Chapter 422 421 Impeachment

When Emperor Jiajing saw Wu Shan's memorial, his eyebrows were furrowed, but his expression was very unhappy.

Huang Jin, who was standing by, naturally knew what was going on and could not help but secretly wiped a cold sweat.

If Minister Wu had submitted the memorial yesterday, it would probably have had a greater impact on Emperor Jiajing, but after yesterday's communication with the Taoist priests and reading the memorial sent by the Imperial Observatory, Emperor Jiajing had already believed their judgment.

After all, the Imperial Observatory, which was responsible for its own affairs, and those Taoist masters had the same views, so what was there to doubt.

Speaking of which, Emperor Jiajing felt that he was also worrying about nothing yesterday. He saw the solar eclipse and hurriedly beat the drum to rescue. Now it seems that he has worked in vain.

Therefore, when seeing Wu Shan's memorial today, Emperor Jiajing was more unhappy. He did not believe that Wu Shan did not receive the report from the Imperial Observatory and was not aware of the situation of the solar eclipse yesterday.

But since he knew the inside story, why did Wu Shan still submit a petition, with a tone of words that sounded like he was going to teach him a lesson, or maybe Wu Shan was just using this solar eclipse to express his dissatisfaction with the emperor.

Thinking of this, Emperor Jiajing's face became worse and worse.

Not only Huang Jin, who was closer to the emperor, noticed it, but even Gao Zhong, who was a little further away, noticed the emperor's dissatisfaction, and they could only mourn for Wu Shan in their hearts.

There would be no good results if you angered the emperor.

Huang Jin and Gao Zhong had already known what happened yesterday through Chen Ju.

Wei Guangde had arranged everything, but he was frustrated by Wu Shan.

In fact, all this might have been destined from the moment Emperor Jiajing asked for Wu Shan's petition.

After reading Wu Shan's petition, Emperor Jiajing looked at the cabinet's draft, written by Yan Song.

From the draft, Emperor Jiajing knew that Yan Song had read the memorial of the Imperial Observatory and knew the "inside story", so he criticized Wu Shan's words as evil words and suggested punishment. The reason was very simple, that is, the Imperial Observatory would also report to the Ministry of Rites after the solar eclipse.

Wu Shan knew that the "should be eclipsed" yesterday was the result of the emperor's virtue, but he still submitted a memorial to rescue and reminded the emperor what to do after the solar eclipse. This was a hidden evil intention.

"It was clearly a minor eclipse, who am I deceiving? Deceiving the heavens!"

Emperor Jiajing casually read out a sentence from Wu Shan's memorial, which was a rebuttal to the Imperial Observatory's explanation of the solar eclipse.

"Your Majesty, do you want to approve it?"

Emperor Jiajing put down Wu Shan's memorial and handed it back to Gao Zhong. Gao Zhong did not get any hint from Emperor Jiajing whether to approve it or reject it, so he asked cautiously.

If the emperor approved the cabinet's opinion and punished Wu Shan, the matter would be over. But if the emperor rejected the cabinet's opinion, it would mean that Emperor Jiajing was dissatisfied with the cabinet's punishment and wanted to increase the punishment on Wu Shan.

Emperor Jiajing looked up at Gao Zhong and said, although the displeasure on his face had not subsided much, "Wu Shan is just observing etiquette, so there is no need to accuse him."

Gao Zhong couldn't help but twitch his eyelids when he heard it.

The emperor rejected the cabinet's opinion and did not punish Wu Shan, but judging from his words and deeds, it seemed that it was not that simple.

Only Huang Jin bowed his head and said nothing. In his heart, he knew that Wu Shan's career was over.

Originally, Wu Shan, as the Minister of Rites, had the opportunity to enter the cabinet.

Wu Shan was a straightforward person, and he often caused dissatisfaction with Emperor Jiajing because of his outspokenness, but perhaps Emperor Jiajing also knew that the court still needed such outspoken ministers, so he never blamed him.

But this time, Wu Shan seemed to be using the solar eclipse to insinuate the emperor, and Emperor Jiajing finally couldn't stand it anymore.

If such a person entered the cabinet, he would not be reminding him of something all the time, but would keep buzzing in his ears like a mosquito. How could he practice Taoism?

Watching Gao Zhong take the memorial and return to his seat, he picked up the pen to comment on Emperor Jiajing's previous words, and the memorial was put aside. Huang Jin secretly exhaled, hoping that this Minister Wu would be blessed.

Huang Jin didn't know what the result would be for Wu Shan. You know, Wu Shan's predecessor, Minister of Rites Wang Yongbin, was transferred from the Ministry of Rites in Beijing to the Ministry of Rites in Nanjing to retire because of his handling of the Li Mo case, which offended Emperor Jiajing.

However, it was good to be able to get away with it.

It seemed that the matter was over. The sound of the little eunuch reading the memorial came from the hall. Gao Zhong brought quite a few memorials this time, but most of them were congratulations after knowing the memorial of the Imperial Observatory.

When the last memorial was read, the gloom on Emperor Jiajing's face disappeared, and he smiled and said, "Why do so many people think this is God's blessing? Haha, but Minister Wu doesn't think so.

Does the Ministry of Rites have any memorials? Who is the current Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Rites?"

Although the question seemed very casual, Huang Jin had already understood Emperor Jiajing's intentions. It seemed that the emperor had made up his mind.

Thinking about it, Huang Jin still stepped forward and bowed and replied, "Replying to the emperor, the current Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Rites is Li Donghua."

"I know, go down and ask him why he didn't submit a memorial."

Emperor Jiajing said casually, and then stood up and stretched his limbs, "I've been sitting for a long time, and my limbs are stiff."

While speaking, Emperor Jiajing walked towards the main hall gate, apparently to the courtyard to stretch his hands and feet.

Huang Jin gave Gao Zhong a signal, indicating that he should find Li Donghua and ask him to submit a memorial as soon as possible, and he quickly followed Emperor Jiajing.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the system of the previous dynasty was inherited, and the Jieshi Zhong was established without any division of disciplines.

In the sixth year of Hongwu, the six departments were divided into six departments: officials, households, rituals, soldiers, punishments, and work. Each of them was assigned to one person in Shizhong, with the seventh rank. He made repairs and supplements, assisted the emperor in handling memorials, and inspected the affairs of the six ministries.

It enjoys the rights of "scientific copying", "scientific reference" and "cancellation". Cancellation means that imperial edicts and memorials are attached to the scientific records every day and sent to the cabinet for filing every five days. The executive agency handles government affairs according to the order within the specified time limit, and is composed of six It will be canceled every five days after verification.

The Six Sections can also participate in "court discussions" and "court recommendations", participate in the formulation of the court's major policies, and supervise their implementation.

It can be said that the Six Sections are the tight spell that Zhu Yuanzhang put on the heads of the six tribes, a tool used to restrain the power of the six tribes.

Naturally, Huang Jin and Gao Zhong would not ask Emperor Jiajing what he wanted to do in the Etiquette Department.

Seeing the disappearing figure of Emperor Jiajing, Gao Zhongcai ordered the young chamberlain beside him: "Pack it up quickly and send all the memorials back to the Chief of Ceremonies."

After the young chamberlain had packed up the memorials, Gao Zhong took them out of Yongshou Palace and walked directly to the gate of Xiyuan.

After leaving Xiyuan, Gao Zhong thought of Emperor Jiajing's instructions, turned around and said to the chamberlain following him: "You take the memorial back to the Chief of Ceremonies first, I will go back and deal with it later."

After giving the instructions, Gao Zhong entered the Xihua Gate without looking back. Not far ahead was the Six Branch Corridor.

Li Donghua was a little unprepared for the sudden appearance of Gao Zhong, the eunuch and eunuch. When Gao Zhong entered the door, he hurriedly stood up and came over to greet him.

No matter how proud the civil servants are outside and belittle the eunuchs in the palace at will, when they actually face the eunuchs, most of them appear to be very groveling.

"Eunuch Gao, what brings you here?"

Meeting Gao Zhong, Li Donghua said humbly.

Gao Zhong glanced at Li Donghua. He naturally knew him. After all, the Sixth Section was a very important department. The imperial decrees issued by Emperor Jiajing came out of the inner court and were sent to the Sixth Section for registration. In the past ten years, no one dared to refute it. It’s an imperial edict.

These were all problems that were common in the Hongzhi and Zhengde dynasties. Emperors generally would not get angry with ministers, but when it came to Jiajing Emperor, he no longer tolerated them. In the past few years, many officials were punished, and even the chief minister of the cabinet was killed at will. .

Gao Zhong glanced at Li Donghua and said with a smile on his face: "I'm asked to ask what's going on in the etiquette department. Is the corpse's place of vegetarianism still not worthy of morality?"

"Um?"

Li Donghua felt his eyelids jump when he heard Gao Zhong's rude reply.

Above, which one above?

In the inner court, Gao Zhong had only a handful of people with higher status than him. Who could he be called a superior?

The most important thing is, did you fail to do something well in etiquette?

Targeted by the top of his mouth.

"Eunuch Gao, please make it clear that I have made any mistakes or omissions in the etiquette department, but please correct them."

Gao Zhong had a bad tone, but Li Donghua didn't look angry at all, and still maintained a humble attitude.

"During yesterday's solar eclipse, both the Qin Tian Jian and the Ministry of Rites submitted memorials. The contents of the two memorials are completely different. Don't you, the Ministry of Rites, have anything to say?"

Gao Zhong said bluntly.

"That's it."

Li Donghua secretly said something bad. Although their Etiquette Department has the word "ritual" on it, it has little to do with the Ministry of Etiquette. Wu Shan, the Minister of Etiquette, really has no control over them, and even their job itself is to control the Ministry of Etiquette.

In the past, the work efficiency of the Ministry of Rites was monitored. For tasks that were delayed in completion, officials of the Ministry of Rites were incompetent, and they would be impeached.

This time Gao Zhong bluntly said that after Li Ke presented memorials with different contents to the Qin Tian Jian and the Ministry of Rites, what opinions should he express and what opinions can he express?

Of course, he had read the memorials of Qin Tianjian and Wu Shan in the Li Ke, and Li Donghua felt very bad at that time.

But he was a bit afraid to get involved.

Impeachment of Qin Tian Jian is nothing, a powerless yamen, but does he dare to refute the content of Qin Tian Jian's memorial?

As for Wu Shan, impeachment can be done, but after all, he is a second-rank minister, and the things written in the memorial are really not wrong, so he cannot be impeached.

Based on this, Li Donghua originally wanted to be an ostrich, but he didn't expect that Gao Zhong would come directly to his door so quickly.

Without Gao Zhong saying too much, Li Donghua knew what Xiyuan meant.

In fact, from the time the memorial was sent to the palace in the morning, how long it took for Gao Zhong to arrive at his place, we can see how serious the situation was.

Emperor Jiajing must have hated Wu Shangshu, otherwise no one would have come here so quickly. It would have been Gao Zhong, the chief of etiquette, and eunuch Bingbi who came in person.

Say something, isn't it just to impeach Wu Shan?

However, if you think about it carefully, Li Donghua really can't find a reason to impeach Wu Shan.

"I wonder, Eunuch Gao, how did the palace give instructions?"

Without a reason for impeachment, Li Donghua could not write.

Fortunately, Gao Zhong is here now. He must know how Emperor Jiajing approved it. If he asks clearly, he can prescribe the right medicine and impeach according to the emperor's wishes.

"How else can I give instructions? His Majesty only said, 'Wu Shangshu is accepting the gift and there is no need to incriminate him.'"

Gao Zhong, who was sitting on the chair, raised his eyelids and glanced at Li Donghua. Although he knew that Emperor Jiajing was dissatisfied, Gao Zhong did not dare to speak nonsense when asked about the emperor's instructions.

"this"

Li Donghua felt a little numb. He could hear the emperor's dissatisfaction with Wu Shan's memorial from these words, but he said he did not blame him.

Thinking of this, Li Donghua looked at Gao Zhong again, and was a little unsure whether he came here on the order of the emperor. Maybe he had a conflict with Wu Shan and was looking for an opportunity to make trouble for him.

This group of eunuchs is like this. An upright person like Lord Wu Shan must have offended these eunuchs a lot. When the emperor is a little dissatisfied, they will nitpick and want to make a big deal.

Although he thought so, Li Donghua still didn't show it on his face. He still pretended to be friendly with Gao Zhong, but he made up his mind not to get involved.

Wait for Wu Shangshu's memorial to be approved, and then take a closer look and make a decision.

As for whether to pass the news to Wu Shangshu, forget it. Wu Shan is famous for his bad temper in the court. Although his character is praised, there are really few people who are willing to make friends with him. It is really hard to curry favor with him.

Since he can't curry favor with him, why should he lick his face and get close to him?

The next day, Li Donghua saw Wu Shan's memorial, which had been approved by the emperor. As Gao Zhong said, the emperor was unhappy with Wu Shan, but he did not intend to punish him.

Then, Li Donghua threw Gao Zhong's message aside, thinking that the matter was over.

Because this matter did not involve Prince Yu's Mansion, Chen Ju naturally did not pass the news to Wei Guangde. The only people who knew about this matter were a few people in the palace at that time, and those young eunuchs were either attached to Huang Jin or Gao Zhong, so naturally no one would spread it.

Li Donghua had a good calculation, thinking that he could just play ostrich and get away with it, but he did not expect that he would be called to the cabinet in just two days.

When he entered the door, Xu Jie threw a memorial in front of him and asked him to read it himself.

Li Donghua was very puzzled. He picked up the memorial and took a look, and then a cold sweat broke out.

The memorial had nothing to do with the Li Department. It was a memorial from Zhao Dayou, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, and Wan Wenming, the Commander of the Jinyiwei, who were ordered to re-investigate the illegal activities of Yi Wang Zhu Dianliang.

The fact that Yi Wang Zhu Dianliang robbed civilian houses and princess mansions to expand the palace had spread among the Beijing officials earlier. The Governor of Henan Province impeached him, and Emperor Jiajing ordered the Ministry of Justice and Jinyiwei to jointly investigate the case.

At first, Li Donghua glanced at the content of the memorial and felt strange. He had nothing to do with Luoyang, so why would he read this memorial? This was the job of the Criminal Department. He didn't understand until he saw the emperor's red at the back.

Emperor Jiajing approved the memorial of Zhao Dayou and Wan Wenming, and ordered them to demolish the illegal buildings, return the women they had seized, and hand over the instigators. This was the opinion on how to deal with Yi Wang's affairs, but in the end he reprimanded the Henan Dao Censor for not reporting it and accused the officials of the Ministry of Justice of taking salaries to support themselves.

The most annoying part is at the end, where it is clearly written that the Imperial Observatory and the Ministry of Rites each have their own opinions in the memorials, so why didn't the officials of this department report it to the emperor?

After reading this passage, Li Donghua finally understood the intentions of Emperor Jiajing.

It is clearly stated that the Ministry of Rites did not comment on this incident, but combined with what Gao Zhong said before, what exactly did Emperor Jiajing want?