"I didn't expect him Zhang Fujing's words to really make the emperor change his mind..."Peng Yue didn't know what to say at this time. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

"This thing... It's really debatable. Xia Yan smiled slightly, "Your Majesty was originally hesitant about the Yi clan of Zhang Yanling, and Zhang Fujing just captured His Majesty's psychology..."

"Huh? I think the emperor's determination to kill Zhang Yanling is very firm, why did Lord Xia say that His Majesty hesitated? Peng Yue asked puzzled.

"Your Majesty's determination to kill Zhang Yanling is very firm, but His Majesty is still very hesitant to convict Zhang Yanling of a crime of rebellion and to raze his three clans." Xia Yan explained lightly.

"Is it because of Empress Zhang?" Peng Yue asked tentatively. In fact, Peng Yue was basically unfamiliar to him at first about these etiquette things in ancient times, but he sensed the importance of these things in ancient times, so he slowly learned them, coupled with the continuous guidance of Xia Yan in his usual times, so he can now have deep insights and unique analysis of these ancient etiquette issues.

"Yes, that's right..."Xia Yan now feels more and more that Peng Yue is a malleable talent, although he is young, but after the experience of officialdom in the past few years, he is more skilled in figuring out people's hearts and dealing with people than some old people who have been in officialdom for a long time. And for things that he is not good at and unfamiliar with, he is always willing to learn and think with his heart, so Peng Yue's growth rate is really beyond Xia Yan's expectations.

"Actually, Zhang Yanling's life is not a pity, but he is the younger brother of the Empress Dowager Zhang, which is a bit troublesome..."Xia Yan patiently explained to Peng Yue as he usually taught Peng Yue.

"Although His Majesty can convict Zhang Yanling, he must consider the consequences, after all, this matter will involve Empress Dowager Zhang. Saying that Zhang Yanling rebelled is tantamount to a rebellion by the Queen Mother's family. To wipe out Zhang Yanling's clansmen is equivalent to destroying Empress Dowager Zhang's clansmen. In this way, even if Empress Dowager Zhang is fine in the end and still lives in the palace, it is definitely better for her to live than to die. Xia Yan told Peng Yue everything in the meantime.

"Indeed, although Empress Dowager Zhang has lost power, she is the wife of Xiaozong and the mother of Wuzong after all, and her name is there, and the emperor can't do too much..."

"In fact, the matter of suing Zhang Yanling for rebellion happened during the Wuzong period, but in the end it was not resolved, and when it came to the Holy Lord, as long as the Empress Dowager Zhang was still alive, this matter would still be very difficult to do." Xia Yan felt that Peng Yue was young after all, and he might not know much about the affairs of the Zhengde period, so he added it.

"But the emperor will definitely not give up this matter just because of the Empress Dowager Zhang, after all, the emperor... It's also true to Empress Dowager Zhang... With resentment..."Peng Yue cautiously lowered his voice as he said this, and glanced out.

"That's nature... The emperor will definitely not forgive Zhang Yanling because of the Empress Dowager Zhang..."Xia Yan also glanced out at the right time, "What the emperor is afraid of is the mouth of the world..."

"After all, the emperor's attitude towards the Empress Dowager Zhang... It's too much..."Xia Yan lowered his voice and said to Peng Yue, "In the eighth year of Jiajing, the emperor changed the title of Empress Dowager Zhang to "Imperial Aunt", which has already been discussed among the people, after all, the emperor was originally the emperor as a vassal king. If Zhang Yanling is punished for the crime of rebellion now, and all the people of the Empress Dowager Zhang are wiped out, I am afraid that the scholars of the world will be dissatisfied, and the discussion of future generations will be unfavorable..."

"And Zhang Yanling's crime of rebellion does lack evidence, it's just that those officials of the Criminal Department saw through Zhu Houyu's thoughts, and in order to curry favor with Zhu Houyi, they confirmed Zhang Yanling's charge of rebellion, in fact... Everyone knows in their hearts that Zhang Yanling will never be stupid enough to rebel when his power is not as good as before..."Xia Yan said with a wry smile, in fact, he himself knew in his heart that the reason why he tried his best to confirm Zhang Yanling's intention to rebel was because he was really unaccustomed to Zhang Yanling's various evil deeds, and felt that Zhang Yanling was indeed innocent, and secondly, it was just to please Zhu Houxi.

"In this way, it seems that the emperor really can't kill Zhang Yanling at this time..."Peng Yue said with a smile, "It seems that Zhang Fujing is also quite good at figuring out the emperor's mind..."

"If he Zhang Fujing really knew how to figure out Zhu Houxi's intentions, he wouldn't have done this. He knew that the emperor wanted to cure Zhang Yanling's crime, but he wanted to go against the emperor's wishes. Originally, the saint's grace to him came and went, but he didn't know how to cherish it, so it seems that Zhang Fujing is probably going to have the fourth Zhishi soon..."Xia Yan couldn't help but laugh when he said this.

"But why did Zhang Fujing do this?" Peng Yue stared at Xia Yan and asked, "The ministers of the Manchu Dynasty can see what the emperor means, and it is impossible for Zhang Fujing to be confused, so there must be a reason why he did this..."

"Who knows? Maybe it's an old fool..."Xia Yan said jokingly, "But I guess he should want to leave a name in history, after all, he contributed the most to the Great Rites Discussion at the beginning, if the emperor always turns over old accounts, I am afraid that future generations will record these things on his head Zhang Fujing, and he will never dare to be disrespectful to the emperor, he Zhang Fujing is not willing to carry this kind of moral baggage..."

"I see..."Peng Yue was indeed a little speechless, he didn't know if Xia Yan's guess was right, but there was indeed some truth. If Xia Yan's guess was not wrong, Peng Yue couldn't help but feel a little sad. These people are so concerned about the evaluation of themselves by later generations, but they do not know that only the great good and evil people in the later generations may become examples of people's invocation, or they can be the talk of the people after dinner. For most people in history, such as Zhang Fujing, although he has been in history with ups and downs, glories, and disadvantages, the understanding and evaluation of him in later generations is only a few words, and even many people don't know him as a person.

Of course, the saddest thing is that many officials in the Ming Dynasty spoke out, and even risked the court staff and losing their officials, and even some problems were purely nothing to do, but they still enjoyed it. Therefore, they hope that they can leave a name in history as an upright counselor, but in fact, most of their names are unknown, and even if they are students of history, it is difficult to name a few officials before.

"Of course, Zhang Fujing lost not only these, but also more important things, maybe he didn't realize this himself..."Xia Yan's eyes brought out a trace of mystery.

"Is what Lord Xia said about the emperor's gratitude to him?" Peng Yue asked on the side.

"That's exactly what it means... Zirui, I found that you are really getting smarter and smarter. Xia Yan said excitedly.

"Actually, it's not difficult to guess..."Peng Yue said this, in fact, he was very happy to hear Xia Yan's praise, "Originally, when the big ceremony was discussed, Zhang Fujing stepped forward, and the emperor's gratitude to him was naturally difficult to educe. But now, whether the emperor wants to make his biological father and mother go further, or this Zhang Yanling case, Zhang Fujing and the emperor are on the opposite side. Especially this time, the contradiction between the emperor and the Empress Dowager Zhang is on the surface, which is simply the prologue of the Great Rites Discussion, but he Zhang Fujing still turns a blind eye, but it is contrary to the emperor's thoughts, and the emperor's gratitude to him back then is naturally about to disappear..."

"Then do you think the emperor will regret calling Zhang Fujing back now?" Xia Yan asked with a smile.

"Probably not, Lord Xia, didn't you tell me last time, the emperor recalled Zhang Fujing, that is an inevitable thing, and it is a strategy that has been thinking about for a long time." Peng Yue replied, remembering the conversation he had with Xia Yan at the beginning.

"Yes, Fang Xianfu has accumulated a lot of power in the appointment of the first assistant of the cabinet, and the contradiction with Zhang Fujing has gradually become obvious, the power of Zhang Fujing's party has been greatly weakened and tends to disintegrate, at this time, Fang Xianfu as a chess piece, has no much effect, and naturally he is going to be ousted from power..."

"And Fang Xianfu is really not doing well in the position of the first assistant of the cabinet, and his domineering momentum is close to Zhang Fujing, but his administrative ability is much worse than Zhang Fujing, and the emperor is definitely unwilling to ask for such a cabinet first assistant..."Peng Yue added on the side.

"Well, that's true, Fang Xianfu, the head of the cabinet, is really not doing well..."Although Xia Yan is willing to admit that Fang Xianfu has done a bad job, he is unwilling to admit that Zhang Fujing has done a good job.

"And the emperor summoned Zhang Fujing back, there must still be an element of remembering the old feelings, but Zhang Fujing doesn't know how to cherish it, and the only old feelings have been exhausted, I'm afraid that after this Zhang Yanling case, the emperor will no longer remember the old feelings for Zhang Fu." Peng Yue said on the side, although he knew that Xia Yan was always reluctant to admit that Zhu Houxi had a deep gratitude to Zhang Fujing, but he had to face this.

"Well, it seems that Zhang Fujing will have a fourth Zhishi soon, but I'm afraid it will be difficult to have a fourth recall..."Xia Yan said this a little bitterly, because he didn't know if he would be able to get a favor like Zhang Fujing in the future.

"Zirui, guess who the next cabinet chief assistant will be?" Lord Xia asked with a smile.

"I..." Peng Yue looked at Xia Yan's expression, "I can't guess either..."

"Don't shy away from it, if I think it's me, I won't let you guess..."When Xia Yan said this, he didn't know if he should laugh.

"That's... Then I'll be blunt..."Peng Yue restrained all the expressions on his face, "I guess it should be Master Li Shili..."Peng Yue firmly believed that he was not wrong, because he felt that he was not wrong, and he would not be wrong.

"Although I'm not satisfied with this, I have to admit that what you guessed should be right..."Xia Yan still laughed, I don't know whether to laugh for himself, or for Li Shi, or for Peng Yue.

Notes: 1. In order to reduce the difficulty of readers' understanding, there are some things that I did not write in the text, and now I add here, if you are interested, you can take a look at it and check it out, in fact, it is quite interesting.

When dealing with the case of Zhang Yanling, which is closely related to the Great Rites Discussion, the words and actions of Zhu Houxi and Zhang Fujing (or it can be extended to the upstart of the Great Rites Discussion) reveal that their cognition of the Great Rites Discussion is actually quite different. In Zhu Houxi's view, his controversy with Yang Tinghe and other former ministers, as well as the contradiction with Empress Dowager Zhang (not his biological mother, but the mother of Wuzong) are the main contradictions in the Great Rites Debate and its aftermath, so his standard for measuring supporters and opponents is also whether he can cater to his desire to respect his biological parents, whether he can lower the status of Empress Dowager Zhang, or even completely dissociate himself from her. From this point of view, Zhang Fujing and other upstarts are indeed his staunch supporters.

However, the upstart of the Rites Discussion clearly realized that the victory of the Great Rites Discussion not only made the Empress Dowager Zhang lose her identity as her biological mother, but also put Zhu Houyu and themselves in a moral dilemma, so they later advocated giving the Empress Dowager Zhang a higher courtesy than Zhu Houxi's biological mother, creating the illusion that humanity and orthodoxy have their own home. Zhang Fujing tried his best to prevent Zhu Houxi from exterminating the Zhang family, precisely in order to maintain the above illusion, in order to avoid the moral hazard that the world despised and despised by future generations.

In fact, these word games seem to many people to be very boring, but it is these seemingly boring games that hide murderous motives everywhere, including many power struggles and undercurrents. So let's not take any little thing lightly, sometimes we think it's simple, maybe just because we haven't seen through it.