Chapter 669: Arrested and Charged Together, Considered Treason

Zhu Yunwen, like Zhu Yijun, did not understand military affairs. The Great Ming Emperor once asked Qi Jiguang why the Prince of Yan was able to win the Jingnan Campaign. After being pressed many times, Qi Jiguang told His Majesty that the Prince of Yan was indeed a capable fighter, but it was mainly because Zhu Yunwen cooperated well, which ultimately led to this result. In fact, it is fundamentally impossible for a vassal prince to succeed in a rebellion.

In fact, as the emperor of a unified empire, Zhu Yunwen could not have lost no matter what. Even if the Prince of Yan had already crossed the river and his troops were at the city gates, it would have been of no use, because the loyalist armies were rushing toward the capital. Relying on the painstaking efforts of Zhu Yuanzhang and the city walls of Nanjing, even if Zhu Yunwen were a pig, he could not have lost.

Zhu Yunwen's lack of military knowledge was the biggest reason for his defeat.

On the ninth day of the sixth lunar month, at the suggestion of Fang Xiaoru, Zhu Yunwen began a "scorched earth" policy, believing that as long as the area around the capital was completely cleared, the Yan army, having no supplies, would naturally retreat.

This idea seemed to have no problems, and even Zhu Yijun felt there was nothing wrong with it. It seemed that whenever a siege was encountered, this was always done. The Yan army marching south had at most eighty thousand troops; for the task of gnawing at city walls, eighty thousand men were far from enough, while Zhu Yunwen had two hundred thousand troops to defend the city.

If Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu truly had the certainty of victory, they would not have agreed to let Princess Qingyang leave the city for peace talks.

Qi Jiguang told His Majesty that things were not like that. The more one encounters successive defeats and the more anxious people become, the less one should implement a scorched earth policy. Because people's hearts are restless and morale is unstable, once the scorched earth policy begins, the soldiers, already trapped like cornered beasts, become even more panicked. While executing the scorched earth policy, they will harbor ulterior motives and seize all these valuables for themselves.

And massacres and the slaughter of cities often begin with troops looting.

Once soldiers begin to loot under military orders, they fall into an inevitable cycle of comparison. At the beginning, they only use blades to threaten; slowly, they use blades held to necks to force the common people to hand over wealth. The methods only become more and more violent; there is absolutely no possibility of restraint, because if you are not ruthless, someone more ruthless will certainly grab more than you.

From threatening with blades to burning, killing, and looting, it only takes ten days. Even the most elite soldiers will turn into thugs with red eyes. They will burn everything and kill everything, and even slaughter each other, because the thugs who have been looting for several days are the wealthiest people in the city.

Disorderly slaughter will destroy organizational discipline completely. The soldiers will not obey any military orders and will act entirely based on the instinct of greed.

Confucian scholars like Fang Xiaoru did not understand military affairs. In their view, one only needed to clear the fields to repel the enemy. But the generals defending the city were perfectly clear: when violence spirals out of control, these generals are also in danger. Even the military governors of the late Tang Dynasty were killed.

And most importantly, morale was completely gone. Everyone went to loot; who would still have the heart to defend the city? The Yan army was very capable of fighting. From north to south, countless great battles proved the ferocity of the Yan army. With morale completely collapsed, what kind of city is there left to defend!

Zhu Yuanzhang also absolutely never expected that the defense of the Yingtian capital, which he had painstakingly built, would be broken just four years after his death.

These Confucian scholars shout all day about the "solidity of mountains and rivers" and that "virtue lies not in the terrain." Don't just talk—actually do it!

Under these circumstances, the generals could only choose to open the gates to welcome the Prince of Yan. This became the only solution. Surrendering to the Prince of Yan might allow one to survive. If the soldiers in the city were allowed to continue looting, in a few days they would reach the Dagong Workshop—the place where the military nobility was concentrated—or else Nanjing, with no one left to defend it, would be breached by the Yan army.

Perhaps when Zhu Yunwen lit a fire and burned himself to death, he still could not understand why the generals who had been shouting to fight and kill the Prince of Yan just days before would defect on the battlefield, directly opening the Jinchuan Gate to welcome the Prince of Yan, who had been fighting for four years, into the city.

A contrary example is Yu Qian, the Junior Guardian, who led troops out of the city to meet the enemy during the Defense of Beijing.

Everyone was involved in the defense of the capital, and both faced enemies from the north.

After the "Fortress Emperor" (Zhu Qizhen) became a student of the Oirats, Esen arrived at the gates of the capital in the tenth month. Yu Qian's response plan was not the city walls, but organizing counterattacks in the civilian houses outside the city. He did not indulge the routed, low-morale soldiers in a scorched earth policy, but instead cut down all the trees that could be used to attack the city, and combined with fighting from the civilian houses outside, he "drew the firewood from under the cauldron" and fought with his back to the river.

In the situation where the emperor was captured, the Great Ming won the Defense of Beijing and even got the emperor back.

Before the fourteenth year of the Zhengtong era, there were only two great battles in history where an emperor was captured: once with Emperor Huai and Emperor Min of the Western Jin, and once with Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong of the Northern Song. Neither of them won the battle or held the capital; the result for both was the loss of half the empire; and neither cut off the head of the bandit chieftain to turn it into a reward. But Esen's head was eventually cut off by A-la Zhiyuan and sent to the Great Ming to be exchanged for a reward.

Qi Jiguang told the Emperor that even on the ninth day of the sixth month of the fourth year of Jianwen, Zhu Yunwen would not have lost the empire left to him by Zhu Yuanzhang. It was only until he listened to the suggestions of the "base Confucian scholars" and began to issue decrees for a scorched earth policy during a time of successive defeats, restless hearts, and low morale, that he lost so thoroughly.

On the Yimao day of the sixth month of the fourth year of Jianwen, the Yan troops crossed the river from Guazhou, and on the Gengshen day, they reached Longtan. The Emperor ordered a scorched earth policy, and many commoners burned their own houses.

Esen had captured the Great Ming Emperor and could do whatever he wanted with him in his hands, even making the "Oirat student" play music and dance to humiliate him, imitating the anecdote of Jieli Khan dancing in the past. But in the end, Esen still returned the emperor to the Great Ming.

Zhu Qizhen was stupid, but the Great Ming was strong.

If they had really killed the "Oirat student," who knew what the Great Ming, driven mad, would have done.

The first time Hence Hai Rui arrived at Xiashu Town, he was the Viceroy of Yingtian. At that time, he only felt that this was an ordinary post station and was not familiar with what had happened back then. But when His Majesty asked Qi Jiguang during the court discussion, Hence Hai Rui finally understood what had happened in Xiashu Town that determined the fate of the empire.

And today, when Hence Hai Rui arrived at Xiashu Town again, he was also quite emotional. When Li Le asked about having no confidence in doing things, Hence Hai Rui told him to ask himself if he was worthy of the common people. As long as you are worthy, you will have confidence. If you don't have confidence, His Majesty will also give you the strongest and most powerful support.

This is the Wanli court.

"Chief Censor Hai, why not take action against the Second Grand Secretary Wang? The Second Grand Secretary Wang is full of flaws from head to toe; grabbing one point, fighting him is not a difficult task." Li Le was somewhat puzzled. Why didn't Hence Hai Rui take action against Wang Chonggu? To say Hence Hai Rui feared authority—the Daoist Master (Jiajing) would jump out of his coffin to be the first to disagree. He, Hence Hai Rui, feared authority? He was the one who scolded the Emperor Jiajing, saying "Jiajing, Jiajing, all families are clean"!

"Because the Second Grand Secretary Wang, he is capable. He is virtuous." Hence Hai Rui thought for a moment and answered this question. He smiled and said: "Those errands he handles, others cannot do. Without Butcher Wang, His Majesty doesn't want to eat hairy pigs; I'm afraid he would have to do it himself."

Except for a slight lack of military talent, Hence Hai Rui was very satisfied with His Majesty. A full score of ten could be given twelve. He was satisfied to the point where he couldn't be more satisfied. The extra two points were sympathy points, turning the emperor into a donkey in a mill—except for the Zhao Zhao Dingjian Emperor, there was no one else like him.

Military talent is a scarce thing; the vast majority of people in the world do not have it, so there is no need to be overly entangled.

"Let me tell you something others don't know: the Second Grand Secretary Wang actually doesn't understand civil engineering." Hence Hai Rui shared a little secret that only the great officials of the court knew.

"Ah?" Li Le was dumbfounded. It would be one thing if others didn't understand, but Wang Chonggu actually didn't understand?

The Second Grand Secretary Wang could not read civil engineering blueprints—the construction of the Great Wall, the wool official workshops, the central axis of the Imperial Palace, the pagodas, the Ten King Cities, the Five Dragon Imperial Roads, the Royal Institute of Technology, the bell and drum towers of the main offices, etc. Wang Chonggu had worked in civil engineering for so many years; if he didn't understand civil engineering, how could he have managed it?

The leader of the "Labor Party" actually didn't understand blueprints; this is truly a strange tale under heaven.

"Yes, he can't read them, but he listens to the Five Classics Doctors and the great craftsmen. If the Five Classics Doctors and the great craftsmen say it cannot be done this way, the Second Grand Secretary Wang will follow their instructions. In the past, the national treasury was empty, and the inner treasury was running on fumes. When the Imperial Palace was being rebuilt, His Majesty inspected it and asked the Second Grand Secretary Wang to use construction waste for backfilling. Anyway, it was buried underground, saving some costs on earth, stone, and wood. But the Second Grand Secretary Wang just wouldn't do it." Hence Hai Rui said with great emotion: "It is precisely because he doesn't understand that he can do things well."

"So, if the Second Grand Secretary Wang is defeated, who will do these things?"

"I have also lived to this age and have thought it through. I am clean myself, but I cannot demand that others be as clean as I am. As long as they are capable, that's enough. If they are corrupt, let them be a little corrupt. As long as they can get things done, that's enough."

To this day, the Emperor still regrets Liu Hanru and Fan Yingqi. Liu Hanru was able to manage the private markets in Sandu'ao so well; he was clearly a capable official, but unfortunately, he went astray. Fan Yingqi, on the other hand, became addicted to opium because of a toothache. Originally a very capable official, he could only spend his whole life holed up in the Dissection Institute.

Hence Hai Rui took a deep breath and said: "There are not so many thousand-mile horses in the world waiting for a Bo Le. Finding someone who can be used is already extremely difficult."

Hence Hai Rui has changed. He sits and watches a major corrupt official in the court being entrusted with important tasks, but he does not impeach him. Being a little corrupt, it doesn't matter; just treat it as lubrication. Human society is like this. Hence Hai Rui does not think any system can avoid the problem of corruption. The reason why he wouldn't let Chen Wuyin go even when his old superior came to plead for mercy actually has a fundamental logic: the general tacit understanding of the Southern Yamen bureaucrats caused the factual loss of control of the Southern Yamen.

The Great Ming has a secret memorial system; this is a means Wang Chonggu specifically gave to the Emperor to exercise imperial power. This system allows a portion of officials to reach the heavens directly. Whether it is true or false, one doesn't need to argue; just hearing all kinds of news and telling His Majesty is fine.

However, the Southern Yamen bureaucrats had a general tacit understanding, building an information cocoon. Everyone consistently lied to the Emperor and to the Emperor's eyes and ears.

The Emperor being deceived is the norm of feudal imperial systems. The upward transmission of lower-level information has been a huge difficulty since ancient times. But for the Southern Yamen to be so united in this—is this Southern Yamen still the Great Ming's Southern Yamen?

This is the fundamental reason why Hence Hai Rui must hold on tight. He must use this incident to push for the splitting of the Southern Yamen. This situation of the Southern Yamen and the Northern Yamen being at odds cannot continue like this.

One Great Ming, two courts—what kind of decorum is this?

This is Hence Hai Rui's unfinished business. When he first came to Yingtian Prefecture, he felt this centrifugal force. With the deepening of the Wanli Reform, this centrifugal force was still increasing.

Hence Hai Rui stayed in Xiashu Town and didn't go anywhere; he started to specifically handle Chen Wuyin's case. He wanted to see how these "base Confucian scholars" would break his divine sword. If he had come himself, he would probably be dead by now. Unfortunately, the Embroidered Uniform Guards around him were all from the backgrounds of garrison commanders and maritime defense inspectors, all experts at intelligence; no movement could escape their eyes.

Every one of the guards was equipped with iron armor, protecting Hence Hai Rui flawlessly. Let alone assassins or killers, even a mosquito might not be able to fly in.

With the cooperation of Yingtian Viceroy Li Le, Hence Hai Rui's speed in investigating the case was extremely fast. In just six days, Hence Hai Rui had clarified the criminal facts of Chen Wuyin. The corruption of millions in the coal mine was a minor matter; the major matter was the "attachment of household registration."

That is, for the Great Ming military households and artisan households, if they wanted their children to attend a school, because the Confucian schools in the garrisons had been abolished during the Zhengtong era, the children of military and artisan households had to attach their registration. Taking Xuzhou as an example, one had to purchase property in the counties of Xuzhou to attach the registration.

This itself was a convention. Purchasing property allowed for attachment; it was also a common phenomenon after the Confucian schools in the garrisons were abolished.

But Chen Wuyin actually forbade military households from attaching their registration, and this practice had existed for a long time. Since the Hongzhi era, it had become a general tacit understanding of the Southern Yamen. Military households could only flee their garrisons and go to places like Huguang and Henan to purchase property and attach their registration so their children could study.

If people like Zhang Juzheng and Shen Li had been born in the Southern Yamen, they wouldn't even have been able to attend school. It was fortunate they were born in Huguang and Henan, otherwise, they would have been stuck at the first major hurdle of enrollment.

Shen Li was also a military household. His ancestor, Shen Daoxing, was a soldier under Zhang Shicheng and served under Pan Yuanming. This Pan Yuanming was a fellow townsman of Zhang Shicheng and a seller of private salt. Later, he surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang. The reason for the surrender was also recorded very clearly: it was so that the people would not suffer the pain of blades and arrows.

In the fourth year of Hongwu, Shen Li's ancestor was arranged to go to Yucheng, Guide Prefecture, Henan, to establish a garrison. Since then, Shen Li's family went to Henan.

Later, Shen Li's ancestor, Shen Ming, fought against the Yan army during the Jingnan Campaign and died in Gaocheng, Zhending Prefecture.

Shen Ming had only one seedling named Shen Xiang. This time, the Shen family, which had chosen the wrong side for a lifetime, finally chose the right one. Shen Xiang followed Zhu Di on three northern expeditions and returned with merits each time, earning a hereditary battalion commander position. But with the beginning of "promoting literature and suppressing martial arts," this hereditary battalion commander position was just enough to not starve.

Shen Li, like Zhang Juzheng, came from a military household.

The "Beggar Emperor" had already died, but the Emperor's beggars were still guarding the Great Ming empire.

The general practice of the Southern Yamen was not to prohibit attachment, but there were requirements for the purchased property. For example, in Xuzhou, one had to purchase property in Xuzhou Prefecture; purchasing property in counties did not allow for attachment. And most military households were "base families"; they really couldn't afford property in the prefectural city.

Of course, one could also choose to give Chen Wuyin a large sum of money to obtain the attachment, ultimately allowing the child a place to study.

The road was not completely blocked; it just depended on how much "filial piety" you had. This was the current Southern Yamen, an existence like a state within a state.

So much so that the proportion of successful candidates and scholars from military household backgrounds in the Southern Yamen was far lower than in other places. This was controlling the background of local officials to monopolize power. The tacit understanding of the Southern Yamen started from the source of power: the imperial examination.

This business of losing one's head, Chen Wuyin had been doing for four full years. Li Le interrogated Chen Wuyin, and Chen Wuyin did not think he was wrong at all. The entire Southern Yamen was doing this; it wasn't just him. Why was he the only one singled out for punishment? "If you, the Emperor, really have the ability, find all the borers. Don't pick the soft persimmons to pinch. Just because you see that I, Chen Wuyin, am easy to bully, you bully me."

"It really is a sesame-sized matter, yet they can turn it into a money-making business! It is truly hateful! Hateful!" Hence Hai Rui wrote half of the memorial, feeling somewhat indignant. He stood up and walked around several times before calming down and continuing to write the memorial.

Hence Hai Rui wrote a preliminary summary report of all the situations he had investigated and reported it to the Emperor.

The Emperor's imperial decree was quickly passed back to Xiashu Town: "Catch them all in one net, never be lenient. All bureaucrats at all levels who act in this way, regardless of size, are to be arrested and charged together, considered treason."

Kill!

This was the instruction the Emperor gave to Hence Hai Rui. Originally, Chen Wuyin only had the charge of corruption, but now there was the additional matter of making things difficult for military households to attach their registration, which provoked the Emperor's thunderous fury.

The corruption in the Xuzhou coal mine, if discussed on a large scale, was destroying the new policy; if discussed on a small scale, it was just an ordinary corruption case, at most stripping away official status and merit, and rolling home.

But with this matter, it was not as simple as rolling home.

The great crime of treason was not Zhu Yijun putting a label on them. The actions of these "base Confucian scholars" like Chen Wuyin were fundamentally hollowing out the ruling foundation of the empire and destroying the Emperor's new policy. If the Emperor didn't strike with a death blow, who would take the Emperor's "steamed bun" as dry rations!

In fact, the situation had not deteriorated to this extent at all, because Chen Wuyin's business of selling attachments had become less and less frequent in recent years. It wasn't that Chen Wuyin didn't want to make this money; it was that he couldn't make it anymore.

The Southern Yamen navy had one hundred thousand troops. In multiple expansions, they built schools. As long as one served in the Southern Yamen navy, one could obtain naval military registration and could attend the Songjiang Naval Academy. Even if one couldn't pass the imperial examinations, one could take the military academy examinations and seek the background of a military scholar or military graduate.

The Songjiang Naval Academy was different from the three-level artisan academies. Taking the military academy examination from the naval academy was an upward path; one could directly become a "sub-officer," which was a grassroots military officer.

Therefore, the various armies of the Southern Yamen, including the military households in Fengyang, were also trying every possible way to join the navy. In recent years, the harm of this "attachment" had been gradually eliminated by the navy established by the Emperor.

Hence Hai Rui reported the changes in the Southern Yamen in detail in the memorial, but the Emperor still issued an imperial decree to kill. This had to do with the Emperor's consistent stance.

The Great Ming's "promoting literature and suppressing martial arts" was truly too serious. Since the Yongle era, it had poisoned the Great Ming for one hundred and sixty years. If it wasn't corrected now, there would be nothing left to correct. The soldiers in the military garrisons would surrender to Li Zicheng, voting with their feet, telling the Great Ming Emperor that one shouldn't bully people like this.

Just because it could no longer cause a bad influence did not mean Zhu Yijun would let these animals go. Why let them go? Were the grievances of the past not grievances?

Did it have to reach the point where the Nine Battalions of Zhejiang entered the city to exterminate the "sitting bandits" before taking action?

In the eyes of the bureaucrats at all levels of the Southern Yamen, the Emperor was somewhat unreasonable. To put it bluntly, going around in circles, it was still a small matter of corruption, yet the Emperor started shouting to fight and kill, chilling the hearts of all officials. Who would serve you, Emperor? This decision by His Majesty the Emperor lacked some humanistic care. Everyone was of the ruling class; why be so ruthless?

This kind of questioning began to erupt as the imperial decree arrived in Xiashu Town, but soon, this kind of public opinion in the Southern Yamen began to disappear, as if it had never happened. Because the soldiers of the Songjiang Town navy, a total of twenty thousand naval troops, arrived in Yingtian Prefecture and began to take over the defense.

Xu Bangrui, the Duke of Wei who was entrusted with high hopes, who assisted in guarding Nanjing and also led the Rear Mansion, chose to directly hand over the defense.

The entire Yingtian Prefecture was taken over by the Songjiang Town navy. The streets were full of soldiers with neat military appearance. Suddenly, these "base Confucian scholars" immediately shut their mouths. Except for scolding Xu Bangrui for kneeling too quickly and complaining that these soldiers affected the business of the brothels along the Qinhuaihe, they dared not say anything more.

The precedent of the Nine Battalions of Zhejiang entering the city to exterminate the "sitting bandits" was there. If they really angered the naval soldiers and they learned to do it once, who could withstand it?

The Duke of Wei's mansion was the Duke of Wei of Xu Da. Xu Da had known Zhu Yuanzhang since they were wearing open-crotch pants. Similarly, Xu Da was also Zhu Di's father-in-law and the maternal grandfather of the Ming Renzong. This was a true imperial relative who shared the fate of the country. Therefore, when the Great Ming navy Regional Commander Chen Lin took the Emperor's transfer order and imperial decree to take over the city defense, Xu Bangrui did not have the slightest hesitation and handed it over with cupped hands.

As long as one did not rebel, no matter how intense the political storm was, it could not blow into the gates of the Duke of Wei's mansion. Xu Bangrui simply did not get involved in such idle matters.

Chen Lin took over the city defense without any obstacles. This was the direct reason why the "base Confucian scholars" of the Southern Yamen shut their mouths. What is quite interesting is that the girls in the brothels had prepared themselves to welcome the humiliation of these "hillbillies." After all, arriving at the Stone City of Yingtian Prefecture, soldiers who didn't visit the Qinhuaihe—let alone the girls having never seen them, even the masters had never seen them.

As for money or not, it was good enough to save one's life. The most fearful were those clever-looking women, who were afraid of being spotted by some military master and dragged to the military town to be camp prostitutes; that would be truly miserable.

Camp prostitutes had existed universally since ancient times. Even when marching to the front lines, it was the same. It was as universal as army post stations and army merchants. Traveling such a long road, the money earned was not as good as in the brothels, and there was a danger to life at any time. No brothel woman was willing to be a camp prostitute.

But the brothel girls waited and waited, and never saw any soldiers patronizing them, let alone any drama of fighting for favor.

The Great Ming Capital Battalion and the navy had no camp prostitutes.

After the Great Ming navy entered the city, they began to clean up the capital. The work they did most was clearing all kinds of garbage out of the city. In the eyes of the Great Ming navy soldiers, this Yingtian Prefecture was truly too dirty!

One dare not say that Songjiang Prefecture was clean to the point of being spotless, but there was absolutely no garbage piled up like a mountain, just piled in corners, emitting bursts of stench.

The garbage at Jinchuan Gate was piled higher than the city walls; in some places, one could even step on the mountain of garbage to enter the city. The sewage in the city was all piled up by the "feces tyrants" in open-air "feces yards" and "feces courtyards." The drainage ditches in the city were all blocked by garbage. At dusk, when the curfew arrived, everyone threw garbage on the streets, and no one even cleaned it up.

This was the case in the outer city, and it was the same in places like the Dagong Workshop where the nobility lived. The highest could be two or three zhang. This was the scene Chen Lin saw after he brought the navy to Yingtian Prefecture. Immediately, Chen Lin organized the soldiers and commoners to start cleaning the streets and ditches, and even moved all those "feces tyrants" outside the city, which was the only way to breathe smoothly.

"Yingtian Prefecture, the remaining capital, such a stench, I don't know how you all managed to live here! The outer city doesn't count; in the eighteen wards of the inner city, every ward's powerful and influential families had to pay a garbage collection fee, one hundred silver per ward. I don't want this money; distribute it to the soldiers and commoners who clean it up." Chen Lin sat in the Yingtian Prefecture office, sitting in the upper seat with a majestic posture, and scolded the Yingtian Prefecture bureaucrats.

It was truly too dirty.

In fact, from the powerful and influential families down to the poor laborers in Yingtian Prefecture, they couldn't stand this garbage either. When Chen Lin posted a notice and mobilized the commoners to clean up together, in just one day, the number of commoners participating in cleaning up the garbage exceeded seventy thousand. Plus the ten thousand naval troops, within three days, the entire Yingtian Prefecture was restored to cleanliness.

The reason why they specifically collected money from the eighteen wards of the inner city was that the fewest people in the inner city participated in the cleaning, almost none. So they had to collect money. If you aren't willing to put in the effort, then put in the money. There is no such thing as a free lunch in the world.

"His Majesty will arrive in a few days. Just welcome His Majesty like this? Wait and see how many heads you have to be picked! The navy patrols Tianjin every October. Whether His Majesty goes or not, whether he boards the ship or not, everything inside and out will be cleaned up!" Chen Lin slapped the table loudly.

Internal affairs are combat effectiveness. The strict requirements of the army for internal affairs are actually to cultivate obedience. This obedience, when it reaches the battlefield, is "orders are executed and prohibitions are stopped," and it is "like an arm directing a finger," which is the only way to kill the enemy most effectively.

Chen Lin had passed through the Southern Yamen in a hurry before. This time, taking over the defense and walking around a few times, he discovered where the problem lay.

Chen Lin thought for a moment and continued: "Also, lift the tiles on the roofs and wash them once; they are growing grass! Can those places where the paint has fallen off be repaired? If you aren't ashamed, I am ashamed! Also, the Nanjing Imperial Palace, although there are not many days left, at least repair it a little. At least the Xiao Ling Mausoleum, the Taimiao, the Fengtian Hall, the Qianqing Palace, and the Kunning Palace that His Majesty will definitely visit should look decent."

"Those city gates are like an old lady's missing teeth, missing a piece here and a piece there, shabby."

The maintenance of the Nanjing Imperial Palace continued until the Zhengtong era, and then completely stopped during the Jingtai era. The palace buildings collapsed, and even if they burned down, they were not rebuilt, because the Great Ming emperors all knew very well that they would never move the capital back, so it didn't matter whether they were repaired or not.

Although the Nanjing Imperial Palace was already completely rotten, the main structure was still there. At least it should look decent on the surface.

"His Majesty issued a decree saying that no repairs are allowed, especially the Imperial Palace. Large-scale construction would disturb the people and waste money." Nanjing Minister of Rites Yang Cheng reminded Chen Lin that large-scale construction was disobedience to the imperial decree.

When Chen Lin heard this, he suddenly turned his head and stared at Yang Cheng, saying calmly: "You know how to listen to His Majesty now! Where is that spirit of 'complying in public but opposing in private'? Where is that spirit of 'flexibility in new policies'? Is my meaning to carry out large-scale construction and renovate the Imperial Palace? Are your ears stuffed with donkey hair? What is called 'looking decent on the surface'? It just means it doesn't look so bad at first glance. Surface work—tell me, you don't know how to do it?"

"You really think that the appearance of the Imperial Palace loses His Majesty's face? It loses the face of all the bureaucrats of the Southern Yamen!"

"Do you know how to do surface work?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Yang Cheng was truly numb in his scalp. When a scholar meets a soldier, reason cannot be explained clearly. ===== CHAPTER 670 =====