Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

The date of the morning court meeting was set on September 14th, but that day was considered the day when the monarch and his ministers formally confronted each other, but the warm-up work for both sides had quietly begun.

The first to take action was the civil service group. After the first minister Wan An and the second minister Liu Ji submitted their resignations, important officials from the Sixth Ministry and other ministries immediately followed suit.

Of course, this move is not really about resigning collectively. They have studied hard for ten years and worked hard for many years to get their current high position. How can they give up so easily?

The great thing about the civil servant group is that they are united enough. They are obviously a bunch of people who are greedy for power, but they can always put on a high profile of serving the country and the people.

As a rule, whenever a new emperor ascends the throne, the important ministers and local governors will all find excuses such as lack of ability to submit their resignations to show the world that they are not greedy for power. This can also be regarded as handing over the decision-making power of their own stay to the His Majesty.

Of course, this is actually a game directed and performed by the civilian clique.

Not to mention that it is impossible for the emperor who has just succeeded to the throne to accept the resignations of all officials. Doing so will cause the court to be unable to function and harm the interests of his own dynasty.

If the new monarch agrees to the resignation of a leader in the civil service group, then countless of the leader's subordinates will go crazy to persuade him to stay, or even directly criticize the new monarch.

This is exactly the case. Although the important ministers of the Manchu Dynasty resigned due to their own lack of ability and other reasons, if you can really take away their life and death, then you really lose.

Zhu Youtang saw officials such as Li Yu, the Minister of Personnel, Li Min, the Minister of Hubu, Zhou Hongmo, the Minister of Rites, Yu Zijun, the Minister of War, Du Ming, the Minister of Punishment, Jia Jun, the Minister of Industry, and Liu Fu, the Yushi of the Capital Inspectorate. Not one of the second-rank officials was bad, and all of them submitted their resignations to him.

It's just that I know the virtues of these officials clearly, and I can actually take advantage of the opportunity to capture a few officials, but it doesn't make much sense.

Zhu Youtang did not have a specific implementation plan for the purge of the officials in the six ministries, let alone suitable replacements. Instead, he simply replied: I am the first heir to appoint people to handle general affairs, and I will not accept resignations.

I thought this would be completed, but Li Min, the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Zhou Hongmo, the Minister of Rites, Yu Zijun, the Minister of the Ministry of War, and Liu Fu, the Imperial Censor of the Imperial Procuratorate, went to the second round of resignations. It seemed that they really expected that the emperor would not dare to do so. Agree generally.

Faced with several important ministers who asked to resign for the second time, Zhu Youtang also chose to tolerate it. Even if he tried to persuade him to stay again, he said: You are the pillar of the country, and I will not accept your request.

If the official is approved in the third round, it proves that the official has a strong intention to leave. At this time, his request can be granted, and it will be difficult for other officials to be retained by the official.

It's just that these court officials are all veteran, so naturally they can't write the third memorial.

Zhu Youtang actually hoped that some high-ranking officials would resign and die in three consecutive rounds, but by the third round they all turned into cowards, and he couldn't help but secretly curse: A bunch of hypocrites!

In the blink of an eye, it's already the 13th, and tomorrow will be the first morning pilgrimage.

Your Majesty, this is the memorial for the various yamen meetings tomorrow morning. Please take a look at it! Huaien, the Superintendent of Ceremonies, personally delivered the memorial and looked respectful.

The early morning of the Ming Dynasty was not like what was shown in the TV series. An official in the Jinluan Palace suddenly came out and raised an issue. Then all the officials in the palace expressed their opinions and finally reached a conclusion.

The real early dynasty was far more boring than everyone thought. Since Yingzong, who was only eight years old, came to the throne, the early Ming Dynasty had turned to documentaryism.

At that time, the cabinet ministers Yang Rong and others concerned that the holy body is easy to get tired, and simplified the morning court procedures, stipulating that every morning court, only eight things should be done. The day before, I would first confer a deputy title on your Excellency, and you would punish Chen Shang with various matters.

Officials of each yamen sent a copy of the memorial to be discussed tomorrow to the cabinet one day in advance. The cabinet drafted it, and then the emperor ordered the chief ceremonial officer to approve it, and then responded in the morning.

Because of this, the morning court has actually lost its significance in dealing with political affairs. Things have been dealt with the day before and then read out in the morning court.

Put it aside for now! Zhu Youtang ordered Huai'en without even raising his head.

Wynn saw Zhu Youtang drawing strange paintings like well fields on paper, and was about to step forward to see what was going on, but a young eunuch stood in front of him.

Eunuch Huai, Master, please put it aside. Just give me the memorial! Liu Jin knew that Huai'en was the supervisor of power in the palace, but she still stood firmly on Zhu Youtang's side.

Wynn was very unhappy with this little eunuch who appeared out of nowhere, but he coughed lightly and said: Your Majesty, if you want to practice painting without time to read, how about it be approved by the Chief of Ceremonies first and then sent over? ?”

Zhu Youtang's expression suddenly changed, but he never expected that this dead eunuch would dare to make such a mistake. Was he trying to become a puppet emperor?

Huai'en had his own way of saying it, and seemed to be thinking for Zhu Youtang's sake: Your Majesty, you are all loyal and upright ministers in this court, and my servants are also checking for you, so there will be no mistakes! It is not advisable to ascend to Dabao too early. It’s not beautiful to make a statement to avoid being corrected by science and causing trouble!”

Liu Jin frowned slightly. Although it sounded like he was thinking about His Majesty when he heard these words, he actually wanted His Majesty to leave things alone. This old eunuch was really not a good person.

I know what to do. Just do your job well. Put the memorial aside and go down! Zhu Youtang said because he didn't want to force Huaien to be dismissed from office now, so he suppressed the anger in his heart.

Wynn looked at Zhu Youtang, who still didn't look at him. He vaguely felt that the prince who had grown up had indeed become a little different, so he slightly cupped his hands and said, Yes!

Liu Jin took the memorial from Huai'en, and when he saw Huai'en leaving, he couldn't help but vomited: Master, this old eunuch obviously has a face with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks, but he is a person who knows all day long, he is simply a complete idiot. You hypocrite has disgraced our eunuchs!

Zhu Youtang found that Huaien, who was praised by the civil service group, did have a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks, but he did not answer the question and was looking at the salt law plan he had just completed with satisfaction.

If you want to govern this country well, you must first create a healthy financial system so that you can have enough money to solve the problems encountered by the dynasty.

It is not realistic to get more grain taxes from the officials and gentry for a while now. The consequences of doing so are likely to be a fire in the Qianqing Palace or oneself falling into the water. Therefore, solving the salt problem is the best solution.

Some people have speculated that the highest salt output in the Qing Dynasty reached 2 billion kilograms, while the output in the late Wanli years of the Ming Dynasty was 300 million kilograms, so there is a lot of room for production here.

Over the past few days, he has gradually perfected his plan to rectify the political affairs. Even if the salt tax revenue cannot reach the 49 million taels in the third year of Xuantong, it cannot stay at the scale of 1 million taels. This salt tax revenue will become an important part of building the prosperous Ming Dynasty.

Master, please read it! When Zhu Youtang glanced this way, Liu Jin immediately delivered the memorial to Zhu Youtang and said.

Zhu Youtang saw that there were only a dozen memorials. The first one he opened was the memorial sent by the Ministry of Rites. But when he saw that he was actually asked to award rewards to civil and military ministers, soldiers and civilians, he couldn't help but laugh.

The Duke, Marquis, Prince Consort, and Uncle are all given twenty taels of silver; civil servants of the first and second grades are given fifteen taels of silver; third-grade officials are given fifteen taels of silver; fourth-grade officers are given eight taels of silver... officers of the first and second grades are given six taels of silver. ; The third grade, four taels of silver; the fourth and fifth grades, three taels of silver; the sixth to ninth grades, two taels of silver; miscellaneous duties and records of young troops, one tael of silver...those who have not been inherited by the descendants of marquises and uncles, and who have no For descendants who have surviving mothers or wives, each person will receive five taels of silk. Officials, supervisors, astronomy students, music and dance students, doctors, and students of Shuntian Prefecture will each receive one piece of silk. In the compartment, the elders, craftsmen, cooks, and musicians each clothed themselves with a piece of cloth. This said: It is a gift to ascend the throne, so it will be made forever!

Zhu Youtang saw that these civil servants had really made their plans, not to mention the huge gap in rewards between civil servants and military attachés. Now he was not satisfied with taking money from himself, and actually wanted to make it permanent and have his own son. Money will be given to them as their descendants succeed to the throne.

Master, Concubine Zhang is here! Liang Fang came over and respectfully reported to Zhu Youtang.

Zhu Youtang gently put down the memorial from the Ministry of Rites, but asked curiously: Liang Fang, when my father ascended the throne, was there any silver as a gift from the throne?

I remember that the late emperor did not receive enthronement favors when he succeeded to the throne. In the Ming Dynasty, Taizong only extended favors to the military and civilians when he ascended the throne, but the rewards at that time were treasure notes! Liang Fangruo thought about it and answered seriously.

Zhu Youtang asked Liu Jin to go and bring Zhang Sheng in, but he found that this group of civil servants really thought that he was easy to bully. Not only did they want to steal money from him, but they also wanted to formulate an ancestral system that was beneficial to the civil service group.

It has to be said that there may be various reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty, but the biggest drawback is that this growing civil servant group sucked up all the luck of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Sheng came in from the outside. After learning the whole story, he said bitterly: Your Majesty, the matter of the enthronement has been spread! If Your Majesty does not agree to the request of the Ministry of Rites, many lower-level officials may be resentful. I'm afraid it will be detrimental to His Majesty's reputation!

Haha...the Ministry of Rites is forcing me to reward you! Zhu Youtang couldn't help but laugh angrily when he learned that the matter had spread in the capital.