When Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing came to the door of the imperial study with their respective party members, they found that Prince Zhu He, Chief Assistant Shen Changmao, Minister of War Wang Shou and others had been waiting there for some time.
Seeing that the ministers of the cabinet, the six ministers, and the prince Zhu He had arrived, Zhang Xiu, the eunuch of the royal study, quickly reported the news to Emperor Deqing, and then all the core ministers of the temple were quickly summoned by Emperor Deqing.
After entering the imperial study, Emperor Deqing's expression was quite serious. Without waiting for the ministers to salute, he raised his hand and said: "There is no need to salute. This is the secret book Huang Yourong sent from Nanzhili. You all should take a look!" This matter is extremely important and I cannot make any arbitrary decisions. I still need to listen to your opinions."
As Emperor Deqing finished speaking, the eunuch Zhang Xiu handed Huang Yourong's secret information to the chief assistant Shen Changmao.
After Shen Changmao carefully read Huang Yourong's memorial, his expression changed drastically. After glancing at Zhao Junchen in the distance from the corner of his eye, he handed the memorial to Prince Zhu He.
After Prince Zhu He read the memorial, he looked solemn and handed the memorial to the elder Zhou Shangjing...
Soon, everyone in the imperial study room had seen Huang Yourong's secrets, but their expressions were different. Some people looked cold, some looked excited, and some looked uneasy, but no one spoke first. Show attitude.
The content of Huang Yourong's secret was so shocking. It actually impeached the Six Ministries of Nanjing for secretly supporting smuggling, colluding with smugglers to murder important court ministers, and secretly having close contacts with several vassal kings!
Each of these crimes is enough to shock the government and the public, and together they create a huge trouble!
If ordinary people committed these crimes, the important ministers would definitely make statements one after another and strongly demand the court to punish them severely. However, these matters involve the Six Ministries of Nanjing and the Eight Kings Shipping Company. They are all giants that are not easy to mess with, so several important ministers present expressed their opinions. In silence, everyone was waiting for others to express their opinions first, while they themselves huddled back and watched the wind direction.
Finally, in an atmosphere of silence, this secret was handed over to Zhao Junchen.
After seeing the contents of this memorial, Zhao Junchen seemed to be completely unaware of it beforehand. His expression also changed drastically, and he seemed to be very shocked.
Then, Zhao Junchen's expression gradually became a little angry, but he expressed his attitude first.
Zhao Junchen seemed to have been greatly wronged, his expression was quite excited, and he said loudly: "Your Majesty, ever since I was assassinated by gangsters, I have been in fear day and night, and I don't know who I have offended. Let the other party use such drastic means to deal with Yu Chen. Although the three law departments, two factories and one guard, and Shuntian Mansion have been investigating with all their strength, they have never had any clues. However, they did not expect that Huang Ge was still in Nanzhili in the end. The real culprit was found, and the main instigator of all this turned out to be the Sixth Department of Nanjing! Your Majesty, the Sixth Department of Nanjing actually colluded with smuggling merchants to assassinate me for the sake of rectifying commercial taxes. This kind of thing has never happened in ancient times! Your Majesty! I was almost killed back then. Even if you lose your life, you must uphold justice for me!"
Seeing Zhao Junchen's behavior, and that Zhao Junchen was indeed reasonable in this matter, Emperor Deqing had to comfort him and said: "Zhao Aiqing need not be so angry. If this matter is indeed related to the Nanjing Sixth Department, If it is related, then I will definitely uphold justice for you!"
At the same time, with Zhao Junchen's first statement and Emperor Deqing's words of relief, it also set the tone for Huang Yourong's impeachment of the Six Ministries of Nanjing.
Seeing Emperor Deqing's gentle attitude and his intention to indulge himself, Zhao Junchen took advantage of the situation and said: "Your Majesty, the annual taxes collected by the Nanjing Ministry of Household Accounting account for more than half of the imperial court's fiscal revenue. It not only controls Jiangnan and nearby places
It also controls all the taxes and grains in the south. It also controls the water transportation in the south, the national salt survey and the national yellow book. It can be said that the power of the Nanjing Ministry of Household Affairs is still higher than that of the Beijing Ministry of Household Affairs! Your Majesty, I can only bear some grievances.
However, the Six Ministries of Nanjing already have such great power, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they are another center of the imperial court. However, they are still not satisfied. They even dare to control smuggling, murder ministers, and collude with vassal kings. If things go on like this, who knows what they will do again.
What have you done! Your Majesty, I will boldly say something today. The Nanjing Six Ministries are so rampant that sooner or later they will be in trouble. If necessary, there must be restrictions, or even directly take back all the power of the Nanjing Six Ministries to the capital! I hope your Majesty will learn from it!"
As Zhao Junchen finished speaking, the expressions of everyone present changed.
Especially the six ministers' expressions were a little excited.
Once the authority of the Nanjing Six Ministries is taken back, the biggest beneficiaries will naturally be them.
I saw Song Qiwen, the Minister of Civil Affairs, stepping forward and saying with a serious expression: "Your Majesty, the Nanjing Civil Affairs Bureau also has great power. It is responsible for the inspection and merit examination of officials in the southern Zhili Province. The Beijing Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau has never had the right to interfere. Many southern officials
They all came from Jiangnan Gongyuan, and now they have become their own faction. It is also difficult for the officials in the capital to intervene. It has been quite inconvenient for hundreds of years. Even the government orders cannot be unified. How can we maintain the stability of the country? I think what Mr. Zhao said is reasonable.
, if the several impeachments of Mr. Huang Ge are true, then the Nanjing Sixth Department must be strictly investigated! We can also take the opportunity to rectify the Nanjing Sixth Department and completely take back all the powers of the Nanjing Sixth Department!"
As Song Qiwen finished speaking, Zuo Lanshan, the Minister of Industry, Zhang Bochong, the Minister of Punishments, Lin Wei, the Minister of Rites, and Wang Shou, the Minister of War, who were already ready to make a move, also came out to express their support and suggested that Emperor Deqing severely punish the Six Ministries of Nanjing, and
Return the authority of the Six Ministries of Nanjing to the center of the capital.
As the six ministers expressed their opinions one after another, the tone for this matter was completely set!
After seeing the change in wind direction, Emperor Deqing's eyes also flashed with joy.
Taking back the authority of the Six Ministries of Nanjing would strengthen the centralization of power for Emperor Deqing, which would naturally be of great benefit. Now that he saw that the six ministers supported this view, Emperor Deqing was very satisfied.
However, Emperor Deqing still did not express his attitude. Instead, he looked hesitant.
For hundreds of years, successive emperors of the Ming Dynasty tried to take over power from the Six Ministries of Nanjing many times, but they all ended in failure. This matter was by no means as simple as imagined.
Because of Huang Yourong's impeachment, Emperor Deqing did find a suitable excuse, but if he wanted to deal with a behemoth like Nanjing Liubu, he still needed more preparations!
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Fourth update!
There will be another update around one in the morning!