The current situation is like this. Those who help the emperor in times of need follow the emperor to eat fish and meat until they vomit, such as Xu Heng, the Duke of Anguo, who won a big treasure.
For those who are icing on the cake, whether they can drink the soup is a question. Now if you want to join the emperor's camp, you have to line up and cry and shout for allegiance.
As for those who participated in the rebellion, whether they lived or not was entirely up to the emperor's whim.
King Lu asked Tang Jie again: "What should we say when we meet the emperor?"
Tang Jie said with a smile: "In the past half month since he came to Beijing, my grandnephew has been inquiring about all kinds of information and carefully trying to figure out the emperor's behavior style.
According to what my grandnephew saw, the one who received us this time was probably not the emperor himself, but the two young concubines of Qi.
Because we have no merit for the emperor, the emperor may not pay much attention to us.
If my great-uncle is willing to listen to my great-nephew, when he meets Princess Qi, he must not act like a prince. Kneel down when you need to, and kowtow when you need to. "
Hearing this, Prince Lu stopped on the spot: "What are you talking about? Those princesses are of low origin, why should we kneel down to them.
To put it bluntly, even if they are princesses, their father is a prince. When have you ever heard of a prince kneeling and kowtowing to a princess from another family? "
Tang Jie retorted: "Uncle, that's not what you said. Although she is a princess in name, she is actually doing the queen's errands.
Moreover, those who were more powerful than Empress Qian and Empress Zhou had disappeared, and they were extremely doted on by the emperor.
Our lives are now in other people's hands. Anyway, seven princes have died in this mutiny. If one more or one less is killed, the emperor will not care at all. "
Prince Lu stopped talking. After staying in the capital for so many days, everyone kept asking about the trends in the court. These ridiculous arrangements the emperor made on women were well known to everyone. If you ask anyone on the streets of Beijing, they will tell you a lot:
When he is an emperor, he does not appoint a queen, nor does he live in the palace. However, the palace was built in the ravines of the western suburbs, and the princess was in charge. None of the princesses are vying to be the queen, but each of them has such power that the two queens Qian and Zhou are beyond their reach.
The emperor finally agreed to the selection of a concubine by the Ministry of Rites, but in a mutiny, all three hundred beautiful girls died, and the emperor's two nannies were also compensated. Mrs. Fu Sheng and Mrs. Zuo Sheng were both first-grade wives, and they died like this.
Thinking of this, Prince Lu sighed: "What a pity for those three hundred beautiful women. If there had been no mutiny, the Ming Dynasty would have had a decent queen."
Tang Jie shook his head in embarrassment: "Uncle, my nephew still wants to refute you."
"Okay, you can just say it, I want to listen, but something is wrong again."
Tang Jie smiled and said: "Without the mutiny, these beautiful ladies would not be able to survive, let alone choose a queen. The emperor had no intention of choosing a queen from the beginning.
From the moment the officials of the Ministry of Rites proposed the talent show, both the officials and the girls were destined to die.
The officials of the Ministry of Rites felt that the emperor was weak and could be bullied, so they all died. The beautiful ladies felt that the emperor's favorite concubines were weak and could be bullied, so they also died. "
Prince Lu asked curiously: "But it was the Ministry of Rites that placed the show girl in the ceremonial room, it was a small group of rebels who killed the show girl, and the emperor's old Qi Palace was set on fire by the rebels. Rong Shan beside Concubine Wu My wife also died in the rebellion."
Tang Jie sighed: "That's why I say that the emperor's intentions today are unfathomable. Everything is like an antelope hanging its horns, leaving no trace. But everything is going according to the emperor's will."
Prince Lu nodded: "Then the emperor was too cruel, and the emperor's concubines were too jealous."
Tang Jie smiled and said: "Okay, which woman would be willing to share her man with others. Besides, these beloved concubines have followed the emperor to share the sorrows. Why should those beautiful women occupy the magpie's nest?
Moreover, the emperor had issued an edict to discourage those women from participating in the talent show, and the princess also invited the show girls to the palace in the western suburbs.
If those beautiful ladies listened to the advice and accepted the princess's invitation, wouldn't they be able to avoid this mutiny.
Given the chance to survive, if the beautiful women insist on competing to become queens and want to trample the emperor's beloved concubines under their feet, then they really deserve to die. "
Hearing this, Prince Lu sighed and said nothing more.
Seeing that the matter had been explained thoroughly, King Lu made the final decision and said, "That's it. Listen to Jie'er. When you get to the palace tomorrow, you should kneel down when you need to, and kowtow when you need to."
A good man should not suffer the immediate consequences, coax the emperor and princess as soon as possible, let us leave the place of right and wrong as soon as possible, and whoever comes back in the future will be our grandson. "
…
But in the cabinet, Chen Xun, Wang Wen, Shen Yi, Wei Ji, Zhou Chen, Luo Tong, and He Wenyuan gathered together for a small meeting.
Now the cabinet is much quieter. Yu Shiyue is gone, Shi Pu is gone, Shang Ren is gone, and Peng Shi is gone.
Among the remaining people, some were happy and some were sad.
For example, Chen Yi, the iron-rooster-like Minister of the Ministry of Finance, was so happy that his mouth almost became crooked.
There were too many nobles, civil servants, and military generals involved. The property confiscationers pulled truckloads of property into the warehouse area of the Imperial City's Xiyuan.
The stolen goods and fines warehouse is already full, and they can only be stuffed into the warehouses of Chengyun, Guangying, Guanghui, Guangji, etc.
When these warehouses were almost full, Shen Yi had to temporarily requisition the salary warehouse.
When the emperor first ascended the throne, he ordered the Ministry of Revenue to build a huge salary silver warehouse next to the Lumi Granary used for paying salaries to officials.
Chen Yi, who was still the right minister of the Ministry of Revenue at the time, kept muttering in his heart: This new king is probably suffering from some serious illness. How can he think of it all at once? Is such a big salary bank built to raise rats?
Unexpectedly, Shen Yi never dreamed that today, the Minister of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty would count money until he felt dizzy.
Besides Shen Yi, the happiest person is Wang Wen. It is already certain that Chen Xun will become an official, so next, the cabinet will be led by Wang Wen.
As the first important minister to be loyal to the emperor, the position of chief minister of the cabinet was the greatest reward for Wang Wen's help in times of crisis.
Others are well aware of the result and have no objections. Who has good vision and courage? This is what Wang Wen deserves.
Chen Xun had a sad face. He didn't know why he got obsessed this time. Although he didn't rebel, his attitude was ambiguous on many things, and he even made a lot of conveniences to Emperor Gongrang.
Chen Xun knew very well that the emperor deliberately spared his life this time, all because of his support when he ascended the throne. Otherwise, with the emperor's methods, he would have been completely cold.
When the emperor misses his old love, he will know how to advance and retreat.
Chen Xun also figured out that he was already over seventy years old, so he might as well retire and go home as soon as possible.
So Chen Xun led everyone in the cabinet to start the handover.
The handover was almost over. Seeing Chen Xun's miserable situation, Wang Wen couldn't bear it, so he tried to persuade him: "Why don't Mr. Chen Ge write a letter to accuse Emperor Gongrang and the Empress Dowager of their crimes, and persuade the Holy One to depose Emperor Gongrang and demote him to prince? He also abolished the position of the Queen Mother and demoted her to a commoner."
When Chen Xun heard this, he looked at Wang Wen in surprise. Isn’t this too bold to say? Can we discuss it in public?
Wang Wen explained: “The Holy Emperor is the only monarch of the Ming Dynasty, and even a coup initiated by Emperor Gongrang is still considered rebellion.
The most important thing for a minister is to be loyal to the emperor, so how can he turn a blind eye to rebellion? "
After Chen Xun thought about it for a while, he understood. Even if you don't have yourself, others will write to you to depose the emperor Gongrang and the empress dowager. The reason why Wang Wen persuaded him to write a letter was because he wanted to give himself a favor. When the time comes, the emperor, for the sake of this memorial, will definitely allow himself to enter the official position safely, and he will still be given the dignity he deserves.
For the sake of his descendants, Chen Xun still accepted Wang Wen's kindness. He burst into tears immediately and thanked Wang Wen and other cabinet ministers repeatedly.
…
It's early the next morning, the fourth day of July.
Zhu Qiyu was woken up from bed early.
Zhu Qiyu begged with a grimace on his face: "My good ladies, please work harder. I have nothing to do today, so please let me lie down in the gentle countryside for a while."
Qianxue asked curiously: "Why don't you have anything to do, husband?"
Zhu Qiyu spread his hands: "I'm still sick. I can't be too sick to see people before the mutiny. It would be too shameful for me to appear in front of the courtiers alive and kicking immediately after the mutiny.
And since none of the four of you wants to have children, I can only lie down. "
"Didn't we summon King Lu and Tang Jie today?"
"Hey, I called them here just to tell them about convicting the Sun family at the meeting of relatives. They are not loyal to me, and I am too lazy to pay attention to them. You can just send them away.
As for Tang Jie's title, Duke Xinguo is the royal relative designated by Taizu, so this is our family matter and you can take care of it yourself. "
Qianxue helplessly replied: "Okay, man, lie down for a while. After getting up, you take Qian'er and Ningxiang to tidy up our vineyard. Then go fishing, and cook for us after catching the fish." , I want to eat grilled fish today."
Zhu Qiyu cupped his hands and said, "I would like to respect your Majesty's decree."
Qianxue smiled, stood up, and pulled Su Xi out.
Zhu Qiyu suddenly stopped the person: "Wait a minute, there is one more thing. I will give you a list, and you can take note of it."
When the two girls heard this, they quickly prepared their pens and ink.
Just listen to Zhu Qiyu read: "The following are the eunuchs of the Nanjing inner court: Pei Dang, the eunuch in charge of Zhidian, Fu'an, the left young eunuch, Shangyi;
Liu Xiang, the right eunuch of the Shangshan Jian, and Chen Lin, the right eunuch of the Duzhi Jian;
In the service of Jin Xing, the ministers Ruan Zhu, Chen Jing and Huang Qi were appointed.
Just these eight people were transferred from Nanjing to me. "
"What are you going to do, husband?"
Zhu Qiyu smiled and said: "All the dissidents in the inner court in Beijing have been eradicated. I want to reorganize the 24th Supervisory Bureau of the inner court, as well as the East Factory and the Inner Factory.
When you are an emperor, it is wrong to rely too much on eunuchs, but it is also wrong to not rely on eunuchs at all.
In the capital, eunuchs must be used to monitor officials and collect intelligence; in local areas, vassal kings, nobles, generals, and civil servants must be used to check and balance each other.
This is why I deliberately spared some of the feudal lords.
We cannot follow the extremes like Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. In the end, the vassal kings were indeed no longer a threat at all, but they left a completely unbalanced situation for their children and grandchildren. The civil servants and military generals did whatever they wanted, and they were all like big crabs, all lying sideways. walk.
We can't do that, and we can't let our children and grandchildren scold us for being immoral. "
Qianxue nodded and continued to ask: "What about Wang Cheng, Shu Liang, Zhang Yong, and Wang Qin?"
Zhu Qiyu smiled and said: "Don't worry, they are also ministers of the Dragon, and a good position will definitely be indispensable for them. Let Shu Liang come back from Shanxi first.
Wang Cheng, Zhang Yong, and Wang Qin are left to search Sanyang's house. Don't rush them, just let them search slowly. We must copy Sanyang's property completely, leaving no trace behind. "
(End of chapter)
