Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 144 Yang Tinghe is a traitor, impeach Yang Tinghe for treason!
Zhu Houcong then informed Empress Dowager Zhang and Empress Dowager Jiang that Yang Tinghe had advised him to stop asking his external relatives and nobles to lend him money at low interest rates.

When Empress Dowager Zhang heard that this was directed at her two younger brothers, her face instantly turned ugly: "Why is it that even Yang Tinghe is still holding on to the two uncles?!"

Empress Dowager Jiang knew that Zhu Houcong wanted to widen the gap between Empress Dowager Zhang and Yang Tinghe, so she pretended to be dissatisfied and said:
"That's what my sister said!"

"This Yang Tinghe, for the sake of his own reputation, can't even distinguish right from wrong. The two uncles of the country have given lower interest rates to benefit the people and help farmers, which has long been decided by the court."

"But he is still so talkative!"

"Besides, this will only increase the people's debt. The people are not fools. Who would borrow money unless they have no other choice? I think Yang Tinghe deliberately doesn't want the two uncles to use this to improve his reputation."

When Empress Dowager Zhang heard what Jiang said, she couldn't help but think of Yang Tinghe's defense against her Zhang family when Zhengde had just passed away. Now that she thought about Yang Tinghe still blocking her Zhang family's financial path, she became even more angry and said:
"This Yang Tinghe is a traitor!"

Zhu Houcong did not blame Empress Dowager Zhang and Empress Dowager Jiang for criticizing Yang Tinghe. He just returned to Qingning Palace after chatting with the two empress dowagers and Empress Zhuangsu who was also here.

"Let someone spread the word that Empress Dowager Zhang said in person that Yang Tinghe is a traitor!"

As soon as Zhu Houcong came back, he gave this instruction to Qin Wen, the governor of the East Factory, and then ordered:

"Tell Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling to learn from the Northern Zhi scholars and organize the people to go to Yang Taifu's mansion to beg Yang Taifu not to stop the emperor from using the nobles and relatives to benefit the people and help the farmers."

Qin Wen bowed and said yes.

Yang Tinghe soon learned about Empress Dowager Zhang's evaluation of him.

This made Yang Tinghe quite depressed.

Although……

The Empress Dowager of the Ming Dynasty did not have much political power.

But Empress Dowager Zhang was, after all, the biological mother of the late emperor, and the wife of Emperor Xiaozong, who was most respected by many civil officials and literati. In the eyes of the ritual-protecting faction, she was the empress dowager with the highest status in terms of ritual and law.

Therefore, as Empress Dowager Zhang commented on Yang Tinghe in this way, many civil officials were reluctant to support Yang Tinghe in the matter of the emperor lending money at low interest rates with the help of nobles and relatives.

After all, if the ritual-protecting faction wants to correct rituals, they still need the banner of Empress Dowager Zhang, so it is not good to criticize her excessively.

There were even civil servants who took the opportunity to impeach Yang Tinghe in order to please Empress Dowager Zhang and the Emperor.

then.

The imperial censor Shi Dao, who was patrolling the city, brazenly submitted a memorial to impeach the Grand Tutor Yang Tinghe for having colluded with the traitor Prince Ning in the past, and for having flattered the treacherous ministers Qian Ning and Jiang Bin, and said:

"The previous emperor called himself the 'mighty general', and Tinghe never argued against it. Now arguing about whether it is appropriate for the relatives of the emperor's family to benefit the people and help the farmers to change their past behavior is actually deceiving the emperor."

This was the first time that a civil official formally brought up Yang Tinghe's crimes in the form of a memorial.

If the emperor could ignore the opinions of the ritualists, he could directly deal with Yang Tinghe based on this memorial.

Yang Tinghe also turned pale after learning about this.

Because this is indeed true and it is also Yang Tinghe’s biggest stain.

Although Wang Yangming destroyed the evidence of Yang Tinghe's collusion with Prince Ning, the fact that Yang Tinghe did not fight back when the late emperor called himself "the mighty general" can be verified. According to the archived memorials of ministers that could be checked by the Hanlin Censor, Yang Tinghe did not fight back and indeed failed to behave like a loyal minister.

Therefore, even if Zhu Houcong could not execute Yang Tinghe immediately, he could still take other measures against Yang Tinghe.

of course.

The most important thing about Shi Dao's impeachment of Yang Tinghe was that voices had begun to emerge among the civil servants, calling on the emperor to put Yang Tinghe to death.

Compared with the beginning of Zhu Houcong's reign, when civil officials generally highly respected Yang Tinghe, this was a big change and a very important signal.

This is also the real reason why Yang Tinghe looked pale.

Therefore, Yang Tinghe was also very angry. What made him angry was that some civil officials actually began to impeach him, expose his shortcomings, and officially begin to become his enemy in public!

"In order to test the emperor, you actually started to impeach me!"

"mean!"

"Shameless!"

Yang Tinghe couldn't help but scold the censor Shi Dao at home.

Simultaneously.

Yang Tinghe immediately asked Yang Tingyi to represent him and ask the cabinet ministers to speak for him.

The cabinet ministers did not disagree.

Firstly, Yang Tinghe was, after all, a senior official who made decisions for the country; secondly, Yang Tinghe had once been the chief minister of the cabinet; thirdly, many of them had once been Yang Tinghe’s accomplices.

Therefore, whether in order to avoid being executed in the future as a senior minister, or to avoid the precedent of the execution of the chief minister of the cabinet in the Jiajing Dynasty, or to save their own party members, these people all submitted memorials, requesting the emperor to forgive Yang Tinghe and punish Shi Dao.

The Grand Secretary Fei Hong and the Minister of Personnel Shi Yao even said in front of the emperor:
"Your Majesty! The Grand Tutor made the plan to suppress the rebellion and sacrificed his life for his loyalty. He was framed by the traitors and must be punished!"

Zhu Houcong currently still needed Fei Hong and Shi Yan's support for his reform, as well as other cabinet ministers' cooperation with his reform, and they would not resist his establishment of a new army.

In addition, he also knew that Yang Tinghe had not yet reached the stage where he was hated by more important ministers, so he agreed to the request of these ministers and issued an edict saying:
"The historical facts are inadequate and involve the reputation of the late emperor. How can I believe them and allow the late emperor to be implicated? Put this man in jail!"

Zhu Houcong imprisoned Shi Dao in order to see if any officials would plead for him.

If so, in Zhu Houcong's view, this means that the civil servants who want Yang Tinghe to be executed are not just Shi Dao, but a large group of civil servants, which means that the time for him to deal with Yang Tinghe has come one step further.

What made Zhu Houcong happy was that within a day, the censor Cao Jia and the attendant An Pan successively submitted memorials to save the history, saying that Grand Secretaries Fei Hong and Shi Yao were blocking the channels of speech and forcing the emperor to deal with the censors.

Grand Secretary Fei Hong and Minister of Personnel Shi Yao were quite angry.

They felt that the censor Shi Dao was not only stirring up trouble and testing the emperor's attitude towards Yang Tinghe, but people like Cao Jia were also throwing mud at them, accusing them of blocking the channels of speech, and therefore they hated these censors in their hearts.

Zhu Houcong did not punish these censors, but he did not release Shi Dao immediately either. He just detained those who argued for saving Shi Dao without asking any questions.

Many court officials thought that Zhu Houcong was unwilling to expand the scope of attack to protect Yang Tinghe, and praised the emperor for his calmness.

But Zhang Cong, the governor of Shuntian, smelled something different.

"Leave it to me and don't ask."

"That is to say, the emperor allows us to intercede for Shi Dao."

Zhang Cong said this with a smile, and then he also went to the court to intercede for Shi Dao. Zhu Houcong still chose to stay in the court and not ask any questions.

This made many censors even more angry, and they believed that it was the important ministers such as the cabinet ministers and the nine officials who forced His Majesty not to release Shi Dao.

The cabinet ministers and nine officials strongly agreed with the emperor's decision not to take any action. In their view, if the emperor released Shi Dao now, more villains would attack Yang Tinghe. If he punished Zhang Cong, it would aggravate their crime of blocking the channels of speech.

Therefore, they believed that keeping the matter to themselves was the best way to deal with it.

Yang Tinghe was deeply moved and impressed, and could not help but say with tears in his eyes: "Your Majesty is indeed wise!"

But then.

Yang Tinghe couldn't help but pursed his lips solemnly: "But he is also very scheming!"

"Please ask the Grand Tutor to allow His Majesty to let the King's uncle lend money to our people!"

"Taifu, the uncle of the king is lending us money to help us. This is very different from the way he robbed us of our land before!"

"Taifu, please ask the uncle to lend us money. They are just doing the same thing as the local eunuchs!"

……

And just then.

Outside Yang's house, many people came and knelt there. They knelt in several layers inside and outside the house, directly flooding the entire street.

These people also cried out loudly and begged Yang Tinghe for help.

However, many of these common people were disguised as Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling's servants and farmers.

But to outsiders, they would only think that these are honest and very respectful people.

Because of this.

Many people passing by also stopped to watch.

Many people even came here after hearing the news.

Yang Tinghe's doorman also hurriedly informed Yang Tinghe of this matter.

After Yang Tinghe found out, he was stunned, and then said with embarrassment: "Another troublemaker. How can we let troublemakers interfere in government affairs again!"

"Brother, please think of a solution. Even though they are unruly people, we still have to accept the teachings of the saints that the people are the most important!"

Yang Tingyi couldn't help but speak.

Yang Tinghe said: "I can only file another petition, saying that my petition was inconsiderate. When lending money to the people, one should not only see the disadvantages."

Yang Tingyi nodded after hearing this: "It can only be done this way. There are villains who have already begun to try to use our Yang family as a stepping stone for promotion. If we really offend the emperor again in this matter and do not follow the wishes of the people, it will be disastrous!"

Yang Tinghe clenched his teeth so tightly that veins popped out on his forehead.

Because it was too difficult for him to take back what he had said.

That would be a huge blow to his prestige.

But Yang Tinghe had no choice but to do so.

then.

The next day, Yang Tinghe went to the front and said that his previous question was not well considered.

Zhu Houcong then allowed him to withdraw his previous request.

When the court officials learned about this, they were shocked and criticized Yang Tinghe's behavior.

When Yang Tinghe received the two copies returned by Zhu Houcong, he burst into tears.

"what!"

then.

Yang Tinghe also threw the two books in his hands out.

"Using the Queen Mother to stir up the hearts of villains, using relatives by marriage to use the power of the common people!"

"Who taught you that?"

"Liang Shunde or Yuan Zonggao?"

Yang Tinghe said angrily.

……

"Wang Dongping, you little bastard, how dare you sell me out!"

Datong.

After the Inspector General Zhang Peng arrived here and announced to Hang Xiong and Liu Zhen the imperial decree to arrest them and bring them to the capital, Hang Xiong also became furious and scolded Wang Xian.

Wang Xian now has complete control over Datong Prefecture with the help of Zhou Shangwen.

Therefore, although Hang Xiong and Liu Zhen were dissatisfied with Wang Xian's betrayal, they had no choice but to obediently accept the torture of the Inspector Zhang Peng.

As for Wang Xian, he just smiled faintly after Hang Xiong obediently accepted the torture and scolding.

With Hang Xiong and Liu Zhen being escorted to Beijing, for Zhu Houcong, it was also a deterrent to the military generals in Datong, Xuanfu and Jizhou, the three border towns that were directly related to the safety of the Ming capital.

That is to let them know that the emperor still has the ability to control these three towns.

Along with Hang Xiong and Liu Zhen, the Tatar Jinong Jinang was also escorted to Beijing.

But on the day they were escorted to Beijing, Zhu Houcong learned the news from Yuyao, Zhejiang.

"Your Majesty! The governor of Zhejiang has an urgent message: Wang Hua, the former Nanjing Minister of Personnel, passed away last month!"

Zhu Houcong was shocked when he heard this.

(End of this chapter)