I

"Your Majesty, outside the residence of Lord Zhen Guo (Fei Ruhe), there are many people posting and visiting every day. But they are all dispatched by merchants, and no court officials are involved. Lord Zhen... closed the door to thank guests. In fact, he didn't live at home at all. Hiding in the residence of Lord Baoguo (Fei Chun). Now the merchants who want to see Lord Zhenguo have all gone to the Dongjiao racecourse. In addition, the crown prince also showed up at the racecourse, and yesterday, more than 5,000 people bought tickets to enter the racecourse."

"I know, step back, and don't need to monitor any more."

Zhao Han rarely monitored the minister's whereabouts. He sent someone to watch Fei Ruhe, purely to know what his childhood friend would do.

Facts have proved that Fei Ruhe is very smart.

Fei Ruhe knew that he was based in the north, and any businessman who wanted to do grassland business would definitely come to visit Taojin. He couldn't be bothered to talk to him, so he simply didn't stay at home. The place where he lives is also very interesting. He actually lives directly in Fei Chun's house.

What is this expressing?

First, although I let my clan brother do business, all operations are legal, and I also follow the court's laws when making money, and I will not accept bribes from other merchants.

Second, I don't collude with the ministers of the DPRK and China, and I don't even deal with the ministers. But I am nostalgic. I don't need to avoid suspicion about my relationship with Fei Chun. I believe His Majesty the Emperor will not be suspicious. I regard Fei Chun as an old friend, and I will definitely regard His Majesty the Emperor as an old friend.

What really made Zhao Han dumbfounded was that none of the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty dared to visit Fei Ruhe on his own initiative.

Xu Ying's cleansing of Jiangsu's officialdom was followed by a nationwide cleanup of land. More and more local officials were arrested, and occasionally even ministers of the DPRK and China were involved. This series of operations frightened the Beijing officials. They felt that Zhao Han was going to play Zhu Yuanzhang's tricks. How could he dare to meet Fei Ruhe openly?

After all, Fei Ruhe is not only the Duke of Zhen, not only the Zuo Dudu of the Dudu Mansion, but also the uncle of the crown prince!

If you get too close to Duke Zhen, what if the emperor becomes suspicious?

No longer caring about Fei Ruhe, Zhao Han opened a memorial, and got angry just reading the beginning: "Am I that scary? The dignified minister of the Ministry of Industry is so scared that he wants to resign and return home!"

Ding Shijing, who was burying his head in writing the notes on daily life, murmured in his heart: It's not just scary, both inside and outside the court were scared to death.

...

Li house.

Li Rixuan complained to Yang Zhong who came to visit: "How dare you come to my place at this time? Beware of being watched by the black guards!"

Yang Zhong said: "The Black Clothes Guard has been changed to the National Security Council, and never monitors ministers."

Li Rixuan retreated to the left and right, took Yang Zhong into the study, and said in a low voice: "How do you know that His Majesty doesn't monitor the ministers? Maybe today when you and I meet, you have already fallen into the sight of the black-clothed guards! Your Majesty will be Zhu Hongwu, black-clothed Wei is Jinyiwei!"

"Hui Bogong is worrying too much," Yang Zhong asked, "I heard that Hui Bogong asked to be appointed as an official? That's good, why didn't the minister of the Ministry of Industry do it?"

Li Rixuan said: "Zhejiang has just found out a major corruption case. I used to be the political envoy of Zhejiang Zuobu. In this major case, the Zhejiang bureaucrat who committed the crime was the one I used in Zhejiang. This guy is so bold. Buying and selling officials, it’s like the old birthday star eats arsenic and is impatient to live! My old subordinate, who has such a big incident, how can I have the face to be an official? How can I have the courage to be an official?”

In addition to being responsible for assessing the performance of officials in the province, the official selection departments of each province also have the power to appoint miscellaneous officials in the province, and have the power to appoint officials at all levels in the provincial government.

To be honest, Zhao Han never expected that officials would dare to buy and sell official positions on a large scale in the eleven years since he became emperor!

The specific operation is: send money to the chief official of the Zhejiang Office of Officials, and the official's provincial assessment will be rated as excellent. The Central Bureau of Officials generally will not overturn this kind of performance evaluation, and it will be easier for the official to be promoted in the future. This is a fraudulent political performance, selling officials in a disguised form. It is more convenient to sell officials directly. The Zhejiang Office of Officials can handle miscellaneous officials and officials in the province within the scope of its authority.

This big case of selling officials in Zhejiang was actually involved by Qing Tian.

A middle school dropout who didn't get a diploma because of his poor grades applied for the county clerk exam with his primary school diploma, and he actually passed the exam because of his nepotism. Because the family is rich, this guy started to spend money, and he was excellent in the examination every time, and was quickly promoted to the fourth-class official. Then he went to spend money and was transferred to Qiantang County as the head of the household section, in charge of the household registration and field records of the whole county.

The land clearing operation in Zhejiang Province was first launched in Qiantang County and Renhe County. The land administration in these two counties was in a complete mess.

The chief of the household department in Qiantang County was arrested, and after some interrogation, the matter of buying an official and promoting him was exposed. Following the clues and investigating step by step, it was found that the office of officials in Zhejiang was at the head of the official office in Zhejiang, and the head of the official office in Zhejiang took the lead in messing up. As a result, there are some big or small problems in the evaluation and promotion of officials in Zhejiang Province.

"Zhejiang is going to be the same as Jiangsu. People will be killed by the inspectorate. I have been in charge of Zhejiang for several years. If such a big incident happened, I can resign early and still be decent." Li Rixuan said.

Yang Zhong persuaded: "Uncle Hui is clean and honest, and no one in the world knows it? Even if it is investigated, it is at most that he did not know people well and employed people improperly. There is really no need to resign."

Li Rixuan shook his head: "I have made up my mind. After three requests and three resignations, His Majesty will definitely agree."

Yang Zhong couldn't persuade him anymore, so he could only leave with a sigh.

...

Imperial Academy.

Zhang Pu, who was sick and bedridden every year, survived for ten years.

Zhang Pu and Qian Qianyi both wanted to become officials in the cabinet before, and then they wanted to be teachers for the prince. Now that all hopes were shattered, they became more open-minded and stayed in the Imperial Academy to compile the "History of Ming Dynasty" with all their heart.

Qian Qianyi gloated and said: "The two parties are fighting, and before they really started fighting, both sides were hurt by His Majesty. Yu Shiqin thanked guests behind closed doors, and seemed not to want to be the leader of the party anymore; Li Rixuan was more interesting, so he went directly to the library and asked to resign. What a fool, he was not sober at the beginning, and he still wants to form a party in front of the founding emperor?"

Zhang Pu said: "It's the cleaning up of the officialdom and the farmland this time, which is really serious. Many of their henchmen have been arrested one after another. How dare they jump up and down in the capital? The current emperor is indeed the rebirth of Zhu Hongwu. If this goes on like this, it will really be like the early Ming Dynasty, when officials are allowed to work in shackles."

"That's not enough," Qian Qianyi said with a smile, "at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were not many scholars, and there were not enough officials. Zhu Hongwu's laws were strict, and officials were often offended. Sitting in the yamen. The Ming Dynasty has raised scholars for three hundred years, and the world has strictly enforced enlightenment. It is hard to find three-legged toads, but two-legged scholars are everywhere. Where is the lack of officials now? Just kill all the local officials, and there are enough officials to make up for it Go to the vacancy."

Zhang Pu suddenly felt emotional: "If Chongzhen had the courage of today's emperor, how could Ming Dynasty perish so quickly. Sigh!"

Distance produces beauty, and time can also filter out all shortcomings.

It was Zhang Pu who scolded Chongzhen the most at the beginning, describing Chongzhen as a self-willed and independent husband. It has only been so many years, and I actually start to miss Chongzhen again, and feel sorry for Chongzhen from the bottom of my heart.

Qian Qianyi said: "It's not that Chongzhen has no courage, it's that the Ming Dynasty's officialdom is rotten to the root. The Donglin Party has too many old debts, and it will never be trusted by Chongzhen. Wrong, it only depends on winning or losing. If Chongzhen dares to order an investigation and rectification of officials, the imperial decree will be issued, and the world will be in chaos.

Qian Qianyi also belonged to the Donglin Party, but he was a pseudo-Donglin Party. For his own future, he could even sell the Donglin Party at any time.

At this time, Qian Qianyi was completely out of the discussion, as if he had never been a member of the Donglin Party.

As he spoke, Qian Qianyi shook his sleeves, "It's better for me to be comfortable. Sitting in the Imperial Academy to compile history, it has nothing to do with us killing people in the officialdom. How much money can you be greedy for in charge of the Imperial Academy? Just be greedy." Pen and paper candles, hahahaha!"

"Whatever, my life is not long anyway." Zhang Pu felt that his body was very weak.

Hearing this, Qian Qianyi wanted to roll his eyes.

Zhang Pu suddenly started to talk about business: ""History of Ming Dynasty" can't be wrong anymore. When the manuscript was proofread last time, a person from Wujiang presented "Wujiang Zhi", and the paragraph we edited was ridiculously wrong. Fortunately, it was not submitted to His Majesty for review, otherwise you and I It's all going to be embarrassing."

The story of Shen Wansan wanting to spend money to build the city wall and being exiled to death by Zhu Yuanzhang has been widely spread in the late Ming Dynasty, and has even been recorded in many unofficial histories.

Qian Qianyi and Zhang Pu compiled "History of Ming Dynasty", but met someone who contributed "Wu Jiang Zhi".

Mo Dan, the author of "Wu Jiang Zhi", is related to Shen Wansan's descendants, and there are detailed records about Shen Wansan in the book. Qian Qianyi was afraid of making mistakes, so he sent someone to Wujiang to inquire, and also got the Shen family's genealogy to verify.

The actual situation is that when Zhu Yuanzhang came to the throne, Shen Wansan had been dead for 12 years. If he did not die, Shen Wansan would be over 80 years old. Because Shen Wansan's son, Shen Rong, was 62 years old at the time, and his grandson, Shen Sen, was 39 years old. When the Ming army pacified Yunnan, Shen Wansan was almost 100 years old. Even if he was still alive, would the centenarian be exiled to Yunnan?

According to the "Law of the Ming Dynasty", elderly people over the age of ninety and children under the age of seven, except for serious crimes such as rebellion and disobedience, will not be sentenced to death even if they kill people. Exile is also not suitable for the elderly and children.

The editing work of "Ming History" was divided into four editing groups by Qian Qianyi, responsible for the Ji, Zhi, Table, and Biographies respectively.

Under the four major editorial groups, there are many small editorial groups, such as one group for Geographical Chronicles, and another group for Shihuozhi.

Qian Qianyi himself does not do it himself, but is only responsible for arranging manpower and reviewing manuscripts. Even so, the review is often dark. The compilation activities of each group involved a huge workload. In addition to the official historical materials of the Ming Dynasty, as long as there were local chronicles that could be found, they had to read the local chronicles first.

While watching the excitement and complaining about officialdom, the two immersed themselves in compiling history books, completely staying out of the political whirlpool.

In September of the eleventh year of the Republic of China, Li Rixuan, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, made three requests and three resignations, and was approved by the emperor to resign and return to his hometown. Before leaving Beijing, he was added to the crown prince and Taifu, which was regarded as the court's affirmation of his work.

The court ministers, no one dared to argue for anything, they all buried their heads in their jobs, for fear of being involved in the investigation of the place.

Even when Fei Ruhe left Beijing to go north, no official except Fei Chun and other old friends dared to see him off.

Who doesn't know the story of Zhu Yuanzhang's killing spree?

In the eyes of many ministers, Emperor Zhao looked more and more like Zhu Yuanzhang.