To be honest, there were times when even Zhu Yijun himself felt that this was absurd. This was because the officials were living a much better life than him. They could eat delicacies from the mountains and sea, wear silk and satin, take concubines as easily as buying vegetables, and give gifts during festivals that were worth a hundred thousand taels of silver. Did the Great Ming Dynasty give these bastards such a high salary? Why didn't I know?
They built their own houses into heavenly palaces, but asked me, the emperor, to live in a low and cold place. They bought things worth tens of thousands of taels of silver for their wives and concubines. When I wanted to buy some rouge for my concubines, they even scolded me. They asked me to be thrifty in the palace … Wasn't the emperor's spending and the concubines' spending an ancestral system? You used the ancestral system to restrict me, but when it comes to yourself, you don't care about the ancestral system?
There was a saying that only the officials could set fires, but not the common people. But Zhu Yijun felt that the current situation was that only the officials could set fires, but not the emperor. And when something went wrong, everyone scolded Emperor Zhu. In all honesty, I responded in time every time and asked them to work for disaster relief. I also tried to pay as much as possible. The palace treasury left by Grandpa Jiajing and Father Longqing was almost emptied!!!
But what happened? Was it done? The emperor should be scolded, but the emperor should be scolded. The emperor should be the scapegoat for the scandals they did. Was there such a logic in this world?
As a 30-year-old man, a mature emperor, Zhu Yijun really felt his situation. The strong sense of shame made him more and more irritable, and he hated those officials more and more. But he couldn't think of how to control those officials, so he could only express his dissatisfaction in a passive way. He didn't trust eunuchs. After the incident with Feng Bao, he knew that eunuchs could also collude with foreign officials, so eunuchs couldn't be of much use.
Then who could he trust? Who could he ask to help him vent his anger? He didn't have the means of Jiajing's grandfather, nor did he have the open-mindedness of Longqing's father. What he had was a strong self-esteem and dissatisfaction. He had been suppressed, restricted, criticized, and criticized for a long time. His self-esteem as an emperor had been seriously hurt. However, for the so-called stability of the country, he couldn't touch anyone!
In the end, he could only express his dissatisfaction by neglecting politics and use high-handed means to maintain his authority. He did not want to be a puppet emperor of the civil officials group, and he did not want to be a scapegoat.
Poor emperor, without the power of human resources and finance, he could only show off in front of a group of eunuchs and a group of women …
Thinking of his own situation, Zhu Yijun also calmed down and smiled bitterly. He felt that it was not worth it to compete with an imperial physician, so he sat down and waved his hand. "Forget it, don't kill him, just drive him out. Zhang Cheng, did the cabinet send any memorials? Is there any military report?"
Zhang Cheng, the chief eunuch, answered nervously, "Your Majesty, the cabinet sent a batch of memorials before noon. Your Majesty said that the military report should be sent directly, but there is no news yet. Then, do you want to read the memorials from the cabinet and the Ministry of War now?"
Zhu Yijun nodded. "Bring the memorials to me."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Zhang Cheng bowed his head meekly and then quickly went out to ask someone to bring the memorials. After Zhu Yijun drank a cup of tea for a while, Zhang Cheng came forward with a red lacquered wooden box and respectfully presented it with both hands. Zhu Yijun picked out one of the letters, opened it, and suddenly frowned. "Your subject Mei Guozhen, the imperial censor of Zhejiang Province, requests a reply from the former commander-in-chief of Liaodong Army, Li Chengliang."
If it was any other request, as long as it was reasonable, Zhu Yijun did not care much, but the use of Li Chengliang made Zhu Yijun a little hesitant. Li Chengliang was not young this year, more than 60 years old. He had been guarding Liaodong Army for more than 10 years and had indeed made great contributions, and he was very good at fighting. But not long ago, Li Chengliang had been found guilty of a series of crimes and had just been deposed. Now he was going to use him again. How could he, the emperor, endure it?
Mei Guozhen … Humph!
Zhu Yijun's face was full of a sneer. This was probably another bastard who was paid to do things! And he even asked to supervise the army? Well, if you want to be, I'll let you be. Anyway, it's you scholars fighting each other. It's better for me to stay away!
Forget about Li Chengliang, he could not use him. He was Zhang Juzheng's henchman. According to the Imperial Bodyguard, this guy had harmed a lot of people in Liaodong, and his power was getting stronger and stronger. Liaodong was going to belong to Li, not Zhu. He had just been deposed, and now he wanted to be reinstated. Wasn't that a slap in the face? This old guy was so anxious to be reinstated. Could it be that there was really something that he did not dare to say? So he could not do it!
Then, Zhu Yijun opened the memorial of Zhao Zhigao, the acting Cabinet Secretary.
Wang Jiaping, the previous Cabinet Secretary, had completely angered Zhu Yijun because he mentioned the matter of setting up the crown prince again around ten days ago. Zhu Yijun was so angry that he gave an order to remove Wang Jiaping from his position and chase him back to his original place. Zhao Zhigao only became the acting Cabinet Secretary because of this matter. Since the moment the Cabinet Secretary left, news of Bo Bai rebelling came from the northwest. The officials could no longer care about the imperial court electing the Cabinet Secretary. They just had Vice Secretary Zhao Zhigao take over as the Cabinet Secretary and lead everyone to get rid of Bo Bai first before anything else.
Zhao Zhigao could be said to have gotten the position of the Cabinet Secretary for free. To secure this position, Zhao Zhigao could be said to have put in quite a lot of effort. Previously, when he heard about the chaos, he suggested that Wei Xuezeng, the Governor-General of the three borders, take the lead and mobilize all the military forces in the three borders to attack Bo Bai. He must not let Bo Bai have the chance to lure the Mongolian cavaliers into the fortress to help him. Since the matter was urgent, he asked Wei Xuezeng to temporarily take over all the military and political power. Now, he was worried that Wei Xuezeng would not be able to monopolize his power because the local generals were constantly being moved around, so he asked for Wei Xuezeng to be given the Sword of State to increase his authority. He also suggested for him to send an army supervisor to supervise him.
This suggestion was quite feasible. The imperial court had ruled over the military for many years through the use of literature, but there were plenty of generals who were useless or disobedient. This was something Zhu Yijun knew very well, and he did not find it strange. Giving him the Sword of State and giving him the power to kill could allow him to better control the generals. There was nothing wrong with this, and he could agree to it. Coincidentally, Mei Guozhen had written a letter asking to be an army supervisor himself, so he agreed to it.
Then, Zhao Zhigao focused on the difficulty of quelling the rebellion and believed that there would definitely be brave men who would be willing to take the risk if there was a great reward. He suggested that he set a reward to encourage the soldiers to fight the enemy bravely. He suggested that if he beheaded Cheng 'en, he would be given the title of marquis to live on for generations. If he could capture Traitor Xiang, he would be given the title of nobility. If he could capture Bo Bai and his father, he would be given twenty thousand taels of silver, and he would be given the title of Dragon and Tiger General. If he could capture Liu Dongyang, Xu Chao, and Tu Wenxiu, he would be given ten thousand taels of silver, and he would be given the title of Commander.
This was also acceptable. Zhu Yijun thought for a while and approved it in the report.
Then there was the report from the Minister of War, Shi Xing. Shi Xing suggested that there were too many generals in the nine borders and Shi Xing requested the imperial court to send more valiant generals from the mainland, such as the Zhejiang and Miao soldiers to the north to help in the war, or to choose other strong generals to lead the troops in the war. The candidate he suggested was the eldest son of Li Chengliang, Li Rusong.
This made the Emperor of Wanli feel a little awkward. Li Rusong was also a fierce and skillful fellow, and compared to his father, he had a stronger military aura. He was more like a pure soldier than a warlord. Li Chengliang was getting old and had gradually become cunning. He was different from Li Rusong, who only cared about killing the enemy on the battlefield.
Should he do it?
Zhu Yijun was hesitating.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! The Governor-General of the three borders, Wei Xuezeng, reports from the army at the border! "
A junior eunuch hurriedly ran over and knelt on the ground. Zhu Yijun's eyes lit up and immediately said, "Quickly send it!"
Not long after, a military report was delivered. Zhu Yijun hurriedly opened the seal and quickly read it.
"Good! Good! Good! "
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