Without money, what is the point of being a traitor?

Chapter 340: Red and Warm Zhu Houzhao

Chapter 340: Red and Warm Zhu Houzhao
Zhu Houzhao successfully instigated Jiao Fang, Zhang Cai and others to rebel, and although he quickly formed a powerful force, he also used Jiangxi people as targets and united the majority of people.

During this period, many Jiangxi officials who had occupied high positions were dismissed and their profits were divided up.

Many newly-appointed scholars who had not yet been assigned positions did not even dare to accept the official positions and simply ran away.

But the result?
The court officials who had experience in struggle quickly formed a group when their interests were affected.

Afterwards, the Jiangxi people, having learned their lesson, made a comeback and ruled the court again.

When a force emerges and becomes powerful, self-awareness will naturally emerge.

This self-consciousness is abstract, exists, and has a common driving force for everyone within the force.

Provoking political and party struggles and profiting from them may seem a clever tactic, but in fact it has also created a lot of self-awareness.

This common interest belonging to a specific group is no longer subject to the will of any individual.

When the powerful self-consciousness here can compete with the imperial power, then what is the imperial power?
Zhu Houzhao took the initiative to stir up factional disputes in order to gain a temporary victory, which was already a case of drinking poison to quench thirst.

Some people may find this strange, as there have always been party disputes, and they were not necessarily serious.

However, the harm caused to the court by a group centered around individuals and a group centered around common values ​​are completely different.

The former's faction, like the Hu Weiyong case, could be directly wiped out with the death of Hu Weiyong and a large number of officials.

The latter factions, like the reformists and conservatives in the Song Dynasty, fought against each other endlessly, and fought repeatedly with the rise and fall of personnel.

Once this kind of conscious party is formed, even if it faces strong suppression, as long as the conditions are ripe, it will suddenly emerge like seeds hidden in the soil.

The starting point for Zhu Houzhao's downfall was the Liang Ci case.

The Liang Ci case is no longer a simple case after several rounds of debate and repeated explanations in the court.

As the Ming Dynasty's land annexation and resource grabbing entered the second half, continuing to plunder the people had reached an unsustainable level.

The "Liang Ci's Case" marked the beginning of a stage where the big fish eat the small fish. The small tyrants, who were weak but numerous, naturally would not sit idly by and wait for death.

This structural reshaping, which accompanies social development, fully meets the prerequisites for conscious party struggle.

Pei Yuan sensitively smelled the coming storm and had already begun to think about backing down.

Instead of watching them fight here, it would be better to go to Shandong to wipe out the Luo Sect.

Pei Yuan was already too deeply involved in the Liang Ci case, and it would be easy for him to be dragged into this fight. Secondly, Zhu Houzhao's replacement of the inner court would also be a close fight between the "Seven Tigers of the Inner Palace" and the "Old People of Hongzhi".

Pei Yuan's relationship with both sides is complicated.

Pei Yuan and Gu Dayong have a good relationship, and Eunuch Qiu has also let go of the knot in his heart for making up a dirty rumor about him, but he has become an enemy of Zhang Yong, the leader of the Seven Tigers.

Pei Yuan and Lu Ting were enemies at first, but later they came to respect each other. The relationship with the Xiao family was also OK, at least when Xiao Yan's anger subsided, there was still a basis for cooperation between the two sides.

At this time, if Pei Yuan was forced to take sides, it would be too passive.

The tug-of-war in the court was intense, and the depressing and suppressed mood lasted for several days.

Wei Ne, who had not been seen for many days, finally ran to Zhihua Temple to meet Pei Yuan after observing the situation for a while.

When Pei Yuan figured out what this uncle was doing, he couldn't help but exclaim "WTF!"

It turned out that after Gu Dayong finished talking about Li Fuda in front of Zhu Houzhao, Zhu Houzhao, who attached great importance to the border threat in the north, took it to heart and asked the cabinet to submit the yellow memorial immediately.

Now the only people working in the cabinet are Li Dongyang, Yang Tinghe and Fei Hong.

When Fei Hong heard that the emperor was asking about the memorial on the case of Li Fuda, he honestly planned to look it up and hand it to the emperor, but Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe both objected.

Because this is very unusual.

All memorials that the emperor should know about should be handled by the cabinet before being submitted.

Apart from the cabinet, only the Ministry of Public Security had the power to obtain those memorials.

The inner study room of the inner court manages the basic files, which will only be used for comparison when there are loopholes in the cabinet's opinions on the handling of yellow papers.

However, if the Ministry of Public Administration wanted to report the contents of a memorial to the emperor, it had to report to the cabinet in advance.

This was the empire established by the "Three Yangs" back then!

Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe didn't know where the emperor got the news from, but they both decided to delay the matter procedurally to express the cabinet's attitude.

The method of procedural procrastination is also very simple, which is to complicate simple things.

Therefore, Yang Tinghe and Li Dongyang urgently asked the Secretariat to make several copies of the yellow text, and then sent them to the Ministry of War, Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Justice, and Ministry of Personnel.

The case of Li Fuda involves rebellion, so we must study where to mobilize troops to quell the rebellion.

As long as the troops are moved, food and wages must be used. This is the job of the Ministry of Revenue.

Li Fuda is a fugitive prisoner, and the Ministry of Justice needs to come up with suggestions on how to deal with him and prevent future crimes from happening.

As for the Ministry of Personnel, it should also implement targeted rewards and punishments for local officials.

These issues are very flexible, and if they really need to be dealt with, they can conservatively be delayed for a year.

After all, tomorrow will have tomorrow’s things, and the day after tomorrow will have the day after tomorrow’s things.

As a result, after Zhu Houzhao asked about it, he also lost his temper.

The cabinet has not dealt with it, isn't it just going through the procedures? A rebellion involves a lot of things, so it is only natural for each department to give their opinions.

Even though Zhu Houzhao knew that the cabinet was trying to shirk responsibility, there was nothing he could do.

So Zhu Houzhao had no choice but to ask the Ministry of Public Security for the original copy, hoping to see what was going on before the cabinet drafted it.

Then something unexpected happened.

——The Ministry of Public Security actually does not have the original record of this matter!
How could the Ministry of Public Administration not have the original copy? If the Ministry of Public Administration did not have the original copy, how did the Cabinet get the yellow memorial?
So, from Zhu Houzhao's perspective, this is what happened.

He learned from Gu Dayong that Gu Dayong heard about Li Fuda's rebellion in the Tongzhengsi, so Zhu Houzhao asked the cabinet for opinions on how to deal with Li Fuda's case. The cabinet did not immediately report to the emperor on the grounds that it was still being handled. Then Zhu Houzhao asked the Tongzhengsi for the original copy, but the Tongzhengsi did not give it to the emperor and then claimed that it could not be found.

Zhu Houzhao was originally dissatisfied with the way the Tongzhengsi was subordinate to the cabinet, and he had been strengthening the power of the Tongzhengsi, and even used it as a political force that he could rely on.

As a result, the Ministry of Public Security actually played such a trick on him.

Isn't this equivalent to him secretly raising a mistress who ended up raising a son for the cabinet?

Zhu Houzhao's face immediately turned red when he thought of this.

Then he issued an order in a tone of reprimand without disguising it, demoting Minister of Public Administration Ding Feng to Nanjing for flattery and fawning on the cabinet.

The cabinet was unhappy that the emperor suddenly asked about a specific case, and when they saw Zhu Houzhao's edict, they felt it was unfair.

What the hell does this have to do with us? How can it be considered flattery? How can it be considered fawning on the cabinet?

The emperor was not scolding Ding Feng, he was slapping the cabinet in the face.

So Yang Tinghe rejected the decree with the excuse that he "did not understand what it meant". Zhu Houzhao saw that the decree could not be sealed, so he immediately had someone hand it over to Ding Feng in person in the form of an imperial decree.

According to regulations, the emperor's edict is not a valid administrative document without the endorsement of the court, and Tongzhengshi Ding Feng can completely ignore it.

For civil officials, "refusing the imperial edict" and "accepting the caning in court" are two great honors that will make them highly regarded by the world.

But Ding Feng is a man of dignity. The emperor has made it clear that he doesn't want to use him anymore, so why should he stay here and force his will?
So Ding Feng immediately received the imperial edict and went to Nanjing.

This made the cabinet very angry.

As a result, even though Zhu Houzhao was overawed, he still refused to give up and directly began to intervene in the cabinet affairs with the "Liang Ci case".

Seeing that he had to fight another tough battle, Li Dongyang chose to take sick leave again.

Yang Tinghe was furious and immediately resented both Li Dongyang and Liang Chu. He quickly gathered his followers and wanted to recreate the grand occasion of the fifth year of Zhengde.

After listening to Wei Ne's account of the incident, Pei Yuan looked at him in disbelief.

"You hid the original copy?"

After listening to this, Wei Ne took out a memorial from his arms with a very calm expression, shook it in his hand, and then placed it on the desk in front of Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan took a look at the memorial, reached out and picked it up, then looked at it quickly.

Weiner was a little surprised.

"I didn't expect Captain Pei to be so calm in the face of such an emergency."

Pei Yuan finished reading it, thought for a while, and asked Wei Ne, "What are your plans? The Tongzhengsi will surely face a purge next. Do you think you have a chance to get promoted?"

Wei Ne was hated by everyone before and did nothing serious in the Tongzhengsi.

In this way, he became the safest one in this crisis.

Since he did not perform his duties, it is of course impossible for him to commit dereliction of duty.

If the Ministry of Public Security really wants to reshuffle its policies, maybe this will give him a chance to turn things around.

Weiner smiled and said, "I didn't think that much."

Then he took the memorial and found a candle to light it.

Pei Yuan was increasingly confused as to what Wei Ne meant.

After Wei Ne had burned the memorial completely, he clapped his hands and calmly explained to Pei Yuan, "Because I just wanted to cause trouble for Zhu Houzhao."

"A person as insignificant as me, with an old and broken knife like mine, he could naturally watch his enemy break it without mercy."

Wei Ne said with a faint smile on his face, "But for a villain like me, it's not difficult to do bad things to others."

Pei Yuan felt a chill in his heart when he heard this.

He himself is a pragmatist and doesn't care about those who can't be used.

However, Wei Ne's actions had a great impact on his ideas.

Pei Yuan's eyes fell on the burnt memorial and he asked Wei Ne, "You came here just to tell me this?"

Wei Ne's face looked very relaxed, without any of the nervousness and excitement that should be expected for such a big event.

"I've been waiting to die for a year, and finally I've gotten rid of my anger."

"He thought his arrangement in the Ministry of Public Security was well hidden, but it couldn't escape my eyes."

"I have no one to talk to, and I feel very uncomfortable. Now I finally feel relieved."

He said he felt happy, but the expression on his face seemed even more disappointed.

Pei Yuan looked at Wei Ne, his eyes flickering, "Isn't Zuo Canzheng afraid that I will tell the emperor?"

"What did you say?" Wei Ne's eyes widened. He stirred the ashes of the memorial with his hands, not caring about the residual heat, and asked again, "What did you say?"

Pei Yuan didn't know what this villain was planning for a moment.

Seeing that Pei Yuan was stumped by his question, Wei Ne started laughing again.

After laughing, he calmed down and said, "Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. Even if the emperor knows, how can he admit this result? Why is Captain Pei looking for trouble?"

Wei Ne pointed at the paper ashes on the ground again, "I came to you for another reason besides the anger in my heart. Because you said you are the new sword of the emperor..."

Weiner said, his expression distorted as he tried to control it, "Then let me use this old knife to teach you how to do things."

"For one thing, I can disgust Zhu Houzhao twice. Just thinking about it makes me happy."

Weiner said this and laughed again.

Pei Yuan listened to Wei Ne getting bolder and bolder, and couldn't help but ask, "You are so presumptuous in front of me, aren't you afraid that I will bring you to justice?"

Wei Ne looked at Pei Yuan and said teasingly, "I am just a person who hides memorials. The person who was able to accurately calculate the emperor's affairs in the Ministry of Public Administration should be cut into pieces."

Pei Yuan's face was uncertain for a while, and then he also laughed and said, "Interesting, come on, bring some wine!"

As a remnant of Liu Jin, Wei Ne had been waiting for death for more than a year, which had made his nerves extremely tough.

Seeing Pei Yuan like this, he did not hesitate and immediately had a drink with Pei Yuan.

The two of them didn't talk about anything too complicated during the banquet. After Wei Ne finished his meal, he left half drunkenly.

In the next few days, Pei Yuan stayed in Zhihua Temple as steady as an old turtle, not paying any attention to what was happening outside.

The situation at the court soon became clear.

After the joint trial by the three courts, the imperial court cut the Gordian knot, completely ignored the criticism from both the government and the public, and gave the final judgment on the matter.

——The main culprits Liang Ciwu and Dai Zhongpeng were exiled to the border guards for meritorious service, and were returned to their posts five years later with salaries and military service.

——The rest of the accomplices were executed by slow slicing.

The Liang Chibi case, which caused a huge impact during the Zhengde period, was hastily concluded in this political game.

Faced with this result, Yang Tinghe remained silent for the time being.

Not long after, the war quietly broke out in a corner, and this time another seemingly unrelated person was involved.

——Xu Wenhua, the Censor-in-Chief, said, "Recently, Liu Jin has been abusing his power, and Grand Secretary Jiao Fang has attached himself to him, and has changed the imperial examination system. After the imperial examination in the third year of Zhengde, the Ministry of Works erected a stone with my name on it, and ordered Fang to write a record. But they said that the system had been changed, and it was a rule that had not been implemented for a hundred years. I am deeply ashamed to have my name included in it. I hope that the record written by Fang and the stone will be erased. I will also order Confucian officials to record it."

"The imperial edict says that the text has been engraved and it should be put away."

——"The thirteenth imperial censor of Nanjing, Zhou Yong and others, said that the whole country celebrated the execution of the traitor Jin, but the retired Grand Secretaries Jiao Fang and Liu Yu, who were involved in Jin's evil deeds, have not been punished. The retired ministers Liu Daxia, Han Wen, Lin Han, Yang Shousui, and the former Left Imperial Censor Zhang Fuhua were all banished by Jin and have not been exonerated. We request that Fang and others be stripped of their titles and executed, and that Daxia and others be treated with grace and honor, and be given posthumous titles, in order to show the law of the country and please the people."

"The emperor ordered that the document be sent to the relevant department."

(End of this chapter)

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like