Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 75 Moving is not easy (I)
As a time traveler, Zhu Youdong was well-known for being easy to serve among the nobles in the Imperial Palace. So when he opened his own residence in Xinghua Palace, the palace maids, eunuchs and even guards in the Imperial Palace all wanted to come here to serve.
This is indeed the case. The atmosphere in Xinghua Palace is the most relaxed and harmonious among all the palaces in the Imperial Palace.
But today, the servants in Xinghua Palace who had a little bit of vision all changed their relaxed and casual expressions. Not to mention those who were doing work, even those who had nothing to do at the moment, walked around deliberately to make their footsteps sound less.
It was simple. The owner of this palace had locked himself in the study for a whole day.
"Eunuch Wang, the young master still hasn't come out?"
"No, we used all the food we brought in last night, but this morning's..."
"Hey, what's wrong with me? Uh, should we send someone to Ciqing Palace?"
"Hehe..." Wang Chengen glanced at the fool who made this suggestion and said nothing more.
"Oh! Look at my knowledge." The young eunuch who said this immediately reacted: This Thousand Years Old Master is far inferior to my own little master! What's the point of asking the Thousand Years Old Master for something that my little master can't solve!
At this time, Zhu Youdong was sitting alone on a stool in the study, leaning forward, with his elbows on his knees, his hands together, and his forehead resting heavily on his hands.
After he came back from Wanli, he had been thinking for a whole day.
In fact, Zhu Youdong did not spend much time thinking about whether to go to Nanjing .
There are many benefits to going to Nanjing, which is beyond doubt. The only thing he needs to worry about is that everything he has now depends heavily on Wanli's trust and support. What if he goes to a place as far away as Nanjing and loses this trust?
Don't think that the civil officials almost collectively adhered to the etiquette in the previous years' national foundation dispute, and they will always adhere to the etiquette - it's just because it's good for everyone. Zhu Youdong has already shown his strong ability and potential as a hero, and it's obviously difficult to control. If the civil officials have the opportunity, they will not insist on etiquette: So what if you are the eldest son of the prince? The prince already has another son! If you go to Nanjing and then make a series of actions in Nanjing that are detrimental to the bureaucratic elite. It is really possible that everyone will find a way to get rid of you, the grandson of the emperor!
However, if he did not go to Nanjing, he would always be constrained in Beijing. Besides, the economic center of the Ming Dynasty had already moved south. If he did not grab the money bag in advance, but waited for Wanli and Zhu Changluo to die one after another, it would be too late!
So, whether to go to Nanjing or not is not a problem.
How to go, that is the question.
With a creaking sound, the tightly closed study door opened from the inside: "Wang Chengen!"
"Master, please give me your orders!"
"Please ask Mr. Shen to come over here!"
"yes!"
"Wait a moment."
"What other plans do you have?"
"Except for Mr. Shen, all the other gentlemen in Beijing must be called. However, please note that each gentleman should arrive at Xinghua Palace at a different time."
"Yes, I will arrange it right away."
…
"I wonder what urgent matter the Crown Prince has for summoning this old minister?"
"Well, teacher, there is such a thing..."
"Hiss~~" Even though he had been in the political arena for many years, Shen Li couldn't help but take a breath when he heard the news. However, he was experienced and reacted quickly: his disciple was not an ordinary child. His firm will and decisive actions had amazed him many times. Now he was just numb.
"Your Highness, it is the ancestral system for the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty to rule Yingtian. Although it has been interrupted for hundreds of years due to various reasons, it is not a big deal to restore it now. Your Highness has summoned the old ministers now. I'm afraid you have made up your mind, right?"
"Haha, the one who knows me best is none other than my teacher. The student has made up his mind, let's go!"
"I am glad to see this happen. I just don't know if Your Highness will recruit me now that the decision has been made..."
Hehe, let’s not talk about the teacher-student relationship. Let’s not talk about your moral role model, Shen Daxian… Just because you, Shen Li, are from Henan, you should support me to go to Nanjing.
In the nine provinces of China, the economy of the south has surpassed that of the north since the Song Dynasty. And this gap has continued to widen with the development of the times. In the Ming Dynasty, economically, the south can leave the north, but the north cannot leave the south... The huge economic gap has led to a huge gap in the educational level between the north and the south. So much so that the Ming Dynasty had to implement the system of north-south lists in the imperial examinations...
Now the Ming Dynasty has a problem that is becoming more and more prominent: as the Little Ice Age begins to slowly take effect, natural disasters in the north are increasing, and the country is increasingly dependent on the south economically. However, the gentry in the south are slowly banding together... The wise men of the Ming Dynasty have long seen the problem. Those scholars who are concerned about the country and the people have actually long wanted the royal family to rectify the south.
"The student asked the teacher to come here at this time because there are three things that need to be done for the teacher."
"Your Highness, please give your instructions."
"First, after the students go south, the industry of Honghe Manor will not be completely transferred, so it needs someone to look after it. Second, the teacher needs to arrange for the imperial censors to write a report on the students' departure to Nanjing, and arrange for various imperial censors to cheer for them in the event of possible opposition. Third, the students are still too few in their group when they go south, so the teacher needs to help."
"...I will definitely take care of the latter two matters for the Crown Prince. But as for the former matter...Your Highness, I may have to retire soon."
"How could it be? How could it be so?"
"Uh... it's not the Beijing inspection last year."
In the 33rd year of Wanli (1605), the person who presided over the inspection was Yang Shiqiao, the Minister of Personnel of the Donglin Party. The Donglin Party was very radical in their actions. Therefore, the Zhejiang Party suffered heavy losses in a short period of time.
During this process, as the leader of the Zhejiang Party, Prime Minister Shen Yikuan had been forbearing. He did not start to fight back until the end of the imperial inspection. Because Yang Shiqiao was too harsh in this imperial inspection, officials who were not Donglin Party either had low evaluation grades that affected their future careers, or were demoted and dismissed, so Wanli could not stand it. Then the emperor and the prime minister joined forces to almost completely overturn the results of this imperial inspection. Yang Shiqiao's prestige in the court suffered a great blow.
Originally, the matter would have ended here, which could be regarded as Shen's usual brilliant political operation. However, Shen's old habit of greed for money came back. In the process of overturning the 33rd year of the imperial examination, Shen took too much black money, so that he was caught by someone.
Therefore , Prime Minister Shen has been impeached continuously since everyone officially went to work after the Lantern Festival of that year. Although Emperor Wanli has always thought that Prime Minister Shen Yikuan, who has clear hobbies, a flexible body, and strong ability to handle government affairs, is very good, he has always wanted to protect him. But he could not withstand the continuous impeachment of the censors - according to the Ming Dynasty custom, the impeached officials must be suspended from their posts and reflect at home. What's the point of protecting this Prime Minister if he can't go to work for a long time? Besides, as the Prime Minister of a country, it is of course unacceptable for all officials to like you. But it is also unacceptable for most officials to dislike you. Therefore, gradually, Wanli's attitude also changed.
Then, the knowledgeable and tactful Prime Minister Shen keenly noticed the change in the emperor's mood and quickly and proactively submitted his resignation. After the emperor symbolically tried to retain him twice, Shen Yiquan submitted his resignation for the third time: it was too late to turn back at this point.
However, as a political enemy for many years, Shen Yikuan made a request when he resigned: I can't resign alone, Shen Li must be buried with me!
For Wanli, among the three cabinet elders, he relied on Shen Yikuan the most. As for the remaining two, Zhu Geng was a peacemaker and Shen Li was a strong commander. Therefore, if Shen Yikuan left, Shen Li must also leave: otherwise it would be even more difficult to be the emperor. So, he hinted to Shen Li: Shen Jingjing left, so why don’t you, Shen Zhengqi, leave too?
With the emperor hinting at this, how could a Taoist scholar like Shen Li be willing to stay in the cabinet? At this point, the simultaneous retirement of the two Shens was an irreversible outcome.
As the grandson of the emperor, Zhu Youdong knew very well that he must not interfere in the personnel changes of the cabinet elders. He should not even think about advising Emperor Wanli to keep Shen Li. However, Shen Li's departure made his Honghe Manor lose the most reliable protection in terms of civil officials. This required some thought.
