The sky was gradually darkening, and there were still dozens of officials kneeling to remonstrate outside the Zuoshun Gate of the Ming Dynasty Palace.
Because a large number of officials have been arrested and imprisoned, and the remaining ones have relatively high official positions, they are not interested in fighting at this time, but no one gives them a chance to step down. In this case, Fei Hong, a scholar from the First Assistant University, appeared.
on site.
The purpose of Fei Hong's coming was to persuade them to leave first, and he mainly targeted two people, one was Jia Yong and the other was He Mengchun.
At the same time, Zhu Hao returned to Sixianju and met Zhu Si who was still watching a play here and had not returned to the palace.
"His Majesty."
Zhu Hao appeared next to Zhu Si.
At this time, Xi Shu and others were no longer in Sixian Residence, and had gone back to their own homes. Zhang Zuo, who accompanied Zhu Hao, described that the emperor was planning to have these people come to Japan to jointly deliver a memorial, support the great ceremony, and oppose the great ceremony.
Those who argue are classified as traitors.
Zhu Si glanced at Zhu Hao and greeted with a smile: "Jingdao is back? Let's watch a show together!"
Zhu Hao sat down on the seat next to him.
But he saw Gong Yeling singing on the stage. After entering the palace, Gong Yeling had not appeared on the stage for a long time. Zhu Hao did not expect that Zhu Si would bring Gong Yeling out. This gave Zhu Hao a feeling...
...Zhu Si doesn't plan to go back to the palace these two days, probably because he wants to use Sixianju as a temporary home.
"Your Majesty, it's getting late. You won't be returning to the palace today, will you?" Zhu Hao asked.
Zhu Si looked at the stage intently. Gong Yeling was his former dream lover, and now she was his woman. He was intoxicated in the happiness of having his dream come true.
"I won't go back. I haven't reviewed the memorials with you for a long time. I plan to stay here today."
Zhu Si said, waving his hand and calling Zhang Zuo over.
Zhang Zuo approached with a flattering look on his face, and Zhu Si said: "Go and give them rewards, and prepare the memorials for review. Today I plan to meet with Jingdao, Mr. Tang and you, to sit at the table together to discuss the state affairs. Yes."
Liao Jingdao, have you eaten?"
"No." Zhu Hao replied.
Zhu Si thought for a moment: "Forget it, I've already had hot pot at noon. I'll just have some at night. I'll have someone roast a lamb and bring it over. I feel a little weak in the past two days."
Zhu Hao originally wanted to talk directly to Zhu Si about Zuo Shunmen, but looking at Zhu Si's appearance, he didn't seem to have that intention.
He stopped talking for the time being.
"Jingdao, are everything done?"
Zhu Si suddenly remembered something and asked.
Zhu Haodao: "Everything that needs to be done has been done. Now Mr. Fei Ge has gone to Zuoshun Gate to persuade the remaining officials to leave."
"That's how it should be!" Zhu Sidao said, "I just told Huang Jin to send people to Fusi, Beizhen, to punish those who took the lead in causing trouble today with a cane!"
Zhu Si's attitude was firm, but he was a little embarrassed and said: "I didn't discuss this matter with you in advance. You don't think I went too far, do you?"
Zhu Hao said: "No."
That's what he said, but Zhu Hao felt that many things were really moving forward along the trajectory of history.
He had tried his best to protect the crying civil servants and prevent the situation from becoming tragic and out of control. Unfortunately, Zhu Si's attitude was too firm. Even if he did not discuss it with him, he would first beat up those who participated in the trouble.
If it was possible that bleeding deaths would not occur before, it is basically impossible now.
Those civil servants don’t need to be beaten!
"Then I will watch two more plays. Not to mention, I haven't watched them for a long time. Now I see them, they are quite good. The things on the stage... are just like the ones I watched when I was a child. It makes people indulge in them unconsciously!"
…
…
Zhu Si continued to reminisce about his childhood.
It was probably because the events of that day threatened Zhu Si's rule and made Zhu Si feel that he was incompatible with the ministers in the court. In addition, Zhu Si felt insecure, so now he wanted to find the former heir apparent of Prince Xing's palace.
A carefree feeling.
Zhu Hao came down from the attic where he was watching the show.
Zhang Zuo followed closely behind.
Zhang Zuo apologized: "I didn't inform Mr. Zhu in advance about His Majesty's execution. I hope Mr. Zhu will forgive me."
Zhu Hao smiled and said: "How come? Sometimes, necessary punishment is indispensable, otherwise it will not be enough to maintain His Majesty's majesty and stabilize the court."
"Mr. Zhu, just don't mind." Zhang Zuo comforted in his heart.
Although Zhang Zuo believes that Zhu Si and Zhu Hao do not necessarily have to agree on everything, Zhang Zuo is very clear about the significance of Zhu Hao's existence in the Ming Dynasty, so he cares about Zhu Hao's feelings, not in a perfunctory manner, but sincerely
.
Perhaps Zhang Zuo was also afraid that Zhu Si would be too extreme in his actions, and would take a trivial matter that could have been avoided and turn it out of control, which would really threaten Zhu Si's throne.
Zhang Zuo's previous words were also testing Zhu Hao to see if this matter really had extremely bad effects.
When Zhu Hao said it was okay, he felt relieved, because from his heart, Zhu Hao had a strong view of the overall situation, and no one in the court could compare with him.
Zhang Zuodao: "Mr. Tang has gone to the inner hall first. There are some memorials there. He said he wanted to sort them out first."
"oh."
Zhu Hao nodded.
Just as he was talking, Huang Jin appeared in front of him, his footsteps hurried, and he seemed to be going upstairs to report to Zhu Si.
Zhang Zuo waved him over and asked, "How is the matter?"
Zhang Zuo did not shy away from Huang Jin telling Zhu Hao the matter in advance, which was equivalent to asking Zhu Hao to analyze what he should say to the emperor after he went up.
Huang Jin came to the two of them and whispered: "Fei Zhongtang personally took action. After persuasion, the people in front of Zuo Shun's gate... have all dispersed!"
"call!"
Zhang Zuo breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this and said, "That's good."
After saying that, he turned his eyes to Zhu Hao, probably wanting to hear Zhu Hao's evaluation of this matter.
Zhu Hao has nothing to comment on.
The bad nature of the Zuoshunmen incident in history did not lie in what the civil servants did in front of the Zuoshunmen, but in the vicious revenge the emperor took on these people.
Fei Hong went to persuade the people to disperse, which was already expected by Zhu Hao, but Zhu Hao did not expect the revenge method Zhu Si used on the arrested people. Zhu Hao may have been afraid, or maybe out of hatred.
It was impossible for these people to show mercy, probably because Zhu Si was afraid that someone would make a fuss about this matter again in the future.
So I wanted to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.
"Go up and report to Your Majesty," Zhang Zuo ordered.
As he spoke, Zhang Zuo glanced at Zhu Hao intentionally or unintentionally, probably waiting for Zhu Hao to ask him about the execution situation in Fusi, Beizhen, but Zhu Hao did not ask.
In fact, there is no need to ask.
Since the emperor ordered a cane punishment, he would not treat it lightly. Zhu Hao knew that it was unnecessary to ask. Why did he want to give the emperor the impression that he sympathized with civil servants?
…
…
Huang Jin went upstairs.
Zhu Hao and Zhang Zuo went to see Tang Yin.
From this moment on, Zhu Hao felt that there was a generation gap between himself and Zhu Si. This was the absolute power gap between the monarch and his ministers.
The key point in Zuo Shunmen's case was Zhu Si's ferocity, and Zhu Si used this incident to completely establish his majesty as the emperor. From then on, the Ming Dynasty never had anything similar to the unity of Yang Tinghe and his successors.
None of the civil servants and factions around him could threaten Zhu Si's throne.
In other words, from this point on, Zhu Si had completed his consolidation of imperial power.
It's time to see that the rabbit has died and the dog has been cooked.
Although Zhu Si has no such thoughts for the time being, and is even watching the show while feeling frightened, Zhu Hao knows that from now on, he and Zhu Si will no longer be able to discuss the same matter and deal with the outside world together as they did before.
.
And he, Zhu Hao, gradually became a thorn in the emperor's side in maintaining imperial power.
This will be done gradually, not overnight.
Zhu Hao needs to think about his future, but it seems that he doesn't have to worry about it for now, at least there is still time to deal with it... Zhu Hao knows that he has to step up his plans.
"Mr. Tang."
Zhang Zuo entered the hall behind the meeting hall.
Tang Yin said that he was sorting out the memorials here, but in fact he was just looking for an opportunity to avoid Zhu Si and have some peace and quiet.
Tang Yin usually didn't like reading very much, but now he was reading a book.
Zhu Hao walked over and took a look, but it was an ordinary "The Analects of Confucius". From the look of Tang Yin's daze when he entered the hall, this cheap teacher must be thinking about something in the book and wandering around.
"came back?"
Tang Yin put down the book after hearing this, and then turned to Zhu Hao, "How is the situation in Fusi, Beizhen?"
Tang Yin would not hide anything in front of Zhang Zuo. He really cared about how the emperor treated those civil servants who were protecting the rites, but he obviously asked the wrong person in this matter.
Because not only did Zhu Hao not know what was going on, he even knew that Huang Jin knew the inside story, but he didn't ask.
Zhu Haodao: "I went to see Yang Yongxiu. He wrote a letter and gave it to Mr. Fei Ge. Then I went to see Mr. Qiao Butang and Mr. Fei Ge. Mr. Fei Ge went to Zuoshunmen alone to send the remaining colleagues there.
They were all advised to return."
"Persuaded to return?"
Tang Yin was also surprised.
Is it really that smooth?
So what role did Fei Hong play in this matter?
Will those civil servants accept his favor? Will everyone regard Fei Hong as a traitor to the civil servants? Will it be difficult to lead civil servants from now on?
Zhu Hao nodded: "Yes. I don't know what he said specifically. His Majesty told me that he has sent people to Fusi Nei in Beizhen to impose punishment on those civil servants. It should be a stick punishment. I didn't ask for details."
Tang Yin frowned.
You didn't ask?
Does that mean you were not involved?
Previously, you showed yourself to be the emperor's most trusted minister in front of Zhang Cong, Xi Shu and others. But when those people were beaten later, what do you think Xi Shu and the others would think?
They will definitely think that you instigated this.
"Mr. Tang, His Majesty is still watching the play. We came here to prepare the memorials and other things as instructed. Your Majesty will come over later to review the memorials together."
Zhang Zuo reminded with a smile.
Zhang Zuo listened to the conversation between Zhu Hao and Tang Yin and turned a deaf ear.
Zhang Zuo didn't bother to do anything to sow discord.
Tang Yin said: "Will your Majesty come over tonight?"
"this……"
Zhang Zuo was embarrassed.
Even if you, Tang Bohu, think that His Majesty is just talking and thinks that His Majesty may be addicted to pleasure, you can't say that, right?
Zhu Hao sighed: "Whether we come or not, we should hurry up and finish the things on hand. Only when all matters of the court are progressing steadily and there is no chaos, what happened outside Zuoshun Gate will have less impact on the court."