Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 113 Longqing Godson (Part [-])
"Those who seek profit are easy to distinguish, but those who seek fame are different. Some people seek the name of the time, while others seek the name of eternity."

Emperor Longqing's words made it difficult for the young crown prince to understand.Seeing his son's puzzled expression, Zhu Zaihou also felt that what he said might be too profound, and how could his son understand it when he was still young?

So after thinking about it, he decided to give an example, and said: "Baby, you may not know that when Dad was King Yu, because of Yan Shifan... In short, Prince Yu's mansion is getting poorer and poorer, and he barely survives on the salary given by the court But in fact, there are gifts from the royal family, but I can't get them. At that time, Mr. Gao let go of his status and arrogance, went back and forth for his father, and even came to the door in person, begging Yan Shifan with humble words, so that my father got that pitiful gift My dear, you have to know that Mr. Gao is a man of great ability and knowledge, so he is like a beggar, and he has worked tirelessly for Daddy, how can Daddy not be grateful for his kindness?"

Zhu Yijun was taken aback: "En? Isn't it merit?"

"It's kindness, it's also merit." Zhu Zaihou said seriously: "Mr. Gao is my teacher, preaching, receiving karma, and dispelling doubts. This is his main job. He taught him carefully, which is merit. He can sacrifice so much for me, but only Can treat it with 'en'."

Zhu Yijun hesitated for a moment, and said hesitantly: "But Dad said, Mr. Gao also has selfish intentions."

"Mr. Gao's selfishness, isn't it exactly what I want?" Long Qing said with a smile: "Didn't I just say that Mr. Gao's goal is Guan Zhongleyi, and Dad knows his talent and courage, so I let him do whatever he wants , so what? What he wants is Zhongxing Daming, so doesn’t it mean that the emperor, Daddy, doesn’t want it?”

"However, my son heard that Xu Jie sent Mr. Gao Ge away the year before last, and his father only got up with him not long ago. Then why?" Zhu Yijun asked strangely.

Hearing this, Emperor Longqing Zhu Zaihou fell silent, his eyes lost for a moment, and he murmured: "Sometimes, you have to make some sacrifices to do great things, but in fact, there are not many people who are really willing to sacrifice for you."

He remembered that not long after he came to the throne, because of the so-called greed for money, lust, and the "negligence" who seemed to ignore everything and asked the cabinet about everything, an old minister known for his uprightness angrily commented on him: "Since the beginning of the world, I have never seen An emperor who is so foolish and could possibly create a prosperous world!"

Zhu Zaihou didn't mind such roaring reprimands, he had his own way of being a king, and he believed that he could create a prosperous world and create a revival.

In fact, many officials all over the world know that he was very miserable and useless in his early years; but what many people don't know is that he is used to the hardships of the people's livelihood and the harshness of the officialdom.He understood this compulsory course for emperors earlier and deeper than many emperors.

Moreover, although Jiajing treated him harshly, he was still trained as his successor. Which of the teachers Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and others assigned to him were not all talented?

Even after the king came to the world, he never forgot the bitterness and hardships of those years.Once when reviewing a memorial, he saw a magistrate requesting to commend his dutiful son, so he recalled the past with his mother and burst into tears on the spot.This tear-filled memory is planted with the ideals he has always adhered to, just as he sighed to Gao Gong after Gao Gong's recovery: I have encountered many difficulties since I became the throne, but what I have never forgotten is the eighth in the imperial edict. One word - "Tongchangheyi, Tonghongxinhua!"

As it turned out, he made good on this promise that will last a lifetime.And his methods are two idioms: know people and do well, soft on the outside and strong on the inside.These simple eight characters are exactly the ruling policy of Emperor Longqing.

The reason why Zhu Zaihou is "lazy and stupid" is because he believes that although there are many problems in Ming Dynasty, there is only one root cause of the disease-official administration.If this point of view is highly pragmatic, you may not fully agree with it, but it is the point of view that Zhu Zaihou insists on.

And Zhu Zaihou also believes that in the administration of officials, the most shocking thing is the ever-increasing corruption.

The surreptitious corruption in the past, such as bribery, bribery, and embezzlement of public funds, has now become the rule on the table.It is commonplace for seniors to teach juniors to be greedy, and for leaders to lead subordinates to learn to be bad.Mr. Gao once said to him: "It is because greed is unbreakable", and he agreed with Mr. Gao's words.The atmosphere in the officialdom has deteriorated to the point where there is no lower limit. A minister once commented that flattery has become modesty, and overstaffing has become honesty. The folk description is even harsher: "The jackal in the public office, the eagle dog in the private family."

In fact, similar problems were encountered by Chongzhen 60 years later.But Zhu Zaihou's understanding is clearly more than one grade higher than that of Chongzhen. He publicly stated: "The four directions and all countries, how can I be able to search all over the place", and asked to work together to rule the country according to the law!
But to do this, it is similar to the principle of catching birds. Not only do you need to set up a good net, but the key is to lay out the bait and release the fragrance.His "lazy and stupid" is just blowing the wind.In the promotion of singing and dancing, Zhu Zaihou's first "big net" - Jingcha, started.

At this time, the Jingcha has become a mere formality, and the assessment of officials is basically a formality, often using power and money to clear the way, who has money.Right to stay.For a long time, there have been fewer and fewer good officials, but there have been more and more corrupt elements.So for this Beijing inspection, everyone was very relaxed, thinking that it was still going through the motions.What they didn't expect was that Zhu Zaihou's breakthrough in rectifying the administration of officials was the "Jingcha" that only targeted Beijing officials this time.

In the first month of the first year of Longqing, the results of the Beijing police were announced like thunder: a large number of Beijing officials were dismissed, and even the officials who had been protected by the Metropolitan Procuratorate in the past and had never been offended, more than half of them fell this time.

Such a fierce Jingcha has a sternness that has not been seen in decades, because its presiding officer was Yang Bo, then Minister of the Ministry of Officials.This competent minister is old and stubborn, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, which was originally cooperating with the Jingcha, was also hung up as a display by him.

However, Yang Bo's fight against corruption has not forgotten the township party. As a Shanxi native, he has not even arrested a single Shanxi native. His "love of his hometown" is so blatant that the capital is in an uproar.

Sure enough, not long after the results were announced, Hu Yingjia wrote an angry letter to the official department, strongly criticizing Yang Bo's shameful behavior of shielding fellow villagers in the Jingchao.Things like this are very common in previous Beijing inspections. Most emperors never take it seriously, especially those who seldom deal with cursing officials.

But to everyone's surprise, Zhu Zaihou, who was busy drafting girls, playing with jewelry, and entering the bridal chamber, heard that Yang Bo was being scolded, and wrote an edict to the cabinet angrily, saying that the speech officer named Hu Yingjia was really It's outrageous, discuss with your cabinet and teach this guy a lesson!
There was an uproar when the edict was sent to the cabinet, but this was what Zhu Zaihou was waiting for.He wants to use this edict as a trigger to draw out the disease hidden under Daming's seemingly majestic body-inaction!

And those who suffer from the disease of "inaction" are headed by the chief assistant Xu Jie.

Long Qing looked at the trusted ministers around him, Zhang Juzheng was Xu Jie's disciple, Chen Yiqin was fair but did not dare to be the first, Yin Shidan was the same year as Zhang Juzheng, and was also Xu Jie's disciple...

Zhu Zaihou can only use Gao Gong to fight Xu Jie!

As a result, everyone knew: "The Manchu Dynasty turned the arch", Gao Gong wrote more than 20 memorials to resign, and returned to his hometown to serve as an official.

Xu Jie seemed to have won a complete victory, but Zhu Zaihou sneered behind his back.

The real loser is actually Xu Jie: the people of his line have been completely exposed to the emperor, and he has gone too far this time, causing public anger-Gao Gong is gone, but the "Gao Dang" will not In an instant, the stars scattered!

So, Xu Jie was surprised to find that many of his thugs were either punished or dismissed from office, and several other colleagues in the cabinet also began to treat him secretly... After a few months of being so aggrieved, in the second year of Longqing, Xu Jie finally It was discovered that this might be the emperor secretly punishing him, so he issued a resignation report to see the situation.

The situation is of course very bad, because Emperor Longqing's imperial pen Zhu Zhu said: You always go home, walk slowly and don't see you off.

When Xu Jie and Gao Gong fought, the reason why Gao Gong left at the beginning was also the reason: the country had accumulated many evils, but the new emperor had just ascended the throne, but stability was his top priority. Jie exposed his strength, and for the time being needed a "licorice pavilion elder" like Xu Jie to ensure the stability of the court; until it was time for rectification, Emperor Longqing would naturally not forget the teacher in his mind who could truly dominate the world!

Thus, the high-arch king returns.

In order to ensure the success of the rectification, Zhu Zaihou also broke the old system and asked his teacher Gao Gong to concurrently serve as the Minister of the Ministry of Officials as a cabinet bachelor, and he took charge of administration and personnel.

Faced with the almost unreserved trust of the emperor's students, Gao Gong certainly would not be ambiguous. This was also when Gao Pragmatically persuaded him to open the sea more vigorously. The reason for this.

Emperor Longqing shook his head, freed himself from contemplation, smiled inexplicably, and said to Zhu Yijun: "For this reason, Daddy will teach you next time, and Daddy will ask you another question today: if these honorable Your son can't accompany you for a long time, how about daddy finding you a civil servant's son to accompany you?"

Zhu Yijun asked back, "Whose family's children?"

"Mr. Gao's nephew." Long Qing smiled and said, "You even said that you had a good conversation with him."

"It's him?" Zhu Yijun's eyes lit up: "My son thinks he's not bad."

Zhu Zaihou nodded, and said pointedly: "Then next, Dad will stand up for a few more days to make the trouble outside bigger, and then...it depends on the performance of your little friend."

(End of this chapter)