Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The name Hai Rui presented a difficult problem to Zhu Youjian.

Because Hai Rui became famous by admonishing the emperor, if Zhu Youjian listed him as a hero of the Purple Pavilion, wouldn't he be encouraging his officials to scold him?
And in terms of Hai Rui's achievements, his greatest achievements were the renovation of Wusong River and other water conservancy projects when he was the governor of Yingtian, as well as clearing land and implementing the One Whip Law.

With this achievement, he is the best among the Zige Xianchen, but there is still some gap between him and the Zige Meritorious Minister.

If Hai Rui hadn't been so famous, he might not have been mentioned at all.

The reason for Zhu Youjian's hesitation was that Hai Rui was very famous, even more famous than Yu Qian.

Listing such famous ministers as Purple Pavilion Meritors can make the Purple Pavilion Meritors more recognized. It is easier to publicize it to the people, and then let the people know about other people.

For example, Zhaoxun Pavilion in the Song Dynasty. If Bao Zheng is included, its reputation will definitely become very famous, not that few people know it——

After all, Bao Zheng was the man who single-handedly made Longtuge well-known to both women and children.

Hai Rui's reputation among the people is no less than that of Bao Zheng. After he became the hero of the Purple Pavilion, he was able to greatly increase the popularity of the hero of the Purple Pavilion and let the people know about the hero of the Purple Pavilion.

So when Zhu Youjian faced this name, he hesitated for a moment.

Without waiting for the emperor to make a decision, Yuan Keli, who had just helped the emperor list Lu Bing as a hero of the Purple Pavilion, said:
"Hai Rui was the censor of Youdu in Nanjing, and "Public Security Shu" can be regarded as a model for memorials."

"Lu Bing is a role model for the Imperial Guard and was listed in the Purple Pavilion by His Majesty."

"I think Hai Rui is a role model for the Three Laws Division, and he should also become a hero of the Purple Pavilion."

Yuan Keli, who was born as an official and was appointed by the emperor as the associate minister of the Three Laws Division, influenced many officials of the Three Laws Division.

Wang Yongguang, the censor of the left capital, Cheng Jiming, the censor of the right capital, Li Banghua, the censor of the left deputy capital, Su Maoxiang, the minister of the Ministry of punishment, and Zhang Jiude, the minister of Dali temple, all spoke in agreement. He believes that Hai Rui is indeed a role model for the Three Laws Division and should become a hero of the Purple Pavilion.

Li Ruoxing, the right servant of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, believed that Hai Rui's integrity could serve as an example for all officials in the world.

Liu Zongzhou, the censor of Qiandu, even compared Hai Rui with the famous remonstrator Wei Zheng, and believed that his memorials such as "Public Security Shu" were no less than Wei Zheng's "Ten Thoughts on Remonstrance to Taizong" and other famous works. Wei Zheng can be listed as a hero of Lingyan Pavilion, and Hai Rui can certainly be listed as a hero of Zi Pavilion.

These words moved many ministers, and they all agreed, believing that the emperor's inclusion of Hai Rui as a hero of the Purple Pavilion was a sign of humbly accepting advice.

I want to use the character Hai Rui to deny Emperor Jiajing's later actions. And let the current emperor take a warning and not learn from the shortcomings of Emperor Jiajing——

Otherwise, Hai Rui would still appear among the officials of the Ming Dynasty.

Even if Zhu Youjian didn't understand this subtle struggle between kings and ministers at first, he could see it after seeing that almost all the officials agreed with Hai Rui being listed as a hero of the Purple Pavilion.

However, he had no control over whether Hai Rui was listed as a hero of the Purple Pavilion. Since all the ministers agreed, he included Hai Rui.

After all, even if he is the emperor, if he gets into an argument with his ministers on this matter, the world will criticize him when they discuss it——

The common people would not think that Hai Rui was not qualified to be a hero of the Purple Pavilion. They would only think that the emperor was too narrow-minded to tolerate such an upright official.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian not only wanted to include Hai Rui in the list, he also wanted to be more radical than the officials and let everyone in the world know that he admired Hai Rui:

"Hai Rui is not only a role model for the Three Laws Division, but also a role model for governors, county magistrates, teachers, and people."

"How many people in the world are there who can promote people to official positions and achieve such feats?"

Enumeration of Hai Rui's achievements and his refusal to worship officials when he was an evangelist have become typical deeds. He also issued an edict allowing teachers not to kneel before officials in schools. All teachers can just bow to the officials in front of them. Use this attitude to further win over the hearts of scholars.

Then he asked officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs to describe Hai Rui's deeds as county magistrate and governor, and called on local officials to follow Hai Rui's example.

As for the Sanfa Division, they should even more admire Hai Rui. Zhu Youjian ordered the Sanfa Si to hang Hai Rui's famous aphorisms, and asked Dong Qichang to draw Hai Rui's portrait of the Purple Pavilion hero. After the painting was completed, he had it engraved and printed in the San Fa Si Yamen.

All officials of the Three Law Departments are called on to follow Hai Rui’s example, enforce the law impartially, and act with integrity.

After all the measures were taken, the expressions of the ministers changed a little. Because in his later years, Hai Rui gave a briefing to Emperor Wanli, he could take the eighty-pass argument about perverting the law during the Hongwu period as an example, and suggested that this method should be used to punish corrupt people——

If this standard is followed, nine out of ten officials present will be punished with death.

So some people were already a little scared and even secretly wiped away cold sweat.

Zhu Youjian looked at the appearance of these people, snorted in his heart, and decided to implement official property declaration as soon as possible to curb the spread of corruption.

Then, because Weiwei Temple belonged to a law enforcement agency, the yamen was ordered to also hang a portrait of Hai Rui. He also quoted Hai Rui's "Public Security Shu" and renamed the Prefecture and County Guards Departments below the provincial level to the Public Security Departments——

Use this method to strengthen the recognition of Weiwei Temple among the people and prepare for the full spread of Weiwei Temple institutions in the local area.

The ministers were a little numb after hearing this, but Zhu Youjian continued:

"Hai Rui was known for his integrity, so he was given the posthumous title of Uncle Integrity, and his descendants will hereditarily command the affairs."

"It is planned to be named the Susong City God, and serve as the God of the City God of Suzhou Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture, and allow worship in other places."

Place Hai Rui's City God's Temple in the south of the Yangtze River to suppress evil spirits in that area. Even outside Suzhou Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture, other places are allowed to worship Hai Rui.

Various measures showed his admiration for Hai Rui. From now on, no one can say that the emperor does not admire Hai Rui. Even after word spreads, Hai Rui's fame can be used to increase people's recognition of him as the emperor.

The ministers looked at each other in shock and felt that the emperor's gift to Hai Rui was too high, even higher than that of Shang Ren. Compared with Hai Rui's achievements, the praise is a bit excessive.

But they had just unanimously recommended Hai Rui to be a hero of the Purple Pavilion. It would be unjustifiable to change their words now.

And most people have the same worries as the emperor -

That is, if you speak out against it, the people will scold you.

Therefore, under such circumstances, Hai Rui's gift was approved. The ministers tacitly put this matter aside and discussed the next hero of the Purple Pavilion.

This Purple Pavilion hero was easy to choose, because the emperor had clearly stated long ago that Yu Qian, Zhang Juzheng, and Qi Jiguang were the Purple Pavilion heroes.

When both Yu Qian and Qi Jiguang were selected, Zhang Juzheng, a minister during the Longqing and Wanli years, was elected as the hero of the Purple Pavilion by the ministers.

Zhu Youjian's praise of Zhang Juzheng was consistent and he believed that he could be called the minister of salvation. His various measures made the Ming Dynasty, which had seemed stale for more than 200 years after its founding, regain its vitality during the Wanli period and create an unprecedented prosperous age.

For such a first assistant, Zhu Youjian can tolerate even if he has some shortcomings. Therefore, after Zhang Juzheng was elected as the hero of the Purple Pavilion, he ordered:
"Zhang Juzheng was given the posthumous title of Duke of Jiangling and hereditary commander for his descendants."

"It is planned to seal off the city god of Huguang Province and allow local worship."

This is the second meritorious figure besides Yu Qian to be awarded a posthumous title to a duke and to be granted the title of Provincial City God. Even Zhu Yong, who was posthumously given the title of county king before, was only the city god of Yongping Prefecture.

It can be said that this is a clear indication that the emperor believes that Yu Qian and Zhang Juzheng have equal merits, and they can rank among the top two among the heroes of the Purple Pavilion.

Most of the officials felt that this gift was a bit high. Especially some people still have criticisms against Zhang Juzheng——

After all, the examination method he left behind was already torturing officials after it was adopted by the emperor.

Therefore, many courtiers expressed their opinion that the gift to Zhang Juzheng was too high, and the posthumous gift to Jiangling Bo and the City God of Jingzhou Prefecture was enough.

Some people even take Zhang Juzheng's words such as "I am not a prime minister, but a photographer" and think that he is stealing Tai'a and monopolizing the government.

The emperor cannot praise such ministers too much.

Faced with these remarks, Zhu Youjian sighed and said:
"Even though Zhang Juzheng made some mistakes, as long as he has no intention of usurping the throne, he is worthy of my bestowal."

"Throughout the ages, there are only a few people such as Duke Zhou and Marquis Zhuge Wu who can help the young master to govern the world with his heart and have no different intentions."

"Zhang Juzheng devoted himself to the country, but Shenzong was deceived for a while and mistakenly thought that Duke Jiangling was disloyal. This was Shenzong's fault." "If I want to bring order to the chaos, I must give him many gifts."

As he spoke, he said to the ministers in a serious voice:
"I hope that when a young master appears again in the Ming Dynasty, Duke Jiangling will appear again."

"In this way, the king and his ministers get along well with each other and share the same concerns with the country, which is a good story."

"Zhang Juzheng's contribution is the same as that of Yu Qian, and they all belong to Sheji!"

These words deeply touched many ministers. Who doesn’t want to get along with the emperor and his ministers and leave a good story?

No matter how bad Zhang Juzheng was, he protected his young master and bravely shouldered important responsibilities, so he was a meritorious official.

The current emperor wanted to restore the influence of the previous Emperor Shenzong's harsh treatment of Zhang Juzheng through numerous gifts. It was really hard for them to object.

Some people even have the same hope in their hearts to protect the young master and be listed in the Purple Pavilion——

After all, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty generally did not live long. Regardless of their age, many of the courtiers present felt that they could still see the new emperor.

If the new emperor is a young master, then they have the opportunity to become the new Zhang Juzheng and be listed in the Purple Pavilion.

Therefore, at Zhu Youjian's insistence, Zhang Juzheng's gift was approved.

However, he had no objections to Zhang Juzheng, so he warned the ministers:
"Zhang Juzheng's support of the young master is worth learning from, but his subsequent love of power should also be taken as a warning."

"King Wen was crowned at the age of twelve, and he was crowned at the age of fifteen. After that, the Duke of Zhou returned to power and observed the etiquette of his ministers."

"Zhang Juzheng always taught Shenzong strictly. Not only did he not return to power when Shenzong was twelve years old, but he also failed to completely retire when Shenzong was fifteen. This was his fault, and it was also his fault that Shenzong was provoked and misunderstood out of anger. The reason for his infidelity.”

"The Duke of Jiangling that I gave to Zhang Juzheng is a county prince. This is why."

"If it starts well and ends well, why should I be stingy with the Duke of the country or even the king of the county?"

It is believed that Zhang Juzheng's achievements, if he started well and ended well, would be enough to posthumously reward him to the prince.

The ministers wiped their sweat after hearing this, and they were glad that the emperor did not give Zhang Juzheng a posthumous gift of the King of Jiangling. But thinking about the emperor's comments, I became even more aware of the difficulty of protecting the young master——

If the relationship with the young master cannot be handled well, even if he achieves Zhang Juzheng's achievements, he may bring disaster to the family.

They even felt that the emperor was warning the ministers who would assist the young master in the future that they had better take the initiative to retire after the young master could handle the government affairs. Otherwise, the fate of the Zhang family will serve as a lesson to others.

Liu Zongzhou, who was responsible for reproducing ritual music, was inspired by this and said to the emperor:

"What Your Majesty said is true and well-intentioned."

"I thought that the etiquette should be established, the emperor would be crowned twelve, and he would start to deal with political affairs."

"When he reaches the age of fifteen, the minister who was originally in charge must retire."

It was planned to use this ritual system to regulate the relationship between the young emperor and the ministers in power.

Zhu Youjian nodded when he heard this, quite approving of it.

Although he himself did not need to use this system, if the Ming Dynasty could survive the crisis and continue, it would indeed be possible for a young ruler to emerge and an actual regent to emerge in the future. It will always be better if there are clear institutional constraints.

Of course, these are still preliminary discussions. The regulations will be more detailed in the future.

After Zhang Juzheng's gift was decided, the ministers thought that Dong, Li, Xima and other generals would be next. Unexpectedly, the emperor came up with another name that surprised them. He was someone who had never served in the court:

"Zhu Zaiyu, the crown prince of the Duanqing Dynasty, his calculation of the twelve equal laws is guiding the Ming Dynasty to remake rituals and music."

"The calendars and other books presented previously also have many merits."

"Qin Tianjian has proposed to me to revise the Ming Dynasty calendar based on its "Wannian Calendar"."

"For such a person with outstanding merits and outstanding virtues, I think he should be included in the Purple Pavilion Heroes."

The ministers were completely stunned when they heard this. They never expected that the emperor would propose a person who had nothing to do with the government.

According to the emperor, Zhu Zaiyu, the crown prince of the Duanqing Dynasty, was listed as a hero of the Purple Pavilion based on his knowledge and virtue.

This made many ministers dissatisfied, thinking that the emperor was purely to praise the clan, so he proposed this person.

This is also true. Because of the cases of Tang Fan and Chu Fan, Zhu Youjian felt that he had lost face and the clan was criticized some time ago.

In order to set an example for the clan and avoid causing trouble for himself in the future, he decided to include Zhu Zaiyu among the Purple Pavilion Heroes and publicize it well——

We need to let the world know that the clan is not all useless, there are meritorious officials who have made contributions and outstanding moral character.

However, this proposal was opposed by many ministers. Even Xu Guangqi, who was also accomplished in calendars and mathematics, did not think that Zhu Zaiyu could be listed as a hero of the Purple Pavilion based on these alone.

Faced with their opposition, Zhu Youjian took a roundabout way and asked the ministers:

"Do you think that among the current ministers of the imperial court, who will have the chance to become a hero of the Purple Pavilion in the future?"

This topic is a bit big, and it involves ministers in the court. Many people dare not speak nonsense for fear of offending others.

Yuan Keli was still senior and courageous. He ignored the eyes of others and said:

"If Zhu Xieyuan, the governor of Sichuan and Guizhou, can completely pacify the southwest, he will become a hero of the Purple Pavilion like Wang Ji."

"Sun Chengzong, the governor of Liaodong, if he can pacify the Jianqi, he should be a hero of the Purple Pavilion."

"Liu Zongzhou, the censor of Qiandu, should be a hero of the Purple Pavilion if he can successfully recreate the ritual music."

This is the person he thinks is most likely to become a hero of the Purple Pavilion.

The ministers nodded after hearing this, thinking that the most promising people at the moment were indeed these three people.

Among them, Zhu Xieyuan has the greatest hope, because with Zhu Xieyuan's ability, he has a high probability of pacifying the Southwest. If it hadn't been for the delay he encountered with Ding You before, he might have put down the rebellion in She'an long ago. Comparing Wang Ji's merits, he can be listed as a hero of the Purple Pavilion.

Sun Chengzong can only say that there is hope, but the chance is not great. Many people have realized that Jianlu is a formidable enemy that cannot be defeated in a short time. Given Sun Chengzong's age, he might just be the founder. Whether he can become a hero of the Purple Pavilion in the future depends on how many achievements he made during his tenure as the governor of Liaodong.

As for Liu Zongzhou, if he really completes the reconstruction of ritual music and successfully implements it, even a sage can be qualified, let alone the purple pavilion hero seat——

But he is also the most dangerous, because if the reconstruction of ritual music fails, he may die and his reputation will be ruined.

These three people are currently the most promising people in the Ming Dynasty to be named the heroes of the Purple Pavilion. Others don't say they have no chance, but they are all smaller than them.

Even Kong Zhenyun, who presided over the tribute of Lin Dan Khan, Yuan Keli, who contributed to the pacification of the White Lotus Sect and the recovery of southern Liaoning, and Huang Liji, who assisted the emperor in ascending to the throne... the officials only thought that they had reserved the seats of the wise ministers in the Purple Pavilion, but they left The hero of the Purple Pavilion was far away, and it could even be said that he did not see the opportunity.

Among the military generals, Man Gui and other generals were far from becoming the heroes of the Purple Pavilion, but they were still short of the merits of quelling the rebellion or destroying the country.

After such discussion, the ministers somewhat understood what the emperor meant. Because although Liu Zongzhou presided over the reconstruction of ritual music, Liu Zongzhou was proficient in rituals, and the music theory came from Zhu Zaiyu.

If the reconstruction of ritual music is successful, although Zhu Zaiyu's achievements cannot be said to be comparable to Liu Zongzhou's, he is qualified to become a hero of the Purple Pavilion.

It is indeed reasonable for the emperor to list him as a hero of the Purple Pavilion for this reason. (End of chapter)