Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 401: A Master of Peering into People’s Minds

Wan'an returned to the cabinet duty room.

As soon as he entered the gate of Wenyuan Pavilion, Liu Ji came up to stop him and asked, "Your Majesty, what happened? Why do everyone look a little strange today? Is the situation going to change?"

In the past, Wan An treated Liu Ji as his chief subordinate, so he would tell him everything he knew, but now...

If he wants to cooperate with Zhang Luan, he must choose to sacrifice the people around him. The first person he will abandon is the colleague in front of him who looks disgusting to him.

"I do not know!"

Wan An said this first, but then he felt something was wrong. The news that the crown prince was acting as regent would be leaked sooner or later, so he changed his words and said, "His Majesty has ordered that the crown prince attend court in the Wenhua Palace."

"Attending court again?" Liu Ji frowned.

This rhetoric sounds very familiar, as if I have experienced it before.

Wan An shook his head and said, "This is not something that can be dealt with simply. His Majesty has been bedridden for a long time and unable to govern. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has no choice but to come out and support the court... The Crown Prince is the cornerstone of our Ming Dynasty, and it is not excessive to treat him with caution!"

"what?"

Liu Ji heard it.

Old man Wan, it's bad enough that you're unreasonable, you also have no principles. Previously you vowed to replace the crown prince and accomplish great things, but why are you all praising the crown prince now?

Just because the emperor arranged for the prince to hold court in Wenhua Palace, the outcome has been decided?

Liu Ji asked, "Lord Wan, may I ask, under what name did the Crown Prince attend the court this time?"

"Of course it's the regent."

Wan An said, "This is the only way to be justified."

Liu Ji frowned and asked in a low voice, "I haven't heard about your Majesty's condition. Why do you want to arrange for the crown prince to be regent? What is your Majesty's condition like?"

Wan An angrily said, "You ask me, who should I ask? If I knew how to treat illnesses, I wouldn't have to resign on my own... Now that Your Majesty has appointed the Crown Prince as regent, what can I do? Just listen! Do you still have any objections?"

Liu Ji was very depressed.

Previously, Wan'an knew that he was neglected by the emperor and felt that his future was bleak. In addition, he was fined and was targeted by Wei Tai, Li Zisheng and others. He was unable to support himself and was about to give up.

Liu Ji originally thought that spring was about to come, and whether it was Prince Xing or the Crown Prince who ascended the throne, he would naturally become the chief regent.

Who would have thought that complications would arise at this moment, with the issue of the crown prince being appointed as regent.

"I have something else to do, so I won't stay here for now."

Wan An was about to leave immediately after saying this.

He didn't want to get too entangled with Liu Ji.

As former allies, Wan'an had not figured out how to change his attitude before they officially turned against each other, so he still spoke politely, but unconsciously still showed an aggressive momentum - after all, he was still the Prime Minister, and Liu Ji was just his subordinate?

"You...are busy?"

Liu Ji was very surprised.

I thought to myself, this is really new, just you?

As the Grand Lord, have you cared about anything else in the past few years except eating, drinking and having fun? Nine out of ten times, your memorials to the emperor have nothing to do with state affairs. Even so, do you still have business to attend to?

Ghosts believe it!

Wan An asked unhappily, "Is it your business?"

After saying these cold words, Wan'an ignored Liu Ji who was standing there in surprise for a long time and went straight to Wenhua Hall.

……

……

Wan'an is going to pay a visit to the pier.

First, he demonstrated his status as the prince's close minister, thus laying the foundation for supporting the prince to ascend the throne in the future.

When he arrived at Wenhua Hall, he found that several lecturers from the Eastern Palace had arrived earlier. Wan An walked over and asked, "Didn't you say that you won't give lectures to the Crown Prince recently? What are you doing here?"

Xie Qian wanted to come forward and make a few jokes, but was stopped by Liu Jian.

Liu Jian stepped forward and said respectfully, "The Crown Prince sent a message asking us to come here. Elder Wan, what brings you here?"

"Oh, didn't His Majesty... let the Crown Prince act as regent in Wenhua Palace? Let me see if there is anything the Crown Prince doesn't understand, and I can do my best to help. Your Highness the Crown Prince..."

From a distance, Wan'an saluted Zhu Youtang.

But Zhu Youtang just nodded silently, without standing up to greet him or smiling in response, as if he did not like the Prime Minister very much.

This has to do with the brainwashing that Zhang Luan and his son had done to him before. Zhu Youtang realized that the cabinet ministers could not be trusted, and that they were still thinking of pushing for a change of crown prince, which was tantamount to putting him to death. Since they were his enemies, why should he be nice to them?

"Lord Wan, I really don't understand a lot about state affairs, so I invited you gentlemen here. But now that you are here, I don't know how to help my father. Can you give me some advice?"

Zhu Youtang's attitude was humble, yet a bit cold.

Wan An seemed to understand something and smiled, "I'll have someone send the cabinet memorial to the crown prince later. If there is anything, the crown prince should not make decisions on his own. Since you are the regent, should you... make some arrangements for matters such as attending court? For example, which minister should be invited to the court tomorrow?"

Zhu Youtang said: "I want to take over today."

Wan An was stunned.

I thought the prince would be very active in taking over the government the next day, but he didn't play any tricks on me. He said he wanted to take care of the government, and he started right away, asking Wan'an for power and people.

Wan'an looked around at the group of lecturers in the Eastern Palace and thought, you guys are just relying on your good reputations, how can you interfere in the affairs of the court?

If it were Li Zisheng, he could defeat a bunch of you!
If the prince listens to you in the future, not only will these court officials have a hard time, but the Ming Dynasty will also be in chaos. After all, court affairs still need to be handled by capable people, not those with a good reputation.

What’s the use of just having moral character?

Wan An said, "Your Highness, this is what I think. How about calling the six ministers directly and asking them to tell you about the matters at hand?"

"Will this commotion be too loud?"

Zhu Youtang asked in surprise.

Wan Anxin said, you know how big a noise it makes!

You should know that your responsibility as regent was not given to you by your old father, but by your grandmother. If your father wakes up and becomes sober, and finds out that you are taking chicken feathers as a token of authority and setting up a small court in the Wenhua Palace, he will make you pay for it.

Wan An said, "If the Crown Prince thinks that the matter is too serious, why not let me meet with the six ministries and hear what they have on hand... If there are any unresolved issues, why not bring them here for discussion? What do you think?"

"not good."

Xie Qian stepped out and said, "Since there is something going on, then we should gather all the ministers to discuss it in public, rather than meeting them individually. A court discussion is the best way to resolve the issue. In my opinion, even if all the ministers of the six ministries are present, the scale is still too small. Why not have all the officials of the fourth rank and above come to the Wenhua Hall and form a rule."

Wan An frowned: "Xie Yuqiao, what are you trying to do? His Majesty is ill now, but it doesn't mean that he can't take care of state affairs from now on. He just lets the crown prince act as regent temporarily. You are making a big scene, and you are not helping the crown prince... You are all smart people, you should know what I am talking about, right?"

Although Wan'an was despised at this time, in terms of political awareness, none of the people in front of him was as high as him.

Considering that Wan'an has been in the court for so many years, he has seen everything clearly and is no longer at the age of acting on impulse. What he said was also for the benefit of the prince, and it was not an exaggeration.

Some people present immediately felt ashamed after hearing this.

In order to help the prince, let the Eastern Palace be in opposition to the emperor?
The Lord Wansui in front of him was not wrong. Such taboo things must never be done!

But the problem is that Zhu Youtang is very stubborn. To put it bluntly, he is a stubborn person. He insists on telling me what I think is right and even tells me about black, white and gray. If I knew what the taboos were, I would not have been looked down upon by my old father all these years.

"I think what Mr. Xie said makes sense. If we want to discuss something, we should talk about it openly."

Zhu Youtang said, "Otherwise, we will discuss behind closed doors and will certainly not be able to accept more opinions. We should do it like a court session and try to make everything clear."

"This……"

Wan'an didn't expect that the prince was so stupid.

But then he thought that he would have to follow the prince in the future, and it would not be good for him if he openly went against the prince.

He was filled with resentment... Why didn't Zhang Laizhan come over and explain the court rules to his clumsy son-in-law?

The emperor is just sick. Unless you are sure that he will die, you, the crown prince, are touching your father's reverse scale. How can this not make sense?

What a bunch of pedantic scholars, whose children are all stubborn. If they hadn't come to persuade me to change, I wouldn't have bothered to pay any attention to them.

"Prince, this is it."

Wan An explained, "If we want to implement court discussions, we should prepare in advance. Right now, the people from the six ministries and various departments are all working in the government offices. If they are temporarily transferred here, it will cause chaos. Moreover, there have been no court discussions for a long time, and the court officials don't know what to say for a while."

Zhu Youtang thought about it and nodded.

He is still relatively reasonable.

Suddenly saying that a court meeting will be held, and it will be carried out immediately without even leaving time for preparation, doesn't this just cause trouble for others?

Coincidentally, Zhu Youtang was kind-hearted, did not like to cause trouble for others, and only fought battles that he was sure of victory.

"Lord Wan, what should we do now?"

Zhu Youtang asked.

"Things should be put off until tomorrow."

Wan An suggested, "How about this? Notify all the ministers tonight and ask them to come to Wenhua Hall early tomorrow morning to discuss the matter. If they cannot reach an agreement at that time, we can summon more court officials to hold a court meeting and let them express their opinions. What do you think?"

"This……"

Zhu Youtang seemed reluctant to accept it.

I give you time to prepare, but it doesn’t have to take so long, right?

How does this show that I am filial and can share my father's worries?
Xie Qian said: "Let's have someone come first, tell them a few things, and do it right away, isn't that good?"

Zhu Youtang agreed: "Mr. Xie is absolutely right."

Wan Anxin said, you guys are never-ending, right?

I can't reason with you, can I?
It has to be done today. Is it okay if we can't do it today?

"But today... Zhang Taichang is treating His Majesty and accompanying him. He can't leave. If there is anything... I can't discuss it with him. You said that he was not here for the first time, which is not good, right?"

Wan'an is a shrewd man who knows how to read people's minds.

Xie Qian and others were puzzled after hearing this.

What does this have to do with Zhang Laizhan?
Zhu Youtang seemed to have grasped the key to the problem when he heard it, and nodded quickly: "This does make some sense. The Empress Dowager asked me to discuss something with my father-in-law. If my father-in-law doesn't come, I really... have not completed her instructions... In this case, let's meet in Wenhua Palace tomorrow morning."

(End of this chapter)