Zhu Houzhao knew the whole thing from Zhu Zailei's mouth, and he was not surprised by this kind of official corruption after governing the country for more than 50 years, nor did he get angry like the young emperor when he was a young emperor, and directly raided his family and exterminated the clan, and even his emotional excitement at this time was not as high as Zhu Zailei's.

But this is not to say that Zhu Houzhao will despise this issue and despise Xu Jin.

"This matter, if you continue to follow Pan Gu's suggestion, you should use this money to buy a lesson, pay tuition, and the improper income that flows into some people's pockets can be recovered sooner or later, and now if I send Dongchang to investigate, I can't blame him Xu Jin's head, instead of this, I can only put a long line to catch a big fish first."

Zhu Houzhao knew that even if he asked Dongchang to arrest Pan Gu now, and at the same time arrested the person in charge of Xujia Iron Factory, he still had no evidence to deal with Xu Jin, after all, Xu Jin was not involved, and even once Xu Jin lost his car to protect his handsome and killed his relatives in righteousness, he had to reward Xu Jin.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao did not think about directly acting on the Xu family, after all, the current Zhu Houzhao is no longer the Zhu Houzhao of his youth, and he pays more attention to the rules and regulations of doing things, and also pays more attention to thinking before acting.

And when it comes to the matter of Lichu, Zhu Houzhao didn't think about dealing with it at will, he didn't know who was designing these things, whether there was a bigger operator behind the scenes, or the eldest son of the emperor in front of him, Zhu Zailei, was directing all this.

The older he gets, the more complicated his thinking becomes, and the less vigorous he does things, Zhu Houzhao didn't notice that his behavior had changed, but the only thing he didn't change was that he insisted on his own thinking and analysis conclusions.

He doesn't understand where some civil officials have the courage to ask the prince to protect him with the reason of supporting who to be the crown prince, does he really not know that he is the emperor who has never been an emperor who says what others say, or because of human nature, he thinks that he supports you, and you should repay me, therefore, he thinks that he supports your eldest son as the crown prince, and your eldest son naturally has to take care of the interests of my civil officials?

Zhu Zailei did not continue to publicize this matter in accordance with Zhu Houzhao's instructions, obeyed Pan Gu's arrangement, and spent an extra sum of money, not only purchased galvanized steel pipes from the Sanxin Iron Works to replace the original inferior steel pipes, but also continued to purchase a batch of inferior steel from the Xujia Iron Works.

The second prince, Zhu Zaiyan, also mastered Zhu Zailei's "bribery" through Pan Gu, and thought that he had won more victories in the battle for the heir.

Xu Jin also learned through indirect means that the emperor's eldest son, Zhu Zailei, did not dispose of Pan Gu and did not even stop buying his own Xu family's inferior steel, which he was very happy and relieved about.

Xu Jin naturally didn't insist on getting this kind of benefit from the eldest son of the emperor in this invisible way, and he didn't know that once this matter was shaken out by the eldest son of the emperor, it would affect him, but he still chose to do it, just to test the eldest son of the emperor.

Xu Jin was not worried that the sale of inferior steel by his Xu family iron factory would be revealed to the emperor, because Pan Gu had always taken the initiative to contact his Xu family, and he didn't know it, and his Xu family didn't know that this batch of steel pipes would be used to make water pipes.

Therefore, Xu Jin thought that even if His Majesty knew, at most, he would let his Xu family refund and take back the steel sold to Pan Gu out of loyalty that he did not want to let the interests of the court lose in vain, and then his Xu family should not only not be punished, but should also be praised by the emperor.

But in that case, it shows that the emperor's eldest son, Zhu Zailei, is not willing to take care of the interests of his own civil officials, and is not willing to keep in line with his own civil officials, and he has lost the career promotion that may enter the cabinet, and the emperor's eldest son Zhu Zailei will also lose the opportunity for his own Qingliu civil officials to support him.

Therefore, Xu Jin did this to test the emperor's eldest son, Zhu Zailei.

Obviously, the emperor's eldest son, Zhu Zailei's behavior, was taking care of the interests of a Qingliu civil official leader like him, and he was giving him face, so he was very satisfied, and couldn't help but say: "Your Highness is benevolent!" has the style of a virtuous king, and he will be able to be the master of man in the future! ”

Of course, Xu Jin also reciprocated the favor, and his student Wang Zibi, a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, soon asked Emperor Zhu Houzhao to follow the etiquette law and establish a successor to establish the country's foundation, which meant that the emperor's eldest son Zhu Zailei would be the crown prince.

"Qingliu is also a human being, and his eyes are full of interests."

Zhu Houzhao said secretly in his heart after seeing this note.

This kind of matter involving the establishment of the reserve, Xia Yan, the first assistant of the cabinet, did not dare to vote at will for a while, so he submitted it to him, the emperor, to deal with it himself, and Zhu Houzhao's handling opinion was very simple, and replied: "The matter of the establishment of the reserve will be discussed in five years." ”

Except for some real pedantic civil officials or young civil officials who are not familiar with the world and do not understand why His Majesty the Emperor has to postpone it for another five years, Xu Jin and other Qingliu civil officials did not express any more opinions.

Because, in fact, they don't force the emperor to establish a prince immediately, they just make a statement to the emperor's eldest son Zhu Zailei, after all, your emperor's eldest son gave us such a big benefit, we have to express it.

Xia Yan, the first assistant of the cabinet, saw all this, although he didn't know what His Majesty the Emperor Zhu Houzhao was planning, but he could also guess that His Majesty the Emperor's refusal to establish a prince now was worried about the loss of power and the improper selection, but he was also worried that the reserve position would be suspended all the time, which would make more villains profit from it.

"Your Majesty, the matter of establishing a prince should not be suspended for a long time, and the ministers are worried that over time, the courtiers' minds will not be placed on the government and politics, and the people's hearts will be scattered, and the officials will be corrupt, causing party disputes."

Xia Yan persuaded.

Zhu Houzhao is not worried that this situation will cause a phenomenon, after all, the struggle for the national capital of the Wanli Dynasty in history has consumed a lot of national strength and brewed party strife, causing the country to decline, because the courtiers and the Son of Heaven have been fighting all day long for the establishment of the crown prince, and as a result, the government affairs have been barren.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao did not reprimand Xia Yan for being alarmist, but he really couldn't make Zhu Zailei the crown prince from the Qingliu civil officials right now.

Not only because he doesn't want these Qingliu civil officials who are righteous on the surface but are actually selfish, the bourgeois representatives can easily succeed, and he doesn't want his imperial power to easily give way to the civil official group, but also because he is still unable to determine whether Zhu Zailei is suitable to be the future emperor of the Ming Dynasty!

Zhu Houzhao admits that his eldest son is actually quite good in many aspects, such as talent and character.

But that's not enough!

Zhu Houzhao is still not sure whether he can stand up for the interests of the people, and is even willing to sacrifice his own interests to fulfill the interests of the country and the people.

Because he chose the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the helmsman of the empire, it was not just as simple as choosing the patriarch of the Zhu family, he needed his successor to be a politician rather than a politician, and the so-called politician should dare to move the knife against his own class in front of the interests of the country and the people.

Or to put it more simply, Zhu Houzhao is not sure whether Zhu Zailei has the integrity and courage to stand up for the people of the world.

This is not something that anyone can do, as long as they are ordinary people, they will have a weak side, Zhu Houzhao knows that he can make Daming come to this point not because he is smarter than those scheming civil officials, nor how lucky he is, but because he has the courage to be the first in the world, and the courage to brave the world's disapproval.

The more propertied people are, the less courageous they are, Wanli admitted it, and finally invited from the civil officials to set up Zhu Changluo as the crown prince, as a result, the rivers are declining, and the Ming Dynasty has been fighting for decades, Zhu Houzhao is not sure whether Zhu Zailei has such courage.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao only said to Xia Yan: "Xia Qing, when to establish a reserve, it is I who has the final say, and who to appoint as a reserve, I also have the final say!" I don't want to be asked by some people to make someone the crown prince! I am choosing the emperor for the whole world, and the silent majority is the majority, I can only be cautious! ”

"This is my responsibility, I don't want to be disappointed in the world, but this is not your responsibility, what is the meaning of your existence as the first assistant, I hope you understand, not to urge me to establish a prince as soon as possible, but to avoid me from worrying about the big matter of choosing who to appoint as the prince and have no time to take care of the government, you preside over the government for me, and don't let the government and the opposition slack off the government! I don't want you to do the second ...... Wang Wei! Be the spokesperson of the officials! ”

Zhu Houzhao almost said that he hoped that Xia Yan would not do the second "Shen Shixing", but when he thought that Shen Shixing's era had not yet appeared, he had to change his words, but he did think that the dispute between the state and the capital in the late Wanli period caused the government to be wasted, and the relationship between the monarch and the minister was unbalanced, which was not unrelated to the incompetence of the cowardly and fearful first assistant Shen Shixing.

Because as the first assistant is already the second person in the Ming Empire, especially in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, he has been the prime minister, and even the people are called "a certain phase", and he is already regarded as an imperial decision-maker, but he can only be with the mud, and he can't take care of the daily government affairs for the emperor, and manage the hundred officials.

Of course, Zhu Houzhao knew that the reason why Shen Shixing in history was like this was also related to the miserable fate of Xia Yan and Zhang Juzheng's responsible first assistants in history, which made Shen Shixing also afraid, and had to protect himself wisely, neither offending the emperor nor the civil officials.

However, Zhu Houzhao's current Daming does not have this problem, since Ma Wensheng, no first assistant has been punished, even Jiao Fang can die a good death, and even Zhang Xuan, who has offended all classes in the world, he has given the highest honor.

Therefore, Xia Yan was very touched after listening to Zhu Houzhao's words, and hurriedly arched his hand and said: "Minister, Xia Yan, remember Your Majesty's instructions!" ”

Although Zhu Houzhao's tone was flat, it also rang in Xia Yan's ears like a giant drum.

All afternoon, Xia Yan sat in the cabinet room in a daze, he was in a different situation from Zhang Xuan, he became the first assistant of the cabinet before the initiative of the policy, whether it is to increase welfare subsidies or tax cuts outside the customs or reduce bank interest, so that people from all walks of life have benefited, and have also won the support and fame of people from all walks of life.

Even if he chose Xiao Gui Cao Sui, to be precise, Zhang Gui Xia Sui, many people only criticized him for being weak, and did not question his morality and ability.

However, now His Majesty the Emperor Zhu Houzhao's warning made Xia Yan realize that he was not only weak, but also that he seemed to be incompetent as the head of the cabinet, and if the government was abandoned, it was not just because the matter of establishing the prince had been unresolved for a long time, but it had something to do with his failure to do a good job as the prime minister of the empire.

"The dynasty is not the beginning of the founding of the country, the people at that time only knew farming, the scholars at that time only knew how to read, the Ming Dynasty was nothing more than two or three things, and the cabinet was nothing more than the king's documents, and today, it is not the king's laziness to make the auxiliary ministers the reality, but the state affairs are becoming more and more complicated, and the auxiliary ministers are needed to be the reality, and I Xia Yan has to have the consciousness of being the prime minister!"

After Xia Yan figured it out in his heart, he slapped his palm heavily on the Nanmu chair.

At this time, Ning Hao, the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites, and Fei Cai, the priest of the country, and Zhang Xing, the Shaoqing of Taichang Temple, came to see him, and said directly to Xia Yan: "We have come to take the liberty of disturbing the center, and we really want to plan for the world. ”

Xia Yan didn't expect that these officials would come directly to the cabinet to find themselves for this matter, which was obviously suspected of forcing themselves.

But Xia Yan has now strengthened his thoughts, and he doesn't want to be led by the nose by these civil officials, although he knows that these civil officials are actually out of a public heart at this moment, and they may be relatively simple-minded, but he now has his own opinions, knowing that he can't be a person who is with the mud, and on the one hand agreeing to these civil officials and currying favor with His Majesty, therefore, he only said directly:

"Your Majesty has approved this, the matter of establishing a prince, we will discuss it in five years, what are you anxious about, the cabinet is the central and important place, and you are all important ministers of the temples and supervisors of various ministries and temples of the imperial court, who asked you to waste government affairs and come to the cabinet to do this!"

Xia Yan said in a serious tone.

The officials present didn't expect Xia Yan to be so serious, and he was also so majestic, some were not used to it, and some were also resistant, thinking that everyone was a civil official, and the relationship was not shallow, so why put on the shelf of the prime minister.

Ning Hao, the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites, even said directly: "How can the public say this, the public is the Yuanfu of the world, and it should be considered for the society of the world, government affairs are only a matter of one day, and the country is a major event related to the empire for thousands of years. ”

"Gong is the Yuan Fu, and he should be like this!" At this time, the priest of the country, Fei Cai, also chimed in.

Xia Yan was even more angry, because he could feel that these officials were not afraid of themselves, nor were they afraid of the rules of the dynasty, and it seemed that they had really forgotten the superiority and humility of the distribution of administrative power because of the influence of the idea that everyone was equal under the Son of Heaven, so he couldn't help but slap the table, stood up, and shouted:

"Your Majesty has instructed that you will discuss it in five years, are you going to force the old man to force His Majesty, and force the old man to resist the decree?! What is your intention! ”

After Xia Yan finished speaking, he said again: "This matter, the old man doesn't want to delve into it anymore, the cabinet is cumbersome, if there is nothing important, please go back to the headquarters to do business, if you stay in the cabinet any longer, discuss the affairs of the country in private and want to coerce the cabinet to force the saint, the official will order the cabinet guards to send you all to the Metropolitan Procuratorate!" ”

After Xia Yan finished speaking, he directly asked the cabinet secretary to bring the song shut, and then he no longer dealt with these civil officials.

These civil officials couldn't get used to Xia Yan's sudden frenzy for a while, and they were stunned for a while, and then they had to leave without throwing off their sleeves.

Many times, people become in power, and they have to have the consciousness of those in power, which means that they can't always be gentle, although Xia Yan's behavior at the moment makes the civil official group dissatisfied, but it does maintain the court program, and avoid the court government affairs being abandoned because of the matter of the prince, sometimes he is a villain alone, but he maintains the conscience of the entire empire.

However, the role of the first assistant of the cabinet in the stable and orderly conduct of the daily government affairs of the empire cannot be only one day, and new things will happen in the court of the Ming Empire every day, and new phenomena will appear every day.

On this day, it was the first month, according to the rule, Emperor Zhu Houzhao sent a note to the Fengtian Palace to accept the courtiers' congratulations, but Zhu Houzhao occasionally felt the cold, so he ordered the ministers to only salute the throne outside the Fengtian Palace.

However, because Zhu Houzhao has been delaying the establishment of the prince in recent years, coupled with various policies that do not think about the bourgeoisie and only think about Li Shu, many civil officials are not angry, and with the passage of time, the discipline and the rule of law will inevitably begin to spread again, and the emperor himself has not come with illness, so there are many late and future courtiers who come to congratulate him.

Xia Yan discovered this phenomenon, and he even found that even one person in charge of the imperial history named in this court etiquette did not come, which made Xia Yan very angry, he was worried that because the court had been mired in the dispute over the country for a long time, the government would be deserted, the ministers were slack, and the discipline was lax, but now, Zhu Houzhao's point made him realize his responsibility as the first assistant.

Thereupon.

Xia Yan immediately sent a letter to the Dongchang Inspectorate and the Ministry of Officials immediately after the end of the court, and the performance was negligent in front of the emperor, saying: "Yushi Guo Weifan, as a Fengxian official, should be strict with himself, but he did not come to the court, neither asked for leave nor guilt, he really despised the court, and there was no monarch in his heart, so he planned to recommend dismissal, and suggested that the Dongchang Inspectorate strictly investigate!" ”

Xia Yan's recital was quickly approved, and these Guo Weifan were immediately dismissed and questioned, and Xia Yan personally asked for approval again to punish this Guo Weifan with a hundred rods, and beat this Guo Weifan to death on the spot!

Several other officials who were late or deliberately did not come to the court were dismissed and exiled.

Although Xia Yan's behavior upheld the court, it also angered the civil officials, because they felt that Xia Yan's punishment was too harsh, after all, everyone is a civil official, and you, Xia Yan, are not His Majesty the Emperor, why are you so powerful.

Yu Shi Tao Xi on the impeachment of Xia Yan.

Immediately afterwards, Yuan Zongru, the imperial historian of the right capital, also impeached Xia Yan.

However, Zhu Houzhao didn't care about these things, he was very pleased, as the emperor, he knew that Xia Yan was doing the right thing, and he also knew that when Shoufu was constantly impeached by his subordinates, it was the time when he, the emperor, should be most at ease, if Shoufu was not impeached by anyone or even praised by his subordinates, then his own emperor should be worried.

Among the civil officials, Zuo Tongzheng Zheng Shen still ignored his own business, and advised the emperor to establish a prince early.

However, before he arrived in front of the emperor, he was approved by Xia Yan as "troublesome", and immediately sent a letter with the authority of the prime minister asking the officials to transfer him to Nanjing as a general government, which is equivalent to denigrating Zheng Shen.

Zheng Shen was naturally dissatisfied and scolded Xia Yan for abusing power.

In fact, the emperor's eldest son Zhu Zailei also had some resistance to Xia Yan's behavior at this time, and it was also false to say that he didn't want to be the prince, so he still admired them in his heart for those civil officials who actively suggested that he should be the prince, so he was naturally a little uncomfortable with Xia Yan's behavior of suppressing them.

But Zhu Zailei also knew that Xia Yan was right to do this, otherwise, the imperial court would become more and more chaotic because of this chattering battle over the national capital.

"Remember, everything you say and do, I am testing you!"

Emperor Zhu Houzhao's words still lingered in Zhu Zailei's ears, making Zhu Zailei know that he couldn't complain about anything now, and the only thing he could do was to complete the government affairs in his hands now.

Although it cost an extra amount of money, the construction project of tap water supply and heating supply in Shuntianfu was still very successful, and Zhu Zailei successfully brought tap water that could be taken at any time to the people of the capital, and also brought warmth to the people of the capital.

This project is conducive to people's livelihood and to promoting the economic development of the Ming Dynasty.

"Our Highness is really good, with running water, I finally don't have to run to the backyard canal to fetch water in this harsh winter!" An old lady couldn't help but sigh to her friend at this time.

Zhu Zailei, who passed by in Weifu, couldn't help but feel a sense of joy after hearing it, he liked this feeling very much, this feeling of being praised by the people, but it also increased his heart to become an emperor and benefit the world more.

Of course, these achievements also brought him the opportunity to be promoted again.

Not long after, under the instruction of Zhu Houzhao, the officials ordered that Zhu Zailei be promoted to the governor of Henan and the supervisor of the Henan section of the Liangjing Railway.

Henan is a large agricultural province, and Zhu Houzhao's purpose is very clear, that is, to let Zhu Zailei have more experience in managing a large province with a majority of the agricultural population.

But.

It was not only Zhu Zailei who was promoted, but soon the second prince Zhu Zaiyan, who had been transferred back to the household department to be familiar with the affairs of the ministry, was also promoted to the governor of Susong, in order to exercise his experience in running maritime trade.

And because of this, many courtiers have begun to see the purpose of His Majesty the Emperor Zhu Houzhao's arrangement, but they have not exposed it, and the second prince Zhu Zaiwei has also seen it and is more confident to get the crown prince.

However, because Zhu Zailei gave the Xu family benefits in accordance with Zhu Houzhao's instructions, and the civil officials still strongly supported Zhu Zailei and even repeatedly neglected him, he was still a little jealous, and couldn't help but say: "As long as my father really wants to make the emperor's brother the crown prince, Lone will announce the matter of him and the Xu family to the world!" ”

When the second prince learned that the eldest prince was appointed governor of Henan, he had a plan.

Zhu Zailei didn't think that his other imperial brothers would use various means to compete with him, but he knew that instead of worrying about being competed by others to win, it was better to do his own thing at the moment.

Zhu Houzhao also knew that these princes would inevitably compete, and might even form a party, but he also knew that he couldn't stop it, so he simply turned a blind eye, and still lived every day with a light breeze and a careful observation, but because of the minister's attention to the cabinet scholar Wang Tingxiang, the matter of Tingtui a cabinet auxiliary minister was put on the agenda.

However, the person recommended by the royal court happened to be Xu Jin, the secretary of the school and the head of the Hanlin Academy.

。 Lewen mobile version update fastest website: