Chapter 340: Establishing a direct line and establishing a virtuous person
Frankly speaking, Zhu Houzhao naturally did not want Xu Jin to join the cabinet to do maintenance work, because he was already sure that Xu Jin was not an honest official.
If Xu Jin was just a minister of pure Taoism, a pure conservative, abiding by etiquette and law, and would rather disobey himself as the emperor than admonish him to establish a prince, Zhu Houzhao could have let him in for the sake of his integrity and loyalty to etiquette and law. The pavilion is like Kanghai.
But it is obvious that Xu Jin is not an official with such a good style. He is a selfish civil servant and a sanctimonious hypocrite!
If not, Zhu Houzhao believed that after his eldest son Zhu Zailei told him that Pan Gu, an official of Shuntian Prefecture, purchased low-quality steel from the Xu family at a high price and asked Zhu Zailei to adopt Pan Gu's suggestion to directly bribe the Xu family, Xu Jin's students would not Soon he was in a hurry to go to Shu to advise him that he should make the emperor's eldest son the prince.
However, Zhu Houcheng, who has entered his old age, understands that many times he cannot do things based on his own subjective feelings and must be more rational. If he refuses Xu Jin to join the cabinet at this time, he will naturally let Xu Jin and other high-ranking civil servants know that he Dissatisfied with them, they may even directly realize that Zhu Zailei told him about Pan Gu and the Xu family's embezzlement of money for the water supply project built by Mo Shuntian Mansion.
However, Zhu Houzhao doesn't want Xu Jin to realize it yet, because he wants these elite civil servants to support the succession of a prince who will not actually take care of their bourgeois interests.
In this way, he, the emperor, was needed to run a scam so that Xu Jin always thought that the eldest son and other princes were taking care of their civil servants.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao finally agreed to add Xu Jin to the cabinet against his conscience.
Xu Jin was naturally overjoyed when he learned that he was promoted to the cabinet bachelor's degree. His joy at this time was no less than the joy he felt when he passed the imperial examination.
His Xu family was also so happy that they held a feast.
After all, the fact that Xu Jin can join the cabinet proves that the emperor still thinks highly of Xu Jin, which means that the Xu family is still wealthy. Moreover, the Xu family just made a lot of money when the eldest son of the emperor was the governor of Shuntian. In addition, Xu Jin is now Entering the pavilion, the Xu family is naturally filled with burning oil and flowers.
Xu Jin naturally did not know that his Majesty the Emperor had already regarded him and his Xu family as prey. As long as the Xu family grew stronger and acted more and more unscrupulously, the entire Xu family would be destroyed and the Xu family would be destroyed. Blood makes up for the country's losses.
Xu Jin is now very optimistic about the prospects of himself and his Xu family, because he feels that the emperor is old, and the new emperor will most likely be the emperor's eldest son Zhu Zailei, and Zhu Zailei takes good care of civil servants like himself. As long as he supports the emperor's eldest son By becoming the crown prince, the Xu family will always remain wealthy for at least the next few decades.
In fact, many aristocratic families in the capital are very optimistic about this and the prospects of the Xu family. Even the Duke of Ding, the Xu family, recognized Xu Jin as his kin, and Xu Jin accepted it leisurely and elegantly. Having a concubine, a drama of an old husband and a young wife was staged.
In the court, because Xia Yan regarded himself as prime minister and did not give full equality to the civil servants, the civil servants' complaints and dissatisfaction with Xia Yan increased day by day. The Qingliu civil servant Xu Jin, a new member of the cabinet, was naturally highly regarded by the civil servants. As a result, Xu Jin's power and prestige increased greatly when he entered the cabinet.
Zhu Houzhao was naturally well aware of these, but he knew that in order to destroy his enemy, he had to make him crazy first, so he would reward Xu Jin with things from time to time to show his favor for him.
Xu Jin became more and more proud.
But once a person has selfish motives, it means that he is also an ordinary person. Ordinary people will make fatal mistakes because of the temptation of some interests, but the saint is different. The saint is selfless and has no desires, so it is difficult to make him make fatal mistakes. mistake.
Although Xu Jin is a gentleman on the surface, a great Confucian scholar who is almost a sage, it is obvious that Xu Jin is an ordinary person with selfish motives, so he will make some mistakes, some mistakes that he will feel stupid afterwards.
What's more, he is now in his prime, so he is more likely to be negligent and fall into a trap.
When the second prince Zhu Zaitu left the capital, he learned about Xu Jin's entry into the cabinet. This made him not in a good mood, because he was now basically sure that his brother Zhu Zailei would continue to use the money from the Shuntian Mansion water supply project. After purchasing low-quality steel pipes from the Xu family and bribing the Xu family in this way, Xu Jin has become a die-hard supporter of his brother Zhu Zailei becoming the crown prince.
Therefore, Xu Jin became a cabinet bachelor, which was a result that the second prince Zhu Zailei did not want to see. He implemented his plan and decided to expose more information about the Xu family to his brother Zhu Zailei to see if his emperor Will brother Zhu Zailei continue to protect Xu Jin?
Zhu Zailei arrived in Henan. Henan was a major grain-producing province in the Ming Dynasty. However, due to the Yellow River, Henan also suffered from disasters from time to time.
But there are no floods in the Yellow River yet. Zhu Zailei also checked the river section and found that basically there were no dams that needed to be repaired. However, when Zhu Zailei was inspecting the dams, a newly built railway pier suddenly collapsed. Zhu Zailei Lei Xunsheng rode over to take a look, only to find that there was very little cement in the construction materials of the bridge piers.
Zhu Zailei felt something was not good, so he quickly found the people who had lived on the banks of the Yellow River for generations to take him to check other bridge piers. He was surprised to find that the building materials of these bridge piers had very little cement content, and even had gradually deteriorated under the impact of the river. There is a danger of collapse, and Zhu Zailei discovered that these collapsed railway steel materials were also low-quality steel materials from the Xu family!
"This is simply a disaster for the country and the people. Who gave you the courage to do this?!"
Zhu Zailei felt very frightened. He was the new supervisor of the Henan section of the Beijing-Beijing Railway. He naturally had the power to supervise railway matters. He hurriedly found Shao Ju, the right-hand ambassador in charge of the construction of the Henan section: "Who gave you the courage to do this?" Do this? ”
"Your Highness, please calm down. The second son of the Xu family forced me to do this. I had no choice but to disobey you." Shao Ju said as he handed Zhu Zailei the letter from the second son of the Xu family to him. .
Zhu Zailei immediately took it and looked at it, and couldn't help but get even more angry: "Asshole! This is a major project related to the national economy and people's livelihood, how can we allow these profiteers to erode it!"
"Your Highness, please don't be angry. This is inevitable. I also know that this is not good, so I have not reported it to the Ministry of Railways for a long time, saying that the Henan section is completed. I am just waiting for the new Lord Futai to come and discuss the matter." No way, I didn’t expect it to be your highness, the governor. Henan, I would like to see the following official, Your Highness should not make any announcement about this matter. After all, Mr. Ge (Xu Jin) has just joined the cabinet. Once this matter is exposed, it will be a small matter for Mr. Xu Ge's career to be ruined, but it will be a big thing for your highness to be ruined. Ah, Your Highness!”
Shao Ju, the right chief minister of Henan Province, said with some excitement.
Zhu Zailei was now clearly able to conclude that Xu Jin was a worm in the empire, and he even began to feel a little resentful that these civil servants often used his reserve position to threaten him. This made Zhu Zailei feel aggrieved because he wanted to be the prince. , but do I really want to sit back and watch these moths exist just to be the prince?
Zhu Zailei encountered a problem. Of course he knew Xu Jin's status in the civil service group. If he reported this matter to the court, it would definitely cause an uproar, and he would offend the entire civil service group.
However, Zhu Zailei could not sit back and watch these civil servants embezzle national assets, carry out shoddy projects, and even become corrupt to the point of harming the people and destroying the cornerstone of the country.
“It’s not appropriate to be such a prince!”
Zhu Zailei couldn't help but say something in his heart. He finally chose to expose this matter. He decided that he would rather not be the prince than let the national interests and the interests of the people suffer huge losses. After all, the corruption problem in Henan's railway construction was related to smooth operation. The Tianfu water supply project is different. The use of inferior steel in the Shuntianfu water supply project only involves the interests of the people of Shuntianfu. But now if there is a problem with the entire Beijing-Beijing railway, it means that the entire country will suffer huge losses!
Zhu Zailei didn't want to wipe the Xu family's butt this time, and he couldn't do it, and he couldn't stand the existence of such a moth. In the end, he directly submitted the impeachment memorial to the Metropolitan Procuratorate and sent it to Zhu Houzhao in the form of a letter from home. This was made clear.
At this time, the capital was still singing and dancing.
Zhu Houzhao and Xu Jin didn't know these things yet.
Zhu Houzhao took his concubines to prepare for a spring outing, and Xu Jin also hugged the waist of his new concubine, but with a satisfied smile on his face. But that's it.
The Dongchang Inspector has led people to surround his mansion.
Zhu Houzhao naturally knew the news first. He did not expect that Xu Jin's family would reach out to the Beijing-Beijing Railway. Of course, what he did not expect even more was that the eldest son of the emperor would choose to expose this popular cabinet member who had just entered the cabinet. Bachelor's degree.
This happened suddenly, and Zhu Houzhao didn't expect it.
But now that this matter has been brought to light by Zhu Zailei, naturally no one can cover it up.
After all, Zhu Zailei was the eldest son of the emperor, the governor of Henan, and had been appointed to the Metropolitan Procuratorate. If he brought this matter to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, it would be like making it known to the world.
Nowadays, the media industry in Ming Dynasty is so developed that within three months, everyone in the world can know the sins of the Xu family!
Even Emperor Zhu Houzhao could only follow the trend at this time and asked the Dongchang Inspectorate to immediately investigate Xu Jin's second son and temporarily suspend Xu Jin.
However, at the same time, Zhu Zailei was also suspended from his post by Zhu Houzhao and summoned to Beijing. The reason was that Zhu Zailei was also the person in charge of the Henan section of the Beijing-Beijing Railway. Naturally, he had to go to Beijing to be questioned by Zhu Houzhao in person. Of course, Zhu Houzhao still wanted to Protect Zhu Zailei’s life.
Because Zhu Zailei offended many civil servants by doing this, who knows whether these people will take revenge by silence.
The civil servants of the Ming Dynasty did not lack the courage to kill the emperor, let alone the prince.
Xu Jin was surprised. He couldn't believe that it was the emperor's eldest son Zhu Zailei who reported his Xu family. When he saw his second son being taken away by the Dongchang Inspector, he felt betrayed in his heart. He felt sorry for the emperor. The eldest son Zhu Zailei suddenly felt extremely angry!
"Why did he do this!"
Xu Jin was roaring in his heart, but he could not show such a mentality on the surface. On the one hand, he praised the eldest son of the emperor for his selflessness, but on the other hand, he resigned and regretted his appointment in the court.
At the same time, Xu Jin also secretly told his second son not to betray the family.
then.
Xu Jin's second son admitted that all these things were his own doing and said that it had nothing to do with his father.
Xu Jin's second son was naturally sentenced to death, and the Xu family also paid a huge fine. However, Zhu Houzhao did not agree to let Xu Jin resign. After all, Xu Jin's crime could not be cured yet, so Zhu Houzhao would not let him quit.
This matter came to an end for the time being, and the Henan section of the Beijing-Beijing Railway could only be rebuilt. The emperor's eldest son Zhu Zailei also returned to Henan, and under his supervision, the project did not go wrong again.
As time went by, both the eldest son Zhu Zailei and other princes did well. For example, the second prince Zhu Zaitu and Zhu Houzhao found that under his management, Zhejiang Province's sea trade income had been increasing.
However, Zhu Houzhao felt something strange. The sea trade seemed to be too calm, so few smuggling cases occurred. However, Zhu Houzhao did not force anything out of thin air. He believed that if someone was playing tricks on him, then whose fox tail would end up with him. will be exposed.
The second prince Zhu Zaitu was very happy now, after he learned that Zhu Zailei reported the dirty things about the Xu family and caused Xu Jin's second son to be executed.
Because the second prince knew that this meant that his brother had cut himself off from the entire civil service group: "My brother is still too sincere and can't get rid of the sand in his eyes. I really thought that he had learned to be more diplomatic than before, but he didn't expect that, He is still so full of justice!”
Zhu Zailei's behavior indeed angered the entire civil servant group, and many civil servants began to feel fear of him, and worried that if Zhu Zailei became emperor in the future, he would become the second Zhengde Emperor.
Therefore, the people of the Central Empire of the Ming Dynasty were surprised to find that after that, the voices asking the emperor to establish a prince early and follow the etiquette and establish the eldest son Zhu Zailei became much less frequent, and even disappeared. What is even more surprising is that some real Even if the Taoist priests advised the court to establish Zhu Zailei, the eldest son of the emperor, as the crown prince out of public motives, they would still be criticized by the civil servants.
Zhu Houzhao realized this change, and he began to be more and more satisfied with Zhu Zailei's performance, but he knew that the civil servants were becoming more and more disappointed with Zhu Zailei, but Zhu Houzhao didn't care about this. After all, it was he who had the say in the Ming Empire. Calculate.
Zhu Houzhao was happy that no one bothered him about the national capital, but it happened that when the civil servants were not in a hurry to urge him to establish a crown prince, Zhu Houzhao had already made up his mind to make the emperor's eldest son Zhu Zailei the crown prince.
Because the reason why Zhu Houzhao has delayed it until now is simply because he still cannot be sure whether Zhu Zailei has the determination to dare to safeguard the national interests and the interests of the people. Obviously, Zhu Zailei's behavior of reporting the Xu family is not considered smart, but he upholds it. With a public heart, Zhu Houzhao made up his mind to make Zhu Zailei the crown prince to end the decades-long unresolved matter of establishing the crown prince.
Not long after, Zhu Houzhao directly issued a decree to promote the emperor's eldest son Zhu Zailei to the position of Minister of Household Affairs. This move naturally made the courtiers smell something, but many civil servants were not happy about it.
On this day, Zhang Juzheng happened to ask Shangshu again to establish a prince to establish the foundation of the country. Zhu Houzhao summoned the ministers and said: "I have made up my mind. I have decided to follow the wishes of the people and establish my eldest son Zhu Zailei as the prince."
As soon as Zhu Houzhao said these words, Zhou Luo, the Minister of Rites, stood up and said: "Your Majesty, I think that establishing a direct descendant is not as good as establishing a virtuous person. Nowadays, the princes are wise and foolish, and the prince is the prince. He should not be judged lightly. Therefore, my suggestion should be carefully examined. ! ”
"It's really weird. It's you who say that you should follow the etiquette and establish the heirs and elders, and now you're talking about establishing the virtuous." Zhu Houzhao said coldly and glared at Zhou Luo.
Zhou Luo was so frightened that he fell to the ground: "Your Majesty knows it clearly, I have never mentioned the matter of establishing a direct heir, but the selection of the crown prince is a national matter, and it cannot be decided lightly!"
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(End of chapter)