Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 17 The will is about the heir to the throne, not the prince!
Zhu Houcong couldn't help but sneer in his heart.

He and Yuan Zonggao had anticipated this would happen.

He also knew that if he agreed to enter the capital with the ceremony of the crown prince, the next step would be for him to acknowledge Emperor Xiaozong as his father, change his recognition of his own father to his uncle, and inherit Emperor Xiaozong's lineage, following a series of etiquette and legal rules designed for him.

But fortunately, as he had said to Jiang before, Yang Tinghe and his party who wanted him to inherit Emperor Xiaozong's throne were just paper tigers who were bullying him because he was only fifteen years old and might not understand the ins and outs of the power struggle.

Because as far as he knew, according to historical records, there would be a big loophole in the content of the will drafted by these people.

And this big loophole can be used as a reason for him to refuse to be manipulated by them.

but!

Logically, Yang Tinghe and other Hanlin elites who had emerged from tens of thousands of scholars and written countless memorials and imperial edicts should not have left such a big loophole in their will.

Moreover, even if the person who drafted the edict was careless for a moment, it does not mean that Yang Ting and his accomplices who reviewed the edict were so careless.

It is obvious that the loophole in this will was deliberately left by Yang Tinghe and his party in order to prevent the young Zhu Houcong from being so easy to fool, and to give him a chance to deny them. In this way, they could avoid being completely hated by the emperor because of their misjudgment of the emperor.

At this time, Zhu Houcong naturally had to take the initiative to accept Yang Tinghe's request and expose this loophole.

But he did not intend to expose it directly, allowing Yang Ting and his party to easily see through him.

in contrast.

He then picked up the will and looked at Yuan Zonggao first, then asked:

"Sir, the will states that I should inherit the throne, not as a prince, right?"

As soon as Zhu Houcong said this, especially after he looked at Yuan Zonggao and said this, Mao Cheng's face immediately darkened and he looked at Yuan Zonggao.

He couldn't help but suspect that it was Yuan Zonggao who reminded Zhu Houcong to pay attention to this loophole in the will.

Because in his opinion, the successor emperor Zhu Houcong was only fifteen years old after all. Although he was very pure and kind, he would not easily discover this loophole, nor would he easily realize that the civil officials had him enter the capital with the ceremony of the crown prince in order to test his obedience and suppress his imperial power.

On the way to Beijing, Zhu Houcong insisted on providing relief to the hungry people along the way, which made Yuan Zonggao stand out and gain a good reputation among his subordinates and the people. In Mao Cheng's opinion, this was probably due to Yuan Zonggao's influence on Zhu Houcong in advance, so that the successor would gain a reputation for being the most benevolent and pure, and would also make the successor begin to look down on himself and other upright people.

Mao Cheng even felt that the successor emperor was determined to bring the people to Beijing on the grounds that he believed the prime minister could take good care of the people who would accompany him, and this was also Yuan Zonggao's instruction!
Therefore, Mao Cheng felt that he and other central government officials such as Yang Tinghe had really misjudged Yuan Zonggao!

Now, we are unable to take advantage of the young and honest character of the heir apparent to suppress his power and make him submit to the authority of us, the upright civil servants, all because of Yuan Zonggao.

In Mao Cheng's opinion, the successor emperor asked Yuan Zonggao this question now, maybe Yuan Zonggao had reminded the successor emperor and taught him to do so, so that it would be convenient for him to fight for the successor emperor's right to interpret rites and laws, and then make it easier for him to take power in the country.

Because the Ming Dynasty ruled the country with rites and rituals, whoever had the right to interpret rites and laws would be the actual controller of the world!
Yuan Zonggao couldn't help but be stunned when Zhu Houcong looked at him with a questioning look.

Moreover, the look in Zhu Houcong's eyes when he looked at him was so firm and deep that Yuan Zonggao himself was shocked.

"Who taught him this? He is not only good at overt schemes, but also good at disguises!"

Although Yuan Zonggao was suspicious, he suddenly felt very happy in his heart.

He had to admit that the successor Zhu Houcong was indeed a born hero. He took advantage of the suspicion of the upright civil officials towards himself, the old people in the princely mansion, to stir up conflicts between himself, the old people in the princely mansion and these upright civil officials, while keeping himself behind the scenes. That's why when the loophole in the will was exposed, he deliberately looked at himself and exposed it by asking him questions.

"If you want to achieve great things, you should do this!"

"Even if I lose my life, it will be worth it as long as Yang Ting and his party cannot control the new emperor!"

Yuan Zonggao therefore complained in his heart, and immediately bowed his hands and said: "Your Majesty, it is indeed so. It is not proper to ascend the throne with the ceremony of the Crown Prince!" "According to the imperial edict, the successor to the throne is to follow the order of the elder brother's death and the younger brother's death, not to follow the father's inheritance. If you ascend the throne with the ceremony of the Crown Prince, then may I ask, whose crown prince is the successor to the throne?"

When Yuan Zonggao said this, he looked at Mao Cheng and asked seriously, "I don't know whether the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan is confused or he is deliberately testing whether the successor knows etiquette and acts in violation of the will."

After Yuan Zonggao said this, Zhu Houcong nodded with satisfaction.

This is the effect he wants.

Let Yuan Zonggao take the lead in fighting for the right to interpret rites and laws.

Zhu Houcong was actually learning from the historical Emperor Jiajing.

Historically, the first step for Jiajing to seize power was to refuse to enter Beijing with the ceremony of the Crown Prince. Moreover, when he raised this question, he deliberately looked at Yuan Zonggao, in an effort to instigate Yuan Zonggao to raise this question, thereby forcing Yuan Zonggao to take a stand and stand against the upright civil servants.

Zhu Houcong naturally had to do the same now.

In the struggle for power, Jiajing provided him with a good enough example, so seizing power was not a problem for him.

He just needs to try to make the process of seizing power appear more perfect.

Zhu Houcong then looked at Mao Cheng and said, "Grand Master, please defend yourself."

Mao Cheng sighed secretly.

He admitted that when Yang Tinghe and several other cabinet ministers were drafting the will, they did not dare to really cut off the heir's escape route, and therefore did not force the inclusion of the content that Zhu Houcong would inherit Emperor Xiaozong's throne into the will.

Because doing so can easily leave you with no way out.

After all, although the successor emperor Zhu Houcong gave the impression of being studious and benevolent to the people of the world, people like Yang Tinghe, who had experienced ups and downs in officialdom for many years, were somewhat worried that Zhu Houcong was biding his time and energy, and that because they had forced Zhu Houcong to succeed Emperor Xiaozong through the imperial edict, he would overturn the table and take excessive revenge on them or their families in the future when he became powerful.

But they are not yet brave enough to completely offend the heir.

This is not surprising.

To know.

After all, Yang Tinghe and his party were conservatives. They didn't even have the courage to reform and offend the powerful bureaucrats in the world, so how could they dare to offend the emperor to death?

Therefore, although Yang Tinghe and other cabinet ministers wanted to force Zhu Houcong to succeed Emperor Xiaozong, they did not intend to force him. When drafting the will, they honestly wrote that Zhu Houcong would succeed the throne, so as not to be so drastic and leave a way out for themselves.

In fact, they just hoped that Zhu Houcong was not so smart and could not find the loopholes here, and would obey the arrangements of these clean civil servants when they made these obedient arrangements.

This is equivalent to them wanting Zhu Houcong to truly succeed Emperor Xiaozong, but also wanting Zhu Houcong to voluntarily succeed as Emperor Xiaozong and obey the orders of these clean civil officials, rather than forcing him. He is a person who has corresponding political propositions, but does not dare to pay too high a price for these political propositions.

But what disappointed Mao Cheng was that Zhu Houcong really did not fall into the trap and actually seized the loophole.

Even Yang Tinghe and other cabinet ministers were unwilling to really turn the table with Zhu Houcong, so they deliberately left a loophole in the will. Mao Cheng naturally would not really argue with Zhu Houcong, so he decided to pass this difficult problem to Yang Tinghe, and said at this time:

"If the successor insists on not following, you can send someone to ask the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister also holds the same opinion!"

Zhu Houcong nodded and said, "I am willing to believe that Yuanfu is a minister who understands etiquette. Then send someone to ask first! After the etiquette is understood, we can enter the city."

So, this question was thrown to Yang Tinghe.

(End of this chapter)