Zhu Yuanzhang can see my dreams

Chapter 340 Eunuchs’ Abuse of Power Begins with Emperor Yingzong

Zhu Yuanzhang and his son reached a consensus on the White Lotus Sect.

Any threat to the Ming Dynasty’s rule must never be allowed to occur.

With the emperor's approval, the case progressed quickly.

After Shangyuan County handed over the reward money to Jiangning County, the head of the Ministry of Justice came with an order.

Arrest the yamen runners, clerks, county magistrates and registrars who were related to Wu Qingfu.

Anyway, now that Wu Qingfu has been brought to trial alone, many people have been implicated.

Everyone was preparing to celebrate for solving the cannibal case, but unexpectedly they all ended up in Jiangning County Jail.

Those people who joined the White Lotus Sect because they were forced by Wu Qingfu and had no other choice were all released and sent home at the suggestion of Empress Ma, but the able-bodied laborers in their families had to repair the river embankment for one month without pay.

It was just right to free up the cells for the yamen runners in Shangyuan County.

Especially after the people saw these "officials" being arrested, they were even more grateful to the emperor.

In fact, when Wang Buli heard the verdict, he felt it was a bit lenient and not like Zhu Yuanzhang's style at all.

These people were not killed but were sent to the north to cultivate the land, which was already a great mercy outside the law.
However, Shangyuan County Magistrate Ding Haidong broke free from the control of the yamen runners and wanted to find Wang Buli to ask for clarification, but was pinned to the ground.

He put his face to the ground and shouted: "My Lord, for the sake of our past friendship, please let me die knowingly. I have nothing to do with the White Lotus Sect, why are you arresting us!"

Wang Buli glanced at Ding Haidong who was being held down: "Wu Qingfu."

Ding Haidong was at a loss for words and said quickly:

"I don't know what he did, I just accepted the gift."

Wang Buli did not believe a word of this evasive statement.

A Dianshi, as the local boss, is the actual person in power who directly controls the county.

He doesn't even know what's happening on the ground, so he can only pretend not to know.

Wang Buli just waved his hand and had him taken away.

Once he was put in jail and interrogated, he naturally knew everything.

The White Lotus incident was easily let go, but the fact that officials forced the people to rebel was no small matter.

What's more, Yan Yulong of the White Lotus Sect has not yet revealed the mastermind behind the scenes.

If this kind of leader is not arrested, there will be more trouble in the future.

"Bell Cow."

"exist."

Wang Buli motioned for Jiang Huan to take out a booklet:
"According to the roll call on the roster, take people over to help maintain the situation at the Shangyuan County Office to avoid any major chaos. Once you are there, do not be too forceful. I will let you take over the position of Shangyuan County Dianshi temporarily."

Hearing this, Zhong Niu was stunned for a moment, then immediately knelt down to Wang Buli and thanked the prince consort for his promotion.

"I value your ability." Wang Buli motioned him to stand up:
"The final appointment will be decided by the Ministry of Personnel. If you work hard, your future will not be that of a ninth-rank official. Don't be reckless and don't embarrass me."

"I will remember the Prince Consort's teachings."

Zhong Niu felt that after Wang Buli said this, his position as Dianshi was secured.

Otherwise, why would I remind myself of these things?
So Zhong Niu took some experienced officials and helpers from Jiangning County and left.

On the contrary, the files of clerks can be transferred directly. Even if they are of the lowest rank in the Ming Dynasty, they are still officials. Unlike clerks, the procedures are naturally more cautious.

After Zhong Niu left, his apprentice Yu Huojin temporarily took over the position of chief constable. The specific appointment still had to wait for Zhong Niu to finalize it.

In case the people in the Ministry of Personnel do not think that Zhong Niu is capable of doing the job, they will have to return it to keep a position for him.

However, in the eyes of other people in Jiangning County, this is not the case.

There is really a future to follow the prince consort Wang Buli!
This means that the person was sent directly to Shangyuan County to work as an official.

Temporary positions can be converted to formal positions, and the formal establishment can be further promoted.

Moreover, the prince consort also said that even if they went to Shangyuan County, they would still receive a share of the subsidy for their efforts that month at the beginning of the month.

Once the personnel in Shangyuan County are in place, the vacant positions in Jiangning County will also be filled.

In short, a lot of vacancies became available in Shangyuan County, and the people in Jiangning County were very happy.

Just by relying on this trick, Wang Buli managed to subdue a group of people in Jiangning County Government.

If you want to cause trouble again under such treatment, it will not be my fault as your superior. You’d better take care of yourself.

However, although Wang Buli did not guarantee the job for Zhong Niu, the Ministry of Personnel would not reject it because of the emperor's favor towards the son-in-law, and it was not an important position for him to be assigned.

The position of Shangyuan County magistrate is what Hu Weiyong and others need to care about.

Zhu Yuanzhang entered the fairyland very abruptly.

This time there was no time to bring Crown Prince Zhu Biao with him.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't understand why there were rules for entering the fairyland that he could react to before, but now there are no rules at all.

Previous experience was completely useless, and his son Zhu Di's entry into the fairyland was an accident.

As a result, Zhu Di stayed at home and did not go out for the past few days.

Even though the entire city of Nanjing was celebrating the capture of the cannibal's real culprit, no one went out to see the excitement.

Zhu Yuanzhang, on the contrary, felt that the fourth brother was currently in great trouble, and he didn't care.

He soon became familiar with sitting in front of the giant screen, waiting for the show.

In the first month of the tenth year of Xuande, the emperor passed away and his will stated that all important state affairs would be handled by Empress Dowager Zhang.

The throne was succeeded by the 8-year-old Emperor Zhu Qizhen.

"Eight years old?"

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his eyebrows slightly. He didn't expect that there was someone younger than Wanli who ascended the throne at the age of ten.

He calculated a little further back and realized how old Xuande was when he died young.

Zhu Yuanzhang actually found it a little difficult to accept.

Why don’t our descendants live long?

Almost all of them died in their young and middle-aged years. Could it be that they were overworked?
This couldn't help but remind Zhu Yuanzhang of Jiajing. This old guy had never done much work in his life, but he practiced Taoism and took elixirs, and yet he lived a long life.

The ascension of a child emperor to the throne creates new problems and tensions.

Because of the system established by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, all power belongs to the emperor.

But it was obviously unrealistic to let Zhu Qizhen, who was only eight years old, handle government affairs. He had to decide national affairs with the assistance of grand secretaries and ministers.

A young emperor was nominally the head of state, but in reality the Ming Dynasty was in a state of leaderlessness.

Although no one could officially become regent, a de facto regent group had to be established to "help the young emperor" deal with state affairs.

This kind of situation is similar to what happened after the Ming Dynasty.

It is extremely easy to lead to the establishment of illegal dictatorial power and inevitably undermine the stability of the central leadership of the court.

When Emperor Xuande died unexpectedly after a short illness, Empress Dowager Zhang led a de facto regency.

She was originally a commoner, but became the daughter-in-law of Emperor Yongle, the wife of Emperor Hongxi and the mother of Emperor Xuande.

She represented and maintained the continuity and legitimacy of the Ming Dynasty.

Especially the harem is not allowed to interfere in political affairs.

Zhu Yuanzhang felt that Emperor Xuande had gone against his wishes.

But now it seems that the will allowing the empress to serve as regent can ensure that Xuande's son will succeed to the throne smoothly, rather than his brother succeeding with the support of the Empress Dowager.

motherfucker.

The descendants of later generations do not violate the ancestral rules when they should, and violate them when they should not, right?
The more Zhu Yuanzhang looked at it, the more helpless he felt.

He was totally powerless to stop this kind of thing.

When a young emperor comes to the throne, it is inevitable that there will be a regent.

Whether it is the harem or the court officials, someone always has to step forward.

Compared with eunuchs interfering in politics, Zhu Yuanzhang was more likely to accept the first two.

At this time, in order to ensure his son's succession to the throne, Zhu Yuanzhang believed that Xuande had done his best.

To be honest, there will be considerable problems with the handover of power between the emperor and his brother.

When Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne, there were three grand secretaries and three eunuchs in the regency group with the Empress Dowager.

Three Yangs.

They are all from the South.

Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong had served several generations of emperors since the Yongle period. They were both experienced, capable and held great power.

Southerner?

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed again.

Although he has done his best to prevent southerners from occupying many positions in the court, southerners still have considerable advantages in terms of the imperial examinations, and they are also very easy to form groups and have complicated relationships.

The harem, eunuchs, and powerful officials, these three situations that Zhu Yuanzhang didn't want, all came together. Fortunately, the queen had always been from a humble family, and there were no relatives outside the family causing trouble.

Zhu Yuanzhang watched patiently, and then the introduction of the eunuch Wang Zhen popped up.

In order to teach the women in the palace, Emperor Yongle persuaded a group of Confucian teachers to voluntarily undergo castration, and Wang Zhen was one of them. He had great advantages when entering the inner study hall.

"what?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes widened, and the fourth brother gave him a big job.

The women in the palace have to be literate, so these people have to be castrated?
If you really want to teach women knowledge, you can't teach them in public during the day, right?

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't understand. He remembered that there were many female officials in the palace. Couldn't they teach some Confucian knowledge?
Oh, so we have to teach the little eunuch to read!
Zhu Yuanzhang slapped the chair angrily. He really turned a deaf ear to our advice, didn’t he?
He was good at writing and was much better at playing political games than the other eunuchs who "only knew" how to teach. He soon won the favor of Emperor Xuande, who asked him to serve the Crown Prince Zhu Qizhen in his studies.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned. Why did Xuande, that bastard, still like to use eunuchs so much?

He didn't take our words to heart!

Zhu Yuanzhang was furious. It was only a few generations apart!
Even the great-grandson does not take the ancestral rules seriously.

With more generations between them, do they still have the ancestral rules in their hearts?
Wang Zhen was from the north (Shanxi) and was from the same hometown as the Empress Dowager.

Compared with other regents, he is still very young.

Zhu Qizhen was young and in awe of Wang Zhen, so he called him "Sir" instead of his name.

"what?"

Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to go up and slap Zhu Qizhen twice to let him see for himself.

The emperor calls a eunuch "sir", you want him to be Zhao Gao, right?

In order to consolidate his position, Wang Zhen pretended to be pretentious and used political tactics to win the favor of cabinet ministers such as the "Three Yangs".

Zhu Qizhen and a young eunuch were playing ball in the palace, and the ball stopped when it reached its limit.

The next day, Zhu Qizhen was in the pavilion, and Wang Zhen knelt and said:

"The previous emperor almost led the world astray because of a ball, and Your Majesty is following his example, what a fool you are!"

He acted like a loyal person, which moved the Three Yangs so much that they sighed: "There are also capable people among the eunuchs."

Every time Wang Zhen went to the cabinet to convey an imperial edict, he pretended to be respectful and careful.

He stood outside the pavilion, not daring to go in. The Three Yangs called him in and sat down, treating him with great favor.

But secretly he colluded with internal and external bureaucrats to steal power.

Half a year after Zhu Qizhen became emperor (July of the tenth year of Xuande), the Empress Dowager ordered Wang Zhen to review the troops outside Chaoyang Gate with civil and military officials. Wang Zhen lied that Ji Guang, the commander of the Right Guard of Longqing, who was a close friend of his, was the best in riding and shooting, and he was promoted to the position of commander-in-chief.

At first, Empress Dowager Zhang was wary of Wang Zhen.

One day after Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne, Empress Dowager Zhang summoned Duke of Yingguo Zhang Fu, Grand Secretaries Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, Yang Pu, and Shangshu Hu Dan to the side hall and said to Zhu Qizhen:
"These five ministers were selected by the previous dynasty to be sent to the emperor. If anything is to be done, it must be discussed with them. It cannot be done without the approval of these five people."

Jie Ting summoned Wang Zhen and said, "You have been serving the emperor without following the rules. I shall sentence you to death now."

After requests from Zhu Qizhen and the ministers present, Wang Zhen was pardoned and it was stipulated that "he shall not be allowed to interfere in state affairs from now on."

"what?"

Zhu Yuanzhang never expected that the person who would execute his ancestral system would be the master of the harem.

And it seems that the mistress of the harem did not steal power, she just expressed her opinion on the emperor's ascension to the throne.

As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang began to value Zhang somewhat.

Zhu Yuanzhang also felt that Zhang wanted to warn him, but he did it after all.

But Wang Zhen was good at observing people's words and expressions and showed his loyalty everywhere.

In the fourth year of the Zhengtong reign, Liao Mo, the assistant censor of Fujian, beat the postmaster to death.

Yicheng was from the hometown of cabinet minister Yang Pu, while Liao Mo was from the hometown of cabinet minister Yang Shiqi.

Yang Pu wanted to avenge Liao Mo for his postmaster and sentenced him to death, but Yang Shiqi protected Liao Mo and charged him with "killing in the line of duty" and said, "The dispute is unresolved, please execute the empress dowager."

Wang Zhen took the opportunity to say to the Queen Mother: "Both of them are from the same hometown. The punishment for life is too heavy, and the punishment for public service is too light. They should be demoted."

The Empress Dowager agreed and appointed Jiang Mo as co-governor.

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed. The local people were very useful when conquering the world, but they were a hindrance when governing the world.

It is impossible for a person to be good at all relationships.

Seeing how "impartial and selfless" he handled things, the Queen Mother gradually came to trust him.

After the construction of the imperial palace was completed, Zhu Qizhen held a banquet for all officials. According to the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty, even if the eunuchs were favored, they were not allowed to attend the royal banquet.

Zhu Qizhen was afraid that Wang Zhen would be unhappy, so he sent someone to see what he was doing.

The visitor found Wang Zhen in a rage, comparing himself to the Duke of Zhou, saying, "Duke of Zhou assisted King Cheng, so why can't I sit with him?"

Zhu Qizhen quickly asked someone to open the middle gate of Donghuamen and invited Wang Zhen to attend the banquet. Before he entered the door, all the officials present hurriedly stood up to greet him.

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were a little dazed when he saw this scene.

He's really become Zhao Gao, right?

It's just a case of calling a deer a horse.

Even the emperor is afraid of a eunuch being unhappy. What the hell is this!
Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to take off his shoes and throw them onto the giant screen.

After that, Empress Dowager Zhang died, the person who could control Wang Zhen the most died, Yang Rong also died first, and Yang Shiqi resigned because his son was arrested for murder. Only Yang Pu, the oldest one, was left alone and weak.

Wang Zhen had nothing to worry about.

He is superstitious about Buddhism and prefers money.

More than 20,000 certificates of ordination were sold in the spring and summer alone, filling the streets of Beijing with monks and Taoists.

Not only that, he also openly sold official positions and accepted bribes.

The mansion built with the looted money was as magnificent as the imperial palace.

Wang Zhen stood in the harem and watched with his own eyes as the palace servants removed the prohibition tablet set up by Zhu Yuanzhang that prohibited eunuchs from interfering in state affairs.

Zhu Yuanzhang stood up suddenly.

After seeing so many cases of eunuchs' dictatorship, I finally found the reason.

It turns out that the root of the problem was this. Eliminating this matter so openly was simply touching Zhu Yuanzhang's bottom line.

His veins were exposed and he wished he could cut Wang Zhen into pieces and kill him along with his entire clan!

Even though Zhu Yuanzhang was so discouraged, Wang Zhen in the big screen still held all the power and had many private cliques.

All dukes, marquises, and relatives of the emperor called him "Father Weng".

Zhu Yuanzhang fell back into his trap. The descendants of these dukes and nobles are so bad!

What happened to Ming Dynasty?
How could it be like the founding period when everyone fought bravely and wanted to make a name for themselves?

The eunuchs' monopoly of power in the Ming Dynasty began with Wang Zhen.

Zhu Yuanzhang began to study how Wang Zhen had seized power in the Ming Dynasty.

First, he established personal control over the emperor.

Wang Zhen was the emperor's enlightenment teacher before he ascended the throne.

Later, the dignified Yang Shiqi, who was over 70 years old at the time, was responsible for Zhu Qizhen's study of classics, and gave lectures to the new emperor on important matters of the country and the empire.

As the new emperor's enlightenment teacher, Wang Zhen continued to exert influence and control over him, taking the child to see the training ground of the Beijing defenders, which he was more interested in.

To the young emperor, this eunuch was still his teacher to the fullest.

Second, he needed allies.

This eunuch from the Imperial Household Department was able to win over a group of political followers. Those officials who curry favor with the powerful fawned on him and wanted to become his sons.

When the Empress Dowager was alive and could have killed him, Wang Zhen acted cautiously and was able to pretend to follow the advice of senior university scholars.

But after her death, he persuaded the elderly ministers not to take an active part in politics and to shift the heavy burden of drafting imperial edicts to others, in an attempt to concentrate the responsibilities of the cabinet in his own hands.

The court respected him, listened to him, and flattered him, mainly because the young emperor still admired and respected his former teacher.

Moreover, Wang Zhen was smarter than the eunuchs who came after him and knew how to better control the emperor.

Only in this way could he jump up and down in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang had seen the consequences of eunuchs' misrule more than once, and each time it made him extremely angry.

He has clearly made so many arrangements, why are these descendants so disobedient!
As the emperor, he actually allowed the eunuchs to exercise power on his behalf, making the entire Ming Dynasty a chaotic place!
He is a eunuch, yet he dares to kill the prince consort!

This is really unreasonable.

Zhu Yuanzhang's anger was evident in his words.

In the past, Zhu Yuanzhang never saw those eunuchs who abused their power remove the stone tablets they had erected.

In this case, even if the imperial palace in later generations re-erected this prohibition monument, what difference would it make from Sima Yi farting in Luo River?
Although Zhu Yuanzhang had taken precautions against eunuchs before, he was not too harsh on them. He just took the opportunity to punish a group of eunuchs, making them live in fear day and night and dare not work dishonestly.

To be on the safe side, no eunuchs will be allowed to enter the palace from now on.

We can’t let them read and write anymore!
(End of this chapter)