Chapter 159 Lao Zhu: Do you want to teach us to be an emperor?
"Taizu, the risk for you is too great."
"If one of us fails, not only will our Zhu family's world be easier for others, but the whole world will be in chaos."
When he returned to the monastery, Emperor Jiajing saw that all the eunuchs had retreated, and he couldn't help but look at Zhu Yuanzhang with worry on his face.
"oh?"
"Then tell me, what should I do?" Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Emperor Jiajing with interest, and really wanted to hear what Emperor Jiajing had to say.
"Perhaps you don't quite understand the current situation in Ming Dynasty. Then I... ah no, grandson, let me tell you about it!"
Emperor Jiajing was worthy of his intelligence. He was more enlightened than Emperor Chongzhen. He quickly adapted to his status in just one night, and even silently added seniority to himself.
"Taizu, my grandson has been reading Taizu's Quotations and the history of the Hongwu period every day for these years, so he knows very well what happened to you at that time. At that time, you were just the founder of the country, and you had the army in your hands. Naturally,
Nothing goes wrong.”
"But now the situation is much more complicated than at your time. The Ming Dynasty's army has long been useless, and even if it exists, it is controlled by civilian officials."
"If we don't divide the civil servants into two factions and let them fight with each other, then our Zhu family will be emptied by them."
"Sun'er adheres to this principle and has taken the initiative to divide the entire civil service group from the early days of his administration."
"This is the case from Yang Yiqing to Zhang Cong to Zhang Fuking, Fang Xianfu, Xia Yan, Yan Song, and Xu Jie. Let them compete for power and gain, and the grandson can just sit on the Diaoyutai and control the overall situation."
"As emperors, we don't need to do things personally. That would be too disgraceful!" Emperor Jiajing said with a smile.
"Go on!" Zhu Yuanzhang looked at this smart and unscrupulous descendant with a half-smile.
"Now Yan Song serves as the first assistant and leads the Yan Party to control the dynasty. Xu Jie serves as the second assistant and leads the Qingliu Party to check and balance. Although the Yan Party is domineering and it is indeed time to depose him, this does not happen overnight. We need
Do it slowly!”
"If you directly arrest Yan Shifan and convict him now, you are just trying to scare the enemy. The Yan Party will fight back!" Emperor Jiajing said.
"How will they fight back?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked, squinting his eyes.
"If my prediction is correct, they will report the disaster first, and at the same time the court's taxes will be reduced. If Yan Shifan is not released by then, civil unrest will start in various places."
"Now half of the imperial court, as well as the entire two capitals and thirteen provinces belong to them. If they don't do things sincerely and instead cause chaos, the entire imperial court will immediately become chaotic."
"Is this what Taizu wants to see?" Emperor Jiajing asked.
Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang deep in thought,
Emperor Jiajing suddenly became more energetic. He felt that the Taizu was indeed not as good at controlling the affairs of the court as he was.
After all, during the Taizu period, the world was immediately obtained, and there was no need to pay attention to political balance.
But that's not the case now. The power of the emperor in the Ming Dynasty is no longer as strong as it was during the Zhu Yuanzhang period in the early Ming Dynasty. If he was forced to mess around, big trouble would happen.
This is his reflection on his more than forty years as emperor.
He felt that it was necessary for him to teach Taizu how to be the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
"Taizu, in my opinion, you should not admit that you have read this memorial at all. In this way, there will still be room for change, and the situation of Yan Dang and Qingliu still being able to fight without breaking through. At the very least,
Let’s first get through the current situation of Japanese chaos in the southeast and the lack of money for the court.”
"Then when the Yan Party relaxes its vigilance, we can then join forces with the Qingliu Party to liquidate the Yan Party."
"Of course it's not too late now. After the Yan Party makes some counterattacks, you can pretend to compromise and release Yan Shifan!"
"There is another advantage of doing this, that is, it can gain the support of Qingliu, so that they can deal with the Yan Party with more common hatred!" Emperor Jiajing expressed his thoughts.
He suddenly felt that teaching Zhu Yuanzhang to be emperor was really an exciting thing.
"Okay, let's see if this Yan Song will fight back like you said!" Zhu Yuanzhang is now very good at cultivating Qi. If twenty years ago, someone would have dared to teach him how to do things in front of him like Jiajing,
He had already slapped the big-eared melon seeds.
"Taizu, I think you want to...!" Emperor Jiajing felt unsatisfied and wanted to continue teaching Zhu Yuanzhang.
"go away!"
"Do you really think you can teach us how to do things?" Zhu Yuanzhang, who had been so kind just now, suddenly became impatient, causing Emperor Jiajing's face to turn red instantly.
But seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's expression, Emperor Jiajing knew very well and crouched silently in the corner.
Mao Xiang, who watched the whole process next to him, was having a hard time holding back his laughter.
This Emperor Jiajing was really brave. He was probably the first person in the world who dared to teach Emperor Hongwu to become emperor.
At the same time, in Prince Yu's mansion.
Xu Jie, who had just arrived from Xiyuan, reported the details of his meeting with Zhu Yuanzhang to King Yu one by one.
There were two important ministers listening nearby.
The first assistant in the Longqing Dynasty was Gao Gong, and the first assistant in the early Wanli Dynasty was Zhang Juzheng.
Together with Xu Jie, the three of them historically dominated the direction of the Ming Empire in the next twenty to thirty years.
"Nonsense!"
"When did the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty have to go to the local government to investigate a case?"
"How could this be His Majesty's decision?"
"It must be Yan Songjin who is slandering!"
"This must be a conspiracy of the Yan Party!" Gao Gong first slapped the table.
"I don't think so!" Xu Jie shook his head.
"But no matter what, we still have to advise. Now that Yan Shifan has been arrested and sent to Zhao Prison, it is the time to liquidate the Yan Party. Yan Song cannot be allowed to go to Zhejiang at this time, otherwise something might happen!"
Xu Jie said with a sad look on his face.
Next to him, the future Emperor of Longqing, Zhu Zaijing, looked at this and that. He always felt that the matter was a bit big, but he had no idea at all.
Zhang Juzheng had not participated in the conversation between several people. No one noticed that Zhang Juzheng's eyes were so bright and scary at this moment.
Unlike Gao Gong and Xu Jie's worries, he smelled something unusual.
He has a secret that he has never told anyone.
When he reached the level of Confucianism and Taoism, he awakened a very special talent.
He could see the direction of the entire Ming Empire's national destiny through his talent.
Ever since he awakened this talent, in his eyes, the Ming Dynasty's national destiny has been declining, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not change it even one bit.
This gave him a deep sense of despair.
But just last night, he suddenly discovered that Ming's national fortunes had soared.
And it has continued to rise slowly since last night. Especially half an hour ago, when Zhu Yuanzhang summoned Yan Song and Xu Jie, the national fortunes surged again.
Zhang Juzheng had never seen anything that could cause such a surge in national fortunes. He had previously speculated that it might be related to Emperor Jiajing.
Now that he heard what Xu Jie said, it immediately confirmed more than half of his guesses.
"That's right, the emperor must have changed his mind!"
"It can cause such a big improvement in the national destiny. You don't have to think about it to know that it has changed for the better!"
At this moment, Zhang Juzheng breathed a long sigh of relief for no reason.
To be honest, after awakening his talent, he has always had a sense of responsibility, a sense of responsibility for Ming Dynasty.
He felt that this was a mission given to him by God, to save the Ming Dynasty from fire and water, and to turn the tide when the building was about to collapse.
But the feeling of despair oppressed him before and he was a little breathless. He was powerless. Although he was full of strategies, he was unable to do anything and could only stand aside and worry.
He deeply realizes how insignificant he is when facing a country.
But today for the first time he saw a glimmer of light in his despair.
"The Ming Dynasty can still be saved." He said to himself in his heart.
"Mr. Ge, we heard that Mr. Ge was imprisoned in Zhao Prison!"
"What on earth is going on?" On the other side of Yan Song's mansion, a group of important officials from the imperial court also gathered.
Seeing Yan Song enter the house, a group of people immediately gathered around him.
"There has been a change in the situation!"
"The emperor wants to send me to Zhejiang to handle the Xinanjiang embankment bursting and subsequent corruption cases!" Yan Song did not mention Yan Shifan's matter, but sat down tremblingly, looking at everyone present one by one,
spoke at the same time.
"This... is there any reason in the world for the chief minister of the cabinet to go to the local area to handle a case?"
"In the Ming Dynasty, there were so many things in the two capitals and thirteen provinces waiting for Mr. Ge's instructions. How could Mr. Ge leave?"
When a group of people heard this, their faces changed to varying degrees.
Yan Shifan was arrested and Yan Song left for Zhejiang. Does this mean that the Yan Party will fall?
If the Yan Party collapses, will they be liquidated?
Everyone began to feel frightened in their hearts.
"Mr. Ge, the emperor must have been deceived by a traitor. We will jointly submit a letter to clarify the grievances of Mr. Ge, so that the emperor can withdraw his order to send Mr. Ge south, and at the same time thoroughly investigate the traitor." Yan Maoqing said.
With him as a strict general taking the lead, a group of people suddenly became noisy.
Yan Song pondered for a moment and finally said: "Wouldn't it be better to give it a try?"
"Mao Qing, I will leave the specific matters to you. I still have to set off south first. After all, the emperor's orders are difficult to deal with."
"If you have any results, tell me quickly and I will come back!"
After hearing Yan Song's words, everyone nodded and approved of Yan Song's actions.
After everyone left, Yan Song sat alone in the rocking chair and once again began to recall every detail of his meeting and conversation with Zhu Yuanzhang.
What he remembered most deeply was Zhu Yuanzhang's final words to Xu Jie.
"In the future, the Ming Dynasty will no longer need a strict party. What the Ming Dynasty needs is officials who can do things!"
Yan Song chewed these two sentences silently.
He had served Jiajing for decades, and what he was best at was trying to figure out the superior's intentions. He felt that this sentence was not only for Xu Jie, but also for himself.
Coupled with the fact that he was ordered to rectify Zhejiang's officialdom, it was obvious that he was trying to separate himself from Party Strict!
"But if I don't have the talisman of Yan Dang, can I really live?"
"Even if the emperor really doesn't pursue him, but how many people have he killed over the years, can the relatives, friends and former officials of those people really let him go?" Yan Song squinted his eyes slightly and thought silently.
"And the most important point is whether the emperor's abnormal behavior today was a sudden whim or whether Ming's innocence has changed. This requires him to take another look."
"It just so happened that Zhu Yuanzhang gave him the opportunity to leave the political whirlpool of Beijing. He could go to Zhejiang and watch the changes in Beijing with a cold eye. With Yan Maoqing and the others' noisy probing, he would soon be able to see clearly whether the world of Ming Dynasty has changed.
…….”
Three days later, in the Nuan Pavilion of Xiyuan, Zhu Yuanzhang threw the memorial in his hand on the table.
Since he replaced Jiajing's position, he has taken back the power of approving red papers as a matter of course.
There was no way he would leave such an important matter as praising the red to the eunuch.
Next to him, Emperor Jiajing saw that Zhu Yuanzhang had finally rested, and very clumsily brought a cup of brewed ginseng tea to Zhu Yuanzhang.
After following Zhu Yuanzhang these past few days, he became more and more certain that this was Taizu Emperor Gao himself.
After all, there is probably no one in the past dynasties except Taizu and Emperor Gao who can spend eight hours reading memorials out of twelve hours a day.
To be honest, Emperor Jiajing admired this very much.
Anyway, since he delegated the power of approving red papers to the Supervisor of Ceremonies twenty years ago, he has rarely read memorials.
"We have been reading for a long time, and all the memorials are for Yan Song to plead for mercy. These officials in the court have taken my words as nonsense and want to make me hold back!"
Zhu Yuanzhang took the tea handed over by Emperor Jiajing and took a sip with a cold expression on his face.
Ninety percent of the memorials he reviewed in the past three days were very consistent in content. They were all about one thing: interceding for Yan Song and interceding for Yan Shifan.
It seems that he still overestimated the extent of political corruption in the Jiajing Dynasty.
He originally thought that at least 30% of the officials in the court were still available, but now it seems that only 20% is available.
"I have two capitals and thirteen provinces in the Ming Dynasty. Is there nothing else we can do?"
"Are all officials so idle?" The expression on Zhu Yuanzhang's face became increasingly cold.
"Taizu, this is Party Yan's demonstration against you!" Emperor Jiajing reminded him at the right time.
"Humph, we can see it even if you don't tell us!"
"This is not a demonstration against us, but against you, Emperor Jiajing!"
"Don't you feel ashamed? You're licking your face and laughing in front of us!"
"Dasun, take him out and give us a good beating!" Zhu Yuanzhang said through gritted teeth.
From the time he entered this world until now, he has never beaten Emperor Jiajing, but now he can't help it anymore.
The mess left by this unscrupulous descendant was too messy.
"Okay, great!"
Zhu Yuanzhang walked to the window with his hands behind his back and narrowed his eyes slightly.
Since he came to this world, he has seen that not only Jiajing, an unworthy descendant, wants to teach him how to be an emperor, but every civil and military person in the entire dynasty wants to teach him how to be an emperor!"
"Lu Fang!" He shouted outside.
"My servant is here!" Lu Fang, who was secretly practicing the "Sunflower Collection" outside, heard this and hurried in to listen to the order.
"The Cabinet and the Six Ministries of the Ming Dynasty will hold a meeting tomorrow. All officials above the sixth rank in Beijing will participate. No leave or absence will be allowed. Anyone who refuses to comply will be punished with the crime of deceiving the emperor."