Chapter 1504. Catch them all in one fell swoop (End)
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Song Jicheng's words were obviously confusing right and wrong, telling lies with open eyes, and misinterpreting the previous poor performances of the Jin gentry forces as "taking the overall situation into consideration" and "deliberate tolerance."
The public debate has reached this point. After a series of wonderful performances by the debate representatives from the Huangzhuang force and witnessing the shortcomings of the debate representatives from the Jin gentry force, people from all walks of life in Nanjing who were watching have already expressed their feelings towards the Jin gentry.
His favor with the power dropped drastically. At this time, he naturally didn't believe Song Jicheng's forcible attempt to regain his respect.
However, Song Jicheng's sudden rise to speak also successfully attracted everyone's attention. The debate representatives from both sides and the audience all focused their attention on Song Jicheng.
Song Jicheng's expression was still sincere and modest, but deep in his eyes flashed a hint of pride and excitement. Pride was because he was very satisfied with the feeling of being under the spotlight, and excitement was because he knew very well that his next speech would definitely
Turning the situation around in one fell swoop, the Seventh Prince and the Huangzhuang forces all wanted to surrender under his words. As for Song Jicheng himself, he would become a saint in public and become famous all over the world because of this public debate!
"...under such circumstances, we, the gentry, cannot fight back and argue, and can only be passively scolded. We are obviously compromising for the sake of the overall situation, but we are not human inside and out, and our reputation is in ruins, so this junior proposes..."
But just when Song Jicheng wanted to start his performance, the debate representatives of the Jin gentry forces around him began to play the role of pig teammates.
Probably because he had been repeatedly exposed by the debate representatives of the Huangzhuang forces, his face was greatly damaged. After Wang Jiahe, the head of the Wang family, heard Song Jicheng's forced respect, he seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw and was eager to take the opportunity to save his face.
Therefore, before Song Jicheng finished speaking, Wang Jiahe hurriedly stood up and spoke first, shouting loudly: "Yes! Yes! That's it! I just kept silent just for the sake of the overall situation and to try my best to maintain the reputation and dignity of the imperial court.
, that’s why I turned a blind eye to the unreasonable slander and frame-up by the Huangzhuang forces. It’s definitely not because I’m at a loss for words…”
The next moment, several other debate representatives of the Jin gentry forces were also eager to save the face they had just lost, and they also scrambled to stand up and express their positions.
"As Song Xian's nephew said, we, the Jin gentry, were completely concerned about the difficulty of governing the Ming Dynasty and could not bear to lose the support of the people, so we turned our backs on ourselves and did not fight back..."
"It's just a shame... our Jin gentry's consideration of the overall situation and deliberate tolerance has been misinterpreted by some villains as a guilty conscience. It's really chilling. Loyalty to the emperor and country... is really not easy!"
Seeing several other representatives of the Jin gentry directly interrupting his speech and impatiently rushing to steal the show, Song Jicheng immediately frowned and his eyes turned cold.
Although these representatives of the Jin gentry were all leaders of Jiangnan's wealthy families, and they were all world-famous contemporary scholars, Song Jicheng did not intend to condone them at this time. He immediately raised his hand and bent his fingers, and tapped the dwarf in front of him hard.
Desktop.
The loud and muffled sound caused by this knock immediately startled several other debating representatives of the Jin gentry forces.
Under the glances of several representatives of the Jin gentry, Song Jicheng slowly said: "Seniors and juniors also know that you have been slandered and criticized just now. Naturally, you are very aggrieved, and you are even more eager to show everyone the innocence of us Jiangnan gentry.
and patriotism, but now... seniors, can you please be patient for a moment and let the juniors finish speaking?"
When speaking, Song Jicheng seemed expressionless and remained humble, but his words were unceremonious.
Among the other four debate representatives of the Jin gentry forces, Du Yuande, the patriarch of the Du family in northern Anhui, and Wang Jiahe, Du, the head of the Wang family in Nanjing, were long-time friends of Song Jicheng's father and the Minister of Civil Affairs, Song Qiwen. As for the Bai family in northern Jiangxi,
The scholar Lao Bai Cunshou and Zhang Jing, the two senior members of the Zhang family in Suzhou, were even friends with the old head of the Song family, Song Jicheng's grandfather Song Chengren.
Therefore, to these people, Song Jicheng is just a junior, and Song Jicheng himself has always been humble and respectful in front of them.
In the eyes of all walks of life in Nanjing, the reason why Song Jicheng, the direct grandson of the Song family, became the fifth representative of the Jin gentry forces in the debate was simply because the wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River thought they were sure of victory and wanted to take the opportunity to sell the Song family to give Song Jicheng, a junior, a face.
It was an opportunity to show his face and make a name for himself, and Song Chengren, the head of the Song family, was placed under house arrest by Jinyiwei just yesterday. The Jin gentry forces deliberately arranged for Song Jicheng to appear in public, which was also a means of protest and demonstration to emphasize the unity of the Jin gentry forces.
No one ever expected Song Jicheng to play a key role in this debate.
But at this moment, Song Jicheng actually showed no humility and low posture as before. Not only did he look cold and solemn, but his words also had an unquestionable flavor, which could be described as being unceremonious.
But after seeing Song Jicheng's unabashedly cold face, the other four debate representatives of the Jin gentry forces were either shocked by this contrast in attitude, or were afraid of the huge influence of the Song family. For a while, they were all given to Song Jicheng.
Frightened.
After the scene was slightly deserted for a moment, Wang Jiahe, the head of the Wang family who was the first to interrupt, also reacted first. He sat back in his seat with a sneer and nodded: "Yes, Song Xiannephew should be the first to finish what he said. I want to come to Song Dynasty."
My wise nephew has great ideas..."
At the same time, the three debate representatives, Bai Cunshou, Zhang Jing, and Du Yuande, also stopped competing for words and sat back to their seats one after another with complex emotions.
In fact, the reason why these people intimidated Song Jicheng, a junior, at this moment was mainly because after seeing Song Jicheng's cold face and solemn appearance, they mistakenly thought that it was the young head of the Song family, Song Chengren, who was also coming in person.
At times, he is gentle and courteous, and treats others with humility, but at critical times, he is domineering and does not show any face to anyone.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Speaking of which, Song Jicheng is a junior after all. Unless it is a last resort, he is not willing to show his face to several important figures from the prominent Jin gentry family. This moment is really crucial. Song Jicheng
The next speech will not only determine the outcome of this public debate, but also the final direction of the situation in Nanjing.
Therefore, Song Jicheng absolutely did not allow anyone to interrupt his speech at this time, especially not leaving the seventh prince Zhu Hejian more time to think, so that Zhu Hejian could guess the content of his next speech in advance.
It's a pity that Song Jicheng was hindered by the successive comments from several pig teammates and was unable to speak out the most critical information at the first time. The seventh prince Zhu Hejian's sharpness and intelligence far exceeded expectations.
When Zhu Hejian heard Song Jicheng's remarks that emphasized the "overall situation," "people's support," and "the dignity of the court," he quickly realized something, and his expression immediately changed slightly.
Then, taking advantage of Song Jicheng's opportunity to stop several Zhu teammates from competing for words, Zhu Hejian stood up quickly and raised his voice: "What Brother Song and several senior Jinshen said makes sense! After hearing the true feelings expressed by Brother Song and several senior Jinshen,
Only then did I realize the shallowness of my previous proposal. Let the Jin gentry force and the Huangzhuang force each arrange a few representatives to hold a public debate. The final result will inevitably be that the Jin gentry force and the Huangzhuang force accuse each other and smear each other, which will destroy the reputation of both parties.
The damage will lead to a great loss of people's hearts. At that time, the dignity of the court will no longer exist!
All these situations are due to my poor thinking! Fortunately, the Jin gentry is stable and mature, taking the overall situation into consideration, and would rather be wronged than damage the prestige of the court. It is not like me and several representatives of the imperial village who are short-sighted and short-sighted. My father
The emperor always told me that the Jin gentry of our dynasty - especially the Jin gentry of Jiangnan - has always been the foundation of the Ming Dynasty, and now it turns out that it is indeed the case!"
Having said this, Zhu Hejian waved his hand without hesitation: "In short, although it was only in hindsight that I discovered the disadvantages of this public debate until this moment, but fortunately it was too early and things can still be rectified.
There is room for... So I have decided to cancel this public debate immediately! As for the various slanderous accusations made by the several debate representatives of the Huangzhuang forces against various Jin gentry, they also need to apologize in person..."
Hearing Zhu Hejian's statement, everyone present was stunned and in disbelief.
No one expected that Zhu Hejian would overturn his previous decision without warning, directly cancel the continuation of this public debate, and even publicly admit his mistake, claiming to be short-sighted and shallow!
You know, Zhu Hejian is currently the most promising prince to inherit the throne. If he openly admits his mistake and claims to be short-sighted and shallow, isn't he worried about his reputation being damaged?
What's more, Zhu Hejian also publicly claimed that the previous statements of the Huangzhuang forces' debate representatives were all criticism and smearing of the Jin gentry forces, and even suggested that the Huangzhuang forces should publicly apologize to the Jin gentry forces. This is equivalent to the Huangzhuang forces'
I voluntarily admitted defeat in this public debate!
Not everyone is as sharp as Zhu Hejian, who can detect the terrible impact of Song Jicheng's subsequent speech in time, and they cannot understand Zhu Hejian's idea of cutting off the tail to survive and stop the loss in time. For the vast majority of the audience present, Zhu Hejian's attitude at this moment
What he did was simply out of his mind.
On the other side, Song Jicheng was a little frustrated after seeing Zhu Hejian's decisive statement. He knew very well what it meant to end this public debate at this time, and he became increasingly resentful of his teammates for interrupting him just now.
speak.
But the next moment, the solemnity in Song Jicheng's expression became more and more obvious. He once again interrupted Zhu Hejian's speech regardless of his dignity, and shouted at a higher volume: "Your Highness, the Seventh Prince, you just want to end this now."
I'm afraid it's too late for this turmoil! In full view of the public, the debate representatives of the Huangzhuang forces continue to smear us Jiangnan Jin gentry, which has caused irreversible bad effects on the reputation and image of our Jiangnan Jin gentry!
Of course, the students also believe that this public debate should not continue. As the students just said, no matter who wins this public debate, it will only cause unrest in the people's hearts and damage the dignity of the court. However, the conflict between the Jin gentry forces and the Huangzhuang forces
Conflicts, who is right and who is wrong, always need a conclusion!
The students believed that instead of holding a public debate to determine the rights and wrongs, it would be better to let the two sides confront each other in court and leave it to the court to determine the rights and wrongs of the two sides! Therefore, the students boldly suggested that the seventh prince should be asked to start the Sixth Department of Nanjing again to combine the power of the Jin gentry with the imperial village.
Conflicts between forces will be submitted to the joint review of the six ministries in Nanjing!
There are three reasons why the matter was handed over to the Six Ministries of Nanjing for review. First, the Six Ministries of Nanjing have been stationed in Jiangnan for a long time and have the best understanding of the situation of the Jiangnan Jin Gentry and Jiangnan Imperial Village. For example, how much real land the Jiangnan Jin Gentry has, the relevant data are recorded
It is in the yellow list of the Nanjing Household Department; secondly, there has been constant turmoil in Nanjing City recently, and the other major yamen are busy and have no time to be distracted. On the contrary, the Sixth Department of Nanjing was seized by His Highness the Seventh Prince some time ago, and has been free recently;
The third is that the Six Ministries in Nanjing directly take orders from His Majesty, but they are also stationed in Nanjing for a long time. It is up to them to judge the rights and wrongs of both parties, so relatively speaking, their position is the most fair..."
At the risk of committing the following offense and having no respect for others, Song Jicheng finally followed Zhou Shangjing's plan and made such remarks in public.
*
Restart Nanjing Six!
Let the Nanjing Six Ministries regain power!
The conflicts between the Jiangnan Jin gentry and the Jiangnan imperial village were all handed over to the Six Ministries of Nanjing to determine the merits!
People who don’t know the inside story will not be surprised when they hear such remarks. In the eyes of the vast majority of people from all walks of life in Nanjing, although the Nanjing Sixth Department exposed various bad deeds and evil deeds due to the short-term civil unrest in Nanjing some time ago, it was dismissed by the Seventh Department.
Prince Zhu Hejian temporarily took away power, but this loss of power was only a temporary situation, and the Six Ministries of Nanjing would resume operations sooner or later.
But after such remarks fell into Zhu Hejian's ears, they were nothing more than thunder on the ground, and the picture was astonishing!
Although he had a vague premonition, after hearing Song Jicheng's formal proposal, Zhu Hejian couldn't help but sway slightly, which was a big shock.
Because Zhu Hejian knew very well that the real situation of the Nanjing Six Ministries was not that they had temporarily lost power, but that the imperial court wanted to take the opportunity to seize power and take back all the powers of the Nanjing Six Ministries to the central government to further strengthen centralization!
In order to achieve this goal, the imperial court has been secretly planning for more than half a year. First, it took advantage of various opportunities to continuously rectify the Six Ministries of Nanjing, causing the Six Ministries of Nanjing to lose a large number of backbones. Then, it deliberately arranged various incompetent and notorious officials to serve as
The chief minister of the Six Ministries of Nanjing finally created various situations to provoke conflicts between the Six Ministries of Nanjing and various forces in the south of the Yangtze River...
In the end, the Six Ministries of Nanjing naturally lost all their support, and the imperial court center was able to take advantage of the situation and legitimately take back power.
The reason why Zhu Hejian appears in Nanjing today to preside over the overall situation of Nanjing is to implement the last step of this huge plan.
As long as Zhu Hejian successfully completes this plan, Emperor Deqing will be assured of his ability to do things, and he himself can gain great prestige and achievements, and it will be a matter of course for him to take over the position of crown prince.
On the other hand, if Zhu Hejian accidentally messes up this huge plan planned by the center of the imperial court, it means that Zhu Hejian will completely lose all hope of taking over the position of crown prince!
After all, in the eyes of Emperor Deqing and all the central forces in the imperial court, this plan was not only long-planned, but also well prepared, and almost foolproof. Emperor Deqing chose this time to arrange for Zhu Hejian to come to Nanjing to "worship his ancestors." In fact,
Just to pick peaches and use this opportunity to accumulate reputation and achievements for Zhu Hejian.
If Zhu Hejian can mess up even this seemingly foolproof plan, it means that Zhu Hejian is completely an incompetent prince with high ambitions and low hands. Naturally, he cannot be allowed to become the next crown prince!
Zhu Hejian was naturally capable. After he arrived in Nanjing, he quickly manipulated the situation and public sentiment, causing the Nanjing Six Ministries to completely lose the support of all walks of life in Jiangnan, causing all walks of life in Jiangnan to breed hatred against the Nanjing Six Ministries, and then took the opportunity to "temporarily" withdraw them.
Taking away the power of the Nanjing Sixth Department, they also lured some people from all walks of life in Nanjing to send a joint memorandum to the imperial court in the name of "further putting pressure on the Nanjing Sixth Department" and "allowing the Nanjing Sixth Department to remember this lesson."
The power of the Six Ministries in Nanjing.
Next, Zhu Hejian only had to wait for Emperor Deqing's reply, expressing that the imperial court was willing to "comply with public opinion" and to completely take back all the powers of the Six Ministries of Nanjing. By then, it would be done, and the plan would be considered a success!
However, Zhou Shangjing, who had been fully supporting this plan, suddenly stumbled at this critical moment.
Obviously, Song Jicheng's proposal to restart the Six Departments of Nanjing at this time came from Zhou Shangjing's instruction.
Once the Nanjing Six Ministries regain their power and play a role at this time, all walks of life in Nanjing that were originally bound to the Nanjing Six Ministries with deep interests will gradually recall the various benefits that the various powers of the Nanjing Six Ministries have brought to Jiangnan.
Furthermore, their support for the Six Ministries of Nanjing will be restored, and the imperial court's plan to take over power will also undergo great changes!
In this way, there is no hope for Zhu Hejian to take over as the crown prince!
The reason why Zhou Shangjing changed his previous attitude and wanted to restore the power of the Six Ministries of Nanjing without warning was obviously to completely ruin Zhu Hejian's ambition.
"Zhou Shangjing! You old man who has been cut to pieces by a thousand cuts! Are you willing to go against the collective will of all the forces in the imperial court and summon the great hostility of the emperor father, Zhao Junchen and others to destroy the central government's plan to take back power?
Is it just to cut off my chance to take over the position of Crown Prince?"
Thinking of this, Zhu Hejian could still remain calm on the surface, but he was filled with hatred in his heart.
The next moment, Zhu Hejian forcibly regained his reason and calmness, and his brain started to spin again, seizing the time to think about Zhou Shangjing's true intention.
"No! That's not right! Don't let the hatred in your heart go to your head. If it was just to ruin my chance to rise to the top, Zhou Shangjing shouldn't have made such a big move. He has always supported the plan to take over power... The reason why he used Song Jicheng to throw out
The proposal to restart the Nanjing Sixth Department is probably just a cover and a hook, just to force me into a corner with no way out! All of this is just one link in the serial plan he is good at!"
"Zhou Shangjing's real plan is definitely bigger! Not just me, the imperial party or the Zhao party, and even the foundation of his own power - the Jin gentry power, are probably in his calculations! He just wants to
Catch them all in one fell swoop!”
Under crisis and pressure, Zhu Hejian's mind became sharper than ever before.
Then, he finally got a glimpse of Zhou Shangjing's real plan!