There was still no news from the Leopard Room, and the palace grounds were relatively calm, but now everyone in the government and the public knew that the emperor's body could not last more than a few days.
Yang Tinghe did not take his son's advice to mourn in advance, but in order to prevent Jiang Bin from using Zhu Houzhao's body as a demon, he secretly sent people to announce the news of the emperor's critical illness to both the government and the public.
The purpose of this is to make everyone in the imperial court, including some of Jiang Bin's associates, aware that once the Baofang issues some unseemly edicts, such as mobilizing troops and horses, you should know that in fact it is not the emperor's edict, but may be the result of the emperor's death.
Jiang Bin wants to rebel.
If you obey this kind of edict, you will not simply join Jiang Bin's party, but will commit treason and commit crimes, waiting to be liquidated later.
When Jiang Bin gained power, many people obeyed his orders, but now that the emperor is critically ill, no one thinks that Jiang Bin can continue to maintain their glory and wealth. Yang Tinghe's purpose is to put Jiang Bin into a situation where the trees fall and the hozens scatter.
On March 13th, Zhu Hao went to the teahouse to drink tea as usual. He looked at the commotion on the streets and made secret calculations in his mind.
"Sir, what does this mean... There were people fighting outside, but no one stepped forward to stop it... It seems that people in the Five Cities Military and Horse Division are too lazy to pay attention to this kind of thing now. In the past two days, I only saw regiment training camps on the street.
When people pass by, those bastards from the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division don’t even go out..."
Sun Ru now also belongs to the gentry class. As a judge, he can naturally look down on the officials in the yamen.
Zhu Hao picked up the teacup, took a sip, and said with a smile, "Have you even noticed the change?"
Sun Ru scratched his head. He was too stupid to understand what changes his husband was talking about.
"Look, it's only happened in the past two days... This chief assistant is really capable of stabilizing everything when a chaos is approaching."
Zhu Hao sighed.
Sun Ru hesitated for a moment and asked: "Sir, are you talking about Mr. Yang Ge in the middle hall? I haven't seen him make any move. The court is very calm now."
Zhu Hao smiled and said: "The more people in the Mighty Regiment's training camp are made noisy, the more Jiang Bin will relax his vigilance... It's better to wait for something big to happen and kill him with one blow. Don't worry."
Zhu Hao put himself in Yang Tinghe's shoes and considered the problem.
Now the capital's regiment training and city defense are basically controlled by Jiang Bin and his direct descendants, and rash actions will have no effect at all. The main problem is that the emperor is not dead.
With the support of Zhengde, Jiang Bin is still one person inferior to ten thousand people, but once the emperor dies... Jiang Bin will no longer be able to win over so many officials and generals. If you take action at that time, Jiang Bin will be alone.
"It seems that to gain the emperor's trust in the court, one must have the prestige of a scholar... If Jiang Bin is despised by the world, what will happen even if he has power in the court? Without a backer, his prestige may not be as good as that of a palace official.
Eunuch, you are so pitiful."
Zhu Hao is also thinking about his future situation.
If you build a good relationship with Zhu Si, you will inevitably become a powerful minister in the future, and you will inevitably become the second "Jiang Bin" and be criticized for monopolizing power.
Then you can't ruin your reputation, help the tyrants, or accompany Zhu Si to fool around. You need to accumulate reputation among the literati, and more importantly... you must firmly control the power in your own hands. Even if you offend the public or offend the emperor, you still have a way out.
, taking risks requires having a trump card.
Sun Ru smiled and said, "If sir were Jiang Bin, he would probably be the emperor, right?"
Zhu Hao glared at Sun Ru: "Is this what you should say? Are you looking for death?"
Sun Ru is the kind of person who speaks freely and says whatever comes to mind.
Zhu Hao has also considered this issue. If he were Jiang Bin, given the current situation, would he be able to stabilize the situation?
Even if you can't be the emperor, you can still support the new emperor in your own name, continue to control the new emperor, and be the most powerful official of the Ming Dynasty?
It is possible, but the preparation time is too hasty. It is best to prepare everything when the emperor returns to the capital. Now the emperor is almost dead... Even if Daluo Jinxian comes, it will not help. The main reason is that Jiang Bin's reputation is too bad
, after no longer having the emperor as his backer, no one wanted to work with him.
The reason why everyone rebelled and separated was not because of Yang Tinghe's accurate actions, but because of Jiang Bin's incompetence.
…
…
Jiang Bin indeed lacked the demeanor of a powerful minister. Even though he knew that the news had to be blocked, he was not the only one who had sycophants around the emperor, and others were still trying to compete with him for power, so the news of the emperor's death could not be hidden from the outside world.
March 13th night.
Zhu Hao returned to his residence. Today he had to write a letter to Tang Yin who was far away in Anlu. It was estimated that when the letter was delivered, the team to greet him would be arriving soon. After all, the channels for communicating letters among the people were different from the official channels.
The purpose of writing the letter is to remind Tang Yin of something. The letter should not be too direct. It can be regarded as an ordinary letter between master and disciple to report safety.
Unexpectedly, Su Xigui came over in a hurry, bringing two young scribes with him.
Zhu Hao called Su Xigui into the study room of the People's Court alone. Su Xigui said as soon as he came up: "Your Majesty may not be able to last another night."
Zhu Hao asked: "What happened tonight?"
Su Xigui nodded: "I spent a lot of money to get the news from the Leopard Room... I also learned that Mr. Yang Ge planned to punish some of His Majesty's close ministers, including Wang Shangshu and Huang Gong... How could this be?
good?"
Zhu Hao frowned: "How did you find out about this later news?"
"oops!"
Su Xigui looked back at the two young scribes who were still waiting in the yard, then moved closer to Zhu Hao, and said in a low voice, "Mr. Yang Ge has secret contacts with the Empress Dowager Zhang in the palace, and almost all of them rely on Eunuch Zhang Yong. In addition,
He also secretly discussed with Liang DaSheng and others. Because Huang Gong had always had a certain reputation in the court, the ministers who were close to Mr. Yang Ge felt that Huang Gong should not be held accountable... so he let the news out and asked Huang Gong to be careful.
"
Zhu Hao nodded: "Someone wants to remind Mr. Huang to quickly submit a memorial to resign, right?"
"How does the young master know? Indeed...that's true." Su Xigui nodded and admitted.
Zhu Hao understands this very well.
Wang Qiong offended too many people during his reign, and there were too many direct generals from Jiang Bin who were promoted by Wang Qiong when he was in charge of the Ministry of War in the past few years.
Rewarding for merit is basically just a decoration. Wang Qiong has a long-standing feud with the mainstream civil servants represented by Yang Tinghe, and no one wants to protect him.
But Huang Zan was just a cadre who raised the central government from Huguang and then went to the northwest to clean up the food and salary. He led the salt policy reform in the past few years, allowing the emperor to toss in the northwest without spending too much money. In addition, Huang Zan had already avoided it.
Feng Mang took the initiative to be transferred to Nanjing. During his tenure in Nanjing, he helped the imperial court solve problems such as the military supplies required for the army's departure. He worked hard and achieved great results. Huang Zan did not have a harmonious relationship with the traitors around the emperor. Naturally, there were many people in the court who sympathized with Huang Zan.
Perhaps except for Yang Tinghe who believed that Huang Zan should be eradicated altogether, the other ministers felt that the most Huang Zan could do was resign and return home. Even so, it would not be a crime.
The purpose of informing Huang Zan in advance was to prepare him and take the initiative to resign, so as to avoid being liquidated by Yang Tinghe.
"Young master, this is a big deal. Huang Gong has always worked hard and dedicated himself to the court. Even though he was promoted by His Majesty himself, he has passed the examination of the Ministry of Personnel and found no fault. If Huang Gong is only accused because he is not the chief minister of the party,
That’s too…unfair, right?”
Su Xigui felt sad in his heart.
The imperial court is trying to burn bridges across the river. You haven't even crossed the river before you started to be ruthless. Isn't it afraid that Huang Zan and Jiang Bin will stand together?
Zhu Haodao: "Actually, I have wanted to point this out for a long time. Even if a real dragon emerges from Prince Xing's palace and he ascends the throne for the first time, it will still be difficult to control the ministers. If Mr. Yangge successfully seizes Bin and other sycophants, the prestige of the court will be temporarily reduced."
Wuer, in the name of his sycophants and his comrades, a general purge is being carried out in the court, do you think the new emperor is qualified to interfere and interfere?"
Su Xigui said with a sad face: "Does that mean that Princess Huang must be forced to beg her old age and return home?"
Zhu Hao shook his head: "There are two options. One is like you said, begging for old age and returning to the fields, but this is not a foolproof strategy. If you are not in court, you will no longer be scrupulous about civil servants, and it will be easier to take action. They have to deal with Huang Gong more.
Killing chickens to scare monkeys does not depend on how many things Huang Gong did for the traitors in the court, or whether he was an accomplice of Jiang Bin."
"You want to crusade even if you are not an ally? This... is too unreasonable? How can this be done in business?" Su Xigui unconsciously associated the matter with business.
Zhu Hao said: "The second is to pretend not to know and wait. Huang Gong has always been the minister of Nanhubu, and he has the power. Now Yang Ge Lao's goals are all in the capital. Even if he controls the overall situation and wants the party to unite and defeat differences, he can only do it first.
Starting from the capital, it may be inevitable for Wang Shangshu to do so, but when he is free to deal with the officials in Nanjing, whether he will have the energy to do so is another matter."
"oh?"
Su Xigui didn't quite understand.
Zhu Hao sighed: "After the new emperor ascends the throne, he will definitely make some moves to distract Mr. Yang Ge. By then, he may not only not target Huang Gong, but also try to win over him."
Su Xigui was even more confused. He could not understand what Zhu Hao said at all, or in other words, he could not consider this level with his thinking.
Naturally, Zhu Hao couldn't talk to Su Xigui about the "great ceremony".
It seems that as long as Yang Tinghe deals with Jiang Bin and controls the situation, he can launch his plan of uniting the party and defeating dissidents in the capital. But in fact, historically, it has only targeted Wang Qiong, and has not yet reached Nanjing. A big ceremony has begun, and Yang Tinghe can only
The goal is to make the little emperor obey orders obediently.
Historically, Emperor Jiajing was a model of a good emperor who was hard-working and uncomplaining in the years before he ascended the throne. His diligence was comparable to that of Xiaozong when he ascended the throne, and he had a humble attitude. Except for not giving in to the issue of his origin, he was impeccable in other aspects, at least for the Ming Dynasty.
Back on track, even Yang Tinghe couldn't find an excuse to attack the emperor's actions. In the end, Yang Tinghe left the court in despair.
Zhu Hao said: "It's hard to guarantee that someone tipped off the news in advance, and it was not Mr. Yang Ge's intention... Maybe Mr. Yang just wanted Huang Gong to retreat bravely? He knew that he could not distract himself from the Nanjing incident, and he wanted to be promoted in the past few years.
Isn’t it also a coping strategy for his fellow party members to resign on their own initiative?”