Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 204 Jiajing made a promise and wanted to become the greatest emperor of all time!
After Gu Dayong said this, he stood aside and glanced at Zhu Houcong.

He was also very curious about what decision the emperor would make.

And he naturally hoped that the emperor would not stand with Lin Jun.

Firstly, he had a conflict with Lin Jun because Lin Jun had exposed that he had occupied tens of thousands of hectares of people's land in the capital, forcing him to return it.

Secondly, compared to Liu Jin who was good at internal affairs, he was better at military affairs, so if the emperor was determined to make the country strong, he could play a greater role and stay in the Imperial Household Department longer.

"Allow him to resign, and let the cabinet grant him the grace as usual!"

Zhu Houcong did not choose to keep him.

He naturally knew that there was sometimes a contradiction between monopolizing power and making the country strong.

But he believed that this contradiction would not exist for him.

Because he focused on global resources and new productivity, and many scholars and officials of this era and previous emperors may not have enough understanding of the world and the future, and therefore had different ideas from him.

After hearing this, Gu Dayong couldn't help but smile and quickly agreed.

After receiving Zhu Houcong's imperial edict, Lin Jun was not disappointed. Instead, he felt relieved and felt liberated.

"That's fine!"

"It seems that Your Majesty really wants to be the greatest emperor in history, and has great ambitions!"

Lin Jun even expressed his feelings for this.

He now knew clearly that the emperor would rather not play the balancing game and support the cabinet in sending people to investigate the Donglai mineral resources and prevent local tyrants from annexing official property.

This made him look at Zhu Houcong even more highly and have greater respect for him.

So, he couldn't be said to be disappointed about this.

Even though he lost his position as Minister of Personnel because of this.

Simultaneously.

Because the emperor allowed him to resign, it was also an explanation to his fellow villagers, letting them know that he had tried his best, so Lin Jun felt relieved.

The news that Lin Jun requested to retire and was approved by the emperor quickly spread in the court.

This made many court officials very disappointed.

First of all.

The officials from the six ministries were naturally disappointed.

They knew that this meant that the emperor had chosen to support the cabinet's resolution and did not support the six ministries in opposing the cabinet.

Naturally, the six ministries still have to act according to the cabinet's wishes.

The Minister of Works Zhao Huang was unhappy all day because of this.

Second.

The conservative ritualists were also very disappointed by this.

Because Lin Jun is an important banner of their ritual protection faction.

Lin Jun, who became a Jinshi in the second year of Chenghua, has now served in four dynasties.

During the reign of Emperor Xianzong, he was imprisoned by the furious Emperor Xianzong because he submitted a memorial requesting the execution of the evil monk Ji Xiao and the punishment of Liang Fang. From then on, he became famous among the literati.

Later, he also became famous both at home and abroad for his request to reduce the construction and destruction of Buddhist temples during the Hongzhi period.

Then, during the Zhengde period, his prestige rose even higher because he refused to allow the sons of the nobles to take advantage of the military merits.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong's permission for Lin Jun to resign was a big blow to the ritual-protecting faction, letting them know that the emperor was still unwilling to be a king who maintained the status quo.

of course.

The fact that Lin Jun was allowed to resign caused quite a stir in the entire civil service community, and even the party bureaucrats felt sorry for him for many days.

Therefore, when Lin Jun entered the palace to bid farewell to the emperor, many court officials stopped Lin Jun and bowed to him to express their condolences.

"With your departure, the court will lose another loyal minister!"

"Yes, Your Majesty, why don't you keep me?"

"Don't worry, we will definitely ask for reinstatement in the future!"

……

The court officials were talking one after another, and Lin Jun had no choice but to step back and bow:
"You don't have to do this. I am an old and feeble man who is of no use to you. If I stay in the court, I will just be a vain person. Your Majesty's kindness has allowed me to return home. You should be happy for me."

After Lin Jun said this, he entered the palace with a gloomy face.

He didn't want to be so popular.

After all, the emperor's attitude is very clear, and he will no longer use the balancing act of "cabinet dispute".

If he followed these court officials who did not understand or pretended to be confused to stir up trouble, it would naturally not be a good thing for him.

Let’s talk.

Before Lin Jun arrived at the imperial court, Zhu Houcong had already walked up to the court officials who were upset about Lin Jun, and said, "You have such a great reputation! If I approve your resignation, will I be called a tyrant?"

"Your Majesty is a wise king. You should be able to distinguish right from wrong and not be swayed by gossip."

Lin Jun answered at this time.

Zhu Houcong said: "People's hearts are hidden, and sometimes I can't tell right from wrong. For example, you, Lin Putian, I don't know whether you really have only public spirit and no selfish motives."

"Your Majesty, I simply cannot bear what you said!"

Lin Jun hurriedly crawled on the ground and replied with extreme grievance.

Zhu Houcong said: "It doesn't matter. For someone like you, the only one who can deceive you is yourself."

"Your Majesty suspects that I have selfish motives and only care about the interests of my fellow townspeople."

"Even if I deny it, Your Majesty will not believe it!"

"But I still want to state to Your Majesty that I asked Your Majesty to come to Yuan from Fujian only because I am the Minister of Personnel."

"If I were a cabinet minister, I would agree to send someone to investigate, but unfortunately I am not. I am only the Minister of Personnel!"

"Since this is the case, I have no choice but to do this for Your Majesty and the Ministry of Personnel!"

Lin Jun replied.

Zhu Houcong was silent for a while, then said meaningfully: "It is not impossible for me to let you join the cabinet."

Lin Jun raised his head suddenly.

Zhu Houcong also glanced back at him and said with a smile: "But it depends on your performance after returning home."

Long after Lin Jun left the palace, his mind was still echoing with what the emperor had just said to him.

It is clear.

The cake drawn by Zhu Houcong made Lin Jun's heart move.

Of course, it was Lin Jun who opened his mouth first. What Zhu Houcong was most concerned about now was whether Xia Yan would lie to him too.

If Xia Yan also lied to him, then he could only send someone he trusted more to Donglai to check the mine.

However, Zhu Houcong had to admit that money can make people move people. The attempt of coastal tycoons to take over the Donglai gold mine made him further realize that if he wanted to enrich the country by mining new resources, he really needed to consider how to avoid being embezzled and divided up by bureaucrats and local tycoons.

Zhu Houcong decided to convene the cabinet ministers to discuss the matter.

"Do you think the results of Xia Yan's investigation of Donglai's mineral resources are trustworthy?"

Zhu Houcong asked this question after summoning the cabinet ministers to the imperial study.

Mao Ji and other cabinet ministers could not help but look at each other.

After a while.

Yang Yiqing said: "Your Majesty, I think it is not necessarily credible!"

Zhu Houcong agreed directly: "That's right! Only a true gentleman can be tempted by the benefits of money and goods! But how many people in this world are true gentlemen?"

"Your Majesty is right. In this case, I humbly think that the best strategy is to make it more difficult to bribe them."

Fei Hong said at this time.

After hearing this, Zhu Houcong asked, "How to increase it?"

"Decentralization!"

Fei Hong hit the nail on the head at this time.

Zhu Houcong nodded: "Go on."

“Mining and local governance officials should have separate powers and responsibilities.”

“The officials who decide whether to mine should also be separated from the officials who govern the area.”

"With the addition of the censors, they will each have their own responsibilities, and it will be difficult for local tyrants to bribe them."

Fei Hong replied.

Zhu Houcong said: "We should add one more rule: the officials who conduct mining, exploration, and decide whether to mine should all be sent directly by the central court, and the local governors only perform the duties of supervision."

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

"The relationship is with the imperial court, so we have to consider the imperial court a little more."

Fei Hong echoed at this time.

Yang Yiqing then added: "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, you can also link the salary and bonus of the mining officials and even the performance appraisal to the amount of mining revenue they turn over, so as to prevent them from being unwilling to actively increase the output of the mines."

"But we also need to prevent them from imposing sanctions on miners in order to please the higher-ups and increase their bonus income."

Zhu Houcong reminded at this time.

"We can only rely on the supervision of the censors."

Yang Yiqing replied, and then said:
"Your Majesty, if you seek perfection, you will be destroyed!"

"If we don't do this, the officials in charge of the mines will cheat and cause the court's property to slip away;"

"Doing so may lead to the situation of apportioning the burden on all levels, but compared with the loss of official property of the court, which is more important?"

"So in my humble opinion, it is difficult to trace the loss of government property, but if the officials in charge of the mines are indifferent to the feelings of the people and are only interested in profit, it is easier to hold them accountable. If the problem is serious, just kill a few people to appease the people!"

Zhu Houcong nodded.

then.

Zhu Houcong looked at the cabinet ministers again:

"We still need to set a bottom line for the officials in charge of the mines, and that bottom line should be based on the number of lives lost!"

"The emperor is far away, and it is difficult for me to know at any time whether the miners are being over-exploited. But if a large number of lives are lost in a short period of time, I have no choice but to hold them accountable."

"For example, if less than three people died in a short period of time, it can be considered a normal accident, and the corresponding officials can be fined, and their performance scores can be reduced by three years!"

"If more than three people die, but less than ten, it is considered a major accident and the relevant officials must be dismissed!"

"If more than ten people but less than thirty people died in an accident, it will be considered a major accident and the relevant officials will be exiled and their property confiscated!"

"If more than 30 people are killed, even if it's a serious accident, people must be killed!"

"If the censor knows about this but does not report it, once he is discovered, he will be executed for deceiving the emperor!"

"At least this way, the officials in charge won't cause too many deaths, right?"

After Zhu Houcong said this, all the cabinet ministers praised the emperor for his wisdom and benevolence with a look of admiration on their faces.

Holy, wise and merciful indeed.

Because in this era, ordinary people were hardly treated as human beings, let alone miners who were essentially exiles?

Except for their families, basically no one will care whether these people are worked to death or beaten to death.

But the emperor still treated these people as human beings, so naturally in this era he was considered to be as merciful as the sky.

"Today we are just discussing some preliminary measures. You can discuss the details with the cabinet."

Zhu Houcong said this for the last time and then left the imperial study.

The cabinet ministers bowed and said yes and then returned to the cabinet.

However, what the cabinet ministers did not know was that while they were discussing matters in front of the emperor, the outer court had become completely agitated because of Lin Jun's matter.

"The cabinet is forming a faction and ostracizing senior officials from ministries and departments!"

Zhu Mingyang, the Minister of Rites, was extremely indignant about this and directly accused the cabinet of forming cliques and excluding dissidents.

Obviously, as a civil servant who was well-versed in classics and history, Zhu Mingyang was no fool. He knew that he had to strike the snake at its most vulnerable part and lead the matter to the issue of factional struggle in order to make the emperor change his mind.

Because if he wants to keep Lin Jun in the court now, he can only hope that the emperor did not ask Lin Jun to resign of his own will, but the Imperial Household Department and the Cabinet were behind it.

Other court officials also quickly realized that this was a good idea, and they all followed suit, saying that the cabinet was forming cliques and excluding dissidents.

Afterwards, these people jointly submitted a petition to impeach the cabinet for forming a faction and excluding dissidents.

The cabinet ministers had no choice but to stop the work assigned by Zhu Houcong and submit their resignation.

no way.

With so many officials from various government offices outside the imperial court saying this about them, they could only resign to prove their innocence, and it was impossible for them to continue working regardless.

After all, if the court officials in the outer court do not agree with them, the edicts they convey will not be implemented seriously.

Wow!

Zhu Houcong first received memorials from the outer court officials impeaching the cabinet, and he directly overturned these memorials rudely and said sternly: "They really underestimated me!"

Zhu Houcong really wanted to say now: "I am not Wanli of the Ming Dynasty!"

(End of this chapter)