Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 33 Yang Tinghe Resigns

"Is the Prime Minister ill?"

Shortly after Zhu Houcong returned to Qingning Palace, he learned that Yang Tinghe had fainted in Wenhua Hall.

This made Zhu Houcong frown.

then.

Zhu Houcong couldn't help but sneer again, and said in his heart: "Yang Tinghe, don't say that I didn't give you a chance!"

"Send an order, have the imperial physician take a look, and have him treat the patient with great care!"

"I am still waiting for Yuan Fu to preside over the new administration for me."

Zhu Houcong then gave instructions to the eunuch Wei Bin.

Wei Bin bowed and said yes and left.

Because Yang Tinghe suddenly fell ill, the new policy of clearing fields and eliminating traitors had to be temporarily shelved.

After all, Zhu Houcong asked the cabinet to check these two matters.

As a result, the cabinet chief Yang Tinghe suddenly fell ill and the work had to be temporarily stopped.

As soon as Wei Bin learned of the situation, he immediately reported Yang Tinghe's condition to Zhu Houcong, saying that Yang Tinghe had difficulty walking and had severe headaches.

"so serious?"

Zhu Houcong pretended to be panicked and asked, then ordered: "Get ready quickly, I will go to see Yuanfu tomorrow!"

Wei Bin nodded in agreement.

The news of Yang Tinghe's illness quickly spread.

Many bureaucrats and scholars began to visit Yang's house.

for a while.

The Yang residence was always crowded with people.

"I finally met an emperor who worked hard to govern the country and was benevolent and loved the people, and I also met a wise minister who worked for the people. I was just waiting for him to help me eliminate the bad policies and revive the Ming Dynasty. Why did the minister suddenly fall ill?"

Some merchants and common people from the capital also came to Yang's house to inquire, and asked about the servants in Yang's house.

After all, Yang Tinghe did many things to benefit the people, and the scholars also actively praised him, which made many scholars, common people and the people have a good impression of Yang Tinghe. They all expected Yang Tinghe to carry out further reforms and improve their situation after the new emperor ascended the throne.

But now that Yang Tinghe suddenly became seriously ill, it was inevitable that these scholars and civilians became panic-stricken.

Yang Shen, who had to come out personally to maintain order because there were too many soldiers and civilians, was quite moved by this scene.

"My father is truly loved by the people! This shows how much the corrupt officials who harm the country and the people lose the support of the people."

"It's a pity that the corrupt officials have not been completely eliminated, and they have even persuaded Your Majesty to implement a new policy of reform. Now we can only wait for this policy to end and the corrupt officials to be eliminated, so that my father can return to the court and help Your Majesty become a ruler like Yao and Shun!"

Yang Shen couldn't help but sigh inwardly, and he spontaneously came up with the idea that he would also have such a reputation in the future.

Subsequently.

Yang Shen walked out of the door and bowed, "My father is old and weak, and he has been overworked recently. His old illness has relapsed, so he has to stay in bed for a while. I would like to thank you for your concern. However, the emperor will come to visit my father soon, so please go back for a while to avoid a conflict with the emperor's guards."

"The Emperor is coming?"

Yang Shen's words instantly excited the scholars and people.

They didn't expect that the emperor would come to visit Yang Tinghe in person.

"Your Majesty really wants to be cured!"

Because Yang Tinghe suddenly fell ill, Xia Yan, who also came to Yang's residence to pay attention to the situation, couldn't help but say something to Fan Jizu who came with him.

Fan Jizu echoed, "Yes, Your Majesty summoned the Prime Minister as soon as he ascended the throne, and immediately issued an order to convene a court meeting, and even came to the court to discuss politics in person, which shows your diligence in government. Now you allow us to clean up the fields and benefit the people. There have always been monarchs who are diligent in government and maintain the status quo, but it is rare to see someone as determined as you to revive the country!"

"It's a pity that the Prime Minister fell ill at this time, and your majesty's ambitions have to be put on hold."

Fan Jizu then sighed and continued speaking.

Xia Yan put his hands behind his back, looked deeply at Yang Shen at the gate of Yang's house and said, "If he really falls ill, it's fine."

After hearing this, Fan Jizu couldn't help but ask Xia Yan, "What do you mean by this?"

"It's nothing special. I just hope that your majesty's ambition to revive the country will not be dampened by this. If so, we will be lucky."

Xia Yan replied with a smile.

Fan Jizu nodded.

"Spread out!"

"Spread out!"

At this time.

Soldiers from the Five Cities Military Department had already run over with guns in hand and began to drive out the civilians here, set up curtains, arrange fences, and sweep the streets.

The scholars and common people cooperated and left one after another without any dissatisfaction.

Because they already knew that the emperor was coming to visit the old prime minister.

Many people shed tears and were deeply moved by this.

"Your Majesty has really come." "This shows that Your Majesty really respects Yuan Fu and really wants to rely on Yuan Fu to revive the Ming Dynasty and save the people of the world!"

"Yes, I heard that as soon as His Majesty ascended the throne, he summoned the Prime Minister, and then immediately held a court meeting to discuss the top priority at the moment. He even went to listen to the court meeting in person, and decided to clean up the estates of the powerful and wealthy, punish the wicked and eliminate the evil, and rely on the cabinet to vigorously launch new policies to ensure the safety of the people."

"It's just a pity that Yuan Fu suddenly fell ill at this time."

Some well-informed scholars also started discussing it, which led to more people praising it and expressing their regrets.

Clearing the fields and eliminating evil is naturally a good thing for ordinary scholars and common people.

They don't care that much about ancestral rules.

They only knew that the current emperor not only exempted many miscellaneous taxes in his enthronement edict, stopped many levies, and held special examinations and resolved unjust cases, but now he is clearing the fields, cracking down on the powerful and wealthy, so that more people can have land to cultivate.

For them, who did not care about the military virtues of a great country and cared more about whether their own lives were more peaceful and prosperous, Zhu Houcong was naturally much more amiable than the previous Emperor Zhengde who only cared about military exploits.

Yang Shen couldn't help but have tears in his eyes when Zhu Houcong came to Yang's house.

but.

Before Zhu Houcong came, Yang Tinghe did not regret that he could no longer assist the emperor in becoming a ruler like Yao and Shun because of his illness.

He was now lying on his couch, listening to his disciple, Fan Yangqian, a doctor in the Ministry of Literature, talking about Zhang Cong's background. After listening, he said:
"How could a newly-minted scholar like him think of Qingtian? I guess it was the official in the capital he just met who gave him the advice!"

"First, transfer his teacher Yan Song to Nanjing!"

"What Enfu said is absolutely true. I would rather believe it than not believe it."

"We should not deal with Zhang Cong himself now. After all, His Majesty has already known about him, and there is no need for the Enfu to deal with him personally. Instead, we must be careful of Yan Song from the Hanlin Academy. He not only has the intention to reform the system, but also has the intention to disrupt the rituals."

"Next, the most important thing is to discuss the rituals. We have to let His Majesty recognize Xiao Miao as the emperor's father! Transferring Yan Song now can be regarded as a precautionary measure and also as a warning to others."

At this time, Fan Yangqian complimented Yang Tinghe a few words, and also analyzed Yang Tinghe's thoughts, hoping that Yang Tinghe would evaluate whether what he said was correct or not, and hoped that Yang Tinghe would have a better impression.

Yang Tinghe didn't say anything.

Because he was feeling a little upset and didn't want to talk much.

After all, Zhu Houcong brought more than 200,000 refugees into the capital, disrupting his deployment. He also held a court meeting and ordered all ministers to discuss the current urgent matters, which gave Xia Yan the opportunity to propose a plan to clear the fields, which disrupted his deployment again.

For Yang Tinghe, although the new emperor acted with righteousness, kindness and generosity in everything he did, everything he did made him uncomfortable.

He can only blame the fact that there are too many treacherous and evil people in the court, and too many radical and disobedient young officials, forcing him to claim illness and unable to take advantage of the new emperor's benevolence and love for the people to work hard to govern the country, and assist the new emperor to usher in the Hongzhi era like Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and Xie Qian assisted Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty.

The only thing Yang Tinghe could be thankful for now was that His Majesty trusted the Cabinet more and allowed the Cabinet to directly decide on the next two things to be done.

This will undoubtedly prevent the Minister of Personnel Wang Qiong from participating in this matter.

However, he was still able to remotely control the cabinet and force political opponents such as Wang Qiong to step down.

It was only because the fields still needed to be cleared that Yang Tinghe had to claim illness.

After all, this was an unauthorized change of the ancestral system, and he didn't want to participate in the change.

Yang Tinghe now only hopes that the land clearing issue will be over. After the more than 200,000 refugees are resettled, no one will suggest reforms to Your Majesty again, and he can come back and work with Your Majesty to re-establish the Hongzhi policy.

Yang Tinghe really wanted to believe that after the land clearing was completed, Emperor Zhu Houcong would be willing to rebuild the Hongzhi regime with him.

After all, Emperor Zhu Houcong truly trusted and respected him now, and he even came to see him in person because he was sick.

"His Majesty is coming!"

"You leave through the back door first."

Yang Tinghe gave Fan Yangqian this instruction and said nothing else. He just swallowed a pill that had been prepared for him.

Not long after Fan Yangqian said goodbye and left, Zhu Houcong came to Yang Tinghe and saw that Yang Tinghe had indeed become much paler and more haggard.

When Yang Tinghe saw Zhu Houcong coming, he trembled and tried to stand up and kneel down.

Seeing this, Zhu Houcong hurried over and held Yang Tinghe down: "Prime Minister, please don't be polite."

then.

Zhu Houcong asked with concern: "How does Yuanfu feel now?"

"Thanks to your majesty, I am feeling better now, but I still have trouble walking and I have splitting headaches from time to time."

Yang Tinghe replied with a forced smile.

Zhu Houcong pretended to be annoyed and said: "Why did it suddenly become like this? I was counting on Yuan Fu to help me manage government affairs, to eliminate the evils in the world and to bring peace to the people."

"But the Prime Minister suddenly fell ill. What should we do?"

Zhu Houcong's young face was full of panic and anxiety.

Yang Tinghe couldn't help but feel distressed for a moment, and even regretted that perhaps he shouldn't have treated this young king who was so sincere to him in this way.

But Yang Tinghe thought that the reform was not what he wanted. Now that Zhu Houcong wanted to reform in order to keep the people safe, he chose to claim illness instead of forcefully blocking it. This was the biggest concession and compromise, so he said what he had prepared in advance:
"Your Majesty is diligent in government and loves the people. This is a blessing for the country and the people. However, I am old and ignorant, and now my old illness has relapsed. It is really difficult for me to assist Your Majesty. I can only ask for your permission to retire and let the wise man take over. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."

As Yang Tinghe spoke, he tremblingly took out a letter of resignation from his sleeve.

This was something Yang Tinghe had prepared long ago.

He knew that Zhu Houcong could not leave him now, so he had already carried a memorial with him, ready to resign decisively when things were not in his favor, and force Zhu Houcong to compromise by retreating to advance.

When Zhu Houcong saw Yang Tinghe's resignation letter, he pretended to be unwilling and said, "Is the Prime Minister trying to abandon me and let the people of the world think that I am not fit to be assisted as a ruler like Yao and Shun?"

(End of this chapter)