Chapter 632 Changes in the Western Region
Zhu Houzhao officially ascended the throne and became the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. There were still many things in the Ming Dynasty that needed Zhu Houzhao to deal with.

Seven days after the death of Emperor Hongzhi, Zhu Houzhao began to rule the country.

This was the first time that Zhu Houzhao held a grand court meeting alone, facing civil and military officials alone. His father, the emperor, was no longer there to hear the testimony behind the Fengtian Hall.

The Ministry of Rites was the first to step forward. There were still many arrangements to be made for the funeral of Emperor Hongzhi, so they begged the Emperor to allow the Hanlin Academy to compile a history for Emperor Xiaozong.

Then the Ministry of Revenue came forward to report on the overall economic situation during the Hongzhi period, and the Ministry of Works reported on the expenses of building the mausoleum and national engineering and water conservancy projects.

The Ministry of War came forward to report on the defense of the four borders of the Ming Dynasty.

Finally, cabinet member Fei Hong stepped out and reported to Zhu Houzhao: “Your Majesty, the vassal states of the Japanese islands beg to come to Beijing to express their condolences on behalf of the emperor.”

In order to prevent the princes from having any rebellious intentions, Zhu Houzhao rejected their requests to enter the capital.

Fei Hong continued to report that envoys from surrounding countries had submitted letters of condolence to mourn Emperor Hongzhi.

Minister of Personnel Ni Yue stepped out and said, “Your Majesty, there are vacancies in the four ministries of Personnel, Rites, War, and Works. Please make personnel adjustments as soon as possible.”

When Emperor Hongzhi was still alive, there were already large-scale vacancies in the six ministries. The Ministry of Personnel had previously begged Emperor Hongzhi to fill the official staff, but Emperor Hongzhi refused.

Only now did they realize that Emperor Hongzhi had already made plans and was waiting for his death so that Zhu Houzhao would personally make personnel adjustments.

Officials would only be loyal to the new emperor if they were promoted by Zhu Houzhao himself.

When Zhu Houzhao now thought back to his father’s thoughts, he couldn’t help feeling even more guilty. It turned out that his father had already thought of everything and arranged everything for him.

Taking a deep breath, Zhu Houzhao said, “Transfer Wang Shouren back to the Ministry of War to serve as the Left Doctor of the Ministry of War.”

Wang Shouren is now serving as a councilor in Huguang. Bandits have been appearing in Huguang these days. As a major grain-producing province, corruption is the most serious in Huguang. The local officials have exploited the people too much, leading to constant rebellions among the people in Huguang.

This will not have much impact on Huguang, but many local people will compete to cooperate with the people of Huguang in rebellion. The combat effectiveness of those local people is much higher than that of ordinary people.

Therefore, it would be more difficult to suppress the bandits. During his time in Huguang, Wang Shouren managed Huguang in an orderly manner, went to the front line in person, achieved many victories, and calmed the emotions of the people.

In addition to Wang Shouren’s previous achievements as a chieftain in the southwest, naturally no one would object to his transfer to the post of Zuo Langzhong of the Ministry of War.

Later, Fei Hong recommended Xu Jing, the prefect of Ningbo, to join the Ministry of Rites as the right doctor.

Everyone knows that Xu Jing is Chen Ce’s student, but Xu Jing’s political achievements in the southeast are also remarkable. Under his management, Ningbo’s economy has increased several times compared to before.

Moreover, Chen Ce basically no longer interferes in political affairs, so no one would object after Fei Hong recommended Xu Jing.

Everyone knows that the students trained by Chen Ce are all real talents.

At this point, basically all of Chen Ce’s students have been arranged.

Tang Yin is the director of the Newspaper and Publication Bureau, Xu Jing is about to enter the court as the right vice minister of the Ministry of Rites, and Zhu Zhishan went to Hami in the northwest. Although he is still away now, everyone knows that after Hami is stabilized for a while, Zhu Zhishan will definitely be transferred back to the court to serve as an official.

As for Wang Shouren, although he was not Chen Ce’s student, everyone knew his relationship with Chen Ce.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, but something went wrong in the west.

U-Tsang Dusi!

After the death of Emperor Hongzhi, the U-Tsang Regional Command suddenly rebelled, strictly prohibited Ming Dynasty merchant caravans from entering the Western Regions, and executed several envoys of the Western Regions Xuanwei Office.

The geographical location of the Western Regions is very special. It is not so easy to enter the Western Regions. As long as the Western Regions seal their northeastern entrance, people from the Ming Dynasty will basically be unable to enter. …

Hami.

This place is not far from the U-Tsang Regional Administration. After Yang Yiqing learned about the situation, he immediately sent the news to the cabinet.

Qianqing Palace.

When Liu Jin saw the news sent by the cabinet, he was shocked and hurried to find Zhu Houzhao and said, “Master, something happened.”

Zhu Houzhao asked suspiciously: “What?”

Liu Jin said: “The U-Tsang Commandery has rebelled!”

“They expelled the Ming envoys, executed several of them, and killed many officers and soldiers. They blocked the northeast entrance and did not allow the Ming merchant caravans to enter the Western Regions.”

Zhu Houzhao was stunned and asked, “What’s going on? Why did they suddenly rebel?”

Liu Jin said, “This is the only information sent by the cabinet. I don’t know much either. I have summoned Lord Fei to come over.”

Zhu Houzhao did not need to give any instructions for these things, as Liu Jin had already taken care of them for him in advance, which made Zhu Houzhao much less worried.

Not long after, Fei Hong arrived at the warm room and hurriedly said to Zhu Houzhao: “Your humble servant pays respect to the emperor.”

Zhu Houzhao pressed his hands and asked, “What happened?”

Not long after he ascended the throne, the Western Regions rebelled. Perhaps they were taking advantage of the chaos in the power transfer in the Ming Dynasty and were preparing to make the Western Regions independent!

This was something Zhu Houzhao could not accept in any way. If it were in the past, he might have sent troops to attack the Western Regions without asking any questions.

But now Zhu Houzhao has matured a lot, and he also knows that many national affairs cannot be resolved by force. Solving them by force is the worst option. If they can be resolved peacefully, it will undoubtedly be the best for the people and will cause the least loss to the Ming Dynasty.

Fei Hong said to Zhu Houzhao: “The news was sent by General Yang. He has only a vague understanding of the situation in the Western Regions. An escaped Xuanweisi said that the lamas in the Western Regions are dissatisfied with the rule of the Ming Dynasty and are inciting the people to rebel.”

The Western Regions are still dominated by a religious system. Although the Ming Dynasty has set up a Xuanwei Office there, the religious lamas are still in charge of the Western Regions.

Moreover, the main military force in the Western Regions is still Tibetans, and the Ming Dynasty does not have many troops stationed there.

Although on paper the Western Regions were under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty, in reality they already had a certain degree of autonomy.

The Ming Dynasty was too far away from the Western Regions, and the roads were inconvenient, and the road to Tibet was even more difficult, so the economy there was relatively backward. The Ming Dynasty did not pay enough attention to the Western Regions and let them develop freely.

But no matter what, the Western Regions were conquered by the ancestors of the Zhu family and were the land of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Houzhao would never allow any land to be lost in his hands.

During the reign of Emperor Hongzhi, the territory of the Ming Dynasty not only did not decrease, but increased.

No matter what, Zhu Houzhao could not let his father down.

Zhu Houzhao narrowed his eyes and asked, “What else did General Yang say?”

Fei Hong said: “Lord Yang said that this was just what the envoy told him, but he didn’t know if it was true or not, so he wanted to ask His Majesty to send someone to the Western Regions to investigate the situation. Only after understanding the true situation can we prescribe the right remedy!”

(End of this chapter)