Chapter 80 Regret

Chapter 80 Regret

Chapter 80 Regret
Sitting up again, Wanli stared blankly at the window pane not far away.

The sun is shining brightly outside today, shining through the window panes inlaid with colored glaze into the hall, looking as colorful and dazzling as broken gold.

For a moment, many past events emerged in Wanli's mind. He seemed to suddenly see a person, a tall, handsome middle-aged man with a long beard standing in front of him. The middle-aged man had a serious expression, a pair of dark, bright eyes with sharp and majestic, as if he was saying something to him.

Isn’t this person his master Zhang Juzheng?
All the memories of his youth came to Wanli's mind. This man who was like a teacher and a father to him had an unparalleled position in Wanli's heart and was also Wanli's idol when he was young.

Wanli had complicated feelings towards Zhang Juzheng. He respected and feared him, loved him and hated him at the same time... These mixed feelings made Wanli not know what to feel.

When Zhang Juzheng was alive, Wanli was suppressed by him, but in his heart he also admired this master. When Zhang Juzheng died, Wanli gave this master the highest honor he could give, and buried his master in person as an emperor. At the same time, he secretly made up his mind that he must follow the teachings of his master and become the most wise monarch of the Ming Dynasty.

However, before Zhang Juzheng's body was cold, the officials who opposed Zhang Juzheng's new policies launched an overwhelming counterattack. Wanli suddenly discovered that his master, who had always been a perfect man, was not the person he imagined. Not only was he not perfect, but Zhang Juzheng was also an arrogant and domineering official with poor personal ethics. Looking at the conclusive charges listed in the memorials by the officials, Wanli's idol completely collapsed in an instant.

The collapse of his faith made the young Wanli furious. He ignored his mother's dissuasion and directly ordered a reckoning against Zhang Juzheng. Not only did he take back all the honors given to his master, he also suppressed Zhang Juzheng's allies in the court and ordered a strict investigation of Zhang Juzheng's family.

But Wanli never imagined that this decision was the biggest mistake of his life. It was this decision that led to the tragedy and irreversible consequences that followed.

By the time Wanli learned this, it was already too late to make amends. He could only accept the fact, but an irreparable scar remained in his heart.

After taking power, Wanli tried hard to manage the country according to Zhang Juzheng's teachings, intending to become the wise ruler that Zhang Juzheng had always expected. But a few years later, the diligent Wanli suddenly found that after losing his master, he had no ability to manage the country at all. Those ministers who flattered him and called themselves wise rulers were not good people.

These seemingly righteous guys are actually full of thieves and prostitutes. They use all means to hinder his control over the country and completely abolish the new policy system that his master had established with great difficulty.

The scholar-official groups that had been suppressed by their master once again crawled out from the dark corners like termites for the sake of their own interests, sucking blood from the Ming Dynasty. This was especially true for the officials in the court. Behind their high-sounding words were naked exchanges of interests. In their eyes, the emperor, who was high above them, was just a mascot.

At this time Wanli suddenly woke up. He finally understood what he had done wrong and who was right and who was truly doing good for himself and the country.

Unfortunately, it was too late. Although Wanli was smart, he did not have the imperial means of his grandfather Jiajing. Even if he understood all this, he could not change it.

The frustrated Wanli intended to change, but he couldn't. Coupled with the dispute over the country's foundation, his temperament changed drastically. The previously diligent emperor suddenly turned into a stay-at-home dad in the harem.

In the long years that followed, Wanli used this silent action to confront the civil service group. Everything he did was for this reason. It was also because of this that Wanli would not trust the officials in the court until now.

Now there are vacancies in the cabinet and ministries, including Fang Congzhe, the only person in the cabinet. This was completely intentional by Wanli.

He is not Jiajing, and does not have Jiajing's ability to use one faction to fight against another. He can only resort to this method, putting someone who can be barely controlled in the position, which is better than facing a group.

Prevent his civil servants from colluding with each other too much and forming a more powerful force to fight against the imperial power.

The same was true of the mining and tax supervisors who were sent to local areas before. The abolition of Zhang Juzheng's new policies caused the court's tax revenue to plummet. When Wanli was unable to restore the new policies, he could only use the only available group of eunuchs to do what he could.

However, these actions of his were criticized by the civil officials as "plundering and harming the people". But Wanli knew very well that if he did not send mining supervisors and tax supervisors to the local areas, would these profits really be left to the people? Of course not! As a direct disciple of Zhang Juzheng, Wanli knew very well what these Ming officials were thinking. The reason they opposed Wanli's actions was nothing more than that it affected their own interests. How could it be truly for the people!
Such things are everywhere, and Wanli knows it all, but he can do nothing about it.

Since he could not change the situation, he could only lie down and do nothing. This was the only way for Wanli to fight back. Take the Battle of Sarhu for example. Before the battle, Wanli did not want to use Yang Hao. However, everyone in the court recommended Yang Hao as the commander. Yang Hao had made military achievements in the previous war against Japan. In addition, Yang Hao was a staunch advocate of war. Wanli finally agreed to let him go to Liaodong as the commander-in-chief.

But Yang Hao turned out to be a useless man who only knew how to talk about war on paper. The battle in Liaodong caused heavy losses to the Ming Dynasty, and almost all of the elite troops in Liaodong were lost. When Wanli heard the news of the defeat in Liaodong, he was so shocked that he couldn't even speak. When he read the report in the harem, Wanli's hands were shaking, and he couldn't help crying.

The great and majestic Ming Dynasty actually suffered such a loss of its troops and humiliation of the country. It is not an exaggeration to say that Yang Hao, as the main culprit, should be torn into pieces.

According to Wanli's hatred for Yang Hao, it would be a light punishment to chop off Yang Hao's head after bringing him to the capital, and it would not be too much to directly kill his entire clan. However, in the following confrontation, those civil servant groups were unwilling to deal with Yang Hao for their own interests, and even if Wanli wanted to kill Yang Hao, it was difficult to do so.

After all, Yang Hao was recommended to Liaodong by the civil service group, and there were shadows of various factions behind him. If Yang Hao was convicted and executed, what would the people who recommended Yang Hao say? Would these officials bear joint responsibility? Perhaps they would be dismissed from their posts? Or even be beheaded?

The power of the Ming emperor was not unlimited, and in many cases the emperor could not make direct decisions on some matters. In addition, Wanli's condition worsened after the defeat in Liaodong, and the dispute over Yang Hao's punishment was fruitless and could only be put on hold temporarily. To this day, Yang Hao is still in prison awaiting punishment and has not been convicted.

Although Yang Hao could not be dealt with for the time being, someone still had to clean up the mess in Liaodong.

After much deliberation, Wanli rejected the opposition and forcibly issued an edict to appoint Xiong Tingbi to Liaodong. Xiong Tingbi did not disappoint Wanli's expectations. Since Xiong Tingbi went to Liaodong alone to clean up the mess after the Battle of Sarhu last year, the situation in Liaodong has gradually stabilized. According to what Xiong Tingbi said in the memorial to Wanli, the situation in Liaodong is changing for the better. He has curbed Nurhaci's power, steadily and steadily nibbled away at it, and recovered a lot of lost territory from the enemy. As long as they continue like this, with the Ming Dynasty's far more powerful strength than the Later Jin, it won't be long before they can launch a counterattack and avenge the shame of the Battle of Sarhu.

Wanli had absolute trust in Xiong Tingbi and knew that he was a very talented person. In exchange for dealing with Yang Hao, Wanli suppressed the civil service group's insistence on sending Xiong Tingbi to Liaodong, which was the final result of the game between Wanli and the civil service group.

But Xiong Tingbi had just stabilized Liaodong not long ago, and trouble started again in the court. Many people wrote to Wanli requesting that he send more governors to Liaodong to prevent Xiong Tingbi from dominating Liaodong and causing an imbalance between civil and military affairs.

This may sound good, but Wanli knew in his heart that this was nothing more than another trick by the civil service group to achieve political balance.

Wanli did not want to hinder Xiong Tingbi in Liaodong because of such small actions of the civil service group. In order to completely reassure Xiong Tingbi, Wanli privately sent eunuchs to tell Xiong Tingbi to do his job well in Liaodong with peace of mind, and he, the emperor, would help to support the court.

This was also the reason why Wanli had never agreed to the request of the Prime Minister Fang Congzhe to send an additional governor to Liaodong. Even the addition of cabinet members and vacancies in various ministries and departments were delayed by Wanli, who pretended to be deaf and dumb and found excuses.

He did this not because he disregarded the affairs of the court. On the contrary, Wanli did this in order to do a better job, because he knew very well that once these officials were added, especially the cabinet ministers and the heads of ministries and departments, the power of the civil service group in the court would be further strengthened, and his say as the emperor would be correspondingly smaller. Now his health was not good, and the situation in Liaodong had not been completely reversed. For the sake of the Ming Dynasty, he would never allow himself to take a wrong step under such circumstances and give his opponents any chance.

"Master, is it right or wrong for me to do this?" Wanli murmured to himself, as if Zhang Juzheng was standing in front of him as he did when he was a teenager, teaching him and telling him how to become a wise ruler.

Unfortunately, Zhang Juzheng had already passed away, and it was he, his disciple, who personally destroyed the foundation laid by his master for the Ming Dynasty and overthrew the new policy system that he had painstakingly established.

The young Wanli did not understand, and by the time he realized it, it was already too late. He tried hard to change everything, but at that time there was no longer a trustworthy and capable person like Zhang Juzheng by his side.

Two lines of tears quietly slid down Wanli's eyes. He was wrong, he was wrong! He woke up too late. Over the years, he had understood everything in his heart, but he was powerless to change it. Endless sadness surged in his heart.

How Wanli wished that time could go back, to the moment when his master was still alive. If that were the case, he would never repeat the same mistakes and let the country become what it is now.

Now, the ill Wanli feels that he may not live long. His only hope now is to live for another two years, to see the moment when Xiong Tingbi launches a counterattack in Liaodong and completely destroys the Jiannu. At that time, he can also rest in peace and see his master again.

(End of this chapter)