Chapter 482 481 Retirement and Arrest

Since Gao Gong regards the officials of Yan Dang and Xu Dang as imperial worms, they will naturally be the targets of his purge in the future.

He was determined to cleanse the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty and reshape the officialdom. Naturally, he could not join their ranks, otherwise he would be unable to display his talents and ambitions.

However, when King Yu declined, he felt that he was bearing the humiliation and had to make do with Xu Jiexu.

Naturally, neither Gao Gong nor King Yu would tell Wei Guangde this, and everything could only be guessed.

King Yu also had great trust in Gao Gong, but sometimes, King Yu had to doubt that Gao Gong would be in trouble.

No one is perfect.

This is what Gao Gong taught him back then.

He completely trusted Gao Gong, but sometimes Gao Gong always made him feel aggrieved. Although it would not make him openly fall out with Gao Gong, he was still unhappy if he was unhappy.

Chen Yiqin was absent, Yin Shizhen lacked plans, Zhang Juzheng could not be fully trusted because of Xu Jie's relationship, and his father happened to transfer the scheming Wei Guangde to Prince Yu's Mansion. Thinking of Gao Gong's words in the past, he should ask Wei Guangde if he had any urgent matters, so he chose to send Wei Guangde to him today. Call and ask.

Knowing King Yu's thoughts, Wei Guangde lowered his head and thought.

In fact, he had thought about this matter before, but he still couldn't grasp Emperor Jiajing's mentality. He didn't know whether Zou Yinglong's impeachment would be effective.

However, Wei Guangde recalled the previous impeachment storms between the DPRK and China, all of which were aimed at the situation after Yan Song. It seemed that Yan Song was fine. Based on Wei Guangde's intuition, if he still mobilizes the courtiers to impeach Yan Song this time, he is afraid that there will be another fight in the end. In this situation, how can we convince King Yu to put up with this tone for the time being?

After careful consideration, Wei Guangde decided to tell the truth. Only in this way could he gain King Yu's complete trust.

"Your Highness, in fact, Zou Yushi's memorial has clearly stated the culpability of the Yan family and his son.

To be honest, I was very surprised when I saw the memorial. I didn't expect that Zou Yushi could read it so thoroughly, and it can be said that every word is like a knife. "

Wei Guangde said, "Even I would have to think hard for several days before I could think of how to write this memorial."

Hearing that Wei Guangde praised Zou Yinglong's impeachment memorial so much, it seemed that he was very optimistic about his memorial, so he looked at Wei Guangde more curiously, waiting for him to explain his doubts.

In fact, after reading Zou Yinglong's memorial, he felt that there was nothing else besides what he said. So many crimes of the Yan family were not mentioned, and Yan Song was only labeled as being lax in educating his children. It was really too simple. .

"Mr. Xu Ge chose Zou Yinglong to write this memorial probably not on a whim, but because he had deep considerations.

It should be said that Mr. Xu Ge is very accurate in judging people. If it were anyone else, he would probably be like those people in the past, detailing the countless criminal evidence of the Yan family and his son. But is this really good? "

"Why is it bad?"

Hearing Wei Guangde's question, King Yu couldn't help but speak.

"Most of the so-called crimes committed by the Yan family and his sons were actually motivated by the emperor's will. They all acted according to His Majesty's wishes, but they were all disliked and opposed by the court officials. The Yan family's father and his sons said that he was either flattering or corrupt. , they are actually doing things according to His Majesty's will and earning a benefit by the way.

Your Majesty is a sensible person. As the old saying goes, the emperor is always hungry, so how could he ask Yan Song to withstand the opposition of the courtiers and satisfy his wishes at the same time.

Your Majesty understands some things, but what we see as corruption is actually His Majesty's reward for merit. "

Wei Guangde spoke eloquently: "Putting those so-called crimes in the impeachment memorial will not only be useless, but will make Your Majesty think that it is obviously to impeach Yan Chief Fu, but in fact it is him.

Therefore, most of the previous impeachments have been in vain, especially the more people who initiate the impeachment, the greater the possibility of saying wrong things. There is no guarantee that one or two of them will offend His Majesty. "

Having said this, Wei Guangde looked up at King Yu and met his gaze. Wei Guangde said directly: "If your Majesty is willing to let him go, he only needs a very empty impeachment to approve it. What crimes need to be detailed there?" .

Could it be that in the Ming Dynasty, there would be a second chief minister who was sentenced to death? "

From the previous words, King Yu understood that the fundamental reason why Yan Song's actions aroused public outrage was because his father wanted to do it and the court officials opposed it. However, the last paragraph made King Yu sober up.

Although the result made him very dissatisfied, he couldn't help but think deeply about the reason.

Xia Yan, a cabinet minister of the Ming Dynasty, was the first minister to be punished by Ming Zhengdian, and he was still the chief minister of the cabinet.

Regardless of whether Xia Yan deserves to die or not, this is undoubtedly a stain.

If Emperor Jiajing really wants to punish Yan Song, then it means that the Jiajing Dynasty.

This is not to rectify the officialdom, but to say that Emperor Jiajing was blind and allowed treacherous villains.

"That means that Yan Song cannot be impeached, and his faults cannot be listed in detail. If there are, it can only be said to be other people, such as his son?"

King Yu looked at Wei Guangde with wide eyes and asked.

Wei Guangde nodded.

Li Fang next to him also understood what Wei Guangde meant at this time, and looked like he suddenly realized it.

Wei Guangde had already left the wing and went out, but Wang Yu and Li Fang were still sitting in the room for a long time.

"call"

King Yu let out a sigh of relief.

"Your Highness?"

Li Fang asked servilely.

"nothing."

Shaking his head, King Yu looked up at the roof, and said leisurely: "Only now do I understand why the previous impeachments ended in vain. It turns out that the methods of impeachment were all wrong."

"Yes, yes, I only understand it now.

If I hadn't listened to Lord Wei's explanation, I wouldn't have understood it. I just thought that if I made a mistake, I should be punished, but I didn't expect that it would involve the emperor's face."

Li Fang echoed at this time.

"Go, call Caifeng over."

Prince Yu said as he stood up and walked out.

"Your Highness, those notes?"

Li Fang followed behind and asked in a low voice.

"Burn it, don't worry about it. Shandai's words make sense. The more people there are, the easier it is to do bad things. Don't let anyone see clearly and point the finger at Lord Yan, ruining a good situation."

Prince Yu had already strode out of the house while he was speaking.

Because of Prince Yu's delay, when Wei Guangde left Prince Yu's mansion, Yin Shizhan, Zhang Juzheng and others had already left.

Well, he was the first to leave, but he was the last to leave.

At this time, in the Yuxi Palace in the Western Garden, Gao Zhong had already entered the palace with the memorial.

The Imperial Observatory has already calculated the time to move into the newly built Yongshou Palace, but it will be next month. During this period, Emperor Jiajing will continue to live in Yuxi Palace.

Looking at the piles of memorials brought by Gao Zhong, thinking that it is like this every day, and there will always be endless government affairs to deal with, Emperor Jiajing couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

People only say that the emperor is good, but facing the endless problems in the world, it is sometimes irritating to solve them.

"Read it."

As usual, Emperor Jiajing just whispered.

"Your Majesty, Zou Yinglong, the censor of the Censorate, has submitted a memorial to impeach Yan Shifan and his son for being unfaithful and unfilial."

While speaking, Gao Zhong took out the memorial from his sleeve and handed it to Emperor Jiajing's desk alone.

"Unfaithful and unfilial?"

With a serious face, Emperor Jiajing picked up the memorial on the table and flipped through it. For the memorials impeaching important officials, it was not the emperor's request that they should not be read out, but he had to read them in person.

However, after a quick look, Emperor Jiajing's calm face changed slightly.

In fact, Huang Jin had already known about Zou Yinglong's impeachment of Yan Shifan and his son, and he was also clear about the content of the memorial, but neither he nor Gao Zhong had any abnormality.

First, they themselves did not have a close relationship with the Yan family in order to avoid suspicion, and the Yan family's misfortune had nothing to do with them.

Second, it was a fight in the outer court, and they, the people in the inner court, were naturally happy to watch the show.

The contest between the first and second assistants should be very exciting.

However, after reading the memorial, the two did not know who would win this time.

They were all old people, so they naturally found that Zou Yinglong's memorial this time was very different from the past, and it seemed very targeted.

However, Yan Song was an official who could not be tumbled after all. It might be effective for others, but it was hard to say for this one.

Therefore, the emperor's performance at this time was reflected in the eyes of the two, and naturally they had their own understanding.

After reading it over and over again, Emperor Jiajing finally put down the memorial in his hand.

No one knew the psychological changes of Emperor Jiajing at this time, but there would be an answer soon.

"Song is careful and loyal, and only follows the will of heaven and praises Emperor Xuanxiushou. He is hated by the people of the country for many years, but he indulges himself in rebellion and does not teach me at all. He just follows my advice and does not think about my favor."

Emperor Jiajing seemed to have calmed down, and his expression had returned to normal. He just spoke lightly, which surprised Huang Jin and Gao Zhong.

What does it mean?

Did your majesty really use Zou Yinglong's memorial to make Yan Song step down?

Just when they looked at the emperor in surprise, Emperor Jiajing had closed his eyes and said with emotion: "Let him retire, order him to rush to the post, and the officials will give him 100 stone of rice per year."

Just when Huang and Gao were still surprised by the power of Zou Yinglong's memorial, they suddenly heard the voice of Emperor Jiajing again.

"Whether any of these articles are violated, order the Jinyiwei to arrest him and send him to the Zhenfu Division for interrogation. Yinglong should be specially praised for his loyalty and words. Order the officials of the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites to draft the memorial."

Emperor Jiajing had seen Yuan Wei's draft, but did not say anything, and did not even write a red hand on it, but handed the responsibility to Huang Jin.

Huang Jin, who understood what Emperor Jiajing meant, hurriedly stood beside the imperial desk and picked up the red pen to write down the words of His Majesty before.

"I have heard that Shifan was licentious during mourning, and I hate it very much."

Huang Jin, who was writing quickly, was only slightly stunned, and then continued to write, and also recorded what Emperor Jiajing had just said in the memorial.

The East Factory and the Jinyiwei had already reported to the secret about what Yan Shifan did after his mother's coffin returned to the south, but Emperor Jiajing never said anything. After all, he did the same thing before and did not cause any trouble.

It was just unexpected that at that time, Emperor Jiajing was already dissatisfied with Yan Shifan.

This time, the approval was not only to be submitted to the cabinet after approval, but also to dispatch the Jinyiwei to arrest people, so Huang Jin hurried out to ask someone to pass the order to arrest people after putting down the red pen for Emperor Jiajing to review.

This time, Emperor Jiajing dealt with it so quickly that Huang Jin, who always thought he understood the emperor's heart best, was surprised.

According to convention, such memorials are usually kept in the palace for two days before being returned, but I didn't expect that His Majesty approved it directly.

When Huang Jin turned around after conveying the order, he suddenly understood when he saw the high and mighty Emperor Jiajing.

Your Majesty, have you been waiting for this memorial for a long time?

Why did the impeachments fail in the past?

In fact, he also had his own guess, that is, the content of the impeachment was too complicated, and many of them were actually approved by the emperor.

If it really became an impeachment clause, wouldn't it mean that the emperor was wrong?

However, these were just Huang Jin's private guesses, and he didn't dare to ask them out.

This impeachment seems to be just right. It impeached Yan Shifan and his sons and the family of Yan's family. Yan Song was only guilty of lax discipline.

It was a strong enough reason to make a prime minister retire because of lax discipline.

The most important event in the court today was the impeachment of Yan Shifan by Zou Yinglong, the censor of the Censorate. At this time, the court had been dismissed. The ministers in the court walked out of the yamen in twos and threes, calling friends to find a place to drink tea and chat.

After all, it was still early, and it was not time to set up a banquet and invite prostitutes to sing and dance.

When friends get together, they can't help but comment on Zou Yinglong's impeachment memorial.

Some things have been said to colleagues in the yamen before, but some things are not suitable to be said in such occasions. It is better to say them in private with friends.

Today, the Jinyiwei's spies are very busy. They keep recording the words of the officials they overheard and send them to the Northern Pacification Office for filing. At this time, outside the gate of the Northern Pacification Office, several guards are walking quickly.

If it were a few years ago, the Jinyiwei guarding the gate would probably tease them for a while if the guards appeared in front of the Northern Pacification Office. But today, they see that the guards from the East Factory are obviously coming to them, so they all perk up and become alert.

It's funny to say that before the East Factory, the Jinyiwei were arrogant and domineering.

But since the East Factory, although they are both the emperor's minions, the East Factory has always been able to suppress the Jinyiwei. It was only after Lu Bing took charge of the Jinyiwei that they had a brief period of recovery.

But now, without Lu Bing, the Jinyiwei has begun to be gradually suppressed by the East Factory.

When they arrived at the gate of the Northern Pacification Division, the leading soldier showed his badge of the East Factory and shouted, "Is the Left Commander Zhu Xixiao here?"

"Yes."

The gatekeeper Jinyiwei answered hurriedly.

The other party showed his badge first, which was also considered to be following the procedure. They naturally couldn't ignore it, but they were also wondering in their hearts, what did they want to do with their boss?

As soon as the voice fell, several soldiers had already walked into the gate of the Northern Pacification Division.

Not long after, shouts and dense footsteps came from the Pacification Division Yamen, and several guards couldn't help but shrink their necks.

Although they didn't know what those soldiers were here for, they knew from the movement that the Tiqi on duty in the Northern Pacification Division were gathering and they were about to go out.

As for who the target was?

I don't know.

But what they know is that another official is going to be unlucky.

No matter how powerful you were outside before, as long as you enter the gate of the Northern Pacification Division, you are someone they can control.

"Damn it, the people in charge of the imperial prison are going to have a good time again."

A lieutenant muttered in a low voice.

"Who said it wasn't? Sometimes I want to use my connections to get in there."

A man next to him echoed.

The people who can be sent in are not ordinary people, they are all officials, all rich people. They can do whatever they want with the meat on the chopping board. If they want to be more comfortable in prison, they have to pay money.

The few people just said a few words and then shut up immediately. At this time, a large group of imperial guards had rushed to the gate of the Northern Pacification Division.