…
…
In fact, Zhao Shancai's private departure from the southern patrol team and his early return to Beijing was not considered very serious.
Under normal circumstances, even if someone discovers this matter, it will only get a demerit from the officials once at most, and the impact will not be big.
However, after Li Yuran was impeached in public, the nature of the matter changed and it became a political matter that needed to be dealt with seriously!
In particular, Emperor Deqing had just repeatedly reiterated the importance of court officials obeying the court's decrees, and then Li Yuran immediately impeached Zhao Shancai for violating the decree and acting without permission - this timing was very clever, and Zhao Shancai hit the gun. Speaking of which, he directly gave Emperor Deqing a negative example!
In order to scare the monkeys, Emperor Deqing had no choice but to severely punish Zhao Shancai at this time, otherwise the awe that the officials had worked hard to generate would be destroyed.
All in all, because of Li Yuran's impeachment, Zhao Shancai may be in bad luck. Not only will he be severely punished, but after this incident, his career development will also be greatly affected.
The officials who could attend the imperial meeting were basically all smart people, so they thought of these quickly.
For a time, in the Huangji Palace, all the officials had different thoughts.
Some officials disagreed, thinking that Li Yuran's impeachment was just a fuss and grandstanding; some officials thought that Li Yuran's jumping up and down was just to please Emperor Deqing, so they deliberately found a negative example to send him. Kill the chicken to scare the monkeys for Emperor Deqing. Taking the opportunity to please Emperor Deqing; some officials speculated whether Zhao Shancai had offended Li Yuran in some way, otherwise Li Yuran would not deliberately target him...
the other side. Zhao Junchen was also thoughtful - compared to other officials, he thought more deeply and even made many speculations!
*****
Li Yuran usually kept a low profile and never deliberately targeted other officials, but today he went out of his way and suddenly jumped out to impeach Zhao Shancai. It seems very strange. I'm afraid it was under the instruction of someone with good intentions.
After all, only a few people knew about Zhao Shancai's early return to Beijing. Li Yuran was not a well-informed person, so how did he know about it?
In addition, Zhao Shancai was not only the second best student in the current examination, but also a close disciple of the former Crown Prince and Grand Master He Ming. He had a promising future and was boundless, if not for the instigation of certain people. Li Yuran would not offend Zhao Shancai easily;
Also, looking at Li Yuran's impeachment of Zhao Shancai, it seems that he was well prepared and the timing was very clever. He even anticipated Emperor Deqing's statement, and it was obvious that there was an expert's guidance behind it.
So, those who are hostile to Zhao Shancai, know about Zhao Shancai's early return to Beijing, can instruct the imperial censor to do things, and can also predict Emperor Deqing's stance... As far as Zhao Junchen knows, those who can meet the above four conditions are satisfied. There are only two people up and down!
The first person is Zhao Junchen himself, and the second person... is the seventh prince Zhu Hejian who is about to walk to the front desk!
Zhao Junchen knew very well that this matter had nothing to do with him. So Zhao Junchen quickly targeted the seventh prince Zhu Hejian!
Moreover, Zhao Junchen roughly guessed the meaning of Zhu Hejian's move!
The appearance of Zhao Shancai made Zhu Hejian feel a great threat. With Zhu Hejian's character, he would definitely use the most intense and swift means to completely eliminate Zhao Shancai!
However, Zhao Shancai was, after all, the second best student in the current examination, editor of the Hanlin Academy, and a close disciple of He Ming, the former crown prince and grand master. He received a lot of attention. Under such circumstances, if something unexpected happened to Zhao Shancai suddenly - whether he disappeared or died unexpectedly - - will definitely cause an uproar, and the court will definitely do its best to investigate.
In this way, even if the seventh prince Zhu Hejian eliminates Zhao Shancai, he will cause a lot of trouble for himself.
However, if Zhao Shancai makes a mistake, is demoted from his official position, and becomes a commoner, then Zhao Shancai will no longer attract the attention of the world. At that time, if Zhao Shancai disappears from this world, it will naturally not cause too much concern. trouble……
"If this is really the case, then even though the Seventh Prince Zhu Hejian is ruthless, he is also very cautious when doing things... He is indeed a difficult opponent to deal with..."
*****
But while Zhao Junchen was thinking about it secretly, Prince Zhu Heyu and everyone in the "Prince Party" were a little anxious.
After all, Zhao Shancai was not only a close disciple of the former Crown Prince Grand Master He Ming, but also had a close relationship with the "Prince's Party", and he returned to Beijing early to advise the Crown Prince Zhu Heyu. In this way, the Crown Prince Zhu Heyu had a close relationship with the "Prince's Party". How could everyone in the "Prince Party" allow Zhao Shancai to be impeached?
Especially the prince Zhu Heyu. Although he did not fully accept Zhao Shancai's suggestions, he already regarded Zhao Shancai as his right-hand man, confidant and wise man, and he could not just watch Zhao Shancai be punished!
Prince Zhu Heyu suddenly came out and reported to Emperor Deqing: "Father, there is actually another reason for this matter. Zhao Shancai did not leave the southern patrol team privately, but my son wanted to ask him something. He was recalled to the capital in advance, so Zhao Shancai did not intend to disobey the government order, but the matter was due to the minister's inadequacy, so I ask my father not to punish him."
At the same time, "princeling" officials also came out one after another to plead for Zhao Shancai.
On the other side, after hearing Prince Zhu Heyu's remarks, Zhao Junchen came back from his deep thoughts, but his expression was a bit dumbfounded.
There is no doubt that Prince Zhu Heyu is a good person, so when he was in a hurry, he did something that good people often do - that is, he took all the responsibilities on himself.
But good people often do bad things with good intentions, so Prince Zhu Heyu didn't know that his decision not only failed to help Zhao Shancai, but actually pushed Zhao Shancai into an abyss...
The position of the crown prince is the most embarrassing. He is half king and half minister, both king and minister. In front of officials, he is the future emperor, and in front of the emperor, he is just a minister. Therefore, when speaking and doing things, you need to be cautious. We must take advantage of every opportunity to show our abilities and establish prestige in front of officials. We must also try to avoid challenging the authority of the current emperor and not make the current emperor feel threatened. The scale is the most difficult to grasp.
However, Prince Zhu Heyu obviously ignored this point now.
During Emperor Deqing's southern tour, all accompanying officials were direct ministers of Emperor Deqing, and they should not accept orders from anyone except Emperor Deqing! Even Prince Zhu Heyu could not bypass Emperor Deqing to command the accompanying officials, and even if the accompanying officials received orders from Prince Zhu Heyu, they could not violate Emperor Deqing's will!
This approach obviously crossed the bottom line and challenged the authority of Emperor Deqing.
Therefore, Prince Zhu Heyu's explanation not only failed to help Zhao Shancai, but instead increased Emperor Deqing's determination to severely punish Zhao Shancai.
Thinking of this, Zhao Junchen sighed secretly, feeling a little sad for Zhao Shancai.
Zhao Shancai wanted to assist the crown prince Zhu Heyu, but he thought that he was being held back by the crown prince Zhu Heyu...
Zhao Shancai's current official position is lower and he is not qualified to attend the court meeting. Otherwise, he doesn't know what his expression would be like when he sees this scene in front of him!
*****
Things developed just as Zhao Junchen speculated.
After Emperor Deqing heard about Li Yuran's impeachment, he planned to use Zhao Shancai as a negative example to scare the monkeys and warn all officials.
However, Zhao Shancai is a rare young talent after all. During his southern tour, Emperor Deqing met Zhao Shancai several times and admired Zhao Shancai's talent very much. Although he wanted to punish Zhao Shancai severely at this time, he still had some thoughts in his heart. With some love for talent, he was not prepared to beat Zhao Shancai to death with a stick. He planned to wait for the limelight to pass before re-activating him.
However, after hearing Prince Zhu Heyu's explanation, Emperor Deqing frowned - Emperor Deqing was originally a sensitive and suspicious character, and now he naturally thought that Prince Zhu Heyu had crossed the bottom line and challenged his authority.
As a result, Emperor Deqing looked at Prince Zhu Heyu with a hint of dissatisfaction.
Although, due to various considerations, Emperor Deqing will not punish Prince Zhu Heyu now, but will do everything possible to protect the reputation of Prince Zhu Heyu, but punishing Zhao Shancai does not require too much worry.
Therefore, Emperor Deqing immediately restrained his love for talents and decided to completely sacrifice Zhao Shancai. This would not only scare the monkeys and warn all officials, but also secretly warn the prince Zhu Heyu.
Of course, on the surface, Emperor Deqing still looked businesslike.
Emperor Deqing ignored Prince Zhu Heyu's explanation and just asked, "Where are the officials from the Ministry of Personnel?"
Song Qiwen, the Minister of Household Affairs, stepped forward and replied: "I am here!"
Emperor Deqing asked again: "If officials disobey orders and act privately, how should they be punished according to the regulations of the Ministry of Personnel?"
Song Qiwen replied: "According to the regulations of the Ministry of Personnel, officials who do not respect the will and act privately will be fined and demerited in the light case, and derogated from the people in the serious case."
Emperor Deqing nodded and said: "Zhao Shancai only returned to Beijing one day early, and Tongzhou is not far from the capital. What's more, he himself did not hold an important position or delay anything, and it was his first offense, so the situation is not too serious. If it’s serious, in my opinion, I’ll give it a light punishment…”
After hearing the words of Emperor Deqing, Prince Zhu Heyu and the officials of the "Princeling Party" were all overjoyed, thinking that Zhao Shancai had escaped!
However, at this time, Emperor Deqing said again: "However, I have just made a decree. From now on, all officials who violate the imperial decree will be punished with a third-level penalty! Now, my decree has taken effect. Zhao Shancai is the first person involved in this case. In order to warn all officials, he needs to be punished with an additional three levels of crime!"
After hearing Emperor Deqing's order, all the officials were shocked!
Any crime, no matter how minor, will be a very serious matter as long as the crime is added to the third level.
Zhao Shan is finished... This is the common thought of all the officials.
On the other side, Song Qiwen was stunned for a moment, then quickly replied: "I obey the order! According to the laws of our dynasty, punishments other than fines and demerits include suspension, demotion, dismissal, distribution, confiscation of homes, beheading, Punishing the nine tribes and other punishments, but after Zhao Shancai was punished with a third-level crime, he was...taken away from his fame and dismissed from office to serve the people!"
…
…(To be continued.)
