The idea of asking Chen Yiqin for help came from Li Chunfang. He was of average talent and originally had little political ambition, but after all, the chief minister was the head of a hundred officials. After sitting in this position, no one would want to take the initiative to give up.
Of course the same is true for Li Chunfang, not to mention his own feeling that the position of chief minister should not be filled by someone with Gao Gong's personality - it is not bad to be enterprising, but being too enterprising may not be a good thing. After all, the imperial government is a big deal. It is clear that harmony among all officials is the truth.
For the same reason, Li Chunfang was actually not very satisfied with Zhao Zhenji and Zhang Juzheng. However, in comparison, Zhao Zhenji still remembered that they were all members of Xu Ge's old sect and respected him, but Zhang Juzheng turned his back on his teacher. , ran to get involved with Gao Gong, which made Li Chunfang unhappy.
And relatively speaking, Li Chunfang didn't like Gao Gong because he just felt that his character was not suitable for being the first assistant. As for Zhang Juzheng, Li Chunfang didn't like him for another reason: he felt that Zhang Juzheng was gloomy and vicious. Such a person would not be the first assistant. It would be a disaster.
Thinking back to when Xu Jie became an official, Li Chunfang was promoted from the second assistant to the first assistant. When Xu Jie became an official, he entrusted the affairs of his family and country to his favorite disciple Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng was eyeing the position, and promptly submitted the policy program "Chen Liu Shi Shu" in order to win the chief seat. Therefore, Zhang Juzheng, who was the last assistant, never paid attention to Li Chunfang, the first assistant, and "regarded Chunfang as contemptuously."
"After leaving the first steps with words, Chunfang sighed and said: 'Xu Gong Shang'er, I can be safe for a long time, and I can stand up in the morning!' Ju Zheng suddenly said: 'That's it, I protect your name!' Chunfang was shocked." Soon, Li Chunfang came The emperor would not allow him to kiss his second son and beg for divorce. In this way, Zhang Juzheng's hope of waiting for the position of first assistant was in vain. However, what he was waiting for was another senior and powerful Zhao Zhenji entering the cabinet.
Zhao Zhenji "arrogated himself to his elders and was talented. He called Juzheng 'Zhang Zi' from time to time. If he had something to say about court affairs, he would say, 'Alas, this is beyond the understanding of my younger generation.' Jiangling was filled with hatred and would not reply." Zhang Juzheng was deeply moved by the pavilion. Isolation, Li Chunfang and Zhao Zhenji were regarded as the biggest obstacles to their career advancement. So Zhang Juzheng went inside again and "conspired with Li Fang, a middle-class nobleman, to recruit Gao Gong to lead the officials, in order to stifle Zhenji and seize Li Chunfang's power." At this time, Longqing felt that Gao Gong was not in the court, and he himself Many things were unsatisfactory, so he called Gao Gong back to the cabinet as a secondary assistant and also in charge of the official affairs, so Gao Gong returned to power.
After the revolt, Gao Gong actually had no direct conflict with Li Chunfang. If anything, it was that Gao Gong had a tougher attitude on some major issues, especially on the issue of official administration, and he had always been very strict. However, in Li Chunfang's view, since he is also a heavenly official, it is understandable that he should be stricter in his administration. However, his words were not very tactful during cabinet discussions, which was not a big mistake after all.
Zhang Juzheng was different. Although Li Chunfang had no temper, it did not mean that he had no discernment. He saw Zhang Juzheng's private actions and remembered them in his heart. Li Chunfang actually felt quite sorry for Zhang Juzheng's actions. She felt that Zhang Juzheng, who was under Xu Jie's family, only learned "not to let the secret out" but did not get its essence, and ended up going down a wrong path.
Of course, he would not think that Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong were close because they had similar interests. He would only think that they had similar odors. Li Chunfang has always believed in learning, and has become a habit of practicing pragmatism. Of course, he can't stand Gao and Zhang's practice of changing the ancestral system. In his opinion, as long as everyone in the world insists on self-cultivation, not to mention the gentleman of the whole country, the gentleman of the whole court will be inferior. , there is nothing wrong with the country, there is no need to put in all the efforts to achieve those tricks.
After hearing Li Chunfang's idea, Zhao Zhenji felt that it was urgent to contact Chen Yiqin.
Now the situation is getting more and more serious. Although Gao Gong has taken the initiative twice since he returned to the court, saying that he had too much power and asked to resign as Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, but twice in a row, Emperor Longqing said "no" without hesitation. It's very troublesome.
Zhao Zhenji is also a disciple of Xinxue. Like Li Chunfang, he also feels that unity within the court is more important than anything else. As long as everyone practices the way of a gentleman, why is it necessary to be so strict? To put it bluntly, in the early years of Taizu, how strict were the officials? Will the world be peaceful and happy then?
Therefore, Zhao Zhenji always felt that some of Gao Gong's reforms in officialdom were just to show off his own prestige when he had nothing to do. Apart from making officials tremble in fear, they would have no effect.
As for why Li Chunfang just came up with the idea and asked Zhao Zhenji to contact Chen Yiqin, the reason is actually very simple: Zhao Zhenji and Chen Yiqin belong to the "township party", that is, both of them are from Sichuan.
The fellow villagers burst into tears when they saw the fellow villagers. This situation is not unique to later generations. Officials in the past dynasties could easily form township parties because of their fellow villagers.
Li Chunfang said to Zhao Zhenji: "The reason why Gao and Zhang are as powerful as they are today is just the old feelings of the emperor in the past. The Lord Songgu (Chen Yiqin's name is Songgu) was also the old minister in the imperial palace in the past. Seeing our weakness today, what we lack It comes down to the word old love. Therefore, if we can persuade Lord Song Gu to be consistent with us, the cabinet can regain balance."
Zhao Zhenji nodded. Of course he knew that Chen Yiqin had also served as a lecturer for King Yu for a long time. Moreover, he also knew that Chen Yiqin had made great achievements by outsmarting Yan Song and Yan Shifan's father and son in order to protect King Yu.
Sejong only had two sons alive at that time, so he built two royal residences, but he refused to establish a prince, so the competition for the crown prince in the East Palace was fierce. At that time, Yan Song and his son also had a conspiracy to replace King Yu as the "actual crown prince". One day, Yan Song sent his son Yan Shifan to ask Chen Yiqin: I heard that His Highness has been confused recently. What did he say to his father?
Chen Yiqin replied with a very serious attitude: "The foundation of the country has been silently decided for a long time. King Yu was named Zaiwei when he was born. He comes from the soil from the back, and the first one comes out of the nine regions. This is the king's intention."
Because the character "啕" has a queen on top of the character "Tu", Hou was the title of the monarch in ancient times (Wu Feng's note: the monarch of the Xia Dynasty was called "Hou", so it was also called the Xia Hou clan.). The "hou" on Tu means that the king owns the land. The land of China was idealized by the ancients as nine states and nine regions. Therefore, Chen Yiqin explained the word "啕" as above.
At that time, Chen Yiqin went on to say: "The lecturers of other princes and royal highnesses are all reviewers, and the lecturers of King Yu are also editors. This is the meaning of complementarity. His Highness King Yu also often said that today's chief assistant (i.e. Yan Song) is A capable minister in governing the country. Where did you receive these rumors?" Chen Yiqin's words left Yan Shifan speechless and had to leave quietly.
In the eyes of Li Chunfang and Zhao Zhenji, although Gao Gong was Longqing's most recognized teacher, Chen Yiqin had also been the king's teacher for nine years and had tried his best to protect King Yu. With the kind of person Emperor Longqing was, he would definitely take care of his face. If he If he is willing to stand on his side, the cabinet will inevitably re-establish a balance of power.
But what was unexpected was that after Zhao Zhenji visited Chen Yiqin, Chen Yiqin looked very ugly when he heard him explain his purpose of visit, suppressed his smile, and was speechless for a long time.
Zhao Zhenji was anxious. When he asked, Chen Yiqin suddenly lost all his sadness and smiled, saying: "Dong Dazhou, you and I are township party members, and Gao Zhang and I are old officials. Now that things have come to this, Yiqin has no way to control him. Please go."
