After hearing Zhao Junchen's inquiry, Zhu Jinrong immediately explained the purpose of his visit, saying that the inner court wanted to deepen the cooperative relationship with Zhao Junchen, and hoped that Zhao Junchen and the inner court would not create difficulties in private when they handed over the two yamen of the West Factory and the inner transportation warehouse.
Cooperate with the inner court so that the inner court can take over smoothly and completely, and the inner court will definitely repay the favor in the future.
Although Zhu Jinrong talked a lot, he can sum it up in just a few sentences.
After hearing Zhu Jinrong's explanation, Zhao Junchen pondered for a moment.
Whether it is the West Factory or the internal transportation warehouse, Zhao Junchen does not intend to give up easily. Although Zhao Junchen must return these two yamen to the inner court due to the decree of Emperor Deqing, it is natural for Zhao Junchen to make some arrangements secretly.
At least make sure that you can maintain a certain degree of influence and control over these two yamen in the future.
As for Wei Huai, Li Ruan and others, it was Zhao Junchen who secretly controlled the secret chess set up by these two yamen.
Now, after hearing Zhu Jinrong's request, Zhao Junchen will not change his plan easily.
However, if he could get some benefits from the inner court with just a few perfunctory lies, Zhao Junchen would not miss the opportunity.
After all, in Zhao Junchen's mind, he didn't need to pay attention to the word "integrity" at all when it came to the eunuchs in the inner court. Compared with tangible benefits, characters such as integrity, although noble, were not valuable.
So, after pretending to think about it for a moment, Zhao Junchen said slowly: "I have also felt the sincerity of the inner court. In fact, even without Zhu Zhangyin's visit, after receiving His Majesty's decree, I will transfer the West Factory to
The two yamen of the Inner Transport Storehouse have been returned to the inner court in their entirety, and they will handle matters according to orders and handle matters impartially. This has always been the principle of my work, so the inner court does not need to worry about anything."
As he spoke, Zhao Junchen emphasized the words "completely and completely".
This means that whether it is the deposits of the internal funds or the various financial resources of the internal funds, Zhao Junchen will give them all to the inner court, and will not do anything secretly or withhold them privately.
On the other side, after hearing Zhao Junchen's hint, Zhu Jinrong was overjoyed and said: "On behalf of the twelve eunuchs, four divisions, eight bureaus, a total of twenty-four yamen in the inner court, and tens of thousands of eunuchs in the inner court, I would like to thank Zhao
Sir, please rest assured of your generosity and consideration, Mr. Zhao. Although the power and influence of the inner court today is far less than before the Tianqi Dynasty, some influence is still there. In the future, Mr. Zhao will definitely be rewarded generously, and he will never let Zhao
Your Excellency is disappointed."
However, as soon as Zhu Jinrong finished speaking, Zhao Junchen climbed up the pole and said, "Speaking of which, I do have one thing that I would like the inner court to help me with."
Seeing Zhao Junchen say this, Zhu Jinrong was slightly startled, knowing that it was just as Wu Xinquan guessed. Zhao Junchen took the opportunity to make a request to the inner court.
Therefore, Zhu Jinrong said quickly: "Oh, I don't know what happened, but please tell me, Mr. Zhao. As long as it is within the capabilities of my inner court, I will never let you down, Mr. Zhao."
Zhao Junchen smiled softly and said in a very casual tone: "I heard that in the past two years, many officials in the DPRK have secretly reported to His Majesty to impeach me. Is this possible?"
Zhao Junchen was a notoriously corrupt official, but he was also very powerful. He was one of several powerful officials in the court. Therefore, it was only natural that some officials in the court secretly reported to Emperor Deqing to impeach Zhao Junchen.
.
Although Zhu Jinrong was not the eunuch of Si Li, he was one of the core figures in the inner court after all. He had heard about these things, and there was no need to hide these things from Zhao Junchen. So he nodded and said: "In recent years, there are indeed some
The officials who were short-sighted submitted secret reports to impeach Mr. Zhao, but Your Majesty has great trust in Mr. Zhao. He suppressed the impeachment of these officials and did not pay attention to them. Those impeachment secret documents were also left in China.
Indeed, Emperor Deqing ignored all the secrets about impeaching Zhao Junchen and ignored them. However, the reason why Emperor Deqing did this was not because he trusted Zhao Junchen, but because he planned to keep these impeachment secrets.
As a back-up, prepare to use it together when Zhao Junchen is abandoned in the future.
Imagine that one day in the future, Emperor Deqing suddenly throws out a lot of secrets, all of which are aimed at impeaching Zhao Junchen, involving Zhao Junchen's many crimes, and all of them are proven. At that time, the government and the public will naturally be shocked.
And Zhao Junchen was naturally unable to argue and could only bow his head obediently.
In fact, this is also a common method used by emperors. When an emperor receives a tip to impeach a certain minister, he will often leave it unpublished and just accumulate it, so that there are more and more similar impeachment tips, which he uses as his trump card.
, wait until the emperors want to punish this minister one day in the future, and then throw out all these secrets in one breath. By that time, this minister will naturally have no power to recover.
During this year's imperial examination, examinee Li Chunchen put forward the "sword-sharpening theory", which proposed lowering the qualification requirements for officials to submit to the secret service, reducing the procedures for officials to submit to the secret service, and even allowing "hearing and gossip". In fact, this is
This intensification and deepening of the emperor's methods aroused the vigilance of Zhao Junchen, Zhou Shangjing and other court officials.
Therefore, the secrets that Emperor Deqing left in his hands to impeach Zhao Junchen were like a hanging sword to Zhao Junchen. Naturally, Zhao Junchen felt uneasy day and night, so he took advantage of this opportunity for the inner court to ask for help from him.
, but Zhao Junchen wanted to take the opportunity to understand how sharp this cantilevered sword was, so that he could take precautions as early as possible.
So, Zhao Junchen sighed and said to Zhu Jinrong: "Since I entered the temple, I have been doing my best to serve your majesty. I have always been cautious and walking on thin ice, for fear that I will do something wrong and harm the interests of your majesty and the people.
, I never thought that there would be so many officials impeaching me privately, it seems that I still haven’t done a good enough job.”
After saying some high-sounding words, Zhao Junchen suddenly changed the topic and made his own request, saying: "So, in order to encourage myself, and also for the sake of the Three Provinces, I want to ask the Inner Court Ceremony Supervisor,
Let them make a copy of all the secret documents used to impeach me and send it to me. This way, I can know what wrong things I have done over the years, but I don’t know if the inner court is willing to help me.
Such a small favor”
After hearing Zhao Junchen's request, Zhu Jinrong was shocked.
Speaking of which, many of the secret documents used to impeach Zhao Junchen were indeed kept in the hands of the Supervisor of Ceremonies.
But since it is a secret document, only the emperor has the right to read it. If the Chief of Ceremonies leaks those secret documents to Zhao Junchen privately, it will be a serious crime of beheading. If this matter is leaked, then the entire inner court will face a large-scale
However, when the words came to his lips, Zhu Jinrong suddenly remembered Wu Xinquan's advice, telling him not to refuse Zhao Junchen's request casually, and even if he felt embarrassed, he should come back to discuss it before making a decision.
So, after Zhu Jinrong hesitated for a while, he said to Zhao Junchen: "Sir Zhao, this matter involves the Supervisor of Ceremonies, and it is of great importance. We need to ask the Supervisor of Ceremonies for his opinion before we can give you an answer.
"
Hearing Zhu Jinrong's reply, Zhao Junchen didn't mind. He just nodded with a smile and said: "Of course, but I hope the inner court can give an answer as soon as possible. After all, I still have to hand over the west factory and the inner transport warehouse with the inner court.
, it’s better to deal with this matter as soon as possible.”
Feeling the faint threat from Zhao Junchen, Zhu Jinrong had no choice but to reassure Zhao Junchen: "Please rest assured, Mr. Zhao, within three days, no matter what the final result is, the inner court will definitely give a reply and will never deliberately delay it."
Then, because he was anxious to go back to Wu Xinquan to discuss Zhao Junchen's conditions, Zhu Jinrong quickly said goodbye to Zhao Junchen and left.
Looking at Zhu Jinrong's leaving figure, Zhao Junchen smiled lightly, but he was full of confidence, thinking that the inner court would definitely agree to his request.
In fact, as long as the inner court is willing to consider Zhao Junchen's conditions, the outcome of this matter is already destined.
The great eunuchs in the inner court are all selfish people. The West Factory and the inner transport warehouse are related to their vital interests, while the secrets of Emperor Deqing are only related to the interests of Emperor Deqing and the court. After some consideration,
After that, it is very obvious what these eunuchs will decide in the end.
After Zhu Jinrong left the Zhao Mansion, Zhao Junchen no longer delayed and immediately set off to the Fushou Pavilion in the south of the city for the banquet.
When passing Zhan's house on the way, Zhao Junchen also met Zhan Shanchang and took Zhan Shanchang to the banquet.
There is a reason why Zhao Junchen went to the banquet with Zhan Shanchang.
After all, Zhan Shanchang is one of the "Zhao Party" officials who has been loyal to Zhao Junchen for the longest time, so Zhao Junchen has given him the most benefits. After Zhan Shanchang was dismissed from his official position by Huang Yourong a few days ago, Zhao Junchen immediately supported Zhan Shanchang, and soon
He quickly vindicated Zhan Shanchang's charges and reinstated him as official. His protective intentions can be seen by everyone.
Therefore, Zhan Shanchang can be said to be Zhao Junchen's "horse bone". Zhao Junchen took Zhan Shanchang to the banquet this time to let Zhan Shanchang speak out and let the "Yellow Party" officials see how much Zhan Shanchang got after following Zhao Junchen.
This will also further enhance the determination and confidence of these "yellow party" officials to defect to Zhao Junchen.
Soon, Zhao Junchen and Zhan Shanchang arrived at Fushou Pavilion in the south of the city.
There, university scholar Huo Zhengyuan led a group of "yellow party" officials who had been waiting for Zhao Junchen for a long time.