Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 355 Jiajing instigated the power of the harem, and Empress Dowager Zhang overturned the table of Qingliu!

"Then kneel outside the Zuoshun Gate, don't delay the court's business here, and wait for your punishment!"

Zhu Houcong gave the order in a cold voice.

Wang Ke and the others were startled, then they kowtowed and said, "Your Highness, I accept your order!"

then.

These people went and knelt outside Zuoshun Gate.

After the court meeting, Zhu Houcong returned to the Imperial Study and said to the ministers in the Imperial Study: "Go and persuade them! Tell them that it is meaningless to fight for power by dying. Don't learn from Guo Nan! I can't be frightened by dying to persuade and remonstrate!"

"Yes!"

Yang Yiqing and others quickly replied.

"I will go see Empress Dowager Zhaosheng first, and then come back to ask about the results of your persuasion, and then decide how to deal with them."

Zhu Houcong then spoke something else meaningfully.

then.

Zhu Houcong left the imperial study and went to the harem.

Yang Yiqing and others were shocked.

They naturally understood what it meant for the emperor to go see Empress Dowager Zhaosheng.

This is the person in the world who protects Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling the most.

That's definitely not the emperor.

Not to mention the two previous emperors, Xiaomiao and Wumiao, who have already passed away.

But it is Empress Dowager Zhang, who currently represents the most honorable status in the royal family!

Empress Dowager Zhang protected her two younger brothers without caring about anything else, even if it was disadvantageous to herself.

"Go and persuade her quickly. If Empress Dowager Zhaosheng really goes crazy, no one can stop her, unless we really stop ruling the world with courtesy."

At this time, Wang Ao couldn't help but speak first with a look of anxiety.

Yang Yiqing had already left the imperial study by this time and walked towards the left door in two steps.

Zhang Cong followed him out: "What are you waiting for!"

Zhu Houcong came to Empress Dowager Zhang's Renshou Palace.

Empress Dowager Zhang had also long heard that the upright officials in the outer court wanted to use the case of Li Fuda to deal with Guo Xun and her two brothers.

When Empress Dowager Zhang learned that the three judicial officials and the court were determined to ask the emperor to investigate and punish Guo Xun and her two brothers for colluding with the traitor, she became so anxious that she could not eat. As a result, Zhu Houcong also learned about this.

As for Empress Dowager Zhang, she was indeed afraid that Emperor Jiajing would compromise with the Qingliu faction and investigate and punish Guo Xun and her two brothers.

So, when Zhu Houcong came to Renshou Palace under the pretext of visiting her, she hurriedly asked Zhu Houcong: "How is it, are they really going to be punished?"

Zhu Houcong sighed first.

Upon seeing this, Empress Dowager Zhang couldn't help but put her hands on her chest, took a few steps back, and then slammed the table hard.

Snapped!
"I just don't understand. When they did those really excessive things, there weren't so many people who wanted them dead. Why is it that now that they have listened to me and you, the emperor, and started doing things that benefit the country and the people, there are even more people who want them dead, and they are even forcing you, the emperor, to punish them?"

As Empress Dowager Zhang spoke, she collapsed on the couch and burst into tears.

"Aunt, please don't be too angry, or you might hurt yourself."

"Also, what you may not know is that it is precisely because the two uncles-in-law have started to do things that benefit the country and the people that they are hated even more by those treacherous officials and villains!"

"They all want to destroy the Ming Dynasty, but they don't want to suffer even the slightest injustice."

"But there are still many treacherous officials now. After all, although Yang Tinghe passed away early, he still left many students and old friends. Because of their seniority and connections, these people are still rampant."

"So, the more the two uncles-in-law reform themselves and really make profits without hurting the people, the more they will hate them. Unless the two uncles-in-law neither take profits from the people nor from the gentry, and even less take profits from the country, and just live frugally and live a hard life every day, then they will be happy."

At this time, Zhu Houcong truthfully analyzed to Empress Dowager Zhang why the upright people wanted to place the two uncles as the emperor, and used this as an opportunity to make Empress Dowager Zhang hate these upright people even more.

Empress Dowager Zhang was a woman who lived deep in the harem and had a personality that was prone to extremes. When she caused trouble during the reigns of Hongzhi and Zhengde, she caused headaches for the two emperors and their ministers.

Therefore, Empress Dowager Zhang was so angry that she said, "Then you, the emperor, should behead all these treacherous officials and confiscate their property! I don't believe that the Ming Dynasty will become their world!"

"I only know that the late emperor's will was to hand over our ancestors' country to you, not to them! Moreover, he only asked me to obey you in everything, not them!" Empress Dowager Zhang added.

Zhu Houcong said: "I naturally know this, so after I settled the situation in the south, I overturned the court trial, replaced the three judicial officials, and put all those who were disloyal to the court in jail. As a monarch and father, I will uphold justice and prevent the two uncles from being wronged!"

"But, Auntie, guess what? Some officials, such as Wang Ke, openly shouted at the court that I changed officials for no reason and appointed people by special appointment instead of by imperial recommendation, which is a disorder of government! Special appointment is clearly the law established by our ancestors, and imperial recommendation is just an evolution of special appointment. But they said that I am a disorder of government."

"Then you can't grant them that!"

"Everyone is really rebellious."

The more Empress Dowager Zhang heard Zhu Houcong say this, the angrier she became, and she wished she could go and scold those officials herself.

Zhu Houcong continued to add fuel to the fire, "Of course I didn't agree, but they insisted on dying to persuade me, and said that if I didn't agree to their request, they would kneel down and never get up!"

"Auntie, they would rather threaten my life than force the two uncles to death!"

Zhu Houcong said with indignation.

Empress Dowager Zhang was also very indignant after hearing this: "How can they be so arrogant and unreasonable!"

Zhu Houcong then said, "Now I have asked Yuan Fu and others to persuade them, but in my opinion, it is very likely that they will fail to persuade me. They want to risk their lives to fight against me and force me to deal with the two uncles. I can certainly fulfill their wish, but they will use this method to make people in the world misunderstand that I am really a traitor who ignores the will of the people. After all, they are arguing for the system of court elections this time, and they don't want me to tolerate lawlessness. Naturally, it will give scholars in the world reason to believe that the emperor should use the wise ministers elected by the world to ensure long-term peace and stability in the world. The emperor is unwilling to do so and kills such honest ministers. He is undoubtedly a traitor to the people and a tyrant."

"So, you are going to agree to them and give in to them?"

"But you said yourself that you would treat them as your uncles!"

As Empress Dowager Zhang asked, she stood up excitedly and looked at Zhu Houcong.

Zhu Houcong said: "It's not that there are no other ways, but this method will damage your reputation, because you have to express your position to cut off their hopes, so that they don't think that you will stand on their side and support them in disrupting the ancestral rules."

"As long as I can protect our ancestors' country and prevent those treacherous officials from getting what they want, even if it means taking my life!"

"That's what you say!"

Empress Dowager Zhang said through gritting her teeth.

Zhu Houcong said, "I can succeed the throne according to the order of our ancestors, but now in terms of etiquette and law, you are the most honorable elder in the royal family. You represent our ancestors and the previous emperor. If you want me to rule alone according to the ancestral system in order to defend the laws of our ancestors, I naturally can't disrespect you and undermine my own position just to follow public opinion. Even they dare not overturn this table. After all, they dare not abandon the etiquette system. If they abandon the etiquette system, they will also lose their authority in the family!"

"Originally, this is their biggest problem. They have the final say at home, but they want the emperor to listen to public opinion!"

"This has led to a bias in the etiquette system towards the upper and lower classes. If they want the world to follow public opinion, then they must first follow public opinion at home!"

When Zhu Houcong said this, Empress Dowager Zhang said seriously: "I understand what you mean!"

then.

Empress Dowager Zhang said coldly, "Please ask the Emperor to ask the Imperial Household Department to draft an edict for me to protect the laws of our ancestors and punish those who disobey us. Then give it to me. I will personally take the edict to meet them!"

"Since you don't want rules, then don't want rules at all!"

Empress Dowager Zhang said, "Give me the crown!"

"Take the crown!"

The palace maids around Empress Dowager Zhang were greatly surprised.

Empress Dowager Zhang had no choice but to shout again.

then.

The palace maids around Empress Dowager Zhang had no choice but to take off her crown.

And then.

Empress Dowager Zhang angrily pulled out the golden hairpin on her head, causing her long hair to fall down like a waterfall.

Afterwards, Empress Dowager Zhang clasped her hands in front of her abdomen and walked out with big strides, her face looking cold.

Zhu Houcong was shocked when he saw this.

He intended to let Empress Dowager Zhang overturn the table and force the civil officials in the outer court to agree to his killing and safeguard the imperial power for him. He also completely cut off the way for those scholars and officials to fight for their power at the cost of their own lives in terms of etiquette and law!

But he didn't expect that Empress Dowager Zhang would use such violent actions.

However, what Zhu Houcong did not know was that Empress Dowager Zhang was such an extreme person in history. In history, when Emperor Jiajing wanted to deal with Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling, she forced Jiajing to do so by kneeling down with her hair disheveled.

However, in this life, Jiajing cleverly transferred the conflict between the emperor and the imperial harem and relatives into the conflict between the imperial harem and relatives and the gentry, which made it so that Empress Dowager Zhang's violent behavior of overturning the table according to etiquette was not directed at him but at the officials.

(End of this chapter)