Chapter 366 The Supreme Emperor refuses to return to Beijing
"My son, Emperor, you are as trustworthy as ever. You have inherited the emperor's business for a long time now, and all government affairs are handled in a very orderly manner, but there are still many problems;
For example, it is unwise to deal with veteran ministers who have accumulated power when they have different political opinions. However, this is also a problem that new people often encounter. You should sum up from this and know that as a king, you should always put the interests of the country first. Above your own grievances!
We should not give up food because of choking, or give up public service because of personal interests. We should be more careful about party supervision disputes and should not take the initiative to provoke them;
Nowadays, the smuggling forces in the southeast intend to collude with Japanese pirates to cause trouble in the southeast. Fortunately, Zhu Wan is quite effective in the coastal defense of the southeast, so that the Japanese pirates will return in defeat every time they come. However, I do not want to hear that you take away his admiral to oversee the military affairs of Fujian and Zhejiang. Although I am horrified, I must not tell you a few words. Do not denounce all the people under his sect because of the rift with the cabinet chief. The building may fall, but its beams can still be used..."
Zhu Houzhao wrote a letter home to the current emperor Zhu Zailei. As the Supreme Emperor, he could not sit back and watch as his prince would disregard the interests of the world because of Xia Yan.
This is a phenomenon that Zhu Houzhao did not want to see. Historically, because of Yan Song's downfall, Hu Zongxian was killed, and because of Zhang Juzheng's downfall, Qi Jiguang was demoted again and again, which greatly damaged the defense capabilities of border towns.
It seems that every time a cabinet minister falls, his colleagues cannot be used.
The most important thing when employing people in the court is not their talents and virtues, but the people behind them.
Therefore, he had to stop this phenomenon from happening.
Zhu Wan was seized of power this time because Xia Yan was not favored by the emperor. Fortunately, he, the Supreme Emperor, was in the southeast and mobilized the Guards to strengthen the military strength in the southeast, thus avoiding large-scale unrest by Japanese pirates.
Zhu Houzhao didn't know if his family letter could sway Zhu Zailei. He thought Zhu Zailei wouldn't realize how important Zhu Wan was to the stability of the entire southeast, but he had to say it anyway.
The winter sun emerged from the clouds, and Zhu Houzhao also left the palace. He stepped on the snow like grains of rice, held Gong'e's hand, and prepared to board the car to Fuzhou.
However, before Zhu Houzhao left the city of Hangzhou, he saw a young man standing bowed outside his royal chariot, followed by a group of eunuchs, all carrying fresh seasonal fruits and various rare treasures.
This young man is none other than his eldest grandson, Zhu Yihuang. The son of the current emperor Zhu Zailei, he was appointed as the prince after Zhu Zailei ascended the throne.
"My grandson has met the imperial grandfather and the imperial grandmother!"
After saying this, Zhu Yihuang knelt down to give a great gift to Zhu Houzhao and his wife Xia.
Xia was naturally not very happy to see her eldest grandson come to Hangzhou to see her. Although Zhu Houzhao felt almost the same, he also smelled a different smell. He could guess that this Zhu Yi bracelet would not be so gratuitous. I ran to Hangzhou to meet my grandfather.
"Get up. You are the prince now. If you don't pay attention to official duties, why are you here?"
Zhu Houzhao asked, seemingly indifferently. Xia was so angry that she rolled her eyes at him. She always felt that Zhu Houzhao, a grandfather, was a bit unhuman. His grandson didn't seem happy to see him, so Xia hurriedly and affectionately greeted Zhu Yi. The bracelet was held in his arms and he asked for help.
But Zhu Yi Bracelet naturally did not dare to offend Zhu Houzhao, so he had to reply cautiously:
"Now my father has ordered my grandson to supervise the military affairs of Fujian and Zhejiang and to be the governor of Zhejiang. First of all, he will naturally organize the southeast coastal defense. Secondly, my father has specially ordered his grandson to come to his grandfather to fulfill his filial piety, and he will ask his grandfather to move him after the spring. Returning to the north, my father said that the political affairs of the government were complicated and ever-changing, and he did not know how to be an emperor without his grandfather to guide him..."
Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but fell silent after hearing Zhu Yisuo's words. He had basically guessed that the purpose of Zhu Yisuo's coming was to invite him, the Supreme Emperor, back. But at this moment, hearing Zhu Yisuo say it himself, he still felt a little bit in his heart. Unpleasant.
The reason is naturally that Zhu Houzhao can guess that behind this, the nobles in the southeast must not want him, the Supreme Emperor, to continue to stay in the south. Of course, his son, the emperor, must not want to see himself, the Supreme Emperor, making trouble outside.
"Why, do you want to drive me back so that I can be put under house arrest to avoid causing trouble for you and your son?"
Zhu Houzhao also began to rely on his old age and said something bluntly, and then he snorted, waved his sleeves, and simply returned to the palace, preparing to lie down high, pretending that he would not leave here.
In fact, from the bottom of his heart, Zhu Houzhao does not want to return to the north now. In today's climate, the warm and humid south is obviously more suitable for him to take care of his old age. If he returns to the north, he can only stay in a deep palace with heating. As an old man, he naturally does not want to. Willing to spend the rest of his life in the palace.
Zhu Yishuo crawled to the ground in fear: "My grandson doesn't dare!"
Although Zhu Yishuang did come to persuade Zhu Houzhao to return to Beijing for leisure, he did not dare to force Zhu Houzhao to return to Beijing. Now that Zhu Houzhao was directly angry, he could only quickly deny the explanation.
Zhu Houzhao also knew that although he was the prince, he was just a messenger and did not do anything to Zhu Yi's bracelet. In addition, Xia's advice from the side was a few words, so he was not so stiff with Zhu Yi's bracelet. He asked Zhu Yihuang to bring in the gifts and food, but he also clearly rejected Zhu Yihuang's request to return to Beijing.
Zhu Houzhao would not obey the wishes of the southeastern nobles and return to the north. Wouldn't that mean that these southeastern nobles would continue to do things in vain and ignore the king's law and national interests?
Zhu Yishuang had no choice but to reply to his father in this way, and did not dare to force Zhu Houzhao to return to Beijing.
But Zhu Yi Bracelet himself had no intention of leaving the southeast. He followed Zhu Houzhao all day long to fulfill his filial piety, and was very respectful and attentive. Before Zhu Houzhao could say what he wanted to eat, Zhu Yi Bracelet was already on him. It was twice as good as Zhu Houzhao's. Where did Zhu Houzhao want to go? As soon as I made up my mind to play, everything was already cleaned up.
Zhu Houzhao could see that he, the emperor's grandson, came to him to show his filial piety, but in fact he came to monitor him.
However, Zhu Houzhao didn't care, he still did what he should do.
Zhu Houzhao even turned his back on guests and instructed Zhu Yihui on how to be a good official in the Southeast Admiral:
"What your father has to do now is to destroy the Japanese country as soon as possible. As long as you destroy the Japanese country and dedicate it to me, that is your greatest filial piety to me. When I go to the Japanese country, I will save you the trouble of seeing this bad old man like me. , now we want to destroy the Japanese country, You, the admiral of the Southeast, have very important responsibilities. You must make preparations before the war, including warships, grain and grass, ordnance, propaganda and mobilization and other government affairs!" Zhu Houzhao asked Zhu Yishuo how much he knew about the military and politics of the Southeast, and what happened next? How to arrange it.
Zhu Yishuo did not expect that his imperial grandfather began to ask him to prepare for the war against Japan, and he had to answer carefully and prepare carefully one by one.
……
"My father is my father after all, and he is still dedicated to the world! He is truly the eternal sage!"
Emperor Zhu Zailei, who had changed from white eyebrows to green eyebrows, couldn't help but sigh after receiving Zhu Houzhao's letter. Although he was afraid of Zhu Houzhao and wanted to get rid of his influence, he did respect his father from the bottom of his heart.
After all, in the final analysis, he and Zhu Houzhao were both for the Ming Dynasty and the country, and their starting point was the same. Now Zhu Houzhao's letter allowed him to dispel his doubts that deposing Xia Yan would make Zhu Houzhao unhappy, and rationally he also believed that he could not What to do to Zhu Wan because of Xia Yan? After all, Zhu Wan does have military talents.
In fact, Zhu Zailei did not dismiss Xia Yan not only because he was worried about Xia Yan's prestige and the Supreme Emperor Zhu Houzhao behind him, but also because Xia Yan was so capable that the world still needed this experienced chief minister to seek the country.
Zhu Zailei knew what his father was worried about, so he explained in his reply:
"I have received a letter from my father, and I deeply admire it... I also know that the Southeast cannot be without Zhu Wan, but now there is both my father and Zhu Wan in the Southeast, so I think that if I withdraw Zhu Wan's power now, it will not harm the overall situation. It is impossible for the father to ignore it!
The reasons for the removal of Zhu Wan's power by his ministers are as follows:
One is a warning;
The second is to appease the hearts of the southeastern nobles. Since the emperor is now the emperor, he should naturally balance the power. The withdrawal of Zhu Wan's power is naturally done to the southeastern nobles;
The third son wanted to follow his father's decree and send troops to the East. To send troops to the East, he must first increase his troops in the southeast and increase his power in the southeast. Although Zhu Wan was good at fighting, he was pedantic and stubborn, and he would not be willing to attack the Japanese with a large army, and he had already lost all his power. The nobles in the southeast are hard-pressed, so I sent Yi Bracelet to the southeast;
Let Zhu Yishou come to the southeast, firstly to fulfill his filial piety for his son before his parents die, and secondly, to recruit troops from the southeast and strengthen the royal family's control over the southeast!
The father has been in the south for a long time, and the son misses him very much. Moreover, things inside and outside the court are not simple. There are many parties and societies inside, each with their own opinions. Some even say that the imperial power should be limited to achieve complete constitutional government. Although the vassals were founded by the nobles of the clan, they allowed businessmen to seize power and wanted to build a republic. Some vassal states also wanted to unite the states. I don't know how to deal with the current situation in the world!
There are even interferences from other forces. For example, the chief historian of the Fortieth Brother (Zhu Zaiyi, son of Elizabeth and Zhu Houzhao) recently came back and said that his country’s parliament has been obstructing him from presiding over the country’s affairs recently, and some local dignitaries even said they did not believe in religion. The nobleman is not worthy of being the King of England! The son also doesn’t know how to teach his forty brothers to govern Britain, so they all need instructions from their father! ”
It was already the early spring of the next year when Zhu Houzhao received this letter. He was naturally very pleased with Zhu Zailei's explanation, but he could not 100% believe the content of the letter from his son, the emperor. As the leader of the empire, he must remain vigilant.
Zhu Houzhao also knew that the world has now entered the age of steam industry, and industrial civilization has begun to gradually replace agricultural civilization, which means that the bourgeoisie will rise to become the main class force in the world.
Therefore, it is not surprising that some overseas Ming vassal states have completely turned into so-called republics. Naturally, it is not surprising that there are party societies with various new political ideas in the country.
Zhu Houzhao had anticipated this many years ago, but the reason why he chose to entrust clans overseas was because due to the backwardness of transportation and information exchange, the ruling core of the Ming Dynasty would definitely not be able to rule the entire world, even in the Even if the world is unified militarily, it will inevitably become an independent country in a region thousands of miles away in the future.
Therefore, instead of spending huge military costs to unify the world, it is better to enfeoff clans overseas and let them build their own countries and copy Chinese civilization before conquering the world.
"This phenomenon is unavoidable. As a central empire, no matter what its system is, it must not abandon Chinese civilization and must put the interests of the central empire and China's interests first."
This is the only solution Zhu Houzhao can give Zhu Zailei now. This is the first time he has encountered this kind of world dominated by Eastern civilization, and he doesn't know how to deal with it specifically, but what he can be sure of is that as the central government The Ming Dynasty, like the Western-dominated world in later generations, naturally could not tolerate foreign countries that were too powerful and wealthy.
Zhu Houzhao still did not agree to Emperor Zhu Zailei's request in the letter and chose to return to Beijing. In any case, with him as the Supreme Emperor in the south, he could at least strengthen the royal family's control over the south, and would not cause these southern nobles to suffer because the political center was in the north. And too free.
"Your Majesty, the Supreme Emperor is old and frail and should not travel around all year round. I have also heard recently that because the Supreme Emperor travels around, the people are disturbed a lot. There are even shameless officials who plunder the daughters of the people for advancement or bribe them with huge sums of money. This is It is not conducive to the reputation of the Supreme Emperor and the people's desire for peace. Therefore, I believe that the Supreme Emperor should be invited to return to Beijing to retire! "
Zhao Wenhua, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, asked the emperor to allow the emperor Zhu Zailei to return to Beijing for his retirement after the Ministry of Military Affairs asked the emperor to return to the capital.
Yan Shifan's suggestion clearly persuaded these officials with backgrounds from the southeastern gentry, and they began to petition Emperor Zhu Zailei for various reasons to allow the Supreme Emperor Zhu Houzhao to return to the capital. Some used harsh words to criticize the Supreme Emperor for disrupting the court, and some used euphemistic words to criticize the Supreme Emperor's age. There are those who need to return to the capital to rest, and there are those who say that the imperial court needs the Supreme Emperor to take charge of the capital.
Zhu Zailei also expressed this very clearly: "I have sent the prince to the south to invite him to visit his old man, and I have also asked him to return to Beijing many times in letters regarding state and family affairs. Now that the weather is not warm, I am afraid that it will be difficult to set off, probably around the Dragon Boat Festival. I will definitely return to Beijing, gentlemen, there is no need to say anything. The Supreme Emperor likes to travel and enjoy the mountains and rivers. Although we all have a sense of loyalty and filial piety, we cannot force him or make him unhappy. "
When these officials saw that Emperor Zhu Zailei had taken practical actions to allow the Supreme Emperor Zhu Houzhao to return to Beijing, they naturally had no choice but to say anything. For them, this was all they could do now. After all, the Supreme Emperor Zhu Houzhao held military power, and they could not force the Emperor to force Zhu Houzhao to return to the capital. Get the lock back.
Xia Yan, the chief minister of the cabinet, saw all this, but he neither asked many civil servants to persuade the Supreme Emperor Zhu Houzhao to return to the capital nor stopped the emperor Zhu Zailei from inviting the Supreme Emperor Zhu Houzhao to return to the capital. He knew that he wanted the Supreme Emperor Zhu Houzhao to return to the capital. It may not be a good intention, but if he prevents the Supreme Emperor Zhu Houzhao from returning to Beijing, he will undoubtedly make the emperor even more dissatisfied.
Xia Yan didn't want to get too serious with the current emperor, so he naturally fell silent.
However, Xia Yan could also see that some of the ministers in the court were obviously people with bad intentions, and in his opinion, Yan Song was the worst. But at this time, he got a secret report from his close confidant Gao Shi, and the content of the secret report was It was about a member of the Zhongjun Society from the Ministry of Industry who secretly reported that Yan Shifan colluded with Yan Maoqing from the Ministry of Household Affairs to embezzle 300,000 silver dollars from the national treasury.
Yan Song, who was also in the cabinet, accidentally heard the cabinet secretary Gao Shi's report to Xia Yan about his son Yan Shifan's corruption. He felt uneasy for a while. When he saw Xia Yan coming over, he couldn't help but bow his head and said: "Yuanfu Gaoyi." , can you spare Quanzi’s life?”
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(End of chapter)