Raising chickens and pigs and digging for wild vegetables, the county magistrate's promotion wa

Chapter 290 Emperor Zhu: We're a little too hasty.

Clearly, after realizing that his son was destined to serve as a groomsman for Magistrate Yang, which meant he was destined to be beaten, Li Shanchang began to seek a solution from Magistrate Yang, based on the principle of maximizing his own interests.

And the final result was pretty much the same.

Although he couldn't get a complete solution that he could directly copy, the ideas provided by Magistrate Yang were enough for Li Shanchang.

After all, Li Shanchang had joined Emperor Zhu when Zhu Chongba was just about to go it alone, and had been advising Emperor Zhu ever since. Sometimes, what he lacked was just a little bit of strategic thinking.

After seeing off Magistrate Yang, Li Shanchang hurriedly went into his study and began writing a memorial to the throne, following Magistrate Yang's train of thought. After finishing the memorial, he went directly to the palace.

Upon seeing Emperor Zhu, Li Shanchang first handed the memorial to Chen Zhong, then bowed to Emperor Zhu and said, "Your Majesty, the Imperial Son-in-Law visited my home today, and I took the opportunity to talk to him about the relocation of people and household registration. Now we have finally made some progress, and I request Your Majesty to review it."

Emperor Zhu was overjoyed and took the memorial from Chen Zhong to read it.

As for Magistrate Yang going to Li Shanchang's house, Emperor Zhu didn't care at all.

After all, Emperor Zhu was well aware of his son-in-law's popularity and knew that Chang Yuchun had helped his son-in-law find a best man, which was why they went to Li Shanchang's house.

More importantly, this old man Li Shanchang seemed to have seen the light at the end of the tunnel. Emperor Zhu even saw in him the same spirited Li Shanchang who had volunteered to join him years ago, determined to make a difference for the people.

After reading the memorial, Emperor Zhu smiled and said, "Good, as expected of Brother Shanchang, you are very thoughtful."

Li Shanchang cupped his hands and said, "Your Excellency is too kind. Many of the ideas in this memorial were proposed by the Imperial Son-in-Law. I merely copied and improved them. I dare not accept Your Excellency's praise."

Emperor Zhu laughed heartily and said, "Brother Shanchang, you're too kind. We know that scoundrel perfectly well. His all sorts of crazy ideas are always just a whim. If it weren't for Brother Shanchang refining them for him, ha~"

After mocking Magistrate Yang a few times, Emperor Zhu waved the memorial in his hand and looked at Li Shanchang, asking, "However, Brother Shanchang, do you think Wang Guangyang is up to the task?"

Li Shanchang was slightly taken aback, and tentatively asked, "What does 'taking the throne' mean?"

Emperor Zhu put down the memorial, frowned, and said, "Wang Guangyang is honest, prudent, and self-disciplined. We can certainly trust him to serve as the advisor to Shandong Province."

"To be honest, Brother Shanchang, if it weren't for Ningyang County, we would prefer to transfer Wang Guangyang to Shaanxi to serve as a councilor."

"With him here, the people will surely be able to be brought back to peace quickly."

"But the household registration system reform and salt administration reform are messy things that require an enterprising official. Being as lenient and prudent as Wang Guangyang is not necessarily a good thing."

Upon hearing this, Li Shanchang hummed in response, then lowered his head to consider for a moment before suddenly raising his head and looking at Emperor Zhu, saying, "Your Majesty, we can find a second Wang Guangyang to preside over Shaanxi, but Shandong absolutely cannot do without Wang Guangyang."

Emperor Zhu was slightly taken aback, and Li Shanchang continued, "The biggest problem in Ningyang County right now is that many of the plans that the Imperial Son-in-Law had already set are not easy for others to take over. Otherwise, it would be best to transfer the Imperial Son-in-Law to Dengzhou."

Upon hearing Li Shanchang's words, Emperor Zhu nodded unconsciously, and couldn't help but feel a little regretful in his heart.

I was too hasty back then. I rushed to upgrade Ningyang County to be directly under the Central Secretariat and promoted that scoundrel to a sixth-rank county magistrate. Now it won't be easy to transfer him to another place. It will take at least another two or three years.

However, Li Shanchang stroked his beard and said, "But, since the Prince Consort is already the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonies and the Magistrate of Ningyang County, it seems reasonable for him to also take on the post of Magistrate of Dengzhou."

Emperor Zhu suddenly felt a little tempted.

If Li Shanchang's memorial were tested in Shandong, Wang Guangyang might not be able to handle it well, given that Wang Guangyang is too lenient and cautious.

However, the significance of piloting this in Ningyang County is not very great, since Ningyang County is ultimately just a small county with less than a thousand households, and its impact is ultimately insufficient.

But it's different in Dengzhou.

First of all, Dengzhou covers a large area. The city of Hongzhou, which was completely submerged, was originally under the jurisdiction of Dengzhou. The coastal fields where salt fields were to be established were also under the jurisdiction of Dengzhou Prefecture.

Secondly, there are several counties under Dengzhou's jurisdiction, and the situation in each county is different. The difficulty of governing Dengzhou is completely different from the difficulty of governing a single county. Since Yang Dianfeng is to be left to Biao'er, then he must have sufficient experience in governing a local area.

After pondering it over for a while, Emperor Zhu simply smiled and said to Li Shanchang, "Let's think about this matter some more. Anyway, there's still quite a long time before his marriage, so there's no rush."

……

After Li Shanchang left, Emperor Zhu couldn't wait to go to Kunning Palace and found Empress Ma, who was cleaning Kunning Palace with Zhu Biao, Zhu Lao Er, and Zhu Lao San.

Emperor Zhu pulled Empress Ma to sit on a stool, held her hand, and asked, "Sister, what do you think about promoting that scoundrel?"

Empress Ma was slightly taken aback and asked, "A promotion? How do you plan to give him a superior position?"

Emperor Zhu chuckled and first showed Empress Ma Li Li Shanchang's memorial. Then he explained, "Ningyang County is still too small. So we want to send him to Dengzhou to be the prefect of Dengzhou, or even upgrade Dengzhou to a prefecture and let him be the prefect of Dengzhou. Then we can let him try out these messy new policies in Dengzhou."

Empress Ma rubbed her forehead and looked at Emperor Zhu, saying, "It's the New Year, can't you put these things aside for now and wait until after the New Year?"

Empress Ma's words caused Emperor Zhu to chuckle awkwardly twice, saying, "I was a little impatient, but..."

Empress Ma smiled and looked at Emperor Zhu, advising, "This isn't some urgent military matter. We can afford not to celebrate the New Year, but can we prevent all the civil and military officials from celebrating? Can we prevent the common people from celebrating the New Year?"

Emperor Zhu whispered, "My sister is right, it's New Year's, it's New Year's."

Empress Ma continued, "After the New Year, you can discuss this matter with Li Shanchang and the others. Whether Dengzhou should be upgraded to a prefecture, and what to do after the upgrade, these things need to be discussed slowly."