prosperous age

Chapter 629: Chapter 628

I don't know if it was God's will, but at this time, Emperor Longqing was sitting at the top of the cabinet, Xu Jie and his student Zhang Juzheng were standing on one side, and Li Chunfang, Chen Yiqin and Guo Pu were on the other side.

Perhaps, this is also because Guo Pu and Chen Yiqin did not want to be with Xu Jie, so they did it on purpose.

"Master Li, what's your attitude?"

Emperor Longqing saw that Li Chunfang was in a daze, so he asked.

For a moment, all eyes in the room focused on Li Chunfang.

The situation is delicate at this moment, and it seems to be entirely at the mercy of Li Chunfang.

Li Chunfang was also secretly crying in her heart at this moment.

Although there are many rumors that Emperor Jiajing made a mistake to win the number one prize, his grades are also among the best after all, otherwise it would be impossible to even have the chance to face the saint.

Li Chunfang, who is well-read and familiar with classics and history, is well aware of the dangers of officialdom, especially since Emperor Jiajing became seriously ill, Xu Jie and Gao Gong had fought openly and secretly many times, and the battle became more intense after Emperor Longqing ascended the throne. No matter which side he stood on, he would definitely offend the other side completely.

He knew why Guo Pu got close to Gao Gong.

Guo Pu's problems actually exist in him too.

It's just that after Yan Na became an official, he was already a secondary assistant, and it was impossible for him to fall into Gao Gong like Guo Pu.

After all, behind Gao Gong was Emperor Longqing, and with the emperor's trust in him, Li Chunfang couldn't see a reason for Gao Gong to lose in this battle.

However, after all, Xu Jie's general situation has been established, and his power in the court is even more deeply rooted. Even Emperor Longqing, the new emperor, would not dare to touch him easily.

Therefore, he simply chose to pretend to be deaf and dumb, and just casually agree with Xu Jie or Gao Gong's words, giving people a kind of humility, not bullying others, being industrious and honest, advocating thrift, and recommending talents. impression.

Speaking of which, he was also unlucky. He joined the cabinet in April 44, and just missed the examination that year.

According to the unspoken rules of the cabinet ministers of the Ming Dynasty, after entering the cabinet, the cabinet ministers must take the main examination for one session, recruit students, and strengthen their strength in the court.

But he has been in the cabinet for three years, and he has been a second assistant, but he has never presided over a meeting. Although he can't say that he is weak, he does not have much influence, and it is really embarrassing to be in this position.

In 44, because the cabinet ministers Xu Jie and Yuan Wei had already had the experience of the examination, they fell to Gao Gong, who was then the Minister of the Ministry of Officials and a bachelor of the Imperial Academy, and Hu Zheng, a bachelor of the Imperial Academy. superior.

This is also one of the reasons why Gao Gong is not afraid of Xu Jie. He also has three hundred disciples in the court. As long as he says a word, more than a hundred new Jinshi in Beijing will go to Shu to impeach Xu Jie and fight against each other.

Compared with the number of people, Gao Gong is really not afraid of Xu Jie.

But it's not a problem to be stuck here, Li Chunfang still has to answer the emperor's question.

After hesitating for a moment, he stood up and bowed: "Your Majesty, the matter of opening the sea is of great importance. On the one hand, it is difficult to violate the ancestral system, and on the other hand, it is related to the livelihood of the people. It is difficult for me to make a choice."

With her head lowered, Li Chunfang didn't dare to peek at the reactions of others, fearing that her confidence that had been hard-won was shattered.

"I have hesitated again and again, but I can only respectfully invite the Holy Tribunal."

Finally, when Li Chunfang said these words, he knew that in the eyes of Emperor Longqing, his status would undoubtedly be downgraded by countless levels, or even marked as useless, but he still had no choice but to choose this way.

If the emperor doesn't like it, at worst, he will go home to retire and offend others, and the ending will be bad.

As for some people who think that such an answer offends both sides, it depends on their strength.

In any case, Li Chunfang is the second assistant of the court, and not everyone can handle it.

If someone took the initiative to shoot him and made him fall to the other side, would this situation be bearable?
For those who are really useless, that is the way to kill, but for those in high positions, it is a means of self-protection.

It's just that he didn't know that Xu Jie, Guo Pu and the others were all relieved at this time, and they let go of their hanging hearts.

Even if Xu Jie thought he understood Li Chunfang, before Li Chunfang finally made a choice, he couldn't guarantee that it would be the case, especially for others.

Emperor Longqing's face clearly showed disappointment, and the ball was still mentioned to him, and let him wear the hat of changing the ancestral system?

Of course not.

He has only been enthroned for a few months now, and he can't do this yet. He must first find someone to take the blame.

Thinking that Gao Gong was not there, Emperor Longqing had an idea after a little thought.

"Since that's the case, then tomorrow the Great Court will discuss this matter again."

He took the initiative to arrange to move the proposal of opening the sea to the Great Court Meeting, of course not to face the slobber of the officials, but to delay for a day.

"When I came here, I heard that the cabinet received a memorial to impeach the high minister?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Xu Jie stood up at this time and said: "The Criminal Division has re-hired Zhang Jin and Yu Shi Li to impeach Gao Gong."

"Show me the memorial."

Emperor Longqing waved his hand, directly interrupting Xu Jie's answer.

Xu Jie looked as usual, turned around and handed the drafted memorial to Meng Chong from the desk next to him, and he passed it to the emperor.

Emperor Longqing opened the memorial and glanced at it hastily, then said: "I will serve you with pen and ink."

Meng Chong quickly walked to the desk next to him to fetch a pen and ink, and placed it on the side coffee table.

This is Xu Jie's value room, which is a main hall. Entering the gate is a hall for receiving guests, and there are two rooms on the left and right, which are used for office and stacked various books.

In the living room where they are, naturally there is no desk in front of the seats.

Emperor Longqing put down the two memorials, and picked up a pen to quickly approve the two memorials.

Xu Jie looked at Emperor Longqing's actions with a blank expression on his face.

He knew what the emperor would write without even thinking about it.

Sure enough, after the emperor received the pen and handed it over to him, all Xu Jie saw was one sentence, "His words are not true. Jin (re-employment) has heard that his performance is inappropriate, so Gong can work with peace of mind."

After sending Emperor Longqing away, Xu Jie handed over the two memorials to Li Chunfang for processing. Although there was no official seal and necessary procedures, they could be approved by the imperial pen in front of everyone, so of course they could not be ignored.

What's more, if it's just a lack of procedures, the formalities can be made up immediately after sending it to the Supervisor of Rites, so there's no need to worry about it.

Back to the cabinet, everyone went back to their duty room to continue working.

Chen Yiqin was quite happy, today's incident once again proved that the emperor had great trust in these hidden ministers, Guo Pu was also very excited, because he also saw that Gao Gong's position in the emperor's heart was solid.

But Li Chunfang and Zhang Juzheng were not in such a good mood, and even Li Chunfang was still worried about his attitude at the court meeting tomorrow, and it was really difficult to make a choice.

Only Xu Jie remained the same. After all, I have seen this kind of scene many times, especially when Emperor Jiajing was furious. That scene was many times more dangerous than today.

Back in the duty room, instead of managing the official documents piled up on the desk, he spread out a piece of paper and started writing.

Today's officialdom in the capital is filled with various news. First, Gao Gong left the cabinet in embarrassment due to impeachment. Then Emperor Longqing came to the cabinet to discuss matters with cabinet ministers and asked Kai Hai for his opinion. Afterwards, he even criticized Gao Gong's impeachment memorial on the spot. Responsibility for Zhang Jin and Li Fupin.

At this point, the matter of Gao Gong being impeached again has turned over again. Gao Gong doesn't even need to write about himself, and he can return to the cabinet to work tomorrow.

It seems that it is just a farce.

But just after noon, Wei Guangde heard another news in the yamen that Xu Jie, the chief assistant of the cabinet, Xu Ge, was unwell and had been sent back to the mansion to recuperate. The news, accompanied by the eclipse half a month ago was mentioned again.

At the beginning of the meeting, the main people who knew about it were the participants.

The identities of the two parties are not ordinary, and the officials who participated in the banquet are also not ordinary. Naturally, it has only been spread in small circles, but it has not spread the officialdom in the capital.

The difference this time was that the news spread at an astonishing speed, and it spread to all the yamen in Beijing almost quickly, which seemed extremely unusual.

In the duty room, Wei Guangde sat quietly behind the desk, but he could vaguely hear the fierce voices of people in other rooms outside.

Although it doesn't sound very clear, but at this time, one can guess that the person who is so excited is probably an official complaining about Xu Jie.

In the past few months, Xu Jie personally took care of the Jiajing posthumous edict to set things right. Many officials who were punished for admonishing the emperor and impeaching Yan Song were restored to their honor and official positions, which greatly won the hearts of a group of people.

Correspondingly, he did the good things, and left the bad things to Gao Gong and others, which was one of the reasons for Gao Gong's backlash.

Those who know the inside story will naturally not explain too much to others, and such news at this time will undoubtedly be extremely detrimental to Gao Gong and others.

The errands of the official department may be waiting for the people on the official documents, but for Wei Guangde who is in power, it makes no difference whether it is early or late.

He has no time to deal with official documents at the moment, but has deeper worries.

What happened today seems to be irrelevant, but when you think about it carefully, it seems that Xu Jie has calculated every step since Tan Lun's memorial arrived in Beijing, including the attitude of the current court officials.

Xu Jie was the one who really understood the minds of these officials, and also learned how to use them.

As the chief assistant of the current dynasty, there are few achievements in the country's major policies that should really be dealt with, and it seems that Yan Song's set is still used.

Cover the lid and whitewash the peace.

But he had better luck, with Yan Song in front, and the mistakes of the first emperor in front, he won the hearts of the people by setting things right, cleverly diverting the attention of all officials, and winning widespread support.

Now, there's sympathy.

But Gao Gong unknowingly became a villain in the court and was denounced by most people.

When Wei Guangde was worried about the development of the situation, Gao Gong's disciples also realized that something was wrong. Their teacher had a bad reputation in the court, which was not a good thing.

What is the main source of everyone's dissatisfaction with Gao Gong?

Naturally, it was Xu Jie who started everything. It was said outside that the teacher bullied the honest people, relying on the emperor's trust to fight Xu Jie in the cabinet, and wanted to replace him.

To replace Xu Jie, of course they hope so, but the current situation is not what they want to see.

In the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Yushi Qikang has already seen through today's tricks. Everything was calculated by Xu Jie, and the teacher's name was calculated by him.

In a fit of rage, Qi Kang dug out Xu Zhi's memorial to impeach Xu Jie three months ago and watched it carefully, and he began to think about it.

Speaking of Xu Zhi, although his reputation was not obvious, his elder brother was a man of great influence in the Ming court, and Xu Jie, the chief assistant of the court.

Xu Zhi was a Jinshi in the 26th year of Jiajing, and he was in the same subject as Li Chunfang, the second assistant. At this time, Xu Jie had already experienced the stage of being suppressed by President Zhang and returned to the court.

But Xu Jie did not help his younger brother to stay in the capital as an official, but kept him in Nanjing, perhaps so that he could take care of the family nearby.

But no matter how he thought about it, Xu Zhilai, who felt that he would be oppressed in Nanjing without Xu Jie's light, was not convinced, so he finally reported three illegal things to impeach his brother Xu Jie in February, that is, accepting the treachery. , embezzling the land, hiding the population, the family's land property is as much as 20 mu; condoning the children and slaves of the family to run rampant in the village, committing crimes, etc.

After the memorandum was sent to the capital, it should have caused an uproar, but at this time, most of the attention of the government and the public was on the first emperor's palace, the mausoleum and the mausoleum of several empresses. Although this memorandum was not concealed, its influence was still Deliberately shrinking, it is even said to be Xu Jie's family affairs.

Because of family affairs, Xu Zhi was dissatisfied with Xu Jie's handling, and then abolished public affairs with private interests and took private revenge.

In short, although most of the officials heard about it, they didn't take it seriously, and the recognition was a family affair of the Xu family.

However, others don't care about it, but there is still someone in the Metropolitan Procuratorate who pays attention to it and keeps a copy of his memorial. This person is Qi Kang.

Yes, he was writing a memorial at this time, citing the three major crimes of Xu Jie mentioned by Xu Zhi to impeach him.

Although Xu Zhi had resigned from office two months ago, after all, the imperial court would keep the written memorials and not destroy them easily.

With the confession of Xu's own members, Qi Kang didn't think that his memorial was just a rumor, and the emperor should send someone to investigate it.

At that time, let's see how the old man Xu Jie will defend himself.

In Qi Kang's eyes, Xu Jie is sinister and greedy.

He indulged his family's children and family members to do evil and harm one party outside, all because of his great power in the court.

Also, when the first emperor wanted to set up a heir, Xu Jie firmly opposed it, saying that the emperor was successful in cultivation and lived forever. Whether it was to flatter Emperor Jiajing or guess that it was the emperor's temptation, Xu Jie did object to the emperor's establishment anyway. storage.

But when Emperor Longqing really ascended to the throne, he had a ghost in his heart, so he pretended to be sick to spy on the emperor's meaning.

He also wooed Li Chunfang in the cabinet and relied on his power, so as to achieve the purpose of authorizing affairs.

In short, in Qi Kang's eyes, everything Xu Jie did was his deliberate attempt to crowd out Gao Gong and monopolize the power of the government.

After Qi Kangti wrote the impeachment memorabilia little by little, he hurriedly left with his hands in his hands and went to the royal court of Zuodu Yushi without waiting for Mogan.

In the evening, Wei Guangde received a note from Chen Yiqin at home, and saw the general content of Qi Kang's memorial to impeach Xu Jie.

"The state is dangerous, corrupt, filthy and monopolistic. The first emperor wanted to build a reserve, but the rank was firm and unstoppable. He was extremely suspicious and afraid of the emperor's ascension, so he pretended to be sick to taste the best. He also relied on the great scholar Li Chunfang. The great scholar Gong has repeatedly been impeached by Xu Jiezhu, a scholar of Italian University"

After reading the note, Wei Guangde felt a toothache, which is really worrying.

He thought that Gao Gong had just walked out of the cabinet lonely today, and he didn't want to think that Xu Jie would have to stage this scene again before the Great Court Meeting tomorrow.

It's okay to be impeached by others, but you are impeached by a Cantonese imperial examination censor, is it because you are afraid that no one will remember that your teacher is Gao Gong?
(End of this chapter)