eldest son of Ming dynasty

Chapter 641
In the tenth year of Zhengde, the emperor was 24 years old and 25 years old. It can be said that he has reached the peak of a man's physical fitness.

Generally speaking, people of this age always lack experience, but Zhu Houzhao himself is different from ordinary people. In addition, he has been here for more than ten years and has been the emperor for ten years.

So for him, not only physical strength, but also experience and experience can be called rich.

He also has more control over the court.

Over the past five years, he has still maintained the stability of the cabinet. Although Yang Yiqing is 62, he is in good health. He goes out early and comes back late every day, and rarely gets sick.

This was a famous minister who left his mark in history. He was smart and responsible. Unless he was nitpicking, Zhu Houzhao could not find a reason for him to quit.

However, the six ministries and nine ministers outside the cabinet have changed quite a lot.

The first is Han Wen, Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. He made no mistakes, but he was really old. He was already 70 years old in the fifth year of Zhengde. His old eyesight was dim, and Zhu Houzhao would have a headache if he misrecorded the accounts.

Therefore, in the sixth year of Zhengde's reign, the emperor agreed that Han Wen should become an official, and transferred He Jian, the always careful Minister of the Ministry of Industry, to the position of Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

The new minister of the Ministry of Industry was once again appointed by the original right minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Mao Ji.

Mao Ji is 53 years old this year. He was the 22nd Jinshi of Chenghua. He studied hard in the Hanlin Academy for many years. Until the early years of Zhengde, the emperor transferred him to Zhejiang as the chief envoy. After a short time, he visited Shandong, Changlu and other places. salt, all turned out pretty good.

At the end of the fifth year of Zhengde's reign, he returned to the capital and served as the right minister of the household department. This time he became a full-time official.

Mao Ji was knowledgeable, honest and simple in his official position, and had the style of an ancient prime minister. Historically, he was an important member of Yang Tinghe's cabinet.

Zhu Houzhao had seen his name in history books, and his impression was that he had done something in history to prevent the emperor from welcoming the living Buddha. At that time, Uszang (today's Tibet) paid tribute, and the envoy came to tell Wu Zong that there was a living Buddha in Uszang. Able to predict people's misfortunes and blessings.Wu Zong was the most superstitious of Buddhism. He was very happy when he heard about it. He allocated more than 100 million taels of silver and ordered the eunuch to lead 130 Jinyi guards and thousands of guards to greet him.

Mao Ji firmly disagreed with this matter, and was indeed stopped by him in the end.

In addition to the new ministers of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry, Dali Temple also changed people.

The emperor thought a little and turned Zhang Cong, who was not so broad-minded, into the minister of Dali Temple. Zhang Cong was powerful but could not tolerate others. This was one of his tricks to control the situation of the court.

The Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Punishment remained unchanged.

The Minister of War was also replaced by the emperor. The current Minister of War is Wang Jing, the former governor of Shuntian.There was nothing wrong with Qi Chengtun at first, but he became seriously ill during his eight years in Zhengde. Although he was still hanging on to death, his health was not as good as before.

In addition, there is a new Yamen in the capital.

In the seventh year of Zhengde's reign, the emperor considered that the Ming Dynasty had increasingly frequent contacts with foreign countries and had more affairs. The original responsibilities of the six ministries were a result of thousands of years of historical inertia. No matter how hard he talked, the most he could hear were the ministers, ministers, and many middle and lower-level officials. There cannot be unified and efficient action.

As a result, the emperor established a new Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by Gu Zuo.

Gu Zuoyuan was the commander of the Shaofu, and of course he was good at it. The Shaofu was developing extremely rapidly, but he lacked some toughness in his character. The corruption case in Huai'an Mansion had already begun to take place.

And the Shaofu is an area that is particularly prone to corruption, so after careful consideration, the emperor put Gu Renyi in the position of Shaofu Ling, and asked Gu Zuo to coordinate and handle various matters of foreign trade. He was also financially responsible. Technocrats are definitely good at it.

This pattern adjustment was basically finalized about a year ago.

As for the replacement of governors in various places, there is no need to say much, the principle is also very clear.

The emperor who has been in charge of the country for ten years occasionally appoints one or two border ministers incorrectly, but generally he is still a capable person. Of course, there is no way to elaborate on the issue of moral character, because he himself is not looking for 'Confucius' everywhere. Governing the country.

Generally speaking, there are many capable ministers in the court and the local government. Although there are still disputes between gentlemen and villains, the bottom line of the emperor is that many ministers understand that they cannot delay the official business.

As long as you employ the right people,

Of course things can be done.In the fifth year of Zhengde, preliminary results were achieved in cleaning up the military settlements. The emperor boldly promoted Lu En to promote the measurement of the farmland at a deeper level. In the sixth year of Zhengde, Zhou Shangwen and Wang Shouren returned to Gansu and Hetao respectively, and Lu En embarked on a more advanced career. He reached a high position and became the minister in charge of Qingtun.

By last year, the frontier military garrison had taken on a completely new look.The number of grains handed over to the court every year has returned to the order of 800 million shi, and each town's own army rations are enough to be self-sufficient. Only a few poor and arid areas need to be uniformly dispatched by the court, but this will not affect the overall situation.

Against this background, in the eighth year of Zhengde's reign, the emperor intended to conduct a personal expedition, but his ministers opposed it.

One of the important reasons is that there is no prince.

Although Queen Xia was pregnant, she gave birth to a princess in the fifth year of Zhengde.This added a hidden unstable factor to the court.

Well, Zhu Houzhao waited for two years and practiced internal strength for another two years, but now it has been ten years since Zhengde and there is still no movement.

He couldn't hold back any longer, so at the beginning of this year he proposed to go on a personal expedition to clear the grassland.

The cabinet also took a step back. When talking to the emperor in private, they begged the emperor to at least keep one prince to supervise the country!

Zhu Houzhao is currently struggling with this matter, so he has often summoned Yang Yiqing and Wang Hao recently.

Yang Yiqing's hair has turned a lot whiter, and Wang Hao's hair has lost a few black strands.

Today they entered the palace again, and they all knew the emperor's thoughts. Before leaving, Yang Yiqing also said, "If there is a memorial from Wang Shouren, please do not delay and submit it immediately."

The emperor wanted to personally conquer Mongolia, and Wang Shouren's opinion in Hetao was also very important.

If he could advise him, the emperor would probably give up some of his thoughts.

On the way to the palace.

Wang Hao and Yang Yiqing said, "Sir, I have a premonition. Your Majesty will definitely make a decision today after several days of consideration."

"Oh, it's not easy for Your Majesty either..."

In all dynasties, it is inevitable for princes to compete for the heir apparent. Now that Queen Xia has no son, this is a big problem.As the princes grew older, some things began to emerge.

The reason why the emperor was unwilling to designate a prince to supervise the country was that he was worried that if he leaned towards someone, some of his concubines would have ideas, which would cause endless trouble to the harem and the court in the future.

Therefore, the best way at this time is not to fight in person and wait for a few more years. Unless Queen Xia really has no hope of having a child, it will not be too late at that time.

However, the emperor has set great ambitions since he was a child, and the idea of ​​re-taking the path of Emperor Taizong has become a knot in his heart. If it cannot be realized as soon as possible, it must be very painful.

That's why Yang Yiqing said that it's not easy for the emperor.

The two of them raised their feet and crossed the threshold of Qianqing Palace. When they looked up, they found the emperor on the other side, so they lowered their heads and went over to salute, "Your Majesty, Yang Yiqing (Wang Kuo), greets you."

The emperor turned his back to them and was looking up at the map. He was tall and tall, young and energetic. He was in the best years of a young emperor.
"You are here. I tell you to tell you the truth. Wang Shouren sent me a secret message. I originally asked him whether the food, grass, troops and horses were ready, and whether he could send troops at any time. He answered with one word: Yes."

As they expected, from the beginning of the tenth year of Zhengde to the present, the emperor's only thought was to expand territory.

"As for the matter of supervising the country..."

Zhu Houzhao held the memorial in his right hand and tapped his left hand gently, as if thinking.

(End of this chapter)