Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 18 Wan Fang is guilty, and the fault lies with the Emperor!
Ok Hee Palace.

Xu Jie helped Yan Song get off the sedan chair. Yan Song ignored his own son's hand and held Xu Jie's hand: "I am already eighty-one years old. The position of the Prime Minister of the Cabinet will not be passed on to Yan Shifan. Only you can sit on it."

Xu Jie's body shook.

Yan Shifan was struck by lightning.

I just slept in, what happened?
Why did my father give the position of Prime Minister to someone else?

Yan Shifan was so angry that his brain was about to burn out, and his face turned red. If this wasn't the Western Garden, he would have argued with Yan Song to see who was his biological son.

Yan Song and Xu Jie went out, while Yan Shifan stayed behind sulking. The pickles were taken over by two young eunuchs and carried into the palace.

The head of the Ministry of Revenue, who was in charge of the keys to the national treasury, had already received the news and was waiting. He turned the carriages loaded with treasures and goods around and went to the Ministry of Revenue for an inventory.

All Xu Jie had to do was present the account book to the emperor, and the Ministry of Revenue had a lot more things to consider.

Xu Jie was the Minister of Revenue. Generally speaking, all money entering or leaving the treasury had to have Xu Jie's signature.

Logically speaking, after the Xu family’s wealth and goods are counted, Xu Jie’s signature is required before they can be put into storage.

but.

This is a bit murderous.

The imperial edict ordered Gao Gong, a cabinet minister and left vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue, to be in charge of the matter of the stolen silver from the Yan, Xu and Zhang families. Therefore, with Gao Gong's signature, the silver could be deposited into the treasury.

Last night, the money from the Yan family was delivered to the Ministry of Revenue, and it was Gao Gong who was in charge of it.

The same is true for the Xu family's wealth today.

……

Zhu Houcong stood in front of the gate of Yuxi Palace.

Looking at the court officials walking slowly towards him, he suddenly felt a chill in his soul.

Forty years.

The chill that could freeze the soul returned.

In the 16th year of Zhengde, Zhu Houcong, who was only 15 years old, came to the capital from Anlu, Hubei, and succeeded to the throne.

Since he ascended the throne, Zhu Houcong encountered numerous obstacles and difficulties. The civil service group headed by Yang Tinghe wanted him to succeed to the throne as his cousin, Crown Prince Wuzong.

Zhu Houcong certainly did not agree, because he knew that the civil service group did this in the name of observing etiquette, but in fact wanted to limit the imperial power and enhance the power of the cabinet.

Afterwards, Zhu Houcong, with the help of Zhang Cong and others, gave his biological parents the titles of Emperor and Empress, and arrested and tortured a group of opposition court officials in the Zuo Shunmen Incident.

With Zhu Houcong's persistence, he won.

The vigorous debate over the grand ceremony came to an end.

Through his first struggle with the civil service group, Zhu Houcong became deeply aware of two problems.

One is that the government was too chaotic.

Second, the court officials were too powerful.

In order to take control of the government as quickly as possible, Zhu Houcong carried out drastic reforms on the one hand and cultivated his own power on the other.

This is where the portal dispute comes from.

At the beginning of his reign, Zhu Houcong used Zhang Cong and others to reduce taxes, win the hearts of the people, correct some of the shortcomings of the Zhengde Dynasty, and establish the image of a wise ruler.

That clever young man is revitalizing the Ming Dynasty in his own way.

This series of measures won the hearts of the people and greatly improved the government. People even compared Zhu Houcong to a saint.

But Zhu Houcong did not become complacent. He remained calm and cautious in state affairs, which led to a brief revival of the Ming Dynasty.

It was not until measures such as cutting redundant staff and reducing grain taxes, which seriously damaged the interests of the civil service group, began to appear that more and more sinister things happened.

For several months in a row, there were fires and water disasters in the palaces, and many of them were the same as Zhu Houcong's sleeping habits.

Zhu Houcong was not afraid of the repeated injuries, and he accelerated the progress of the government. However, in life, Zhu Houcong also became more vigilant and wary of everything. The palace people were often punished, and more than 200 people were beaten to death.

Compared to the palace with 100,000 eunuchs, the death of these two hundred people didn't even make a splash.

However, rumors spread from the outside world that the emperor was gradually becoming suspicious, violent, and moody.

Zhu Houcong didn't care and continued to do his own thing. Then, in the 21st year of Jiajing, the "Renyin Palace Change" took place.

Zhu Houcong escaped death and wanted to give the dozen palace maids who almost strangled him to death the death penalty, and kill their entire clan and destroy their entire family.

But Zhu Houcong soon realized the power of rumors. In less than half a month, letters of advice from countless officials in the two capitals and thirteen provinces flew into the capital like snowflakes.

It implies that Zhu Houcong was cruel and tyrannical, and that the dozen or so palace maids committed the assassination because they could no longer tolerate it.

In short, Wan Fang is guilty, and the fault lies with the emperor.

Zhu Houcong was furious.

However, he was also keenly aware that the Renyin Palace Coup was definitely related to the civil service group.

Zhu Houcong, who had experienced death up close, finally chose to compromise and hid in the Wanshou Palace.

A major case of assassinating the emperor ended with the beheading of only two concubines and a dozen palace maids, and the case was declared over after more than a dozen people were executed.

The reform ended from then on.

During these twenty years, Zhu Houcong supported Yan Song and deposed Xia Yan, killed Yang Jisheng, Shen Lian and others behind the scenes, hoping to find a way to completely control the court by cultivating immortals.

However, as long as you are still a mortal, it is impossible to achieve that.

Although his ability to control the political situation in the court was gradually strengthened, the government became more and more chaotic.

When Zhu Houcong saw Yan Song and Xu Jie arriving together, the figures of Yang Tinghe, Xia Yan, Yang Jisheng, Shen Lian and others seemed to flash before his eyes.

Zhu Houcong touched his neck unconsciously.

When he came to his senses, he sneered. With three great titles of god, why should he be afraid of being strangled by a palace maid?

Suddenly, a feeling of comfort surged through my body and soul.

"Lu Fang, everyone is here, let's serve the meal." Zhu Houcong returned to the futon.

Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng were already seated, in the two last seats on the west side.

When Yan Song, Xu Jie and Yan Shifan arrived, they were stunned by the situation in the hall, then they returned to normal and kowtowed to the emperor.

Yan Song still sat at the top seat on the east side, Xu Jie still sat at the bottom seat on the west side, and Yan Shifan still sat next to his old father, at the last seat on the east side.

Regulation shouldn't be like this.

The cabinet consists of five people.

There should be three seats at the upper east side, with Yan Song, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng sitting on them. There should be two seats at the lower west side, with Xu Jie and Yan Shifan sitting on them.

The Yan Party and the Qingliu Party have been fighting for many years. If possible, they would not want to sit on the same side.

It is clearly distinguished, nothing more than this.

but.

Today was different. The leader of the Yan Party and the leader of the Qingliu Party stopped fighting and made peace. As the son of the leader of the Yan Party, Yan Shifan should have sat in Gao Gong's seat, but Gao Gong refused and Yan Shifan was unwilling to sit there.

As a disciple of the Qingliu leader, Zhang Juzheng should have sat at the lower seat on the east side to express his closeness to Yan Song, but Zhang Juzheng did not choose to change seats.

Adjusting seats in a timely manner is a must in official circles.

The rift between father and son, the rift between master and apprentice, the rift between close friends, even if no one speaks, is obvious.

There were obvious differences in interests among Yan Song, Xu Jie, Gao Gong, Yan Shifan and Zhang Juzheng.

"Serve the meal!" Lu Fang's voice was lower than usual today, much like the weather outside, as if foreshadowing a storm was about to come.

(End of this chapter)