I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 919 I will criticize you today
Nangong Ye, the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, was wearing a red official robe and a black gauze hat. He sat upright in the corner of the duty room at Nanhua Gate, looking very quiet.

The eunuchs and officers from the Fengchensi who came in and out did not disturb him, because they all knew that he was a quiet person who went with the flow.

Nangong Ye was related to Yan Song, and in the 38th year of Jiajing, he was invited to be an aide to Yan's residence and became Yan Song's "personal secretary". In today's terms, he was the clerk of Lord Yan.

In the 41st year of Jiajing's reign, the Yan Party was overthrown by the emperor, who was then the eldest son of Prince Yu, who manipulated the situation and took advantage of the right time, place and people.

Nangong Ye remembered that at that time, Yan Song, the Duke of Jiexi, was disheartened and wanted to die.

During the private chat, Lord Jie Xi meant that he knew Emperor Sejong too well and that this lord had a mean temper.

When the ministers are useful, he uses you.

When you are no longer useful, you can imagine what will happen to you.

Xia Yan, Zhang Jing and others are all like this.

Trust is beyond compare and favor is ever-increasing.

If you lose power and anger him, you're doomed.

Just as Lord Jie Xi and his entire household were preparing to wait for death, Prince Yu arrived.

After a secret conversation, Lord Jie Xi immediately seemed like a different person and continued to shine in the position of cabinet minister.

He secretly resisted the pressure from the Qingliu and continued to support Hu Zongxian and Yang Jinshui, allowing the Southeast faction to grow rapidly and helping the prince obtain military and financial power and become the crown prince.

Later, Nangong Ye realized that Lord Jie Xi had made an exchange with the emperor.

Duke Jie Xi supported the emperor until he was fully empowered, and then handed over his unfilial son Yan Shifan to silence the people in the world, in exchange for the emperor's promise to keep the Yan family safe.

Nangong Ye remembered that the night before Lord Jie Xi left Beijing, he burst into tears when he took the deed for the three thousand acres of prime paddy fields that the emperor had secretly ordered to be added to the Yan family ancestral hall.

Then he entrusted himself to Yang Jinshui with confidence, and when leaving, he held my hand and gave me many instructions.

"The Crown Prince will be the greatest emperor of all time, with extraordinary bearing. Just work hard, and you will definitely have a bright future."

Nangong Ye went to the southeast and worked in the donation bureau headed by Yang Jinshui, feeling still very nervous.

He was worried that as a remnant of the Yan Party, he would be purged sooner or later.

I am also worried about whether the old uncle Jie Xigong can have a good end.

Unexpectedly, a few years later, Jie Xi Gong's old rival Shao Hu Gong (Xu Jie) ended up with his family broken up, while Jie Xi Gong had a good ending. Some of his family members are now officials, some are businessmen, and some are cultural celebrities.

Compared with the infamous Xu family and Xu Jie, the Yan family and Yan Song's reputation is not so bad anymore.

Now is the year of change of leadership, and people's hearts are in turmoil.

Many people maliciously speculated whether Prime Minister Zhang Xiang would end up like his teacher Xu Jie. At the very least, he would end up like Yan Song, with his political career ending and a "miserable old age".

Nangong Ye thought these people were really funny. They were still using the rules of the previous dynasty to calculate the trends of the new dynasty, which was undoubtedly like a blind man touching an elephant.

The emperor's demeanor is there!
Zhang Xiang’s contribution is also there!

The emperor will not act recklessly because of his personal likes and dislikes. He will stand at the height of history and take every political achievement and every minister seriously.

Nangong Ye was lost in thought and couldn't help but wonder what the emperor's intention was in summoning him.

As the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, he was in charge of the small piece of land under the feet of the emperor, and was summoned to the Western Garden many times.

But at this sensitive and delicate moment, Nangong Ye knew that this summons was not that simple.

I might have to move.

Where to move?
To be honest, Nangong Ye knew his strengths and was adept at handling paperwork, but he lacked courage.

According to the emperor, he has strong execution ability and is careful and prudent, but lacks creativity.

When he was the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, he basically followed the rules and resolutely carried out the instructions of Xiyuan and the cabinet.

It was done well and nothing went wrong.

However, Nangong Ye knew in his heart that he might not be able to meet the emperor's requirements while serving as the governor of Shuntian Prefecture.

He worked as a confidential secretary in the Bureau of Confidential Affairs for a period of time, so he had some understanding of the emperor's temperament.
If I cannot meet the requirements, what will the emperor do with me?
Just as he was thinking about it, a man came into the duty room. It was Liu Yupu, the governor of Henan Province.

He was wearing a red official robe and sat down next to Nangong Ye.

The two knew each other well, having previously been colleagues at the Donation Bureau.

"Tang Chen, were you also summoned by the emperor today?"

"Yes, I just received a notice from the Ministry of Public Security and rushed here from the Ministry of Justice."

Ministry of Justice?

Nangong Ye looked at Liu Yupu.

"Some time ago, Henan was building a railway and several major thefts occurred. I need to communicate with Zijian (Wang Yi'e)."

"Regarding railway projects, there have been many thefts in various places. A major theft occurred in Zhuozhou, Shuntian Prefecture, where a group of mountain people formed a team and robbed a warehouse at a construction site.

Similar thefts have occurred in Hubei, Hunan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanxi, and western Liaoning. In every province where railways are built, similar thefts have occurred.

Do you think these bandits are stupid? Who will they sell those railway tracks, steel, equipment and tools to after they steal them?

It's not gold or silver, so you can sell it after melting it. Those steel lumps are so big, even if you want to refine them, they are not enough to buy coal." Liu Yupu said: "There are always some people in this world who are blinded by greed. They see the railway as a good thing, and think that the things there are rare, and they are located in the wilderness, so they want to rob it as much as possible.

Zijian said that the "Operation Qingfeng Hulu" carried out by the General Police Administration and the Supervision Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, in conjunction with the Jinyiwei Zhenfu Division, the Guard Army Command, and the provincial criminal departments and police departments, was very effective. Ninety percent of the people who had committed crimes and were on the list were arrested, and the prosecution and trial work was also handed over to the provinces.

The key issue now is that the publicity is not in place, and people in many places still don't know what the railway is all about. He had a meeting with Yang Fengming of the Taichang Temple.

The Taichang Temple is planning to organize a group of local opera troupes to go to the countryside, focusing on promoting railway knowledge.

"Local opera troupe?" Nangong Ye nodded, "People in different places like their own local opera the most, and this means of education is easy to understand.

The opera troupe goes to the countryside to carry out targeted propaganda directly at the grassroots level? "

"Yes, that's what happened."

Nangong Ye looked around and said softly, "Two days ago, Feng Pan Gong from the Spiritual Civilization Construction Committee convened an enlarged meeting of the Opera Association in the East Hall. He not only presided over the re-election of the Opera Association in person, but also delivered a speech.

This speech was published verbatim in the Huang Ming Dynasty Newspaper and the China Political Newspaper. The editor-in-chief of the Shuntian Political Newspaper also told me that he had received a notice from the Taichang Temple requesting that the full text be reprinted.

It’s quite a big commotion.

Lord Feng Pan is going to tie up the sky-high monkey and ascend to heaven in one step!"

Liu Yupu chuckled: "Nangong, stop making sarcastic remarks here. Lord Feng Pan is also a positive person. He is only in his early fifties and still in the prime of his life."

Nangong Ye chuckled and said, "Tang Chen, have you heard something?"

Liu Yupu refused to admit it. "What rumors could I have heard? I was isolated in my hometown and I am blind after coming to Beijing.

But you, Nangong, are not only the chief official of the capital and the lord of the capital, but you also have so many old colleagues in the Secret Affairs Bureau in the Ministry of Public Security.

Tell me, give me some information, so I can make progress as well. "

"You big-headed ghost!" Nangong Ye teased, "Tang Chen, at this critical juncture, what is your purpose in going to the Ministry of Justice? Those petty thieves who stole railway equipment, do you need a trip in person from a senior official like you?"

Liu Yupu opened his eyes and pretended to be confused, "I really went there to handle official business.

This is a major case of theft of railway equipment. It's a big deal. Who dares to be careless about this major case that Xiyuan's imperial decree requires to be handled strictly?

I was going to go a long time ago, but Zi Jiangong was not available, so I delayed it until today."

"You write scripts, Liu Tangchen, you don't need to be a governor anymore, why don't you write scripts?"

Liu Yupu chuckled and said, "I will go and edit the script, and you can give me the salary and allowance."

Nangong Ye has a special identity, is labeled as an old friend of the Yan Party, and because of his temperament, everyone knows that he poses no "threat" to their careers.

In addition, he is a very cautious person and has been carefully selected by Xiyuan, so there is no need to worry about any information leaking out from his mouth.

Therefore, his close colleagues find it very easy to get along with him.

As the two were talking, Qi Yan entered the duty room.

"Lord Nangong, Lord Liu, the emperor has summoned you two."

The two men quickly stood up and bowed their hands to express their gratitude, "Thank you, Eunuch Qi."

Then he walked to the full-length dressing mirror next to the duty room door, tidied his appearance, held up the front of his clothes, followed Qi Yan, entered the front garden of the West Garden, and soon arrived at the Ziguang Pavilion.

He was led to a side hall and sat down, where a servant served him tea.

After four or five minutes, Zhu Yijun strode in wearing an ochre-yellow casual robe with a round collar and narrow sleeves and a Yishan crown on his head.

Nangong Ye and Liu Yupu quickly stood up and bowed with their hands crossed.

"Your Highness, I, Liu Yupu, the Third Rank Jiayi Grand Officer and the Governor of Henan Province, and Nangong Ye, the Third Rank Dazhong Grand Officer and the Governor of Shuntian Prefecture, pay my respects to His Majesty the Emperor."

Zhu Yijun waved his hand, "No need to be polite, both of you take a seat."

Only after Zhu Yijun sat down in the upper chair did Nangong Ye and Liu Yupu dare to sit down with their buttocks tilted.

“Nangong, you have done a great job as the governor of Shuntian Prefecture. The capital continues to change with each passing day. Not only has the municipal administration been done well, but people’s livelihood has also been taken very seriously.

The vegetable basket project you launched last year built vegetable planting bases in Zhuozhou and Liangxiang, pig and chicken breeding bases in Shunyi and Changping, and greenhouse planting and scientific livestock breeding.
It not only ensures the daily supply of meat, vegetables, poultry and eggs for the officials, common people, soldiers and civilians in the five cities of the capital, but also for the students and workers in the surrounding colleges and factories. It is very good, very good.

I told Prime Minister Zhang that this must be used as a model for local governance, promoted nationwide, and local officials must be called upon to learn from it.

What was the purpose of the Ming Dynasty's economic development? It was to make the country strong and the people rich, and to let the people live a good life. "

Nangong Ye quickly replied: "In reply to the emperor, the vegetable basket project was only started after your guidance. I just ran errands and talked a lot, which is a trivial contribution."

Zhu Yijun continued, "There is also the construction of the Daxing Thermal Power Plant in the capital, which will benefit future generations. The other day, electricity was connected to the West Garden. When the lights came on, Empress Dowager Chen and the Empress were very happy and said that the palace in heaven was no better than this."

"Your Majesty, this is my duty."

"But Nangong, you have obvious strengths and weaknesses. Even as the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, you still have obvious shortcomings."

Nangong Ye's heart moved, knowing that the main point of the play was about to begin.

He bowed his head and answered respectfully: "I am a low-level official with limited talent and moral integrity. I have been trembling with fear and treading on thin ice as the governor of Shuntian Prefecture. I am sure that I have not done my job well.

I have often criticized myself at the Shuntian Prefecture government meetings, but I am confused by the authorities, so my self-criticism is definitely not adequate. I hope Your Majesty will give me some advice and criticism. "

Zhu Yijun smiled and pointed at Nangong Ye, "Okay, then I'll criticize you today!"

(End of this chapter)