.

But even if they are all gone, I still need to know how much is gone!

You can't eat it all, including the meat and bones.

Zhang Juzheng accepted the ten bills of exchange from Lu Chengju, treated him kindly, and then asked him to return to Jinan first to prepare the account books of the "Jinan Station" of Taipu Temple.

He also specifically hinted that looking at the account books was just to give an explanation to the superiors, which was good for both us.

After rushing all the way, Zhang Juzheng and his party finally arrived in Jinan Prefecture.

The Governor of Shandong has existed since the Zhengtong period, but he was still a temporary appointment with no fixed term of office.

If the emperor and the court felt it was necessary, they would send one. If not, they would not send one and let the three Shandong officials handle military and political affairs as usual.

Therefore, the Shandong governor had no official office and usually stayed in the governor's office.

Zhang Juzheng was welcomed into the city by officials and local gentry and went straight into the backyard of the provincial government.

The officials, gentry and elders were sitting in the front yard, while Zhang Juzheng changed his clothes in the back yard and first talked to Shandong Governor Yuan Hui, Provincial Surveillance Commissioner Zhang Tao and Commander Yang Hong.

"My three brothers, you have worked hard to guard Shandong. This time, I am ordered by the emperor to inspect Shandong. In addition to horse management, I also need to look at the military farms, rivers and other matters. There are also military affairs and coastal defense. I have to go and see them.

The responsibility is heavy, and I hope the three brothers will cooperate with me."

Zhang Juzheng's post as Governor of Shandong was titled "Governor of Shandong and other places, in charge of farmland and rivers, and commander of military affairs", and the principle given to his office was "act at your discretion".

He has such great power that he can be said to be the top military and political leader of Shandong, and he can control everything.

He also served as the Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief. If he could find something to hold against you, he could impeach anyone, from the provincial governor to the county magistrate, and basically every impeachment would be successful.

High position and authority.

After Zhang Juzheng's polite remarks, Yuan Hui, Zhang Tao, and Yang Hong looked at each other calmly and replied with a smile, "You are too polite, Governor. Governor Zhang is the governor of Shandong on behalf of the emperor, and we should do our best to serve him and fulfill his orders."

A captain from the Fuying camp came in hurriedly and announced in a loud voice: "Your Highness."

"what's up?"

"Lu Chengju, the secretary of the Imperial Household Department, came to report that the Imperial Household Department's storage room, which was located in the right courtyard of the Jinan government office, had caught fire."

Zhang Juzheng's eyes flashed, a sneer flew across the corner of his mouth, and he asked: "Fire, when did the fire break out?"

"Lu Sicheng said that there was a fire last night, and they worked for half the night to put out the fire at dawn."

"This fire really understands people's intentions!" Zhang Juzheng turned to Yuan Hui and the other two with a smile and said, "Tai Yuan, Tai Zhang, and General Yang, let's go and take a look together.

The Imperial Household Department is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, and it is related to military affairs, so we cannot be careless. It caught fire in our Shandong government office, and it is reasonable for us, the local officials of Shandong, to go and take a look. "

Yuan Hui and the other two looked at each other, then stood up and said, "We will obey the orders of the governor."

(End of this chapter)