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Although Huang Yourong had lost his use value, Emperor Deqing did not intend to let him leave the temple and retire to his hometown easily.
Zhao Junchen could probably guess what Emperor Deqing was thinking.
In the eyes of Emperor Deqing, he was the emperor and the master of the Ming Dynasty. Everything in the world belonged to him, and the officials and herdsmen who acted for the emperor were equivalent to servants working for him, among which the corrupt officials were the hands and feet. Unclean servants, and Qingliu are servants who don’t know how to wink...
And Huang Yourong is naturally a dirty servant. Now he wants to retire and resign. However, he has stolen things privately over the years and must return them to their original owners before leaving!
At the beginning, in order to be able to retire smoothly and return to his hometown, Wen Guanliang "donated" most of the money he had embezzled in his life to internal funds, totaling up to nine million taels of silver. Then Emperor Deqing allowed Wen Guanliang to leave the temple, without Investigate him for all his crimes.
Huang Yourong was not as greedy for money as Wen Guanliang, and his family wealth was naturally not as amazing as Wen Guanliang's, but he still had three to five million taels of silver. In the eyes of Emperor Deqing, all of this money was stolen from him by Huang Yourong. Now, of course, He wanted Huang Yourong to vomit it all out.
At this time, seeing that Huang Yourong was so ignorant, just a few words of apology without any expression, and planned to leave the temple, Emperor Deqing naturally would not agree.
However, Huang Yourong was an old minister after all. Now he pitifully wanted to resign and return home, but Emperor Deqing could not openly make things difficult, otherwise it would affect the emperor's image.
Therefore, Emperor Deqing subconsciously found Zhao Junchen-this villain role needed Zhao Junchen to play.
*
Seeing Emperor Deqing's eyes on him, Zhao Junchen sighed secretly.
However, Zhao Junchen still did not have the strength to resist Emperor Deqing and needed to continue to endure it, so after a moment of silence, Zhao Junchen came out again and said: "Your Majesty, I thought that Mr. Huang Ge was old. Since He has made up his mind to resign and return to the country, and the court cannot force him, otherwise it will inevitably be suspected of being inconsiderate of the veteran! Therefore, Your Majesty, you should grant Mr. Huang Ge's request and consider the replacement as soon as possible. "
After saying that, Zhao Junchen raised his head and glanced at Huang Yourong, and then said: "In addition, Mr. Huang Ge has been in the cabinet for many years. He has worked hard and made a lot of achievements. It is a pity that when he is about to take office, he has no beginning and no end, and he has accomplished a lot. It’s really a pity that a lifetime of fame has been ruined due to his mistakes.”
After saying that, Zhao Junchen shook his head with regret and sighed.
Seeing that Zhao Junchen actually felt sorry for Huang Yourong, all the officials in the Huangji Palace were stunned, and then they all felt that Zhao Junchen's move was a fake mercy.
But in fact, Zhao Junchen, the cat, was not only pretending to be compassionate, he even wanted to swallow Huang Yourong, the dead rat, skin and bones!
Although Zhao Junchen did this because there was a tiger behind him that was forcing him.
Under the surprised gazes of all the officials, Zhao Junchen continued: "It is precisely because of this that Mr. Huang Ge has received a lot of criticism these days. Many officials have ignored Mr. Huang Ge's many achievements and only stared at Huang Ge. He pursued and attacked him for several wrongdoings, as if Mr. Huang Ge was just a stupid and incompetent official. His reputation in life was ruined because of this! But I think this evaluation is really unfair. To be fair, Mr. Huang Ge has made many achievements throughout his life as an official. Your Majesty, it is impossible for you to appoint a dull and mediocre person to the important position of Mr. Huang. For an old minister like Mr. Huang Ge, it is impossible to work for the court all his life. It is really unfair to only end up with a ruined reputation. Therefore, I believe that before Mr. Huang Ge officially takes office, the court should let all the officials make their own reports and comment on Mr. Huang's merits and demerits over the years, so that the world can see I understand the great merits and demerits of Mr. Huangge, and I will take the opportunity to clear Mr. Huangge’s name and end well!”
As he spoke, Zhao Junchen's face was filled with kindness, as if he was sincerely thinking about Huang Yourong.
However, after hearing Zhao Junchen's "goodwill gesture", Huang Yourong's expression suddenly changed, and a trace of uncontrollable resentment and panic flashed in his eyes.
On the other side, people like Lin Wei, Zhang Cheng and others suddenly turned their heads and looked at Zhao Junchen fiercely, wishing to eat Zhao Junchen alive!
After all, although Zhao Junchen said it nicely, Huang Yourong is now in a situation where everyone is pushing him against him. To sum up Huang Yourong's merits and demerits at this time is actually to encourage all officials in the court to continue to impeach and criticize Huang Yourong. In the end, Huang Yourong only It would be an outcome of "the faults outweigh the merits", and it would even involve many major crimes. At that time, it would be impossible for Huang Yourong to retire and return home without incident.
Therefore, on the surface, Zhao Junchen wanted to clear Huang Yourong's name, but in fact, he wanted to liquidate Huang Yourong!
Seeing that Huang Yourong was clearly planning to leave the temple, Zhao Junchen still did not intend to let him go. He actually planned to torture Huang Yourong to death. How could Huang Yourong, Zhang Cheng, Lin Wei and others not be angry?
On the other side, Shen Changmao also frowned.
Although Huang Yourong has lost his use value, Shen Changmao once promised Huang Yourong that he would protect Huang Yourong from leaving the temple safely. Zhao Junchen's current insidious statement will undoubtedly make Shen Changmao break his trust in Huang Yourong. When the time comes, Lin Wei, Zhang Cheng and others People's positions may change.
At the same time, many officials felt chilled after seeing Zhao Junchen's statement. They only felt that Zhao Junchen was narrow-minded and too vengeful.
However, before they could refute Zhao Junchen's point of view, Emperor Deqing said first: "What Zhao Aiqing said is reasonable. Mr. Huang Ge has worked hard and made great achievements. He should indeed be renamed. Let's do it according to Zhao Aiqing's suggestion."
After saying that, Emperor Deqing turned his eyes to Huang Yourong, his expression was also "full of goodwill", and said: "Mr. Huangge, you are an old minister. Since you want to retire and return to your hometown, I will not force you to stay. It's just you." You have been doing your best for me over the years, but I cannot let you leave the court amid controversy, so you should stay in the capital for a while. After I receive the memorial from hundreds of officials, I will announce your merits and demerits to the world. After that, I will ask you to retire and return to your hometown, this is also for the sake of clearing your name in future generations."
After hearing Emperor Deqing's decision, Huang Yourong looked dejected, but he also knew that the matter could not be reversed, so he had no choice but to salute Emperor Deqing again, bowed his head and said: "Old minister... I obey the order."
*
Looking at Huang Yourong's desolate back, Zhao Junchen's eyes flashed with envy.
Yes, although Huang Yourong was extremely depressed now, Zhao Junchen was very envious of his situation.
After all, Emperor Deqing didn't really want to punish Huang Yourong, he just wanted Huang Yourong to spit out the wealth he had accumulated over the years.
Therefore, if nothing unexpected happens, in a few days, Huang Yourong will make up his mind and obediently offer most of his family property and savings to Emperor Deqing in exchange for a conclusion that "the merits outweigh the faults" and retire in peace. Returning to his hometown, he was far away from the center of the capital, a place of right and wrong, and away from the calculations and struggles of the officialdom, and became an insignificant rich man.
Although this ending was extremely bleak for Huang Yourong, it was the outcome that Zhao Junchen had dreamed of.
If Zhao Junchen only needs to give up most of his family wealth to stay away from the temple's calculations, get rid of Emperor Deqing's positioning of himself, and become an ordinary rich man from now on, then Zhao Junchen will definitely do this.
It's a pity that Emperor Deqing's positioning of Zhao Junchen is completely different from that of Huang Yourong. Huang Yourong was just a servant with unclean hands and feet, while Zhao Junchen had to take the blame for Emperor Deqing, attract public resentment for Emperor Deqing, and even Dealing with some things that were inconvenient for the world to know for Emperor Deqing, and even more so, the poor rooster that Emperor Deqing left to the next emperor - a rooster used to kill chickens to scare monkeys!
Therefore, even if Zhao Junchen offered most of his family wealth, Emperor Deqing would never let Zhao Junchen leave. Zhao Junchen could only continue to fight for it in the officialdom.
What's more, Zhao Junchen's many plans have reached this stage, but they can't help themselves and can't stop.
*
In this way, although Huang Yourong lost his position as the old minister of the Pavilion, it was a pity that he still could not leave the temple as he wished, and would have to continue to sit on the wax for a while.
However, in today's morning, Huang Yourong's situation was just an insignificant appetizer.
The really important thing is Huang Yourong's replacement!
Anyone would be jealous of the vacant position of Pavilion Elder. Each faction in the court also had their own plans, which would lead to countless changes in interests. Naturally, it attracted the attention of officials.
So, following Emperor Deqing's inquiry, all the officials shifted their attention.
Emperor Deqing asked: "Since Huang Yourong has retired from office, a position in the cabinet has become vacant. As for the candidate to succeed him, do the Nine Ministers of the DPRK have any suitable candidates to recommend?"
After Emperor Deqing finished speaking, there was a moment of silence in the Huangji Hall.
Then, as if a huge boulder was thrown into the calm lake, countless waves of light and undercurrent suddenly set off, and the major factions in the DPRK began to recommend their candidates.
In the Ming Dynasty, there were two main ways for officials to join the cabinet, namely special promotion and tingtui.
The emperor directly appoints someone to join the cabinet. Initially, the cabinet was just to assist the emperor in handling government affairs. Naturally, it was decided by the emperor with just one sentence. However, as the influence of the cabinet has grown, this method has become less and less common.
Tingtui is composed of Jiuqing (the Jiuqing of the Ming Dynasty refers to the common name of the nine officials of the six bureaus, the Duchayuan, the General Affairs Department, and the Dali Temple, which is different from the Jiuqing of the Qin and Han Dynasties) and the Duchayuan who are stationed in the Six Ministries and Thirteen Roads. The supervisors shall jointly select candidates through consultation. Each major yamen has the right to speak, but it is presided over by the Ministry of Personnel. Among them, the Metropolitan Procuratorate has the largest number of participants. In addition to the left and right censors, there are also six departments for Shizhong, thirteen supervisory censors, and others.
The final result is summarized by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, reported to the cabinet for voting by the General Affairs Department, and submitted to the emperor for approval, and finally takes effect. The General Affairs Department will also send a copy of the discussion process to the Hanlin Academy and the Imperial College for public opinion supervision.
Nowadays, even Emperor Deqing can only determine his cabinet ministers through court recommendation, and the power game between them is not as complicated as usual.
At the beginning, the reason why Emperor Deqing was able to support the "Prince Party" Cheng Yuandao to enter the cabinet was not only Zhao Junchen's statement, but also because the "Prince Party" still controlled the Metropolitan Procuratorate at that time, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate had always been the court's The main force of pushing.
But now, the momentum of the "Prince Party" has been repeatedly frustrated, and it can no longer control the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Which party will fall into the hands of the newly vacant cabinet position depends on the level of the major factions' methods and the game of interests. .
It is foreseeable that an extremely exciting political game is about to begin.
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…(To be continued.)
