The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 178 It’s Actually for the Benefit
Wanli was waiting for news from Nanzhili when Li Chengliang, the general of Liaodong, suddenly submitted a memorial.

Early in the morning at about noon, when the sun was rising, he walked out of the backyard of the palace with Li Xuancheng, Shan Sinan and others as usual, and prepared to go to the second study to review memorials.

At this time, the craftsmen in the Mountain Resort came out of their own courtyards one after another as if they had suddenly received an imperial edict.

Suddenly, the roads, big and small, were filled with people and densely packed black spots.

This is not what Wanli ordered to do.

They are going to work.

At this time every day, the carpenters would go to the workshop to build waterwheel components, spinning machines and looms, the young blacksmiths would go to the waterwheel workshop to take over their shifts, and the old blacksmiths would go to the workshop to assemble muskets and cannons.

Everyone was busy, and Wanli was no exception.

After he came to the study, he opened the memorial that had been placed on the table and began to read it carefully. Li Xuancheng, Sun Hai and Ke Yong also knelt down swiftly beside the small table in front of the desk, ready to approve the memorial.

It was impossible for major events to happen every day in the Ming Dynasty. What he usually needed to review were trivial matters such as the appointment and dismissal of officials above the fifth rank, the mobilization of troops of more than a thousand people, and the allocation of large sums of money and grain.

Unexpectedly, two special memorials happened to arrive on this day.

One copy was submitted by the chief minister of the cabinet, Shen Shixing. This bastard actually said that the cabinet still lacks staff and asked for additional cabinet ministers.

The other one was from Li Chengliang, the general of Liaodong. This guy said that the food in the Liaodong border garrisons was almost harvested, and whether it was possible to gather cavalry to raid the three guards of Doyan.

Both of these memorials are quite special.

Shen Shixing did not request the addition of cabinet ministers until later, and he chose to do so when Shen Jing submitted a memorial requesting the establishment of a crown prince. There must be something fishy going on.

This guy must want Xu Guo to join the cabinet to assist in government affairs, because logically speaking, the Minister of Rites is the most qualified to be added as a cabinet minister.

After Xu Guo entered the cabinet, the three of them suppressed Yu Youcai. Given Yu Youcai's cowardly character, his qualification to write memorials and draft bills would probably be taken away by these three guys.

There is another more important point. Now that Xu Guo has entered the cabinet, someone has to take over the position of Minister of Rites. Someone still has to take over the position vacated by the person who succeeds him.

These are all high-ranking officials of the third rank and above. If this happens, there will be a big commotion in the court.

However, it is not a big problem. With force in hand, we can deal with anyone who dares to disobey.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then picked up his pen and wrote in red: "Approved, the Minister of Rites Xu Guo and the Left Vice Minister of Rites Shen Li are appointed to the cabinet to assist in the administration."

You want to add more cabinet ministers, right?
Okay, I'll give you two more at a time.

You want three of you to unite and bully Yu Youcai? That's impossible. Originally it was two to one, but I will make it three to two.

As for how the six ministers and six vice ministers will act, I will just wait and see what tricks you want to play.

Now that Shen Shixing has been dealt with, the next one is Li Chengliang.

He said that after the autumn harvest this year, he would launch a surprise attack on the three guards of Doyan in preparation for retaking the former territory of the Beijing Xingdusi next year.

It was obvious that Li Chengliang wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to grab the credit.

Because Dong Yiyuan, the general of Jizhou Town, had few cavalry under his command, and Dong Yikui, the general of Xuanfu Town, had only 10,000 cavalry under his command.

The cavalry of these two brothers combined is only half of this guy's. If they just raid the three guards of Doyan like this, Li Chengliang will probably take away 70% to 80% of the credit.

However, things will be different if the Beijing Camp is added.

The Beijing Camp had 80,000 cavalrymen, and they were well-equipped. Li Chengliang's cavalry was nothing compared to the Beijing Camp.

Wanli thought for a moment, then decisively said, "Send Duke Peng to see you."

Qi Jiguang was very busy at this time. He was responsible for training the Beijing camp, giving lectures to the new dukes and marquises who had never learned military tactics, and supplying medicinal materials to Wanshengtang Pharmacy. He was running between Nanyuan and the Mountain Resort during this period and was very busy.

Fortunately, he happened to come to the Summer Resort last night.

So, he came very quickly. In less than a quarter of an hour, he walked in quickly, bowed and said, "Greetings to His Majesty."

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Yuan Jing, the grain planted by the soldiers in the Beijing camp should be almost harvested, right?"

It’s not as cold in Gyeonggi as in Liaodong. Crops here are planted earlier than in Liaodong, so they should be harvested earlier than in Liaodong.

Qi Jiguang nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, we have harvested all the rice and are now drying it. This work can be done by anyone in the family, young or old, women or children. It's just that pounding the rice is a bit difficult.

But it doesn’t matter. It’s freezing cold in winter, and it’s inconvenient for them to go out. It’s just right for them to pound rice at home and warm themselves up.”

This can actually be done with a water truck.

Wanli pondered, "After a year of hard work, they deserve a break. How about this? I'll have my father-in-law build a waterwheel for pounding rice for each hundred households, and they can take turns pounding rice."

Qi Jiguang bowed repeatedly and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace." Wanli shook his head slightly, then said solemnly, "Yuan Jing, I said at the beginning of the year that after the grain is harvested this year, we will raid the three guards of Doyan to prepare for the recovery of the former territory of the Beijing Xingdusi next year. How is the training of the 120,000 new soldiers in the Beijing camp going? Can they be sent out for training?
This is of course no problem.

How many troops are there in the Three Guards of Doyan?
If it weren't for the fact that we still had to consider the issue of garrisoning after recovering the former territory of the Beijing Xingdusi, we could have just let the Beijing Camp push forward.

Qi Jiguang nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise. It's time to send them out for training. It's a good opportunity for those nobles who are studying military tactics to go to the battlefield and learn how to command tens of thousands of troops."

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Well, fine then. You can gather all the troops of the Beijing Camp at the North Arena. We will go out and train properly next month."

Qi Jiguang quickly bowed and said, "I obey your order."

Now he doesn't have to run back and forth.

However, after he left, Wanli frowned and looked at the fallen leaves outside the window.

Shen Jing’s problem has not been solved yet, and the dispute over the national foundation must not be taken lightly.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty did not perish at the hands of foreign enemies, but at the hands of its own people.

This "insider" refers to those civil servants with ulterior motives.

He must let those civil servants know that he will deal with anyone who dares to stand up and argue with him.

Moreover, he did not simply dismiss the person from his post and investigate the matter. At the very least, he had to confiscate the person's property and exile him to serve as a warning to others.

The problem is, Shen Jing seems to be a typical clean official, diligent in his work, and honest in his duties. Could he confiscate the property of someone, exile him, or even execute him just because he submitted a petition to establish a crown prince?

This is definitely not acceptable. Submitting a petition to establish a crown prince does not violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty. Even if he is unhappy with it, the most he can do is dismiss the person from his post and investigate him.

If he wants to deal with someone, he needs to have some evidence of a crime.

What if this guy is really clean and has done nothing wrong?

Before going on this expedition, he had to deal with this guy no matter what, otherwise, he would really be worried.

Fortunately, there are navy speedboats sailing hard at this time, and Changzhou Prefecture and Suzhou Prefecture are both next to the main trunk of the Yangtze River, so it is very convenient to travel there by water.

A few days later, Luo Sigong received an urgent secret report from Nanzhili, which was sent over 800 miles.

Early in the morning at about noon, he hurried to the Summer Resort again.

After the emperor and his subjects exchanged greetings, he took out a secret report and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, I've found out about Shen Jing's hometown. He originally didn't accept donations, but last month, he suddenly had two thousand acres of land under his name.

Our people secretly investigated and found that the land originally belonged to local tycoons and gentry. He didn't pay for it, and he never even went back."

Wanli took the secret report and looked at it carefully, and couldn't help but smile coldly.

It seemed that the upright officials had learned Xu Jie's trick. They were incorruptible in the court, but secretly they were frantically annexing land in their hometown.

This Shen Jing originally seemed to be a pure and upright person, and he didn't even accept contributions.

Now, this guy suddenly has two thousand acres of land under his name, which is obviously a problem.

To put it bluntly, this guy is just doing it for profit.

This guy himself may be able to live a frugal life with nothing to lose, but his family may not be able to do so, and he may not necessarily want his descendants to live a frugal life.

So, this guy was corrupted by interests.

As for who corrupted this guy, we can investigate it slowly.

Now, he could use this as an excuse to arrest this guy and torture him severely.

He suspected that these lands were not donated but given to this guy by others. Even if they were donated, he would take the opportunity to make a big fuss about it.

Doesn’t the tribute violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty?
That's not necessarily the case.

If he said it was a violation, then it was a violation. After all, this is a typical case of harming the public interest for personal gain.

The court has lost an unknown amount of tax revenue due to the surrender of tributes. This unhealthy trend needs to be dealt with properly.

He thought carefully, then decisively said, "Issue an order: Shen Jing, the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Personnel's Seal Verification Department, suddenly has an extra two thousand acres of land under his name. He is suspected of serious corruption and is to be immediately dismissed from office for investigation and handed over to the three judicial departments for trial."

This time he was not taken to the imperial prison for trial.

He wanted to see who dared to protect Shen Jing.

Whoever dares to protect him will be dealt with by him!

(End of this chapter)