Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 39 The Emperor's "Internship"

"After all, we are still far inferior to the Ming Dynasty." Zhu Changluo comforted her, "My grandson thinks that this catastrophe is not caused by external enemies, but internal troubles. The Ming Dynasty is destined to be the Ming Dynasty. As long as it does not lose the support of the people, how can it perish?"

"Lose the support of the people?" Empress Dowager Li felt nervous. "Has it come to this?"

"Of course, the people have not lost their hearts. But the situation is getting worse due to the continuous wars, the taxation, the mining tax, and the frequent natural disasters." Zhu Changluo replied, "According to the Imperial Grandmother's order, your grandson has prepared to review the memorials of the past year. Give me some time, and I will be able to see more clearly. But right now, there are a few things that I would like to ask your advice on."

Queen Mother Li nodded and said, "You are much more diligent. Tell me about it."

So Zhu Changluo asked for those ideas.

There is no need to convince anyone to go and offer sacrifices. It is for the sake of all the people in the world and for the sake of one's own family members.

Empress Dowager Li only added: "In addition to Master Zhang, let the Buddhist Monks' Office also send one or two famous temples in various places to offer sacrifices and pray for blessings. The money will be paid by the Empress Dowager."

Zhu Changluo knew that she wanted to make up for her inner anxiety, so he did not dissuade her.

Then he dismissed a group of eunuchs and palace maids. One of the reasons Zhu Changluo gave was that he would have a big wedding next year and would bring in a group of palace maids. Another reason, of course, was that saving palace expenses would make the ministers more supportive of him.

"Due to the large-scale conquest of Korea and Bozhou, as well as the construction of the two palaces and three halls, my father had to send out many mining supervisors and tax collectors to increase revenue, but this was ultimately just a temporary solution. The ministers often talked about the harm done by mining supervisors and tax collectors, and although there must be some exaggeration, there were indeed many greedy slaves and servants, and there were probably many cases of them showing off their power and harming the people in the local areas. The silver they sent back each year was not much, but it ruined the reputation of my Zhu family."

Zhu Changluo said softly, "Now that Bozhou has been pacified, the mining supervisor and tax collector have been removed, and the Dagaoxuan Palace and Dragon Boat Campaign have been stopped. These are all orders from when my father was still in power. The people of the world will surely be grateful to my father for his kindness. This is a meritorious act."

Queen Mother Li stared at him for a while and asked, "Don't you want to wait until you ascend the throne to do this?"

Zhu Changluo shook his head. "My grandson doesn't need it. Besides, all the ministers know that this is probably the idea of ​​my grandmother and my grandson. Let the people of the world be grateful for my father's kindness, and maybe my father's body will recover better. Let's do these things first. When they draft my enthronement edict, they won't use the Spring and Autumn style to criticize my father's administration. It was established for war and will be withdrawn after success. My father's reputation should be better after his death."

Empress Dowager Li sighed slightly, and finally nodded silently: "Let's do it. Chang Luo, I'm relieved that you can figure this out."

What she said was naturally about her understanding of the ministers.

Of course, Empress Dowager Li knew what the literati liked and what they were good at.

These things are done to win the hearts of the people. To win the hearts of the people, we must first win the hearts of the officials and gentry.

Then she reminded: "But we can't just follow their lead in everything!"

"That's natural, so my grandson also wants to use someone they excluded." Zhu Changluo mentioned He Shengrui's name and introduced the process of his exclusion. "There are many corrupt officials in the court, and many slaves have also enriched themselves. But after my grandson ascends the throne and takes charge of the government, he should be diligent in state affairs and appoint talented people. He still needs to have more contact with foreign officials. At least the Huangji Gate should be rebuilt first. There is also a place for the Imperial Court and the Yan Dynasty. Let He Shengrui do it. Among the officials, there are those who are sincere and not greedy for money and flattery. Naturally, they know what kind of official my grandson appreciates."

Empress Dowager Li nodded with greater satisfaction: "This is a good example. The Ministry of Works mentioned the money that the two palaces used to help with construction. I heard that there was nearly a million taels of silver saved that time. This is a real effort."

The money for rebuilding the palace was still paid by the imperial treasury, but because it was in the palace, the eunuchs were responsible for the specific construction.

In the past, these were all areas where there was a lot of money to be made. Procurement, construction schedule... the people in charge of the Ministry of Works often participated in them and shared the profits with the eunuchs.

However, He Shengrui controlled the project management so well that the eunuchs, nobles, and officials from the Ministry of Works who were involved at the time did not get any benefits.

He rebuilt the two palaces quickly and well, spending only 680,000 taels out of the 1.6 million taels budget. However, he was impeached for some other reasons and demoted to Taizhou.

Zhu Changluo wanted to use him again. He would send a signal to the external officials, and in the palace, he would purge some of the eunuchs who used to flatter Zhu Yijun and Zheng Mengjing.

People like Tian Yi, Chen Ju and Cheng Jing were also restricted and had many concerns in the Imperial Household Department in the past.

Zhu Changluo's requests were all well-reasoned and all received approval from Empress Dowager Li.

Then it can become a "holy edict" and be announced to foreign officials.

"Grandmother, please don't worry too much." Zhu Changluo assured, "Although my grandson started school late, I have traveled in the afterlife in my dreams, so I have some insights and clues. In my grandson's opinion, as long as the people's hearts are stable and the country is rich and strong, the Ming Dynasty will not have to worry about the country's demise. There are so many things to do, so I can only work them out slowly. I will start with diligence, and I will always be able to find a smooth road!"

Empress Dowager Li nodded with satisfaction, as if she felt that her decision was not in vain.

"The Empress Dowager believes in you. Otherwise, why would the Bodhisattva come into your dream to warn you? Just go ahead and do it."

So Zhu Changluo took his leave and went to Jingyang Palace again, where he had dinner with his mother before returning.

Over at Ciqing Palace, Tian Yi was standing there, while the eunuchs from the secretariat of the Imperial Household Department came in an endless stream.

"Your Highness, I bow to you."

"No need to be polite." Zhu Changluo asked knowingly, "Are you still moving?" "There is a huge backlog." Tian Yi looked at Zhu Changluo with a strange look in his eyes, "Your Highness, do you really want to read all the reports?"

Zhu Changluo nodded: "This is a necessary homework."

Tian Yi followed him into the study and pointed to the already filled bookshelves over there: "These are the ones that have not been filed yet. Your Highness wants to move all the books within a year here, but I'm afraid there won't be enough space."

Even though he was only working here temporarily, the Imperial Household Department had already arranged everything for him as quickly as possible.

Behind the large screen is Zhu Changluo’s own independent small study.

Outside are Wang An and Zou Yi's desks, as well as bookshelves along the surrounding walls.

According to the system, all memorials still need the emperor's opinion on how to deal with them. Even if he ignores them, he must give a clear order, and the Silijian will file them according to the procedures, or store them for a long enough time before handling them separately.

But Zhu Yijun was lazy and sometimes did not even give orders that were shelved.

As time dragged on, the Imperial Household Department adopted a compromise method, archiving the documents first while still waiting for the emperor to deal with them.

Now, here are all the backlog of memorials that have not yet received comments, and only those that are recent enough and have not been archived first.

"…How many more?"

Tian Yi thought for a moment and said, "About 80% left."

Zhu Changluo's scalp tingled, and he finally understood what the strange look in Tian Yi's eyes meant.

...Okay, let's clean up Zhu Yijun's mess and find out the situation first.

Although the memorial contained many scenes and words, the amount of information was still extremely huge, touching on every aspect of the entire empire.

As long as the name and official title of the person who submitted the report, the things he said and the people involved can be extracted, the dots can be connected into lines and the lines can be woven into a network, and the many current realities of the vast country of the Ming Dynasty will appear before our eyes.

And this is exactly the state and work he was familiar with in his previous life.

As long as he gets enough information from it, Zhu Changluo can give some specific suggestions for handling the situation later.

Win the hearts of some useful people and lay the groundwork for future state affairs.

Just think of this as preparation for the emperor’s “internship period” before ascending the throne.

"Let's get started. All of you come here, and get ready with pens and ink. In addition to reading, you also need to take notes and organize them. Most of the memorials are empty words. If you really want to read them word by word one by one, it would be a waste of time."

Tian Yi nodded. It was true that memorials contained a lot of empty words and clichés. Reviewing memorials was a technical job. It would be best to become familiar with them so that you can see the key points at a glance.

Taizu once lost his temper with Ru Taisu because of this.

But he said: "If Your Highness only wants to select the essentials first, we can first record and transcribe them for your review."

"No, I have other requests."

Hearing what Zhu Changluo said, Tian Yi was a little confused.

If you have any request, you can raise it.

Tian Yi was very confident, and he also wanted to let this successor, whom he already had a high regard for, know that the Imperial Household Department could help him with state affairs.

Submitting minutes and reports is the basic skill of a secretarial office.

Even if there are other requirements, how could the Imperial Household Department not be able to handle it?

But as he, Wang An and Zou Yi came to Sijun's desk and looked at it for a while, the three of them couldn't help but open their mouths.

...It seems to be something very new. This, I really can't...

(End of this chapter)