Chapter 259 Chapter 258 Don’t Worry About the Emblem

Gao Zhong brought a few young eunuchs with today's memorials to the outside of Yongshou Palace, but stopped at the palace gate.

Outside the palace gate of Yongshou Palace, all that caught his eye were the eunuchs and eunuchs around Emperor Jiajing, only Huang Jin was not here, he should be serving His Majesty inside.

For the eunuchs who were familiar with Emperor Jiajing, Gao Zhong knew from the situation in front of him that Emperor Jiajing must be taking elixirs inside. Only at this time, after taking the elixir, Emperor Jiajing had to practice Qigong under the protection of the alchemist to absorb the medicinal power of the elixir, and could not be disturbed by the outside world.

In this case, except for Huang Jin, all other eunuchs and eunuchs in Yongshou Palace would be driven to wait outside the palace gate.

"Who is inside?"

Gao Zhong asked a eunuch in charge when he arrived here.

"Eunuch Gao, His Majesty is taking the elixir, we dare not disturb him. Now, besides Eunuch Huang, there is also Gao Shouzhong, the Taoist Master Gao, to protect His Majesty."

"Oh, so that's it."

Gao Zhong nodded after hearing this. Gao Shouzhong was also one of the palace's worshippers, responsible for refining elixirs for Emperor Jiajing's daily practice, and guiding His Majesty to take the medicine.

Under such circumstances, they naturally dared not go in, and could only wait outside.

Gao Zhong stood outside the Yongshou Palace, and the young eunuchs who had previously crowded around the palace gate consciously separated to the left and right, leaving a path.

Gao Zhong walked along this path with light steps to the palace gate and looked inside for a moment, then retracted his head and whispered to the eunuch next to him, "How long have you been out?"

"Grandpa, we have been out for two quarters of an hour."

This young eunuch was Chen Ju's adopted son. Although Chen Ju was only eighteen or nineteen years old, he had already adopted two or three adopted sons. When he was not in the Yongshou Palace, the godsons would keep an eye on the big and small things that happened inside and tell him back.

It's only two quarters of an hour, it's a little early, it won't be over in half an hour.

Gao Zhong sighed inwardly, he should have stayed in the Imperial Household Department for a while.

"What's wrong with the emperor? He doesn't take the elixir at this time in the past."

But Gao Zhong was also wondering, this is not the time to take the elixir.

"The emperor asked me to take out the memorials two days ago and read them again. I was angry and upset, so I took the elixir to calm down."

The little eunuch replied in a low voice.

"Oh."

Gao Zhong understood that Emperor Jiajing was no longer dissatisfied with what Prince Hui did, but hated it. Prince Hui was definitely finished.

The relationship between Emperor Jiajing's status determined that he would not take the usurpation of the royal prince lightly.

Thinking of this, Gao Zhong thought of Huang Jin. When he knew about this, he was still a little unsure about His Majesty's attitude, but Huang Jin nodded after hearing it.

It seems that Huang Jin is the best person in the palace who knows His Majesty.

After finding a place by the door, Gao Zhong leaned against the palace door and squinted his eyes to rest for a while. Anyway, it was still early.

After a while, he felt someone gently touching him from behind.

Gao Zhong opened his eyes and looked behind him. It was Chen Ju, who was winking at him, signaling him to look inside.

Gao Zhong understood that His Majesty must have completed his practice in Yongshou Palace.

Looking back at the palace gate, the main hall door had indeed been opened by Huang Jin. Emperor Jiajing walked out in front, and Gao Shouzhong followed closely behind.

Seeing that Emperor Jiajing's complexion was ruddy at this moment, it seemed that his skills had improved greatly.

But soon, Emperor Jiajing, who had a kind and amiable face before, turned cold, seemingly because of what Gao Shouzhong behind him said.

But Gao Zhong didn't need to stay here any longer. He straightened his robe and walked into Yongshou Palace. Chen Ju and other eunuchs also entered in a line according to their ranks and entered the square of Yongshou Palace from both sides of the imperial road.

"Don't worry about Hui's affairs."

Gao Zhong walked in front, with a happy face, and walked towards Emperor Jiajing. He was ready to flatter him after meeting and paying respects to make His Majesty happy. When he got closer, he heard these words from Emperor Jiajing.

Don't worry about Hui's affairs. Is Gao Shouzhong helping Prince Hui to get away with it?

It's only been a few days. It's impossible for the news to reach Junzhou and then return.

It seems that Gao Shouzhong has received a lot of money from Prince Hui on weekdays, otherwise he would not speak for Prince Hui at this time.

Come to think of it, the Prince of Hui was favored because his previous generation joined the Taoist practice group of Emperor Jiajing. The third generation of Prince of Hui, Zhu Houjue, got a "Taiqing Fuyuan Xuanhua Zhenren" seal from Emperor Jiajing because Tao Zhongwen said he liked Taoism and was diligent in practice. The original intention was to assist himself in practicing Taoism.

The prince did not dare to ask about the big and small things in the court, but he could freely communicate with the Taoists. Even if someone went to check, it was nothing more than saying that they were exchanging practice experiences.

Gao Zhong's heart was lifted up in an instant and then put down. It seems that His Majesty is extremely disappointed with Prince of Hui. The fate of Prince of Hui is already determined in the heart of the emperor.

In the past, I thought that Prince of Hui only made friends with Liang Gaofu, but I didn't expect Gao Shouzhong to speak for Prince of Hui.

It seems that Prince of Hui is not stupid. He knows that he can't make friends with court officials, so he targets the alchemists. These people have more opportunities to contact the emperor than most court officials, and most of them are in private occasions.

As Gao Zhong approached the emperor, before he had time to kowtow, he saw Emperor Jiajing frowning and asking, "So many memorials today?"

The people following Gao Zhong must be Chen Ju and others who came with the memorials. This was a lot more than the two or three people who came in the past. There were six or seven eunuchs holding the memorials.

"When I return to Your Majesty, most of them are impeachment memorials."

Gao Zhong lowered his head and replied.

"Take it in."

Emperor Jiajing understood what the extra things were. In fact, he noticed yesterday that there were more impeachment memorials, and they were all directed at King Hui.

Afterwards, Emperor Jiajing glanced at Gao Shouzhong, but said nothing, but his meaning was very clear.

"The emperor has many things to do every day, but also pays attention to rest. I will take my leave."

The emperor had to deal with the memorial, which was a national matter, and naturally it was not something that a Taoist priest like him could get involved in.

Gao Shouzhong knew that King Hui might be up to something bad when he mentioned King Hui twice before and received the emperor's answer.

In the past, he had always collected King Hui's things. This time when Wei Guangde impeached King Hui, he didn't take it seriously. But yesterday he heard that many courtiers had submitted impeachment memorials, so the steward sent by King Hui in Beijing hurriedly found him. Please make peace with yourself in front of the emperor.

It had not been there for many years. Thinking about the original situation, Gao Shouzhong naturally agreed with all the gifts.

I just didn't expect that His Majesty directly rejected this matter today, with no intention of letting go.

After seeing Emperor Jiajing nodding in approval, Gao Shouzhong saluted Emperor Jiajing again, then slowly retreated to the entrance of the palace, and then turned and left Yongshou Palace.

After Gao Zhong led the people to deliver the memorial to Yongshou Palace, Emperor Jiajing looked away from the palace gate and turned back to the palace.

"Put the impeachment memorial at the end and read the rest first."

Emperor Jiajing sat back in his seat and spoke one after another.

Soon, the palace returned to its previous scene. The young eunuch began to read out the memorials and drafts. Emperor Jiajing responded by knocking on the chime, and Gao Zhong knelt down behind the low table to applaud the emperor.

One memorial after another was processed, and nearly an hour passed quickly.

Seeing that there were no memorials in the young eunuch's hand, but there were several large stacks of unread memorials on the table next to him, Emperor Jiajing knew that those were for the impeachment of King Hui.

"Have you checked?"

Emperor Jiajing moved his body and found a comfortable position to lean on the dragon chair and asked.

"After checking, the two fans who were present in Dongchang at the time were also found and confirmed that the matter was correct."

Huang Jin took a step forward at this time, bowed and said to Emperor Jiajing.

"You don't accept this kind of thing in Dongchang?"

Emperor Jiajing said casually.

"Your Majesty, Dongchang only investigates matters within Jijing. King Hui is in Junzhou, and only Jin Yiwei can do that."

Huang Jin said a little aggrievedly.

In fact, under his rule, according to Emperor Jiajing's preference, as long as it was not involved in major cases, most of the time Dongchang just watched on the sidelines and silently recorded it, rather than taking action.

More things are actually done by the Jin Yiwei controlled by Lu Bing.

This is also a tacit understanding between him and Lu Bing. After all, they are both people who came out of Anlu.

Therefore, in recent years, Dongchang’s presence in Beijing has been very low.

"What about the others? What happened to the ministers who presented memorials in the past two days."

Emperor Jiajing continued to ask.

"There are contacts among the ministers from Henan, and they are discussing the impeachment of King Hui. Many people are aware of what King Hui has done, but they have not written for impeachment. Now I see Qingliu from the Hanlin Academy and the group of new scholars following Wei Guangde I have written a memorial to impeach King Hui, and I am also planning to follow up with a petition to impeach him, but no other abnormalities have been found for the time being.”

Huang Jin answered Emperor Jiajing's questions carefully. Now is a sensitive period. Emperor Jiajing's trust in ministers has dropped to a historical low. Even Yan Song has not been summoned in the past few days.

"Who are the memorials given today?"

Emperor Jiajing suddenly looked at Gao Zhong at this time and asked. Gao Zhong was the only one in the room who knew the contents of the memorial. He must have read all the ones sent here.

"Today, people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Punishment have submitted letters, and there are also many scientific papers."

Gao Zhong hurriedly answered the emperor's questions without any delay.

"Haha, they are all old foxes. They wait until others are almost done before they follow suit. Haha, they are all my good ministers."

A smile suddenly appeared on Emperor Jiajing's face, but when this smile fell in the eyes of Huang Jin and Gao Zhong, they couldn't help but tremble in their hearts.

"Go back and sort out the list of ministers who submitted the letter. I want to see who they are."

Emperor Jiajing ordered Gao Zhong.

"Yes, Your Majesty, the new Jinshi is still watching the government, do you want to sort out a copy?"

Except for Yijia and Wei Guangde, none of the new Jinshi have been conferred yet. However, some people from the Ministry of Punishment may be conferred and released in the near future, so Gao Zhong wanted to confirm. After all, more than 20 people from this batch of Jinshi have followed. Those who issue impeachment memorials, are they considered ministers in the emperor's mind?

"List them separately. Ask the Ministry of Personnel for a list of official appointments."

After saying this, Emperor Jiajing looked at the pair of memorials and had no intention of listening anymore. He waved his hand and said, "Leave them all in."

Still not giving a reply, no matter whether it is approval or rejection, this means that the situation will become even bigger.

This is the case with courtiers. For some matters, if the emperor does not respond at first, they will become more interested, and they will continue to write letters repeatedly, and continue to expand the situation.

To calm down, it would take a long time until they were exhausted.

To amplify the situation, that is to not respond first and wait until everyone is in trouble before taking action.

This can be regarded as the great ceremony incident. Emperor Jiajing realized a common problem among courtiers. When someone else submitted a letter about something, they would follow, one after another.

As long as it is not a military or national event, the current Emperor Jiajing can handle it easily.

Just delay it for a while, wait for the court officials to make a fuss and express their opinions. If you want to deal with it, you can act at the climax of the petition.

Otherwise, if you act too early, no matter what you choose, there will inevitably be people complaining behind your back.

It is also easy to deal with if you don't want to deal with it, just keep hanging and ignore them.

Therefore, the speed of handling government affairs in the Jiajing Dynasty in this era gives people the feeling of being very slow and inefficient, but in the eyes of Emperor Jiajing, it is indeed the most effective method.

"Don't worry about Hui affairs."

I don't know whether it was intentional or unintentional, but Gao Shouzhong's words for Hui Wang in front of Emperor Jiajing spread throughout the officialdom of the capital in two days, and everyone saw the emperor's attitude at this time.

Completely opposite to the situation in previous years, Emperor Jiajing's words were equivalent to sending a signal-Zhu Zai𫭢 is finished.

More impeachment memorials rushed into the Tongzhengsi like a flood. The cabinet had no choice but to arrange people to sort the memorials and directly send all the memorials impeaching Prince Hui to the Silijian after signing them according to the previous draft content.

At this time, Yan Song and Xu Jie were too lazy to take another look at such memorials.

In ten days, the entire Ming Dynasty court was unanimously directed at the Prince Hui's Mansion in Junzhou, thousands of miles away.

At this time, Prince Hui had received the news from the capital and was extremely anxious, but distant water could not quench thirst. In addition to preparing several carts of money and goods to rush to the capital, there was nothing he could do.

At least, before the emperor issued an order to question him, Prince Hui did not dare to write a letter to defend himself.

How do you know that the court in the capital is impeaching you? If you can't explain it clearly, it means spying on the government.

Just when almost all officials in the capital were involved, the time that Emperor Jiajing had been waiting for was ripe.

Although the impeachment memorials were not sent back to the cabinet, an order was issued for the cabinet to discuss with the six ministries and nine officials to determine a candidate for an imperial envoy to go to Junzhou to verify the various misdeeds of Prince Hui.

The court naturally could not punish anyone based on rumors, and the necessary review procedures were still required.

The announcement of this decree greatly excited the officials in Beijing, as if it was their victory.

Going to Junzhou to verify the misdeeds of Prince Hui was a good job. With a simple trip, you can have political achievements and a good reputation. Who would not want to?

The most active ones were the Censorate, the Ministry of Rites and other departments. Originally, the Zongrenfu was the most suitable department to investigate the case of the prince. After all, it was originally the government office in charge of the royal family. However, after Yongle, the Zongrenfu was mostly managed by the nobles, and the matters under its jurisdiction were transferred to the Ministry of Rites. The Zongrenfu existed in name only.

As for Wei Guangde, the instigator of the storm, he naturally showed off in front of his colleagues in the Hanlin Academy and other people in the past few days.

He impeached two people and succeeded, but Wei Guangde did not dare to be complacent because Chen Ju never sent him the results of his plan.