Chapter 192

Zhu Yijun returned to the Wenhua Hall and summoned the Senior Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng to discuss the kneeling ritual with him.

For Great Ming officials, when a subordinate sees a superior, should they kneel or not?

"Your Majesty, this is a long story. Should I start from the Hongwu period or the Jiajing period?" Zhang Juzheng had studied this quite a bit. Ge Shouli did not allow Fan Yingqi to kneel to him. Later, within the Jin Party, they started performing the bowing ritual, which is bowing with hands folded.

After Zhang Juzheng studied it, he decided to follow the party-building expert Ge Shouli. Within the Chu Party, the kneeling ritual was not performed, only bowing.

"For bowing, standing in order, walking and avoiding, respect and inferiority, there are strict ritual protocols. If it is the ritual system of the Hongwu period, those who are four ranks apart should kneel. The superior sits and receives the ritual. If there is a matter, kneel to report." Zhang Juzheng spoke about the system of the Hongwu period.

Only when the difference is more than four ranks, for example, Zhang Juzheng has the treatment of a first-rank official, those below the fifth rank seeing Zhang Juzheng need to kneel and report. The first rank and the second rank do not belong to a four-rank difference, and the first rank and the second rank are a one-rank difference.

Zhang Juzheng continued with his hands folded: "Checking old cases, the order of the eighth year of Jiajing: Inspectors and Censors should not be arrogant or humiliate local officials. Prefects meeting each other should not perform the kneeling ritual. All officials should sit and report matters in public."

According to the ancestral system of the Hongwu period, a difference of four ranks requires kneeling to report, but according to the ancestral system of the Jiajing period, all officials in the hall, or speaking in public government offices, should sit and speak, and kneeling was not allowed.

Zhu Yijun said with some emotion: "The order of the eighth year of Jiajing, the Jiajing New Policies. This order was to clear the atmosphere of the officialdom."

"Indeed." Zhang Juzheng also had some emotion. He had been reading "Journey to the West" recently, and the more he read, the more deeply he felt.

The Jiajing New Policies were truly a pity. Jiajing fought for a full twenty years, but in the end, he did not have the courage to continue fighting. Zhang Juzheng criticized the Jiajing Emperor and Tang Xuanzong, describing it as the difficulty of ending well.

Sun Wukong in "Journey to the West" is a portrayal of the Jiajing Emperor, and isn't it also a portrayal of everyone in the world? At first, high-spirited, but later ground down by reality, watching coldly from the sidelines.

Zhang Juzheng bowed his head again and said: "The order of the 30th year of Hongwu: all officials, big and small, meeting in the inner palace, are not allowed to kneel. Meeting in the hall, one cannot kneel."

"In the third year of Hongwu, the Gao Emperor issued an edict: military and civilians follow foreign customs in rituals, and drinking and feasting often use kneeling as a ritual. He ordered the ministers and the Ministry of Rites to set it as a ritual and prohibit it. All other foreign rituals are strictly prohibited and not to be used."

"Therefore, Sun Yingao throwing away Zhou Daozhi's meeting gift and scolding Zhou Daozhi for kneeling to see him is in accordance with the ritual and law of the ancestral system. Meeting in the inner palace, kneeling is strictly prohibited."

Zhang Juzheng spoke for Sun Yingao. According to Great Ming ritual and law, Sun Yingao did nothing wrong, but according to the Great Ming's unwritten rules, Zhou Daozhi kneeling to see him was also understandable. After all, everyone knelt before. If it weren't for Ge Shouli initiating the ban on kneeling rituals, Zhang Juzheng would not have studied this in such detail.

Zhu Yijun nodded and said: "Then clarify the old regulations. Kneeling is strictly prohibited. Order the Ministry of Rites to post a double list for people to fill in their names. Those willing to kneel can just kneel and walk to the hall."

"I obey the edict." Zhang Juzheng bowed his head again.

"Your Majesty, the Minister of Justice is outside the hall requesting an audience." A little eunuch hurried in and bowed his head.

"Proclaim." Zhu Yijun nodded.

"Your Majesty, I have urgent matters and doubts and need to report to Your Majesty in person, so I have come." Wang Chonggu entered the hall and performed the great ritual, holding up the memorial. Zhang Hong took the memorial to the imperial presence.

"Minister of Justice, rise." Zhu Yijun handed the memorial to Zhang Hong again, and Zhang Hong presented it to Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng finished reading the memorial, full of doubts, his face solemn.

Wang Chonggu stood in the Wenhua Hall, somewhat emotional. According to the ancestral system of the Jiajing period, after the 21st year of Jiajing, without an imperial edict, only Grand Secretaries could request an audience. By the Wanli period, Zhang Juzheng requested the Emperor to summon Grand Secretaries and receive court officials, so these court officials could come to the door.

After the 21st year of Jiajing, the old Daoist put on a posture that the imperial power was unfathomable and ruled by doing nothing.

This actually greatly affected the authority of Zhang Juzheng as Senior Grand Secretary. The privileges of Grand Secretaries were also possessed by court officials. Today, this memorial of Wang Chonggu was equivalent to bypassing the Cabinet.

The reason why Zhang Juzheng had to do this was to talk about the struggle between the lines of Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong.

Great Ming Emperors liked to lie flat. Gao Gong's line was: since he likes to lie flat, let him lie flat forever, don't manage affairs. After the Directorate of Ceremonial was abolished, all memorials were handled by the Cabinet. Zhang Juzheng's line was: educate the Emperor not to lie flat.

Zhu Yijun highly agreed with Zhang Juzheng's line, because Gao Gong's line had some strange similarities with the constitutional monarchy of later generations, but the Great Ming had its own national conditions. The legitimacy of the Great Ming was the legitimacy of the family world established by Zhu Yuanzhang, and all system designs were closely designed around the Emperor.

Gao Gong wanted to abolish the Directorate of Ceremonial, wanted to hollow out the Emperor, and wanted the Cabinet to have exclusive power. Gao Gong's path, in the environment of the Great Ming, would not lead to a constitutional monarchy, but to usurpation.

"Minister of Justice, isn't this memorial just about the criminal cases in various places this year? Why does it make the Minister of Justice so panicked?" Zhu Yijun asked.

In Wang Chonggu's memorial, a total of more than 30 vicious cases reported to the court from various places since the New Year were listed. Most of these were robbery cases.

Some were mountain bandits and highwaymen making trouble, for example, the property of merchants in Yanzhou Prefecture, Shandong, was robbed, and all the escort agency guards, family slaves, and coachmen were killed. Some were cases committed by wandering small people, for example, a silk shop in Nanjing was broken into in broad daylight, robbed clean, and the shopkeeper and accountant were killed. Others were cases committed by cultists, for example, the followers of the Wuweilaomu cult gathered to rob grain ships, chiseled holes to sink the ships, and scattered.

Wang Chonggu bowed his head again and said: "Your Majesty, there were only a dozen cases from last year to September, but this year it has increased to more than 30. There are several significant suspicious points in these cases."

"The first suspicious point is that it is very difficult to investigate. The cases happen suddenly and quickly, and the time is very short. The means are cruel and fierce, killing without blinking, and the nature is extremely bad, which makes detection extremely difficult."

"The second suspicious point is that there are no large households among the victims. Robbing silk shops, robbing merchants, robbing grain ships, robbing small people, but never robbing large households. I initially thought that large households with more than a thousand hectares all had guards, and large households could politely send them away. I initially thought so, but after careful discrimination, I found this matter extremely suspicious."

"The third suspicious point is that even if they are detected and captured, the perpetrators do not know each other. They only gather when committing the crime, and they don't even know who the fellow perpetrators are. This is someone deliberately creating trouble."

Wang Chonggu thought for a while and said: "I will take the jade shop robbery case solved by the Southern Yamen as an example. There were six perpetrators, all wandering people, usually idle and not doing their proper jobs, living by stealing and robbing. On July 17th, five of them wore masks and appeared by the Qinhuai River, broke into the Duofu Jade Shop, killed people and took goods, and then left swaggeringly."

"These six people stayed in the Duofu Jade Shop for a quarter of an hour, which was also the time it took for the Wucheng Military Patrol to arrive. The criminals filled up with jade, fled to Qingliang Mountain, and just as they arrived at the place agreed upon with the fence, these six people were robbed again, and the stolen goods disappeared without a trace."

"The Wucheng Military Patrol arrived and captured these six people, but the thieves had already escaped. When asked about their accomplices and who directed them, they all didn't know, and all said a man named Eunuch hired them with a high salary."

"As for who this Eunuch is, they didn't know at all."

Hearing this, Zhu Yijun finally understood and flipped through the memorial again to confirm that he had not misunderstood.

Wang Chonggu stood from the perspective of the powerful and reminded the little Emperor that these vicious cases were increasing at a terrifying speed. These cases were not simple, nor accidental, but were deliberately directed by someone. The person who directed them let the wandering small people commit major mistakes, but didn't even want to give them the reward, directly eating black with black. And this kind of direction also had a range of expansion.

Quantitative change will trigger qualitative change.

For these powerful gentry, their cost was to send some family slaves out to cheat and swindle everywhere, because the Great Ming had too many wandering people trapped in their livelihood. Poor people and laborers usually begged or helped the bandits, supporting the ladder for the bandits to cross the beam. For these directors, these wandering people were not accomplices at all, but consumables.

Even if the consumables were consumed and captured by the court, it didn't matter to the directors, because in this process, this "Eunuch" even had a fake name.

"Cowardly rats. If you are not convinced, just rebel directly. Why be so harsh on the people below? Is this showing off your power to me?" Zhu Yijun spat out a turbid breath and said, his face solemn.

They didn't have the guts to rebel, but they had the guts to incite some poor people and laborers to commit murder for money, and it was very big.

"Sir, what do they want?" Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Juzheng and asked.

Zhang Juzheng said very calmly: "Nothing more than stopping sea transport of grain, stopping tax auditing, stopping debt collection, stopping land measurement, stopping land return, stopping official weaving, stopping the New Policies, and stopping the gathering of wealth by ministers like me."

"Sir, did you expect them to be like this long ago?" Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Juzheng's calm face and asked.

"I am not surprised." Zhang Juzheng bowed his head and said.

Zhang Juzheng had no expectations for these powerful people long ago. He had seen this kind of thing, and more than once.

In the matter of disappointing people, the powerful gentry never disappointed people.

Zhang Juzheng still intended to weigh this matter, and it was finally brought to the court discussion.

Wang Chonggu was not worrying about heaven, it was really happening.

The reason why Wang Chonggu wanted to bypass the Cabinet was that he himself was not sure if this matter was what he thought. He just felt that the suspicious points in it were too suspicious.

He just wanted to remind His Majesty to be careful of the imitation crimes that would constantly appear.

The final decision given by the court discussion was: after a vicious case occurs, if it cannot be solved, all the officials involved will be rated as lower grade. Correspondingly, if the case is solved and the director is caught, the rating will be increased by one grade. If vicious cases occur frequently under their jurisdiction, three or more cases, they will be immediately dismissed and sent to the capital under guard to be questioned slowly.

The Ministry of Justice ordered all government offices to strengthen the restraint on yamen runners and Wucheng Military Patrol captains. Eat less of the people's fat and cream on weekdays, and pay more attention to vicious crimes.

And the Ministry of War ordered all inspection offices to pay attention to wandering strangers. If there are unfamiliar faces, pay extra attention.

The Great Ming household registration and travel permits divided the Great Ming into several closed units without much personnel movement. Everyone was a familiar face. If a stranger suddenly came, and this person did not have the court's travel permit, then they could be directly arrested and questioned.

The Ministry of Revenue provided all the funds for this operation.

The Great Ming inspection offices were served by military graduates as inspectors, ninth rank. Each office raised several archers. These archers did not receive the court's salary; they only received rewards. Once they captured vicious criminals or local big thieves, the court paid reward silver per head.

For example, an effective clue about this person Eunuch was worth 100 taels, and his head was worth 200 taels.

The Ministry of War administratively outsourced the task to the inspection offices and paid corresponding rewards.

It is worth noting that the Great Ming's fiscal revenue was getting less and less. Since the Jiajing period, the court had also started to drag its feet on paying reward silver. Now that the court had money, it could mobilize the enthusiasm of these inspection office inspectors and patrolmen.

Zhang Juzheng firmly believed in the wisdom of officials and their subjective initiative to seek promotion. If they could solve the case and recover the stolen money, the evaluation would remain unchanged. If they could find the director behind the scenes and let the court confiscate their property, the evaluation would increase by one grade.

The Great Ming evaluation method had a total of nine grades. Catching one director behind the scenes could increase by one grade. Everyone was rolling in the officialdom. Adding this grade, how many people would be left behind?

The powerful gentry treated poor people and laborers as one-time consumables, and the court treated the gentry as indicators.

This is the intensification of contradictions. This is a struggle. It cannot tolerate any warmth. Everywhere is life and death.

And the support Zhu Yijun gave was that government offices at all levels could seek help from the court. There were always large households in half-county areas that county magistrates dared not offend, and Gao Qiyu couldn't handle those powerful people either. Directly seeking help from the Songjiang Town Guard Army, not being able to fight was not a shameful thing. If you can't fight, seek help from the court. Moving reinforcements is a matter of course, and the court will send troops to bump into them.

See whose world this Great Ming world is.

Daring to bump into the court's troops, just suppress it as a rebellion.

The place where Zhu Yijun was more radical than Zhang Juzheng was here. Zhang Juzheng still treated powerful gentry as indicators, while Zhu Yijun simply treated powerful gentry as cash machines. When there was no money, when troops were needed, when sponsorship was needed, he looked for powerful people to sponsor a little.

Not being of the same family doesn't enter the same door. The matter of dismantling doors and lifting beds that Yin Zhengmao, the person with the national surname, made in the far south, was strengthened here by Zhu Yijun.

The most radical in the court was Tan Lun. Tan Lun said to confiscate property from north to south directly. While General Qi Jiguang Jiguang could still fight, just plow it again directly. In this way, everything would be fine.

Kill, kill, kill, kill until the sea is clear and the river is clean!

Yingtian Governor Song Yangshan submitted a memorial saying that he wanted to repair water conservancy. The wealth of the three Wu regions came from here, and water conservancy was the most urgent. Since the repair and governance by Governor Li Chongsi at the beginning of the Jiajing period, the ditches and ports had not been repaired, and the silted dikes were all abandoned. Having no preparation for drought and flood was the fundamental worry of the Southern Yamen.

And the court didn't need to spend money. The more than 700,000 taels of silver left by the court for the Southern Yamen last year was enough.

This memorial was submitted in early April. After the Ministry of Revenue discussed it, it was presented to the Cabinet. After Zhu Yijun gave vermilion approval, while the Great Ming scholars were discussing this matter, Song Yangshan reported to the court that construction had already started, expecting completion next year.

Hou Yuzhao, who was reclaiming wasteland in Liaodong, submitted a memorial saying: Please send a Censor to manage the water conservancy of the three Wu regions. I think it is better to set up a Censorate Assistant, stationed in Suzhou and Songjiang, in charge of all dredging and repair matters, and consolidate the power in the Governor, to act according to circumstances.

The Ministry of Revenue highly agreed with Hou Yuzhao's idea, but it couldn't be done in the end. It wasn't that they didn't want to, but they couldn't.

Repairing water conservancy involved too many interests. The court sending a Censor as the leader was full of obstacles. The Censorate Assistant had low rank and little power. In the current environment, it couldn't be done at all.

"How is the arrangement of the Ministry of Rites for filling the double list?" Zhu Yijun asked if his government decree had been achieved.

Ma Ziqiang said helplessly: "Advocating not kneeling is led by Chief Censor Hai and Vice Minister Sun Yingao, and they have already signed their names. Those who do not kneel include Chief Censor Ge, Fan Yingqi, Wang Jiaping, Zhang Chucheng, and others who have already recorded their names. The rest refuse to sign."

Zhang Juzheng, the leader of the Chu Party, Ge Shouli, the leader of the Jin Party, and Tan Lun, the leader of the Zhe Party, the three party leaders jointly signed the initiative to follow ancestral laws and not perform private kneeling rituals. Even so, there were still many people who wanted to kneel.

"I will give one more day. Those who refuse to sign and press their fingerprints on the non-kneeling list will all kneel and walk to the hall in the future!" Zhu Yijun narrowed his eyes and said. Still want to blur the position? Not signing, silent opposition?

Is not letting them kneel while being an official harming them! They won't even do this.

It is really harming the base scholars. In the past, base scholars only needed to kowtow to the major party leaders to get promoted. Now they can't kowtow and can only handle affairs to get promoted. But handling affairs is really too difficult for people.

Zhu Yijun didn't indulge them at all. If you want to kneel, then kneel and walk to the hall!

Hou Yuzhao himself was such a person, a person who practiced reality. He wanted to be like most people. Where there are people, there is a world. Where there is a world, one must learn to follow the crowd and learn to live with a mask. But Hou Yuzhao always inadvertently revealed his fox tail of practicing reality.

He was reclaiming fields in Zhangwu to Pinglu Fortress in Liaodong, gnawing the Khalkha Wanhu Su Bahai until he was sweating profusely. Li Chengliang and Zhang Xueyan highly affirmed Hou Yuzhao's land reclamation, because Liaodong land reclamation could partially supply soldiers and partially alleviate the embarrassing situation of grain shortage in Liaodong.

The Wanhu Su Bahai under Altan Khan felt heavy pressure. He wanted to recapture Zhangwu several times. San Niangzi scolded too harshly. Su Bahai had been committed to recapturing Zhangwu, the key place in Liaodong. At first, he could approach, but now it was becoming more and more difficult, because the Liaodong army had started to eat their fill.

Hou Yuzhao learned the construction method of camps from General Qi Jiguang Jiguang and built earth camps everywhere. Earth walls had a short construction period, fast speed, and although the defense capability was weak, they could hold the granaries. Hou Yuzhao also learned the land reclamation method from the Baoqi Office, reclaiming wasteland by first planting sweet potatoes and beans, maintaining livelihood before raising fields. The progress of land reclamation was extremely fast. Hou Yuzhao also consulted Pan Jixun and designed a kind of dam, storing water in spring and releasing water in autumn, with excellent results.

Zhu Yijun also knew from Hou Yuzhao's memorial that in that corner, the water level was highest in winter and spring, and actually decreased in summer and autumn.

Zhang Juzheng took out a memorial and said with emotion: "Your Majesty, Right Assistant Censor of the Ministry of Rites Shi Yingyue impeached Hou Yuzhao. The content of the impeachment includes: occupying people's land, corrupting tens of thousands, staying in brothels at night, harshly blaming small people, and killing good people without authorization."

Hence Hai Rui heard this and shook his head repeatedly, saying: "These charges are very familiar."

"Chief Censor Hai feels familiar?" Feng Bao asked with a smile.

"Isn't it? When I investigated Xu Jie's family property in the Southern Yamen, the first impeachment charges against me were exactly the same as these five charges. The second impeachment was bullying the gentry." Hence Hai Rui said with a smile: "Scholars are very good at this. As long as they take things out of context, it is easy to get such charges."

"Splashing dirty water cannot defeat an upright official, because if the standing is upright, the shadow is upright, and if the acting is upright, the heart is upright."

Hence Hai Rui was too familiar with this kind of thing. When Gao Gong was in court, he didn't receive fewer of these rotten charges. Splashing dirty water couldn't defeat Hence Hai Rui because Hence Hai Rui had a reputation. But as long as it was an impeachment, it had to be investigated. Every single item, after a little investigation, was found to be groundless.

The second impeachment of Hence Hai Rui for bullying the gentry, Hence Hai Rui really did this, so he was forced to be promoted, and finally retired to his hometown to live in leisure.

Hence Hai Rui identified Hou Yuzhao as an upright official dancing with a mask and shackles. Hou Yuzhao didn't have the reputation of scolding the Emperor and winning, nor did he have a teacher, and it was even more impossible to be rescued by a party leader. But Hou Yuzhao was simple in the Emperor's heart, and the imperial favor was flourishing.

Zhu Yijun picked up another memorial and said: "Sir, the Censorate discussed and said: Hou Yuzhao did not occupy people's land. The reclaimed wasteland had no land deeds. He did not corrupt tens of thousands, just received some melons and vegetables from small people. He did not stay in brothels at night; he went to Liaodong to handle affairs and went to a restaurant to find the Ningyuan Earl. He did not harshly blame small people; chiseling ice to catch fish was for everyone in the camp to eat together. He did not kill good people without authorization. Hou Yuzhao was outside Pinglu Fortress and inside Zhangwu, in a frontier war zone, and carried out military law in land reclamation. There were treacherous people who opened the camp gate for the Northern Barbarians at night, so he beheaded them."

"The events all happened, but the truth was not like that. Hou Yuzhao will be retained. This Shi Yingyue will be sent out to be an official. Sir, what do you think?"

Hence Hai Rui sighed with emotion. His Majesty personally argued for Hou Yuzhao and explained the ins and outs. If this is not simple in the Emperor's heart, and the imperial favor is flourishing, what is it?

After the impeachment, the Censorate began a very thorough investigation into Hou Yuzhao's five charges. The events indeed happened, but the truth was not like that.

"I obey the edict." Zhang Juzheng did not hesitate and chose to obey the edict.

Shi Yingyue was for the third time. The first time was questioning the number of firearms in the Capital Battalion, and the second time was opposing the imperial princes below the commandery prince seeking their own livelihood.

There is no third time after the first and second. Shi Yingyue going to the capital to take office was rolling with the external officials. Whether he could stand out depended on himself. And the place Zhang Juzheng gave was Jiayu Pass of the Shaanxi Xingdu Division.

Zhang Juzheng also reported on the compilation progress of the Great Ming Collected Statutes. Fifty-five volumes had already been compiled. Zhu Yijun discovered that most of them were based on the ancestral laws of the Jiajing period, not the Xiaozong period.

Different from the compilation of the Great Ming Collected Statutes in the past, now one volume was compiled and then one volume was published, instead of waiting until the compilation was finished to publish. Some urgent rules were established first. These 55 volumes were all the rules of the Great Ming in all aspects.

Zhang Juzheng's New Policies were not building a high building on flat ground, but standing on the foundation of the Jiajing New Policies of that year, constantly pushing forward.

Land measurement started with the old Daoist cleaning up the land property of meritorious officials in the eighth and ninth years of Jiajing. The evaluation method was a continuation of the evaluation of the Capital Inspection in the eighth month of the eighth year of Jiajing. Reorganizing the school administration was simply completely following the old regulations.

The Great Ming Collected Statutes were compiled during the Jiajing period, but they were not published in the end. And Zhang Juzheng also compiled the Collected Statutes, with an annual expenditure of no more than 21,000 silver.

For the deputy chief compilers and other officials and staff, items such as wine, rice, brushes, ink, and wood charcoal, the old expenditures for tables, stools, inkstones, stoves, and large and small ivory book rings, and even tables, chairs, benches, inkstones, stoves, and ivory book rings were all old things from the compilation of the Great Ming Collected Statutes during the Jiajing period.

Zhang Juzheng took out another memorial and said: "In the third year of Wanli, in the two capitals and thirteen provinces, for those who did not finish the evaluation, there were 4 provincial governors and inspectors, a total of 148 people including provincial administration commissioners, surveillance commissioners, and subordinate officials, and a total of 33 people including prefects, judges, and subordinate officials. Fengyang Governor Wang Zongmu, Inspector Zhang Genghua, Guangdong Inspector Zhang Shouyue, Zhejiang Inspector Xiao Lin, and others were rated as lower-upper, all dismissed."

"Since this year, checking the memorials, 63 governors and inspectors did not finish 134 matters, 48 censors and supervising secretaries did not finish 14 matters. According to the regulations, a total of 43 people were dismissed for not finishing more than 11 matters, rated as lower-lower, and sent to the capital under guard to be questioned slowly. In the third and fourth years of Wanli, officials above the prefect level were dismissed, with Shandong and Henan ranking first and second among the thirteen provinces with 19 and 1 people."

"Last year, the old regulations were clarified to reorganize the school administration. The Minister of Justice received the order to seal 64 academies and evaluated the local education officials with the evaluation method. A total of 148 main officials of county schools, prefectural schools, and imperial academies were dismissed, and 1 person was escorted to the capital to be questioned slowly."

Zhang Juzheng reported the cold-blooded ruthlessness of the evaluation method with a series of cold numbers. In a year and a half, 19 and 1 people above the prefect level were removed in Shandong and Henan alone, which was equivalent to a major blood transfusion in Shandong and Henan.

And the prefects and county magistrates in various places who could not handle affairs were fined or dismissed if they were light, and escorted to the capital to apologize if they were heavy.

The Heavenly Prison of the Northern Suppressing Fief Yamen was almost full. If the evaluation continued, they would have to borrow the prison of the Ministry of Justice.

"Setting limits for evaluation, clear at a glance. Even if it is ten thousand miles away, the court orders it in the morning and it is implemented in the evening. The political body is solemn because of this." Zhu Yijun gave vermilion approval to Zhang Juzheng's report and said with emotion.

The power of the evaluation method had gradually been revealed. The Capital Inspection and Great Account of the past were also examination systems for all officials in the world, but they were examinations for the sake of examinations. The evaluation results were not applied in place. No matter how objective and true the evaluation results were, they were just decorations.

Among the officials dismissed by Zhang Juzheng, there were also Chu Party members. Because of the anonymous grass list and the filling of names in the bottom register, Zhang Juzheng had no room for black-box operations.

"Song Yiwang, Wang Chonggu, Wang Daokun, Xie Pengju, Pan Jixun, Pang Shangpeng, Ling Yunyi, and other officials are all on the list." Zhu Yijun looked at the results of the evaluation method and found that Song Yangshan was at the top of the list, walking ahead of everyone. Others were still measuring land, while Song Yangshan had already started repairing water conservancy, reclaiming wasteland, and returning land.

If Song Yangshan continued like this, wouldn't he be criticized by everyone and become a traitor of the country and a greedy minister?

Wang Chonggu ranked second. The reason why he was second was that Wang Chonggu never took the initiative to ask for orders and never wanted to charge into battle. The court wanted him to do something, and he did it. But if you expected him to exert subjective initiative and do something himself, don't even think about it.

"Songjiang Governor Wang Daokun requested rewards for Sun Keyi and Sun Kehong of the Songjiang Sun family. The Sun family donated 100,000 taels of silver for the preparation of the Songjiang Prefecture and County Schools, and donated another 100,000 taels of silver to build the school buildings of the Maritime Academy." Zhang Juzheng took out a memorial and said with a strange face.

The Songjiang Sun family was a mudslide among the powerful gentry. The reason for the donation was that they earned too much. If they didn't donate some, they would be uneasy. The court didn't even have to think about confiscating their property. They took the initiative to offer it to support the court's government decrees, and also to accumulate some hidden virtue for themselves.

The Sun family's business was actually not glorious, especially the pleasure boats, which were extremely extravagant. Last time the court escorted grain, the Sun family had a total of five pleasure boats, opening a pleasure boat route from Songjiang Prefecture to Tianjin Guard. When the Emperor went to Tianjin Guard to see the five-masted ocean-crossing ships, those five pleasure boats were parked at the port, exceptionally eye-catching.

"How to reward?" Zhu Yijun was also confused about this matter.

Zhang Juzheng bowed his head and said: "Wang Daokun requested the imperial brush to write a plaque: 'Poetry and Book Family, Official Status Mansion'."

Zhu Yijun smiled and said: "250,000 taels for my eight characters. This is not their family's amulet. If they do any dirty work that needs the court's punishment, I will absolutely not be lenient."

Relatively speaking, if Sun Keyi did not do dirty work that the court did not allow, then they would always be a Poetry and Book Family, an Official Status Mansion.

These two words "base scholars" were classified and proposed by the Great Sage Confucius of Confucianism, from "Xunzi: Against Twelve Scholars". If there is any doubt, you can find the Confucian Sage Xunzi to discuss the Dao. Requesting monthly tickets, Aowu!!!!!!!!!!

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