Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1263 Candidates

The above points out the advantages, but there are also disadvantages. If the person recommended is incompetent or even has a questionable past, then there will be serious trouble if something goes wrong later. Moreover, because of this Yellow River breach, the management of the Yellow River works is extremely important. This matter is not only being watched by the emperor, but also by the entire nation. If another breach occurs in the next year or two, and the Yellow River floods and inundates the Huaihe River basin, then the river governor will be the primary person responsible and will not be able to escape responsibility.

So when Zhu Shenzhui asked who was suitable to serve as the Governor-General of the Waterways, no one could think of a suitable candidate for a moment. Wang Mingxuan wanted to volunteer, but he was too old and his official position was too high. It wouldn't be appropriate to demote this old minister to the position of Governor-General of the Waterways, would it? Not only would it be inappropriate, but if Wang Mingxuan, at his advanced age, were to die from overwork in this position, how could they explain it?

As for other candidates, concerns arose about potential entanglements, competence, or other reasons. For a moment, no one could think of a suitable person. After racking their brains and suggesting several candidates, only to have them rejected, the room fell silent.

"What? My mighty Ming Dynasty has countless officials in the court, can't we find a suitable candidate?" Upon seeing this, Zhu Shenzhui looked displeased and coldly asked the crowd.

Everyone looked somewhat embarrassed, yet they didn't know how to answer the question. At this moment, Grand Secretary Hong Chengchou cupped his hands and said to the emperor, "Your Majesty, I do have a candidate here, but his official rank is a bit too low. I don't know if he is suitable."

"who?"

"Yan Yingyuan, Prefect of Fuzhou!"

"Yan Yingyuan?"

“It is indeed this man!” Hong Chengchou said, “Yan Yingyuan was originally from Tongzhou in the capital. In his early years, he served as a clerk in Jiangyin and achieved outstanding local political achievements. Later, he was promoted to the position of registrar of Guangzhou Prefecture. However, he was unable to go due to his mother’s serious illness. After Yongming, he was transferred to the position of governor of Jiangnan, Zhang Xijun. Later, he was transferred to the position of principal of the Ministry of War and military advisor of the Beijing Garrison. Before that, I was the governor-general of Fujian and Zhejiang, and Yan Yingyuan was my subordinate. He served as the assistant prefect of Fuzhou Prefecture and at the same time assisted in managing the standard-bearers of the governor-general’s office. He made many contributions.”

“A few years ago, Yan Yingyuan was promoted to Prefect of Fuzhou for his merits. He is familiar with local administration, works diligently and conscientiously, and is upright. More importantly, Yan Yingyuan is both literate and martial, and is a rare talent. I recommend Yan Yingyuan as the Director-General of the Waterways. With his abilities, he will certainly be qualified for this position. However, Yan Yingyuan is currently only the Prefect of Fuzhou, which is a bit low in rank…”

Hong Chengchou's sudden mention of Yan Yingyuan caught Zhu Shenzhui's eye. Originally, he had planned to directly transfer Li Xin from Liaodong to this position if all else failed. However, to be honest, it would be somewhat inappropriate to transfer Li Xin. Li Xin was currently the Governor of Liaodong and concurrently the Provincial Administration Commissioner, which was equivalent to the River Conservancy Commissioner in terms of official rank, but in terms of power, Li Xin's power far exceeded that of a mere River Conservancy Commissioner.

Moreover, Zhu Shenzhui intended to give Li Xin an important position. According to the term of office of the cabinet, the terms of Kong Zhenyun and others would be up in two years. Once Kong Zhenyun and Fan Fucui left the cabinet, Li Xin would be transferred back to the capital and join the cabinet. When Wang Jinwu's term was up, Zhu Shenzhui would arrange for a military general or nobleman to join the cabinet to ensure the balance of the cabinet.

If Li Xin were to become the River Conservancy Governor, Zhu Shenzhui's subsequent arrangements would be problematic, and he would inevitably have to choose someone else to replace Li Xin, which would be somewhat inappropriate.

Now that Hong Chengchou had suddenly proposed recommending Yan Yingyuan as the Governor-General of the Yellow River, Zhu Shenzhui was immediately intrigued. Zhu Shenzhui was naturally very familiar with Yan Yingyuan; after all, it was Zhu Shenzhui who had arranged for Yan Yingyuan to serve under Zhang Xijun, and later, after the Jiangnan incident, his transfer to the Ministry of War as a principal officer and the new army advisor in the Beijing garrison was also at Zhu Shenzhui's special instruction.

Later, when Hong Chengchou went to Fuzhou to take up his post as Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang, Zhu Shenzhui specifically transferred Yan Yingyuan to Hong Chengchou's command, with the aim of cooperating with Hong Chengchou to deal with Zheng Zhilong's group. Yan Yingyuan did just that. After arriving in Fuzhou, he not only served as the Assistant Prefect of Fuzhou, but also helped Hong Chengchou take charge of the military headquarters. Together, they dismantled Zheng's group, allowing the court to successfully deal with Zheng Zhilong and his associates, thus making a great contribution.

Afterwards, in recognition of merits and rewards, while Hong Chengchou was summoned back to the capital and eventually entered the cabinet as the Grand Secretary, Yan Yingyuan was also promoted from Assistant Magistrate to Prefect. In the past few years, he had done a good job in Fuzhou, and his local political achievements were outstanding and well received. Moreover, he had served as a clerk in Jiangyin for many years. Jiangyin is not far from Huaibei and both belong to Southern Zhili. Compared with others, Yan Yingyuan certainly had a better understanding of the situation in Huaibei.

Furthermore, Yan Yingyuan held a low-ranking official position in Jiangyin and had no connection with local officials, making it impossible for him to be involved in the Yellow River breach. Therefore, from all perspectives, Yan Yingyuan was indeed a suitable candidate.

The problem lies in the fact that Yan Yingyuan's official rank is indeed too low. The Prefect of Fuzhou is only a fourth-rank official, while the Governor-General of the Waterways is a second-rank official, a difference of four ranks. Promoting a fourth-rank Prefect to a second-rank Governor-General of the Waterways would be too conspicuous, and such a promotion beyond one's rank would probably be unacceptable to the Ministry of Personnel. "Then let's choose Yan Yingyuan! I know him; he is indeed a man of action. Letting him serve as Governor-General of the Waterways is a good choice," Zhu Shenzhui said immediately after thinking for a moment.

“Your Majesty, Yan Yingyuan is only a fourth-rank official, and I’m afraid his position is…” Yang Sichang couldn’t help but remind him.

"It's alright," Zhu Shenzhui said. "Yan Yingyuan has done a good job in Fuzhou these past few years. According to the rules, he should have been promoted. Let him first serve as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works and concurrently the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate. As for the position of Governor-General of the Yellow River, let him temporarily take over. If he does well, the position of Governor-General will be his. If he does poorly, my official positions are not given casually. The law of the land will deal with him!"

"Your Majesty is wise!" Hong Chengchou quickly replied. After thinking about it, everyone agreed that it was acceptable. Although it was a promotion of two ranks from the fourth rank to the third rank, it was still normal. Moreover, in this way, Yan Yingyuan's original position was just the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, plus the additional title of Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate. The position of Governor-General of the Yellow River was only temporary. In this way, there was nothing wrong with it.

After discussing government affairs for a while, the meeting ended. Everyone got up to take their leave, and after leaving the Qianqing Palace, Yang Sichang deliberately lagged behind by two steps and came to Hong Chengchou's side.

"Grand Secretary, why do you do this today? If the Yellow River breach is investigated strictly according to His Majesty's wishes, I'm afraid it will be impossible to control the situation!" Yang Sichang said worriedly.

Hong Chengchou squinted at him, a cold smile playing on his lips. He had warned Yang Sichang since the last time, but Yang Sichang hadn't given up on his original idea. Today, he was trying to downplay the matter; hadn't he realized his mistake yet?
However, Hong Chengchou would not say this outright. He sighed and said to Yang Sichang, "You still don't understand today? His Majesty is in a bad mood. If you don't follow His Majesty's wishes, what if His Majesty directly uses the Embroidered Uniform Guard to arrest you? At least for now, although there is a strict investigation, it is still mainly carried out by the Three Departments, and at most the Supervisory Department and the Police Department will get involved, rather than the Embroidered Uniform Guard."

"Moreover, this case is no small matter, and we must give an explanation to the people. Otherwise, how can His Majesty let it go? There have been many rumors circulating outside recently, and I imagine you have heard some of them. If we let it go unchecked, what if His Majesty gets angry and uses the Imperial Guards to uncover a major case? Aren't you worried that something terrible might happen?"

"This..." Yang Sichang was at a loss for words. Hong Chengchou shook his head, patted him on the shoulder, and then walked towards the cabinet without saying anything more.

Yang Sichang frowned and stared blankly at Hong Chengchou's back for a long time before finally gritting his teeth and following him. When he returned to the cabinet, he did not discuss the matter with Hong Chengchou again. After arriving at his office, he busied himself as if nothing had happened.

The Yellow River breach was quickly investigated by a special task force comprised of the Three Departments (Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Public Security, and Ministry of Police), along with the Censorate and the Police Department. An imperial envoy was dispatched to Huaibei to investigate. When the news spread, the entire court was in uproar. No one had expected such a hidden story behind the Yellow River breach in Huaibei. Many officials were filled with unease. Some had previously served in Huaibei and knew the source of the incident; others, though not directly involved, had previously turned a blind eye and shown leniency due to personal gain or colleague relationships; still others came from local gentry and official families, and were inextricably linked to the matter. Knowing the emperor was furious and had ordered the Three Departments to thoroughly investigate, who could remain at ease?

These people were terrified, fearing that the investigation would eventually reach them, and even more worried that the emperor would use this opportunity to purge the court, thus jeopardizing their lives and fortunes. However, some were gloating and even eager to take advantage, feeling that since this was their problem, it was also their opportunity.

The number of official positions in the imperial court and local areas is limited. If these people lose their positions because of this, wouldn't that mean that one of us would have an opportunity? In an instant, countless people were making all sorts of calculations, racking their brains to find ways to protect themselves and try to avoid being implicated in the case or even benefit from it.

Meanwhile, Yan Yingyuan, far away in Fuzhou, was unaware that he had been promoted. As the prefect of Fuzhou, after Hong Chengchou left office, Fuzhou returned to the previous system where the Provincial Administration Commission was responsible for local affairs. However, Yan Yingyuan's power as prefect was still considerable. Moreover, he was different from ordinary prefects. He not only controlled the civil administration of Fuzhou but also took charge of some military affairs. In particular, he still had some supervisory power over the reorganized Nanyang Navy.

In recent years, with the opening up of maritime trade and the collapse of the Zheng Group, Fuzhou has entered a period of rapid development. In particular, the development of Xiaoliuqiu across the strait has given Fuzhou a good opportunity for development.

Fujian is a mountainous region with limited arable land, making it impossible to support such a large population solely through agriculture. Since the Song Dynasty, many Fujianese have ventured to the seas to make a living. This explains the prevalence of pirates in Fujian and the widespread presence of Fujianese people throughout the South China Sea. However, with the change in Ming Dynasty policy, Fujian completely lifted its maritime ban. Leveraging its convenient ports and opportunities for maritime trade, coupled with its specialty tea, Yan Yingyuan astutely recognized this potential and spearheaded its development, leading to the increasing prosperity of Fuzhou Prefecture.

(End of this chapter)