Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 4 Zhengde's Last Words
"It should have been decided long ago, but you are so cautious!"

In fact, Jiang Mian was more eager to support Zhu Houcong than Yang Tinghe.

Because Zhu Houcong had been enthusiastically promoting himself as a studious and polite person over the past decade, many civil officials had already developed a favorable impression of him.

Especially after Zhengde became seriously ill, many civil servants with impatient or upright temperaments had begun to identify Zhu Houcong as the future emperor.

Moreover, according to the rules of rotation of the throne set by Zhu Yuanzhang, if Zhengde did not appoint a successor and only followed the rotation, Zhu Houcong would be the most suitable person to be the new emperor.

So, after Yang Tinghe said this, Jiang Mian started to blame Yang Tinghe.

Yang Tinghe didn't say much, just looked ashamed.

"Huguang has received a letter. Prince Xing not only treats court officials very well, but also disciplines himself to be extremely frugal. Every meal consists of wild vegetables, tofu and porridge. He says that he is aware of the suffering of the people and shows the kindness of his ancestors."

Although Jiang Mian had long advocated the use of the rotation system to make Zhu Houcong the emperor, Yang Tinghe still informed Jiang Mian of the situation of Zhu Houcong that Wang Yu had told him.

Jiang Mian nodded after hearing this, and when he thought of the pain that the Zhengde Dynasty had caused to them, the civil officials, he couldn't help but shed tears and sighed:

"The good master has reappeared!"

"Eunuch Wei from the Imperial Household Department has arrived!"

At this time, a eunuch's droopy voice was heard from outside.

Yang Tinghe and Jiang Mian immediately looked frightened.

Generally, the eunuchs of the Imperial Household Department would not easily go to the cabinet.

The Imperial Household Department communicated with the Cabinet only through the eunuchs in the Secretariat.

Only when the emperor gave an oral order would the eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department dare to come directly to the cabinet to meet the ministers.

Now, the eunuch Wei Bin from the Imperial Household Department suddenly came to the cabinet.

The only reason could be that Emperor Zhengde's condition had become seriously ill!

"The Emperor has issued an oral order that the national medical system is exhausted. Please issue an order to offer a reward of 10,000 gold coins to find a famous doctor among the people."

Wei Bin came before the cabinet ministers in tears and conveyed Zhengde's words.

Even ants have the desire to steal their lives.

What’s more, he was Zhengde, the emperor?

However, Zhengde knew that it was now difficult for him to control the Ming bureaucracy, and he also knew that many ministers must be hoping that he would die as soon as possible and stop causing trouble.

Therefore, when he conveyed his final oral instruction to the cabinet, he used the word "please".

He hoped that Yang Tinghe would do one more thing for him as the emperor for the sake of their teacher-student relationship, and ask the bureaucrats of the world to find some experts who could cure serious illnesses for him.

But Yang Tinghe and others had long been hoping for Zhengde's death, so how could they be willing to mobilize the state machinery to find another famous folk doctor for Zhengde?
Therefore, Yang Tinghe replied at this time: "You know the emperor has a purpose, it is not to seek medical treatment."

Wei Bin was stunned by Yang Tinghe's irrelevant reply, and his eyes turned gloomy.

Yang Tinghe only said: "Please announce to your majesty that you should not worry about anything. There is a rotation system to follow."

Wei Bin sighed slightly, then nodded, and then returned to Zhengde and told Zhengde about this.

After hearing this, Zhengde burst into tears.

He knew that his teacher had really abandoned him!
But Zhengde did not hate Yang Tinghe. He knew that this was not something that Yang Tinghe could decide alone.

Because it was not only Yang Tinghe who wanted him to die quickly, but the entire conservative bureaucratic group who missed the old system of Emperor Xiaozong!
Therefore, even if he was not afraid of being branded as cruel and merciless and brutal towards his teacher, he ordered the death of his teacher Yang Tinghe and forced Yang Tinghe to draft an order to search for famous doctors all over the world, and then forced all officials in the world, from governors to counties, to search for famous doctors, most of the officials in the world would not take the search seriously.

Otherwise, Zhengde would not have asked the cabinet for help in the form of "please", but would have directly issued an edict to let the cabinet draft it.

He actually didn't have much hope for this, but was just trying to test his teacher Yang Tinghe before his death.

Moreover, although Zhengde had always been an unconventional emperor, he inherited his father's kind nature, so he did not really intend to do anything to his teacher Yang Tinghe.

He knew that the biggest conflict between him and Yang Tinghe was their political views.

Since Yang Tinghe abandoned him, he would naturally abandon his political ideas completely and would not give him another chance just because he was his monarch, father and student.

of course.

Zhengde also understood that during his reign, he had paid more attention to military construction and used Liu Jin, Jiang Bin and others to make money in order to build a strong army. In addition, he had repeatedly traveled to the southern border, which increased the burden on the people and neglected various water conservancy projects that were beneficial to people's livelihood, leading to large-scale civil unrest and disasters.

Among them, the rebellion of Liu Liu and Liu Qi exhausted all the silver in the treasury of the whole country, and even the princes became ambitious and wanted to rebel.

Therefore, Zhengde could understand why his teacher Yang Tinghe abandoned him and why he hoped that the next Ming court would pay more attention to people's livelihood.

in fact.

After suppressing the Ning Wang Rebellion, he also took the initiative to shift his focus to people's livelihood.

To this end, he no longer missed every sacrificial ceremony, nor easily left court, and began to behave like a qualified emperor in accordance with the requirements of etiquette.

He even took the initiative to meet with Yang Yiqing when he returned to Beijing last year, exchanged ideas with him, and prepared to have Yang Yiqing return to the court to carry out reforms in domestic affairs for him. Because he knew that compared with his teacher Yang Tinghe, a Hanlin Qingliu who was not familiar with practical affairs and had been an official in the capital all his life, Yang Yiqing, who was familiar with border affairs and local government affairs, was more suitable to improve people's livelihood through reforms without affecting the strength of the army.

It was a pity for Zhengde that he became seriously ill too quickly and did not have time to arrange for Yang Yiqing to return to the court.

What made Zhengde even more regretful was that the huge amount of wealth he had accumulated in the Neichengyunku over the years, which he had obtained through the confiscation of money from Liu Jin, Qian Ning and King Ning, as well as the large amount of political donations and money obtained through Liu Jin's reforms, was originally intended to be used to support the army after rectifying internal affairs. However, it might be taken away by conservative civil officials such as his teacher Yang Tinghe to provide relief to the people's livelihood.

Because Zhengde knew his teacher Yang Tinghe very well, he knew that he was not a person who was really willing to change the old system. Instead, he only advocated saving money and cutting redundant staff, using the emperor's treasury to mend the wounds, and even preferred to settle the refugees by weakening the national defense rather than changing the system of the world.

"Tell the new king that my money should not be abused!"

"Also, please come later, ma'am!"

Zhengde had no choice but to force open his eye sockets, which were as sunken as the abyss and lifeless, and with his last breath, he gave Wei Bin a few instructions.

Wei Bin bowed and said yes and left.

Zhengde quickly closed his extremely tired eyes.

He knew that if the rotation was followed, the next new emperor would only be Zhu Houcong. Moreover, Zhu Houcong had indeed been studious and frugal over the years, and was widely praised by scholars, and he also behaved very honestly and mediocrely.

But Zhengde didn't know whether his cousin Zhu Houcong, whom he had never met, was really so honest and mediocre that he would allow himself to be manipulated by Yang Tinghe, or whether he was just pretending.

Now he just wanted to remind him as much as possible and make him understand that he could not let Yang Tinghe manipulate him in everything.

Because Zhengde didn't want Yang Tinghe to easily dismantle his own growing military force.

Although he did not hate Yang Tinghe for abandoning him, in order to defend his political ideals, he would do so without hesitation as long as he could create obstacles for Yang Tinghe as much as possible.

Just as Yang Tinghe would abandon him as a student without hesitation because of different political ideas.

So, Zhengde gave Wei Bin these instructions.

Next.

Zhengde fell into a deep sleep.

When he woke up, the lights were on and he could hear faint sobbing beside him.

When Zhengde opened his eyes, he saw his mother, Empress Dowager Zhang, in front of him.

When Zhengde woke up, Empress Dowager Zhang, with tears streaming down her face, hurriedly called out, "My son."

Zhengde was unable to speak at this time. He just tried to stretch out his hand and put his fingers on Empress Dowager Zhang's hand.

Empress Dowager Zhang quickly held his hand and asked with concern, "What do you want to say?"

Zhengde tried his best to write five words on the palm of Empress Dowager Zhang.

Writing these five words seemed to have exhausted all his energy, so much so that after he finished writing, his hands drooped from the bedside and his face became paler.

Empress Dowager Zhang was slightly surprised, but nodded, indicating that she understood Zhengde's meaning.

Zhengde smiled slightly.

For him, this was his last contribution to his 17 years of hard work in military reform, and also the only counterattack he took against Yang Tinghe.

Then, Zhengde forced the Queen Mother to leave temporarily.

On the afternoon of the day when Empress Dowager Zhang left, Zhengde, who felt that he would not live long, had to force himself to speak to the two eunuchs Chen Jing and Su Jin who stayed by his side temporarily:

"I am ill and can no longer be cured. You and Zhang Rui can summon the eunuchs to come and tell the Empress Dowager my opinion. It is up to them to discuss the affairs of the world with the ministers of the Cabinet. This matter was all caused by me, and you are not capable of helping."

They both said yes with tears in their eyes.

Not long after, Zhengde died in the Leopard House.

When Empress Dowager Zhang and Empress Xia found out, they burst into tears.

It took a long time for Wei Bin and other eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department to persuade him to stop.

Then Wei Bin said to Empress Dowager Zhang: "Empress Dowager, we should send someone to the cabinet to discuss the matter of establishing a new emperor."

Empress Dowager Zhang thought for a moment and said, "Then let Zhang Yong and Gu Dayong go ask the elders."

Zhang Yong and Gu Dayong came to the cabinet and informed it of the emperor's death and asked Yang Tinghe how to establish a new emperor.

Yang Tinghe took out the "Imperial Ming Ancestor Instructions" from his sleeve and said to the two of them:

"When the elder brother dies, the younger brother succeeds. Who can change it? Now the eldest son of King Xingxian, the grandson of the Xianmiao, the nephew of the Xiaomiao, and the younger brother of the late emperor, the order should be established."

"I second the proposal!"

Grand Secretaries Liang Chu, Jiang Mian and Mao Ji all echoed this.

(End of this chapter)