"That's it for now, let's eat first."
In this awkward atmosphere, Zhu Gaojie took the lead in breaking the deadlock.
The old man was silent for a moment and said, "Okay."
He said hello to Tang Cheng, and not long after, a line of palace maids lined up carrying wooden boxes with withered flowers and placed the food on the dining table.
Different from the simple meals in the past, today's lunch is particularly rich.
Shrimp with pepper and vinegar, roast goose, grilled sheep head and hooves, goose meat, salted drum and mustard sheep tripe plate, garlic vinegar white blood soup... a total of twelve dishes and two soups. Knowing that the prince likes to drink, he also added a jar of crane. New Year's tribute wine.
Normally, Zhu Gaojie would have mentioned Kuaizi to show off, but today, neither he nor the old man had any appetite for such sumptuous delicacies.
He filled himself up with a glass of wine and drank to relieve his worries.
Seeing this, Zhu Di also poured himself a glass, and the two of them started drinking.
After a few glasses of wine, he was a little tipsy, and the atmosphere could not help but relax a lot. Zhu Di asked: "I heard someone said that you threw a dead man in Xiangshan?"
Zhu Gaojie raised his eyebrows and said, "Dad's news is quite good. This happened not long ago, right?"
Zhu Di snorted coldly and said, "Do you really think that without the Jinyi Guards, I, the emperor, will be blind and deaf?"
What he said was also a reminder to the other party that he, the emperor, was not too old to faint. Even if he delegated power to the East Palace, he still had the solid foundation to control the court.
Zhu Gaojie immediately said: "Wang Quan, the Minister of Punishment, has been missing for half a month. The Jin Yiwei rummaged through the city of Beijing but could not find anyone. He was killed and buried in the cotinus forest of Xiangshan Mountain."
The old man frowned slightly: "There has been such a big mess, have you found out who killed it?"
"I killed him."
"?"
Zhu Di calmed down and asked, "Why?"
Zhu Gaojie said unhurriedly: "Wang Quan, in just a few years, he has gone from being a principal to the position of minister of the Ministry of Punishment. It is extremely fast. Isn't my father curious about why he keeps rising to the top?"
"Just because he is the representative figure promoted by the left-behind party in Nanjing to supervise the country in Beijing!"
Zhu Di was a little confused: "Nanjing supervises the country's left-behind party?"
"Nanjing Supervisor is my eldest brother."
Zhu Gaojie said quietly, "I am still King Qi. When my eldest brother was still the prince, the court was divided into three parties. One was the Northern Patrol Party. Before moving the capital to Beijing, you often patrolled the North. These officials who followed you on the Northern Patrol I followed you in the north and south, took control of the military, and now I am helping you manage the army in Beijing."
"The second party is the Hanwang Party. His party is more complex. Some are his old troops who followed him during the Jingnan period, and some are officials who were bribed by him later. The most typical one is Liu Rong, the former censor of Zuodu, but later When the king of Han sets the sun, the party of the king of Han will naturally be wiped out."
"The last party is the Nanjing Left-Behind Party. My eldest brother has been in charge of the country for many years. His party members are all over the world, but the most concentrated place is Nanjing. These people follow my eldest brother and work diligently."
"Although my eldest brother has lost power now, the Nanjing Supervisor Left-Behind Party still exists. Although it is slightly more decadent than before, the centipede is still alive and its foundation is still there. It is still an extremely strong party. The most troublesome thing is, because My eldest brother controls Jiangxi, and the left-behind party has escaped his control."
Zhu Di felt a little ridiculous: "You mean, the Ming Dynasty now has a force that is not controlled by the court, but is deeply entwined in the court?"
Zhu Gaojie nodded: "Not bad."
The old man asked: "Then why have I never heard of the existence of this force?"
"The left-behind party is mainly entrenched in Nanjing. It is deep-rooted and invisible. Especially after the boss took over the vassal state, they were leaderless for a long time and almost fell apart."
Zhu Gaojie said, "They don't have a strong purpose, so they haven't taken any big actions, but they are still consciously supporting officials within their own party, and Wang Quan, the Minister of Punishment, is the representative official they supported in Beijing. . This is not a difficult task for them. Their power is spread all over the world. If they operate casually, they can bring political achievements to Wang Quan. They are not short of money and power. In this way, Wang Quan can easily be promoted to Minister of Justice. position."
Zhu Di asked: "In that case, how did you know about this party?"
"Although the left-behind party is well hidden, official changes, especially transfers like the Minister of Justice, have to go directly to the Wenhua Palace and be reviewed and approved by the emperor or the supervisor. If you put some thought into it, it is not difficult."
Zhu Gaojie thought for a moment and said, "Father, how long has it been since you last handled government affairs?"
Zhu Di: "..."
He touched the tip of his nose, trying to hide his embarrassment.
Good guy, it turned out that it was because he left all government affairs to the East Palace and had not dealt with government affairs for too long, which made his ears and eyes dull.
This also filled Zhu Di's mind with questions:
He had only been out of government for two years, and the court was already somewhat out of his control. So how did Emperor Jiajing, who had not been in court for twenty-four years in the simulation, take over the power and strategize?
He couldn't figure it out. He had to say that Emperor Jiajing was really a god, and he had reached the pinnacle of mastery in imperial arts. It was a pity that this man's talent was used in the wrong direction.
Zhu Di set his sights on Zhu Gaojiao. Including himself, there were a total of sixteen emperors in the Ming Dynasty. No emperor could match Jiajing in terms of power and strategy, but Zhu Gaojiao could.
Moreover, Zhu Gaojie's talent is on the most correct path.
This is his son and the heir he trusts and values most.
Zhu Di thought for a moment and asked, "What is your plan for killing Wang Quan?"
"Lue the snake out of its hole."
"Elaborate."
"Snake, of course, refers to the Nanjing left-behind party."
Zhu Gaojie spoke eloquently, "The left-behind parties in Nanjing are hidden too deep. If you want to find these people, it will be difficult to do so even if you use all the strength of the Jin Yiwei. Instead of working hard, it is better to use some cleverness."
"Although the left-behind party is powerful, it is not easy to support a third-grade minister. It requires a lot of manpower, material, energy, and financial resources. They promoted Wang Quan because they wanted Wang Quan to help them. Beijing is developing its power, and officials are protecting each other. They spend huge resources to promote Wang Quan and give them a good start. The value created in the future will be far greater than the initial investment. This is a situation that will not be lost no matter what. business.”
"But now that Wang Quan is dead, all their investment has been wasted. Dad thinks, if it were you who had to waste all your money on business, no matter how good your temper is, how could you bear it?"
Thanks to the fact that in the Yongle Dynasty, Zhu Gaojie was in charge of Beijing, the problem of party strife in the Ming Dynasty seemed to be negligible.
Nowadays, there are six major parties in the Ming Dynasty that are not under the control of the emperor:
The North and South Capital Factions, the Northwestern Generals Faction, the Northeastern Three Provinces Faction, the Qi King Faction, the East Palace Faction, and the Nanjing Remaining Faction.
Unfortunately, five of these six major parties belong to Zhu Gaojie's faction.
The relatives of the northern and southern capitals, headed by British Duke Zhang Fu, Chengguo Duke Zhu Yong, Anyuan Marquis Liu Sheng... all sided with Zhu Gaojie.
The northwest generals faction is now the military center of gravity of the Ming Dynasty. The leaders are Liu Rong, Marquis of Guangning and Zhu Gaojie.
Most of the current high-level officials of the factions in the three northeastern provinces, Liaodong, Jianzhou, and Korea, were promoted by Zhu Gaojie, and their level of loyalty is self-evident.
The King Qi faction was a force developed by Zhu Gaojie when he was in Nanjing. Its core members include Yang Rong, the chief minister of the cabinet, Su Wu, the censor of the Zuodu capital, Xia Yuanji, the secretary of the household department, Lu Chaoyang, the tax superintendent, and Su Wen, the commander of the Shandong capital...
The East Palace faction is a new force cultivated by Zhu Gaojie after moving the capital to Beijing. The most typical ones are Shen Qingyu, who is in charge of Jinyiwei, and Zhang Muzhi, the current second-in-command of Jinyiwei...
Five of the six major parties are Zhu Gaojie's people. The isolated left-behind party seems a bit weak and inexperienced. There is no party struggle at all. The Ming Dynasty is all my people. Who is qualified to play party struggle with me? .
If it were the late Ming Dynasty, for a big party, let alone a minister, they would not take it seriously even if the cabinet scholar died. At worst, they would just replace him.
During the seventeenth year of Emperor Chongzhen's reign, the chief ministers of the cabinet changed for nineteen times. This shows how fierce the party struggle was. Some officials even didn't even remember the name of their superiors before they were kicked out of office.
In contrast, the behavior of the left-behind parties can be said to be harmless to humans and animals.
Even so, Zhu Gaojie had no intention of letting the left-behind parties go.
The left-behind party is harmless to humans and animals because they are too weak and dare not show their heads in the face of Zhu Gaojiao's pressure. If their power is strong enough to threaten the imperial power, how can they still be harmless to humans and animals? Today Zhu Gaojiao kills one of their ministers, and tomorrow they will Dare to clamor for a new prince!
】
The notorious Donglin Party, when it was still weak at first, simply wanted to show off its integrity, advocate practical learning, and resist the fierce party struggles in the court. But after they turned their backs on foreign affairs and became the largest party in the court, the Donglin Party, which initially opposed party strife, became the party with the most fierce party strife, frantically suppressing other parties and doing whatever it took to fight for power.
The boy who slayed the dragon eventually became a dragon. For a country that cannot be destroyed by external forces, internal problems can easily topple it.
If the issue of party strife is not resolved, even if Zhu Gaojie leads the Ming Dynasty to destroy all the countries in the world and become the only empire, the empire will still decline rapidly after his death.
Zhu Di asked suspiciously: "Let's not talk about how you will destroy the left-behind party. Even if you destroy the left-behind party, can you really eradicate party strife in the Ming Dynasty?"
Zhu Gaojie shook his head: "No."
Zhu Di was puzzled: "Then if you destroy the left-behind party, what's the point?"
Zhu Gaojie was silent for a moment, and then slowly said: "The number of heaven is reversed when it reaches its extreme, and it declines when it reaches its peak. The end of the scorching fire is approaching."
"Everything in the world has its own natural law, from prosperity to decline. For example, from flowers blooming to withering, day to night, everything has its own natural law. Even the sun that has been hanging high in the sky from ancient times to the present day has its own natural law. , will eventually burn out, it is just a matter of time. The sun will burn out one day, how can a dynasty established by mortals prosper forever?"
It is impossible to cure the problem of party struggle. Someone will have power, and when there is power, there will be party struggle. What Zhu Gaojie can do is to delay the process of the empire being corrupted by power and strive to extend the life of the Ming Dynasty.
And he accepted Yu Qian as his disciple, which was just to pave the way for the layout.
Zhu Di thought for a moment and asked, "How do you know the sun will go out?"
Zhu Gaojie said: "I have to give you some knowledge about stars, red giants, white dwarfs, and black dwarfs."
Zhu Di said decisively: "It's not necessary."
…
After Zhu Gaojie finished his meal, he left with satisfaction.
The emperor stared at his back with complicated eyes.
Zhu Gaojie chatted here for a long time, even bringing up the topic of whether the sun would go out, but he did not say a word about Emperor Jianwen's whereabouts.
He was always sure that Zhu Gaojie must know the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen, but he just refused to tell him!
Otherwise, in the simulation, how did the other party know the content of the last words written by the great ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang to Mu Cheng? Could it be that Zhu Yuanzhang entrusted it to Zhu Gaojie in a dream?
Isn’t this just nonsense?
The only possibility is that this boy had contact with Emperor Jianwen and learned the contents of the letter from Jianwen.
"If you don't want to tell me, I won't ask."
Zhu Di murmured to himself, "But I believe that you will tell me sooner or later, even before I die."
"I don't have much time, fourth child."
"This is my last wish."
…
After leaving the palace gate, Zhu Gaojie's expression turned cold.
He stood there and thought for a long time, then turned to the direction of the cabinet and found Yang Rong.
When Yang Rong saw him, he bowed and saluted: "His Highness has arrived, but I didn't expect to be greeted from afar. I hope Your Highness will forgive me."
"Okay, don't talk nonsense with me here. You know I never like these useless politenesses."
Zhu Gaojie said with a sullen face, "It has been a while since we moved the capital to Beijing. Have the yellow records been sorted out?"
Yang Rong shook his head: "The Yellow Book is still in the Huangce Library in Houhu, Nanjing. The main reason is that the Yellow Book is of great importance and cannot be touched lightly. Once something goes wrong during the transfer, there will be problems with the operation of the entire Ming Dynasty."
He was embarrassed to say that the cabinet had no plans to move the yellow book from Nanjing to Beijing.
The yellow book, which is a book that records taxes and servitude, records in detail the hometown, name, age, address, land and property, and assets. The household registration is divided according to the occupation, which is mainly divided into three categories: civilian, military, and craftsman. A total of four copies of the yellow book were made and sent to the Ministry of Household Affairs. One copy was kept by the Chief Envoy, the Prefecture, and the County. It must be filled in by myself, or the household can ask someone to write it on its behalf. If there is any concealment of cheating, the parents will be put to death and the family members will be exiled.
Houhu Huangceku is the national central archives warehouse built on Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing. All the land and household registration files of the whole country are stored here. There are tens of thousands of volumes, and the volumes are valuable. Moving Huangceku to Beijing requires a huge amount of manpower and material resources, and there are risks that cannot be ignored. If something happens during the moving process, beheading all the officials involved will not be enough to atone for the crime.
Zhu Gaojie said categorically: "You don't have to tell me this. I don't care what method you use. I'll give you two months to try your best to move Huang Ceku from Nanjing to Beijing."
"I brought you to your current position because I want you to help me with things. If you can't do it, what's the use of you?"
Today the old man mentioned Emperor Jianwen, and Zhu Gaojiu remembered that there was such a wild emperor floating outside.
In fact, it didn't matter to him whether Jianwen was still alive or not. He didn't take Jianwen to heart at all, but to the old man, it was very important.
This is a knot in the old man's heart. If Jianwen is not found, the old man may not be able to rest in peace even if he dies.
To get rid of this knot, Zhu Gaojie's idea was to start with the yellow book.
