I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 240 This is what the prince is thinking
Yang Sizhi was looking forward to it, but unfortunately he was standing in the middle, surrounded by layers of officials in front, behind, and on both sides, blocking his view and he could not see anything clearly.

I didn't dare to look around and could only wait anxiously.

After waiting for half a quarter of an hour, a feeling of uneasiness spread among the officials. Many of them turned their heads left and right and exchanged glances with each other.

problem occurs!
Something must have happened!
What happened?
How would I know!

Just wait and see, the truth will surely come out!
Yang Sizhi was extremely anxious, as if he knew he would pass the exam, but he waited and waited, and the imperial edict was never posted.

Suddenly, a buzzing sound came from the front, like a wheat field blown by the wind, spreading from there to this side. Even the censors on duty who were supervising the discipline of the court meeting were whispering to each other and joined in the low discussion.

"Silence!" shouted the eunuch who was singing praises.

These people practiced boy's skills, and their voices were so loud that they could be heard throughout the entire open space of the Imperial Gate and clearly reach the ears of every court official.

The buzzing sound suddenly disappeared, and the eunuch continued, "Announce the emperor's edict! All ministers—kneel!"

With a loud crash, hundreds of officials fell to their knees on the spot.

"I am tired and unwell today, so I will temporarily cancel the morning court session. All the ministers will pay their respects. The rest of the military and state affairs will be handled by the Crown Prince on my behalf. I decree this!"

After the eunuch finished reading it, everyone knew what to do.

The big Han general waved his whip, and after the whip sounded, the officials from the Honglu Temple began to "sing" and enter the class.

As the singing sounded, the "honorary relatives group" of dukes, marquises, earls, and princes-in-law who were in front of the military officers' group, and the civil and military groups on the left and right, stepped into the Imperial Road in unison. The civil officers walked north to the west, and the military officers walked north to the east, and they bowed three times to the empty throne.

After the ceremony, the official from the Honglu Temple shouted, "The ceremony is over, let's adjourn!"

The court is dismissed now!

The memorial I presented to the king in public at the morning court session is gone?
Yang Sizhi was in a daze, like a walking corpse, following the crowd towards the outside of the Meridian Gate.

At this time, no one complimented him or greeted him.

Following the crowd, he was like an inconspicuous fish in the sea of ​​fish.

The cabinet was near the Meridian Gate. The four elders, Xu Jie, Li Chunfang, Chen Yiqin, and Zhang Juzheng, quickly returned to the cabinet and held a meeting in the Tuanheqi Hall.

Chen Yiqin already knew what Yang Sizhi was going to do at the morning court today, and he also knew that someone was waiting behind him, ready to skin and bone this trash Yang Sizhi and point the sword at himself.

I am Yang Sizhi's test instructor.

Chen Yiqin had a gloomy face and sat in his chair without saying a word.

Xu Jie, Li Chunfang and Zhang Juzheng also knew the whole story. Seeing him like this, they didn't know how to persuade him, so they changed the subject.

"Why did the emperor miss even the morning court today? This is unprecedented." Li Chunfang couldn't help but ask.

Xu Jie, Zhang Juzheng, and Chen Yiqin turned to look at him, and everyone's eyes were very clear.

This was expected. Emperor Longqing's style since he ascended the throne had been to cancel the morning court sessions on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month sooner or later.

What no one expected was that he persisted until the second morning court session in February of the second year of Longqing, which was somewhat beyond everyone's expectations.

"It must have been a spur-of-the-moment idea." Xu Jie said, stroking his beard.

Zhang Juzheng nodded: "It should be. If the emperor is interested, he should have issued an order to cancel today's morning court. It should have happened this morning. The emperor is indeed tired."

Although Emperor Longqing was lazy in his duties and ignored state affairs, he was still a kind person.

If he really didn't want to attend the morning court, he would have issued an edict yesterday to cancel today's morning court, so as to save the officials, court officials, nobles and relatives from having to start making trouble from midnight.

"Is the emperor in trouble?" Chen Yiqin was very concerned about Emperor Longqing and asked with a little concern.

Xu Jie stroked his beard and replied calmly: "The prince was present during the morning court session. As long as your highness is here, the Ming Dynasty will not fall, and the emperor is safe!"

Everyone nodded, and then were shocked to find that, without realizing it, all the civil and military officials in the court had regarded the prince as their backbone.

As long as the prince is alive, the sky of the Ming Dynasty will not fall.

It seems that it doesn’t matter whether the emperor is here or not!
But everyone kept this in their hearts and didn't dare to say it out loud.

Xu Jie narrowed his eyes and looked at Chen Yiqin, thinking about what happened in today's morning court.

It is obvious that the attack on the third prince by the Baoen Temple thugs was a series of schemes within a scheme.

On the surface, the target was Empress Chen, the father-in-law of the emperor, Earl Gu'an, and the second uncle of the emperor. In fact, this was just a feint, and anyone who knew the facts of the case could guess it. How dare they bring down the Chen family, the relatives of the emperor's mother, with such a clumsy plan?
Funny!
Even Yang Sizhi knew that this was impossible. He was just doing this to gain fame. He didn't care whether he could bring down the Chen family or not.

But who is the real target behind this botched ploy?

Bigwigs like Xu Jie have already guessed that the real target of this ruse is Chen Yiqin.

There were so many censors in the capital, but Zhang Daxiong chose to look for the city patrol censor Yang Sizhi, whose teacher was Chen Yiqin.

When Yang Sizhi publicly presented his impeachment to the emperor at the morning court, it meant publicly impeaching Chen Shanyan and the Chen family and the queen behind him.

When the incident became a hot topic, someone suddenly revealed that the Zhang Erxiong case was not instigated by Chen Shanyan, but was a false accusation.

Who framed?
If we follow the investigation, we will most likely find the person behind this, Minister Chen Yiqun.

As for why Chen Yiqin framed the Chen family and Queen Chen, that is another story.

The "truth" was revealed. Chen Yiqin, who was unknowingly accused of framing the empress and the emperor's father-in-law and uncle, should have been punished or resigned out of guilt and returned home, according to common sense.

After Chen Yiqin left the cabinet, only three people remained: Xu Jie, Li Chunfang and Zhang Juzheng.

However, Xu Yuanfu was over seventy years old and might have to return home to retire at any time. At this time, the cabinet had to add one or two elders to the cabinet no matter what.

Regardless of whether there was one or two vacancies, Gao Gong's seniority and reputation were there, and he was the most popular person in the court. He was no longer as panicked as he was when he first returned to Beijing last year.

He had regained his footing and had recovered much of his fame and prominence.

If Gao Gong doesn't enter the cabinet, who will?
Everyone present was smart. After sorting out the information they knew, they quickly figured out the twists and turns.

Chen Yiqin's face turned pale, he had never imagined that he and Gao Da Huzi were both tutors in Prince Yu's mansion, lecturing to Prince Yu together, trying to protect Prince Yu together, sharing the same hatred and fighting side by side.

How come he stabbed himself in the back in the blink of an eye!

Chen Yiqin was courageous in taking on responsibilities, diligent and loyal to the emperor, low-key and not fond of forming cliques. He was an honest man.

But by doing this, Mr. Gao Da Hu Zi, isn't it obvious that you are trying to bully honest people?

Buddha also gets angry. Do you really think honest people are easy to bully?

After all, I, Old Chen, am a Grand Secretary of Wenhua Palace and a cabinet minister!
Xu Jie had already known what was going on. When he was preparing to go to court in the morning, he had a premonition that the emperor would not come to the court this morning.

If Yang Sizhi were to read out the impeachment memorial in public before the emperor at the morning court today, creating a fait accompli, then this plan within a plan against Chen Yiqin would have been largely successful.

Afterwards, the fact that Zhang Daxiong and Zhang Erxiong had framed Chen Shanyan was exposed, and Yang Sizhi became the scapegoat. No matter how unwilling Chen Yiqin was, he could not shake off the suspicion of being the mastermind behind the scenes.

Chen Yiqin is very concerned about his reputation, so under such circumstances, he must resign to avoid suspicion.

If you resign, you'll play into some people's hands.

As a result, the emperor really didn't show up to the morning court today.

Whatever the reason, the emperor unexpectedly missed today's morning court session, so the plan was foiled.

Yang Sizhi's impeachment memorial can only follow the normal process, so it can be handled according to the normal process.

What is there to be afraid of for the relatives by marriage being impeached? If they are not impeached once or twice by the Censors in a month, they would be too ashamed to face anyone.

As long as they don't fall out at the morning court meeting, publicly impeach the king's uncle, and involve the queen, then everything will still be in time.

So who had the ability to play tricks in the Forbidden City and make the emperor miss the morning court?
Xu Jie immediately thought of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince who had been standing silently under the throne in the Danchi this morning.

The prince saw through the plan and broke it.

He didn't want Chen Yiqun to marry, and of course he didn't want Gao Gong to join the cabinet!

So this is what the prince was thinking.

Xu Jie was secretly thinking in his mind, since the water was muddied, why not catch a few fish and let some of his most talented students improve themselves?

Among the 400 disciples of the Xu family, Xu Jie never placed all his hopes on Zhang Juzheng and Wang Yi'e.

People will always change, especially when they gain enough power, they will become unrecognizable!

Suddenly, someone came to the door and announced, "Four old gentlemen, someone has come from the palace to announce the imperial decree."

(End of this chapter)