Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 272: The Dark Side of the Bingchen Examination (I)
After the State Council meeting, everyone gradually dispersed. However, Li Sancai, the Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty at that time, stayed.
"Your Highness, I beg for your life."
It’s finally here, Zhu Youdong let out a long sigh.
As a native of Shaanxi, Li Sancai had no established hometown friends to rely on after he entered the officialdom. It can be said that he got the position of the governor of the grain transport system only through his own years of hard work and countless adventures in the officialdom.
In this position, he was very good at maneuvering, ensuring the smooth transportation of grain and the people on both sides of the canal to have enough food, and satisfying the Huaiyang merchants . Therefore, he worked in this position for more than ten years.
Because he was close to Huaiyang merchants and the Grand Canal, and had some means, he quickly became very rich - the Donglin Party formed an alliance with him because of this.
However, the appearance of Zhu Youdong profoundly changed his fate: in order to protect the Huaiyang merchants, Li Sancai not only had to break away from Donglin, but also turned against the Donglin Party at Zhu Youdong's request and completely turned against it.
Now, because Zhu Youdong's salt policy reforms have greatly damaged the interests of Huaiyang merchants, they are very dissatisfied with their agent, Li Sancai, the chief minister, for failing to carry out the reforms of the crown prince.
So Li Sancai had no choice but to resign.
Zhu Youdong knew that he had to approve this resignation request, otherwise Li Sancai might be in danger of his life.
But this person has surrendered to me! And this person is really skillful in doing things! Therefore, this matter needs a different approach. It is also possible to change some bad precedents of the Ming Dynasty through this matter.
As for a time traveler, if he does not have the ability to make the best use of unexpected events, then his level of being a time traveler has failed.
"The Prime Minister wants to resign. I fully understand and accept it."
"Thank you for your consideration, Your Highness. I am already sixty-four years old this year, and it is time for me to return home and enjoy my remaining years."
"You may not have heard clearly. I agree that you can resign from the position of Prime Minister, but I am not asking you to retire."
"What does your highness mean?"
"Prime Minister, some of the rules in the Ming officialdom are really bad. Look at Li Tang and Zhao Song, they were prime ministers today, prefects tomorrow, and court officials the day after tomorrow. This kind of thing was very common. Only the officials in my Ming officialdom are very strange. Although many officials in my Ming officialdom have become high-ranking officials above the rank of Shangshu, there are precedents of them returning to lower-level positions. But there must be several years of retirement and idleness in between. This is a waste of talent."
"Your Highness?"
"Prince, I have received a lot of help from you over the years, and I am grateful. So, I should think more about the difficulties you will face after resigning. After all, in your early years, you often did things only for the result, and did not care about the means. So, once you completely retire, the attacks will not be overwhelming, but they will definitely not be few."
"What does your highness mean?"
"I plan to follow the example of the Song Dynasty, where the prime ministers of the imperial court can serve as officials in the local areas after they leave their posts."
"...I thank you for your concern. Then may I ask where would be the best place for me to go?"
"There are two places. One is Shaanxi. Although I have restored the tea-horse trade in Shaanxi, Shaanxi has suffered from drought for nine out of ten years in recent years. So last year, I asked the Ministry of Works to spend a lot of effort to build canals in Shaanxi. The Prime Minister is from Shaanxi, where his hometown is. If he goes to Shaanxi to be the governor, he will definitely do his best to benefit the people of Shaanxi.
Second, Liaodong. Three years ago, I destroyed Nurhaci. Due to the circumstances at the time, I did not kill Jianzhou. Although these guys have been very honest over the years, and the soldiers sent to Henghaiwei and Kunming Town every year are also very good. But according to the report sent back by Jinyiwei, I feel that the current Liaodong governor is not doing enough to educate the Jurchens. They have switched from fishing and hunting to farming, why do you still let them speak Jurchen? It is proper to learn eight-part essays well and pass the examinations to become a scholar as soon as possible... In addition, after my Ming Dynasty accepted the orphans of the Toyotomi family, it became a firefight with Japan again, and a war was inevitable. In the future, the land battlefields of the two countries will mostly be in Korea. Therefore, if Yuanfu can condescend to the post of governor of Liaodong, I will be very happy. "
"Your Highness, I am from Shaanxi. Am I going to Shaanxi to be a local official?"
"Humph, this is also why I am not satisfied with the current official system of my Ming Dynasty. The runners in the countryside and the clerks in the government offices are all locals. Only the chief officer is not - in this case, if the chief officer does not collude with these local snakes, he will probably not survive the few years of his term."
"Well, Your Highness, what you said just now makes sense. But it also makes sense that the local chief official cannot be a local. I retired from the position of Prime Minister and went directly to the position of local governor without resting at home for a few years. This has already set a precedent in the Ming officialdom. If I go to Shaanxi, wouldn't it be setting two precedents at the same time? I'd better go to Liaodong. Please rest assured, Your Highness, with me in Liaodong, the education of the Jurchens will certainly be done very well. I am confident that in ten years, Jurchen children will no longer speak Jurchen language or Jurchen writing."
"Hmm~~" He nodded with satisfaction: "Then I'll leave it to Yuan Fu."
"I obey your order. However, since Your Highness has mentioned the tragic situation in Shaanxi, as a native of Shaanxi, I also want to do my part for my hometown. I recommend two people to serve in Shaanxi. Please make your decision, Your Highness."
"Prime Minister, please speak."
"First, Yuan Yingtai, the current Right Counselor of Henan Provincial Government. His ability lies in water conservancy. In my opinion, his ability in water management is the strongest in our Ming Dynasty after Pan Jixun and Cao Shipin. In addition, he is very kind to the people and is honest in his official duties. Therefore, if he goes to Shaanxi to serve as the governor, he will definitely bring peace to Shaanxi.
Second, the current Li Ke Jie Shi Zhong Cao Yubian. This person was my subordinate when I was the governor of the grain transport. As a censor, I won’t say much about his boldness. The key is that this person is extremely capable in doing things, and his character is strict. He is really a strong commander. Your Highness, Yuan Yingtai is a capable official, but he is too lenient. If Cao Yubian is transferred to Shaanxi to be an inspector..."
Yuan Yingtai? How come I don't know him? In the historical plane, he was a famous water conservancy expert who built water conservancy projects in Henan and benefited many people. Unfortunately, he was later sent to Liaodong as the chief officer and defeated the elite Liaodong army that Xiong Tingbi had managed to reorganize and restore. From then on, the Liaozhen was completely broken and never dared to fight in the field against the Later Jin army again.
However, it is completely possible to go to Shaanxi to work as a civil affairs official.
"The Prime Minister is really a man of great insight. Okay, I agree to the appointment of these two people. I will personally go to the Grand Chancellor to discuss this matter later."
"On behalf of the elders of my hometown, I would like to thank Your Highness."
After personally escorting Li Sancai out of Xinghua Palace, Fang Zhenghua quickly approached him and said, "Young Master, Commander Tian just reported that the two candidates you asked the Jinyiwei to find have been found."
"Hmm? Where are they now?"
"They have all arrived in Beijing and are now living in the Jiangxi Guild Hall."
"Hiss~ Why are they living in a place like a guild hall? Let Tian Ergeng think of a way. I want to meet them by chance!"
"Uh... Your Highness, do you mean that you want to leave the palace incognito?"
"Nonsense~ Even if I went out of the palace incognito, this 15-year-old boy, with so many people standing beside him, who wouldn't know that I'm the crown prince? I met with the candidate before the examination, what would happen if this got out? Anyway, let Tian Ergeng take care of this for me! We have to meet by chance, but it must be kept secret!"
This is 1616, the year of the imperial examination! There are so many talented people on this list.
Who are they?
Hong Chengchou (no explanation needed), Qu Shisi (Donglin Party, master of internal struggles in the Southern Ming, but also a loyal minister of the Southern Ming), He Tingshu (capable official in the Chongzhen Dynasty, male protagonist of the Wanggongchang explosion and gossip), Bi Zisu (Governor of Liaodong in the late Tianqi Dynasty, during his tenure, Liaodong military expenditure was strictly controlled. Chongzhen appointed Yuan Chonghuan as the governor of Ji-Liao and died in a mutiny shortly after. After that, Liaodong military expenditure began to soar), Fang Kongzhao (during the Chongzhen period, he defeated Zhang Xianzhong with less than one twentieth of his troops, making Zhang Xianzhong unable to take care of himself. In the end, because Xiong Wencan insisted on surrendering, Fang Kongzhao failed. His son Fang Yizhi), Ruan Dacheng (a villain and a talented man), Wei Dazhong (Donglin Party), Huang Zunsu (Donglin Party), Hou Xun (Donglin Party)...
The above are celebrities in the historical dimension. What makes Zhu Youdong very happy is that twelve candidates who participated in the imperial examination this year were students of his Nanjing Fangshan School! Of course, he would do something shady about the imperial examination for these students, such as leaking questions in advance.
And now, he was preparing to leave the palace to meet two more candidates - according to the development of history, if he did not take action this time, these two would fail the imperial examination.
