I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 190: Prince, I will definitely get it done
Zhang Siwei was sitting in the sedan chair, feeling uneasy and thinking about something. Suddenly, someone was talking outside the sedan chair, which scared him. Then he realized that when he returned to the gate of his mansion, his followers were outside reporting something.

"Master, there is an envoy waiting at the gate of the mansion."

Zhang Siwei's heart skipped a beat. He lifted the curtain and saw that it was just a eunuch. He felt relieved.

Fortunately, it was not the eunuch who came to announce the imperial edict and question the crime.

Zhang Siwei came out, clasped his hands together, and asked in a friendly voice, "What can I do for you, envoy?"

"I have been ordered to come and tell Mr. Zhang Siwei, the Minister of Rites, the Academician of the Hanlin Academy, and the Crown Prince's guest, that His Royal Highness wants to see him for something. Please ask Mr. Zhang to go to Xi'an Gate immediately and hand over the sign."

"Thank you very much. Zhang Qi, give this eunuch five taels of silver to buy some tea."

"Yes."

"Thank you, Master Zhang."

When Zhang Siwei saw that the eunuch was not as ecstatic as the other eunuchs, his eyes turned and he was stunned for a moment, but he couldn't take care of it for the time being.

What he was thinking about now was, what on earth did His Royal Highness the Crown Prince want to see him about?

Will he scold me and drive me out of Beijing?
Being driven back to Puzhou this time, it will not be easy to return to the capital.

Zhang Siwei got back into the sedan chair, lowered the curtain, and let the bearers carry him to Xi'an Gate.

After getting out of the sedan chair, he handed over the name card and waited in the board house outside for a quarter of an hour. Someone came out to pick him up. It was the eunuch again.

"What is your name, father-in-law?" Zhang Siwei asked as he walked in the corridor in the West Garden.

"Little Qi Yan."

"Which office in the palace does Eunuch Qi work for?"

"I am working in the Imperial Household Department."

Zhang Siwei's eyes narrowed.

After waiting for a while, Zhang Siwei asked tentatively, "Eunuch Qi, which eunuch did you follow before?"

"I used to work in the Imperial Palace, responsible for cleaning the palace. I never followed any eunuch."

Even more incredible.

The Shengongjian was a notoriously idle and deserted office among the 24 offices in the Forbidden City. It was definitely not easy to jump from there to the Silijian.

"Which eunuch is Eunuch Qi following now?"

Qi Yan reminded in front, "There is a threshold ahead, Mr. Zhang, be careful."

Zhang Siwei was stunned.

Before they knew it, they had arrived at the Ziguang Pavilion, where the Imperial Household Department was located.

This place was first built during the Zhengde period. It was originally a platform with a small hall with a yellow tile roof.

During the Jiajing period, the previous emperor dismantled the platform and converted it into a pavilion.

The pavilion is two stories high and seven rooms wide, with a single-eaved hip roof, yellow-edged green glazed tiles, and a five-room hip roof porch in front. It was named Ziguang Pavilion.

Behind it is the Wucheng Hall, which is five bays wide and has a single-eaved hip roof. It has now been renamed the Qinzheng Hall by Zhu Yijun.

The Imperial Household Department has now moved to the Ziguang Pavilion to handle affairs. Qi Yan and Zhang Siwei entered through the side door and went around to the Qinzheng Hall at the back.

Arriving at the main gate of Qinzheng Hall, Zhang Siwei lifted his collar and knelt down at the door.

"Your Highness, I, Zhang Siwei, the Minister of Rites, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, and the Crown Prince's guest, pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"Mr. Zhang is here, please come in." Zhu Yijun's voice sounded inside, "Qi Yan, help Mr. Zhang up, please come in."

"Yes." Qi Yan reached out to support Zhang Siwei, who stood up and followed him into the main hall.

Zhu Yijun had his hands in his sleeves, his back to the door, with a pile of documents in front of him. Several eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department sat on both sides, busy sorting out memorials.

Hearing the footsteps coming in, Zhu Yijun turned around and said, "Mr. Zhang, please go to the left hall and sit for a while. I will come over later."

"Yes."

Zhang Siwei followed Qi Yan into the room on the left and sat down on the chair at the bottom. Soon, a eunuch brought tea and put it aside.

Qi Yan stood at the door, his hands hanging down, standing upright and silent.

"Zhou Guotai has conquered the city of Helaatu in Jianzhou Wei and beheaded more than 1,100 people. Li Chengliang conquered the city of Huifa in Wang Gao and beheaded more than 2,100 people.
Ask the people from the Surveying and Mapping Department to survey the terrain and build a new city. We must proceed step by step and make the Jianzhou land east of Fushun Pass and Yagu Pass the real territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Send a letter to Mr. Wen Chang, asking him to pay attention to safety during field investigations.
Send a letter to Mr. Zili, asking him to send capable men to protect Mr. Wenchang's safety. At the same time, ask him to pay attention to the movements of North Korea in the east. The king and his ministers in this country appear to be submissive, but in fact they are the most cunning!
Be careful that they take advantage of our efforts to suppress the Jianzhou Jurchens to steal the land. Tell Mr. Zili that if he is found, don't hesitate to give him a good beating. Since he is a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, he should behave like a vassal. If he doesn't obey, he will be beaten.

On the Navy Bureau side, two batches of twelve princely sailing ships have been commissioned into the navy. They cruised around Japan and bombarded the ports of the Oda, Imagawa and Hojo clans, making them seaworthy.

These twelve princely sailing ships will be one of the strategic mobile naval forces of the Ming Dynasty in the future, and will be named the Xuanwu Navy. They will be temporarily stationed in Weihaiwei together with the Beihai Navy. When the Qingdao Port is completed, they will be moved there. "

"Yes."

A eunuch asked, "Your Highness, the Navy Bureau has submitted a petition asking whether Leting Shipyard and Wusong Shipyard should continue to build the prince's sailing ship?"

"Build! Of course not! These twelve princely sailing ships are seaworthy, capable of sea bombardment and port bombardment. They have also participated in several actual combat drills with the North Sea Navy, and the problems that should be discovered have been discovered. The craftsmen who are on the ships will upgrade and improve them after returning, and build new and better sailing ships.

Continue to build, Leting and Wusong shipyards, build six more each. With the Xuanwu Navy, how can we lack the Suzaku, Azure Dragon and White Tiger Navy?"

"Yes."

"Well, send a letter to the Navy Bureau and ask the Xuanwu Navy to rest for a while in Weihaiwei, and then circle the Kingdom of Korea from west to east. If you encounter pirates, beat them hard! Beat them to show the Korean navy.

The suzerain state should have the dignity of a suzerain state. With this weapon that can destroy a country or a city, it should let the vassal states see it and make them happy. In the future, they can rest assured that the Ming Dynasty will protect their safety!"

"Yes!"

Zhang Siwei was terrified when he heard this next door.

The immense confidence revealed in the prince's words seemed to be something that neither Emperor Taizu nor Emperor Chengzu had ever possessed.

Oh, I haven’t seen Emperor Taizu or Emperor Chengzu, so I can’t make a comparison.

But is it a blessing or a curse for the Ming Dynasty to have such an emperor?
Just as he was thinking about it, Zhu Yijun walked in quickly and sat down at the top.

"Mr. Zhang, it's a good thing that you have submitted a petition to prepare the East Palace." Zhu Yijun went straight to the point, "I have reported to my father and asked Mr. Shilu to be the Prince's Junior Tutor, Mr. Meilin (Hu Zongxian) to be the Prince's Junior Protector, and Mr. Taiyue to be the East Palace Secretary.

However, they were either in the cabinet or in charge of the Ministry of War, and they could not take care of the affairs of the Eastern Palace. So I reported to my father and asked you to be the guest of the Crown Prince and select the lecturer of the Eastern Palace.

I heard that the gentleman also took great pains to select six people, but these six people."

"Tang Yundian openly violated the law by visiting prostitutes and even offered them free sex without paying; Yao Xueliang, in order to curry favor with the rich and powerful, broke his promise and divorced his wife and remarried; these two are truly shameless and have no regard for morality and national laws.

There was another, Mr. Wu Tuizhi, who, when he was inspecting Huguang in the 45th year of Jiajing, openly demanded bribes of 16,000 taels of silver and 600 pieces of silk. His third concubine was a famous prostitute bought by several big mine owners in southern Hunan in Wuchang Prefecture.

Zhang Siwei broke out in cold sweat on his back.

"What do these moral gentlemen teach me? To be ungrateful, greedy for money and bribes, and to break the law?"

The prince is indeed the late emperor's good grandson. His words are as harsh and sharp as those of the late emperor.

Zhang Siwei immediately knelt on the ground and said repeatedly: "Your Highness, I failed in my duty. Please punish me."

"You can only know a person's face but not his heart. I'm sure you don't know the dirty things these people do in secret."

The prince was actually willing to let him go. No matter what the reason was, Zhang Siwei immediately took advantage of the situation.

"Your Highness, I have been deceived by these hypocrites. Please forgive me!"

Zhu Yijun looked at the real hypocrite kneeling on the ground and smiled, "It's okay, Mr. Zhang, please stand up. Grandpa Emperor always teaches me that every failure is a learning experience.

Mr. Zhang, tell the remaining three to resign. Please choose again. I believe you will definitely choose the right person. "

Zhang Siwei is in a dilemma. Your Highness, you are giving me a difficult problem.

"Okay, Qi Yan, see Mr. Zhang off."

Zhu Yijun said "show the guest" without further ado and turned to go to the main hall.

Qi Yan walked up to Zhang Siwei and silently handed him a note.

Zhang Siwei quickly took it and glanced down.

"Wang Shizhen, Jinshi in the 26th year of Jiajing; Wei Xuezeng, Jinshi in the 32nd year of Jiajing; Wang Xijue, Jinshi in the 41st year of Jiajing; Ye Mengxiong, Jinshi in the 44th year of Jiajing; Mei Guozhen, Juren in the Huguang provincial examination in the first year of Longqing; Li Zhi, Juren in the Fujian provincial examination in the 30th year of Jiajing."

Zhang Siwei realized at this time that this was the lecturer in the Eastern Palace that the prince wanted. However, there were two candidates among them, and except for Wang Shizhen, the others were not well-known for their literary talent, so he could not directly propose them.

So they let themselves select one by one, and then eliminate them all with one blow, turning the lecturer in the Eastern Palace into a dangerous job. Then they let themselves select these six, and there would be less criticism.

My prince, you are doing things more and more in line with the methods of the late emperor.

When leaving Xi'an Gate, Qi Yan, who had been silent all along, asked, "Does Mr. Zhang have any idea?"

Zhang Siwei immediately replied: "Eunuch Qi, please tell His Highness that I will definitely get the job done."

(End of this chapter)