Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 196: The civil officials were frightened and apologized proactively. Jiajing was like a tiger!

"The sun really rises from the west."

"The censors of the Ming Dynasty actually know how to bow to us, the imperial concubines!"

"I almost forgot, you are of the seventh rank, and we are of the super rank. You should respect us, not us respecting you."

At this time, Cui Yuan, the son-in-law of the emperor and Marquis of Jingshan, deliberately acted sarcastic to Shen Xueli on his horse.

Cui Yuan has always been dissatisfied with civil officials.

After all, when Jiajing wanted to confer the title of Marquis of Jingshan on Cui Yuan for his contribution to the enthronement of the emperor, a civil servant from the Ministry of Rites tried to stop him on the grounds that there was no precedent in this dynasty for conferring the title of marquis on a son-in-law.

Finally, it was Zhu Houcong himself who brought up the example of Emperor Taizong of the Yongle Dynasty who conferred the title of Marquis of Yongchun on his son-in-law Wang Ning when he succeeded to the throne, and questioned the Ministry of Rites why they said there was no precedent in this dynasty for conferring the title of Marquis on a son-in-law, and the Ministry of Rites shut up.

However, Jieshi Zhong Diyun and Yushi Gao Yue and others still expressed their opposition in a series of memorials.

Although Zhu Houcong did not accept the advice of these censors in the end, and although the civil servants at that time were not really targeting the son-in-law but testing the young Zhu Houcong, Cui Yuan still hated these civil servants who blocked his progress even more.

Of course, he would not say that he hated the civil officials because they did not want him to be granted a title of nobility. Instead, he simply said that the civil officials were all arrogant and wanted to deceive the emperor. From the then Minister of Rites Mao Cheng to the censors under him, all of them had no respect for the emperor or his father.

Cui Yuan's reason was very sufficient. That is, with the profound knowledge of people like the Minister of Rites Mao Cheng, they had read the Veritable Records of Taizu and Taizong countless times, and it was impossible for them not to know that there was a precedent of enfeoffing a son-in-law as a marquis. However, he still said that there was no precedent. It was obviously bullying the emperor because he was a foreign vassal who came to the capital and was young and definitely did not know many historical stories of the imperial court. Therefore, he deliberately opposed it just to test whether the emperor was easy to fool.

Therefore, in Cui Yuan's opinion, these so-called upright civil servants are either deceiving the emperor or are they really stupid, not even familiar with the historical stories of the dynasty?
Now, the emperor gave Cui Yuan the power to review the land survey, so naturally he had no need to fear the civil officials, and he began to ridicule them.

After all, the power to review land surveys can determine the life and death of the world's wealthy and powerful!

Otherwise, many civil servants throughout the world would not have turned a blind eye to the shortcomings of the system of reviewing the yellow book submitted after the land survey for hundreds of years, and allowed such important review and examination work to be carried out by low-ranking students of the Imperial Academy.

After Cui Yuan said this, Shen Xueli just smiled slightly, got off his horse, and returned the greeting to Yang En and Su Han, who looked grim:

"I still remember what the two censors said in the lobby of the Censorate that day!"

"Although according to the ancestral system, the land is surveyed and the Yellow Book is re-made only once every ten years, so the land survey and the Yellow Book must be reviewed and re-made only once every ten years, but if this once-in-ten-year matter is reviewed by us, the royal relatives who share the same fate with the country, I believe that it will still make the officials and the wealthy face a disaster every year, right?"

"It was us who were disrespectful in the past. Please do not hold it against us!"

"We refused to speak up for Her Royal Highness the Princess and Her Royal Highness the Prince Consort, and we indeed neglected our duties. We are willing to file a petition to accuse ourselves of our own wrongdoings, and to vindicate the Duke of Ping. We only ask that when you come to my village, you can review the land survey impartially and forgive our past disrespectful and immoral behavior!"

At this time, Yang En took the initiative to bow to Shen Xueli and apologize.

Su Han also said: "That's right, we were too rebellious in the past, but in fact, we respect you in our hearts. It's just that we have to go along with the world because of the trend. Now I want to promise you that we will turn over a new leaf. Please give us a chance to make friends with you two again. We are willing to act as your disciples and send you respects during festivals!"

Su Han knelt down as he spoke.

"stand up!"

Cui Yuan said something.

Su Han also stood up.

Cui Yuan then said, "We will conduct an impartial review. You, the younger generation, do not need to show respect. You are officials of the Censorate and disciples of the emperor. We are royal relatives. We do not have a relationship of younger generation or disciple. If we have done something illegal, you should impeach us. However, your family has colluded with officials to undermine the court's policy of national justice. Naturally, we cannot deceive the court for you!"

"Let's go!"

"Don't say too much to them, lest they be suspected of collusion."

Cui Yuan said this and took Shen Xueli away.

Shen Xueli nodded and got on the horse.

Yang En and Su Han both looked distraught upon seeing this.

"Tell your family as soon as possible and don't do anything shady during the land reclamation!"

"That's right. The future of the family is important. It is impossible to rely on the government to make money. There is no need to ruin the family's future just to pay less taxes!"

……

……

Like Yang En and Su Han, officials in the court began to send people back by fast boats and horses to inform their families.

Because the review of the land survey was not done by civil officials, or even military officials, but by royal relatives who were related to the royal family, many officials were panicked.

As for the court officials in the outer court, what they were more worried about was not only that cheating in the land survey was no longer possible, but also that the emperor's inner court was no longer suitable for placing spies.

They already knew that Jiang Mian was imprisoned because the emperor knew about his planting of spies in the inner court. They also guessed that the emperor must have noticed this because he also had spies in the palace. They began to worry that the emperor's spies had targeted their own spies and that the emperor would find out about their family. They had to start implementing various strategies to silence them, resulting in the sudden deaths of many new palace maids and eunuchs in the inner court.

This evening.

Supervisor of Ceremonies.

Gu Dayong, Huang Jin and other eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department were eating noodles.

Qin Wen from the East Factory came in, and while waiting for the eunuchs to give him water to wash his hands, he said, "Damn it, two more people died suddenly!"

"Who knows which noble official has planted this informant in the inner court?"

Gu Dayong stopped picking noodles with the chopsticks in his hand, and seemed to see through all the reasons behind it, so he smiled and said something.

Huang Jin put down his bowl of noodles and said, "This is good. We don't have to check it ourselves. They cleaned it up themselves!"

"Having said that, the treasury is now more abundant than during the time of the previous emperor. Since they are sending spies to our inner court, we should also send spies to their homes."

Gu Dayong said.

"It's not that easy to do. The people they use as their personal servants have always been family slaves for several generations. It's difficult for outsiders to gain their trust."

Qin Wen brought over a bowl and chopsticks, and spoke as he picked up noodles into the bowl.

"Yes, it is more appropriate for the emperor to make a secret report and let their relatives expose their relatives."

Huang Jin put on his hat and said with a smile, then turned around and said, "My lords, please remember to ask them to cook more noodles for me. I will come back to eat after I finish my shift with the emperor."

"Old Huang, you're already so fat, eat less!"

Gu Dayong said with a smile. Huang Jin just smiled slightly, then walked out and headed towards Qingning Palace.

at this time.

Inside the imperial study in Qingning Palace.

Zhu Houcong was holding a gilded wooden hammer and looking at the memorial handed over by Mao Ji.

As he watched, he asked Mao Ji, who seemed to be about to fall asleep: "Princess Yongfu's request for a reward of silver, what is your cabinet going to do about it?"

"Everything depends on the Holy Judgement!"

Mao Ji replied.

Zhu Houcong paused for a moment, then laughed and said, "Are you trying to be angry with me?"

Mao Ji couldn't help but shudder when he heard this. He felt a chill on his back and knelt down quickly, saying, "I dare not!"

"Although the cabinet ministers are not prime ministers and do not have the power to seal or reject proposals, they still have the power to make plans. This is also designated by Emperor Taizong Wen!"

"So, I won't do anything to you just because you said you wouldn't give it to me, nor will I think you have any connection with the Prince Consort just because you said you would give it to me. I still trust you and the cabinet!"

"Do you understand, Prime Minister?"

Zhu Houcong started talking here, and as he spoke he glanced at Mao Ji and showed a very friendly smile.

Mao Ji said tremblingly: "I understand!"

He was really afraid of the Emperor Jiajing in front of him.

After all, the Emperor Jiajing in front of them had actually thought of all the methods they could think of long ago, and had also placed spies in his own court, letting his concubines and palace maids serve as his eyes.

This made Mao Ji have to admit that the Jiajing Emperor was so scheming and experienced that it was creepy! Even now, he could see through his thoughts at a glance.

Because he was indeed feeling angry.

He thought to himself: "Since the emperor wants to rule alone and is unwilling to rule the world with the literati, and has shown that he cannot let them place spies in the inner court and control them, it would be better for me to just be a "clay sculpture elder" or a "three-edict minister". Whatever you say is the truth, and then I can wait for the opportunity to be impeached and retire to my hometown. I dare not resign on my own initiative, and can only wait for the opportunity to be impeached to resign."

But now that the Jiajing Emperor had seen through his thoughts, Mao Ji could only answer according to Zhu Houcong's wishes: "Your Majesty, I think it is not appropriate to give it, and it is not appropriate not to give it either."

"Then what do you think we should do?"

Zhu Houcong asked.

Mao Ji said: "Why not ask Your Majesty to change the silver grant to interest grant, just like Your Majesty allocated the inner treasury to the outer court for national economy and people's livelihood, and in order to prevent the outer court from only focusing on the inner treasury and not actively rectifying the finances, you no longer directly allocate the inner treasury, but instead lend it. Your Majesty can let Xingming Bank lend low-interest loans to Her Royal Highness the Princess, so that she can help the people to make profits."

"What Yuanfu said is absolutely right."

"Prelude!"

Zhu Houcong replied with a smile.

He just wanted to confirm this matter through Mao Ji's mouth.

Mao Jize couldn't help but close his eyes and sigh.

Because this result was not what the civil officials in the outer court wanted.

After all, their original intention was to let Princess Yongfu take the lead in asking the emperor for money, rather than helping His Majesty the Emperor to force the gentry to reduce interest rates!

But Mao Ji himself did not dare to disobey the emperor's will and could only answer according to the emperor's will. He was afraid that the emperor would also know about some of his rebellious deeds.

Saying.

Since the Chenghua period, the problems of many court officials were no longer as simple as corruption, but many of them were charged with the crime of "treason".

For example, during the Hongzhi and Zhengde periods, it was common practice to collude with eunuchs to spy on inner court secrets and suppress memorials that were unfavorable to oneself from being seen by the emperor.

Therefore, this meant that almost all of the ministers were suspected of committing the crime of "treason".

If the emperor really wanted to investigate strictly, he could have beheaded all these officials. There might be some who were innocent. But if he lined them up in a row and beheaded every other one, it would be very likely that few of them would be innocent.

Of course, this cannot be entirely blamed on the bureaucrats for not knowing the rules. It is mainly because after the decline of imperial power, the emperor himself did not take this seriously.

Zhu Houcong had no intention of pursuing historical issues, nor did he intend to get to the bottom of them.

If the water is clear, there will be no fish.

As long as it does not exceed the rules he set, he can raise the board high and then put it down gently.

then.

Zhu Houcong asked Mao Ji again: "I heard that the grandson of Lord Liu also passed the imperial examination?"

Mao Ji said: "Yes, Your Majesty, it seems to be the second class."

Zhu Houcong said nothing after hearing this.

Mao Ji then took the initiative to ask: "Your Majesty, should the crime of dismissed officer Jiang Mian be brought to the three judicial departments for trial?"

"What do you say?"

Zhu Houcong suddenly turned around and asked Mao Ji.

Mao Ji prostrated himself on the ground again, kowtowed and said in a trembling voice: "I think we can just issue an imperial decree directly instead of submitting it to the three judicial departments."

"I rule alone, but not arbitrarily!"

"This case involves nobles, so we will try and punish them as we should."

"The Imperial Guard is the Imperial Guard, and the Three Law Enforcement Departments are the Three Law Enforcement Departments. They each have their own duties and should not be confused! You should know the meaning of these four words 'clear and just punishment' better than I do!"

Zhu Houcong said, and then he looked at Mao Ji: "Yuan Fu, what are you afraid of?"

(End of this chapter)