I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 213 It's Zhang Juzheng's turn again
Zhu Yijun received Wang Yi'e's secret report, thought for a while, and said to Qi Yan: "Invite Lord Xu, Lord Li, Lord Chen, and Lord Zhang."

"Yes."

After Yin Shidan was kicked out of the cabinet, only these four elders were left in the cabinet.

A quarter of an hour later, Xu Jie, Li Chunfang, Chen Yiqin and Zhang Juzheng arrived.

After the greetings, Zhu Yijun asked them to sit down, served them tea, and got straight to the point.

"Wang Yi'e, the governor of the canal, reported urgently that Admiral Cao Jiang Wu Shilai led his troops to inspect the river defense and encountered river bandits, and chased them all the way. As luck would have it, the river bandits escaped into the canal, fled to Yangzhou City, and then broke into the house of Han, a big salt merchant in Yangzhou.

In the end, Jiang Bandit was killed and the Han family was wiped out. "

When the four ministers heard this, they shook their heads in their hearts.

So clumsy!
Those nobles and officials in Nanjing City have been used to a leisurely life, and their skills in doing their jobs have declined, and they do their work too roughly!

Anyone with a discerning eye can see what's going on, but how do you expect to hide it from all these smart people in Beijing?
The Cabinet, the Six Ministries, the Censorate, and the one in Xiyuan, which one of them is not a great master of scheming and trickery?
But Zhang Juzheng thought more deeply.

Although the nobles and officials in Nanjing are not as skilled as those in Beijing, their craftsmanship should not be so crude, to the point of being outrageous.

Could it be that someone is playing tricks and defrauding the people in Nanjing?

It's very possible!
who can that be?

Zhang Juzheng glanced at his mentor Xu Jie.

Having stayed in the cabinet for a long time and acquired more information, Zhang Juzheng now has a much higher vision and "pattern" than before, and he sees things more clearly.

During this salt inspection in Lianghuai, the Ministry of Revenue headed by Gao Gong was the first to demand political achievements and money.

But what were the Crown Prince and his mentor Xu Jie trying to achieve by strongly supporting this matter?
Zhu Yijun glanced at everyone and said, "Lord Xu, this matter is extraordinary. I would like to hear your opinion."

Xu Jie stroked his beard and talked freely.

Zhang Juzheng was doing two things at once, listening to Xu Jie's speech with his ears perked up while continuing to think in his mind.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has no shortage of money, but as the heir apparent, he certainly hopes to take this opportunity to rectify the salt administration and correct this century-old problem.

But this is only the first meaning.

The prince has to look deeper when doing things.

Recently, a rumor has been circulating throughout the government and the public that the city of Nanjing is located in the southeast and has the authority of the six ministries of Southern Zhili, and it is becoming difficult to get rid of it.

Therefore, the imperial court wanted to abolish Nanzhili and set up provincial governments in each of the richest places in the Ming Dynasty to divide and rule them.

Zhang Juzheng believed that this rumor was not groundless.

He was a close minister to the Crown Prince and knew that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had set up an Education Department in the Coordination Bureau, allocated a large number of printing and papermaking craftsmen from the Imperial Household Department to it, and appointed Li Zhi to be in charge.

Xu Jie made his final summary speech: "My opinion is that we should conduct a thorough investigation! Such a big incident happened in Nanzhili, which shows that there are serious loopholes in local governance and military preparations."

His words were within Zhang Juzheng's expectations.

Zhu Yijun then said to Li Chunfang: "Mr. Li, what do you think?"

Li Chunfang thought for a moment and replied, "Xu Yuanfu is right. In my opinion, such a big incident shows that the administration of officials in Nanzhili is worrying. The examination and inspection of prefectures, counties and districts in Nanzhili is under the control of the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel. The transfer and demotion are also reported by the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel, and the Beijing Ministry of Personnel obeys them.

I think we really need to investigate it thoroughly, and we should also investigate the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel."

Zhang Juzheng understood what he heard and sneered in his heart.

Sure enough.

The Education Department has good methods and has been building momentum for national policies early on.

Li Zhi's talent was only above average, but the key point was that he had a lot of ideas and actually established a set of theories based on Yangming School. This set of theories was quite bewitching and self-consistent.

It was first preached in Yiniantang, and later gradually spread to the southeast through the Education Department. As a result, it was well received by the newly emerging wealthy businessmen.

These people became rich along with the Coordination Bureau, and their wealth spread over Nanzhili, Liangzhe, Fujian, Guangdong, and Shanxi. Their power should not be underestimated.

The key is that they are the money bags and important foundation of the prince's party.

Two months ago, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince quietly changed the Education Department into the Propaganda Bureau, which was placed under the name of the Supervision Office.

What is mission?

The province is spreading the gospel and transforming the people!

This rumor about Nanzhili seems to be the work of the Mission Bureau.

Now, all kinds of pamphlets and newspapers imitating the pre-Song Dynasty were popular in the southeast, which lamented the disaster of Japanese pirates, promoted Gongyang's revenge theory, and even clamored that private hatred could be avenged for nine generations, and national hatred could be avenged for a hundred generations. Although it was criticized by mainstream Confucian scholars, it was quite popular among the military and civilians in the southeast, and they strongly supported the navy to go out to sea to bombard Japan twice a year, and actively donated money and materials.

Every time the navy set sail from the port, tens of thousands of people would go to the port to see them off with firecrackers, gongs and drums.

This was also one of the reasons why the imperial court refused to give in and promised the Japanese envoys to stop their shelling and retaliation.

Public opinion cannot be violated.

The current rumor about abolishing Nanzhili sounds very much like the Propaganda Bureau building momentum for a certain national policy.

Zhang Juzheng was thinking in his mind that abolishing Nanzhili and setting up a provincial government would undoubtedly be a great joy to the Jiangnan family headed by his mentor.

They dreamed of establishing the Jiangnan Provincial Administration, which would no longer be under the jurisdiction of Nanzhili but would be directly under the central government.

Political status and voice in the court will be greatly enhanced.

The Lianghuai people are located in the north of the Yangtze River, and it seems that they are not of the same kind as the literati families in the south of the Yangtze River. However, how can they stop the actions of the literati families in the south of the Yangtze River just across the river?

They were fully capable of setting a trap in secret, kicking the Lianghuai salt merchants and Nanjing nobles into the trap, and then seizing the opportunity to wave flags and shout slogans, create momentum, and implement the abolition of Nanzhili and the establishment of a provincial government.

Zhang Juzheng glanced again at the Crown Prince sitting at the top and couldn't help but admire him in his heart.

My mentor is very calculating.

The late emperor had the ability to abolish Nanzhili, but he disdained to do it.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is more capable and motivated to do it.

Oh, there is the emperor in the middle.

May the emperor be blessed with good health!

Power is like this, the more you use it, the more power you have, and the less you don’t use it, the less power you have.

Now all the civil and military officials have deeply realized that the late emperor and the crown prince, both grandfather and grandson, played a good game.

Not to mention the Coordination Bureau which is in charge of money, the Military and Political Supervision Office has demonstrated its power.

If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has any important military matters, he will directly send them to the governors and governors-general of various places, as well as the generals of the navy and the army, through the Supervisory Office to issue instructions.

The governors-general and the generals of the navy and army in various places would report to the supervision office urgently when there were any major events or when they had executed orders.

Usually, only after things have been done or the overall situation has been settled, the prince will ask the Supervision Office to send a letter to the Imperial Household Department and the Cabinet to complete the normal process and procedures.

What the cabinet can handle now is routine government affairs reported by the six ministries and local governments through procedures, and it maintains the daily operation of the Ming Dynasty step by step.

Do the officials have any objections?
There are definitely opinions.

But the cabinet remained silent, the six ministers remained silent, and the chief minister of the Censorate remained silent, so who would dare to speak out?

Twenty or thirty censors and upright officials submitted memorials to the emperor, bitterly criticizing this "greatest bad policy since the beginning of the dynasty." They then pointed fingers and spoke eloquently, saying that state affairs should be this way and civil affairs should be that way.

The prince accepted the offer humbly, praising them as humble gentlemen who cared about their country and their people. He then promoted them to higher positions and sent them to Yunnan, Guizhou, Lingnan, Liaodong, Northwest China and other places to serve as educational commissioners, river commissioners, and military farm commissioners.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is indeed the good grandson taught by the late Emperor. He can see through the nature of these upright people at a glance.

I am not afraid of being beaten in court, but I am afraid of being asked to do practical things.

Before you took office, the Crown Prince's edicts became more impolite than the last, full of sarcasm and ridicule.

Aren't you concerned about the country and the people? You lament that you have no way to serve the country! Now I give you a chance, but you refuse to do so! You have evil intentions! You are a hypocrite!
Once this hat is put on, your reputation and career will be ruined!
You took office with gritted teeth, and most of the clean officials showed their true colors and did a terrible job.

No matter how good your writing is, it cannot match the shrewdness of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. He has a wide range of information and will unceremoniously list all the bad things you have done while in office, and still ruin your reputation and ruin your career.

I gave you a chance, but you didn’t use it!

Vicious and cruel!

After several times, many upright officials no longer dared to make random comments or to show off their power of words, and stayed in the Hanlin Academy, the National History Museum, the Imperial College and other noble offices, keeping a low profile.

After Chen Yiqin finished expressing his opinion, Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Juzheng but did not call on him to speak.

Zhang Juzheng's heart moved. The tacit understanding that had developed between teacher and student over the years told him that the Crown Prince had already made up his mind and did not need to ask for his opinion anymore. He just wanted to arrange things for him.

"Mr. Yin fell ill while worshipping his ancestors' tomb in Fengyang. He can't go to the Xiaoling Mausoleum in Nanjing for a while, but filial piety cannot be abandoned. Mr. Zhang, please go to Nanjing, worship the Xiaoling Mausoleum, and take a look at the situation in Nanjing along the way."

Zhang Juzheng stood up and said, "I will obey your order."

(End of this chapter)