Jie Jin looked up in confusion, and after Zhu Yuanzhang was briefly stunned, he looked at his grandson with relief.
"Master Jie, let me ask you. From the founding of the country to the present, how many years have Li Shanchang and Hu Weiyong been prime ministers and occupied the court?"
Xie Jin said without hesitation, "Seventeen years!"
"Then do you know where all the officials employed by the Ming Dynasty in the past seventeen years were born?"
"This..." Xie Jin hesitated slightly.
"Let me tell you, in the past seventeen years, the high-ranking officials employed by the Ming Dynasty and all the good positions were almost all from Huaixi."
Most of history is covered in dust and then arbitrarily commented by future generations. Some of the most shocking major cases during the Hongwu period were also major cases that later became Zhu Yuanzhang's stain for hundreds of years, including the cases of Li Shanchang and Hu Weiyong.
Zhu Yuanzhang was a cruel man, and Zhu Yunxi knew this very well. But he believed that history must have an objective side, rather than letting the so-called experts of later generations say whatever they want based on subjective impressions.
In the Fengtian Palace where he was, Zhu Yuanzhang did not allow him to read other documents except military secret files, so he saw something different in them.
"Li Shanchang is a civil servant leader of the Huai people. He has made great contributions to the country, so he is ranked as prime minister, duke, and princess Zishang." Zhu Yunxi continued, "When he was in power, he tried his best to exclude ministers who were not from the Huai people, no matter how talented or talented they were.
If he has a reputation as a virtuous person, he will not use it as long as he is not from Huai."
"For example, sincere uncle Liu Ji, in the early years the emperor personally told Liu Ji's son that when Chen Youliang came to beat me, everyone else was afraid, but your father supported us. There is Fang Guozhen in the east, Chen Youding in the south, and Zhang Youding in the west.
Family, your father has made great contributions to pacifying them."
Amidst the sound of Zhu Yunxi's words, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the sword on the table quietly, seeming to be lost in reminiscences in his mind.
At that time, Chen Youliang claimed that 800,000 men were coming to attack Yingtian. No one among the civil servants and his staff dared to fight to the death. Only Liu Bowen said that only the Lord could escape and surrender.
The only plan for now is a decisive battle. Those who surrender or flee should be punished. (I have always suspected that the words Lu Su said to Sun Quan in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms came from here)
"Then Uncle Chengyi helped the emperor establish the Ming Dynasty's army and guards, organize farming, and even helped recruit the literati, gentry and landlords in eastern Zhejiang, appease the people, and demoted officials, all of which made great contributions."
"Originally, Liu Ji was made a duke according to his merits for the founding of the country. However, Li Shanchang and others secretly instigated and repeatedly slandered him, so he could only be made a count!"
"If Uncle Liu Ji is so sincere, do you need to talk about the other Jiangnan scholars?"
Xie Jin lowered his head and said nothing, meditating silently.
Zhu Yunxi took a breath and continued, "This Ming Dynasty is the Ming Dynasty of the people of the world, not the Ming Dynasty of the Huai people. The people of the world, whether north or south, east or west, Han or Hu, are all the people of the Ming Dynasty. But in the hands of Li Shanchang and Hu Weiyong, the world is only the people of the Huai River.
The world!"
"From Li Shanchang to Hu Weiyong, during the seventeen years they eliminated dissidents and formed a clique at all levels for personal gain. As a result, the officials only knew the two prime ministers, not the court. Isn't this a clique?"
"They use nepotism, protect each other, disrupt the government, bring trouble to the world, form cliques for personal gain, and abuse power. When foreign officials come to Beijing, they do not report to the Ministry of Civil Affairs first. Instead, they have to visit Li Shanchang's house first. His relatives of the Li family, his younger brother Li Cunyi, and his nephew Ding Pu
More majestic than the royal relatives."
"The Ministry of Personnel selects officials for promotion. They themselves decide. As long as they are Huai people, as long as they pay filial piety to you and accept them as their disciples, they can become high officials. Isn't this selling an official position and getting a title?" (màiguānyùjué)
"Jie Jin, tell me, which of these crimes should not lead to death?"
Without waiting for Xie Jin to continue speaking, Zhu Yunxi continued, "Grandpa Huang knew that they were like this, but he still missed the old friendship. Grandpa Huang once said that good people have no talent, but they are from the same hometown as us. Since we started the army, we have followed An Qian and Ma Hou.
There is no merit but hard work. If we become the emperor, he will naturally become the prime minister."
"Grandpa Huang missed the old love and hoped that they would wake up, but what they got in exchange was that they got worse!"
The more Zhu Yunxi talked, the angrier he became. If he hadn't personally seen the secret files of the Jin Yiwei, he would not have known that these two so-called wrongly killed and wrongly accused people had such a bad side in history.
"Grandpa Huang endured it again and again, thinking that as he got older, he would one day retire and return to his hometown. In the fourth year of Hongwu, Li Shanchang was unable to manage due to illness and retired to his hometown. Grandpa Huang rewarded him with more than 360 hectares of land and guarded it.
There are 150 grave households, 1,500 tenants, and 20 private soldiers. The emperor's favor is not unkind!"
"At that time, many people in the court were involved in him, but Grandpa Huang still protected him. If he had any intention of repaying his kindness and knowing how to advance and retreat, he should cultivate his moral character at home. But what about him? He still wants to be the Supreme Emperor above the Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty!"
"The position of prime minister was vacant, and the emperor wanted Liu Ji to take it, but did Liu Ji dare? Later, the emperor fell in love with Yang Xian, the censor of Taichung. Do you know what Li Shanchang said to Hu Weiyong?"
Xie Jin was stunned. How could he know these secrets of the court? He was too embarrassed to speak.
Zhu Yunxi sneered, "Hu Weiyong and Li Shanchang said that if Yang Xian becomes prime minister, we and the Huaixi people will not be able to be high officials. Tsk tsk, the prime minister is a national weapon of the Ming Dynasty. In their mouth, they are promoting their own people.
Make a fortune."
"Forget it, they instigated the Supervisory Council to impeach and frame Yang Xian, saying that Yang Xian engaged in malpractice for favoritism, corruption and perversion of the law. They deceived the emperor and caused Yang Xian to be killed, together with the leaders of Jiangsu and Zhejiang officials, Gao Jianxian, Xia Yi, Ling
They said they would be executed together."
Zhu Yuanzhang's face showed deep regret.
"The leading figure among Jiangsu and Zhejiang officials died, and the position fell on Hu Weiyong. He did even harder than Li Shanchang. He relied on the emperor's grandfather to remember the past. He was an old official in Huaixi and a relative of Li Shanchang. He had a group of people behind him.
With the support of Minister Huaixi, Qian Gang is arbitrary."
"He didn't report official promotions, he didn't report tributes from foreign vassals, and some people impeached him. He actually instigated his disciples to secretly intercept the memorial to the emperor's grandfather. People from all over the country who wanted to be officials came under his sect and collected countless money."
As he spoke, Zhu Yunxi suddenly lowered his voice, "Even many generals from Huaixi at that time were his guests. Not only did he have control of civil power, he also wanted to get involved in the army. Xie Jin, you are a scholar, tell me, so
What emperor can tolerate such a person?"
"I'm stupid!" Xie Jin's head was covered in cold sweat and he quickly knelt down to apologize. He was a little stunned, but he was not stupid.
Throughout the ages, emperors have been the most suspicious, and being able to indulge their ministers to this extent can be considered a benevolent monarch. But according to what King Wu said, these two people brought their own fault.
"Even though they have done so much, the emperor has no intention of killing them. He just wants to take care of them slowly, not to cause too much turmoil, and not to make our Ming Dynasty unstable." Zhu Yunxi continued, "But you know, you and the others
How audacious are you?"
Jie Jin raised his head in panic, and the tip of his nose was covered with sweat. He was very torn between fear and wanting to hear more clearly.
"Do you know how Uncle Cheng Liu Ji died?" Zhu Yunxi sneered, "Hu Weiyong hated Liu Ji for dealing with officials in Huaixi and killing Li Shanchang's close relative Li Bin, so he ordered people to attack Liu Ji."
"Liu Ji basically returned to his hometown. He was so shocked that he had to come to the capital to plead guilty. As a result, he was so frightened that he became ill." Zhu Yunxi said with a sneer on his face, "Hu Weiyong sent a doctor to see him, but Liu Ji took medicine.
He died from vomiting and diarrhea."
"I shouldn't have listened!" Xie Jin cursed in his mind that he was nosy, and almost fainted from fright.
Looking at Zhu Yuanzhang on the dragon throne, he looked like he was about to eat someone, and his hand had already touched the scabbard.
"He doesn't care about killing people, but he also spreads rumors that Grandpa Huang asked him to do that. Do you think he should die?"
As he spoke, Zhu Yunxi felt thirsty. He walked to the imperial desk, picked up Zhu Yuanzhang's tea, and drank it down.
Zhu Yunxi wiped his mouth, looked back at the kneeling Xie Jin and said, "Are you still aggrieved by them? But Grandpa Huang cared deeply about them. Who can complain about Grandpa Huang? Who knows the grievances of his old man?"
"You think there are too many people killed, but they are all Li Hu's gang members, how can you do it if you don't kill them?" As he said, Zhu Yunxi suddenly raised his voice, "If you don't kill them, you young talents who are not from the Huai people will
How can I serve in the government?"
"Your Majesty, I..." Xie Jin looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and choked, "I'm ashamed!"
"Those who don't know are not guilty." Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand calmly, "It's okay for you young people not to know about the embarrassing things in the past. After reading your memorial to redress Li Shanchang's grievances, we were very angry at first, and then we remembered their good deeds back then.
Yes. And the court and the country also need outspoken ministers like you, so we didn’t deal with you."
As he said that, Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "Otherwise, with your small body, if we cut you with a knife, your head would be moved. Besides, you are here to avenge Li Shanchang, not Hu Weiyong, so what you said makes some sense."
"I owe you the divine grace!" Xie Jin said respectfully.
"So we punish you not to become a Hanlin bachelor, but to become a good scholar for our eldest grandson. Are you convinced?" Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile.
Zhu Yunxi also said, "Master Xie, do you still think that you are surrendering your talents under a single hand?"
"Your Highness!" Xie Jin kowtowed, "I am sincerely convinced!"
"If you assist our eldest grandson well, his future future will be better than that of a Hanlin bachelor!" Zhu Yuanzhang continued, "In a few years, you Jie Jin will understand what we mean!"
Although Xie Jin does not have high emotional intelligence, he is extremely smart. After thinking about it for a moment, he wanted to jump up and slap himself on the spot.
His greatest wish in life is to be the emperor's master, which is the highest honor for a scholar.
It has been secretly discussed both inside and outside the court that the emperor prefers King Wu. Today it seems that they are really inseparable.
I am so stupid that I don’t worship the real Buddha, but instead?
Therefore, he immediately said to Zhu Yunxi, "I am stupid, your Highness must not be offended!"
Zhu Yunxi smiled and said, "I am not such a petty person. Grandpa Huang can tolerate you redressing Li Shanchang's grievances, and I can tolerate you acting petty!"
Then, the two men looked at each other and laughed.
At this time, Pu Bucheng came in from outside and stood at the door of the hall and said loudly.
"Your Majesty, His Highness King Wu is here!"
"Is there anyone else?" Zhu Yunxi looked at Zhu Yuanzhang doubtfully.
The latter laughed and said, "This is not the only young talent in the Ming Dynasty. Ji Shan is still too weak. We have also chosen a magistrate for you."
"Who is it?" Zhu Yunxi thought about it.
Young talent? Disdain suddenly surged on Xie Jin's face. Who could be more young and talented than him?