The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 186 Shen Shixing's New Attack

The birth of the emperor's second son should have been a great joyous event.

Because it was very common for children to die young these days, including princes.

For example, Emperor Jiajing, his eldest son Zhu Zaiji, his second son Zhu Zaigang, including the fifth son, sixth son, seventh son, and eighth son all died young, leaving only the third son and fourth son.

For example, Emperor Longqing's eldest son and second son both died young, leaving only the third son Wanli and the fourth son Prince Lu.

Therefore, having more princes is the foundation for a stable country.

If it were like Emperor Zhengde and Emperor Tianqi in history, either there would be no princes or all the princes would die young, which would cause panic among the people.

However, those civil servants with ulterior motives chose to make a fuss about this and fight for the foundation of the country.

Just a few days after the birth of the emperor's second son, Zhu Changxu, these guys began to make moves again.

Early that morning, around noon, Wanli was in his bedroom in the Qianqing Palace, holding the little prince high in his arms and making him laugh. Suddenly, Li Xuancheng poked his head out and said, "Your Majesty, Luo Sigong requests an audience."

Luo Sigong wouldn't bother him if he had nothing to do.

Something must have happened again.

Wanli's cheerful expression froze, and he asked rather unhappily, "Where are the people?"

Li Xuancheng made a face at the little prince who was looking at him curiously, and then replied, "Waiting outside the imperial study."

Upon hearing this, Wanli could only helplessly stuff the little prince back into the arms of Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan and then walked out.

The weather is already very cold. I don't feel it much when I stay in the house with floor heating, but as soon as I walk into the corridor outside, the cold wind from the floor gives me goose bumps.

Wanli waved his hand towards Luo Sigong, who came forward to greet him and bowed. He quickly walked into the imperial study, rubbed his hands that had been chilled by the wind, and then asked, "What's wrong?"

Luo Sigong said carefully, "Your Majesty, rumors are spreading that you want to make the second son born to the Imperial Concubine the Crown Prince."

These guys are still not willing to give up, right?
Upon hearing this, Wanli couldn't help but snort coldly, then frowned and fell into deep thought.

Why are these guys still not reconciled?

The reason seems to be very simple, because apart from the excuse of fighting for the country and the imperial power, these guys seem to have no legitimate excuse.

The force he controls now is terrifying. If these guys dare to act unreasonably, they will be courting death.

Now, these guys can only use the Ming Dynasty's ancestral precepts as a pretext to compete with him for the foundation of the country.

As the saying goes, you're not afraid of thieves stealing, you're afraid of thieves thinking about it. It's not a good thing to have these guys thinking about it all the time.

So, how can we stop these guys from thinking about it?
The simplest and most direct way is naturally to replace all the important officials in the court with obedient members of the imperial party.

The problem is that, except for Yu Youcai, Shen Li, Liang Menglong and Yang Zhao, the other obedient members of the imperial party are all newly-appointed Jinshi.

It was impossible for him to promote the newly graduated Jinshi to the third or even second rank at once. Officials who were not serious about doing so would not accept it. Therefore, he could not get rid of all these civil servants with ulterior motives.

We can't take it all at once, so how can we prevent these guys from always thinking about it?
He was just frowning in deep thought when Li Xuancheng suddenly called out from outside, "The Prime Minister, Shen Shixing, requests an audience."

What day is it today?

It would be fine if Luo Sigong came over, after all, this guy is his confidant who controls the secret guards.

Why is Shen Shixing coming here again?
Wanli was stunned for a moment, then said loudly: "Announce."

Soon, Shen Shixing walked in quickly.

When he saw Luo Sigong, there was a hint of fear in his eyes, but that fear only flashed by for a moment.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, he held up a memorial and solemnly stated, "Your Majesty, the investigation into the land annexation by the Shanxi Provincial Administration Commission has been nearly complete."

Oh, so that’s what happened.

Last time, this guy came and tricked him by deliberately reporting the situation of the dukes, nobles, and royal relatives annexing the military farms in the capital, hoping that he would deal with the dukes, nobles, and royal relatives.

He then turned the tables and asked this guy to investigate the annexation of land in Shanxi.

Unexpectedly, this guy actually sent someone to investigate, and he even found out the results.

Wanli winked at Luo Sigong, signaling him to hand over the memorial, and then he opened it and read it carefully.

Seeing this, he couldn't help but snort inwardly.

Shen Shixing, this bastard who is caught between two sides, has no good intentions.

Last time, this guy reported that most of the farmland in the capital had been annexed by nobles and relatives of the emperor. This time, he reported that most of the farmland in Shanxi had been annexed by a few princes! What he meant was, you want to take back the annexed land, right? Go ahead and take it back, and see if those princes agree.

Those princes will most likely not agree, let me see what you can do.

I think you don’t want to be the Prime Minister anymore!

Wanli put down the memorial and said expressionlessly, "Did the farmland in Shanxi only get annexed by a few princes? Didn't scholars with official titles also annex it?"

Shen Shixing said without hesitation: "Your Majesty, the total farmland in Shanxi is less than 50 million mu. The three princes have annexed more than 20 million mu, almost 30 million mu. Add to that the military farms, there are hundreds of millions of mu, and the remaining farmland is only over 10 million mu.

Most of the remaining land is in the hands of ordinary people. Scholars with official titles haven't annexed much. Even if we carefully investigate each one, we probably won't find much."

You just deliberately didn't check those scholars who had achieved academic titles.

Now you are united, right?
Okay, you wait for me.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded expressionlessly, then waved his hand and said, "Got it, go down."

Shen Shixing quickly bowed and took his leave.

Wanli looked at the guy's back, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly, and he smiled evilly to himself.

This guy is a good commander. He even thought of ways to deal with the civilian officials.

It’s still the same old trick, provoking a dog-eat-dog fight and then sitting on the mountain watching the tigers fight.

Once civil servants start fighting, they will be concerned about each other.

Not only will he not be remembered as the emperor, he will also become the object of flattery by civil servants from all sides.

The reason why the civil officials are united at this moment is because Shen Shixing, a two-faced bastard, is the result of the mediation.

Now the court is composed of Shen Shixing's party, Zhang Juzheng's old party and Zhang Siwei's old party.

These three parties have close relations with Shen Shixing.

Not to mention Shen Shixing's own followers, this traitor also licked Zhang Juzheng and Zhang Siwei.

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng's old party and Zhang Siwei's old party have close relations with this guy.

It can be said that this guy is the glue of the civil officials in the court.

The reason why the civil officials in the court are now united is because this guy has glued them together.

He just needs to get rid of this two-faced guy, replace him with the obedient Yu Youcai, and then secretly instigate some trouble, and the civil officials in the court will start to fight each other.

As for how to sow discord, it’s actually very simple.

At this moment, several of the more ferocious dogs in history have already emerged. He only needs to throw out a little bait and promote them, making these guys feel that they have hope of taking power. These guys will definitely try their best to seize power and bite others!

However, before that, we have to deal with Shen Shixing, this bastard who is on both sides of the fence.

With this guy acting as a glue, the civil servants won't be able to quarrel with each other.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then asked, "Shen Shixing, have you investigated secretly?"

This one.

Luo Sigong said carefully, "Your Majesty, this man is extremely cautious. He usually doesn't act on his own, but instigates others to do so. I've been investigating him for a long time, but I haven't found anything."

This kind of person who seems to be flawless in the court may be a sieve in his hometown.

For example, Xu Jie, the chief minister of the cabinet during the Jiajing period, was a model of integrity in the court. He seemed to be incorruptible and very poor.

As a result, Gao Gong led Hai Rui to this guy's hometown to investigate, and found out that this guy had actually annexed hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land in his hometown!
Shen Shixing can be considered as Xu Jie's disciple, and this guy will most likely learn from Xu Jie.

Wanli thought about it carefully and said decisively: "Didn't I ask you to leave secret guards in Suzhou and Changzhou? Shen Shixing is also from Suzhou. Order them to investigate the situation at Shen Shixing's home."

I'm afraid Shen Shixing will no longer be able to serve as the chief minister of the cabinet.

Luo Sigong quickly bowed and said, "Your humble servant understands."

Shen Shixing really didn't expect that by running over to defeat Wanli's army, he would end up defeating himself.

This move of his was really bad, and it happened to fall right into Wanli's trap.

(End of this chapter)