In fact, after Zhu Yijun's wedding, Zhang Juzheng was already considering "begging for divorce."
The previous incident of seizing love and the recent incident of cleaning up the family also made him feel more and more pressure from the reactionaries. What's more, from time to time, some officials still impeached him and attacked him.
Even now, He Xinyin also accuses him of "killing without teaching", like a cruel official.
Of course, more importantly, his emperor's students also showed disappointment in him.
He was disappointed that he could not strictly discipline himself and could only strictly demand the emperor and the people.
In addition, Zhu Yijun's maturity in governance, that is, his understanding of the concept of "controlling the people" is not as good as "benefiting the people", and even mentioned the words "respect sir, but more respect for the right way to govern the country", and now criticizes He Xinyin, and knows He Xinyin's so-called "civil rights" ideas were immature and out of date, and would only exacerbate chaos. Zhang Juzheng also felt that Zhu Yijun no longer needed him and could already govern the empire by himself.
He didn't even have to worry that there would be deviants like He Xinyin who would influence the emperor and cause troubles, such as the emperor giving up his throne and becoming a monk, or the monarch of the Yan Kingdom during the Warring States Period imitating the ancients' Zen and taking the position of a virtuous person, which would hasten the demise of the Yan Kingdom. Farce comes.
Because he knew that the emperor already had his own independent thinking ability.
Therefore, Zhang Juzheng's desire to retreat became even more serious at this time.
Of course, he was indeed tired.
It was a lot of pressure both physically and mentally.
The betrayal and abuse of his disciples, the disappointment of the monarch, the dissatisfaction of his tribe, including his two sons who were dissatisfied with him, and the betrayal of his domestic slaves.
Zhang Juzheng has indeed experienced a lot of unbearable human pain in recent years.
Because of this, Zhang Juzheng sometimes wanted to "beg for leave" and let the emperor change the system himself.
But is the time really ripe to "beg for a break"?
Zhang Juzheng wanted to know the answer from Shen Li, so he mentioned to Shen Li that he wanted to quit.
Shen Li did not respond. He seemed to deliberately pretend not to hear what Zhang Juzheng said, and it seemed that he really did not hear it. He only responded to Zhang Juzheng's last sentence: "Student understands, thank you teacher for your advice!"
With that said, Shen Li said goodbye and left.
Zhang Juzheng said "Hey" when he saw this and deliberately called Shen Li back.
Shen Li stopped, turned around and asked, "Master, what else do you want to teach me?"
Zhang Juzheng thought for a while, and finally waved his hand and said: "Forget it, you can go."
"Student resigned."
Shen Li left again.
In the end, Zhang Juzheng did not ask Shen Li whether he wanted to quit.
He knew that Shen Li would not dare to tell the truth, even if he really heard it.
"I'm not a phaser, I'm a photographer!"
When he thought of these words he said in the past, Zhang Juzheng knew that the civil servants and military generals would all be a little wary of him and worry that his resignation might be a kind of temptation. Therefore, I was afraid that no one would dare to mention this to him. Afraid of accidentally saying something wrong.
Zhang Juzheng was at the cabinet the next day and was preparing to draft a "begging for divorce" document when he saw Shen Li bringing Privy Councilor Fang Fengshi and Minister of Rites Pan Sheng to the cabinet.
"Please forgive the student for committing the crime of not telling the truth!"
Shen Li first bowed his hands to Zhang Juzheng and said: "Just because the teacher has the idea of 'begging for leave', the students have to be bold for the sake of the country and the common people! I specially invite the prime minister and the great uncle to come to the cabinet to persuade the teacher."
As he spoke, Shen Li looked at Zhang Siwei and Wang Guoguang and said, "Let the elders of the two pavilions know about this matter. After all, students are very talkative, so I'm afraid they won't be able to persuade the master to change his mind."
After the establishment of the Privy Council, civil servants took the initiative to call Fang Fengshi "Prime Minister" to show his dignity, just like cabinet ministers were often called Xiangguo, and his students also called cabinet ministers "Shixiang".
In terms of showing dignity and dignity, for civil servants, ancestral systems are not important.
"Uncle, do you want to beg for leave?!"
When Wang Guoguang and Zhang Siwei saw Shen Li, Fang Fengshi, and Pan Sheng coming to the cabinet, they both stood up. Wang Guoguang also asked a question first and walked towards Zhang Juzheng.
Pan Sheng also followed: "Uncle, you can't retreat at this time!"
"Why can't you retreat?"
"I've retired. It's a good time, so I recommend the eldest uncle to the cabinet! I know that the eldest uncle is a loyal man to the country, and he will not let what I have done go to waste."
Zhang Juzheng asked with a smile and then added.
"Uncle, you think I am acting out of public or selfish motives."
"I think you really can't retreat now. If you retreat, the New Deal will definitely fall short!"
"Once you quit, it will be difficult for others to have the courage to persist."
"Not everyone is like you Zhang Taiyue, but you have the courage to make powerful people lose one or two things to the benefit of the country!"
"Even if Xiao Gui and Cao Sui follow, Xiao He is Xiao He, Cao Shen is Cao Shen, and Cao Shen cannot replace Xiao He!"
Pan Sheng spoke at this time.
Because he was older than Zhang Juzheng and had more seniority than Zhang Juzheng, he called Zhang Juzheng by his first name.
Wang Guoguang also followed: "Uncle, you really can't retreat now! The land clearing has not been completed, and His Majesty's cultivation ceremony and mausoleum ceremony have not been completed. Why are you retreating?!"
Wang Guoguang called Zhang Juzheng because he was anxious. After asking Zhang Juzheng sternly, he hurriedly added:
"I know that you are thinking about your future, and that you should return power to His Majesty, but His Majesty may not be willing to let you back now, and may not be happy for you to give up your choice at this time!"
"Even if you want to retreat, you should wait until these two rituals are completed."
"Only if you take His Majesty to complete the farming ceremony, can the world know that you will personally hand over this new policy to His Majesty!"
"What's more important is the visit to the mausoleum. This is the first time that His Majesty has left the capital to pay homage to the mausoleum of his ancestors. How could the New Deal be decided just like this if I didn't take this opportunity to lead His Majesty to inform the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty about the outline of the New Deal?" A national policy that should be followed in order to be recognized by our ancestors?”
"To be honest, once you accompany His Majesty to complete the farming ceremony and the mausoleum ceremony, and let the world know that Your Majesty has become a wise king who can rule alone under your leadership, even if there are changes in the future, your Uncle He won’t end up like Huo Guang.”
"After all, Your Majesty is really going to be deceived by villains and do ruthless things, which will damage your own face. With the wisdom of the emperor, how can you do such a thing that damages your own face?!"
Wang Guoguang continued.
"Yes, Yuanfu, the land clearing has not yet been completed, many new policies have not yet been launched, and the military strategy formulated by the Privy Council has just begun. Even if we want to retreat, it is better to wait for the completion of the two major gifts of farming and tombs, and wait for horses and I’ll talk about it after the old inspector Shen Erge returns to Beijing and ask them about the situation in the places they inspected and whether they should add new national policies?”
"If there is no need to add more, it will not be too late to retreat, so that those who come after can follow the rules, and then we can truly be regarded as a monarch and his ministers, with a beginning and an end."
Fang Fengshi also persuaded him.
Zhang Siwei also came over at this time and said: "Yuan Fu, what they said is reasonable."
After saying that, Zhang Siwei bowed to Zhang Juzheng and started crying: "You really can't retreat!"
Seeing this, Zhang Juzheng hurriedly supported Zhang Siwei, who was the most excited, and said: "That's okay! What you all said is reasonable. Let's wait until the two ceremonies are over before talking about it."
Seeing this, Shen Li breathed a sigh of relief and also laughed.
Zhang Juzheng looked at Shen Li and said with a sullen face: "Very good, now I'm going to learn to communicate with the ministers behind my back as a teacher. You really can't respect the dignity of a teacher for the sake of the country!"
"Master, please calm down!"
Shen Li hurriedly bowed his hands.
Zhang Juzheng laughed: "That's all! You, Shen Zhonghua, have always had your own opinions!"
Not long after, Zhu Yijun learned from Zhang Jing that there was a rumor in the outer court that Zhang Juzheng was begging for divorce, and he stood up in panic: "What's the end?"
Then, Zhu Yijun said to himself without waiting for Zhang Jing's answer: "It seems that I have been too independent these days, which not only made my husband really strict with himself, but also made him have such thoughts!
Zhang Jing replied: "Your Majesty, don't worry. In the end, Master Shen led Mr. Fang, Mr. Pan and the Second Minister of the Cabinet to persuade Mr. Zhang to give up his intention to beg for a divorce."
(End of chapter)
