The next morning, Beijing faced a gloomy and bad weather, and the splendid Forbidden City in the center also lost some of its color.
A bird's-eye view of the entire Forbidden City, past the Meridian Gate Tower, are the five Jinshui Bridges in the center of the square, and then the three magnificent halls, Fengtian Hall, Huagai Hall and Jinshen Hall.
The Qianqing Palace is located behind the central axis of the three main halls. It is the designated residence of the Ming Emperor.
"Wanfei!"
Zhu Jian, who was lying on the dragon bed, stared at the roof in deep concentration. Since Wan Zhen'er passed away, he had become thinner and thinner. Suddenly, he stretched out a palm and called out softly as if he was delirious.
The attending physician Liu Wentai checked Zhu Jianshen's pulse, and his bitter face became even more bitter. Facing the minister kneeling outside, he gently shook his head, already very pessimistic about His Majesty's condition.
When Wan An, the chief minister of the current cabinet, felt that the situation was getting worse, the Ming Dynasty might really change this time, and he felt sad for a while.
He was a Jinshi for the 13th year of the orthodox year. He entered the Hanlin Academy as a shujishi and later became an editor. Because he had no background, he chose to call himself his nephew to Concubine Wan Guifei. He also had a close relationship with Concubine Wan Guifei's younger brother Wandong, so he was successfully promoted to the chief minister of the cabinet. .
Thanks to his obedience and knowing how to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, especially winning His Majesty's trust, he has been in the position of Chief Assistant for ten years.
It's just that Concubine Wan Gui died of illness at the beginning of the year. Now if His Majesty dies, he will lose two of his most famous "big backers".
As soon as he thought this, before the official next to him had any reaction, Wan An had already started wiping his sleeves, and two lines of hot tears had already filled his cheeks.
Li Zisheng, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, secretly marveled at Wan An's acting skills, but reminded him softly: "Yuanfu, His Majesty is critically ill now, and the subordinates are already heartbroken. Of course, His Highness the Crown Prince must be summoned to the palace to accompany him!"
If there is really going to be a change of dynasty, then the wisest thing to do now is undoubtedly to do everything possible to please the new emperor instead of continuing to show off his acting skills in front of the old emperor.
"You are right to remind him, His Highness the Crown Prince will be sent to the palace!" Wan An felt that Li Zisheng's proposal was reasonable and nodded immediately.
"This is inappropriate!" Liu Ji, the second assistant, stood up to stop him, but gave his own explanation: "The dragon's body is ill now, and it is forbidden for the dragon's energy to conflict! If His Highness the Crown Prince is summoned to the palace at this time, it may cause harm to the palace." Your Majesty, Dragon Qi, this is the next strategy! It should be passed down to the Queen Mother Zhou, who will take charge of the overall situation, so that we can have both worlds!"
"What Mr. Liu Ge said makes sense!" Wan An actually didn't want Zhu Jianshen to die, so he agreed with a bit of luck.
As the chief minister of the dynasty and the person that His Majesty relies on the most, it is natural that he must always be tied to His Majesty's interests. In order to prevent Emperor Chenghua from being suspicious, he must distance himself from the Crown Prince.
It was just this deliberate alienation that resulted in him not having much interaction with the prince Zhu Youtang. Now that His Majesty is in his prime, rather than improvising, it is better to take another gamble.
Because of this, he decided to place his bet on Emperor Chenghua, hoping that Emperor Chenghua could survive this disaster and that he would still be the unbreakable evergreen chief minister of the dynasty.
Li Rong, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, was listening to the exchanges between several ministers. When he saw that Wan An had agreed not to summon the prince, he looked thoughtfully at Liu Ji, the second assistant with a slightly raised corner of his mouth.
If something unexpected happens to His Majesty this time, a bloody storm will definitely break out in this court.
Wangfu Street, the Prince's residence.
Whenever a prince leaves the cabinet to study, the cabinet officials will review and read the scriptures, draft the beginning and end of the scriptures, and send the imitated characters for reading every day.
In the thirteenth year of Chenghua's reign, at the invitation of the minister, Zhu Youtang was arranged to go out of the cabinet to study.
It was just that the class was held in the Wenhua Palace in the Forbidden City at that time, but in February this year Zhu Youtang married the Crown Princess Zhang Yujiao, and the married Crown Prince naturally had to move outside the palace.
Zhu Youtang is the crown prince, so his studies are naturally more valued by the courtiers. Both the quantity and quality of the teachers are the best, and the daily course schedule is full.
The first lecturers were Xu Pu and Liu Jian, but each lecturer had a nine-year tenure for no special reason. Now the second lecturers are Hanlin Editor and Zuo Shu Chang Xie Qian and Zhan Shifu Zuo Yude Zhang Sheng.
Liu Jian, who has now been promoted to a bachelor's degree candidate in the Hanlin Academy, came uninvited today. After taking over Xie Qian's course, he began to teach Zhu Youtang.
Zhu Youtang is trying hard to adapt to this new identity. In order to prevent others from seeing the clues, he naturally sits in front of the case and talks less and listens more. He even has to deliberately create a dull image for the other party.
"The Master said: Whoever governs without doing anything will be like Shun? What's wrong? Gongji is just south. Your Highness, what's the explanation?" Liu Jian came to the case with a book and suddenly asked.
Liu Jian studied under Xue Xuan, a great scholar of Neo-Confucianism. He was a Jinshi in the fourth year of Tianshun. He was from Luoyang, Henan. He entered the Hanlin Academy as a common scholar, and then served as Hanlin Editor, Hanlin Editor and Shao Zhanshi. He was one of the core officials of the Qingliu Dynasty.
He is fifty-five years old this year. Although he is not tall, he looks very strong. He has a standard face with Chinese characters, bright eyes, and a strong Henan accent.
Zhu Youtang met Liu Jian's hopeful gaze and uttered four words in a very cooperative manner: "Treat by doing nothing!"
"Yes! According to the sage, the only person who can rule the world without doing anything is probably Shun, right? What did he do? He just sat solemnly and upright on the throne of the court." Liu Jian's bladder was full and his face was slightly red. Explained carefully.
When he finished speaking, his face was filled with a look of longing, as if he longed for the Ming Dynasty to have a good monarch who ruled by doing nothing like Shun.
Zhu Youtang smiled and said nothing when facing the excited Liu Jian. In his previous life, he received kickbacks as an employee and did not like the boss who took care of things. He very much hoped that the leader could take over the situation.
"Your Highness, how can the world be governed? How can the people be rich?" Liu Jian was an eloquent little old man. After talking about Wenjing's rule and Kang Wang's submission, he suddenly asked another question.
Zhu Youtang knew that the other party had been going around for a long time to instill the idea of governing the country into him, but he still said calmly: "Master Liu, please clear up the confusion!"
"Now that the virtuous ministers are in the government, as long as we get rid of the traitors, abolish the factory guards, and re-employ the upright officials, we can achieve a revival!" Liu Jian stroked his beard and gave the answer as if it was a matter of course.
Zhu Youtang knew that Liu Jian was one of the leaders of the so-called Qingliu Xianchen in the civil service group, so he calmly held his hands in his hands and said: "I would like to be taught!"
"His Royal Highness, if you become a great treasure in the future, do you know how this dynasty should appoint talents?" Liu Jian's conversation was serious and he continued to ask questions.
Zhu Youtang knew that the other party was going to recommend his favorite candidate in advance, so he said calmly: "Master Liu, please give me some advice!"
"Your Highness, today's governance should focus on the administration of officials. As long as we re-employ upright officials to rectify the officialdom, we can get rid of the treacherous ministers in the court and the corrupt local officials. Looking at the civil servants of the Manchu Dynasty, the former Nanjing Ministry of War Shangshu Wang Shu is the most upright, so Wang Shu can be appointed as the Heavenly Official!" Liu Jian liked Zhu Youtang's humble attitude very much and immediately recommended him.
Although Zhu Youtang knew not to trust the evaluations of scholars, he still used the information of later generations to examine the courtiers he was about to face.
Wang Shu, a Shaanxi native, was a Jinshi for thirteen years. He entered the Hanlin Academy as a shujishi. After passing the examination for three years, he was appointed as the left judge of Dali Temple. He served as governor many times and later served as the Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing. However, the remonstrances were frequent and the words were untrue. Emperor Chenghua ordered him to retire last year.
Zhu Youtang knew that this person liked admonishment very much, but he had never heard of him having made any outstanding achievements. He seemed to calmly express his position: "I will remember this!"
"His Royal Highness the Prince is wise!" Although Liu Jian had known that Zhu Youtang was an obedient and good student, but seeing Zhu Youtang acting so well-behaved, he couldn't help but said with joy.
A piece of very definite news has just come out from the palace. The old emperor is now seriously ill and is very likely to die this time, so the prince who humbly accepts advice is about to ascend the throne.
As long as things go smoothly, the court will surely undergo a major reshuffle.
The Mei Party headed by Wan An will surely fall, and the factory guards will no longer be reused by His Majesty. Then the whole world will be completely controlled by their group of clean officials.
Zhu Youtang saw the smug Liu Fenjian in his eyes, but for some reason he suddenly had an idea: In the prosperous age of literati and the ruling class, ordinary people were still the stepping stones for no one to care about him.
But with the fusion of the two souls, he felt that he was actually Zhu Youtang who had a dream. How could he let his own world be led into the abyss by these civil servants?
