June was a tumultuous month, and the purge against the Yan Party officially began.

Cai Yuncheng, the secretary of the Criminal Department, took the initiative to hand in his resignation, Yan Maoqing, the right attendant of the Criminal Department, and Wan Cai, the secretary of Dali Temple, were dismissed because of impeachment, Wan Yulong, the chief of Dachang Shaoqing, was demoted, and Hu Zhizhi, the right deputy governor of the imperial capital and governor of Caoyun, was transferred to Nanjing.

This purge of the Yan Party was initiated by the Supervisory Yuan and the Yanguan of the Six Science Corridors, and Xu Jie, the new first assistant, drafted the vote, and finally ruled by the emperor himself.

However, what is slightly surprising is that this turmoil is obviously different from the past, and the biggest beneficiary is not Xu Dang, but Guo Pu, the secretary of the ministry.

On the vacant Shangshu of the Criminal Department, He Qian, the left attendant of the Criminal Department, was not filled, but was appointed by Zhang Yongming, the governor of Henan, who was Guo Pu's friend in the same year.

On the important post of "Governor of Caoyun", which is related to the transportation of millions of stone grains, Yu Shi, the governor of Caojiang, the right capital of Nanjing, was appointed by Yu Shi, who was Guo Pu's friend in the same year.

At the end of last year, Guo Pu, who was only the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites, had already woven a solid network of relationships after jumping to the position of the secretary of the ministry, forming a force that could not be underestimated in the court.

For this kind of situation, it is difficult to guarantee that someone will issue a micro-opinion, accusing Guo Pu of "cronyism", and even holding a certain purpose for Xu Jie's "grievances".

It is in this atmosphere that Xu Jie's reputation has quietly improved, and because of his "selfless" behavior, he has won the support of hundreds of officials.

No one wants Yan Song to be the first assistant who acts as the "emperor's lackey", but to return to the model of "the king and the scholar share the world", and the two sides govern the country together.

It is worth mentioning that among the many Zhengshuo dynasties, it has always been the model of "the king and the scholar share the world".

Although the emperor is the Son of Heaven, he must never act arbitrarily, but must be subject to a certain degree of restraint by hundreds of officials.

Throughout the history of China, except for the first or second generation of emperors in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, who could do whatever they wanted, their descendants who inherited the throne would be constrained by hundreds of officials, and even faced the danger of deposing the emperor.

Taking the Han, Jin, Tang, Song and Ming dynasties as an example, the emperors in the middle and late periods no longer had a monopoly on power, and the monarchs and ministers were always checking and balancing each other. If the two sides do not reach an agreement, it will be difficult to achieve a general order.

Jiajing's reality is an outlier, firstly, he did not receive an "orthodox royal education", and secondly, he has a rather difficult temperament, and he is not even afraid of how history books write about him, but he is also very politically talented.

Jiajing is a small sect to succeed a large sect, this kind of emperor should be relatively weaker, but Jiajing is a person with a strong temperament, and he provoked a big etiquette dispute when he first ascended to the throne.

Sometimes being tough is a good thing, but sometimes being tough is a bad thing, especially when he wants to be an emperor who can do whatever he wants.

At the height of the controversy over the great ceremony, Yang Shen, the son of Yang Tinghe, the then chief assistant, said to the ministers: "The country has been raising soldiers for 150 years, and the war is dead and righteous today. ”

In July of the third year of Jiajing, a huge team of more than 200 people, including 23 people from Jiuqing, 20 people from Hanlin, 21 people from the matter, and 30 people from the imperial envoy, collectively knelt outside the Zuoshun Gate and shouted Emperor Taizu Gao and Emperor Xiaozong. Cries and shouts shook the sky.

After Jiajing learned of the situation, he immediately sent a few eunuchs to let the ministers disperse, but the monarchs and ministers were deadlocked until noon, and they did not dare to disperse. So the young and vigorous Jiajing immediately ordered Jinyi Wei to arrest eight people including Hanlin scholar Feng Xi and others, but he didn't want to cause the ministers to cry even more.

Jiajing felt that his imperial power had been provoked, and immediately chose to deal with this matter with strong means, and ordered Jinyiwei to clean up the officials who were crying in Zuo Shunmen by force.

A total of 134 officials below the fourth rank were arrested and tortured in prison, and 86 officials above the fourth rank were ordered to be convicted. A total of more than 180 people received rods, of which 17 were wounded to death, more than half were seriously injured and disabled, and Yang Shen and other lucky people who did not die were assigned to the army.

In this conflict between monarchs and ministers, Jiajing had already won, and the hundred officials were also afraid.

The matter is here, but it is not over, Jiajing is not Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang after all. Although the hundred officials felt Jiajing's strength, they were unwilling to act as a "lackey", and chose to continue to resist Jiajing from the open to the dark.

The struggle between the king and the minister is not over, and the essence continues.

Jiajing initially thought he had won, but soon found out that this was not the case.

He gradually felt the power of hiding in the shadows, and even knew that measuring the land could solve the land loss of the imperial court, but he knew that he couldn't do this kind of thing.

Although his authority has been established, he has become alienated from the officials, and it is difficult to rectify the country, let alone carry out drastic reforms of the country.

Jiajing is also not a person who admits defeat easily, and his criteria for selecting officials no longer depend on character and ability, but on whether the person is loyal and whether he supports him as an emperor.

It was also from that time that Jiajing chose Zhang Xuan, who supported him in the great ceremony, and chose a group of loyal courtiers. As for how the country will be treated by him, he no longer cares so much, anyway, he can't become the king in the history books.

Jiajing chose to avoid these court officials who were openly and secretly against him, chose to pro-government and boycott the dynasty, and even hid in Xiyuan to cultivate Xuan, choosing the most loyal spokesperson.

Yan Song is the secretary of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, and he is nearly sixty years old, especially this person is also very loyal, so he was chosen by Jiajing to become the new minister. No matter how the hundred officials attacked, Jiajing still supported Yan Song.

For the past twenty years, hundreds of officials have been blocked by Yan Song, an old dog, so that hundreds of officials have even begun to miss Jiajing.

Now that the eighty-three-year-old Yan Song has finally left his post, and Xu Jie has officially taken office, Xu Jie has not become a "guard dog", how can he not make hundreds of officials feel happy?

The most important thing is that they saw a ray of light from Xu Jie's words and deeds, and Xu Jie's new appearance seemed to be what they had been looking forward to.

I saw the newcomer laughing, and who heard the old crying.

With Yan Shifan being imprisoned for his crimes, Yan Song was forced to resign and return to the field, and the court officials no longer wanted to let go of the father and son so easily. But they have impeached Yan Song one after another, and have snared Yan Song for many crimes.

For example, Yan Song used to bribe the emperor's servants and monitor every move around the emperor; Yan Song used to guard this yamen with his henchman Zhao Wenhua, and he went to Yan's Mansion first and then presented to the emperor; Strictly interfere with the election of officials who give affairs and imperial history, and those who do not accept bribes are not allowed to participate in the election of officials; Whoever is rich in talent and prestige in the imperial examination shall be snare and placed under his own door; The civil and military officials were relocated and promoted, and Yan Song was granted according to the amount of money they bribed.

For a while, Yan Song was portrayed as a treacherous appearance who was not evil. During his tenure of office, he not only deceived the emperor, but also "the party is the same as the other" to hundreds of officials, and he is a person who is a great harm to the world.

West Garden, Wanshou Palace.

Jiajing, who was wearing a blue robe, was getting worse and worse, and his face was even a little pale, but he came to the case to deal with those omissions as before.

When he saw that there was another pile of impeachment notes against Yan Song, his eyes immediately flashed with a fierce color, and he gave an order with a calm face: "Huang Jin, call Xu Ge Lao over!" ”