Chapter 17: The Fall of Zaisuke
It took a lot of effort for Liu Chengjiang to install his own person next to the prince, Liu Haoling, as another lecturer of the prince.
It is said that after the death of Emperor Tiancheng, Liu Chengjiang, as an auxiliary minister, had many supporters in the court, and the new emperor had "his own person" Liu Haoling, so there was no problem in continuing to control the prime minister. But he never expected that the little emperor didn't like him.
Although Emperor Hongwu was young, he had lofty ambitions. He was dissatisfied with Liu Chengjiang who only blindly coaxed his father to be happy, and did not think about the country in the long run. In the face of the growing true kingdom, if you blindly covet comfort and don't want to forge ahead, you will be eaten up by the true kingdom sooner or later.
When Liu Chengjiang found that the limelight was wrong and wanted to enable Liu Haoling, his "own person", to speak for himself in front of the emperor, he found that this "own person" was not easy to use.
In order to reverse the situation and maintain his position, Liu Chengjiang, who found that the wind was not in the right direction, actively turned around and moved closer to the little emperor.
The little emperor wanted to promote reform and revitalize the country, so he tried to formulate reform terms.
In June of the twelfth year of Tiancheng, Liu Chengjiang promoted Yun Jintong to be the head of the household department, and he assisted another cronie, Qian Haiming, the secretary of the household department, to survey the land nationwide and formulate reform terms, in order to sort out the chaos of land management, increase financial revenue, and lay a financial foundation for the expansion of the army and defense.
Yun Jintong was originally a member of the household department, and he had a deep understanding of land annexation, and he understood very well that land annexation was not conducive to the development of productive forces, and many fields that were cultivated privately were not registered. His own ancestral property alone has nearly 1,000 acres of land, not to mention the land annexed by the families of his colleagues in the DPRK and China.
This reform involves a conflict of interests, and it must be done slowly. After Yun Jintong consulted with his boss Qian Haiming, according to the existing shortcomings, he formulated relatively moderate reform measures and presented them to Liu Chengjiang, who looked good and presented them to the emperor.
But even this modest reform program touched the interests of the landowners. No one is willing to give up their vested interests easily, even if Liu Chengjiang, Qian Haiming, and Yun Jin all have this awareness, but many supporters under Liu Chengjiang don't buy it. The excerpt was submitted, and the emperor did not buy it: according to this reform law, in what year and month will it take to realize his grand ambitions?
Liu Chengjiang is two-sided and unflattering. The emperor did not support him, and neither did the courtiers. The emperor even hinted at him and took the initiative to give up the phase. The prime minister is mixed up with this part, and it is impossible not to step down.
Even if Liu Chengjiang was unwilling to give up easily, the decisive little emperor did not give him time to hesitate and wait and prepare, he did not want to wait any longer.
So, in September of the twelfth year of Tiancheng, I don't know if the emperor secretly instructed or someone in the court looked at the wind and steered, the first impeachment letter was presented in front of the emperor, but it was Yun Jintong who was shot. Song Shu said that his reform was unfavorable, putting the people in fire and water, and hoped that the emperor would punish Yun Jintong.
Yun Jintong has been promoted very quickly under the care of Liu Chengjiang in recent years, which is eye-catching, and he has presided over the land reform that has offended many people, but this is not the point, this letter is to borrow Yun Jintong and pull Liu Chengjiang into the water.
With the first letter of impeachment, the emperor ordered an investigation, and Yun Jintong was "invited" to Dali Temple. The next day, all kinds of impeachment of Yun Jintong, Qian Haiming, and Liu Chengjiang came one after another, and the impeachment of Liu Chengjiang was the most.
Liu Chengjiang didn't know if he was really old, but he still looked down on the little emperor's determination and means. When Yun Jintong was questioned, he thought that the little emperor had misunderstood the reform, and it would be nice to explain it clearly, but the reality took a sharp turn. Originally, he was impeached for ignoring the people's livelihood and reforming the malaise, but soon it spread to the formation of parties for personal gain, embezzlement and bribery, deception and concealment, and so on. There are more and more problems in Liu Chengjiang, and more and more people are being arrested in the name of party henchmen.