Huangming

Chapter 62 Division and Disintegration: What is the Use of a Minister? (Please continue reading!)

After Zhu Youxiao's performance reminiscent of Liu Bei, Sun Chengzong immediately opened his heart and sincerely treated the Ming emperor.

Screw partisan strife!

All your insincerity, forbearance, and worries, get out of here!
If his father and ruler make such a request, how could he not risk his life to protect them?
If that's really the case, then Sun Chengzong's decades of studying the classics have all gone to waste.

"Good good."

Zhu Youxiao's face lit up with joy, and he immediately helped Sun Chengzong up, saying:

"Only today do I truly understand what it means to be a pillar of the nation! My dear minister, you have shown no fear of hardship and no concern for personal gain, and you have demonstrated the Confucian principle of putting the public good before the world to the fullest extent."

Back then, Zhuge Liang was entrusted with Liu Bei's care for his son, and the late emperor had to visit him three times at his thatched cottage to invite him to serve. Now, with the war still raging in Liaodong, you, my dear minister, have managed to uphold your integrity amidst the turbid currents of factional strife. You are truly a pillar of our great Ming Dynasty!

After speaking, he took off the dragon-patterned jade pendant from his waist and solemnly placed it in his palm: "From this day forward, you are my trusted minister. You may directly report to the Emperor on all matters concerning the military affairs of the nine border regions and the selection of officials by the Ministry of Personnel. I entrust the revival of the Ming Dynasty entirely to you!"

Since ancient times, true love cannot be retained, only routines can move people's hearts.

After Zhu Youxiao delivered a series of punches, Sun Chengzong solemnly accepted the imperial gift of the coiled dragon jade pendant, then knelt on the ground, his tiger-like eyes now filled with tears, his burly body sobbing like a child, creating a striking contrast.

"Your subject, Sun Chengzong, would not dare to fail to die for you!"

"Please rise quickly, Lord Sun."

Zhu Youxiao needed to employ both capable and virtuous ministers.

So-called treacherous and sycophantic officials, when they have value to be used, Zhu Youxiao will also use them.

After all, people are complex; you can be a loyal minister, a capable minister, or a corrupt official.

People at different times have different thoughts and behaviors.

Just as no two leaves are the same, everything in the world is constantly evolving.

Take Zhang Juzheng, for example. He was a reformer in the early Wanli period. His achievements need no further explanation, but his corruption is also documented.

When he reformed the salt laws, salt merchants from Lianghuai bribed his son Zhang Sixing with 30 taels of silver in exchange for salt permits.

Two years after Zhang Juzheng's death, his home was raided. According to the "Veritable Records of Emperor Shenzong of Ming", 2400 taels of gold, 107,000 taels of silver, and more than 10,400 mu of farmland were confiscated.

The annual salary of a Grand Secretary in the Ming Dynasty was about 1000 shi of rice (equivalent to about 500 taels of silver). The wealth of Zhang Juzheng's family far exceeded the level of his salary, which obviously indicates that the source of his money was unclear.

But if there were someone like Zhang Juzheng now, wouldn't Zhu Youxiao have used him?
Of course we should use it!

Zhu Youxiao's principle for employing people was simple: if they were virtuous, they would be employed; if they were not, they would be dismissed.

When you have value to someone, they can turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to your embezzlement and bribery, as long as it's not too excessive.

But it has no use anymore.
Then I'll tell you about the "Great Ming Code".

This is the way to govern subordinates, and also the art of imperial power.

"Go to the Six Ministries and do not go outside Zuoshun Gate again."

Sun Chengzong nodded, slowly stood up, and was about to take his leave.

But as if he had thought of something, his expression became complicated, and he gritted his teeth, as if he had made a great decision, before saying, "Your Majesty, I have heard rumors that there will be changes in the Imperial Prison."

Has something changed?

Zhu Youxiao frowned slightly.

What has changed?

Having completely sided with the emperor, Sun Chengzong was now ready to go all out.

"A corrupt official wanted to die to remonstrate with the emperor."

Zhu Youxiao's pupils contracted slightly, and his eyes instantly filled with murderous intent.

"The Northern Garrison Command is in charge of imperial prison affairs. Even if someone wanted to die, how could they possibly succeed?"

The imperial prison was monitored in shifts, with three guards assigned to each cell, working in shifts for twelve hours a day to record the prisoners' every move.

If a prisoner commits suicide, the jailer on duty will be punished with caning, demotion, or even death.

In later generations, Yang Lian attempted suicide in the imperial prison by swallowing stones, hitting his shackles, and pricking his throat with needles, but was stopped by the prison guards each time.

In the imperial prison, suicide was not so simple.

Sun Chengzong slowly said, "There are always members of the Donglin Party in the Northern Garrison."

"Fine, fine!" Zhu Youxiao laughed in exasperation.

This wretched Ming Dynasty.

Foreign officials infiltrated the cabinet, the censorate, the six ministries, local governments, and even the imperial guards.

Aren't these people overstepping their bounds?

Zhu Youxiao's tone gradually turned cold.

“To remonstrate with the emperor to the death and to force the emperor to abdicate—am I a foolish and tyrannical ruler?” Upon hearing this, Sun Chengzong knelt down and bowed his head, not daring to speak.

Zhu Youxiao turned to Wei Chao and said, "Go to the Northern Garrison Command and replace the Embroidered Uniform Guards and prison guards who have been on duty for the past three days. Replace Wei Zhongxian with competent and trustworthy subordinates."

The Wei dynasty was also aware of the seriousness of the matter.

"This servant will go immediately!"

If an official were to die in prison to prove his innocence, and then write a final poem or a blood-written remonstrance, it would surely stir up a storm in the court, amplified by the public opinion of the Donglin Party.

At that time, some uninformed people will inevitably be incited.

The kneeling protests outside Zuoshun Gate will only intensify.

He had finally managed to divide and weaken the faction, employing both soft and hard tactics, and was about to quell the kneeling remonstrance controversy.

I didn't expect them to have a backup plan!
If he hadn't won over Sun Chengzong, he would have been in a very passive position.

These traitors are trying to force me to back down, kill the treacherous eunuch, and dismiss Fang Congzhe.

Otherwise, he would be branded a tyrant.

However, killing the treacherous eunuch is like cutting off an arm, and dismissing Fang Congzhe is like tying one's own hands and feet.

They wanted a puppet emperor, not a wise and capable ruler.

Ah!
He is truly a good minister of the Ming Dynasty, and a good minister of mine!
now.

Beizhenfusi Hutong is located about 1.5 kilometers from the Donghua Gate of the Forbidden City.

Imperial Prison, Southern Detention Center.

Officials awaiting trial are held here. Each cell has walls up to 1 meter thick, no windows, and only a small ventilation hole above the iron door.

The prison was dark, lit only by torches, and filled with smoke.

The mixture of rotting flesh, blood, and feces, along with the addition of sulfur powder (to prevent plague), created an even more pungent odor.

Zhou Chaorui huddled on the moldy straw mat, his fingernails digging deep into his palms.

As the newly imprisoned official was dragged down the corridor by the jailers, the scraping sound of chains against the stone slabs, mixed with his screams, sent chills down his spine.

A roar suddenly erupted from the depths of the Southern Prison: "Your Majesty! Our loyalty is as clear as the sun and moon!"

Before the last note had even faded, it turned into a dull thud as flesh was struck with a stick.

From next door came the hoarse, cold laugh of Qi Shijiao, the Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Rites: "Today, Zuo Shunmen remonstrated with his blood; today, he died in prison. Can you gentlemen consider yourselves to have achieved your desires?"

Even after being imprisoned, Qi Shijiao remained calm and composed.

He still believes he has someone backing him up.

There is the current Grand Secretary Fang Congzhe, and there is His Majesty!

He imprisoned himself only to quell public opinion.

After His Majesty and Grand Secretary Fang dealt with the Donglin Party members, he naturally gained his freedom and was given an important position.

Therefore, even in prison, he had the leisure to watch the Donglin Party members make fools of themselves.

"Qi Shijiao, you're truly insane!"

Before the words were even finished, three or four mangled figures were thrown into the opposite cell.

Zhou Chaorui peeked through the ventilation hole and saw a fragment of a scarlet robe belonging to one of the men. It was clearly Fang Kezhuang, the Censor of Yunnan Circuit of the Censorate, who was now lying slumped in urine like a rag doll, his right leg twisted unnaturally.

Gollum~
Zhou Chaorui swallowed hard.

He originally thought that if the courtiers knelt and remonstrated with the emperor at Zuoshun Gate, he would be saved.

However, the situation has completely spiraled out of control.

Does Zhou Chaorui still have a chance to survive?
ps:
Regarding the confiscated land belongings of Zhang Juzheng, the "Veritable Records of Emperor Shenzong of Ming" (Volume 152, entry for the Bingchen day of the eighth month of the twelfth year of the Wanli reign) states:

"An investigation revealed that Zhang Juzheng owned three farms in Jiangling, Jingzhou, and Wuchang, totaling more than 1400 mu."

The claim of 10,000 hectares in later generations is a rumor and has been corrected.

For example, in the exaggerated description in Wanli Yehuo Bian, Shen Defu wrote in Volume 9: "The fields and houses in Jiangling spanned across prefectures and counties, to the point that they were countless. People called him a vassal king in Chu." This literary description was misunderstood by later generations as "ten thousand acres".

When Gu Bingqian and others compiled the "Essential Records of Three Dynasties", they exaggerated Zhang Juzheng's land holdings to "ten thousand hectares" to prove his "arrogance".

The early Qing dynasty book "Mingji Beilue" by Ji Liuqi mistakenly states that "Zhang Taiyue's landholdings spanned eight prefectures, amounting to more than 10,000 hectares," which is a misattribution of cases involving Feng Bao, Yan Song, and others.

The actual distribution of properties is as follows:
Jiangling County: Ancestral property and purchases totaled approximately 5000 mu, mainly used for cotton cultivation (according to "The Deeds of Zhang Wenzhong").

Wuchang Prefecture: 2000 mu of farmland donated by student Pan Jixun was used to support Jiangling Academy.

Jingzhou Guard: 3400 mu of military farmland were converted into civilian farmland, which was legally purchased in the fifth year of the Longqing reign (Wanli Accounting Records, Huguang Volume).

(End of this chapter)