Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 151 I ask Your Majesty to kill him!
Jiao Fang fell into deep thought as he watched Gong Shangwei's departing back. The position of Prime Minister was naturally what he wanted, but he also wanted the huge profit of more than 60,000 taels that the Royal Bank could bring to his Jiao family every time.

"Jiao Yi, go to the Ma residence and send a letter in the name of the young master, saying that I would like to invite the Prime Minister to meet him at Mo Wenxuan," Jiao Fang instructed her butler Jiao Yi.

Soon, Ma Wensheng arrived as promised. When he saw Jiao Fang, he asked, "Meng Yang, why did you ask me to come here in such a mysterious way?"

Since ancient times, it has been impossible for the top leader and the second in command to be too harmonious, and the same goes for the first assistant and the second assistant. Naturally, there will be competition and struggle between them, at least they will not be too close to each other. Now Ma Wensheng was naturally very surprised that Jiao Fang suddenly asked him out.

Jiao Fang stood by the window for a long time, then asked, "I wonder what the Prime Minister thinks of the Royal Bank run by Your Majesty and this so-called financial meeting?"

"Of course it's the emperor's grace!"

Ma Wensheng didn't know what Jiao Fang meant by this sudden question, and he didn't answer directly. He just replied in a very official manner and bowed in the direction of the Forbidden City.

Jiao Fang was quite indignant, secretly cursing Ma Wensheng for being an old fox, so he had to throw out some explosive information: "Last night, Gong Shangwei, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, came to see me."

When Jiao Fang said this, her tone was very flat and her voice was very low, so low that it seemed that only Ma Wensheng could hear it. However, the effect was like a thunderclap in Ma Wensheng's ears. Without Jiao Fang saying anything more, Ma Wensheng himself could guess what it meant for his disciple to suddenly go to Jiao Fang.

Ma Wensheng suddenly became furious. He had never thought that his respected student would join his sect just because he did not support him in advising His Majesty to shut down the Royal Bank! But he was obviously doing it for his own good!
Ma Wensheng knew that there was no need to joke with Jiao Fang now. After all, she had told him about her student's betrayal, which was obviously a show of goodwill to him, so he confessed directly:
"It is true that the Royal Bank is taking away the people's profits. However, it is also true that since the establishment of the Royal Bank, the court no longer has to worry about the shortage of money and food, whether it is disaster relief, river management, or military support. Therefore, I am still unsure whether it is better to stop the bank or not."

"Of course we will continue to do it! From a public perspective, the money and grain of the world can be controlled by the court; from a private perspective, it is also beneficial to you and me, but it is not beneficial to the gentry and the rich!"

Jiao Fang said, "Prime Minister, please tell me directly, do you want His Majesty to close the Royal Bank or not? If not, I will clean up the mess for you."

Ma Wensheng thought for a long time before he said, "The Royal Bank is the will of the Emperor, and the will of the Emperor cannot be violated! Thank you, Meng Yang. I will attend the court tomorrow morning, but I will claim to be ill!"

……

Zhu Houzhao had already asked the Western Factory Commander Gu Dayong to plant spies all over the country. Soon, Gu Dayong came to Zhu Houzhao and reported, "Your Majesty, I have a report from you that yesterday, the first assistant Ma Wensheng and the second assistant Yu Mo Wenxuan had a secret meeting. This is what they talked about!"

Zhu Houzhao looked at the West Factory notebook that Gu Dayong had placed in front of him for a while, then smiled and said, "It seems that the money I gave out has worked. It has changed the court's love of internal power struggles. This is a blessing for the country. Although it is still for personal gain and justice, it is at least better than blindly seeking power and profit."

Not long after that, Zhu Houzhao came to the court. Seeing that Ma Wensheng was not at the head of the left-hand class, he asked the censor, "Where is the Prime Minister?"

"Your Majesty, the Prime Minister claimed to be ill today," replied the censor in charge of calling the roll.

Zhu Houzhao said nothing after hearing this.

At this time, Gong Shangwei, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, was secretly delighted. He was planning to impeach Ma Wensheng today, and to use the impeachment of Ma Wensheng as an excuse to ask Emperor Zhu Houzhao to shut down the Royal Bank. Now that Ma Wensheng was claiming illness and not attending court, it would be a good opportunity to avoid the embarrassment of impeaching his former teacher.

After a while, Gong Shangwei stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I want to impeach Prime Minister Ma Wensheng for living a life of luxury, doing nothing, and being lazy. He said that setting up a royal bank is a move that takes away the benefits of the people, but he did not dissuade me as the Prime Minister. I think such a foolish person should resign!"

Zhu Houzhao was not surprised to see Gong Shangwei, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, suddenly impeach his teacher. He just said "oh" and asked the eunuch to bring up the memorial. However, at this time, Jiao Fang, the Second Assistant of the Cabinet, stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I have something to report."

Gong Shangwei, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, was even happier to see Jiao Fang come out. The plan he and Jiao Fang agreed upon was that he would first use the impeachment of Ma Wensheng to ask Zhu Houzhao to close the Royal Bank, and then Jiao Fang would come out to support him. In that way, it would be equivalent to having a cabinet assistant to support him, and he would not have to worry about the emperor not being able to accept advice.

"Well, Minister Jiao, feel free to tell me what you want to report," Zhu Houzhao smiled slightly and seemed very gentle, as if he had no intention of becoming a murderous tyrant.

Gong Shangwei, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, could see that the Emperor favored Jiao Fang very much, and even the tone of his speech was different. He was even happier in his heart, thinking that even if this matter could not be accomplished all at once, at least Ma Wensheng would fall first. By then, if Jiao Fang made further progress, it would naturally be only a matter of time before the Royal Bank was closed down. Moreover, there had long been rumors in the court that His Majesty intended to replace the Prime Minister.

But at this time, Jiao Fang only said: "Last night, Gong Shangwei, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, secretly visited me and wanted to collude with me to assassinate the Prime Minister. He said that the Prime Minister was incompetent and could not control the king. He made the gentry persecuted by the factory guards, causing the world to be dark and the people to live in misery. He was really a treacherous minister, so he wanted to impeach the Prime Minister and help me seize the position of Prime Minister!"

"Everything I have said is true. There is absolutely no falsehood. Your Majesty, please have someone check whether Minister Gong visited my residence yesterday. I still have a token left by Minister Gong, an official seal. Minister Gong is really too careless!"

As Jiao Fang spoke, he took out the seal and asked the eunuch to give it to Zhu Houzhao.

The entire court became very quiet, and Gong Shangwei, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, was very surprised. He couldn't believe his ears! He didn't expect Jiao Fang to betray him and tell everything he said in the court. He was very angry! He suddenly panicked and shouted in anger:

"You are talking nonsense! You are framing me! I, I didn't expect you to dare to frame me like this! You asked your maid to accompany me, but I didn't expect you to let your maid steal my seal!"

Zhu Houzhao could tell that Gong Shangwei's words contained a lot of information. Not only did he hear it, but other court officials also heard it and couldn't help laughing.

Jiao Fang ignored Gong Shangwei: "Your Majesty! I have no desire for power, nor do I dare to form a clique in secret. Gong Shangwei is a villain and disrespectful to Your Majesty. I beg Your Majesty to kill him!"

"They are forming cliques for personal gain, deceiving their superiors and hiding the truth from their subordinates. Such villains are unworthy of standing in the court. I ask Your Majesty to execute them!"

At this time, the Minister of War Xu Jinzhan came out and echoed.

"I request Your Majesty to execute him!" At that time, the Minister of Revenue Wang Hua also stood up. For no other reason, as the Minister of Revenue, he knew the significance of the Royal Bank to the court and his own Wang family, so he also followed suit.

"I request Your Majesty to execute him!" Zhang Cai, the right vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel, also echoed.

"I request Your Majesty to execute him!" Even Zhang Mao, who was in charge of the military power of the regiment, stood up and echoed.

"I request Your Majesty to execute him!" Taiping Hou Zhang Jie was no exception.

For a time, important civil and military officials in the court all demanded that Zhu Houzhao severely punish Gong Shangwei. Some officials who sympathized with or wanted to speak for Gong Shangwei fell silent unconsciously after seeing this situation.

(End of this chapter)