Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 184 Jiajing left the former Prime Minister speechless, and even Fei Zhuangyuan was convinced!
Under the long sky with continuous spring rain.

Liu Jian, the prime minister of two dynasties with white hair and silver beard, could not help but stammer with his lips and slightly red eyes at this moment.

He was not moved by the emperor's gift of a dragon robe and the invitation to ride in a chariot to court, but by the fact that the emperor actually thought of his lone grandson, Liu Chengxue!

Liu Jian has two regrets in his life:

First, he let down Emperor Xiaozong and failed to make Zhengde the wise monarch he envisioned.

At least he felt that he had let her down.

Because according to historical records, when he learned that Emperor Zhengde was going on a tour to the south, he was so angry that he couldn't eat, and he sighed repeatedly, saying: "I have failed the trust of the late emperor!"

Second, in order to uphold his own impartiality, he did not use his power to help his grandson become a Jinshi as soon as possible and continue the family's wealth.

He originally had two grandsons.

One grandson died young.

The only time he begged for favor from the royal family was when his eldest grandson passed away, and he asked for an official position as a secretary for his eldest grandson.

And now Liu Chengxue is his second grandson and his only living grandson.

But Liu Cheng has only become a juren after all his studies.

Liu Jian’s biggest worry was that if he passed away one day, the status of his Liu family would plummet.

Because all his sons are dead.

Now, the only male member of his Liu family who can still support the family is his orphan grandson.

If Liu Chengxue cannot continue the Liu family's wealth, then his huge family business will no longer be a blessing for the Liu family, but a disaster for the Liu family.

In this era, even if a family is a wealthy and powerful official, if it does not have male offspring to support it, it will be quickly wiped out.

And now, the emperor not only gave him the dragon robe, but also gave his grandson the bullfighting robe. He naturally knew that the emperor knew his concern and meant that he would not only treat him well, but also his descendants well.

So, how could Liu Jian not be deeply touched by this?

The officials and civilians present were also very moved, and they all sincerely praised the emperor's kindness to his old minister.

"Although your majesty is strict, he does have a kind heart!"

"That's right. The emperor is kindhearted and benevolent. It's just that he was instigated by treacherous ministers, which led to his great benevolence and love being misused! Fortunately, Lord Huian has come to the capital. With his virtue, prestige and wisdom, he will surely make the emperor wake up!"

"That's great! I believe that when the emperor gives a banquet to Lord Huian tonight, he will follow Lord Huian's wishes and issue an order to pardon the crimes of the nobles, and give up taking a large amount of silver from Nanzhi to control the world's money power!"

Many civil servants who protected rituals whispered about this and were full of good expectations for what would happen next.

But Fei Hong's complexion became worse and worse. When he followed Liu Jian and others into the palace, he looked worried.

Let’s talk.

After Liu Jian and the nine ministers entered the palace, the Guanglu Temple had already prepared delicious food.

At this time, Zhu Houcong also said goodbye to the two Empress Dowagers and Empress Zhuangsu and prepared to attend the banquet.

The two Empress Dowagers and Empress Zhuangsu had already learned from their relatives that the emperor had promised the imperial relatives that after obtaining a large amount of silver from Nanzhi, he would mint more silver coins and lend them to the imperial relatives at low interest rates to help farmers and businesses, and encourage the powerful families to reduce interest rates on the common people.

Zhu Houcong did this naturally in order to bring in his maternal relatives to join him in seizing profits from the financial market. At the same time, he also intended to win over his maternal relatives and the power of the harem to get them to support his reforms.

In addition, he also intended to let his relatives by marriage share the stigma of "competing with the people for profit" with him.

After all, as an emperor, it would be difficult for him to directly send eunuchs with large amounts of money to lend at low interest rates to the people after minting a large number of silver coins.

Notice.

The gentry all knew that lending money had to be transferred to the temple to help them lend money, so as to avoid direct conflict with the common people over collecting money, which would damage their credibility in the village.

As an emperor, he naturally had to learn from him and let his relatives by marriage help him bear the infamy of taking advantage of the people.

Anyway, the foreign relatives of the Ming Dynasty were far inferior to those of the previous dynasties and had no power or foundation.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong was not worried that he would not dare to urge them to pay back the money they borrowed. At most, he would send civil servants to urge them to pay back.

Zhu Houcong believed that the civil officials would dare to demand the return of the money from the relatives by marriage, because in history, there were civil officials in the Ming Dynasty who dared to beat the relatives by marriage with a golden gourd in front of the emperor.

Empress Dowager Jiang and Empress Zhuangsu were originally somewhat resistant to Zhu Houcong's idea of ​​allowing his external relatives to seize more of the lending market among the gentry in the future.

Because they are also afraid that it will affect the reputation of their mother's clan and their own reputation.

But Zhu Houcong said that this was not to take care of the relatives by marriage, but to let the relatives by marriage help the court, the people and the farmers, to lower interest rates throughout the world, and to prevent ordinary merchants in the world from being unable to create more wealth due to lack of money. This would only bring good reputation, not damage it.

In addition, people from their mother's family also persuaded them, and Empress Dowager Zhang's two younger brothers had already convinced Empress Dowager Zhang to support Zhu Houcong, so they did not insist any longer.

but now……

When they learned that Liu Jian had come to Beijing, they guessed that Liu Jian must have come to stop the emperor from obtaining a large amount of silver by implicating the treasonous nobles.

The two Empress Dowagers and Empress Zhuangsu all knew what kind of person Liu Jian was, and they began to think that the emperor's plan to confiscate a large amount of silver from Nanzhi was going to fail.

Empress Dowager Jiang and Empress Zhuangsu were okay with this. They didn't care much about it anyway and only advised Zhu Houcong not to get too angry because of Liu Jian's obstruction. They should still give Liu Jian the respect he deserved as a prime minister of two dynasties.

Zhu Houcong naturally agreed.

Empress Dowager Zhang was somewhat disappointed and annoyed by this.

She was disappointed and angry that her two younger brothers might be about to lose a lot of benefits.

Because she is a "brother's slave".

Zhu Houcong and Empress Dowager Zhang had been together for such a long time, and it was obvious that Empress Dowager Zhang cared about her two younger brothers to such an extent that she mentioned them more frequently than even Emperor Xiaozong and Emperor Wuzong.

and……

Basically, Empress Dowager Zhang didn't care too much about what Zhu Houcong said about the outer court's treatment of Emperor Xiaozong and Emperor Wuzong. It seemed that as long as Zhu Houcong and the outer court civil servants didn't go too far, she could accept it.

For example, when Zhu Houcong refused to recognize Emperor Xiaozong as his father, Empress Dowager Zhang was far less resistant to this than the ritualists in the outer court. It seemed that the civil officials cared more about the feelings of Emperor Xiaozong than she, the empress dowager, did.

Needless to say, Zhengde.

The longer Zhu Houcong interacted with Empress Dowager Zhang and the civil officials, the more he felt sorry for Zhengde. He also had to admit that it was no wonder that Zhengde was only close to eunuchs and military officers in history.

Back to the topic.

As a "brother slave", Empress Dowager Zhang had never had a good impression of Liu Jian, the Prime Minister of the Hongzhi Dynasty. Now that Liu Jian wanted to ruin the good things of her two younger brothers, she was naturally disappointed and angry.

But Empress Dowager Zhang was also wary of Liu Jian's reputation, so when Zhu Houcong left, she said to him:
"It has always been difficult for the relatives to do something for your Majesty, so your Majesty is too persistent. If Liu Jian insists on stopping you, forget it. Not getting the money is a small matter, but ruining your reputation is a big deal!"

"Don't worry, Auntie. I know what to do."

Zhu Houcong only replied with this sentence.

Then he came to Jinshen Palace in a sedan chair.

After the ministers paid their respects to Zhu Houcong, Zhu Houcong looked at Liu Jian and asked, "You are so old, and it is rare for you to come to participate in my ceremony. The whole country is delighted to hear about it!"

"I am sorry to bother your Majesty!"

"It's really a crime!"

"However, this old minister is not only coming to the capital to attend your majesty's wedding ceremony, but also to intercede for the rebellious nobles in the Southern Zhili region."

Liu Jian said this and tremblingly walked up to the hall, supported by his grandson Liu Chengxue, and knelt on the carpet, kowtowed and said:
"I beg Your Majesty to show some leniency to them for the sake of preserving the civility of our country, and not to confiscate their property or execute their clans!"

After Liu Jian said this, all the ministers of the cabinet looked at Zhu Houcong.

But Zhu Houcong did not show any surprise or anger.

He was just waiting for Liu Jian to say this.

Zhao Huang and others also looked over with solemn expressions at this time. They were also waiting for Liu Jian to say this.

Fei Hong was so nervous that he felt his heart was about to jump out.

But Zhu Houcong just said calmly: "But they are plotting rebellion."

"Your Majesty said so!"

"If you want to seek justice, treason is among the ten unforgivable crimes."

"Besides, Your Majesty has shown mercy to us and only exiled them, not executed them all!"

"But most of their children are talented enough to pass this year's exam and become Jinshi. If their entire family is implicated and exiled, there may not be enough Jinshi to be selected this year!"

"In this way, the talent selection for this subject will be cut off from the continuation of talent."

"Your Majesty should also know that Nanzhi has always been a place with rich cultural heritage. If there are not many Nanzhi candidates participating in the examination, it will affect the imperial court's talent selection ceremony!"

Liu Jian replied slowly.

Zhu Houcong said: "I have considered this before!"

"There has always been a certain allocation ratio for selecting candidates for the imperial examinations."

"Since there will be fewer candidates from Southern Zhili in this year's exam, we can give half of the quota to other provinces!"

"because……

"As far as I know, there are also many talented people in Zhejiang, Henan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Shandong and other places!"

"For example, you are from Henan, Mr. Mao is from Shandong, Mr. Fei is from Jiangxi, and he is the top scholar! My own soldiers are from Zhejiang, and the Grand Secretary is from Fujian."

"It can be seen that the place with developed culture and education is not just Nanzhi!"

"So I think, since there are few talented people that can be recruited from Nanzhi this time, we can give more of the quotas originally belonging to Nanzhi to other provinces, which will not affect the talent selection ceremony!"

When Zhu Houcong said this, the eyes of all the cabinet ministers lit up.

"But if that's the case, the north-south division needs to be changed to a specific province for the selection of candidates."

"However, it is easy to change this. Let the Ministry of Rites discuss it quickly and give each province a fixed quota of candidates based on past experience."

"For provinces where it is difficult to recruit scholars, in order to encourage their culture and education, and also to recruit scholars who understand local customs, we can take appropriate care of them and add one or two quotas."

"Then reserve some public places to avoid places with rich cultural heritage being unable to admit many talented people due to limited places."

"This time, however, is a special case. Half of the quota for Nanzhi can be temporarily allocated to other provinces."

Zhu Houcong continued speaking, and then said to Liu Jian with a smile:

"You are a virtuous elder, a prime minister of two dynasties, and have made great contributions to the country. I do not respect you very much, so I extend my favor to your hometown. Therefore, I have specially decreed that ten more tribute candidates be given to Henan in this imperial examination!"

Before Liu Jian could react, Liu Chengxue couldn't help but raise his head, but suddenly realized that it was rude, so he lowered his head again, but he could not hide the excitement on the corner of his mouth.

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

"There is no better solution than this!"

At this time, the Minister of Works Zhao Huang arrived immediately like lightning, knelt down on the carpet and began to speak sincerely.

Fei Hong couldn't help but stick out half of his tongue when he saw this. He remembered that Zhao Huang had threatened to die advising the emperor to forgive the rebellious nobles in Nanzhi.

But when Fei Hong thought about it carefully, he felt that Zhao Huang was right. He even admired the emperor's countermeasures and Zhao Huang's agility.

Because, at this time, shouldn't the cabinet ministers and nine officials, for the sake of the interests of their own fellow villagers, quickly agree with His Majesty and put pressure on Liu Jian before Liu Jian can stop him?

Why bother about the interests of the Nanzhi gentry?
When the gentry in Nanzhi came to power, they would not take care of their own fellow villagers. In the end, it was their own fellow villagers who would promote and take care of their families!
then.

Fei Hong also knelt down immediately and said: "Your Majesty, this is truly a good plan. I am convinced, very convinced!"

(End of this chapter)