The Ming Dynasty's Five Hundred Years

Chapter 266 Future
High above, Li Qi was deep in thought.

At this moment, the Ming Dynasty was on the eve of a dramatic change.

Anyone familiar with the history of the Ming Dynasty knows that the early death of Emperor Xuanzong of Ming, Zhu Zhanji, changed part of the course of the Ming Dynasty.

Compared to the death information of Zhu Di and Zhu Gaochi, the death information of Zhu Zhanji is the most crucial!
Because he left behind a young ruler to succeed him.

How young was this young master?

They were only slightly better than the emperors in the Eastern Han Dynasty kindergartens.

Zhu Qizhen was born on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the second year of the Xuande reign and ascended the throne as emperor on the tenth day of the first month of the tenth year of the Xuande reign. Therefore, he was nine years old by the traditional Chinese age reckoning, but only seven years old by the Western age reckoning.

In modern terms, he would be nothing more than a first-grade elementary school student.

In ancient times, they were just beginning to understand things.

The imperial power created a huge power vacuum. If Li Xianmu had known this information, he could have made preparations in advance and certainly have been able to seize benefits from it.

But here is the problem.

Historically, Emperor Xuande, Zhu Zhanji, eventually handed over power to his mother and wife.

The will clearly states that "all important state affairs shall be reported to the Empress Dowager and the Empress before implementation." The so-called Three Yangs assisting in government only occurred because Empress Dowager Zhang did not covet the power of regency and delegated power to others.

Li Qi frowned and pondered. Normally, an emperor would not hand over the power of regency to his ministers unless it was a matter of life and death. Zhu Zhanji was no exception. Therefore, Li Xianmu was destined not to obtain the power that the Zhang and Sun families had.

After Emperor Xuanzong's death, given Empress Dowager Zhang's personality, she would definitely entrust political affairs to Li Xianmu. At that time, Li Xianmu's power might even surpass that of Zhang Juzheng during the Wanli era.

But that's not the problem.

However, just seven years later, Empress Dowager Zhang will pass away, and the affairs of state will fall into the hands of Sun Ruowei.

Whether she was a demon empress or not is another matter, but her political wisdom and vision were far inferior to those of Empress Dowager Zhang.

At that time, Li Xianmu's position would be rather awkward. If he still wanted to do things, he would be destined to embark on a path of "no ruler and no father".

After pondering for a long time, Li Qi finally reached out and summoned the Heavenly Mirror in his hand. The mirror was radiant and dazzling, radiating a divine light.

This prop has two functions. First, every year on the first day of the lunar calendar, Li Xianmu would take the initiative to worship it and obtain a message that would greatly benefit the development of the Ming Dynasty and the Li family.

The second function is that Li Qi can actively send messages, but this requires consuming a lot of incense points and achievement points.

The timing of Zhu Zhanji's death was too important, so after much deliberation, Li Qi decided to inform his son, Li Xianmu, of the news so that Li Xianmu could make arrangements in advance.

As the ancestral god residing in the heavens, he gradually gained greater freedom as the Li family developed.

……

The day and night, the sun and moon, the stars, and the four seasons in the heavens are all within Li Qi's control, while the human world is in the deepest darkness of night.

Li Xianmu had already fallen asleep fully clothed, and the vast Ministry of Rites was completely silent.

Li Xianmu, who was in a deep sleep, was having a dream, something that rarely happened to him.

He dreamed that he soared into the sky, floating upwards, with the sun overhead, a gentle breeze surrounding him and supporting him, and white clouds beneath his feet.

This is where?

This question instantly jolted Li Xianmu out of his daze. He suddenly woke up from his dream, and then looked around. A heavy sense of incongruity settled in his heart. He frowned slightly, and the next moment, everything around him shattered completely. He woke up from his dream and felt a slight burning sensation in his chest. His face immediately froze.

Without waking his wife, he quietly got out of bed and walked into the courtyard. The silvery moonlight shone on him, like a thin veil.

On the skin of his chest was a jade token, the same jade token that descended along with the Heavenly Mirror. This was the first time the jade token had moved when he had not entered the ancestral hall to worship.

Li Xianmu's hand brushed across his chest, and in an instant, the jade slip landed in his hand.

A golden light emanated from the jade slip, shining even brighter under the moonlight, carrying a sacred and solemn meaning, as if it were an ancient history, as if it were a piece of time and space.

Li Xianmu looked towards the moon, the only light in the deep night. His face was filled with anticipation and curiosity. "Father, are you giving your son some kind of revelation?"

The jade slip in his hand grew increasingly hot, and a deep blue light slowly descended, forming several characters outlined by an iron pen. Li Xianmu also looked over at it.

A line of words fell before his eyes, and a line of words fell into his heart!
Emperor Xuande died in the tenth year of his reign!

The night was still, but Li Xianmu's heart was filled with turbulent waves.

It was as if the heavens had collapsed, Mount Tai had cracked open, and the snow that had been covered for thousands of years had crumbled in an instant. A typhoon carried the vast ocean and lifted a wall of water thousands of meters high. Even so, it could not describe even a fraction of the shock, astonishment, and horror he felt at that moment!
The current emperor, Zhu Zhanji, was only in his twenties when he died after reigning for only ten years.
What's even more shocking is that the current emperor doesn't have a son yet!

that……

Li Xianmu immediately realized why his father had taken the initiative to contact him today, contrary to his usual behavior. In the past twenty years, his father had only contacted him once, and there had never been another instance of this in the past.

This information is so important that it will even determine Li Xianmu's entire governing style and policy plans during the Xuande reign, and most importantly, his attitude towards the emperor!

Upon learning that Emperor Zhu Zhanji would only live for ten years, or even less, Li Xianmu immediately realized that if Zhu Zhanji had a son, he was destined to be a child emperor!
A gleam flashed in Li Xianmu's eyes, even more dazzling than the radiant moon in the sky.

The things he had been daydreaming about during the day were actually happening. If a young prince could become the future chief regent, wouldn't he be able to fully realize his political ambitions?
Yi Yin, Duke of Zhou, Huo Guang, and Zhuge Liang—these historical predecessors all set the pinnacle of power that a subject could reach before him.

They could take whatever they wanted, and even depose and install emperors.

Li Xianmu had never considered such a treasonous act as deposing and installing emperors, but he was extremely interested in ruling the country.

Countless complex thoughts flashed through his mind, but finally settled on one thing: his attitude towards Emperor Xuande, Zhu Zhanji, in the future.

Over the past decade, he has been reinforcing certain personas and labels.

He wanted to be a member of the emperor's faction, to gain the emperor's highest possible trust, but he couldn't be completely subservient to the emperor and appear obsequious. He had to appear principled while also making the emperor happy in everything he did.

Serving the emperor was never easy.

Achieving this is even more difficult. But as the Buddhist saying goes—

Thirty years of ordinary people are like cattle and horses; sixty years of Buddhas are like dragons and elephants.

Everything now is for the sake of lying low, for the sake of the family and the Ming Dynasty.

Li Xianmu became increasingly excited as he thought about it, and he was completely unable to sleep. He paced excitedly in the courtyard, constantly calculating the current situation in the court, as well as Zhu Zhanji's governing strategies and biases, preparing to study how to gain the emperor's trust.

"Husband."

A soft voice came from the threshold. Zhang Wan stood in front of the door, draped in a light veil. The bright moonlight shone on her face and body, making her look like a fairy in the moonlight. She looked tired. "It's so late. Is there something you need, my husband?"

Li Xianmu suppressed his thoughts and smiled, "I couldn't sleep just now, so I came out for some fresh air. Let's go back inside."

The door was closed.

……

The next day.

As dawn broke, the capital city once again bustled with activity, and the imperial court's policy announcements were released in a timely manner. The court's decision to divide the provinces caused a great uproar, with the Southern Zhili region experiencing the most significant turmoil.

As for Gansu, Huguang, and Liaoning, very few people responded.

Since 70% of the population lives in Jiangnan, scholars from Jiangnan make up the majority of the population. This time, the splitting of Southern Zhili has sparked heated discussions everywhere.

The imperial court's major move shocked countless people, because it was not just about dividing up land; the entire bureaucratic system in Nanjing was also abolished. Since the Yongle era of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court had never taken such a major action.

The interests involved were naturally enormous. No one expected that the cabinet, the six ministries, and the emperor would make such a decision privately without seeking more extensive opinions or even discussing it in court.

Many court officials noticed that court meetings were becoming increasingly formalized, with the vast majority of matters being discussed in court, or even decided upon by the emperor and the cabinet, before being implemented.

This actually gave the emperor's confidants more power. Some ministers, such as the Minister of Works, were not summoned by the emperor privately for up to three months, except for court assemblies.

All matters were communicated through the Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet, both internally and externally.

This inevitably rendered his opinions unimportant to the emperor, leading to his marginalization in politics.

Previously, only high-ranking officials had this feeling; ordinary courtiers could not usually see the emperor. But the matter of splitting up the provinces was so significant that it provoked such a strong reaction.

After Li Xianmu entered the palace, he saw a mountain of memorials piled up in the Wenyuan Pavilion, as well as cabinet ministers with bitter smiles, furrowed brows, and sighs.

Li Xianmu chuckled and asked, "Did His Majesty have this brought here?"

Yang Rong rubbed his head in distress and sighed, "Yes, His Majesty had the palace servants move all these memorials to the Wenyuan Pavilion early this morning, so that we could review them."

There is strong opposition to the splitting of the provinces this time. Even today, when I went to court, some people accused me of bringing disaster to the country and its people. I think these are scholars from Southern Zhili.”

"Although the Ming Dynasty moved its capital to Beiping, Southern Zhili was still the capital region and the most important place. It has always received special treatment. Now that it has become Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, it no longer receives special treatment. It's no wonder that scholars from Southern Zhili are cursing it."

The cabinet members all shook their heads helplessly.

Within days of the imperial decree being issued, countless memorials flew into the Office of Transmission and were then sent to the palace. Some offered their own opinions, some suggested other divisions, and many expressed opposition.

Naturally, there will be opposition. After all, abolishing Southern Zhili would affect the interests of too many people. It was a whole system of officials in the capital, with thousands of officials of medium and high rank. Even if they did not have real power, it was still extremely important for them to maintain their official rank, social status, and social privileges.

Moreover, there are many people lying in wait, ready to return to the capital at any time. For example, the six ministers of Nanjing, who doesn't dream of returning to the capital and taking charge of the six ministries again?
But now that the Nanjing Six Ministries have been abolished, all of this has become a pipe dream. How can anyone be willing to accept this?

Li Xianmu and others were naturally aware of this matter, which is why they implemented it directly without discussion. They knew that it would inevitably face a huge wave of opposition, and the only way to force it through with solid central power was to push it forward. Once it was implemented, it would be no big deal.

“Splitting the provinces will be beneficial to the Ming Dynasty.” Li Xianmu said nonchalantly, “Since that’s the case, it’s just empty talk, there’s no need to take it seriously.”

I'm rather curious, what do scholars think of the Provincial Governor and the Censor-in-Chief?

Yang Shiqi pondered and said, "So far, all we have seen is approval. For high-ranking officials of the third and fourth ranks, the sudden addition of nineteen high-ranking officials is naturally a cause for celebration. As for the local areas, the reactions of the provincial governors have not yet been fully summarized."

But generally speaking, it depends on the individual. If there's hope for promotion, then naturally they'd want the position; if there's no hope for promotion, then naturally they wouldn't want another person above them.

The Provincial Governor was also known as the "Fantai," a title that gradually evolved from the Tang Dynasty's regional military governors, such as princes. The word "Fan" signifies power. However, nowadays, each province is overseen by a "Futai," so the "Fantai" is no longer as powerful as it used to be.

Li Xianmu nodded noncommittally, then looked at the mountain of memorials and slowly said, "I have a suggestion I would like to present to Your Majesty."

The late emperor's energy was far less than that of the Taizu and Taizong emperors, so all political affairs were entrusted to the cabinet.

Almost every day, two or three people were by the emperor's side, so that the emperor could consult on state affairs at any time.

His Majesty dislikes reviewing such rambling memorials, and all matters, great and small, burden His Majesty.

Since His Majesty frequently seeks our advice, it would be helpful if we could first read through the memorials, write down our suggestions, attach them to the memorials, and then present them to His Majesty for his reference.

Wouldn't this greatly lighten His Majesty's workload? What do you all think of this suggestion?

Everyone present was intelligent, and it was immediately clear that Li Xianmu's suggestion was highly feasible.

The emperor would occasionally ask questions about politics, and then they would answer. This was actually not very efficient, since talking takes a lot of time. But if it were done in the way Li Xianmu suggested, the emperor could filter out all the nonsense and wouldn't even need to start thinking from scratch. Instead, he could directly consider whether their suggestions were appropriate.

In the Ming Dynasty, which did not have a prime minister system, this was indeed a very suitable political system for the time.

"But will His Majesty agree?"

There are no fools in the cabinet, and this system will inevitably strengthen the cabinet's power.

“If it were the Taizu Emperor, who preferred absolute power, he would certainly not agree,” Li Xianmu said with a slight smile. “But His Majesty is very likely to agree, because this system strengthens not only the power of the cabinet, but also the power of the emperor.”

what?
Everyone was a little confused; how come they hadn't noticed?

(End of this chapter)