During the morning session of the next day, several major events occurred one after another that shocked both the government and the public.
As the morning dynasty began, when Emperor Deqing arrived at the Hall of Supreme Harmony and was about to announce to the officials that Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing were temporarily out of the capital for inspection, he suddenly saw several court officials eager to take the initiative.
Jumped out.
After these officials came out, they all violently impeached Fang Shiwen, the former minister of Dali Temple who was about to be appointed governor of Shandong. They said that during his tenure as minister of Dali Temple, Fang Shiwen had repeatedly abused his power for personal gain and judged a large number of unjust, false and wrong cases, which made the people complain.
This is true if the country does not rule the country.
Interestingly, when these officials were impeaching Fang Shiwen, they also stated that they did not have any conclusive evidence, but the current minister of Dali Temple, the great scholar Yang Xun, had collected a large amount of personal and material evidence, which was enough to prove Fang Shiwen's various crimes.
This matter was naturally planned by Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen, and it was also one of the various countermeasures they agreed upon during their conversation yesterday.
In fact, Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing had made a deal long ago to try to overthrow Fang Shiwen and make the position of Shandong Governor vacant again. Then the two parties jointly supported Zhao Junchen's cronies, and Shandong Chief Minister Li Lide took over as Shandong Governor.
Zhao Junchen reciprocated the vacancy and fully supported Lu Yuanan, the former governor of Shandong who had just been dismissed not long ago, to take over the vacancy of governor of Shaanxi.
Originally, matters like this involving the feudal officials had to be solved slowly and through a lot of temple disputes and interest exchanges. Moreover, Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing initially hoped that Yang Xun, the current Minister of Dali Temple,
He personally stepped forward to bring down Fang Shiwen, believing that Yang Xun had always been intolerant of criticism. When he discovered Fang Shiwen's various crimes over the years, he would definitely stand up and publicly impeach him as soon as possible.
Who would have thought that although Yang Xun was intolerant of criticism and had a fair personality, he had always been rigorous in doing things and valued the most conclusive evidence during trial and conviction, so Yang Xun heard about Fang Shiwen's various crimes from Zhao Junchen
After that, he did not immediately jump out to express his stance on impeachment. During this period, he had been trying to collect personal and material evidence, planning to wait until all the evidence was irrefutable before he came forward to impeach Fang Shiwen's crimes to Emperor Deqing.
At the beginning, Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing were not in a hurry for the past few days, and had been waiting patiently. But now the situation in the temple has undergone major changes, and both of them will be out of Beijing for inspection in the next period of time.
Naturally, this matter cannot be delayed any longer, otherwise the positions of governor of Shandong and governor of Shaanxi will most likely fall into the hands of others.
It was precisely out of this consideration that Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen arranged for some court officials to take the lead in impeaching Fang Shiwen, in order to force Yang Xun to express his attitude in advance and expose Fang Shiwen's crimes, so that they could stop him before they left the capital.
Instead, Fang Shiwen took the opportunity to confirm the appointment of the governor of Shandong and the governor of Shaanxi.
The subsequent development of this matter was just as Zhou and Zhao had expected. When Emperor Deqing heard that Yang Xun had obtained a large number of personal and material evidence, he immediately consulted Yang Xun for his opinion.
Facing Emperor Deqing's inquiry, Yang Xun had no choice but to report all the evidence he had so far.
In the eyes of a legal expert like Yang Xun, the evidence he currently has is still not conclusive and thorough enough, and there is still a possibility of overturning the verdict. However, Emperor Deqing is not as rigorous as Yang Xun. When he heard that Yang
After all the evidence reported by Xun, Fang Shiwen's crime was confirmed on the spot.
Under such circumstances, coupled with the impeachment of Zhao's two party officials last week, and the indignity of some neutral officials, it created a situation where people and gods were angry. Emperor Deqing did not hesitate at all, and quickly dismissed Fang Shiwen.
Dismissed from office and convicted.
In the eyes of Emperor Deqing, Fang Shiwen was just a dispensable person from beginning to end, and he would not hesitate in dealing with it.
But when things developed to this point, with Fang Shiwen being dismissed and convicted before taking office, the topic in the morning court quickly turned to the appointment of Shandong governor.
At the same time, the position of governor of Shaanxi, which had been vacant for several months, was also mentioned again by some officials.
The appointment of two feudal officials naturally triggered fierce competition and quarrels between the various factions in the DPRK and China.
Under such circumstances, officials from the "Zhou Party" and "Zhao Party", led by Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen, stepped forward to express their support for Li Lide and Lu Yuanan to serve as governors of Shandong and Shaanxi respectively.
position, acting like he is destined to win.
Although Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen are the two most powerful officials in the temple, and the "Zhou Party" and "Zhao Party" are also the largest factions in the temple, the temptation of feudal officials is too great, even for Zhou
, Zhao and Zhao joined forces, and the candidates they recommended still caused a lot of controversy.
In fact, it is normal for these disputes to arise, because Li Lide and Lu Yuanan do have many shortcomings. Among them, Li Lide has only served as the chief envoy of Shandong for more than a year, and his qualifications and achievements are both insufficient.
And Lu Yuanan was convicted and dismissed by the court not long ago. It can be said that the current situation of these two people is not suitable for serving as the court's frontier officials.
However, amid such controversy, Emperor Deqing, after a period of silence and reflection, unexpectedly expressed his support for Li Lide and Lu Yuanan to serve as governors of Shandong and Shaanxi respectively.
In this way, when Emperor Deqing, Zhao Junchen, and Zhou Shangjing stood on the same position, the general trend was determined. No matter how unsuitable Li Lide and Lu Yuanan were to serve as governors of Shandong and Shaanxi, this matter
It was still decided in this way, and those forces and officials who were jealous of the position of feudal official could only give up.
The reason why Emperor Deqing chose to support Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen's proposal to let Li Lide and Lu Yuanan serve as governors of Shandong and Shaanxi respectively was also very simple - if this matter continued to be debated, it would definitely take a long time.
Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen must also be unwilling to give up, which will inevitably affect Emperor Deqing's plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain.
Therefore, out of overall consideration, Emperor Deqing was extremely rare and directly supported Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen's proposal to support their cronies, which also allowed the matter to be settled quickly - this was also the reason why Zhou and Zhao were selected.
Another important reason to act at this time.
For the sake of greater and longer-term interests, Emperor Deqing did not mind making slight concessions on small short-term interests. Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen also understood Emperor Deqing's style, so the two of them often took advantage of Deqing.
Emperor Qing's style was somewhat advantageous.
*
After Fang Shiwen was convicted and dismissed, and the vacancies of governors in Shandong and Shaanxi were agreed upon, Emperor Deqing calmed down a little and was about to mention again that Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen were about to go out for inspection in Beijing, but instead
I saw Zhao Junchen again eagerly showing up to present the memorial.
Next, compared to Fang Shiwen's various crimes, the content of Zhao Junchen's report was even more shocking to all officials. Zhao Junchen first enumerated the various natural and man-made disasters in various parts of the Ming Dynasty in recent years, and then reported to Emperor Deqing
I made a detailed calculation with all the officials in the court.
Since this year, due to various natural and man-made disasters, how much grain is expected to be harvested in various parts of the imperial court?
In the second half of the year, how much food must the imperial court prepare to provide relief to victims in various places?
At the same time, how much available grain is left in the granaries across the imperial court?
Wait, wait, etc., it can be said to be extremely detailed, and the numbers are all astronomical.
In the end, Zhao Junchen's final conclusion was that the court would have a shortfall of 30 million stones of food and grass this year. The food shortage was already a major concern for the court. If the court could not make up for these shortfalls in time before autumn this year, then it would have to wait until the end of the year.
Nowadays, there may be millions of people fleeing famine in various parts of the country!
Zhao Junchen suddenly mentioned the serious food shortage problem in the court again, but it was not one of the countermeasures agreed in advance with Zhou Shangjing, but Zhao Junchen acted without authorization.
The reason why Zhao Junchen would do this is also very simple. When he discovered that Emperor Deqing and Zhou Shangjing were probably working together to plot against him, but he couldn't figure out their specific methods anyway, naturally he felt in his heart
I was so anxious and uneasy that I didn't sleep all night last night. Now my eyes were bloodshot and there were obvious dark circles.
Therefore, Zhao Junchen once again emphasized the food shortage in the court, and his tone was also bitter, just to remind Emperor Deqing and Zhou Shangjing again that now is not the time to kill the donkey, if you really want to plot against me
, we can’t kill them all, so we should be gentler?
In fact, this time it was Zhao Junchen who was overly worried. Emperor Deqing just wanted to thoroughly confirm whether Zhao Junchen was loyal or traitorous. Zhou Shangjing also just wanted to strengthen Emperor Deqing's determination to completely eradicate Zhao Junchen to avoid future troubles.
It was just to speed up the process of Zhao Junchen's demise, but both of them also understood that the donkey Zhao Junchen was still needed to continue to grind, so it was not the best time to kill him.
According to Emperor Deqing's thinking, if Zhao Junchen could abide by his duties as a minister when he was put to the test and resolutely refuse the border general's offer to surrender, then considering Zhao Junchen's various achievements and future historical evaluation, then Emperor Deqing would also
We will seriously consider giving Zhao Junchen a good death, but only if Zhao Junchen is willing to voluntarily give up all his power, and perhaps half of his family wealth.
On the other hand, if Zhao Junchen is really ambitious and is proven to want to interfere with military power, then Emperor Deqing will not immediately take action against Zhao Junchen. Instead, he will treat Zhao Junchen more "trustingly" in the future, but as long as he waits until the court
After overcoming the immediate food shortage, Zhao Junchen and his cronies would soon face disaster. By then, Emperor Deqing would have had conclusive evidence that Zhao Junchen had evil intentions and colluded with military generals, even if he used violent means to kill Zhao Junchen.
, and there is no need to worry about history books criticizing him as being mean and unkind and not accepting meritorious officials.
Therefore, even if Zhao Junchen really jumped into the pit, he could still survive for a year or two, but the countdown to his destruction would be waiting for him.
There is no need to mention Emperor Deqing's thoughts, but after hearing the astronomical numbers listed by Zhao Junchen, the officials immediately started talking again.
The millions-scale refugee rebellion cannot be overemphasized.
Then, after a period of discussion and debate, the officials quickly came to a definite conclusion, that is - Zhao Junchen, you must work extra hard to raise food and grass this year!
Although this conclusion makes people laugh or cry, it is also the conclusion that Zhao Junchen is most happy to see at the moment.
On the other side, Emperor Deqing's expression became more and more serious, but he was not frightened by the astronomical figures listed by Zhao Junchen. He just encouraged Zhao Junchen with a few words and took the opportunity to announce to the officials that Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing
The two of them are about to go on a tour of Beijing.
Since the food shortage is the top priority of the court, it is natural for Zhao Junchen to go north to inspect Liaodong and take the opportunity to reduce the cost of border defense in Liaodong, and then to have Zhou Shangjing go south to inspect the current situation of floods in Henan and assess the court's follow-up situation.
After hearing Emperor Deqing's announcement, the officials were naturally in an uproar again. They felt that the various things that happened in the court this morning were really dizzying, and major events that could shock the government and the public came one after another.
Regarding the matter of Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen going out to the capital at the same time for inspection, not only was Emperor Deqing's firm attitude, Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen also acquiesced and did not object. Therefore, although this matter had a greater impact in the eyes of the officials, it did not appear
In any dispute, everyone is only thinking about the changes in the temple situation in the future.
For a moment, the Hall of Supreme Harmony fell into an eerie silence.
In such an eerie quiet atmosphere, the day's morning session came to an end quickly.
Afterwards, Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen were about to leave the center of the capital and go on inspections in the north and south.
Under such circumstances, the situation in the temple will inevitably move in an unpredictable direction.
…
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PS: This chapter does not have any dialogue or detailed descriptions, so it is naturally a bit dry.
But this plot is just a transition after all. If dialogue and detailed descriptions were added, it would be impossible to write in ten thousand words. Zhao Junchen hinted that the part where he asked Emperor Deqing and Zhou Shangjing not to kill the donkey could probably be written.
It's a bit more interesting, but overall it's still too watery and draggy.
So Chongzi thought about it over and over, but could never find a better way to deal with it. In the end, he decided to just talk about it in a straightforward way. Please forgive me.