Tang Cheng rubbed his eyes to make sure he saw correctly. The person standing in front of him was Zhu Gaojie.
"Your Highness, isn't it in the south?" Tang Cheng asked in disbelief.
Zhu Gaojie rubbed his brows and said with a tired expression: "Yang Rong sent me a rush of 800 miles. How can I take care of the affairs in the south? I can only slow down the affairs in the south in the shortest possible time. Return to the capital to take charge of the overall situation."
At this moment, Tang Cheng's eyes couldn't help but turn slightly red, his throat moved slightly, and he wanted to say something, but when the words came to his lips, he could only say: "Your Majesty, thank you for your hard work."
Zhu Gaojie smiled and waved his hand: "Why do you have to work so hard?"
This is also inevitable in the feudal dynasty. When the imperial power is effective, all power is concentrated in one person. The fate of the country and the ups and downs of the empire are all left to one person to gamble. Once this person has something special, situation, the entire empire will fluctuate accordingly.
However, if the imperial power fails and power is dispersed into the hands of multiple people, it will cause a situation that is more unacceptable than if the imperial power is effective. The distribution of power will never be fair, and because of the unfairness of power, it will cause an imbalance in the hearts of the people. Once the imperial power fails, the entire empire will fall into internal strife and party strife.
This is an inevitable trend in the advancement of the dynasty and an inevitable ugliness in the feudal system.
Zhu Gaojie wanted to work hard to change all this, but he knew that he was not a god. Although his thinking and abilities were ahead of this era, in the face of the torrent of history, what he needed to resist was the pressure from all over the world.
How difficult it is for a person to support the backbone of an empire with his arms.
"Okay, Uncle Tang, tell me what's going on with the old man."
Zhu Gaojie looked at the dragon couch behind the bright yellow gauze curtain. The old man was lying on the couch in a coma, his aura was weak, like a candle in front of the wind or a lamp in the rain. The slightest wave would collapse.
"how so?"
Zhu Gaojie frowned slightly, "I checked the old man's pulse and prescribed medicine just before I went to the south. It was obvious that he had stabilized a lot by then, and it would not be like this no matter what. As long as the old man rests patiently, he will definitely not be able to do it within half a year." Something went wrong, why did something happen in the past two months?"
Tang Cheng reminded: "I have been serving His Majesty. I only remember that His Majesty was in a high mood in the days before he fell into coma."
"Emotions are still high?"
Zhu Gaojie was a little confused, "Can the old man have emotions even if he is just relaxing in the palace?"
Tang Cheng shook his head, indicating that he didn't quite understand.
How could a personal eunuch like him understand the thoughts of His Majesty the Emperor?
Zhu Gaojie was helpless and waved: "Get a pair of silver needles. I'll try acupuncture first to see if I can restore the old man's breath."
…
…
Literary Academy, General Office.
Xia Yuanji was sitting in the office. Through the window, he could feel the comfortable warmth and brilliance. The warm sunshine shone in the college, and the shade of trees and vegetation were flourishing.
He lowered his head and glanced at the draft he was working on, which was titled "Report on the Employment of Students of the Second Period of the Liberal Arts Academy." As the deputy dean of the Academy of Arts, trained by dean Zhu Gaojie, Xia Yuanji began to take over the affairs of the Academy of Arts and became a veritable dean.
After he took over the Academy of Arts, he began to train the second phase of the Academy of Arts students. The first phase of the Academy of Arts students were to train the administrative skills of senior local officials in the two capitals and provinces. The second batch of students are a group of students from poor families personally selected by Xia Yuanji.
Xia Yuanji personally checked and searched for outstanding scholars from poor families in prefectures and counties. A total of 300 people were admitted to the second batch of students of the Academy of Arts. After being nurtured by the Academy of Liberal Arts, these three hundred students from poor families will be sent to various provinces to assume positions starting at the seventh level.
According to Xia Yuanji's plan, these three hundred scholars from poor families will open a door for poor families all over the world. From bottom to top, inspection points will be set up in each province. Anyone with talent, regardless of their background, can be cultivated in the liberal arts academy. , and then issued as a local parent official.
This was also Xia Yuanji’s original intention.
He wanted to reform the government and open a door for the people of the world.
He is about to succeed now. The 300 poor families in the second phase of the Liberal Arts College are about to graduate. When these 300 people enter the court and become officials, there will be a new party in the court.
——The poor party.
Thinking of this, Xia Yuanji couldn't help but chuckle, closed his eyes lightly, and murmured: "It is enough for me to open such a door for the poor scholars in the world in this life."
Just when he fell into a long-lost comfort, the exclamation of Mr. Xia from the liberal arts school suddenly came from outside the door: "Mr. you!"
Xia Yuanji's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly opened his eyes, and stood up with a roll of his sleeves: "Don't worry, let me go and take a look."
…
…
In front of the main entrance of the college, there was a huge crowd of Confucian students wearing long robes, noisy and noisy like a tsunami that was about to overwhelm the students, with their shirts raised high in protest.
"Old thief Xia disrupted our Confucianism. This thief has ulterior motives and is guilty of eternal sin!"
"Corrupting the rule of law, taking bribes and perverting the law, Xia Yuanji will be a sycophant for the ages!"
"Xia Yuanji, get out!"
"Old thief Xia insulted my Confucian scriptures and used treacherous ministers. If this thief is not eliminated, the country will never be peaceful!"
"Old thief Xia, get out of here!"
"..."
Seeing this chaotic scene, Su Wu rubbed his eyebrows, raised his hand and said to the people around him: "Let the guards block the door. We must not let the group of Confucian scholars outside break in. If we really let these crazy Confucian students When we come in, the liberal arts college must not be smashed to pieces?"
He was the censor of Zuodu and was also a first-term student of the Academy of Arts. After graduation, he concurrently served as the chief officer of the Academy's office. The School of Liberal Arts has thirteen departments, and the office is the head of the thirteen departments, only under the dean, deputy dean, and chief of education.
After leading the first batch of students, Zhu Gaojie, who was the dean of the liberal arts college, handed over the power of the liberal arts college to the vice president Xia Yuanji. Xia Laoshangshu was busy with court affairs and the liberal arts academy at the same time. Yang Rong, the chief of education, should have helped him share the pressure, but Yang Rong was also busy with the cabinet and could not take care of it, so Su Wu, who was in charge of running the company, could only shoulder the responsibility.
Therefore, Su Wu was nominally the fourth-in-command, but he was actually the second-in-command.
The person next to him replied: "No, Mr. Su, our Academy of Arts has only a few dozen guards in total. There is no way we can stop the hundreds or even thousands of troublemakers outside."
Hearing this, Su Wu frowned and asked: "Didn't you notify the nearest guard station? When the Academy of Literature was first established, the Crown Prince specially transferred an elite guard station of 5,600 people from the three major camps. The purpose of being near the Wenyuan is to prevent anyone from causing trouble in the Wenyuan."
"Now that people are blocking the gate of the Wenyuan, why haven't we seen anyone coming to rescue yet? Is it possible that we have to wait for someone to demolish the Wenyuan before coming?"
The Civil and Military Academy is different from other academies. The students in the Civil and Military Academy are all important officials of the imperial court, so they must be protected. Safety is a top priority. Once an enemy country launches an attack on the Civil and Military Academy and the Civil and Military Academy falls, the entire imperial court will be paralyzed.
In order to prevent this problem, Zhu Gaojie made preparations in advance. He transferred two guards from the three major battalions and stationed them near the Civil and Military Academy. Once something happened to the academy, he would immediately send troops regardless of the reason to protect the safety of the academy. .
"To cause such a big mess, I'm afraid there's something wrong with the three major camps."
Hearing an old voice coming from behind, Su Wu looked back and saw Xia Yuanji standing beside him with his hands behind his back and a calm expression.
Su Wu was a little surprised: "Old Minister Xia, why are you here?"
"If there is such a big mess, I, the deputy dean, always have to come and take a look."
Xia Yuanji said calmly, "Xiao Su, you are still too young. When you grow up and get older, your eyes will be better. Now there are hundreds of Confucian students outside the door, dare to stand in front of the liberal arts college If you say there is no one behind the scenes, no one will believe it."
Su Wu smiled bitterly and said: "Of course I know there is someone behind the scenes, but in this situation, what can I do even if I know, I always have to solve the problem first before thinking about anything else."
"Yes, they are here for me, Xia Yuanji. Listen, how loud is this old thief Xia's slogan?"
Xia Yuanji said slowly, "I have made everyone angry."
Su Wu had a bad premonition for no reason: "Old Minister Xia, what do you mean?"
Xia Yuanji chuckled and said: "The second batch of students from the School of Liberal Arts is about to graduate and will be dispersed to take up positions. This matter should have been widely spread outside. The three hundred students in this second batch all come from poor families. I am a literary student. The courtyard is a dragon gate, so all three hundred students can jump over the dragon gate, and from then on, a door has been opened for the poor students in the world."
"Once this door is opened, it can never be closed again. If the three hundred students from poor families want to gain a foothold in the officialdom in the future, they can only unite and form a poor family party to absorb the children from poor families and strengthen their power. Only in this way can they be like those from aristocratic families. , parties with rich family backgrounds and official backgrounds are equally powerful."
"This matter was handled by me alone. No one was involved in it. I have offended too many people this time. I don't know how many people hate me and want to kill me." Burial place.”
"The three major battalions are the troops that follow His Majesty to conquer the world, not the troops directly of the Crown Prince. The only troops that are the direct troops of the Crown Prince are the troops that stay in the Northeast, the hundreds of thousands of Northeastern Army, are the truly trustworthy troops. "
"But don't forget, those people who followed His Majesty to conquer the world have now become our enemies. How many generals in the three major battalions are theirs? They want to hold down the guard posts of the three major battalions and won't let them go. Three major battalions came to support the Literary Academy, it was easy."
"No one will come to the liberal arts college to save us today."
"The people who were supposed to save us are now thinking about letting us die."
Su Wu's pupils narrowed and he said: "Old Minister Xia, what exactly do you want to say?"
Xia Yuanji looked at the chaos at the main entrance. The crowd of Confucian scholars almost broke through the door and trampled the threshold.
He closed his eyes lightly and said: "Although the three major camps have abandoned us, the Jin Yiwei will still notice this place. The Jin Yiwei is the most loyal eagle dog we have in the East Palace, but no matter how loyal it is, we will need it when they come." time."
"If we want to quell the public anger, the only way...I will come forward and delay time."
Su Wu immediately interrupted: "Old Minister Xia, stop joking!"
"If you go out now, those arrogant Confucian scholars will tear you into pieces!"
Xia Yuanji turned his head and looked at him: "I'm not kidding, Xiao Su. When I surrendered to the Crown Prince... No, he was still King Qi at that time. When I joined Prince Qi, he once made it clear that I would reform the government. And die.”
"Now that the changes in officialdom have been completed, my deadline is approaching."
"Do you think that the impact of reforming the civil service is just the hundreds or thousands of Confucian scholars in front of the door? No, you think too simply."
"As long as I don't die, those people won't be able to sleep a day."
"The prince has made too many enemies now in order to change the face of the court, and the chaos in the south has been ignited. We have to make some trade-offs after all, and use my life to stop everyone from talking about it for him."
"We are all readers, and reading to the end is nothing more than eight words."
"Dedicate yourself to the end of your life and die."
After the words fell, Su Wu could no longer say a single word. His throat seemed to be stuck by something. He could only look at Xia Laoshangshu's old face. His old face was full of wrinkles, like knife carvings. Sword marks.
The old man's waist was still straight.
"Xiao Su, you are still young, and I am already dying. If I can do something that will leave my name in history before I die, it is not a life in vain. From now on, the Academy of Literature will rely on you. You are the prince's side. The youngest and most promising minister, after Yang Rong, you should be the first among the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty."
Xia Yuanji gently patted Su Wu's shoulder and held his hand, as if stuffing something into it.
"Give this to the prince for me."
"tell him,"
"He promoted Lao Xia to the position of prime minister of this dynasty. I will repay it this time."
After saying that, Xia Yuanji went straight to the gate. Seeing him, nearly a thousand Confucian scholars outside the gate roared, wishing they could cut him into five pieces and execute him in Ling Chi.
But he only has two sleeves, the breeze is waving like flowing clouds in the clear sky, his back is like a towering pine, and the sun is shining on his shoulders.
Xia Yuanji,
Like a bright sun.
He shouted:
"Everyone, Wei Zhe is here."
"Who wants to kill me?"
…
…
Qianqing Palace.
Zhu Gaojie put the last silver needle in the needle box. Seeing that the old man's face turned slightly rosy, he slowly moved away from the dragon bed.
As he retreated, his legs became weak and he almost fell down.
Fortunately, Tang Cheng had the foresight and quickly came over to support him, allowing Zhu Gaojie to stand firm.
Zhu Gaojie waved his hand, indicating that he was fine, and said: "The old man's body is no longer in harm's way, and he should be able to wake up in the next two days. Just follow the prescription I prescribed for the old man last time and give him the medicine to ensure that the vitality in the old man's body can keep up. "Come on. Don't give me the soup or medicine."
"Okay, okay, follow the prince's instructions in everything."
Tang Cheng advised, "Prince, you have been working tirelessly to return to the capital from the south, and you have spent a lot of energy on treating His Majesty. No matter how good your body is, you can't bear such fatigue, so you should go back to the East Palace to rest as soon as possible. The affairs in the palace are handled by the servants, and the matters outside the palace are handled by Mr. Xia, so you can always rest assured."
"Um."
Zhu Gaojie nodded without saying anything in reply. He was indeed too tired.
At this time, an urgent call came from outside the palace.
"Shen Qingyu, who is of humble rank, asks to see His Highness the Crown Prince!"
"Something happened to Mr. Xia!"
(End of chapter)
