Chapter 484 483 Yan Song Retires

"Your Highness, everyone, we just received news that Lord Yan went to the West Garden."

The eunuch's report made everyone in the room nervous again, but Yan Song's favor was still there, and his meeting with the emperor would change the situation again.

Prince Yu frowned, but said nothing.

Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng also had a sullen face, wondering whether Emperor Jiajing would modify the punishment this time because of Yan Song's relationship.

Only Yin Shizeng seemed to be relieved at this moment, and actually laughed: "It's settled, hahaha."

His laughter naturally made him the focus of the people in the room, and everyone's eyes were focused on him.

"Your Highness, Uncle, Shandai, you forgot that His Majesty wanted Yan Ge Lao to retire. He should have submitted a memorial of thanks. This time when he went to Xiyuan, he would certainly plead for his son, but he should also thank His Majesty for letting him retire.

Tsk tsk, his son was convicted, but His Majesty still allowed him to return home according to the old practice of returning an old minister, and even gave him rice."

Seeing that everyone's eyes were attracted to him, Yin Shizhe smiled and explained.

"You mean, Yan Song did not intend to resist, but just wanted to go to Xiyuan to plead for his son? He actually accepted the order to retire?"

Zhang Juzheng frowned and asked.

In Xu Jie's teachings to him, Yan Song and Yan Shifan were always described as very powerful characters. They were greedy for money and power, and they would not easily give up their power.

Even if Emperor Jiajing wanted them to leave the court, they should have resisted stubbornly.

In the capital, the Ministry of War and nobles controlled the surrounding garrisons, but Yan Song had been the prime minister for more than ten years, and he had planted countless people in the local area, especially Hu Zongxian in Zhejiang, who had a hundred thousand troops under his command, and was the most powerful force in the entire south.

Even though Tan Lun took a group of troops away because of the encirclement and suppression of the Fujian rebels, the strength in his hands should not be underestimated.

Letting Yan Song return to Jiangxi easily is tantamount to letting the tiger return to the mountain, and the best and once-and-for-all solution is to take down Yan Song and his son, so that the worries can be eliminated.

Stability is above all else.

"Then, Yan Shifan will never be able to get out of the imperial prison anyway."

Wei Guangde suddenly said.

"That's right."

Yin Shizhan continued: "At least, before Hu Zongxian was relieved of his military power, Yan Shifan would never be released. No matter how Yan Song pleaded, he might just be exempted from death."

Hearing Yin Shizhan's words, Zhang Juzheng suddenly understood.

Indeed, if Yan Shifan is arrested and imprisoned in the imperial prison, even if Yan Song returns to his hometown in the south, he will not be able to cause any trouble, and his son is still imprisoned.

He should just go home and enjoy his old age at the age of over 80.

After Hu Zongxian is arrested, Yan Shifan’s punishment should come out. Even if he is really released at this time, they can’t stir up any waves.

The Jinyiwei in Nanchang may have arrested Yan Hu at this time. His son and grandson are not there, even if Yan Song wants to do something, he is powerless.

According to this thinking, it is indeed possible not to catch them all in one fell swoop. Although it will make people unwilling, it will have the least impact on the court.

When Xia Yan was arrested and punished, it not only lost the face of the court, but also chilled many knowledgeable people.

In the officialdom, there are many people who support Xia Yan, and there are also many who oppose him, but Xia Yan’s beheading still makes opponents dissatisfied.

The literati are not punished.

This is why the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty dared to challenge the emperor. Xia Yan was not a traitor, but just a power-hungry official. However, his ability was obvious to all. At least Emperor Jiajing felt many times that the cabinet could not do without Xia Yan.

Supporters are naturally those who share the same position with Xia Yan and can benefit from Xia Yan's governance. At least they have similar views and support Xia Yan's rectification measures.

Opponents, on the other hand, are mostly because Xia Yan's party deprived them of their rights, which harmed their interests. They naturally stood on the opposite side of him. They did not necessarily think that Xia Yan was incompetent, but simply because Xia Yan touched their interests.

Just because of political differences, they were beheaded by Emperor Jiajing. How can they do anything?

Even if they knew that Xia Yan's death was inextricably linked to Yan Song and Lu Bing, they would figure it out after a long time. It was Yan and Lu who killed him, although it was Emperor Jiajing who gave the order.

Yan Song was gradually excluded by the civil service group because of this incident, especially because he was not inferior to Xia Yan in seizing power, so he finally stood on the opposite side of most officials.

To get promoted, one can only rely on Yan Song.

In such an environment, other people who are willing to join him as a lackey will naturally stand on the opposite side of most people.

People's words are scary, and it is clear what they will choose.

Knowing that even if Yan Song pleads in front of Emperor Jiajing, Yan Shifan will not be released, and the outcome of the Yan family's downfall will not change, Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde are naturally not worried.

To be honest, they are really afraid that Yan Song will cry and beg in front of Emperor Jiajing and turn the good situation that has been formed with great difficulty back.

At this time, Yan Song was walking into Yuxi Palace step by step with trembling legs, looking so desolate, with a numb expression, holding the memorial in both hands, which makes people feel a little pity when they see it.

After all, he is more than 80 years old, and his age is there, and he deliberately creates such an image, of course, the purpose is to win the sympathy of Emperor Jiajing.

He was well prepared, but he didn't expect that his son would be arrested and imprisoned at the last moment, so he was in a very bad mood.

Although it was a performance, the mood at this time was real.

When he got inside, he knelt down to salute Emperor Jiajing.

In fact, since he entered the door, Emperor Jiajing's heart was still a little softened, but thinking of some concerns, he knew that he had to be hard-hearted, at least before solving the hidden dangers.

In the past, Yan Song only bowed when he came in. There was no requirement in the Ming Dynasty that ministers had to kneel and kowtow when seeing the emperor. Only formal occasions had to be performed. On occasions like today, it was enough to bow and salute.

However, perhaps Yan Song knew that after today, he was afraid that he would never have another chance. If he was not docile, he was afraid that he would never be able to plead in person again after leaving here, so he did everything he should do.

"Stand up."

Emperor Jiajing sat on the throne, watching Yan Song kneel down, and said.

However, Yan Song would not let the emperor's words affect his plan. After completing the five kneelings and three kowtows with difficulty, he shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, I thank you for your grace."

Retirement is a punishment for some people, but it is also a relief for some people.

Being an official is not that easy.

Yan Song was a Jinshi in the Hongzhi period. He served three emperors, Hongzhi, Zhengde and Jiajing. Naturally, he had a clear understanding of this.

He actually didn't know whether he was still greedy for that little power. After all, his body really couldn't bear it. He just wanted to protect his family.

Now, he can finally be freed from the endless official documents. It's a good thing from the heart, but his son's crime still makes him uneasy.

"Your Majesty, you have been diligent in government affairs and sharing my worries over the years. It's also hard. You have said several times before that you want to go back to your hometown to retire. At that time, I really couldn't do without your assistance, which delayed me for many years.

Your Majesty is already eighty years old. Ordinary people have already enjoyed their old age, but you are still working hard for state affairs. I can't bear it, so I have this decree."

Emperor Jiajing said with some emotion, as if all his ideas were for Yan Song.

"I thank your majesty for your love. I am lucky to be favored by your majesty to take charge of the cabinet with my humble merits. I neglected to discipline my ministers."

As Yan Song spoke, he held up the memorial in his hand. Huang Jin stepped forward to take it from him and handed it to the emperor.

At this time, Yan Song was actually selling misery, hoping to use his merits and hard work to exchange for the sympathy of Emperor Jiajing, so that he could take his son Yan Shifan to the south.

As long as the person was released from the imperial prison by Emperor Jiajing, the matter in the capital would be revealed and would not be mentioned again.

After all, Zou Yinglong's impeachment almost revealed all of Yan Shifan's crimes. If they continued to pursue the issue, it would not be the Yan family's problem, but the emperor's.

Yan Song was really not afraid of people digging up old accounts.

As for whether someone would copy Zou Yinglong's memorial and continue to impeach him, wanting to hold him accountable?

Yan Song believed that no one would do such a thing as repeating what others had said, and targeting the family of the former prime minister.

Emperor Jiajing did not look through the two memorials, so he naturally knew what was written in them.

After Yan Song finished speaking, he looked at Yan Song who was crawling on the ground, shook his head gently and said: "I have learned what Shifan did through the memorial, and I have also asked the factory guards to verify. Do you know where the person was found?

Are you really not aware of these things?"

After asking twice in a row, Emperor Jiajing stood up and said in a somewhat grim tone: "Xuan Cheng En, you have helped the evil and ugly, and your deception and slander of the emperor are getting worse day by day.

I think of your diligence and hard work for more than 20 years, so I give you a good treatment. Why do you treat you as a vicious child?"

As the saying goes, "Every man has his own opinion, and every man has his own opinion." It actually means that different people have different views on the same issue from different standpoints or angles.

In terms of the issue of looking at Yan Shifan, Emperor Jiajing and Yan Song actually have different understandings of him, and their views are naturally very different.

In fact, Yan Song was planning from the overall situation, and in order to ensure the smooth governance of his administration, he fought for some key positions, but these could only be achieved with the tacit consent of Emperor Jiajing.

Therefore, Yan Song thought that the so-called Yan Party in the outside world was actually all in the open, and Emperor Jiajing naturally knew who they were?

As the saying goes, when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. As long as he resigned, these people would be almost independent and act on their own, which would not cause Emperor Jiajing's fear at all. Moreover, most of the senior officials had been replaced in recent years, and many of the people he had used had either retired or been punished, and they were no longer the same as they used to be.

As for the group of bad friends around Yan Shifan, in his opinion, they just wanted to take advantage of the situation. When he resigned and took his son to the south, he would naturally stop contacting them.

He knew about Yan Shifan's selling of official positions. Whether it was Wu Peng or Ouyang Bijin who was in charge of the Ministry of Personnel, he sometimes hinted at some, but in his opinion, they were all insignificant positions, and between them, it was just a deal.

Others gave them money, and if they met the conditions for the appointment, they were given some preferential treatment to allow them to take office in advance.

This was actually just a matter of taking what they needed, and it would not have any impact on the government.

As for whether they would get the money back after taking office after giving money to the Yan family, this was no longer within his consideration. He had strict laws and severe punishments, and he would deal with the violations.

How could he know how many official positions Yan Shifan had sold, and how many of them were drawn to his side and became nails planted in the local area.

Yan Song was not clear about this, but Jinyiwei and Dongchang would not ignore it.

After discovering that many people were still in contact with the Yan Mansion after taking office, they naturally knew what was going on. These were all people from the Yan Mansion, and then they were naturally recorded in the little book.

Not many people knew about these things, even Yan Song was kept in the dark. He had no idea that his family's disciples had expanded infinitely under the manipulation of Yan Shifan, and had spread from the capital to many places, and they were all some very important prefectures and counties.

However, most of those who had real talents chose to take the right path and naturally would not be related to the Yan family. It was not that they did not want to, but they were concerned about their face and had to mix in the literati.

Although he had many subordinates and could do a lot of things, Yan Shifan had a clear understanding of these people.

These arrangements were also for the purpose of forcing King Jing to take office in the future, and for fear that there would be a strong backlash in the local area, so that someone could control it. However, these actions were seen by Emperor Jiajing as having ulterior motives.

At this time, Yan Song was also terrified when he heard the words of Emperor Jiajing, and knew that he could not force it.

Emperor Jiajing wanted to detain Yan Shifan, which meant that his son must have really offended the emperor, so he had to kowtow and plead guilty.

"Your Majesty, everything is the fault of my minister's lax management of the family. Shifan has committed serious crimes. Your Majesty, please punish him severely to atone for his sins."

If you want to make up for your sins with your merits, then you should plead guilty and take the initiative to ask for severe punishment. I think the emperor should be grateful for your kindness.

Retreating to advance is the only choice Yan Song can make at this time.

"The country has its own laws, and Shifan's crimes will be decided by the judicial department."

At this time, the voice of Emperor Jiajing reached Yan Song's ears, and he couldn't help but feel a little frightened.

The judicial department, that is the three judicial departments, which are handled by the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate and the Dali Temple.

The Dali Temple is easy to say, and the Ministry of Justice can also say something, but the Censorate is a bit difficult to deal with.

Up to now, among the three judicial departments, the only one that the Yan family can still control is the Dali Temple. The Ministry of Justice has been taken down by him in the past, so the connections are still there.

But in the Censorate, the current Left Censor-in-Chief Pan En is Xu Jie's man.

In a trance, Yan Song left Yuxi Palace.

When he walked out of the gate of Xiyuan, he looked back unconsciously, and all he saw was red walls and green tiles.

But this place is no longer a place he can come to.

Yan Song never thought that as a cabinet minister and a university scholar of Huagai Palace, the last edict he drafted was actually his retirement edict. Although he enjoyed the same edict as the previous edict, his most concerned son still did not get out of the imperial prison.

The edict was quickly sent to the Silijian, and after being sealed, it was quickly sent to the six departments and the cabinet for processing.

Huang Jin witnessed all this in Yuxi Palace, and knew that Emperor Jiajing had made up his mind to take down Yan Song, so he naturally did not dare to delay it.