Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 29 Platform Call
When the powerful and high-pitched voices of the Embroidered Uniform Guards reached outside the Chengtian Gate, all the officials and subjects, after hearing the contents of the enthronement edict, were naturally moved to tears and shouted "Long live the emperor".

In particular, the grace of "opening an imperial examination for the emperor" deeply touched all the scholar representatives.

Because it means that the new emperor is really eager to seek talented people and attaches great importance to civil governance, so he is willing to select more civil servants and show more grace to scholars.

As for the reign title "Jiajing", some people have also generated endless imagination about it.

Zhang Cong was very excited at this time when he heard that the new emperor's reign title was "Jiajing".

Because he knew that this meant that it was understandable that the new policy would not just be confined to recreating the Hongzhi era, but would have greater ambitions.

Therefore, Zhang Cong was quite excited at this time, and even began to feel that the Jiajing era would also belong to his era, and he would definitely have the opportunity to serve as the emperor and act in accordance with the will of the new Jiajing dynasty, and to perform a beautiful story of the emperor and his subjects working together to achieve great things in the new era!

Zhu Houcong knew that his enthronement edict would win the hearts of many people.

After all, the content of the coronation edict is generally based on grace.

What's more.

Zhu Houcong also granted the grace of opening an imperial examination.

This will infinitely magnify his reputation among the people.

Because the public opinion of this era was controlled by the literati.

After all, the bureaucratic group that served as the foundation of the Ming Empire's rule was basically composed of them, and they were also basically in charge of the taxation, corvee labor, public security, public construction and public welfare of the grassroots people.

Therefore, they have a lot of say among the people, and most businessmen and ordinary people are more willing to listen to them and believe in them.

Who made the imperial court’s investment in charity and public welfare not as good as that of these local sages?

Therefore, Zhu Houcong's special imperial examination would only make people all over the world more willing to call him a sage monarch.

But Zhu Houcong did not do this to gain the false title of "sage king".

What he wanted was to surpass Yang Tinghe in reputation and then establish his own credibility so that people in the world would not question any of his new reform measures in the future, thinking that these reform measures were intended to benefit the people of the world.

In other words.

Zhu Houcong is doing this now in order to make better reforms in the future.

However, after ascending the throne, Zhu Houcong had to show that he was working hard to govern the country, and for the time being he still had to show that he trusted Yang Tinghe.

Because Yang Tinghe is still the Prime Minister who is highly respected by people all over the world.

After all, Yang Tinghe had always existed in the Zhengde Dynasty with a positive image of protecting good people and suppressing the evil deeds of corrupt officials. Especially during the more than 30 days of imperial power vacuum when Zhu Houcong had not come to Beijing, the series of things he did to cut redundant staff and punish evildoers made people all over the world regard him as a good assistant in restoring order.

Even some people who are dissatisfied with him just think that he is not decisive enough to carry out deeper reforms.

Of course, the people of the world here mainly refer to the scholars of the world.

However, as mentioned earlier, because the scholars of the world now represent the public opinion, or can be said to control the public opinion, therefore, in this era, the attitude of the scholars of the world basically represents the attitude of the people of the world.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong still has to show trust in Yang Tinghe.

Zhu Houcong knew that it would not be difficult for him to take away Yang Tinghe's power.

Because Yang Tinghe was not, by nature, a reformer who dared to do anything for the country and the people.

Therefore, in history, Jiajing was able to defeat Yang Tinghe and make him hand over power simply through a grand ceremony.

Even if Zhu Houcong wanted to kill Yang Tinghe, he could do it.

As long as Zhu Houcong didn't care about his reputation, the opinions of the people of the world, or the fate of the country.

However, for Zhu Houcong who wanted to do great things, what he wanted to do more was to kill Yang Tinghe's heart, and then talk about other things.

Zhu Houcong wanted to make Yang Tinghe fall from the altar and completely lose the support of the people.

By that time, even if he really wanted to kill Yang Tinghe, he would not lose the support of the people, making them think that he was only trying to seize power by killing the running dog. Instead, he would gain the support of the people, showing that he was eliminating traitors and rectifying people's hearts, and that he was wise and intelligent, and had made early plans. He would be more sober and wise than the people who had been deceived by Yang Tinghe, and he would even be a wise ruler who truly saw through what would happen in the next 500 years.

But Zhu Houcong knew very well that it was not so easy to achieve this.

This involves reforming the Ming bureaucracy and the interests of all classes in the Ming Empire.

Now Zhu Houcong had to pretend to trust Yang Tinghe very much in order to further put Yang Tinghe on the spot and force him to show his true colors.

then.

After Zhu Houcong ascended the throne, he immediately issued an imperial decree to summon Yang Tinghe to ask about major plans.

And therefore.

When the eunuch from the secretariat brought Zhu Houcong's decree to summon Yang Tinghe to the cabinet, Yang Tinghe was extremely excited.

Even the three cabinet ministers Liang Chu, Jiang Mian and Mao Ji were shocked and their hearts were boiling with anger.

It should be noted that during the Zhengde period, Zhengde, who only liked to stay in the Leopard Room and go on tours, preferred to get along with military generals and eunuchs, and seldom summoned cabinet ministers.

Therefore, in the view of Yang Tinghe and other cabinet ministers, Zhu Houcong's attitude undoubtedly showed that he was intentionally enhancing the authority and status of civil servants and intended to rely on civil servants to rule the world.

Therefore, let alone Yang Tinghe, Jiang Mian, Mao Ji and others, even Liang Chu, who was more Buddhist, found it difficult to calm down.

"Your Majesty's determination to govern the country is truly admirable!"

Jiang Mian also said this directly at this time.

Mao Ji even had tears in his eyes and choked up: "After so many years, I finally met such a diligent and courteous ruler again."

Liang Chu also sighed: "Yes, it is a blessing for us to meet such a holy king!"

"Although it is a blessing, the more Your Majesty is eager to seek governance, the more we should devote ourselves to Your Majesty, correct the gains and losses, and eliminate the treacherous and corrupt, so as to prevent the small people from leading Your Majesty to fall!"

After Liang Chu said this, Yang Tinghe responded seriously and then walked towards Yuntai Gate with steady steps.

After Yang Tinghe left, the three university scholars Liang Chu, Jiang Mian and Mao Ji all stopped and stood under the porch, staring at Yang Tinghe's back for a long time with a hint of envy in their eyes.

Yang Tinghe himself seemed to know that someone was watching him from behind, which made him feel even more proud, as if he was reliving the feeling of passing the imperial examination and entering the palace.

The diligence shown by the new emperor and the trust shown in him made him begin to firmly believe that the new emperor would become a true sage monarch.

What he needed was to prevent the new emperor from being misled by reformists like Yuan Zonggao, who would go against the ancestral laws in order to achieve rejuvenation, and to prevent him from being bewitched by powerful eunuchs like Wei Bin, who were left behind by the late emperor, and from thinking that peace and prosperity could be achieved by relying on these people to control the imperial power.

Yuntai Gate.

After Yang Tinghe arrived, Zhu Houcong, who had changed into mourning clothes, sat down on the throne on the platform, with his hands hanging on his knees, his eyes bright and serious.

At this time, Yang Tinghe was also taken off his hat and kowtowed to thank the emperor, then stood up.

Being able to answer while standing is a favor that important officials can enjoy when the platform summons them.

Zhu Houcong also asked after Yang Tinghe stood up: "When I first ascended the throne, what should I focus on?"

For Yang Tinghe.

He liked this kind of serious and upright monarch, who would accept his thanks and then allow him to stand up and make speeches.

He didn't like Zhengde's kind of people. Not only did he rarely meet with these civil officials, but when he finally met them, he was particularly unruly. He pulled them to sit aside without waiting for them to kowtow and thank him, and even pulled them to sit on the same bed. He also asked them to drink a glass of wine together first, and even said that since he was his teacher, he would stand up to toast him and let him sit down.

When Yang Tinghe thinks about it now, he still finds it absurd and terrifying.

In short, he didn't like the way Emperor Zhengde ignored the order of hierarchy, treated him as an equal, and even respected him excessively as a teacher and elder.

That feeling made him very uncomfortable!
Now, the way Zhu Houcong accepted his thanks so openly and then asked him questions seriously made him feel comfortable and satisfied.

then.

After Zhu Houcong asked this question, Yang Tinghe replied respectfully in front of Zhu Houcong: "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, Your Majesty should pay more attention to distinguishing between loyalty and treachery!"

In history, Zhengde was indeed different from the emperor in the traditional sense. When he tried to leave the country, he was stopped by the censor with a sword. He would rather choose to sneak out when the censor was away, and did not use the imperial power to force the censor to open the door. He said that he disobeyed the order and killed the censor. There was once a general who stopped him from leaving the country because of the danger outside the border, but he did not force the general and promoted him. Later, when he was on a southern tour, he hugged the governor and drank with him. It can be seen that he was a person who was unwilling to abide by traditional rules, so he even conferred himself the title of Duke and General, and lowered his status. Therefore, I also wrote from Yang Tinghe's perspective that he recalled that Zhengde was not so serious when he met him, so it is not a fabrication.

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(End of this chapter)