Chapter 389 388 Who Can Still Compete with You?

"His Majesty really decreed that King Jing should become a vassal?"

Wei Guangde suddenly stood up, rubbed his hands and walked back and forth in the room.

"Why are you so excited? I heard the news with my own ears in the main hall. The emperor's golden words will certainly not be false."

Seeing Wei Guangde walking around in front of him, Chen Ju, who was sitting on the chair, said with a smile.

The news in the palace has never been concealed. Emperor Jiajing confirmed that King Jing has accepted the vassal status. Naturally, it will soon spread from Xiyuan, and by tonight, all the civil and military officials in Beijing will know about it.

However, Chen Ju still hurried to Wei Guangde's place. The purpose is self-evident, to grab a time difference and let Wei Guangde spread the good news to that person's ears first.

"What did your Majesty say?"

After walking back and forth for a few times, Wei Guangde calmed down a little, turned to Chen Ju and asked.

"What else can I say? Let the Chief Historian of Prince Jing's Palace and the Ministry of Rites plan the establishment of the palace. The Ministry of Works will supervise it. The Ministry of Household will pay for it. We also have Wu Shan, the Minister of Rites, write a memorial to invite King Jing's kingdom."

Chen Ju's face was still cheerful, and he simply repeated Emperor Jiajing's oral instructions.

"Okay, the news has arrived, I have to go back to the palace."

After picking up the teacup on the table and taking a sip, Chen Ju stood up and said goodbye to Wei Guangde.

"Brother Chen, let's take a rest and have dinner at my little brother's place tonight."

Wei Guangde said hurriedly.

"No, I just found an excuse to come out. Thinking about such a big thing, I have to tell my brother first, so as not to worry you outside."

Chen Ju walked out as he spoke, and Wei Guangde had no choice but to follow Chen Ju out.

Wei Guangde stood outside the door and watched Chen Juyuan go away. He did not go back immediately. Instead, he turned around and said to Zhang Ji who was following him: "You arrange for two people to come to the study. I have something for them to give to Lord Gao Gonggao and Lord Yin Shizhen." Go there."

With his words, Zhang Ji naturally knew who to find to deliver the letter.

He had also heard the previous conversation between Wei Guangde and Chen Ju in the room. Naturally, he was well aware of his father's defection to Prince Yu's Mansion.

Finally I can sleep peacefully.

Having been in the capital for several years, he had heard about the overt and covert fights between King Yu and King Jing in the capital, so what he feared most was that in the end, Emperor Jiajing would risk the disapproval of the world and choose King Jing to inherit the great treasure.

Zhang Ji also heard about the fight between the two kings in the market, but he scoffed at it.

Wei Guangde leaned towards Prince Yu's Mansion, so Zhang Ji, who was following Wei Guangde, naturally knew that the so-called dispute between the two kings was actually just the people around the emperor constantly talking about the rights and wrongs of the two kings in the emperor's ears.

As far as Zhang Ji knows, the most outrageous thing that King Jing and his family did to King Yu was actually the Sui gifts and Lumi from Prince Kayu's palace, which made it impossible for King Yu to match him during the Wanshou Festival in those two years. of gifts.

Naturally, people in the palace spread rumors that King Yu's disrespectful words towards Emperor Jiajing were actually nothing more than an attempt to arouse the emperor's dissatisfaction with King Yu.

However, the reason for this is indeed related to the fact that Prince Yu and his mother and concubine were not favored. What's more, Prince Yu's mother and concubine died of illness early, leaving him even more isolated and helpless in the palace.

Think about the person behind King Jing, that is Mr. Yan Ge, who has been favored by the emperor and has invaded the government and the public.

"Yes, sir."

After receiving Wei Guangde's instructions, Zhang Ji immediately agreed happily.

Although the palace is like a sieve, and people from all sides are inserted to find out the news, the transmission of the news also takes time.

When Wei Guangde sent someone to the Imperial Academy and Prince Yu's Mansion with the letter he wrote, Yan Song finally got the news from Xiyuan in the cabinet duty room.

"Bang."

A white porcelain teacup fell to the ground and shattered immediately.

At this time, Yan Song's eyes were dull, he looked more than ten years older than usual, and his outstretched hand was still trembling slightly.

His hands were shaking. It was not because he was frightened after getting the news. In fact, his hands had often been like this over the years.

Therefore, he handed over the power of voting for memorials and the drafting of decrees by cabinet ministers to his son Yan Shifan or his second assistant Xu Jie.

Yan Song lowered his head and looked at his hands. He wanted to take a sip of tea to calm down his shock, but he didn't expect his hands to be so out of control now.

Hearing the movement in the room, the clerk outside the door hurriedly ran in. Some people cleaned up the broken pieces of teacups on the ground, while others hurriedly brewed a new cup of tea and brought it to them.

After the cleaning was completed and the others exited the check-in room, Yan Song asked, "Have you found the east building?"

"Master, there is no news yet, it should be soon."

The clerk who stayed in the house at this time was actually a servant of the Yan family. He was arranged to take care of Yan Song in the cabinet, and was also responsible for running errands and delivering news.

"You go out first, and let him in as soon as he comes back."

Yan Song only said one sentence, then leaned back on the chair, closed his eyes slightly and began to think.

The day finally arrived.

At this time, Yan Song was filled with emotion.

King Yu came to power. This was his judgment long ago. At the beginning, he just wanted to find a way to escape unscathed, but how did the situation evolve into what it is now.

In recent years, he has been mentally and physically weak, and it has become difficult for him to discipline Yan Shifan.

Thinking of Yan Shifan, Yan Song not only had a wry smile on his face.

Maybe I should have retreated earlier?

As soon as this thought came to his mind, the face of Emperor Jiajing appeared in Yan Song's mind, and he couldn't help but feel a twitch in his heart.

Xia Yan was arrested by the Jin Yiwei on his way back to his hometown after leaving office, and was eventually guillotined by himself.

Mean and unkind.

Suddenly, Yan Song's eyes opened wide, and he had no way out.

At this time, Yan Song felt that Yan Shifan seemed to see further than him.

He had only considered that Emperor Jiajing might let him live on and finish his life because of nostalgia, but forgot the blame he had taken for the emperor. Would it be enough to just depose him?

He had offended many people during his years as an official. Would these people let him go?

After all, it was the people below who broke the rules and killed those people. It was impossible to get away with it.

In addition to pushing the person who was least likely to come to power to become emperor, the Yan family could continue to exist.

He no longer had the energy to plan anything, so he could only let Donglou do it. Perhaps there was still a glimmer of hope.

At the beginning of the afternoon, when it was time to disperse the court, officials left the government office in groups of three or two, some went home, or called friends to go to restaurants and flower shops. At this time, a shocking news came out from the palace and quickly spread in the officialdom.

"Brother Donglou, what do you think we should do now? Should I just go to Huguang to be a vassal?"

At this time, in an elegant courtyard in the capital, a young man in gorgeous clothes wanted to say to a fat man opposite him.

"Your Highness, don't worry."

Although the fat man Yan Shifan's face was also full of worry, his tone was not very anxious, "There will always be a way. Now we have to build a new palace. Don't worry, the Ministry of Works will only work but not put in any effort. Let's delay it for a year or two, and we will always find a way."

"What else can we do? The decree will come down tomorrow. With this clear signal, Gao Gong will be blocking the cabinet all day and urging the handling of the vassal matters."

The young man in gorgeous clothes is naturally King Jing, and now he is in a state of confusion.

After more than ten years of preparation, he fell short. After the death of Prince Zhuangjing, he set his sights on that position. For this reason, he did not hesitate to lower his status and make friends with the Yan family.

As a younger brother who is one month younger than Prince Yu, Prince Jing should not have the heart to compete for the throne. After all, the Ming Dynasty’s training clearly stipulates: if there is a legitimate heir, the legitimate heir shall be appointed, and if there is no legitimate heir, the eldest heir shall be appointed.

At that time, Prince Yu and Prince Jing were twelve years old, and their relationship was still quite good. After all, there was a second brother above them, and the status of the heir was determined early.

However, because of familiarity, he discovered a shortcoming of his third brother at that time, that is, laziness, and the result is that he is not enterprising.

The third brother is dull in temperament, but others say that he is cautious. Knowing the inside story, he naturally has thoughts that he should not have, not to mention that he was more favored than the third brother in the palace at that time, and he had his mother's support in the harem.

Therefore, even though he knew that he should not, facing his father's decision to refuse to appoint another prince, Prince Jing still chose to gamble and compete for that position.

"Gao Gong, Prince Yu, as long as they are gone, who can compete with you?"

Just as Prince Jing was recalling his experience over the past ten years, Yan Shifan's sinister words suddenly came to his ears.

Shocked, Prince Jing suddenly looked up at Yan Shifan.

"Brother Su Qing, come, please drink this cup."

In a restaurant in the capital, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng came out of the Imperial College and found a restaurant to start drinking.

"Uncle, please."

Gao Gong raised the wine glass in his hand slightly to Zhang Juzheng, and then both of them drank the wine in the glass.

Before leaving his post today, Gao Gong received a note sent by Wei Guangde, and of course he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Of course, he knew about the memorial sent to the palace by the cabinet yesterday. At this point, many government offices have people planted by Prince Yu's Mansion, and the cabinet is no exception.

Correspondingly, Prince Jing's Mansion also has people. Their channels for obtaining information are no longer limited to officials. Even the Zhongshu below, ordinary clerks will bribe some people.

It's just that the memorial has been sent up, and it is unknown how the palace will reply in the end. The most important thing is of course who Emperor Jiajing will take out of Beijing to become a vassal.

Now it's all right, the kingdom of King Jing, haha.

In addition to being happy, he cleaned up the duty room and prepared to go off duty. When he left the duty room, he met Zhang Juzheng, the director of the Imperial College.

He is now the chief wine of the Imperial College, so naturally he has a lot of contact with Zhang Juzheng, the director of the Imperial College.

It should be said that Zhang Juzheng left a good impression on him. He is upright and diligent at work. When they chatted privately, he also found that Zhang Juzheng had a unique vision and a lot of ideas, and he was not the cynical most scholars.

Both of them were very dissatisfied with the current officialdom, especially hating Yan Shifan's behavior of using Yan Song's influence to sell official positions and titles in the capital.

Officials bought with money must find ways to get the money back and make another fortune after they sit in the office.

Undoubtedly, this will increase the burden on the lower-class people.

Zhang Juzheng has complained to Gao Gong more than once. During his recuperation in Huguang, he also walked around the countryside and knew the living environment of the lower-class people now.

The taxes and labor service set by the court were not harsh, but the people actually had to bear far more than the standard set by the court, that is, the additional levies were used for local administration. Except for a small part of the money used in the local area, most of it was accepted by the officials in office.

Because the taxes and labor service set by the court were very complicated, for the lower-class people, they could not tell whether the taxes and labor service they borne were paid to the country or to those officials.

The corruption of the officials naturally led to the boiling public resentment.

Gao Gong's view was similar. With corrupt officials rampant and the lower-class people suffering, and with the incompetent people stealing the central government, it would be strange if the world could be good.

However, Gao Gong did not have a deep understanding of taxes and labor service. He just thought that the inspection of officials should be strengthened. If the administration is clean and honest, the people can live and work in peace and contentment. If the people are prosperous, the world will be peaceful.

If the officials are well selected, they will naturally not be corrupt and impose taxes and labor service to satisfy their own selfish desires.

In such an environment, the prosperous scene of the Tang Dynasty, where doors are not locked at night and no one picks up things on the road, seems to be reproduced in the Ming Dynasty.

Relatively speaking, Gao Gong is more inclined to rule by inaction and focuses on the administration of officials, while Zhang Juzheng has a more comprehensive view. He has realized the drawbacks of some policies in the early Ming Dynasty and wants to find a solution.

However, at present, the common point between the two people in dealing with the current situation is the same, that is, to rectify the administration of officials, especially to clean up the group of people who bought officials from Yan Shifan, and then the officials of Yan Song's faction.

However, this is not difficult to understand. Gao Gong represents the Prince Yu's Mansion, and Zhang Juzheng is Xu Jie's student, and naturally represents Xu Jie's interests. Their common point is that they are both enemies of Yan Song.

Therefore, they are also natural allies.

When they met in front of the duty room today, Zhang Juzheng approached him and chatted with him cordially, and then invited him to drink together.

Today, Gao Gong was very happy after reading the news sent by Wei Guangde.

In the past, he should have gone to Prince Yu's Mansion to celebrate at this time, but now he is no longer an official of Prince Yu's Mansion, and it seems inappropriate to run to the palace frequently. He just agreed after a simple thought.

However, Gao Gong soon realized that Zhang Juzheng should have received news from Xu Jie, and he was afraid that he had already known the reply of Xiyuan to the memorial sent by the cabinet yesterday.

Do you feel that Zhang Juzheng is snobbish?

Of course not. In fact, although the memorial yesterday was the result of discussion between Wu Shan and Gao Yao, Xu Jie also strongly supported it in the cabinet meeting, so it was successfully sent to the palace.

Although Yan Song did not strongly oppose it, in the memorial, Yan Song also clearly expressed his opinion, that is, he felt it was inappropriate.

What does it mean that the proposal that the Prime Minister thought was "inappropriate" was successfully passed by Emperor Jiajing?

This is also one of the reasons why Gao Gong felt excited. If the Prime Minister could not keep in line with the emperor, then it would not be long before he fell out of favor. Considering Yan Song's age, it was only a matter of time before he left office.

Therefore, in Gao Gong's view, Zhang Juzheng should be excited, because his teacher might gradually replace Yan Song and become the Prime Minister of the Empire. As a student, he would naturally rise with the tide and have unlimited future.

Thinking of Xu Jie's age and looking at the people at the opposite table, Gao Gong had already predicted that he might enter the cabinet with Zhang Juzheng in the future and work hard for the Ming Dynasty.

If you think so, maintaining a good relationship with him will also be of great benefit to the implementation of government affairs.