Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 76: A major cabinet case, scolding Ju Zheng!
The prison cart carrying Zhejiang Provincial Governor Zheng Michang, Zhejiang Provincial Surveillance Commissioner He Maocai, and Japanese pirate leader Wulang Rulang and others was accompanied by a hundred Jinyiwei on the road at a distance of 120 miles a day.

The victory report on the suppression of the Japanese in Taozhu and Shen Yishi's four large mahogany boxes with copper edges were delivered to the capital five days later via an express route of 400 miles.

When applying for a permit, one would enter the city through Chongwen Gate and be sent directly to Wumen Gate. The eunuch would sign a receipt form and by the time it was delivered to Yuxi Palace, it was already dark.

There is no private affairs in the royal family. The good news from the southeast, the ugliness of Yan Song and his son, Xu Jie and the Zhejiang officialdom were known to the court and the public in less than half an hour.

The government and the public were in an uproar.

The Second Assistant Minister of the Cabinet Zhang Juzheng, and the other assistants of the Cabinet Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin followed the imperial order and entered the palace to congratulate the emperor on the great victory.

By the time the ministers arrived at Yuxi Palace, all the palace lanterns were lit and it was as bright as day.

The weather is not very good tonight. The rain is getting heavier, and it is falling from the sky onto the doors and windows of Yuxi Palace, making a crackling sound.

Zhang Juzheng knew that although the campaign against the Japanese pirates in the southeast had been a complete victory, the emperor's mood might not be very good. The bursting of the Xin'an River in nine counties was a man-made disaster, and since it was a man-made disaster, someone should pay the price.

But too many people were involved and they were too powerful. Until this moment, Yan Song was still the chief minister of the cabinet. Xu Jie and Yan Shifan were expelled from the cabinet by the emperor, but they were also cabinet elders before.

If Yan Song, Xu Jie and Yan Shifan died on the same day, it would be the biggest case in the cabinet since Emperor Chengzu Wen!

Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin were half a body length behind Zhang Juzheng. When they saw Zhang Juzheng stop and hesitate to move forward, they understood what was going on.

Strictly speaking, Yan Song was Zhang Juzheng's first teacher in the Hanlin Academy when he entered the official career.

Xu Jie was Zhang Juzheng's formal and widely known mentor.

It is understandable that Zhang Juzheng showed hesitation when he knew the fate of Yan and Xu.

But Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin thought more. They had studied hard for decades and finally passed the imperial examination. They had been officials for decades, walking on thin ice every day. It would be too hypocritical to say that the belief in serving the country and the people supported them to step by step reach the position of cabinet elders.

All the persistence is just for the four words "the highest position among officials".

Below one person, above tens of thousands.

Special powers were the pursuit of hundreds of thousands of officials in the Ming Dynasty.

As cabinet elders, Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin didn't want much, but one of them was that "the cabinet should not be punished."

The ass decides the head.

When the six ministries were in place, what we wanted was “no punishment for officials”, but now, it has become this.

In short, above myself, all beings are equal, and below myself, there is a clear order.

It is obvious that Yan Song's position is above all the subjects of the world, and also above Li and Chen.

When the two learned that Yan Song was implicated and was about to die because of Yan Shifan, they felt a sense of grief for the loss of the rabbit, even though they knew Yan Song was not innocent.

Even for their future selves, Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin planned to find a way for Yan Song to survive.

The rain was getting heavier, and the eunuchs on duty in front of the palace hurriedly brought the young eunuchs with umbrellas to welcome them down from the palace gate.

Zhang Juzheng, Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin had no choice but to enter the palace.

The four large wooden boxes were opened and placed in the middle of the hall. The emperor said nothing, but it seemed as if he had said everything.

Zhang Juzheng led Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin to kneel down and praised the emperor: "Your Majesty, we congratulate you on the great victory in the southeast!"

"Ding!" The sound of chimes rang out, indicating that Zhu Houcong knew.

Huang Jin, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, asked the three cabinet elders to stand up, and then, facing three pairs of eyes, he took out an imperial edict: "The Emperor, by the Mandate of Heaven, proclaims: Yan Song, Xu Jie, and Yan Shifan are greedy and have been gaining power day by day. They have bribed their way through memorials and obtained their positions through bribery.

All officials, big and small, everywhere, are draining the fat of the people and exploiting them. On the one hand, they want to meet the insatiable demands of the people, and on the other hand, they want to repay the money they spent on buying their positions.
Therefore, the people cannot be content with poverty, and the country cannot be content with exhaustion, as disasters from heaven and man will come one after another.

According to the above decree, all officials of the cabinet, censors, and ministries who have been aware of the crimes of Shifan and his son and Xu Jie can immediately report the crimes of Yan and Xu!

As for the officials of the two capitals and thirteen provinces, those who usually follow Yan and Xu, I hope you will repent and fight back, and the court will be merciful and lenient as appropriate! "

Zhang Juzheng, Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin remained silent.

Before entering the palace, they thought that the emperor might spare Yan Song's life because of his twenty years of dedicated service, and they would take the opportunity to ask for a way out for Xu Jie.

But the emperor not only wanted to put Yan Song to death, but also wanted to squeeze out all the surplus value of Yan Song, Xu Jie and Yan Shifan.

He ordered all the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty to criticize and impeach the two Yans and one Xu, to bury the Yan and Xu families, and to nail the coffins shut.

In this case, not only Yan Song and his son and Xu Jie would be dead, but the Fenyi Yan family and the Songjiangfu Xu family, two famous families in the Ming Dynasty, would be threatened with overthrow.

While the cabinet was still thinking about rescuing people, the emperor was using two families and hundreds of lives to test the loyalty of his ministers!
The emperor's cold heart is chilling.

Zhang Juzheng's voice rang out: "Your Majesty, Yan Song is the head of the cabinet, and Xu Jie is the leader of the literati. This imperial edict may cause the court and the country to boil, and the literati will be shaken!"

Although Yan Song's disciples and former officials suffered almost devastating blows after several purges, there are still many new officials in the thirteen provinces except the two capitals.

The meaning of this imperial edict is to force these disciples and former officials to betray their former teachers and mentors.

The heaven, earth, the emperor, the parents and the teacher. The teacher is ranked below the parents. If you can even betray your teacher, how can you be an official in the future? It's hard for you to be a human being!
In his early years, Xu Jie studied under Nie Bao, a master of the School of Mind, and was a second-generation disciple of Wang Shouren.

Nie Bao is not dead yet. If Xu Jie is killed, there may be unpredictable consequences.

In the academic circles, in the officialdom, and in many industries, the more capable a person is, the more weight his or her voice will have.

Sima Yi and Sima Guang perfectly illustrate the meaning of living a long life.

I can't beat you while you're alive, so I'll just stay alive and wait for you to die. Then I can do a lot of things.

Nie Bao is the orthodox successor of Wang Yangming's philosophy of mind. He is 73 years old this year. Looking at the literati in the Ming Dynasty, no one can match him.

Xu Jie was Nie Bao's most proud disciple and also Zhang Juzheng's master. Zhang Juzheng was well aware of the extent to which Nie Bao protected his disciple.

When Xu Jie and Zhang Juzheng, master and disciple, fell out, Zhang Juzheng received many letters from his master. Unfortunately, the relationship between generations did not exist among the literati.

Nie Bao was helpless against Xu Jie and simply stopped caring about him. When the situation turned around, after Nie Bao knew that Xu Jie was thrown into the imperial prison, he wrote many letters to Zhang Juzheng. Literally, they said they were teaching Xu Jie a lesson and making him remember it, but in the old man's heart, this would only be a lesson, not to the point of death, let alone the annihilation of the clan.

"When Xia Yan died, wasn't he the Prime Minister of the Cabinet and the leader of the literati?"

Zhu Houcong walked out from behind the veil and tore through the hypocrisy of the cabinet: "I remember that time, you were saving Xia Yan and impeaching Yan Song, and now, you want to save Yan Song again.

It seems that what you want to save is not a certain person, but something sitting on the position of the Prime Minister of the Cabinet and the position of the leader of the Literary Circles.

Even if they are two beasts!"

(End of this chapter)