Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 37 Undercurrents and False Prosperity
The Donglin Party and the Qi-Chu-Zhe Party's actions frightened away many of Wei Zhongxian's adopted sons and grandsons.

When Han Kuang and Feng Quan took action, they scared away all those incompetent Grand Secretaries.

This created countless vacancies in the outer court, and the Donglin Party and the Qi-Chu-Zhe Party began to secretly compete and engage in open and covert struggles again.

For example, Zhou Yanru recommended more than a dozen Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet!

Yang Jingchen, Zhou Daodeng, Qian Longxi, Li Biao, Liu Hongxun, Cheng Jiming, He Ruchong, Qian Xiangkun, Wen Tiren, Sun Chengzong, Qian Qianyi, Wang Yongguang, and a whole bunch of monsters and demons suddenly appeared.

The reason this fellow didn't recommend himself is probably because he thinks the position of Minister of Personnel is more prestigious than that of a Grand Secretary of the Cabinet.

When Zhu Jue saw the memorials, he was too lazy to check what kind of animals they were. Anyway, he would have to deal with them in the end, so it didn't matter who took charge.

He followed his usual practice and directly instructed Liu Ruoyu to "organize a court discussion within the cabinet," letting the Donglin Party and the Qi-Chu-Zhe Party come to a conclusion before making any further decisions.

At this point, only Han Kuang and Feng Quan remained in the cabinet.

These two fellows, instead of drafting memorials or organizing court discussions, huddled in a corner of the cabinet office, whispering amongst themselves.

They're still not satisfied.

This is because they haven't killed Wei Zhongxian yet. There are still many powerful government offices in the court controlled by Wei Zhongxian, and they don't have enough military force, especially in the capital.

If they wanted to usurp imperial power and completely control the court, they needed to control sufficient military force.

Especially the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Zhu Jue thought the Imperial Guards of the capital were the most useless because they were incompetent in fighting, but they were a rare and powerful tool for seizing power and profit.

This is all because the Embroidered Uniform Guard has an imperial prison, which is specifically used to deal with court officials. It is independent of the three judicial departments and is not even bound by the "Great Ming Code," so it can execute people without cause!

The tortures in the imperial prison were a nightmare for all officials.

Such an unconventional institution is virtually invincible when used for power struggles. If the emperor were to loosen his grip even slightly, the person in charge of the prison could do whatever he wanted, and the power struggle would be as easy as cheating.

When the late Emperor Tianqi was alive, he ignored the imperial prison, which led to Wei Zhongxian imprisoning and killing dozens of Donglin members on the pretext of suspecting them of accepting bribes from Xiong Tingbi. Donglin was powerless to fight back.

There was nothing he could do. Wei Zhongxian controlled the Imperial Prison, an institution that was practically cheating. He didn't need any charges or evidence; he could kill whoever he wanted.

This illustrates the importance of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Originally, the Donglin Party and the Qi-Chu-Zhe Party could influence and even control the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

For example, in the famous "Seditious Book Case" during the Wanli era, Wang Zhiji, the then commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, used the case to eliminate dissidents and completely control the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Wang Zhiji was the grandson of Wang Chonggu!

The young emperor seems to be showing signs of dealing with Wei Zhongxian, yet he still allows Wei Zhongxian to control the Embroidered Uniform Guard, which is a real headache for them.

They also knew that without the young emperor's approval, they couldn't deal with Wei Zhongxian. If they couldn't even deal with Wei Zhongxian, then they couldn't possibly control the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Unless they kill this young emperor and replace him with a compliant vassal king!

The problem is that they can't even see the young emperor's people now, and their men can't get close to him, so how can they kill him?

After a brief discussion, Han Kuang could only sigh and say, "Now the only thing we can do is find a way to get the young emperor to agree to get rid of Wei Zhongxian."

Once Wei Zhongxian leaves, they will have a way to control the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Then they can use the Embroidered Uniform Guard to infiltrate the Eastern Depot and even the Imperial Guard, and the young emperor will be deposed. If he doesn't obey, he will die!

Feng Quan pondered for a while, then said in a sinister tone, "Wei Zhongxian seems to be single-mindedly focused on making money and grain to please the young emperor. The carriages of the Embroidered Uniform Guard transporting money and grain have never stopped, sending money and grain to the inner treasury every day."

The young emperor probably thought that only Wei Zhongxian could provide him with money and provisions, so naturally he was somewhat reluctant to eliminate Wei Zhongxian.

Money and provisions?
The meager sums of money and grain that Wei Zhongxian managed to obtain were utterly worthless!

Making money and acquiring grain was actually very simple for them; they just didn't want to make money and grain for the imperial court, they only wanted to make money and grain for themselves.

Han Kuang said rather casually, "Then we'll also get some for the young emperor, so he won't think that only Wei Zhongxian can get money and grain."

You three powerful clans in Puzhou, and even your in-laws, are all incredibly wealthy, but you are notoriously stingy with the imperial court, not giving a penny and not even paying a single coin in commercial taxes. Now you're willing to provide money and grain for the young emperor?
Feng Quan feigned ignorance and asked, "Lord Yu, where does this money and grain come from?"

You're really cunning, kid. If you don't want to pay, then don't want to pay. Why are you talking nonsense? Han Kuang pondered, "The salt tax is owed by various companies. If we send a few salt inspectors to urge them, it shouldn't be a problem to collect one or two million taels."

Also, go talk to those guys from Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang. With such huge profits from overseas trade, they should at least pay some taxes, right? They have so many ocean-going cargo ships; they should at least buy some supplies. Asking them to scrape together a million or two taels this time isn't unreasonable, is it?"

Why don't you pay the commercial tax?

The entire business of the Ming Dynasty has been swallowed up by you Shanxi merchants!
Feng Quan nodded slowly and said, "Their people need our approval to enter the cabinet and assist in governance. It's really not unreasonable to ask them to spend some money."

You're a real smart lad.

Upon hearing this, Han Kuang slowly stood up and said, "Alright, go and talk to them. Once we've reached an agreement, we'll hold a court meeting."

Zhu Jue really didn't expect that the Donglin Party and the Qi-Chu-Zhe Party would actually try to bribe him to create a false sense of prosperity so that he could deal with Wei Zhongxian!

Right now, he's thinking about building a boiler.

A boiler is a wonderful thing; it can not only provide steam for a steam engine, but also provide heating.

The combination of greenhouse and boiler room not only allows for the growth of vegetables and grains in winter, but also enables people to live comfortably in the frigid environment.

This is extremely important. The area north of the capital of the Ming Dynasty is now considered a harsh and cold land, making it difficult for the region to develop.

This is all due to the harsh environment and the long freezing period in winter. Without a heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed), people could freeze to death. But even with a heated kang, people would be stuck at home and unable to do anything.

With boilers, greenhouses, and heating, the development of these so-called harsh and cold places would be much easier, and the Ming Dynasty would surely usher in a period of great development.

The problem is that building boilers and steam pipes requires a large amount of steel materials, and also requires building a large sand casting plant.

The land south of Wanshou Palace is simply not enough, and they don't have much steel either.

Around 9:00 AM, the officials of the inner court gathered again in the empty factory building of the steam engine plant.

Zhu Jue also arrived, and they were frowning as they stared at the boiler sketch on the table.

Wang Zheng sighed slightly and said, "Your Majesty, this steam engine is good, but it can't work without steam. I have roughly calculated that if we want a 400-liter steamship to travel a thousand miles a day, we need to build a boiler that is at least half a zhang in diameter. Otherwise, there won't be enough water, and we will have to add water while it is running, which is very troublesome."

If this boiler were cast directly using traditional casting methods, the walls would need to be at least half an inch thick. Based on that, just one of these small boilers would probably consume over a thousand kilograms of wrought iron.

Nowadays, they don't even have much pig iron, let alone wrought iron.

This is not a joke, it is a historical fact. After the mining supervisors of the Wanli era destroyed the mining industry of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, which originally produced more pig iron than all the countries in the world combined, did not have enough iron to make weapons. The Chongzhen era even imported Japanese swords from Japan!

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue slowly nodded, then asked, "Yuan Jiu, how is the situation at the Zunhua Ironworks?"

It won't be so easy for the Zunhua Ironworks to resume production.

Song Yingsheng said cautiously, "Your Majesty, the miners who used to work in Zunhua and Yongping Prefecture have mostly left because they have no source of income. Now, most of the people there are farmers and military households, so it's not easy to recruit people to work in the mines."

Furthermore, the fifty iron-casting furnaces at the Zunhua Ironworks have long been abandoned, and the sand-casting workshops have either collapsed or crumbled; all of these need to be rebuilt.

Wanli Emperor, your short-sighted approach is tantamount to harming future generations!
Zhu Jue then ordered Liu Ruoyu to bring out a map, and stared at it, pondering, "Zunhua is a strategic location, and the ironworks are not located within the city. If the Jurchens attack, Jian Dou will have to divide his troops to defend it, which will be very troublesome."

The coal and iron mines over there also need to be mined according to the defense lines set up by Jiandou. At present, we can only mine coal and iron mines within the defense lines. We cannot mine coal and iron mines outside the defense lines for the time being.

Jian Dou's men are all cavalry. He should be returning to the capital in the next couple of days. Then I will discuss with him where to build the ironworks and which mines to open.

Liangfu, don't worry. This steam engine can also be used to make machine tools. Only with machine tools can we mass-produce steam engines. You can discuss with Changgeng which machine tools to make first.

Zixian, it's still hot now, so there's no need to rush to build the greenhouse. You should focus on cultivating high-quality sweet potato and potato varieties. Anyway, I will definitely build the greenhouse for you before it gets cold.

"Lord Meng, there's no need to rush. Just get the prototypes of the new muskets and armored chariots made, and then the steel will be available, and the casting workshop will be ready."

Upon hearing this, everyone responded with a resounding roar of agreement.

(End of this chapter)