As the emperor Zhu Houzhao, Zhu Houzhao doesn't care how the officials scold or say, anyway, the military power and political power are in his own hands, and he can rule how he wants.

However, what Zhu Houzhao was really annoyed about was that an official like Gefu Shangshu would choose to resign because of the public opinion created by the official.

Of course, Xia Yan's resignation is naturally not a true word, it is naturally a false word, but because of this, it is obvious that he is throwing the pot to the emperor, which means that he is not greedy for power, it is His Majesty who needs me and needs me to take power.

Of course, Zhu Houzhao didn't care about the reputation of the king, and when he saw Xia Yan write his resignation, he only smiled coldly: "I'm not afraid of being a faint king, but I don't know when I will meet a shoufu who doesn't care about reputation." ”

Immediately, Zhu Houzhao naturally refuted Xia Yan's recital, did not allow Xia Yan to resign, and let the imperial literati in the attendant room comfort his good life.

But Zhu Houzhao didn't talk about Han Yiyou's board because of this.

Xia Yan was very depressed about this, because he wished that the emperor would cut off Han Yiyou's right head directly for his court staff, or it would be better to send Han Yiyou to prison and threaten to be executed, and then he came to ask for mercy and avoid the death penalty, indicating that he was still very magnanimous as the first assistant.

But Zhu Houzhao did not do it again, because there was no need for it.

"Now is not the early stage of my ascension to the throne, when the power is not stable, how can I let you be a gentleman, only let me be infamous, Xia Yan, Xia Yan, I let you fight against Qingliu, how could I not let Qingliu fight against you, no matter what, what the country requires is balance, if you want to be a minister, you can be a minister, why pretend that you have no desire for power."

Zhu Houzhao sighed a few words secretly, and then he was still fishing in the deep palace, or he had nothing to do to visit the people.

But Xia Yan also has his own way, that is, he keeps resigning from the office, the purpose is naturally to annoy the emperor, which means that if the emperor doesn't punish Han Yiyou heavily, I will also resign non-stop.

And Han Yiyou, these officials, are not willing to stop here, emperor, if you don't deal with Xia Yan, my impeachment of Xia Yan will not stop.

Zhu Houzhao also continued to reject Xia Yan's resignation at the beginning, and also ignored Han Yiyou's impeachment of Xia Yan.

But over time, Zhu Houzhao was really annoyed, even very annoyed, because putting aside national affairs and dealing with these trivial matters of resignation and impeachment all day long is simply slacking off on government, and it is also a waste of state power!

Of course, more importantly, the resignation and impeachment of the official record have been going on and on like this, and it is also a waste of national public resources, after all, the paper also costs money.

Zhu Houzhao knew that if he arrested Han Yiyou in prison and beat Han Yiyou, Xia Yan would be happy.

But he really didn't want to use his imperial power to fight for Shousuke, and he didn't want to be used by Shousuke.

Zhu Houzhao is no longer when he was young, and now he is not unaware of the internal reasons for these officials to fight with each other like this, so naturally he will not just kill the officials first based on their superficial likes and dislikes, and then vent his anger for the minister he trusts.

After all, in this way, killing is killing, but it will also make the officials who are trusted by themselves begin to become unscrupulous, thinking that they are really easy to fool, forcing themselves to kill again, and change people like a marquee, making it difficult for the government to be calm all the time.

In recent years, fortunately, he was still young before the emperor, and although he made the court bloody, the general direction of external expansion and internal reform has not changed, and those who hold the power of the court are reformist officials who do practical things.

Even Xia Yan is also a reformist official, even if he really stands up for Xia Yan now, it will have no impact, and letting reformist officials control the government is no problem for the general direction of the empire, just like letting Zhang Juzheng dictatorship in the early Wanli period.

However, Zhu Houzhao did not want to make the political struggle of opposing officials too fierce, and he began to think that in order to make the empire smooth and maintain political clarity, it was necessary to let these officials supervise each other, and not to suppress either side too hard, especially when the kings of later generations succeeded to the throne, they needed to leave them a balanced political situation.

Otherwise, it will be the same as when he was young, and the Manchu Dynasty will be ruled by a clear stream, won't it be the root of the internal turmoil of the dynasty?

But the emperor had the emperor's ideas, the cabinet chief assistant Xia Yan also had his own ideas, and Xu Jin and other officials representing the merchant class also had their own ideas.

Xia Yan wanted to force the emperor to suppress the speech officials, and then attack Xu Jin and other civil officials behind him.

And Xu Jin and other civil officials wanted to use the speech officials to create public opinion to force the emperor to suppress Xia Yan, and then negate the system of the council and political office.

Zhu Houzhao was forced to have an attitude for a while, which made him very depressed, not only depressed why Xia Yan couldn't just ignore these public opinions, but also depressed if these officials could stop and stop until they reached their goal.

this day.

As the increase in tariff revenue fell again, Zhu Houzhao realized that the restrictions on the outflow of silver from other countries might have become more severe, and at the same time, the domestic smuggling trade might become more rampant, so he asked Xia Yan, the first assistant of the cabinet, to preside over a meeting between the household officials and the officials of the National Taxation Bureau to discuss how to deal with these two matters.

But at the beginning of the court discussion, Lu Gong stood up first in the matter: "Your Majesty, the minister has a book to impeach Xia Yan for dictatorship, harboring and plotting against evil, and colluding with military ministers to cause chaos in the court, please Your Majesty punish Xia Yan, abolish the Minister of Parliament, abolish the Parliamentary Office, and restore the court push system left by the previous emperor!" ”

"Your Majesty, the minister also seconded the proposal, and the first assistant Xia Yan party is the same as the dissidents, in order to collude with his lackey Wen Yuan, depose the ministers of dissidents, and open the back door, his heart can be punished!"

Min Xian, the right attendant of the IRS, also stood up.

"It is the power of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to impeach officials, and now we are discussing the decline in the increase in tariff revenues, and we will retreat!"

Zhu Houzhao said coldly, his bottom line, these people are making trouble, but they can't affect the affairs of the court.

And after Zhu Houzhao said, these civil officials who were dissatisfied with Xia Yan also quieted down, but Xu Jin smiled slightly at this time, he knew that it was impossible to make the emperor disgusted with Xia Yan, if he wanted to make the emperor disgusted with Xia Yan, he could only keep impeaching Xia Yan, and then force Xia Yan to fight back, and then let the emperor be disgusted that Xia Yan had no stomach and was not worthy of being a Zaifu.

Therefore, Xu Jin glanced at one of his cronies, Zhang Kui, a Qing official in Yunnan, the household department.

Thereupon.

Zhang Kui stood up: "Your Majesty, the minister impeached Han Yiyou, Deng Dong and others for framing Yuan Fu, framing Zhongliang, fabricating and distorting facts, and calling it Kuang Zheng Chaogang, which is actually his personal move!" I ask Your Majesty to dismiss these lawless officials, just like the actions of the past, and punish the young with iron and blood! ”

"Your Majesty, the minister seconded the proposal, Yuan Fu Xia Yan is really the cadre of the country, the Ming Dynasty has no Yuan to assist the government, how can there be such peace in the world, and these villains such as Han Yiyou and others do not know kindness and righteousness, sell their reputation, and are good at adding bullets, and it is not enough to be a minister if they don't kill!"

Lang Zhong and Liu Duyu of the Fujian Division of the Audit Office also stood up.

Zhu Houzhao glanced at Xia Yan coldly, he didn't expect that Xia Yan would also learn from other non-reformist civil officials, and actually attack political opponents during this kind of court discussion.

I, the emperor, took the time to come to the court meeting, did I just come to see you fighting each other?! It's ridiculous!

Xia Yan didn't expect that there would be such a group of officials to help him speak, which made him feel a little surprised, thinking that he didn't seem to be fighting alone.

Xia Yan even wanted to help these people speak for themselves, and also impeached those officials who impeached him for himself.

But when Xia Yan noticed Emperor Zhu Houzhao's fierce eyes, he couldn't help but shudder, as if someone had poured cold water on him, and began to realize that this might not be the good intentions of others, but Xu Jin and these people were deliberately using this to provoke the relationship between themselves and the king.

For a while, the quarrel in the court became more and more fierce, and the officials who impeached Xia Yan accused the officials who protected Xia Yan of being Xia Yan's lackeys, and the officials who protected Xia Yan said that the officials who impeached Xia Yan were villains.

And the more fierce these people quarreled, the happier Xu Jin was in his heart, especially when he saw Emperor Zhu Houzhao's darker and darker face.

What Xu Jin wanted was to take the opportunity of the court meeting to take care of Emperor Zhu Hou by acting in this scene of impeachment of Xia Yan and protection of Xia Yan, so that Emperor Zhu Houzhao gradually hated Xia Yan, as for the decline in tariffs and rampant smuggling, he didn't care, and he didn't even want to let this matter be taken seriously by the imperial court, because the smuggling and evasion of tariffs were undoubtedly the merchant class behind him.

Zhu Houzhao was indeed very angry at this time, he didn't know why the two factions were attacking each other at this time, regardless of their business, nor did they know who was leading all this.

But Zhu Houzhao hated this kind of situation that was not under his control, so he was already on the verge of being angry.

"Your Majesty! Please preside over this situation! ”

Xia Yan knew that this kind of quarrel could not be allowed to continue at this time, no matter whether these civil officials who spoke for themselves were well-intentioned or deliberate, the more they continued to quarrel like this at this time, the more dissatisfied His Majesty would be with him, so he immediately stood up and said loudly when the two sides took a break from scolding.

"Accurate!"

Zhu Houzhao was also very relieved to see that Xia Yan dared to stand up at this time, and hurriedly agreed, if Xia Yan didn't handle this matter well, he would kill these civil officials first.

"Quiet!"

Xia Yan shouted loudly, and the officials present quieted down.

But at this time, Lu Gong shouted: "Bah! Er is a traitor! How can I tolerate your voice in this great hall and rebuke the officials! ”

Xia Yan knew that if he couldn't maintain this court at this time, His Majesty the Emperor would consider changing the first assistant.

Sometimes you have to take the blame for the emperor, be the shadow of the emperor, do what the emperor wants to do but can't do, you can't really expect the emperor to stand up and preside over the situation by himself, especially the older the emperor is, the more willing he is to support himself behind his back, and the more unwilling he is to let his first assistant retreat, and let the emperor fall into infamy.

Xia Yan decided, he didn't want any face, he still had to learn from His Majesty the Emperor, instead of forcing the emperor to stand up for himself, it was better to stand up for himself, and don't expect the emperor to stand out for himself and let these people go to prison and then plead for his own reputation, now if he wants to keep his power, he can only completely break with these officials and completely lose this reputation! It is necessary to become a traitor completely.

So, after glancing at this Lu Gong, Xia Yan directly turned to Zhu Houzhao and asked: "Your Majesty, Lu Gong disturbs the court and interferes with government affairs, and the minister asks Your Majesty to allow the Jinyi Guard to remove Lu Gong from office!" Expelled from the court! ”

Zhu Houzhao nodded: "Grant Aiqing's request, take Lu Gong from his post, expel him from the court, and cancel his official status with the Ministry of Officials!" ”

The civil officials present were stunned, and they didn't expect that Xia Yan would directly ask the emperor to remove Lu Gong from his post in the court.

In the matter, Deng Dong also had to stand up at this time and defend Lu Gong, and at this time, Lu Gong himself shouted first:

"Your Majesty! The minister did not interfere with government affairs, disturbed the court, the minister just did not allow the traitor to deceive the saint, the traitor Xia Yan coerced His Majesty's grace, and was domineering in front of the emperor, it can be said that there is no one in his eyes, and the minister asked His Majesty to kill the traitor Xia Yan to correct the dynasty! ”

"Your Majesty, Lu Gong not only does not know his own faults, but also slanders the officials, and even intends to coerce the monarch, the minister is the first assistant of the cabinet, and has the right to preside over the order of the internal affairs of the court, and it should be dealt with strictly, please ask Your Majesty to allow the minister to move the brocade clothes Wei Ting staff Lu Gong sixty!"

Xia Yan also said without showing weakness.

Zhu Houzhao continued to nod: "Quasi-Xia Aiqing invited, drag Lu Gong out!" ”

So, Jin Yiwei came over and dragged Lu Gong out.

Lu Gong continued to scold Xia Yan.

But it wasn't long before the crackling of the sticks went on, sixty times.

The officials present didn't react to save Lu Gong, but just when someone was about to stand up, Xia Yan asked directly: "Are there also those who want to disturb the court, mislead the country and disrupt the government, and want to be dismissed and removed from office?" ”

Now that Xia Yan asked this, everyone was afraid of being beaten by the court and didn't want to lose their officials, and Xia Yan was domineering, and no one dared to stand up.

Xu Jin was also shocked, but he also secretly sighed that Xia Yan was really not a simple character, in order to keep His Majesty's favor and his power, he dared to give up his reputation and did not hesitate to beat people in the court!

Of course, there are also young and impulsive officials who are not used to Xia Yan's domineering behavior in the court, and after doing some ideological struggle, they finally want to stand up and continue to participate in Xia Yan's impeachment.

But at this time, Yan Song hurriedly stood up: "What Yuan Fu said is extremely true, the lower officials and others dare not mislead the country, Yuan Fu is presiding over the situation in accordance with His Majesty's will, Lu Gong deserves it, and the lower officials think that we should immediately discuss serious matters so as not to delay important matters in the imperial court!" ”

Yan Song was also shocked at the beginning why Xia Yan suddenly asked the emperor to use Jinyi Wei to beat people in the court and do such a crazy act! But in an instant, he also knew that what His Majesty the Emperor wanted most now was to calm down the court, so that the courtiers could discuss matters and attack each other, and Xia Yan was undoubtedly right to do so, and it would undoubtedly satisfy His Majesty the Emperor.

Because His Majesty the Emperor doesn't care what you do, as long as you can calm down the court and let the courtiers do their business.

Therefore, Yan Song rushed to be the first to stand up to cater to Xia Yan at this time, it seemed that he was catering to Xia Yan, but he was actually following Emperor Zhu Houzhao's wishes.

Even Yan Song knew that Emperor Zhu Houzhao must be willing to see the first assistant of the cabinet at the top of the hundred officials, so even though he was already the third assistant of the cabinet, he also claimed to be an official, indicating that he was the only one who looked forward to Xia Yan.

Of course, he also has to be careful, knowing that he is only looking forward to Xia Yan like this, and he does not even object to scolding the court officials in front of him, which will definitely make Xu Jin and other civil officials look down on him, and hate Xia Yan's arbitrariness even more, and this is undoubtedly better for him Yan Song, after all, only if Xu Jin and Xia Yan fight to the death, can he make a profit.

Xu Jin was indeed disgusted with Yan Song's behavior of immediately standing up to excuse Xia Yan at this time, and couldn't help but scold himself: "Stooge! ”

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