"Taiyue, what do you mean by Gao Suqing bringing a child to meet us?" Chen Yiqin looked at the back of Gao Gong's carriage heading towards the palace, and asked Zhang Juzheng beside him with suspicion.
Zhang Juzheng thought for a while and shook his head: "I also don't understand, but this child is only about seven or eight years old. It is quite rare that he has no stage fright after meeting so many important officials of the court. I think Mr. Xuan is today
He shows that he attaches great importance to this child. Could it be that he needs to be adopted?"
Chen Yiqin suddenly realized it and slapped his forehead: "Yes, Gao Suqing has no son. He just said that this child is the son of his sixth son... I'm afraid it is just like what you said. He wanted to take over and give him Gao Laosan's son.
It’s so popular.” Then he turned around and asked Li Chunfang: “What do you think of the chief minister?”
Li Chunfang smiled with a smile on her face: "It's good to adopt. Brother Zhongxuan, the pillar of the country, will definitely care for his descendants in the future. Wouldn't it be a waste not to have a son? Even the emperor would definitely feel regretful if Brother Zhongxuan really died without an heir.
."
When Zhang Juzheng saw Li Chunfang smiling easily, he also knew that because Li Chunfang had just ignored old matters, he felt that the chance of cabinet discord had been greatly reduced, so he felt happy.
He had a smile on his face, but he couldn't help but sneer in his heart, and said to himself: "How can such a good old man be the first assistant? Since Gao Suqing and his teacher left office one after another, the authority of the cabinet has become worse day by day, and the dispute between the cabinet and the ministry is almost over.
Now that he has come to the forefront, and now there is a new Zhao Zhenji who is in charge of the public opinion in the cabinet, and he always relies on his seniority to dominate, the whole cabinet is in a mess. Without a powerful minister to hold the line, I am afraid that this will happen.
Cabinet decrees will be hard to get out of the Meridian Gate! Alas, if not, why should I..."
Zhang Juzheng was thinking about this, and suddenly remembered something, and asked Li Chunfang: "Mr. Zhao Ge refused to come to welcome you today. Although Duke Zhongxuan didn't mention this at all, it's hard to say whether he would be dissatisfied. Now the emperor is hosting a banquet in person.
, summon him into the palace to have a meal together, if he makes even a few words before the emperor..."
Li Chunfang's smile faltered, and she forced herself to smile and said: "Brother Zhongxuan is very generous and generous. Even if there were some... uh, some discords in the past, let's talk about them and clear them up today, not to mention this trivial matter. Besides, Mr. Zhao Ge didn't come to greet you today, so it's
It's because he's recuperating... Brother Zhongxuan doesn't think he will hold any grudges about this."
Hum hum, there was just some discord in the past?
Chen Yiqin snorted softly: "Let's not talk about whether we remember grudges or not. I'm afraid the chief assistant may have misunderstood Taiyue's meaning. He meant that if the emperor asked and Gao Suqing said that smoothly, then even if the emperor didn't reply
But in the end, this matter cannot be hidden from Zhao Dazhou [Note: Zhao Zhenji, no. Dazhou.]. Even if Gao Suqing does not hold grudges, what about Zhao Dazhou? What is Zhao Dazhou’s situation in the cabinet now? Others don’t know, we
Don’t the three of them know? If he thinks that Gao Suqing is trying to break up with him, I think there will probably be another commotion and no peace of mind.”
The veins on Li Chunfang's thin cheeks jumped twice, and she suddenly asked anxiously: "What should we do?"
At this time, Zhang Juzheng was no longer anxious, and waved his hand and said: "Actually, these are all trivial matters. Maybe the emperor was so happy when he saw Brother Zhongxuan that he forgot to ask about this. It's possible that the issue before the cabinet right now is,
Yan Lu took the cabinet less and less seriously, and there were many people in the Six Ministries who relied on Yan Lu's prestige and wanted to decentralize power from the cabinet. However, they did not want to think about the consequences among them if there was no cabinet to take charge of political affairs.
If we are used to arguing with each other, then the entire Ming Dynasty will just quarrel all day long. What else can we accomplish?"
Li Chunfang nodded with deep sympathy and said: "Yes, now people like Yan Lu are like monks holding umbrellas, and they are lawless. Alas, when Huating Gong was here, Yan Lu was still able to say hello to some extent, why now?
..."
Zhang Juzheng's eyes twitched and he said nothing. According to his opinion, when Xu Jie was in power, Yan Lu was very polite to him? I'm afraid that's not necessarily the case. It just happened that Xu Jie and Yan Lu had the same goals, and Xu Jie and Yan Lu had the same goal.
Jie always indulged in Yan Lu, so Yan Lu seemed to be "acceptable to greetings", but it was Xu Jie's indulgence that caused Yan Lu to almost completely lose control after he stepped down. However, Xu Jie was his mentor, and Zhang Juzheng could not
Speak ill of him at this time.
Chen Yiqin did not have to worry about it, and said bluntly: "Mr. Huating may have a lot of good things, but the responsibility for condoning his words can only be on him. Think about how well-behaved the words were in the time of the late emperor? If it weren't for Duke Huating's introduction, the road would be ruined."
Gao Suqing, why are you so arrogant and domineering and unable to control your words today?"
Li Chunfang was a good gentleman. Although he could actually see the reason, he did not dare to tell him. However, he did not expect that Chen Yiqin was really disappointed with the current situation, so he dared to speak out. Li Shoufu suddenly hesitated.
I didn’t say a word for a long time.
In fact, although what Chen Yiqin said was a bit absolute, it was generally true. It was indeed because of Xu Jie that he became so rampant in his rhetoric. But having said that, the reason why Xu Jie later resigned was also directly related to his indulgence in his rhetoric.<
/p>
At the beginning, the so-called "Manchu Dynasty reversed Gong" was actually the core force controlled by Xu Jie's speech. After Gao Gong became an official, Xu Jie came back to take charge amidst the calls of hundreds of officials. In this war of words, Xu Jie won a complete victory.
In the end, Xu Jieyou's reputation grew.
The situation at that time was that Xu Jie relied heavily on Yanguan and showed favor to them in everything. Yanguan also relied on Xu Jie's rising prestige and became more and more self-inflated. The previous expulsion of Gao Gong, no matter how attached the emperor was, had to compromise in the end.
, the officials became more and more convinced that the emperor was different from the previous emperor and that he was weak and could be bullied. From then on, the officials became more and more unscrupulous in what they said, and they almost had to compete with the emperor regardless of public or private affairs.
Of course, some of these arguments are reasonable suggestions, such as the requirement to restrain the eunuchs from exercising their power; however, most of them are trivial matters that have nothing to do with the national economy. For example, the emperor is prohibited from going to Yudi to reminisce; the emperor is prohibited from going to the suburbs of Beijing to relax;
Suspecting the emperor's intention to travel at public expense and prohibiting him from going to Mount Tai to worship, etc., there is a strong trend to imprison the emperor and feed him as a pig. Even the private affairs of the palace must be brought out with great fanfare and discussed in a grand manner.
Speaking great truths with righteousness. All these things made even Emperor Longqing, who had a good temper and had nothing to say, get angry from time to time - but after he got angry, he couldn't do anything and could only swallow his anger forcibly.<
/p>
In fact, if the emperor goes to Qiandi to relax and reminisce, will this huge country be destroyed?
This is pure nonsense.
But that’s not the case, so why be alarmist!
I would like to think that this group of seven-foot-tall men, hot-blooded heroes who control the public opinion and justice of the country, ignore the many shortcomings of political affairs, focus on the family's shortcomings, keep an eye on the emperor's private life and make irresponsible remarks, so tirelessly chatting,
How is she different from the village woman in Lishe? She is still complacent and thinks of herself as a righteous person, but in fact it only makes future generations laugh.
And Xu Jie's partiality towards Yan Guan gradually lost its principles - or in other words, he had no principles to restrain Yan Lu's various behaviors.
In July of the first year of Longqing, the emperor issued an order to the cabinet to conduct an inspection on science and technology. Officials who were honest, selfless and competent would not be afraid of inspections. This was not an excessive request, but Xu Jie remonstrated with the emperor in order to protect the officials. Yes, even the emperor’s routine assessment of officials was rejected by the chief minister!
At this time, the emperor could be said to be completely controlled by the civil service group headed by Xu Jie, and could not do anything he wanted to do.
It was precisely this kind of failure in everything that gradually wore away the emperor's endurance. The clay figure still had a certain element of earthiness, and because he had previously attacked his most trusted mentor, Gao Gong, with his words, Emperor Longqing was already a little wary of these people;
Nowadays, these people are becoming more and more arrogant, insisting on taking even trivial matters to the forefront. They have to argue with each other if they are justified, and if they are unreasonable, they will stir up trouble! At this point, who can become the emperor without hating them? Therefore, naturally
By the way, I dislike Xu Jie, the chief assistant who always protects them.
However, mere dislike has no practical significance. The emperor has no one to rely on in the outer court, and he himself is timid and cowardly. He gets angry in private. Something really happened, and he really doesn't dare to fight with Xu Jie, so he can only give instructions occasionally.
, a slight expression of dissatisfaction - that's it, I don't dare to express this dissatisfaction too much, for fear of being caught again, being reprimanded by the officials, and even eating a meal.
For example, in September, due to the affairs of the internal bureaucracy, there was a lot of discussion about Ke Dao again. Xu Jie expressed support for Yan Lu on behalf of the cabinet as always. Ke Dao's remarks were often excessive, and the emperor couldn't bear it. He issued a letter complaining to the cabinet, expressing his grievances.
: "For such a little thing, the official said that I am not the one, and your cabinet also said that I am not the one. What do you want?"
To push the emperor to such an extent, no matter what the matter, no matter which dynasty he was in, seemed to be a bit excessive. But the emperor's weakness gave the officials more and more excuses to bully the weak and fear the strong. Emperor Longqing was originally a benevolent and gentle king.
Known for his benevolence, frugality and generosity, he was repeatedly attacked in a pretextual way, which really reached the limit of his patience. Under such circumstances, the emperor naturally missed Gao Gong more and more.
The water overflows when it is full, and the moon waxes and wanes, just as a person's prosperity must decline. Looking back, Xu Jie's ups and downs in the political arena in the early years of Longqing can be said to be "success is also reflected in the official, and failure is also reflected in the official": relying on the path of speech
The public opinion he created reached the pinnacle of his reputation; he also lost the trust of the royal family because of his indulgent speech. Later, in a tentative resignation, he was directly approved by the emperor and returned home sadly. He was shrewd throughout his life and served the moody Emperor Jiajing.
Although he is able to do everything with ease, he cannot please the cowardly and clumsy Jinshang. The reason behind this is really thought-provoking.
But this was not the time to think deeply, so Zhang Juzheng spoke: "How things got to this point is not important now. What is important now is that we should see that we now have the ability and reason to suppress our opinions.
There is only one person."
Li Chunfang saw Zhang Juzheng's eyes fixed on Gao Gong and his entourage who were heading towards the palace, and suddenly realized: "So you are talking about Duke Zhongxuan...ah, that's right! If there is anyone else who can suppress the words now, I'm afraid it's not the first one except Gao Suqing."
The two of them thought, well, you have been working hard to mediate for the restoration of Zhongxuan Gong, could it be because of this?" Li Chunfang was not angry that she, the chief assistant, was ignored by Zhang Juzheng. This... well, she is quite self-aware. p>
After hearing this, Chen Yiqin was half astonished and half hesitant and said: "Although Gao Suqing has won the trust of the emperor, his previous resignation was because he was defeated by Yan Lu. He almost died in the forest and died in the forest. It is not easy for him to come out again this time."
, how do you know whether he still dares to continue to go against Yanlu?"
Zhang Juzheng laughed and said confidently: "I expect that he will definitely take action to curb this rampant situation of speech."
Chen Yiqin looked at him with great interest and persisted in asking: "Tai Yue must be relying on someone to speak so boldly, but I can't figure out the reason. I dare to ask: How can you see it?"
"The reason is: Gao Gong is a person who wants to do things."
Not to mention Li Chunfang, even Chen Yiqin admitted this sentence frankly, without any refutation, and remained silent.
So Zhang Juzheng put away his smile and said seriously: "But in the current situation, if he wants to do something, he can't let his ears be filled with noise all day long. It's only natural to restrain him and suppress his speech."
Chen Yiqin thought for a while, but still refused to give in, saying: "Yes, he is such a person, but this only shows that Gao Suqing has reasons to deal with Yan Guan, but it does not mean that he must have such strength." <
/p>
Zhang Juzheng's face became more and more serious, and he even remained silent for a while, and then he spoke word by word: "The official is like fire, and the chief assistant is like wind."
Chen Yiqin fell silent. He understood what Zhang Juzheng meant: If the wind of the first assistant is not strong enough, no matter how hard he blows, it will only increase the intensity of the fire; but if the wind of the first assistant is strong enough and violent enough, it can blow out the words.
Of official fire...
As for the high arch, I'm afraid it can at least be considered a strong wind, and it may even be a hurricane!
***The author has something to say***
A new book is like a sapling, in urgent need of care, collection, and recommendation.