The emperor's efforts to convince Concubine Zheng stopped here.
However, Gao Pingshi came out of Qianqing Palace and looked up, only to see the snow disappearing and the clouds disappearing. He felt the spring breeze was slightly warm and said to himself: "Thirty years... exactly thirty years."
Thirty years ago, Gao Gong became the first assistant. He was jokingly called "Xiaoge Lao" by the court because he served as a companion to the prince. Thirty years later, he not only occupied the high position of Pavilion Elder, but also became the Yuanfu of the Ming Dynasty like the third uncle.
Of course, to be honest, he is not yet Yuan Fu, because the emperor only approved the resignations of Wang Jiaping, the first assistant, and Liang Menglong, the second assistant, and the edict ordering him, Gao, to succeed the Grand Scholar of Zhongji Palace has just been issued. It has just been sent from the Supervisor of Ceremonies to the Cabinet, and there are still some procedures to go through.
However, sequential succession is not as good as being pushed into the cabinet. This does not require the nine ministers to hold another meeting. The emperor can directly issue an edict - after all, when he joins the cabinet, he has already been pushed through the cabinet once, so there is no problem with qualifications.
So if there are no accidents, as long as Gao Pragmatic completes a little bit of the inherent process tomorrow - Shangshu resigns, but the emperor refuses; Shangshu resigns again, but the emperor refuses again - he will become the new Yuanfu of the Ming Dynasty.
This process is different from "three requests and three concessions". It can only be done twice. If it is done three times, it means that you really insist and the emperor will have to consider replacing someone.
Of course, Gao Pragmatic has no intention of insisting on giving up. Although he is not good at being a high-ranking official, he has always wanted to continue to promote reforms, so further strengthening his power is necessary in his opinion. Therefore, if the position of chief assistant is not available, he will take it. If it is really necessary, he will do his best.
It was close to noon. Gao Pingshi planned to go back to the cabinet for dinner first and see if Wang Jiaping and Liang Menglong were there. If they were there, he would still want to persuade them to stay. Of course, this was a courtesy invitation, and they had not only decided to go. , and the emperor approved it, his pragmatic efforts to retain him were of no use.
When we arrived at the cabinet, Wang Jiaping and Liang Menglong were actually there. The two of them sat in the front hall and laughed as Gao Pragmatic came in. Before Gao Pragmatic could speak first, the two of them got up first. Wang Jiaping said with a smile: "Rixin, from now on the court will rely on you to take care of it."
Liang Menglong followed closely and said with a smile: "Congratulations to Rixin! From today on, the Xinzheng Gao family will be 'a double prime minister, three generations and four Jinshi', and his name will go down in history from now on!"
Gao Pragmatic hurriedly handed over his hands to thank the two of them: "The second uncle is too praised, and the students are frightened." - The "student" here is not that Gao Pragmatic thinks he is their student, it is just a kind of self-effacement, which can generally be understood as "I am a student" People who are still learning.”
As for Liang Menglong's phrase "one family has two prime ministers, three generations and four Jinshi", it can be simply interpreted as "one family has two prime ministers", which means that both Gao Gong and Gao Pragmatic's uncle and nephew serve as chief assistants;
"Three generations and four Jinshi" refers to Gao Pragmatic's grandfather Gao Shangxian, eldest uncle Gao Jie, third uncle Gao Gong and himself, all of whom were selected as Jinshi in the Ming Dynasty.
Gao Pragmatic's grandfather, Gao Shangxian, was ranked 84th in the Dingchou Examination in the 12th year of Zhengde, and ranked 14th in the Imperial Examination.
Uncle Gao Jie ranked 12th in the Henan Provincial Examination of the Jiawu Department in the 13th year of Jiajing, the 220th place in the Yiwei District Examination in the 14th year of Jiajing, and the 191st place in the top three in the Imperial Examination;
San Bo Gao Gong was the Jie Yuan in the Henan Township Examination of Jichou Ke in the 8th year of Jiajing, the 49th place in the Xin Chou Ke Examination in the 20th year of Jiajing, and the twelfth place in the top two in the imperial examination;
Gao pragmatism is even more powerful. He was the chief of Xinzheng County in the first month of Xinwei in the fifth year of Longqing, the chief of Kaifeng Prefecture in March, the chief of Daoshi in April, Jiemaoke in Henan Township in the seventh year of Wanli, and Jieyuan in the eighth year of Wanli. The first place in the National Science Examination and the first place in the first grade of the palace examination are "six yuan in a row".
Since he was the first six-song scholar recognized by the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Wanli Zhu Yijun had a separate tablet dedicated to him as a Jinshi scholar. On it was a hymn personally inscribed by the imperial pen: "The legend of the dragon and tiger sings the golden list, and the gathering of wind and clouds is the symbol of jade." Crown. For the past two hundred years, I have been the true leader. I wrote the poems and wrote the elixirs for you." It can be said to be an unparalleled grace and the highest honor.
In fact, in addition to the "three generations and four Jinshi", there is another interesting phenomenon in the rural examinations of the three generations of the Gao family in Xinzheng: in addition to the eldest uncle Gao Jie, the grandfather Gao Shangxian, the third uncle Gao Gong and his Gao pragmatism I myself, among the three generations, there was actually a Henan Jieyuan!
What does it mean to be "a famous family in Yiluo and a model in Zhongzhou"? That's it.
After a humble sentence, Gao Pragmatic immediately said something to persuade him to stay, but just as he spoke, Wang Jiaping smiled and said: "Rixin doesn't have to say these words anymore. I'm not belittling myself. Compared with you, Gao Rixin, I am really not a Yuanfu." He is so talented. Who is the current king to you? He should have his name and position corrected."
Liang Menglong smiled and said: "I don't need to mention it. I should have begged for the bones a long time ago. Now it has been delayed for a long time. If I don't retire, I'm afraid it will cause gossip."
Gao Pingshi couldn't persuade him, and sighed repeatedly, and asked when the second prince would leave Beijing so that he could see him off. Liang Menglong said: "I have already packed my luggage and will go back to my hometown tomorrow."
Gao pragmatically said: "The students will go to Yantai Mayi early tomorrow morning." Liang Menglong was from Zhending, Beizhili. After leaving Beijing, he should go due south, so Gao pragmatically proposed to go to Yantai Mayi, which is located in the southern suburbs of the capital. Send each other off.
Liang Menglong knew that Gao Pragmatic would definitely send him away, so he had nothing to persuade him, so he could only smile. Wang Jiaping said: "I still need two or three days to sort it out, so let's set off in three days." Gao Pragmatic agreed as usual and made an appointment to see them off.
Wang Jiaping smiled and said: "Now that I have resigned, it is very inappropriate to stay in the pavilion for a long time. I will not talk to Rixin anymore today. I will take my leave first."
Gao pragmatically said: "It's already noon, why not have lunch before going back home?"
Wang Jiaping waved his hand and said: "As we get older, we eat less. Besides, Rixin must be busy today, so I won't bother you. By the way, the seals and other items that should be guarded are all in the room, and Rixin can send them." Keep an eye on the people, and if there is anything missing, you can send someone to my house to inquire at any time while I still have three days."
Just saying this, what kind of handover of chief assistants would miss these things? Gao Pragmatic just responded casually.
The two left immediately, and Gao pragmatic saw them off in person, not just out of the cabinet, but directly to the door of Donghua. Wang Jiaping and Liang Menglong tried to persuade him again and again before he stood still, and then waited until their green sedan was almost out of sight before Gao Pragmatic turned back to the cabinet.
On a traffic thoroughfare like Donghua Gate, any news spreads quickly. Gao Yuanfu, who is about to take up his new post, is prepared to send off his outgoing first and second assistants with such etiquette. Naturally, he can gain a good reputation - otherwise Gao Yuanfu would do this and send him out of the cabinet.
The higher you are in a high position, the more you must pay attention to etiquette in order to maintain a good reputation. This is the basic quality of being an official in China. Gao Pragmatic naturally has this quality and will definitely do it.
With the departure of Wang Jiaping and Liang Menglong, Gao Pragmatic, who returned to the cabinet, did not go to Wang Jiaping's first assistant to check the room, and returned to his own room without even taking a second look.
It's not that he neglected the handover, but that Zhu Yijun's edict ordering him to succeed has not yet come out. It is certainly fast to reply to Zhu's resignation, but it would obviously be a lot of trouble for the Supervisor of Ceremonies to write a new appointment and then go through the process of stamping it with a jade seal, etc., so Just slow.
Besides, he himself has not completed the "three requests and two concessions" between him and the emperor. At this time, he went to Wangjiaping to be the first assistant. It would seem that he was too restless, as if he couldn't wait to be the first assistant.
So Gao Jingshi wrote a note in his check-in room, then called Xiong Tingbi over and asked him to take it to Zhong Zhaodou.
Naturally, the reason for looking for Zhong Zhaodou was to investigate the medicinal diet case, in other words, to implement the agreement reached with Zhu Yijun. Although the root cause of the dispute over the foundation of the country lies in the civil servant group's desire to force the emperor to realize that imperial power is limited and that Confucianism cannot be violated, Gao Pragmatic is not worried about not being able to convince the officials.
The reason is very simple. He had already discussed the punishment for Concubine Zheng when he exchanged opinions with the emperor last time: remove the word "emperor" and demote the concubine from the imperial concubine to a noble concubine.
The "imperial concubine" is regarded as the "deputy queen", which is equivalent to the "executive deputy" who is clearly the harem. Once the queen is vacant, the imperial concubine can be easily "promoted" to the queen. Therefore, her son's status is also very noble, almost equal to the crown prince's "executive deputy", and to a certain extent, equivalent to the second-in-line successor after the crown prince.
However, the imperial concubine does not have such privileges. Although she is very noble, she will not be regarded as a "vice queen", and her son will not be regarded as the second heir to the throne after the crown prince, but only one of the ordinary princes. one.
In other words, under the premise that Queen Wang has a legitimate son, Zhu Changhao, according to the custom of the Ming Dynasty, this is how it is:
Concubine Zheng is the imperial concubine, so Zhu Changxun should be the second in line to the throne after Zhu Changhao. This is because "his mother is noble", while Zhu Changluo, the eldest son of a concubine, can only be ranked third;
Concubine Zheng is the noble concubine, then Zhu Changluo is the second in line to the throne, and Zhu Changxun is the third in line to the throne. This is simply based on the order of eldest and youngest.
Gao Wuchen's current attitude is aloof, because his position in the dispute over the country has always been "waiting for the queen to give birth to a legitimate son." Now the emperor's legitimate son, Zhu Changhao, has safely passed through the most dangerous period after the baby is born. Unless there is some misfortune from heaven, Gao Pragmatic is confident that he will protect the child from growing up.
The emperor himself had also had headaches over the dispute over the country's foundation for many years, and now that the medicinal diet case had arisen again, he felt that procrastinating it would only make the situation worse, so he made up his mind this time to appoint Zhu Chang. Hao.
In this case, Gao Pragmatic aimed to remove the word "emperor" from the title of Concubine Zheng, depriving her and Zhu Changxun of their political specialness. This would also maintain the so-called principles of Confucianism, which would naturally be enough to convince them. Hundreds of officials.
As for the situation where some radical officials in the DPRK said in their memorials that if they did not kill Concubine Zheng, the world would be uneasy, Gao Pragmatic was even less worried. These people never jump high because they really feel that otherwise the country will be destroyed, but just because they have low status and insufficient qualifications, so they can only use this to gain fame.
Although such people are often academic officials, Gao Pragmatic is not afraid at all - he is now at the top of the court, and his literary and military achievements are unparalleled. Among civil servants, he is the leader of the Practical School. Among nobles, he is the god of wealth. Among generals, he is the living god of war. Plus, as always, he is the holy favorite, Dulong. Why should he be afraid of officials?
He is now like what is said in "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu: "Those who were good at fighting in the past were the first to be invincible." He has already achieved that no one in the whole court can defeat him, and it is only for him to defeat others. In this case, after all, Yan Guan just wanted to gain fame and not simply seek death, so naturally he would not target him... It was too late to curry favor with him.
There is no need to worry about the consequences, but there must be a reason for settling the case so quickly, otherwise it will still be difficult to survive in terms of face. However, Gao Pragmatic had already thought of a solution to this problem on his way back to the cabinet from the Qianqing Palace - reuse the waste.
Saying this may be a bit disrespectful to the deceased, but there is no other way. Gao pragmatically wanted to take advantage of Bingbi, the chief of the Supervisor of Ceremonies, and Wang An, the governor of the East Factory, who had just committed suicide.
According to what Gao pragmatically wrote to Zhong Zhaodou, the "real situation" of the matter is this: Wang An learned from the outside world a so-called medicinal dietary formula, which is said to be able to extend people's lives. After Wang An got the medicinal recipe, Concubine Zheng learned about it. Concubine Zheng happily presented it to the emperor and ordered someone to cook the medicinal recipe in Yikun Palace for the emperor to take.
It is unclear whether the medicinal diet itself has such effects, but at least the emperor did not show any problems after taking it for a period of time. Therefore, Concubine Zheng did not feel anything was wrong and had been preparing the medicinal diet in Yikun Palace. As long as the emperor Come and eat.
However, there was something wrong with this medicated diet. It could not be taken with wine, especially when the user was in a high mood and drank wine at the same time. As a result, the emperor happened to violate both taboos that day, so the medicated diet not only failed to prolong life. , but caused the emperor to cough up blood and faint.
Therefore, as the highest-ranking minister in the cabinet after Wang Jiaping and Liang Menglong both took office, Gao Pragmatic concluded that although Concubine Zheng had no subjective malicious intent in this case, she actually caused damage to the emperor's dragon body, so he planned to report to the emperor. , deprived Concubine Zheng of her title of Imperial Concubine and demoted her to the title of Virtuous Concubine.
Hey, wasn't it agreed that she would be demoted to a noble concubine? Why did Gao Pragmatic come here and say that she would be demoted to a virtuous concubine? Of course there is a reason for this, and the reason is to leave room for the emperor to show mercy outside the law.
Gao Pragmatic suggested that the emperor demote Concubine Zheng to the concubine of virtue. The emperor could refuse to agree and tell the emperor how good Concubine Zheng was and how unexpected this time was, and then he could just demote the concubine to the concubine.
In politics, there must always be room for success, and we must always be good to you, me, and everyone. Only in this way can we be long-lasting.
All in all, Wang An would still have to bear the blame after his death, so he seemed to be the unluckiest one. But in fact, he was indeed involved. Although Gao Pingshi did not really investigate the matter, he generally had this guess, and it could not be said that he had completely wronged the former Dongchang admiral.
After writing the statement, Xiong Tingbi had just sent him off when the imperial edict arrived. This imperial edict contains nearly a thousand words, but in fact it only contains a few sentences:
Due to the honorable service of the first and second assistants, Gao Jingshi was appointed as a bachelor of Zhongji Palace, Zhao Zhigao as a bachelor of Jianji Palace, Shen Yiguan as a bachelor of Wenhua Palace, and Zhou Yong as a bachelor of Wuying Palace.
After Gao pragmatic received the imperial edict, he immediately began to write a speech in his own hand - not a speech about resigning and becoming an official, but a speech about refusing to accept the resignation.
——
Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "I am Liao Zhenxin" and "Is Qingshan Charming" for their monthly support, thank you!
PS: My mother is going to see her grandson today, which is okay, but today the temperature suddenly dropped to 13°C, which scared me so much that I turned my winter clothes inside out... I don’t want to have a cold for half a month!
(End of chapter)
