Jingtai Fengyun: The First Absurd Emperor of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 355 The Empress Dowager's Tentative Changes
Failure experience is also experience.

As an 'experienced' politician, Empress Dowager Sun knew very well that the day when the crown prince will be changed will come.

But Empress Dowager Sun still wanted to find out what the important ministers said. It would be best if she could know the approximate time when the emperor changed the crown prince.

Even if you can't get clear information, it's okay to know the attitude of the important ministers towards changing the prince.

So Empress Dowager Sun carefully confirmed the process of returning to Beijing with the ministers. When talking about the abdication ceremony, Empress Dowager Sun asked directly:
"Since the Taishanghuang committed a crime against the country and voluntarily demoted to be the emperor, it is natural that the eldest son of the Taishanghuang should not be the prince of the country anymore.

It just so happens that the emperor already has his eldest son, so you should ask him to change the crown prince so as to rectify the foundation of the country. "

Wang Wen and the others looked at each other, and all the ministers present could tell that Queen Mother Sun was not telling the truth, but this question was extremely difficult to answer.

Everyone's position is basically very clear, but they can only pretend to be confused.Empress Dowager Sun didn't want Zhu Jianshen to be deposed, but she couldn't say it outright; ministers wanted to change the prince, but they couldn't say it outright.

Among the ministers present, except for Shi Pu, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Jin Lian, Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, who had only returned to Beijing last year, the rest were all the emperor's people.

Empress Dowager Sun also did not expect that Zhu Qiyu would be so shameless. He had driven away Wang Zhi, Hu Bi, Yu Qian, Wang Ao, Shang Ren, and Peng Shiquan from the emperor's faction less than a year after becoming emperor.

Except for Shi Pu and Jin Lian whose attitudes were not clear among the important officials in front of them, none of them took the Supreme Emperor seriously.

The Empress Dowager had to answer the questions, and since Chen Xun was not in the capital, this unlucky question fell on Wang Wen.

The current code of conduct of the cabinet is also very simple, whoever takes the lead will have to take the blame.

Wang Wen could only bite the bullet and replied: "Qi Queen Mother, as far as I know, His Majesty has never expressed the intention of changing the crown prince."

So simple and rude, Wang Wen only talked about objective facts, without any personal subjective opinions.

Empress Dowager Sun couldn't ask any more questions, otherwise it would be too straightforward.And looking at Wang Wen's stubborn attitude, even if he insisted on asking, he would only be humiliating himself.

Then to change the subject, Empress Dowager Sun confirmed again: "Then the emperor's safety during the period from returning to Beijing to staying in Nangong is absolutely safe?"

Wang Wen replied without hesitation: "Your Majesty sent [-] Jinyi Guards to escort him before, but later he felt that it was not safe enough, so he sent Ma Liang, Yuan Bin, and Ha Ming to lead [-] Jinyi Guards to meet them.

And from now on, Ma Liang, Yuan Bin, and Ha Ming will be in charge of the Nangong's guards in turn. "

Queen Mother Sun nodded in satisfaction upon hearing this.Ma Liang has been Zhu Qizhen's confidant since he was a child, and Yuan Bin and Ha Ming have the merit of escorting him after the Tumu Fort change, so they are relatively reliable people.At least there are no cronies of Zhu Qiyu here.

After chatting about some trivial matters, Queen Mother Sun let everyone go.

Immediately afterwards, Queen Qian and Queen Zhou both resigned.

Empress Dowager Sun cast a gloomy glance at Empress Qian, and she could only sigh that she was powerless to help the emperor's wife.

The queen, who was good at first, is now blind in one eye and lame in one leg.With Zhu Qizhen's character who loves to judge people by their appearance, it is very difficult for the Qian family to be favored again.

If a queen can't give birth to a son, she will be in big trouble in the future.

However, when the ministers returned to the cabinet, they began to review the papers intensively.

Marking ends on March 22.

At noon on March 23, Zhu Qiyu held a small court meeting to determine the final ranking of the palace examination with the ministers.

The ministers gave suggested rankings, and the emperor could accept all of them, or he could personally determine the top pick, second place, and top pick.

Although the emperor can also use his authority to make major adjustments to the ranks of the palace examination, he usually does not do so.

Zhu Qiyu scanned the list, and saw that the rankings of all the candidates and his own thoughts were generally consistent, so he didn't say anything more.

There are a total of [-] undergraduate Jinshi, and other rankings are based on the results given by the cabinet and the Ministry of Rites, but the top six must be determined by Zhu Qiyu himself.

After all, the defense of Beijing cannot be fought in vain. I have accumulated such a high prestige, so I don't have to wait until later to use it.

First of all, Zhu Qiyu took Zhongwang Yue as the champion without hesitation.

Historical experience can't fool anyone. In the eyes of the minister in front of him, this choice is a bit too radical, but from Zhu Qiyu's point of view, it is very safe.

Wang Yue will be [-]% able to become a talent, and he will be [-]% able to achieve the reputation of being wise.

For the second place, Zhu Qiyu chose Yu Zijun.There is nothing to say about this, and it is purely based on Zhu Qiyu's own judgment on the candidates' answer sheets and resumes.

For the position of Tanhua, Zhu Qiyu chose Gao Yao.For Tanhua, you must choose a handsome young man.Gao Yao is chic and handsome, with a unique literary talent, and a loyal minister of the Jingtai Dynasty that has been proven by history, so he is naturally Zhu Qiyu's favorite candidate.

Zhu Qiyu chose Wang Xian, Sheng Yong, and Ma Wensheng for the top three in the second class.

The rest will depend on the ranking given by the cabinet.

Wang Wen and the others didn't say much. The emperor's decision to be the number one scholar, role model, and candidate was in line with the convention.It doesn't hurt to have more top three places in the second class.

So Wang Wen and everyone knelt down together, shouted long live, and congratulated the emperor.

Then this imperial examination will be officially concluded.

The next step is to release the list.

On March 24, the day before Zhu Qizhen's departure from Datong, the Ministry of Rites officially released the list.

The first imperial examination in the Jingtai Dynasty has a distinctive feature: the new subjects are extremely young as a whole.

A total of [-] high school students.

Among them, 30 people are under 120 years old.

Under 40 years old, 72 people.

There are only ten people over the age of 40.

The oldest Jinshi is only 45 years old.

This imperial examination should be regarded as a precedent.

There should be no such obvious tendency to become younger as a Jinshi in the future.

Zhu Qiyu himself speculated that it should be because the cabinet wanted to cater to his own ideas, and this happened.

As the saying goes, what is good at the top will be worse at the bottom.

But it may also have something to do with Wang Wen, Jiang Yuan, Huang Pu, and He Yi being too young.

These people act as examiners and select relatively young Jinshi, so it is easier to maintain their influence for a long time.

After all, the opportunity to preside over the general examination and palace examination may be at most once or twice in a lifetime.

It is also impossible for the imperial court to allow a few people to preside over the general examination and palace examination endlessly.It is too easy to produce powerful ministers who are too powerful.

Zhu Qiyu can understand this point, and he also hopes to select a group of young and promising Jinshi.

This year's Jinshi is basically the backbone of Jingtai Dynasty.

Jinshi of Jingtai five years and later, before they fully grow up, he has already abdicated to make up for the virtuous.

March 25, early in the morning.

Surrounded by a group of important ministers, Zhu Qizhen boarded the chariot and embarked on the last journey back to Beijing.

(End of this chapter)