Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 179
"Long live Long live Long live……"

On March 28, with the sound of singing and singing of pushing the golden mountain and pouring the jade pillar, the second review after an interval of more than ten days came to an end.

In order to show justice, Zhu Yuanzhang held the noon court in the more solemn Fengtian Hall this time.

In his opinion, he has given enough face to the southerners, and all he wants is a few northerners. Liu Sanwu and Zhang Xin are both close to him and should be able to understand what he means.

However, the reality was contrary to Zhu Yuanzhang's idea. Among the twelve Jinshi lists submitted again by Liu Sanwu, Zhang Xin and others, only Dai Yi and Yin Changlong, two candidates who participated in this examination, were given quota for northerners. And the quota only accounts for about [-]% of the total quota.

On the other hand, Liu Sanwu, Zhang Xin and others clearly understood Zhu Yuanzhang's meaning, but they still stubbornly gave out a list of memorials all composed of southerners.

Zhu Yuanzhang was no longer so energetic. He didn't want to fight with these people, so he put down his dignity and asked Liu Sanwu again:

"Is it possible that out of the hundreds of scholars from the north who came to Beijing to take part in the examination, they couldn't find even one person whose articles were flawless?"

However, facing Zhu Yuanzhang's subtle reminder, Liu Sanwu, who had been specially approved to participate in the afternoon court today, stepped forward, bowed and said:
"I think that the northerners will not be selected if their articles are against the rules!"

Liu Sanwu rejected the emperor's order, which caused an uproar among hundreds of ministers in the Fengtian Palace.

Faced with his rejection, even a commoner emperor like Zhu Yuanzhang, who had experienced great storms, felt a little angry.

He tried his best to suppress his temper and asked Liu Sanwu: "Can it be that my will cannot leave Fengtian Palace now?"

"Your Majesty's will can naturally be fulfilled, but I cannot accept this will..." Liu Sanwu shook his head and knelt down:

"How can such a taboo article be used as a stepping stone to become a Jinshi?"

"If I am selected this time, will there be any Gongsheng students in the next imperial examination who think they can write like this?"

"Your Majesty, with all due respect, you are not helping the candidates in the north by doing this, but you are condoning their violation of the ban..."

"That's enough." Zhu Yuanzhang calmly interrupted Liu Sanwu's words, and asked Liu Sanwu and the ministers in the palace:
"You say that all their articles violate taboos. Does that mean that everyone from the edicts on running schools below, to the officials who preside over the provincial examinations, to the Hanlin who presides over the examinations, are all traitors?"

"What? Did they unite with these northern candidates to slander the imperial court and insult me?"

"Your Majesty..." When Liu Sanwu heard that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to put such a big label on himself, he immediately wanted to explain, but before he could speak, he was interrupted by Zhu Yuanzhang:
"Does that mean that in the court, only the officials from the south are loyal ministers, and the officials from the north should be killed?"

"Your Majesty, calm down!!" After hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words, all officials, whether they were from the south or the north, knelt down and worshiped.

Seeing them kneel down, even though Zhu Yuanzhang was exhausted physically and mentally, he knew very well that he had to show some color to these people who were kicking their noses and faces.

After careful calculation, he hasn't had an operation for a long time...

"It is decreed that, except for the 51 Jinshi admitted this time, all tribute scholars will enter the Fengtian Palace on the first day of June to take the palace examination."

In the Fengtian Palace, in front of hundreds of ministers, Zhu Yuanzhang recognized the status of the previous 51 southern tribute scholars as Jinshi, but he individually allowed the hundreds of people who had previously failed to take the palace examination again.

However, many of the admired ministers smiled at this.

They all thought of the emperor's idea, which was nothing more than taking the exam again and recruiting northerners.

However, it is easy to take the exam again, but the admission quota cannot be biased towards northerners.

"Long live Long live Long live……"

During the singing ceremony, many people were thinking about how to win more Jinshi places in the second palace examination in June, but they didn't know that Zhu Yuanzhang's patience had been exhausted...

"Retreat!"

When he was angry, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to have returned to more than ten years ago, and all the illnesses in his body seemed to be driven away.

He raised his head and walked out of Fengtian Hall, leaving behind the ministers standing under the golden platform. Even Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Jixi and Zhu Gaochi did not react.

In response, the three of them looked ugly, and Zhu Yunwen glanced deeply at the ministers.

As for Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Jixi, it was the first time they understood the dangers and power of the gangs in the temple.

When they unite, even heroes like their imperial grandfather have to compromise and surrender...

Zhu Yunwen took a deep look at the ministers, then got off the golden stage and followed Zhu Yuanzhang's back.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Jixi and Zhu Gaochi also left Fengtian Palace, but they did not follow Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Yuanzhang, but returned to Wuying Palace.

They knew very well that they could not get involved in this matter...

After chasing out of Fengtian Hall and getting on the chariot with Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yunwen asked softly: "Grandpa, won't you continue to investigate?"

"What do you think?" Zhu Yuanzhang sat on the chariot and glanced at Zhu Yunwen in the chariot next door.

Zhu Yunwen pondered for a moment, and then said: "My grandson thought that even if he didn't continue the investigation, he would at least kill him as a warning to others, so that they would know who owns the world."

Facing Zhu Yunwen's words, Zhu Yuanzhang slowly closed his eyes and whispered: "I want to kill, but not now."

After saying this, Zhu Yuanzhang stopped talking, while Zhu Yunwen saw that he didn't say anything and did not dare to continue questioning.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that there is something fishy about this imperial examination, but for things like articles, the power of interpretation usually rests with the group of Confucian scholars who study the articles.

Overthrowing the previous imperial list is self-defeating, and it also requires a lot of energy to argue with civil servants.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang felt that his illness was milder, he was still not prepared to argue with these literati. He only wanted one chance, and that was a chance to kill as a warning to others. This was enough. As for the target...

Zhu Yuanzhang's mind flashed through Liu Sanwu and Zhang Xin, as well as the other ten people reviewing the examination papers.

Dai Yi and Yin Changlong understood his ideas and took action to save their lives, but Zhu Yuanzhang did not intend to let go of the others who understood their ideas but insisted on going their own way.

Sitting on Bu Yu, he and Zhu Yunwen separated at the Zhongzuo Gate, and then returned to Qianqing Palace.

While enjoying the palace maids changing their clothes, Zhu Yuanzhang also coughed and said: "Except for Dai Yi and Yin Changlong, the 12 people who will review the test papers this time, as well as the examiners participating in the examination, you can take care of the rest..."

"The minister takes orders."

Song Zhong's voice sounded behind Zhu Yuanzhang, and when he heard his leaving footsteps, Zhu Yuanzhang turned around and glanced at his back, while shaking his head: "It's a pity, we have to change people just because we are familiar with him."

He was thinking this, and at the same time, for some reason, Zhu Gaoxu's appearance flashed through his mind.

"Spring is about to begin in Jilin City. I wonder when that boy will receive news from the south..."

Sitting back on the Babu bed, Zhu Yuanzhang slowly lay down and fell asleep unknowingly.

However, while he was asleep, news of the second review began to spread intentionally.

With Song Zhong's encouragement, candidates from the north gradually learned the names of Liu Sanwu, the examiner, and Zhang Xin, the examiner, and also learned that they had not admitted Northerners twice.

There would have been little such news originally, but most of the examiners and officials reviewing the examination papers were from the south. Therefore, many northern candidates regarded the review as a drama directed and performed by the southern officials.

If it hadn't been for the enke opened by the emperor on the first day of June, the northern candidates would have overturned the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites.

Thinking of Enke in June, all the candidates who failed in the general examination began to burn the midnight oil to fight. For a while, everyone who was in trouble because of Chungui stayed behind closed doors.

Not only that, the emperor also did not punish some officials, which made many officials feel uneasy, thinking that this was the night before a storm, and the "ship" under their feet might capsize at any time.

They were not the only ones who felt the pressure. Zhu Di in the north, Zhu Fan in Shanxi, Chen Hui in the northwest, Xu Huizu in the southwest, Li Jinglong in Nanjing and other clan warriors all felt great pressure.

Of course, their pressure comes from outside, so at least they have time to prepare.

In contrast to them, Zhu Gaoxu from Jilin City in the north happily accepted the grain escorted by Liaodong Dusi.

"Why are so many grains shipped this year?"

At the beginning of spring in April, as the snow on the post road from Liaodong's [-] Guards to Jilin City melted, Zhou Xing, the capital of Liaodong, ordered Zhou Ding to lead [-] Guards' [-] soldiers and [-] civilians, driving [-] carriages, to Jilin City. The first batch of military pay and food arrived in the city.

"Liaodong in the south is already covered with green grass. Your Highness, spring has just begun here."

As a river city in Haidong, spring in Jilin City naturally comes later than in Liaodong in the south. In April, everything begins to show the signs of spring.

Standing at the head of Jixi Fort, Zhou Ding looked at the newly green Jilin City. While sighing, he handed the two edicts in his hands to Zhu Gaoxu:

"Your Highness, this is the imperial edict. Please read it."

"Edict?" Zhu Gaoxu, who was concentrating on supplies, turned around and took two copies of the edict from Zhou Ding.

He opened the first one first, and this edict was undoubtedly a surprise to him.

Lao Zhu established Zhaozhou Office and Andong Office outside the customs. These two offices were two thousand military households, which meant that Lao Zhu wanted to immigrate at least tens of thousands of people to these two cities.

Although the two thousand-household stations were not added to the Jilin Guards, they are temporarily under their control, which means that they can legitimately mobilize at least 8000 people.

Of course, he was more concerned about the families of these two thousand military households than the two thousand more troops.

"When will the military household arrive?" Zhu Gaoxu didn't have time to read the second edict, so he looked up at Zhou Ding happily.

Zhou Ding also smiled when he heard this and said: "When I finally went north, I heard that the Jinzhou Guard had taken over 1000 military households. I think they should be able to arrive in Jilin City in June. The remaining [-] households should be able to arrive before winter." ."

"Okay!" After hearing Zhou Ding's words, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help laughing, but Zhou Ding smiled and said: "Your Highness, you haven't read the second edict yet."

"Oh?" Seeing what Zhou Ding said, Zhu Gaoxu also knew that this second edict was probably good news, so he couldn't wait to open it.

Sure enough, when Zhu Gaoxu saw the contents, he immediately happily said to Zhang Chun, Yi Shiha and others around him:

"Look, I just said that I would take care of Wu Liangha before autumn, so grandpa sent me a mission and gave me food. We don't have to worry about food this time."

"One hundred thousand stones?!" Zhang Chun saw the amount of food in the edict and was so excited that he couldn't even speak.

Yi Shiha, who was next to him, heard Zhang Chun's exclamation and looked over quickly. When he saw it, he immediately smiled and said, "Your Highness, we are not short of food now."

"Haha..." Zhu Gaoxu said with a smile: "As for food, the more, the better."

He smiled and put away the two edicts, and asked Zhou Ding: "By the way, Zhou Qianhu, this batch of military pay used so many civilians and horse-drawn carriages, and I don't know how many things were transported?" "This is a document, you know?" Just look at it and you'll find out."

Zhou Ding put away his smile, took the document from a Liaodong soldier next to him, and handed it to Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu lowered his head and saw that the items brought this time were [-] jin of grain, [-] jin of iron material, and [-] jin of bean material.

According to this amount, it would take at least six months to complete the transportation of the military pay allocated to Jilin City by the imperial court and the annual salary of the Bohai Palace.

Zhu Gaoxu couldn't wait that long, so he said to Zhang Chun beside him: "You mobilize all the carriages tonight, take a thousand brothers and three thousand men, and go south with Zhou Qianhu tomorrow. I don't want to keep the food south for too long." , the men, women, and children in the city are still waiting for food."

"Yes!" Zhang Chun grinned and bowed in agreement, while Zhou Ding, who was looking at the scene cheerfully, gradually put away his smile.

"Your Highness, in addition to these things, I have something else I want to tell you."

"Say." Zhu Gaoxu hadn't realized what was going to happen. When he turned around and saw Zhou Ding put away his smile, he realized something.

He gradually put away his smile, and Zhou Ding also took out a pamphlet issued by the Governor's Office of the Fifth Army.

"This is the list of promotions given to the Jilin Guard brothers by the Governor's Office. Take a look..."

As soon as Zhou Ding opened his mouth, the smiles of Zhu Gaoxu, Zhang Chun, and Yi Shiha completely disappeared.

It seemed that he had noticed something was wrong, so Zhu Gaoxu quickly opened the booklet, and as expected, he saw a promotion and transfer order.

[Zhang Chun, Commander of Shendian Guards]

[Lin Su, Commander of Kaiping Right Guards]

【Liu...】

The thin booklet made Zhu Gaoxu's expression stiff.

The team he finally managed to pull together was about to lose half of its backbone in the blink of an eye.

"Shenden Guard? I won't go!"

Zhang Chun, who was on the side, had an idea in his mind after hearing about the promotion. Sure enough, he turned around and saw that he was transferred to the Shendian Guard, and he immediately cursed out.

Although he didn't know where the Shendian Guard was, he would rather be his commander in Jilin City than go to the south to be the commander.

Zhou Dingquan pretended not to hear his yelling and scolding, and looked at the soldiers around him not to say anything.

After all, Zhu Gaoxu was a life-saving benefactor to Zhou Ding. If Zhu Gaoxu brought up the matter of Zhou Ding's escape from the battle, neither he nor his father would be able to live with it.

Zhou Ding is not afraid of fighting, but he is afraid of death.

The situation last time was obviously a dead end. If King Yan hadn't come to the rescue in time, at least [-]% of the brothers from the Bohai Navy and Shenyang Zhongwei Zuojun Qianhu would have died.

Zhou Ding couldn't guarantee that he would survive, so he ran away in a panic, using the excuse of asking for help.

He was already very grateful to Zhu Gaoxu before Zhu Gaoxu revealed the matter, not to mention that Zhu Gaoxu also took credit for his request for help, which allowed him to get an official position of commanding others during this promotion.

As a result, Zhou Ding felt ashamed and thought that he would help Jilin City as much as he could on weekdays.

However, in his opinion, the promotion of Jilin Guard general should be a good thing for Zhu Gaoxu. After all, these people are his old troops. If they are promoted in the future, Zhu Gaoxu will have someone in Beijing who can help him speak.

It has to be said that Zhou Ding's idea was good, but Zhu Gaoxu knew very well that he did not wait for the chance for Lin Su and others to be promoted to the capital.

In another year, Zhu Yunwen will attack these vassal kings. At this time, a large number of key personnel will be transferred away, which will be a huge blow to the Bohai Navy.

But with Zhou Ding in front of him, it was naturally impossible for Zhu Gaoxu to pretend to be unhappy, so he forced a smile and patted Zhang Chun and others:

"It's a good thing that you can be promoted. If I get promoted in the future, I will have someone to speak for me in Beijing."

"Your Highness..." Zhang Chun's nose felt sour. He didn't want to leave Jilin City, let alone Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu helped him avenge his father and gave him the opportunity to make contributions, turning him from a young man who might not be able to succeed in inheriting a thousand households to the current commanding officer.

He was about to be transferred away before he could repay such kindness. How could he feel at ease?
"Okay, don't act like a little girl, you still have three months, don't be in a hurry."

Zhu Gaoxu pointed at the time on the booklet for everyone to go to Yingtian's Fifth Army Commander's Mansion to report their duties. Zhou Ding on the side also smiled and comforted:

"Brother Zhang, don't be sad. You will have the opportunity to make meritorious deeds if you go to the south."

"Isn't it peaceful in the south?" Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhou Ding in confusion. After hearing this, Zhou Ding turned around and took out a thick stack of "Di Bao" from the diagonal cloth bag carried by another soldier.

"Things in the south are too complicated. I can't finish them. You will understand after reading them."

Zhou Ding handed the Di Bao to Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Gaoxu also took it smoothly.

But his mind was not on the Di newspaper, let alone what major events happened in the south.

At the moment, he was just thinking about how long it would take him to recruit a new group of backbones after Fu asked them to leave.

However, even though he didn't want to read it, when he caught a glimpse of "Ding Chou Ke Fraud" written on the cover of the Di newspaper, his mind went blank for a moment.

"How could I forget this..."

After seeing "Ding Chou Ke Fraud", Zhu Gaoxu immediately said to Yi Shiha: "I'll leave the affairs here to you. I'll go to the Jianlou to read the Di newspaper."

He was a little panicked, but Yi Shiha responded quickly when he saw this.

Zhang Chun wanted to say something else, but Zhu Gaoxu strode towards the arrow tower with the newspaper in his arms, and disappeared from Zhang Chun's sight after a while.

Zhu Gaoxu could no longer care about their emotions. After entering the archery tower, he immediately opened the newspaper and read it in detail.

The Beibeibang case was the last political case during Zhu Yuanzhang's administration, but this case ended in an anticlimax.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't know much about the Nanbei Bang case in his previous life, but now he got a rough idea from the Di newspaper.

Although the whole case is not over yet, or even half of it has been completed, the various things involved are enough to surprise Zhu Gaoxu.

He always thought that Lao Zhu was a man who told the truth, but this time the North-South List case refreshed his understanding of Lao Zhu.

In the Di Bao, Lao Zhu initially asked Liu Sanwu, Zhang Xin and others to re-examine the files.

It can be said that he still respected Liu Sanwu's control over Ding Chou's imperial examination, and Zhu Gaoxu could roughly guess his intentions through Di Bao.

Lao Zhu didn't want to engage in internal fighting between the north and the south, so he wanted Liu Sanwu to choose a few attractive northerners to recruit, but Liu Sanwu chose to fight Zhu Yuanzhang to the end.

In Zhu Gaoxu's view, Liu Sanwu was like an old man who ate arsenic because he thought he would live longer.

But after he read the previous Di newspaper in detail, he understood why Liu Sanwu and the forces behind him dared to confront Lao Zhu.

From the earlier report, Zhu Gaoxu could tell that Lao Zhu's health seemed not to be good, because he had left all matters concerning Wuying Palace to Zhu Yunwen, and he rarely appeared in court meetings.

Lao Zhu is a workaholic. Unless he is extremely ill, he will not leave these important things to others, even if Zhu Biao is resurrected.

The reason why he did this can only mean that he already felt that his situation was not optimistic...

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu's old and majestic body appeared in Zhu Gaoxu's mind. He didn't know what that body looked like now.

After a moment of worry, Zhu Gaoxu continued to be immersed in the newspaper.

To be honest, he still doesn't understand why these Jiangnan literati want to provoke Lao Zhu at this time. Obviously they only need to endure for another year or two, and they will be able to control everything when Zhu Yunwen takes the throne, but they want to play with fire.

In the Di Bao, Zhu Gaoxu saw that when Lao Zhu faced this matter, his initial reaction was to compromise with him, basically acknowledging the results of Chun Gui's palace examination, but he wanted to make a slight change, and let the world know about his stupidity. Just explain.

As a result, when the southern bureaucrats saw Lao Zhu's compromise, they immediately wanted to go a step further. Liu Sanwu and Zhang Xiu said that "Northern students' articles often violate taboos" was their next step.

Writing, if you master it well, is enough to cause a coup, and the sentence "Northern students often commit taboos in their articles" can have a wider impact.

At the most superficial level, there is a problem with this group of candidates who passed the provincial examination, but at a more serious level, the taboos these northern students often commit are a general problem in the north as a whole.

Why are there so many taboos?Then your teaching must be wrong.

Why is the teaching wrong?Because your Neo-Confucianism in the north is not authentic and is heavily influenced by the barbarians.

With that said, do private schools and official schools in the north need to be rectified?
Do the Neo-Confucianism and Confucianism popular in the north need to be monitored?
If rectification and picketing were carried out, then the literary style of the north would become unhealthy, and naturally there would be no strength to compete with the southern scholars for Jinshi places.

"It's so cruel..."

After much thought, Zhu Gaoxu, who finally figured it out, couldn't help but take a breath of cold air.

He finally understood that it was a good thing that he was born into a clan, otherwise if he was an official in the Ming Dynasty, sooner or later he would be played to death by these people.

But what made him gasp even more was Lao Zhu's way of coping.

By relying on the words of Liu Sanwu and Zhang Xin, Lao Zhu was able to follow the clues and use the words of Liu Sanwu and Zhang Xin to refute the other party.

Liu Sanwu and Zhang Xin said that the northern articles were taboo, which would at best accuse them of not following the route set by the court, but what about Lao Zhu?
Lao Zhu directly asked the two of them, asking them that the article violated taboos, so how come these problems were not discovered during the rural examinations in the north?

Did the officials deliberately cover up, or did the officials desecrate their duties?

You must know that Jiangnan accounts for [-]% of the number of civil servants in the Ming Dynasty. If they admit that there are problems with the officials in the northern rural examination, then the unlucky ones will definitely be the officials in the north.

If Liu Sanwu and the others were only involved with candidates, then Zhu Yuanzhang was involved with thousands of officials in the north.

Even if Liu Sanwu dared to nod, even if Liu Sanwu dared to nod, those behind him would not dare to offend if he sacrificed hundreds of Jiangnan officials for the sake of more than fifty Jinshi.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu sighed. He knew very well that Liu Sanwu and Zhang Xin's group were likely to be abandoned by the people behind them.

Lao Zhu's sword is probably about to be swung down...

(End of this chapter)