Chapter 183: Building Up a Wave of Prestige

Building up prestige is one thing, but the things that need to be done still have to be done.

As for cutting back on palace expenditures, Zhu Youxiao actually didn't care much about it at all—his own spending wasn't much, and the Empress's expenses couldn't really be called anything significant either. What he needed to do next was make money.

"Since Baozhu has this intention, I will make it known to the whole realm." Having said this, Zhu Youxiao took Empress Zhang's hand and walked toward the bedchamber behind them.

The meaning was obvious—tonight, Empress Zhang would be staying here with him.

Empress Zhang's face flushed slightly, but still she shyly allowed Zhu Youxiao to lead her along.

Seeing this, Chen Hong hurriedly waved his hand, signaling everyone around to withdraw.

When the Emperor and Empress were in such harmony, naturally no one could be allowed to disturb them at a time like this.

After a night of intimacy, the two ate breakfast together, and then Empress Zhang left the Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Youxiao began exercising in the courtyard, only stopping once his body was slightly sheened with sweat.

Walking over to Chen Hong, he washed his face under the eunuch's attendance, then tossed the silk towel used for drying into Chen Hong's arms and gave his orders: "I didn't get the chance to tell you yesterday, so I'll tell you now—send some people to the Empress's natal family. I want to know who has been gossiping over there."

"When it comes to the Empress's family matters, I need to know them clearly, so the people you send need to be capable."

Chen Hong nodded and said, "Yes, Your Majesty. This servant will arrange the personnel right away."

The natal family of an empress was naturally a matter of utmost importance—and what's more, before he had even formally married, someone had already gone to her home and said such things to Empress Zhang. These people clearly harbored ill intentions.

Zhu Youxiao had spent the whole day with Empress Zhang yesterday, partly to nurture the bond between husband and wife—after all, the two would be living together for a long time from now on, and besides, the Empress was quite beautiful; as his wife, it was only right for him to spend some time with her.

On the other hand, Zhu Youxiao wanted to establish a persona for Empress Zhang—the most virtuous empress of the Great Ming.

If in the future he ever had conflicts with his ministers, the Empress could serve as an intermediary, so that there would still be room for negotiation. That was why he had brought the Empress to meet Xu Guangqi and the others.

Most importantly, there was another point—Zhu Youxiao was considering using members of the Empress's natal family.

If Zhu Youxiao's feelings for the Empress weren't deep, if he didn't dote on her, then the point of using her family wouldn't hold water. That was why he needed to display affection toward the Empress.

Although Zhu Youxiao genuinely did like Empress Zhang in his heart, showing off their affection wasn't really something he enjoyed doing.

But sometimes, even what you don't want to do, you still have to do—just like in later generations, many couples who had divorced still pretended to be together.

However, the feelings between Zhu Youxiao and Empress Zhang were actually quite good, so showing affection was killing two birds with one stone; sending Chen Hong to first feel out Empress Zhang's background and see what sort of people surrounded her natal family was also killing two birds with one stone.

"It's about time, isn't it? Let's go to the morning court." Zhu Youxiao said.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Chen Hong acknowledged, then turned to lead the way.

Recently, the morning court arrangements had all been handled by Chen Hong, and Wang An's presence in the palace had become very, very low. So Chen Hong worked with great diligence—he wanted to advance further.

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Chen Hong, nodded, and then walked out ahead.

The reason Zhu Youxiao hadn't yet made a move against Wang An was that he felt this old eunuch might still be useful to keep around—for now, it was better not to touch him.

When he had dealt with the Donglin Faction earlier, he had more than once used Wang An's hands to leak information outward. Sometimes keeping such a person around was more convenient.

Although Chen Hong coveted Wang An's position, Zhu Youxiao had no intention of elevating Chen Hong to it for the time being.

The balance between Chen Hong and Wei Zhongxian—the current state of things was just fine. Breaking it would not be what Zhu Youxiao wanted.

This morning court was the first since Zhu Youxiao's grand wedding, so all the ministers were present in full, and the atmosphere was especially solemn.

After all, in this era, a grand wedding signified that His Majesty had come of age—no one could treat His Majesty as a child anymore.

In truth, even before this, no one had dared to treat Zhu Youxiao as a child.

Perhaps some had tried, but the lessons from before had been profound enough—civil and military officials of several ministries, killed were killed, exiled were exiled, families confiscated were confiscated. How many had died, how many were buried?

Naturally, no one dared to underestimate the current Emperor now.

After all the ministers had paid their respects, Zhu Youxiao raised his hand and said, "Beloved ministers, no need for ceremony."

His gaze swept across the faces of all his ministers, and Zhu Youxiao's heart was quite serious.

As a sovereign, one must have one's own ministers beneath one—whether loyal or treacherous—because when you need them to do things, they will act on your behalf.

The Chongzhen Emperor failed precisely on this point—no one did things for him. Even killing many people was useless. Under such circumstances, the emperor was a puppet: when you were obedient, they would follow your edicts; when you weren't, your sacred decree was just a blank sheet of paper.

The most useful tools for an emperor were the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but governing this realm and enriching this nation couldn't be done with only them. They could only help stabilize the power in the emperor's hands—the emperor relying on them to govern the country was out of the question.

So the emperor must have his own ministers in the court who were loyal to him—at the very least, he couldn't let all the ministers band together.

The emperor had to maintain balance in the court.

Zhu Youxiao was now preparing to build up a wave of prestige and win over hearts and minds—at least making a portion of people his steadfast supporters.

"Yesterday morning, Xu Guangqi, Second Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, submitted his counsel to me. Perhaps fearing I wouldn't listen, he didn't submit a routine memorial but instead stated his case to me in person. As for what he spoke of—Xu Aiqing, please repeat it in front of all the ministers." Zhu Youxiao looked at Xu Guangqi and said with a smile.

This was giving Xu Guangqi a moment in the spotlight, letting all the ministers know what an upright, selfless, and daring loyal minister Xu Guangqi was.

When the time came, Xu Guangqi's coterie of disciples would help spread the word—and bring along this Emperor as well.

Zhu Youxiao's thinking was correct—that was exactly it, bringing himself along. Getting them to directly promote an emperor was rather difficult.

But ministers were different. They were all ministers themselves, so they would promote themselves—and out of their own self-interest, they would spare no effort in doing so.

So as an emperor, you had to learn to play the game of binding yourself to others, to ride on trending popularity.

And what effect would ultimately be achieved?

If the common folk said this official was a loyal minister, a worthy minister, then the one in the palace was an enlightened sovereign; otherwise, he could only be a treacherous minister, and the one in the palace could only be a fatuous ruler.

Only by reaching this level would the emperor's reputation be good.

As for running newspapers to guide public opinion, Zhu Youxiao had thought about that too, but he felt it wouldn't be of much use.

First of all, the Great Ming's logistics system was slow and transportation was difficult—the distribution of newspapers was itself a problem, limited to small-scale circulation within the capital.

Even if newspapers could spread, the realm's scholars held the power of discourse—who would write the newspapers?

Wouldn't it still be these ministers and their disciples? And what they wrote would still be their own words, wouldn't it?

Running newspapers would actually be more beneficial to these people spreading their ideas.

If a group of eunuchs or his own trusted confidants were sent to run the newspaper, what kind of reputation would that newspaper have among the people?

Would the people of the realm still believe the content in such a newspaper?

Moreover, the common folk at the grassroots level were illiterate—the newspapers would even have to be read aloud to them by local scholars. When that time came, how do you think those scholars would read them?

Zhu Youxiao thought that if it were him, every time a newspaper arrived, he would take the latest issue and hold a speech meeting, pointing out where the newspaper was wrong and promoting his own ideas—afraid of having nothing to talk about?

This way, he expanded his own influence and raised his own reputation—but as for what the newspapers actually wanted to say, what did that have to do with him?

However, all problems ultimately came down to one problem, and that was the problem of people.

If he couldn't properly resolve the problem of people, then no amount of schemes would be of any use, because that wasn't the core of the issue.

While Zhu Youxiao was lost in thought, Xu Guangqi had already stepped forward and stated his views once more.

"The capital is drilling new troops, Liaodong is spending money as well, and natural disasters are frequent across the realm—this is precisely when the court needs funds. State revenues are insufficient, and every office of the government is short on silver. Therefore, your minister proposes that Your Majesty temporarily halt construction within the palace."

This time, Xu Guangqi's purpose was clearer, his reasoning more organized, and he spoke very well.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Xu Guangqi, clearly aware that the man had gone back and done more preparation—he estimated that Xu was getting ready to submit a routine memorial.

But that was fine as well—it saved him from having to say anything more himself.

All the ministers looked at Xu Guangqi in disbelief; no one had expected that Xu Guangqi would dare to say such a thing.

Having Your Majesty stop construction within the palace and take the money out for the state treasury or other critical purposes—that was, of course, a good thing as far as the ministers were concerned.

Because the state would have money to spend, and it would be spending Your Majesty's private funds.

In the ministers' view, where would Your Majesty get private funds? All under heaven belonged to Your Majesty, so Your Majesty's money was necessarily also the realm's.

Logically speaking, that held up—but in reality?

Was this realm really the Emperor's?

Say yes, and it was yes; say no, and it was no.

Many people had thought about this matter, but this was not a suggestion that just anyone dared to raise. Because the Emperor was extremely, extremely averse to this sort of maneuver—whoever dared to bring it up would be rebuked by the Emperor, or even punished.

Everyone naturally understood this, and the looks they cast toward Xu Guangqi changed.

Though it wasn't enough to alter their overall impression of Xu Guangqi, quite a few of the neutral ministers' goodwill toward him increased.

Even some ministers who had previously harbored hostility toward Xu Guangqi began to shift their attitudes at this moment.

This was, in fact, a good beginning.

"Regarding Minister Xu's opinion, We thought it over for an entire night after returning yesterday, and today We wish to ask all of you for your views." Zhu Youxiao looked at the ministers and asked: "If any of you have thoughts, speak freely and at length—We will listen to all of them."

In truth, Zhu Youxiao could have decided this matter himself right now, but he could not do so—he needed to make this matter bigger and bring more ministers into it.

By the time the matter was accomplished, they would all be participants in it, all sharing in the credit. At that point, they would very proactively spread word of this matter, and Zhu Youxiao wouldn't even need to worry about it.