The fire fighting in Jinghua's backyard had just calmed down, but the factional disputes between the DPRK and China were once again in turmoil.
On the fourth day of October, just after the Wanshou Festival of Emperor Wanli Zhu Yijun, the emperor suddenly sent Dukes Xu Wenbi and Zhu Yingzhen as envoys, and bachelors Shen Shixing and Xu Guo as deputy envoys. Concubine, the Chang family of ordinary people in the palace is a shun concubine.
Among them, the book about the Concubine De is written like this: I watch the rooster crow as a warning, and think of the virtuous concubine. If you want to assist Xuan, you will govern internally, and you will also spread the branches of the clan. The bandit heir Huiyin, Hao Fu showed his destiny. I am a concubine of the Zheng family, soft and jade-like, and graceful and elegant. The nine emperors are sublimated, and they abide by the thickness of the quilt; the double rings grant favors, and they abide by the rules of the history. It is appropriate to honor the class and use it to highlight the difference. Special envoys were sent to hold you accountable, and you were granted the title of Virtuous Concubine, and the title of Xi was enshrined. Yu Xi! The image of the four stars is the concubine. Since I am a virtuous person in the ranks, the source of all transformations is Del. When you think about the righteousness and the good name, you should only obey the glory, never forget to be respectful and cautious, and the benevolence of the dragon seal on the lotus will always be the rest of the swallow's wings. Awesome!
Concubine Zheng makes a shining appearance!
At this moment, no one in the world realized how important the canonization of a concubine was. In order to improve the standard of this canonization, the emperor even made an exception by using two of the most noble princes, as well as the first and second assistants who were the top civil servants.
In fact, according to Gao Jingzai's news at home, the emperor had actually planned to canonize her early on. It just happened that the Yunnan-Burma War broke out this year, so he delayed it again and again, and finally delayed it until this time.
Not only that, Gao Pragmatic even knew that the emperor had privately promised Concubine Zheng that after the child in her belly was born, regardless of gender, she would be promoted again as a mother.
If you get promoted again, it's actually only two levels. Gao Pragmatic estimates that the emperor's intention is that if a prince is born, he will be directly promoted to the imperial concubine; if it is a princess, then he will be promoted to the imperial concubine. (Note: Imperial concubine and imperial concubine are two different levels.)
Gao Pragmatic was not very worried about the child in Concubine Zheng's belly at this time, because if the inertia of history still maintained, the child should be the second daughter of the emperor, Princess Yunhe Zhu Xuanshu.
In the harem of the Ming Dynasty, the meaning of giving birth to an imperial daughter was vastly different from the meaning of giving birth to a prince, especially the prince who was higher in the ranking.
Therefore, Concubine Zheng's current pregnancy does not pose much of a threat to Gao Pragmatic. The greater threat is the subsequent pregnancy, which will be trouble, big trouble.
However, what Gao Pragmatic didn't expect was that Shen Shixing also noticed something unusual about this canonization. In short, on the third day after the canonization, Shen Shixing became careless.
His request this time was to invite him to be crown prince!
Shen Shixing gave an example of the old story of Yingzong being made a prince when he was two years old. He believed that now that the queen has no legitimate son, the emperor's eldest son Zhu Changluo should be made the prince to show that the world has hope for a successor and that the common people and officials can feel at ease.
Shen Shixing's evacuation was not discussed in the cabinet in advance, so Xu Guo was caught off guard and did not make any statement during the day.
But the emperor didn't respond.
In the evening, Xu Guo invited the important ministers of the Real School in Beijing to his house. It was said that the chrysanthemums were blooming very well at home, and he invited everyone to come and enjoy the flowers - he couldn't help it. There was no happy event in his house at this time. , it’s not easy to find a reason. Fortunately, such a big thing happened today, and others had no time to care about him. They also knew that the big guys from Practical Science would definitely discuss things tonight, but no one took it as an issue.
The main issue for everyone in the Real School is whether to agree with Shen Shixing on this matter, or to agree with the Xin School.
If it were an ordinary thing, of course no one would consider agreeing with the Xinxue school, but establishing a crown prince is obviously not an ordinary thing. It is the foundation of the country.
According to the opinions of many people, the sooner the national foundation is established, the better, because life is determined by God, and no one knows which will come first, tomorrow or the accident. Although the emperor is young now, but... what if?
This was a habitual consideration of civil servants, and even transcended factions, so much so that people within the Real School were more inclined to agree with Shen Yuanfu's Shuwen on this matter and ask for the establishment of a crown prince.
But Gao pragmatically expressed his opposition clearly. He had three reasons: First, the queen is still very young and may be pregnant at any time. If a prince is born now and the queen gives birth to a prince in the future, then there is no direct line of succession. In line with the long-term principle, is the current prince going to be deposed again?
Secondly, the emperor's eldest son's current physical condition is not very good. This little kid gets sick from time to time and remains ill. Whether he can grow up or not, to put it bluntly, is unclear. Probably. If we follow suit at this time, if the emperor's eldest son unfortunately dies in the future, it will have a huge impact on the people of the world.
As for the third one, although Gao Pragmatic did not say it clearly, he still hinted that the emperor did not like the eldest son and his mother, Concubine Wang Gong. In the emperor's mind, the highest status was the empress, followed by Concubine Zheng De. Even if you think that the Queen is currently childless and has not been pregnant again for several years, Concubine Zheng De has a child in her belly now - what if it is a prince?
However, the Practical School does not agree with Gao Pragmatic’s third opinion. Everyone agrees that even if Concubine Zheng De gives birth to a prince, he will still be the second son of the prince. Since “there is a direct descendant, there is no direct descendant”, in When the queen has no children, the prince still has to establish the emperor's eldest son. How could he skip the emperor's eldest son and establish the emperor's second son?
Could it be that just because the emperor's eldest son is in poor health, he should be regarded as a non-human being? This is not okay.
However, although everyone is opposed to the highly pragmatic third point of view, everyone is still concerned about the first two, especially the first: the queen is still young and may not be childless in the future.
It's just... If you don't follow up on the matter of establishing a prince, what will happen if the new emperor turns out to be the eldest son of the emperor in the future?
After all, whether the queen will give birth to a legitimate son in the future, they can't even discuss this matter here! No one can say it accurately!
Xu Guo originally thought he should agree with Shen Shixing, but now he has a headache. At this moment, he deeply felt that it was not easy to be the leader of a faction.
Previously, Gao Gong had nothing to say. His holy family, status, qualifications, etc. were all obvious, and no one in the faction would oppose him. Later, Guo Pu fell a little short on the holy family, but he had Gao Pragmatic's support and also Able to maintain authority; later on, although Zhang Siwei fell short of being a saint, he had the support of Gao Pragmatism and direct relatives of the Jin Party, and he was able to control the overall situation of the Practical School.
However, now that he, Xu Guo, has become the highest-ranking person in the Real School, he has discovered that he looks like a beautiful person, but in fact, he is like sitting on a volcano under his butt.
In terms of qualifications, the other two elders of the Practical School, Zhang Xueyan and Wu Dui, are older than him; in terms of holy family members, no official in the world can compete with Gao Pragmatic; in terms of direct lineage, well... Gao Pragmatic inherited Gao Gong and Guo Pragmatic. From the resources left by the three chief assistants, Park and Zhang Siwei, it is clear that the degree of pragmatism recognized within the Practical School is much higher than that of Xu Guo.
So now that Gao Pragmatic objected, the trend immediately changed. Basically no one insisted on agreeing with Shen Shixing, and they all said that they should wait - not until Concubine Zheng De gave birth, but until the Queen was pregnant.
Almost no one within the Shi School knew about the friendship between Gao Jingshi and the Queen, but Xu Guo was a little suspicious now. He felt that Gao Jingshi had already bet on the Queen, and this was by no means Gao Jingshi's usual style.
What is the high pragmatic style? It often seems bold, but in fact it is very cautious every time. A highly pragmatic person will not place a bet without being completely sure.
This made Xu Guo very strange. Why do you think the queen will definitely still be pregnant? Could it be that you, Gao Qiuzhen, decided who the emperor would visit in the evening for him?
Also, if you help the queen like this, even if the queen is grateful to you, it will only make sense if she actually has a son, and the son must survive until he ascends the throne. But these are all uncertainties. Why should we leave a ready-made eldest son of the emperor and not support him, but put our hope in the unknown?
In short, he felt that this highly pragmatic decision was "not highly pragmatic."
But he can't change the current situation. Not only can't he change it, but he has to follow Gao Pragmatic's wishes, otherwise his position as second assistant will seem to have little weight - he must ensure that most of the pragmatic school agrees with him. , regardless of whether most people agree with him or he is agreeing with most people.
At least in the eyes of outsiders, most people agree with him, which means that he still controls the situation of the Real School. After all, he is the person with the highest court status within the Real School.
In desperation, Xu Guo also expressed his support for Gao Pragmatic's opinion, but he was still a little worried. According to the historical situation of the Ming Dynasty, even if this matter was delayed for a while, it would certainly not be delayed for too long. , because in the Ming Dynasty, in addition to Yingzong who was established as the prince at the age of two, Xiaozong also became the prince at the age of six, and even today he is only eight years old when he becomes the prince.
In other words, Xu Guo believed that this matter could be delayed for four years or six years at most. If the queen wanted to give birth, it must be done before then.
This statement was unanimously recognized by everyone. After all, the prince cannot be idle for a long time, especially when the emperor has a son. The delay in establishing a prince will make people worry that he will imitate his grandfather Sejong who cultivated immortality and became a demon.
Gao Pragmatic barely suppressed a split of opinion within the Practical School, and the subsequent development of the situation was within his expectations - Shen Shixing received a reply from the emperor the next day.
The emperor personally wrote: "The queen is still young, why should I make a concubine my concubine?" Neither emotion nor reason is appropriate. If the request is not granted, there is no need for further discussion.
Shen Shixing seemed to listen to the advice. The emperor said that there was no need to discuss it further, so he really didn't continue to go to court.
Gao pragmatic just breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the matter was over for the time being, but who knew that a new problem arose the next day: Pan Sheng came to Shu, please establish a prince.
Mr. Pan's move confused Gao Pragmatic. Although Mr. Pan was also the minister of the Ministry of Rites, and was in charge of the Ministry of Rites in the cabinet, with his usual style, he would obviously not go against the emperor for such a thing. That's right, did he take the wrong medicine this time, or did he fail to read the emperor's approval of Shen Shixing carefully?
As expected, the emperor seemed a little angry about this. So much so that in the morning the memorial was sent to the Director of Ceremonies, and in the afternoon Zhu's approval came down, with only five words: This matter has been decreed.
Well, the emperor didn't even bother to repeat the truth, and just said that there was already a purpose - if you don't see it, go see it yourself, and don't come and chat with me.
Judging from past situations, a veteran with Pan Sheng's personality should calm down after seeing Zhu Pi like this and will never continue to pester him.
However, an accident happened. Mr. Pan Ge went to court again the next day and still asked for the crown prince.
Now the emperor was really angry, and he was unabashedly angry. He replied to Zhu Biao and directly learned the vernacular of his ancestors: I have said before that the appointment of the crown prince must wait until the queen gives birth to a legitimate son. No need to ask again, sir.
After this approval, the foreign court had a rare praise for Mr. Pan. Most of them believed that although Mr. Pan had always been submissive in the past, he was still relatively reliable at critical moments, such as on such major matters related to the country. Mr. Pan’s stance is very firm! Isn't this just the strong wind that knows the strong grass, and the rough and turbulent grass that knows the honest minister?
But something more dramatic happened again. After being encouraged by the outer court, Mr. Pan became as if he had eaten several kilograms of calcium tablets, and his bones suddenly became hard. The next day, he went to court again, and the request was still to establish a crown prince!
Not only that, Mr. Pan also used the last resort of the elders: resign.
At this time, even Gao Pragmatic was really shocked.
He was always "overly calculating" and couldn't figure out what Mr. Pan Sheng was doing. You are not an irreplaceable figure. You are a balancer in the cabinet. Now that you are so tough on the emperor, is it political suicide?
Not to mention being pragmatic, even Zhu Yijun was confused by Pan Sheng. After receiving Pan Sheng's third letter asking for the appointment of a prince, Zhu Yijun even wondered whether Pan Sheng had Alzheimer's disease. Like Yan Song at the end of Jiajing, his brain had already He was completely confused and couldn't even understand what the emperor wanted to express.
But regardless of whether Pan Sheng was confused or not, his actions were already challenging the emperor's bottom line, and Zhu Yijun felt that he had to give the most direct response.
So Zhu Yijun did not give any explanation this time. Zhu Bizhong allowed Pan Sheng to resign as Minister of Rites on the premise of retaining Pan Sheng as a cabinet minister as usual.
The implication is that I think you may be old and confused now, so you should stop taking charge of one department directly and just stay in the cabinet and be a clay Buddha.
However, out of respect for the veteran minister, Zhu Yijun still asked Pan Sheng to recommend a successor to the Minister of Rites in the Zhu Bi. Of course, he also issued an order to the cabinet, asking the cabinet to prepare and nominate a new Minister of Rites.
Gao Jingshi wanted to know what Pan Sheng was doing. After thinking about it, he thought that Pan Sheng had found something wrong with his body, so he thought he might not be able to work for long, so he planned to gain a good reputation before he retired.
However, this suspicion disappeared by the next day, because Pan Sheng recommended Xu Xuemo to take over as Minister of Rites.
What about Xu Xuemo?
Well, not that much, except that he is Shen Shixing's in-law.
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