Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 257: Seeking one's own life and the country
What shocked many people even more was that before the imperial recommendation was organized, the Minister of Personnel Li Dai, the Minister of Works Yang Yikui, and the Minister of Justice Zhao Canlu also asked to retire due to old age, and the emperor simply agreed.

In addition, the Minister of War Jian Da had resigned at the end of last year, and the position is still vacant. Suddenly, there are two first-rank and four second-rank official positions in the court.

The Taichang Dynasty really needs a major change.

In the past three years, the only change that occurred was the appointment of the Minister of Revenue when Chen Qi passed away the year before last.

Now, the Minister of Revenue Zhao Shiqing has also become a very strong contender for the position of Governor-General and Minister of State Affairs.

But he is already 68 years old, so he shouldn’t meet the overall requirement of “rejuvenating important officials” this time, right?

Judging from the emperor's characteristics in employing people over the years, he is willing to give opportunities to all. As long as they can do their job, their positions are very stable. In special cases, the assistant officials of the government office are usually appointed temporarily or replaced.

With so many people involved this time, it is obvious that the goal is to have a stable team in the court for several years or even decades.

Therefore, it becomes even more important.

Not only in the outer court, but also in the inner court, Tian Yi passed away, and Chen Ju and Cheng Jing were both old.

For the emperor, after more than six years of accumulation, it is time to select a group of younger and stronger ministers to start making achievements.

As three more ministers resigned, the task of recommending officials became even heavier.

The imperial edict was passed down, and Taichang Zai Ye Xianggao temporarily took charge of the Ministry of Personnel and first nominated the Minister of Personnel.

As a result, Ye Xianggao's mansion was crowded with people.

Zhu Changluo remained calm as he listened to Wang An's report.

"…Your Majesty, Prime Minister Ye is not yet fifty years old. I am worried…"

"You're right to worry." Zhu Changluo nodded, "Just keep an eye on it."

He is only 49 years old this year, but he has been in the highest position for three years. Now he is in charge of the Jinxianyuan, and he has to temporarily lead the Ministry of Personnel to select the Minister of Personnel in advance.

If Ye Xianggao doesn't suffer from gossip, who will?

But why else would he be called a holy monarch? In the Wenhua Palace, Ye Xianggao was moved to tears after hearing Liu Ruoyu's oral instructions: "Your Majesty, I will... I will act impartially and live up to your expectations!"

Liu Ruoyu smiled and nodded: "Then Dazai will be busy first."

He came here specifically to announce the imperial edict. After a brief one or two days of excitement, Ye Xianggao was frightened by the fact that his door was almost broken by people, so he quickly submitted a petition to the emperor to select someone else to temporarily recommend the Minister of Personnel.

The emperor said: "I allow you to do it. Just devote yourself to the country and don't tread on thin ice."

This was naturally the attitude that the emperor wanted to convey to the court: now it is necessary to make use of important young officials like Ye Xianggao.

So Zhu Guozuo couldn't bear it anymore.

Zhu Guozuo, who has served as the Minister of Rites for more than six years, is the first young minister promoted by the emperor. Now Ye Xiangyou, who is the same age as him, is above him, and he really wants to move.

Seeing that the emperor trusted Ye Xianggao so much, Zhu Guozuo guessed that perhaps the emperor really wanted him to go to the Administrative Council: to elect a very capable Minister of Personnel to be in charge of government affairs, and then the resistance to implementing some new policies later would naturally be much smaller.

His method was to convince as many people as possible, and then push Ye Xianggaoting to the Executive Yuan to serve as the Governor-General's Minister of State Affairs.

Ye Xianggao had heard of this proposal and was certainly unwilling to do so: the Minister of Rites was more aloof, while the Council of Executive Yuan was full of hard and tiring work.

And everyone knows that the new governor and minister of state affairs will probably cooperate with the emperor to do something big. Doing big things means a lot of slander.

He just wanted to continue staying in Jinxianyuan, since his career as an official had come to an end in his lifetime.

The next step is to thoroughly establish the New Confucianism, which would be enough to leave one’s name in history and make achievements worthy of being honored with a place in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

Everyone in the court had their own ideas. After Chen Ju returned from Cuiwei Mountain, he formally asked Zhu Changluo to step down.

"Are you not going to stay in the palace?"

Chen Ju knelt in the Yangxin Palace and shook his head: "Now there is no need for me to keep him here. I hope your majesty will grant me the permission to go to Dingling and guard the late emperor."

Zhu Changluo was silent for a while. There were many positions that could be arranged, but Chen Ju wanted to guard the tomb for Zhu Yijun.

Zhu Changluo knew that although Chen Ju did not say much at the time, he always felt guilty towards Zhu Yijun in his heart.

He has always been this kind of person. For the country, he recognized Zhu Changluo's diligence and hard work. But for himself, he has his own moral code.

Zhu Yijun had a moment of clarity on his deathbed and did not blame them. What about Chen Ju? He probably only had this knot in his heart.

If he could guard Zhu Yijun's tomb again, he could die peacefully.

Thinking of this, Zhu Changluo nodded: "Okay."

Therefore, before the Minister of Personnel was elected, the Imperial Household Department changed its seal first.

Wang An, who had accompanied Zhu Changluo for many years, finally became the head of the eunuchs. The first thing he did in response to the emperor's order was to make some new arrangements in the factory guards.

The factory guards nowadays are a little different from before.

All the post stations in the Ming Dynasty were managed by the Privy Council, and the Chief Supervisor was responsible for the transmission of memorials and imperial edicts, and also went deep into the local areas.

At present, not many people know that the Duzhijian and the Dongchang are actually two names with the same staff, and probably only some important officials among the foreign officials know this.

The Jinyiwei's Southern Pacification Office monitored the movements in the two capitals, and the East Factory used the title of Duzhijian to monitor the movements in other places, but this was not enough.

"Your Majesty has ordered that the East Factory will be abolished and will only work under the name of the Chief Supervisor. However, under the Imperial Horse Supervisor, an External Inspection Factory will be set up." Wang An looked at Wang Zhizhen and others, "This External Factory will require the Jinyiwei, Tianshu Camp, and the Chief Supervisor to work together, with the sea and land border post stations as the foundation, and then work together with the Changminghao and Zongminghao, and be responsible for monitoring the movements of the foreign vassal states. Commander Wang, you also know these things."

Wang Zhizhen's heart trembled, and he nodded and said, "Your Majesty has made arrangements since he took the throne."

"Now that the foundation has been laid, we should gather all the threads together and appoint a special commander. Your Majesty has ordered Luo Sigong to do it."

"I accept the decree!"

"The Imperial Guards must also be prepared." Wang An looked at him deeply, "Once the court has been replaced, it's time to start."

"Yes. Following your order, I have already selected all the general flag officers and above in the Jinyiwei. I have also checked the situation of the local guards."

"Okay. Then let Admiral Luo lead 500 capable men from the Northern Pacification Division to wait at the Tianshu Camp. Your Majesty will go to Zunhua in April."

They began to discuss the matter of the Foreign Inspection Factory, and at this moment, the Liaodong Governor Xiong Tingbi had just received a complaint from the Ula tribe on the border.

Whether Fuca surrendered to the Jianzhou Jurchens voluntarily or was abducted by them, the Ula tribe had one side of the story first.

Just because you didn't win the battle doesn't mean you can't think of new things.

At the same time, under pressure, Gwanghaegun Yi Hui of Korea once again sent people to Beijing, hoping to get the "curtain" of the Ming emperor again and recognize his status as the crown prince of Korea.

In the capital, the civil servants' attention was all on the high position that had been vacated in the court.

But the Privy Council was not affected.

Even though the position of Minister of War was still vacant, Wen Chun, who was already 69 years old, resigned at this time.

Because Tian Le is still in good health.

In front of the map, Tian Le frowned and said, "There are mountains and ridges between us, as well as the Haixi Jurchens and Korea. How did the Jianzhou Jurchens kidnap the Fucha tribe?"

"Privy Councilor, we know very little right now, we need to find out the truth." Sun Chengzong, who passed the Ministry of Rites examination in the third year of Taichang, is now a sixth-rank assistant counselor in the Military Strategy Hall under the Privy Council, but he is very active. "This matter is suspicious. If the Jianzhou Jurchens really took control of the area along the lower reaches of the Tongmen River, conflicts with Korea and Haixi Jurchens will surely arise again. This is a good opportunity!"

Tian Le looked at Liaodong and then at the southwest.

All very far away.

But the strategic situation of the Ming Dynasty was this: if the north could not be reassured, how could it expand its strategy to the south?
"Collect all the movements of the Northern Tartars, the Jurchen tribes, and Korea in recent years. Let's see if there is any more news from His Majesty." Tian Le looked at Xing Jie, who had returned to Beijing to serve as the Chief of Staff, and said, "Lord Kuntian, in your opinion, can this be planned?"

Xing Jie was silent for a while, then sighed, "The master has no name."

(End of this chapter)