I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 241 The First Face-to-Face Confrontation with Gao Gong

Xu Jie stood up suddenly.

A man in his seventies reacts faster than young people like Li Chunfang, Zhang Juzheng and Chen Yiqin.

"Please come in quickly."

After waiting for a while, Chen Ju, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, came in with a scroll of imperial edict in his hand.

"There is an imperial decree. Please, four old gentlemen, receive it."

Xu Jie and the other three fell to their knees.

"I am not feeling well, so I will temporarily cancel the morning court sessions. However, state affairs cannot be neglected lightly. I have ordered the Crown Prince to lead the Cabinet, the six ministries, the Censorate, and the various temple officials to hold court sessions in the Taiji Hall in the Western Garden to discuss military and national affairs.

There may be some reasons for the extra court session every five days, so please be careful and attentive during the temporary court session and live up to my expectations.

Admire this! "

"I'm waiting for the order!"

Chen Ju handed the imperial edict to Xu Jie and said with a smile: "Xu Yuanfu, three old gentlemen, the prince said that according to the emperor's order, the court meeting will begin today. From now on, the court meeting will be held at Taiji Hall in the West Garden every five days at 15:00.

But today is special, so the prince asked everyone to hold the meeting in Taiji Hall at 1:01 pm after an hour.

I still have to go to the six ministries, the Censorate and the various temples to announce the imperial edict, so I’ll take my leave now.”

"Eunuch Chen, take care."

After seeing Chen Ju off, Xu Jie held the edict in both hands and placed it on the table in the middle of the Heqi Hall.

"The emperor is going to hold court in the Taiji Hall in the Western Garden to discuss military and national affairs. Could it be that the emperor wants to make this a custom and abandon the ancestral custom of holding court on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month?" Chen Yiqin said with an uncertain expression, "Is this the emperor's will or the prince's intention?"

Everyone was silent.

After a while, Xu Jie said leisurely: "It should be His Royal Highness the Crown Prince who proposed it. It is exactly what the Emperor wants."

But this was exactly what the emperor wanted. He no longer had to get up from the arms of a beauty early in the morning on the first and fifteenth day of every month and go to court regardless of rain or shine.

However, such a major event, an ancestral system that had been passed down for two hundred years, was changed just by a piece of light imperial edict?

The four ministers were silent for a while, and Xu Jie said, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that from now on, the court will be held at Taiji Hall at 2:05 am every five days. Today is special, so it will be postponed to 1:05 am.

Calculating the time, it was almost time. Everyone went back to their duty rooms first to sort out the important political affairs at hand so that they could take them to the Taiji Hall for discussion.

The six ministries and the Censorate may not know what rules your Highness follows, but the four of us should know them best."

Li Chunfang, Chen Yiqin, and Zhang Juzheng nodded: "Xu Yuanfu is right. Let's go back to the duty room and prepare."

"Okay, we'll meet up in two quarters of an hour and go to Xiyuan together."

As soon as the hour of Si arrived, four cabinet ministers, Xu Jie, Li Chunfang, Chen Yiqin and Zhang Juzheng; the six ministers of various ministries, Minister of Rites Gao Yi, Minister of Revenue Gao Gong, Minister of War Hu Zongxian, Minister of Punishments Huang Guangsheng, Minister of Works Ge Shouli (Li Chunfang concurrently served as Minister of Personnel); Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate Zhao Zhenji; as well as the Minister of Supreme Court Qian Wenzhen and the Minister of Imperial Household Wang Guoguang, a total of fifteen people, gathered at the gate of Taiji Hall in Xiyuan.

Xu Jie had the longest seniority and the most respected status, so everyone surrounded him and bowed to him and greeted him.

"Old sir, why did the emperor come up with such a trick? It's unprecedented. It's not in the imperial edicts and ancestral rules." Dali Temple Minister Qian Wenzhen shook his head and said, "What are the rules for discussing military and national affairs in the court? Does the Prime Minister know?"

Xu Jie laughed and said, "I am just like everyone else. I just received the imperial edict. I am just like everyone else, confused as to what the rules are."

At one side, Gao Gong and Chen Yiqin looked at each other, their eyes flashing with sparks, but both of them were shrewd and did not say anything.

Feng Bao came out and said to everyone with a smile: "Four old gentlemen, five ministers, and several gentlemen, His Highness is waiting for you inside, please come in."

Xu Jie turned around and looked at everyone and said, "Please!"

The fifteen people walked in in a tacit understanding in an order of front and back.

The four cabinet ministers walked in the front, followed by Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian, Zhao Zhenji, Gao Yi, Huang Guangsheng, Ge Shouli, Qian Wenzhen, Wang Guoguang and others.

Taiji Hall, formerly known as Yuanji Hall, is located between the South Sea and the Central Sea.

Entering the Taiji Hall, Zhu Yijun stood in the middle, waiting quietly for everyone.

Xu Jie led everyone to pay their respects to Zhu Yijun first.

"Your Highness, the Crown Prince, is greeted by your subjects." "Gentlemen, please do not hesitate."

After the ceremony between the monarch and his subjects ended, Zhu Yijun pointed to the side hall on the left and said, "I have asked people to set up the left hall. From now on, every five days at 15:00, everyone will hold court meetings in the left hall.

If there is an emergency, more court officials need to be summoned and the meeting can be moved to the main hall."

Judging from what Zhu Yijun said, this would become a custom in the future, and many people were worried.

The emperor is about to let himself go completely, completely indulge in the harem and no longer care about political affairs.

Everyone followed Zhu Yijun into the left side hall, where there was a long table in the middle, with two rows of chairs on both sides. There were also tea cups on the table, with steam rising from them.

Chen Ju, Li Chun and other eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department came forward and led Xu Jie and others to their seats.

Everyone waited at the door tacitly, and when it was their turn, they followed in and sat down at their seats.

There's a secret to the seating arrangement. If you sit down rashly, you'll end up making a fool of yourself.

Xu Jie sat in the first seat at the lower left, and opposite him, in the first seat at the lower right, was Li Chunfang, the Minister of Personnel.

After Xu Jie came Chen Yiqin, Zhang Juzheng, Zhao Zhenji, Qian Wenzhen and others; after Li Chunfang came Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian, Gao Yi, Huang Guangsheng, Ge Shouli, Wang Guoguang and others.

Zhu Yijun glanced at everyone and sat down in the middle of the long table.

Everyone looked at each other, but no one felt that they had exceeded the limit.

After all, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is only the heir to the throne, so it is barely acceptable for him to sit opposite the ministers like this.

If the emperor were to sit opposite us like this, no one would dare to do so.

"Okay, gentlemen, we are all seated. There have been many military and national affairs recently, and there is a lot of backlog. Let's get started as soon as possible! The first thing to do is the Lianghuai Salt Administration."

Zhu Yijun spoke directly to the point, which surprised Gao Gong, Gao Yi and others who were not familiar with his style, and they quickly perked up.

"Pang Shangpeng, the salt transport commissioner of Lianghuai, submitted a memorial, "Memorial on the rectification of Lianghuai and national salt politics in the second year of Longqing". Pang Qing requested the implementation of a new salt law, the establishment of a salt administration bureau, the unification of production, purchase, transportation and distribution, and the separation of salt production, collection, transportation and sales. Li Chun, please read Pang Qing's memorial to everyone."

"Yes!"

Li Chun took Pang Shangpeng's memorial and began to read it out. There were thirty-nine items in total, all clearly organized and well-reasoned.

After hearing this, everyone couldn't help but secretly praise him in their hearts. It didn't take long for Pang Shangpeng, who came up with the Ten-Section Brocade and One Whip Method, to have managed the Lianghuai Salt Administration so clearly.

Zhu Yijun looked around at everyone and said, "Let's discuss this. Is Mr. Pang's new Lianghuai salt policy feasible? I would like to remind everyone that the Lianghuai salt policy has been very successful in the trial and will be implemented throughout the country in the future."

Before anyone could say anything, Gao Gong, who could no longer contain himself, spoke first.

"Your Highness, the Lianghuai Salt Administration is a matter of the Ministry of Revenue. According to the rules, it should be discussed within the Ministry of Revenue before being reported to the emperor. Isn't it too early to discuss it in the court now?"

Gao Gong objects!

What he opposed was not Pang Shangpeng's implementation of the new salt law. What he opposed was the fear that the salt administration would be out of the control of the Ministry of Revenue and that the Salt Administration Bureau would become a second coordinating bureau.

Everyone looked at Zhu Yijun at the same time.

Zhu Yijun looked at Gao Gong, who sat up straight, like a pine tree, with a solemn expression, sharp eyes, and a sense of righteousness.

This was probably the first time he and I had a face-to-face confrontation over state affairs.

As expected, he was just as others said, proud of his talent and strategy, domineering, sharp-minded but not knowing how to hide his edge.

There was silence in the side hall, and everyone was waiting for Zhu Yijun's questions and answers.

Gao Gong was also waiting. He wanted to personally weigh himself today to see what kind of person this prince was, who had made Xu Jie lie down and impressed Zhao Zhenji, Zhang Juzheng, Li Chunfang, Hu Zongxian and Hai Rui.

Zhu Yijun slowly asked back: "Mr. Gao, was the Lianghuai Salt Administration handled by your Ministry of Revenue?"

Gao Gong's face suddenly turned red and purple, as if he had been slapped dozens of times.

The rest of the people had different expressions.

The prince is the prince, he counterattacked and hit the tall bearded man in the face!
No face at all!
(End of this chapter)