Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 6: Hearing the Government
After moving to the Leopard House, Zhu Houzhao did not indulge in wine and sex. He knew that playing politics is not like playing games, and he also knew that there would be many dangers on this road. A strong body is very important. After all, the body is the capital of revolution.

Therefore, after moving to the Leopard House, Zhu Houzhao apparently had four or five beauties take turns to accompany him every day, but in fact, he always made himself like Liu Xiahui, basically getting up at the hour of Mao to exercise every day, going to bed after the hour of Hai, and listening to the reports from the Eight Tigers at fixed times. At the same time, he was also thinking about his own plan to make money.

On the first day in the Leopard House, Zhu Houzhao had no idea what to do, but it is worth mentioning that he was now penniless. All the wealth he had accumulated when he was the crown prince was given to the Eight Tigers to manage relationships. Moreover, it cost him a lot of money to build the Leopard House, and he also had to spend money to keep beauties, bands, actors, and buy mythical beasts so that people outside would know that he was enjoying himself.

Therefore, he had to lead a miserable life now, with steamed buns as his staple food for breakfast every day, and only three dishes and a soup for lunch and dinner.

Although it was relatively well-off compared to ordinary people in the Ming Dynasty, at least he had three meals a day. After all, people in the Ming Dynasty only had two meals a day. But for an emperor like him, it was very shabby.

Whether it was to accumulate capital to participate in political struggles or to improve his own life, Zhu Houzhao had to rely on himself to open up new sources of income. As for his own treasury, he could only let the eunuchs of the Ministry of Revenue and the Neichengyunku help him look after it.

While eating steamed buns in the morning, Zhu Houzhao thought of the need for soda ash to ferment steamed buns, and from soda ash he thought of the saponification reaction. Therefore, the first way he thought of to make money was to make soap and sell it.

Zhu Houzhao gave the last of his silver to the eunuch Luo Xiang, and asked him to go to Qipan Street outside Daming Gate to purchase a batch of raw materials for making soap according to his own list. At the same time, he asked Qiu Ju to open up a place with good water source near the Leopard House and named it the "Royal Industrial Experimental Base."

For people of this era, what the Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao did was definitely something improper and foolish, but only Zhu Houzhao himself knew that he was taking the first step in the industrialization of the Ming Dynasty.

Although Zhu Houzhao was ready to make a big move in the Leopard House, he still fulfilled some basic duties as an emperor of that era, one of which was to attend court.

On the second night after arriving at the Leopard Room, he returned to the Qianqing Palace and began to prepare for the grand court session on the third day.

This was the first grand court after the new emperor Zhu Houzhao ascended the throne. Zhu Houzhao got up at the hour of Yin. When he was about to arrive at the main hall of the Qianqing Palace, it was still dark. But because it was the first time in the new dynasty, he did not find it boring. He just felt it was fresh and began to sit in court and listen to government affairs according to the ceremony prescribed by the Ministry of Rites.

Generally, such grand court meetings are mostly ceremonial and do not discuss important state affairs, but there are exceptions.

This morning court session is an exception.

Minister of War Liu Daxia and Grand Secretary of the Cabinet Liu Jian smiled and looked at Zhu Houzhao with some contempt, thinking that Zhu Houzhao would definitely lack experience as it was his first court session and would be manipulated by these civil servants.

Minister of War Liu Daxia winked at his trusted confidant, Censor He Tianqu of the Metropolitan Censorate. Soon, Censor He Tianqu appeared in the center of the court:

"Your Majesty, I am submitting a memorial to impeach the Minister of Personnel Ma Wensheng for neglecting government affairs due to his old age and frailty. Such a person who is just sitting there doing nothing should stop clinging to power! This is to comfort the younger generation!"

As soon as the censor He Tianqu finished speaking, there was an uproar in the court. No one had expected that Ma Wensheng, a veteran of four dynasties, would be impeached in the court. Being impeached in front of His Majesty and all the officials for clinging to power was an insult that no one could stand, not to mention that Ma Wensheng was a man who cared about his reputation.

"you!"

Ma Wensheng suddenly became furious. He pointed at the censor He Tianqu and was speechless for a long time, but his eyes were fixed on Jiao Fang, the left vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel.

However, the censor He Tianqu just held the memorial with a calm expression.

Cabinet Grand Secretary Liu Jian and others just watched all this in silence.

The Minister of War Liu Daxia smiled secretly, and felt even more satisfied when he saw Ma Wensheng glaring at Jiao Fang. He thought to himself that his plan of killing two birds with one stone had worked. Now he just had to wait for you, Ma Wensheng, to resign, and then your disciples would attack Jiao Fang, and then I could be promoted to the Ministry of Personnel!

Zhu Houzhao naturally saw through the key point here and understood that Ma Wensheng was impeached because he questioned the death of Emperor Hongzhi when he passed away, which made him hated by the cabinet. Zhu Houzhao could guess that next, Ma Wensheng would definitely submit a letter of resignation to prove his innocence.

However, Zhu Houzhao would not let Ma Wensheng leave the court, because once Ma Wensheng left, the entire court would be controlled by Liu Jian and others in the cabinet, and his situation would become even more difficult.

Zhu Houzhao said with great regret: "The late emperor repeatedly told me to cherish old ministers and use them more. How can I dismiss you just because you are old? That would hurt the hearts of the old ministers. This proposal is rejected!"

Censor He Tianqu had to withdraw, however, cabinet members Liu Jian and Minister of War Liu Daxia were not disappointed. On the contrary, they were somewhat moved and were willing to see the new emperor Zhu Houzhao sympathize with old ministers. After all, they were also old ministers. But they believed that Ma Wensheng would definitely resign. After all, according to convention, whether it was a cabinet minister or a minister, they would submit a letter of resignation once impeached, otherwise they would be regarded as clinging to power.

As long as Ma Wensheng submitted his resignation, Liu Jian and other cabinet ministers who already controlled the inner court would be able to directly vote to approve Ma Wensheng's resignation, and then they would expel Ma Wensheng from the court.

Of course, once Ma Wensheng was expelled from the court, the blame for deposing the old minister would still have to be borne by Emperor Zhu Houzhao, because theoretically, Ma Wensheng's resignation could only be approved by the emperor.

But in fact, Emperor Zhu Houzhao had no way to reject the cabinet's proposal, and he didn't even have the power to refuse to approve it, because neither the Imperial Household Department nor the cabinet could listen to him.

However, it was obvious that Liu Jian and other civil servants did not just want Emperor Zhu Houzhao to take the blame, they also wanted Emperor Zhu Houzhao to stay in the palace and take the blame. After all, if the emperor did not live in the palace, it meant that they could not control the emperor.

Therefore, Xia Shi, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I have a report. I recently heard that Your Majesty does not live in the palace but seeks entertainment in the Western Garden. Now that the spirit of the late emperor is not at peace, I hope Your Majesty will understand the people's desire for good governance, move back to the palace, demolish the Leopard House, and show your determination to govern the country!"

Zhu Houzhao was even more angry at this time. He did not expect that Liu Jian and other cabinet ministers and Liu Daxia, the Minister of War, and their group not only wanted to drive Ma Wensheng out of the court, but also wanted to drive himself, the emperor, back to the palace. In their eyes, it seemed that he could not govern the country if he lived outside the palace.

"The weather is hot right now, the Qianqing Palace has not been repaired for a long time, and the ice storage is insufficient. The late emperor suffered from heatstroke while living in the Qianqing Palace, and even died because of it. Now you want me to go back and collapse from heatstroke too?"

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but ask coldly.

At this moment, Xia Shi, the Secretary of the Ministry of Education, didn't know what to say. No matter what he did, he dared not say that he wanted to heat the monarch to death. Xia Shi, the Secretary of the Ministry of Education, hurriedly glanced at Liu Jian.

What else could the chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Jian, say? He didn't dare to force Zhu Houzhao to return to the palace in front of all the officials, saying that he would kill Zhu Houzhao with heat. He could only give in: "Your Majesty is right. The health of the emperor is of great importance. It won't be too late to move back to the Qianqing Palace after the hot summer days are over."

After the cabinet chief Liu Jian finished speaking, Li Dongyang and Xie Qian were both a little unhappy, but they also secretly thought that Liu Jian's answer was also very good. They didn't believe that Zhu Houzhao had any reason to stay in the Leopard House after the summer heat was over.

"Just follow your advice, Mr. Liu. We'll talk about it in three months!"

Zhu Houzhao made the decision quickly to prevent these civil servants from changing their minds.

After the court was dismissed, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, Liu Daxia and their party were in a good mood and left the court talking and laughing. After all, they not only successfully impeached Ma Wensheng, but also got the promise from His Majesty the Emperor that they could return to the palace in three months.

Ma Wensheng was very disappointed at this time. He naturally did not want to resign, but he knew that he had to resign now, and he would definitely be expelled from the court by Liu Jian and other cabinet ministers. It was his fault for not keeping his mouth shut and questioning the cause of the emperor's death.

When Liu Jian left, he also glanced at Ma Wensheng and smiled coldly. He almost walked up to Ma Wensheng and said, "Even if you are the Minister of Personnel, I want you to get out of the court!"

Zhu Houzhao also saw Ma Wensheng's disappointment and Liu Jian's arrogance, and just smiled faintly.

(End of this chapter)