The Ming Dynasty's Five Hundred Years

Chapter 227 Shocking the Nation
Li Xianmu was an anomaly in officialdom.

He served as a high-ranking local official, including the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, the Governor of Jiangnan, and the Governor of Shandong.

He also experienced several years of training within the central cabinet.

He then worked in the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Rites, the Censorate, and the Ministry of Revenue, and will most likely join the Ministry of Personnel in the future.

He has worked in almost every government office, big and small, and a large team of people was formed during this process.

Zheng Huan and Yang Rong's words were tantamount to rejecting the recommendation of Wang Gen at the imperial conference. Li Xianmu pondered for a moment, "The position of Vice Minister of Rites in Nanjing is acceptable, but the position of Minister of Rites in Nanjing must be left vacant for now. Otherwise, if someone holds us back, our plan will be difficult to implement."

“Yes, but it depends on His Majesty’s wishes.” Zheng Huan and Yang Rong relented this time. “However, the position of Minister of Rites in Nanjing has always been a sinecure, so His Majesty won’t care too much. We can use the excuse of temporarily detaining him to observe the performance of the other ministers. The other ministers should not object.”

This reason is indeed compelling; after all, with the Minister above him, which Vice Minister wouldn't want to advance in his career?

Especially for those Right Vice Ministers who have no hope of promotion, going to Nanjing to become a second-rank official might not be a bad thing. If they fail to meet the requirements after their rank is raised, they can quickly return to the capital.

The six ministers couldn't possibly risk offending people by suppressing their subordinates from promotion.

The matter was settled in a few words.

"Then after the New Year, Zhongfu will write a memorial and send it to the palace. Zirong, you can keep an eye on things in the cabinet. Now that I'm not in the cabinet, I'm afraid Yang Shiqi is in charge again."

Yang Rong shook his head helplessly. "Shiqi's personality is similar to yours. He's a natural leader. I can't compete with him."

Li Xianmu and Yang Shiqi were semi-allies. Both were members of the Crown Prince faction, but apart from that, they had little personal relationship. The main reason was that both of them were too strong-willed. They could face a powerful enemy together, but cooperation or even one of them being subordinate to the other was impossible.

They were somewhat like Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, both talented in governing the country and even had similar political goals. Logically, they should have been close comrades-in-arms, but in reality, two tigers cannot share the same mountain.

"There's no need to worry too much. Yang Shiqi comes from humble beginnings but has lofty ambitions for the world. He will help us with this matter."

Li Xianmu didn't care too much. In the current political arena of the Ming Dynasty, he was already far ahead. He was not even at his peak yet. He would only reach his true peak after the Crown Prince ascended the throne.

After discussing some details, Zheng Huan and the others left the princess's residence.

……

On the first day of the new year, Li Xianmu entered the ancestral hall again to begin his annual worship ceremony.

And all the precious information he received from his father.

In recent years, the information has mostly been in blue, and there has been no more purple information. After all, there aren't that many urgent major events in the Ming Dynasty.

Li Xianmu knelt in the ancestral hall and earnestly recounted what he had done over the past year. He also raised some questions, hoping that his father might be willing to answer them.

While listening to his son talking downstairs, Li Qi searched for useful information, most of which was about what would happen in the Ming Dynasty in certain years, such as the previous drought in Shandong.

Three of them involve the Yellow River breaching its banks and overflowing.

Li Qi skipped over this point: the Yellow River breaches its banks almost every year. If the Yellow River is the mother river, then it must be a violent one.

They hung the child up with a copper belt and beat him.

Li Qi looked around but found nothing particularly useful. What he wanted most was the time of death of those historical figures, such as the time of death of Zhu Gaochi. If Li Xianmu could get this information, the strategy would be completely different!
After looking around, Li Qi decided to send out the news about the Yellow River breach. After all, it was a blue-light message, and the props had reminded him of the breach three times in five years, which strongly suggested that there was a problem with the construction of the dike.

Who knows, we might catch a big rat and win in the ensuing political struggle.

The father and son were practically of one mind. When Li Xianmu received the news that the Yellow River had collapsed in eighteen years, he immediately frowned. He had once served as the Vice Minister of Works. Building the Yellow River dike was one of the important tasks of the Ministry of Works.

In ancient times, water management was one of the most important tasks, and those countries that failed to manage water properly basically perished.

During Li Xianmu's tenure as Vice Minister, he oversaw the construction of the Yellow River dike. Logically, the Yellow River should not have collapsed so quickly. "Could it be that the maintenance of the Yellow River dike has not been done well in recent years? Have the regulations I set in the Ministry of Works not been followed?"

With just a slight association, Li Xianmu frowned, and he clearly remembered that the account book for the Ministry of Works to withdraw silver from the Ministry of Revenue included an item for repairing the Yellow River.

“The information my father gave me couldn’t be wrong,” Li Xianmu muttered to himself. “If there really is a problem with the Yellow River dike, then someone has embezzled funds, causing the money meant for repairing the dike to be misappropriated. We should send someone to investigate.”

Li Xianmu knelt on the prayer mat and kowtowed three times to his father, Li Qi. "Father, rest assured, your son will never let such a vile creature who disregards the lives of the people go unpunished!"

……

After the New Year holiday, all government departments gradually resumed operations.

A truly earth-shattering piece of news quickly spread throughout the capital: Zheng Huan, the Minister of Rites, submitted a memorial to His Majesty, requesting that some of the quotas for successful candidates in the provincial examinations be allocated to those talented but poor scholars who had repeatedly failed the examinations due to a lack of good teachers.

This memorial caused an uproar in the capital almost instantly. From the Six Ministries and Five Offices to the streets and alleys, wherever there was well water, everyone was talking about it. The common people had all sorts of opinions, and the strongest reactions came from the scholars who had not yet passed the imperial examinations.

Those scholars from humble backgrounds who considered themselves to have extraordinary talent but were simply unappreciated felt as if a godsend had come to them, but many more scholars felt it was unfair, and it was becoming increasingly unfair.

“In the past, quotas were allocated by province, which resulted in the admission rate of southern provinces being less than half that of northern provinces. Many talented people could not pass the imperial examination. Now, quotas are to be allocated based on family background. Is this fair?”
Shouldn't the imperial examinations prioritize selecting learned scholars?

These words resonated with many scholars from wealthy families.

"Let's go find the Minister of Rites and get to the bottom of why he presented such an unjust policy!"

The scholars in the capital and the Imperial Academy quickly rose up, wanting to demand an explanation. But before they could surround Zheng Huan, they heard another piece of bad news.

Minister of Revenue Li Xianmu actually submitted a memorial supporting the memorial of Minister of Rites Zheng Huan!

It was even highly praised as—

"Since ancient times, it has been difficult for children from poor families to rise to prominence. In the Ming Dynasty, there are countless poor families, among whom there are many outstanding individuals. However, they are confined to their thatched huts due to the lack of good teachers. If Your Majesty is willing to bestow your imperial grace upon these children from poor families, you will surely be moved to tears by the gratitude of countless poor scholars!"

Compared to Zheng Huan, the Minister of Rites, Li Xianmu's prestige was truly exceptional.

By the seventeenth year of the Yongle reign, Li Xianmu's status had changed drastically.

Clan Chief: Li Xianmu (Second-Rank Minister of Revenue)
Family Rank: Noble (Temporary) (Benefiting from Princess Lin'an, they have joined the ranks of imperial relatives, but the family itself does not have a hereditary title, and their status as maternal relatives will decline with the passing of Princess Lin'an and Li Xianmu.)
A family of Confucian scholars (Li Qi was listed as one of the Ten Philosophers of the Confucian Temple and received offerings from Confucian scholars all over the country; Li Xianmu was listed as the Minister of Revenue. In the eyes of the world, they were an extremely prominent family of upright civil officials).

Family power level: 80 (ranked in the upper echelons among the many noble families, including imperial princes, dukes, marquises, and maternal relatives, in the current Ming Dynasty, but still many people dare not offend them)
Clan Chief Reputation: 80: (Li Xianmu's reputation was built upon countless solid achievements over twelve years. He was the leader of the School of Mind, an idol and role model for countless scholars in the Ming Dynasty, an agent of the sage's teachings in the world, and a model for the world in the hearts of countless people in his time.)

Nothing in this world is more convincing than merit. As mentioned before, Li Xianmu was an anomaly in officialdom. His resume was far richer than that of other officials, which brought him great prestige.

Moreover, Li Xianmu's reputation for being invincible in everything also served as a deterrent.

If Zheng Huan had submitted a memorial, it could be argued that he harbored ulterior motives and was hiding a conspiracy unknown to others. However, since Li Xianmu also submitted a memorial, many people immediately backed down.

For the past twelve years, Li Xianmu has wanted to accomplish one thing at a time, and this one will probably succeed as well.

Countless people have fallen before the battle even began!
(End of this chapter)