I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 56: Harmony

Cabinet meeting room.

In front of the scroll with the words "Harmony", Xu Jie sat at the top seat, with the Second Assistant Gao Gong, Cabinet Minister Li Chunfang and the newly appointed Cabinet Minister Yan Ne on his two sides.

Another cabinet minister, Yuan Wei, was on duty in the Western Garden, busy writing poems for Emperor Jiajing.

"Prince, have all the impeachment memorials from the Censorate been kept?" Gao Gong asked loudly.

"The Japanese invasion in the southeast has been basically eliminated, so the Southeast Anti-Japanese Food and Pay Coordination Office should be withdrawn." Yan Ne also echoed.

The civil officials were not fools. The Southeast Anti-Japanese Food and Pay Coordination Office, a channel for making money that was independent of the court's financial system, was a thorn in their flesh and a thorn in their eyes.

In the past, the emperor used the banner of suppressing the Japanese in the southeast, and everyone could only tolerate it temporarily.

Suppressing the Japanese is a major event and a national policy!

It must be suppressed.

But your Ministry of Revenue cannot afford the money, and the righteous people in the southeast are good at business and are willing to share your worries. They are willing to donate food and money in some way to help the court suppress the Japanese pirates, and no one can say anything.

Finally, when the Japanese invasion in the southeast was basically eliminated, Hu Zongxian, Tan Lun, and Qi Jiguang were transferred to the nine borders in the north, and Cao Bangfu, Wang Chonggu, Tang Kekuan, Wang Rulong, and Liu Xian were transferred to Guangdong and Jiangxi to hunt down the bandits. It was time to withdraw the Southeast Anti-Japanese Food and Pay Coordination Office.

It's only natural!

"They were all detained by the Imperial Household Department!" Xu Jie replied indifferently.

"That won't work!" Gao Gong said angrily. "The Southeastern Anti-Japanese Food and Pay Coordination Office should be responsible for coordinating the Southeastern Anti-Japanese Food and Pay Coordination Office. Now that the Japanese threat in the southeast has been eradicated, why do we still have it? Do we want it to become a scourge that makes money for private gain and competes with the people for profits?"

As Gao Gong spoke, he glanced at Li Chunfang.

This is a good thing done by your good student, His Royal Highness Prince Yu!
As a teacher, you don’t care?
We are both teachers, but why are the students we teach so different? Look at the student I taught, Your Highness Prince Yu, how well behaved he is!
Look at the student you taught, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he is simply the Monkey King!
Li Chunfang received Gao Gong's incomprehensible look and smiled faintly.

If you have the ability to teach the Crown Prince to be like His Royal Highness Prince Yu, I will acknowledge you as my ancestor.

Yan Ne echoed, "Lord Xu, the Southeastern Anti-Japanese Food and Pay Coordination Office has been criticized by both the government and the public, especially by the Southeastern scholars, who hate it deeply.

As the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, you should stand up and point out the mistakes. "

Xu Jie spread his hands and said, "There is no way. Impeachment is impossible."

"What do you mean there is no way and we can't impeach? Are we just going to sit back and do nothing just because it involves Xiyuan?" Gao Gong still had the look of an old angry young man.

"The Coordination Office is gone, how can we impeach him?" Xu Jie asked back.

"What? The Coordination Office is gone? How come it is gone? Did it disband on its own? When did it happen?" Anxious Gao Gong asked several whys in one breath.

Xu Jie said calmly: "It was not abolished, but a new brand was changed."

"Can't impeachment be carried out just because the name has been changed? What name has it changed to? The Lingxiao Palace?" Gao Gong asked sarcastically.

"It's now called the Donation and Relief Coordination Bureau."

"Donation and Relief Coordination Bureau?" Gao Gong and Yan Ne looked at each other, and when they heard the name, they immediately felt that something was wrong.

Xu Jie continued, "Fifteen businesses including Dongnan Xingruixiang, Deshengmao, and Lianshengxiang have jointly submitted a petition expressing their gratitude for the continuous floods and droughts in various parts of the Ming Dynasty in recent years, and the hardships of the people. They are willing to donate money and grain to help the victims.

The emperor was very pleased and issued an edict to grant maritime merchants a monopoly license as a reward for donations, and to use taxes on maritime merchants to purchase food, fodder, and cloth to provide relief to the victims.

Then the Donation and Relief Coordination Bureau was established to handle this matter, and it was still run by the emperor and the people. However, they no longer raised money for the Southeast to suppress the Japanese, but instead solicited donations to help the people affected by the disaster. "

Gao Gong and Yan Ne were like eating a bowl of flies.

Xiyuan is really good at tricks and knows how to play.

Seeing the expressions of Gao Gong and Yan Ne, Xu Jie felt much better.

When I saw this approval document this morning, I felt like I had eaten a bowl of flies.

But I can’t eat the fly alone, I have to share it with everyone!

Gao Gong was a little at a loss.

How can we impeach this?

Shouldn't the impeachment be for encouraging donations to help the victims of disasters across the world?
If you want to be criticized to death, just submit a memorial. But if there is no impeachment, the Donation and Relief Coordination Bureau will be officially operational and its power will be greater than that of the Food and Salary Coordination Office.

The emperor was worried that the three main halls were not built piously enough, so he donated!
The emperor is worried about the lack of food and wages for the new military camp, so he donates!
The emperor was worried about the poverty of the soldiers on the Ji, Liao, Xuan and Da borders, so he donated!

They are all righteous people and good businessmen who are here to share the king's worries. Do you dare to ask them not to donate?

As donations continued, the Ming Shaofu became more and more powerful.

In the past, civil officials could use taxes and levies to barely restrain the emperor.

Once the Coordination Bureau becomes powerful, it will be out of control. How can the emperor be restrained in the future?

Seeing Gao Gong and Yan Ne at a loss, Xu Jie was secretly happy.

I told you to do something against me in secret!
In the beginning, I led the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Party to fight wits and courage with the Coordination Office, and you guys were desperately trying to hold me back for the sake of party struggles.

It is because of you stupid teammates that the Coordination Office has grown so powerful.

The emperor had tasted the sweetness, so how could he give it up so easily? Now he changed his vest and continued to come, and also took over the affairs of the new military camp and the nine borders.

It's your turn to have a headache!
"Lord Xu, you and I are both well aware of the harm of the Coordination Office. Now that the name has been changed, the substance remains the same. We should still make suggestions!

You are the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, you have to lead us in making decisions."

Seeing Gao Gong surrender, Xu Jie was delighted.

You want me to get beaten to a bloody pulp just by saying a few soft words to you. Do you think I'm a passionate scholar who has just entered the officialdom?

However, Gao Gong was not wrong in what he said. We cannot just sit back and do nothing. If the Coordination Bureau is allowed to become too powerful with the status of the Shaofu of the Ming Dynasty, the civil officials will have a hard time in the future.

"I heard that Hai Rui, the head of the Ministry of Revenue, Hai Gangfeng, has been running around these days, collecting a lot of evidence from the Coordination Office, and is drafting an impeachment memorial."

Xu Jie paused, his voice becoming a little vague, "I also heard that Hai Gangfeng has been frugal these past few months and saved a sum of money. He recently bought a coffin and placed it in his yard."

Gao Gong raised his voice and asked in surprise, "Hai Gangfeng wants to die for his remonstrance?"

"Xiyuan is an iron wall. Hai Gangfeng is the most stubborn among all the righteous men in the court. Why not let him touch it?"

Xu Jie said lightly.

Why did you transfer him from Zhejiang to the capital to serve as the head of the Ministry of Justice?
You are just going to sentence my cousin and nephew to death and give me a slap in the face so that you, Gao Xinzheng, the new cabinet minister, can gain respect.

Well, my cousin and nephew have gone to see my lady, my face is swollen from being beaten, and you, Gao Gong, have also established your authority. Now it’s time for the successful Hai Rui to do his part.

I took great pains to move him to the Ministry of Revenue, wasn't it just for today?

Everyone was silent, and they all reached a tacit understanding and agreement.

Suddenly, a clerk shouted at the door: "Oh no, four ministers, something big has happened."

"What happened?"

"Two censors from the Metropolitan Procuratorate had just gone to the Meridian Gate to submit a memorial. A group of eunuchs rushed out and beat them up, leaving them with black eyes and bruises all over their bodies.

When the man was carried back to the Censorate, Wang Zhongcheng was furious. He called together the left and right deputy censors, the left and right assistant censors, and the thirteen supervisory censors of the Censorate, and spread out paper and sharpened ink, vowing to flood the Forbidden City with impeachment memorials!

"Ridiculous!" Xu Jie scolded, "The Forbidden City is so big that even if all the paper in the world was used to write impeachment memorials, it would not be able to cover it."

He glanced at them and called out Li Chunfang's name: "Shilu, please go and invite Wang Zhongcheng here. Tell him to be patient and wait until we have discussed everything before making a decision."

"Okay!" Li Chunfang replied.

He has the least experience, so he is responsible for running errands.

"Xu Qi." Xu Jie called out the name of his trusted follower again, "Go and find out who was the leader of the eunuchs who beat up the censor at the Meridian Gate. Then go to the Imperial Household Department and find Chen Hong and Teng Xiang to find out what's going on."

Gao Gong had an idea, so he left the meeting hall, found his confidant, and whispered to him, "Go find the eunuch Meng Chong, the chief eunuch, and ask him about what happened at the Meridian Gate today."

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)