Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The reason why Zhu Youjian completely denied Li Sancai was because he hated the behavior of this kind of people the most.

Some civil officials, represented by Li Sancai, were very good at seizing power and even managed their reputations, which won praise from both the government and the public.

But if we count their achievements, these people have not made much. For example, after Li Sancai seized the power of the Grand Canal Transport Commander, he had no ability to manage the army.

The Cao army had 120,000 soldiers and more than 100 garrisons along the coast, which seemed to be a strong force to Zhu Youjian. However, in the hands of civil officials such as Li Sancai, they were basically abandoned.

Therefore, after learning about the current situation of the grain transport, Zhu Youjian insisted on re-establishing the post of grain transport commander-in-chief and using military honors.

This naturally caused a backlash among the civil servants. The Minister of Revenue Bi Ziyan said:
"When the Grand Canal Transport Commander existed in the past, there were many illegal activities and the soldiers and guards were used arbitrarily."

"And if it takes a long time to be dismissed, we should take a long-term view."

Zhu Youjian was still angry and scolded:
"Even if the Grand Canal Transport Commander is guilty of something illegal, he will not allow the Canal Gang to grow too powerful."

"What I hate most is that some officials only know how to seize power, but never consider whether they have the ability to use it."

"If the governor of the grain transport industry could manage the army properly, why would I discuss the affairs of the grain transport gang in the court?"

"It is imperative to re-establish the post of the Grand Canal Transport Commander, who will be responsible for managing the grain transport troops."

"The Governor of the Canal Transport also serves as the Protector of the Canal Army, and under him is a Guard Commander, who coordinates the relationship between the Canal Army and the prefectures and counties along the route."

These words made some civil servants feel ashamed, but they also felt relieved.

Because the emperor did not re-establish the position of the Governor-General of the Canal Transport, which was above the Governor-General of the Canal Transport, but the Canal Transport General who was in charge of the Canal Army. The status of the two was at most equal, and the Canal Transport General was even lower.

The power over grain transport seized by civil officials basically remained, only the power over military management was divided.

So they could only listen silently as the emperor used Li Sancai to criticize the behavior of some civil servants.

Some people even thought that the emperor's evaluation was correct, and that some civil servants, represented by Li Sancai, were such people.

Even Liu Zongzhou, who had once defended Li Sancai, did not defend him this time.

Gu Xiancheng once compared Li Sancai with Confucius, but his successor Qian Qianyi did not comment on this at this time.

After the establishment of the Purple Pavilion Meritorious Officials and the Purple Pavilion Wise Officials, most of the officials now have some idea of ​​what kind of things are considered meritorious in the eyes of the emperor.

Although Li Sancai was well-known and praised for suppressing tax collectors and caring for the people, he really had no outstanding achievements compared with other meritorious and virtuous officials.

The emperor's total denial of him, and even using him as the opposite of Li Hualong, made some officials feel awe-inspiring, knowing that the current emperor needed officials who could do things. Only by doing practical things could they have the opportunity to be listed in the Purple Pavilion.

Zhu Youjian vented his anger and warned his ministers that after they worked hard, they should stop while they were ahead and not cause a bigger backlash.

Next, he discussed with his ministers and clarified the duties of the general commander of the grain transport and the governor of the grain transport. He also set up three assistant generals and a military commander to be in charge of the river sections in northern Zhili, Shandong, and southern Zhili respectively.

Zhu Youjian made specific requirements for the three lieutenant generals:
"The three lieutenant generals will select elite soldiers from the Cao army and establish a lieutenant general camp of at least 6,000 people."

"In the future, if there is unrest in places near the canal, such as the northern and southern Zhili, Shandong, and Henan, the first troops the court will dispatch will be these three battalions of lieutenants."

"In the future, they will rely on the canal to train their rapid mobility capabilities."

Zhu Youjian regarded the canal as the railway of later generations. Instead of abandoning it, he strengthened the power of the grain transport office and established independent taxation departments, court officials, and military officials to be responsible for taxation and judicial enforcement.

He also ordered the Minister of War Yuan Keli to demarcate defense zones for the three lieutenant generals' camps and formulate the order of troop deployment in the event of local unrest. He also set up a shipping company and appeased the interest groups related to the grain transport:

“Although there is competition between maritime and canal transport, it is not a life-and-death relationship.”

“Even if shipping matures in the future, the canal will never be abandoned.”

"Its function is not only to transport food, but also to mobilize troops, transport goods, and transport people."

"The Canal Transport Office will set up a canal shipping group in the future and cooperate with the garrisons along the route to establish a shipping company."

"After the reduction of grain transport capacity, the Canal Shipping Group can operate independently and share profits with its subordinate shipping companies." This decision made some officials related to the canal transport very happy.

Because the largest transport capacity of the grain transport was used to transport grain. Even if the officials in charge of the grain transport wanted to smuggle grain, they did not dare to wantonly erode the transport capacity of the grain.

Now the emperor has released the reduced transport capacity of the grain transport and allowed them to set up companies to operate independently. This is a great thing for all officials related to the grain transport.

It means that their smuggling has come out of the underground and they can use the canal transport openly.

Moreover, the three adjutant-general camps set up along the canal also showed the emperor's attitude.

For the stability of North and South Zhili and Shandong and Henan, the canal could not be abandoned.

This made many officials who supported the grain transport feel relieved and turned to support sea transport. After all, the more grain that can be transported by sea, the more capacity for grain transport will be freed up.

It can be said that at this time, sea transportation truly became a consensus in the court, and there was no longer any resistance.

The officials of the Ministry of Works were especially supportive of the transfer of grain to sea transport. In the past, they had many concerns when managing the river in order to preserve the grain transport. Now, although the emperor has made it clear that the canal will continue to be preserved, transporting goods and people is not as important as the grain transport. They have more room to play when managing the river.

So all the ministers expressed their support for sea transportation in the court.

Only the officials of the Ministry of Revenue were still unwilling to not be able to intervene in maritime transport. After all, the former Governor of the Grand Canal and the Governor of Tianjin both had titles from the Ministry of Revenue. The absence of officials from the Ministry of Revenue in maritime transport made them feel uneasy.

In order to get the officials of the Ministry of Revenue to support sea transportation, Zhu Youjian considered it and issued an order:
"Maritime transport is related to food security, and customs is even more related to taxation."

"These two matters are mainly managed by the Navy Guard. In the future, the Navy Guard will be given the title of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and will have to return to the Ministry of Revenue in the capital at least once a month."

"Minister Bi, Minister Guo, are you satisfied now?"

When Bi Ziyan and Guo Yunhou heard this, they immediately realized that this was a warning from the emperor, blaming them for allowing the Cao Gang to cause trouble some time ago.

However, the Navy Guard was given the title of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and had to return to Beijing at least once a month, which did give the Ministry of Revenue the opportunity to interfere in the Navy.

This made them convinced of the emperor's treatment and they knelt on the ground to apologize.

Zhu Youjian gave them a slight slap and did not continue to punish them. After all, the tax-sharing system and the collection of arrears required their efforts.

In the end, the responsibility for the Cao Gang's riot fell on Guo Shangyou, the governor of the Cao Transport. Guo Shangyou, who was far away in Huai'an, suffered a sudden disaster and was dismissed by the emperor for failing to discipline him.

However, Zhu Youjian did not abandon him. Instead, he used his power to decide on overseas martial law zones and established the post of Nanyang Governor temporarily stationed in Dongning, appointing Guo Shangyou to the post.

He hoped that Guo Shangyou, an official who was familiar with the canal merchants, could encourage some merchants along the canal to turn their attention overseas.

At the same time, he used the post of Governor of Nanyang to coordinate the development of Nanyang by Zheng Zhilong and others and transport grain from Nanyang to the north.

The vacant post of the Governor of the Grand Canal would be replaced next year due to the term limit. The temporary candidate was recommended by the nine ministers.

This time, the issue of the Cao Gang was resolved in a short time, and even the highest official in charge of the grain transport was replaced. All the officials who attended the meeting felt awe-inspiring. They believed that the emperor was neither indulgent nor confused, because the Cao Gang issue affected the stability of the court.

Moreover, the emperor's balance between grain transport, maritime transport, civil officials, military honors, the court, and local areas made some people feel more and more that it was exquisite, and they were very impressed.

Compared with the emperor's methods, Li Sancai did not distribute the power of the Grand Canal Commander properly after he seized it. He can indeed be said to be unable to use power.

If he had paid a little more attention to the grain transport army and allocated their defense areas properly, the affairs of the grain transport would not have been so chaotic, allowing the grain transport gang, which the grain transport government could not fully control, to grow stronger.

Therefore, the nine ministers felt that a capable official should be promoted as the new governor of the grain transport system, so that the emperor would not continue to despise the civil officials and think that they would not be able to use their power.

In the end, Zheng Sanjun, a capable leader of the Donglin Party who had served as the Left Vice-Censor-in-Chief and the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was recommended by the court officials to be reinstated as the Governor-General of the Grain Transport System.

Zhu Youjian knew this person and also knew that he was the teacher of many rising stars of the Donglin Party. Therefore, he was unwilling to employ him in the court, lest the Donglin Party would have successors and become even more powerful and difficult to control.

However, Zhu Youjian was still willing to employ Zheng Sanjun at the local level. After all, talents were hard to come by, and Zheng Sanjun had achievements in supervising education and grain.

So he approved the appointment, and there was one more local Donglin Party leader. (End of this chapter)