My father is Jiajing

"Prince Shengde!"

When Li Chunfang and others finally heard the news that Zhu Zaigui had given in and was willing to accept the abdication of Emperor Jiajing, they excitedly bowed deeply to Zhu Zaigui.

Zhu Zaigui looked at the crowds of civil and military officials who were bowing in front of him, and he couldn't help feeling a sense of pride in his heart.

He had been bowed to like this by hundreds of officials before, but that feeling seemed to be exactly the same as what he was feeling now.

The feeling now seems like a joyful and heroic feeling of making further progress, like a feeling of reaching the top of the world.

Zhu Zaigui took a deep breath, stood up and said, "Please excuse me, I will go to His Majesty to receive His Majesty's order and express my gratitude. You can return to your respective offices and handle your respective government affairs."

Li Chunfang stood up and bowed, saying, "Your Highness obeys your order!"

Then, under the gazes of all the officials, Zhu Zaigui left the Wenhua Hall and headed towards the West Garden.

At this time, the officials who were about to disperse gathered together excitedly again, chattering.

Gao Yi, the Minister of Rites, was the first to come forward. He came up to Li Chunfang, Gao Gong and other cabinet members and said excitedly, "My fellow cabinet members, we must make early preparations to discuss the new reign title for His Highness and the details of the coronation ceremony."

When Li Chunfang, Gao Gong and others heard Gao Yi's voice, they couldn't help but show a look of joy.

Gao Gong, in particular, felt a sense of relief, as if he had raised his head and seen the light.

It seemed that everyone felt that Li Chunfang was inferior to him.

Gao Gong said: "What Minister Gao said makes sense. It is indeed time to discuss these matters now."

Gao Gong then stood one step in front of Li Chunfang and said to the others: "If you have any good suggestions and ideas, you can send them to the cabinet and we will discuss them together."

At this moment, Gao Gong seemed to be the prime minister of the cabinet. He took the initiative to put himself in the role of the cabinet's decision-maker and did not seem to care about Li Chunfang's face.

When Li Chunfang saw Gao Gong actually did this at this time, the smile on her face froze instantly.

I had known Gao Gong would do this, but I didn't expect that he would lose control so quickly.

When the other cabinet members and nearby officials saw this scene, they couldn't help but have new ideas in mind.

They couldn't help but wonder, would the younger Li Chunfang have the last laugh in the new dynasty, or would this old minister who had always been trusted by the prince have the last laugh in the new dynasty?
For a time, this issue lingered in everyone's mind, and they also discovered new opportunities for political stance at this moment.

Although the consequences of standing on the wrong side are serious, if you stand on the right side, the rewards are also extremely generous.

Moreover, if they have achieved such a level of officialdom, it means that they have left a particularly deep impression on the emperor, and the emperor thinks that you are capable or may be capable of doing so. In this case, such people naturally do not need to take sides and can get opportunities to continue to move towards a higher stage.

However, most officials, even if they reached high positions such as the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers, could not leave a special impression on the emperor, nor make the emperor feel that they had extraordinary talents.

Then they will never have a chance to improve.

So, in this situation, if they want to continue to make progress, if they want to continue to maintain power and maintain corresponding influence, they must take sides.

Only by taking sides can they be valued by the core of a faction and gain corresponding opportunities and power.

Therefore, when Gao Gong took the initiative to stand up and compete with Li Chunfang, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for advancement for the vast majority of officials who could not leave a significant impression on Zhu Zaigui.

They must think carefully about who they will follow after they leave this door!
Otherwise, the opportunity will be fleeting, and if you shamelessly stand on the side at that time, you will have to pay a higher price and bottom line than usual to get a new opportunity.

Therefore, for those officials who are willing to make progress and work hard, taking a political stand is an opportunity!

Even though they know the risks of standing on the wrong side are huge, they are still willing to take a gamble.

After all, this is a 50-50 bet with a 50-50 chance of winning, and even if you lose the bet, as long as you can make your presence felt and demonstrate outstanding political achievements and abilities in the limited opportunities, you may not really lose!
So when Li Chunfang and Gao Gong left Wenhua Hall in the end, these officials who wanted to advance were vaguely divided into two camps, one following Li Chunfang and the other following Gao Gong.

Of course, there are some hesitant centrists who seem quite confused and don't know which side to follow.

At the same time, there were some ministers who did not need to take sides, such as Zhao Zhenji, Hu Zongxian, Guo Pu and other ministers who were originally members of the cabinet.

These people don't need to take sides, of course this is only temporary.

If the struggle between Gao Gong and Li Chunfang becomes increasingly intense in the future, they will certainly not be able to stay out of it.

After all, we all live under the same roof, and it's hard to guarantee that we won't be forced to express our attitudes and wishes.

At that time, no matter what attitude and intention you show, you will definitely offend people.

If you don't want to offend anyone, there is only one way, and that is to retire and return home, and never get involved in political affairs again.

But among those who have finally reached this point, how many are willing to give up this hard-earned fame and power?
Moreover, Zhu Zaigui never really favored anyone. Aren’t people like Zhao Wenhua and Yan Maoqing, who were once core members of the Yan Party, doing well as ministers?
Therefore, in such a political environment, even Guo Pu, who had previously wanted to retire and return home to enjoy his retirement, gave up the idea and still wanted to contribute to the court.

It can be seen that during the period when Zhu Zaigui served as regent, he had already reconciled many of the factional tendencies that had existed since the Jiajing period.

This saved the court officials from the risk of being buried with the emperor if they lost.

Therefore, the court is now full of talented people, and there is no longer the atmosphere of black-and-white, life-and-death struggle.

Therefore, we have to say that Zhu Zaigui's use of gentle means to ensure the safe landing of Yan Song and Xu Jie was very wise and intelligent.

It allowed officials from both the government and the opposition to see a good political atmosphere of fighting without breaking up.

If Zhu Zaigui had not done this, when Yan Song's party was caught, all of them would have been killed; when Xu Jie's party was caught, all of them would have been killed.

This will certainly make the subsequent officials subconsciously believe that party struggles are a life-and-death struggle of ideas, a game where the winner takes all and the loser dies without a burial place.

But if this is the case, the court will definitely not be able to do anything well in the future.

Even if someone made policies and achievements that were beneficial to the court and the people, they would be denied and worthless because of party struggles.

The most striking example is the reforms of Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng in history.

Both of their original intentions and methods were good, and they have achieved corresponding results.

But after they are replaced and die, their respective political propositions and ideas, as well as the political achievements they have worked so hard to achieve, will be ruthlessly overturned, returning to a seemingly plausible abyss of terror.

And the Ming Dynasty continued to fall freely towards collapse!

Even if people reflected on it later, it was just reflection.

A struggle like this has penetrated deeply into the ideology. It is impossible for us to put aside all prejudices and work together just because the situation becomes more severe.

Because in the hearts of each faction, they all think that the other side is the source of evil that is bringing disaster to the country and the people and causing the situation to get out of control.

Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to turn the tide and unite everyone's hearts in a corrupt moment, because everyone thinks they are right.

Once you have an idea, even the emperor can’t stop you!
And this is the unchangeable fate of collapse!
But fortunately, the Ming Dynasty has not yet reached this point, has not yet reached the point where the party struggles are white-hot, and has not yet reached the point where everyone is fighting to the death and everyone is in a mess. Therefore, everything can still be saved, and we still have to remember.

At this time, Zhu Zaigui naturally would not care about the open and secret struggles between Li Chunfang and Gao Gong.

Because Zhu Zaigui was also very clear that even if he personally stepped in to give earnest advice in this matter, it might not be of any use.

Besides, it’s not like Zhu Zaigui hadn’t warned them before.

Therefore, as a mature politician, the first thing you should think about is not to reconcile the conflicts among your subordinates and be a good guy.

Instead, we need to seriously study and think about what these people who want to fight are thinking.
It's like Gao Gong wanted to compete with Li Chunfang, or like he wanted to promote his own political ideas.

This is something Zhu Zaigui could tolerate. After all, politics is a process of constant trial and error and continuous optimization.

It is impossible to cure all diseases with this prescription.

It is also right to let the ministers under his command try and explore new governance ideas and new policy approaches.

Besides, Li Chunfang is not completely useless.

Although Li Chunfang's pioneering spirit is not as strong as Gao Gong's, he also has his merits.

When it comes to doing things and being a person, Li Chunfang is a very stable person.

As long as Zhu Zaigui gave the order, it would be fine even if it was arduous and difficult for Li Chunfang.

Li Chunfang would not back down because of this. Even if he expressed his concerns and thoughts in person, it would not prevent Li Chunfang from continuing to push this matter forward.

Just like the task that Zhu Zaigui instructed Li Chunfang to formulate for the new administrative divisions of the Ming Dynasty, people had already made a plan during this period of time, and also made many good suggestions to fill in the gaps.

Now we just have to wait for the approval of Emperor Jiajing or Zhu Zaigui before it can be officially put on the agenda and actually implemented in the areas involving administrative divisions.

It can be seen that Li Chunfang is also a rare and good professional manager. How could Zhu Zaigui keep such a talent at hand and not use it?

Therefore, even if Gao Gong wanted to compete with Li Chunfang now, Zhu Zaigui would not express his opinion, and certainly would not tolerate their fighting without bottom line.

As long as the direction of their struggle is in line with the interests of the Ming Dynasty and Zhu Zaigui.

Zhu Zaigui would allow the two of them to compete and fight in a small range.

But if the two of them start to coerce officials into engaging in a black-and-white factional struggle, then don't blame Zhu Zaigui for being cruel.

Zhu Zaigui would never allow the kind of party strife that would be passed down to future generations to appear in his court.

Once there is such a history, in addition to making it seem that the dynasty is plagued by internal problems and may be on the verge of decline, it will also make the emperor appear to be either a useless person who cannot stick to his own ideas, or a scheming emperor who is obsessed with power.

However, Zhu Zaigui does not like these two labels.

He wanted to be a king who worked hard to govern the country, carried forward the past, lived up to history, and created the times.

As long as he can do this, Zhu Zaigui will accept it even if future history still writes a lot of negative information about him and makes up countless rumors about him!
After all, people should always have some noble ideals in life.

Even after death, we must let this ideal continue to shine in the long river of history, so that when future generations look back on history, they will not be able to help but sigh that this is the beginning of a new era.

Even if people who come later don’t know who started this process, it doesn’t matter.

What is important is that there was this beginning! There was this example! There was this example!
Zhu Zaigui came to Wanshou Palace. He looked up at the plaque on the palace and took a deep breath.

In the past, he had never paid attention to the plaque of this palace located on Zhongnanhai in Xiyuan.

Now, suddenly looking up at the plaque above, Zhu Zaigui felt that it was so high, really so high that it was unclimbable.

Huang Jin and others were also waiting in front of the Wanshou Palace at this moment.

When they saw Zhu Zaigui's sedan chair arriving, they hurried out to greet him.

"My Lord, the Emperor is waiting for you in the main hall."

Huang Jin couldn't help but remind Zhu Zaigui who had just got off the sedan chair.

Zhu Zaigui retracted his gaze, looked at Huang Jin, and smiled slightly, "Thank you for your hard work, father-in-law."

Huang Jin quickly replied: "It's not hard for this old slave."

Zhu Zaigui smiled again, and then took steady and powerful steps towards the main hall of Wanshou Palace.

When Zhu Zaigui walked into the main hall of the Wanshou Palace, Emperor Jiajing had already dressed in the imperial etiquette attire and sat high above others on the dragon throne in the main hall of the Wanshou Palace.

When Emperor Jiajing saw Zhu Zaigui's figure slowly emerging from the sunlight outside the palace, he couldn't help but squint his eyes, wanting to look more carefully.

Zhu Zaigui also looked at Emperor Jiajing sitting on the dragon throne, and couldn't help but look at him anxiously.

Zhu Zaigui took a deep breath and took a few steps forward.

Finally, we arrived at the Danbi in front of Emperor Jiajing's throne.

The distance at this moment finally allowed Emperor Jiajing to see Zhu Zaigui's appearance clearly.

Just as Zhu Zaigui was preparing to pay his respects, Emperor Jiajing suddenly asked, "Are you here?"

Zhu Zaigui was startled for a moment, then replied, "I'm coming."

Emperor Jiajing laughed and said, "Come up."

Zhu Zaigui hesitated for a moment, "I have not yet bowed to thank you, father."

Emperor Jiajing waved his hand again and said with a smile: "No need, just keep it in mind. Come up quickly. Walk up from the Danbi!"

Emperor Jiajing called Zhu Zaigui to come up again and asked him to walk up from the Danbi.

You must know that walking on the Danbi is the emperor's privilege, and no one can encroach on it.

But now Emperor Jiajing bluntly asked Zhu Zaigui to walk up the Danbi, which shows that Emperor Jiajing has made sufficient preparations at this moment. He really wants to hand over all his burdens and responsibilities to Zhu Zaigui.

Zhu Zaigui looked at Emperor Jiajing, took a deep breath, and bowed to him, saying, "Yes, I will obey your order!"

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