Chapter 423 422 Leaving Beijing
In the Ming Dynasty, when serving officials were impeached, they had to go home to avoid suspicion and wait for the outcome of the impeachment, or directly submit a petition to request an official appointment to show that they were innocent and not greedy for power.
An important reason why Li Donghua was unwilling to easily impeach Wu Shan by writing a memorial was that impeachment was too powerful.
No matter what he writes in his memorial, as the impeached person, Wu Shan must go home and rest until the emperor gives instructions.
Undoubtedly, this is an offending job, and it is a trick that will never be used unless necessary.
The result of impeachment is that either the impeached person is unlucky, or the impeacher himself is unlucky.
The emperor must give an explanation. Of course, he can also make peace with him, but with Wu Shan's character, he will never accept such a result.
Li Donghua had Gao Zhong's instructions, but in the end he still did not impeach Wu Shan. This is the reason why.
But now, he knows that he can no longer act like an ostrich and fantasize about staying out of it.
The emperor accused Ke Dao of being an official and maintaining his salary to maintain his health, and even named the Li Ke as derelict in his duty by not expressing his opinions after the memorials of the Ministry of Rites and the Qin Tian Jian, which had very different contents.
"How can I complain without participating in the order?"
Reciting the last sentence of the instruction silently in his mind, Li Donghua smiled bitterly. If he wanted to participate in the prosecution, he would definitely support Wu Shan, but would he dare?
Because he didn’t dare and didn’t understand those mysterious and mysterious things, Li Ke chose to deal with it silently.
"It's enough if you know what to do. Go back and think about what to do."
If you haven't noticed it before, and you still can't see anything about it now, then Xu Jie's many years of official career It's all for nothing.
"Mr. Xu Ge, this is me"
Li Donghua wanted to say something, but couldn't.
"Okay, you still have to decide what to do, but your etiquette department must send a memorandum as soon as possible, about this solar eclipse, and about King Jing's preparations for joining the vassal, etiquette We must also pay attention to the subject. If the etiquette department is slack, , the impeachment must be impeached."
"If, Mr. Xu Ge, if I were to impeach the Ministry of Rites for slacking off on King Jing's preparations for joining the feudal clan, I don't know if that's okay."
Li Donghua hesitated. After a moment, he still asked.
Xu Jie shook his head and pointed at the memorial on the table, "Isn't it clear enough?" Yes, Your Majesty is extremely saddened by the laziness and stubbornness of the current government. I am prepared to punish a group of officials who have eaten their corpses, and the fine is the lightest."
Xu Jie's expression seemed to be heartbroken, but in fact, his tone of voice was still light. After all, this matter had little to do with him, he and he. There is no deep relationship between Wu Shan and Wu Shan.
But when the words fell into Li Donghua’s ears, it was completely different. This was a naked threat.
“Did Gao Zhong say this?”
Li Donghua asked hesitantly.
Xu Jie nodded, there was no need for him to hide in front of Li Donghua.
The one that has the closest connection with the cabinet is actually the Sixth Section. Many cabinet documents are first sent to the Sixth Section and then to the ministries.
Strictly speaking, the cabinet seems to have inherited the power of the former prime minister and assistant, but it is not comparable to the power of the previous dynasty's Zhongshu Province. The most important thing is that the cabinet has no power to govern the six ministries.
The left and right prime ministers of Zhongshu Province in the previous dynasty had decision-making power, deliberation power and administrative power. After Ming Chengzu established the cabinet, he firmly held the decision-making power originally possessed by the prime ministers in his own hands, and distributed the deliberation power to In the cabinet, administrative power is divided into six ministries, while at the local level, it is divided into three departments, responsible for justice, military, and administration, and are directly responsible to the six ministries.
The cabinet has such power as it does today, but it was formed during the Sanyang auxiliary period, and a more complete government affairs process was established: memorials of all sizes across the country, and even suggestions made by ordinary people to the emperor, were summarized and passed to the cabinet by the general affairs envoy, and the cabinet drafted them After handling the opinions, the Director of Ceremonies will submit the opinions to the Emperor for approval, and finally the Sixth Section will proofread and issue them.
So in the six subjects, the relationship with the cabinet ministers was also unusual, otherwise Xu Jie would not have said so much to Li Donghua.
Xu Jie felt that his hints were almost there, and Li Donghua had to take control of the rest. Although he had a good relationship with Li Donghua, he was not his student after all, and he would not listen to him in everything.
It's just that Xu Jie can't find a better person to replace Li Donghua, and if he really needs to find someone to replace him, Yan Song may not be able to pass it, so he just wants to make a point.
“Take care of yourself.”
After Xu Jie said this, he picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip, while Li Donghua also said goodbye and left.
On the way back to the check-in room, Li Donghua was thinking about how to write the memorial, while Xu Jie just looked at the retreating figure without saying anything for a long time.
Originally, Wu Shan was considered a natural ally for King Yu and him.
Wu Shan is an upright person and often conflicts with Yan Song. Logically speaking, he should take action to protect him at this time, but Xu Jie knew it from his student Zhang Juzheng. I am afraid it is this character that directly annoys him. After defeating Emperor Jiajing, it also left a not so good impression on King Yu, and the reason was because Gao Gong's persuasion failed.
On the same day, Gao Gong went to Prince Yu's Mansion after leaving the office, and complained about Wu Shan in his words. This also made most of the people in Prince Yu's Mansion lose all good impressions of Wu Shan.
Naturally, Zhang Juzheng would not hide this news from his teacher.
In Xu Jie's opinion, at this time, it may not be a bad thing for Wu Shan to leave the court because of this incident.
With Wu Shan’s character, sooner or later he will cause a bigger problem, and he is afraid that he will follow in Xia Yan’s footsteps.
If you leave early, at least you will be safe. As for the vacant position, I am afraid someone has already taken care of it.
Xu Jie is not a fool. At the level of Liubu Tang official, there are only so many official positions, one carrot and one pit. What Gao Gong said in Prince Yu's Mansion may not necessarily have other meanings.
Since Emperor Jiajing had the idea of letting Wu Shan leave, he was just taking advantage of the situation. If this memorial returned to Yan Song's hands, his methods might be more drastic.
Wasn’t Li Mo, the former Minister of Civil Affairs, the one who was killed in the prison by them?
When Li Donghua returned to duty, he immediately began to write the impeachment memorial.
"The holy virtue is the sun, and the auspicious clouds protect the sun. When you eat, you don't eat. This is the result of your sincerity and respect for heaven. The mountains and others don't know what to say, please express your gratitude to Xuan En, but they save you as usual, and the sin cannot be ignored."< br>
Before, Li Donghua felt that Wu Shan There was nothing wrong with what he did, but he just followed the rules and acted according to etiquette. However, when his consciousness became clear, he still wrote an impeachment memorial in a eloquent way, accusing Wu Shan of not being able to thank God for his care and not offering rescue. He was guilty and it was too late for him to repent. guilty. The impeachment memorial was quickly sent to Xiyuan through the cabinet. This time the memorial was handled by Yan Song.
Due to the influence of the solar eclipse and astronomical phenomenon, Yan Song and his family were a little late this time and missed the best opportunity to intervene. Therefore, they did not want to muddy the waters at this time. According to the normal process, Yan Song planned to punish Li Donghua. In the second month of salary, Wu Shan, the Ministry of Rites, gave his opinions on how to deal with the demerit.
On the second day, Emperor Jiajing criticized the memorial and commented, "Since the solar eclipse has disappeared, a ceremony of thanks was built in the Great Guangming Hall for three days, and all the ministers expressed their congratulations."
It is just a demerit. It seems that the punishment for Wu Shan in this incident is very light. However, the senior officials of the court know that this is just a temporary suspension of punishment, because the Ministry of Rites is currently busy handling the ceremony of King Jing's enthronement. This Wu Shan was dismissed from his post at that time, and the operation of the Ministry of Rites was afraid that it would be affected.
On February 15th of the 40th year of Jiajing reign, early in the morning, officials from the Ministry of Rites came to Prince Jing's Mansion. Reluctant Prince Jing took Princess Jing in a grand dress and went to the Forbidden City to say goodbye.
Emperor Jiajing had previously decreed that the etiquette of face-to-face speeches was dispensed with, so the farewell ceremony was only performed outside the Forbidden City and Xiyuan.
Prince Jing is wearing a royal robe, and Princess Zhai Yi, the concubine of Jing, is introduced from Donghua Gate by the Ministry of Rites, and bows down to the palace from afar outside Fengtian Gate.
"The ceremony is completed."
As the Supervisor of Ceremonies sang loudly, King Jing stood up with red eyes. Only then did he deeply feel that he really I have to leave here, leave the place where I have lived for more than 20 years, and truly say goodbye to my mother and father.
De'an Mansion is far away from the capital. If he leaves tomorrow, he may never have the chance to come back.
Princess Jing is much less attached to the capital than Prince Jing, but she is also from Beizhili, and Prince Jing is in Huguang. After going to De'an Mansion with Prince Jing this time, it is extremely difficult to see her family again. When I stood up, my eyes would inevitably be red.
Prince Jing and Princess Jing looked a little desolate at this time. They did not even have the chance to see Emperor Jiajing during their farewells, but their current appearance was compatible with today's atmosphere.
Wu Shan, the Minister of Rites, just watched from a distance. He had anticipated today's situation since he refused Gao Gong's request and insisted on petitioning the emperor to act according to the etiquette of rescue.
After sending Queen Jing away, it might be time for me to leave too.
It wasn’t just once or twice that he disobeyed the emperor. Others didn’t know it, but Wu Shan still understood it very well.
Perhaps, just last year, Emperor Jiajing had already made plans to remove himself.
When Emperor Jiajing planned to send King Jing away, perhaps he was worried that King Jing was too disobedient, so he wanted to remind him by sealing him a vassal first and let him know that he was a vassal king.
But when Emperor Jiajing asked the Ministry of Rites to prepare for King Jing's enthronement ceremony, he asked Gao Zhong to find him privately, hoping that Wu Shan could delay King Jing's enthronement for two years, but he was When Wu Shan refused, he ordered Gao Zhong to come up with the imperial edict.
How could Emperor Jiajing issue an edict about such a thing? Did he really have the edict to use Gao Zhong to find Wu Shan privately?
Under Wu Shan's supervision, the Ministry of Rites was still busy preparing for the ceremony of King Jing's enthronement. As for why Emperor Jiajing's attitude suddenly reversed later, Wu Shan also didn't know.
In fact, Wu Shan suspected that Gao Zhong was secretly involved in the back-and-forth between the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Industry, and Prince Jing's Mansion, because several times when the key issues were discussed, the Ministry of Household Affairs would always use the excuse of lack of money. Ask for a stay.
After that, Xu Jie was suddenly involved and the relevant agenda was quickly finalized. What happened to Wu Shandu who was still recovering at that time?
Today, I saw King Jing completing his farewell ceremony. As long as he waits until tomorrow, after all the officials see him off, King Jing will disappear from the capital forever. His mission as the Minister of Rites seems to have been completed.
When King Jing went to Prince Yu's Mansion to say goodbye, the officials in the court also put aside their work and gathered together to prepare to go to Prince Jing's Mansion to salute.
Today's officials in the capital had been reminded earlier, so today everyone was standing together in brand-new auspicious clothes. At a glance, it seemed that the dynasty had a completely new look.
At this time, Wei Guangde, like them, wore auspicious clothes to welcome King Jing in Prince Yu's mansion.
The overt and covert fighting between King Yu and King Jing in the early years seems to have dissipated with the wind now. After King Jing saluted King Yu, the two brothers held hands and talked for a long time.
Speaking of which, the relationship between the two was not bad when they were in the palace. Although King Jing showed off to King Yu from time to time the benefits he got from his mother and concubine, they were brothers after all, and King Yu He is honest by nature and doesn't care about anything.
What's more, there is a second brother above their brothers.
The relationship between the two was estranged and even developed into hostility. It was only after they left the palace that their relationship began to gradually deteriorate.
King Jing also wants to understand now. Maybe he really had a trace of thoughts in his heart at the beginning, but later it developed into not only his own problem, but also the constant instigation by others.
In any case, King Yu is his brother who is one month older than me, so he naturally has the character "long".
While King Yu and King Jing were having a lively conversation, Wei Guangde stood behind Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng and just watched quietly. He was not sure if anything would happen again before King Jing left the capital. Even after King Jing left the capital, Finally, as long as King Yu does not ascend to that position one day, King Jing will still have a chance.
With King Yu having no heir, even if King Yu ascends the throne, if something goes wrong in the process, King Jing will still have a chance.
You still have to be on guard against King Jing.
Wei Guangde kept reminding himself in his heart that he could not ignore King Jing just because he saw the deep relationship between King Jing and King Yu. He would always be King Yu's strongest competitor.
No one knows what King Jing is thinking at this time. At least in front of everyone, King Yu and King Jing both act like brothers and sisters.
On the second day, Wei Guangde, still wearing the auspicious uniform, gathered outside Chengtian Gate early. As all the officials gathered, he walked through Jinshui under the leadership of Chengguo Duke Zhu Xizhong and British Duke Zhang Rong. The bridge entered the Forbidden City and stood outside the Fengtian Gate.
At the beginning of Si Shi, under the guidance of the officials of the Ministry of Rites, King Jing and his wife entered the palace again to say goodbye. They still entered the palace through Donghua Gate.
Wei Guangde stood in the procession of hundreds of officials, watching King Jing's honor guard passing by, passing through the procession of officials and entering Fengtian Gate. The three main halls in the gate were still not completed yet, but the throne and other items had already been arranged.
Listening to the elegant music playing in the wall, Wei Guangde knew that he should be kowtowing to the throne.
Today, the scale of the hundred officials is very large. Officials of seventh rank and above are standing outside Fengtian Gate, and officials below seventh rank are waiting outside Chengtian Gate. Until they see King Jing being led out of Fengtian Gate, the crown he is wearing at this time The clothes have been changed into feudal costumes.
The team of officials followed King Jing and his entourage out of Chengtianmen. King Jing worshiped the gods again outside Chengtianmen before boarding the carriage and leaving.
However, the team of hundreds of officials did not disband. When King Jing returned to pick up his family, Wei Guangde and other officials either rode horses, rode in sedans, or got into carriages like him and quickly rushed outside Chaoyang Gate.
With the flags waving in the city gate, groups of officers, soldiers and guards in bright uniforms filed out. Under their protection, King Jing's car slowly drove out of the Chaoyang Gate and passed through the Baiyang Gate. The official queue seemed to be announcing to everyone the end of the "War of Two Kings" era.
(End of this chapter)