Chapter 351 The Chief Assistant Asks for the Imperial Staff
As the emperor Zhu Houzhao, Zhu Houzhao didn't care how the officials scolded him or what he said. Anyway, the military power and political power were in his own hands. He could rule however he wanted.
However, what really annoyed Zhu Houzhao was that officials like Cabinet Assistant Minister would choose to resign because of the public opinion created by their words.
Of course, Xia Yan's resignation was not true, but a lie. But by doing so, he was obviously throwing the blame to the emperor, which meant that he was not greedy for power. His Majesty needed me and needed me to take charge of the power.
Of course, Zhu Houzhao didn't care about the king's reputation. Seeing Xia Yan's resignation letter, he only smiled coldly: "I'm not afraid of being a foolish king, but I don't know when I will meet a chief minister who doesn't care about reputation."
Immediately, Zhu Houzhao naturally refuted Xia Yan's memorial, forbade Xia Yan to resign, and even asked the imperial literati in the attendant's room to comfort him for his good fortune.
But Zhu Houzhao didn't blame official Han Yiyou for this.
Xia Yan was very depressed about this, because he wished that the emperor would cut off Han Yiyou's head directly for his imperial staff, or it would be better to send Han Yiyou to prison and threaten to execute him, and then he I came to beg for mercy and avoid the death penalty. It showed that I, as the first assistant, was still very tolerant.
But Zhu Houzhao did not do this again because there was no need.
"This is not the early stage of my ascendance to the throne. When I am not yet stable in power, how can I allow you to become gentlemen and only allow me to be infamous? Xia Yan, Xia Yan, I asked you to fight against Qingliu. How could I not let Qingliu fight against you? , In any case, what the country requires is balance. If you want to be a powerful minister, be a powerful minister. Why pretend that you have no desire for power? "
Zhu Houzhao sighed a few words secretly, and then continued to fish in the palace, or visit the people in disguise if he had nothing to do.
But Xia Yan also had his own method, which was to keep resigning from his official position. The purpose of course was to annoy the emperor, which meant that if the emperor didn't severely punish Han Yiyou, I would keep resigning him.
And officials like Han Yiyou are not willing to let it go. Emperor, if you don't deal with Xia Yan, I will keep issuing memorials to impeach Xia Yan.
Zhu Houzhao initially continued to reject Xia Yan's resignation, while also ignoring Han Yiyou and others' actions to impeach Xia Yan.
But over time, Zhu Houzhao became really annoyed, even very angry, because putting aside national affairs and dealing with trivial matters such as resignation and impeachment all day long was simply slacking off in politics and wasting the country's public power!
Of course, more importantly, the resignations and impeachment memorials continue like this, which is also a waste of national public resources. After all, paper for memorials also costs money.
Zhu Houzhao knew that Xia Yan would be happy only if he took Han Yiyou into prison and beat him up.
But he really didn't want to use his imperial power to fight injustice on behalf of the chief assistant, nor did he want to be used by the chief assistant.
Zhu Houzhao is no longer young, and it's not like he doesn't understand the internal reasons why these officials are fighting with each other. Naturally, he will not kill the officials first based on their superficial likes and dislikes, so as to vent his anger for the ministers he trusts.
After all, killing is a killing, but it will also make the officials whom you trust become unscrupulous, thinking that you are really easy to fool, forcing you to kill again, and replace people like a revolving door, making it difficult for the government to remain calm. .
Over the years, fortunately, the emperor himself was still young. Despite the bloody chaos in the court, the general direction of external expansion and internal reform has not changed, and those who control the power of the court are all reformist officials who do practical things.
Even Xia Yan is a reformist official. Even if he really takes the initiative for Xia Yan now, it will have no impact. Letting reformist officials control the government will not be a problem for the general direction of the empire, just like letting Zhang Juzheng be the dictatorship in the early Wanli period.
But Zhu Houzhao now does not want to make the political struggle between opposing officials too fierce. As he enters his old age, he begins to believe that in order to keep the empire stable and maintain political clarity, these officials must supervise each other and not suppress any party too much. Ruthless, especially when future kings succeed to the throne, they need to leave a balanced political situation for them.
Otherwise, it will be like when I was young, with the Qingliu in power throughout the dynasty. Wouldn't it lay the foundation for internal turmoil in the dynasty?
But the emperor had his own ideas, Xia Yan, the chief minister of the cabinet, also had his own ideas, and officials representing the business class such as Xu Jin also had their own ideas.
Xia Yan wanted to force the emperor to suppress Yan Guan, and then attack Xu Jin and other civil officials behind him.
Xu Jin and other civil servants also wanted to use Yan Guan to create public opinion to force the emperor to suppress Xia Yan, thereby negating the political affairs office system.
Zhu Houzhao was forced to have an attitude for a while, which made him very depressed. He was depressed about why Xia Yan couldn't ignore these public opinions and work hard, and he was also depressed about whether these officials could stop for a while and not give up until they achieved their goals.
This day.
As the growth rate of tariff revenue dropped again, Zhu Houzhao realized that other countries' restrictions on the outflow of silver might have become more stringent, and at the same time, the domestic smuggling trade might become more rampant, so he asked Xia Yan, the chief minister of the cabinet, to preside over the affairs between Ministry of Revenue officials and the National Taxation Bureau. Officials held a court meeting to discuss how to deal with these two matters.
But at the beginning of the court meeting, Lu Gong stood up first when Hu Kedu was in trouble: "Your Majesty, I have a memorial to impeach Xia Yan for his autocratic rule, harboring treacherous intentions, colluding with military officials, and causing trouble for the government. Please punish Xia Yan." He said, abolish the minister of political affairs, abolish the political affairs department, and restore the imperial recommendation system left by the late emperor! ”
"Your Majesty, I also second the proposal. The first assistant, Xia Yan, joins the party to fight against the dissidents. In order to collude with his lackey Wen Yuan, demote the dissident ministers and open the back door, his intentions can be punished!"
Min Xian, the right servant of the IRS, also stood up.
"It is the power of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to impeach officials. What we are discussing now is the decrease in the increase in tariff revenue. Please step back!"
Zhu Houzhao said coldly that his bottom line was that these people would make trouble, but they could not affect the official affairs of the court.
After Zhu Houzhao said this, the civil servants who were dissatisfied with Xia Yan became quiet, but Xu Jin smiled slightly at this time. He knew that it was impossible to make the emperor hate Xia Yan. If he wanted to make the emperor hate Xia Yan, he could only By constantly impeaching Xia Yan, and then forcing Xia Yan to fight back, the emperor will become disgusted with Xia Yan's lack of sense and being unworthy of being a prime minister.
Therefore, Xu Jin winked at Zhang Wei, one of his cronies, Zhang Wei, a doctor in the Yunnan Qing Li Division of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
then.
Zhang Wei stood up and said: "Your Majesty, I impeach Han Yiyou, Deng Dong and others for falsely accusing Yuan Fu and Zhongliang. They fabricated and distorted the facts in the name of correcting the imperial court, but they are actually seeking personal gain! I ask your Majesty to remove these lawless men. The official said that he would punish Xiaoxiao with blood and iron as he did back then! ”
"Your Majesty, I second the proposal. Yuan Fu Xia Yan is actually an important official of the country. The Ming Dynasty did not have Yuan Fu to assist the government. How could the world have such peace? And these villains like Han Yiyou and others are ignorant of kindness and righteousness. They are just trying to gain fame and reputation, and they are good at adding bullets. Not killing is not enough to rectify your heart!”
Liu Duyu, a doctor from the Fujian Division of the Audit Office, also stood up.
Zhu Houzhao glanced at Xia Yan coldly. He did not expect that Xia Yan would follow the example of other non-reforming civil servants and actually come to criticize political opponents during such court discussions.
I, the emperor, took the time to come to attend the court meeting, could it be that he just came to watch you fight with each other? ! How ridiculous!
Xia Yan didn't expect such a group of officials to speak for him, which surprised him a little, thinking that he didn't seem to be fighting alone. Xia Yan even wanted to help these people speak for him and impeach the officials who impeached him.
But when Xia Yan noticed the sharp eyes of Emperor Zhu Houzhao, he couldn't help but shudder, as if someone had poured cold water on him, and he began to realize that this might not be his good intentions, but people like Xu Jin were deliberately using this to provoke His relationship with the king.
For a time, the quarrel in the court became more and more fierce. The officials who impeached Xia Yan accused the officials who protected Xia Yan of being Xia Yan's lackeys, while those who protected Xia Yan said that the officials who impeached Xia Yan were villains.
The more fiercely these people quarreled, the happier Xu Jin felt inside, especially when he saw the emperor Zhu Houzhao's face getting darker and darker.
What Xu Jin wants is to take advantage of the opportunity of the court meeting to show the emperor Zhu Hou's care by performing this scene of impeaching Xia Yan and protecting Xia Yan, so that Emperor Zhu Houzhao will gradually hate Xia Yan. As for the decline in customs duties and rampant smuggling, , he didn’t care, and he wasn’t even willing to let this matter be taken seriously by the court, because those who smuggled and evaded tariffs were undoubtedly the business class behind him.
Zhu Houzhao was indeed very angry at this time. He didn't know why the two factions were attacking each other regardless of business at this time, nor did he know who was leading all this.
But Zhu Houzhao hated this kind of situation that was not under his control, so he was on the verge of Long Yan being furious.
"Your Majesty! Please give me permission to preside over this situation!"
Xia Yan knew that he could not let this quarrel continue at this time. No matter whether the civil servants who spoke for him had good intentions or intentionality, the more the quarrel continued at this time, the more dissatisfied His Majesty would be with him, so he took advantage of the two sides to scold each other. When he took a breath, he immediately stood up and said something loudly.
"Accurate!"
Zhu Houzhao was very pleased to see that Xia Yan dared to stand up at this time, and hurriedly agreed. If Xia Yan could not handle this matter well, he would kill these civil servants first.
"Quiet!"
Xia Yan shouted loudly, and all the officials present fell silent.
But at this time, Lu Gong shouted loudly: "Bah! You are a traitor! How can I tolerate you shouting at all the officials in this hall!"
Xia Yan knew that if he could not maintain the court at this time, His Majesty the Emperor would consider changing his chief minister.
Sometimes when you are the chief assistant, you have to take the blame for the emperor, be the emperor's shadow, and do things that the emperor wants to do but cannot do. You can't really expect the emperor to stand up and take charge of the situation, especially the older the emperor is now, the more willing he is to do it. The more you support yourself from behind, the less willing you are to let yourself, the chief minister, escape unscathed and let the emperor suffer infamy.
Xia Yan decided that he no longer wanted to lose face, so he should learn from His Majesty the Emperor. Instead of forcing the Emperor to stand up for him, it would be better to stand up for him. Don't expect the Emperor to stand up for him and let these people be sent to prison and then plead for mercy. In order to gain reputation, if I want to keep my power now, I can only break with these officials completely and give up this reputation completely! You have to become a traitor completely.
So, after Xia Yan glanced at Lu Gong, he turned directly to Zhu Houzhao and begged: "Your Majesty, Lu Gong is disrupting the court and interfering with government affairs. I ask for your Majesty's permission to remove Lu Gong from his post and remove him from the court!" ”
Zhu Houzhao nodded: "Grant to Aiqing's request, Lu Gong will be removed from his post, expelled from the court, and his official status will be canceled by the Ministry of Personnel!"
The civil servants present were all stunned. They did not expect that Xia Yan would directly ask the emperor to remove Lu Gong from his post in the court.
During the incident, Deng Dong had to stand up and defend Lu Gong, but at this time, Lu Gong himself shouted first:
"Your Majesty! I did not interfere with government affairs or disturb the court. I just did not allow the treacherous minister to deceive the Holy One. The treacherous minister Xia Yan took advantage of your majesty's favor and acted arbitrarily in front of the emperor. He was arrogant. I ask your majesty to kill the treacherous minister Xia Yan to rectify the court's policy! ”
"Your Majesty, Lu Gong not only does not know his fault, but also slanders Shangguan, and even attempts to intimidate the king. I am the chief minister of the cabinet and have the power to preside over the order of the internal affairs of the court. I should be dealt with strictly. Please allow me to use the imperial staff Lu. Gong Sixty!”
Xia Yan said without showing any signs of weakness.
Zhu Houzhao continued to nod: "As requested by Xia Aiqing, drag Lu Gong out!"
So, Jin Yiwei came over and dragged Lu Gong out.
Lu Gong continued to curse Xia Yan.
But not long after, there was the sound of cracking sticks, a total of sixty times.
The officials present had not yet reacted to save Lu Gong, but just when someone was about to stand up, Xia Yan asked directly: "There are also people who want to disrupt the court, disrupt the country and politics, and want to be banned from the imperial court and dismissed from their posts." ”
Now that Xia Yan asked this question, everyone was afraid of being punished and did not want to lose their official position. Moreover, because of Xia Yan's overwhelming power, no one dared to stand up.
Xu Jin was also horrified, but he also secretly lamented that Xia Yan was indeed not a simple person. In order to retain His Majesty's favor and to maintain his own power, he dared to give up his reputation and even beat people in the court!
Of course, there were also young and impulsive officials who couldn't stand Xia Yan's domineering behavior in the court. After some ideological struggle, they finally wanted to stand up and continue to impeach Xia Yan.
But at this time, Yan Song hurriedly stood up: "What Yuan Fu said is absolutely true. I don't dare to harm the country. Yuan Fu is presiding over the situation in accordance with His Majesty's will. Lu Gong deserves it. I think we should discuss business immediately." So as not to delay the important matters of the court!”
Yan Song was also shocked at first as to why Xia Yan suddenly asked the emperor to use the royal guards to beat people in the court and did such a crazy thing! But immediately, he also knew that what His Majesty the Emperor wanted most now was to quiet down the court and let the courtiers discuss business and criticize each other. Xia Yan was undoubtedly right to do this and would undoubtedly satisfy His Majesty the Emperor.
Because His Majesty the Emperor doesn't care what you do, as long as you can make the court quiet and let the courtiers do their business.
Therefore, Yan Song rushed to be the first to stand up and cater to Xia Yan at this time. It seemed that he was catering to Xia Yan, but in fact he was following the emperor Zhu Houzhao's wishes.
Even Yan Song knew that Emperor Zhu Houzhao would definitely like to see the chief minister of the cabinet at the top of the hundred officials. Therefore, even though he was already the third minister of the cabinet, he also claimed to be a subordinate official, indicating that he only followed Xia Yan's leadership.
Of course, he also had to be careful. He knew that if he followed Xia Yan's lead and did not even object to him censuring the court officials, he would definitely make Xu Jin and other civil servants look down on him and hate Xia Yan's tyranny even more. This is undoubtedly better for Yan Song. After all, he can only benefit if Xu Jin and Xia Yan fight to the death.
At this time, Xu Jin was really disgusted with Yan Song's behavior of immediately standing up to excuse Xia Yan, and couldn't help but secretly cursed: "running dog!"
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(End of chapter)