The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 188 Help, but also Harm

Xiao Jing couldn't help but smile wryly upon hearing this.

I thought to myself, are you a hedgehog?Others are only looking for soft persimmons to pinch, but which stubble are you hitting hard on?

"Mr. Zhang, when you enter the court, there are many things you can't control, and you can't avoid seeing each other. With your pure character, those officials will definitely dispel their doubts about you and get along with you in harmony. "

Xiao Jing seemed very optimistic about Zhang Zhou being a serious civil servant.

In his eyes, Zhang Zhou is very principled in his work, and he is actually very similar to those civil servants.

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "You can't form a party in harmony, and entering the court is just to assist the prime minister in the government. What does it matter if you get along with them in harmony? The entertainment between colleagues is still too cumbersome for me."

"Your opinion. Let's wait in the Qing Palace. It won't be long before His Majesty will come back."

Xiao Jing stopped talking about this topic with Zhang Zhou.

It doesn't matter whether Zhang Zhou gets along with the civil officials, as long as he doesn't get along too much with the internal officials, that is the most likely to be criticized.

And just...

Now Zhang Zhou gets along with the internal officials much better than those courtiers.

……

……

When Zhu Youtang returned to the gate of Qianqing Palace, he called Zhang Zhou directly and entered the hall together.

"Bingkuan, make it clear that it has nothing to do with you, so you don't have to worry about it anymore. As for Cheng Minzheng, Tang Yin and Xu Jing, I will also send people to investigate, and it may take some time."

Zhu Youtang may have wanted to protect Cheng Minzheng before, but compared to Zhang Zhou, Cheng Minzheng has become a marginal figure who can be protected or not in his eyes.

In fact, Zhu Youtang was quite satisfied with letting Zhang Zhou clean up his relationship with this matter.

"Earlier in the court, you had a tit-for-tat confrontation with Mr. Xie Ge, or you didn't know him well. He didn't intend to ridicule you. On the contrary, he paid great attention to the promotion of young people. Mr. Xie Ge has the demeanor of being a teacher."

Zhu Youtang even wanted to say a few words for Xie Qian, so that Zhang Zhou should not care too much.

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "Your Majesty is serious. What I said to Mr. Xie Ge was purely to clarify our position and had no intention of targeting."

"Yeah." Zhu Youtang nodded with a smile, "I believe that Xie Ge's old city will not take it to heart. But it's your first time to go to court and fight with others, and you can be neither humble nor overbearing, which is really impressive. I am surprised that you can be on the spot without chaos, and you have the potential to do great things."

"Your Majesty loves you."

"Bingkuan, what do you think of this case? I didn't ask you about the specific countermeasures before. The point was to keep you out of the matter. Now you can talk to me. After all, before the event, you You can predict everything, and you have your own predictions about the outcome of this matter, right?"

Before, Zhu Youtang was determined to help Zhang Zhou clear his grievances, but seeing that his wish was almost fulfilled now, he began to discuss the countermeasures with Zhang Zhou in detail.

This is also why Zhang Zhou mentioned that there was a case in the three hexagrams at the beginning of the year.

Only when the emperor's curiosity was aroused and the emperor felt that he had some insights and opinions about it, would the emperor ask for opinions in private, which was the same as his purpose of predicting the Zhang Yanling and Jianchangwei earthquakes.

If he hadn't participated in it through prophecy in advance, then after the accident, the emperor would have asked the ministers for their opinions. After all, those people are professional politicians and work on their salaries.

How could the emperor listen to him in such a big matter?

Zhang Zhoudao: "I feel that Cheng Minzheng and Xu Jing are wronged in this matter, and they are not wronged."

"Oh? How do you say it?" Zhu Youtang's interest increased a bit.

This kind of argument is different from talking with ministers. Ministers generally don't use dialectical perspectives to analyze things from both sides. When talking to the emperor, they always fix a position and then reason.

Zhang Zhou's discussion was not as rigid as that of the court. Anyway, it was a private inquiry, and he could say whatever he wanted.

"Cheng Minzheng did not participate in the reading of the examination papers, but only wrote the questions. Whether to take or not to take the examination papers is the decision of the other examiners. The suspicion of him cheating in the inner curtain can be dispelled."

"Mm." Zhu Youtang nodded, "But the key lies in the topic of the outside world."

Zhang Zhoudao: "I'm afraid it will be difficult to find any evidence for the theory of the title, because after Cheng Minzheng was determined to be the examiner, he never met anyone again. Could it be that he knew in advance that he was going to be the examiner, and even assumed the title, and went to tell him?" What good does it do him for others?"

Zhu Youtang thought for a while, then nodded.

Dai Yi next to him said: "If everything is as Mr. Zhang said, it will be easy to handle. I'm afraid that the scholars outside will think otherwise. They are sure that there is a problem, and these principles do not make sense to them."

Zhang Zhoudao: "Your Majesty, this is related to what I said. Cheng Minzheng and Xu Jingyu are not wronged. After Xu Jing arrived in the capital, he brought Tang Yin to visit Cheng Minzheng. As far as I know, he wanted to see Cheng Minzheng." It’s going to cost a lot.”

"It's just some management, or it needs to cost money, and Tang Yin doesn't have this kind of wealth, presumably Xu Jing will complete the money, and Cheng Minzheng knows that he is the candidate for the next year's spring exam, but he still doesn't avoid suspicion. It was his fault."

Zhu Youtang sighed: "I actually want to say this too. If Cheng Minzheng hadn't gone to meet those people, would there still be rumors about the problem? Others would not be able to find a crack if they tried."

Zhang Zhou smiled.

The emperor almost said that Cheng Minzheng was an egg with seams.

"But Your Majesty, it is not forbidden for officials of the Ming Dynasty to meet scholars of the common people, and it is not only Cheng Minzheng who is doing this, is it?" Zhang Zhou asked a question.

The emperor was silent this time.

Now everyone is picking on Cheng Minzheng's crimes, but his crimes may not even count as faults on others.

Li Dongyang, the other chief examiner in this examination, has met more scholars than Cheng Minzheng, and every time he evaluates the talents of these scholars, and also judges them, or encourages them, he is even more flamboyant than Cheng Minzheng , but no one attacked Li Dongyang's question.

The difference in treatment is that big.

To put it bluntly, Cheng Minzheng is a soft persimmon?

As a cabinet minister, Li Dongyang is still the second assistant. It is not certain when Liu Jian will retire. Li Dongyang is the first assistant. How risky is it for civil servants to attack Li Dongyang?Those scholars also have to think about their future entry into the court and become officials. If they offend Li Dongyang, their official career may be bleak, so they don't have to think about being a Beijing official. They can directly look for Nanjing or local officials. Official vacancies.

"From my point of view, Cheng Minzheng still suffers from being not good at officialdom, or in other words, someone is punishing him, but he himself is ignorant."

Zhang Zhou expressed his opinion.

Dai Yi, Xiao Jing and others next to him held their breath and concentrated.

Openly talking about the factional views of the officials in the court, except for Zhang Zhou, no one else can really say that.

This also shows that Zhang Zhou is different from others. As the emperor's personal consultant, if everything is analyzed in a satisfactory manner, why does the emperor ask him?
"Cheng Minzheng, alas!"

When Zhu Youtang mentioned this person, he was full of emotion.

Because the emperor also regretted telling others that he admired Cheng Minzheng and wanted to promote Cheng Minzheng to the cabinet, but he also regretted insisting on arranging Cheng Minzheng as the examiner for the examination.

"Your Majesty, in fact, Cheng Minzheng is more suitable for studying than being an official. Of course, this is the opinion of the minister's family. If he can wake up in time after experiencing this incident, take the initiative to resign, and stay in the capital to teach apprentices, when the time comes, the minister will definitely Visit him more often and inquire about academic matters."

Zhang Zhou smiled and proposed a vision for the future.

Let Cheng Minzheng retire.

As a punishment for him, Cheng Minzheng was not allowed to leave the capital, but was allowed to stay in the capital to study, and Zhang Zhou also said that he would be an auditor.

In fact, Zhang Zhou was clearly speaking for Cheng Minzheng.

In the emperor's heart, he also tended to protect Cheng Minzheng, and the emperor did not want Cheng Minzheng to be thrown into prison for interrogation for a case without evidence, and to the point where his reputation would be ruined.

Zhu Youtang said: "I have already announced in the court that I want to thoroughly investigate this matter, the courtier probably won't give up easily."

The emperor was well aware of the urinating nature of those civil servants, and they did the best job of adding insult to injury. In history, the emperor also sent Hua Chang, Tang Yin, and Xu Jing to prison first. Cheng Minzheng was taken into custody more than ten days later. The emperor even If the memorial to the impeachment of Cheng Minzheng is not released, it is hesitating.

In the end, he was coerced by civil servants, and Cheng Min had no choice but to be thrown into the Imperial Prison, where Cheng Minzheng received inhuman treatment. In the end, although there was no evidence to prove that Cheng Minzheng participated in the questioning, it was also because Cheng Minzheng accepted the gold coins given by Xu Jing , was dismissed from his post, and died of the trauma of torture within a few days after he was released from prison.

"Your Majesty, I have a plan. You can ask him to write something about the wrong things Chen has done without avoiding suspicion in the past six months, and then take this thing to Hua Chang or the candidate for the exam. During the confrontation, the civil and military ministers can also listen in and use this to determine right from wrong."

What Zhang Zhou wanted to do was to make Cheng Minzheng "confess" earlier.

Pleading guilty to accepting gold coins, pleading guilty to discussing the test with Xu Jing, not only saving Cheng Minzheng's life, but also protecting Tang Yin's future.

Zhang Zhou wanted to say, Old Cheng, that's all he can help you with.

Who told you that you are not the mainstream of civil servants?

If you have to come up with such difficult questions in the exam and let the examinees make it difficult, who will you attack if others don't attack you?You ask some simple questions, and everyone happily answers them, and everyone will compete based on their strength, isn't it good?If you insist on using your so-called talent, you will use the questions to classify those scholars into different grades, and those who don't know how to do it will even have to hand in blank papers...

It's no wonder you didn't have an accident!

Dai Yi asked: "Mr. Zhang, is it possible for Cheng Xueshi to admit his mistakes? This is almost equivalent to pleading guilty."

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "If he doesn't admit it, you can remind him and tell him what he did wrong. Your Majesty will point it out. It is hitting his weakness. If he denies it, he will kill himself."

"Reminder?" Zhu Youtang smiled and waved his hands, "Bingkuan, thank you for thinking it out. It seems that you have already figured out where his faults are, and you have also thought of how to remind him so that he can confess himself. Is it wrong?"

Zhang Zhoudao: "I just want to remind him to communicate with scholars, and let the disciples set a threshold for meeting each other."

Zhu Youtang nodded slightly and said: "Okay, how to remind is up to you. I accept it. But I don't quite understand why you...help him?"

"Your Majesty, is this gang?" Zhang Zhou pretended to be surprised.

Zhu Youtang smiled and said: "Bingkuan, this is not your nature. I can sense that although you are trying to make him admit his mistake, the root cause is to save him from being imprisoned."

Zhang Zhou smiled ashamedly and said: "Your Majesty has seen through all of this. It seems that I am really not suitable to be a civil servant with a city mansion. In fact, I want to help him. Apart from clearing the suspicion for myself earlier, I also don't want to escalate the situation. , to embarrass His Majesty and the imperial court. At the same time... I also feel that Cheng Minzheng is the pillar of the Ming Dynasty, even if he is not needed in the political arena, the academic world also needs him, and Tang Yin is also a talent that can be created, and I owe him a solution."

Zhang Zhou also thought about this question.

Originally, he was already involved in it, so he should try to avoid suspicion. What role should he play in the case?
But if this is ignored, Cheng Minzheng will die, Xu Jing and Tang Yin will not be able to take the exam again, and there will be no potential rulers in history, but there will be a topic character Tang Bohu who is both poetic and painterly... Let history follow the original It is not impossible to move towards development.

But Zhang Zhou felt again.

Isn't it because of his own appearance that this Daming can be made more exciting?
Since I have come, why do I have to leave regrets for history?
To change is to change, and to change history in one's own way is also the meaning of the traversers.

(End of this chapter)