Jiajing Chengming

June of the seventh year of Jiajing.

Cheng Qi Chong, the imperial censor of Jiangxi Province, submitted a letter of resignation to Zhu Houcong, saying that he had believed the evidence too easily, disregarded the overall situation, and impeached the provincial governor without authorization. He was not suitable to be an official, so he resigned. He also began to defend Wang Yangming, believing that he had no motive to help the rebels in rebellion at this time.

Zhu Houcong approved his resignation letter.

Wang Yingzhen, the Imperial Secretary, also came to Jiangxi to investigate. After the investigation, he produced the confession of the deposed county magistrate Zhang Limei, saying: "The private letters of the rebel Hao were burned according to the imperial edict. Now the private letters were forged by Zhang Limei, and the inspector Cheng Qichong believed the words of the deposed county magistrate Zhang Limei and made this report."

Then, Lu Cheng, the head of the Ministry of Personnel, also made a defense for Wang Yangming.

Zhu Houcong decided not to discuss the matter any further and ordered Wang Yangming to continue to be responsible for suppressing the rebellion. At the same time, he arrested Zhang Limei and brought him to Beijing for trial.

After resigning from his official position, Cheng Qichong did not leave Jiangxi immediately, but went to Lushan to stay temporarily and inquire about the news of the rebels.

He risked losing his position as an official and promptly submitted a complaint about Wang Yangming's conspiracy, just to help the rebels.

However, what Cheng Qi Chong did not expect was that not long after he arrived in Lushan to stay temporarily, he received news that the rebellion had been put down and Fuzhou, Jianchang, Shaowu, Jianning, and Guangxin prefectures had been recovered.

This is because although Wang Yangming was suspended from his post, Jiangxi Governor Chen Hongmo and Fujian Governor Fan Jizu still followed Wang Yangming's advice and led their troops to ambush the main force of the rebels who had fallen into the trap of the government troops at Pingyang Mountain.

Fang Huai and Fang Liang were captured alive.

Prince Yi, who stayed in Jianchang Prefecture, chose to hang himself.

In response, Cheng Qi Chong was so angry that he slammed the table and said, "Zining is incompetent!"

Then, Cheng Qi Chong squatted on the ground, holding his head and crying.

Because this meant that the last bit of hope in his heart to restore their kind of clean political ideals was gone.

The ministers in the court who sided with the rebels were naturally heartbroken by this.

“It was finally pacified.”

When no one was around, the newly appointed Minister of Justice Xu Zan looked up at the sky and sighed when he heard the news.

When he attended court the next day, Left Censor-in-Chief Zhou Lun saw his melancholy expression and knew why he was melancholy.

But Zhou Lun did not say it explicitly, and only said to Xu Zan: "Yang Xindu is gone, and the rebellion has been quelled. Now, Your Majesty should be more at ease to carry out your grand plans and strategies. This is cause for celebration!"

"Yes, congratulations!"

Xu Zan smiled awkwardly.

Zhu Houcong is indeed very happy now.

This is not only because the rebellion was finally put down within a year, but also proves once again that a rebellion led by scholars and officials is difficult to succeed and they cannot start a new rebellion.

Moreover, Zhu Houcong received the first batch of profits from the sale of firearms to Japan, totaling more than 5 million taels.

More than two million taels were included in the imperial treasury.

Coincidentally, when Wang Ao was dying, he took a course in Buddhism. In line with the emperor's purpose of studying hard, he asked the emperor to build a summer villa in the Western Garden so that he could study hard even in the summer.

Zhu Houcong now had more income, so he ordered the construction of a summer palace in the Western Garden.

At the same time, because the rebellion had been quelled and Yang Tinghe never expressed different opinions until his death, the emperor's sole rule had become a permanent fixture.

As a result, some flattering ministers, such as He Yuan, the supervisor of Shanglin Garden, submitted a memorial to the emperor suggesting that the throne of Emperor Rui be moved to the Taimiao, in order to be in line with filial piety. They also requested the emperor to tour the south, offer sacrifices to Emperor Rui, and bring the throne back to the capital.

Because the emperor could not offer sacrifices to his ancestors in the Taimiao every year without mentioning the tablet of his imperial father.

Zhu Houcong issued an imperial decree to discuss this matter. After the discussion, the court finally believed that it was not appropriate to place the imperial temple in the imperial ancestral temple since Emperor Rui was only posthumously honored. Instead, they believed that another temple could be built to fulfill both filial piety and loyalty. Zhu Houcong approved this and asked the Ministry of Works to discuss the construction of temporary palaces along the way, intending to bring the Virgin Mary back to Zhongxiang next year to worship the emperor and request a deity.

After Zhu Houcong recommended the Minister of Rites Zhu Xizhou as the Minister of Revenue, he specially reinstated Xia Yan as the Minister of Rites and made him responsible for the specific ceremonial procedures of these matters.

Therefore, not long after Xia Yan retired, he returned to the court and was promoted to one level, ranking among the Seven Ministers.

The court officials all knew that Xia Yan would come back sooner or later, and the so-called order to retire was just a light punishment, and there was no intention to end his political life.

But this was a unanimous decision made by the court officials after the interrogation, so no court official could say anything openly. At most, they secretly expressed regret for the several Hanlin scholars who were killed by Xia Yan.

……

……

"Hey!"

"As a father, I shouldn't have harbored illusions about the Qingliu people and thought that I could ease the relationship with them and benefit the overall situation."

"Otherwise, the Grand Master might be my father now, not Xia Yan."

Yan Song was also very resentful about Xia Yan becoming the Minister of Rites.

He knew that the emperor must be dissatisfied with his previous behavior, so he chose Xia Yan to be the Minister of Rites.

Yan Shifan comforted Yan Song: "Father, don't be angry. There is still a long time to come. Although Xia Yan dared to kill for Your Majesty, it was not really for Your Majesty. Therefore, it is hard to say whether he will continue to be favored by Your Majesty in the future!"

Yan Song nodded: "You are right! No matter what, I can't be stupid anymore. I must serve the king with sincerity and not be smart anymore! His Majesty is a wise king now. It will do no good to be petty in front of him!"

Although Yan Song said that he would not make the same mistake as before, he still felt a little disappointed inside.

When Fang Huai, Fang Liang, Xia Liangsheng, Liao Daonan and others were taken to the capital, Zhu Houcong ordered them to be interrogated in court.

Zhu Houcong also attended in person.

"Fang Huai, Xia Liangsheng, Liao Daonan, you are civil officials, disciples of Confucius and Mencius, why did you also rebel?"

When Zhu Houcong was interrogated in court, he first asked about Fang Huai and others.

Fang Huai smiled bitterly, and then said: "Things will complain when they are not fair. Your Majesty is taking too much advantage from the people. We have no choice but to rebel!"

"nonsense!"

Zhu Houcong immediately reprimanded him and said, "I have never increased taxes, sent eunuchs out of the palace to make large purchases, or opened a large imperial store. When have I ever taken profits from the people?"

Fang Huai knew that he had no way out, so he simply continued to speak the truth: "Your Majesty has reformed the grain transport system, opened up the imperial merchant trade, set up supply and marketing shops, and bullied foreign nations. Isn't this competing with the people for profit?"

"Reforming the canal means inviting tenders to private merchants to undertake the canal transport, rather than letting the government and the army control the canal transport. This is clearly giving benefits to the people, not taking benefits from them."

"The imperial merchant trade is not to mention taking advantage of the people. After all, our dynasty is still banning the sea. Allowing some merchants to trade on behalf of the court can only be said to be giving appropriate benefits to the people. How can it be said to be taking advantage of the people?"

"The purpose of setting up supply and marketing shops is to stabilize grain prices. For example, local granaries are not imperial stores, so how can they compete with the people for profits?"

"As for bullying foreign nations, whether it is ceding land or paying compensation, it is all agreed by the foreign nations themselves, so how can it be considered bullying? Moreover, it has nothing to do with taking advantage of the people. At least, the thieves who collude with foreign nations to engage in smuggling are not considered as the people, right?"

"Fang Huai, if you want to confuse right and wrong, you can't do it like you do. Since I ascended the throne, I have always been doing things that benefit the people, such as removing eunuchs from various places, permanently exempting bamboo and wood from taxation, reducing banknotes and tariffs, abolishing the status of inferiors, allowing royal family members to find their own way out, and exempting military households from military service."

"Don't you think that these artisans, soldiers, and even the people who were originally lowly and ordinary merchants are not civilians, not human beings?"

Zhu Houcong asked this and looked at the others: "Tell me, are these people human beings?" (End of this chapter)