The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 351 Exile to Japan

Chapter 351 Exile to Japan
Kunning Palace.

Zhu Houzhao was holding his eldest son and teasing him, and Empress Dowager Zhang and Empress Xia were also beside him.

The family of four is extremely warm and cozy, which is extremely rare in the harem.

Because of the birth of the eldest son, the relationship between Empress Dowager Zhang and Zhu Houzhao eased a lot.

After all, "grandparents are close relatives". If Zhu Houzhao was really deposed, Zhang Taihe could still carefully train and educate her eldest grandson, so the root cause of the conflict between her and the emperor would no longer exist in disguise.

You can do whatever you want. Now that I have a successor, the worst that can happen is I can start over!

The little guy is pink and tender. He had just been washed in hot water after birth. The amniotic fluid and dirt on his skin have been washed away. At this moment, he looks pink and delicate, and extremely cute.

Zhu Houzhao reached out and teased the little guy for a while, and the little guy became a little unhappy. Without even opening his eyes, his little mouth suddenly pouted, and then he burst into tears.

The crying was so loud and confident that it made Zhu Houzhao's ears buzz.

"Stinky boy!"

Zhu Houzhao reluctantly handed the child to Queen Xia.

Miraculously, when Queen Xia gently stroked the swaddling clothes, the little guy stopped crying. It was obvious that he was closer to his mother.

"Emperor, it's time to give the child a name!"

Empress Dowager Zhang smiled and reminded: "This is your eldest son, you must not neglect the proper etiquette!"

Speaking of naming, Zhu Houzhao also had a headache.

The naming rules for the royal family of the Ming Dynasty were set by Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang himself. The basic form is: surname + generation name + name.

Among them, the name follows the order of the Five Elements, with "wood, fire, earth, gold, and water" as radicals, which cycle back and forth and mutually promote and restrain each other, meaning that the Ming Dynasty can be passed on continuously for thousands of generations.

Starting from the grandchildren of Emperor Taizu Gao, that is, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaoxu, they were named strictly according to the generation name.

The five characters of the Yan Wang Zhu Di branch are: Gaozhan Qijianyou, Houzai Yichangyou, Ciheyi Bozhong, Jianjingdi Xianyou.

Well, not only do you have to follow the generation name, but the last character also has to follow the five elements.

Emperor Taizong Zhu Di's five elements belong to "wood", and wood produces fire. Therefore, his son's five elements should belong to "fire", and his generation name should be "Gao", so there is: Zhu Gaochi.

Renzong Zhu Gaochi’s five elements belong to “fire”, and fire produces earth. Therefore, his son’s five elements should belong to “earth”, and his generation name should be “Zhan”, so it is: Zhu Zhanji.

Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji's five elements belong to "earth", and earth produces gold. Therefore, his son's five elements should belong to "gold", and his generation name should be "Qi", so it is: Zhu Qizhen.

The five elements of Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen are "gold", and gold produces water. Therefore, his son's five elements should be "water", and his generation name should be "Jian", so there is: Zhu Jianshen.

Emperor Xianzong Zhu Jianshen’s five elements belong to “water”, and water gives birth to wood. Therefore, his son’s five elements should belong to “wood”, and his generation name should be “You”, so it is: Zhu Youtang.

Xiaozong Zhu Youtang's five elements belong to "wood", and wood produces fire. His son's five elements should be "fire", and his generation name should be "Hou", so there is: Zhu Houzhao.

Whether it is the "照" in Zhu Houzhao or the "煦" in Zhu Gaoxu, they are both typical characters with the "火" radical in the Ming Dynasty.

The five elements circulate over and over again, symbolizing the unbroken inheritance of the Ming Dynasty for thousands of years!
By the same logic, Zhu Houzhao's five elements belong to "fire", and fire produces earth, so his son's five elements should belong to "earth", and his generation name is "Zai", so his name should be "Zhu ZaiX", and the last character must also be from the earth element.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao had basically no interest in naming his son.

Any normal person would have no interest in it, as the name had already been chosen by Emperor Taizu Gao, and he has no privileges at all as a father.

What's more, the little guy is the eldest son of Emperor Zhengde, so his name must be strictly in accordance with the ancestral system of Taizu.

"It's up to you, mother. It's just the last word anyway!"

Zhu Houzhao spoke with a smile, which helped to ease the relationship between him and his mother.

Empress Dowager Zhang was indeed very pleased with this. She nodded with a smile and then discussed the issue of naming with Empress Xia.

Just at this time, Zhang Yong came to report that the chief minister of the cabinet, Yang Tinghe, wanted to see him.

Zhu Houzhao took the opportunity to meet him in a side hall, and he seemed quite high-spirited.

Yang Tinghe congratulated with a smile, saying that His Majesty the Emperor had a legitimate son, and this was a matter of celebration. According to the system, the whole country would be pardoned, implying that the whole world should celebrate and let the people feel the grace of the royal family.

However, most of the beneficiaries of this pardon are prisoners in prison or civilians, such as tax reductions and exemptions.

Wealthy and generous emperors would reward their ministers and entertain them with banquets. In any case, they just want to have fun.

The reason Yang Tinghe came today was precisely for the "general amnesty".

"Your Majesty, I have compiled a list of officials involved in Zhu Chenhao's treason case. These people can be given another chance. They are all talented people. It would be a pity if they were discarded like this."

Yang Tinghe handed over the list. Zhu Houzhao took it and looked at it, then frowned immediately.

Zhu Houzhao could naturally understand the actions of the cabinet chief.

As Yang Tinghe was the chief minister of the cabinet, he should assume the responsibilities of the chief minister and safeguard the interests of the gentry.

In this case of Zhu Chenhao's treason, there were hundreds of officials involved, all of whom were dismissed from their posts and imprisoned awaiting investigation and interrogation.

If they were all abolished, the civil officials and gentry would certainly suffer a serious loss.

The reason why Zhu Houzhao was somewhat unhappy was that there were too many people on the list provided by Yang Tinghe. Are all the seventy or eighty people talented?
"Master Yang, this is a bit too much!"

Zhu Houzhao looked at Yang Tinghe and said, "There are nearly eighty people. How can I pardon them?"

"In the past, Emperor Taizu Gao severely cracked down on corruption, which was the only way to curb the corruption in the court!"

"Now that there is irrefutable evidence that these people have committed corruption and bribery, I am thinking of expelling these parasites from the court and clearing up the bureaucracy!"

"Master Yang is pleading for them right now, which really puts me in a dilemma!" These words were said sincerely.

After all, Yang Tinghe was the teacher of Emperor Zhengde, Zhu Houzhao.

Now that Yang Tinghe has taken the initiative to speak, it would be really unacceptable for Zhu Houzhao not to give him any face.

Fortunately, Yang Tinghe hurriedly explained: "Your Majesty, please understand. I am not trying to excuse these people. Their crimes of corruption have been proven, so they should be severely punished according to the court's laws!"

"However, considering that these people are quite talented and capable, it would be a pity to dismiss them directly from their posts. Therefore, my suggestion is to exile them to Japan and assist the court in developing Japan's resources!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhu Houzhao's eyes suddenly lit up.

That’s really good advice!
Japan has always been short of manpower for development.

After all, once mineral resources such as gold, silver, and iron ore are developed, it will take dozens or even hundreds of years, and they also require intellectuals to coordinate and manage them.

Yang Tinghe's proposal is indeed very good.

"There are three benefits to exiling these people to Japan."

"First, it can demonstrate your majesty's benevolence and ease the conflict between your majesty and the gentry."

If there is irrefutable evidence of corruption and bribery, then the Emperor will have the final say on all outcomes.

If we really want to be more strict, we can just follow the strict laws of Emperor Taizu Gao and make sure those who embezzle 60 taels or more will be skinned and stuffed with straw!
It’s not like that Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao hasn’t done this before!

Therefore, mere exile not only saved their official status, but also gave them hope of being reinstated, which was very rare.

"Secondly, it can strengthen the control of the Ming Dynasty and Japan. The more Ming officials there are in Japan, the stronger the imperial court's control over Japan will be."

There is nothing much to say about this. According to the design of Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao, the Ming Dynasty's treatment of Japan was purely colonial. It only cared about the interests and resources within Japan. As for the life or death of the Japanese people, the Ming Dynasty would not care.

After this group of intellectuals arrived, they mainly focused on the major mines and ports, still in order to seize and plunder the interests of Japan!
"Third, it can further speed up the development of Japanese resources by our Ming Dynasty, and cooperate with Liang Chu, the Minister stationed in Japan, to promote Confucianism in Japan and eliminate the native culture of Japan!"

This step is very critical.

Zhu Houzhao's expression also became serious.

But he did not forget what the savages had told him.

If you want to completely enslave Japan, you must enslave and rule it culturally.

"If you want to truly destroy a nation, cultural purification is the complete demise of your homeland. From now on, Japan will become an inseparable part of our Great Ming. Therefore, the first priority of the minister stationed in Japan is to do everything possible to destroy Japan's cultural confidence, including but not limited to education, clothing, language, writing, customs and other aspects, purify the cognition of Japanese children, and make them feel a sense of belonging to our Great Ming."

These are the exact words of the savage guy!

In this case, opening schools to promote Confucianism becomes a top priority.

To achieve this goal, more intellectuals are naturally needed. Liang Chu alone is not enough.

Aren’t there just so many intellectuals nowadays?

Zhu Houzhao also laughed.

Because he found a very interesting way.

In the future, if we catch any corrupt and bribe-taking scoundrels, we will not be willing to kill them and will just throw them all to Japan!
For these self-righteous scholars, being exiled to Japan and forced to leave their homeland was even more painful than killing them!
This is called "life is worse than death"!
But Zhu Houzhao really liked this method.

Who asked you to engage in corruption and bribery?

Who let you control the government?

"Master Yang, this is a brilliant plan!"

Hearing this, Yang Tinghe also breathed a sigh of relief.

He saved so many officials at one time, which should further enhance his prestige as the Prime Minister.

Zhu Houzhao smiled and said, "But there is one thing that needs to be changed."

"Japan and Ming are separated by a vast ocean. If they really go to Japan to govern, they may not be able to come back for three to five years!"

"As a father, I naturally don't want to see them separated from their families and unable to reunite..."

When he heard this, Yang Tinghe already felt something was wrong.

But before he could even open his mouth, the Emperor "mercifully" set the standard directly.

"Why not just exile the whole clan?"

"As long as the family and clan are together, there will be no pain of missing each other!"