Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 382 New Era, New Prime Minister, New Politics

"Your Majesty, you and the Emperor are the most honorable, so you should sit in the middle!"

"Su Qing, you are standing here. You are the Prime Minister now. Remember to change your temper!"

"Uncle, you should stay next to the emperor like Su Qing."

……

Xu Jie did not expect that both the retired emperor and the emperor agreed to his request to take a photo with high-ranking officials of the court outside the Fengtian Gate.

Even the retired Emperor Zhu Houzhao asked him to make the arrangements himself instead of letting the Minister of Rites Chen Yiqin do it.

Of course, Chen Yiqun didn’t know how to arrange it, as this kind of group photo ceremony had never happened before.

After a while, Xu Jie arranged everyone's positions and stood behind Zhu Houzhao and Zhu Zailei: "Master, we can start now!"

then.

Not long after, there was a bang, magnesium powder exploded, white smoke rose, and dozens of people on the top floor of Daming were frozen in a photo.

The retired emperor Zhu Houzhao allowed Xu Jie to take individual photos with the emperor and other officials, but he no longer took photos with Xu Jie. He just sat in the middle tent and watched these officials take photos with Xu Jie in groups of three or two.

Zhu Houzhao found it very interesting to watch these officials walking around in groups of two or three, standing or sitting, but all with a serious look on their faces. But in general, these scholars were quick to accept this new thing, photography.

Xu Jie left the capital by car again. This time he took away a whole box of photos, as if he had taken away all his memories of the capital.

But Xu Jie still regretted that even though he returned to Beijing again and met everyone, he was not able to have a deep conversation with the emperor.

In fact, he had always wanted to tell Zhu Houzhao why he wanted to resign from the position of Prime Minister of the Cabinet.

However, private newspapers answered this question for him, saying that Xu Jie was not good at being the prime minister of the cabinet. As an official who made his fortune by building railways, he was not suitable to be the prime minister of the cabinet because Xu Jie was not suitable for governing an empire that was changing with each passing day.

After reading it himself, Xu Jie couldn't help but laugh: "You're right, I am indeed only suitable for building railways."

When Xu Jie said this, he was naturally a little unconvinced in his heart. He did not think that he was stupider than Zhang Cong, Xia Yan, Yan Song and others, but he just found that in this era, the country could not be governed well by just knowing how to use political tactics.

"Sir, the editor of Jiangnan Evening News wants to see you and arrange an interview with you to discuss the reasons for your resignation. Here is the post, saying we are waiting for your reply."

After the Xu family steward handed Xu Jie the media's application for an interview, Xu Jie suddenly became enlightened and said with a smile: "I was confused! In today's world, I don't need to explain to His Majesty, I don't need to explain to the emperor, I need to explain to the people of the world!"

A month later, Zhu Houzhao saw the content of Xu Jie's interview in newspapers. What interested him was not the content of Xu Jie's interview, but a photo of Xu Jie printed on it.

"Newspapers are finally doing more than just publishing text and pictures. From now on, people all over the world will know who the people who manage the empire are, what they look like, and that they are not supernatural beings. In this way, the distance between the people and the officials is closer," Zhu Houzhao sighed.

"So this is the Emperor!"

"So this is Xu Jie, ugh! It was this guy who seized the people's land! And because of this, he suddenly owned 400,000 acres of land!"

When the people saw the photos of the top figures of the empire published in the newspapers, they commented with curiosity.

The carriers of information are becoming more and more abundant, and the cost of communication is becoming lower and lower, which means that more and more things can be magnified, causing more and more things that were previously restricted by geographical isolation and violate moral laws to be put in front of the whole world for criticism.

For Xu Jie, he never expected that his family's embezzlement of people's land would become a household name.

"Lord Xu, thank you for your answer, but as you said, the Ming Dynasty has changed, so we have to be more disciplined in many cases. Next, I want to ask you what you think about your family's embezzlement of civilian land?"

"Lord Xu, we conducted a survey on how people in the market view you. We found that you are praised for your outstanding achievements in railway construction, while you are criticized for allowing your family to embezzle the people's land. What do you think of the results of this survey?"

"Lord Xu, we would like to ask you on behalf of the people of Huating County whether your Xu family has completely returned the occupied land to the people. In addition, what do you think about the relatives of officials breaking the law and discipline?"

……

Xu Jie never thought that this matter would be magnified so much, as if everyone in the world knew that his Xu family had encroached on people's land.

This made Xu Jie feel very scared. He knew that when Hai Rui was sent to Yingtian Prefecture, he would crack down on his Xu family. However, he never imagined that this crackdown would cause such serious consequences, so serious that his Xu family seemed to be completely labeled as an evil force.

……

"Father, I have some bad news. Xu Jie died suddenly three months after leaving Beijing! According to the secret report from the Western Factory, he actually died by swallowing gold!"

Zhu Houzhao was also quite shocked when he heard the news from Zhu Zailei. He looked at the pile of newspapers and periodicals on his desk that he had collected to criticize the Xu family for encroaching on the people's land:
“I didn’t expect that he couldn’t withstand the pressure of public opinion, but this is not even on the same level as the Internet era in the future!”

These days, the matter of the Xu family's encroachment on people's land has become the hottest topic of the day, just like the hot searches in later generations, so Zhu Houzhao was also paying attention to it, but he didn't expect that Xu Jie suddenly died before he had even started to enjoy the news for long.

Zhu Houzhao did not have much friendship for Xu Jie, but he also knew that Xu Jie had done many practical things for the empire. Therefore, even though he sent Hai Rui to Yingtian Prefecture to deal with the Xu family, he did not let Zhu Zaile do anything directly to Xu Jie, and even continued to let Xu Jie be the chief minister of the cabinet.

But now Xu Jie's reputation was suddenly ruined because of his embezzlement of people's land, and he even committed suicide because he could not bear the pressure. Zhu Houzhao felt a little guilty and regretful. He couldn't help but wonder whether he was right to let Hai Rui go to Yingtian Prefecture.

And at this time.

In a dark room, a servant was reporting to a man in the uniform of a first-rank official: "Sir, Songjiang sent a telegram, Xu Jie is gone!"

The man sighed with his back to him, "It is completely impossible for Xu Jie to return to power. Hai Rui should be promoted! After all, he forced the former cabinet chief to commit suicide. Can the officials from Jiangnan still tolerate him staying in Yingtian Prefecture?"

……

"Has the Western Factory recently discovered that some high-ranking officials of the court secretly instructed major newspapers to bombard Xu Jie?" Zhu Houzhao asked Zhu Zaile.

"Li Fang never mentioned it, but my son also found it strange. The recent news about the Xu family encroaching on people's land suddenly appeared like a gust of wind, and now it has suddenly disappeared," Zhu Zaile replied.

Zhu Houzhao nodded after listening: "With radio, a hot event can spread rapidly throughout the country within a day, and a person's good and bad deeds will also be quickly magnified, but people's memory is instantaneous, and they remember quickly and forget quickly. This is normal. Maybe there is no human operation, or maybe there is, but even if there is, it is taking advantage of the situation. It's just that this test and requirement for people is higher. You are the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the focus of the world. If you don't do something well, you will definitely get more attention than Xu Jie. At that time, there is no need to be afraid, just drag it for four or five days! Don't learn from Xu Jie and choose to end his own life. It's meaningless!" Xu Jie's sudden death passed quickly like a gust of wind, and in the blink of an eye it was the spring of the following year.

The news that Oda Nobunaga had been captured alive was brought back to the capital in the spring of that year, which marked the end of the war to destroy Japan.

This also once again proves the powerful military strength of the Ming Central Empire.

Therefore, Emperor Zhu Zailei confidently told the people of the country during the New Year that all Japanese pirates would be completely wiped out this year, putting an end to the Japanese threat that had not been eliminated in the Ming Dynasty for two hundred years.

The application of radio technology enabled people all over the world to know this joyful news in a very short time.

This once again made the entire empire appear more prosperous.

Zhu Houzhao also felt a lot more relieved. After all, in this time and space, Japan, a country that brought severe disasters to China in the original world, no longer posed any threat.

Because of this.

It was a rare occasion for Zhu Houzhao to attend the first grand court meeting of the Ming Empire after the beginning of spring.

What was different about this court meeting was that the newly appointed chief minister of the cabinet, Gao Gong, invited media from all walks of life in the Ming Dynasty to attend, as if he wanted to inform the people of the world of the contents of the empire's highest-level court meetings from now on.

"In the next five years, the imperial court will strive to achieve the success of the transformation of the southwest into aboriginal people within half a year, completely wipe out the Tartars from the northwest within two years, and extend the railway line to the area west of Hamiwei!"

"In the next five years, the court will implement the most thorough medical insurance policy, and it will cover remote rural areas!"

"In the next five years, the imperial court will allocate 4 trillion silver dollars to subsidize northern infrastructure and agricultural production to combat the gradually intensifying Little Ice Age climate!"

……

As a result, Gao Gong's speech at the court meeting also drew applause from many media people and even spread throughout the country in a very short time.

Zhu Houzhao looked at Gao Gong who was describing the blueprint vividly, and could not help but turn to his emperor son and said: "The new cabinet chief you appointed is very high-profile!"

"Father, didn't you agree to let him take over from Xu Jie? However, I didn't expect that in addition to your support, the big tycoons who worked with you to reform the Ming Dynasty all supported him surprisingly well. I thought that the north really needed to be governed well in recent years, so I agreed. Xu Jie was a southern official. When he was the chief minister of the cabinet, to be honest, he didn't pay as much attention to the north as Gao Gong!"

Zhu Zailei replied.

"Of course they support Gao Gong. At least 60% of the mining industry in the northern border is in the hands of these big financial groups. Now that the climate of the Little Ice Age is becoming more and more severe, in order to protect their own industries, they naturally hope that the cabinet will spend more time and effort in the north."

Zhu Houzhao said this with a smile, and then continued to watch Gao Gong's speech amid the smoke and dust of exploding magnesium powder. He found that Gao Gong was actually more adaptable to the changes of the times than Xu Jie. He thought that it was no wonder that this northern man could come up with such creative and good policies as the Longqing Opening and Altan's tribute in the original history.

But Zhu Houzhao was worried that his emperor son's limelight would be snatched away by Gao Gong. But when he saw his son's indifferent smile, he didn't know what to say for a moment.

The next few days.

The entire Ming Dynasty seemed to be filled with news about Gao Gong: Gao Gong went to the orphanage, Gao Gong suddenly appeared on the tram, Gao Gong inspected the farmers' market, and so on.

Zhu Houzhao was a little tired of it, so he simply stopped reading the newspaper and continued to compare the Japanese women that Qi Jiguang sent back from Japan. Now he only had such a vulgar hobby, because he was also influenced by Gao Gong in the newspapers and became more and more great and glorious.

Oda Nobunaga was taken back to the capital.

Zhu Houzhao saw this Japanese hero for the first time. He also got Oda Nobunaga's Japanese sword. He couldn't help but pull it out and gestured to Oda Nobunaga: "Bakayalo!"

Oda Nobunaga looked at Zhu Houzhao as if he was looking at a strange old man. He was determined to unify Japan and he never thought that his life's work would be destroyed by the old man who shouted "Bakayaro" at him. He was very angry and helpless, but what made him even more unbearable was that he had to accept the trial of the court of this country and accept its abuse.

Click!

Batch after batch of Japanese pirate leaders were beheaded.

Zhu Houzhao had already seen the list and knew that people like Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu were on it. Therefore, Zhu Houzhao was really happy because he had cut off the future path of the entire Japanese Empire.

After Qi Jiguang returned to China, he brought back the most noble group in Japan. Zhu Houzhao ordered them to be executed by slow slicing without hesitation.

This is the end.

The Japanese Empire was completely destroyed.

And this land was officially renamed Dongying.

Of course, this piece of land will not only serve as the Ming Dynasty, but will also serve as a precedent for the Ming Dynasty's scholars and common people to establish their own government, or a pilot project for the Ming Dynasty to expand local autonomy again.

There are only three types of people in Japan now: Japanese women, people who come to Japan to engage in the sex and gambling industry or enjoy this kind of experience, and the Ming army stationed here.

The Ming army was directly sent by the central court and did not participate in the election, so only the clients, pimps, pimps, and Japanese women participated.

Most of the clients here were scholars or civil rights activists who were escaping the imperial court and pursuing liberalism.

Therefore, they actively used the autonomy granted to them by the court and began to actively give speeches to brothels, pimps, prostitutes, gamblers and other people, trying to win them over, bribe them, and try to get them to elect them as the governor-general of Japan or officials of other systems.

"The whole of Japan is in chaos now. Various societies are fighting each other, assassinating, massacring, bribing, and colluding. All kinds of means are used. Several candidates for governor have been killed one after another, and Minister Chen's son has also been assassinated. However, because Japan does not have a complete legal system now, or even the legislators of the Legislative Council have not been fully elected, and the three elected legislators are also arguing over the formulation of some laws and there is no unified opinion. Recently, a legislator who was just elected three months ago was also assassinated! Therefore, the case of the murder of Mr. Chen has not been solved so far! If this happened in the mainland, the murderer would have been brought to justice!"

Emperor Zhu Zailei told the retired emperor Zhu Houzhao about the pilot project in Japan. Zhu Houzhao nodded and thought to himself that it was a good thing that he did not do this directly in the Ming Dynasty from the beginning, otherwise the entire Ming Dynasty would be in chaos.

Thanks to the book friend Zhuqianzi for the reward of 100 starting coins

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(End of this chapter)