gnovel Chapter 54 Zhu Di's temple name was changed again!
Chapter 54 Zhu Di's temple name was changed again!
After Song Xuezhu left, Zhu Jian slowly walked over to Zheng Sen, Li Dingguo, and Liu Wenxiu.
"I will not be going to Dengzhou Prefecture. In a few days, Zhilong will send ten warships to Dengzhou: two medium-sized warships and eight small warships. You will recruit five thousand soldiers familiar with the water in Dengzhou and train them! Once the equipment and armor are made, I will send them to Dengzhou from the capital!"
"Your Majesty, we thank you for your trust!" the three said in unison.
Zhu Jian patted the fifteen-year-old Zheng Chenggong on the shoulder: "Zheng Sen is appointed Admiral of the Dengzhou Naval Force! Dingguo is appointed General of Dengzhou, and Wenxiu is appointed Deputy General of Dengzhou!"
He then sighed, "As for the navy in Dengzhou now, it has no fighting capacity left, and most of the garrisons have fled. Those military households who want to join the army can continue to do so, and those who don't can find their own way to make a living!"
"Your Majesty, we will certainly not fail in your trust!" the three said in unison.
Inspector Zhu further instructed, "As for shipbuilding, you can also get on board. Start by building small warships and transport ships for future use!"
"yes!"
Then the soldiers led over twenty horses and handed them over to Zheng Chenggong, Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu, and a dozen soldiers.
The three men took the reins, mounted their horses, clasped their hands in salute, and rode away.
Zhu Jian stood there, watching the departing figures of the dozen or so people for a long time before leaving.
Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangshan are not dead, and Zheng Chenggong and Li Dingguo have just returned. Although the road is difficult, the heavens and earth of this land will not change!
After a long silence, Zhu Jian slowly spoke: "Cheng'en, take the ten thousand bolts of cloth from the Yanzhou Textile Bureau, and we will return to the capital! Leave someone to tell Liu Guoneng that all the proceeds from the confiscation of his property should be brought back to the capital!"
"Have Wu Jun recruit two thousand able-bodied refugees to maintain the safety of the Textile Bureau and prevent any unrest!"
"As you command!"
.......
Several days later, at the end of March of the twelfth year of Chongzhen's reign, Zhu Jian, who had been away from the capital for several months, returned to the capital.
While commerce remained sluggish in the capital, the post stations within the city were exceptionally popular.
The spring imperial examination, which normally takes place at the end of February, was postponed by Zhu Jian to the beginning of April, just to accommodate students who came to the capital from afar.
After Zhu Jian returned to the Wuying Hall, Wang Dehua quickly ran to him and said, "This servant, Wang Dehua, greets Your Majesty!"
"You've had a tough time in the capital these past few days!"
"For Your Majesty, this servant would gladly die!"
"Get up! Has the Eastern Depot sent any news back these days?" Inspector Zhu asked curiously.
"Your Majesty, the Eastern Depot recently sent news from Liaodong that Dorgon was fined a year's salary for the last defeat, and the commander of the Plain Blue Banner was executed for the defeat in the Shuntian campaign!"
"And there's news from Shaanxi: Li Zicheng has led his army westward and has now occupied Pingliang, Gongchang, Lintao, Minzhou, Taozhou, and Jinglu Guard!" Wang Dehua replied truthfully.
"Is there anything else?" Prosecutor Zhu continued to ask.
Wang Dehua thought for a moment, then shook his head: "That's all!"
"Has no one in the capital come to you about the matter in Shanxi?"
Upon hearing this, Wang Dehua hurriedly knelt down: "No!"
"If you don't have it, you don't have it. What's the panic?"
Then he waved his hand and said, "Go!"
As evening fell, the cabinet office was brightly lit, and the Minister of Military Affairs and cabinet members looked at each other in bewilderment.
This office originally belonged to the Cabinet, but it was temporarily requisitioned by the Military and Political Bureau when the Cabinet was no longer there. Now that all the Cabinet members have returned, the ownership of this office has become a problem again. Furthermore, there's also a problem with whether the memorials submitted by the Office of Transmission should be sent to the Military and Political Bureau or the Cabinet...
However, none of these people dared to speak up, because they had heard that in just one day, the emperor had arrested all the salt administration officials in Shandong and exiled them to Yanzhou Prefecture to weave cloth. Furthermore, considering that Zhu Jian would dismiss or execute officials wherever he went, these people dared not fight back.
Who says factional strife in the Ming Dynasty couldn't be suppressed? Hasn't it calmed things down considerably now?
They were mainly intimidated by the more than 20,000 candidates for the imperial examinations in the capital. Zhu Jian's large-scale recruitment of officials was unprecedented since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.
If there were a genuine shortage of officials, the number of successful candidates among these 20,000 could increase from 3,000 to 6,000 or even 8,000, enough to replace more than half of the important officials in the Ming Dynasty. If another special imperial examination were held next year or the year after, replacing them all wouldn't be a problem! After all, these new candidates are more motivated and haven't yet become seasoned veterans of officialdom...
"Lord Sun, isn't this cabinet office a bit too small...?" Cheng Guoxiang said awkwardly.
Sun Chengzong nodded slightly: "It is a bit small!" There are more than ten people crammed here now, and there is also a lot of stuff.
Just then, Zhu Jian slowly walked into the cabinet office. Upon seeing Zhu Jian's arrival, everyone knelt and bowed, saying, "Greetings, Your Majesty!"
Zhu Jian looked around and was taken aback: "The cabinet duty room is so crowded, but it's warm!"
"From this day forward, all military and political affairs will be moved to the Wuying Hall!"
"The cabinet, headed by Grand Secretary Zhang and assisted by Grand Secretary Xue, still operates from the cabinet's duty office!"
After Zhu Jian finished speaking, Zhang Zhifa stepped forward and asked, "Are the reports from various regions sent to the Cabinet or the Military and Political Bureau?"
Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at Prosecutor Zhu, as this concerned a matter of power for everyone.
After thinking for a moment, Prosecutor Zhu said, "Procedural matters should be sent to the Cabinet, while urgent military and political matters should be sent to the Military Affairs Bureau!"
This is essentially a cabinet system, still the nominal highest authority of the court, but with actual power transferred to the military and political bureaus by Zhu Jian. Zhang Juzheng's famous statement, "I am not the prime minister, but the regent," made when he wielded immense power through the cabinet, will never be repeated in the future Ming Dynasty... Unless the emperor appoints a regent upon his death, simply accumulating power will not achieve this...
"Your Majesty, the Cabinet has been the highest governing body of the country since the reign of Emperor Chengzu. Does Your Majesty's move to transfer the Cabinet's governing power violate ancestral rules?" Zhang Zhifa stepped forward and said. If the emperor were to directly weaken the Cabinet through legal procedures, the ministers who would join the Cabinet in the future would surely curse him to death.
Zhu Jian's lips curled slightly, and he smiled contemptuously, "Ancestral rules? Is it written in the ancestral precepts of the Ming Dynasty?"
"This matter was decided by Emperor Chengzu! It must not be abandoned!" Zhang Zhifa said as he bowed down.
"I second that!" Cabinet member Fu Guan echoed.
Fu Guan was not particularly opinionated about other matters, but on the issue of cabinet power, he firmly stood by Zhang Zhifa's side.
"I second that opinion!" He Fengsheng also stood on Zhang Zhifa's side.
Seeing that the time was ripe, Xue Guoguan quickly stepped forward: "Under the whole heaven, all land belongs to the king; on the shores of the earth, all people are subjects of the king! Your subject Xue Guoguan obeys Your Majesty's decree!"
If Zhang Zhifa leaves, Xue Guoguan will definitely be promoted to Grand Secretary in order of seniority. He doesn't care about the power structure of the cabinet. In any case, it will become a document processing agency in the future, but that's the future and has nothing to do with the present. In the present, the cabinet's reputation is still intact.
"Your Majesty, if any of the ministers have differing opinions, shall we hold a court discussion?" Cheng Guoxiang advised from the side.
"No need. Zhang Zhifa is demoted to a cabinet member, and Xue Guoguan is promoted to Grand Secretary! Yang Sichang in Nanjing is promoted to Second Grand Secretary!"
Xue Guoguan immediately bowed and knelt, saying, "Your subject Xue Guoguan kowtows in gratitude to Your Majesty!"
"That's it for the cabinet! I don't want to hear any other opinions!" After saying this, Zhu Jian thought for a moment: "During the reign of Emperor Shizong, Emperor Taizong's temple name was changed to Emperor Chengzu. However, more than a hundred years have passed, and as a descendant of Emperor Taizong, I will uphold Emperor Taizong's legacy, abolish the title of Emperor Chengzu, and restore Emperor Taizong's temple name!"
"The cabinet and the Ministry of Rites shall discuss the procedures, select a date for the sacrificial ceremony, and restore Emperor Taizong's temple name!"
"As you command!" the newly appointed Grand Secretary Xue Guoguan replied firmly.
Zhu Jian changed Zhu Di's temple name back. It wasn't enough to have Zhu Yuanzhang as an ancestor to weigh on him, and now Jiajing had another ancestor. If he didn't remove it now, who knows what Zhu Di might do in the future.
With the cabinet weakened, Zhu Di's temple name, Chengzu, was also lost.
During the Jiajing era, in the struggle between the imperial power and the cabinet, Jiajing emerged victorious and changed Zhu Di's title from Taizong to Chengzu. During the reign of Zhu Jian, a similar power struggle ensued, and Zhu Di's title was changed back to Taizong.
However, Zhu Jian acted much faster than during the Jiajing era. After all, the Military and Political Bureau had been in charge for more than half a year, and the authority of the cabinet had been significantly weakened. This was different from the Jiajing era... The essence of this matter was that Zhu Jian was using the opportunity to weaken the cabinet to reduce the suppression of ancestral rules, rather than having any objections to Zhu Di or Jiajing...
As for Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, his ancestral authority was too great; he expelled the Manchus, restored Chinese civilization, and his rule was legitimate, making him unassailable... so the only option was to target Zhu Di...