Zhu Houzhao approved the resolution submitted by the cabinet to crack down on smuggling, and was recommended by the Political Consultative Office. He finally appointed Zhu Wan to supervise military affairs in Fujian and Zhejiang, inspect the coastal areas, and crack down on smuggling.

The Ming Dynasty had a wide coastal territory and many large coastal tribes. Therefore, even though Xia Yan had cracked down on smuggling once before, the phenomenon of collusion between officials and businessmen intensified and human instinct for tax evasion and tax avoidance has made smuggling even more rampant now.

Of course, it is also related to the external environment. The "trade restrictions" initiated by Japan and other countries and the wars in Japan have led to a large number of ronin starting to engage in smuggling trade.

Coincidentally, with the years since the Ming Dynasty opened its seas, the number of wealthy families on the coast increased, and these wealthy gentry cooperated with these roninists, gradually causing smuggling to become rampant again.

Zhu Houzhao can guess that Zhu Wan's crackdown on smuggling this time is definitely facing great resistance. After all, many families of officials in the government and the opposition make money by smuggling.

However, the emperors of the empire and other large families in the shareholding countries controlled the government. They were unwilling to flow into the Ming Dynasty to be taken away by the gentry in the south through smuggling.

The emperor and other big families formed a loyal society formed by the united forces and peasants firmly controls the power of the empire. Therefore, no matter what, the court has made a decision to crack down on smuggling.

Zhu Wan also had to complete this task for the court.

Whether it was his attack on Xia Yan or his dissatisfaction with current affairs, many civil servants representing the merchant class could only beat their feet and stamp their chests, and they could do nothing.

Zhu Houzhao continued to watch his empire move forward more and more on the road of industrialization as the emperor of this powerful empire.

Engineers from the Ming Academy of Sciences successfully used electromagnetic induction to create generators. When steam locomotives had already begun to shuttle between major cities in the Ming Empire, and when the people were amazed, many people would not have thought that the Ming Dynasty was about to usher in its electrical era.

However, at this time the generator cannot provide enough current to be applied, and it must continue to be improved.

However, Zhu Houzhao is still very concerned about the application process of generators. After all, once the generator is applied, it means that Daming can realize electrical lighting and electrical driving in the future.

With the popularization of natural science, many people have paid attention to the progress of electrical research, and have even become a hot topic in folk discussion.

In addition to the progress of research on electricity, there is another topic that has been heatedly discussed among the people. The expeditionary force led by Yu Dayou may have been established overseas, otherwise it would have been impossible for the good news to be returned for so long.

Zhu Houzhao didn't know when the news about Yu Dayou's founding of the country overseas was spread. Although it was groundless, it was also spread with scheming.

With the development of global trade, the people of the Ming Empire also had a global vision.

Establishing a country overseas is not new, but it is basically a royal titled by Emperor Zhu Houzhao, and it is established by royal nobles. The generals led their troops to establish a country overseas, which is naturally regarded as treason.

Zhu Houzhao naturally didn't believe it at first, and he also knew that Yu Dayou, as a loyal general in history, would not have the ambition to become an emperor.

But as time went by, Zhu Houzhao gradually felt something was wrong after not hearing the news about the expeditionary army.

Of course, Zhu Houzhao did not really suspect that Yu Dayou had the ambition to become an emperor overseas. Although with the current strength of the Ming army, it would be no problem for any general to pull a team to build a strong country overseas, the prosperity and strong centripetal force of the Ming Dynasty did not mean that anyone who wanted to be independent could be independent.

What Zhu Houzhao thought was wrong was that this rumor became more and more popular as Yu Dayou went to the West as he went to the West. Some officials even began to submit memorials to ask the court to send more Jinyiwei to find out the truth and find out whether Yu Dayou had founded the country overseas. After all, Daming is currently using a lot of funds to provide logistical support for Yu Dayou.

"The strong wind blows at the end of Qingping. When such rumors suddenly arise, there must be someone behind this who is trying to make trouble."

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but say something secretly, and immediately continued to pay attention to the electrical research of the Academy of Sciences. He believed that snakes would eventually get out of the hole by themselves.

What he expected was that not long after, the censor Ruan Gui submitted a memorial, which was impeached Gao Zhong and Yu Dayou to conspire to rebel, and Ruan Gui also detailed the rebellion plan of Gao Zhong and Yu Dayou.

First, Yu Dayou will first take advantage of the opportunity of expedition to Spain to establish a country overseas. Then Gao Zhong inquired about the news for him in the court. After Gao Zhong conspired to kill the emperor, Yu Dayou led his troops back to the Ming Dynasty and cooperated with Gao Zhong inside and outside to destroy the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, Ruan Gui did not say nonsense that the West Factory Admiral Gao Zhong and Yu Dayou colluded with each other, but there was evidence. The evidence was that Gao Zhong and Yu Dayou had both studied at the Ming Army Command Academy, and were also classmates, and even had poems and essays. There were even some letters of Gao Zhong himself and Yu Dayou rebelled, as well as evidence of confessions from the messenger.

Otherwise, Yang Lin, as the left censor, would not have carefully presented such a seemingly fictitious thing to Emperor Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao was both surprised and funny when he saw this memorial. What was surprised was that Gao Zhong and Yu Dayou actually had a connection. What was funny was that if Gao Zhong really wanted to murder him and went overseas to support Yu Dayou as emperor, at best, he would be a big man in the inner court like he is now.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao didn't know what the motive would be if Gao Zhong really wanted to murder him.

Although Zhu Houzhao began to become a little cautious in his emotions, he did not do anything rationally, and still let Gao Zhong take charge of the West Factory.

However, Gao Zhong himself was very scared.

Gao Zhong knew the truth that being with the king is like being with a tiger. He also knew that emperors were suspicious, and had heard and witnessed the consequences of previous generations of eunuchs because of rebellion. So now he is really afraid that His Majesty the Emperor will doubt himself because of this matter.

Of course, Gao Zhong was not stupid either. He knew that this was a secret trick by some civil servants who wanted to threaten him and wanted to frame him.

Therefore, Gao Zhong hurried to Zhu Houzhao, knelt directly in front of Zhu Houzhao, and said with tears in his eyes: "Your Majesty, you know what you know! The old slave entered the palace since he was young and grew up with the favor of Your Majesty. Later, he went to the Ming Army Command Academy after studying in Nei Shutang, but to protect Your Majesty! How dare you be disobedient! Woo! I don't know which civil servants who hate Old slaves are slandering Old slaves behind their backs. It's hard to tell the old slaves, and it's hard to tell the wrongs! I don't know how to prove my innocence. Today I only kowtowed and kowtowed to death in front of Your Majesty to prove my loyalty. I hope Your Majesty knows that the inner ministers are loyal."

Dongdong!

Dongdong!

Dongdong!

...

As Gao Zhong said this, he suddenly kowtowed the golden brick, making blood everywhere on his forehead.

Seeing this, Zhu Houzhao hurriedly helped Gao Zhong up: "Get up! How could I not know your loyalty? You are Gao Feng's godson and inherit Gao Feng's stock property. I don't understand that you don't have that courage!"

Zhu Houzhao said and persuaded him a few more words, and then Gao Zhong turned to thank Zhu Houzhao.

However, Gao Zhong's words also reminded Zhu Houzhao, making Zhu Houzhao realize that the sudden rumors might be caused by some civil officials with ulterior motives behind their backs, and the purpose might be the West Factory. However, Zhu Houzhao really didn't know what the purpose of these people playing like this.

But what Zhu Houzhao can be sure of is that he cannot ban the West Factory no matter what, absolutely cannot!

...

Gao Zhong knew that after such a performance, His Majesty would not doubt him, and a stone in his heart fell to the ground.

Moreover, Gao Zhong couldn't help but say that Qingke, whom he trusted the most, was also his mentor Wan Quan, who once taught him:

"These vicious literati and doctors are not chewing maggots behind their backs! Just because our family and Yu Dayou were classmates, these people made up our family colluding with Yu Dayou to rebel. Tell me, these people can even make up this, fortunately because of His Majesty's wiseness, he would not be deceived by these people!"

"Although your Majesty is wise, my father-in-law still needs to pay attention in the future. Now that your Majesty is getting older, you cannot save you from your lifetime of wealth. These civil servants may not be able to follow the dragon's merits in the future. Therefore, according to the young generation, they did this not to frame you, but to remind you not to do things too much just because they are the admiral of the West Factory!"

After Wan Quan said this, Gao Zhong couldn't help but frown, and after a long time he sighed: "You are right!"

...

Zhu Houzhao naturally thought that even eunuchs in the country would have the motivation to protect themselves. But in fact, he never put the hope of manipulating the court only on eunuchs. Zhu Houzhao believed that some civil servants he had cultivated who represented the interests of the common people and the country would not sit idly by and watch some ulterior motives spread rumors like this.

Even if he doesn't think so, in Zhu Houzhao's opinion, since Yu Dayou can be rumored that he intends to establish a country overseas, someone will definitely help Yu Dayou.

In any case, as the emperor, Zhu Houzhao must do just to wait and see what he wants to do.

...

On this day, Xia Yan couldn't help but mention this matter to Yan Song and said: "The rumors like Yu Dayou's overseas founding of the country can be hyped up. It can be seen that Xu Jin and others are still unwilling to accept it, but they don't know what their plan to play this time."

Xia Yan was naturally not a stupid person. He knew that he was suggesting that His Majesty the Emperor set up a political consultation office, and even cooperated with the emperor to support the military ministers to become political consultation ministers, enter the imperial decision-making level, and repeatedly defeated the conspiracy of Qingliu civil officials such as Xu Jin, and must have been regarded as enemies by these people.

The impeachment memorials of Han Yiyou and other censors who spoke fiercely against him are proof of this.

Therefore, Xia Yan is now alert to whether these Qingliu civil officials will persecute him. Even the rumors about Yu Dayou's founding of the country overseas will make him think in this regard.

Yan Song couldn't help but comfort Xia Yan: "Don't worry, Yuanfu, please see, the person who spreads this rumor behind it is really not targeting you, but directly targeting the emperor, otherwise he wouldn't have thrown dirty water on Eunuch Gao from the West Factory."

After hearing Yan Song's analysis, Xia Yan felt something was right and laughed: "Can these people still want to defeat Gao Zhong and ask His Majesty to ban the West Factory?"

"They naturally knew that this was impossible, but doing so would at least make Eunuch Gao have to consider their feelings in the future. These officials who wanted to reduce taxes for merchants originally wanted to use this Tingtui to achieve complete control of the power of the court. As a result, because of the Xichang, His Majesty had the opportunity to expose the "Huangming Pao", which caused dissatisfaction among officials and scholars from common people. Therefore, Yuan Fu proposed to set up a political office to change the Tingtui system, which made many of their accomplices not only executed and deposed, but also did not have the chance to regain their throne."

"It can be seen that Xu Cifu also knew that their failure this time was that there were some pedantic nerd officials in the West Factory, such as Hai Rui, so they naturally had to deal with the West Factory first, but I was afraid that Hai Rui and Yang Jisheng would be hit hard by them in the future!"

Yan Song analyzed.

Xia Yan nodded. He found that although Yan Song was a little cowardly, he was indeed very insightful. He analyzed the current situation very clearly and was more convinced that it was correct to recommend Yan Song to the cabinet.

...

It was the day of Beijing Prefecture, and Wen Yuan had just been promoted to the Minister of Personnel, and he happened to be upright and rigorous, so he personally reviewed the assessment results of a group of Beijing officials who needed to be assessed.

Wen Yuan happened to see Hai Rui, the head of Huang Ming Pao. Seeing that Hai Rui's assessment result was "dismissal", he asked Aili, the doctor of the Wenxuan Department: "Why did this Hai Rui get dismissed?"

"When I go back to the Otsukazu, Hai Rui was arrogant and impetuous as an official, and was extremely crazy and disobedient. He was extremely bad at the boss's eyes. Chen Dian, the head of the News Department, said that Hai Rui even repeatedly scolded him for filthy words, so he should be dismissed."

Wen Yuan nodded and recorded it himself. After all, Hai Rui was the head of the Huang Ming Pao, and he also knew that the recent fraud of the court was exposed by the Huang Ming Pao, which was in charge of Hai Rui. He thought that Hai Rui might be impetuous, but he was also considered a cadre, so he changed his words: "I think he is upright and demoted to the Nanping County Teachers."

When Aili saw Wen Yuan not choosing to dismiss Hai Rui from his post, he couldn't help but feel a little sad.

On this day, it happened to be the candidate for the Left Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Although Wen Yuan was not a minister of political affairs, he also attended the presidency of the court because he was the Minister of Personnel.

However, after the court push was over, Xu Jin called Wen Yuan: "Wen Gong stayed, don't you know Wen Gong knew that Hai Rui, the head of the Huangming Pao?"

"Of course, what is Mr. Xu's advice? Please make it clear," Wen Yuan replied.

"Xu didn't dare to act rashly, but Hai Rui asked him to be dismissed from office. This person has a lot of connections with the West Factory," said Xu Jin.

Wen Yuan nodded and said nothing more.

Not long after, Zhu Houzhao received a list of Beijing inspectors from Wen Yuan, but suddenly saw Hai Rui being dismissed, and couldn't help but ask Wen Yuan: "Why did Hai Rui be dismissed?"

"Return to Your Majesty, Ai Li, the doctor of the Wenxuan Department, said that Hai Rui was impetuous and ran away. Chen Dian, the head of the News Department, also repeatedly said that Hai Rui was disrespectful. He was dismissed for the first trial. Considering his upright nature, he was demoted to the Nanping County Teachers. The day before yesterday, Xu Ge Lao said that Hai Rui had a connection with the Xichang, so he thought about it and changed it back to the dismissal."

Wen Yuan replied truthfully.

Gao Zhong was frightened and sweated coldly after hearing this. He thought that Master Xu was so cruel. Yan Hairui had a relationship with his Western Factory. Isn’t this saying that Hai Rui had a relationship with his inner minister? This is Ling Chi’s crime. Wen Gong was kind-hearted and had to dismiss Hairui from being harmed by villains. But he didn’t expect why His Majesty noticed a small official like Hairui.

Zhu Houzhao smiled after hearing this. He could understand the twists and turns in it and directly ordered: "Re-written, Hai Rui was promoted to the position of the Ministry of Information and the commander of the Ministry of Information and the commander of the Imperial Ming Pao, and also the supervisory censor! The one named Chen Dian was dismissed from his post! And the other Aili was dismissed from his post together! The supervisory censor Yang Jisheng was promoted to the position of the Wenxuan Censor."
Chapter completed!