Politics is so cruel. Once you start to show weakness, others will attack you in groups, eager to rush up and wipe you clean.
The emperor compromised with Ye Sheng and other officials, and arranged for Shang Ren and Peng Shi to return to the capital; he also lifted the empress dowager's ban and rebuilt the Renshou Palace for her.
These were two strong political signals, meaning that the emperor was on the defensive.
The middle- and lower-level officials, who had been suppressed by the emperor for a long time, entered the mode of beating up the fallen dog.
Especially older middle- and lower-level officials are even more careless.
This is the negative effect caused by Zhu Qiyu's promotion of young people: in the civil servant promotion system, the top positions have been occupied by Chen Xun, He Wenyuan, Luo Tong, Wang Ji and others.
"Young people" like Wang Wen and Jiang Yuan, who are in their early fifties, have already blocked their positions in the next generation.
Compared with positions such as the Six Ministers and the top cabinet ministers, fifty years old is already very young.
The emperor had just promoted Xu Youzhen, who was in his early forties, to the cabinet.
Behind him is Huang Pu, who has just turned forty.
Even if they finally get rid of these people, He Yi, Yue Zheng and others who are in their mid-twenties are now at the age to take over.
Behind him is seventeen-year-old Wang Xian.
The emperor implemented an echelon-style training method for the old, middle and young generations.
The result is that officials at the middle and lower levels are generally anxious. It has only been two years since the emperor ascended the throne, and most of the good positions have been occupied.
Older middle- and lower-level officials basically have no hope of reaching the top.
The problem is that everyone is a Jinshi, and they are all talented people who have read the books of sages and sages. There are a few who have no ambition or ambition at all.
Xu Youzhen in history chose political speculation to support Zhu Qi because his position in the Jingtai Dynasty was blocked by others, especially Yu Qian's position as the first civil servant, which suppressed everyone. The town was restored.
Zhu Qiyu himself was helpless about this situation. There was no solution to this problem. After weighing the pros and cons, he still had to grit his teeth to recruit confidants and promote cronies.
The way to reduce its negative effects is to try to draw the most talented people into the camp of cronies. This will test your vision.
Today's new Jinshi is a huge test for Zhu Qiyu's vision.
…
But it was said that the inner court immediately made major adjustments after receiving the imperial edict.
The eunuchs in charge of the imperial eunuchs and the departmental eunuchs immediately rearranged the Nangong.
Clean the palace, arrange the rooms, and prepare to welcome all the emperor's concubines to move in.
The internal officials immediately began to prepare for the reconstruction of Renshou Palace.
Three hundred young eunuchs were transferred from the Xixin Department and the Bell and Drum Department on the same day and assigned to the Nangong, Kunning Palace, and Yinghua Palace on duty.
In short, the inner court acted extremely quickly, and Jin Ying and Xing'an once again became the leaders of the inner court.
After Jin Ying and Xing'an gained power, the palace people who had treated them coldly came to fawn over them one after another. Wang Cheng, Shu Liang, Zhang Yong, and Wang Qin seemed a little lonely.
The palace people did not dare to openly show the faces of the emperor's trusted eunuchs, but sarcastic remarks behind their backs were inevitable.
Wang Cheng, Shu Liang and others had no choice but to follow the emperor's instructions and go to Cheng Jing's mansion to walk around. After all, the four people's understanding of the court situation is definitely not comparable to Cheng Jing's.
If you don't have the ability, then you should respect those who have the ability and ask them for advice humbly. This is the greatest advantage of Wang Cheng and others.
Empress Zhou, on the other hand, neither consulted with others nor asked the Empress Dowager Sun for instructions. She directly chose to kill most of the people in Kunning Palace with sticks, leaving only her confidants.
It was so willful that the emperor's edict only said to replace the palace attendants of Kunning Palace, but did not say to kill them all.
Queen Zhou just took matters into her own hands.
By the time Queen Qian, Concubine Wan Chen and others got the news and stood up to dissuade him, all the palace officials who had been tortured were already dead.
This made Concubine Wan Chen very distressed. She had been in the harem for so many years. How easy was it to win over a few palace people? Queen Zhou, do you know how much gold, silver and jewelry I spent? She was beaten to death when she came up.
Empress Qian and Concubine Wan Chen gave up and returned to Nangong to summon Xing'an and asked the Chief of Ceremonies to report to the emperor and impeach Empress Zhou for abusing lynching, which was unbenevolent.
Xing'an's head suddenly swelled to three times its usual size. Isn't this just embarrassing: although the lives of palace people are worthless, as a queen, killing one or two of them is still justified. Without going through the process, just coming up and killing a large group of people with sticks is definitely an abuse of lynching, there is no doubt about it.
The problem is that Empress Qian and Concubine Wan Chen did not appeal to the Empress Dowager, but directly asked the Supervisor of Ceremonies to report to the Emperor, which was also somewhat unethical.
When this matter reaches Empress Dowager Sun, she will definitely be suppressed. Queen Qian and Concubine Wan Chen bypassed the Queen Mother and complained directly to the emperor, which Xing'an could understand.
But understanding is understanding, and it is not easy to navigate this muddy water.
In the end, Xing'an said a lot of good things, but he refused to draft the memorial.
Now Empress Qian and Concubine Wan Chen were both in trouble. Xing'an refused to join in. Jin Ying was a confidant of Empress Dowager Sun, and no one dared to look for them. Chen Xiang and Cao Jixiang were close confidants of Emperor Gongrang. Now that Emperor Gongrang is seriously ill and comatose, they are unwilling to act on their own.
As empresses and concubines, Empress Qian and Concubine Wan Chen could only go to the eunuchs in charge of the Nangong Palace. It would definitely not work to go directly to the eunuchs in charge of rituals. Then they would be suspected of interfering in politics. Empress Zhou did not sue, but instead caused trouble for herself. Full of bad luck.
Just when the two of them were helpless, the personal palace maid came to report, and the eunuch Ruan Xi, the eunuch of the Royal Supervisor, asked to see them.
Queen Qian and Concubine Wan Chen looked at each other and smiled. They really wanted to sleep, so someone brought pillows to them. Ruan Xi was also the chief eunuch of the ceremony, Bingbi, and was the newly rising eunuch of the inner court.
Isn't this appropriate? Queen Qian quickly ordered someone to announce it.
After Ruan Xi saluted, he asked Queen Qian for instructions on how to change the furnishings in Nangong and how to place the concubines.
Empress Qian patiently instructed Ruan Xi on these trivial matters, and then asked Ruan Xi to report Empress Zhou's abuse of lynching to the emperor.
The two sides went through a series of pulls. Empress Qian and Wan Chen tried their best to win over each other and promised a lot of benefits. Ruan Xi finally reluctantly agreed to perform the memorial for them.
But Ruan Xi took the advantage and really got things done. Not only did he agree to submit the memorial, but he also promised to go there in person tomorrow and present the memorial directly to the emperor.
Queen Qian and Concubine Wan Chen were delighted.
Nothing to say for a day.
On the second day, Zhu Qiyu had breakfast and came to Fengge to inspect the government.
As soon as he entered the door, he saw He Yi leaning comfortably on a chair and drinking tea leisurely. Now there are six new members of Zhongshushe in the pavilion. Together with the original Xu Zheng and Huang Jian, the number of people who work permanently in Feng Pavilion has reached eight.
Huang Pu, Yue Zheng, and Chen Jian have spent most of their time in the Ministry of War recently.
Most of the time, He Yi is the eldest person in Feng Pavilion, so He Yi has already begun to enjoy the blessings. Of course, in his own words, this is called leaving more performance opportunities to newcomers.
Zhu Qiyu doesn't care about this. You can allocate tasks however you want, as long as I finish my work in good quality and quantity.
Everyone stood up and saluted, and Zhu Qiyu asked Wang Yue: "How is it? After yesterday's torment, what happened in the city?"
When Wang Yue asked, he quickly replied: "Your Majesty, hundreds of civil and military officials wrote hundreds of memorials yesterday to express their sympathy for Emperor Gongrang, including more than twenty new scholars."
(End of chapter)
