Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 44 Your Majesty, we really are not eyeing your treasury!

Liang Chu, Jiang Mian and Mao Ji were all shocked and deeply touched, as if someone had stabbed them in the heart.

Because the emperor was very sad because of the grievances of his people, and he blamed them for making him unkind and unjust.

then.

The three of them knelt down at the same time, kowtowed sadly and said, "We dare not."

"You already dared!"

Zhu Houcong waved his sleeves, frowned, and looked down at the three cabinet ministers on the ground.

"Otherwise, how could the Qingtian Anmin matter be delayed until now?"

Zhu Houcong then asked the three cabinet ministers again.

The three ministers felt extremely aggrieved for a moment, and thought seriously at the same time: "What is the emperor trying to do?"

"Alas!"

"My fellow countrymen!"

"You are all my children!"

"I will never be able to comfort you, and I will have to kill you. How painful! How painful!"

"I can't help but shed tears when I say this!"

Zhu Houcong then stood up, put his hands behind his back, walked behind the three cabinet ministers, looked at the red walls of the palace in the distance, and began to recite text.

for a while.

After hearing this, the three cabinet ministers were shocked, and then they were even more touched, and their eyes became sore unconsciously.

Even the eunuchs standing by looked compassionate.

Huang Jin, who had come back to report to Zhu Houcong about his studies in the imperial prison, was now pouting and about to cry.

After all, the emperor loves the people so much!

I am so worried about the people.

After Zhu Houcong finished reading, he asked the three ministers:
"Three ministers, do you know whose article this is?"

"Your Majesty, I know that this is from an article written by Wang Yangming. It was written by Wang Yangming when he was the governor of Nangan, in order to suppress the bandit nests in Lechang and Longchuan. "

Liang Chu answered in a choked voice.

“This article is great!”

"The love for the people you have shown is in line with my love for the people."

"How can I sit back and watch my people become resentful and become thieves?"

Zhu Houcong sat back down and looked at Liang Chu and other ministers and said:

"I know that many of you have been eyeing the little money in my treasury."

"But those were left by the late emperor! And there weren't many of them. They were for the purpose of maintaining the foundation and can only be used in times of emergency."

"So, how dare I embezzle the money left by the late emperor?"

"That's fine!"

When Zhu Houcong said this, he waved his sleeves back and gritted his teeth.

"If you really refuse to save the refugees I brought to the capital and do not care about my virtue, I will have no way to deal with you elders."

"Then I can only save myself and earn back my face."

"Who made me the emperor?"

"I am the father of all people!"

"If I abandon my own people, God will hate me! All the people will abandon me!"

When Zhu Houcong said this, Huang Jin burst into tears.

A chubby face full of tear marks.

"Why are you crying!"

Zhu Houcong pretended to be impatient and turned back to yell at Huang Jin, then looked at the three ministers who had almost buried their heads in the ground, and said to Huang Jin for waiting too long:

"I am willing to give it up, so why are you reluctant to give it up?"

"The outside court doesn't care about the lives of my people, but I can't."

"I use these treasury funds to comfort the people, not to squander. I think my brother in heaven will not blame me."

"It's nothing more than that I and the people in the palace will all wear worse clothes and eat less from now on."

"It's nothing more than that I was complained by those servants below me who didn't know the truth, saying that I was stingy, ungracious and mean."

When Zhu Houcong got to this point, he began to name Liang Chu and others:

"But my dear ministers, if the palace maids are resentful and fail to keep the lights on, causing the palace to leak too often, please don't blame me for my immorality."

Liang Chu, Jiang Mian and Mao Ji were already crying profusely and trembling all over.

After all, they could hear the hidden meaning behind Zhu Houcong's words.

then.

Liang Chu hurriedly said, "We should be concerned about the emperor and his father's concerns. How dare we delay the work of saving the people? I dare not hide the truth from your majesty. We have already drafted the details of the land clearing and are just waiting to report it!" "Fan Wencheng once said that those who are in high positions worry about their people, and those who are far away worry about their emperor. No matter how stupid we are, we will not ignore the people's livelihood! We will never dare to use the lives of the people as bargaining chips to force your majesty to spend the treasury left by the late emperor!"

Jiang Mian also explained in a wronged and pitiful manner.

He really felt wronged.

These days, their cabinet has been suppressing the strong opinions from the outer court that want to discuss the ceremony quickly, and has focused all its attention on the matters of clearing the fields.

Never thought about it.

The emperor is so anxious!
They still think that they are not sincere enough, and they keep mocking and ridiculing them here, acting as if they are extremely helpless. In the future, those who are unaware of the truth may read the records and think that they are domineering ministers who do not respect the country and the emperor.

Mao Ji also trembled and said, "Mencius said: Yu thought of the drowning people in the world, and thought of the starving people in the world, and thought of the starving people in the world. Your Majesty is also like this now, you can be said to be a benevolent monarch like Yao and Shun!"

"Your Majesty is a benevolent ruler like Yao and Shun. How dare we, your subjects, be disloyal and unkind, disregard the lives of the people, and even harbor the intention of deceiving your Majesty?"

"So, Your Majesty, please understand!"

"I have never been unwilling to clear the fields and pacify the people, but have always been concerned about your Majesty's treasury!"

"We ministers are well aware that clearing the fields and pacifying the people is the best strategy for national rejuvenation. Squandering the treasury at this time can only temporarily pacify the people, but will not be conducive to the long-term survival of the country. We will also be sorry to Your Majesty and the late emperor. If we ministers really think this way, we will be disloyal and unfilial, and we will be punished by heaven!"

After hearing what the three ministers said, Zhu Houcong said, "It's good that the ministers don't have this intention. Then we should do it quickly. Don't delay it. If you delay it for one more day, one more citizen will be bought as a slave, and one more citizen will be encouraged to become a thief!"

"Your Majesty is right. We have already prepared to present this report. Please allow the Chinese and foreign ministers to confess their crimes first, while we, the envoys, will focus our energy on clearing the fields."

"In addition, we have indeed drafted the detailed rules for clearing the fields. After discussion, we have decided to ask Your Majesty to allow Eunuch Zhang Yong and Right Commander Gui Yong to lead more than 4,000 cavalry to assist in clearing the fields."

"Eunuch Zhang is familiar with military affairs and is good at governing the people. Many of the former dismissed officers are his old acquaintances, so we thought that if we let him help clear the land, we could also recruit some of the dismissed officers who have no land to be allocated land and make farming their career."

"It's the same with Governor Gui. He also participated in the Wuwei training camp in the past. Recruiting the laid-off bandits and returning to farming should be more effective!"

"In addition, many of the farms in the capital involve eunuchs and military officials of the imperial guards. If we let Eunuch Zhang and Governor Gui come forward, it will naturally be cheaper."

Liang Chu then raised the two question books above his head.

Zhu Houcong asked Gu Dayong to take the two petitions and ordered, "Help Yuan Fu to sit up, and also help Jiang Ge Lao and Mao Ge Lao to sit up."

Gu Dayong bowed and agreed.

Zhu Houcong was very satisfied with the answers of the three cabinet ministers.

He didn't expect that the cabinet not only focused its main energy on clearing the land, but also took the opportunity to resettle those laid-off soldiers. This was undoubtedly a cover-up for Yang Tinghe, and also a way to retain a group of soldiers for Zhu Houcong to prevent them from becoming bandits. It was also a proactive consideration for Zhu Houcong.

After all, according to historical records, many of these dismissed people began to gather together and become bandits, causing great harm to the people in the capital, so the court had to increase the number of troops for patrolling.

It is certainly a good thing that the cabinet has thought of this now.

"Very good!"

"All requests are approved. All wasteland that was claimed to be imperial farmland and that was seized by eunuchs will be cleared out to set an example!"

Zhu Houcong's tone became much better.

When the cabinet ministers heard Zhu Houcong say this, they were all surprised and moved, and they hurriedly praised Zhu Houcong for his saintly virtue.

Liang Chu, Jiang Mian and Mao Ji remained silent on their way back to the cabinet.

The main reason was that Zhu Houcong shocked them too much.

They really didn't expect that the emperor would be so anxious to pacify the people and implement the new policy of clearing land, and they even began to suspect that they would not be proactive enough in this matter.

"Your Majesty is really anxious!"

It was not until he was about to reach the cabinet that Liang Chu said this.

Mao Ji nodded and said, "But it also shows that His Majesty really cares about the people. He just seems to be quite suspicious of our love for the people and thinks that we only want his treasury."

"But why do I feel that Your Majesty seems to have great ambitions, and your goal seems to be more than just to keep the people safe?"

"He even knows Wang Yangming's articles, so I think he knows a lot."

Jiang Mian then put forward his own views.

Liang Chu smiled and said, "It is not important for Your Majesty to have great ambitions. What is important is that you are willing to love the people and even cry for them. This is better than many emperors!"

"We can't let your majesty lose interest in being a benevolent monarch who loves his people!"

"If he wants to love the people, then we should follow his example. We should not embarrass His Majesty in the name of loving the people just because he wants to love the people, and then make His Majesty unwilling to love the people and indulge in other absurd things."

When Liang Chu said this, he looked at Jiang Mian and Mao Ji and said with a smile: "Gentlemen, as a minister, there is nothing more worthy of hard work than assisting the wise ruler to achieve the cause of rejuvenation. Let us do our best and don't think about anything else."

Both of them nodded.

But at this time.

Minister of Rites Mao Cheng came to the cabinet again.

When Mao Cheng saw the cabinet ministers, he hurriedly took the memorial and said to the three of them:

"My dear ministers, after discussing this matter at the Ministry of Rites, we all agree that Your Majesty should follow the example of the King Dingtao of the Han Dynasty and the King Pu of the Song Dynasty, and recognize Xiao Miao as the Emperor's Father, and change the title of the Princess to the Emperor's Aunt. Does the Cabinet want to put this to a vote?"

"Xianqing, you're anxious again!"

Liang Chu directly called Mao Cheng by his given name and said this with a sneer.

Mao Cheng couldn't help but close his eyes, took a deep breath, clenched his fists slightly, and tried hard to persuade himself in his heart that the other party had a higher official position and he had to endure it!
Volume 2 of "The Veritable Records of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty" records that in May of the 16th year of the Zhengde reign, an order was issued to add 4,000 cavalry patrol troops to the capital, with the Acting Right Governor Gui Yong as the lieutenant general to lead them. According to the old system, more than 3,600 official troops were set up to patrol the capital, from Haizi in the south to Juyongguan in the north, across Lugou Bridge in the west to Tongzhou in the east. The area was vast and there was no official to lead it, and there was no unified discipline. In addition, the sea households and craftsmen who pretended to be soldiers gathered together to become thieves, and the people suffered from it. Therefore, the Ministry of War requested to add official troops to guard against unexpected events. Huili Ke Jieshi Zhong Chu Yu also suggested it, so this order was issued. Yong issued strict orders and conducted inspections in a proper manner. As a result, thieves were suppressed and the capital was cleared.

From this record, we can see that Yang Tinghe's reform of reducing the military and personnel did lead to an increase in the number of thieves in the capital. As the chief minister of the cabinet, Yang Tinghe was so smart that he would not have considered this consequence when reducing the military academy. Why didn't he avoid it and had to add more government troops to deal with the consequences? But according to the records, it did happen, so I wrote here that the cabinet Liang Chu and others would clean up his mess and prepare to recruit the cut military academies and give them land to prevent them from becoming thieves.



(End of this chapter)