Chapter 66: Virtue is as strong as a feather, and it is easy to lift with the help of many people

November 10th.

Near noon.

Zhu Yijun finished the imperial lecture and returned to the Western Garden.

Wandering around Xiyuan aimlessly.

He hadn't seen this familiar yet unfamiliar Xiyuan for a long time.

Unfortunately, the landscape today is very different from that of later generations.

Zhu Yijun casually picked up a leaf and unconsciously tore it into pieces in his hands, letting his mind go blank.

The court must be in turmoil now. After all, a major case involving three clans has just occurred, and various censors are pleading for leniency and the imperial censors are explaining the pros and cons.

But after Zhu Yijun handed all government affairs to the cabinet and moved to the Western Garden, these voices were no longer noticeable.

He strolled in the West Garden for about half an hour, and it was almost time for lunch.

When the time came, they naturally had to go back to have their meal, so the group returned to Wanshou Palace.

Halfway through the journey, he ran into Li Jin who was coming towards him.

Zhu Yijun knew at a glance that Empress Dowager Li wanted to see him for something - ever since the fire in Ciqing Palace, Zhu Yijun had left Zhang Hong to Empress Dowager Chen, and sent Li Jin to Empress Dowager Li, instructing them to clear out all the people around the two empresses before returning to Wanshou Palace.

Li Jin came closer and said, "Your Majesty, the father-in-law has come to the West Garden. The Queen Mother invites you to have dinner with her."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yijun waved his hand indifferently, indicating that he understood.

With Wu Qingbo's level, it wasn't too much trouble for him to deal with it, so he just treated it as a rest.

He asked about the business: "How is the matter of dismissing the palace maids and eunuchs going?"

Li Jin followed behind respectfully.

Hearing this, he replied, "Your Majesty, most of the female officials in the six palaces, the Imperial Food Bureau and the Imperial Sleeping Bureau have been dismissed from the palace, leaving only the trusted ones."

"In the other four bureaus, those who wanted to leave the palace, those whose backgrounds were not clear enough, and those who received favors from the outer court were all sent away."

Zhu Yijun nodded.

The Shangshi Bureau and Shangqin Bureau are related to one's life and property, so they should be handled with caution. It is reasonable to check the other four bureaus one by one.

Of course, this is just the first round, and we will have to screen it several more times in the future.

Zhu Yijun nodded and waited for him to continue.

Li Jin talked about the eunuchs again: "Your Majesty, eunuchs are not like palace maids. You can give them some silver and send them out of the palace."

"At present, those with bad pasts are sent to guard the mausoleum, and those who have received favors from the outer court are sent to Nanzhili to retire."

"The majority of them were placed in unimportant places like the Shrine Prison and were not allowed to set foot in the West Garden."

Zhu Yijun added: "Take this opportunity to check the number of people in each prison and department, and refund those who are not working for the company."

"Within ten years, five eunuchs will retire and only three will be promoted."

There were so many staff members in the inner court that in the tenth year of Jiajing, during the census of the inner court craftsmen alone, 15167 old, weak, disabled, and with names but no employees were found, and 12255 were actually retained.

Too many staff means people are drawing salaries without working, and it also means there are loopholes to exploit.

These people with names but no figures are an excellent way for those with ulterior motives to insert people.

Although the Forbidden City is an imperial city, it is actually a sieve with leaks everywhere.

Fortunately, we took this opportunity to investigate thoroughly. If we hadn't checked, we wouldn't have known. We were shocked. Now, if outsiders want to enter the Forbidden City, there are plenty of ways.

The eunuchs were actually selling tickets openly!

Fortunately, the fire in Ciqing Palace gave him the opportunity to move to Xiyuan. Otherwise, if something happened in the future, it would be too late to regret.

Li Jin bowed and responded.

Zhu Yijun looked at Li Jin and said suddenly: "The staff will be laid off, and the salary of the quota can be left for you to eat for another half a year."

"But if you don't cooperate in this matter, don't blame me for being ruthless."

Li Jin's eyelids jumped, and he quickly said, "Your servant..."

Zhu Yijun interrupted him and said, "That's it. I will let Zhang Hong and Jiang Keqian do this together. I promise you half a year's salary. Share it with the people below and do a good job."

After such a long period of deficit, another half year won’t make a difference.

On the contrary, it would be appropriate to let them go out for another half a year to give some of the money to these eunuchs - after all, the Qing Palace had just experienced turmoil, so they had to be appeased.

Li Jin was convinced.

……

Fortunately, thanks to Sejong's extensive construction of palaces and pavilions in the Western Garden, there are now many palaces and pavilions in the Western Garden - more than enough to accommodate the Queen Mother and several princesses.

Among them, Empress Dowager Chen chose to live in Qianguang Hall, while Empress Dowager Li chose to live in Yuanxi Yannian Hall.

When Zhu Yijun arrived outside the Yuanxi Yannian Hall, he heard the voices of a large group of people inside.

There are voices of children, women, and middle-aged people.

The emperor and his entourage were so large that they seemed to have heard the noise outside, and all the sounds suddenly stopped.

Zhu Yijun rubbed his face, showed a gentle expression, and walked in slowly.

"His Majesty."

"Greetings to His Majesty the Emperor"

"Your Majesty."

Everyone saluted.

Zhu Yijun took a quick look and found that many members of Li Wei's family were there, including the eldest son Li Wenquan, the second daughter Li Caiyun who married into the Pingjiang Earl's house, and the grandson Li Chengming.

In addition, he had brothers and sisters from the same mother, Princess Shouyang Zhu Yao'e, Princess Yongning Zhu Yao'an, Princess Ruian Zhu Yaoyuan, and his younger brother Zhu Yiliu.

He held out his hand and asked everyone to stand up: "We are all family, why are you so surprised?"

Li Caiyun couldn't help but glance at her nephew.

Before she came, her husband's family repeatedly warned her that the emperor was cruel and ruthless, and that she must not take advantage of the emperor's favor to become arrogant and offend his will, otherwise she would be doomed.

But now she seemed to feel nothing.

He is clearly just an eleven-year-old child, how cruel and ruthless could he be?

Zhu Yijun took his sister Zhu Yao'an's hand, walked to the Queen Mother Li, and said with a smile: "My mother's relatives came to the palace, and my mother didn't even tell me about it."

After saying this, he paid his respects to Empress Dowager Li.

Empress Dowager Li rolled her eyes at the emperor and said, "Last time my father came to the palace to see you, you said you were busy."

Zhu Yijun automatically ignored the words of blame and said to Li Wei: "Oh? What was the reason why the father-in-law came to the palace to look for me last time?"

This was not the first or second time that Li Wei had met the emperor, and he was no longer as reserved as before.

He said a little embarrassedly: "Your Majesty, last time you mentioned the shipping matter, I sent someone to check it out, and it is indeed a way to make money."

Empress Dowager Li looked at the two of them strangely.

Curious, "What is shipping? How come I don't know?"

Zhu Yijun led Zhu Yao'an to Empress Dowager Li and explained, "Mother, this is what happened."

"Do you know Hai Rui?"

Empress Dowager Li nodded. She knew Hai Rui's reputation.

The ladies of the court often told her about this man, saying that he was stubborn and always had a problem with the ministers.

Zhu Yijun continued, "In June, in order to drive Gao Gong away, he was forced to agree to let Hai Rui return to Beijing."

"But when I thought about how this man was too brutal and didn't know how to be kind to others, I was afraid that Bao Zheng's incident would happen again, so I wanted to find a legitimate way to make money for the father-in-law."

Li Wei was still unaware of what was happening when he finished speaking. His eldest son Li Wenquan and his eldest grandson Li Chengming looked at each other and both felt that something was not right.

Sure enough, Empress Dowager Li could understand her son's tendencies to some extent.

He looked at the emperor suspiciously: "Bao Zheng's affairs? A legitimate way to make money?"

The implication is that there is some illegitimate way to make money! ?
Zhu Yijun nodded, smoothed Zhu Yao's tangled hair, and casually said, "I have heard that during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song, there was a royal relative named Zhao Qing."

"This man committed a crime and fell into Bao Zheng's hands, where he was actually executed."

"I don't know what Emperor Song Renzong thinks, but I don't want my father-in-law to follow in his footsteps."

Li Wei still hasn't reacted.

Li Wenquan and Li Chengming immediately bowed down and said, "We are guilty!"

Seeing that they could not pull Li Wei to move, the father and son became even more furious. Zhu Yijun quickly helped him up and comforted him, "I cannot ignore the law and condone the father-in-law. I am not capable enough. How can I let the uncle-in-law plead guilty?"

Li Caiyun finally realized something and quickly knelt down to apologize.

Empress Dowager Li's face turned cold. She looked at her son who looked sincere, and then at her father who was completely at a loss.

He said to the emperor angrily: "Don't beat around the bush. Father, with his talent, needs to be reprimanded directly! Tell me, what exactly did you do wrong?"

Li Wei suddenly came to his senses and realized that it was the emperor who was questioning him!

He bowed quickly.

Zhu Yijun held him and said earnestly, "Mother, we are having dinner together as a family today, there is no need to do this."

"It's not a big deal."

"Gao Gong murdered Feng Bao. I thought Feng Daban had no children, so I decided to confiscate all the money in the mansion and hold a funeral for him."

"As a result, Sun Yizheng of Shuntian Prefecture was ordered to confiscate his property. Of the 200,000 taels, only 20,000 taels were reported, and the rest were divided up cleanly."

"The Imperial Guards said that Sun Yizhen was so crazy that he deliberately gave a lot of gifts to the emperor's father-in-law in order to drag him into trouble."

He narrated the whole story with a gentle expression and helped several family members up one by one.

Seeing that Empress Dowager Li was about to scold Li Wei, he quickly tried to smooth things over, "Mother, there's no need to be too harsh on the father-in-law."

"I have thought about it for a long time. The father-in-law's family has no way to make money. Sooner or later, they will be seduced by the outside court."

"Now that I'm talking about this, I'm really not trying to blame the father-in-law. I really want to protect the father-in-law from the bottom of my heart."

"Mother, you don't know that Hai Rui is so bold that I heard he scolded Shi Miao so much that his nose bled! I'm afraid he will target the father-in-law of the emperor and imitate Bao Zheng!"

Li Wei fell to his knees again: "Your Majesty, Queen Mother, Sun Yizheng gave me eight thousand taels of silver!"

"I'll return it right away! Right away!"

Zhu Yijun seemed not to see it and casually flicked Zhu Yao'er's nose - this little girl was really cute.

Empress Dowager Li's face turned pale: "Go! Return it immediately!"

Zhu Yijun had long anticipated Empress Dowager Li's reaction.

In history, Li Wei followed Zhang Siwei to do business, but was exposed by Zhang Juzheng. Li Wei was rushed into the palace and was scolded by his own daughter.

After being scolded, Li Wei got up and left, not even daring to stay for lunch.

Zhu Yijun quickly held him back and pleaded with Empress Dowager Li: "Mother, this is just a small matter, please don't hurt the relationship."

"Besides, this is only a temporary solution. If mother wants the father-in-law to live a life like Hai Rui, I can't bear it."

He kept Li Wei and said kindly, "Father-in-law, don't worry. We'll return it when we get back. Let's have dinner first and talk about shipping."

Empress Dowager Li took advantage of the situation and said "hmm", thus letting the matter go.

After all, he is my father. It’s not easy for me to come to the palace, and I don’t want to leave in a bad mood.

She glanced at Li Jin and ordered, "Let's have lunch."

Zhu Yijun interrupted and said, "Mother, let Li Daban also have dinner together. It will be considered a family dinner."

Empress Dowager Li hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded.

Li Jin was at a loss for a moment.

It was Li Chengming who pulled him to the table, and he sat down feeling uncomfortable.

Everyone sat down one after another. Li Caiyun lowered her head silently, not daring to look at the emperor. Only then did she understand why her husband's family described the emperor in this way! It turned out that he was red-faced and black-hearted!
After Zhu Yijun sat down, he looked at Li Chengming and said, "Xiang Zhi is not an official yet, right?"

Xiang Zhi was Li Chengming's pen name. When he was suddenly called, he quickly replied, "Your Majesty, I have been appointed as a student of the Imperial Academy."

Zhu Yijun said "oh".

He looked at Li Wei and said, "Father-in-law, don't return Sun Yizheng's money. It will make you look bad."

"Let Xiang Zhi send the money to the new school and tell the principal, Ma Ziqiang, that it is a donation from the father-in-law and he wants to use it to ask for a position at the new school."

"The new school will also have official ranks in the future. Maybe Xiang Zhi has talent."

Without waiting for Li Wei to answer, Li Chengming immediately stood up to express his gratitude.

Zhu Yijun began to like this clever cousin.

He then asked Li Wei, "Father-in-law, what's the progress on the shipping?"

The king's uncle Li Wenquan bowed carefully, indicating that he was in charge of the matter.

Zhu Yijun looked at him and nodded, signaling him to speak.

Li Wenquan considered his words and replied somewhat awkwardly: "Your Majesty, in June, I checked a lot of case files and also interviewed a lot of canal merchants with whom I had connections."

"I then learned that sea transportation is not feasible without soldiers, so I sought a partner from the Pingjiang Earl's Mansion."

At this time, Li Caiyun bowed slightly, indicating that it was her husband's family.

Zhu Yijun naturally knew this, otherwise he would not have asked the nobles to take action.

It is unclear what the composition of the Japanese pirates on the sea is, but if it is a chamber of commerce with unfamiliar faces, we will definitely encounter them.

Without soldiers, they would be wiped out.

He nodded and motioned Li Wenquan to continue.

Li Wenquan pointed at Li Chengming and said, "Then, I sent my son to go to Guangzhou Port, Yuegang Port in Fujian, Ningbo Port in Zhejiang, etc. together with the Pingjiang Earl's Mansion to conduct a detailed investigation."

"Relying on the relationship with the Pingjiang Earl's Mansion, I acquired several bankrupt maritime merchants in Nanzhili and Guangdong Provincial Government."

This is the shortcoming of the foreign relatives. They suddenly gain power but have little foundation, so they can only rely on the old nobles.

Li Wenquan briefly talked about the local situation, the operation of maritime trade, and the plans of the shopkeepers.

After hesitating for a while, he thought about it and said truthfully: "Your Majesty, shipping makes money."

"But... the maritime transport area has serious smuggling, excludes outsiders, and has connections with the powerful. There is also the secret support of the Maritime Customs Office. I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to squeeze in."

This is the reason why a strong dragon cannot defeat a local snake.

Zhu Yijun nodded. He had naturally expected this.

The resistance to opening up the sea is no less than that to moving South Zhili.

Places like Zhejiang, Guangdong and Fujian rely on this for their livelihood.

When Emperor Sejong wanted to make some progress on this, it turned out to be a good idea.

As one of Emperor Sejong's core members, Zhu Wan was entrusted by Emperor Sejong to supervise the coastal defense affairs of Zhejiang and Fujian and resist Japanese pirates, and was allowed to "act at his discretion."

He fought against the bandits in Wen, Pan and Nanji, and won the great victory in Ningbo Shuangyu, suppressed the mining rebellion in Chuzhou, and won the great victory in Fujian Zhao'an.

And then... there was overwhelming impeachment.

The reasons for impeachment are also simple.

As soon as this man arrived at a place, he wiped out not only the Japanese pirates, but also the sea merchants, pirates, and powerful people.

This is what is meant by having no regard for the law and killing people at will.

As for the people who were killed, it is unclear whether they were pirates, civilians, or civilians who looked like pirates.

After being impeached, Zhu Wan said: "I am arrogant and do not want to go to court. Even if the emperor does not want to kill me, the people of Fujian and Zhejiang will definitely kill me. I will die by myself, without the help of others."

He wrote his own epitaph, composed his last words, and died by drinking poison.

Zhu Wan once said something that is still circulating among the people in the southeast today: It is easy to get rid of foreign bandits, but it is difficult to get rid of the bandits in the Ming Dynasty; it is easy to get rid of the bandits along the coast, but it is difficult to get rid of the well-dressed bandits in the court.

It was precisely because he didn't want another Zhu Wan to come that Zhu Yijun had to release the nobles to open up the sea.

Zhu Yijun did not respond to Li Quanwen's question. Instead, he looked at Li Wei and said, "I heard that the father-in-law has a good relationship with Zhang Siwei?"

"Why not ask Zhang Siwei if he's interested in a joint venture?"

After what happened just now, Li Wei was already at a loss and looked to his son for help.

Li Wenquan immediately understood.

After thinking for a while, he shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, Shanxi merchants mostly deal in tea, horses, and mines for the border troops, and are unlikely to get involved in maritime transportation."

Zhu Yijun nodded and explained, "I know. What I mean is that we might as well form a bigger group, and the prince can recruit other nobles to join."

"Just like the eldest princess's family, Xu Congcheng's family, the Duke of Yingguo and the Marquis of Taining, you can also ask them."

"Minister of Rites Zhang Siwei, why not give me some more shares and we can divide the money on the spot."

"If he is interested, he should consider submitting a petition to restore the Fujian Maritime Customs Office and... have the Ministry of War reinstate Yu Dayou as the Right Commander-in-Chief to guard Fujian."

He looked at Li Wenquan with such sincerity and earnestness in his eyes that the emperor's uncle shuddered subconsciously.

　I am a little sleepy. I will report the results tomorrow⑧
　　
　
(End of this chapter)