Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 117 I am behind you
By this time, the cabinet had already known about Li Mengyang kneeling and crying outside the Taimiao, and was also aware of the seriousness of the problem.

The Prime Minister Ma Wensheng also learned about Li Mengyang's impeachment of twenty-four crimes against him, and he immediately found Zhu Houzhao and said, "Your Majesty, please suspend me from my post. This is my resignation letter."

According to the rules, officials who are impeached must voluntarily stop submitting letters of resignation to defend themselves. Ma Wensheng has always been a rule-abiding person and naturally does not want to break them. Although he does not want to resign in his heart, and does not want to fail to complete the civil service reform that he has invested countless efforts in, he still has to abide by this rule.

"No!"

Zhu Houzhao threw back the memorial handed to him by Ma Wensheng without a second thought, and heaved a long sigh: "These people are really fearless of life and death. I think this performance evaluation method has really touched their sore spot. Well, it's just one more death. Compared with the demise of the Ming Dynasty and the suffering of tens of millions of people, this is nothing, Liu Jin!"

As soon as Zhu Houzhao called out to Liu Jin, Ma Wensheng realized that Zhu Houzhao was probably going to kill someone again. After all, he was a civil servant, and he still felt a little bit sorry for people of the same class as him. He also didn't want to increase the conflict, so he advised:

"Your Majesty, wait a minute! Li Mengyang is not dissatisfied with Your Majesty, nor is he plotting treason. He is just dissatisfied with the performance evaluation system and has some complaints against me. I ask Your Majesty to give Li Mengyang a chance and let me persuade him. If Li Mengyang can come to his senses, I hope Your Majesty will spare his life to avoid more deaths due to the reform!"

"I have already given him a chance and asked Liu Jin to send someone to warn him once," Zhu Houzhao said, and then said, "Ma Wensheng, Ma Wensheng, do you know what Li Mengyang has called you? You are still begging for him. Are you really not angry or are you really selfless?"

"Your Majesty, I just think that if we can reform the new policy without sacrificing human lives, we will not kill people. After all, we are all ministers of the Ming Dynasty, and we are all ministers of Your Majesty." Ma Wensheng said and simply knelt down: "Your Majesty! I risk my life to ask Your Majesty to let me persuade him once!"

"Well, I'll give him another chance," Zhu Houzhao said.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Ma Wensheng said as he turned and left the Forbidden City and headed towards the Taimiao.

After Ma Wensheng left, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but sigh: "Ma Wensheng is too soft-hearted!"

……

Ma Wensheng came to Li Mengyang, and at this time Li Mengyang was still crying loudly: "Emperor! Ma Junzhou disrupted the government and formed a eunuch party. His crimes are worse than those of Liu Jian!"

"Li Mengyang, why are you doing this? Even if I make you hate me, I have never killed the king. As a human being, how can you say such arrogant and rebellious words!"

Ma Wensheng persuaded Li Mengyang with great sorrow like an old man and patted him on the shoulder.

Li Mengyang didn't expect that the Prime Minister Ma Wensheng would come in person and persuade him in person. He was even more pleased. He thought that it seemed that his fuss had indeed worked. Ma Wensheng was really scared! Really scared! Haha! As long as Ma Wensheng was scared, it would not be long before the emperor was scared. The new performance evaluation system would not be implemented. Maybe he could save his life and get a good reputation. "Go away! I, Li Mengyang, will never be within three steps of treacherous ministers and thieves! Liu Jian and his people killed a king, but you, Ma Wensheng, want to destroy the eternal foundation of the Ming Dynasty!"

Therefore, Li Mengyang started to scold directly, not giving Ma Wensheng any face at all.

Ma Wensheng was still relatively tolerant and patiently explained:
"How can this harm the eternal foundation of our Great Ming? It is precisely for the eternal foundation of the Great Ming that we have to implement this performance evaluation method. You, Li Mengyang, have never been a stupid person, and you dare to speak out, but you should also know what the officialdom has become now! Lazy and mediocre officials are everywhere, and the court's tax arrears are getting more and more serious. They have even begun to compete for extravagance and wealth, and who makes more money and who has a better official position. The style of the literati is becoming more and more corrupt. Shouldn't it be changed? If not, how can we govern the country and the people in the future!"

"You are destroying the eternal foundation of my Great Ming. Not only have you destroyed the eternal foundation of the Great Ming, you have also destroyed my foundation. I originally had a good reputation in the court. The previous emperor had intended to make me the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and then transfer to the Ministry of Rites to enter the cabinet. However, you, Ma Wensheng, as the Minister of Personnel, blocked my advancement. Now you have even come up with some kind of performance evaluation system, which has made me go from being a doctor in the Ministry of Revenue to a director in the Ministry of Revenue. You have even criticized me as a useless official. The reputation I worked so hard to build up has been said by you to be a traitor! I even wrote a birthday essay for you back then. You, Ma Wensheng, are a traitor! Bah!"

Li Mengyang spat on Ma Wensheng's face!

No matter what, Ma Wensheng was the prime minister of the dynasty. Being spat on in public was a great humiliation!
Ma Wensheng had never expected that Li Mengyang would spit at him directly. He was angry and heartbroken at the same time: "Is this the real reason why you impeached me?"

Li Mengyang didn't seem to want to hide it: "That's right! But I, Li Mengyang, still say that, you, Ma Wensheng, are a traitor! A big traitor! Not only will I scold you like this, but all the officials and gentry in the court and the country will scold you like this! Not only will they scold you like this now, they will scold you like this for ten years, a hundred years, or even a thousand years! As long as the world is still the world of scholars like me, the scholars of the world will still scold you, and they will punish the ten clans of the civil officials who killed the emperor, kill the censors, and even collude with the eunuch party. These will become their basis for scolding you!"

"Even though I, Li Mengyang, will be killed by you now, so what? A hundred years later, someone will restore my reputation. The future emperor will give me the name of a loyal hero and even give my wife a title of honor!"

"Ma Wensheng, I know you are doing this for the common people, and you really care about the country and the people of Ming, but so what? You are not doing this for the gentry, and you are even now opposing all the gentry in the world. Therefore, I will be a loyal minister, and you will be a treacherous minister, and those common people are just grass, they will not stand up for you, and they don't even know you at all! Hahaha! And you will be scolded by the scholars all the time, and even your family members will scold you! Those common people who have become scholars will also scold you! Hahaha! Ma Wensheng, do you still want to reform the New Deal?"

As Li Mengyang spoke, he began to laugh at Ma Wensheng, looking at him as if he were a fool.

Ma Wensheng's face flushed red from being provoked by Li Mengyang. He was angry just now, but now he was resentful and even a little heartbroken. He didn't know how to refute Li Mengyang, so he just pointed at Li Mengyang and said, "You! You! You!"

Li Mengyang still looked at Ma Wensheng with a smug sneer: "Are you very angry, but you can't refute it, traitor! You, Ma Wensheng, are a traitor!"

Snapped!
Zhu Houzhao suddenly appeared and whipped Li Mengyang in the face. He got off his horse and patted Ma Wensheng on the shoulder: "Don't be afraid! I am behind you. I have never said that you, Ma Wensheng, are a traitor. Who dares to say that you, Ma Wensheng, are a traitor!"

(End of this chapter)