In the first half of March, Emperor Jiajing fell ill with suspected chronic bronchitis and had to rest in the palace.
No one visited the court, the Buddhist feast was suspended, and the imperial examination was postponed to the second day of April.
It was not until late March that Emperor Jiajing issued a decree to reopen the Sutra feast, and the ministers did not see the emperor again.
Speaking of the participants of this sutra banquet, in addition to the Hanlin lecturers, the cabinet, ministries, ministers, ministers and other important ministers can attend.
In theory, if you are not an official, there seems to be no problem if you do not attend the sutra feast.
However, the Sutra Banquet was a rare opportunity to get in close contact with the emperor, and after the Sutra Banquet, the emperor often stopped by to discuss matters, which turned into a small court meeting.
Therefore, if you do not attend the sutra feast, it will often be the minister's own loss.
In addition, if you are absent too much, you may be criticized for slacking off, or you may be regarded as not being diligent and conscientious by the picky emperor.
At this sutra feast in late March of the 14th year of Jiajing, the ministers were still very neat.
Emperor Jiajing glanced at the class of officials and felt that almost all the important officials had arrived.
The eunuch and eunuch who was waiting beside him reminded him in a low voice: "The Minister of Punishment, Wang Tingxiang, has not arrived yet."
But Emperor Jiajing didn't pay too much attention. Wang Tingxiang had always been very diligent, and his occasional absence must have been delayed by something, so there was no need to blame him.
An hour later, it was intermission time again, and Zhang Fujing, the chief assistant, and Xia Yan, the official minister, started arguing directly in front of the emperor.
Zhang Fujing accused Xia Yan of instigating Xue Kan's memorial, but Xia Yan accused Xue Kan's memorial of being planned by Zhang Fujing.
The summoned Eunuch Qin of Dongchang said helplessly that Xue Kan, who had been sent to prison, only confessed after being tortured. The memorial was his own idea and was not instigated by others.
At this time, Wang Tingxiang, the Minister of Punishment, walked into the hall and knelt to apologize.
Emperor Jiajing then asked: "Because you are so late, is there any important matter in the Ministry of Punishment?"
Wang Tingxiang said with a solemn expression: "Something big has indeed happened! Qin Dewei, a Chinese-style examination candidate, surrendered to the Ministry of Punishment!
He said that the list of five people rumored before the audition was actually drafted by him!"
The whole room of monarchs and ministers was speechless. Is this new candidate a fool? Let alone right or wrong, what is the meaning of surrendering?
Just listen to Wang Tingxiang's serious remarks: "Qin Dewei also said that after hearing that the factory guards were pursuing this rumor, he felt that as His Majesty's subjects, he should have an innocent heart and be honest. He should not hide anything from Your Majesty.
, so he turned himself in!"
These few sentences are a bit cheesy, but they are also meant to stabilize the emperor, just like writing official documents must include a pretext.
Why did Qin Dewei surrender to Wang Tingxiang of the Ministry of Punishment instead of going to the Metropolitan Procuratorate or the factory guard? He was afraid that others would not take it seriously when reporting it. Details determine success or failure!
The emperor and his ministers were still speechless. Although the words were really nice and Emperor Jiajing also liked such words, this act of surrender was still a fool's act!
Also, what does it mean that Wang Tingxiang is so solemn about his affairs? Is the Ministry of Punishment too idle and has no other work?
Some people also secretly speculated that perhaps Wang Tingxiang just wanted to find something to distract him and prevent the chief minister and Tianguan from continuing to fight?
Emperor Jiajing had always been strict with his subordinates. Just when he was about to scold Wang Tingxiang, he heard Wang Tingxiang say:
"After Qin Dewei surrendered, he also claimed that the source of the rumors about the list was Zhang Fuking, the chief assistant. As the saying goes, it is difficult to celebrate his father's death!"
Wucao! The whole palace was shocked again. What kind of logic is this? Even if you want to criticize the chief minister, you must follow some basic rules.
Zhang Shoufu, who was standing at the front of the class, smiled instead of getting angry. He couldn't help but say: "Such crazy words are not worth talking about. Wang Tingxiang, you also want to speak to the emperor? Are you trying to amuse the emperor!"
Wang Tingxiang ignored Zhang Fujing and only said to Emperor Jiajing: "I guarantee with my life that Qin Dewei's last words are worthy of your majesty's hearing, and right and wrong can only be judged by your majesty."
So I have to report it, and I definitely don’t intend to entertain His Majesty!”
Emperor Jiajing's curiosity was aroused and he shouted: "What else did he say!"
Wang Tingxiang reported: "When Qin Dewei surrendered, he said that from the sixth year of Jiajing when Zhang Fujing entered the cabinet, to the twelfth year of Jiajing, Zhang Fujing deliberately provoked conflicts with the Hanlin and took the opportunity to oust twenty-two people from the Hanlin!
Although in the twelfth year of Jiajing's reign, the imperial court added ten people to the Hanlin Academy, they were all newcomers and could hardly be used in a big way today.
This has resulted in a relatively small number of Hanlin people today, and an even smaller number of senior Hanlin people.
As a result, if there is a general examination, there will not be many qualified candidates for Hanlin official!
Therefore, all candidates feel that the candidate for the examiner is very easy to guess, it is just one of five or six people, and this is actually the case!
In contrast, during the Hongzhi and Zhengde periods, there were often as many as ten or twenty candidates for examiners, making it difficult for people to guess!
All the above were Qin Dewei's original intention, and then this person said that the chief assistant Zhang Fuking was the fundamental problem that caused rumors to spread before the exam and ruined the exam ceremony!
Not only in this exam, but also in the next exam, it will be easy to guess the examiner!"
All the dignitaries in the palace were shocked again. How could someone dare to carry out political attacks like this? Where did you find all these arguments? How could you think of this?
The man named Qin seemed to have conjured up a big black pot out of thin air and arrested Zhang Shoufu.
He is definitely not a fool! This logic is simply too strong, and the angle is so tricky that there is nothing to say!
Zhang Shoufu wanted to defend himself, but then he discovered that the things Qin Dewei listed when he surrendered were actually all facts.
But why has no one thought of this fact in the past? This guy’s insight is so terrifying?
Thinking of this, Zhang Shoufu glared at Xia Guan fiercely. If I remember correctly, this Qin Dewei should be your Xia Yan's son!
But Xia Yan was dumbfounded and extremely annoyed. Maybe he really shouldn't ignore Qin Dewei?
Letting Qin Dewei do this without any restraint will cause serious problems!
When everyone thought that the "surrender statement" was over, Wang Tingxiang still didn't finish and continued:
"When Qin Dewei surrendered, he also said that even if he does not criticize his heart when discussing his deeds, two conclusions can be drawn from the analysis of the existing facts.
First of all, since Chenghua, there has been a rule that non-Hanlin officials are not allowed to join the cabinet.
However, Zhang Fujing's move to denounce Hanlin was a sure way to advance as a latecomer, minus the threat of latecomers! This would allow Zhang Fujing to have great power and expertise without any worries!
Secondly, the remaining people in Hanyuan did not dare to easily resist Zhang Fuking. This allowed Zhang Fuking to manipulate the exams in a big way, and also manipulated election recommendations in a small way to further consolidate his power!
So Qin Dewei said again, there are huge hidden dangers, and I ask Your Majesty to think twice!"
This time Wang Tingxiang finally finished narrating, but everyone in the palace was already numb.
You call this a "surrender statement"? It is simply an all-round bombardment of Zhang Shouxu!
The neutral person once again recalled the way Xia Guan and Zhang Shoufu fought against each other just now.
Compared with this "surrender statement", the fight between the two was simply a day-long debate between two children!
The quasi-jinshi surnamed Qin's cunning methods and logical construction like a dragnet make it more like a truly advanced court struggle.