Chapter 122: The First Incident of the Imperial Conflict
The fire-fighting in Jinghua's backyard had just calmed down, but the factional disputes between the DPRK and China were stirring up trouble again.
On the fourth day of October, just after the Wanshou Festival of Emperor Wanli Zhu Yijun, the emperor suddenly sent the Duke Xu Wenbi, Zhu Yingzhen as the envoy, the great scholar Shen Shixing, and Xu Guo as the deputy envoy, holding the festival book, and conferred the concubine Zheng as a virtue.
Concubine, the Chang family of ordinary people in the palace is a shun concubine.
Among them, the book of the Concubine De is written like this: I watch the rooster crow as a warning, think about the virtuous concubine, the toes of the lin are prosperous, and I should be a lady. I want to help Xuan to govern internally, and also to flourish the clan branch. The bandit heir Huiyin
, Huo Fu showed his destiny. He is a concubine of the Zheng family, with soft and beautiful jade quality, and graceful orchid instruments. The nine emperors are sublimated, and they abide by the thickness of the quilt; the double rings grant favors, and they abide by the rules of history. It is appropriate to worship the class, and use it.
I have sent a special envoy to honor you, and I have appointed you as a concubine of virtue, and I have appointed you as a concubine. In the play! The image of the four stars is a concubine. I have become a virtuous person in the ranks, and the origin of all changes is in Del. I should think about my meaning.
In the name of Jiaming, I only serve the glory, never forget to be respectful and cautious, and the bravery of the Dragon Chapter of Pi He will always be the rest of Yan Yi. Thank you!
Concubine Zheng makes a shining appearance!
At this moment, no one in the world realized the importance of the canonization of a concubine. Even in order to improve the standards of this canonization, the emperor even made an exception and used the two most noble princes and the top civil servants.
The first and second assistants.
In fact, according to Gao Jingzai's news in Dauchi, the emperor had actually planned to canonize her long ago, but it happened that the Yunnan-Burma War broke out this year, so he delayed it again and again, and finally postponed it to this time.
Not only that, Gao Pragmatic even knew that the emperor had privately promised Concubine Zheng that after the child in her belly was born, regardless of gender, she would be promoted again as a mother.
To be promoted again, there are actually only two levels. Gao Pragmatic estimates that the emperor’s intention is that if a prince is born, he will be promoted directly to the imperial concubine; if it is a princess, then he will be promoted to the imperial concubine. (Note: The imperial concubine and the imperial concubine are two different things.
grade.)
Regarding the child in Concubine Zheng's belly at this time, Gao Pragmatic was not very worried, because if the inertia of history still maintained, the child should be the second daughter of the emperor, Princess Yunhe Zhu Xuanshu.
In the harem of the Ming Dynasty, the meaning of giving birth to an imperial daughter was vastly different from the meaning of giving birth to a prince, especially the prince who was higher in the ranking.
Therefore, Concubine Zheng's current pregnancy does not pose much of a threat to Gao pragmatism. The greater threat is the subsequent pregnancy, which will be trouble, big trouble.
However, what Gao Pragmatic didn't expect was that Shen Shixing felt something unusual about this canonization. In short, on the third day after the canonization, Shen Shixing was careless.
His request this time was to invite him to be crown prince!
Shen Shixing gave an example of the old story of Yingzong being made the crown prince when he was two years old. He believed that now that the queen has no legitimate son, the emperor's eldest son Zhu Changluo should be made the crown prince to show that the world has hope for a successor and that the officials and the people can feel at ease.
Shen Shixing's evacuation was not discussed in the cabinet in advance, so Xu Guo was caught off guard and did not make any statement during the day.
However, the emperor did not respond.
In the evening, Xu Guo invited the important ministers of the Real School in Beijing to his house. It was said that the chrysanthemums were blooming very well at home, and he invited everyone to come and enjoy the flowers. He couldn't help it. There was no happy event in his house at this time.
, it’s not easy to find an excuse. Fortunately, such a big thing happened today, and others didn’t have time to care about him. They also knew that the big guys from Practical Learning would definitely discuss things tonight, but no one took this matter as an excuse.
The main issue for everyone in the Real School is whether to agree with Shen Shixing or the Xin School in this matter.
If it were an ordinary matter, of course no one would consider joining the Xinxue school, but establishing a crown prince is obviously not an ordinary matter, it is the foundation of the country.
According to many people's opinions, the sooner the country is established, the better, because life is determined by God, and no one knows which will come first, tomorrow or the accident. Although the emperor is young now,... what if?
This was a habitual consideration of civil servants, and even transcended factions, so much so that people within the Real School were more inclined to agree with Shen Yuanfu's Shuwen on this matter, and asked for the establishment of a crown prince.
But Gao pragmatically expressed his opposition clearly. He had three reasons: First, the queen is still very young and may become pregnant at any time. If a prince is born now and the queen gives birth to a prince in the future, then there is no basis for saying that there is a legitimate son and there is no legitimate son.
In line with the long-term principle, is the current prince going to be deposed again?
Secondly, the emperor's eldest son's current physical condition is not very good. This little kid gets sick from time to time and is always sick. Whether he can grow up or not, to put it bluntly, is unclear.
Maybe. If we follow suit at this time, if the emperor's eldest son unfortunately dies in the future, it will have a huge impact on the people of the world.
As for the third one, although Gao Pragmatic did not say it clearly, he still hinted that the emperor did not like the eldest son of the emperor and his mother, Concubine Wang Gong. In the emperor's mind, the highest status was the empress, followed by Concubine Zheng De. Even if you think that the empress currently has no children,
She has not become pregnant again for several years, but Concubine Zheng De now has a child in her belly - what if it is a prince?
However, within the Pragmatic School, Gao Pragmatic's third opinion is not recognized. Everyone agrees that even if Concubine Zheng De gives birth to a prince, he will be the second son of the prince. Since "there is a direct descendant, there is no direct descendant", in the
When the queen has no children, the prince still has to establish the emperor's eldest son. How is it possible to skip the emperor's eldest son and establish the emperor's second son?
Just because the emperor's eldest son is in poor health, should he be treated as a non-human being? This is not acceptable.
However, although everyone is opposed to Gao's pragmatic third point of view, everyone is still concerned about the first two, especially the first: the queen is still young and may not be childless in the future.
It's just... if you don't follow up on the matter of establishing a prince, what will happen if the new emperor turns out to be the eldest son of the emperor in the future?
After all, whether the queen will give birth to a legitimate son in the future, they can't even come up with this matter even if they are discussing it here! No one can say it accurately!
Xu Guo originally thought that he should agree with Shen Shixing, but now he has a headache. At this moment, he deeply feels that it is not easy to be the leader of a faction.
Previously, Gao Gong had nothing to say. His holy family, status, qualifications, etc. were all obvious, and no one in the faction would oppose him. Later, Guo Pu fell a little short on the holy family, but he had Gao Pragmatic's support, and he also
He was able to maintain his authority; later on, although Zhang Siwei was a little short of a saint, he had the support of Gao Pragmatism, and he had direct relatives of the Jin Party at his disposal, so he could control the overall situation of the Practical School.
However, now that he, Xu Guo, has become the highest-ranking person in the Real School, he has discovered that he looks like a beautiful person, but in fact, he is like sitting on a volcano under his butt.
In terms of qualifications, the other two elders of the Practical School, Zhang Xueyan and Wu Dui, are older than him; in terms of holy family members, no official in the world can compete with Gao Pragmatic; in terms of direct lineage, well... Gao Pragmatic inherited Gao Gong and Guo Pragmatic.
From the resources left by the three chief assistants Park and Zhang Siwei, it is clear that the degree of pragmatism recognized within the Practical School is much higher than that of Xu Guo.
So now that Gao Pragmatic objected, the trend immediately changed. Basically no one insisted on agreeing with Shen Shixing, and they all said that they should wait - not for Concubine Zheng De to give birth, but for the Queen to become pregnant.
Almost no one within the Shi School knew about the friendship between Gao Jingshi and the Queen, but Xu Guo was a little suspicious now. He felt that Gao Jingshi seemed to have bet his money on the Queen, and this was by no means Gao Jingshi's usual style.
What is the style of high pragmatism? It often seems bold, but in fact it is very cautious every time. High pragmatism will not make a bet without full certainty.
This made Xu Guo very strange. Why do you think that the queen will definitely still be pregnant? Could it be that you, Gao Qiuzhen, decided who the emperor would visit at night for him?
Also, if you help the queen like this, even if the queen is grateful to you, it will only make sense if she really has a son, and the son must survive until he ascends the throne. But these are all uncertainties, why leave a ready-made one?
Why does the emperor's eldest son not support him but place his hope in the unknown?
In short, he felt that this highly pragmatic decision was "not highly pragmatic."
But he can't change the current situation. Not only can't he change it, but he has to follow Gao Pragmatic's wishes, otherwise his position as second assistant will seem to have little weight - he must ensure that most of the pragmatic school agrees with him.
, regardless of whether most people agree with him or he is agreeing with most people.
At least in the eyes of outsiders, most people agree with him, which means that he still controls the situation of the Real School. After all, he is the person with the highest court status within the Real School.
In desperation, Xu Guo also expressed his support for Gao Pragmatic's opinion, but he was still a little worried. According to the historical situation of the Ming Dynasty, even if this matter was delayed for a while, it would certainly not be delayed for too long.
, because in the Ming Dynasty, in addition to Yingzong who was established as the prince at the age of two, Xiaozong also became the prince at the age of six. Even today, he is only eight years old when he becomes the prince.
In other words, Xu Guo believed that this matter could be delayed for four years or six years at most. If the queen wanted to give birth, it must be done before then.
This statement was unanimously recognized by everyone. After all, a prince cannot remain idle for a long time, especially when the emperor has a son. The delay in establishing a prince will make people worry that he will imitate his grandfather Sejong, who cultivated immortality and became a demon.
Gao Pragmatic barely suppressed a split of opinion within the Pragmatic School, and the subsequent development of the situation was within his expectations - Shen Shixing received a reply from the emperor the next day.
The emperor himself made a comment: The queen is still young, why should I establish a concubine as my concubine? It is inappropriate both emotionally and rationally. If the request is not allowed, there is no need to discuss it further.
Shen Shixing seemed to listen to the advice. The emperor said that there was no need to discuss it further, so he really didn't continue to go to court.
Gao pragmatic just breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the matter was over for the time being, but who knew that a new problem arose the next day: Pan Sheng came to the throne, please establish a prince.
Mr. Pan's move confused Gao Pragmatic. Although Mr. Pan was also the minister of the Ministry of Etiquette, and was in charge of the Ministry of Rites in the cabinet, with his usual style, he would obviously not go against the emperor for such a thing.
That's right, did he take the wrong medicine this time, or did he not read the emperor's approval of Shen Shixing carefully?
As expected, the emperor was a little angry about this. In the morning, he sent a memorial to the Director of Ceremonies, and in the afternoon, Zhu issued a written comment with only five words: This matter has been decreed.
Well, the emperor didn't even bother to repeat the truth, and just said that there was already a decree - if you don't see it, go see it yourself, and don't come and chat with me.
Judging from past situations, a veteran with Pan Sheng's personality should calm down after seeing Zhu Pi like this and will never continue to entangle him.
However, an accident happened. Mr. Pan Ge went to court again the next day and still asked for the crown prince.
Now the emperor was really angry, and he was unabashedly angry. He replied to Zhu Biao and directly learned the vernacular of his ancestors: I have said before that the appointment of the crown prince must wait until the queen gives birth to a legitimate son.
No need to invite me again, sir.
After this approval, the foreign court had a rare praise for Mr. Pan. Most of them believed that although Mr. Pan had always been submissive in the past, he was still relatively reliable at critical moments, such as on such important matters concerning the country.
Mr. Pan's position is very firm! Isn't this just the strong wind knowing the strong grass, and the rough and stern knowing the honest minister?
But something more dramatic happened again. After being encouraged by the outer court, Mr. Pan became as if he had eaten several kilograms of calcium tablets, and his bones suddenly became hard. The next day, he went to court again, and the request was still to establish a crown prince!
Not only that, Mr. Pan also used the last resort of the cabinet elders: to resign.
At this time, even Gao Pragmatic was really shocked.
He has always been "over-calculating" and can't figure it out. What is Mr. Pan Sheng doing? You are not an irreplaceable figure. You are a balancer in the cabinet. Now you are so tough on the emperor. Is it because of politics?
Suicide?
Not to mention being pragmatic, even Zhu Yijun was confused by Pan Sheng. After receiving Pan Sheng's third letter asking for the appointment of a prince, Zhu Yijun even wondered whether Pan Sheng had Alzheimer's disease. Like Yan Song in the late Jiajing period, his brain had already
He was completely confused and couldn't even understand what the emperor wanted to express.
But regardless of whether Pan Sheng was confused or not, his actions were already challenging the emperor's bottom line, and Zhu Yijun felt that he had to give the most direct response.
So Zhu Yijun did not give any explanation this time. Zhu Bizhong allowed Pan Sheng to resign as Minister of Rites on the premise of retaining Pan Sheng as a cabinet minister as usual.
The implication is that I think you may be old and confused now, so you should stop taking charge of one department directly and just stay in the cabinet and be a clay Buddha.
However, out of respect for the veteran officials, Zhu Yijun still asked Pan Sheng to recommend a successor to the Minister of Rites in Zhu Yijun. Of course, he also issued a handwriting to the cabinet, asking the cabinet to prepare and recommend a new Minister of Rites.
Gao pragmatic wanted to know what Pan Sheng was doing. After thinking about it, he thought that Pan Sheng had found something wrong with his body, so he probably wouldn't be able to work for long, so he planned to gain a good reputation before he retired.
However, this suspicion disappeared the next day, because Pan Sheng recommended Xu Xuemo to take over as Minister of Rites.
What about Xu Xuemo?
Well, not that much, except that he is Shen Shixing's in-law.
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