I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 921 Meeting held in Xiyuan!

On the morning of the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month in the tenth year of the Wanli reign, I was on duty at the Nanhua Gate in the Western Garden.

A group of people gathered here early in the morning, all wearing red robes, and three of them were wearing crane official uniforms.

Now everyone in the court and the country knows that there are only four people in the Ming Dynasty who can wear the red robe with the crane patch, and the rest of the people are not qualified to wear it. Even the advisory scholars can only wear the official uniform with the peacock patch.

Grand Secretary, what does this mean?
So now the red crane robe official uniform is much cooler than the python robe, flying fish robe, bullfighting robe and unicorn robe!

According to the new rules of the Wanli Dynasty, the dragon robe was generally given to important officials of the country who retired.

For example, the former Prime Minister Li Chunfang, the former Grand Secretary and Chief Military Commissioner Hu Zongxian who has passed away, and the former Grand Secretary and Chief Censor Zhao Zhenji who has also passed away.

The Feiyufu was given to retired academicians, the governors-general of the five prefectures, and recipients of the Baoding Medal.

The bullfighting suit was given to retired court officials, as well as recipients of the Cabinet's Purple Light Medal and the Military Government's Wolf Medal.

The Qilin robe is awarded to recipients of the Cabinet's National Medal and the Military Government's Yanran Medal.

The only ones wearing official uniforms in the duty room were Zhang Juzheng, Hai Rui and Wang Chonggu. They were greeting and chatting with the other dozen or so academicians.

Zhang Juzheng was talking to Pan Sheng and Fang Fengshi.

Everyone looked at the three people with complicated expressions.

It is a foregone conclusion that Zhang Juzheng will step down this time.

Once he stepped down, the future of his Chu party became unclear.

Pan Sheng was one of the leaders of the Chu Party, but he was old and more like an ally of Zhang Juzheng than a student or former official. In addition, his abilities were limited, so he could not act on his own.

So once Zhang Juzheng retreated, Pan Sheng was left alone.

The heavy responsibility of the Chu Party fell on Fang Fengshi.

Zhang Juzheng served as Prime Minister in the first year of the Wanli reign, and Fang Fengshi served as Minister of Personnel, but in the fifth year of the Wanli reign he was suddenly demoted to Governor of Shandong.

Everyone thought that he had a conflict with Zhang Juzheng and was demoted, but later they found out that it was not the case at all.

Fang Fengshi passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi in the 20th year of Jiajing's reign. He was in the same class as Gao Gong and had more seniority than Li Chunfang and Zhang Juzheng.

He was only nineteen years old at the time, and like Wang Yi'e, he was known as a young talent.

However, his official career was not as good as Wang Yi'e's. He started as the magistrate of Yixing and was later transferred to Ningjin and Quzhou.

He served as county magistrate for ten years.

He was then promoted to the position of Director of the Ministry of Revenue, and later served as Langzhong of the Ministry of Works. He was later transferred to be the prefect of Ningguo, and another ten years were wasted.

Later, he was recommended by Gao Gong and Li Chunfang and began to participate in the suppression of pirates and bandits in Fujian and Guangdong. He was first promoted to Deputy Envoy of Guangdong Military Preparations, and then promoted to Right Censor-in-Chief, and inspected Liaodong with Zhang Juzheng.

At that time, he knew Zhang Juzheng and they hit it off immediately. In addition, Fang Fengshi was originally from Yujia, Hubei, and they were from the same hometown.

So he became closer and closer to Zhang Juzheng, and they became good friends and accomplices.

Later, Fang Fengshi was transferred to the positions of Vice Minister of Rites and Deputy Minister of the Court of Internal Affairs, responsible for dealing with vassal states such as Korea, East Japan, and Annan. He then became Minister of the Temple of Rites, and was actually the first diplomatic chief of the Ming Dynasty.

During the Longqing period, he was transferred to be the Minister of War and the Governor-General of Gansu and Ningxia. During the Wanli period, Zhang Juzheng was the Prime Minister of the Cabinet and implemented the performance evaluation system. He recommended Fang Fengshi as the Minister of Personnel.

It can be said that Fang Fengshi played a great role in the successful implementation of the performance evaluation system. Without his personal efforts as the Minister of Personnel, Zhang Juzheng would not have been able to push forward the performance evaluation system.

Later, he was suddenly removed from the position of Minister of Personnel and transferred to be the Governor of Shandong, which caused a lot of controversy.

Some even said that Zhang Juzheng was just killing the donkey after it had done its job.
But the most reliable statement is that Zhang Juzheng knew that Fang Fengshi had offended too many people when he implemented the performance evaluation system, so in order to protect him, he sent him away from the vortex.

The proof is that Fang Fengshi lost his position as Minister of Personnel, but he kept his title of Advisor. Anyone who knows a little about Wanli's New Deal knows that this title is more important.

At the same time, it is also to make room for Pan Yinglong, who is at the peak of his career, and to do a favor to Pan Yinglong, who has a bright future, and the talented and enterprising group behind him.

Some people also added that Zhang Xiang was trying to fill in the gaps in Fang Fengshi's resume.

Zhang Juzheng, Pan Yinglong, Wang Yi'e and others all had a record of governing a region. Although Fang Fengshi served as the governor-general of Gansu and Ningxia, his main responsibility was to guard against the Tumed tribe at the time, and he did not really govern.

It is not known whether these statements are true or not, but in short, Fang Fengshi was the undisputed leader of the Chu Party after Zhang Juzheng stepped down.

The rest of the Chu Party's core members, such as Zeng Shengwu, whose highest rank was the Imperial Councillor, were not even qualified to attend today's meeting.

It can be inferred that after Zhang Juzheng stepped down, he would hand over most of his political resources to Fang Fengshi, in order to continue his and the Chu Party's influence in the court.

No big boss is willing to accept the result of being forgotten after retiring.

Wang Chonggu and Zhang Siwei, uncle and nephew, sat together and chatted and laughed with several close academicians.

Zhang Siwei has been in the limelight recently, and everyone is speculating that he is lucky again and has figured out the emperor's pulse, and the market is suddenly bullish.

Several advisors near the door seemed to have seen something and stood up quickly.

The commander-in-chief of the Central Army, Qi Jiguang, was seen walking in front, wearing a field-gray army general's uniform, pushing a wheelchair.

Tan Lun, wearing an official robe with a crane pattern, was sitting in a wheelchair. He looked sick but in good spirits. He greeted everyone with a smile.

Behind him followed Liu Tao, the left military envoy of the military government, Yu Dayou, the right army commander-in-chief dressed in a sky-blue navy general's uniform, Xiao Wenkui, the left army commander-in-chief dressed in an army general's uniform, and Xue Lin, the deputy commander-in-chief of the central army and director of the Political Work Bureau.

They were all academicians representing the Rong government.

Zhang Juzheng, Hai Rui and Wang Chonggu took the lead to welcome Tan Lun.

"Mr. Zili, you look good today."

"Mr. Zili, I haven't seen you for a few days. You look very healthy."

Everyone surrounded Tan Lun and exchanged a few words.

Tan Lun also responded to everyone with a smile.

The atmosphere in the duty room is very harmonious, and the open and secret struggles of the past are no longer visible here.

So harmonious!
Feng Bao and Yang Jinshui appeared at the door of the duty room and greeted everyone with a smile, "The four old gentlemen and all the gentlemen are here."

Both greetings have meaning.

The four Grand Secretaries are addressed as "old gentleman" and all the Grand Secretaries are addressed as "gentleman".

Zhang Juzheng stepped forward on behalf of everyone and bowed, saying, "Excuse me, Eunuch Feng and Eunuch Yang."

"Master Zhang is too polite. This is what our family should do. Please come in, four old gentlemen and all the gentlemen. The emperor is waiting in the Purple Light Pavilion."

"Okay, let's go." Feng Bao and Yang Jinshui were wearing Feiyu suits, holding whisks, and walking in front, one on the left and one on the right.

Following closely behind was Zhang Juzheng, half a body length behind was Hai Rui, then Qi Jiguang pushed Tan Lun, and Wang Chonggu was in fourth place.

The rest of the advisors followed behind in twos and threes, with solemn expressions.

When they arrived outside the Ziguang Pavilion, everyone was surprised to see Zhu Yijun standing at the door in a vermilion Yishan crown and robes.

Zhang Juzheng hurried forward and was about to say hello, but Zhu Yijun walked up to him quickly instead.

Everyone was stunned and at a loss.

Zhu Yijun walked up to Tan Lun.

"Mr. Zili, you look great."

"Thanks to the emperor." Tan Lun replied with a smile.

He was completely dependent on a few miracle doctors for survival.

The miracle doctors at the Imperial Medical Bureau also said that fortunately medicine is now flourishing in the Ming Dynasty, with new drugs and new treatment methods emerging in an endless stream. If it had been five years ago, they would have been at a loss.

Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said, "It's my turn to push."

"Yes!"

Qi Jiguang stood at attention, saluted, resolutely carried out the order, turned his body and stepped aside.

Tan Lun said quickly: "Your Majesty, this is unacceptable!"

"Why can't I do that? I've pushed the wheelchairs of Duke Ruzhen and Duke Dazhou before. Could it be that Duke Zili's wheelchair is harder to push than theirs?"

Tan Lun's eyes turned slightly red and he said nothing more.

Zhu Yijun held the wheelchair handle and turned to Zhang Juzheng and Hai Rui and said, "Master Zhang, Lord Hai, if you were in a wheelchair, I would push you. But I still hope you don't need to sit in a wheelchair."

Zhang Juzheng and Hai Rui looked at each other and smiled, "Your Majesty is right. If we can avoid sitting in this wheelchair, we'd better not sit in it."

Hai Rui then added, "This old minister will obey the Emperor's order and try his best not to sit in this wheelchair."

Everyone laughed and the atmosphere was very harmonious.

Zhu Yijun pushed Tan Lun and walked in the front, while Feng Bao and Yang Jinshui followed closely on the left and right, half a step behind.

Zhang Juzheng followed closely behind the two, followed by Hai Rui, Wang Chonggu and others.

Everyone entered the main hall of Ziguang Pavilion. Zhu Yijun pushed Tan Lun to his seat, walked straight to the dragon throne in the middle, and sat down.

Feng Bao and Yang Jinshui stood on both sides below.

Zhang Juzheng stepped forward, crossed his arms and bowed, and shouted, "I am the First-Rank Guanglu Doctor, the Prime Minister of Cabinet and State Affairs, Zhang Juzheng."

Tan Lun lagged behind him by half a step, sitting in his wheelchair and bowing with his arms crossed, saying, "Your Highness, the First-Rank Guanglu Doctor, and the Chief Military Affairs Officer of the Military Government, Tan Lun."

Hai Rui followed suit and bowed, saying, "I am Hai Rui, the Second Rank Zishan Doctor and the Chief Censor."

"I am Wang Chonggu, a second-rank official and the left chancellor of the cabinet."

The crowd called out the names one by one, and then shouted in unison, "Greetings to His Majesty the Emperor!"

"Ministers, please excuse me!"

After the greetings, everyone moved to the left side hall for a meeting.

There was a long round table in the hall, and Zhu Yijun's seat was at the front, in the first position.

Zhang Juzheng sat in the first seat on the left, and on his right was Wang Chonggu.

Tan Lun is the first on the right, and Hai Rui is on the left.

On the right of Wang Chonggu are Wang Yi'e, Xu Zhenming, and Pan Yinglong
To Hai Rui's left are Qi Jiguang, Zhang Siwei, and Fang Fengshi
This seating arrangement was arranged by the Imperial Household Department and was definitely based on Zhu Yijun's wishes.

What is the deep meaning behind the emperor's arrangement?
Everyone couldn't help but ponder it.

The eunuch brought hot tea to everyone.

For those who are sick like Tan Lun, ginseng soup is served.

Zhu Yijun gave the opening remarks first.

“There’s some good stuff coming in recently.

Cocoa beans from Lelang and Daifang County in Xunzhou, as well as coffee brought by the Arabs, are beverages brewed from these two types of bean powder and are now popular in Lingnan and Southeast China.

The Shaofujian has also purchased a batch, if anyone wants to drink it, please raise your hand."

Zhang Juzheng echoed, "Your Majesty is keeping up with the times."

"That's right. We, the emperor and his subjects, must keep up with the trend of the times so that we can lead the hundreds of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty into a new era."

After a few opening remarks to ease the atmosphere, Zhu Yijun went straight to the point.

"Today is the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month of the tenth year of the Wanli reign. Starting tomorrow, all government offices in the capital will be closed for the holidays, except for those who remain on duty, until the sixteenth day of the first lunar month of the eleventh year of the Wanli reign."

During the Wanli New Deal, Zhu Yijun changed the rules and all government offices could take a holiday, but they could not be sealed.

Sealing means not caring about anything, how can that be possible?

You may not file lawsuits or go to court during the Chinese New Year, but you cannot fail to maintain public order, put out fires, treat illnesses, or provide water and heating, right?
It’s impossible for a vegetable market not to sell rice and vegetables.

So can local police, fire, medical, municipal and other departments take a break?
Can the county and prefecture officials take a rest?
Zhu Yijun stipulated that the holiday would start on the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month and last until the 16th day of the first lunar month. During this period, each government office must have sufficient staff to take turns on duty.

From the county magistrate, the left and right county magistrates to the ministers and the left and right vice ministers of various ministries, the heads of all departments took the lead in taking turns on duty.

Key departments such as police, medical, municipal and fire departments must have sufficient staff.

Of course, Zhu Yijun issued a clear edict instructing that personnel who stayed on duty during the holidays would be considered to be working overtime, and their salaries for those days on duty would be doubled, plus holiday allowances.

Zhu Yijun never had a shortage of hungry soldiers.

Zhu Yijun continued, "In four days, it will be the New Year's Day. According to the rules, the New Year's Day ceremony must be held at Huangji Gate. So there are some things that I hope to settle in the next two days."

The ministers immediately understood what was going on!
(End of this chapter)