Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 94: Three Marquises and Five Earls, the General of the Capital Camp

Hou Xianchun's curses completely disappeared, and amid the anxiety of the ministers, the emperor finally spoke again.

"You should know that I only questioned him for your own good. There are some things that can be said, and some things that cannot be said. I am young, and you understand the state affairs better than I do. I am afraid that you are not familiar with me yet, and the more you talk, the more confusion will arise. Culture and education are the foundation of the country, and military officials must not be given too much power. Don't you know that? In the court, everyone can have their own opinions, and they can express their own opinions freely. I will not punish people for words, but I will punish people for stupidity."

Liu Jing looked at him blankly: What do you mean?
However, it actually became quiet outside the Qianqing Gate, and most people had complicated expressions.

Kong Shangxian seemed to be greatly relieved, because that sentence said that culture and education are the foundation of the country.

Li Chengliang's eyes were complicated because of the saying that military officials should never be entrusted with too much power.

Does the emperor really want to face that eternal problem?
Li Chengliang, who is already 75 years old, has experienced too much.

So he understood, and so Xu Wenbi also understood a little.

Everyone has selfish desires. This includes officials and gentry taught by sages, and also bloodthirsty men like him.

What does it mean to punish people for being stupid?
It's the word "measure".

And the sense of propriety changes with time.

When there is a policy from above, the people below will naturally adjust their countermeasures.

Once the adjustments are made and the bottom line is not touched, it is called mastering the right measure.

This was Li Chengliang's understanding, and he now believed that this was the emperor's plan.

Tian Le sighed in his heart.

When the emperor has complete control over this matter and has not yet taken action, officials and gentry all over the world cannot determine what the emperor wants to do and what he will do first and what he will do later.

Even if you start doing something, the intensity can be controlled, so you can only keep figuring it out and making adjustments.

The emperor wants all officials and gentry to pay taxes, but he is not preparing to completely hollow out his own foundation and have all industries involved in the court.

Therefore, in the following Taichang period, stupidity would really become a crime, and Hou Xianchun was an example.

Only the smart ones will eventually stay and stay in the court.

This was destined to be a long and arduous process. Now, following the cabinet ministers and nine officials, ordinary court officials also came to know the emperor's grace, power and tactics.

"This is the first time that the emperor has held a hearing. Although a banquet was given to important civil and military officials to discuss the matter first, I didn't expect that there would still be no harmony."

Zhu Changluo showed a self-deprecating expression with mixed feelings.

"This has given the court officials an impression of me. How can the country be stable? Don't I understand? The Ming Dynasty is in a thousand difficulties. I have unraveled the mystery and chose the Beijing camp as the thread. I have been frugal, generous with the treasury, and considerate of the civil and military officials. If you don't understand my painstaking efforts, what else can you say but stupid? Let's draft the decree according to what the Grand Marshal has reported. Who else wants to die for his remonstrance?"

There was total silence outside the Qianqing Gate.

The many ills of the Ming Dynasty were like a tangled mess. The emperor said that after unraveling the problems, he chose the Beijing Camp as the thread.

Except Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang, the other six were all brave generals alive.

Holding the knife is to cut the Gordian knot, which naturally makes many people tremble with fear.

And precisely because this clue was from the Beijing Camp, smart people could only give advice in a roundabout way. They could not say directly that the emperor should not ask for military power, and they could not speculate in advance that the emperor would take action against the gentry after asking for military power.

The most difficult thing is to keep silent when you see that the situation is hopeless, and to deal with it later with clarity of mind.

There is always back and forth between you and me, how can we prevent everything before it happens?
They also knew that Hou Xianchun was not really stupid. When the emperor began to "question" him, he had no way out.

It is better to gain a reputation than to be weak.

In this way, if the emperor recognizes the reality and retreats in the future, he will be a "hero" or "martyr".

However, he underestimated the emperor's ability and was convicted of an extremely absurd but true crime, which even caused his colleagues who wanted to rescue him to lose their courage. Now he has given the emperor an excuse.

For a guy like him who spoke eloquently about his "upright character" at court meetings, if anything were discovered about his family and clan, he would become the first bad example of the new dynasty.

Will the emperor implicate more people because of the results of the investigation into him, and will he have to rely on his ministers to clean up the mess?

If Hou Xianchun were to point the knife at the gentry in the future because of "extreme disappointment", he would be the culprit who stirred up suspicion between the emperor and his ministers and shook the foundations of the country's culture and education.

It can be considered as leaving a name in history.

It was Shen Shixing who spoke on behalf of the ministers: "Your Majesty is right. Tell the world and the people to rest and not to talk about war lightly. If there are still brave generals and brave soldiers who do not obey the order, they should be severely punished. My colleagues, we should all know the difficulties of financial planning and your Majesty's painstaking efforts. As your Majesty said, if the meritorious officials can exercise self-discipline and the capital's troops can be simple and efficient, it will be a way to save money and make the capital's defense more secure. You must not presume on the emperor's intentions, exaggerate, and act radically."

Let's all pretend to be confused first.

At this point, the discussion of conferring a title was finally over.

Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang were posthumously conferred the title of marquis - even Li Chengliang could not claim that his lifetime achievements surpassed those two, as they all left behind military books.

The titles of Marquis Jingyi and Marquis Zhenyi also highlight their achievements in the Jiajing Dynasty, which can be regarded as a way to "perfect the reputation of the relationship between the monarch and his subjects" for Grandpa Daojun, Zhu Yijun.

How nice, very filial.

Even if the Ming Dynasty had more marquises and five earls, at this moment, among these newly-appointed lords, only Li Chengliang and Liu Jing were in front of the Qianqing Gate.

Since the decision had already been made at the court meeting, the two men knelt down to express their gratitude.

"I... thank you for your grace, Your Majesty! Long live Your Majesty! I... will obey Your Majesty's orders, even to the death! I bow..."

Li Chengliang was better off. Liu Jing seemed ready to use all the idioms he had learned throughout his life, and his excitement was beyond words.

Become an earl and you will never have to worry about impeachment by civil servants again!
Whether the lord is guilty or not, only the emperor can personally order the punishment!

And this earldom was not easy to come by.

Not to mention the life and death he had gone through, just now, it took him many twists and turns, and he was able to succeed after getting a job as a military official.

Zhu Changluo watched him kneel five times and kowtow three times, and then a smile appeared on his lips.

At least we have made a start. Next, we will hand him over to Tian Le and Li Chengliang for training.

Zhu Changluo knew that this was just the beginning and was far from the end.

In fact, the old foxes in the court will never fight the emperor head-on from the beginning to the end. Who doesn’t have a strategy?
Hou Xianchun was simply lured out by him and Tian Le, forced into a dead end, and finally hung up.

A tiny, insignificant role.

Then came the new order: Ningyuan Marquis Li Chengliang was appointed as the governor of the military affairs of the Beijing Camp, Zhangyong Earl Liu Jing was appointed as the deputy general of the Shenshu Camp, Pinglu Earl Xiao Ruxun was appointed as the deputy general of the Shenji Camp, Xiliang Earl Dayun and Duke Ying were appointed as the deputy generals of the Wujun Camp.

After the reform during the Jiajing period, the old Beijing camp was changed into the Wujun, Shenji and Shenshu camps.

Under the governor-general and the assistant in charge of military affairs of the Beijing camp, one military and one civil, the Five Military Camps had two deputy generals, four lieutenant generals, and four guerrillas; the Shenji Camp and the Shenshu Camp each had a deputy general and six assistant strikers.

As for the source of soldiers, although according to the old practice, soldiers were selected from the 78 guards around the capital to come to the Beijing camp for training once in spring and autumn every year, in fact, starting from the Jingtai period and completed in the Jiajing period, most of the soldiers in the Beijing camp were recruited.

The governor of the Beijing camp and a total of four deputy generals have been appointed. The next step is for Li Chengliang and Tian Le to study and come up with a strategy on how to reorganize the Beijing camp after they return.

Although Duke Yingguo Zhang Weixian was inferior to Li Chengliang, the emperor gave the young man a chance and also gave the old officials some hope.

It's not that there is no chance to make more contributions through the Beijing Camp, but you have to be able to keep up with the changes.

If they are not satisfied with the infringement of the interests of the Beijing camp or have committed "stupid" crimes, then the emperor can confer new titles this time, so how difficult would it be to get rid of the old titles later?
I'm afraid none of the civil servants will object.

(End of this chapter)