Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 32

Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

There are eunuchs who keep adding firewood at the mouth of the pit for heating, there are beautiful maids who serve tea to Dongnuan Pavilion, and there are eunuchs who replace sandalwood on time, etc. All they do revolves around one person.

Ordinarily, a person who is taken care of by dozens of eunuchs and maids in turn should be happy and happy, but at this moment Zhu Youtang frowned slightly.

After seeing the court for the first time, his ruling era has officially arrived.

It's just that as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he not only has to face the daily morning court, but also has to deal with the memorials from the two capitals and thirteen provinces, and manage the vast territory of the Ming Dynasty.

As the saying goes, one emperor and one courtier, not only the factions in the court suppress each other, but the local officials have also launched a very fierce fight.

The local forces that were able to maintain the status quo in the Chenghua Dynasty seemed to be the last straw that broke the camel's back as he formally ascended the throne.

Now local officials are impeaching each other, and issues related to corruption, party attachment, fish and meat, and human life have been exposed one after another. There are dozens of officials involved here.

Zhu Youtang was not happy at this moment, and even felt irritated, as if seeing the faces of ugly and greedy officials in the local area.

Unfortunately, the Ming Dynasty wanted to firmly grasp this vast territory, but had to hand over local management functions to these officials.

Zhu Youtang referred to the draft opinions submitted by the cabinet, as if he had forgotten that the great ancestor "as long as the corruption exceeds [-] guan, or the self-stealing reaches [-] guan, they will all be hanged." .

Although I really want to chop off the heads of these corrupt officials, but the current situation does not allow him to be so tough, otherwise it is easy to provoke "official change".

Fortunately, both Wan An and Liu Ji still know how to restrain themselves, and have not proposed to themselves the absurd proposal of "paying money for atonement".

"Your Majesty, something has happened!" When it was close to noon, Guo Yong hurried in from the outside to report.

Zhu Youtang raised his head and glanced at Guo Yong, the eunuch who was recommended by Liang Fang, and picked up the teacup in a very calm manner, "What's the matter?"

"Your Majesty, the Enthronement Edict issued a few days ago has not been distributed to the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Household Affairs. It has just been officially refuted by Chen Shou from the Department of Household Affairs!" Guo Yong swallowed and spit, reporting the report cautiously.

In order to prevent the imperial power from being restricted at all, the Ming Dynasty followed the system of the previous dynasty and also set up the system of refutation.

The imperial edict must be followed by six subjects, and the divisions can only implement it. If it is not done, Xu Feng will also perform it.

All decrees sent by the palace to the six ministries must be reviewed by the Six Divisions. If there are no problems, the decrees will be archived and forwarded to the relevant yamen. However, the Six Divisions have the right to seal up and reject inappropriate government orders or edicts.

Zhu Youtang blew on the tea stalk floating on the hot tea, as if he had expected it, and said, "What is the reason for the rejection given by Chen Shou?"

"The reason given by Chen Shou was that this act violated the salt law. According to him, the Ministry of Households claimed that the excessive distribution of salt quotations is the main reason for the failure of the current salt law, so he begged His Majesty to take back the order and adopt the Ministry of Rites'replacing silver quotations with silver." 'Policy!" Guo Yong noticed that Zhu Youtang did not fly into a rage, but he still reported the report cautiously.

Zhu Youtang took a sip of hot tea, and still reasoned very calmly: "In this way, the crux of the problem actually lies with the household department!"

"That's true!" Guo Yong was slightly taken aback for a moment, but then nodded his head belatedly.

Zhu Youtang put down the teacup, and then made a decision and said: "You immediately send someone to the Household Department Yamen, and let all the Household Department officials above the principal come to the Huagai Hall to face the saint immediately!"

"Follow the order!" Guo Yong did not understand Zhu Youtang's intention, but he still obeyed the order unconditionally.

Zhu Youtang looked at Guo Yong who led the order to leave. Although he had expected today's result, he still didn't expect that these civil servants would use the powerful weapon of rebuttal power so early.

Just judging from the civil servants' reactions, they will undoubtedly not give up the big cake of Yanzheng easily, but they have no intention of compromising with themselves, the new king.

At noon, the sky in the capital was still gray.

The Hubu Yamen is located in an alleyway in Dongjiang Mixiang. On the right is the official office that controls the promotion of hundreds of officials, and on the left is the Libu Yamen that cultivates ministers.

"His Majesty's oral order! All the officials from the household department up to the minister and down to the principal, go to the Huagai Hall to face the saint immediately, without delay, hereby!" Eunuch Liu, the eunuch who declared the decree, conveyed his will authentically when facing the officials kneeling in the courtyard.

"Your ministers are leading the decree, long live my emperor!" Li Min, Minister of the Household Department, frowned slightly, and he also led all the officials to lead the decree to thank him.

Facing Eunuch Liu's urging, Li Si, the left servant of the household department, stepped forward to give Eunuch Liu some money: "Eunuch Liu, you have worked hard, please go to the inner hall to have tea first, we will wait for you to enter the palace to face the saint! "

"It's easy to say!" Eunuch Liu weighed the silver tael in his hand, and then said calmly.

The household department yamen has just been filled with personnel. Li Si, the former right servant of the household department, was promoted to the left servant of the household department, and the vacant position was filled by Ye Qi.

It was quite a coincidence that the three officials of the Ministry of Households were all Jinshi in the fifth year of Jingtai.

Their teacher was Shang Ren, the former chief assistant, and they had a good relationship with Xu Pu, Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Officials and Hanlin Bachelor in the same year.Especially Ye Qi, who was able to be successfully promoted to the right servant of the household department this time was the result of Xu Pu's operation behind the scenes.

The three chiefs of the household department happen to be from the same department. This seemingly coincidental matter actually hides a mystery.

The civil official group not only has a "brotherly" relationship, but also has a "teacher-student inheritance". The teacher of Wan An and Liu Ji is the original chief assistant Gao Gu.

It was this link from Gaogu that not only connected the three of them together, but also involved Xu Pu, the big boss of the court, so that some people ridiculed that the surname of the current household department yamen was Xu.

Ye Qi followed Li Min to the side, and immediately speculated seriously: "Master Zhengtang, His Majesty suddenly summoned our household officials into the palace, I am afraid that he wants to interrogate the matter of rebuttal!"

"Except for the refutation, why does Your Majesty need to go to such great lengths? This time, we are definitely going to question our family members!" Li Si arranged for a doctor to take care of Eunuch Liu, and he came back and expressed his opinion.

Li Min was the oldest of the three, and stroked his beard lightly with his hand and said, "This refutation is due to our household department! We will see His Majesty later, and we must speak with one voice and advance and retreat together!"

"Advance and retreat together!" Li Si and Ye Qi looked at each other, and Dang even said firmly.

Not to mention that the three of them are in the same camp, even if they are in different camps, they have the obligation to unite in the face of "Your Majesty's chaos".

The reason why their civil official group was able to stand under the pressure of Jinyiwei and eunuchs, and even stepped on the once famous Xungui group, was precisely because of their internal unity.

Since the current His Majesty does not seem to intend to rule honestly, they naturally want to unite to see if the new emperor has the skills of Emperor Chenghua.

Li Min reached a united front with Li Si and Ye Qi, then gave a short speech in the main courtyard of the Household Yamen, and then followed Eunuch Liu to the Forbidden City.

"What happened?"

"Look at this situation, it's not a small matter!"

"What's so hard to guess, Hu Ke's rebuttal made His Majesty dissatisfied!"

"So what if you are dissatisfied? Today's salt law is corrupted because of excessive use of salt!"

……

Since the household department was dispatched by all members, it immediately attracted widespread attention from the yamen in the same alleyway, and many officials ran out of the yamen door to discuss enthusiastically.

Li Min and the other three came to the square in front of the Meridian Gate in a sedan chair. Under the leadership of the little yellow man, they entered the Forbidden City from the Meridian Gate, and then went to the Huagai Hall together.

Although there is a saying in Zhou Li to take off your shoes to go to the temple to show respect, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't like this kind of behavior that was neither gorgeous nor suffered, so he specially ordered that all officials should wear boots to the temple.

In the canopy hall, sandalwood is floating in the copper furnace.

Zhu Youtang didn't need to wear filial piety clothes after seeing the court for the first time, but today he always wears dragon robes, and he is resolutely a young emperor full of vigor.

"Your Majesty, my lord, long live my emperor!" Seeing Zhu Youtang's appearance, Li Min, Minister of the Household Department, immediately led the officials of the Household Department to kneel down respectfully.

(End of this chapter)