Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 80: The butt turned flexibly, and all officials saluted Zhang Cong
Watch this scene.

The cabinet chief Liang Chu couldn't help but close his eyes and sigh.

Jiang Mian stood up, his mouth opened so wide that half of his tongue stuck out.

Mao Jize swallowed, then smiled slightly.

The Minister of Personnel Shi Yao stood up angrily and walked up to Zhao Jian:
"They are ignorant, and you, Zhao Shouguang, are also ignorant!"

"You have been sentenced to twenty years in prison, how can you do this!"

"I was wronged!"

Zhao Jian suddenly yelled at Shi Yan.

The fat on his cheeks suddenly began to tremble.

Shi Yan's breathing was still heavy, and he looked at Zhao Jian with a very serious expression.

Zhao Jianze began to avoid looking.

Let’s talk.

Here, Zhang Chong, the Imperial Censor, felt as if his bones were about to fall apart after being knocked to the ground.

But he still gritted his teeth and stood up
However, the knife in his hand had been taken away.

The whole person was detained by two Jinyiwei who came over.

Zhang Chong himself naturally knew why such a mistake occurred, so he looked coldly at Wuding Hou Guo Xun.

Snapped!
Guo Xun slammed the table heavily, stood up, and looked at Zhang Chong and others who had been controlled:

"Do you think I, Guo Xun, am as fatherless as you?"

"You are so stupid!"

"Although I haven't read much, I know how to write the word 'loyalty'!"

"On the contrary, you have read so many books, yet you have disregarded the law and disrupted social order!"

"Ask yourselves, do you take the imperial power and national laws seriously?!"

After Guo Xun said this, he looked at the court officials who still didn't understand what was going on:
"You gentlemen, you may not know that today's meeting was originally a conspiracy planned by the Grand Minister of Justice and the Imperial Secretary Zhang Chong."

"They intend to unite with several of our nobles who lead the troops and help them kill Zhang Hanlin and other ministers who have different opinions on the grand ceremony while everyone is gathered here for a meeting."

"This is such a serious case that I had to report it to your majesty immediately. After hearing this, your majesty asked the Grand Court Justice, but he insisted on denying it, so he asked me to play along and let you see if this really happened."

"As a result, you all saw it."

After Guo Xun said this, many court officials who were unaware of the situation suddenly realized what was going on, and many began to whisper about it.

Zhang Chong couldn't help but look up and sigh: "I regret that I couldn't kill the bandits!"

Zhang Cong, Gui E and others had gloomy faces.

"Who is the thief?"

Liang Chu knew that he, as the Prime Minister, was needed to clean up the mess, so he stood up and asked sternly.

then.

Liang Chu said to Zhang Chong and others, "Look at what you have done!"

"Is this what a gentleman does?"

"If you can't win the argument, you have to kill people!"

"Unless you are not confused, but clear-headed, you are sober enough to forcefully call a deer a horse and deceive the emperor!"

Liang Chu said this and turned to look at Jiang Mian, Mao Ji, Shi Yan and other important officials:

"What do you think of this matter?"

"Are they really confused and don't understand what great etiquette is? Or are they really sober and deliberately trying to call a horse a zebra and deceive the emperor, so they don't defend themselves and just commit the crime directly, because they know their etiquette is not right and they can't win the argument?!"

"same!"

"Are all those who want Your Majesty to disown his parents trying to form a clique and deceive the Emperor?!"

Jiang Mian knew what Liang Chu was trying to achieve by saying this, so he stood up and said, "Of course you are really confused!"

"How could we, the emperor's disciples, call a deer a horse?"

"They were just confused for a moment."

"Let alone them, even I, a cabinet minister, did not understand it for a while. I really thought that Your Majesty recognized Emperor Xiaozong as the emperor's father and followed the etiquette. Now, after thinking carefully about Zhang Cong's theory, I understand that Your Majesty is indeed different from Emperor Ai of Han and Emperor Yingzong of Song. You should inherit the throne of Taizu and Taizong, inherit the throne of Xianmiao, and follow the order set by the ancestral precepts!"

In order to prevent the ritualists from being accused of deceiving the emperor, the Minister of Personnel Shi Yan had no choice but to change his attitude and said in a deep voice:

"Our ancestors taught us this, our ancient rituals say this, what Cong and others said is correct!"

"We advocated that Your Majesty recognize the Emperor Xiaomiao, but we were not able to understand it because we were grateful for the Emperor Xiaomiao's benevolent governance. We did not want to form a clique. We would rather kill Zhang Cong than admit that Zhang Cong's theory was correct."

The Minister of Rites Mao Cheng also sighed and said, "I am ashamed to be a ritual officer. I am not as knowledgeable as Zhang Cong, so I am still confused. But I didn't expect that Zhang Chong and others would be so confused that they would kill people and do things that are wrong. I think it is related to the fact that I, a ritual officer, am not clear-headed, so I have caused misunderstandings. I will resign and bear the crime of misleading!"

All the ministers and officials who supported rituals changed their attitudes.

no way.

They all knew that things had come to this point, and if they wanted to avoid escalating the situation, they had no choice but to admit defeat immediately.

After all, with the defection of Marquis Wu Ding, the army had clearly completely sided with the emperor.

The emperor also clearly decided to adopt the rituals set by Zhang Cong.

But now, the radicals on our side have really done something that reveals their true intentions.

The key is not yet successful!
Instead, they were accused of overturning the table and breaking the rules, as they clearly knew they could not win the argument based on etiquette and were in the wrong.

Then, if they still insist, the emperor will really accuse them of forming a clique to deceive the emperor and make them completely lose their power.

same.

Many day parties, that is, neutral bureaucrats and literati, would begin to sympathize with the Ritual Party and even stand on the side of the Ritual Party.

The etiquette faction will also double their hatred towards them, after all, some people on their side have actually started to use knives to carry out assassinations.

and so.

If they don't admit defeat and ease the situation, the ritualists will lose the trust of the emperor and the reputation of the world, and the party struggles will also intensify!
This caused the Ming Dynasty to experience the same situation as in the late Northern Song Dynasty, when the new and old parties fought each other to the death and completely disregarded national interests.

That is, when the New Party is in power, all the old party members go to Lingnan to eat lychees; when the old party is in power, all the new party members go to Lingnan to eat lychees.

If this continues, no one will have an easy life.

The important officials who had a little awareness of the overall situation had to take the initiative to change their attitude and cool down.

Hanlin scholar Feng Xi, a representative of the Qingliu of the Protecting Rites faction, had to stand up and say: "Ministers should serve the emperor and follow his will. We were confused before. In fact, we came to Wudinghou Mansion today to discuss this matter, and we also intend to clearly acknowledge Zhang Hanlin's theory."

"A good minister should serve his king and follow his will!"

"Yes, it's not that we don't have the courage to admit that the etiquette we follow is wrong! It's just that we didn't expect that someone like Zhang Chong would be so radical."

"We were completely unaware of Zhang Chong's affairs. Now that we think about it, we think he must be a remnant of Jiang Bin and other treacherous gang members who deliberately adopted him to cause chaos in the court!"

Many officials who supported rituals began to express their opinions, and it was obvious that they wanted to cut off their relationship with Zhang Chong, and some even began to deny that Zhang Chong was one of their own.

Liang Chu saw that except for a few officials who were still confused and angry, most of them had reached a consensus. Although he didn't know whether they were afraid of the armor with swords in their hands or really understood what he meant, he still took the initiative to walk towards Zhang Cong and bowed to him:
"Your Excellency has performed the proper rituals and made the sacrifices clear, so that His Majesty and his son can be saved, and the rulers and ministers of the world can live in peace. You should accept our respect!"

Jiang Mian and Mao Ji also came over, followed Liang Chu, and bowed to Zhang Cong.

Shi Yan, Yang Tan, Mao Cheng, Wang Xian, Jin Xianmin and other Shangshu Duyushi also came over and bowed.

Even nobles such as Guo Xun, Marquis of Wuding, and Zhang Wei, Earl of Hui'an, came to bow to Zhang Cong.

Even his maternal relatives, Zhang Heling, Marquis of Shouning, and Zhang Yanling, Marquis of Jianchang, followed the son-in-law of the emperor, Cui Yuan, to bow to Zhang Cong.

Until now, the two of them still didn't quite understand what these ministers were fighting for, and why they were even arguing about using military force. However, people tend to follow the crowd, and they thought it would be right to follow the crowd and perform the ceremony, as at least the emperor would like it.

But at this time, Zhao Jian couldn't help but close his eyes and sigh when he saw this. Mao Ji and Yang Tan even looked at them speechlessly.

Feng Xi and other Hanlin scholars couldn't help but curse him as a "fool" and then came over to perform the gentlemanly etiquette of acknowledging each other's value.

When Liang Chu took the initiative to bow to him, Zhang Cong was deeply moved and quickly returned the greeting:

"I don't deserve the title of Prime Minister, as I am so noble!"

(End of this chapter)