The Rise of the European Emperor

After the Lunar New Year in 1507, 40 French cannons and 500 arquebuses that Marin donated to the Ming Dynasty also arrived in the capital. However, this thing was shelved, and it also caused controversy between the government and the opposition.

Why? As a tribute to the vassal state, these Fran cannons and arquebuses were first shipped to the Ministry of Rites, which was responsible for the tribute. However, Mao Cheng, the Minister of Rites at this time, was a conservative. Mao Shangshu, who had read poetry and books a lot, did not think that firearms were of any use, but believed that as long as the education of saints was carried out, it would be possible to influence the barbarians and make "all nations come to court". Therefore, Mao Da Shangshu's opinion is that it is a good thing for the little barbarian country called Beihai Kingdom to come to the DPRK, but it has to follow the process. In addition, these guns...weigh them. According to the weight of copper and iron, calculate how many catties of copper and how many catties of iron the Beihai Kingdom contributed...

If Marin knew that Mao Da Shangshu treated the guns and guns he paid tribute to Daming as scrap copper and scrap iron, he would probably be so angry that he would bite Mao Cheng to death...

In fact, many ministers in the DPRK were very dissatisfied with Mao Cheng's rash move. For example, Wang Hao, a cabinet scholar, was very dissatisfied with Mao Cheng's move.

Wang He is a literati who understands the military. During the Hongzhi period, he scribbled the "Eight Matters from the Top", and proposed his eight strategies for governing the border area - setting temples, emphasizing the main generals, strict laws, empathizing with the border people, recruiting widely, using rooms, and dividing troops. , Surprisingly... and more adopted...

The so-called "decoration of the temple" means that everyone in the court has negotiated a good strategic policy; and the emphasis on the main general is to address the shortcomings of the Ming Dynasty's use of Wen Yuwu. The literati supervising the army would often point fingers at the commander and make the commander dance in shackles, which is very passive. However, this good strategy of Wang He was only adopted temporarily. Later, it was overthrown by the civil service group. After all, "to serve as an official, overthrow the predecessor (the claim)" is the tradition of Chinese officialdom...

And the strategies of strict laws, empathy for border residents, wide recruitment, use of space, division of troops, and surprises are also very insightful strategies. Of course, it's still the same question - "to serve as an official, overthrow the predecessor's (advocacy)"... A good policy has no coherence, no matter how good it is, it is useless...

It's just that although Wang Hao is now one of the three ministers in the cabinet, he is considered a big boss, but he has the lowest status among the three big bosses, and he has no right to speak...

why? Because a major event happened in the Ming Dynasty a few years ago - the resignation of Liu Jian and Xie Qian...

Liu Jian was the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and Xie Qian was also one of the ministers in the cabinet. In the later period of the Hongzhi Dynasty, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and Xie Qian formed the "iron triangle" of the Hongzhi Dynasty - Li (Dongyang) Gongmou, Liu (Jian) ​​Gongjuan, Xie (Qian) Gongyou candidly...

The meaning of this is that Li Dongyang is good at planning, Liu Jian is good at breaking, Xie Qian... The mouth is first-class...

If Xie Qian's talk is ignored, Li Gongmou and Liu Gongjuan are more important. This is somewhat similar to Tang Taizong Li Shimin's Zhenguan Dynasty's scheming and eradication. There are such cabinet ministers,

In addition, Emperor Hongzhi was good at accepting the suggestions of ministers, and the Hongzhi Dynasty was naturally relatively good.

In fact, natural and man-made disasters in the Hongzhi Dynasty were also constant. Although they were not as severe as the natural disasters during the Chongzhen Dynasty in the late Ming Dynasty, because Emperor Hongzhi knew how to make good use of people, and was assisted by such good officials as Li Dongyang, Liu Jian, and Xie Qian, and he was more able to After accepting the minister's advice, he finally got through it and came up with a "Hongzhi ZTE". As for Chongzhen, although he is not a bad person, his ability is far worse. First of all, he is blind... He reused the Donglin Party at the beginning, and was played with applause... Later, he discovered the pit attribute of the Donglin Party, but it was too late...

Because of his blindness, he did not choose the right minister, and when Chongzhen committed suicide, only Wang Chengen, an eunuch, accompanied him to his death. As for the Manchu civil and martial arts he chose, all of them surrendered...

...

Of course, all of the above is off topic. The autumn of 1506 AD was the first year of Zhengde. The chief assistant of the cabinet, Liu Jian, led the other two cabinet ministers, Li Dongyang and Xie Qian, because they couldn't bear to see the great eunuch Liu Jin and others fooling the emperor and slacked off the government. They kept asking for the removal of Liu Jin, Ma Yongcheng, Gu Dayong and Wei. Bin, Zhang Yong, Qiu Ju, Gao Feng, Luo Xiang and other eight close ministers (Eight Tigers of Zhengde).

But Zhengde always promises on the surface, but then turns his head and pretends that nothing happened...

In desperation, three cabinet ministers threatened to resign, forcing Emperor Zhengde to get rid of the "eight tigers". However, this angered the bear boy Zhu Houzhao...

Emperor Zhengde Zhu Houzhao is only a 15-year-old boy at the moment. If he were to be left in later generations, he would be the second year of middle school. Secondary two teenagers are the most rebellious, plus they have been spoiled by their parents since childhood. So, Zhu Houzhao, the arrogant child, went into a frenzy—you want to resign, right? OK, that's it...

Then, all the ministers were dumbfounded... I just scare you, you actually take it seriously?

Fortunately, Zhu Houzhao did not complete the second grade. In the end, he allowed Liu Jian and Xie Qian to resign and go home, but Li Dongyang was retained... In this way, Li Dongyang was left alone in the "iron triangle" of the Hongzhi Dynasty...

The reason why Li Dongyang was left behind was that Li Dongyang was the most slick of the three, unlike Liu Jian and Xie Qian who always accused Emperor Zhengde of his faults in public, but persuaded the little emperor behind his back. The face of the little emperor.

As for Liu Jian and Xie Qian, the little emperor Zhu Houzhao was full of grievances—I don't want to lose face? You both slap the face in the face every time, where do I put the emperor's face?

Therefore, when the three resigned together, Zhu Houzhao only left Li Dongyang, who was more face-saving, and let Liu Jian and Xie Qian go back to their hometown...

...

After Liu Jian and Xie Qian were allowed to "return from their old age", they vacated the positions of two cabinet scholars. Then, the ministers in the DPRK and the eunuch party headed by Liu Jin fought fiercely for these two positions.

Liu Jin wanted to support Jiao Fang, his political ally, to come to power, but when the court pushed (that is, the ministers publicly recommended voting), the ministers in the DPRK and China unanimously recommended Wang Hao, a direct minister who had previously participated in the execution of the "eight tigers"...

In the end, both Jiao Fang and Wang Hao entered the pavilion. However, Wang Shou was not liked by the emperor and the eunuchs. Therefore, among the three ministers in the cabinet, Wang Shuo is the one who has the least right to speak...

In addition, during this period, although the status of the Ming Dynasty cabinet has risen a lot, it has not completely surpassed the Sixth Department, but its status is higher than that of the Sixth Department, but it may not be able to command the Sixth Department.

What's more, the Ministry of Rites led by Mao Cheng is the head of the six departments, and he is very confident. Although Wang Yu is a cabinet minister, he ranks the lowest. Li Dongyang is a part-time official of the Ministry of Officials, in charge of the official hats of officials in the world, and he is naturally full of confidence. However, in addition to the senior minister of the cabinet, Wang He only served as the left servant of the Ministry of Personnel. Facing Mao Cheng, the Minister of Rites, he was very weak.

Therefore, in the face of the questioning of Wang Shu, a patriarch who knew the military, Mao Cheng was not a bird, and still regarded the guns and guns that Marin paid tribute as scrap copper and scrap iron, and threw them in the warehouse of the Ministry of Rites, no matter what. As for Marin's request to become a vassal state, it will not be processed because of insufficient materials...

Wang Hao went to help Li Dongyang, the first assistant, but Li Dongyang was a more slick person. Moreover, he is not sure whether these guns are really powerful. Therefore, he was not willing to offend Mao Cheng, Minister of Rites, for this "trivial matter".

As for the other pavilion elder Jiao Fang, he wouldn't deal with Wang Hao at all. Moreover, Jiao Fang has a problem, that is, he hates southern officials. This guy is a typical regional black guy, he just doesn't like southern officials. As long as the southern officials thought it was good, he would certainly think it was bad. If southern officials were unlucky, he would applaud...

These guns were created by Shen Rui and Liu Meng of the Guangdong Chief Secretary, while Shen Rui was from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and Liu Meng was from Jiangxi, both southern officials. Therefore, Jiao Fang, Jiao Ge elder, directly stood on the opposite side of the two - any southern official said good, he would definitely say bad... It's just so strange...

Therefore, no one can stop Mao Cheng Mao Shang Shu's perverted actions. And the guns and guns that Marin donated to Daming were temporarily sealed in the warehouse of the Ministry of Rites to eat ashes...