Chen Yi’s memorial and Zhu Qiyu’s are inaccurate.
Not only was his recommendation of Wang Hong inaccurate, but also the memorial with the beggar's bones.
When he understood the meaning of what Chen Yi said that day, Zhu Qiyu naturally understood the reason why Chen Yi wanted to become an official during this period.
As the censor of Zuodu, he has long been aware of the problem of Emperor Qiangang's arbitrariness. However, his character and official approach are not that rigid and straightforward. Moreover, based on his understanding of the emperor, it is also clear that , it is not a wise move to directly conflict with the emperor.
Not to mention he was the censor of Zuodu, even a person like Yu Qian with outstanding reputation, status and ability would have no good consequences if he opposed the emperor.
After all, the prerequisite for the emperor to act arbitrarily is that the emperor can act arbitrarily.
Although the current Holy Emperor has only been on the throne for a few years, his authority in the court is not that of a young emperor who can be manipulated by others.
Although it seems that he listens to advice and accepts advice, he is gentle and courteous, but in fact, there are noble and important ministers who are married to the clan outside to supervise the capital camp, and there are royal guards inside. Dongchang bows his head and obeys orders, and coupled with the emperor's superb political skills, it will be early. The entire court has been firmly under control.
To put it bluntly, any person or force who dares to challenge the majesty of the current Holy God will basically have a bad end. This is true for everyone from Zhang Fu, Xiao Weizhen, Gao Gu, Luo Tong, and all the nobles in the military camp. , have been confirmed countless times.
The only one who can be spared is probably the one in Nangong. However, after the spring hunting incident, although the Supreme Emperor is still honorable, in fact, he has already been unable to leave Nangong, and it is difficult to have any interference in the court situation.
Under such circumstances, it is almost impossible to get the emperor to give in through direct admonishment in the Golden Palace with so-called passion.
Previously, because of Yang Jie's incident, the emperor wanted to send troops to declare the government and prepare for the war in Mongolia. The ministers refused, but the result was not the same. With an imperial edict, Yang Hong took the Beijing camp and set off immediately, regardless of the opinions of the ministers in the DPRK.
Moreover, after that, although the emperor did not say it directly, he carried out Kedao reforms backhand and strictly prohibited Kedao officials from exceeding their authority to discuss matters that were not within their powers.
Chen Yi is not the kind of reckless and impulsive person, so of course he will not be stupid enough to confront the emperor head-on. What's more, in his opinion, there are better ways to remonstrate with the emperor.
Chen Yi could see the shortcomings of Qian Gang's dictatorship, and he believed that the emperor could also see it.
Fortunately, the emperor always kept the country, the country, and the country at heart no matter what.
Therefore, for Chen Yi, if he wants to change this status quo, he does not need to limit the emperor's power. This cannot and cannot be done.
However, this does not mean that there is no way to do it. The prerequisite for being arbitrary is that the emperor is able to be arbitrary. But for it to be truly implemented, another condition is needed, that is, the emperor wants to be arbitrary.
This sounds a bit absurd. After all, who doesn’t want to respond to everything and make the ministers agree? But it is indeed the case. The biggest disadvantage of Qian Gang’s dictatorship is that it will increasingly block the way of speech, and the ministers may not dare to speak because of the emperor’s authority. , or because the advice is useless, so he gradually becomes discouraged. In short, as time goes by, the emperor will gradually lose the ability to hear true advice. There is no doubt about this.
However, the emperor may not be aware of this at first, so for Chen Yi, if he wants to achieve his goal, it is enough to make the emperor realize that the ministers around him have gradually become afraid to tell the truth to him.
Since the emperor cares about the world and wants to achieve great achievements, when he realizes this, he will naturally make adjustments.
However, this requires an opportunity, and this opportunity cannot come too late, otherwise, the habit will gradually form in the court and down, and it will be difficult to return.
Therefore, this was what Chen Yi was most worried about. Fortunately, what he worried about did not happen.
When Chen Yi saw the emperor in his palace, he knew that the opportunity he had been waiting for had arrived...
However, even so, some things cannot be said directly. The reason why Ke Dao is annoying is because they try to 'teach' the emperor how to govern the country.
If Chen Yi did this, it might have a negative effect, so he just chose to guide, just like he has always done in the past.
As a minister, he is not qualified to teach the emperor what to do, but the sages and wise kings of the past generations can.
That's why he said those words that draw lessons from history.
Judging from the results, Zhu Qiyu did understand what Chen Yi meant and understood his hard work.
However, free play also has the disadvantages of free play.
That is, sometimes, the results may not be exactly as expected.
When he saw this memorial in his hand, Zhu Qiyu understood that Chen Yi's idea was actually very simple. He just wanted to create another 'Wei Zheng' in the Ming Dynasty.
To achieve this, several conditions are needed. First, the person must have the courage to move forward and cannot be afraid of the power of the emperor. Second, he must have high enough reputation and appeal. Finally, he must have high enough reputation and appeal. , and the most important thing is that this person cannot have too much influence in the court.
This sounds contradictory, but it is a necessary condition.
To put it bluntly, once this 'Wei Zheng' appears, he will definitely use the method that Chen Yi gave up before, that is, the method of direct admonishment from the Golden Palace to confront Jun Guo. Therefore, he must have enough appeal to be able to command the science and technology. However, However, they cannot substantively control Kedao. Otherwise, they will either threaten the imperial power, or they will be wiped out by the emperor before they threaten the imperial power.
If you want to maintain the delicate balance between the monarch and his ministers, you must have a person who has high aspirations but is like a lonely minister.
Originally, Chen Yi felt that Yu Qian was suitable. However, it was a pity that the second assistant minister in the cabinet had a very good relationship with Yu Qian. This alone destined that Yu Qian could no longer become the leader of Ke Dao and behaved in such an offensive manner. Things.
So in the end, Chen Yi's eyes fell on Wang Hong. He had enough reputation and appeal in Shilin due to the Zuo Shunmen incident, but this appeal could not be transformed into real power.
More importantly, once Wang Hong embarks on this path, he will certainly become a symbol and encourage ministers to speak out. However, as he offends Tianyan more and more times, he will inevitably slow down.
Slowly become a true loner.
In other words, the ministers of the DPRK may work with him to give advice when needed, but no one will ever have a deep relationship with him.
In Chen Yi's opinion, such a person can just take on this role.
Therefore, after talking with Zhu Qiyu, Chen Yi submitted this memorial. He wanted to use his last influence to help Wang Hong ascend to power.
For Chen Yi, his own character cannot become this ‘Wei Zheng’, and selfishly, he may not want to become ‘Wei Zheng’ either.
Therefore, when he knew that the opportunity he had been waiting for finally arrived, he wanted to let Wang Hong take charge of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and lead the science and technology for him.
However, for Zhu Qiyu, he obviously did not think so.
What Ming Dynasty needs is a symbolic 'Wei Zheng', and he doesn't want to be really constrained by Wang Hong in everything. Therefore, once Wang Hong really becomes the sitting official of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, many things may not go as he expected.
That went smoothly.
Therefore, keeping Chen Yi in the government can at least play a role when it is necessary to stabilize the science and technology.
Based on this, he could only let this veteran continue to work hard for a while...
Unsurprisingly, after this edict was issued, many people in the court felt that the emperor began to be polite and reverent, and returned to his true nature of listening to words and accepting advice. Therefore, in the next two morning meetings, the emperor headed by Wang Hong
Several censors petitioned one after another to stop shipbuilding.
However, Zhu Qiyu soon poured cold water on them.
Admonishments were made in the court, but the orders given to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs not only remained unchanged, but even urged them to speed up the progress.
After all, Zhu Qiyu only told them to report what they should report and remonstrate what should be remonstrated, but he did not say that he would definitely listen...
After a period of time, everyone in the court saw the emperor's resolute attitude, so they gradually died down.
Although Wang Hong still insists that it is inappropriate and often brings up the matter, he cannot make the decision himself. Besides, this is not a major matter concerning the country. Although Wang Hong has an impulsive personality, he will not cause any trouble.
An extreme act of kneeling down to remonstrate.
However, with the presence of Wang Hong, the mascot of science and technology, the ministers in the court felt much more relaxed, and they indeed became more daring to speak in the court.
After solving this matter, we immediately circled back to the matter of Beijing inspection.
Qianqing Palace.
There are still three ministers, Wang Wen, Shen Yi, and Jin Lian, plus two cabinet ministers, Zhang Min and Yu Shiyue.
Zhu Qiyu sat on the throne, glanced at the memorials spread out in front of him, and said.
"Shang Shu Shen, please speak first."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
So, Shen Yi stepped forward with a heavy expression and said.
"The Ministry of Household Affairs has just reported that there has been no rain for more than three months in the three prefectures of Nanzhili, Henan, and Huguang. At present, it seems that there will basically be no harvest in these three prefectures. There are also Xuzhou, Shandong, etc. It has been raining continuously for more than half a month. If the rain does not stop in a few days, the disaster may spread to the ten prefectures, and this is just the state capital with no harvest at all."
"If we include the state capitals that were affected to varying degrees, the severity of this disaster is probably several times worse than last year's drought in Jiangxi."
"The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has urgently allocated 200,000 taels of silver for disaster relief and ordered all localities to immediately raise food for disaster relief. Food from the national treasury is also being urgently shipped out."
"However, it seems now that these silver taels are far from enough. According to His Majesty's decree, starting from next month, the salary of all officials in the capital will be divided into three parts with peppercorns, and the remaining part will be distributed in silver. All the imperial court reserves will be paid. All food will be given priority to supply the Japanese army and disaster relief."
Therefore, at the critical moment, Shen Shangshu is still worthy.
What he said was not a discussion with everyone present, but he had obviously reached an agreement with the emperor and planned to implement it directly.
After the words fell, except for the two people in the cabinet, the remaining ministers were surprised and also felt a little heavy.
They had long heard about the disaster in Henan and other places, but they did not expect it to be so serious.
After Chen Yi finished speaking, Zhu Qiyu also spoke.
"In a year of great calamity, the whole court needs to work together. In the past few days, the Ministry of Punishment has concluded twelve more cases. I have ordered people to count the confiscated property of these officials and get rid of some antiques, calligraphy and paintings, etc., which can be converted into silver taels." Yes, about 320,000 taels."
"This disaster is severe, so I have ordered the Jin Yiwei to make a book of these silver coins and distribute them to the mining tax eunuchs in the disaster-stricken areas or nearby areas. They will purchase food on the spot and transport it directly after purchasing. Go to the government office and use it for disaster relief."
"I have issued an order to these mining tax eunuchs. According to the amount of silver, I have ordered them to raise the required food within ten days. If they are delayed, they will be severely punished!"
"In addition, I will issue an order to the vassal kings in the disaster-stricken areas, ordering them to do their best to provide disaster relief. At the same time, I will use the imperial palace to accommodate the victims and strive to survive this disaster smoothly."
If there was anyone in the entire imperial court who had anticipated this disaster, then it was only Zhu Qiyu.
Since he had known it for a long time, he would not have been unprepared.
This is also the reason why he started to ‘open source’ the big plan first. The officials involved in the big plan are basically foreign officials.
Because of this, their property is generally located locally. Of course, the land and houses are usually purchased in their hometown, but after all, most of them are not in the capital.
Many officials were arrested in Henan, Huguang and other places affected by the disaster. Compared with transporting food from the capital, it is obviously more convenient to purchase it directly locally.
Of course, there are also disadvantages to doing this, that is, local grain merchants will definitely take the opportunity to drive up grain prices.
However, none of the ministers present raised this point.
Not for anything else, just because of what the emperor just said, that is, these people responsible for purchasing grain are mining tax eunuchs who are sent to various places.
Judging from what Song Wenyi did near the capital, these mining tax eunuchs are basically a weakened version of Shu Liang.
Those squires who had passed the paperwork with the government and 'voluntarily' bought and sold their land could be 'voluntarily' sold to Huangzhuang again.
Now, with the emperor's decree, how can they restrain themselves?
Listen to what the emperor said, within ten days, the required food must be raised according to the amount of silver received.
What is the subtext of this sentence?
That is, no matter what method is used, after ten days, the emperor will see the grain transported to the government office. If it can't be done well, then these mining tax eunuchs may not be able to come back.
In this case, how crazy will these eunuchs go...
The elders shook their heads inwardly, but on their faces, they didn't say a word. Perhaps some hot-tempered Ke Dao would have objected to this illegal thing.
However, everyone present understood the principle of obeying authority in urgent matters, not to mention that the emperor's attitude did not mean to ask for their opinions.
So if nothing else goes wrong, calling them here today should be...