prosperous age

Chapter 635 634 Go All Out
A few months after Emperor Longqing ascended the throne, the Daming Dynasty Hall in the capital was paralyzed. This was impossible for anyone to have thought of in advance.

The reason for all this is only because of the struggle between Xu Jie, the chief minister of the cabinet, and Gao Gong's family.

This kind of endless struggle may have been laid out by Xu Jie when he drafted the Jiajing will.

In the posthumous edict, not only did he admit his fault, although Emperor Jiajing didn't seem to have this intention at all during his lifetime, Xu Jie and Zhang Juzheng wrote it down in the posthumous edict, and the most important thing is to correct the mistakes he made before.

All courtiers convicted of admonitions will be reappointed if they are still alive, those who have died will be sealed with sympathy, and those who are still in prison will be released immediately and restored to their posts.

These things that can be bought and win people's hearts are all done by Xu Jie himself.

As a result, Xu Jie gained a great reputation.

At this time, the great role of a good reputation is also fully reflected.

The vast majority of ministers almost chose to stand on the side of the chief minister, and the one-sided criticism and impeachment of Gao Gong made the few officials in the court who still supported Gao Gong afraid to speak out.

Zhao Bingran, Minister of the Ministry of War, begged for his return due to illness, which was expected by the court, but at this time, they also became Zhao Bingran in their mouths to express their dissatisfaction with Gao Gong.

In the household department of the capital, Ge Shouli had already taken over the heavy responsibility from Gao Yao and started to manage the household affairs.

However, the time to take over was too short, and the main affairs of the department were handled by Xu Yangzheng and Liu Ziqiang, the left and right servants of the household department.

Xu Yangzheng, the left servant of the household department, and Gao Gong are old classmates who taught in the same hall. They are both Jinshi in Jiajing for 20 years, and Liu Ziqiang, the right servant, is Gao Gong's fellow villager. Both of them have always been good friends with Gao Gong.

But at this time, Xu Yangzheng had already arrived at Liu Ziqiang's room to check in, and started spying after the screen retreated to the left and right.

The reason for teaching in the same hall is that Xu Yangzheng entered the Imperial Academy with Gao Gong as a scholar after the imperial examination, but after the hall was dismissed, Gao Gong was appointed as an editor of the Imperial Academy.

After that, he was sent by Emperor Jiajing to King Yu, entered the mansion to give lectures, and opened a mansion to receive sutras.

But Xu Yangzheng was almost unlucky, and went to the Renhu Section to do work after the museum was over.

In the 27th year of Jiajing, Li Rujin, Zha Bingyi and others in Huke all accused Lianghuai deputy envoys Zhang Lu and Yan Shifan of bribery and power-taking.

After that, his official career was always suppressed. It lasted until the 41st year of Jiajing, when Yan Song and his son fell from power.

After so many years of ups and downs, he no longer favored Gao Gong, his fellow Kefu minister. Although he seemed to have a good conversation with Gao Gong before and had a close relationship with him, he was even more supportive after defeating Yan Song. Xu Jie who is working to set things right.

And this time, he took the initiative to come to Liu Ziqiang's room, and he also wanted to see what the deputy meant.

As for Ge Shouli, after all, he was new here, and given the current direction of the court, Xu Yangzheng did not think that Ge Shouli would support Gao Gong.

"Lord Liu, at the court meeting, Yu Yinshizhen and Wei Guangde should support the strategy of opening the sea, not necessarily Gao Gong. Look at these days, have they made a memorial in support of Gao Gong?"

Xu Yangzheng didn't think that he would impeach Gao Gong alone. What he wanted was to get Ge Shouli and Liu Ziqiang to play in the name of the Ministry of Household Affairs to support Xu Jie and oppose Gao Gong.

In the past, there were many memorials to impeach Gao Gong, but most of them were the expression of personal opinions of officials, but now what he wants to do is to express his position in the Ministry of Households.

In order to show favor to Chief Assistant Xu Jie, perhaps because of envy and jealousy, he chose to attack Gao Gong at this critical moment.

After all, Gao Gong's official fortune was so good that he felt jealous. He was born in Hanlin, and Gao Gong had already entered the cabinet, but he was destined not to join the cabinet.

In this era, the ultimate goal of scholars is still to join the cabinet, to realize the so-called desire of "self-cultivation, family governance, country and world peace".

For those who supported Gao Gong, most of them were Jinshi from the previous subject. Gao Gong, as one of the main examiners of the examination, was the mentor of many new Jinshi.

It can be said that Gao Gong's honor and disgrace in the court will directly determine the future of these people. Whether they are active or passive, they have actually been tied to Gao Gong when they participated in the examination.

As for Wei Guangde, he was very lucky. The chief examiner of the exam was the elder Lu Ben Luge who had been recuperating at home for several years. He basically didn't care about things.

Wei Guangde finally chose to hug King Yu's thigh tightly. Although it seemed that the thigh was very thin at that time, he succeeded in the end.

As for Gao Gong's fellow villagers, although no one stood up to impeach Gao Gong at this time, most of them dared not speak out.

The opposition is too strong, even if Xu Yang is coming to lobby today, Liu Ziqiang still wants to stay out of it.

Yes, most officials in Beijing and Henan chose to pretend to be ostriches to avoid this dispute.

It was too much trouble, and Gao Gong had little power to fight back, so he could only hope that Emperor Longqing would favor him and keep his position as a cabinet minister.

"Jiff, do you really want to impeach Prime Minister?"

Although he has always stated that he does not get involved, Liu Ziqiang finally couldn't stand Xu Yangzheng's soft-spokenness, and finally he was a little moved, but he still had a lot of concerns, "If I remember correctly, he is in your same class."

"Yes, Su Qing is in my same department, but what he is doing now is to offend the anger of the government and the public. Shouldn't he be held responsible?"

Sighing, Xu Yangzheng continued: "Now that the six ministries are not interested in official business, it's not all because of this incident. Only when Su Qing leaves the court, the court will resume normal operation. I am also thinking of the court."

"The memorandum you drafted, even if I sign it, let the treasurer below me, those doctors and principals all sign it, but can you guarantee that Mr. Ge will also support it?"

Liu Ziqiang's words have undoubtedly revealed his feelings. He is tempted, and he wants to be consistent with the mainstream public opinion of the court. This is the way to be an official, and he also wants to continue to be an official.

"The people below should not object. Even if some people don't want to sign, it doesn't make a difference to the overall situation, so as long as we can talk to Mr. Ge, that's enough."

Xu Yangzheng said confidently.

"Then what do you mean, let's go to Mr. Ge now, let him sign this memorial, and then ask others to sign as well?"

Liu Ziqiang said hesitantly.

"I think we should sign first."

Xu Yangzheng looked at Liu Ziqiang who had already been persuaded, and said lightly: "We have signed with the doctors and principals of each department, and then please persuade Mr. Ge with this memorial.

He is new here, so he probably doesn't want to refute the opinions of other people in the yamen. Although he is Lord Shangshu, after all, we have to rely on us to do things. "

As the saying goes, there are three fires for a new official to take office. It should be that Ge Shouli tried to coerce the officials of the household department. However, for new officials, before these three fires are lit, they generally would not choose to argue with their subordinates because of differences of opinion. The best choice is to stand with everyone.

Moreover, making this choice now also conforms to the public opinion of the ruling and opposition parties.

"Besides, he doesn't seem to have anything to do with Xu Shoufu or Gao Xiang. He has nothing to do with it. He should choose the household office to be consistent."

Xu Yangzheng continued.

Liu Ziqiang thought for a while, although he was very reluctant to turn his back on him, but in the current situation, it seemed that it really didn't matter whether the Ministry of Household Affairs made it to the memorial.

It seems that only Emperor Longqing can keep the high arch.

The opinions of the ministers, unless they can influence the emperor, but considering the current situation, Emperor Longqing might rather support Gao Gong than Baiguan.

Of course, Emperor Longqing would not do this easily, because the result of doing so would be that the imperial court would be alienated from morality.

Gao Gongdou can't beat Xu Jie, and if he wants to continue to rise to this position, he must have the support of senior officials.

At this moment, Liu Ziqiang finally made up his mind to show his kindness to Xu Shoufu.

Therefore, the two kept recruiting officials from the Cleaning Department in the value room, and asked them to express their opinions and sign the memorial.

After everyone signed their names, the two of them took the memorial drafted in the name of the Ministry of Households and went to Shangshu Ge Shouli to be on duty.

What happened in the household department had been spread through some secret channels when Xu and Liu were operating.

Wei Guangde felt a headache when he saw the note that Lu Bu brought in when he was in the value room.

The news was not collected by his people, it was delivered by a chief of the household department originally arranged by the Yuwang Mansion.

One by one, the cleaning officials were called to Liu Ziqiang to check the room. After returning, there would naturally be acquaintances discussing the matter.

Hubu, this Wei Guangde absolutely never thought of, they would be the first to denounce Gao Gong in the name of the Yamen.

You know, Wei Guangde also knew before that the Hubu had just changed the minister, and it stands to reason that he shouldn't rush to participate in the court struggle, and the left and right servants of the Hubu are still inextricably linked to Gao Gong.

Who would have thought that such two people would secretly take the lead in opposing Gao Gong.

The people betrayed their relatives.

This is the only word that Wei Guangde can think of at this moment.

Just two days ago, the palace sent him a note asking them to find a way to solve the current situation.

How to deal with it?

Wei Guangde thought for a whole night and felt that he was not capable of this.

To speak for Gao Gong is to stand on the opposite side of the government and the opposition, and become a public enemy of the court. Now even Gao Gong's students are afraid to speak up, and his same year is also in a similar situation.

Wei Guangde knew that the emperor wanted Yu Yu's people to stand up and support Gao Gong again, but could he do so?
Even if he offends other people this time and saves Gao Gong, his impression is already bad, and all officials in the government and the opposition will not agree with him.

With such a person, if he continues to stay in the cabinet, he can do nothing but be a mascot.

After all, the power of the cabinet is virtual, and the work has to be done through six departments.

Once the old man loses the support of the six departments, he is actually emptied out, and such a person might as well go back if he stays in the house.

Because he will become a time bomb, and it will explode when it is uncertain, and the result will be that the court is paralyzed again.

Originally, Wei Guangde was still thinking about whether to contact Xia Yuzheng's old friend and present two memorials to help Gao Gong speak, but after knowing what happened to the Ministry of Households today, he finally gave up on this plan.

In fact, even if they went to Shu, in the eyes of the officials, it was just to express His Majesty's meaning and protect people, but it was useless.

If Xu Jie didn't come out to do things, he had already expressed his attitude.

From him without me, from me without him.

The public opinion in the court decided that Emperor Longqing would either let Xu Jie go home or Gao Gong leave.

Wei Guangde thought about the words in his mind, he still planned to send a note to the palace, analyze the current situation in detail to Emperor Longqing, and ask him to make a choice between Xu Jie and Gao Gong.

Obviously, the cost of dismissing Gao Gong is much lower than that of dismissing Xu Jie, and the court can resume operations soon.

As for those officials who danced the most, as the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Wei Guangde said that he could let them get out of the capital after the Beijing inspection next year.

Of course, those with the highest official positions have to be taken by the emperor, and their personnel relations are not in the hands of the officials.

After these opponents of Gao Gong leave, His Majesty will choose another opportunity to recruit Gao Gong back.

He also made a detailed analysis of the matter of the household department as a case, telling Gao Gong that the current situation of rebellion is irreversible.

At this time, Xu Yangzheng and Liu Ziqiang went out dejectedly outside the household minister's office. They lobbied in front of Ge Shouli for an hour, but they still didn't get Mr. Ge, who they thought would be a good talker, to sign the memorial.

"How to do?"

Unexpectedly, this matter was so difficult to handle, Liu Ziqiang was a little confused.

In the entire memorial, there is a blank space in the signature area, which is the place they reserved for Shangshu Ge Shouli.

As a memorial to express the attitude of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Shangshu must be the first, followed by Xu Yangzheng and Liu Ziqiang, but now Ge Shouli would rather offend his colleagues in the Ministry of Household Affairs than sign it. , the signature is largely empty.

"How else can it be, it can only be like this."

Xu Yangzheng had a headache, but there was nothing he could do. He couldn't make another copy and ask the people below to sign it again. I'm afraid many people would no longer agree to sign it because of this.

In the evening, Wei Guangde was dumbfounded when he received the contents of the memorial sent to the cabinet by the Ministry of Household Affairs in the mansion.

He didn't expect that Ge Shouli would dare to risk the dissatisfaction of the world at this time and refuse to denounce Gao Gong. He is the secretary of the household department, and he dared to offend his colleagues without sitting on his butt.

But from this, Wei Guangde also felt that Ge Shouli was an upright person and a person who could do things. At least he had never objected to Kaihai since he entered the capital, and he could take a look around more in the future.

For him who is committed to joining the cabinet, the six major members are worth wooing, at least to build a good relationship.

There was a news about "white-headed sparse" in the household department, so naturally it couldn't be hidden from Xu Jie who had been resting in the mansion.

After reading the transcript sent by Zhang Juzheng, Xu Jie just shook his head and didn't say anything.

It's just an inner thought, even Zhang Juzheng who is opposite him has no way of knowing it.

After thinking about it for a while, he had a clear judgment on the current situation in the court, and then he looked at Zhang Juzheng and said, "Let Li Zhenyuan play, and let him contact the Sixth Division and the Metropolitan Procuratorate to act together."

"Teacher, are you sure you are going to impeach with all your strength now?"

Zhang Juzheng was still a little hesitant, after all, Emperor Longqing stayed in the middle of the previous memorials, and successively issued decrees to comfort Xu Jie and Li Chunfang, with the purpose of letting them go out of the palace to do business.

"No need, most of Yu Yu's people don't like Gao Gong. They haven't moved until now, which means that they won't come forward to protect the person. His Majesty should have a clear understanding of the seriousness of the situation. "

In the early morning of the second day, Li Zhenyuan impeached Li Zhenyuan and Gao Gong, a senior scholar from the engineering department, and sent it to the cabinet, which fell into Chen Yiqin's hands.

(End of this chapter)