The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 187: Deal with this bastard
Shen Shixing really overestimated his own abilities.

He thought that if he united the civil servants in the court, Wanli would not dare to do anything to him.

This guy is very sinister. He always encourages others to go, but he doesn't go himself.

Moreover, no matter what Wanli asked him to do, he would not disobey his orders. He would pretend to obey but secretly cause trouble for Wanli.

When Wanli asked him to implement the land survey regulations, he pushed out the dukes, nobles, and royal relatives and asked Wanli to deal with them. When Wanli asked him to investigate the land annexation situation, he pushed out the princes and asked Wanli to deal with it.

He thought that if he did this secretly, Wanli would not dare to do anything to him.

In fact, he was just being clever.

At this moment, the Ming Dynasty was no longer ruled by civil servants.

Wanli was no longer the rebellious emperor in history who only knew how to throw tantrums.

Wanli now has sufficient military power under his control, and it is difficult for civil officials to turn the tables.

The reason why Wanli had not dealt with Shen Shixing was that at that time the civil servants in the court were all similar. They all wanted to seize the imperial power and seize the benefits, and most of the imperial party were newly-minted scholars and were difficult to promote.

Moreover, if he dealt with Shen Shixing, he would definitely have to deal with Shen Shixing's party as well. In this way, the Qi, Chu, Zhejiang parties and even the Donglin party would have emerged earlier. These guys seemed to be no better than Shen Shixing's party.

In this case, it seems to be the same whether to replace anyone or not.

However, after Shen Shixing played his tricks twice, Wanli finally realized what was going on.

It’s better to replace this prime minister.

After all, at this moment, all matters of the court are still handled by the cabinet, or in other words, the cabinet is responsible for organizing and implementing them.

In other words, it is up to him, the emperor, to decide whether to carry out all the affairs of the court, but how to implement them or how to do them is still up to the chief minister of the cabinet.

The power of the cabinet chief is still very great, and many things can be done in different ways, leading to completely different results.

It's like checking the land. His decision was to check it, but Shen Shixing left the land annexed by scholars unchecked and only checked the land annexed by dukes, nobles, royal relatives and princes.

Doing so is to secretly trip him up and make things difficult for him as the emperor.

More importantly, Shen Shixing also secretly allied with the civil servants, making them united as one, and specifically targeting him as the emperor.

This was even more intolerable for him. He wanted to make the civil servants fight with each other and keep them keeping an eye on each other instead of him as the emperor.

Therefore, Shen Shixing must be replaced.

Shen Shixing didn't know that he was getting himself killed by being too clever.

However, this guy is indeed very careful in doing things, and no one can find any fault with him in the court.

He could only wait for news from Nanzhili.

During this period, he just happened to find a stick to stir up trouble, causing the civil servants in the court to bite each other.

So, which troublemaker should we find?

If we were to ask who was the best at biting during the Wanli period in history, it would definitely be the Zhejiang Party and the Donglin Party.

In history, these two groups of civil servants can be said to have been fighting each other from the Wanli Dynasty until the end of the Ming Dynasty.

If we consider the possibility of provoking internal strife among civil servants, letting the Zhejiang Party and the Donglin Party start fighting in advance would be a good choice.

However, at this time, there was no Zhejiang Party or Donglin in the court, or in other words, the Zhejiang Party and Donglin had not yet developed.

Li Sancai, the founding marshal of Donglin, was a Jinshi in the second year of Wanli, and at that time he was only a doctor in the Ministry of Revenue.

As for Ye Xianggao and Han Yu, who became the prime ministers and held power in Donglin, there is no need to mention them at all.

Ye Xianggao was the newly-appointed Jinshi in the 11th year of Wanli's reign, while Han Yu had not yet been named on the list.

The Zhejiang Party has already made its mark. Historically, Shen Yikuan, the most powerful figure in the party struggles in the late Ming Dynasty, has now been promoted to the position of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.

Shen Yiquan's classmate and fellow townsman Zhao Zhigao has also been promoted to the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

If these two people are promoted and given the hope of coming to power, they will definitely start to bite back.

Because at this moment, those who hold power in the court are either Shen Shixing's party or Zhang Juzheng's old party and Zhang Siwei's old party. The Zhejiang party has only two assistant ministers of the six ministries. If they want to take power, it would be strange if they don't start biting people.

After Wanli arranged for Luo Sigong to investigate Shen Shixing, he thought about it carefully and then said decisively: "Send the message to Shen Yikuan, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel."

Shen Yiquan is indeed a legendary figure.

He ranked 132nd in the third class of the Wuchen imperial examination in the second year of the Longqing reign. Logically, he should have been sent to serve as a county magistrate, but miraculously, he passed the examination and became a Shujishi and became the chief minister.

Among so many prime ministers in the Ming Dynasty, he was the only one who came from the top three.

So, how amazing is this guy?
Not long after, Shen Yikuan came over breathlessly and quickly.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli began to stare at the guy.

This guy is only about fifty years old, with a fair face and neatly trimmed mustache, just like the beard of the God of Wealth, very round.

If you look at it from the surface, this guy is a very smooth person, but he knows very well that this guy is very insidious and is very good at biting people.

He stared at the guy for a long time before nodding in fake satisfaction and saying, "Yeah, not bad."

Upon hearing this, Shen Yikuan couldn't help but reveal a hint of doubt on his face.

The little emperor suddenly ordered someone to call him over, stared at him for a long time, and unexpectedly said this. What does "not bad" mean?
Opportunities usually only come to those who are prepared, and he is one of those people who is well prepared.

Historically, the reason why he was able to become the prime minister, hold great power, and cultivate the Zhejiang Party, a powerful force that covered the sky and the earth, was because he was well prepared and could figure out the emperor's thoughts.

In this respect, he is very similar to Yan Song.

When he came over, he deliberately ran out of breath to hint to the little emperor that he attached great importance to the little emperor's summons and was afraid that he would be late.

Now the little emperor actually said that he was good, which must be because he was satisfied with his performance.

He thought about it carefully, then said carefully: "Your Majesty, I dare to ask what you want me to do."

This means you can just tell me what you need.

Wanli nodded slightly, and then pretended to admire him and said, "I heard from Mengjing that you are very capable in doing things."

Of course not. How can you climb up if you don’t work hard?

Now, the opportunity has come, and the little emperor knows that he is capable.

Shen Yiguan quickly expressed his loyalty, saying, "Your Majesty, if you have any requests, please feel free to tell me. I will do my best to get it done for you."

Wanli nodded slightly, then pretended to sigh and said, "Nowadays, many civil servants are deliberately trying to make things difficult for me."

It is you who wants to suppress the civil servants, okay?

Shen Yiguan nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, I always tell them that we should be loyal to the emperor while receiving his salary, but they always ignore what I say."

Would you say this to someone?

If you dare to say this to other civil servants, forget about becoming the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Do you think I'm easy to fool?
This guy is just like Yan Song, a master at deceiving his superiors and bullying his subordinates.

Very good, it doesn't matter if you hide it from me. I have secret guards anyway, and you can't hide it even if you want to. I just want to let you bully me.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Yes, many people eat the emperor's salary but are not loyal to him. What do you think of Bingzhong?"

This seems to be a contradiction.

Everyone in the court knew that Yu Youcai was the little emperor's lackey.

Obviously, the person who eats the emperor's food but is not loyal to him is not referring to Yu Youcai.

So who is this sentence referring to?
It’s Shen Shi Xing!
The young emperor was dissatisfied with the Prime Minister Shen Shixing and wanted to replace him with Yu Youcai.

Shen Yiguan quickly clapped his hands and said, "Lord Yu is loyal to the emperor and patriotic. He is truly a role model for our generation."

Do you understand?

He is indeed quite capable.

Wanli nodded again with feigned satisfaction and said, "I would like to add another minister to the cabinet. Who do you think is the most suitable?"

As expected, Shen Shixing was about to be finished. Otherwise, it would be impossible to add another cabinet minister after just adding two cabinet ministers.

When you want to add cabinet ministers, you ask me instead of your lackey Yang Zhao?
The opportunity is coming!

The little emperor obviously likes me.

Shen Yiguan cautiously probed, "Your Majesty, the Right Vice Minister of Rites, Zhao Zhigao, is gentle and respectful. I wonder if this is acceptable."

You actually recommended your fellow townsman and fellow student.

It seems that you have been wanting to form a clique for personal gain for a long time.

Very good, open your dog mouth and let me bite.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Well, Zhao Aiqing is indeed good. Let's talk about it in a few days."

In a few days, we will naturally wait for news from Suzhou Prefecture.

Unexpectedly, the news came so quickly.

It takes three or four days to send an urgent message between the capital and Suzhou Prefecture, a distance of 800 miles.

Around 5 p.m. on the eighth day, the sun had just set and Wanli was sitting in the imperial study, wondering where to have dinner.

Li Xuancheng suddenly poked his head out again and said, "Your Majesty, Luo Sigong requests an audience."

So fast?
What did Shen Shixing do in his hometown?

Wanli said impatiently, "Announce it."

Soon, Luo Sigong walked in quickly.

After the emperor and his subjects exchanged greetings, he took out a secret letter and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, an urgent secret report from Suzhou Prefecture, eight hundred miles away."

Wanli took the envelope, opened it and couldn't help but smile coldly.

Shen Shixing is a really cautious guy. He relies on others to do everything.

Secret report from Suzhou Prefecture: Suzhou prefect Shi Kunyu ruthlessly punished local tyrants and evil gentry, and arrested Shen Bing, a family member of Shen Shixing. Li Lai, the governor of Suzhou and Songjiang, who was a member of Shen Shixing's party, threw Shi Kunyu into jail without any explanation!

(End of this chapter)