The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Zhu Xixiao's entry into the palace was naturally due to the affairs of the Prince of Liao's palace that had caused a lot of trouble today.

Now the General Affairs Department is crazy busy. More and more officials are arriving there and handing in their own memorials, all of which are impeaching the King of Liao for not being a minister.

Even the ministers who did not realize the seriousness of the problem at first, after hearing that many of their colleagues went to the General Affairs Department to submit memorials, all wrote impeachment memorials and sent them there.

Even if the King of Liao was fine, with so many officials involved in the impeachment, small things would become big things, so they came.

When there was such a big movement in the capital, spies from Jinyiwei immediately noticed it and reported it to the commander.

The news that the prince intended to rebel was spread under his nose, which shocked the commander of the Jinyi Guards Zhu Xixiao. He hurriedly checked the Huguang archives and found no documents about rebellion by the King of Liao, but there were many illegal things involving the King of Liao.

As an eagle dog, if the ministers made such a big noise, Jin Yiwei had to report to the emperor immediately, so he came here.

At this time, Zhu Xixiao was lying in the center of the hall, not daring to move.

The improvised note has been delivered to the emperor, but Emperor Longqing on the throne has yet to respond.

Zhu Xixiao knew that this matter was evil. It seemed to be done by officials from Huguang with the purpose of overthrowing the King of Liao.

The so-called rebellious intention is completely illusory.

After reading the files, he knew what the King of Liao had done in Jiangling. Zhu Xixiao had already figured it out on the way to the palace.

He figured it out, but he couldn't tell the emperor directly. He could only let the emperor figure it out for himself.

"Do you know those people's reasons for impeachment? Are they just following others' opinions or is there any basis?"

After a long time, Emperor Longqing finally asked.

"Your Majesty, I have only read a few memorials. Most of them state that the King of Liao erected a large banner without authorization to resist the imperial envoys, so I believe that his behavior was intended to treason."

Zhu Xixiao immediately raised his head and replied. At the same time, he carefully observed Emperor Longqing's face and found that there was neither panic nor anger, which was strange.

It stands to reason that when there is news that the vassal prince is plotting rebellion, the emperor should be frightened and then angry.

What is alarming is that since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there have been many vassal kings. One of them has made rumors of rebellion, which actually means that other vassal kings may have the same intention, which will bring instability to the throne.

Although the vassal kings seemed to be raised like pigs, who could say for sure whether they had been secretly prepared after so many years.

When Prince Ning rebelled, it was not just the intention of that generation of Prince Ning. It was based on preparations for several generations. It was only when Prince Ning of that generation believed that the Zhengde Emperor had lost his morality, that the emperor and his ministers were at odds, and that the world was unstable, that he raised the flag of rebellion.

The anger was naturally directed at the rebellious vassal king, as well as dissatisfaction with the ceremonial supervisors and factory guards.

However, as far as the information Zhu Xixiao knew, the King of Liao had no objection at all, and the people below would naturally not be able to find out, but they were afraid that the one on the throne would take the wind and rain.

"Jin Yi will step up the secret investigation of other vassal princes' palaces. Things in the capital will also be reported in a timely manner in the future."

Emperor Longqing did not intend to do anything to Zhu Xixiao at the same time. He still trusted Chengguo Gong's family.

"According to the order."

Zhu Xixiao felt relieved.

Although after the change of emperor, it seemed that the new emperor still had more trust in their family, but after all, they were once emperor and courtiers, and they couldn't figure out Emperor Longqing's attitude towards the Duke Chengguo.

Now it seems that the emperor really has no intention of reducing his own rights.

"Go down and continue to closely monitor the movements of officials in Beijing, especially their dealings with Huguang. Let me check them all."

Emperor Longqing ordered again.

After Zhu Xixiao exited the hall, Meng Chongcai on the side bent down and whispered: "Your Majesty, there is such a big thing happening with the King of Liao. Let's see if we should invite cabinet ministers to discuss it."

"No need, what they mean is actually reflected in the memorial."

This memorial was the result of cabinet deliberations, so the cabinet's attitude was actually to punish the King of Liao.

Judging from the content of the memorial, the cabinet tended to focus on important matters, but this was not in the interest of the emperor.

Why did emperors in the past dynasties generally not severely punish vassal kings for their mistakes, unless they were heinous? It was because they wanted to maintain the authority and superior status of the royal family.

Previously, although Emperor Longqing was angry, he had no intention of imposing heavy punishment on King Liao. The fundamental reason was that he had inherited the throne for too short a time and needed to show mercy.

But the current situation is a bit troublesome. The officials in the capital, who were quick to adapt to the situation, took action and demanded severe punishment for the King of Liao.

The civil servants gained reputation and the royal family lost face. This was not what he wanted to see.

It's just that the current trend in the court makes him a little hesitant, and he is worried that it will cause a big disturbance in the second year of Longqing.

When his father, Emperor Jiajing, was in power, he dared to use imperial staffs on courtiers on a large scale, but he did not have the courage now and was worried about causing discord between the emperor and his ministers.

If there is another person like King Ning lurking, this country will be unstable.

So at this time, Emperor Longqing actually had a general direction in mind, which was to follow the wishes of the officials and severely punish the King of Liao.

It's just that this degree is a bit difficult to control. The cabinet saw it and knew that such a situation would happen, so it recommended severe punishment. However, Emperor Longqing still had to think about what kind of punishment would be reasonable.

He couldn't help but think of Emperor Jiajing's method of dealing with difficult problems, which was to delay it for a few days.

At this time, in Wenyuan Pavilion, the memorial sent to the palace by the Secretary of General Affairs had been registered with the Supervisor of Ceremonies and sent here. Looking at the memorial, which was twice as large as before, all the cabinet ministers frowned.

They all want to see these things.

Don't think that the content of any memorial to impeach the King of Liao can be ignored, and then a few templates can be drafted directly.

Living like this, once an official mentions the memorial, I can't answer it, and I don't dare to think about the consequences.

"It is still necessary to resolve the affairs of the Liao Prince's Palace as soon as possible, otherwise today's memorial will be just like this, and there will be more in the next two days."

Zhang Juzheng said.

For him, of course, he hopes to cut through the mess quickly and understand the matter as soon as possible.

No matter what the emperor decided in the end, it would be like this anyway.

He hoped that Emperor Longqing would severely punish the King of Liao, but he did everything that should be done and could do, and the rest could only be left to fate.

"It just so happens that Huguang has reported that there is a serious drought in Huguang this year, and taxes in various places have been greatly reduced. After the salary is given to the clan, I am afraid that even the salary of the provincial officials will not be paid."

Yin Shizhen spoke at this time.

This memorial was assigned to him this morning, and he is not stupid. When he contacted the Liao Prince's Mansion case, he knew the hope of Huguang.

In fact, it is the common interest of the civil service group to reduce the vassal status, but they also know that without a truly ambitious emperor, it is basically impossible to reduce the vassal status, and it will also lead to loss of head.

Of course, the civil service group did not do nothing. For example, the current generation of Liao kings made too much trouble in Jiangling. Officials in Huguang formed a group and united to accuse the Liao king of treason. They hoped that Emperor Longqing would eliminate the country in this name, so that Huguang would Without the salary of the King of Liao, although the salaries of the remaining county princes and others are also very large, at least there will be no more princes and princes in Huguang.

The problem of vassal kings has actually always been a stubborn problem that plagued the Ming Dynasty.

After the death of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, Emperor Jianwen promoted the reduction of vassals because he saw that the feudal system was detrimental to centralization of power.

It's just that his military skills were too low, he didn't understand the priorities, and his methods were too harsh, which gave Zhu Di an excuse to launch the Jingnan.

Of course Zhu Di is not ignorant of the disadvantages of feudalism, but because of what he relied on to get to the throne, he will naturally not slap himself in the face after he ascends the throne.

Therefore, he just changed the "crack the soil and seal the king" set by Lao Zhu, and all the Sai kings moved inward, taking away their military power and implementing them in captivity.

By the time of the Hongzhi Dynasty, the clan issue had actually come to light. After the Zhengde and Jiajing dynasties, the situation became more and more serious and became a major public issue.

In fact, judging from Emperor Jiajing's continuous reduction of vassals in the later period, it can be seen that he already had this plan, that is, as long as the vassal king made a big mistake, he would take the opportunity to cut down the vassal. King Hui and King Yi were in the crosshairs, and he took the opportunity to remove them.

Therefore, when Wei Guangde impeached King Hui, it was not that he had great influence, but that he happened to agree with Emperor Jiajing.

As for why we cannot cut down vassals in a big way, it is mainly due to the lack of legal basis.

The "Ancestral Instructions of the Emperor Ming Dynasty" set by Lao Zhu is there, and cutting down the vassal vassal is actually a violation of the ancestral precepts.

Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was designated as the official philosophy by Ming Taizu in the early Ming Dynasty. The faithful implementation of the ancestral precepts is a manifestation of the filial piety culture in Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.

On this cultural and moral level, it would be morally unjustifiable for the Ming Dynasty emperor to make major changes to Taizu's policies.

Modifying Ming Taizu's policies as "unfilial" is a legal issue that no emperor can bear.

Emperor Jiajing was regarded as the most powerful emperor in the middle and late Ming Dynasty and the most determined to reform. However, he did not dare to touch fundamental things and only made minor changes.

Li Chunfang, Chen Yiqin and others were discussing how to vote for these impeachment memorials, but Wei Guangde felt extremely regretful at this moment and regretted his lack of historical knowledge.

You know, the later Manchu and Qing Dynasties also had a similar system, but it seemed to be better. If you know how the Manchu and Qing Dynasties played it, then the Ming Dynasty could find a way to slowly copy it.

What Wei Guangde knew was that the princes enfeoffed by the Qing Dynasty did not have fiefs, they only had the salary allocated by the court and the income from their own farmland.

However, the princes of the Manchu Qing Dynasty could serve as officials in the court, which actually meant receiving two salaries.

How to achieve both, Wei Guangde couldn't figure out even if he scratched his head.

Emperor Longqing had asked him to come up with a plan for clan reform when he was still in the palace, but in fact he hasn't thought of any good ideas yet.

The reason for this is that he doesn't know how the Manchus did it.

Over there, the four cabinet ministers also reached an agreement that public opinion cannot be violated. As cabinet ministers, they must stand on the side of the officials.

"Now, our cabinet must also agree on how to punish the King of Liao?"

Li Chunfang tried his best to avoid the cabinet's proposal of punishment conditions from the beginning. However, he knew that some officials would come forward to impeach, but he did not expect that the noise would be so loud on the first day.

According to the news from the General Affairs Department, there are still many officials gathered there, and now the scribes inside have become soft-hearted about copying memorials.

Now standing at the gate of the General Administration Department, I can see that there are far more people coming in than going out.

"What other punishments can there be? Let's see what happens to King Hui and King Yi who have done many evil things. The worst punishment King Liao can give is this."

Yin Shizhen directly threw out Wang Zha, and used the court's most ruthless trick against the vassal king.

"No, King Hui was deposed because he was trying to control theft and harbor evil intentions, while King Yi was because he resisted the imperial decree and was rude to the emperor. Although the King of Liao also committed many evil deeds, he..."

Chen Yiqin wanted to say that the King of Liao did not harbor evil intentions or resist the imperial decree, but the next moment he thought of setting up a great emperor. Now all the officials said that this was rebellion, and it seemed that this could be used to eliminate the country.

Zhang Juzheng was happy when he saw that Yin Shizhen and Chen Yiqin, who had previously tried to dissuade the King of Liao, had already acquiesced in severe punishment, especially Chen Yiqin's sudden pause.

"In my opinion, the King of Liao has done many evil things and has committed many transgressions. He can be dealt with according to the examples of King Hui and King Yi."

Yin Shizhen said that cutting off the nobility and eliminating the country was just the worst possible outcome, and suggested that cabinet ministers should be mentally prepared. In fact, he did not hope to use this method in his heart. After all, it would have some impact on the emperor, and he did not care about family ties.

Although Chen Yiqin said it was impossible, he was obviously aware that there seemed to be precedent for such an operation.

Now, Zhang Juzheng finally showed his fangs in the cabinet. He knew that according to the "Huang Ming Ancestor Instructions", he could not kill the King of Liao. The most severe punishment was to cut off his title, remove his country and imprison him, and he was pursuing this goal. .

Although the arrangement was a little hasty, as long as he successfully triggered the impeachment of hundreds of officials, half of his goal was achieved, and the rest was left to God's will.

"Shandai, what do you think?"

Li Chunfang's question made Wei Guangde come back to his senses and recall a little. Although his heart was not in their conversation, he heard the content, but he didn't pay attention to it.

Thinking about it now, Wei Guangde knew that Zhang Juzheng was in charge of the operation. This was consistent with the meaning expressed in the previous memorial, indicating that the Zhang family had a grudge against the King of Liao, and he was taking revenge.

He raised his eyes and glanced at Zhang Juzheng, then lowered his head and thought about it.

It is okay to eliminate the king of Liao without heirs. To eliminate a vassal state, you can also warn other vassals. The only bad thing is that His Majesty has just ascended the throne. Doing this will harm your reputation.

Especially the matter of extermination of the country they mentioned is indeed a bit big.

"If your Majesty asks about it, I think it would be better for the cabinet to punish the King of Liao by reducing his rank and imprisoning him. The removal of the country is too serious and requires your Majesty to think twice."

The repeated mention of King Hui reminded Wei Guangde of his first impeachment.

At that time, Emperor Jiajing's original intention was to reduce the title and imprison King Hui, but King Hui was afraid of the high wall and chose to set the palace on fire to commit suicide, which ultimately angered Emperor Jiajing and drove him out of the country.

Later, King Yi followed a similar pattern, but issued an edict requiring him to correct his mistakes, release all the detained people, and dismantle the violative ritual system. Unexpectedly, King Yi directly criticized the jade certificate issued by the clan government and said whether it could be used as window paper, which made him angry. The emperor directly reduced his titles, imprisoned him, and eliminated the one-stop service of the country. All the Yiwang clan moved to the Zhou Palace and was under the care of the Zhou Palace.

Zhang Juzheng kept looking at Wei Guangde, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that he also agreed to reduce his rank and imprison him. The matter of extermination of the country did have a great impact.

Although he really wanted to achieve this goal, he also understood that it needed to be done slowly.

"What do you think about the loan?"

Li Chunfang said at this time.