Chapter 256 255 Impeachment of Prince Hui

The Forbidden City is the central axis of Beijing. The end of a long straight road outside Chengtian Gate is Daming Gate. If it continues to extend outward, it is the inner city gate Zhengyang Gate.

The straight road outside Chengtian Gate just divides the important government offices of the Ming Dynasty into two parts, east and west.

The government offices on the east side are naturally close to East Chang'an Street, and the government offices on the west side are close to West Chang'an Street.

The Hanlin Academy is located at the outermost edge of the eastern government office concentration area, which is very convenient for going on duty, but it is a little far for Wei Guangde today.

The Tongzhengsi is located on West Chang'an Street, with its back against the Five Military Commandery. Standing outside the main gate of the government office, you can see Fengtian Gate.

Placing the Tongzhengsi in this position is naturally to allow the Tongzhengsi to send memorials to the palace for the emperor's review as quickly as possible.

The full name of the Tongzhengsi is Tongzhengshisi, and its chief is Tongzhengshi, who is in charge of internal and external memorials and sealed appeals from subjects.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the prime minister had great power and was subordinate to all central departments. He had the right to review memorials before the emperor processed them and select some of them to submit.

In such an environment, all government offices in the court actually obeyed the prime minister, that is, Hu Weiyong.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who could no longer tolerate it, executed Hu Weiyong and abolished the prime minister system that had lasted for a thousand years.

However, after losing the Secretariat to classify and process memorials, the emperor gradually collapsed in the face of a mountain of disorganized memorials every day, and finally established the Tongzhengsi in July of the tenth year of Hongwu to specialize in memorials.

The power of the Tongzhengsi was to split the power of the prime minister to sort out and submit various memorials to the emperor, and to undertake the important task of "communicating the situation of the people, guarding the official documents of various departments, reporting memorials from all directions, enforcing the emperor's opinions, and reporting military information, disasters, etc." During the regular court, the chief of the Tongzhengsi, the Tongzhengshi, had to report various affairs of the court to the emperor; the Tongzhengshi was qualified to participate in the discussion of major policies, major prisons, and the meeting of the ministers of civil and military affairs.

The Tongzhengsi was always valued by the court during the Hongwu, Yongle, Hongxi, and Xuande dynasties, because it was an important way for the emperor to grasp the direction of the officialdom under his rule. Once there was a slight disturbance, it would inevitably start from the Tongzhengsi.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the power of the Tongzhengsi should be said to be very large, especially when facing the emperor for a long time. In addition to the normal submission of memorials, the Tongzhengshi would often meet the emperor directly to submit emergency memorials in case of emergencies.

However, after Emperor Yingzong ascended the throne at the age of nine, the power of government fell into the hands of the three Yangs in the cabinet. The Tongzhengshi lost the right to meet the emperor alone and report to him, and could only rely on the cabinet, which gradually became a common practice.

Yang Rong intervened in the number of memorials submitted by the Tongzhengsi during the regular court on the grounds that the emperor was healthy, saying that only eight things were allowed to be reported to the cabinet every morning, and they had to be informed of the cabinet in advance.

The emperors of the Ming Dynasty were lazy in government affairs and rarely reviewed memorials. Everything was handed over to the cabinet and the Silijian. The status of the Tongzhengsi was getting worse and worse, and gradually became a decoration.

The Qing Dynasty followed the Ming Dynasty's system, and the Tongzhengsi system was also retained, but its status was low, and it became a redundant department in the eyes of court officials. It was denounced as a model of useless departments by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao during the Reform Movement of 1898, and was abolished during the New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty.

However, these have no effect on Wei Guangde now. Today he is going to submit a memorial to the Tongzhengsi and enter the cabinet and Xiyuan.

The current Tongzhengshi of the Tongzhengsi is Yan Song's godson Zhao Wenhua, but Zhao Wenhua is not in Beijing at this time, but went to Zhejiang for the second time to command the war against the Japanese.

After signing and signing at the gate of the Hanlin Academy, Wei Guangde went straight back to his public room and sat for a while, took out the prepared memorial and petition and read them carefully.

He read it countless times last night, repeatedly pondering the wording in the text, trying to make it correct.

In the memorial, Wei Guangde described in detail the incident of Geng An who complained on the road, and also included Geng An's petition in the memorial to avoid being taken away or replaced.

Although Chen Ju said that there should be no people of King Hui in the court, Wei Guangde still took precautions.

After drinking half a pot of tea, he got up and walked out of the public room leisurely, and walked out of the Hanlin Academy to the Tongzhengsi.

Walking eastward along West Chang'an Street, the towering Fengtian Gate on the right gradually became clear. There were a large number of guards standing upstairs and downstairs as before, just like the palace examination half a year ago.

Half a year ago, he was just a commoner, or a scholar with a title.

Half a year later, he was already a small official.

And now, what he wants to fight for is naturally to gain more power so that he can live a better life in the Ming Dynasty.

Wei Guangde would not do anything that would displease Emperor Jiajing. That would not be righteous but stupid. At least he would never do it without a sure win.

Wei Guangde had already thought about how to live a stable life in the Ming Dynasty, just like Hai Rui, who was one of the few celebrities in the Jiajing Dynasty that Wei Guangde remembered.

Hai Rui submitted a memorial that said "Jiajing Jiajing, every family is clean". Wei Guangde didn't remember what it was called, but he only knew that Emperor Jiajing shouted to kill him after reading it.

Of course, he didn't kill him in the end.

Wei Guangde had thought about this matter. He would not do anything at the beginning. At that time, Emperor Jiajing was furious. Even if he knew that Hai Rui would not die in the end, he could not beg for mercy in anger. That would be asking for trouble.

It is better to wait until Emperor Jiajing calms down before writing a petition to beg for mercy. Only by grasping the timing can the interests be maximized and a good reputation be gained.

This is also one of the few opportunities that Wei Guangde can take advantage of, and he absolutely cannot afford to lose it.

Although Wei Guangde didn't know what the final result would be of the impeachment of Prince Hui and whether Prince Hui would fall, he only hoped to achieve his goal, which was to get an official badge of the Censorate.

With the badge of the Censor, his official power should be much greater in the future. At least if he was the Censor, Liu Dazhang would not dare to oppose his opinion and could only obey him.

When he arrived at the gate of the Tongzhengsi, Wei Guangde walked in without hesitation. The guards outside the gate naturally would not stop him. This was the Tongzhengsi.

Entering the lobby, this was where officials submitted memorials, but it seemed that there were not many people at this time today. When Wei Guangde entered the room, he saw that it was empty. Only he came to submit memorials.

"Oh, Lord Wei is here."

Wei Guangde is now well-known in the officialdom of the capital. Even those who didn't know him before found an opportunity to go to the Hanlin Academy to recognize what he looked like after Wei Guangde returned to Beijing from Xuanfu.

The person who spoke was Huang Dacheng, the right councilor of the Tongzhengsi, and the others were a few clerks waiting on the side.

"Sir Huang."

Wei Guangde hurriedly bowed his hands. Needless to say, he came here to submit a memorial.

According to the procedure, after the official submitted the memorial, the Tongzhengsi would give him a note, recording the time of submission and the name of the person who received the memorial, as well as the main content of the memorial.

Wei Guangde handed in his memorial and stood quietly aside without saying much.

Wei Guangde had come here once before, and it was a thank-you letter after being rewarded.

However, in Wei Guangde's view, that letter was not a memorial, but a procedural thing. If you are rewarded by the emperor, you must thank him.

The impeachment memorial he submitted this time was something meaningful in Wei Guangde's view, and it was a real memorial.

Huang Dacheng took Wei Guangde's memorial and opened it. The petition inside caught his eyes. He was surprised, but he also quickly browsed the petition, and then read Wei Guangde's memorial.

The impact was a bit big.

Wei Guangde started to impeach someone again.

Well, Huang Dacheng actually had such a hunch when Wei Guangde entered the door.

The first memorial of Wei Guangde that Huang Dacheng saw was naturally forwarded by Weng Pu. It was a memorial impeaching Liu Dazhang, the right governor and the general of Xuanfu. It was a small official of the seventh rank impeaching a military general of the first rank.

Looking at the memorial in his hand again, it has been upgraded, really upgraded. This time, it is a seventh-rank official impeaching a super-rank prince, and it is the Prince of Hui who is extremely favored by the current Emperor Jiajing.

This Wei Guangde is so bold.

The things that Emperor Jiajing did in the Western Garden are now only spread among the court officials who have connections with the eunuchs around the emperor. For most officials, they don’t know that the emperor once scolded the Prince of Hui.

In their impression, they still believed that Prince Hui was a minister who was highly trusted by Emperor Jiajing.

In fact, most of the officials in Beijing had more or less connections in the palace, but most of these connections were not with the eunuchs around the emperor.

The news in the palace spread very quickly, but not so fast that it would spread all over the Forbidden City in an instant.

The eunuchs around the emperor also knew the limits. Except for a few channels that would inform, most of the news would only spread after a period of time.

Then the eunuchs spread it by word of mouth, and eventually let the civil and military officials outside the court know it.

At this time, only the officials who had spies around Emperor Jiajing knew that Prince Hui had fallen out of favor.

However, for those officials, whether to impeach a prince or not was dispensable for their careers, so most of them did not take action.

Those who could establish connections with the close ministers around the emperor were naturally not ordinary officials in the court, and at least had to be fourth-rank or above.

For a fifth-rank official like the Councilor of the Ministry of Public Administration, it was naturally impossible.

However, they also have an advantage, that is, when accepting officials' memorials, they can first understand the changes in the officialdom.

As long as there are two or three more memorials impeaching Hui Wang after Wei Guangde, they will understand what it means.

But at this time, Huang Dacheng had no expression on his face after reading Wei Guangde's memorial, and wrote a note step by step to accept Wei Guangde's memorial.

Wei Guangde took the note and read it once, then folded it and put it in his arms. He bowed to Huang Dacheng and thanked him before turning away.

The moment he turned around, Huang Dacheng's face, which had been calm before, twitched slightly, and he looked at Wei Guangde's back with an idiotic look.

In fact, the Tongzhengsi had received memorials impeaching Hui Wang's illegal acts.

Since the third Hui Wang Zhu Houjue flattered Emperor Jiajing and gained favor, he had framed some local officials for his friends, and was then impeached many times by local civil servants and censors of the Censorate.

However, most of these memorials were sent to the Tongzhengsi and then to the cabinet, but they ended in failure.

After a long time, everyone realized that Prince Hui had a strong background and could not be brought down by prosecution.

The current Prince Hui, Zhu Zai, was just like his father. He tried to please Emperor Jiajing by recommending alchemists and offering elixirs. Then he was impeached by civil officials, but naturally there was no result. He continued to hold the position of prince steadily.

Therefore, in the eyes of the officials in Beijing, Prince Hui really could not be touched.

Over time, no one paid attention to Prince Hui's illegal activities. He could not be brought down by prosecution, and it was just a waste of time to continue to watch him.

Huang Dacheng didn't expect that he would receive a memorial impeaching the King of Hui today. After a little hesitation, he saw Wei Guangde had already left the gate of the Tongzhengsi, so he stood up and walked into the yamen with Wei Guangde's memorial in his hand.

Of course, he would not help the King of Hui do anything, but he had to tell his superiors, the left and right Tongzheng adults, that the Tongzhengshi Zhao Wenhua was not in the yamen now, and the affairs of the yamen were handled by the left councillor.

Whether to submit or not, when to submit, these are all very particular.

Of course, it is not allowed to conceal and not report, but it depends on when to submit it to the cabinet for processing and whether it needs to be sent to a certain adult separately.

"Impeach the King of Hui?"

"Yes, sir, this is the first time that Wei Guangde has succeeded in impeachment, and he thinks he is the best lawyer, hehe"

"Don't worry about it, handle it according to the rules, and send it to the cabinet. No matter who handles it, it has nothing to do with us."

"Yes."

Wei Guangde's memorial did not cause much trouble in the Tongzhengsi, and just a few words of dialogue solved the problem he was most worried about.

Wei Guangde thought that no matter how arrogant a person like Prince Hui was, he would know that besides the emperor, the most powerful person in the dynasty was Yan Ge Lao. Wouldn't he know to give gifts to the Yan family to keep safe?

Wei Guangde was most worried that Yan Shifan would suppress his memorials. No matter whether Yan Song received or confiscated the benefits from Prince Hui, he would not deliberately suppress the memorials, but would only choose the right time to deal with them.

Yan Shifan was much bolder, and his reputation for taking money to do things was also well-known. Wei Guangde thought that Prince Hui would ask the Yan family to take care of him, after all, Prince Hui was really not clean.

However, what made Wei Guangde miscalculated was that Prince Hui really had no involvement with the Yan family. Perhaps in the eyes of Prince Hui Zhu Zai, it was enough for him to handle his relationship with the emperor.

He was a prince, and only Emperor Jiajing could determine his future.

The Yan family was powerful, but that was only for civil servants.

As long as Emperor Jiajing still favored him, no matter how the civil officials impeached him, he was a prince of the Ming Dynasty and a descendant of the Zhu family. How could he be afraid of these people?

Wei Guangde's memorial was sent to the East Pavilion at noon along with other memorials. After a simple screening by the clerks, it was sent to the public rooms of Yan Song and Xu Jie respectively.

Wei Guangde's memorial was sent to Xu Jie's room. When he was reading the memorial in the afternoon, it was naturally seen by Xu Jie.

However, Xu Jie did not make any comments directly on the note, but took the memorial and went to Yan Song's public room.

After reading Wei Guangde's memorial, Yan Song was silent for a moment, and then said to Xu Jie: "Follow the convention, the officials can check it.

I remember that there were many memorials impeaching Prince Hui in the past few years, but I haven't seen them in recent years, haha

Anyway, it's nothing more than keeping them in the palace, we should do what we should do."

"What the elder said is right, I worry too much."

Xu Jie whispered on the side, then bid farewell to the father and son of the Yan family and returned to his public house to draft the bill, and the matter was considered settled.

In fact, Xu Jie couldn't tell whether the Yan family had any connection with Prince Hui, so after seeing Wei Guangde's memorial, he sent it there as soon as possible. Since the Yan family didn't care, he could handle it according to the rules.