Chapter 1,129: Zhan Matters in the Prince's Mansion
Soon, there were people kneeling on the ground in Wuying Hall.
Although the current staff of subordinate officials in the East Palace are not yet fully prepared, they have already been filled to the brim.
Therefore, even though the prince is still young and has no actual ability to govern, in fact, they have vaguely formed the same force.
Although these people have different backgrounds and have different opinions on many court affairs, their status as subordinate officials of the East Palace has actually determined that they must have a firm attitude in matters involving the abolition of the East Palace.
From this point of view, the current situation in the palace is actually not unforeseeable. However, looking at these reckless young officials, Yu Shiyue can't help but have a headache.
So impulsive!
You must know that the general trend in the court today is actually on the side of His Royal Highness. This can be known by looking at the attitude of the courtiers towards He Wenyuan in the Wenhua Palace.
To put it bluntly, it is impossible to shake the crown prince's position with just a secret report. This is why all the important ministers in the court, including Yu Shiyue, who is the official of the Prince's Mansion, have not been involved in this matter until now.
The reason for expressing the attitude.
The matter is not serious enough yet and requires direct group remonstrance to deal with it.
The key to this matter is not actually the courtiers, let alone He Wenyuan, but the emperor!
In the whole dynasty, the only one who could shake the throne of the crown prince was the emperor. If the emperor had no intention of being crown prince, then He Wenyuan would not be a concern at all.
However, if the reverse was true and the emperor made up his mind, it would be very difficult for the ministers to stop him.
Not to mention His Highness the Crown Prince's preoccupation with etiquette, law, and righteousness, and not to mention the original promises. Based on the current situation in the court, as long as the Emperor is willing to pay the price, there is nothing that cannot be accomplished.
Apart from anything else, when the Supreme Emperor appointed Wang Zhen, didn’t the officials directly remonstrate with him? When Wala invaded the border area, the Supreme Emperor insisted on conquering it himself. Didn’t the Heavenly Official Wang Zhi lead the officials to dissuade him?
But what's the use?
Once the emperor makes up his mind, no one can disobey him!
Therefore, in Yu Shiyue's opinion, the best strategy for His Highness the Crown Prince is to keep a low profile and be patient. Even if there is talk of abolishing the throne in the court, he can only make roundabout remarks to the emperor.
Like now, when so many people came together to remonstrate, and in front of so many ministers, it was easy to make the emperor angry, which would have the opposite effect.
This is not Yu Shiyue's conjecture, but a real sign.
Judging from Wang Wen's heavy punishment just now, what happened in the Wenhua Palace has made the emperor really angry. But in this case, the emperor was the first to ask, but it was Zhu Yi and Xu Youzhen who asked Mi Zuo instead.
The author of the figurines, He Wenyuan, ignored it, which was obviously a hidden intention of partiality.
Now, these East Palace ministers are so excited. If the emperor thinks that the East Palace has become powerful and is deliberately working against the emperor, it will be troublesome.
Therefore, seeing the emperor's face change slightly, Yu Shiyue couldn't sit still anymore and hurriedly stepped forward and cupped his hands.
"Your Majesty, I think we should first clarify the situation before punishing anyone. Although Cheng Guogong, Xu Xueshi and others behaved inappropriately in the Wenhua Palace, the reason was still because of He Shilang's secret report to Yi Chu.
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"The reserve position in the East Palace is related to the foundation of the country, and all the ministers in the court are very concerned about it. Therefore, in the Wenhua Palace, Minister He openly admitted that he had impeached His Highness the Crown Prince, and argued with the ministers for various reasons, which caused some commotion."
"Now that the important ministers in the court and the officials in the East Palace are all here, I dare you to ask your majesty to wait with Shilang He to clarify this matter clearly in front of the emperor, so as to appease public opinion and stabilize the people's hearts and minds in the court!"
As the Chief Minister of the Prince's Palace, Yu Shiyue naturally wanted to keep his position as the Crown Prince of the East Palace, but he knew better that impulsiveness was the most taboo thing in court matters.
Even if they want to impeach and remonstrate, they have to do it step by step. Apart from anything else, all the information they have obtained until now comes from the rumors in the court and what He Wenyuan himself said.
But as the most tangible evidence, no one has actually seen He Wenyuan's secret report.
It is true that Yu Shiyue knew very well that since He Wenyuan did not deny the rumors, it meant that even if the contents of the rumors were exaggerated, the key parts would probably not be too different.
However, rumors are just rumors after all. If someone wants to do something in court, the safest way is to obtain tangible evidence.
Therefore, as soon as Yu Shiyue opened his mouth, he brought back the topic that Xu Youzhen and others had pushed to the edge of the outcome. On the one hand, it was to calm the emperor's anger, and on the other hand, it was also to gain enough bargaining chips for the East Palace in the court step by step.
Unlike other officials in the East Palace, Yu Shiyue is an important minister after all. With his current position and prestige in the court, he is no less generous than the Qi Qing.
Therefore, Zhu Qiyu naturally could not ignore his statement, and as soon as Yu Shiyue stood up, other important ministers also spoke up.
First, Chen Xundao from the Ministry of Works said: "Your Majesty, what Yu Cifu said is reasonable. Up to now, the ministers in the court are already talking about it. If we don't thoroughly explain the ins and outs of the matter, it may be difficult to calm down the court discussion. Therefore, we might as well let He Shilang
It is the best policy to describe the content of the memorial in detail and discuss it clearly with all the ministers present."
On the surface, this matter has nothing to do with Chen Xun. However, when deciding who is in charge of the court, it also depends on the relationship.
Before Chen Xun became Minister of the Ministry of Industry, he was a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy. At least half of the subordinate officials in the East Palace were transferred from the Hanlin Academy. Therefore, at this time, even in order to keep these people, Chen Xun also tacitly stood by
He came out to agree with Yu Shiyue.
Next, Hu Hui from the Ministry of Rites also spoke.
"Your Majesty, I also feel that this matter should not be delayed, otherwise it will definitely make the court uneasy."
Mr. Hu is in charge of the Ministry of Rites. Naturally, he cannot keep silent about such matters. When he opens his mouth like this, Zhu Qiyu will find it even more difficult to go against the public opinion.
And, more importantly, the eyes of all the ministers and the emperor were now focused on him, so that even if He Wenyuan wanted to hesitate, he had no reason. After thinking for a moment, He Wenyuan finally chose a relatively conservative statement and said.
"Sir Cifu's words made the subordinates panic!"
"The matter of abolishing the crown prince is a matter decided by His Majesty's Sacred Heart. When to establish, when to abolish, who should be established, who should be abolished, these are not matters for human ministers to discuss."
"I am writing this memorial just because I have doubts about the legal principles of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's position in the East Palace, and I am just explaining my opinion to His Majesty. I have no other intention."
This statement sounded a bit contradictory, but everyone present understood it.
The position of the prince is related to the foundation of the country, and the courtiers can naturally discuss it. However, the scope of their discussion is only to advise the emperor to establish a prince early, and to give advice when an illegal prince is established.
However, whether it can be abolished, and after it is abolished, which prince should be appointed, especially the latter, must be very cautious, especially for ministers with higher official positions. Once the attitude is slightly tougher, they will be forced into the palace.
suspicion.
The most representative of these was naturally the dispute over the basis of the country in the Wanli Dynasty. However, even at that time, the premise that the ministers insisted on was that Wanli himself had never firmly wanted to abolish the inheritance rights of the eldest son, and the dispute over the basis of the country had always been
A very important point in the dispute is that Wanli himself had promised to his ministers that he would make his eldest son the prince.
In other words, the dispute between the Wanli Dynasty and the country was actually the courtiers using the former emperor to fight against the emperor who had changed his mind. Even so, the courtiers only continued to urge Wanli to fulfill his promises, but did not fiercely confront Wanli.
.
Although He Wenyuan didn't know about this matter, as a courtier, especially in this situation, the situation he faced was actually similar.
After all, when He Wenyuan submitted this secret report, he did not expect that its contents would be published. Therefore, it is difficult to make up for what he is doing now and completely let go.
For him to be able to make up his mind to oppose the Prince of the East Palace, he has already taken a huge risk. If he wants to start a deposed event now, he has almost no chance of winning!
Therefore, he could only do this. In He Wenyuan's opinion, this answer should be considered safe...
However, what he didn't expect was that Yu Shiyue was waiting for him to say this. After he finished speaking, Yu Shiyue turned to the emperor and spoke.
"Your Majesty, I think that although Minister He has no intention of abolishing the throne, his memorial has caused such discussion in the court. If he is not punished, he may not be able to convince the public."
"Besides, I also think that there is no need to discuss the principles of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's laws as Shilang He said."
"The position of Crown Prince is not only a state matter, but also a family matter for His Majesty. When His Majesty ascended the throne, he once said that the throne of the Eastern Palace should have been in accordance with the wishes of the Holy Mother and established by His Majesty the eldest grandson of Emperor Xuan Zongzhang, and the Queen Mother Emperor returned to the court. There was nothing wrong with this.
objection."
"It can be seen from this that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's position as Crown Prince is not only ascribed to the etiquette and law, but also the direction of the Heavenly Family. Why is there any doubt?"
"Your Majesty, please judge!"
There is nothing new in these words. They are still the compromise explanation given when the prince was appointed.
That is to say, we do not discuss whether the prince inherits the legal system of the Supreme Emperor or the Emperor, but ascends Shuo to Emperor Xuanzong and takes the throne as the eldest grandson of Emperor Xuanzong.
In fact, this is precisely the crux of the problem. What He Wenyuan wants is to clarify the difference between them, but Yu Shiyue wants to drag the problem back and use the original statement. Both of them are reasonable and have their own advantages.
Yu Shiyue's advantage is that what he said was approved by the emperor at the time. Moreover, a very important point is that this statement was originally proposed by Hu Hu. This means that at least as the eldest uncle of the Ministry of Rites, he cannot
May come out to deny him.
As for He Wenyuan, his advantage is that what he said is actually to cater to the emperor, so in the final analysis, what matters now is the emperor's attitude.
but……
He Wenyuan looked up at the Emperor. Inexplicably, he felt a little flustered. He glanced at the other important ministers from the corner of his eye, and saw that they were looking at him with a bit of complexity, but their brows were already relaxed.
Expand, obviously no longer worried about this matter.
Seeing this situation, He Wenyuan's thoughts changed rapidly, and suddenly he had a flash of inspiration and secretly said...