A century-old family that runs through the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 147 Taking the blame and resigning, Yang Shiqi
Yan Keng returned to the cabinet. He last looked back at the place where he had spent many years. In front of him, his personal servants were packing his belongings.

At this moment, there were rapid footsteps outside the door.

"Master Chen Guogong, there is a memorial in Jiangxi Province."

A servant came in and respectfully handed a thick stack of memorials to Yan Keng.

Although he has resigned in court, the official document from the court has not been released. It is normal for this petty official not to know.

Yan Keng looked at this large stack of memorials and thought to himself that something had happened to Jiangxi Province.

Otherwise there wouldn’t be so many memorials.

But this has nothing to do with me anymore.

Yan Keng waved his hand and motioned to the officer to put the memorial on the table and ignore it.

However, just a glance from the corner of his eye made him unable to take his eyes away again.

He saw two words.

Yang Ji.

The son of Yang Shiqi, the second assistant to the cabinet, minister of the Ministry of Rites, and scholar of Jinshen Palace.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a memorial to impeach Yang Ji.

"Ji relied on his father's power and ran rampant in the countryside, committing many crimes and arbitrarily killing dozens of people. He regarded the Ming law as if it were nothing. The people of Taihe have suffered for a long time!"

He rolled back.

They were all impeaching Yang Ji, and they were all officials from Jiangxi. Apparently they couldn't stand his illegal activities, so they jointly signed a letter to protest.

After all, dozens of lives were considered a major event, not in troubled times. In addition, Taihe County was already filled with public resentment, and it was impossible to hide it even if it wanted to.

Yan Keng read all the memorials carefully, and he couldn't help but feel angry in his heart.

Without him, what Yang Ji did was really too much.

They simply regard the Great Ming Law as if it were nothing!
But as a politician, Yan Keng quickly calmed down.

He seemed to have thought of something, and a smile appeared on his lips.

Turning around, he walked towards the palace.

……

Yang Shiqi was reading and writing leisurely in his mansion at this time.

This is the last relaxing time, so cherish it.Yang Shiqi told himself that although he was talking about cherishing it, the excitement and pride in his eyes could not be stopped.

With Yan Keng gone, the position of chief assistant became vacant.Looking at the government and the public, apart from Yang Shiqi, who else has this qualification?

After so many years, he finally reached the pinnacle of power!
The era of being overwhelmed by Yan Keng has passed, passed!
No one knew the turmoil in this old man's heart, and just when his heart was agitated, a voice suddenly came from outside:

"Sir, someone from the palace is here, saying they are carrying an edict from the emperor."

Decree?

Yang Shiqi was a little confused. He straightened his clothes and walked out of the room.

The palace attendant handed him the edict and left in a hurry. No matter how many questions Yang Shiqi asked Sai Yinzi, he refused to say more.

And along with the edict, there was a package.

Yang Shiqi didn't know why, but many years of experience told him that this was probably not a good thing.

He unfolded the edict first.

There is a sentence on it:

"Your Majesty has violated the laws of the country and violated the rules of the family. I cannot show any favoritism. How to deal with it is up to you to decide for yourself."

Yang Shiqi's heart suddenly tightened - he was afraid that his son was not in trouble.

He immediately opened the package, and sure enough, there were one impeachment memorial after another.

He looked at them one after another, and the more he looked at them, the colder his heart became.

In recent years, his son has relied on his power to run rampant in Taihe, bullying men and women, and killing dozens of people, causing public resentment to boil and the people to suffer unspeakably!And he doesn’t know this at all!Obviously, the family kept these things hidden.

After reading the impeachment memorial in the package, he read the edict again. This time, he finally understood what the emperor meant.

If I leave it to you, how else can I deal with it?There is no other way out for such a heinous crime!

What Yang Ji did was absolutely unpardonable. He killed dozens of people. Even if you put together all the elixirs and iron certificates of all the nobles, you wouldn't be able to avoid death.

Thinking of this, Yang Shiqi's cheeks couldn't help but twitch. The original joy of being promoted had long since disappeared, replaced by deep sadness.

White-haired people send black-haired people!
Two lines of hot tears fell from the corners of his eyes, and the old man lay on the table and began to cry.

But in the end, he had to make a decision that made him extremely heartbroken.

The next day, Yang Shiqi, the second assistant to the cabinet, wrote a letter, listing his son Yang Ji's illegal activities and asking him to behead him.

The orthodox emperor agreed and ordered Yang Ji to be imprisoned and ordered to be executed by Queen Qiu.

Later, Yang Shiqi wrote a letter, saying that he was ashamed of the court and the people, and asked to resign and return to his hometown.

Zhu Qizhen tried to persuade Yang Shiqi to stay several times. Seeing that Yang Shiqi was determined to leave, he pushed him to become an official.

This year, the first and second assistants of the Ming Dynasty simultaneously withdrew from the stage of history.

……

"Father, why is this necessary..."

In the carriage going south back to Jiangxi, Yang Shiqi's second son asked in confusion:
"Of course, eldest brother... But it is enough for you to execute him and kill the relatives for justice. Why resign? The position of chief minister is just one step away! What does the 16-year-old little emperor know? You will be the regent of the government like Chen Guogong in no time... "

Yang Shiqi sighed softly:

"Why would I want to?"

"You have been studying in the mansion, but you don't know that someone spread this matter and it spread widely in the streets and alleys."

"Now your father and I... are like a great evil person. Even the people who live with me look down on me. Do you think I, the second assistant, can sit down? Do I still have the nerve to sit down?"

"If I don't leave now, I will be driven away by the imperial censors' memorials. In this case, it is better to ask for an official position myself and retain some dignity."

"How can they be so good! None of them are clean, do they really think they are good ministers?" Yang Shiqi's second son responded disdainfully.

"Dao'er (Yang Shiqi's second son Yang Dao), please remember." Yang Shiqi sighed softly:
"Some things can be done secretly, but they cannot be done openly."

"Do it quietly in the dark. Even if you and I know it well, we will only pretend to be deaf and dumb."

"But once you put it in the light, everyone will find it and kill you."

"Ugh……"

The carriage rumbled and headed south.
-
"The case of Yang Ji happened on the eve of the orthodox emperor's coming to power."

"This is not a simple case."

"It seems that it was just the son of the second minister of the cabinet who committed evil. In the end, the second minister of the cabinet was implicated and took the blame and resigned. But on a deeper level, it was a demonstration of imperial power against the power of ministers."

"According to normal procedures, this case needs to be handed over to the Ministry of Punishment for finalization, but in this case, Yang Shiqi's son was executed in accordance with judicial procedures. The process was completely in accordance with Ming law. There is nothing to say."

"However, after the emperor issued an edict, the nature changed. Under the emperor's order and under the pressure of imperial power, Yang Shiqi, the deputy minister of the cabinet, was forced to personally execute his relatives who had violated the law!"

"With the blood of Yang Ji, the emperor told everyone about the supremacy of imperial power. Whether you are the second minister of the cabinet or the leader of the civil service group, if the emperor asks you to kill your own son, you must do it!"

"This incident greatly shocked the civil servants. Zhu Qizhen used his thunderous methods to demonstrate the majesty of the emperor. So far, no one in the civil servants dared to bully his youth."

"Yang Shiqi's resignation gave the imperial power the upper hand in the tug-of-war with the ministers. Even if Zhu Qizhen had just taken charge, his power was still huge."

"But was this really the idea of ​​a 16-year-old emperor? The historians have reservations about this."

"We have no direct evidence that Chen Guogong Yan Keng led all this, but according to the records in "Ming Dynasty Records", we can see that Chen Guogong went to the palace again before leaving the capital."

"Did he say something to the little emperor, or was he simply saying goodbye? We have no way of knowing."

——"Jia Jianming's taste of the Ming Dynasty"

(End of this chapter)