Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 54 Ju Zheng kneels down, knife at his neck!
Call him by his first name!

Compare humans to beasts.

There was an uproar immediately.

The Hanlin Academy Hanlin scholars no longer dared to rush into the cabinet, and the elders in the Government Affairs Hall, Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin, came out one after another.

Zhang Juzheng's face turned pale and he turned to look at Wang Xijue. He never expected that this man's conduct was so shallow.

Zhang Juzheng knew that he could no longer play along, so the spirit of an ancient scholar-official suddenly emerged. In front of everyone's gaze, he suddenly walked quickly to the door of the cabinet, quickly pulled out a dagger from the waist of his guard, turned around and walked up to Wang Xijue.

Seeing the knife in front of them, Wang Xijue was stunned, and the Hanlin scholars were all stunned. They didn't know why Zhang Juzheng pulled out the knife.

Is it going to be blood splattered five steps away?
But Zhang Juzheng was the consul of the cabinet. When the prime minister was not in office, he could call him "Prime Minister". Wasn't it too bloody to imitate the behavior of an ordinary man?
"Taiyue!"

"Taiyue!"

Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin hurriedly called for Zhang Juzheng. Ever since Emperor Taizong Wen established the cabinet, in the past 100 years or so, the cabinet has been an important place, but there has never been a shocking act of a cabinet elder killing a court official with his own hands.

When everyone was in shock, Zhang Juzheng knelt down in front of Wang Xijue with a plop, handed the dagger to Wang Xijue, then took Wang Xijue's hand and put it on his neck, and said with tears in his eyes: "The emperor's wrath is unpredictable. The system of the court must not be replaced by personal feelings.

What's more, Zhang is only the deputy minister now, temporarily in charge of cabinet affairs. If you think that I am planning to kill Lord Yan and Minister Xu and become the chief minister of the cabinet, just kill me!
Kill me! "

Wang Xijue was confused.

He could never have imagined that the current cabinet minister would kneel before him and let him hold a knife to him, right here in the cabinet.

"锠鎯鎯", the commander of the guards drew out his sword. The situation was urgent, and the guards entered the cabinet door one after another with their swords in hand.

The sound of iron-blooded fighting brought Wang Xijue back to his senses and he immediately realized what the scene was.

The cabinet duty room is within the restricted area of ​​the palace. With a knife at the cabinet's neck, the life and death of the entire clan depended on a matter of days.

Wang Xijue threw the knife to the ground with a clang, turned around and ran away. Dozens of Hanlin scholars scattered like birds and beasts, following Wang Xijue and running away without looking back.

Only Zhang Juzheng was left kneeling on the ground, with a dagger in front of him and tears streaming down his face.

Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin looked at Zhang Juzheng's back, unable to understand. Zhang Juzheng was now the number one person under the emperor, holding the highest power among ministers and the greatest power in the world. If he wanted to deal with Wang Xijue and other Hanlin scholars, he could just kill anyone who stood in his way. Why would he have to act like a rogue?
Moreover, the humiliation suffered by acting like a rogue in this way was no less than that suffered by Yan Song and Xu Jie who were thrown into imperial prison.

Zhang Juzheng was a man who valued his reputation. Otherwise, he would not have fallen out with his mentor Xu Jie.

But it is this person who is now being forced to kneel down and have a knife held against him.

How much pain and sorrow was there in Zhang Juzheng's heart?

Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin felt ashamed of themselves for such extreme performance. Perhaps a quote from Xin Qiji is most appropriate at this moment.

"I like being a scoundrel in a righteous way the most, and my true colors are everywhere!"

Li Chunfang was indignant at the joke and said, "This is outrageous! Songgu (Chen Yiqin, courtesy name Yifu, alias Songgu), are you going to arrest someone?"

Break into the pavilion!

Force the elder with a knife!
Although the latter was not done voluntarily by Wang Xijue, the dagger had stayed in Wang Xijue's hand after all, and was placed on Zhang Juzheng's neck. If Wang Xijue was really convicted, he would not be able to escape death, and Shen Shixing and other Hanlin scholars would not be able to escape the severe punishment of being dismissed from office or even having their honors and reputations stripped away.

"No need."

Chen Yiqin gestured to the door of the cabinet, where someone had been watching the show for a long time.

Huang Jin and several eunuchs came from the side door on the left side of the corridor and stood guard at the door. When they saw the farce was over, they walked straight to Zhang Juzheng and helped him up. "Lord, the emperor has summoned you to the palace to see him."

Zhang Juzheng suddenly raised his head and realized that Huang Jin had come without him noticing.

……

Ok Hee Palace.

Jinyiwei had sent over a detailed record of what had happened in the cabinet in the form of books and paintings. The brick floor of the Jingshe was littered with scattered pieces of paper. Looking closely, one could vaguely see that some of the paper depicted Wang Xijue and the Hanlin Academy breaking into the cabinet's duty room, some depicted Wang Xijue and Zhang Juzheng confronting each other, and some depicted Zhang Juzheng kneeling in front of Wang Xijue with a knife on his neck.

It can be seen how angry Zhu Houcong was when he saw these pieces of paper!
Huang Jin led Zhang Juzheng in.

"Did you see everything clearly when the Hanlin Academy rebelled against the Cabinet?" Zhu Houcong looked at Huang Jin, his voice as cold as the wind.

Huang Jin replied: "In reply to your Majesty, I saw everything clearly."

"Is there a definitive conclusion in the Ming Dynasty law?"

"In reply to Your Majesty, it is clearly stated in the Ming Code that the Cabinet is an important military location. Forcible disruption will be considered treason, and the offender will be punished lightly or put to death in serious cases!" Huang Jin answered meticulously.

Zhu Houcong's face looked better. He glanced at the papers scattered all over the floor and said, "Leave this matter to Chen Hong and the East Factory. Don't interfere."

Huang Jin knew that this was the love of His Majesty. The Hanlin was noble and not someone to be trifled with. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed loudly: "Your servant obeys His Majesty's order."

Huang Jin took the order and went to do the work.

Only the king and his minister were left in the monastery.

Zhu Houcong did not want to mention what happened just now, and even less did he want to scold Zhang Juzheng for being "cowardly" in front of the Hanlin Academy. He raised his voice and said, "You are the only old minister in the cabinet. Bring me a stool. From today on, Zhang Juzheng, I will grant you a seat when you come to see me."

The eunuch in attendance went to the window and brought a short stool.

Zhang Juzheng knelt down immediately and said, "I am only thirty years old. How can I accept such a gracious favor from Your Majesty? I absolutely do not deserve it."

The emperor had just sent someone to help him vent his anger when he rewarded him with the supreme honor of being a minister by giving him an embroidered cushion. Zhang Juzheng was flattered but also felt unworthy.

"If you can bear it, sit down." Zhu Houcong pressed his hand.

The eunuchs attending him had moved the stool next to him, so Zhang Juzheng had no choice but to kowtow heavily, then stood up and sat down with difficulty next to the edge of the stool.

"Let me ask you, how many Jinshi scholars in our Ming Dynasty have not yet entered officialdom?" Zhu Houcong asked again.

Zhang Juzheng lifted his butt slightly from his seat, thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, from the first year of Jiajing to the fortieth year of Jiajing, our dynasty has held thirteen imperial examinations and three special examinations, selecting more than five thousand talents, of which about three thousand entered official careers, and nearly two thousand have yet to enter official careers."

"Good memory." Zhu Houcong praised, and then asked: "Where is the Juren?"

According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, juren could also become officials. Take Hai Rui as an example. After failing the joint examinations twice, he entered the government as an official.

But the chances are slim, and only those with great abilities and "supernatural powers" can enter the officialdom.

Hai Rui belongs to the former.

Zhang Juzheng thought for a while longer, "In reply to the emperor, there are 34,567 juren in Shuntian Prefecture.

There were 43,211 successful candidates in Yingtian Prefecture.

There were 29,876 juren in Zhejiang.

……

There were nearly 300,000 juren in the two capitals and 13 provinces.”

"If you were asked to select 6,000 talented people from the candidates for Jinshi and Juren waiting to serve as officials, could you control your heart?" Zhu Houcong hinted.

Previously, Lu Fang found out that thousands of officials were corrupt, and the Jinyiwei was going to take action. If someone falls, someone else will naturally take over.

Zhang Juzheng, who was very smart, figured out the key in an instant. He looked at the emperor with wide eyes in disbelief.

The second major case of Jiajing is about to begin?

What is even more unimaginable is that the emperor entrusted him with the important task of selecting talents?
Disciples were regarded as the ones selected in the officialdom. There were six thousand disciples in the court. Zhang Juzheng's body suddenly shook uncontrollably.

(End of this chapter)