Chapter 154. The First Conflict with Emperor Deqing (Part 1).
The so-called "emperor's scheming" is always unfathomable.
At the beginning, the reason why Wen Guanliang suddenly fell from power was because Emperor Deqing did not express his opinion for a long time and allowed officials to criticize and impeach without restraint, which caused the situation that Wan Fu pointed out, which made Wen Guanliang lose his clothes and search for Zhang Gui.
The prestige between the government and the opposition was completely lost, and he finally had to resign and leave?br />
Nowadays, Emperor Deqing is also dissatisfied that the prince Zhu Heyu refutes his good intention to protect him, so at the beginning, he allowed officials from various factions to criticize the prince and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, presumably to teach the prince a lesson.
However, after all, Zhu Heyu was the crown prince and the future emperor. Of course he had to beat him when it was time to beat him, but he also had to continue to protect him when it was time to protect him.
Therefore, just when officials from various factions were about to reach their climax in criticizing and impeaching the prince, Emperor Deqing finally spoke.
"Oh? There was such a big mistake in the preparations for the Southern Tour?" Emperor Deqing seemed to have just learned the news. He looked shocked, and then said angrily: "The Prince came out to speak! The preparations for this Southern Tour are...
You are in charge. Are these things that the officials said true? Did the preparations for the southern tour really cause such great public dissatisfaction? "
It seemed like a question, but in fact it gave the prince a chance to defend himself and put aside the matter of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
After hearing Emperor Deqing's question, the prince looked solemn and stepped out again. He said in a deep voice: "I would like to inform my father that there were indeed many mistakes and incidents in the preparations for the southern tour. Many local officials failed to implement it during the actual implementation.
, deceived the superiors and deceived the inferiors, and took advantage of the opportunity of preparations. There were repeated actions of bullying the people and exploiting the people's wealth. The people were miserable and caused countless complaints. I only got the news a few days ago, but after these few days
A detailed investigation revealed that the matter was not exaggerated and was all true. Although I am the person responsible, I dare not shirk the involvement. I only hope that my father can investigate the case strictly!"
The righteous words spoken by the prince had a convincing temperament. However, as soon as he finished speaking, Shen Changmao suddenly stepped out. He sneered and said: "Your Highness, the prince's words have made you feel clean, as if they all belong to others."
Fault. But since you were solely responsible for the preparations for the southern tour, there were such large-scale mistakes. People everywhere are boiling with resentment. There is no exception. Is it just because of the fault of local officials? Don’t you, Your Highness, have any
Responsibility?"
As expected of Shen Changmao, even Prince Zhu Heyu dared to directly criticize him without even showing any mercy.
Cheng Yuandao, who had just joined the cabinet, came out and retorted: "What Mr. Shen Ge said was wrong. The preparations for the southern tour had its own rules. Although the prince is the person in charge, he is only responsible for coordinating the overall situation.
Allocate silver coins and supervise the progress. The local yamen are specifically responsible for the implementation. Now there are no mistakes in the aspects that the prince is responsible for. Not only is the schedule completed ahead of schedule, but the silver coins are also saved a lot. The problem is that the local yamen bullies the superiors and exploits the people.
!The prince has been staying in the capital. Although he has been deceived by corrupt officials, what fault can he have made?!"
The attitude of the Minister of Rites, Bao Wenjie, was even more treacherous. He went out and said loudly: "Your Majesty, in my opinion, the first responsibility lies with the Ministry of Personnel! There are so many corrupt officials in the local government.
It is a crime of not knowing how to inspect people in the Ministry of Personnel and employing people improperly! I hope Your Majesty will learn from it!"
Shen Changmao's sneer grew thicker: "When the preparations for the southern tour were completed ahead of schedule and you people were praising the prince, why didn't you think of giving the credit to the local government and officials? Now that something has gone wrong, you are thinking of them instead? It turns out that In the preparations for this southern tour, all the credit is the prince's, and any mistakes are the fault of others!? Haha, the prince has always had a reputation as a sage, and now I know how it came about!"
Shen Changmao's words became more and more merciless. After hearing his sarcasm, not only the princes' faces turned pale, but also Emperor Deqing's expressions were unhappy. Although Zhu Heyu was not popular, after all, he was the leader of the current dynasty. Prince!
At this moment, Huang Yourong came out to speak and dissuaded him: "Mr. Shen Ge, be careful what you say! How can you judge His Highness the Crown Prince like this?!"
Then, Huang Yourong apologized to Emperor Deqing and said, "I hope your majesty will forgive me. Mr. Shen Ge is too straightforward and his words have never been measured. But I think that Mr. Shen has no ill intentions. He is just worried about state affairs, so his attitude is a bit more cunning." .”
As always, Shen Changmao and Huang Yourong cooperated tacitly, one sang a black face, and the other sang a white face.
After a pause, Huang Yourong put on a peaceful expression and said in a calm voice: "Not only the veterans, but also the whole court are well aware of the prince's character. The fault in the preparations for this southern tour is definitely not caused by the prince." I wish, if we say that these things happened because of the prince, the reason is far-fetched. But if we blame the local government blindly, it is wrong. As far as the veteran knows?a href='/txt/16711/7020261/'> The Ministry of Household Affairs made preparations for the southern tour and received a total of more than 100,000 taels of silver. Although this was a lot of money, it was used to repair roads. Definitely not much, just barely enough.?br />
After saying that, Huang Yourong shook his head regretfully, sighed, and then said: "However, His Highness the Crown Prince is young after all. Although he is full of enthusiasm, his spirit is not enough. When doing things, he only thinks about saving national power, and he doesn't have much in the first place. He was still frugal and saved eighty-seven thousand taels when it was completed. The money allocated to the local government must be insufficient, and the local government had no choice but to add more money. Taxes have caused the current public grievances. If the prince is really guilty of any crime, it is just that he took it for granted in handling money and then failed to supervise it."
However, Shen Changmao seemed to be at odds with Huang Yourong, and retorted with a sneer: "Is this really true? As far as I know, when the local government was in charge of the specific affairs, the prince often interfered, not only taking care of things, but also blindly adding more According to the progress, if it were not for the intervention of the prince, the local government would not be so urgent in doing things! What Mr. Huang Ge said is too lenient and indulgent."
Huang Yourong looked like he was speaking for the prince and explained: "At most, this is just because the prince still lacks spirit and ability. It is his first time to serve the court, and he is determined to prove his ability to your majesty and the officials, so I'm a little more eager, but if I blame the prince for this, I'm afraid it won't be convincing, right?"
…………
Seeing Zhou Shangjing, Huang Yourong, and Shen Changmao using their own methods, Zhao Junchen stood behind and observed, sighing secretly in his heart.
It is true that there is no simple person who can become the elder of the imperial court.
Zhou Shangjing stopped talking. A seemingly innocuous inquiry reversed the situation in the DPRK and forced the crown prince Zhu Heyu to the edge. Zhao Junchen learned this kind of sophisticated tactics for many years.
As for Shen Changmao and Huang Yourong, although they have been suppressed by Zhou Shangjing, they cannot be underestimated.
Although Shen Changmao's remarks were eloquent, but when you listen carefully, you can't grasp any flaws, and they are so righteous that the prince and the others can only stand by each other and find it difficult to refute.
As for Huang Yourong, he did not change his nature as a smiling tiger. His remarks were like a conciliatory one. He seemed to be speaking for the prince, and even argued with Shen Changmao. However, his words all hinted that the prince had "big ambitions and limited talents" and would take responsibility for his faults. It all goes to the prince!
"If the two of them are allowed to continue to 'debate' like this, the prince, even if he is not guilty at all, will be 'unable to escape' by arguing. Although Huang Yourong and Shen Changmao are usually hostile to each other, But they have a tacit understanding when working together. If there is no rift between the two of them and they can work together, even Zhou Shangjing may not be able to deal with them, right?"
Zhao Junchen thought to himself, and turned to look at Zhou Shangjing, only to see that Zhou Shangjing had now returned to his home, silent and silent, letting his allies and officials charge into the battle, while he himself was hiding behind the scenes and taking control of the overall situation. .
Seeing Zhou Shangjing like this, who would have thought that Zhou Shangjing created this situation by himself?
While Zhao Junchen was thinking secretly, Emperor Deqing also felt that Huang Yourong and Shen Changmao could no longer continue to "debate", especially Huang Yourong. How could he help the prince? As he and Shen Changmao continued to talk, After the debate, the prince's guilt became more certain!
In recent days, Emperor Deqing seemed to have developed the bad habit of "looking for Zhao Junchen when in trouble." After looking at Zhao Junchen, he suddenly interrupted: "Shen Aiqing, Huang Aiqing, please stop arguing. You might as well listen to the opinions of other beloved ministers in the DPRK first."
Hearing what Emperor Deqing said, Zhao Junchen knew that he would definitely be questioned by Emperor Deqing, so without waiting for Emperor Deqing's signal, he took the initiative and said: "Your Majesty, I have something to say."
Seeing Zhao Junchen take the initiative to speak, Emperor Deqing nodded with satisfaction. His originally solemn expression relaxed slightly and said, "Well, the preparations for this southern tour were allocated by your Ministry of Revenue. Zhao Aiqing, you are also one of the parties involved. First, I think I have my own opinions, so tell me."
At the same time, the eyes of all officials in the DPRK were also focused on Zhao Junchen!
In recent days, while Zhao Junchen continues to be hostile to the prince, at the same time he is forced by Emperor Deqing to support Cheng Yuandao, a die-hard supporter of prince Zhu Heyu, to join the cabinet. This kind of double-handed behavior not only makes the "Zhao Party" officials feel confused, but also All officials in the DPRK were also unsure of his position.
At such a critical moment, Zhao Junchen suddenly spoke, and all the officials naturally paid attention.
…………
While all the officials were watching, Zhao Junchen slowly said: "Your Majesty, it seems to me that since the mistakes of the Southern Patrol have occurred and public resentment has been caused, which has caused such a huge impact, the top priority is not to hold anyone accountable. The responsibility is to find ways to quell the impact!"
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ps: There are three updates today, this is the first one! (To be continued...)