Jiajing Chengming

Anfu raised his head and looked at Yang Tinghe in surprise: "How did the master find out about this?"

Yang Tinghe walked around in the courtyard.

After walking a few steps, Yang Tinghe said, "You act too submissive, but you never use my power to bully others. It's hard not to be suspicious of me!"

Anfu was slightly stunned after hearing this.

Then, Anfu kowtowed and said, "I am sorry, Master. I have been spying on you for Your Majesty. I am willing to be punished!"

"I told you, even if you admit it, I won't do anything to you."

"After all, you are already His Majesty's man."

Yang Tinghe spoke with a smile.

Afterwards, Yang Tinghe asked Anfu to get up first.

Anfu also stood up.

Yang Tinghe then looked at Anfu and said solemnly: "I only ask one thing of you."

Anfu knelt down again and said, "Master, please don't ask me for help. I have already let you down, how can I delay with this word?"

"The decision on this matter is in your hands. I can't force you, so I can only ask for help."

"Besides, you are already His Majesty's man, three levels higher than the official. In my Yang family, you are already the most powerful person. As long as I know your true identity, can I continue to order you without asking for help?"

Yang Tinghe asked with a smile and then started talking.

An Fu fell silent at this time.

Yang Tinghe then continued, "I only ask you not to tell His Majesty that I know you are his man."

Anfu remained silent.

"I have decided not to stay in this world!"

"So, even if you keep it a secret for me, it won't ruin the emperor's business."

"We have been master and servant for decades, can't you agree to my request?"

Yang Tinghe asked.

Anfu still didn't answer.

Yang Tinghe said: "Just have pity on me, an old man who has lost everything!"

"Besides, even if you tell His Majesty, it will only let His Majesty know that you didn't hide it well and that I, Yang Tinghe, had seen through his mind a long time ago, making him angry. It won't do His Majesty any good. Even for the sake of His Majesty's health, you can keep it a secret."

"Why doesn't the master want to live anymore?"

Anfu suddenly asked at this time.

Yang Tinghe smiled awkwardly after hearing this: "Since you asked me this, I won't hide it from you."

"You should have seen by now that many of the things your majesty has done have proven time and again that my previous ideas were wrong."

"My Lord, I am also gradually losing my dignity because of your Majesty's strategy."

"The gold mines of Donglai and the silver mountains of Iwami all show that the imperial court can improve the world without sacrificing the emperor or the country's military achievements, and thus achieve true rejuvenation! And the emperor does not have to continue to maintain a false prosperity that appears to be a revival but is actually full of hidden dangers."

"In this case, can I, your master, who is the so-called senior official who makes decisions, still be called a good minister who eliminates corruption?"

"Zhang, Gui and others are more qualified than me, the master!"

"More importantly, when the grand ceremony was being decided, I was the first one to say I would not support recognizing the Xiao Temple as the grand ceremony for the Emperor's father. And I was also the one who changed the grand ceremony to recognize my own life as the Emperor's father. No matter how people in the future look at me, they will think that I am more hypocritical than Zhang, Gui and others!"

"I originally thought that sooner or later, Your Majesty would run out of opportunities to make money from outside, and would go back to the old path I advocated, and become an emperor who emulated the filial piety of the emperor!"

"Then I won't have to worry about losing face!"

"But the fact is that Your Majesty, with the power of the imperial court, can indeed gain more external benefits and promote people's livelihood than the scattered local forces such as the gentry along the coast. This has solved the problems of the royal family and the military households, and has also strengthened the authority of the lord, making it easier for the world to obey orders!"

"The emperor ruling alone is indeed better than the emperor and his subjects ruling together!"

When Yang Tinghe said this, he looked at Anfu: "Now that the Ming Dynasty has come to this point, do you think I have any better choice than to die? I can't really do something to let down His Majesty, and make His Majesty and his loyal ministers more and more suspicious that I am the one behind the scenes opposing them?" Anfu sobbed after hearing this.

After a while, Anfu said, "I promised you that I would not tell the emperor."

"it is good!"

"Anfu, please accept my greeting!"

At this time, Yang Tinghe bowed to Anfu.

Anfu was flattered and kowtowed again: "I can't bear it, Master, please don't do this!"

And then, Yang Tinghe really became weaker and weaker, and eventually he could not open his mouth or lift his hands.

Ten days later, Anfu saw that Yang Tinghe's third son Yang Heng started crying and yelling after feeling his father's breath, and thus knew that Yang Tinghe had died.

Anfu himself shed tears because of this.

However, he still made a secret report to Zhu Houcong, reporting that Yang Tinghe had died.

At the same time, Anfu still kept his promise to Yang Tinghe and did not tell Zhu Houcong that his true identity had been discovered by Yang Tinghe.

However, what Anfu did not know was that late at night after Yang Tinghe was buried, with the help of Yang Heng and his brother Yang Zhen, Yang Tinghe's grave was dug up, and he was lifted out of the coffin by his two sons.

At this time, Yang Tinghe had his hair shaved in advance, and he looked like an old monk.

Soon, Yang Heng brought over a set of monk's robes and helped Yang Tinghe change into them.

At the same time, Yang Zhen also handed a saddlebag containing many silver dollars to Yang Tinghe.

"Father! Anfu committed suicide by taking poison."

When Yang Tinghe changed into monk's robes and took over the saddle bag, Yang Heng started talking about Anfu's situation.

Yang Tinghe suddenly looked at his son coldly: "Don't shout like that! Your father, the Grand Tutor, has passed away!"

"Yes!"

The two of them responded hurriedly with a solemn look on their faces.

Yang Tinghe sneered again and said: "As for Anfu, such a pedantic person, let him die! There is nothing to regret, but we just need to do the superficial work and bury him in the name of a loyal slave in the mansion!"

They both said yes again.

Next, Yang Tinghe walked forward and gradually disappeared into the night.

Yang Heng and Yang Zhen personally closed the coffin and filled it with soil.

……

……

Zhu Houcong received the news of Yang Tinghe's death on July 6, the seventh year of Jiajing.

This surprised him.

Because he was a person from later generations and had studied the history of the Zhengde and Jiajing dynasties, he clearly remembered that Yang Tinghe died in the eighth year of Jiajing.

But now, Yang Tinghe passed away in the seventh year of Jiajing.

This also made Zhu Houcong very surprised.

He didn't know whether it was because of the series of things he had done that made Yang Tinghe more disappointed and depressed in this life, or whether there was some other hidden story behind Yang Tinghe's death.

In line with the principle of being cautious in holding power, Zhu Houcong instructed Qin Wen of the Imperial Household Department: "Send a secret order to Lu Bing and ask him to go to Sichuan secretly to investigate whether there is any hidden reason behind Yang Tinghe's death."

Although Qin Wen was quite surprised that the emperor wanted to send someone to investigate after receiving the news of Yang Tinghe's death, he still nodded in agreement and passed the secret order to Lu Bing.

Although Zhu Houcong asked Lu Bing to investigate whether there was any hidden secret behind Yang Tinghe's death, he still pretended to believe that Yang Tinghe had died. He ordered the suspension of court for three days and asked the Ministry of Rites to discuss the posthumous title for him.

A few months later, Yang Tinghe saw the imperial edict in the "Dibao" that Zhu Houcong would suspend court for three days for him on his way to Huguang.

Yang Tinghe smiled faintly and murmured to himself: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I am afraid that you will not know that I, Yang Tinghe, am still alive until you die!" (End of this chapter)