Ming Dynasty: I, Yan Maoqing, am truly radiating auspicious energy!

Chapter 269 Serving in the same court as Yan Maoqing is harmful to your health [Seeking monthly votes]

“Xu Jie…”

Yan Maoqing suddenly felt a headache coming on.

He had indeed seen Xu Jie's name on the official roster of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and knew that Xu Jie would return to his post after the mourning period.

I just didn't expect them to come back so quickly; it feels like one thing after another has happened.

This was the real biggest corrupt official during the Jiajing reign; even Yan Song and his son paled in comparison.

Moreover, Yan Maoqing believed that the biggest difference between Yan Song and his son and Xu Jie was...

Yan Song and his son were poisonous and truly despicable.

Xu Jie, on the other hand, was cunning and a hypocrite.

This is a true smiling tiger. He can feign compliance with anyone to achieve his goals, is extremely adept at seeking fame and reputation, and is accustomed to stabbing people in the back from behind the scenes.

Historically, figures such as Xia Yan, Yan Song, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, and Hai Rui were all deceived by Xu Jie's outward appearance, either promoting him, respecting him, praising him, or supporting him.

The same was true of all the censors and officials in the court.

After Zhu Houcong's death, Xu Jie skipped over the other cabinet ministers and drafted the imperial edict on his own.

This imperial edict overturned many of the policies of Zhu Houcong's reign, allowing many officials who had been convicted in the "Great Rites Controversy" to be reinstated, and most of those who had already died to be exonerated and posthumously honored.

This move almost single-handedly nailed Zhu Houcong to the pillar of shame, slapping him in the face from both sides, so the court and the public celebrated it, and Xu Jie's reputation became unparalleled for a time.

So much so that when Gao Gong wanted to impeach Xu Jie for fabricating imperial edicts, very few censors and officials in the court responded, and he had to give up.

For Zhu Houcong, this was undoubtedly a complete betrayal.

If he knew this in the afterlife, he would probably be so angry that he would scratch the coffin lid to pieces, transform into a corpse demon, jump out of the coffin, and bite Xu Jie.

The same applies to Yan Song.

In an effort to curry favor with Yan Song, he even arranged a marriage between his children and Yan's family, betrothing his granddaughter to Yan Song's grandson.

Only after the relationship between the two sides was eased was Xu Jie able to enter the cabinet.

However, not long after Xu Jie entered the cabinet, he launched a fierce attack by Yang Jisheng, who impeached Yan Song for "five treachery and ten crimes," which was tantamount to sounding the charge against Yan in the court.

Ultimately, Yang Jisheng was persecuted by Yan Song, who paid for it with his life, while Yan Song's reputation was completely ruined in the court and among the people.

On the surface, this matter seems to have nothing to do with Xu Jie, but Xu Jie is definitely the one who benefits from it. Furthermore, the timing of the incident and the relationship between Yang Jisheng and Xu Jie are all worth examining.

It should be noted that Yang Jisheng was a student of the Imperial Academy when Xu Jie served as the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy!

Besides.

Yan Maoqing felt there was another matter that could be discussed through a conspiracy theory.

That was the death of the current Crown Prince Zhu Zaiyi.

The month after Xu Jie was promoted to Minister of Rites and concurrently head of the Hanlin Academy, he was in charge of the coming-of-age ceremony for Crown Prince Zhu Zaiyi. Xu Jie was responsible for all related matters.

Then, the day after his coronation, he suddenly fell seriously ill and died.

Even before Zhu Zai Rui's body was cold, Xu Jie began to request Zhu Houcong to establish an heir, arguing that the country could not be without a foundation for a single day. In the year following Zhu Zai Rui's death, Xu Jie submitted five memorials requesting the establishment of a crown prince and praised Prince Yu, Zhu Zaihou, highly.

There is a key point in this matter.

That is, Yan Song and his son supported Crown Prince Zhu Zaiyi, while the one they did not approve for the annual allowance for three consecutive years was Prince Yu Zhu Zaihou, who was supported by Xu Jie...

In short, Xu Jie is a dangerous person and we must be very careful!

If there's anything commendable about him, Yan Maoqing thinks it's that he doesn't engage in political persecution like Yan Song and his son.

Perhaps it was to preserve their reputation as "pure and upright" individuals and avoid being criticized for it.

Or perhaps it was to avoid the backlash from his political enemies after he returned to his hometown in his old age. Indeed, there are no records in historical books of Xu Jie ruthlessly eliminating his political enemies; apart from Yan Shifan, Yan Song also eventually died of old age.

But now the question is.

Yan Maoqing felt that his current situation was very similar to that of Yan Song and his son in history. Whether they were greedy or not or not was irrelevant. The key point was that their power was very similar, and their stance was also that of the princelings.

Xu Jie is clearly the kind of hypocrite who is unwilling to be subordinate to others, and a habitual offender who betrays and defies his superiors. Now that he has returned from mourning for his father and become his subordinate, there is a lot of problems with him no matter how you look at it.

the most important is.

After Yan Song fell from power, his family property was confiscated, and he was stripped of his official position and sent back to his hometown.

Now that he has been granted the title of Duke, it will be difficult for him to completely sever ties with the Ming Dynasty.

As for that so-called iron certificate... Yan Maoqing regarded it as a piece of junk iron that was too bad to even use as a table leg.

Were there few imperial edicts issued at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty?

The vast majority of meritorious officials who possessed imperial edicts of merit were stripped of their property and their entire families were executed.
Even putting aside these distant examples, take his current adoptive father, Guo Xun, for instance. He was promoted to Duke of Yi in this dynasty, so he must also have a certificate of merit, right?

He was still imprisoned at the age of nearly seventy, and died in prison in less than a year due to Xia Yan's disobedience.

To put it bluntly, this is something whose symbolic significance outweighs its practical function.

Those who know how to play the game in the imperial court make no difference whether they have an imperial edict or not.

Those who don't know how to play, or those who haven't played well, will still die regardless of whether they have a special decree or not...

I thought so in my heart.

Yan Maoqing's gaze towards Xu Jie gradually softened into a smile, a smile more radiant than ever before:
"So you are Xu Jie. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I have long heard that you are exceptionally talented and ambitious. When you passed the imperial examination and became the third-ranked scholar, Grand Secretary Yang Tinghe even predicted that your future rank would not be lower than that of the cabinet ministers."

"Upon meeting you today, I can confirm your extraordinary demeanor, which lives up to Yang Tinghe's prediction from back then."

"..."

Xu Jie was taken aback by what he heard. He was a little confused as to whether Yan Maoqing was a fortune teller, was speaking from the heart, or was actually being sarcastic.

However, after only a slight hesitation, he humbly bowed again:
"You flatter me, Lord Biguo. I know my own limitations. Grand Secretary Yang was just joking back then. You should not take it seriously, Lord Biguo."

Then Yan Maoqing continued, laughing, "..."

"Speaking of which, there is something I feel quite guilty about. This time, I was ordered to go to Shanxi on business. When I passed through Pingyang Prefecture, I accidentally arrested your mentor who was the prefect of Pingyang Prefecture. You shouldn't mind, right?"

"Ahem! Ahem!"

Upon hearing this, Grand Secretary Xia Yan, who was standing nearby, immediately choked and began to cough uncontrollably.

He suspected that Yan Maoqing had tuberculosis, otherwise why would he cough every time he saw this young man?

Moreover, he had never met anyone as good at chatting as Yan Maoqing in his entire life. Yan Maoqing talked to him relentlessly, leaving no room for maneuver.

Serving in the same court as this kind of person is indeed detrimental to one's health; it's best to retire and return to one's hometown as soon as possible...

"???"

Xu Jie also felt a pang of unease.

He suspected that Yan Maoqing might be able to read minds!
Otherwise, why would he have immediately revealed his true purpose in asking Xia Yan for an introduction?
Most importantly, how did Yan Maoqing know that Nie Bao was his mentor?
Although this matter is not a secret, it happened nearly twenty years ago, and not many people in the court actually know about it.

Even if someone knew, it shouldn't be Yan Maoqing, who was just learning to speak back then and has only been an official for a little over a year now, who would know?

"But this is really not my fault."

Yan Maoqing then added with a smile,
“I was just following orders. It’s all your fault for having a corrupt and lawless teacher. I hope you only learned the teachings of the sages from him, and that you didn’t learn his corrupt and lawless ways as well.”

(End of this chapter)