prosperous age

The incident surrounding Zhang Juzheng's "love seizure" during the Wanli period was undoubtedly a major event that had a profound impact on the Ming court.

In particular, many people found that Zhang Juzheng was a completely different person after the love-stealing incident.

In fact, up to now, as far as Wei Guangde knew, Zhang Juzheng's life as the Prime Minister was actually very simple, and he was not as extravagant and debauched as rumored in later generations.

As for the legendary love of beautiful women, Wei Guangde did not notice it.

At the very least, it is unlikely that Qi Jiguang, a famous general in the anti-Japanese war and one of the important participants in the so-called love of beauty, would send beautiful women to his house.

During this half month, Zhang Juzheng also stayed in the mansion to keep vigil over the deceased.

However, with the imperial edict issued yesterday, Zhang Juzheng also hurriedly wrote a letter of thanks overnight.

Early the next morning, he sent someone directly to the palace gate.

As the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty cabinet, his memorials could be sent directly to the emperor through the Imperial Household Department.

While Wei Guangde was still handling government affairs in the cabinet, Lu Bu walked in quickly from outside the door holding a small note.

"Master, this is the note that Eunuch Chen sent."

Lu Bu respectfully handed the note to Wei Guangde, bent over and left the duty room.

Wei Guangde glanced at the handwriting on the note and saw that it was written by Chen Ju.

However, the content of the note did not surprise him.

It turned out that half an hour ago, the young emperor saw the letter of thanks specially sent by Feng Bao in the Qianqing Palace. He was very happy to know that Zhang Juzheng had agreed to stay and assist in the administration.

Regardless of this, Zhang Juzheng is very important to Zhu Yijun.

He was not only the chief minister of the court, governing the country for him, but also his teacher, teaching him the ways of sages.

Zhu Yijun highly admired Zhang Juzheng's erudition and respected him very much.

Although the earth will continue to rotate regardless of anyone's absence, in today's Ming Dynasty, if the prime minister were suddenly replaced, the government would be affected to some extent.

Zhu Yijun also knew that he was a minor. Although many years had passed since Gao Gong called him a "child", and he had grown up a lot, he still did not have the confidence to govern the country on his own.

Before this, Zhang Juzheng handled the affairs of state very well. Not only were all aspects of the court in order, but there were also signs of recovery, especially the court's finances, which had always been tight, which had clearly improved.

So, no matter what, Zhu Yijun trusted Zhang Juzheng more.

As for Wei Guangde, although Zhu Yijun also had confidence in him, it would be best if he could not take any action. Maintaining the current good situation was more important than anything else.

The young emperor was very happy that he could keep Mr. Zhang to continue to manage the government for him. However, at this time, Feng Bao took out the memorials of opposition from Wu Zhongxing, Zhao Yongxian and others.

It turned out that Wei Guangde thought that it was a memorial that was kept by the emperor, but Feng Bao boldly held it in his hand and did not hand it over.

The young emperor Zhu Yijun was feeling very happy, but when he saw the memorial opposing his opinion, his face immediately fell.

To be honest, at this time, Zhu Yijun, due to a leg disease, although he was the emperor, he walked with a limp which was very unsightly and he felt somewhat inferior.

Not to mention other things, every dynasty in China has attached great importance to appearance, so the selection of Jinshi was very selective. People with strange looks or those with physical disabilities basically had no chance of getting a good ranking.

Even if you are lucky enough to pass the examination, you will be demoted.

This demotion does not deprive you of the qualification to take part in the palace examination, but your ranking will be very low and the emperor will basically not see you.

Therefore, the people surrounding the emperor may not all be handsome or talented, but at least they cannot be ugly.

Surrounded by a group of officials who could be called "handsome men", Zhu Yijun naturally felt inferior, even though he was the emperor.

With this mentality, one can imagine how the little emperor felt when he saw that after he had finally succeeded in retaining Mr. Zhang, these people still jumped out to oppose him.

At the right time, Feng Bao also took out all the memorials that supported the emperor's "seizure of love".

In sharp contrast, the young emperor Zhu Yijun finally couldn't suppress his inner anger. He felt that he was looked down upon by these people.

However, after all, he had received careful teaching from Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde. Although he was very unhappy, Zhu Yijun still patiently read all the memorials.

"Ju Zheng always talks about the principles of saints and wise men, and the laws of our ancestors. What are the laws of our ancestors? This is a matter of eternal principles and will be heard by all quarters. If we do not make mistakes today, there will be no future generations who will leave any doubts. There is no better way to eliminate change than this."

When Zhu Yijun read Wu Zhongxing's memorial, he couldn't help but sneer, "Depriving people of their love is neither in line with human ethics nor in line with morality and law. Then is it wrong for our ancestors to establish the system of depriving people of their love? How dare he criticize the ancestral system?"

Hearing the little emperor's angry words, Feng Bao was overjoyed. This was the result he wanted.

But although he was happy, he didn't dare show it on his face.

Since I couldn't stop smiling, I just lowered my head and pretended to be angry.

Chen Ju, who was serving in front of the emperor, saw this scene clearly and could only admire Feng Bao's audacity.

He also noticed the changes in the political situation during this period, but he did not dare to expose it at this time.

First, he had received a small note from Wei Guangde the day before and knew that he had no intention of getting involved in this matter.

Secondly, Chen Ju had no confidence that he could overthrow Feng Bao. He was a eunuch who had grown up serving the young emperor, and now the emperor still called him "Da Ban."

Not only that, even the two ladies in the palace had great trust in Feng Bao.

No one knows what sin he committed, but Emperor Jiajing had no children and few of his children grew up successfully. The same was true when Emperor Longqing came to power.

The little emperor who was raised by Feng Bao was the only descendant of Emperor Jiajing.

Of course, Zhu Yijun also has a younger brother, but no matter what, Feng Bao took care of the little emperor and brought him up, which was a great contribution, and this was also the reason why the two Empress Dowagers trusted him.

With the Empress Dowager's support, no one in the palace could shake Feng Bao's position.

At least, they felt relieved because Feng Bao was serving the emperor in the Qianqing Palace.

What's more, even if he overthrew Feng Bao, it wouldn't do him much good.

In the palace, there are eunuchs like Zhang Hong whose status is higher than his.

He is now considered a well-known eunuch in the palace, so there is no need for him to offend Feng Bao over this matter.

However, when he had time, Chen Ju still passed on what he had just seen to Wei Guangde, letting him know what would happen next.

Wei Guangde had just crumpled the note into a ball. It was broad daylight and there was no spark, so it was difficult to burn the note. He could only get rid of it when he had dinner.

Outside the door, there were footsteps and whispers.

After a while, Lu Bu came into the room and whispered in Wei Guangde's ear: "Master, I just received news from the palace that the emperor has sent people to arrest Wu Zhongxing, Zhao Yongxian, Ai Mu and Shen Sixiao. He wants to beat them in court and dismiss them from their posts."

Upon hearing this, Wei Guangde just nodded slowly.

These punishments were actually mentioned in Chen Ju’s note just now.

The young emperor Zhu Yijun was furious. He felt that the four people from Wu Zhongxing were not only targeting Mr. Zhang for "stealing his love" but also for their contempt for his authority.

Therefore, he decided to follow the method used by his ancestors to deal with ministers who spoke frankly and made suggestions, and to execute the four people with a beating in the court.

Wu Zhongxing and Zhao Yongxian were each given 60 strokes of the cane, expelled from the capital, and sent back to their hometowns to become civilians, never to be employed again; Ai Mu and Shen Sixiao were each given 80 strokes of the cane and exiled to the border areas, and were not included in the amnesty.

There is no doubt that the young emperor was very angry when he saw Ai Mu and Shen Sixiao jointly memorializing the emperor, saying, "Is Juzheng the only one who is not a son of man and remains calm? He holds the highest position among the ministers, but fails to uphold the common moral principles of an ordinary citizen. How can he face the world and future generations? We request that Zhang Juzheng be ordered to return to his hometown and farm the land?"

However, Wei Guangde just looked at it and didn't plan to do anything.

After all, he had already made up his mind to play ostrich and do nothing about the matter of "stealing love".

"Did you go get the person?"

Wei Guangde simply asked. "Yes, the Jinyiwei guards on duty in the palace have gone to the Hanlin Academy and the Ministry of Justice to arrest him."

Lu Bu said hurriedly.

"Understood, let's go down."

Wei Guangde waved his hand, signaling Lu Bu to go out.

Someone was sent out from the palace to explain that the caning in court had been approved by the two Empress Dowagers.

Although Zhu Yijun was the emperor, he did not actually have much power inside or outside the palace.

Perhaps, he is just the emperor in the Qianqing Palace.

The power of the inner court is still in the hands of the two Empress Dowagers.

The power of the outer court is jointly held by the inner court and the cabinet.

The Queen Mother has already agreed, what else can you say?

At this time, the Jinyiwei broke directly into the Hanlin Academy.

Although it was a noble place, a group of Hanlin scholars had no way to deal with the Jinyiwei who broke in with ferocious looks and could not stop them at all.

The leading captain of the Jinyiwei held high in his hand the emperor's golden medal, which was a symbol of imperial power. What else could they do except kneel down and kowtow?

As for the Ministry of Justice, although there were also nimble bailiffs, no one dared to act rashly in the face of the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

The only ones who dared to act rashly were the officials, who were Jinshi (Jinshi) and were considered the emperor's disciples.

However, in front of the emperor's golden medal, they dared not do anything, and could not do anything.

"Wei Ci Fu, Wei Ci Fu."

Just when Wei Guangde was about to stand by and watch, Zhang Siwei's voice came from outside the door.

"Quick, please invite Elder Zhang in."

Wei Guangde hurriedly stood up and gave instructions to Lu Bu.

Soon, Zhang Siwei entered the room and said directly to Wei Guangde: "Wei Cifu, the palace wants to punish the minister with a cane. We have to go and plead for mercy."

"Ok?"

Wei Guangde was stunned for a moment, then realized that this seemed to be the normal way.

Although there were many beatings in the Jiajing court, most of them were concentrated in the first forty years, and almost all the resolute ministers were beaten.

The result is that the rest are spineless people who are willing to keep a low profile. Like him, they do not want to anger the emperor and can only exert their strength in private.

After the 40th year of Jiajing's reign, during the reign of Longqing, court caning became less common.

Even if there was, it was something that happened in the inner court. The emperor beat eunuchs, such as Li Fang.

It was also for this reason that Wei Guangde forgot the unspoken rules of the outer court, which was that if someone was beaten, the cabinet ministers had to plead for mercy, even if it was of no use, they had to just do it for show.

"I almost forgot about it."

Wei Guangde slapped his forehead and immediately stood up and said.

Together with Zhang Siwei, the two hurriedly walked towards the Qianqing Palace, and took a look inside the Wenhua Hall when passing by.

There were only a few eunuchs cleaning the room inside; the little emperor had no classes today.

Just as they were rushing to see the young emperor Zhu Yijun to plead for the four unfortunate guys, the outer court was also in an uproar.

The Jinyiwei was dispatched to arrest Wu Zhongxing and others and beat them with a stick in the court. Some officials hurried to the palace, wanting to meet the emperor and beg for mercy to release the people.

Another group of people hurried to Zhang's house, wanting to ask Zhang Juzheng to come forward and rescue them.

In any case, the people who were beaten this time were either his disciples or fellow villagers. If they were to plead for mercy, his presence would be more effective than anyone else's.

It’s a pity that there were more than 20 people standing outside the mourning hall of Zhang’s residence, but none of them could go inside and see Zhang Juzheng.

In the past two days, Zhang Juzheng has closed his door to visitors due to health reasons.

He really couldn't stand communicating with these officials, and whenever they met them, they would advise him to return home and observe the mourning period.

Zhang Juzheng was very clear in his mind that once he left the court, Wei Guangde would definitely not continue to insist on the new policies. As long as the reaction from below was a little stronger, Wei Guangde would take the opportunity to change back the national policies such as the performance evaluation system.

He also saw from the "love-stealing" incident that the opposition was too strong.

However, everyone who gathered at Zhang's house was disappointed. Zhang Juzheng avoided them, leaving them feeling that they were full of knowledge but had no one to share their experiences with.

"Let's go into the palace."

A group of people waited in Zhang's house for a long time but did not see Zhang Juzheng come out. Finally, someone spoke up.

"Zhang Jiangling has no regard for the relationship between teacher and student, or fellow townsman. It is useless to continue staying here. It is better to go to the palace and plead with His Majesty.

I think Wei Ci Fu and the others should have gone there already. With so many of us, His Majesty should be able to show some consideration."

"Okay, let's go to the palace and ask to see the emperor."

"Yes, it's better to plead with the emperor than to Zhang Jiangling."

Outside Zhang's house, a group of officials discussed for a while, and then they got into sedan chairs and drove to the palace.

In the Qianqing Palace, Wei Guangde and Zhang Siwei were standing under the imperial steps, and the young emperor Zhu Yijun was losing his temper.

The other officials were stopped outside the palace as the emperor didn't want to see them at all.

"Master Wei, I have already issued an order to retain Mr. Zhang, but these people are still not giving in and insist on driving Mr. Zhang away. Why is that?

That Wu Zhongxing actually accused Emperor Gaozu of making the rule of taking away love as unethical and unreasonable, and against the law of justice. Do you think he should be beaten?"

After hearing this, Wei Guangde and Zhang Siwei were at a loss for words.

To be honest, some civil servants are really shameless.

When necessary, they would say that ancestral rules cannot be changed and oppose all changes.

When it is not necessary, people directly doubt the ancestral system and question its rationality.

In fact, if the Ming Dynasty was in a precarious situation at this time, there would be no reason to refuse the love.

But the weather has been good in the past two years. Although there have been wars, the Ming Dynasty had already secured victory early on, so there was nothing to worry about.

As to whether Zhang Juzheng should have taken away the love, according to principle he should not have done so.

However, Zhang Juzheng was particularly concerned about the reforms he was promoting, and no one else was willing to get involved except him, so he was the only one who could do this.

If the emperor wants to continue reforming, he will naturally take away the love.

But if you hesitate, then there is no need to seize the love.

But does the little emperor understand this truth?

"I understand the principles you talked about before, but this time we must punish them, so don't talk about it anymore."

Zhu Yijun was very determined to beat these four people to vent his anger, and also to let the outer court know the inner court's attitude.

"By the way, Master Wei, are there any new war reports from the southwest?"

Just when the situation was at a stalemate, the little emperor suddenly asked about the war in Myanmar.

Wei Guangde knew that this was a topic brought up by the little emperor to divert attention, so he had to immediately pick up the topic and tell him the previous war report from the Ministry of War. (End of this chapter)