allonlinenovel Chapter 811 You, Zhu Chong, are getting cocky again, aren't you?
Chapter 811 You, Zhu Chong, are getting cocky again, aren't you?
To be fair, given that Zhu Yuanzhang's sister and his son Biao'er were both alive and well, Zhu Yuanzhang was more inclined to favor Zhu Chongba than Zhu Yuanzhang, who used the Lan Yu case to carry out a massacre.
Even though he was already very unhappy with Gao Qi and Wei Guan, Emperor Zhu could only rant and rave in the Kunning Palace.
Even Emperor Zhu's main targets of criticism were not Wei Guan and Gao Qi.
However, Empress Ma waved the memorial in her hand and said with a smile, "This time, you can't raise it high and then put it down gently."
Emperor Zhu was slightly taken aback and asked, "Why?"
The smile on Empress Ma's face slowly faded. "Because the people of Suzhou Prefecture have petitioned to retain Wei Guan in office."
If Wei Guan, like his good son-in-law and his students, had vigorously promoted community schools, county schools, and workshops in Suzhou Prefecture, and had also dredged waterways and repaired roads to give the people more ways to make money, it would have been normal for the people of Suzhou Prefecture to petition for him to remain in office.
The problem is that since Wei Guan went to Suzhou Prefecture, the only thing he could be considered pragmatic was to completely change Chen Ning's ways and stop being "harsh and tyrannical in his official duties." His so-called establishment of schools was only associated with things like setting up school rules, compiling classics and history, and holding village drinking ceremonies.
From the perspective of any normal emperor, shouldn't the Ministry of Rites be responsible for revising matters such as the study of rituals, classics and history, and the village drinking ceremony?
What are you trying to do, a prefect who's getting involved with a bunch of local gentry and meddling in matters of etiquette, history, and village drinking ceremonies?
For example, my good son-in-law's lowest official position was the magistrate of Ningyang County, and his highest position was the Duke of Yingguo, a first-rank official. In between, there were also the first-rank imperial son-in-law and the fourth-rank prefect of Dengzhou. But when did he ever bother with any of these positions?
He just kept building schools, roads, bridges, setting up workshops, and encouraging agriculture.
Although that scoundrel's so-called encouragement of agriculture and sericulture was just lying in the fields drinking tea.
To put it bluntly, Wei Guan, the prefect, did not do anything he was supposed to do, but did almost everything he shouldn't have done.
As for the people's joint petition requesting that Wei Guan continue to serve?
Empress Ma sneered and said, "I've seen plenty of plays about upright officials, and plenty of plays about people giving each other boots and umbrellas, but have you ever seen a place where the people would stop their upright official from being promoted?"
Emperor Zhu hummed in agreement, then, as if struck by a sudden thought, added, "Even those bandits from Ningyang County wouldn't do something so reckless!"
Empress Ma almost burst out laughing when Emperor Zhu said that.
According to an emperor who wished to remain anonymous, when he first arrived in Ningyang County, the locals mistook him for an official of the censorate type. They then threatened him, saying that if he dared to harm their lord, the entire county would not forgive him.
They were truly brave; most of their subordinates couldn't compare to them.
After all, they were directly threatening what they considered to be "censors," and ordinary people really wouldn't do something like that.
According to that emperor, a local gentry from Ningyang wanted to go to the capital to file a complaint, but before they even left Ningyang County, they were beaten up by a group of masked men.
Later, some county magistrates directly competed with their mentors for the title of local specialties. Then there was a county magistrate who had been a bandit with his family since he was twelve years old. Now he was shouting the slogan "Rob money, rob grain, rob grasslands" and rampaging across the grasslands.
The people of Ningyang County had completely lost their positive image in the eyes of Emperor Zhu, and were often referred to as "those bandits from Ningyang County".
Well, if it weren't for that emperor, who wished to remain anonymous, relentlessly luring a young man from a hundred-household unit back from Ningyang County to serve as the crown prince's personal guard; if it weren't for the fact that all the students from Ningyang County were assigned to serve as county magistrates in northern counties; and if it weren't for the fact that a certain county magistrate who led troops to the grasslands without authorization was granted the title of Krupp, then perhaps the emperor's attitude when he was scolding people would have seemed more like a genuine scolding.
As for now?
It was more like impotent rage.
Empress Ma was inwardly ranting about a certain emperor, while Emperor Zhu, the object of her rant, frowned slightly and sighed, saying, "Sister, do you think those three hundred students and those three hundred second-generation nobles will all be corrupted by that scoundrel after they return from Ningyang County?"
"And those two bastards, I wonder how long it will be before they come back."
"Damn it, not a single one of them is filial."
Empress Ma finally couldn't help but laugh.
When his beloved eldest son and son-in-law were in the capital, a certain emperor could never find them pleasing to the eye.
Now that they've gone to Japan, His Majesty the Emperor is starting to worry about when they'll return.
Tsk.
Empress Ma gently shook her head and said, "Let's not worry about them for now. Right now, we need to deal with Wei Guan's matter and also figure out the right candidate for the new prefect of Suzhou."
Emperor Zhu stroked his beard with a calculating look on his face and said, "As for Wei Guan's matter, we haven't thought it through for the time being. After all, Yang Xian has been dead for so many years, and it wouldn't be good to say that he is a remnant of Yang Xian now."
"But as for the position of prefect of Suzhou, we have at least several dozen, if not a hundred."
“One of them was named Wu Yanhu, who used to be the county magistrate of Ningyang County.”
“One of them was named Lü Peng, who used to be the registrar of Ningyang County.”
"Both of them have already served as county magistrates for two years now, and they would be more than capable of being transferred to Suzhou as prefects."
"Besides the two of them, there are at least three sub-prefects and ten county magistrates in Dengzhou Prefecture who can be called upon at any time."
"If all else fails, there are still more than twenty county magistrates who can be transferred from the north."
Emperor Zhu chuckled and said, "Damn it, this is the first time I've ever had to worry about having too many people."
Ok?
You, Zhu Chongba, are getting cocky again, aren't you?
Empress Ma poured cold water on Emperor Zhu's head: "There are three assistant prefects in Dengzhou Prefecture. If you transfer one, you will have to fill the vacancy. And each of the ten county magistrates is already handling a lot of work. You can't move them lightly."
"As for those twenty-odd county magistrates in the north... it's easy for you to transfer them, but who will you send to replace them?"
"If we're going to have trouble because we have too many people, we'll have to wait at least two years until those three hundred imperial examination graduates and three hundred second-generation nobles return."
The smug look on Emperor Zhu's face slowly faded, but then he chuckled dryly twice and said, "Don't worry, sister, I know what I'm doing."
Empress Ma rolled her eyes slightly and asked, "What about Wei Guan? What do you plan to do with him?"
Emperor Zhu immediately felt elated again.
"Wei Guan? We won't deal with him."
"How well the officials are doing in their positions, whether they are corrupt, or whether they are harming the people—these are all things that the Censorate should be concerned with."
"As for how to deal with him, that is the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review."