The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 61 Sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight

Wanli seemed to be following the example of his grandfather, Emperor Jiajing, and deliberately provoked a fight between Zhang Siwei's faction and Shen Shixing's faction in the court.

Then, sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight.

In this way, people on both sides have to please him, and whoever doesn't please him will be in big trouble.

As for how to make people on both sides realize that they need to please him, this is very simple.

He kept all the impeachment memorials without approving them, and then ordered the Inspectorate to investigate, investigating officials from both sides, and doing it openly to deliberately alert the enemy.

In this case, a smart person would rush to please him.

If you don't come to please him, he will beat you.

Sure enough, early in the morning at around noon that day, Shen Shixing came running over again to ask for a meeting.

After the emperor and his subjects exchanged greetings, Shen Shixing cautiously said, "Your Majesty, the censors and attendants of Zhang Siwei's faction have arbitrarily submitted a memorial impeaching me and Yuan Yu. This is revenge for my order to impeach Wu Dui. Please do not believe it."

I believe it if I want to, and I can treat the false as true. I don’t believe it if I want to, and I can treat the true as false.

This depends on your performance.

Wanli said without comment: "Rumo, the innocent are innocent. You have done nothing wrong. Why are you afraid of ghosts knocking on your door?"

Alas, I have done too many bad things, so I am afraid of ghosts knocking on the door.

You should quickly deal with Zhang Siwei and his gang. As long as I control the power of the court, I won’t be afraid of any evil knocking on my door.

Shen Shixing said carefully again, "Your Majesty, didn't you say that as long as I ordered someone to impeach Wu Dui, you would dismiss him and investigate him?"

You've been fooled. I lied to you.

Wanli sighed falsely and said, "Rumo, Wu Dui is at least the Minister of Six Ministries. You need to find some real evidence. If I dismiss him without any real evidence, wouldn't that be absurd?"

Don’t you just like to mess around?

Why aren't you messing around now?

It seems like I need to coax her a lot.

How to coax?

Is there anything this kid wants?
Or, is there anything else you want to do?

Shen Shixing thought for a moment, then said flatteringly, "Your Majesty, what should I do next?"

He is indeed a smart man, but he uses all his intelligence and talent for evil purposes.

Wanli suddenly complained inexplicably: "The Great Ming has two capitals and thirteen provinces, so many military garrisons, and so many herding stations, can't we raise a few horses?

The Beijing Camp, the Embroidered Uniform Guards, and the Imperial Guards combined only have over 4,000 war horses. Every time I go to the Mountain Resort to play, most of the tens of thousands of Imperial Guards and Embroidered Uniform Guards have to run over there. How tiring is that?"

Oh, you want a warhorse.

Shen Shixing nodded repeatedly and said, "This is indeed a bit tiring. Your Majesty, how many war horses do you want?"

Of course, we take as many as we can.

However, you can't get too much.

Wanli pretended to ponder, "I always take more than 20,000 people to the Summer Palace. No matter what, I need 20,000 war horses to ride."

Twenty thousand horses?

Anyway, the warhorse is not mine.

Upon hearing this, Shen Shixing gritted his teeth and nodded, saying, "Okay, Your Majesty, I will send a letter to all the herdsmen in the two capitals and thirteen provinces, asking them to gather them for you."

I'd be glad if you knew what was best for you. I'll give you some benefits.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Zhang Siwei has gone home to observe mourning, leaving only two people in the cabinet. Isn't that a bit too few?"

Are you going to be promoted to the Cabinet Grand Secretary?

Shen Shixing nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, I and Bingzhong are really a little overwhelmed."

Wanli pretended to ask, "Do you have any suitable candidates?"

Are you so easy to please, kid?

I will recruit war horses for you and you will give me a cabinet minister!
Shen Shixing said excitedly, "Your Majesty, what do you think of Yuan Yu?" I don't think so.

However, I want you to feel that there are benefits to pleasing me.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Yuan Yu is good, but he is the Minister of Rites. If he joins the cabinet, who will be the Minister of Rites?"

You become so easy to talk to just because I recruited 20,000 war horses for you!

Shen Shixing suppressed his excitement and said, "Your Majesty, what do you think of the Xu Kingdom?"

Is Xu Guo also yours?
Wanli was quite curious and asked, "Wasn't Xu Guo promoted by Zhang Siwei?"

Zhang Siwei wanted to win him over.

Shen Shixing pretended to be serious and said, "Your Majesty, don't worry. Lord Xu is selfless and will not side with Zhang Siwei."

Does this mean that he is another one who is caught between two sides?

Okay, you guys take your time, and when the Beijing camp is done training, I’ll play some serious games with you.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Okay, then let's make the promise."

Shen Shixing left with great satisfaction, and the Minister of Personnel Wu Dui came running over happily.

The two even met face to face.

Wu Dui was so panicked.

If the little emperor was fooled by Shen Shixing, he would be finished.

After the emperor and his subjects exchanged greetings, he cautiously said, "Your Majesty, those censors and secretaries appear to be speaking on hearsay, but they are actually deliberately slandering me and Lord He. You must not believe them."

You bunch of traitorous dogs, I will deal with you sooner or later.

However, before that, I want to squeeze out some oil and water.

Wanli pretended to be dissatisfied and said, "It is said that after the Longqing agreement, Altan Khan paid tribute of more than 30,000 war horses every year. Where are the horses?

The Beijing Camp, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the Imperial Guards have only more than 4,000 war horses in total. When I go to the Summer Palace to play, they have to run there. How can this be tolerated?
Gang Rumo said that the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty might not be able to recruit 20,000 war horses. What is going on?

What about the war horses that Altan Khan presented as tribute over the past ten years? Logically, there should be more than 400,000 of them, right?
I didn't ask for 400,000 horses, but I still have to provide me with the 40,000-plus war horses from the Jinyiwei and the Imperial Guards, right?"

Alas, that is nonsense. How could Altan Khan possibly offer so many war horses as tribute?

What you mean is that Shen Shixing is trying to get you some war horses, and if I don’t find a way to get you some war horses, you will deal with us, right?

Wu Dui thought for a moment, then coaxed, "Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty's nine border towns are in great need of war horses. In recent years, almost all the war horses that Altan Khan has paid as tribute have been used to fill the shortage in the nine border towns.

I'm afraid I can't allocate all of the 30,000 or so horses this year to you, but I can think of a way to get 20,000 or so."

Okay, then compare yourself with Shen Shixing.

Whoever loses will be punished!

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Okay, you should think of a solution quickly. The Jinyiwei and the Imperial Guards are running around, their legs are almost broken."

Wu Dui really tried to find a way to get war horses.

In fact, for the three major families in Puzhou, getting war horses is not a problem. Twenty thousand war horses only cost a small amount of money, and they have plenty of ways to get them.

Zhang Siwei's faction and Shen Shixing's faction were really like competing with each other, constantly bringing war horses to the capital. If you get a thousand horses, then I will get a thousand horses. If you get two thousand horses, then I will get two thousand horses.

This is the benefit of sitting on the mountain and watching tigers fight.

People on both sides had to find ways to please the emperor so that they could use the emperor to deal with the other side.

However, this trick has side effects.

That is, no matter how corrupt the two sides are behind the scenes or how they abuse their power for personal gain, we must turn a blind eye and always keep two factions in the court, and not let one faction be completely defeated.

Jiajing went a little too far. Not only did Yan Song and his son embezzle all the national treasury, they also owed officials one or two years' salary.

Wanli would not get out of control because his goal was to kill the tiger!
This sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight is only temporary. He just wants to take advantage of the fierce fight between the two factions to gain benefits.

He will definitely get rid of Zhang Siwei's party, and Shen Shixing's party will also be eliminated.

He seemed to be using this trick to maintain the balance in the court and make both sides please him, but in fact he was waiting for Qi Jiguang to train the Beijing Camp. Once the 60,000 Beijing Camp soldiers were trained, he would take action!

(End of this chapter)