The next morning, in the palace.
Emperor Longqing Zhu Zai had just finished his breakfast and casually chatted with the prince Zhu Yijun who came to pay his respects. Then Meng Chong and Feng Bao came hand in hand. Feng Bao was holding a stack of memorials in his hand and his face was expressionless. Somewhat ugly.
Zhu Zaihe glanced at it and asked casually: "Is there an urgent message?"
Although Feng Bao was not angry with Meng Chong, the rules were still the rules and he could only look at Meng Chong and wait for him to speak.
With a worried look on his face, Meng Chong took a half-step forward and bowed: "Reporting to Grandpa Long Live, the Chief of Ceremonies collected a large number of memorials this morning, all for the purpose of bringing noble sons to the palace to accompany the crown prince. Especially Zhao. The elder Ge was the worst, leading dozens of imperial censors from the Metropolitan Procuratorate to jointly submit a memorial, and his words... uh, this, his words were very passionate."
When Zhu Zaihe heard "the words were very irritating", his eyebrows twitched subconsciously, he calmed down and asked Feng Bao: "Feng Bao, are those the memorials you got? Do you have a cabinet vote? Who is in the cabinet today? Chief writer?"
Feng Bao hurriedly stepped forward: "Replying to Grandpa Long Live, I only brought the memorials from Mr. Zhao Ge and various ministers. There are too many others and I can't take them at the moment. Today, it is Mr. Gao who wrote the memorial jointly signed by Mr. Zhao Ge and the Metropolitan Procuratorate. The memorial has been drafted."
When Zhu Zaihe first heard that there were too many memorials to hold, he couldn't help being startled. Then when he heard that Gao Gong already had the draft, he felt relieved, breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly asked: "What did Mr. Gao say?"
Feng Bao lowered his head deeply and said cautiously: "Mr. Gao said in the draft: 'There is no recent example of this matter, so it makes the outer court suspicious. Please ask your majesty Xiaoyu and the ministers to make it clear that this is not an everlasting case.' In addition, Mr. Gao also said Let the servants tell your Majesty that as the prince is getting older, he may consider leaving the court to study, so that he can enter the sacred school early and avoid the discussion of the ministers."
Hearing this, Zhu Zaihe nodded repeatedly and said: "On behalf of me, Zhu Zai, tell me that this matter is just because the prince is lonely in the palace and has been depressed recently, and the emperor's second son Yili is too young to be with him. I and the prince have never been close." , and then summoned all the descendants of the nobles to the palace for a while to accompany them. The nobles in the capital have been loyal and loyal for generations, and their descendants will also be the pillars of the country in the future. If the prince knows something about them when he is young, there will be good stories about the relationship between the emperor and his ministers in the future. It will be passed down to future generations. However, this matter is not a routine matter. As long as the prince's mood improves, I will naturally order all the distinguished disciples to return home, and all ministers do not need to worry too much."
The emperor paused and then said: "Furthermore, the prince is about to be eight years old. I have prepared to order the prince to go out of the palace to study, so that all the ministers will not have to worry about the prince being indulged in leisure activities."
The two of them only agreed and returned to the Director of Ceremonies for approval.
As soon as the two of them left, the prince Zhu Yijun, who had been silent for a long time, spoke with some gloominess and said, "Dad, my son finally has a few companions, is he going to be sent away again?" (Wufeng's note: Ming) When a prince calls the emperor, he can call him father, but most of the time, especially if the relationship between father and son is relatively close, they call him daddy directly. By the way, the emperor, queen and even the queen mother often call themselves "I", and It doesn’t have to be “I”, “I” or “Aijia”. Of course, this also depends on the occasion and the person you are facing.)
Zhu Zaihe glanced around and ordered: "You wait and go down first. I want to talk to the prince about something."
The eunuchs and maids in the palace immediately withdrew and waited for the order outside the palace.
Zhu Yijun asked curiously: "Daddy has something to say, and they can't get out, are they still afraid of leaking it?"
"You are still young, and you don't know that although the palace is strictly forbidden, it can't hide any secrets at all." Zhu Zaihe walked up to Zhu Yijun, like an ordinary father, reached out and touched his son's head, and said: "Who is this man? It’s not that you are carefree. No one will be loyal to you. Everyone must have their own selfish motives. Take your great companion Feng Bao, doesn’t he have his own selfish motives? Why doesn’t Mr. Gao recommend him? He recommended Meng Chong to be the eunuch in charge of the ceremonial function?"
Zhu Yijun said in astonishment: "Why?"
Zhu Zaiye smiled, sat down next to his son without any airs of an emperor, grabbed his little hand and said, "Because Feng Bao studies a lot and has become your best companion."
"Ah?" Zhu Yijun became even more puzzled and asked: "Isn't it bad to study a lot? How can you understand the truth and do things if you don't study? Especially the ceremonial supervisor, if he wants to be popular for his father, he will not be able to conquer the world. All matters are dealt with one by one, and there will always be some small matters that need to be approved by the Chief Ceremony Officer. How can the Palm Print Eunuch do a good job if he doesn’t understand anything?"
Zhu Zaiye smiled and said: "This is Mr. Gao's selfishness."
Zhu Yijun was shocked: "What! Mr. Gao Ge also has selfish motives? He...isn't he dad's most trusted minister? He also has selfish motives, what should dad do?"
"Son, don't panic." Zhu Zaihe smiled, touched Zhu Yijun's head again, and said softly but very seriously: "Daddy is going to tell you the most important thing about being an emperor now, so the following words, you You must remember it well, but you cannot tell anyone, not even your mother or concubine, you can only rot in your heart, you know?"
Zhu Yijun hurriedly sat up straight and said seriously: "My son understands, please let me know." Looking at his face, he was even a little nervous.
Zhu Zaihe looked calm and said: "Dad just told you that everyone will have their own selfish motives. No one is truly loyal to you, so as an emperor, you must be able to tell what that person's selfish motives are. , only in this way can we choose the right person to use.”
Zhu Yijun felt a little hard to understand, and frowned and asked: "Selfishness... can you tell the difference?"
Zhu Zaiye smiled and said: "Do you know why dad agreed to Xu Jie's resignation in the first place, and why he tried every means to get Mr. Gao to come back?"
Zhu Yijun hesitated and said: "Old Gaoge... is more loyal?"
Zhu Zaihe shook his head, with a rare firmness on his face, and said: "Mr. Gao's selfishness is harmful to father and Ming Dynasty, while Xu Jie's selfishness is harmful to father and Ming Dynasty."
Zhu Yijun was shocked again: "Xu Jie's selfishness is harmful, my son understands it, but why is Gao Ge Lao's selfishness not harmful?"
"Because what Mr. Gao wants is to help Dad and I eliminate the abuses and revive the Ming Dynasty, so that he can leave a name in history and be famous for generations like Guan Zhongleyi - this is his selfishness." Zhu Zaihe said this , his face gradually became colder, and he said: "But Xu Jie is different. What Xu Jie wants is to be prominent in front of others and admired by his colleagues. As for me and Ming Dynasty, it is just a trivial matter to him, and there is no need to care at all."
Zhu Yijun was shocked: "Xu Ge... Xu Gong is actually this kind of person?"
Zhu Zaihe sneered and did not answer.
Zhu Yijun asked again: "Also, Mr. Gao's selfishness doesn't look like selfishness?"
"Everyone in the world wants to be an official, because being an official means having power." Zhu Zaihe explained for his son: "But some people are in power to seek profit, and some people are in power to seek fame. Those who seek profit are easy to distinguish, and those who seek power are easy to distinguish. But there are differences between famous people. Some people seek the name of that time, while others seek the name of all ages."
