The strong fire was burning continuously, making the entire Nuan Pavilion very hot. Empress Dowager Sun was sitting on the couch, still twisting the beads in her hand slowly. Opposite him, Zhu Qizhen frowned,
There was a trace of deep surprise in his eyes.
"...You said that the emperor proposed that I come to supervise the country?"
The crackling sound of the charcoal fire seemed to reflect the restless mood of the people in the room.
Jiang An stood at the bottom with a respectful expression. Although Song Wenyi had been transferred to Nangong and became the nominal eunuch in charge of Nangong, in fact, it was Jiang An who really followed Zhu Qizhen closely. Seeing the Supreme Emperor like this
Jiang An said carefully.
"According to the news from Wu Yu, it is indeed the case. After the emperor summoned Yu Shaobao and others, he mentioned the matter of supervising the country. However, he was immediately opposed by all the ministers present. Everyone said...
…”
"say what?"
Hearing such news, Zhu Qizhen felt a little uncomfortable for a while, and his tone became a little irritable.
So, Jiang An finally spoke.
"It is said that at that time, Yu Shaobao and Master Tianguan were the first to object. Master Tianguan said that since the Supreme Emperor has settled down in his old age, there is no reason to re-enter the court to interfere in the affairs of the state. Not only that, he also proposed that in recent days
Since then, the Supreme Emperor has repeatedly left Nangong, which has caused panic in both the government and the public. Therefore, I ask the Emperor to issue an edict to advise the Supreme Emperor to live in Nangong in peace..."
"What?"
As soon as these words came out, Zhu Qizhen almost stood up and cursed fiercely.
"Old man, how dare you do this!"
Seeing this situation, Jiang An immediately knelt down and did not dare to continue talking.
On the other hand, Queen Mother Sun, who was on the side, remained calm and calm, frowned at Zhu Qizhen, and scolded lightly.
"You should have expected this, why are you anxious?"
Zhu Qizhen had a cold face and said nothing. After a moment, he gave instructions to Jiang An.
"You keep talking."
Jiang An lowered his head, swallowed his saliva, and spoke tremblingly.
"Subsequently, Yu Shaobao also objected, and what he said was almost the same. He felt that the emperor was just suffering from a minor illness, and there was no need to make such a fuss. Even if someone needed to supervise the country, it should be His Highness the Crown Prince. The Emperor has already retired.
If you live in the Southern Palace, there will be no reason to interfere with the affairs of the court."
These words were a bit more reserved than Wang Wen's, but they also made Zhu Qizhen's face look gloomy.
You must know that before this, although he had retreated to Nangong, he still had the title of Supreme Emperor after all, and took the initiative not to interfere in the government affairs. The ministers in Anyang Palace still respected him side by side with the emperor on the surface.
However, this time Wang Wen and Yu Qian's words were undoubtedly denying Zhu Qizhen's legitimacy. Even Yu Qian's words were still straightforward and said that since the Supreme Emperor abdicated, he had no power to intervene.
The government is in office.
Although this was indeed the case, Zhu Qizhen still felt a little offended when Yu Qian and others said it directly.
However, with Wang Wen's foreshadowing, Zhu Qizhen was not so excited at this time and just said coldly.
"Then what? What do the remaining ministers say?"
Jiang An then continued: "The remaining adults all said that since the emperor only had an occasional illness, there was no need to appoint a supervisor. Moreover, His Highness the Crown Prince is young and has heavy schoolwork, so it is not appropriate to intervene in political affairs early."
"snort……"
This time, Zhu Qizhen was much calmer. He just snorted coldly and didn't say much. However, Empress Dowager Sun spoke up and asked.
"So in the end, what is the result? The emperor cannot control the court, and the prince is not allowed to supervise the country, so there must be an explanation for the government affairs of the court, right?"
"Back to Our Lady, it is said that several adults also discussed this matter. At that time, Zhang Shoufu and Mr. Zhu Ge made two suggestions respectively."
Jiang An lowered his head and replied.
"Zhang Shoufu said that since the emperor is ill, he can temporarily skip the morning court, but please call all the ministers and six ministers on the fifth day, and all the imperial censors will come to pay their respects and report important military and state affairs. While the emperor is ill, all non-urgent matters will be suspended temporarily.
, if there is an urgent matter, the cabinet will go to the imperial court to report and make a decision."
"However, many people present objected to this proposal. They felt that the cabinet was trying to seize power. Therefore, Mr. Zhu Ge made another suggestion. He suggested that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince should supervise the government on behalf of the emperor and handle detailed matters with the approval of the cabinet.
After the draft is made, it will be handed over to the ministers, all the censors will discuss it, and then His Highness the Prince will present it to the emperor for a ruling."
"If there is no important military and state affairs, then the assistant ministers and all the ministers will go in to pay their respects to the imperial censor and then return to the Yamen. If there are, they will go in early after the court to report the important military and state affairs."
After the words fell, Zhu Qizhen and Queen Mother Sun looked at each other, both of them lost in thought.
The difference between the two plans is actually not very big. However, in the former design, the cabinet acts as a medium for internal and external interaction and becomes a bridge of communication between the emperor and his ministers. The advantage of this is that it will not affect the normal
Government affairs are handled, but the disadvantage is that the power of the cabinet will be strengthened.
You must know that many times, the initial form of a system is a temporary measure. Once this precedent is set, it is uncertain what will happen in the future. Therefore, it is normal for other ministers to object.
The plan proposed by Zhu Jian was to add the prince to the throne and let the prince oversee the court on the emperor's behalf. Unlike the cabinet, when the emperor was ill, it was a regular system for the prince to supervise the country on his behalf. This would not affect everyone in the court.
The extent of departmental power.
Of course, the prince is young, so the so-called supervisor of the country can only listen to the government. In fact, its role is to ensure the normal conduct of the court meeting. At the same time, it plays a role in communicating with internal and external parties and reports the results of the court meeting to the emperor.
It is the cabinet and the six ministries and seven ministers that really handle affairs.
As for military and state affairs, the two methods basically have the same idea. They all meet with the emperor regularly and have the emperor personally decide.
"So what's the end result?"
It seemed that Jiang An's narrative was too lengthy, which made Zhu Qizhen feel agitated. After he came to his senses, he asked with a cold face.
So, Jiang An replied.
"Back to the Supreme Emperor, finally, the Emperor agreed to Zhuge Lao's suggestion. If nothing else, the imperial edict has now arrived at the East Palace. Starting from the morning session the day after tomorrow, His Highness the Crown Prince will preside over the morning session for the Emperor..."
The Nuan Pavilion became quiet for a while.
A trace of confusion flashed in Zhu Qizhen's eyes. He looked at the Queen Mother Sun aside and saw a thoughtful expression on the latter's face.
So, he waved his hand, signaling Jiang An to stand up and retreat to the end, and then asked.
"Mother, what do you think the emperor is doing?"
According to common sense, Zhu Qizhen originally thought that the emperor's move was to test the attitude of the ministers, which meant that the other party definitely did not intend to let him or the prince really participate in political affairs.
However, this was exactly the case. The final result was that the emperor agreed to the prince's plan to take charge of the government. You must know that this is a move of great political significance.
Although the prince is the crown prince and the most legitimate heir to the emperor, as we all know, the current prince is not the emperor's son. Therefore, even if the emperor shows his trust in the East Palace, there will always be speculation in the court that the emperor
In the end, he will definitely not hand over the throne to the prince. Obviously, Zhu Qizhen feels the same way.
If this inference is followed, then no matter what the emperor does on the surface, he will definitely not let go of the power of letting the East Palace participate in politics. Even if it is just to listen to politics, it actually means that the prince's status is more stable.
But the fact is that the emperor really agreed. This made Zhu Qizhen feel a little unclear about the emperor's thoughts...
On the other hand, Queen Mother Sun on the side, after pondering for a moment, did not immediately answer Zhu Qizhen's words, but asked.
"The Ai family remembers that you recalled Song Wenyi because you took a fancy to several promising eunuchs around him. Now, among these people, there should be people who are already in high positions, right?"
Hearing this, Zhu Qizhen hesitated at first, but soon he spoke.
"Yes, that's right. I recalled Song Wenyi at that time because I wanted to use his connections in the palace to plant nails in the Palace of Qianqing. This matter was handled by Zhu Yi. Although it took a lot of effort, it was finally possible.
It was effective.”
"Nowadays, two of these people are in important positions. One is Wu Yu, the one mentioned just now. He is responsible for cleaning everything in Qianqing Palace. Most of the information I can find out now comes from him.
of."
"Another man named Wang Dingtong works as a young supervisor in the Military War Bureau. However, because the Military War Bureau is responsible for the manufacture of weapons and is too sensitive, I have never used him. Therefore, the only ones that can be used now are
Wu Yu is alone."
Hearing this, Queen Mother Sun nodded and continued to ask.
"Then, there is another question. How is the emperor's health now? Is it really as you thought before that he is pretending to be ill?"
This time, Zhu Qizhen did not hesitate. After thinking for a while, he spoke.
"Yes and no. Judging from the news from Wu Yu, the emperor was indeed ill this time, but it was just a minor illness. He occasionally felt cold and had a high fever for one night, and then he gradually recovered. There was no outside world.
It's as serious as I imagined, and it's even more impossible that I can't look at the North."
"The emperor is still hiding now, probably because he wants to take this opportunity to test it out."
"Is the news reliable?"
Queen Mother Sun thought for a moment and then asked.
Then, Zhu Qizhen replied.
"There should be no problem. Wu Yu is a close confidant of Song Wenyi. His family and relatives are now being looked after by people sent by Jiang An. For the sake of safety, I specially asked Zhu Yi to handle this matter secretly. Therefore, he basically and Nangong
There is no direct involvement, and his current position in the palace is that of a eunuch named Ruan Jian under Huai En. His position is only responsible for cleaning, and he is not a key figure. There should be no problems.
."
Empress Dowager Sun hummed softly, put down the prayer beads in her hand, her expression became more serious, and said.
"If that's the case, then you and I might as well think about it, if there was no Wu Yu, what would the situation we see be?"
this……
Zhu Qizhen thought for a while and quickly came up with the answer.
If it were not for Wu Yu, then what they would see now would be that the emperor was ill in bed and saw no one. Later, Yu Qian and others broke into the palace to see him. Finally, a decree came from the palace to let the prince take charge of the affairs on behalf of the emperor.
The Sixth Ministry and the Cabinet shall act at their discretion.
All these signs undoubtedly point in one direction...
"The emperor is seriously ill and unable to govern?"
Zhu Qizhen tentatively spoke, but when he saw Queen Mother Sun's expression, he knew that what he was thinking was a bit simplistic.
Then, Empress Dowager Sun said.
"You said before that the emperor knows that you have other arrangements secretly. If this is the case, then it is not impossible to pretend to be seriously ill to lure you into action."
"But the question is, even without Wu Yu, would you take action?"
This sentence immediately stopped Zhu Qizhen.
He thought seriously for a moment, and finally shook his head slowly and said.
"Won't……"
It is true that the emperor's serious illness is a good opportunity for Zhu Qizhen. However, since the emperor summoned the ministers, it means that he is still conscious even though he is seriously ill. Under such circumstances, Zhu Qizhen will never dare to act rashly.
.
What's more, the presence of Shu Liang, a big man who disappeared inexplicably, adds more uncertainty. For Zhu Qizhen, he has no reason to take action at this time, so he puts himself in his shoes and thinks about it.
Zhu Qizhen felt that if this was really the case, he would be very moved, but he would definitely not take action in the end.
So, Empress Dowager Sun nodded and said.
"That's right. This arrangement is not enough for you to actually take action. So in that case, what is the emperor's intention?"
Zhu Qizhen thought along the lines of the Empress Dowager Sun, but after thinking for a moment, he still felt that he had no clue. If it was not to induce him to rebel, then what was the emperor thinking?
Seeing her son's expression, Queen Mother Sun sighed softly and reminded him.
"The Ai family heard that Yu Qian and the others were in a stalemate outside the palace for a long time, pretending not to give up until they saw the emperor, and finally succeeded in meeting the emperor. Have you ever thought about why this is?"
Zhu Qizhen was stunned for a moment. He was about to say that it was just the emperor who messed up, but when the words came to his lips, he took it back.
Empress Dowager Sun has just said that although the emperor's move has thrown away a very exciting bargaining chip, it is not actually enough to induce him to take action. In this case, there is no so-called situation of being forced to meet with ministers.
But if that wasn't the case, Zhu Qizhen's expression suddenly changed. He had always felt that the emperor's target was him, but what if... it wasn't?
"The queen mother refers to the rumors from the government and the public?"
Zhu Qizhen hesitated and asked.
If we look at it aside from the purpose of tempting him to take action, then the emperor's "sickness" this time is very likely to be aimed at the ministers in the court.
Seeing that her son finally understood, Queen Mother Sun felt a little relieved on her face, nodded and said.
"The emperor's illness is not a big deal. Logically speaking, let alone half a month, even one or two months is not enough for the courtiers to insist on entering the palace with such a tough attitude. But this time, it happened
So, why, haven’t you figured it out yet?”
As soon as these words came out, Zhu Qizhen suddenly realized something, and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead...