"Taiyue, what do you mean by Gao Suqing bringing a child to meet us?" Chen Yiqin looked at the back of the carriage heading towards the palace, and asked Zhang Juzheng beside him with a suspicious expression.

Zhang Juzheng thought about it and shook his head: "I don't understand it either, but this kid is only about seven or eight years old, and it is quite rare to see so many court officials without stage fright." In my view, Xuangong's performance today attaches great importance to this child, doesn't he want to pass it? ”

Chen Yiqin suddenly realized, and slapped his forehead: "Yes, Gao Suqing has no son, this child he just said that he was the son of the sixth child of his family...... I'm afraid it's really as you said, I want to pass on and leave an incense for his senior third. Then he turned his head and asked Li Chunfang, "What do you think of Shoufu?" ”

Li Chunfang smiled with a smile on her face: "It's good to succeed, the pillars of the Zhongxuan brother country will definitely be favored by their descendants in the future, wouldn't it be a waste to have no son?" Even if the emperor is there, if Brother Zhongxuan really dies without a queen, he will definitely feel regretful. ”

Zhang Juzheng saw Li Chunfang smiling easily, and he also knew that it was because he looked like he didn't care about the old things just now, and he felt that the chances of the cabinet being disrespectful had been greatly reduced, so he was full of spring breeze.

He had a smile on his face, but he couldn't help sneering in his heart, and said secretly: "Where does this kind of good old man do the first assistant, since Gao Suqing and the teacher have left office, the authority of the cabinet is not as good as day by day, and the dispute between the cabinet is almost on the table, plus now there is one more Zhao Zhenji who is in charge of words and paths into the cabinet, every time he relies on his old qualifications to make a fortune, the entire cabinet is a mess at all, and there is no powerful minister to press the formation, I am afraid that this cabinet decree will be difficult to get out of the noon door!" Alas, if it weren't, why should I ......"

Thinking of this, Zhang Juzheng suddenly remembered something and asked Li Chunfang: "Zhao Ge Lao refused to come to greet him today, although Zhong Xuangong didn't say a word about it, but it is difficult to say whether there will be dissatisfaction in his heart." At present, the emperor personally set up a banquet and summoned him to the palace to dine together, if he prefaced the emperor with a half-sentence ......"

Li Chunfang's smile froze, and he forced a dry smile: "Brother Zhongxuan is elegant and elegant, even if he was a little ...... in the past Well, there are some ugliness, and I will explain them today, not to mention this trivial matter. Besides, Zhao Ge didn't come to greet him today, but because he was recuperating...... Brother Zhongxuan doesn't think he will hold a grudge against this. ”

Hmph, in the past, just a little dirty?

Chen Yiqin snorted lightly: "Don't remember the grudge for the time being, Taiyue's meaning Shoufu is afraid that the understanding is biased, he is saying that if the emperor asks, and Gao Suqing mentions it 'in passing', then even if the emperor doesn't take it seriously, this matter can't be hidden from Zhao Dazhou in the end [Note: Zhao Zhenji, number Dazhou. At that time, even if Gao Suqing doesn't hold grudges, what about Zhao Dazhou? What is the current situation of Zhao Dazhou in the cabinet, others don't know, don't the three of us know? If he thinks that Gao Suqing wants to say goodbye to him, I think most of them will make a fuss and make a fuss. ”

Li Chunfang's thin cheeks jumped twice, and he suddenly said anxiously: "How can that be?" ”

At this time, Zhang Juzheng was not in a hurry, waved his hand and said: "Actually, this is all a trivial matter, maybe the emperor couldn't help but be overjoyed when he saw Brother Zhongxuan, and it is not possible to forget to ask about this stubble...... The problem facing the cabinet at the moment is that Yanlu is increasingly not taking the cabinet seriously, and there are also some people in the six ministries who want to divide power from the cabinet by relying on the prestige of Yanlu. They don't want to think about it, if there is no cabinet to take charge of political affairs, and they are used to fighting each other, then my Ming court has been patronizing and quarreling all day long, what else can I do? ”

Li Chunfang nodded sympathetically and said, "Yes, at the moment, these people are already monks with umbrellas and lawless. Alas, I think that when Huating Gong was there, he could always listen to the greetings, how can he ...... now?"

The corners of Zhang Juzheng's eyes twitched, but he didn't speak. According to his thoughts, did Xu Jie's words and words be very good when he was in power? I'm afraid that it's not necessarily, it's just that Xu Jie's goal is the same as that of Yanlu, and Xu Jie's consistent indulgence of Yanlu, so Yanlu seems to "listen to greetings", but it is Xu Jie's indulgence that caused him to step down, and Yanlu was almost completely out of control. However, Xu Jie is his mentor, and it is impossible for Zhang Juzheng to speak ill of him at this time.

Chen Yiqin didn't need to scruple, and said bluntly: "Huating Gong may have a thousand good, but the responsibility for conniving at Yanlu can only be on him." When you think about the first emperor, what are the rules of speech? If it weren't for the introduction of Huating Gongda, how could the road be as arrogant and domineering as it is today, and there is no way to restrain it? ”

Li Chunfang is a good gentleman, although he can actually see the reason, but he doesn't dare to tell it, but he didn't expect Chen Yiqin to be extremely disappointed with the current situation, so he dared to speak out. Li Shoufu was immediately hesitant, and he didn't say a word for a long time.

In fact, although Chen Yiqin's words are a bit absolute, they are generally good, and it is indeed because of Xu Jie, which has led to the rampant speech. It's just that having said that, the reason why Xu Jie's position was later removed was also directly related to his indulgence.

At the beginning, the so-called "Manchu Dynasty inverted arch", in fact, the core main force was the speech controlled by Xu Jie, and after the high arch, Xu Jie came back to see things in the call of hundreds of officials. This war of words ended with Xu Jie's complete victory, and Xu Jie's reputation was long.

At that time, Xu Jie's situation was that Xu Jie relied heavily on the speech officials, and showed favor to them in everything; The official also relied on the prestige of Xu Jie to become more and more self-aggrandized. The previous expulsion of Gao Gong, no matter how attached the emperor was, finally had to compromise, and the officials became more and more convinced that the present was different from the previous emperor, and that he was a weak and deceitful person. Since then, the officials have become more and more unscrupulous, and they almost have to compete with the emperor for both public and private affairs.

Of course, some of these arguments are reasonable admonitions, such as the requirement to restrain the eunuchs' dictatorship; However, more often than not, it is trivial that has nothing to do with the national economy. For example, the emperor was forbidden to go to Yudi to be nostalgic; The emperor was forbidden to go to the outskirts of Beijing to relax; Suspecting that the emperor had the intention of traveling at public expense and forbade him to go to Mount Tai to worship, etc., there was a momentum of wanting to raise the emperor in captivity as a pig to feed. Even, even the private affairs of the palace have to be taken out with great fanfare, and they will talk about it in a grand manner, and they will talk about the big truth in a righteous and awe-inspiring manner. All this made even Emperor Longqing, who had a good temper and had nothing to say, get angry from time to time - but after he got angry, he had no choice but to forcibly swallow his anger back.

In fact, the emperor went to the palace to relax and be nostalgic, is this huge country about to perish?

Pure.

But if that's not the case, why be alarmist!

I think that this group of seven-foot men and hot-blooded heroes who control national public opinion and justice do not pay attention to the many shortcomings of political affairs, but focus on the shortcomings of their parents, and keep an eye on the emperor's private life and talk nonsense. But he still wants to be complacent and claim to be a righteous person, but in fact, it will only increase the laughter of future generations.

And Xu Jie's partiality towards the speech official gradually lost his principle - or rather, he had no principle of restraint on all kinds of behavior of the speech road.

In July of the first year of Longqing, the emperor ordered the cabinet to inspect Kedao. Officials are upright and competent, and they are not afraid of assessments, which is not too much to ask, but Xu Jie admonished the emperor in order to protect the officials.

Yes, the emperor even had to be rejected by Shousuke for the routine evaluation of officials!

At this time, the emperor can be said to be completely controlled by the civil official group headed by Xu Jie, and he can't do anything he wants.

It was this kind of unsatisfactory thing that gradually eroded the emperor's endurance. The clay man still has three points of earthiness, because of the attack on his most trusted and relied on teacher Gao Gong before, Emperor Longqing was originally a little afraid of these people; Now these people are becoming more and more arrogant, and even trivial things have to be put on the line, which is already justified and unreasonable! At this point, who will be the emperor and not hate them? Therefore, it is natural to hate Xu Jie, the first assistant who always blindly protects them.

However, just hating has no practical meaning, the emperor has no reliance in the outer court, and his person himself is timid and cowardly, and he is angry in private, what really happened, and he really didn't dare to fight with Xu Jie, so he could only give instructions from time to time, and express his dissatisfaction slightly - just like that, he didn't dare to say too much about this dissatisfaction, for fear of being caught again, and being forced back by the officials, and even eating a meal.

For example, in September, due to the camp of the internal official group, Kedao once again talked about it, and Xu Jie, as always, expressed support for Yanlu on behalf of the cabinet. Kedao's remarks were always excessive, and the emperor couldn't bear it, so he sent an edict to complain about the cabinet, and he was extremely aggrieved in his words: "For such a little thing, the official also said that I am not, and your cabinet also said that I am not, what do you want?" ”

It seems a bit too much to squeeze the emperor to such an extent, no matter what it is, no matter what dynasty it is in. But the weakness of the emperor gave the officials more and more excuses to bully the soft and fear the hard. Emperor Longqing was originally a benevolent and gentle king, known for his benevolence and frugality, but he was repeatedly attacked by the subject, and he had really reached the limit of patience. Under such circumstances, the emperor naturally missed Gao Gong more and more.

When the water is full, it overflows, and the moon rises and falls, just as the prosperity of the same people must decline. Looking back, Xu Jie's ups and downs in the political arena in the early years of Longqing can be described as "success is also an official, and defeat is also an official": relying on the public opinion momentum created by words and roads, it has reached the peak of fame; also lost the trust of the royal family because of his indulgence, and later in a tentative resignation, he was directly approved by the emperor and returned to his hometown. He was shrewd, and he was still comfortable serving the moody Emperor Jiajing, but he couldn't please the cowardly and clumsy Jinshang, which is really thought-provoking.

But this is not the time to think deeply, so Zhang Juzheng spoke: "How things got to this point is no longer important. What is important at the moment is that we should see that there is only one person who has the ability and the reason to suppress his speech. ”

Li Chunfang saw that Zhang Juzheng's eyes had been staring at Gao Gong and his party who were far away from the palace, and suddenly realized: "So you mean Zhongxuan Gong...... Ah, not bad! If there is anyone who can suppress the way of speech now, I am afraid that Gao Suqing will not think about it as a second person. Well, you have been trying your best to mediate for the recovery of Zhongxuan Gong, could it be because of this? Li Chunfang was not angry that he was directly ignored by Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant, this ...... Ahem, it's quite self-aware.

Chen Yiqin listened, and said half suddenly, half hesitantly: "Although Gao Suqing has won the trust of the emperor, but he went to the field before because he was defeated by Yanlu, and almost returned to the field from then on, and died of old age in the forest. ”

Zhang Juzheng laughed and said confidently: "I expect that he will inevitably take action to curb the rampant situation of the current speech." ”

Chen Yiqin looked at him with interest and insisted on asking: "Taiyue must have relied on it if he was so bold and outspoken, but the old man couldn't think of the reason, and dared to ask: How can you see it?" ”

"Here's why: Gao Gong is a person who wants to do things."

This sentence is not Li Chunfang, even Chen Yiqin admitted it calmly, did not refute, and was silent by default.

So Zhang Juzheng put away his smile and said: "But in this situation, if he wants to do things, he can't let someone croak and hinder him all day long, and it is logical to suppress his words." ”

Chen Yiqin thought about it for a while, but still refused to give in, and said: "Yes, he is such a person, but this can only show that he Gao Suqing has a reason to deal with Yanguan, but it does not mean that he must have such strength." ”

Zhang Juzheng's face became more and more serious, and he was even silent for a while, and then he opened his mouth word by word: "The official is like fire, and the first assistant is like the wind." ”

Chen Yiqin was silent, he understood what Zhang Juzheng meant: if the wind is not strong enough, no matter how it blows, it will only increase the fire; But if the wind is strong and fierce enough, it can blow out the fire of this official......

And the high arch, I'm afraid that at least it can be regarded as a gale, and it may even be a hurricane directly!