Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 132 A Guest Arrives from Afar
"Your Highness the Crown Prince is here to see you."
"No need to bow, everyone."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
On December 10, 1608, another six-day meeting of the six ministries was held in Nanjing. During the discussion of etiquette between the emperor and his ministers before the meeting, even Zhu Youdong, a time traveler who was not very sensitive to etiquette, felt the fear of him from the bottom of his heart among the ministers attending the meeting.
The ministers could not help but be afraid. It had been less than two years since the Crown Prince came to Nanjing, and he had completely seized control of Jiangnan and even the entire Ming Dynasty, at least the power to guide public opinion among the city residents!
Although the six ministries in Nanjing were to a certain extent nursing homes and exiles, the ministers here were not stupid: one of the main reliances of civil officials in resisting the imperial power was not the power of public opinion? When Donglin started a newspaper, the bigwigs from all sides were happy to see it succeed. Wasn't it just to compete with the crown prince for the power of public opinion? What a pity! It was a complete failure in less than a year. Alas, what a bunch of useless people who can only talk but not do anything!
Now, the power of public opinion is in the hands of the crown prince. From now on, everything he does will be twice as effective with half the effort! Didn't you see that the Jinling Daily recently explained in detail the damage caused by the dumping of Huguang tea in Shaanxi to Shaanxi? When selling tea, the tea farmers in Huguang would ask the purchasing merchants where they would sell the tea? Please don't ask them the same questions as in Shaanxi.
With such a precedent, would it be much easier for the Crown Prince to rectify the Yellow Book in the future? At least, the gentry in various places would not be as handy as before to mobilize local people to cause civil unrest.
Moreover, since the Crown Prince controls public opinion, it would be easy for him to completely discredit someone. What if someone angers the Crown Prince and His Highness makes you and your family infamous forever?
Well, so, you can’t afford to offend the current crown prince.
"Everyone, after today's ten-day meeting, I will prepare to go to the capital to report on my work. Therefore, if you have any unfinished business or undecided matters, please report them immediately. In addition, I will also follow up on the matters that have been handed down in the past two months."
"Yes, Your Highness, the Ministry of Justice has made a report."
"speak."
"Regarding the follow-up of the Wuding Rebellion in Yunnan, the Nanjing Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Dali Temple jointly judged and ruled that Chen Yongbin and Mu Rui should both be executed and imprisoned."
"Approved. Send the relevant documents to the Ministry of Justice in Beijing and wait for the Emperor's approval before executing them."
"I obey your order."
No one dared to plead for Chen Yongbin and Mu Rui: You two have brought disgrace upon the court, and it is a good thing that you were not sentenced to immediate execution. While it is only a suspended death sentence, hurry up and go to Beijing to make arrangements. However, since His Royal Highness the Grand Crown Prince has approved the death penalty, I guess the Emperor will not let you go. Alas, it is just your bad luck. If it was the Grand Crown Prince a year ago, we would have dared to fool you and get you a lighter punishment. But who dares to mess with the Grand Crown Prince now? I can only let my friend die rather than let myself die.
"what else?"
"Your Highness, the Ministry of War has a report."
"speak."
"The miners' riot in Chen County, Huguang, which broke out in July this year, has been completely quelled. A total of 1,000 soldiers from two guards were mobilized . Twenty-seven miners died and twelve soldiers died. After investigation, it was found that some unruly people forcibly collected taxes from the miners in the name of the Imperial Mine Supervisor, which triggered the miners' riot. After the Ministry of War sent a letter to the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Justice meant that the unruly people who led the unruly people should be executed immediately, their property should be confiscated, their sons should be sent to the army, and their wives and daughters should be sent to the Jiaofangsi. The cost of mobilizing soldiers, compensation for the dead, and comforting the miners totaled 13,400 taels of silver, and this money was directly paid by the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue."
"...Alright, I'll add one more."
"Please give me your instructions, Grandson."
"How can ordinary people abuse the title of the Imperial Mine Supervisor? Are there officials behind these bullies? Even if there are no officials backing them up, local officials are also guilty of negligence. Order the Huguang Censorate to conduct a strict investigation of Chenxian officials! This must be done as soon as possible. I want to see the follow-up report after I return from Beijing."
"Yes, I will obey your command."
"Your Highness, the Ministry of Rites has a report."
"speak."
"The Prime Minister has passed away. His coffin has arrived at Jiangpu County and is expected to cross the river tomorrow. The Ministry of Rites wants to know whether to..."
Zhu Geng, who was promoted to the chief minister after Shen Yikuan and Shen Li left their posts, died of illness in early November of that year. Since he was from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, his body had to be transported back to his hometown for burial. Of course, Nanjing was the only way. For this kind of thing, the meaning of the Ministry of Rites was very clear: Your Highness, do you want to go to the scene to express your feelings?
"As it should be. The Ministry of Rites will make arrangements. I will personally go to the city gate to welcome you tomorrow."
"I obey your command."
"Your Highness, the Ministry of Works has a report."
"Tell me about it."
…
"Well, what else? Nothing left, right? Then I'll tell you one thing. Next year, which is the 37th year of Wanli, the priority in Nanjing will be the inventory and reorganization of the soldiers in the garrisons in Nanjing and around Yingtian Prefecture. Marquis Anyuan."
"I am here."
"You are a garrison officer, so you are the one who should take charge of this matter. Let me make it clear to you. There must be many vacancies in the soldiers under the Five Military Commandery in Nanjing, and there must be many cases of regular soldiers in Nanjing who are not paid. I will not hold these things against you. However, you must report the real numbers to me in two months. As long as they are real numbers, no matter how ugly they are, I will not be angry. But!" Zhu Youdong knocked on the table and said, "If you report a false number to me, haha, I will also tell you clearly that the title of Marquis Anyuan will be passed on to you!"
"Your Majesty, I obey your command! Please rest assured, Your Highness. I may not be able to make it accurate to the nearest one, but the error will definitely be within a hundred people."
"Well, I am not such an unreasonable person. As long as the error is within a hundred people, I will never blame you. Well, that 's it for today. I wish you all a happy Spring Festival this year and good health to your families. Meeting adjourned!"
"We thank you very much, Your Highness. We wish you a happy new year in advance. Farewell, Your Highness..."
…
His Majesty the Crown Prince was gaining more and more authority, and the officials under him did not shirk responsibility or argue with each other as was common in Beijing. Therefore, although it was a high-level meeting to decide many affairs of the southern provinces, the pace of the entire meeting was very fast. It started at 2:45 in the morning and ended before noon.
After walking out of the imperial city under the gaze of many officials, Zhu Youdong hurried back to Nanhua Palace. After getting off the sedan chair, he ran quickly to his study.
Wang Chengen, who was following behind, didn't say much: As a close follower of the Crown Prince, he had long known that there were two people waiting to meet him in the Crown Prince's study today. Judging from the Crown Prince's attitude, it can be said that these two are also remarkable people!
"Mr. Yuan, Master Cheng, I'm sorry for keeping you waiting."
"I dare not. Your Highness is busy with official duties. It is we who are disturbing Your Highness."
"Hahahaha, last night when I learned that you two would be here today, I was so excited that I couldn't sleep all night. How could I say I was disturbing you?"
Zhu Youdong couldn't help but be unhappy, because the two people who came to visit him today were both great figures in the late Ming Dynasty.
The so-called Mr. Yuan is Yuan Keli, who is known as the "Later Jin Crusher" in the historical plane.
This remarkable man was born in 1562, his ancestral home was Sui County, Henan Province. He passed the imperial examination in the 17th year of the Wanli reign (1589) and started out as a magistrate in Suzhou Prefecture (roughly equivalent to a senior political and legal official at the prefecture level today). He worked in the political and legal system for many years and judged many famous major cases. In so many cases, no matter how complicated the case was or how powerful the bigwigs involved were, he was always able to make fair judgments and still get away with it. In short, his IQ and EQ were both top-notch.
However, although he had a high emotional intelligence, he was still very principled. In the 24th year of Wanli, he was demoted to a commoner and idle at home because he criticized Wanli for being lazy and the then deputy assistant Shen Yikuan for being a bastard.
But because he was so famous and had outstanding abilities, the court soon asked him to serve as an official again. But this gentleman got angry and said: I don't like the current emperor, I don't want to be his official anymore.
So it was not until the first year of Taichang that he accepted the imperial court's call to serve in public office again. Not long after, Liaodong was defeated again, and Shenyang and Liaoyang were completely occupied. The so-called Donglin gentlemen in the court were helpless, and everyone believed that being an official outside Shanhaiguan would definitely lead to death. He took the initiative to petition the then Emperor Tianqi, proposing to rectify the defense of western Liaoning, with the Shanhaiguan line focusing on defense. At the same time, relying on the Ming Dynasty's far superior water force to the Later Jin, with Denglai as a base, attack the flank of the Later Jin from the sea, and open up a plan for a second battlefield.
In any era, there are many people who make suggestions, but it is rare to find people who dare to act on them. What is even more valuable is that Yuan Keli not only served as the governor of Denglai, but also sent troops across the sea to defeat the Later Jin in southern Liaoning, making them unable to take care of themselves, and successfully recovered a large area of land in southern Liaoning.
As a civil official, he repeatedly appealed for Mao Wenlong, which enabled Mao Wenlong to successfully establish the Dongjiang Town and attack the eastern part of the Later Jin from the Korean side... It can be said that Yuan Keli's efforts enabled the Ming Dynasty to establish battlefields behind enemy lines in the east and south of the Later Jin. While achieving a strategic encirclement of the Later Jin, it also prevented the limited power of the Later Jin from being concentrated in western Liaoning, buying time for Sun Chengzong to build the Jinzhou and Ningyuan defense lines.
He also successfully instigated Nurhaci's son-in-law Liu Xingzuo (Aita) to rebel, an achievement that was considered a great humiliation by the Later Jin.
Unfortunately, his support for Mao Wenlong in Denglai violated the overall interests of the civil servants. Moreover, because the Denglai governor had too much power and too much money, many bureaucrats wanted to get a piece of the pie, but Yuan Keli refused. Therefore, later on, whether it was the Donglin Party or other parties, even his fellow townsmen and peers, they all attacked him collectively, which forced him to retire.
He was not only good at teaching, but also a great teacher. His outstanding disciple Huang Daozhou assisted the Southern Ming Emperor Longwu in resisting the Qing Dynasty and died a heroic death. Another disciple Ni Yuanlu was the last Minister of Revenue in Beijing during the Ming Dynasty and died a death for his country. Another disciple Liu Lishun was the top scholar in the seventh year of Chongzhen and died a death for his country.
The above achievements caused the Later Jin Dynasty and later the Qing Dynasty to have a serious psychological shadow on Yuan Keli. After the Qing Dynasty gained national rule, all traces of Yuan Keli were banned by all means. Yuan Keli was an important official in the late Ming Dynasty, but there was no biography of him in the "History of Ming Dynasty" compiled by the Qing Dynasty. Moreover, during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, articles involving Yuan Keli were banned together with Yue Wumu's articles... Ha! As a Han Chinese, being able to enjoy the same treatment as Yue Wumu is really the highest honor for the Han people!
In short, this is a super awesome guy!
Before Zhu Youdong traveled through time, he was a history enthusiast rather than an expert in Ming history. Of course, he knew about Yuan Keli. But he didn't know Yuan Keli's detailed career experience, nor did he know that Yuan Keli was unemployed at home at this time. Until recently, Shen Li sent a letter saying that the old minister saw that the prince was doing and the situation was getting bigger and bigger. Can I recommend a great talent to help you? This is my fellow Henan native, Yuan Keli...
After reading the letter, Zhu Youdong banged his head against the pillar, which scared Wang Chengen and other attendants.
Then Zhu Youdong wrote a sincere letter, inviting Yuan Keli to Nanjing for a visit, and said that if it was not convenient for him to come, he would visit him in Suiyang in person when he had time.
As a result, Yuan Keli not only came in person, but also brought someone with him.
Cheng Zongyou, the strongest martial artist in the Ming Dynasty after Yu Dayou!
