At night, the plum blossoms fall and the snow falls, auspicious for a good harvest.
The most distinctive architectural feature in the capital is the hutongs. All kinds of hutongs, with alleys built along the lines, are gathered together horizontally and vertically, becoming memories imprinted in the hearts of generations.
There are many alleys and doorways. In the past two years, it was popular in the capital to say that the east was rich and the west was noble, while the south was poor and the north was humble. However, in the past two years, more noble people have purchased houses in the east city.
Of course, most of them are civil servants, like real nobles, the families of noble relatives passed down from generation to generation, and of course they still live in Xicheng.
As for the reason, it is actually simple.
Because of the Tumu Fort battle, the newly promoted officials in the imperial court were all relatively young officials, and many of them were promoted from local areas. They did not have that long experience and did not dare to stand out when they first arrived in the capital. Therefore, they could only purchase Some smaller homes.
But the elders have been comfortable for a long time, and the feeling of being a small family is tight. In addition, although there are no real nobles in Dongcheng, there is a great god, the outer residence of Shu Liang, the admiral of Dongchang.
Although this eunuch is an eunuch, his status cannot be underestimated. Even if Wang Zhen is in front of him, there will always be people who follow the trend. Even if the eunuch doesn't leave and says hello to him, if he has to deal with Dongchang in the future, , can also be somewhat thin noodles.
So, I don’t know when, the originally dense but narrow Dongcheng alleys began to have official houses gradually appear.
At first, they were junior officials of the seventh and eighth grades. Later, they gradually became senior officials of the fifth and sixth grades, and even the third and fourth grades. The most notable representatives were Lord Li Shi of the Cabinet and Li Xian of the Ministry of Rites. grown ups.
These two men were promoted very quickly. They lived in Dongcheng when they were not yet prosperous, and later became important ministers of the imperial court. Dongcheng was not only filled with merchants as usual.
Therefore, the two elders did not move at all, but purchased the adjacent houses on the left and right, and after renovation, they widened it a lot and used it as a residence.
At this moment, several bright red lanterns were hung on the house that was written as "Li Mansion", reflecting the white snow on the ground, which was really beautiful.
A warm sedan stopped leisurely, and then, an old man in a brocade robe got off the sedan, looked up at the sign of Li Mansion, and sighed softly.
In front of the Li Mansion, a housekeeper had been waiting for him for a long time. When he saw the sedan stopped in front of the door, he immediately came up to greet him and said.
"I've seen the old man. My master is waiting in the house. Please follow the young man into the house."
The old man in brocade robes nodded and walked into the mansion gate quietly.
After passing the outer hall, they saw Li Xian coming out from a distance, so the two of them quickened their pace at the same time, stood in the courtyard, and bowed to each other.
Li Xiandao: "Tomorrow is the time when the court will discuss the official affairs of the Prince's Mansion. At this critical moment, why should Brother Ming be distracted and come to my Mansion? It really makes me feel uneasy."
Zhu Jian, whose courtesy name is Yong Ming and whose name is Jian Zhai.
Yes, it was none other than Zhu Jian, the cabinet scholar who has been in the limelight recently, who drove Jane to the Li Mansion in the dark of night.
At this moment, Zhu Jian was a little less rigid than he was in the court and a little more gentle. He cupped his hands again and sighed.
"Yuan De has this intention, but I have to come. What happened today has wronged Yuan De."
Li Xian smiled bitterly, but didn't say much. He just said: "It's cold outside, please use Brother Ming to follow me into the hall to talk."
So, the two of them entered the flower hall and sat down respectively. A cup of fragrant tea was placed in front of them, and the faint fragrance of tea lingered. Both of them were a little silent.
After a while, Zhu Jian was the first to speak, saying: "Yuan De, I feel sorry for you for what happened today. Originally, I just wanted you to use the Winter Solstice rituals as a guide to bring up the matter of the East Palace, but who would have expected Then, that old guy Yu Shichao suddenly showed up, and the result... alas..."
Ever since he and Jiao Jing, Ren Li and others broke up on bad terms that night, although Zhu Jian didn't want to admit it, he still had to say that what Ren Li said was right.
As time goes by, the situation becomes more and more unfavorable to them.
In the cabinet, Yu Shiyue no longer held a fiercely confrontational attitude, and the direction of public opinion in the court began to change vaguely. The queen in the palace gave birth to a princess instead of a prince. Their last hope was that King Xiang was also given birth to two children by King Min. Zhizhao returned to the mansion to recuperate.
Except for the affairs of the princess in the palace, which cannot be controlled by human beings, many signs show that the emperor has become suspicious and has begun to counterattack.
Apart from anything else, the incident involving King Xiang was most likely the work of the emperor.
This is obviously bad news!
For Zhu Jian and others, if they want to promote the appointment of subordinate officials in the Prince's Mansion, the emperor cannot get around it. Once the memorial is submitted, they must be sure that the emperor will not veto it. Otherwise, no matter how hard they try, they will not be able to get around it. It will go down the drain.
The only way they could think of was to let the emperor resist his attitude of treating the emperor poorly and show it in the court.
In this way, etiquette will become their weapon, forcing the emperor to make concessions on the matter of the prince to show his respect for the emperor.
But, unfortunately, this opportunity is too difficult to find.
Originally, King Xiang was the most suitable, but as soon as King Min came forward, King Xiang stopped playing, and his injuries have not healed yet.
Therefore, Zhu Jian could only find Li Xian.
Speaking of which, we have to thank Zhu Yi, the young master of Chengguo Palace, for this matter. During the period when the Emperor was away from the capital, if he hadn't been running around, Zhu Jian would have been unable to solve the situation even if he wanted to find someone for help. .
Li Xian was once highly valued by the Supreme Emperor, and now he is the Minister of Rites. It is just right for him to come forward.
What's more, the reason why the Ministry of Rites has postponed the etiquette of the Winter Solstice Festival until now is because of the endless debate on how to treat the Supreme Emperor.
Hu Hu, the eldest uncle, was indifferent to matters, while Wang Yining was more conservative. He didn't want to violate etiquette and law, but he didn't dare to offend the emperor, so he hesitated and held off.
So, with Zhu Yi's help and after obtaining the Emperor's consent through Yuan Bin, Zhu Jian approached Li Xian.
According to the original plan, all Li Xian had to do was to present the ritual notes for the Winter Solstice Festival in the name of the Ministry of Rites. In this way, no matter whether the emperor agreed or not, there was actually a way to deal with it.
If the emperor is unwilling, then he can use the etiquette to let the officials understand the emperor's resistance to the emperor, and then win over the officials in the East Palace.
It wouldn't be a bad thing if the emperor agreed.
Firstly, it would be more legitimate to pay homage to the Supreme Emperor in the future. Secondly, since the emperor had made concessions, if the emperor vetoed the issue of the Eastern Palace as an official, public opinion in the court would inevitably be adverse.
Of course, theoretically speaking, the former is the best situation, because during the Winter Solstice festival, there are indeed etiquette and rituals that can be debated.
But in the case of the latter, if the emperor risked his face and refused to veto it, then Zhu Jian and others would have no choice but to accept it.
After all, the prince had already passed the court meeting before leaving the cabinet. If the emperor used this reason, it would be difficult to refute it.
However, there is hope after all.
If we really get to that point, even the worst outcome can pave the way for the next appointment as an official in the East Palace.
Under this calculation, the risk Li Xian had to take was actually not that big.
After all, although the rituals of the Winter Solstice Festival may offend the emperor, they were decided by the Ministry of Rites and approved by the great uncle Hu Ming.
Therefore, even if Li Xian was the one to submit the report, he would not be too harshly criticized. On the contrary, he took the initiative to take on this drudgery and was praised for his courage in taking on the responsibility.
If the emperor refuses, he will gain a good reputation by admonishing the emperor.
As for the future, Li Xian can retire after his success, and the real risk of bringing up the East Palace matter will be borne by Zhu Jian himself.
But who would have thought that the plan could not keep up with the changes.
Although there were some surprises ahead, they were all expected until Yu Shiyue stepped forward.
Thinking of this incident, Zhu Jian felt itchy with hatred.
After such a period of time, the two of them had various confrontations on government affairs. No matter how they were not contradictory, they became conflicts. When they already disliked each other, Yu Shiyue made trouble again at this critical moment and raised the issue. Or what they happened to be talking about about the prince.
Originally, after Li Xian had presented the ritual notes for the Winter Solstice Festival, no matter what the outcome, Zhu Jian could take advantage of the situation and propose to prepare subordinate officials for the East Palace by taking advantage of the opportunity of respecting the Supreme Emperor.
However, after being interrupted by Yu Shiyue, the courtiers' focus turned to the Ministry of Rites delaying the prince's exit from the palace.
The second assistant to the cabinet personally came forward to impeach, and it was in the morning. No matter how arrogant the Ministry of Rites was, it was bound to respond.
Above the court, the person who can directly represent the Ministry of Rites is undoubtedly Hu Miao, the Minister of Rites.
But this old man has always guarded his own one-third of an acre of land and stayed aloof from the world. According to his character, even if he was impeached, he wouldn't care too much. At most, he would just agree to it and get over it.
This is nothing to the courtiers.
But for Zhu Jian and others who were planning to take the opportunity to prepare officials for the prince, it was a big problem.
There are three most important bases for preparing the crown prince's subordinate officials. One is to respect the Supreme Emperor, which shows the closeness of the heavenly family and the order of the throne. The second is to cultivate the prince and get early contact with government affairs. The third is the need for etiquette, law and ceremony.
Among these three, the first one was originally the most powerful. However, after being repeatedly beaten by the emperor, especially after he simply agreed to the ritual instructions of the Winter Solstice Festival, its effect has been limited.
As for the second one, if this article was persuasive enough, the court would not have approved leaving the cabinet without preparing the government. After all, His Highness the Crown Prince's age is such that it will be too late to get involved in government affairs in another two years.
So in the end, etiquette and rituals are the most useful among these three.
However, once Hu Hui, as the Minister of Rites, made a statement in front of the courtiers, even if it was a perfunctory statement, it meant that the Ministry of Rites had no problems with the ceremony. It would be very difficult to make an issue in this regard.
That's why the situation has developed to such an out-of-control point.
Given the situation at that time, someone from the Ministry of Rites had to come up with a different opinion!
However, Zhu Jian had to say that he did not expect that Li Xian would have such courage.
Again, it was the Ministry of Rites that Yu Shiyue impeached, so the one who responded on behalf of the Ministry of Rites, of course, could only be Hu Hui.
Li Xian, a minister of the Ministry of Rites, directly stood up to express his position on behalf of the Ministry of Rites, which was extremely out of bounds.
To put it bluntly, this is a slap in Hu Xi’s face!
For those who don’t know, I would have thought that the Ministry of Rites does not have a minister, so Li Xian, a minister, makes all the decisions...
As an assistant official, it is a taboo in officialdom to steal the power of the main official.
Therefore, at that time, Zhu Jian actually had no hope that Li Xian would have such courage.
However, I have to say that the people recommended by the young master and trusted by the emperor are worthy of entrustment.
Li Xian knew the consequences, but still stood up resolutely.
As a result, Hu Hui, a veteran of the Five Dynasties, was really furious and said on the spot that he would transfer Li Xian from the Ministry of Rites. However, no one in the whole court spoke up for Li Xian.
This is the consequence!
A dignified and dignified official of the third rank, and a minister of the Sixth Ministry, decided on his whereabouts in just a few words. This was a unique thing in the court.
After all, at this point, who doesn't have a few old friends, disciples, and friends from the same hometown? Even if the outcome cannot be changed in the end, a fight is definitely unavoidable.
But this time, everyone in the court was silent.
Because Li Xian violated a taboo in the officialdom, no one wanted to have such a subordinate, and no one wanted his subordinates to follow his example and not take Shangguan seriously at all.
Therefore, Li Xian must leave the court.
However, facing such a result, to Zhu Jian's expectation, Li Xian was not too frustrated or unwilling. On the contrary, he seemed very calm and said.
"You don't have to worry about me. The East Palace is in the right line and the country's reserve. It's a blessing for me to be able to contribute a small amount to His Highness the Crown Prince. As scholars, we, who study the scriptures of saints, should strictly abide by our true intentions and the foundation of our official career." It’s just a passing cloud, whether in the court or in the local area, they are all serving the Ming Dynasty, there is no difference.”
As soon as he said this, Zhu Jian felt even more uncomfortable.
Originally, he was the one who approached Li Xian about this matter. As a result, he is still in the cabinet (although I don't know if he will still be there after tomorrow), but Li Xian was expelled from the court first.
And it is conceivable that with such an unimportant reputation, it will be difficult for Li Xian to be promoted again for at least the next ten years.
Perhaps, only when the courtiers slowly forget about this matter can he have a chance to return to the center.
A minister of the Ministry of Rites, who had a bright future, fell into the land of Yunnan and Guizhou just because he helped him, which really made Zhu Jian feel guilty.
After sighing, Zhu Jian stood up, bowed straightly, and said.
"You are of high moral character and do not shy away from the ax in serving the country. Please accept my respect."
Seeing this situation, Li Xian hesitated and subconsciously wanted to avoid it, but in the end he did not move. He just sat there and accepted it calmly.
Today's cabinet is not as powerful as it was later. Zhu Jian, the second-in-command, actually has a position in the court that is about half a step higher than that of the Sixth Minister. What's more, he did make a sacrifice in this matter.
Therefore, Li Xian is not too big.
However, when Zhu Jian bowed, a complicated and difficult-to-understand look suddenly flashed across Li Xian's eyes. It disappeared in an instant and disappeared without a trace when Zhu Jian straightened up.
Immediately, Li Xian also stood up and returned the greeting, saying.
"Today, although I tried my best, I was unable to help His Highness prepare the East Palace. Therefore, I feel ashamed to receive this gift from you. Now, I can't do anything about the affairs of the court. I only hope that tomorrow If everything goes well, the origin will be corrected early, and the foundation of the storage will be safe. If this is the case, even if the original virtue is criticized, I will be willing to do so."
Zhu Jian nodded, with a look of determination on his face, and said.
"Don't worry, Yuan De. I will do my best tomorrow. Besides, Yuan De doesn't have to underestimate himself. This time, the East Palace has prepared subordinate officials. If you hadn't come forward to stop it, it would have been nipped in the bud. I will definitely report such merits." Ming Tai Emperor, Yuan De will first have some experience in the local area. After a few years, His Highness the Crown Prince will definitely recall Yuan De and return to the imperial court."
This was not an obscure statement, but it was precisely this that explained Zhu Jian's mood at the moment.
Li Xian didn't show any pretense and thanked him: "In that case, thank you very much, Brother Yongming."
…………
Zhu Jian left. As Li Xian said, tomorrow is the court meeting. Tonight, he has a lot of things to do. It is not easy to take time to visit Li Mansion. Naturally, he cannot delay too much.
However, after he left, Li Xian sat in the distance with a very complicated expression, looking at the shaking candlelight and falling into deep thought.
After a while, the hall fell silent. At some point, an official in his early forties wearing Confucian uniform appeared next to Li Xian.
He obviously had a good relationship with Li Xian. He walked out of the back hall and sat down opposite Li Xian minding his own business.
After thinking about it, he took a cup from the table, poured himself a cup of tea, took a sip, and then asked.
"Just now, why didn't you introduce me to Mr. Zhu Ge?"
