Imperial Palace, inside Qingning Palace.

Empress Dowager Zhang is receiving her confidant eunuch, the eunuch Zhang Yong, the imperial eunuch of the Ming Palace.

Zhang Yong saw the Empress Dowager Zhang this time, but he couldn't kneel for a long time, which made the Empress Dowager Zhang puzzled, and after detailed inquiry, she learned that Zhang Yong had come to say goodbye.

“…… The Queen Mother, the slave and maid are now living idle, and they will no longer be able to enter the palace to honor you, and they will not be able to come to you again to greet you in the future. ”

Zhang Yonglao burst into tears.

Empress Dowager Zhang frowned and asked, "You have a meritorious role in supporting the new emperor, why did you end up like this?" ”

Zhang Yongdao: "It's because there were lawless palace servants when the emperor Xiao Huai played the first emperor, and the slaves and maids were implicated, and the slaves and maids were willing to accept their responsibilities...... It's not that I have a grudge, but I just came to say goodbye to the Queen Mother. ”

Zhang Yong was implicated by Qiu Ju and Gu Dayong's eucalyptus.

The History of the Ming Dynasty records: "...... Shizong Li, Yu Shi Xiao Huai played the valley with great use, Qiu Ju bewitched the first emperor, the party was evil, and Yong. Zhao Yong is idle. ”

Empress Dowager Zhang was a little relieved and nodded slightly: "You are the commander of the regimental camp, you are in a key position in Beijing, and it is reasonable to be attacked, as long as you are dedicated to maintaining the Ming Dynasty, the new emperor will definitely use you again in the future." ”

The underlying meaning of this is that you were stripped of your official position, but it was done by the civil official group, the mourning family can't help you, and you don't have to cry anymore, no matter whether you really have no grievances or fake feelings, the mourning family can't do anything.

"Yes."

Zhang Yong wiped a handful of tears.

Empress Dowager Zhang said: "From now on, who will take on the position of the imperial eunuch and the eunuch of the admiral regiment?" ”

That's the point.

Although Zhang Yong was the eunuch of the royal eunuch before, he also led the errand of the commander's regiment and battalion, and his prestige in the army was very high, first, because of the rebellion of King Anhua, the pacification of Liu Liu's rebellion, and the great victory in Yingzhou.

Zhang Yong's prestige is unparalleled among the eunuchs, Zhu Si has always shown great respect for him after succeeding to the throne, and has not thought about moving his position.

Zhang Yongdao: "I heard that a palace man surnamed Huang Mingjin from Naixing Mansion took over the errand of the slave maid. ”

"Oh."

Empress Dowager Zhang nodded, she had never heard of Huang Jin's name at all.

Xingwangfu is not the only eunuch Zhang Zuo in the department, headed by Zhang Zuo, and Huang Jin, Bao Zhong, Cui Jing, Mai Fu and others who went to the capital together, but not everyone can be entrusted with important tasks at present, after all, a radish is a pit, if you want to place the eunuchs of Xingwangfu in key positions in the palace, you must gradually press those eunuchs.

But these eunuchs who hold important positions have a lot of power at hand, they have huge influence in the court, and they are also protected by Empress Dowager Zhang and Yang Tinghe and others, so they need to be divided and disintegrated step by step, and it cannot be said that they will be replaced by Xingwangfu themselves at one time.

Zhang Yong was removed this time, belonging to the civil official group to liquidate the emperor's close friends, Zhang Yong, as one of the "Eight Tigers", has always been unable to escape involvement, and it is reasonable to go to work.

Zhu Si has been following Zhu Hao's instructions, using less "own people", and more old ministers in the early years of Hongzhi and Zhengde, so as to convince the public, and at the same time show the outside world that there are too many virtuous people in Zhengde who have been delayed by the former emperor's nonsense, and now it is time for them to come out of the mountain again, from the court to the palace people, these old people will make the world have a feeling that the new emperor has set things right.

In this way, the world will help Zhu Si deny the Zhengde Dynasty and affirm the new emperor's actions.

Empress Dowager Zhang said: "Your Majesty still pays too much attention to relatives and distances, which is not good...... I heard that the eunuch who was in charge of the seal of the celebrant was also from the Xingwang Mansion. ”

Empress Dowager Zhang expressed strong dissatisfaction with this.

How many days have you been the emperor?

First let Yuan Zonggao, who had no experience in the Hanlin Academy, enter the cabinet, and then promoted Zhang Zuo to the eunuch of the celebrant and the eunuch of the seal of the celebrant and the eunuch of the commander's regiment, and now even the eunuch of the imperial eunuch and the eunuch of the commander regiment have been replaced by your people, obviously wanting to collect power.

Zhang Yong hurriedly said: "Queen Mother, I heard that Your Majesty has reactivated Xiao Jing and Xiao Gonggong, and Xiao Gonggong has entered the palace to do business in the past two days. I heard that the eunuch Wei Bin of Bingbi was replaced, and the eunuch Bingbi was used to supervise Dongchang, and His Majesty also inquired more about the affairs of the palace...... There is no shortage of ...... in terms of etiquette."

Empress Dowager Zhang's face looked much better when she heard this, and she smiled: "Is Kegong coming back?" Speaking of which, I haven't seen him for a few days, I wonder if he's okay now? ”

Xiao Jing is now eighty-three years old, and is an old minister of the six dynasties who experienced the six emperors of Yingzong, Daizong, Xianzong, Xiaozong, Wuzong and the current Jiajing Emperor.

Now that she heard that Xiao Jing was coming back, she was relieved, but Empress Dowager Zhang suddenly felt that this new son was doing well.

Zhang Yong used his actual words and deeds to show that he had no grievances, tried his best to help the new emperor speak, and comforted him in order to calm the relationship between mother and son: "Gonggong Xiao is in a clear body, and having him in the palace will definitely make people's hearts follow." ”

Empress Dowager Zhang nodded: "Yes, Your Majesty should appoint more old ministers, they are experienced, well-connected in the court, and more familiar with the rules of the palace and inside and outside the court, it is better than letting some people who come from nowhere rank in the country." ”

"Yes."

Zhang Yong replied with a smile.

Empress Dowager Zhang nodded at Zhang Yong with satisfaction, "If Your Majesty comes to ask for peace again in the future, the mourning family will mention your past merits to him more, and you should go home to recuperate with peace of mind first, you have been tired in the past few years, right?" ”

"Walking on the Stars"

"Yes, thank you to the Queen Mother."

Zhang Yong wanted to impress Empress Dowager Zhang with warmth before, but found it ineffective.

On the contrary, after speaking for the new emperor, Empress Dowager Zhang felt that he knew him very well, and offered to help him say good things in front of the new emperor, and Zhang Yong was naturally grateful.

……

……

A series of personnel appointments and dismissals were carried out in the palace.

Before, Zhu Si's main focus was on the court, not that he didn't want to change the eunuchs in the palace, after all, these eunuchs were related to his personal safety, and even when he first entered the palace, he even had to send someone to test the poison when he ate, and his life was so trembling.

According to Zhu Hao, don't be busy scaring the snake first.

Need to wait for an opportunity.

The opportunity is to make the civil official group move, the imperial historian can't be idle, the emperor is now virtuous, then go to the impeachment of the eunuchs in power in the palace, and he will be able to bite out a few big fish.

The eunuchs were greedy for power and money, and no one could withstand the investigation, so Zhu Si took advantage of the situation and conformed to the "public opinion", divided these eunuchs into 369 and convicted them, and gradually replaced the palace with their own people or old people who were suppressed in the previous dynasty.

The changes in the palace made Yang Tinghe feel a headache.

On the one hand, Yang Tinghe hoped to replace some eunuchs who were in power, but he was afraid that there would be too many changes at once, which would affect the stability of the court situation, and would let the little emperor gradually take control of power, and then free up his hands to attack the civil official group, so he was very entangled in this matter.

Otherwise, as the leader of the civil official group, he ordered to go down and let the imperial historian not impeach those big eunuchs for their negligence, and it is estimated that Gu Dayong, Qiu Ju, Wei Bin and even Zhang Yong and others would not be pulled down so quickly.

But after Zhu Si hired Xiao Jing and a few other old eunuchs, Yang Tinghe relaxed a little.

This shows that Zhu Si is not nepotism, and he used some old ministers under the court, such as Sun Jiao, Fei Hong and Xie Qian, etc., which can be regarded as a combination of words and deeds, at least it did not make Yang Tinghe feel that the new emperor was unbearable in terms of employing people.

"Father, after the Ministry of Rites played, His Majesty has sent a decree to the place, and Princess Xing will be ordered to rush to Beijing in the near future, if Princess Xing arrives in Beijing, how can His Majesty be willing to let her live outside the palace for a long time? What should we do when the time comes to start the battle for fame again? ”

On this day, Yang Tinghe returned home, his mind was full of court affairs, and his thoughts were chaotic, and at this time, Yang Shen appeared in front of him uninterestingly.

Yang Tinghe said impatiently: "Let's wait for Princess Xing to come to Beijing." ”

Yang Shen said: "Why did my father change his attitude? Wouldn't this be the case of the new Ke Hanlin who played the joint name in the unjust place? ”

It seems that Yang Shen can't get used to his father's actions, and in this matter of the Great Rites Discussion, Yang Shen may be more radical than Yang Tinghe, because Yang Shen is young and vigorous, and his status in the court is not high, and he will only admit death, unlike Yang Tinghe, a person who presides over the overall situation, and needs to turn around.

This is also the reason why Yang Shen's fate was much worse than his father's, although he was highly educated, but his political position was dead, almost to the point of ignorance of current affairs.

He was the initiator of the Zuo Shunmen incident, and in the end, the emperor didn't ask him who to blame?

Yang Tinghe took a long breath: "Everything for my father is for the sake of the overall situation, Confucianism pays attention to benevolence and filial piety, and cannot be harsh on His Majesty too much. ”

Yang Shen was unwilling, but after being taught by his father so seriously, he could only bow his head and listen to the teachings.

Yang Tinghe said: "As for those new scholars, it is the duty of the courtiers to speak up, if Your Majesty can't tolerate them because of this, then what kind of face does Your Majesty have to call himself a benevolent monarch?" Since ancient times, those who have been wise should not judge people by their likes and dislikes. Oh yes, that Zhu Hao ......"

Yang Shen said: "The child also wants to mention Zhu Hao to his father, and the child thinks that this son may be of great use." ”

"Oh!?"

Yang Tinghe's mind was full of questions, and he frowned, "Didn't you say that he didn't know how to advance and retreat, like a grass on the wall?" Why has your opinion of him changed so much in the past few days? Just because he obeyed you and took the lead in co-branding? ”

Yang Shen shook his head: "Back to my father's words, it's not like that. Children just put themselves in their shoes...... He is a new champion from the land of Anlu, and he must be concerned by His Majesty, and there is no fault for Mingzhe to protect himself, and he is not partial in the major rights and wrongs, which is appreciated by his son. ”

"Really?"

Yang Tinghe's brows furrowed.

In the past, he would never accept Zhu Hao's wall-riding faction that survives in the cracks, but now he must not consider it carefully.

Yang Shen said: "When my son entered the Hanlin Academy, there are many similarities with his mentality, and he has always strived for a neutral position until now, which is really commendable. Or did you say that as a Jinyi Wei Zhu family, it is impossible for him to defect to the new emperor, so why not make full use of his identity and use it for himself? ”

Yang Shen turned around and educated his father, did you say that Zhu Hao was the son of the Zhu family of Jinyi Wei used by the imperial court to spy on Xingwangfu, especially the Zhu family also participated in the murder of the new emperor's brother, but now you don't believe him, what kind of truth is it?

Yang Tinghe nodded.

With his old scheming, he naturally wondered if Zhu Hao had ulterior motives for doing this, maybe Zhu Hao wanted to play the empathy card with Yang Shen from the beginning?