Regarding this great etiquette dispute, everyone listened very seriously, because it was a fierce conflict between the imperial power and the scholar-bureaucrat group. Although they had already guessed from Zhao Changge's previous words, the final result must be that Zhu Houcong would have the upper hand. But everyone is still very curious about how Zhu Houcong did it, especially Zhu Houzhao himself. He himself suffered from the pain of being suppressed by the cabinet, so although he looked down on Zhu Houcong and thought that Zhu Houcong was not better than him, but Knowing that Zhu Houcong actually suppressed the old foxes in the court and allowed the imperial power to gain the upper hand, Zhu Houzhao still listened carefully with the mentality of learning from it. If he learned what Zhu Houcong did, he would return to the Zhengde Dynasty. You can also follow the example of a gourd.
"During the ceremony for Zhu Houcong's birth mother, the Chiang family, to enter the capital, Zhu Houcong insisted on welcoming the empress dowager, but Yang Tinghe strongly objected. Zhu Houcong cried bitterly in front of Yang Tinghe, expressing his willingness to resign and return to Anhui as his mother and concubine. Lu, this move of retreating to advance directly made Yang Tinghe a little overwhelmed. After all, the replacement of the emperor was not a simple matter. In the end, Yang Tinghe had no choice but to give in. The end result was that Zhu Houcong welcomed his mother into the palace with the empress dowager ceremony."
"Yang Tinghe's concession gave Zhu Houcong hope to suppress the scholar-bureaucrat group."
"Shortly after Zhang Cong submitted the memorial, the governor of Huguang, Xi Shu, drafted a memorial, echoing Zhang Cong's opinion and saying that Emperor Xingxian should be given the title of Emperor Kao. However, these two memorials were not submitted. However, although the memorial of this book was not submitted, his influence helped Zhu Houcong."
"Xi Shu has two very close friends, one named Yang Yiqing and the other named Wang Yangming. After Zhu Houcong came to power, he won over Yang Yiqing and appointed Yang Yiqing as the minister of Zhongshu. In the great etiquette dispute, Yang Yiqing opposed Yang Tinghe, who later became He became the Minister of the Ministry of War and concurrently served as the general person in charge of trilateral military affairs, which can be said to be a very powerful position. Although Wang Yangming did not publicly take sides, it was obvious that he would not support Yang Tinghe. By the seventh year of Jiajing, Wang Yangming was also recruited by Zhu Houcong."
Zhu Houzhao nodded silently when he heard this: "When the Imperial Master asked me to recruit Yang Yiqing, he said that Yang Yiqing is relatively smooth. If he can support Zhu Houcong, he can naturally support me. If he lets him compete with Yang Tinghe, then I can sit down. It’s a fisherman’s profit.”
"Indeed, Yang Yiqing can become allies with the eunuch Zhang Yong, and he can also side with the imperial power for his own reasons. This person is completely exploitable." Zhao Changge affirmed.
Zhu Yuanzhang was very interested in hearing about the great etiquette debate at this time. He had a certain understanding of Zhu Houcong's methods. This guy knew how to use various methods when he was not fully motivated, because he knew that Yang Tinghe and others did not dare to change easily. As the emperor, he often showed his weakness to the enemy, even sacrificing his face and crying in front of his courtiers. He also controlled the hearts of his courtiers very accurately, using retreat as an advance to force Yang Tinghe and others to give in. This method was used by Zhu Houzhao. , this guy absolutely can't do it, he will only choose more reckless methods.
"In the third year of Jiajing, Zhu Houcong convened a meeting with ministers. Yang Tinghe saw that Zhu Houcong intended to change the previous discussion and wanted to force Zhu Houcong to give in, so he made a move and asked for an official position. But who would have thought that at this time, Zhu Houcong had gradually become more prominent in the court. Having established a firm foothold and already winning over many courtiers, he had long been disgusted with Yang Tinghe's opposition to him at every turn, so he just went along with the flow and agreed to Yang Tinghe's appointment. Yang Tinghe was a little dumbfounded at this time, but that was the end of the matter. Yang Tinghe had no choice but to leave the court."
"Wonderful! Yang Tinghe and this old man actually have this day!" Zhu Houzhao slapped his thigh directly. This old man relied on his influence in the court to make Zhu Houzhao suffer a lot. Now that he heard Yang Tinghe's fate, By the way, his gaze towards Zhu Houcong became kinder.
"Yang Tinghe's appointment left the officials of his faction without a leader. Wang Jun, the Minister of Rites, prepared a collective remonstrance. It happened that Hou Tingxun, the chief minister, wrote the "Great Rites Debate" based on the clan law. Qiao Yu, the Minister of Personnel, and others led the officials and two officials based on this. One hundred and fifty people spoke together, objecting to Zhu Houcong's proposal to serve as the emperor. Zhu Houcong was naturally very angry and deliberately allowed the matter to escalate. Then as more people began to speak out, even Tang Gao, the number one scholar, came to the throne."
Zhao Changge told so much at once, and everyone listened with great pleasure, but he felt his mouth was dry, so he paused and drank some water.
After drinking the water, Zhao Changge continued: "His Majesty Tang Gao, Shang Shu, should take the exam to distinguish himself from the orthodox, and give birth to Long to prepare for the honorific title. Because among the opponents are Tang Gao, the number one scholar, and Zou Shouyi, the great disciple of Wang Yangming, they have great influence. It was so big that Zhu Houcong became furious. This time, all those who made suggestions were reprimanded, fined, or even dismissed. In the end, Wang Jun and others had to compromise, adding the word "emperor" to each of Emperor Xingxian and Queen Mother Xingguo to prepare for their honorific titles. .”
Several battles with courtiers ended with Zhu Houcong winning, so Zhu Houcong had more and more control over the court.
"In March of the third year of Jiajing, Zhu Houcong had no choice but to reluctantly agree that his father would be the "Emperor Kao Gongmu Xian" and his mother would be "Empress Dowager Zhang Sheng, the original mother". He honored his grandmother Shao as the Empress Dowager Shouan, and Xiaozong The empress is the Empress Dowager Our Lady of Zhaosheng Cishou, and the Empress Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty is Empress Zhuang Su."
"The word "Bensheng" actually only recognizes Zhu Houcong's biological parents, but according to the patriarchal clan system, he still needs to call Xiaozong Zhu Youtang Huangkao. In fact, he was adopted into Zhu Youtang's name."
At this time, Zhu Houchong glanced at Zhu Houzhao and Zhu Youtang. Now the three of them felt very embarrassed. Especially Zhu Youtang, he glared at Zhu Houzhao fiercely, then whispered into Zhu Houzhao's ear: "You kid, find a way to clean up the palace after you go back. You must not let foreign ministers continue to interfere in the harem. You must have more children." , I don’t want all my people to die, and an unexpected “son” comes out, so our throne cannot continue to fall into the hands of others no matter what.”
Zhu Houzhao also nodded vigorously: "Father, don't worry, I don't want this throne to fall into the hands of others in the future, otherwise I will feel bad."
Although the two of them were whispering, because Zhao Changge happened to stop and did not speak at this time, their whispers were heard by everyone in the quiet environment. Everyone looked at Zhu Youtang and his son strangely, and then looked at them again. He looked at Zhu Houcong who was embarrassed and at a loss.
The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became weird.
