prosperous age

Chapter 831 Title 920

No one knew whether Gao Gong meant to evade the imperial power, and no one dared to question him face to face at this time.

The public officials set off a wave of impeachment against Feng Bao and asked the emperor to severely punish Feng Bao.

Although Feng Bao was scheming and had been familiar with the power struggles in the imperial court since Jiajing, he was a little at a loss when he was being punished now.

You know, it is the first time for a big girl to get into a sedan chair and become a target for foreigners.

Originally, Feng Bao had made up his mind to be a coward and hide. After two months, when he succeeded Meng Chong as the Supervisor of Ceremonies, he would discuss with Wei Guangde how to deal with Gao Gong, and then he would continue to suppress Gao Gong. Zhang Juzheng also got involved, and we all worked together.

But look at the current turmoil. Previously, officials from the Department of Science and Technology had petitioned for impeachment, but now officials from the capital have also followed suit.

It can only be said that everyone may be dissatisfied with Emperor Qianlong's edict. In the past, they just didn't dare to express it openly. Now that someone has taken the lead, they naturally want to take this opportunity to "rectify the chaos."

They have already seen that the current Ming Dynasty is making a choice.

Either, go back to the early years of Zhengde, and they will fight with the eunuchs, or go back to the Zhengtong Dynasty, where the cabinet will be in power and the civil service will become bigger again.

Feng Bao was really scared now. The attitude of the civil servants seemed to be a fight to the death situation.

Faced with such a dangerous situation, he couldn't think of any good way to break it.

For the past two days, he had been hiding in his room, and the Supervisor of Ceremonies no longer dared to go there, because he knew that people like Meng Chong and Chen Hong must be waiting to see his jokes.

I really thought that by being appointed by Emperor Longqing's Minister Gu Ming, he could be superior to other eunuchs.

Maybe this is politics.

When Chen Hong hooked up with Gao Gong behind their backs, they could work together to isolate or even suppress Chen Hong, but now it was finally their turn.

Feng Bao was in his room, wandering around the room constantly, thinking about finding an idea to deal with the situation at hand, and also thinking about the letter with Wei Guangde.

Wei Guangde knew that the distance between the world and the sea was too far to provide him with help at all, so he only told him to discuss difficult matters with Zhang Juzheng, because they and Zhang Juzheng had the same interests on the issue of Gao Gong. of.

such a pity.

When Feng Bao thought of this, he felt another sigh in his heart. Who would have thought that Zhang Juzheng would be sent to Tianshou Mountain to inspect the Daxing Emperor's mausoleum at this juncture.

Now Feng Bao doesn't have anyone around him to discuss.

Wei Guangde, who was far away in Huai'an, certainly didn't know about the changes in the situation in the capital, but Zhang Juzheng, who went to Tianshou Mountain to inspect, knew everything about it.

In fact, after he left the capital, almost every day, a servant of the Zhang family took the intelligence about the capital compiled by You Qi to Tianshou Mountain and handed it over to Zhang Juzheng.

Sure enough, the uneasiness in his heart when he received the order came true. Gao Gong arranged for him to come here, and he really had no good intentions.

What could Zhang Juzheng realize now? He had obviously already made plans to drive him out of the capital, so as not to cause trouble to his plan.

Yes, although Zhang Juzheng was suppressed by Gao Gong everywhere, he still had the ability to cause trouble.

Gao Gong was obviously worried about this, so he sent him away.

Despite this, Zhang Juzheng could not ignore it and let Feng Bao be knocked down by Gao Gong.

Otherwise, even if Wei Guangde comes back and the two of them join forces, they may not be able to defeat Gao Gong and Gao Yi's alliance, just because they don't have Feng Bao's help.

Zhang Juzheng took out the notes sent by the capital in the past two days and read them again and again, but there was no news of Feng Bao's reaction.

In fact, Zhang Juzheng also knew that this matter was very difficult to handle now. Gao Gong's offensive was too fierce.

Moreover, the flag now raised high above the court is against eunuchs interfering in politics, which is extremely inflammatory to civil servants.

Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong belong to the same type of practical bureaucrats. They are also strong-armed figures. They are also good at chess and are proficient in Legalist tactics.

He knew that it would not be beneficial to him if he allowed Gao Gong to remove Feng Bao. On the contrary, if he assisted Feng Bao in removing Gao Gong, he could be promoted to the position of chief minister of the cabinet.

And given the current situation, he couldn't make his attitude public yet and could only provide help to Feng Bao privately.

In fact, he has already done so.

But judging from Feng Bao's actions, it seems that he didn't understand his intention. So how to remind Feng Bao to use his plan?

In fact, Zhang Juzheng discovered the danger of Gao Gong's move from the note sent from the capital, but he risked angering the Queen Mother in the palace.

Yes, if Zhang Juzheng were in Feng Bao's position at this time, not only would he not retaliate forcefully, but he would pretend to be pitiful and seek refuge from his master, reminding Gao Gong that this move was Xiang Zhuang's sword dance with Pei Gong in mind.

In name, he was saying that he was an eunuch and was not worthy of being a minister. In fact, he wanted to deny the late emperor's final arrangements and deprive the queen mother of her power as president. This was an attempt to usurp power or even to rebel.

Just imagine how your Majesty would govern the country at his age.

If the palace does not have the power to restrict the cabinet, the future will be unpredictable.

However, in the current fight between Gao Gong and Feng Bao, it seems that Gao Gong will win and Feng Bao will lose. If he gives Feng Bao advice, he will definitely be liquidated once he loses.

Just being labeled as an eunuch is enough to ruin your reputation.

Information cannot be conveyed in the form of notes or letters, only word of mouth.

In an instant, Zhang Juzheng broke out in a cold sweat.

Because before leaving the capital, he gave Feng Bao a note written by himself.

Don't worry about victory but defeat first. Although Zhang Juzheng had a way to deal with Gao Gong at this time, he still considered his own safety first.

With that note in Feng Bao's hand, it seemed that he had actually been put on fire, and it was difficult to stay out of it.

Zhang Juzheng secretly made a decision in his heart. When Gao Gong builds up his momentum, the bigger the better, and the more ministers are involved, then he can make the Empress Dowager Chen and Concubine Li feel scared.

Only when they feel scared will they make up their mind to get rid of Gao Gong.

Otherwise, as long as one of them is soft-hearted, this thing may not be possible.

After all, the late emperor's trust in Gao Gong and Gao Gong's efforts over the years might have allowed them to let Gao Gong go in the end, thinking that he was temporarily confused rather than really intending to get involved in the monarchy.

Yes, regardless of whether Gao Gong had this intention or not, what Zhang Juzheng wanted to do was to make the two nobles in the palace think that he had this idea.

They were the only ones who believed it. It didn't matter whether the little emperor understood it or not. They used Yi Zhi to directly defeat Gao Gong.

In a dynasty where imperial power is supreme, the will is ultimately the greatest.

The reason why Gao Gong was afraid of Feng Bao came from this.

Although the imperial edict is restricted by the cabinet and the six departments and cannot be issued casually, the same cannot be said for the central edict.

If Feng Bao encouraged the young emperor to give Gao Gong an imperial edict to serve as an official, whether Gao Gong accepted the edict or resisted it would be wrong no matter how he did it.

But Feng Bao, who was still in the palace at this time, finally couldn't hold it anymore. He really couldn't think of any way to deal with the mad dog-like attacks from the civil servants. He had to find someone to ask for advice and find a way to deal with Gao Gong's attacks.

No, you should ask Zhang Juzheng. Wei Guangde is really out of reach.

"Someone is coming."

Feng Bao shouted outside.

"Daddy, if you have any questions, please tell me."

The door was pushed open, and a chamberlain walked in quickly and bowed. Although his godfather is currently being attacked by the foreign court, for the eunuchs, their masters are always people from the palace, so these eunuchs from the inner court don't care much, and naturally no one dares to take advantage of the situation.

"Go and call Xu Jue. Go quickly."

Feng Bao wanted to ask Zhang Juzheng for advice, so naturally he couldn't send anyone around him. The only people he could use were eunuchs, who couldn't leave the capital.

If you leave the capital without an imperial edict and are caught by officials, it is a serious crime. Therefore, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there was indeed a rule that eunuchs were not allowed to leave the capital without an edict.

As for Xu Jue, he was naturally not from the palace. He was the commanding officer of Jin Yiwei. After Feng Bao seized the East Factory from Chen Hong, Xu Jue came over and was regarded as one of Feng Bao's men.

At this time, Xu Jue was the most suitable person to go out to the city to find Zhang Juzheng.

Not long after, Xu Jue came here out of breath.

Not to mention that foreign ministers are not allowed to enter the palace casually, but that is to say that for others, it is not difficult for a great eunuch like Feng Bao to arrange for people to enter the palace.

Moreover, those who entered the palace were not outsiders, but Jinyi's own soldiers.

In fact, the ones guarding the palace are also the imperial guards. There is no reason to stop his superiors from entering the palace.

"Father, you are so anxious to find me. What is your mission?"

When Xu Jue entered the room, he hurriedly saluted Feng Bao and then asked.

The current situation is unknown to all the officials in Beijing, not to mention that he is still a member of the Jinyi army.

But as the people in the inner court thought, regardless of the uproar in the outer court, as long as the palace didn't say anything, no one could do anything to Feng Bao.

The emperor would definitely not swing a butcher's knife at his great companion. As for the queen mother, Xu Jue was not sure, but he thought it would not be the case.

After all, according to the news that Jin Yiwei overheard, the civilian officials' target this time was not just targeting Feng Bao, but there were also people secretly discussing whether they wanted to attack Queen Mother Chen.

Although it was just a discussion, Zhu Xixiao, the commander of the Jinyi Guards, paid great attention to it and secretly assembled the elite guard captains. All of them did not have holidays and were always ready to receive orders to quell the rebellion.

Of course, this was only preparation made by Zhu Xixiao in private, and was not reported to the palace.

It can be said that Gao Gong's actions have actually caused huge waves in the capital.

After coming out of the palace, Xu Jue had no time to go home, so he took his personal guards and put on the fast horses of the royal guards and left the capital, running towards Tianshou Mountain.

These actions may have fallen into the eyes of interested people, but they were not seen by Gao Gong.

What he was doing was an upright conspiracy, using the power of the civil service group to expel Feng Bao. He did not believe that people in the palace would dare to go against the world's civil servants.

Yes, no matter what his original purpose was, at this moment, he was kidnapping the interests of civil servants all over the world.

The period of the Sanyang Cabinet was the beginning of their rise as civil servants. Gao Gong did not believe that everyone would not follow his lead.

At this time, the Imperial City Ciqing Palace, the Empress Dowager Chen's bedroom.

In fact, at this time, the young emperor Zhu Yijun had not issued a decree to designate Empress Chen and Concubine Li as queen mothers, so their current identities are still queens and concubines.

However, whether in the inner court or the outer court, Empress Chen was already called Queen Mother in private, while Concubine Li was more embarrassed and didn't know how to call her.

It is Empress Chen and Concubine Li who are here today.

Although her husband died and became a widow, they were both young. Under forty years old was a woman's best years.

The two of them were in the room, not lamenting the emperor's death, but discussing the situation in the outer court.

"Sister, Meng Chong has sent many more memorials to impeach Feng Bao. What do you think should be done?"

Empress Chen actually had her own opinion, but she was too upright and even more pedantic than many scholars. That's why she risked offending Emperor Longqing and was relegated to the cold palace for many years.

In fact, no one needed to remind her. Looking at these memorials, Empress Chen also felt that Gao Gong's manipulation was a bit big and she was very confused, because the ultimate goal seemed to be aimed at her.

That day at the Qianqing Palace, she, the three cabinet members, and Feng Bao all heard the emperor's last words with their own ears. He did not expect that Gao Gong would use the so-called ancestral system to fight against the emperor's last words.

"Feng Bao must be kept, sister just ignore it.

When people are in the palace, what can they do outside the court? "

Concubine Li, the biological mother of Emperor Wanli, spoke to comfort her.

In fact, she was no more nervous than Empress Chen. You know, the person sitting in that seat was her son.

If it is true, as some people say, that Gao Gong has a disobedient heart, he is not trying to put his son in danger.

Although I have known Gao Gong for so many years, Gao Gong does not look like such a person.

Empress Chen and Concubine Li had long discussed Emperor Longqing's last words. After all, in this situation, they had no one to help them make suggestions.

Emperor Longqing's last words gave Feng Bao the power to take care of life. In fact, it was obviously to limit the power of the outer court, or Gao Gong.

In any case, Zhu Yijun is too young and needs time to grow up.

"But."

Empress Chen was still a little worried. She was not worried about anything else, but worried that the outer dynasty would be out of control because one minion caused problems in the operation of the entire Ming court.

If that really happens, their sin will be huge.

"Let's see first. If Gao Gong is really disobedient, he will order Zhu Xixiao to arrest people. No matter how the civil servants resist, they must be dealt with toughly.

As long as he persists until Mr. Zhang Ge and Mr. Wei Ge return to Beijing, Gao Gong will not be able to make any waves. "

Concubine Li said.

Now I dare not touch Gao Gong. Firstly, there is no reason. Secondly, there is no one in the cabinet. If Gao Gong is arrested, the government affairs will be delayed.

"Then wait."

After hearing Concubine Li's words, Queen Chen nodded slightly.

After all, she is a woman, and she is not very willing to take action against the late emperor's trusted ministers at this time.

Perhaps, the lack of reason to take action is the main reason.

After all, Gao Gong was the chief minister of the cabinet. Even Xia Yan was not arrested while in office, but was captured by Emperor Jiajing after he resigned.

If he takes action against the chief minister of the current dynasty, he will not be laughed at by the people of the world and laugh at the eyes of the late emperor.

The incident this time has already caused quite a stir. If this second volume were to be published, the literati would probably be criticized to death.

After talking about business, Queen Chen and Concubine Li were suddenly speechless.

In fact, although the two of them have a good relationship, they may not be able to work together when important interests are at stake, and now the obstacle between them is the issue of honorific titles.

Empress Chen is the aunt's mother, and Concubine Li is the biological mother. Normally, the aunt must be the queen mother, but the biological mother may not be. It depends on the emperor's wishes.

(End of this chapter)