Empress Zhou's sudden performance caught him off guard, in his opinion, the queen was just a woman, living in the deep palace all the year round, and leaving the powerful emperor was not at his mercy? But after only one confrontation, he realized that he had underestimated the ability of this woman, who on the surface kept saying that she relied on the old ministers of the cabinet, but there seemed to be no sign of trust.

The emperor's illness was announced to the government and the opposition three days later, and for a time the officials and people in the world were in an uproar, and only the officials in Beijing were very calm because they had already received the news, and they were only waiting quietly, waiting for the new pattern of the court after the power struggle.

Sure enough, while announcing the emperor's illness, the crown prince was in charge of the country as a prince. This is also a matter of course, but the magnitude of the next action makes everyone feel unbelievable and unbelievable.

The crown prince was in the name of supervising the country, Jin Zhen captured Li Xin, Jiang Dejing, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and Wei Zaode, the right attendant of the Ministry of Households, and three more ministers in the cabinet in one day.

Among the three candidates, Jiang Dejing, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, is an old minister of the three dynasties who is enough to enter the cabinet regardless of seniority, the most surprising thing is that Li Xinnai is a horse thief with military exploits to seal the marquis, in charge of heavy troops, let this kind of vulgar and literate person enter the cabinet as the minister, is it not a monkey and crown? There is also Wei Zaode, this person is just the champion of Chongzhen Thirteen, and he has only been an official for three years now, this kind of outright officialdom newcomer can actually surpass countless officials who are expected to be qualified in front of him, and jump to the position of Zaifu.

The officials were angry in their hearts, but none of them dared to stand up and speak.

Because just the day before the Great Dynasty Meeting, that is, yesterday, the nine gates of the capital suddenly changed their defenses, and the forbidden army that was originally responsible for the garrison of the inner city was suddenly replaced, and Gu Pingyu's Beijing camp was responsible for taking over. More than 30 officials, including Cabinet scholar Hong Chengchou, were suddenly arrested and imprisoned, and the specific reasons for the charges are unknown, but the arrest of officials of this scale occurred at such a sensitive moment.

Although they don't know the truth, everyone knows that Hong Chengchou and other more than 30 officials will bid farewell to officialdom completely, and there is even a danger of raiding their homes and exterminating their families. Therefore, when the decree was promulgated early this morning, who would dare to add more beaks because of the entry of three people into the cabinet?

The most anxious in the Baiguan Center is probably the first assistant Zhou Yanru as the most, and the prince Jin Li Xin, Jiang Dejing, and Wei Zaode entered the cabinet, and he didn't get the slightest news about this matter beforehand. As for the arrest of Hong Chengchou and others in Jingying, he did not receive any consultation and notification in advance.

Zhou Yanru sadly found that after Zhu Youzhen, the son of heaven, was critically ill, his position not only did not strengthen because of this, but he lost control of his duties, can this not cause people to panic?

All this shows that the prince is extremely distrustful of him, the head of the cabinet who has almost made meritorious contributions, and is even more serious than distrust, and he is suspicious and jealous. From ancient times to the present, which suspicious courtier can get a good end?

Although the crown prince personally emphasized in the palace that the state affairs are difficult and everything depends on Zhou Qing, he heard that these were just high-sounding scenes.

"My father often says, the two afflictions of the Ming Dynasty are like a disease that does not heal, only Liukou and Dongyu, I hope that all the ministers will work together with me, and the Ming Dynasty will be prosperous!" The words took a sudden turn at this point, and a will in the name of the emperor was announced.

Pray for the blessing of the Son of Heaven, and the officials above the fifth grade in Beijing will be promoted to one level, and there will be another reward below the fifth grade.

Seeing that the crown prince Zhu Cihong was like this, the hundreds of officials in the palace knelt down one after another, and said in unison: "Work together, Zhongxing Daming!" ”

Zhou Yanru pouted his butt and knelt on the cold ground, kowtowed three times in a row, and shouted the slogan of Zhongxing Daming in his mouth like the officials, and the hall was a little different for a while, much more harmonious than when the emperor was healthy.

The crown prince Zhu Cihong's face turned red because of excitement, and his heart fluctuated as he looked at the courtiers who were excited. In the past, he only heard about the ancient and modern history in the mouth of his master and his father, and counted the lives of the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty, and the exploits of the masters of each dynasty.

Thinking of this, a smile appeared on his face unconsciously. But he immediately realized that something was wrong, his father was seriously ill and his life and death were unpredictable, how could he be a son of man snickering at this time? Moreover, the queen mother has told her several times that the monarch should not be spied on by his subordinates, and that he should be happy and angry.

So, the crown prince Zhu Cihong immediately restrained his smile,

Noon is approaching, the court will end in a harmonious and exciting sound, after the dispersal of the court, the palace on duty eunuchs specially called the cabinet auxiliary ministers, including the newly entered the cabinet Li Xin, Jiang Dejing, Wei Zaode three people.

"The prince summoned all the scholars to warm up the pavilion and ask the right question!"

Unlike Zhu Youzhen, Empress Zhou specially opened a warm pavilion on the east side of the Wenhua Hall to let him learn how to deal with government affairs. After all, as a mother, she can't bear to see her son treat herself as mean as Zhu Youzhen, and every time her hands and feet are cold in the main hall, she refuses to light more charcoal to keep warm.

Lying on the salary and tasting courage, always alerting yourself not to be greedy for pleasure, these original intentions are good, but if you lose your body because of this, isn't it worth the loss? Therefore, after Zhu Youzhen fell ill, Empress Zhou would never allow this son, who had placed high hopes on everyone, in the hope of any further mistakes.

"Bachelor Li, Bachelor Lee?"

The eunuch shouted three times in a row, and Li Xin came back to his senses, this was calling him. To tell the truth, the title of this university scholar is really uncomfortable, he doesn't know anything about poetry and songs, he doesn't know anything about Bagu articles, and he even writes a word crookedly. You don't need to inquire to know that Li Xin's name will definitely suffer from this after today, and maybe when it is mentioned in the history books in the future, those literati may denounce him as an absurd and grotesque fortunate minister.

Thinking about the unexpected events of the past few days, Li Xin was also like a dream, he was suspicious, he entered Beijing to see His Majesty, a group of small people waited, and he stayed in the edict prison for one night, and then he suddenly entered the cabinet, becoming the only one in the Ming generation, and the horse thief was born in Zaifu, at this time I think about it has a very unreal feeling.

"Master Li is here, our family has a few words to convey on behalf of the prince."

Li Xin could feel it immediately, as if several eyes were shooting into the arrow.

Fan Fucui, who was also among the Zaifu, did not hesitate, and snorted indignantly, allowing such a vulgar person to enter the cabinet as a scholar is simply an insult to the cabinet and the imperial court. But I also understand the difficulties of the queen and the crown prince, and in extraordinary times, such extraordinary actions are not unavoidable, and if the position of the cabinet assistant can be exchanged for temporary stability in the future, it is not impossible.

Fan Fucui glanced at Li Xin's silhouette, but saw that he was walking vigorously and resolutely, which was very different from those ministers who were stable and taking square steps, and secretly reminded himself in his heart that this was a jackal who couldn't be fed.

A moment later, all the slaughtered auxiliary Yuguan entered the warm pavilion, Zhou Yanru took the lead and bowed, but the prince got up from the warm kang and jumped to the ground, stopping the auxiliary ministers.

"This is not the court, in front of all the Zaifu, I am the younger generation, and I will not talk about those false pomp rules in the warm pavilion today."

Li Xin was ranked second to last in the cabinet after Jiang Dejing and Wei Zaode, he secretly raised his head and glanced at it, but saw a beautiful and graceful woman sitting on the kang who looked no more than thirty years old. Presumably, this is Zhu Youzhen's Queen Zhou.

This Empress Zhou also took it seriously, and several ministers discussed that Empress Zhou would listen to the government as the mother of the prince, but she insisted on letting her son, who had not yet been crowned, govern herself. However, the crown prince Zhu Cihong is young, and he will still have an inextricable dependence on this queen for at least three or five years.

The prince's performance made a group of old ministers can't help but wet their tears, so why is the prince worried about the Ming Dynasty and not being happy?

Next, Zhu Cihong sat on the warm kang and listened to the side of Queen Zhou, in fact, since entering the warm pavilion, everyone clearly felt that Queen Zhou was the one who gave orders with the order of the Son of Heaven.

Soon, the eunuchs brought soft stools and asked the ministers to sit down one by one.

"Stable! The emperor is seriously ill, and stabilizing the hearts of the people in the world is the first priority. ”

Fan Fucui suddenly found that the opportunity had come, so he got up and bowed on the soft stool, and just about to speak, Queen Zhou waved her hand to let him sit down, "In the future, you can sit down in peace!" ”

"Your Royal Highness, the old minister thinks that the Jiangnan Department of the Ming Dynasty is endowed with wealth, which is actually the lifeblood of the country.

Before Fan Fucui's words fell, an old voice echoed, "Fan Xiang's words for the country, and the old minister seconded it!" ”

Empress Zhou remained silent, only nodded slightly, and asked, "I don't know if there is a suitable candidate for the elder pavilion?" ”

Fan Fucui replied with a deep groan: "The old minister thinks that Tian Fuzhen, the governor of Shanxi, has outstanding ability and is good at military affairs, so he can take on a heavy task!" ”

"The old minister seconded the proposal!"

Li Shiwen jumped out again and agreed with Fan Fucui's proposal. As long as he can make trouble for Li Xin, he will support all of them.

The meaning of Fan Fucui's move is self-evident, naturally he wants to use Tian Fuzhen, who led 100,000 new troops in Shanxi, to Jiangnan to weaken Li Xin's influence there.

Empress Zhou set her sights on Li Xin, who had always kept a low profile.

"The Marquis of Zhenyu has been in Nanjing for several years, and his contribution is indispensable, I don't know what the Marquis of Zhenju thinks, what is Fan Qing's suggestion?"

Li Xin's face was calm, and he replied respectfully: "As Li Ge said, the old man is seeking the country, and the minister also seconded it!" ”

Empress Zhou was noncommittal, and turned her head to look at a student, listening to the crown prince Zhu Cihong, who was handling government affairs.

"What does the prince think?"

Zhu Cihong blinked and said, "The ministers think that the father is seriously ill, the hearts of the people in the court are fluctuating, and the local officials should not move lightly. ”