My Ming Dynasty, I have the final say

Chapter 214: Pointing to the nose and talking about forming a party

People came to Lu Wenzhao, and after listening to his achievements in anti-corruption affairs during this period, Zhu Youxiao fell into deep thought for a while.

Jin Yiwei's available talents are still lacking.

Lu Wenzhao seemed a little constrained when he started to work in Duzhi Division.

"I will give you a staff of two hundred people. You go and recruit some available people."

Someone poured a cup of tea for Lu Wenzhao and looked at him.

"I thank your Majesty for your kindness."

Lu Wenzhao, who had always wanted to live a decent life, heard the emperor's words and immediately responded with his hands.

What a pity, those cats and dogs under him are really just messing around in Duzhi Division.

The only ones who were found out were those he caught after watching someone come to collect the money.

Now that there is an extra staff, can he also get one for his junior sister?

Not knowing that Lu Wenzhao was planning to use his power for personal gain, Zhu Youxiao told Lu Wenzhao some precautions on anti-corruption matters and waved him away.

Looking at Xu Xianchun's leaving figure, Zhu Youxiao tapped his hand on the table.

When it comes to anti-corruption, we cannot rush. We must take our time and come up with a method that will produce quick results and achieve great results.

"Tomorrow morning, send this book to the Metropolitan Procuratorate."

After knocking for a while, Zhu Youxiao suddenly picked up a book from his hand. This was "Xiangang Shi Lei" sent to him by Zhou Yingqiu.

"Tell them that I personally commented on it."

"The slaves obey the order."

Upon hearing this, Liu Shimin bowed slightly and took the book from the emperor's hand.

The emperor has always disliked the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Why is he suddenly sending him a letter?

Amidst Liu Shimin's doubts, time continued to flow.

With Bi Ziyan and three others leaving Xiyuan, it means that the mining tax, a tax that was abolished last year, has made a comeback this year.

Moreover, the emperor also formulated a new mining tax collection method, taking the tax collection power away from the Ministry of Industry and giving it to the Ministry of Household Affairs.

But at the same time, it also gave the Ministry of Industry a supervisory power.

Regarding the emperor's behavior of causing disgrace between workers and households.

Although Xu Guangqi, Bi Ziyan, and Yuan Shizhen could see it, the emperor just sat on the dragon throne and said, "Let's fight, let's fight quickly, I want to see blood flowing like a river."

But what the three of them saw more was the emperor's distrust of his courtiers.

The emperor went to the trouble to separate the actual collection of mining taxes from the accounts in order to prevent officials from colluding with large households and corruption.

For this reason, the three people chose to get on the bus first and pay for the fare later in response to the emperor's new mining tax policy.

That is, the Ministry of Industry first counts the mines that need to collect mining taxes.

Then wait a few months before announcing the new mining tax policy.

In this way, those mine owners can be attacked suddenly.

We can temporarily ignore the commotion caused by the mining tax being brought up again.

Does Zhu Youxiao know about the little moves of the three people?

Of course I know.

Every policy he makes will make Dongchang pay attention to see if there is any discussion among the people.

The mining tax matter has been given for five days, but the outside world still doesn't know about it.

It's just that in several mines in Shuntian Prefecture, for some reason, there were a few more scholars who applied for positions as accountants.

Zhu Youxiao did not intend to interfere in this situation.

And just when the two departments of workers and households were about to make a big move.

In the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Zhang Wenda, the censor of Zuodu, was standing at the yamen gate, in a daze.

The morning sun can still bring a touch of warmth to people.

But since the "memorial" outside the gate of Qianfan Xiyuan Palace, several people from his Metropolitan Procuratorate were sent away by the emperor.

Looking at the Metropolitan Procuratorate Yamen, which was full of talents when Tianqi first came to the throne in September last year, but now looks empty.

Every time he passed by, a trace of panic would flash through Zhang Wenda's heart.

"General Constitution."

Just when Zhang Wenda was in a daze, someone spoke from beside him.

"The Supervisor of Ceremonies has sent me a copy of the Constitution, which is said to have been annotated by His Majesty."

"Sent it? What did it get?"

Awakened from his reverie, Zhang Wenda babbled a few nonsense words before he came back to his senses.

"What did you just say?"

"The Chief of Ceremonies sent me a copy of "Constitutional Matters". It is said that His Majesty the Emperor personally annotated it."

When the censor heard this, he could only repeat what he had just said.

"I know, give it to me."

Zhang Wenda relaxed when he heard that he was just sending a book, not his head.

After taking the "Constitutional Matters" annotated by the emperor to his squad room and sitting down, Zhang Wenda read through it carefully.

After turning the first page and seeing the word "Jingcha" checked out, Zhang Wenda shed a cold sweat.

What is Jingcha? Jingcha is a tool for the Ming Dynasty’s political system to clean up itself.

Conduct a clean-up of officials in the capital, reward meritorious deeds and punish delinquents, and eliminate corrupt officials.

According to the provisions of the "Constitutional Matters", it needs to be investigated from four aspects: defense, politics, talent and years.

Shou, conduct: integrity, fairness, greed.

Government, government affairs: diligent, flat, lazy.

Talent, talent: long, flat, short.

Year, age: young, middle, old.

According to regulations, it is once every six years.

And when was the last time we visited Beijing?

It was in the forty-fifth year of Wanli that Dingsi inspected the capital.

What happened to Ding Si Jingcha?

Presided over by Zheng Jizhi, the Secretary of the Ministry of Personnel, and Li Rong, the Secretary of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs and a member of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Li Sancai, the only high-ranking member of the Donglin Party in the court, was kicked out of the court, and Donglin was in a weak position.

Beijing-Cha can be said to be the main battlefield of party struggle.

But now, the emperor suddenly handed a copy of "Constitutional Affairs" to him, the censor of Zuodu. What did he want to do?

Let him preside over a Beijing inspection next?

As soon as this thought came out of his head, Zhang Wenda quickly shook his head and shook the thought away.

The emperor is not crazy, and he is not crazy either.

In the previous episode, Wei Zhongxian, the eunuch and eunuch of Dongchang, said something about forming a clique for personal gain in front of the emperor, so he took a military stick from the emperor.

Such a thing just happened. It is impossible for the emperor to say that he saw the party struggle suddenly intensifying.

Flipping through the pages of the book, Zhang Wenda eagerly wanted to know the purpose of the booklet sent by the emperor.

The more he turned, the more cold sweat formed on Zhang Wenda's head.

When he reached the end, he finally saw what the emperor wanted to say to him.

"The sound of wind, rain, and reading are all in my ears."

"Care about family affairs, national affairs, and world affairs."

"A gentleman is a friend but not a party member; a villain is a party member but not a friend."

"Sir, you are a true gentleman."

"!!!"

Seeing the sentence written by the emperor, Zhang Wenda felt a chill on his back, and then his face turned green and red.

The couplet "The Sound of Wind and Rain" was written by Gu Xiancheng and posted on the gate of Donglin Academy!

How did the emperor know about this couplet?

Moreover, is Zhang Wenda really a gentleman?

What the Donglin Party has done, how could he, the leader in Donglin, not know about it? Friends become traitors and form cliques for personal gain.

The two words "clique" are basically one and cannot be separated.

Now that the emperor says he is a true gentleman, he is pointing at his nose and saying that he is a clique!

With a clatter, the book with the emperor's annotations fell to the ground.

Sitting slumped in the chair, Zhang Wenda opened his eyes wide and was speechless.

He is really going to retire.

Asking someone to hand Zhang Wenda his annotated "Constitutional Matters" was to give the other party a dignity and submit the letter to become an official.

If he doesn't accept this honor, then he will have to ask others to help him face it.

If you want to kill Donglin, you can't just look at those green-headed ones jumping out.

In history, during the Tianqi years, what was the sign of Donglin's collapse?

It was Ye Xianggao, a neutral faction in Donglin, who became an official.

Cutting off these people's heads is the key to solving these people.

If you cannot control the real power of the court, it will be useless no matter how many people you gather.

In the third year of the Apocalypse, during the inspection of the capital of Guihai, Zhao Nanxing, the minister of the Ministry of official affairs, set up a stage, Ye Xianggao criticized the red, and the people in the east forest were in full force.

At this time, the relationship between Wei Zhongxian and the Donglin Party headed by Ye Xianggao was not so bad that it became a life-and-death situation.

As a big boss who had served as the chief minister of the cabinet during the Wanli period, Ye Xianggao was a mature political creature with long-term experience in governing. He knew deeply that the relationship with the emperor's cronies should not be too bad.

However, the group of people behind Ye Xianggao forced Ye Xianggao to chop off Wei Zhongxian's tentacles so that the emperor could not reach out of the inner court in order to get more money into his bowl.

In the initial Donglin Party impeachment memorial against Wei Zhongxian, there was no signature from Ye Xianggao.

But after something happened, everything changed.

In the third year of Tianqi, the Donglin Party had gained momentum in the court, and then disappeared.

Once, Miao Changqi visited Wei Zhongxian with the purpose of persuading Ye Xianggao to impeach Wei Zhongxian.

However, Ye Xianggao did not agree, but explained.

As far as he knew, once, a bird flew into the palace, and the emperor wanted to use a ladder to catch the bird. However, Wei Zhongxian saw it and stopped the emperor, preventing him from climbing high.

Another time, when the emperor was happy, he rewarded a young eunuch with Fei Yi (a fourth or fifth grade eunuch served). The young eunuch was very happy and wore it all day long. But when Wei Zhongxian found out, he scolded the young eunuch to take off his clothes. The reason was that the service was inconsistent with his status. Although it was a gift from the emperor, you cannot wear it casually. You can only wear it after you have a position.

Using two examples, Ye Xianggao explained to Miao Changqi that the situation in the market where Wei Zhongxian led the emperor to have fun and delay government affairs so that he could have sole power was a slander.

Moreover, Wei Zhongxian still has some ability and knowledge.

Moreover, he also vaguely reminded Miao Changqi that if you treat the emperor's enemy like this, something will happen.

However, Miao Changqi didn't listen to Ye Xianggao's words at all, but retorted: Who used these words to deceive Sir? This man should be beheaded!

For this reason, the two broke up unhappy.

Then, Miao Changqi conveyed what Ye Xianggao told him to Donglin's second fool, Yang Lian.

Yang Lian was furious after hearing the news and made Ye Xianggao's words public, causing Ye Xianggao to encounter a major crisis of trust within the Donglin Party.

You, Ye Xianggao, are just an evil member of the Donglin Party!

For this reason, Ye Xianggao had to write a letter to Li Yingsheng, who had a good relationship with Yang Lian, asking him to come forward to smooth things over and settle the matter.

Then, a classic scene appeared again.

Li Yingsheng showed Yang Lian the letter Ye Xianggao gave him, letting this fool know again.

After seeing Ye Xianggao's letter, Yang Er was so angry that he wanted to print and distribute Ye Xianggao's letter so that the world, mainly Donglin, could see clearly that Ye Xianggao was a man with both ends.

But how could the Donglin Party watch Yang Lian defeat the person who was the leader in the cabinet?

In the end, under Wang Wenyan's mediation, Yang Lian gave up making trouble, while Ye Xianggao took the cabinet to submit a letter to persuade the emperor.

The courtiers had great opinions on Wei Zhongxian and asked him to go home because of his vanity.

Of course, Apocalypse would not allow it.

Then, Yang Lian gave Ye Xianggao a big job - to write a letter to impeach Wei Zhongxian for the twenty-four major crimes.

One of them is that Wei Zhongxian is illiterate.

Wei Zhongxian was furious and went to the cabinet to discuss the matter with Ye Xianggao.

Pointing to the cabinet minister Shen Huai, he asked Ye Xianggao, "He is the gentleman who taught me, this eunuch, how to read. Say it again, I am illiterate."

After this incident, Wei Zhongxian and Dong Lin completely fell out.

What happened immediately was that all the thirteen gentlemen in Donglin, led by Yang Lian, died tragically.

For the emperor Zhu Youxiao, the solution to Donglin was simple.

After knocking the leader, the pawns below can use their abilities to pass through the sieve one by one.

Those who can do things stay, and those who can't get out, it's easy to calm down.

The court of the Ming Dynasty only needed the emperor's voice, not the leaders of this party or that party.

Zhu Youxiao's estimate was correct. At noon that day, Zhang Wenda's memorial of begging for the bones was sent to him through the cabinet regarding the case of Uncle Long.

Seeing the word "reject" written by Han Xu, Zhu Youxiao showed a sneer on his lips.

"Three requests and three resignations are only needed when the emperor ascends the throne. A minister is not qualified."

Saying this silently in his heart, Zhu Youxiao took up a pen and checked out Han Xu's ticket and wrote the word "accurate".

Then, Zhu Youxiao turned to look at Liu Shimin and said.

"Order the six ministries to recommend the next Yushi of Zuodu."

"The slaves obey the order."

Upon hearing this, Liu Shimin bowed and ordered the eunuch to go and deliver the order.

Looking at the little eunuch leaving, I felt secretly in my heart.

For the position of Zuodu Yushi, anyone who is interested will jump out.

Bite it, bite it hard.

And just when the emperor was fishing for the position of Zuodu Yushi, the official road from the capital to Shanhaiguan was on the road.

The postman was riding a horse, galloping quickly.

Leaning forward, the postman tried his best to maintain the balance of his body.

As the horses galloped, the bell hanging around the horse's neck also made a rushing sound.

Far away, the postman on duty in Shui Ma Post heard the bell and immediately began to pull out the prepared post horse, get on his horse, and move forward along the official road.

There are two people in front and behind, the former is slow and the latter is fast.

When the two horses were running side by side, they were relatively still. On the horse's back, the two postmen completed the handover of the three-hundred-mile urgent official document.

Just like aerial refueling in later generations.

After getting the official document, the front horse began to accelerate and ran towards the capital.

Three hundred miles a day and night, this is currently the fastest way to deliver messages in the world.

This post system, formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang himself, was still used until the end of the Qing Dynasty when technological items such as the telegraph were introduced.

The post stations in the Ming Dynasty were divided into Shui Ma Post, Express Delivery Shop, and Delivery Station.

Responsible for regular express, expedited and cargo respectively.

Those water stations, horse stations, sedan stations, railway stations, donkey stations, dog stations, etc. of the Yuan Dynasty did not exist.

With the horse running wildly, in the evening of that day, they had arrived outside Andingmen.

From a long distance, the gatekeeper saw the postman with the flag on his back, and immediately shouted to the city gate.

"The postman is here, get out of the way!"

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"

Since the start of the Liaodong War, post soldiers have entered the city from Anding Gate almost every day. The soldiers guarding the gate have gained experience and immediately shouted to the people at the city gate.

"If you get hit and killed, you won't be compensated!"

(End of this chapter)