The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 584 Preparing to Cleanse the Censorate

Wanli took his whole family to the Mountain Resort for summer resort.

The officials in the court seemed relieved.

Qingliu and Donglin even felt that the suffocating pressure had disappeared, especially those like Li Sancai and Han Yu who had something to hide.

They all thought that the purge was about to end.

Although the Ministry of Justice is still interrogating corrupt officials at this moment, almost all the corrupt officials in the capital court have been punished, and the rest are in the local areas.

What's more important is that once Wanli went to the Mountain Resort, he would basically not return to Beijing for several months and would not care much about the affairs of the court in the capital.

Since they no longer care about the affairs of the court, they naturally won't continue the purge.

They all thought that they had escaped this disaster.

They don't even feel that they are being optimistic.

Because this time the purge is targeting corrupt officials, and the Zhejiang Party is also composed of corrupt officials.

As for crimes such as supporting pirates, colluding with Japanese pirates, and treasonous behavior, they were all exposed because Zhejiang Party officials were caught for corruption and abuse of power.

They were not corrupt officials, and they had never done anything like supporting pirates, colluding with Japanese pirates, or treasonous behavior.

Qingliu really didn't do that. Li Sancai and Han Yu believed that Wanli had no idea that they had close ties with the three major families in Puzhou who had done that.

Under such circumstances, Wanli would naturally not continue the purge, and there was no reason to continue the purge.

At least that's what they think.

Will Wanli really not continue the cleansing?
of course not.

Zhu Guozuo is back, and he's ready to clean up the Censorate!

Gao Wenjian, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, was also the last of the six ministries and seven officials among the upright officials.

The reason why he had not started to purge the Censorate was because there was no suitable candidate to replace Gao Wenjian.

The Censorate is not an ordinary government office. The Left Censor-in-Chief must not only be obedient and capable, but also ruthless.

After much thought, he felt that Zhu Guozuo was the most suitable person to serve as the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate.

This guy looks gentle and refined, but he is extremely ruthless when he starts to fight. Such a ruthless person is needed to supervise all officials.

So, they ordered Li Guozhu to bring this ruthless man back.

Zhu Guozuo didn't know that he was about to take charge of the Censorate.

He thought Wanli wanted to call him back to ask about the situation in America.

Who knew that Wanli sent Li Zhizao, Wang Zheng and Li Guozhu back, but only kept him.

What is going on here?
Early the next morning at about noon, Wanli summoned him to the lobby of the former county government office in Miyun Palace.

At this moment, Song Yingxing was sitting on the left side of the big table teaching little Zhu Changxun. Wanli seemed to have some free time, as he was reading a book on the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, he pointed to the seat on his right and said, "Zhaolong, come, sit down and talk."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Guozuo hurriedly and carefully sat down.

Wanli looked at the Ming Dynasty laws and regulations in his hand again, and then asked, "Zhaolong, what do you think about the Censorate?"

what?
Metropolitan Procuratorate!
Why did His Majesty suddenly ask this?
Zhu Guozuo thought about it carefully before saying cautiously, "Your Majesty, I believe that the current Censorate is not strict enough in supervising officials. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many corrupt officials."

That hits the nail on the head. You are indeed suitable to be in charge of the Censorate.

Wanli continued to ask: "Why do you think the Censorate has become like this?"

Isn’t this question too complicated?

Zhu Guozuo pondered for a long time before slowly saying, "I have served as both a governor-general and a provincial governor, and I have a deep understanding of the responsibilities and powers of these two positions.

The powers of the governor and the governor-general can be said to be boundless, and these two positions are generally held by the Right Censor-in-Chief and the Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate.

Although these two positions are nominally temporary posts in the Censorate as Right Censor-in-Chief and Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief, it has become a common practice in officialdom for the Inspector-General to be promoted to Governor-General and Right Censor-in-Chief, and the Governor-General is basically selected from among the Governors-General.

I feel that most of the censors in the Censorate are now aiming to become governors or even governors-general of several provinces. Being promoted from a seventh-rank censor to a fourth-rank right assistant censor-in-chief is the only chance in the court to rise six levels in one go.

The problem is that governors and provincial governors are not permanent positions, and only a few are sent out every year. In order to seek these two positions, they will definitely try every possible means to gain advantages.

This scheming went from monitoring the officials to making friends with them, and they gradually forgot their duties."

Your perspective is really unique.

The power of the governor and the provincial governor is indeed boundless. They can manage almost all affairs within their jurisdiction, dispatch and command the army, and even have the power of life and death.

Who wouldn't want to have such great power?
Wait, that's not right.

Wanli flipped through the Ming Dynasty laws in his hand again, but he did not see any descriptions of the positions of governor and governor-general!
The permanent position in the Censorate was actually the Inspector-General, not the Governor-General or the Governor-General.

The Imperial Censor toured the country on behalf of the emperor and inspected the ministers of the vassal states and the officials of prefectures, counties and prefectures. He was particularly particular about impeachment and made decisions on major matters and on minor ones.

This power is a bit too much, but not too big to be boundless. Major matters are decided by the emperor, and minor matters are decided immediately. This is a relatively appropriate scale. The governor and the provincial governor can handle all matters, big and small, and can control military and civilian affairs, just like local emperors.

Therefore, the governors and provincial governors were called frontier officials by the people. The territories under their jurisdiction were equivalent to being granted to them, so one can imagine how great their power was.

How could such a powerful position appear in the Ming Dynasty?

When and how did these two positions appear?
It seems that the Hongwu Dynasty would occasionally send the Right Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate to inspect a region, but that was specifically to deal with certain difficult matters, not to take charge of the military and political power of a region.

At that time, Emperor Hongwu wanted to take back the military and political power, but almost all the princes and nobles who controlled the military and political power had been suppressed by Emperor Hongwu. Naturally, Emperor Hongwu would not allow civil officials to control the military and political power again.

It seems that this was also the case during the Yongle reign. Governors were not often sent out and did not have much power, and governors-general rarely appeared.

During the Hongxi and Xuande dynasties, the number of governors-general and provincial governors seemed to gradually increase. During the Zhengtong dynasty of Emperor Yingzong, governors-general and provincial governors seemed to have become the norm.

These civil servants really tried every possible way to fight for power and profit!

It is obvious that although governors and governors-general were sent to local areas in the name of the emperor, the increasing number of these two positions was definitely due to the deliberate guidance of civil servants.

For example, if a civil official deceives the emperor, this is a very difficult matter and cannot be handled without the power of the governor. That is also a very difficult matter and cannot be handled without the power of the governor.

In fact, it's bullshit. There were not so many things that could not be handled during the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties. The civil officials just wanted to make the governors and governors a normal practice in this way.

It seems that he needs to be careful when sending governors and provincial governors abroad in the future, and it cannot become a normal practice.

This would cause the censors in the Censorate to stop doing their jobs and only think about becoming governors or provincial governors like local tyrants one day.

If we look at it from this perspective, the censors of the Censorate will really change from supervising all officials to making friends with all officials, because if they offend all officials, no one will recommend them to be governors or even governor-general.

Although Zhu Guozuo's view is a bit unique, it hits the nail on the head.

The Censor of the Censorate is only of the seventh rank. As for his powers, he only has the power to report rumors.

To put it bluntly, if you find out that an official has problems or even hear that an official has problems, you will submit an impeachment petition.

If this power is used for party struggles, then it is still of some benefit. Most party struggles use this method to exclude dissidents.

If it is purely for the country and the people, this power will have no benefits at all, and it may even be a job that offends people.

The censors of the Censorate are not doing it for party disputes or personal gain, but are always finding faults in others and impeaching them. Isn't that just offending people?

This also needs to be changed.

Wanli thought for a moment and then asked, "Zhaolong, how do you think the Censorate can be transformed back into a government office dedicated to supervising all officials?"

what?
You asked me this too!

Zhu Guozuo pondered for an unknown amount of time before he said carefully, "Your Majesty, I believe that if you want the Censorate to return to being a government office dedicated to supervising all officials, you need to send more censors to conduct inspections.

All censors will take turns to inspect not only the local areas but also the various government offices in the two capitals. We will then promote them based on their achievements during these inspections."

You are indeed suitable to be in charge of the Censorate.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded repeatedly and said, "Well, that makes sense. From now on, we will promote the Censors of the Metropolitan Censorate based on the achievements of the Inspectors.

Zhaolong, from now on, the Censorate will be handed over to you. You must think carefully about how to supervise all officials and make them loyal to the emperor and work hard, and not think about corruption and even opposing me. "

what?
You let me take charge of the Censorate!

Zhu Guozuo was stunned when he heard this, and then he carefully reminded: "Your Majesty, Master Gao is a famous figure in the Qingliu School."

Humph, a famous figure in the Qing Dynasty.

Wanli snorted coldly, "The fact that he has earned the reputation of a famous figure in the Qingliu school is itself a big problem.

I put him in charge of the Censorate so that he could supervise all officials, not to let him become a famous figure.

He, on the other hand, used the Censorate to facilitate the popular sentiment, seek fame and reputation, and earn the title of a famous figure in the Qing Dynasty.

Why should I let him be in charge of the Censorate?
Let him be his famous and distinguished guest!"

Well, that does make sense.

This guy doesn't care about his job and only cares about gaining fame.

If this guy is allowed to continue to run the Censorate, not only will it fail to supervise all officials, but it may even be used as a tool for factional struggles by some upright people with ulterior motives.

Okay, if I have to offend the Qingliu, then I will offend the Qingliu.

The teachings of our mentor must never be forgotten.

I don’t care whether the stream is clean or not, I just listen to His Majesty!
Zhu Guozuo was stunned for a moment when he heard this, then he quickly stood up, bowed and said, "Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty."

Wanli nodded slightly, then waved his hand and said, "Think carefully today about how to let the Censorate monitor all officials. We will return to the capital early tomorrow morning."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Guozuo hurriedly bowed and took his leave.

Upon hearing this, little Zhu Changxun said with some reluctance, "Father, shall we return to the capital tomorrow?"

You haven't had enough fun yet, right?
Wanli shook his head slightly and sighed, "You have to remember that state affairs are the most important. Being an emperor doesn't have much freedom. If you want to go out and have fun, you have to take care of state affairs first."

(End of this chapter)