Chapter 344: Invincible in the world, dancing for the Emperor!
Shuntian Prefecture, Changping Town.

In the seventh year of Jiajing, the late Empress Chen passed away. The emperor and his father ordered the assistant minister Zhang Cong and the deputy minister of the Ministry of War Luo Yongqing and others to choose a burial site for Empress Chen.

At the same time, the king and his father also began to choose a burial site for themselves.

Luo Yongqing was famous for his mastery of Feng Shui during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. After arriving at Tianshou Mountain, he observed the shape of the mountain from the outside and checked the veins of the earth from the inside, and selected two auspicious places, Jiaoziling and Shibadaoling, for his emperor and father.

Afterwards, Jun’s father, along with his ministers and officials from the Imperial Observatory, went to inspect the two auspicious sites selected for him by Luo Yongqing.

After looking at it, he felt that Shibadaoling had the best feng shui, so he decided to build the mausoleum there and issued an edict to rename Shibadaoling as “Yangcuiling”.

In April of the 15th year of Jiajing’s reign, the construction of Yongling began. Guo Xun, Marquis of Wuding, and Li Shi, the assistant minister, were ordered to take charge of the construction of the mausoleum.

During the construction process, the emperor built it according to the regulations of Changling, so he said to the ministers: “The system of the mausoleum should be modeled after the regulations of Changling, and it must be more restrained and restrained, with velvet clothes and tiled coffins. I always think about it.” The ministers understood the emperor’s words, and the mausoleum design drawings presented to the emperor for his review were only slightly smaller in scale than Changling, so the emperor agreed.

In the 25th year of Jiajing’s reign, after ten years of construction, Yongling was finally completed.

In May of the twenty-seventh year of Jiajing’s reign, the late Empress Fang was buried.

Now, the two former queens, Chen and Fang, are buried in the auspicious soil of Yongling.

If your emperor and father pass away, the current Holy Mother Lin will also be buried here when she returns to heaven.

But before that, in compliance with the will of the emperor and his father, the “Order to Move to Yongling” was issued, and all the nobles in the world moved to Yongling.

The legend that “the richest city in the world is Yongling of the Ming Dynasty” began to spread throughout the Ming Dynasty and even the world.

Stimulated by the imperial decree to forcibly relocate wealthy merchants, Yongling Town developed rapidly and soon formed a considerable annexed city.

Since most of the powerful people who moved here had strong economic strength, they perfectly demonstrated the image of “stupid people with lots of money”. After they settled down, they actively invested in industry, commerce and surrounding agriculture, thus completing the transformation of this military defense zone that was originally within the Great Wall defense.

Financial support was provided for the construction of Yongling Town. With money, logistics, services and other matters were also guaranteed. Some smart people among the powerful people were already directly engaged in the trafficking and speculation of materials for building the mausoleum.

In terms of status, these wealthy and powerful foreign families actively established connections with the bureaucrats in the capital and relied on new backers to improve their status.

The celebrities in the capital were proud to be “the richest man in the world” and moved here in large numbers.

In just one year, Yongling County prospered, with a population of over 270,000 and more than 60,000 households.

You should know that the standard for moving the mausoleum is that the family has a fortune of more than 30,000 taels of silver. Even if all the lowest conditions are calculated, the wealth held by this small Changping Town and Yongling County is as high as 1.8 billion taels of silver.

According to conservative estimates by the Ministry of Revenue of the imperial court, the wealth owned by the children of Yongling was over 400 million taels of silver.

If we calculate the taxes levied by the imperial court in the 39th year of Jiajing, this money is equal to a hundred years of taxes. And if we calculate the entire Ming Dynasty, from the Hongwu period to the present, this money is more than the total national taxes in the past two hundred years.

Just to allow more than 60,000 powerful families to move their tombs, the Ministry of Revenue of the imperial court subsidized 120 million taels of silver, which was no less than the cost of a national policy.

If we do not count the overseas provinces, the population of the Ming Dynasty alone, including the two capitals and 18 provinces, was close to 200 million. More than 270,000 people accounted for just over one ten-thousandth of the total population, less than one thousandth. However, this group of people controlled 80%, or even 90%, or more of the wealth in the market.

This was not only true for the Ming Dynasty, but also for the entire world. A large amount of wealth was concentrated in the hands of a very small number of people, driving the entire world’s economy.

After Zhu Houcong read the account books submitted by the Ministry of Revenue, he even thought of letting the Jinyiwei directly plunder the wealth of Yongling, but after thinking for a long time, he chose not to carry it out.

The existence of Yongling is a symbol of world wealth. The imperial court needs such an existence to let the people witness the ultimate prosperity in the world. The Ming Dynasty also needs such an existence to plant a “seed” in the hearts of the people of the world.

The golden land that everyone yearns for.

It was here that Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, and Xu Jie met again.

Influenced by Kun Ling, Gao Gong had no choice but to resign. After three attempts at persuasion between the emperor and his ministers, Gao Gong finally left the cabinet and the court.

However, the Gao family of Xinzheng and the Zhang family of Jiangling of Zhang Juzheng were both wealthy enough to move the tomb, so they all came to Yongling. Gao Gong left the cabinet and the court and did not have to return to his hometown, but came to Yongling.

Zhang Juzheng was still in mourning, but the emperor’s order was above everything else, so he had no choice but to move the tomb with his family first, and then set up an altar here to offer remote sacrifices to his father.

As for Xu Jie, he was about to die. After Zhang Juzheng arrived in Yongling, he immediately reported to the emperor and his father, requesting that Xu Jie be moved to Yongling for detention.

Be a teacher for one day, and be a father for life.

Xu Jie and Zhang Juzheng, this pair of master and disciple, although they had many dirty deeds in the past, Zhang Juzheng chose to let it go and wanted to show his filial piety to his mentor before his death.

Zhu Houcong fulfilled Zhang Juzheng’s filial piety and asked the Ministry of Justice to send Xu Jie, who was dying, to Yongling and handed him over to Zhang Juzheng’s care.

Xu Jie was lying on the couch. Except for his eyes, nothing else on his body could move.

Zhang Juzheng was guarding the bedside and serving him, while Gao Gong came under the pretext of “visiting”. Looking at the appearance of his mortal enemy, the hatred in his heart suddenly faded a lot.

Xu Jie was in this state. His children, grandchildren and clansmen had all died long ago. He was a man with nothing left. It was pitiful enough.

At this moment, Gao Gong felt relieved.

“Lord Xu…”

Gao Gong mentioned how he had addressed Xu Jie before and wanted to ask about Xu Jie’s situation, but when he got to this point, he could not continue.

In just a few years, things and people have changed, including others and myself.

No wonder the ancients said, when you are lonely, don’t meet lonely people, because we are all lonely people in the same place.

Zhang Juzheng understood Gao Gong’s meaning, nodded, and said, “Imperial Doctor Li came to see me in the past two days.”

Doctor Li is Li Shizhen.

No one has forgotten that old love.

Xu Jie was unable to move, and tears welled up in his eyes and rolled down his eyes.

There was a brief silence, Gao Gong’s heart was in turmoil, and after a long while, he slowly said, “Prince Yu has returned to his country, and was taken to his fiefdom by Prince Fu.”

Zhu Zaihou’s boat capsized at sea and he nearly drowned, but he was rescued by a passing merchant ship. Having experienced life and death and knowing that there was great terror ahead, Zhu Zaihou did not go to South Asia to look for Prince Jing, but returned home.

Prince Fu Zhu Yijun was extremely filial and went to Hangzhou Prefecture in person to kneel and welcome Zhu Zaihou back to his fiefdom of Luoyi.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Juzheng and Xu Jie on the couch both showed great emotional fluctuations and had complicated looks.

No matter what, Zhu Zaihou was once a prince of the Ming Dynasty. How could he do that? How could he do that? If he had any shame or wanted to keep the Ming Dynasty honor, he should have committed suicide.

As a son, Prince Fu is so kind!
However, after encountering so many misfortunes, Zhang Juzheng gradually understood Prince Yu’s thoughts. He sighed and said, “It’s good to be alive! It’s good to be alive!”

Life and death.

Some people live, some people die.

Yan Song’s cabinet came to an end, and Xu Jie closed his eyes forever.

In front of the Zhang residence, mourning was hung again. The disciple fulfilled his duty as a son and wore mourning for his teacher.

……

Yuxi Palace, a sacred place for the gods.

At this time, the futon that Zhu Houcong had always sat on was empty, and Zhu Houcong was actually lying on a bamboo lounge chair.

Hu Zongxian was sitting on the embroidered cushion that Yan Song, Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong had sat on in the past. It was placed next to Zhu Houcong’s recliner. A large pile of official documents was placed on his knees. He was quietly looking at his emperor and father with his eyes slightly closed.

“Lord Hu, the emperor and father already know about Xu Jie’s affairs. They have granted him nine altars for sacrifice and posthumously named him Zhongxiang to honor his merits during his lifetime.” Huang Jin, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot, said softly.

Regardless of what Xu Jie and the Xu family of Songjiang Prefecture were like, and regardless of whether Xu Jie’s fight with Yan Song was public or private, he did have some merits and hard work, and was granted nine altars and posthumously named Zhongxiang, which made him the pinnacle of ministers.

Xu Jie had never been the chief minister of the cabinet during his lifetime, but after his death he enjoyed honors that were unprecedented among ordinary chief ministers of the cabinet. Call it irony or a sigh, anyway, that’s how it is.

“Yes.”

At this time, Hu Zongxian’s eyebrows also had some of the “predecessor, predecessor, predecessor, predecessor” in his eyes. The autumn water on that face, as well as the etiquette regulations for granting sacrifices to the nine altars and posthumously naming him Zhongxiang, would be recorded and arranged for the Ministry of Rites to complete after returning to the cabinet. Although Zhu Houcong closed his eyes, he still bowed, then picked up the outline on the official document, and used the official language with a hint of imperial courtesy to conduct today’s monarch-minister dialogue, saying warmly: “Your Majesty, the newly established overseas provinces and colonies such as India, Portugal, and England have been submitted with letters and maps and incorporated into the territory of our dynasty. The land and ocean are currently incalculable, or can be described as ‘big’.”

Zhu Houcong opened his eyes and said, “Go on.”

“Yes.”

Hu Zongxian accepted the order and continued, “The cabinet has convened all ministries for discussion and is actively preparing to send officials abroad. Many officials from the six ministries, nine government offices and local officials have requested to be sent abroad.”

To this day, the Ming Dynasty’s official sentiment is still in full swing, and officials from all ministries and government offices at all levels have expressed great enthusiasm for serving as officials overseas, hoping to escape from the “sea of ​​suffering.”

“Approved.” Zhu Houcong thought for a moment, uttered these two words, and closed his eyes again.

Zhu Houcong understood the officials’ thoughts, but he was foolish to think that serving as an official overseas would allow him to resume his previous lawless and reckless life. No matter where they served as officials, the “tight hoop” of the Embroidered Uniform Guard would always be on the heads of all Ming Dynasty officials.

Hu Zongxian handed the two drafts to Huang Jin, who took them, walked to the imperial desk, stood there and began to write on them.

Hu Zongxian then said: “For the sake of the normality of the court, some officials who are capable of serving overseas can be sent overseas. However, most officials still want to serve in the country and listen to the constant admonitions of the emperor and father.”

This is just a excuse to save the emperor’s reputation and to find a reason for some officials to leave.

In the present Ming Dynasty, there are no redundant officials or redundant staff. Before the new generation grew up, there was already a shortage of staff. Even if people from the six ministries, nine government offices, and government offices wanted to be officials overseas, the cabinet and the court would not let them go easily.

Therefore, there are not many officials serving overseas this time.

Zhu Houcong remained indifferent.

As long as it does not affect state affairs, we don’t care if officials leave.

Hu Zongxian had no choice but to say: “In this case, there is still a big gap in the number of officials sent to special provinces in our dynasty. The cabinet has discussed with the six ministries and nine officials and feels that some generals in the army can be promoted to foreign officials.”

The officials who have left are not enough to fill the important official vacancies in the overseas special provinces.

And as the number of overseas special provinces increases, this gap will become larger and larger.

When Gao Gong was the prime minister, he originally wanted to let the corrupt scholars on the South Asian subcontinent gain some experience and let them recognize the true nature of the world before promoting the best ones.

Unexpectedly, those corrupt scholars had an “too clear” understanding of the nature of the world, and they colluded with Brahmanism to bring disaster to the local area. Not to mention choosing the best among the worst, there was not even one good person among tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people.

Since Wen Dao could not make any gains in the special province, the new prime minister Hu Zongxian, who was closer to the military, thought about whether he could let those generals who had no wars to fight serve as overseas officials.

This can be considered as a combination of civil and military affairs.

“Approved.” Zhu Houcong said after a long while, “Who else can serve as an official overseas? Name them all.”

For the sake of the stability of the court, it is impossible for too many officials to leave. Similarly, in order to ensure military strength, it is impossible for too many officers to be transferred to become foreign officials.

Therefore, in order to consolidate the fruits of victory in the special province, it is not enough to simply serve as civil and military officials.

“No one is better than my king and father.”

Hu Zongxian praised the emperor and then said, “My Lord, in the past four years, some officials who were dismissed due to misfortunes or mistakes should not be reinstated at this time. However, in an emergency, we can give them a lighter sentence. I think some capable officials may be reinstated at this time.”

As he spoke, Hu Zongxian gently took out the ticket and handed it to Huang Jin. Huang Jin took it in front of his father and unfolded it.

Zhu Houcong opened his eyes and looked at the familiar names above, “Gao Gong”, “Zhang Juzheng”, “Zhao Zhenji”, “Tan Lun”…

Hu Zongxian was a lone minister and also a kind-hearted man. He put aside past grudges and made new arrangements for these former important ministers and pillars of the country.

“Approved!” Zhu Houcong agreed to the new appointments of these dismissed officials and said, “The officials have been resettled, the soldiers have been resettled, and the cabinet has also resettled my people, right?”

“The king and father are as kind as the sky and as foresighted as God!”

Hu Zongxian once again praised the emperor, “Local government offices have recommended a group of intelligent young people and teenagers. I think that perhaps they can help the future of our Ming Dynasty to go overseas to see the world first, not as foreign officials, but for foreign affairs.”

Huang Jin presented another draft to Zhu Houcong. “Zhao Nanxing”, “Zhong Yuzheng”, “Ye Xianggao”, “Zhu Xieyuan”, “Bi Ziyan”, “Cai Fuyi”, “Fang Congzhe”…

From young people to teenagers, to young children, there are all of them. These people are the list of future officials selected by the cabinet.

Many people think that talent selection is only carried out after adulthood, but the fact is that the chosen talents enter the vision of the central elders of a big country at a young age.

As long as he doesn’t die young, as long as he doesn’t suffer a tragic death, and grows up smoothly, he can at least become a big official.

Zhu Houcong looked at this top-secret future list, and the memories of his two lives emerged. He had some impression of some of the people, and he knew that the court and local governments had really done their best.

Zhu Houcong stood up from the recliner. Huang Jin hurriedly put away the list and wanted to support him, “My Lord and Father.”

Zhu Houcong waved him away, walked to the futon and sat down, crossing his legs. “Approved. Sorry for the trouble.”

Hu Zongxian immediately knelt down with red eyes. They had worked hard for the country with all their heart and soul. Just a word of affirmation from their sovereign was enough.

Huang Jin received a signal from his father and stepped forward to help Hu Zongxian up. Zhu Houcong asked, “Is there anything else?”

“My Lord and Father, the three special provinces, along with fellow travelers from all over the world, have come to Beijing to present a dance as a gift to our Emperor!” Hu Zongxian said excitedly.

Since the Tang Dynasty, all races, even all nations, once again prostrated themselves at the feet of the Ming Dynasty.

The divided Africa and America were controlled by fleets of treasure ships. In the entire European continent, the Spanish Empire was a spent force, the throne of the Pope of the Holy Roman Empire was controlled by the Imperial Guards, and the Ottoman Empire, the shame of the world, was just a lamb to be slaughtered at any time.

We, China, are invincible in the world.

Zhu Houcong was touched. Hu Zongxian and Huang Jin knelt down at the same time and said in unison: “Long live the emperor!”

(End of this chapter)