Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 21 Touched by the New Emperor
After hearing this, Wei Bin stopped and narrowed his eyes. Then Ji Zu waved his hand and said as he walked:
"In that case, you should secretly protect Zhang Cong. The new master may use him in the future."

"Then it will be your credit."

Wei Bin then said something else with a smile.

Wang Yue hurriedly said yes.

At this time, Zhou Xian, the eunuch in charge of the Admiral's secretariat, also asked Wei Bin:

"Godfather, when we deliver the imperial decree to the new master, should my son go alone, or should we all go together?"

"You alone will represent the Imperial Household Department to convey the imperial decree."

"We won't join in the fun."

"You don't have to show your loyalty in public."

Wei Bin thought for a moment and said.

Wang Yue then asked: "Where will the sons go then?"

"Come with our family to the wake!"

"Don't learn from those civil and military officials in the outer court who forget their old master just because there is a new master in the world!"

"Let's all accompany the late emperor!"

"When the time comes, the new master will come to the late emperor's coffin, and we will then worship and acknowledge the new master."

"Bow down and acknowledge the late emperor in front of his spirit so that he can know that we have not abandoned him, but have only acknowledged the new master according to his command. This way, the new master will also know that we are not the kind of people who forget the old master just because we have a new one."

Wei Bin choked up as he spoke, and then waited for a group of eunuchs in dragon robes to walk towards the coffin of Emperor Zhengde.

Only Wang Yue and Zhou Xian went to do their own things.

The coffin palace at this moment was indeed deserted, with only a white curtain fluttering in the wind pretending to be a figure accompanying the coffin, covering its face and crying.

Eunuch Qin Wen could not help but scold: "These dogs and slaves have thrown the late emperor's grace to the winds!"

"Don't blame them. What goes around comes around. We haven't been here much during this period, so naturally they've followed suit and slacked off."

Wei Bin did say some good things for the eunuchs, then knelt before the spirit of Emperor Zhengde, cried for a while, and sobbed, "Your Majesty, your spirit is in heaven, you can rest in peace now!"

talking.

Wei Bin cried again with trembling lips, "The new master is as smart as you were back then. He even brought more than 200,000 mouths to Beijing. Now, no one can say that he is weak and powerless!"

Wei Bin then grinned again, as if he was talking to an old friend:

"I'm not being disrespectful in front of your spirit, I really think this new master may be more popular than you were back then!"

"He brought 200,000 people to Beijing. From the literati to the common people, everyone praised him as a good emperor. I think he will inherit your ambition and make the Ming Dynasty better and better."

……

Let’s talk about this, here is the hall.

After Yuan Zonggao said in a deep voice, "Empress Dowager cannot violate etiquette," Zhu Houcong was ready to continue arguing with Yang Tinghe and others. At this moment, he stood up again and said calmly:

"Then wait for the Queen Mother's order!"

Subsequently.

Zhu Houcong walked over to Yang Tinghe and laughed again:

"Prince, the capital has been relatively peaceful recently, right? How are Jiang Bin and the others dealing with the matters stipulated in the will?"

Yang Tinghe's eyelids twitched.

He didn't know what Zhu Houcong meant by suddenly changing the subject.

Then, Yang Tinghe bowed to Zhu Houcong with a respectful look on his face and said, "Thanks to the wisdom of the Empress Dowager and the cooperation of my colleagues, we are finally safe and sound."

"Jiang Bin and other rebels have been arrested and imprisoned by the Queen Mother. The successor king does not need to worry."

"The Weiwu Camp led by Jiang Bin has also been dismissed in accordance with the will. All the border troops who entered the garrison have been dismissed and sent back to their garrisons. All the officers and soldiers working in the imperial store and the military gate have returned to the garrison."

"The tribute envoys from Hami, Turfan, and Portugal were all rewarded and sent back to their countries."

"The foreign monks from the Leopard House and Shaolin monks, the musicians from the Jiaofang, and the Nanjing Express Horse Boats, all of which are not normal, have been dismissed by the imperial decree."

"And he also followed the will and released the prisoners arrested in Nanjing, released the women who had been offered as tribute from all directions, stopped the non-urgent construction in the capital, and collected the gold and treasures from the Xuanfu Palace and returned them to the inner treasury."

After Yang Tinghe passionately answered his questions about his actions in the capital these days, he bowed to Zhu Houcong:
"There are only more than 140,000 Jinyiwei flag school laborers to be laid off, and after the successor ascends the throne, the emperor will approve it. It is estimated that more than 1.5 million shi of grain can be saved, which will benefit the people and show the virtue of the saintly monarch!" Zhu Houcong nodded after hearing this, then put his hands behind his back and smiled slightly:
"Okay!"

"The Prime Minister is indeed a good advisor. He has saved so much grain expenditure in one fell swoop. It can be said that the people of the world and the country have been saved."

Although Zhu Houcong knew that Yang Tinghe's reform of layoffs, carried out in conjunction with the Empress Dowager through the imperial edict, was a reform that would sacrifice the emperor's personal troops, but in the current reality where the treasury was empty and the Ming Dynasty's annual fiscal revenue was indeed insufficient to support the emperor having a large-scale imperial army at the center, when his foundation was not yet consolidated and most of the people in the world were looking forward to living in peace and prosperity, he could only say on the surface that Yang Tinghe's actions were worthy of praise.

You know, Zhu Houcong's old vassal residents now only want to bring more honor to their family and become richer after following the emperor to Beijing, instead of following Zhu Houcong to expand territory and spread the country's prestige thousands of miles away.

Even the 200,000 refugees who followed him to Beijing only wanted to live and work with the emperor.

It can now be said that Zhu Houcong was almost the only one who had the grand ideal of strengthening the Han civilization and making the Ming Empire more glorious.

That's why.

Even Yuan Zonggao and other old people in Zhu Houcong's fiefdom who now had different political views from Yang Tinghe and were even considered political enemies did not think that there was anything wrong with Yang Tinghe's behavior. In fact, they even felt that Yang Tinghe was right to do so.

They just blamed Yang Tinghe for not being thorough enough and being too conservative.

Not to mention other scholars and officials in the world, none of them thought that this was wrong.

Needless to say, the people of the world would not rebel just because Yang Tinghe sacrificed military strength to reduce their burden.

Even the historical Emperor Jiajing believed that Yang Tinghe had made contributions in this regard, and for this reason he ultimately did not choose to kill Yang Tinghe.

Since people from all walks of life in the world now think that what Yang Tinghe did is a great deed and is promoting benefits and eliminating harm, even if he is the emperor, it is difficult for him to say that this is wrong.

After all, he can have the power to rule the world, but he cannot really have the heart of a dictator.

After Zhu Houcong said this, Yang Tinghe was naturally extremely moved.

After all, these are the words of the Emperor!
When future generations compile history in the future, they will certainly include Zhu Houcong's words praising Yang Tinghe in his biography, which will undoubtedly make him famous among future generations, saying that he and Jiajing were a beautiful story of harmony between a monarch and his subject.

This has always been the greatest pursuit of civil servants like Yang Tinghe, so he was naturally very moved.

At the same time, the next emperor of the Ming Dynasty would have to treat Yang Ting and his descendants with some favor because of these words.

Of course, the prerequisite is that Yang Tinghe must continue to support Zhu Houcong and continue to praise Zhu Houcong as a virtuous emperor.

It has always been the case that everyone carries a gorgeous sedan chair. The emperor's praise is not free, and you have to pay for it.

Therefore, Yang Tinghe knelt down hurriedly, and said with a grateful look and a choked throat: "I am ashamed. I am only relying on the emperor's virtue to care for the country and the people. I am not worthy of the title of good assistant."

"You deserve it."

Zhu Houcong smiled slightly and replied.

No one knows what is hidden in Zhu Houcong's smile now.

Yang Tinghe naturally didn't know. He only knew that the young emperor standing next to him was truly wise and enlightened, and that his support was not in vain. Not only did he understand and appreciate his contributions to the country, but he was also not completely influenced by the treacherous people around him and was not truly hostile to him.

Yuan Zonggao didn't know either. He knew that his successor was trying his best to be a fair, wise and intelligent king, so he recognized Yang Tinghe's contribution and prepared to put Yang Tinghe on the spot to damage his reputation.

Mao Cheng had no idea. He just had sad eyes.

Because he had to admit that the successor emperor was so wise and kind, even more so than Empress Xiao, and he really loved the people like his own children, even the common people were his own children. When he ascended the throne in Beijing, he brought 200,000 refugees with him and asked the prime minister to settle them.

However, Yuan Fu and other upright civil officials had to force him to disown his biological parents according to clan law in order to maintain the rule of the filial temple. This would certainly make him suffer injustice. At the same time, they did not have the real ability and courage to bring peace to the people and prevent famine for the successor.

Therefore, Mao Cheng was very worried that the successor emperor might be disappointed with his upright civil servants in the future, and would only believe those who advocated reform. This was especially true when a ruthless person like Yuan Zonggao who dared to reform the system was around the successor emperor, which would definitely influence him.

Just as Mao Cheng worried, Zhu Houcong then said to Yang Tinghe: "To establish a mission for the people and to bring peace to the world, I think the Prime Minister can also settle the more than 200,000 refugees who followed the emperor to Beijing."

"In short, the country and the people depend on Yuanfu."

Yang Tinghe was embarrassed, but he still had to pretend to be calm and said, "I will do my best to help the successor to pacify the people and eliminate troubles! However, the world has been looking forward to peace and order, and people have long wanted peace. When the Queen Mother's decree arrives, please follow the advice of the ritual officials and come to the capital to ascend the throne!"

Coincidentally.

At this time, Zhou Xianyu from the Imperial Household Department brought the Empress Dowager's decree.

"The throne cannot be left vacant for long. The successor has arrived at the palace. All civil and military officials inside and outside the palace may submit petitions to persuade him to ascend the throne."

However, the imperial edict did not require Zhu Houcong to succeed Emperor Xiaomiao, so Yang Tinghe's faction obviously did not have the support of the empress dowager.

When Yang Tinghe heard the content of the imperial edict, his face darkened. He really didn't expect that the inner court would betray him and prevent him from taking advantage of the fact that Zhu Houcong needed to be persuaded to become emperor to force him to accept the rule of Chengxiao Temple first.

Yuan Zonggao was overjoyed at this time, and hurriedly bowed to Zhu Houcong and said: "Your Majesty, the Queen Mother has not violated the etiquette!"

(End of this chapter)