My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 31 The Great Ming Sword
For the next few days, Su Ze's solution was to stay in the History Museum.

Shen, Shen and Luo all thought that Su Ze didn't want to implicate them, so he just lay there and acted like a loser. The three of them took turns to persuade Su Ze to cheer up, but Su Ze comforted them instead and urged them to go back to work.

July 20th is the ceremony of enthroning the Crown Prince. It is almost the end of June now, and the Ministry of Rites is extremely busy. Seeing that they cannot persuade Su Ze, the three men can only go about their own business.

For the rest of June, Su Ze read books and practiced calligraphy in the History Museum, forming a sharp contrast with his busy colleagues.

Zhao Zhenji, the Minister of Rites and the Chancellor of the Imperial Household Department, naturally heard about Su Ze's bad behavior. He just smiled and did not send anyone to urge Su Ze.

These days, the court's focus is on enthroning the Crown Prince.

The situation in the court also quietly changed.

Li Chunfang replaced Xu Jie in the cabinet. The new cabinet minister maintained his usual style and never expressed his views on important cabinet affairs. He left the drafting work to his three cabinet ministers.

Although Gao Gong was nominally the second assistant minister, he also served as the Minister of Personnel. The two assistant ministers of the Ministry of Personnel who were originally constrained by Xu Jie's arrangements, Lu Shusheng resigned to recuperate, and Zhao Zhenji was promoted to the cabinet and concurrently in charge of the Ministry of Rites. The Ministry of Personnel gradually became Gao Gong's one-man show.

Gao Gong was busy reorganizing the Ministry of Personnel and did not focus his energy on the cabinet.

During these days, the two who had the most conflicts were Zhang Juzheng, who was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, and Zhao Zhenji, who was in charge of the Ministry of Rites.

Since Zhao Zhenji entered the cabinet, he and Zhang Juzheng had a small quarrel every three days and a big quarrel every five days. The two of them were also at odds with each other in drafting bills, and they wanted to compete with each other in everything.

The reason is very simple. The ceremony of enthroning the Eastern Palace, as an important national ceremony, requires a lot of money to organize.

The expenses for organizing the ceremony, the rewards after the ceremony, and the rewards for envoys from all directions who come to pay tribute, all these things cost money.

Zhang Juzheng, who held the purse in his hand, naturally had no good face towards Zhao Zhenji, who was spending money lavishly.

Although Zhao Zhenji entered the cabinet later than Zhang Juzheng, he had more official experience than Zhang Juzheng and was also a cabinet minister, so naturally he was not afraid of Zhang Juzheng.

The result is that the gods fight and the mortals suffer.

Shen Shixing, a disciple of Zhang Juzheng, was also assigned a large number of tasks by Zhao Zhenji. He was so busy all day that he could not breathe and wished he could live in the Ministry of Rites.

In contrast, Su Ze gets off work on time every day and goes home to check on the cotton he planted.

I have to say, purple props are really powerful.

Normally, the planting and harvesting cycle of cotton is about half a year.

However, since the seeds were planted at the end of the month, which is about ten days, the cotton has grown quite tall branches. Su Ze estimated that the cotton will bloom in about five days.

According to this calculation, half-year-old crops mature in half a month, and one-year-old crops mature in one month. The [Home Planting Mat] can shorten the planting cycle to one twelfth, which is truly a terrifying breeding artifact!

It’s a pity that the cotton seeds given by Manager Huang were not the American cotton of later generations, but the Indian cotton that was spread from India to the Western Regions and then to China.

The cotton fibers of Indian cotton are relatively short and the cotton plants are not very large, far inferior to the American cotton that was widely cultivated in later generations.

Of course, the best cotton is still sea island cotton, which is later called long-staple cotton, and it may not have been discovered yet.

Can we get some American cotton seeds? I also wonder if we can find Spanish or Portuguese missionaries in Beijing.

These days, Su Ze has also been thinking about whether he should plant some more medicinal herbs such as Ganoderma lucidum to create an auspicious sign to present to the emperor?
Or we could find someone to look for economic crops like rubber, sugarcane, and cinchona, or to breed high-yield crops like sweet potatoes and potatoes.

It’s a pity that I’m in the capital, not in the southeast coastal area, so these things are still hard to find.

However, Su Ze has already asked Manager Huang to look for the seeds of these crops in Suzhou Prefecture.

By the end of June, tomorrow was the day for the system to be refreshed. Su Ze had already drafted the memorial and was waiting to submit it after the system was refreshed tomorrow. At this time, Gao Gong's servant came to his door again, and Gao Ge Lao summoned him again.

Thinking of the task of improving the reputation of the cabinet minister, Su Ze quickly changed into casual clothes and followed the servant to Gao Gong's house again.

As the saying goes, "The first time is new, the second time is familiar." This time, Su Ze was much more relaxed when he came to Gao Gong's house. After arriving at Gao Gong's study, Gao Gong put the brush on the pen holder and looked at Su Ze.

This alone made Su Ze have a much better impression of Gao Gong.

Some leaders clearly ask you to see them, but when you go to their office, they pretend to be busy with official business and will only assign you work after they have read the official documents.

This kind of leader is often incompetent and likes to use so-called political tactics to torment his subordinates. When can't he check official documents? Why does he have to wait until the subordinates come to check them?
Gao Gong would not do that. Su Ze would put down the work at hand as soon as he entered the study. This is also a respect for his subordinates.

Su Ze also saluted Gao Gong respectfully. After Gao Gong nodded to accept the salute, he asked Su Ze to sit down.

Gao Gong also said straight to the point:

"Even after Lord Xu was dismissed, the censors have continued to impeach him. Your Majesty and the cabinet are deeply troubled. Su Zilin, do you have any good ideas?"

Su Ze looked at Gao Gong. Everyone knew that Gao Gong and Xu Jie did not get along. After Xu Jie resigned, he brought Li Chunfang and Zhao Zhenji into the cabinet just to prevent Gao Gong from becoming the chief minister of the cabinet.

With such a relationship, Gao Gong naturally could not consider Xu Jie's interests.

Sometimes you have to listen to the leader's words in reverse. Su Ze immediately understood what Gao Gong meant.

This is to pursue Xu Jie relentlessly!
Xu Jie was also a good master. Just as Xu Jie pursued Yan Song relentlessly, Gao Gong was obviously not going to let this retired cabinet minister go.

It is also normal politically.

What Gao Gong attacked was not Xu Jie as a specific person, but the political force represented by Xu Jie.

Although Xu Jie had resigned from his post, his disciples were still spread throughout the court. Attacking Xu Jie was tantamount to attacking the group he represented.

However, this kind of political persecution cannot be too ugly. After all, Yan Song is recognized as a traitor by the world, but Xu Jie has a reputation as an upright official.

Why did the first person to create clay figures for burials have no followers?

If every prime minister were to engage in political persecution, then the Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty would be the President of South Korea.

The right balance in this matter was that even a seasoned politician like Gao Gong had to consult his trusted subordinates and advisers.

Su Ze understood Gao Gong's intention and quickly came up with the answer.

Su Ze looked at Gao Gong's desk, staring at the brush holder on his desk, and said euphemistically:
"Lord Gao, Nanzhili needs a Penholder Mountain to calm the turbulent debate in the court."

Smart people naturally understand each other, Gao Gong immediately said:

"Pen holder? Are you talking about Hai Gangfeng, the pen holder, and asking Hai Rui to go to Nanzhili?"

It turns out that smart people are good at communication. Gao Gong was in charge of the Ministry of Personnel, and it was his responsibility to recommend officials.

Su Ze said:

"I heard that Jiangnan has been in arrears for many years and Yingtian is in need of a governor. Lord Hai is the Great Ming Sword, so we can ask him to go to Jiangnan and test his skills."

"it is good!"

(End of this chapter)