Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 69 Nurhaci came to pay tribute
The ceremony entered the stage of smooth preparation, and the new Minister of Rites Zhu Guozuo was full of energy.

His official career was too smooth.

He was the top scholar in the 11th year of Wanli's reign, and was later appointed as an editor in the Hanlin Academy. Before he was promoted to the third rank of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites two years ago, he had only held the titles of Prince's Groom and Prince's Tutor.

Two years later, he had become the Minister of Rites, a second-rank official.

Moreover, he came from the Hanlin Academy and now he is only 42 years old, so he is only one step away from entering the cabinet.

All this means only one thing: he was promoted because he had been an attendant officer when the emperor's eldest son entered school, and had held titles such as the Prince's Groom and the Prince's Tutor.

This also means that Shen Yiquan has failed.

Defeated by Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue? Of course not. Shen Yikuan had already been defeated in the previous ten days of silent suppression.

In the face of imperial power, Shen Yikuan’s defeat was certainly not unfair.

But he clearly had a good hand, and the heir was clearly not a strong person before.

Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue were reinstated to balance the cabinet. This was a normal move, and he overreacted.

The terrible thing is that as soon as Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue arrived, they concentrated all the memorials that had been accumulated over the past ten days and sent them to various government offices, and they were generally handled properly.

Among them was the Ministry of Personnel's result question that enabled Zhu Guozuo to defeat Xiao Daheng and win the position of Minister of Rites.

In official circles, signals and wind directions are more important than anything else.

Xiao Daheng, who was inseparable from his post as the Minister of Justice, had to face the handling of the Shanhaiguan uprising case, which was caused by the heir apparent who got angry and asked the three judicial departments to conduct a thorough investigation.

He couldn't resign now, as that would make him seem like he couldn't accept defeat and would show that he was dissatisfied with the successor's choice of the Minister of Rites.

After Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue officially entered work mode, most of the officials in Beijing began to calm down and review the situation silently.

This kind of approach doesn't seem to be the emperor's usual approach.

Or, it seems that the emperor did not have such ability in the past, otherwise why would he hide in the deep palace and be too lazy to take care of government affairs?

It seems that the heir is extraordinary. Everyone is hindered by his past impression.

Just as he was "easy to accept good advice" and "implemented good policies" in the beginning, he is now "deep-minded" and "excellent in managing his subordinates."

Many people did not expect that Shen Yiquan would end his nearly three-month "single prime minister" status in this way.

If this result is just a problem of his personal mentality, then it can only be said that he is not top-notch enough; if it is the result of step-by-step design, then it is too terrifying.

Perhaps it is a combination of both, and this result would only occur if everyone misjudged the successor.

In short...the coronation ceremony is already being prepared in full swing.

Another "good policy" was announced in early October.

The indispensable selection of concubines was also suspended this time to avoid wasting extra money.

Naturally, the emperor could not not have a grand wedding, so this time he chose two concubines and one queen, and he only chose one from Shuntian Prefecture nearby.

Every time a beauty pageant was held, a total of 5,000 people were shortlisted from various provinces, which consumed a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources.

Who can say this is not good governance?
Shen Shixing, the old Prime Minister who was good at smoothing things over, had arrived. Previously, there had just been a dispute between the emperor and his ministers. Even though the person chosen this time was most likely not from an ordinary good family, no one would talk about the "ancestral system" before the result was decided.

In the Forbidden City, Wang An, who had just been promoted to the Chief Secretary of the Imperial Household Department, was in charge of this matter.

Tian Yi and the others are getting older, and Wang An needs to start exercising.

It is also appropriate for him, the "old man" beside the heir to be in charge of this matter.

Work in this regard is underway, and a thorough investigation of the Shanhaiguan uprising is still ongoing. This has become the most pressing issue between the Cabinet, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, the Dali Temple and the successor emperor.

If we continue to dig deeper, not to mention the eunuchs, how many of the civil and military officials in Ji and Liao, some people in the court, and many businessmen in the private sector can get away with it?
Zhu Changluo was invited to the cabinet. This time it was the "Yan Dynasty", a cabinet meeting attended only by cabinet ministers.

There are only three people left in the cabinet.

"If all the ministers were as honest as Lord Yu, there would be no worries about the Ming Dynasty's governance." After learning that Shen Yikuan had "admitted his mistakes" one after another, Yu Jiden's condition rapidly worsened, or it could be said that it was already deteriorating.

He lived two and a half months longer than originally expected. He passed away on the fourth day of October, and the seventh day has not yet passed.

The new Minister of Rites Zhu Guozuo had an additional job, which was to organize the funeral for his predecessor and immediate superior.

Shen Yiquan was silent for a long time, and the one who spoke the most now was Wang Xijue.

"Jiliao is a border town, and the chaos now is really outrageous! Gao Huai withheld the silver that should have been paid for tribute and trade, and it's not like he had never withheld money before. Now, in order to suppress the banditry in Gushan Fort, other civil and military officials have been sent in addition to Gao Huai!"

Zhu Changluo expressed that emotion, but his eyes were only focused on another piece of news that was reported back.

Nurhaci, the left commander-in-chief of Jianzhou Guard of the Ming Dynasty and the second-rank Dragon and Tiger General, requested to go to the capital in person to congratulate the new emperor on his ascension to the throne.

This is normal. Before this year, he had personally visited Beijing five times.

In the Ming Dynasty, he was called Nurhaci in writing. At present, the Jianzhou Jurchens have not yet reached the stage where they dare to expose their ambitions to the Ming Dynasty.

He was submissive and maintained tribute trade with the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty accepted the local specialties he sent, but kept a lot of the silver that should have been paid to him. It was kept from Gao Huai, and many other Liaodong civil and military officials were also kept.

It cannot be said that he is now trying to buy off the civil and military officials of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty in all aspects. It can only be said that he came here this time to make the Ming Dynasty relax its vigilance against him by being submissive, and he may also want to gain some benefits by being submissive.

After all, although the Jianzhou Jurchens had unified many Jurchen tribes, each Jurchen tribe still had its own tribute and trade share in the past, so Nurhaci actually controlled a lot of tribute and trade shares.

But he met Zhu Changluo.

"…Therefore, I think that we should just close the case because the border residents are so fierce and the people are negligent in border defense. Your Highness?" But it was Shen Shixing who usually gave the summary speech.

Shen Yiquan has become a silent person, as if he is just waiting to retire.

"Case closed here?" Zhu Changluo came back to his senses, but he also knew what their opinions would be.

He thought for a while and said slowly, "After the tribute to Altan Khan was paid and the Khanate moved eastward, the northern barbarians and the Jurchen tribes mainly relied on rewards and border trade. However, the Jurchen tribes continued to fight, the Jianzhou Jurchens were becoming more powerful, and the Tatar tribes also plundered from time to time. The Liaodong border payroll has increased year by year. Now the Liaodong civil and military officials dared to condone or even instigate civil riots and beat and kill the imperial envoy, and still hastily closed the case. Will they dare to defend the border and even collude with foreign enemies in the future?"

"Your Highness, it doesn't have to be that serious!" Shen Shixing tried to smooth things over again. "It has been the national policy for many years to divide and rule the various tribes of the northern barbarians. Although the Jianzhou Jurchens are powerful now, they have always been submissive and dare not cause trouble. There are some arrogant and brave generals in Liaodong, and some civil officials are not upright. But if we immediately carry out a large-scale rectification of Liaodong because of this, we will destroy our border defenses..."

Shen Shixing spoke for a long time. Although the border threat was slightly alleviated, Liaodong had just experienced the Korean War and had not yet fully recovered. If a large-scale war was launched and a large number of personnel were replaced, not to mention whether it would cause a mutiny, the new people might not be familiar with the Liaodong border defense, which might encourage the Tartars and Jurchens to become ambitious and create even greater border threats.

Wang Xijue snorted, "We have changed eight generals in nine years. Who can scare those arrogant and brave generals? Now there is the bandit problem in Gushan Fort. If Liaodong wants to deter the border barbarians, the governor and the general must select the right people. We still have to rectify Liaodong. What I mean is that it can't be done right away."

"That is to say, we should first use this case to decide on the candidates for the Governor-General of Ji-Liao, the Governor of Liaodong, the Inspector General of Liaodong and the Commander-in-Chief of Liaodong, and then order them to reorganize the Liaodong border defense according to their duties?" Zhu Changluo confirmed.

"Yes, this is my opinion." Wang Xijue spoke first.

"We should not rectify the situation immediately because of a major case, so as to avoid disasters such as military rebellion out of fear of crime." Shen Shixing nodded helplessly.

When it was the turn of the current de facto Prime Minister Shen Yikuan, he only said slowly: "I second the motion."

"I understand." Zhu Changluo said, "Then bring out the candidates first, and I will also think carefully before making a decision."

Shen Yikuan watched him stand up and leave, and bowed to see him off respectfully.

Seeing that Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue seemed to be worried, he sneered in his heart.

In recent days, the heir apparent has suddenly become quite powerful in front of the three of them, no longer hiding his incompetence.

Now they both understood that the heir was not a person without his own opinions, nor was he as stupid as the young scholar.

The situation in Liaodong was mentioned casually, and I always reserved my opinion on the suggestions of the cabinet ministers. It would not work to drag it out and make a big thing small.

After seeing clearly the ability of the successor monarch, one can naturally see clearly the intention of the successor monarch's actions: Shen Yikuan's current situation is exactly the result of "my" tricks!

The cabinet is already in a three-way balance of power. After the successor emperor drove the tiger away and devoured the wolf, he is now taming the tiger.

It is obviously imperative to reorganize Liaodong. Wang Xijue is a good choice. Who are the candidates in his mind?
Have these candidates been discussed with the Minister of War Tian Le?

(End of this chapter)