eldest son of Ming dynasty

Chapter 156 The 17th Year of Hongzhi

In the 17th year of Hongzhi, the crown prince Zhu Houzhao was already 14 years old. Young people paid attention to eating and exercising, so they all grew to nearly 1.6 meters in size. Although they did not look like an adult man, they were not far from a seven-foot man. Well, not many of those old men in the court can grow to seven feet.

Although five years is not a long time, the ministers in the original court were all old people.So in these years, people have passed away one after another, and those familiar names in the past can only be left on paper.

In the 14th year of Hongzhi, Wang Yue died of illness. The imperial court returned the title of Uncle Weining to him, and gave him the posthumous posthumous title of "Xiangmin".

Earlier, at the end of the 12th year of Hongzhi, Cheng Minzheng passed away in his hometown.

And the person Zhu Houzhao sighed the most was Wu Kuan who was demoted to Guizhou. He learned that Wu Kuan had also gone there last month.Zhu Houzhao felt that Wu Kuan was better than Cheng Minzheng. Although he also had trouble with himself, Wu Kuan was also sent to the local area to handle the Qi Kuan case in Hongzhi 11th year. He did a good job.

In addition, he was also the teacher of Emperor Hongzhi.

Therefore, the imperial court decreed to restore his title of Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, posthumously bestowing on the crown prince Taibao with the posthumous title of "Wending".After Wu Kuan's death, he still got the honor of a literati.

This incident was also praised in the court, and it was used to praise Hongzhi's benevolence.

Another thing that doesn't attract much attention is that Fu Han, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, also passed away in the 15th year of Hongzhi. He died in office. There is no blessing, the rhythm of going to work today and dying tomorrow.

What happened after his death was also properly arranged by the imperial court.

And the one who succeeded him was Zhang Sheng, the number one scholar in Chenghua for five years, who took over from Zuo Shilang, nothing special.

The most special one is the favorite minister of Emperor Hongzhi, Liu Daxia, the current minister of the Ministry of War.

As mentioned above, during the reign of Hongzhi, the status of the six ministries was not under the cabinet, and one of the important figures was Liu Daxia, so that Liu Jian, who was the head of the cabinet at this time in history, and Ma Wensheng, the official minister, were a little embarrassed and dissatisfied.

Of course, the current Minister of the Ministry of Officials is Wang Jia.

He gives lectures in the academy every day, so why should Zhu Houzhao win this position for him, otherwise how would he promote those people with similar ideas he knows?

But Emperor Hongzhi liked Liu Daxia very much, and Zhu Houzhao couldn't help it.

It is also true that Liu Daxia's political achievements are good. He served as a political envoy in Guangdong, was ordered to manage the Yellow River, and supervised food and payment in the Xuanfu, and he did everything well.

But Zhu Houzhao didn't like this person,

In the 13th year of Hongzhi, after Liu Daxia was recommended to be an official again, he was a bit "show off". He asked to resign first when he made any suggestion, and then the emperor refused to allow it.This is the civil servant's style that the prince hates the most.

In addition, as Minister of the Ministry of War, he blindly asked the court to take a defensive position in the northern military strategy.
A few years ago was fine, Zhu Houzhao was not in a hurry to use troops, but after 17 years of Hongzhi, the conflict between him and the Minister of the Ministry of War will definitely intensify...

But Emperor Hongzhi really doted on Liu Daxia,
Considering that the emperor is not in good health recently, and Zhu Houzhao also knows the deadline, he is also thinking about it, maybe there should be no big case.

After driving away Liu Daxia, the emperor probably has to give an account.
I have been waiting for so many years, and I am not in a hurry for this moment.

And the courtiers will also look at the behavior of you, the prince. If you go against the emperor's wishes, especially when he is still seriously ill, it is actually not in line with the moral values ​​at this time.

But because he doesn't make trouble for Liu Daxia, it doesn't mean he allows Liu Daxia to make trouble for him.

The reason for this sentence is because of...the incident in Zhejiang.

……

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At dawn, Zhu Houzhao was awakened by Liu Jin,
From the [-]th to the [-]th month of Hongzhi, the emperor issued an imperial decree to ask the crown prince Zhu Houzhao to pay homage to the imperial palace, that is, to accept the worship of the officials at the Fengtian Hall with the emperor every morning, and to participate in the early court.

The Wu Dynasty was added later by Emperor Hongzhi himself. Most of the time Zhu Houzhao would go there, and occasionally he would go to do other things.

The current emperor and prince are really inseparable.

It is the same today.

In fact, after getting used to the ancient people’s routine of sleeping almost as soon as it gets dark, I don’t feel that it is so painful to get up early in the morning. Of course, it should be cold in winter or it will be cold.

For a formal court meeting, the crown prince wears a crown suit, which is the so-called nine-chapter suit, while the emperor wears a twelve-chapter suit, which has patterns such as the sun, the moon, dragons, and mountains.

The prince's crown is dark in color, and there are components such as sash, knees, and ribbons. Overall, he is very dignified and majestic. In addition, he must wear the black hat, which is the Wushayi Shanguan.

Now he can hold up the dress.

In the early court, there was nothing wrong with it. The ministers stood on both sides, and the prince stood on the steps, right next to Emperor Hongzhi.

After the court, Emperor Hongzhi would go on a tour in the inner city, and the prince would usually follow him.

Today the emperor suddenly mentioned something,
He was walking ahead, and turned sideways when he spoke, "Prince, you sent the eunuch guarding Zhejiang. How is he doing there, do you know?"

Zhu Houzhao stepped forward to support the emperor. He was already tall enough, and he knew something was wrong after hearing what he said. "My father suddenly mentioned Zhejiang, but what went wrong?"

"Hey." Emperor Hongzhi raised his hand, "That Liu Daxia was supposed to bring it up in court, but I was afraid you wouldn't be able to step down. So I didn't agree to him."

"Father, what is Liu Daxia going to say?"

"In Zhejiang, you used a businessman to get money, and you used the guarding eunuch to support him. You have already told me about this, but in front of Liu Daxia, I can only pretend not to know." The emperor said from his sleeve He took out a memorial and said, "Look again, Liu Daxia advised me to save up money and silks for emergencies, and stop the feast to save wastage. Bring the velvet brown woven in Suzhou and the ministers in Zhejiang back to Beijing as soon as possible to relieve the hardships of the army and the people. The eunuch who guarded Zhejiang Province mentioned the matter of embezzlement of ink and silver, you can check it after you go back."

"In addition, now Liu Daxia already knows that Zhejiang has provided you with a lot of money, and you are the crown prince, if he asks you to transfer the money to help the disaster, do you agree or disagree?"

Zhu Houzhao understood when he heard it.
In fact, Liu Daxia has always known that the crown prince is accumulating military power, but he does not agree with the court's large-scale use of troops, and the reason he uses is naturally 'too many people'.

After the incident in Zhejiang was discovered, of course everyone would pay attention to the money.

Governing the country, in the final analysis, is how to get silver and how to use it.

As long as there is more money, most of the country's problems can be solved.

For a courtier like Liu Daxia, the crown prince's accumulation of silver is for war, which is not beautiful. If the silver can be used for disaster relief and river repair, isn't it for the sake of the people and a strike against soldiers?
It really kills two birds with one stone.

"My son, thank you father for reminding me."

"You are my son, there is no need to thank you."

After speaking, the emperor signaled the prince to go back first.

Zhu Houzhao watched the emperor leave with a smile on his lips.

Now Liu Jin is a little shorter than him, and carefully said by the side: "...Your Highness, Wei Bin, the eunuch in charge of Zhejiang Province, should you go to an urgent delivery and ask him to report everything according to the facts?" ?”

"Go back to the palace first."

Donggong, someone is already waiting for him.

One is Wang Jia, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, who is a hardcore princeling.

One of them was Wang Hua, who had just returned from serving as the chief envoy of Shandong.

"My minister sees His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

The two of them saw the prince coming back from a distance, and they both stepped forward to meet him.

"Get up." Zhu Houzhao said, walked into the hall, and sat down at the main seat.

When he was young, the courtiers didn't feel it when facing him, but as he grew older and taller, and the prince's self-confidence and power grew day by day, most of the courtiers were more cautious in front of him than in front of Hongzhi.

Of course, these two people are conscious, and they always remember the etiquette of being a minister.

"The two masters were called here this time for the sake of Zhejiang. In September of the 16th year of Hongzhi, Wang Jing, the minister of Honglu Temple in Nanjing, was promoted to the governor of Zhejiang, the capital of Youqian. His official position was not long, and his father called him back to Beijing. Meaning. So the candidates for the new governor of Zhejiang will also come out.”

The prince flicked his sleeves, "This candidate is not that special, but because of Zhejiang's silver, it is now attracting more attention. What I mean is that you Wang Dehui (Wang Hua) has been working diligently in Shandong for the past few years and is loyal to the emperor. Aimin, the word of mouth is still good. It should be no problem to get promoted."

"The minister is ordered by the prince, so he will naturally do his best." Wang Hua didn't have that much thought anyway, so he still had to listen to the order.

"There is a voice from Zhejiang, saying that the palace has set up internal officials in Zhejiang and received a lot of money. Have you heard about this?"

Wang Hua also told the truth, "I have heard it. I also know that in May of this year, Li Dongyang, a cabinet scholar, returned to the capital from Queli, Shandong Province to worship Kong Bi. He told the emperor what he saw along the way. There are also complaints about the prince's private collection of money, and basically hope that His Highness will put the people first and give money to disaster relief."

"What do you think?" Zhu Houzhao asked him.

"As the chief envoy of Shandong Province, I can't relieve the king's worries, and I can't calm down the people. I think that His Highness should hand over the ministers to discuss and deal with them, so as to calm the grievances of the public."

"Ordinary people rely on farming. Shandong suffered a drought this year. Once the drought comes, there is nothing to eat, and you have nothing to do."

At this time, Wang Jia said again: "Dehui, what happened in Shandong is just a pretext. The courtiers really don't understand His Highness. Your Highness is the prince of Ming Dynasty. If the people of Daming suffer from disaster, how can they not release food?" The reason for disaster relief. Some of them are really interested in Zhejiang."

Wang Hua couldn't understand.

But Zhu Houzhao smiled, "I have been operating in Zhejiang for several years. I don't know how many companies have been enriched by the sea trade smuggling in Zhejiang. Now some of the money has been taken away by people. Don't the people there Response? In addition, there are some peacemakers in the DPRK who feel that the palace is fighting for the interests of the people and wants to raise troops in the north. How will they react? After all, they are thinking about this money."

Perhaps the spokesperson of the merchants in the southeast will not be Liu Daxia in the court, because Liu Daxia will not hook up with a group of merchants.

But the southeast merchants are good at business and become officials, and apart from their own clans, they themselves will bribe local officials.

Mei Kejia's business has grown bigger and bigger in a year or two, how can he not be missed?
Afterwards, following the vines and touching melons, I can always reach the end and touch the prince.

Of course they will not look for the prince, but Wei Bin is not immovable, so there will naturally be force to push Wei Bin to step down.

Now that this power has emerged, it can be reversed for Zhu Houzhao.

"After you go to Zhejiang, you don't have to protect Wei Bin's servant. If you are greedy for money, I will punish him. You only need to find out the relationship between the local merchants and officials. It is best to know whether they have power in the capital. Of course, After you go, someone will help you.” The sea ban was something that Zhu Houzhao had planned for a long time, but the local businessmen made a lot of money from smuggling, and if there is a will from the imperial court in the future, as long as they have an official channel to speak out, they will definitely speak out. So he has to figure out what's going on,
"Businessmen messing with the government, in another 500 years, it will be a serious crime!"

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(End of this chapter)