fifth form

Chapter 2549 Regular Attendant
The Empress Dowager may have determined that the new emperor would not let Zhuang Qingzhai and others have an easy time, and thus let the new emperor deal with them.

If it were five years ago, the new emperor would have been unable to control his emotions due to the deaths of Zhao Wan, Wang Zang and others, and would have even thought of skinning Zhuang Qingzhai to death.

But as time passed, many things faded from his mind and his emotions gradually became stable.

Looking at Zhuang Qingzhai who was kneeling in the main hall of Weiyang Palace waiting for his fate, his eyes shifted back and forth, and he did not choose to add insult to injury at this moment.

Compared to the elderly Xu Chang, Zhuang Qingzhai is still in his prime and has good abilities.

The new emperor can accept Han Anguo, and he can also accept Zhuang Qingzhai.

As the most relied-up official of Anle Palace, Zhuang Qingzhai had no choice when facing Changxin Palace. If he wanted to settle down in the future, he could only rely on the new emperor.

The atmosphere in the court was extremely subtle. On one side was the emperor who had very few confidants, on one side was the forces of Anle Palace who were scattered like monkeys when the tree fell, and on the other side was the forces of Changxin Palace who gathered outside the main hall of Weiyang Palace just waiting to be summoned.

Many people were waiting for this young and orthodox but powerless Han emperor to speak in the court.

"Xu Chang and Zhuang Qing Zhai failed to handle the funeral properly, which brought disgrace to the royal family. They are unworthy of their positions and overstepped their authority, but they are unable to act. It is not excessive to behead them." The new emperor said, "But I remember that Xu Chang and Zhuang Qing Zhai did not retreat when they encountered strong threats. They still have a trace of Han blood, and I don't want to wear away this blood!"

In the court, Zhuang Qingzhai lay on the ground with his head not raised, while the ministers looked at each other in bewilderment. The empress dowager behind the screen had her brows slightly frowned.

"Xu Chang is old and seriously ill. I have specially allowed him to resign from the post of Prime Minister and return home to receive treatment." The new emperor quickly said: "Reduce Zhuang Qing Zhai's salary by 1,000 stones, and demote him to the rank of Senior Official to reflect on himself!"

"slow……"

"Thank you, Your Majesty for your grace!"

When the Empress Dowager stood up behind the screen and was about to speak to object, Zhuang Qingzhai had already knocked his head repeatedly on the floor of the hall, and Xu Anru also knelt down and kowtowed quickly.

It is not difficult to understand why the Queen Mother stood up to oppose. Under normal procedures, Xu Chang and Zhuang Qingzhai should not have withdrawn so easily.

The power held by the three highest officials is too great, and the wealth and resources acquired by Anle Palace over the years are difficult to calculate. If these people are not killed and all the connections are not revealed, the huge benefits will be lost one by one.

In this kind of link, if you just give in, there will be no subsequent investigation, and many interested parties will be able to shirk their responsibilities and get away with it.

"Your Majesty, the former Prime Minister Wei Wan and the Imperial Censor Zhi Buyi and others failed to properly manage the funeral of the late emperor. There is a precedent for this!"

The empress dowager behind the screen felt a little disappointed with the new emperor. She whispered through gritted teeth, and the new emperor turned around and looked at her.

"Does the Queen Mother want to erase this bit of blood?"

The new emperor whispered.

Before the Qin Dynasty, it was not uncommon for the monarch and his ministers to fight in the court, and officials such as the prime minister even had the power to depose the monarch.

After the unification of the Qin Dynasty, the power of the emperor became extremely subtle and began to move towards supreme.

However, the time that the Qin Dynasty maintained order after unification was too short, leaving the succeeding Han Dynasty with little homework to do. Even the court uniforms were not completely unified in the past.

All of these are carried out with many setbacks and frustrations, and there are also punishments based on precedents.

A new emperor appoints new ministers. The Wei and Zhi families have completely declined. Normally, the Zhuang and Xu families should follow suit.

The Empress Dowager has her own considerations, and the new emperor has his own thoughts.

He found a reason that was difficult to refute, which made the Queen Mother frown.

"How can that little bit of courage make up for such a huge mistake!"

The Empress Dowager had some evidence of Zhuang Qingzhai and Xu Chang's crimes, but these were not enough to arrest Zhuang Qingzhai and others and put them in jail.

If she doesn't punish Zhuang Qingzhai and others for their poor funeral arrangements, she won't be able to play any subsequent cards.

If the gains of Anle Palace from controlling the power of the court for five years could be estimated, then the gains of the Empress Dowager from her involvement with Emperor Jingdi in one lifetime were immeasurable, and it also benefited Empress Dowager Dou and others for nothing.

"Mother, don't forget that those sorcerers just disappeared, not died. If uncle takes over the position of prime minister, what will uncle do when those sorcerers come back in the future?"

The new emperor whispered in response.

The complexity of court politics stems from different interests. While his words are in the open and he has the final say, the new emperor also makes use of his power to the fullest as much as possible.

Regardless of whether the Empress Dowager is his mother or someone else, any power that is not restricted by the emperor may get out of control, and he must leave behind an opponent.

Compared to the Empress Dowager, the new emperor was still willing to follow the teachings of Emperor Jing and try to maintain opposition and balance as much as possible before he was strong enough. The words he whispered made the Empress Dowager frown.

If she could eradicate the Anle Palace lineage through Zhuang Qingzhai and others, she wouldn't care about the consequences when Tian Fen and others faced difficulties in the future.

For the Queen Mother, without an opponent, she would have no consequences.

But after thinking it over for a few seconds, she suddenly remembered something and finally nodded. She did not refute the new emperor's arrangement again, but urged the new emperor to arrange for Tian Fen and others to hold high positions in the name of orthodoxy.

"Xuan Tianfu!"

"Xuan Han Anguo!"

"Xu Tiansheng!"

"King Xuan is deaf!"

……

Those who take off their crowns will be replaced by others.

If Tian Fen and others come to power, they will take over the power and run the government according to the government order previously taken over by Anle Palace, and the new emperor will have less room to play.

One by one, people were summoned to the court, among them there were some very young faces.

Xu Chang and Zhuang Qingzhai withdrew. Many of the Nine Ministers had terrified expressions on their faces, except Cheng Buzhi, Li Guang and others who remained calm.

Those who are capable do not need to worry, and even if they maintain a neutral attitude, they will not be retaliated against at this time.

After all, the court needs favorites to control power, but it also needs people who can get things done, especially during this period of power transition.

Although the new Prime Minister Tian Fen was very powerful and was building a new generation of court team, he did not neglect Cheng Buzhi and others, and even maintained their positions as nine ministers.

The new emperor also spoke from time to time, trying to insert some new people when Tian Fen was appointed.

"Have you appointed all the officials you want to appoint? I also want to appoint a few officials!"

Tian Fen continued to fill positions of real power with candidates.

Many of them were Tian Fen's followers. These people had never held office before, but were promoted out of thin air, which made the new emperor frown.

He spoke several times before Tian Fen calmed down a little.

"Order: Sang Hongyang is appointed as the Central Attendant!"

"Order: Han Yan is appointed as the Zhongsan Doctor!"

"Order: Dongfang Shuo is appointed as the constant attendant!"

……

After some discussion, the people who were registered in the Eunuchs' Office also began to arrange official positions.

Their official duties included being in charge of discussions, giving advice, managing the palace's carriages and horses, or conveying imperial edicts.

These positions without actual external power made the new emperor look gloomy, but he could not say anything. Tian Fen was arranging officials according to ability at this time, and his people were indeed a little short of the mark.

Without entering the realm of egocentrism, one is not qualified to hold any of the three dukes and nine ministers positions. Even Tian Fen would not dare to break the rules and place someone in a position.

The next highest level is the official at the level of Taizhong Daifu where Wei Qing is located. This level is mainly composed of cultivators at the supernatural power realm, with some cultivators at the body transformation realm interspersed. Han Yan was able to join them, but Han Yan's authority was not high and he lacked external power.

Except for Han Yan, many people were wiped out, even Zhang Xuezhou, who was in the supernatural power realm, only became a constant attendant.

"Attendant?"

Zhang Xuezhou looked at the gray robe he was wearing, and then looked at Tian Fen who kept inserting official positions.

He just felt that Tian Fen might have made some mistake.

Although he came from the Eunuch's Office, he was not a eunuch.

He was conscripted by the new emperor to come here temporarily to replace the eunuch who announced the imperial edicts. He never wanted to be a constant attendant to read the imperial edicts, let alone do this kind of work.