Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

There are eunuchs who constantly add firewood to the pit entrance for heating, there are beautiful palace maids who serve tea to the East Nuan Pavilion, and there are also eunuchs who replace sandalwood on time, etc. Everything they do revolves around one person.

Ordinarily, a person who is being taken care of meticulously by dozens of eunuchs and maids should be happy and happy, but at this moment Zhu Youtang's brows frowned slightly.

After viewing the DPRK for the first time, his ruling era has officially arrived.

It's just that as the Ming emperor, he not only had to face the morning court every day, but also had to deal with memorials from the two capitals and thirteen provinces, and manage the vast territory of the Ming Dynasty.

As the saying goes, one emperor has one courtier. Not only are the factions in the court suppressing each other, but local officials have also started fighting fiercely.

The local forces that were able to maintain their status quo in the Chenghua Dynasty seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back as he officially ascended the throne.

Nowadays, local officials are impeaching each other, and issues related to corruption, party affiliation, feeding the common people, and disregarding human lives have been exposed. There are actually dozens of officials involved here.

Zhu Youtang did not feel happy at this moment, and even felt irritable, as if he saw the faces of ugly and greedy officials in the place.

Unfortunately, if the Ming Dynasty wanted to firmly control this vast territory, it had to hand over local management functions to these officials.

Zhu Youtang referred to the voting opinions submitted by the cabinet and seemed to have forgotten that the great ancestor "as long as the amount of corruption exceeds 80 guan, or the theft of 40 guan while in prison will be hanged," the highest punishment for corrupt officials is to reduce their posts to serve the people. .

Although he really wants to chop off the heads of these corrupt officials, the current situation does not allow him to be so tough, otherwise it will easily trigger "official coup".

Fortunately, both Wan An and Liu Ji still know how to restrain themselves and did not propose to themselves the absurd plan of "paying atonement".

"Your Majesty, something happened!" Near noon, Guo Yong hurried in from outside to report.

Zhu Youtang raised his head and glanced at Guo Yong, the eunuch who had been recommended by Liang Fang. He picked up the tea cup and said calmly, "What's the matter?"

"Your Majesty, the enthronement edict issued a few days ago has not been distributed to the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Household Affairs. It has just been officially refuted by the Household Affairs Bureau to Chen Shou!" Guo Yong swallowed and spat out, appearing to report the report carefully.

In order to prevent the imperial power from being restricted at all, the Ming Dynasty followed the system of the previous dynasty and also set up a confederation system.

The imperial edict must be carried out by the six departments, and then all officials can implement it. If there is any failure to do it, Xu Feng will still perform it.

The decrees sent by the palace to the six ministries must be reviewed by the Sixth Section. If there are no problems, the decree will be filed and forwarded to the relevant yamen. However, the Sixth Section has the right to seal and reject any inappropriate decrees or official orders.

Zhu Youtang blew the tea stems floating on the hot tea and said as if he had expected it: "Where is the reason for the rejection given by Chen Shou?"

"The reason given by Chen Shou for rejecting the ban was that this action undermined the Salt Law. According to him, the Ministry of Household Affairs claimed that the excessive distribution of salt citations was the main reason for the current failure of the Salt Law. Therefore, he implored Your Majesty to withdraw the order and adopt the Ministry of Rites' proposal to use silver instead of citations. 'Policy!" Guo Yong noticed that Zhu Youtang was not furious, but still reported the report carefully.

Zhu Youtang took a sip of hot tea and reasoned very calmly: "So, the crux of the problem actually lies with Hu Bu!"

"That's true!" Guo Yong was slightly startled at first, but then nodded as if he realized it.

Zhu Youtang put down the tea cup and made a decision: "Immediately send someone to the Hubu Yamen and ask all the Hubu officials above the director to come to the Huagai Hall to meet the saint immediately!"

"Obey!" Guo Yong didn't understand Zhu Youtang's intention, but he still obeyed the order unconditionally.

Zhu Youtang looked at Guo Yong who had taken the order and left. Although he had expected today's result, he still did not expect that these civil servants would use the power of refutation so early.

Judging from the reaction of the civil servants, there is no doubt that they will not give up the big cake of salt politics easily, but they do not intend to compromise with their new king.

At noon, the sky in the capital was still gray.

The Hubu Yamen is located in an alleyway of Dongjiang Mixiang. On the right is the Libu Yamen, which controls the promotion of officials, and on the left is the Ribu Yamen, which cultivates the prime minister.

"Your Majesty's oral message! From the Ministry of Household Affairs to the Minister, down to the chief minister, all the officials will go to the Huagai Hall immediately to meet the saint without delay. I hereby express this!" Eunuch Liu, the eunuch who announced the decree, conveyed the decree authentically to the officials kneeling in the courtyard.

"I have received the decree, long live my emperor!" Li Min, the Minister of Household Affairs, frowned slightly and led the subordinate officials to thank him for receiving the decree.

Faced with Eunuch Liu's urging, Li Si, the left minister of the Ministry of Revenue, stepped forward and handed Eunuch Liu two pieces of silver: "Eunuch Liu, thank you for your hard work. Please go to the inner hall to have tea first. We will wait for you to enter the palace to meet the emperor!" "

"Easy to say!" Eunuch Liu weighed the silver coins in his hand and then spoke.

The Hubu Yamen has just replenished its personnel. Li Si, the former right minister of the Hubu, was promoted to the left minister of the Hubu, and the vacant position was filled by Ye Qi.

It's a coincidence that the three officials of the Ministry of Revenue are all Jinshi in the fifth year of Jingtai.

Their teacher was the former chief minister of Shang Ren, and he had a good relationship with Xu Pu, the left minister of the Ministry of official affairs and a bachelor of the Imperial Academy in the same year. In particular, Ye Qi's smooth promotion to the right minister of household affairs this time was the result of Xu Pu's operation behind the scenes.

The three chiefs of the household department happened to be from the same department. This seemingly coincidental matter actually hid a mystery.

The civil service group not only has a "brotherly" relationship, but also has a "teacher-student inheritance." Wan An and Liu Ji's teacher was the original chief assistant Takatani.

It is this tie from Gaogu that not only connects the three of them together, but also involves the court boss Xu Pu, so much so that some people ridicule the current Hubu Yamen surnamed Xu.

Ye Qi followed Li Min to the side and immediately speculated seriously: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty suddenly summoned our Ministry of Revenue officials to the palace. I am afraid he is going to ask about the matter of denial!"

"Except for the matter of refutation, why does Your Majesty need to go to war so violently? This time he will definitely launch an attack on our household department!" Li Si arranged for a doctor to take care of Liu Eunuch, and when he came back, he expressed his opinion.

Li Min was the eldest among the three. He stretched out his hand and gently stroked his beard and said: "This time the rejection will be handled by our Ministry of Household Affairs! When we see His Majesty later, we must all agree on the same tone and advance and retreat together!"

"Advance and retreat together!" Li Si and Ye Qi looked at each other and stated their stance firmly.

Not to mention that the three of them are in the same camp, even if they are in different camps, they still have an obligation to unite in the face of "His Majesty's chaos".

The reason why their civil servant group was able to stand firm under the pressure of the Jin Yiwei and the eunuchs, and even trample the once-prominent noble group under their feet, was precisely because of their sufficient internal unity.

Since the current His Majesty does not seem to intend to rule the country honestly, they will naturally unite to see if the new monarch has the skills of Emperor Chenghua.

Li Min reached a united front with Li Si and Ye Qi, then gave a brief speech in the main courtyard of the Hubu Yamen, and then followed Eunuch Liu to the Forbidden City.

"What happened?"

"Looking at this situation, it's not a big deal!"

"What's so hard to guess? Your Majesty is dissatisfied with Hu Ke's denial!"

"So what if you are dissatisfied? The current corruption of the Salt Law is all due to the excessive use of salt!"

…

Since the whole household department was dispatched, it immediately attracted widespread attention from the same alleyway yamen, and many officials ran out of the yamen door to discuss it enthusiastically.

Li Min and three other people took a sedan to the square in front of the Meridian Gate. Under the leadership of Xiao Huangmen, they entered the Forbidden City from the Meridian Gate and then went to the Huagai Hall together.

Although Zhou Li said that people should take off their shoes to go to the temple to show respect, Zhu Yuanzhang did not like this behavior that was neither gorgeous nor painful, so he specifically issued an edict requiring all officials to wear boots when going to the temple.

In the Huagai Hall, sandalwood scent floated from the copper furnace.

Since his first visit to the court, Zhu Youtang no longer needs to wear mourning clothes, but today he often wears dragon robes, and he is resolutely a young emperor full of energy.

"I pay homage to Your Majesty, long live my emperor!" Li Min, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, saw Zhu Youtang appear and immediately led the officials of the Ministry of Revenue to kneel down respectfully and said.