Chapter 435 434 The Cultivating Emperor Jiajing

"Sight."

Faced with nearly a hundred impeachment memorials, Emperor Jiajing made a decision after deep thought, and softly uttered two words.

Emperor Jiajing felt a sense of fear again for no reason.

If these memorials were scolding him for his devotion to cultivating Taoism, he would only be very angry, but they were all about impeaching officials from the court to local officials for being illegal and incompetent. This made him not think more about what happened to the country under his rule. Is it true? Are what these censors say so disgusting?

Emperor Jiajing has always been very conceited. He believed that he had managed the country very well during his years as emperor, so he devoted himself wholeheartedly to cultivation.

Yes, in the early Jiajing Dynasty, because he used low-level officials such as Mr. Zhang and Xia Yan, these people were familiar with the sufferings of the people, so they could often prescribe the right medicine and come up with some methods to solve the stubborn problems of the Ming Dynasty, so that the Ming Dynasty showed a new era in the early Jiajing Dynasty. look.

Wise and strict inspection, strict control of officials, lenient governance of the people, rectification of the government, and reduction of taxes and servitude were also known as the "Jiajing New Deal" in later generations.

Also because Emperor Jiajing succeeded to the throne as a vassal king, when he first ascended the throne, he inspected the land that had been seized by his relatives and returned it to the people. He also reformed the system of hereditary titles for relatives and even restarted land surveying and small-scale land surveying. This series of reforms to correct the current shortcomings of the country, such as the extensive tax and labor reform, alleviated the already tense social and class conflicts to a certain extent, making the Ming Dynasty like a dead tree blooming with spring.

And because of the influence of his cousin Emperor Zhengde, he was full of distrust of the eunuchs. Whether it was because he truly believed what the civil servants said or because of his cousin's untimely death, he was unpretentious towards the eunuchs and treated them outside the country. Many restrictions were placed on his actions, which gave him a good reputation among the public.

However, after achieving these achievements, pride and complacency gradually affected Emperor Jiajing's mood. He began to practice immersedly. The temptation of power was really too great. He wanted to live forever and have such rights forever.

In his opinion, the empire has been governed by him, and it only needs to run step by step until the 29th year of Jiajing.

But despite this, he was still unwilling to admit that he was wrong because of his pride.

The emperor is infallible.

Therefore, even in his heart, he began to have some doubts about cultivation, but in the face of opposition from the government and the public, he showed the same momentum as Yang Tinghe and still insisted on practicing.

But now, facing nearly a hundred impeachment memorials all at once, all of which were impeaching officials appointed by him. Looking at the piles of memorials piled up on the imperial court case, I felt flustered for no reason.

At this time, for the first time, he had doubts about the ability of his chief minister, Yan Song, to govern.

He nodded and agreed to all the officials, but what was the cabinet for, and what was the staff for food?

Looking at the memorial, thinking about Shangman's description, and imagining how the people below were managed like this, he thought of the rebels in Fujian, and then thought of what Wei Guangde said just last year. The people in Jiangnan were furious about the extra faction. A year of judgment.

What is a big deal for an emperor?

That would naturally affect the continuation of the dynasty. In fact, Emperor Jiajing felt more embarrassed about the Japanese pirates, and the Ming Dynasty was helpless against the Japanese pirates.

As for the Mongols in the north, as well as the rebels rising in the country, they are the enemies that really affect the unification.

Solar eclipse in early February, warning from heaven, Wushan.

"Turn out Wu Shan's official memorial, criticize him, and let him go."

Emperor Jiajing, who still refused to admit defeat, chose to be out of sight and out of mind, and let Wu Shan leave directly.

Before, his rights were only taken back, but his official position was not removed. He was still the Minister of Rites, but from this moment on, he was no longer.

When Huang Jin took out Wu Shan's official memorial that had been detained before, Emperor Jiajing asked Huang Jin to approve it directly, and then ordered: "You go with them to the Supervisor of Ceremonies to use the seal, and take them all away. I want to be quiet."

While speaking, Emperor Jiajing looked at the aging Yan Song.

"According to the order."

After Huang Jin answered respectfully, he called three chamberlains to hold the memorial on the imperial desk, and followed him, Yan Song, and Xu Jie out of the Yongshou Palace.

"Master Chief Assistant, what happened this time? There was no news at all before."

Huang Jin asked in a low voice the question in his heart.

"I only found out today. Maybe it was because Mr. Zhou couldn't take charge of the affairs before."

When Zhou Yan was ill, his control over the Metropolitan Procuratorate was definitely greatly reduced, and most censors were thorny and prone to extremes.

Zhou Yan is naturally a good person, so he can convince his censors, but if he is not in the ministry, naturally no one can do it.

"I just hope Master Pan can be like Master Zhou."

Huang Jin glanced at Xu Jie inadvertently and uttered a sentence softly.

This wave of impeachment storm was very loud, and it basically satisfied the demands of the officials. When the news reached the outer court, the censors naturally celebrated. This was a major victory for them.

For the officials in the court, there is no doubt that they feel a lot of pressure. No one will feel relaxed when being watched by these officials.

However, no one knew that this impeachment storm directly kicked off the last major official adjustment in the Jiajing Dynasty.

But by this time, the yamen with the greatest influence was actually the Ministry of War.

Jiangdong was dismissed from his post, which completely failed some of the previous plans of the Ministry of War. They must find a trustworthy person again to take on the important task of clearing out the rebels who may arise.

With the development of the Ming Dynasty, it has become a common practice for civilian officials to control the army, and it is absolutely impossible to appoint a military general to carry out this task.

"Master Xu is now in charge of Ji Town, how can he be transferred to Fujian? What a joke."

"Li Wenjin is now the governor of Xuanda, and he cannot be transferred. Who else has a good record?"

"Don't mention Tan Lun. He can't even suppress the Japanese pirates now. What's more, it's difficult for His Majesty to agree to issue an order to deprive him of his love. I know he is from the same hometown as you. This matter can't be joked about."

"I want to talk about Huang Guangsheng."

Listening to his two assistants talking about qualified officials, Yang Bo also felt a headache.

But at least, the senior officials of the Ministry of War don't seem to be optimistic about Hu Zongxian now. Although the officials of the Yan Party have praised him as a god, judging from the actual results over the years, Hu Zongxian has a hard time suppressing the Japanese pirates. Now he has to suppress the rebel Zhang Lian, which is not easy.

There are so many taxes and lijin collected in Jiangnan, and hundreds of thousands of troops are supported, but the Japanese pirates are still rampant. Yang Bo even doubts the rumors outside. Is most of the money collected going into the pockets of Hu Zongxian and the officials of the Yan Party? Otherwise, the Japanese pirates should be killed with money.

Yang Bo never thought that Hu Zongxian could walk through the flowers without getting a single leaf on him, but seeing that Jiangnan might cause a big disaster, it was time to stop, otherwise he would really die without a burial place.

And what he considered, in fact, Hu Zongxian could also think of it, but he also had his own concerns.

Most of his subordinates were soldiers from various garrisons. These soldiers were not strong in combat. They could defend the city, but it was difficult to annihilate the enemy in the field. The only ones who dared to fight the Japanese pirates in the field were the newly trained battalion soldiers by Qi Jiguang and Tan Lun. But there was no large-scale actual combat, and Hu Zongxian had no confidence to say that he would win.

According to what Yan Shifan mentioned in the letter to him, the current court situation must not suffer a defeat, otherwise the emperor would probably change people.

So after receiving the order from the capital, all he could do was to draw troops and try to block the way for Zhang Lian's rebels to expand outward.

The troops were deployed in the prefectures and counties outside the mountains and on the main roads. He did not dare to give such an order to let the Ming army go into the mountains to suppress the bandits. He was already considering whether to re-draw the wolf soldiers from Guangxi to Fujian.

At the beginning of the Japanese invasion, the Ming court had drawn wolf soldiers to suppress the Japanese. Although there were some achievements, they were not impressive. Moreover, wolf soldiers were suitable for mountain warfare but not for fighting against Japanese pirates, so the wolf soldiers were soon gradually abandoned.

Now it takes at least half a year to re-draw wolf soldiers and request an order to transfer troops, but the deadline given by the court is limited.

Hu Zongxian was in a dilemma in Zhejiang, but soon he had no intention of considering this matter, because a large number of Japanese pirates had approached the coast of Daming.

In the spring of the 40th year of Jiajing, nearly 10,000 Japanese pirates and more than 50 warships gathered off the coast of Ningbo and Shaoxing, spying on the truth and waiting for an opportunity to invade.

However, now is not the same as before. The entire coastal prefecture is full of loopholes.

Ningbo, facing the East China Sea, has been built into an impregnable fortress over the years. Shaoxing is closer to Hangzhou, so its natural defense is also strong. To the south, there are Taizhou Prefecture and Wenzhou Prefecture.

After being discovered by the Ming court, Hu Zongxian quickly sent Qi Jiguang to lead the recruited battalion soldiers to fight as a mobile force to quickly reinforce Ningbo.

After the Japanese pirates discovered the movements of the Ming army, they quickly adjusted their direction and chose to go south to find their target.

Soon, the situation in Taizhou Prefecture began to be discovered by them.

Taizhou governs six counties: Ninghai, Linhai, Huangyan, Tiantai, Xianju, and Taiping. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides and by the sea on one side. It stretches from Wenzhou in the south to Ningbo in the north, with a coastline of more than 700 miles. It is a key area for Japanese pirates to invade.

Before, Taizhou prefect Tan Lun was good at defense, and he recruited thousands of local militiamen as mobile forces to strengthen resistance. However, Tan Lun was promoted to Zhejiang Right Governor and resigned at the end of last year. Now that the new prefect of Taizhou has taken office, the relationship between various places has not been sorted out, so there is an opportunity.

The Japanese pirates finally made a plan to attack Taizhou at sea, attacking in different directions, intending to turn Taizhou Prefecture upside down first. If they succeeded in mobilizing the surrounding official troops to come, they would immediately turn around and attack Ningbo again.

At this point, the Taizhou War between the Ming Dynasty and the Japanese pirates officially broke out, but neither side knew what this war would bring them in the end.

Beijing City, Xiyuan, Yongshou Palace.

The candles lit in the palace illuminated the entire palace. Emperor Jiajing sat on the throne, with only Huang Jin standing beside him. Unlike in the past, a huge map was hung on a wall in the hall.

It had been a few days since the last large-scale impeachment by the censors, and Emperor Jiajing had recovered.

Although the storm has passed, once some things are thought of, the impact will naturally not be small.

The appointment of officials in the court affects the whole body, and the replacement of officials often represents the change of the court.

In the past, he would meditate and practice at this time, but he has not done so in recent days.

Although he did not practice, Emperor Jiajing still closed the palace door tightly, seemingly still practicing, and only Huang Jin, who had been accompanying him, knew what they were doing.

In fact, looking at the map from the emperor's throne, the things on it could not be seen clearly, but Emperor Jiajing still sat in a posture of watching for a long time. Perhaps this was because the emperor had his own country in his heart.

Suddenly, Emperor Jiajing, who had been silent, asked: "Is there any result for the news I asked you to inquire?"

To others, this seemed to be a question without a beginning or an end, but Huang Jin, who was familiar with Emperor Jiajing's behavior and habits, still knew the meaning of the words.

"Your Majesty, I have checked it."

Huang Jin took a small step forward and began to report in a low voice: "Most officials think that Hu Zongxian is cunning and mediocre, and is not suitable for the post of governor-general of the anti-Japanese war. He has been in office for many years, and the Japanese invasion in Jiangnan is still there."

"Continue."

After Huang Jin said a paragraph, he showed a hesitant look. The Jiajing Emperor naturally did not like it, but he still said something calmly.

"Among the officials, those who admire Hu Zongxian have close ties with the Prime Minister's residence. All officials also regard Hu Zongxian as a member of the Yan Party in private."

"Yan Party again, is there a Xu Party, and a Prince Yu Party?"

Emperor Jiajing was very disgusted that someone accused this party in his court. Which party? The person who said this was actually accusing him of being blind and appointing evil villains.

Cliques for personal gain were serious crimes in the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang used this as an excuse to kill people in the early Ming Dynasty. As a result, all major cases involving tens of thousands of people were named as cliques.

However, the emperor's words shocked Huang Jin, and he knelt down hurriedly.

"Get up and continue."

Emperor Jiajing just glanced at Huang Jin and spoke again.

Huang Jin stood up and continued: "Regarding Hu Zongxian's theft of military pay, most of the officials speculated, but there is no real evidence, but it seems to be justice."

"Humph, corruption has become a routine, what else can't be done."

Emperor Jiajing snorted in dissatisfaction, although he was disdainful of it, he had no choice.

When he took over the country, he found that civil officials were corrupt and covered up for each other, and established a series of offensive and defensive alliances.

And he could only investigate those with real evidence, and could only silently endure the unspoken rules formed in the officialdom for many years, turning a blind eye.

He spent money lavishly on cultivation, and insisted on it even though he knew that the Ministry of Revenue had no money. This was partly because of this.

There was only so much silver. If he spent more, these officials would be able to "embezzle" less and "lose" less. This was also another way for him as an emperor to deal with things out of spite.

"Hmm!"

However, after he said this, Huang Jin did not say anything for a long time, so he could not help but look over.

Huang Jin frowned at this time, as if he was organizing his words.

"Just say whatever you found out. Are you hesitating and trying to deceive the emperor?"

"I dare not."

Hearing what Emperor Jiajing said, Huang Jin hurriedly explained, and then said: "In the court, no one was found to want to replace Hu Zongxian, whether it was from Xu Ge Lao's side or other people in the court.

They generally just said something bad about Hu Zongxian, but no one recommended someone else to take the position."

"That's strange. They want to overthrow Hu Zongxian, but there is no one to replace him."

Emperor Jiajing's brows relaxed, but he said casually.

"This is where I don't know what to say. It doesn't seem like someone is secretly operating, but many officials have this intention."

Huang Jin said in a low voice.

"The people's will and the people's expectation are what they want. Haha, Hu Zongxian has done a lot of evil!"

Emperor Jiajing couldn't help but laugh.