prosperous age

Chapter 627 626 Conspiracy
It wasn't that Wei Guangde was overly cautious, but that he really couldn't see what Xu Jie was thinking.

Although keeping Gao Gong must be the first priority, but because he doesn't like Gao Gong, he started to make some preparations in the official department, more to prevent Xu Jie from continuing to attack them after defeating Gao Gong.

At that time, only a few "incompetent" evaluations of Xu Jie's students are needed, and Xu Jie should take the initiative to sue for peace.

The most popular topic of discussion among North Korean and Chinese officials in the past few days is Tu Zemin's request to open the sea.

From disdain and slander after knowing the news, to the second day from morning to night, there was an endless stream of people going to the Tongzheng envoy to submit and oppose the memorial, which made many Beijing officials feel that the officialdom is difficult to mix, and there is really a lack of trust.

Thinking back to that day, everyone was saying that with Mr. Shoufu sitting in town, Tu Zemin would never let Tu Zemin get away with it. He acted like he didn't care, but when he got home, he started to write quickly, rushing to write memorials all night.

Everyone is in the officialdom, can we have some basic trust.

After two consecutive days of intensive play, all the actions that should have been taken have been taken, but there has been no news from the palace.

Up to now, the clerks of the Tongzheng Envoy can finally relax, because after those two days of exhausting coping, they are finally cleared up.

Although there are still people who come here to hand in memorials, it's not like a few days ago, when they lined up to submit, so that they, the scribes, couldn't lift their arms when they left the office.

"My lord, this is the memorandum of Lord Tan Lun Tan, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi and the right deputy capital."

Today the person on duty here is the Right Councilor of the General Administration Department. The postman will complete the task after sending the letter to the General Administration Department. After completing the handover, he will leave.

"Oh, let me see."

The counselor took the box from the scribe, checked the seal, and then opened it. He took out the memorial book inside, opened it for a look, and then frowned.

Just looking at the beginning, he knew that this memorial sent by Guangdong was actually to support Tu Zemin, Governor of Fujian.

Smacking his lips, he sighed in his heart, the days when he was so easy to relax were probably coming to an end again.

Pass the memorial in hand to the clerk next to him, "Take it for transcription and registration, and I'll send it to the back when it's finished."

The Governor's Memorial, he can't delay, he has to hand it over to the Left and Right Tongzheng or the Tongzheng Envoy as soon as possible.

As for the storm that may appear again in the next two days, it has nothing to do with him anyway, and he doesn't need to copy these memorials, they are all done by these scribes.

The clerk next to him took the memorial and quickly began to copy it at his desk, and soon he knew it was going to be bad.

When the transcription and registration on his side were sent to the Senator, the Senator did not stop for a moment, and went to the back hall with the memorial.

"Oh, I can't live these days."

"what happened?"

"Tan Lun, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, just made a memorial to support Fujian Kaihai."

"What? Isn't that another memorial that will attract many objections?"

In the General Administration Department, a group of clerks sighed and lamented that their fate was not good, so they spread this matter.

After two days of cooling down, the officialdom in the capital city was once again ignited after the content of Tan Lun's memorabilia spread.

The two big officials in frontiers successively asked for the sea ban, which made many Beijing officials feel that something was wrong.

Could it be that someone in Fujian is engaging in series connection?

If it was Tu Zemin, no one noticed at the time, but when Tan Lun arrived in Beijing, he was quickly noticed. Tan Lun was the governor of Fujian a few years ago.

Although he later took charge of Shaanxi, Sichuan and other places, and finally went to Guangdong and Guangxi, he was inextricably linked with Fujian after all.

The two belonged to two places, and they wrote letters one after another within a few days. If it was said that there was no contact beforehand, and there was no push behind it, no fool would believe it.

After all, what era is this, and the communication methods are extremely backward, and it is not something ordinary people can do that can make the borders of the two places come forward to support.

Everyone's eyes were unconsciously fixed on the cabinet at this moment.

At this time, in Xu Jie's room, he was also facing Tan Lun's memorabilia on the table and was in a daze.

How could Xu Jie not think of things that others could think of.

If Tu Zemin's memorial was unintentional, the arrival of Tan Lun's memorial actually shows that someone is behind the scenes.

To make Tu Zemin and Tan Lun take action, this person's status in the court should not be low.

I didn't do it myself, and Li Chunfang didn't have the courage.
Thinking of this, Xu Jie had to think of Gao Gong who was behind the scenes. Could it be that Gao Gong was pushing this matter?
If it was really Gao Gong, then the emperor must have agreed a long time ago, and Emperor Longqing's slightly coy attitude at this time was intentional.

Allow officials to object and choose those who support him?
Xu Jie had to think about this at this time, whether it would be like the "Great Ritual Discussion" that started back then. Those who support him are high-ranking officials and generous salary.

Does Emperor Longqing have the courage to labor?

Does Gao Gong dare to confront the entire court?
Countless questions kept circling in Xu Jie's mind, and he was a little uncertain.

At his age, it is clear that although the civil servants control the country, the ultimate power is still in the hands of the emperor.

No matter how much the ministers object to what the emperor is determined to do, it will be difficult to work.

For the emperor, it was nothing more than replacing a few disobedient positions with obedient people.

No matter when and where, there will be no shortage of these people who are trying to make money. Otherwise, why would Yang Tinghe lose so badly back then, and he would be directly approved to serve as a memorial.

According to Yang Tinghe's influence at that time, it should be the resignation of all officials to fight against the emperor.

But the officials were good at the beginning, but when things came to an end, they didn't back down because of their respective official positions.

The subsequent Zuoshunmen incident was just the last counterattack of the Yang family in the struggle for power.

The blood stains in front of Zuo Shun's gate clearly showed that the emperor's will cannot be reversed.

Although at that time, Emperor Jiajing, as the successor of the outer clan, had only come to power for three years, his status was actually not stable.

Xu Jie closed his eyes slightly, he couldn't stand this kind of turmoil now, he was not alone, and there was a huge family behind him.

Thinking about the final outcome of the Yang family, Yang Tinghe, who became an official, re-declared the crimes of the officials in Sejong. Yang Tinghe was convicted of the crime, demoted to the people, and finally died in grief.

His son, Yang Shen, known as a genius, even died in a foreign land, Xu Jie was a little scared.

He had personally experienced those events back then, but as a newcomer to the Imperial Academy, he was not valued by the Yang family. Fortunately, he was not called to Zuoshunmen, otherwise the consequences would be unpredictable.

Xu Jie didn't want to be the second Yang Tinghe. At the beginning, he thought of using Gao Gong's influence on Emperor Longqing to launch a fatal impeachment on him, but if Emperor Longqing was also the same person as the late emperor, he might be burned.

Xu Jie had the intention of retreating, this was the first time he had such an idea after Yan Song fell from power.

However, given the relationship between him and Gao Gong, is there still a chance to reconcile?

Xu Jie has already grasped Gao Gong's character. For a person who is sure to revenge, if he shrinks back, he may not be able to do well.

Keep going, but in the end you still can't pass the emperor's level.

"teacher."

While hesitating, Zhang Juzheng walked into the guard room, saluted deeply in front of him, and shouted.

"Here we go, take a look at this."

Xu Jie quickly withdrew his mind and handed Tan Lun's memorial to Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng took it and read it quickly, frowning, and then looked at Xu Jie.

"Close the door and keep outsiders away."

Xu Jie ordered lightly.

Zhang Juzheng dismissed the people outside according to Xu Jie's wishes, closed the door and then returned to Xu Jie, he knew that the teacher had something to discuss with him.

"Do you think the person who contacted Tan Lun and Tu Zemin was Gao Suqing?"

Xu Jie asked bluntly.

Zhang Juzheng didn't answer, but racked his brains to think, recalling Gao Gong's every move at the cabinet meeting that day, and then shook his head slightly.

"You don't think he is pushing this behind the scenes?"

Seeing Zhang Juzheng's reaction, Xu Jie suddenly regained his energy.

What he was most worried about was that this matter was an illusion created by Gao Gong painstakingly, with the purpose of hurting his relationship with Emperor Longqing.

"Do you think His Majesty knew about this beforehand?"

He didn't continue to ask who was behind the scenes. Finding out this person would not do him much good. It was obviously a mess right now, because it was difficult for people to completely control the direction of things that violated the ancestral system.

Yang Tinghe couldn't do it back then, and no one can do it today.

When asked whether Emperor Longqing knew about the opening of the sea, Zhang Juzheng hesitated.

After so many days, he actually had some recollections.

The first time he saw Tu Zemin’s memorial to Kaihai, he had a feeling of déjà vu. Later, in his memory, he thought of Tan Lun’s memorial, which listed the advantages and disadvantages of Fujian, which actually had this intention.

The ocean is the way out for Fujian people to make a living.

However, there seems to be someone in his memory who discussed this matter with him, and that is Wei Guangde, but it was too long ago, and he can't remember what he said at the time, but he has a vague impression that Kaihai can weaken the Japanese pirates or something.

Before today, Zhang Juzheng hadn't realized that there was someone behind the matter, and only thought that it was Tu Zemin's suggestion based on the situation in Fujian. But seeing Tan Lun's memorial today, it was obvious that someone had contacted him beforehand.

Although it was unbelievable, Zhang Juzheng always thought of Wei Guangde's face unconsciously.

Whether the emperor knew, Zhang Juzheng dared to guess casually, because during this period of time before the grand court meeting on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar new year, Emperor Longqing had already dismissed the minor court.

No one has any opinion because of this. It is true that after decades of Jiajing's influence, the officials no longer have the intention of going to court.

Although he wouldn't say that with his mouth, he was honest in his heart. No one liked going to the palace early every morning to go through the motions.

As long as the twice-monthly Great Court Meeting can be held as scheduled, it is enough for the officials to see Long Yan.

As a cabinet minister, he hasn't seen the emperor these days, so how could he know this.

Seeing Zhang Juzheng's silence, Xu Jie just sighed.

"Teacher, if there is nothing important to see His Majesty in these two days, then wait two days and try it out at the Fifteenth Court Meeting."

Zhang Juzheng said.

After pointing at him, Xu Jie said, "Uncle, if you say this is a game set up by Gao Gong?"

"Why do you say that?"

Zhang Juzheng asked in surprise.

"For example, Gao Gong communicated with His Majesty in advance to confirm this matter, and then contacted the foreign ministers to go up and ask us to object because it violated the ancestral system. Afterwards, His Majesty ordered to open the sea. What should we do? Should we continue to oppose and offend Longyan? How many people can afford it?"

Xu Jie said worriedly.

Civilian groups can sometimes be shameless, but sometimes they have to be shameless when it comes to character.

Objection yesterday, suddenly change attitude the next day, such a situation is really difficult to happen.

"Teacher, there were quite a few ministers who opposed Kaihai the past two days."

Zhang Juzheng didn't think about it, but reminded him.

"You should have heard about the Zuo Shunmen incident back then. The Six Divisions and Nine Ministers directly wiped out more than half of them. More than 80 people above the fourth rank were fined, and nearly 200 people below the fifth rank.

I read the memorabilia a few days ago, there were about [-] copies, and most of the memorabilia were made by officials under the fifth rank, so it is not as good as that incident. "

Hearing Xu Jie mentioned the Zuoshunmen incident, Zhang Juzheng was silent, and after thinking for a while, he asked, "Teacher, is he going to take another step back?"

"Can I return?"

Xu Jie looked at Zhang Juzheng with uncertain eyes.

"If he really did it on purpose this time, with a high-profile person, the teacher will be afraid even if he becomes an official."

Zhang Juzheng couldn't continue talking, but he had to remind him.

Xu Jie's eyes flashed brightly, and he asked, "Since that's the case, what do you think I should do?"

"The teacher is worried that this is a high-arch layout. From the perspective of the students, no matter what the truth of the matter is, we just need to stick to one thing."

"What's the matter?"

Hearing Zhang Juzheng said that he would only do one thing, Xu Jie immediately became interested.

What can be done to solve Gao Gong's trouble?
If so, give it a try.

"Let the Kodao speaker continue to impeach him."

Zhang Juzheng has been tied to Xu Jie's boat at this moment, no matter whether the boat sinks or not, there is actually no room for relaxation between him and Gao Gong.

In fact, during this period of time, he also tried to repair the relationship with Gao Gong, but they all ended in failure.

Gao Gong completely hated him.

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng's situation at this time was not much different from Xu Jie's.

As long as Gao Gong seized the opportunity, he might be ruthlessly suppressed.

Inverted arch is his only choice.

"You mean to use impeachment to prevent Gao Gong from leaving the government and working in the cabinet?"

Xu Jie, who was familiar with the rules of the officialdom, knew the elegant meaning when he heard the string song, and immediately understood what Zhang Juzheng meant.

Immediately shaking his head, "It's so meaningless, His Majesty will only let him serve with peace of mind, and will not believe the words of impeachment."

"It wouldn't be pointless."

Speaking of this, Zhang Juzheng pointed to Tan Lun's memorabilia on the case and said, "Your Majesty will definitely consult the cabinet if you go up here, and Gao Gong should write his own defense at home at this time. As long as the teacher insists on objecting, he will be temporarily suppressed." .”

Xu Jie shook his head, opposing Tu Zemin's memorial was not his purpose, but how to get rid of Gao Gong was.

In fact, what he said to Zhang Juzheng that night was also sincere, and he also wanted to know whether it would be beneficial to solve the Japanese problem if the sea ban was relaxed.

The imperial court has insisted on the sea ban all these years, but the result is obvious and not successful.

Seeing Xu Jie shaking his head, Zhang Juzheng smiled nonchalantly and said, "Teacher will use retreat as an advance."

"How to advance with retreat? What is the reason?"

Xu Jie asked.

"The event of the eclipse half a month ago was used as a reference, and the teacher begged to return home by worrying about state affairs."

(End of this chapter)