The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Feng Bao's request to Wei Guangde, or rather his test, was only partially met and partially rejected, so Empress Dowager Li thought that Wei Guangde was not a suitable candidate.

Yes, at that time, some of Feng Bao's seemingly corrupt and law-breaking things were actually behind Empress Dowager Li.

Empress Dowager Li was not a woman from a wealthy family, but was born in a poor family. That is, she had a beautiful face, so she had the opportunity to be selected as a maid in Prince Yu's mansion.

And she also became a typical representative of a mother's status due to her son.

Although the Ming Dynasty selected concubines from the people and entered the palace, and then either entered the palace or married into the prince's mansion, this was not something that ordinary people could get in touch with.

The so-called concubines, in addition to having a clean family background, must also have a certain appearance.

But for the latter, the daughters of ordinary people's families have to do housework at a young age, how could they possibly meet the standards of the concubines.

In fact, most of the women selected were from local military officers and small landlords. Only such families could raise outstanding women who could withstand the selection of the Ministry of Rites and the inner court.

Women from local gentry and senior officials who had more advantages would mostly fail to be selected for various reasons.

Empress Xiaoyizhuang Li was Zhu Zai's first wife. She gave birth to a son and a daughter for Zhu Zai, but unfortunately both died young. Li only accompanied Zhu Zai for 5 years. After Zhu Zai ascended the throne, he posthumously named his first wife Empress Xiaoyi.

Empress Chen was Zhu Zai's successor princess. She was originally a concubine selected by Emperor Jiajing for Prince Yu. She was young, beautiful and dignified. She was the daughter of the commander of the Jinyiwei and a real lady from a noble family.

After Zhu Zai ascended the throne, Chen was named the queen who was the mother of the country.

Empress Dowager Li's father was a poor family in the suburbs of Beijing. He was a bricklayer who came to the city to work. Because of the hardship of life, he sent his daughter to the palace as a maid. At least she had food to eat, and the salary from the palace could subsidize the family.

It was a few years after she entered Prince Yu's palace that Empress Dowager Li's rural atmosphere faded, and she was favored by Prince Yu with her outstanding appearance.

The several sons of Emperor Jiajing either died young or had difficulty in having children.

Even Prince Yu had many children, but not many of them survived, and the ones who survived were born to Empress Dowager Li.

Naturally, as the only blood of Emperor Longqing, the eldest son would inevitably ascend the throne and become the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Empress Dowager Li also jumped from a commoner to the emperor's biological mother and became the empress dowager.

Before she gave birth to Zhu Yijun, Emperor Jiajing had no idea that there was such a person as her, and she was not the princess he chose for his son.

Coming from the people, she naturally knew the living conditions of the lower-class people in the Ming Dynasty, and also knew what the people thought of the officials.

Therefore, she turned a blind eye to Feng Bao's private transactions and selling official positions, and even judged the officials' loyalty to the inner court based on whether they helped Feng Bao.

As the saying goes, you have to look at the owner before beating a dog.

Feng Bao is a dog under her.

Of course, Feng Bao did these things to get a handle on Feng Bao.

When he is no longer needed, he can be taken down directly, and it is not considered a fabrication.

Empress Dowager Li knew the attitudes of Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde in the cabinet when dealing with Feng Bao's request, so she was more inclined to use Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng helped Feng Bao deal with some things, which was actually handing the handle of the knife to Empress Dowager Li, so she was not worried that the knife would one day bite back at its owner.

As for Wei Guangde, Empress Dowager Li did not have many handles to use on him, mainly because the Wei Mansion was involved in business affairs, which hurt the dignity of the court.

As for what Feng Bao would report to Empress Dowager Li, it was naturally the Li family's affairs.

Empress Dowager Li was not the only daughter of the Li family. In fact, she had three brothers and a sister.

With the relationship of Empress Dowager Li, they could naturally get the reward from their nephew, Emperor Wanli. However, if they wanted to continue to get promoted and make money, they had to have someone in the court to support and protect them all the time.

And she handed all these matters to Feng Bao.

In fact, not only her brothers and sisters' affairs, but also some matters entrusted to Li Wei were also handled by Feng Bao.

Empress Dowager Li now asked Feng Bao about his views on Zhang Juzheng's new policy, in fact, it was also for the purpose of weighing.

Feng Bao entered the inner study hall in his early years, and was selected into the Silijian because of his good calligraphy, and gradually became one of the great eunuchs in the inner court.

As a knowledgeable and insightful eunuch, Feng Bao was naturally one of the important advisers around Empress Dowager Li.

Because of his special status, Empress Dowager Li also attached great importance to his opinions.

"My queen, Zhang Taiyue's new policy is actually beneficial to the court.

As early as the Jiajing Dynasty, the court was often forced by financial difficulties. Many times, it was Yan Ge Lao who was robbing Peter to pay Paul and trying to keep the court running."

In fact, most people and low-level officials despised what Yan Song did, thinking that he was flattering Emperor Jiajing, disregarding the lives of the people for his own power, and condoning the emperor's wasteful fasting and building temples.

But in fact, the court's top officials knew that even if it was not Yan Song, other people as the prime minister must guarantee the needs of Emperor Jiajing, otherwise the position of the prime minister would be lost.

If someone else is replaced, the supply of the inner court must be guaranteed.

Yan Song was actually valued by Emperor Jiajing because he could keep the court running under very difficult circumstances.

Xu Jie also learned this skill for many years before he barely learned it.

Therefore, at the end of Jiajing period, after the emperor abandoned the Yan family, Xu Jie was able to maintain the normalcy of the court without shutting down the court due to lack of money.

Zhang Juzheng's current reforms are actually to help the court collect all the money that should be collected.

Previously, Yan Song, Xu Jie and others were concerned about the attitude of the officials, so they did not do this, but Zhang Juzheng did it.

"Your Majesty, what Taiyue did is actually offending all the officials and only benefiting the imperial court.

To be honest, no one but Mr. Taiyue would be willing to do these things. "

After the analysis, Feng Bao finally concluded.

"Zhang Juzheng has already started the New Deal. Can't Wei Guangde and Zhang Siwei continue on this path?"

Queen Mother Li asked in confusion.

"Disaster."

Feng Bao answered directly, "The more people this matter offends, the more difficult it will become. It is not an exaggeration to say that it will be difficult. It cannot be done without strong people pushing it.

Wei Guangde should also have seen that the imperial system had reached the point where it had to be reformed, so although he did not support Zhang Taiyue's leadership, he did not oppose it either.

From this point of view, Wei Guangde will not continue.

Once Zhang Taiyue returns to Dingyou, what he did before is that Wei Guangde and the others will definitely give up and will not continue to push. "

"So, for the sake of the imperial court's plans, he can't leave?"

Queen Mother Li finally spoke out about the issue she was most concerned about.

“Only when Taiyue is in power can the new policy that has been launched continue to be implemented.

Once Taiyue returns to his hometown of Dingyou, all the previous efforts will be in vain. Even if Taiyue comes back someday, it will be difficult to restart. "

Feng Bao was not alarmist, but told the truth.

In fact, if Wei Guangde really replaces Zhang Juzheng, he really will not continue to carry out reforms.

He would look outwards and use the capable generals in Wanli Dynasty to expand outward as much as possible and seize money from the barbarians to enrich the Ming Dynasty treasury.

History has proven that the price that the leading reformers had to pay for the reform of the feudal dynasty was extremely heavy.

Of course, Feng Bao actually understands these.

Don't think that he shouldn't be able to see it because he is in the game. In fact, he is not too involved in it. He is just approving and stamping, so he can still see the dangers in it as an outsider.

However, even with Empress Dowager Li's approval, he didn't feel that there was much danger.

As long as Empress Dowager Li persists, it is impossible for the little emperor to disobey his mother's wishes.

With this idea, Feng Bao never thought about what happened next, but was happy to support Zhang Juzheng.

After all, in his opinion, Zhang Juzheng's New Deal was good for the court, but it was not a harsh rule.

"Go down, I'm tired."

After Feng Bao finished speaking, to his surprise, Queen Mother Li directly issued an eviction order.

In the next two days, Zhang Juzheng did not appear in the cabinet. Wei Guangde and Zhang Siwei were handling the cabinet's response.

Although I was a little nervous, I was still in good order and there was no delay.

At this time, the government was still affected by the Kao Cheng Law. The administrative efficiency of the government offices at all levels was very fast and there was no delay. All government orders were issued in an orderly manner.

The past few days have been a bit sensitive. Wei Guangde stopped going out to drink, went home after leaving office, and went to the cabinet on time for duty in the morning. From the outside, it seemed that he was ready to succeed Zhang Juzheng as the chief minister of the cabinet.

Three days later, Zhang Juzheng finally submitted a memorial to the palace to return to his hometown to guard the system, and asked Ding You.

The memorial was in the cabinet. After Wei Guangde drafted it, he sent someone to deliver it to the palace. There was no need to wait, and it was sent to the palace together with other memorials.

This is also the special treatment that the first assistant deserves.

"Sister, I brought Huang Er to see you."

In Ciqing Palace, Empress Dowager Li led Emperor Wanli in and bowed to Empress Dowager Chen first.

Although Zhu Yijun was an emperor, he was still a child in front of his two mothers, even though he had just been punished by his biological mother to kneel for a long time.

Because Zhang Juzheng was not a straight person, he naturally did not go to the Wenhua Hall to supervise Emperor Wanli's studies these days. After attending the official lectures, the little emperor became naughty and did not look at his homework. Even his homework was hastily completed.

Went to the Wenhua Palace today. The little emperor got there late because he got up half an hour late.

Empress Dowager Li found out and took the young emperor into Cining Palace to reprimand him.

The one who rescued him was Feng Bao, who took Zhang Juzheng's memorial requesting to keep the system.

Although Empress Dowager Li had already made up her mind about such a major matter as changing the chief minister of the cabinet, she did not dare to make the decision directly, so she took the opportunity to take the young emperor to Empress Dowager Chen.

In the inner court, the two queen mothers and the emperor must be consistent.

The arrival of Zhu Yijun made Empress Dowager Chen very happy. She asked the little emperor to ask questions without mentioning the previous events.

She also heard about the affairs of Wenhua Palace and Cining Palace.

But Queen Mother Li has been punished, and she will no longer be a bad person.

Empress Dowager Chen pulled Zhu Yijun and joked for a while, then Empress Dowager Li took out Zhang Juzheng's memorial and said: "Sister, I just received a memorial from the Chief Assistant, requesting to return to my hometown to guard the system.

I'm thinking that this is a big deal and I need to discuss it with you before making a decision. "

"Oh, what do you mean sister?"

Empress Dowager Chen usually didn't care much about the affairs of the previous dynasty, so Empress Dowager Li was the one who read the memorials.

In her opinion, if there are cabinet ministers watching, nothing big will happen.

After all, they are knowledgeable and know how to handle government affairs.

With Feng Bao's Silijian watching over them, there was no need to worry about any changes. After all, the cabinet system had been in place for many years and was already a mature political system.

However, when Empress Dowager Li mentioned this today, Empress Dowager Chen still perked up and took over Zhang Juzheng's memorial and started reading it.

In fact, many of the selected beauties in the Ming Dynasty were literate, after all, they came from a wealthy family.

As for Empress Dowager Li, it was probably not her enlightenment as a child. Ordinary people had no money to send their daughters to school, so she must have learned it when she was in Prince Yu's mansion.

Empress Dowager Chen quickly finished reading the memorial and said, 'Zhang Shoufu's father died, and it was the court system for him to return to his hometown to mourn. The cabinet also voted and thought it was appropriate. What do you want to say, sister? '

Empress Dowager Chen was not stupid. There was no need to bring it to her for normal mourning. Just approve it with the red seal. What's there to discuss?

"Sister, the court has just been relieved of the pressure in the Ministry of Revenue because of the new policy of the Prime Minister. If the Prime Minister is allowed to go back at this time, the new policy may fail.

Sister should still remember that the court has deficits every year since Emperor Jiajing came.

Although there have been deficits in the past two years, the amount is less than 100,000 taels.

If it weren't for the wars in Liaodong and Southwest China, the court could afford the Yellow River project, and the Ministry of Revenue would have a surplus."

Empress Dowager Li explained, "I also asked Feng Bao before. There are many opponents in the court for Prime Minister Zhang's new policy, and Wei Cifu also does not support it.

If the Prime Minister leaves like this, the court may return to the state of previous years next year, with deficits every year and more expenses than income.

Sister should still remember what the Prime Minister said to you and me before. The matter of clearing the land is related to the foundation of the country. If it is fully implemented, the national treasury will be in trouble."

"You mean, if Prime Minister Zhang returns to his hometown to mourn, Wei Cifu is likely to change his ways?"

Empress Dowager Chen frowned slightly and said.

"At the very least, the land survey will be abandoned halfway, and the performance evaluation system being implemented now may also fail.

After all, the officials in the court are very opposed to the practice of evaluating their work and completing it within a time limit.

Even before, Zhang Shoufu's students took the lead in opposing the new law, which shows how fierce this law is.

The first assistant has lost power, and all previous efforts have been wasted."

At this point, Empress Dowager Chen knew what Empress Dowager Li meant, but now the government is stable, and there is really no reason to seize the love.

The last time the court seized the love was when Wei Cifu was killed, but that was the will of Emperor Longqing before his death, asking Wei Guangde to return to the court to assist in the government, so he interrupted his mourning and returned to Beijing urgently.

The situation was very serious that time, so no one in the court opposed it.

But this time, it is obviously different.

At the beginning, Empress Dowager Chen tacitly agreed to Zhang Juzheng's implementation of the new policy, mainly because she heard that Zhang Juzheng's book could solve the financial problems of the court.

Now that the problem has not been solved, letting Zhang Juzheng go, all previous efforts have been wasted, and there is still some reluctance.

"Emperor, what do you think of your Master Zhang? Do you need him to stay with you?"

Empress Dowager Chen looked at Zhu Yijun and asked softly.

"The court needs Mr. Zhang."

Zhu Yijun answered without thinking.

"Next year, the emperor will also get married."

At this time, Empress Dowager Li said again.

Empress Dowager Chen looked at Zhu Yijun and said, "Then seize the love." (End of this chapter)