Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 344: Warning Guo Xun, there is something wrong with the court recommendation!

As soon as Zhu Houcong read the memorial, he knew that Fei Hong deliberately refused to be the Prime Minister.

Otherwise, Fei Hong would not have taken the initiative to hand over the impeachment memorial concerning himself to the emperor.

Because it is common for ruling ministers like Fei Hong to be impeached.

Normally they wouldn't bring this up and cry to the emperor.

Taking it out now only means that Fei Hong doesn't want to do it anymore.

Zhu Houcong also asked Fei Hong at this time: "Are you afraid of them, so you want to resign, or do you really not want me to govern and revive the country?"

"Your Majesty, please forgive me!"

"It's not that I don't want Your Majesty to work hard to revive the country."

"But I am not worthy of being a minister of the restoration."

"I have said this before."

"Although I come from a clean family, I am not innocent."

"I am a man without moral integrity. I have left too many handles for them. If I stay in the court, I will be forced by them to become a traitor who tries to stop Your Majesty."

"So I went to find my people in the Ministry of Personnel to impeach me, and I ask Your Majesty to grant me the opportunity to retire."

"Your Majesty, please grant me your permission!"

When Fei Hong said this, he knelt down and prostrated himself in front of Zhu Houcong.

Zhu Houcong looked down at Fei Hong and was silent for a while.

"But I'm afraid they don't want you to retreat, right?"

Sudden.

Zhu Houcong asked.

Fei Hong choked up and said, "Whether they are happy or not is their business. I know I cannot stand in your way. Otherwise, I will have no sense of shame at all!"

"Well, I'll allow you to take your leave."

"Let Yang Yiqing take over as the Prime Minister, and you can draft the edict yourself."

Zhu Houcong said.

Fei Hong kowtowed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"Get up."

Zhu Houcong gave an order at this time, and then said: "In addition, in the case of Li Fuda that the Censorate is reviewing, let the Ministry of Justice not involve Guo Xun and the two uncles of the emperor, and only stop at Zhang Yin! Although the storm was caused by me, it does not mean that I will capsize, so I hope they can understand the general situation."

"Yes!"

So, Fei Hong drafted a petition after returning, which was approved, and left the capital after the emperor's departure.

The news of Fei Hong's resignation soon spread like wildfire.

Many court officials were quite surprised by this.

Among the ministers who protected rituals, there were those who wanted to use the special status of Fei Hong and the evidence that he had committed many illegal acts such as corruption and bribery to force Fei Hong to fight against the emperor for them. They were very angry about this.

boom!
When Wu Jing learned that Fei Hong had left, he slammed his fist on the table, brushed his sleeves and stood with his hands behind his back: "Who asked him to resign? How could he resign if Mr. Duizhai didn't ask him to?"

The Imperial College Director Lu Cheng followed up with a gloomy face and said: "He wants to escape!"

"To put it bluntly, he still supports the emperor's plan to revive the country by making things difficult for the wealthy!"

"Because of the profits from the reform of the canal transport system, he has been well fed. Now, Fei Shi doesn't care what the emperor does."

"So, he chose to retire at this time and give way to a minister who is determined to reform and can help Your Majesty accomplish things. Otherwise, Your Majesty would not let a senior minister like him retire unless he wanted to."

Lu Cheng looked at Wu Jing and continued.

"But the Grand Tutor meant that this person should die in the court!"

"For this reason, the Grand Tutor even met with Lin Putian in Nanchang."

"I just don't know why Lin Putian has been ignorant of this matter since he entered the court."

"Now Mr. Duizhai also intends to use your majesty's sword to get rid of this person."

"Because Fei Qianshan is cunning and hateful, keeping him here could be a disaster!"

"Back then, Li Shishi and his people instigated the Ning Wang Rebellion in order to suppress the Northern Party traitors. Wang Yangming was the one who ruined the situation, but in fact, it was because he went back on his word and showed his loyalty, preferring to have his ancestors' tombs dug up and his relatives killed rather than betray the emperor. This made other noble families in Jiangxi dare not support Ning Wang and could only provide money and food to help Wang Yangming suppress the rebellion!"

"So, we can't settle this account!"

As Wu Jing spoke, he clenched his fists and looked up at the sky outside the Imperial College with a frown.

Back then, the Ning Wang Rebellion was ostensibly a rebellion by a vassal prince, but behind the scenes it was indeed a struggle between imperial power and scholar power.

Among the scholar-officials who instigated Prince Ning's rebellion, there were not only high-ranking civil servants like the Chief Censor, but most of the scholar-officials at the ministerial level in the central government also secretly cooperated in facilitating Prince Ning's rebellion.

If the three guards are restored, it will be equivalent to lifting the military ban on them.

At that time, there were two things that Prince Ning and his backers did not expect after they started their rebellion: one was that Wang Yangming suddenly gathered troops from nowhere and captured Nanchang;
One is Fei Hong, a cabinet minister who represented a powerful family in Jiangxi. He would rather have his ancestral graves dug up than betray Emperor Zhengde.

If not for the fact that Zhengde suddenly fell into the water that year and Wang Yangming burned a lot of evidence, a large group of people might have been held accountable.

Naturally, someone will settle the accounts with Fei Hong and Wang Yangming.

What's more, Fei Hong has done more than one thing that has let down Shilin.

Therefore, the literati who strived to make the power of scholars surpass the imperial power could not tolerate the existence of cunning people like Fei Hong.

That's why Wu Jing said this at this time.

This is also why Zhu Houcong told Fei Hong that his decision to retire at the peak of his career would make some people unhappy.

But Fei Hong did retire at the peak of his career.

He would rather lose his power as prime minister than be used as a tool by those fighting for power, or even be forced to die at the hands of the emperor.

After Wu Jing said this, Lu Cheng said, "If he wants to withdraw, there is nothing we can do. Let's focus on the case of Li Fuda in Shanxi! Whether we can bring down Guo Xun and the two uncles of the emperor and stop them from lending money at low interest rates for the royal family and exploiting the gentry depends on this time."

In Lu Cheng's opinion, the emperor's lending at low interest rates through nobles and relatives was exploiting the gentry. After all, this hurt the interests of the gentry, so he said so.

Wu Jing smiled and said, "Don't worry. Since Mr. Duizhai dared to let Ma Lu bring up this case, it means that he can manipulate the officialdom. For example, this time the court will recommend the case according to his wishes!"

After Zhu Houcong summoned Fei Hong and allowed him to retire and return home, he summoned Guo Xun.

He needed to ask Guo Xun clearly whether they had any relationship with Zhang Yin and what Zhang Yin's background was.

"Your Majesty, Zhang Yin bought his position to become the commander of Shanxi Guard, but his main business is business and lending. I also asked him to lend money in Shanxi."

Guo Xun reported back to Zhu Houcong after he asked about Zhang Yin's background.

After hearing this, Zhu Houcong asked, "So is he Li Fuda?"

"Absolutely not! If he was Li Fuda, he would have rebelled long ago. Why would he still be so obedient as to accept the investigation of the Shanxi Governor and the Censorate?"

Guo Xun replied.

Zhu Houcong asked again: "Has he ever come into contact with the evil cult?"

Guo Xun thought for a moment and said, "I don't know about this."

"So do you think he has it?"

Zhu Houcong looked at Guo Xun and asked.

Guo Xun said: "Maybe, maybe not!"

"Is it there or not?"

Zhu Houcong suddenly asked in a stern voice.

Guo Xun hurriedly prostrated himself on the ground: "Your Majesty, please allow me to report that Zhang Yin did something that violated the law of the country, such as secretly communicating with the Tartars to seek the benefits of smuggling and border trade."

Simultaneously.

Guo Xun couldn't help but wipe his forehead.

The current emperor was too powerful, so he had to tell the truth to make himself appear more obedient.

"Then why are you protecting him?"

"He also wrote a letter to Ma Lu, actively giving him evidence."

Zhu Houcong looked at Guo Xun with a look of disappointment.

Guo Xun kowtowed and said, "I was also foolish! I thought Ma Lu was a respectful person who was worth cultivating, so I gave him a little warning, fearing that he would be instigated by others. But in the end, he himself did not need anyone to instigate him and took the initiative to embarrass me!"

"Zhang Yin cannot be left alive. You must get rid of him as soon as possible and make him die suddenly!"

"Remember to learn your lesson next time and don't make friends with just anyone!"

"Just because I protect you once doesn't mean I can protect you forever. Besides, I'm afraid that if I indulge you, you will disregard the law and do something treasonous. Then I will have no choice but to kill you for the sake of justice!"

"You have to be alert!"

"If you do something stupid like this again, don't blame me for not reminding you."

Zhu Houcong started talking.

He knew that although Guo Xun was loyal, he was also greedy and bold. He needed him to remind and supervise him at all times, otherwise he might really do something terrible in the future.

Guo Xun even said that he would never dare to do it again.

After Zhu Houcong met Guo Xun, the secretariat sent him a list of officials recommended by the court for the positions of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, and so on.

"Your Majesty, the person nominated for the position of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel is Min Kai, and the second person nominated is Zhang Zhongxian. Both of them are former accomplices who opposed the Grand Ceremony!"

"Liang Shibiao falsely accused Zhu Wan because of Min Kai's instigation. As for Zhang Zhongxian, he was found to be corrupt in the second year of Jiajing, and was not demoted because of his disaster relief work. How could he be promoted to the position of Junior Prime Minister now? I think the court recommendation is being manipulated by someone, and it does not reflect the fairness of the court recommendation!"

When the list of candidates recommended by the court was delivered, Zhu Houcong asked the people in the Imperial Study to look at it, and the Minister of Works Zhang Cong was the first to put forward his opinion.

After hearing this, Zhu Houcong shouted angrily: "Send the Minister of Personnel Zhao Huang to the Imperial Study!"

(End of this chapter)