Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 290: Letting you go to the border is a sign of heavy use for you, why are you crying!
June 23, the fourth year of Jiajing.

On this day, the sky in the capital was cloudless.

Amid the chirping of cicadas.

The bright sun hangs directly above the continuous red eaves of the Forbidden City.

The dry heat makes people irritable.

Zhu Houcong half-rolled up his sleeves, waved a folding fan, and asked the eunuchs to open all the doors and windows.

Simultaneously.

He even casually picked up a memorial from the imperial desk and took a look at it.

However, Zhu Houcong did not read them seriously. He just glanced at them briefly and threw them aside. Many memorials were even thrown directly under the imperial desk.

Because these chapters basically talk about two things.

One was to impeach Yang Yiqing for corruption and abuse of power in Fujian, and for falsely accusing innocent people of being thieves.

One was to advise that mining in Korea would be detrimental to the relationship with neighboring vassal states.

After Zhu Houcong met with the Korean envoys, these two incidents became the targets of many court officials' advice.

Regarding Yang Yiqing's corruption and abuse of power in Fujian, and falsely accusing innocent people of being thieves.

Although Zhu Houcong, as a monarch, had to uphold justice for the country and listen to people's opinions, he could not act rashly, so he asked the cabinet to only ask the speaker to produce evidence.

However, Zhu Houcong believed that it was most likely that Yang Yiqing was not corrupt and framed innocent people as thieves, but that there were forces along the southeast coast who did not want the court to strengthen the navy and were trying to smear Yang Yiqing!

Deliberately confusing!

This would make him, the emperor, suspicious of Yang Yiqing, and thus suspect that Yang Yiqing did not seriously establish the Naval Academy, but was using the guise of establishing the Naval Academy to make money for himself, enrich himself, and even harm honest people.

Because in Zhu Houcong's view, if Yang Yiqing had not seriously established the Naval Academy, he would not have boldly trained the boat households, and even would not have submitted a petition with Wang Hong requesting to recruit the pirates.

The so-called Yang Yiqing’s corruption and abuse of power should be that Yang Yiqing killed a high-ranking local official like Du Qing in the name of collusion with foreigners, which aroused the anger of the scholars along the coast.

As for falsely accusing an innocent person of being a thief, it might be related to Yang Yiqing's recent report that pirates attacked the Naval Academy and were repelled by government troops.

and!

Zhu Houcong has also recently seen a memorial opposing the pacification of the country's pirates, saying that the country's pirates are all evil at heart and it is difficult to change them. If they are recruited as officers and soldiers, it will be a great threat to the coastal areas.

This made Zhu Houcong more aware that the wealthy families in Fujian and Zhejiang were singing a different tune from Yang Yiqing and others, and from himself.

of course!

Zhu Houcong could not completely rule out the possibility that Yang Yiqing had no selfish motives and would not do anything wrong.

After all, human nature is complex.

Many times, we can only know a person’s face but not his heart, and no one knows who is absolutely reliable.

Although he was the emperor, he was still just a mortal and could not fully trust any of his ministers.

However, Zhu Houcong still knew the principle of not employing people if you doubt them, and not doubting people if you employ them.

In addition, from an objective analysis, he also felt that Yang Yiqing should be working seriously.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong acquiesced to the cabinet's approach of favoring Yang Yiqing, which was to vote on all these memorials to force him to provide relevant evidence.

However, although this approach appears to be fair and peaceful, it also has drawbacks.

That is……

If the person directly responsible for the matter has a hot-tempered and irritable personality, he will not be able to bear the impeachment and will demand that the court severely punish these people and threaten to resign.

If you are a weaker person, you may choose to resign because of the pressure.

Historically, in the early days of the Tianqi reign, Xiong Tingbi, the governor of Liaodong, had a tough character and confronted the censors who impeached him, which led to the intensification of conflicts.

in contrast.

During the Wanli period, the Prime Minister Shen Shixing could not bear the pressure of too many impeachments from censors and chose to resign.

This can also be said to be an open conspiracy of the opposition.

They knew that they could not stop the Holy Will directly, but they could put pressure on the people who were responsible for doing things and let them know how many people were against him.

And the people who are specifically responsible for doing the work will often take the initiative to plead for them in order to calm the conflict, so that the emperor will have to give the opponents a break for the sake of the people who are specifically responsible for doing the work.

But Zhu Houcong believed that a minister like Yang Yiqing who was capable of defeating Liu Jin would not be unable to withstand the pressure from his opponents, nor would he become arrogant and restless because of the numerous voices of impeachment.

As for the second thing.

That is, many court officials opposed opening mines in Korea, saying that it would damage the image of the Celestial Empire and be detrimental to relations with neighboring vassal states.

Zhu Houcong was speechless about this.

It was obvious that the Korean envoys themselves could accept the Ming court opening mines in their border areas and they even took the initiative to ask for permission.

On the contrary, many of the country's ministers are like saints, and are even afraid of resentment from North Korea.

But Zhu Houcong knew that they were not afraid of resentment from Korea, but were afraid that the nobles would gain power again by developing foreign interests. They were just raising their opposition in the name of fear of resentment from Korea.

of course!

It is also easy to deal with those who oppose this matter.

After all, North Korea itself does not object.

Therefore, the cabinet drafted the bill precisely because it wanted to show favor to the neighboring vassal states, so it could not refuse the request, and would punish those who spoke nonsense with a salary penalty.

anyway.

Mining in North Korea is indeed on the agenda.

Gu Shilon, Marquis of Zhenyuan, recruited miners in advance in June of the fourth year of Jiajing. After receiving the imperial edict, he went to the mines that had been explored in advance by the Jinyiwei, built sheds and burned stones to start mining.

But in the court, voices against mining continued.

this day.

When Zhu Houcong was holding a court meeting with all officials at Zuoshun Gate, the Imperial Censor Wang Guan stood up and said:

"Your Majesty, the other day I wrote a memorial saying that opening a mine would damage the image of our Celestial Empire and cause resentment among our neighboring vassal states. This was not because I was worried about the dissatisfaction of the Korean monarch and his ministers, but because I was worried about the dissatisfaction of the Korean people!"

"Because, once our army and civilians enter their territory to open mines, they will inevitably become arrogant and disturb the people of the vassal state, and even use the name of opening mines to forcibly seize their land and property. This will inevitably cause resentment among the people of the vassal state!"

"Your Majesty, please tell me clearly!"

After the royal official said this, he held up his hu tablet and bowed with a determined look on his face.

After hearing this, Zhu Houcong looked at the ministers in the court and asked, "What do you think about this?"

At this time.

Xiong Jia, who had just been promoted to the position of Junior Secretary of the Imperial Household Department, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I have objections."

"Tell me about it!"

Zhu Houcong nodded slightly.

He also has his own people in the court now.

Therefore, many times, there is no need for him, the emperor, to directly intervene in the fight.

Xiong Jia then reported: "I think what Wang Yushi said is reasonable, but we can send an official to supervise the mines to monitor whether the soldiers and civilians from our country who come to the court are unworthy. If they are unworthy, we can deal with them to appease the people's resentment. If our soldiers and civilians are humiliated by the Korean people, we can also help them. We can also report any difficulties our soldiers and civilians have in mining."

"His Majesty!"

"I think Xiong Jia is right. The mining is requested by Korea, so we can't not agree! And Wang Yushi is also worried, so it is appropriate to send an imperial censor to supervise the mining."

"I think this Censor Wang is very concerned about state affairs and is bold in speaking out. He is a loyal and upright official! He is suitable to be the Censor-in-Chief of Mines."

Wang Qiong then echoed and said, "Therefore, I strongly recommend the Imperial Censor Wang Guan to be the Imperial Censor in charge of Mines!"

Wang Guan opened his mouth wide at this time.

He didn't want to go to North Korea.

Because it is a bitterly cold place, the weather there is only slightly better in summer.

It is said that there is often snow in autumn and winter, and that huge insects and Jurchen savages often appear.

The key point is that he advocated a ban on mining, which obviously offended the border generals. If he really went to northern Korea to serve as the Inspector of Mines and Minister of Frontier Affairs, he might be secretly killed by others instructed by the border generals. For example, he might be assassinated by Koreans or Jurchens. At that time, he would have no place to appeal!
"allow!"

"Issue an imperial decree to appoint Wang Guan, the censor of Guangdong Province, as the censor of mines and concurrently the minister of vassalage, to supervise the mining of Korea and local vassal affairs."

But Zhu Houcong replied with a smile.

After hearing this, Wang Guan's knees went weak and he knelt down on the spot.

"His Majesty!"

then.

The royal officer shouted.

Zhu Houcong looked at him and said with a smile: "No need to thank me. I know that it is hard to supervise the mines in northern Korea, but I believe that you are not a treacherous minister who is afraid of difficulties. You will do things for me and the people of the country that others dare not do!"

After hearing what Zhu Houcong said, Wang Guan had to hold back his words of defense that he couldn't go, and only said with tears in his eyes:
"Your Majesty is right. I will fulfill my duties as the Mining Inspector and live up to the grace of the state!"

The other court officials who were about to say a few more words on this matter shut up when they saw this. They all looked at Wang Guan with pity and at Wang Qiong and Xiong Jia with hatred.

After the court was dismissed, the royal official came to the cabinet with a feeling of despair.

Because the mining industry is now directly under the management of the Cabinet, Zhenyuan Hou Gu Shilon contracted the mines directly from the Mining Bureau under the name of the Cabinet's General Department of Finance.

And the royal officials naturally had to come to the cabinet and accept its guidance.

But when Wang Guan saw the Prime Minister Fei Hong and Wang Ao, who was in charge of the Ministry of Finance, he burst into tears and knelt down and said:

"My two ministers, please allow me to be transferred back to the capital as soon as possible for the sake of my father's filial piety. If that is not possible, I am willing to be impeached and demoted to a commoner, even if I will never be employed again!"

"You get up first!"

Fei Hong said at this time.

Wang Guan still stood up.

Wang Ao then said: "This is all Wang Qiong's good deed!"

Fei Hong said nothing more, only looked at Wang Guan and said: "Although this is your calamity, it may also be your fortune. When you go there, keep a close eye on the Gu family for the court. If you can really prevent the Gu family from doing anything fishy with the mineral profit dividends, His Majesty will not let you stay there forever, and we will have reason to continue recommending you!"

"Yes!"

Wang Guan agreed with tears in his eyes, and after listening to other instructions from the cabinet ministers, he left the cabinet and headed north to Liaodong the next day.

Let’s talk!

When Wang Guan arrived at the mine in the northern border of Korea, Gu Mi, the son of Zhenyuan Hou, who was directly in charge of the mine, greeted him and took Wang Guan to his temporary lobby and said to him:

"The governor was afraid that we would anger the people of the vassal state, so he wanted us to show kindness to them. Therefore, he was ordered by the court to supervise the mine. Now, our mine is discussing hiring local people to do some menial and heavy work like transporting slag in the mine. Please let the governor have a say on what kind of treatment he thinks we should give them!"

Gu Mi said with a sneer.

The royal official knew that these military households were dissatisfied with him, so he tried to show his goodwill and said with a wry smile:

"Please don't misunderstand me! I am just a scholar, and I am just pretending to be so in front of the foreign vassal. In fact, I have always been on the side of the army and people of our country!"

"As for the local people, they are just lowly people. It is enough to treat them as slaves and farmhands!"

"Is this what you said?"

Gu Mi laughed.

The royal official nodded: "Of course! If you don't believe me, I can sign our names on the notice together!"

"it is good!"

Gu Mi nodded and smiled: "It seems that Wang Fengxian is not a rigid person!"

then.

Gu Mi and Wang Guan decided to give the Koreans who came to work in the mine the same treatment as domestic long-term workers.

However, half a year later, Zheng Yunqian came to see Wang Guan and asked, "Why did the Shangguo Mine Institute treat our refugees so well?"

"Not very good?"

The royal official asked in confusion.

Gu Mi also nodded at this time.

“Nowhere!”

"They are all fleeing to the mines now, saying that they can have enough food here!"

Zheng Yunqian said excitedly, "We are inferior people, and cannot be treated the same as the people of the Celestial Empire. So please don't treat them too well, otherwise it will go against the will of heaven!"

(End of this chapter)