The number one sycophant of the Ming Dynasty

On the 27th day of the tenth month in the winter of the 38th year of the Jiajing reign (155

The guard post in the backyard of the Guanglu Temple in Shuntian Prefecture.

Chen Han was awakened by a sobbing voice.

"Supervisor Chen! You're finally awake! If you hadn't woken up, Director Liu would have tied you up and taken you to the West Garden to take the blame!"

Chen Han suddenly sat up.

He remembers it very clearly.

One second he was slamming his fist on the table in the county government office, assuring his superiors that there would be absolutely no mistakes; the next second his heart stopped.

When he woke up again, he wasn't in a hospital, but in the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty.

My head hurts, like I've been hit with a stick, and countless unfamiliar memories are creeping into it:

In the thirty-eighth year of the Jiajing reign, Prince Yu and Prince Jing vied for the throne. He served as the supervisor of the Yongshou Palace in the Western Garden and the Guanglu Temple. He was an eighth-rank official. He worked at Prince Yu's residence and was responsible for the winter solstice offerings. He was overstepping his authority and was beheaded and skinned alive.

I rely on!

Did I die suddenly from staying up all night writing materials in my past life, and will I die suddenly again in this body I'm in this life?

He was demoted from deputy director of the county government office to supervisor of the Guanglu Temple, a position of eighth rank. However, his benefits for sudden death did not decrease.

Chen Han's vision went black, and he almost fell back down.

What was the year 38 of the Jiajing reign?

It has been ten years since Crown Prince Zhu Zaiyi suddenly passed away.

According to the ancestral system of establishing the eldest son in the absence of a legitimate heir, the third prince, Zhu Zaiji, should have been the rightful heir apparent.

However, Emperor Jiajing, a master of riddles, believed the slanderous words of a Taoist priest that two dragons could not meet, and thus concluded that establishing a crown prince was unlucky, and refused to appoint one no matter what.

For ten years, Prince Yu and Prince Jing, Zhu Zaizhen, have remained in this limbo, neither rising nor falling.

There was no difference in etiquette or treatment, and no one knew who the emperor truly favored.

In the imperial court, Yan Song and his faction tried to discern the emperor's intentions. Seeing that the emperor favored Prince Jing, they secretly sided with Prince Jing.

Meanwhile, the Qingliu faction, led by Xu Jie, adhered strictly to etiquette and supported Prince Yu.

The two factions' open and covert struggles turned the struggle for the throne into the biggest vortex in the imperial court.

His current identity is Chen Han, an eighth-rank supervisor of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, a nobody at the bottom of the entire bureaucratic system.

The original owner had only been at the job for three months, barely settled in, when he was given a hot potato that could wipe out an entire family:

When Prince Yu was to present the winter solstice offerings to Emperor Jiajing, the chief secretary of his residence was instigated by a group of upright officials eager to gain favor in the succession struggle. In order to outdo Prince Jing in the succession battle, he raised the standard of the offerings by three grades, directly exceeding the ancestral rules for the sacrifices of princes, which was an overreach of regulations.

Normally, this would only result in a scolding and a six-month salary deduction.

But what time is it now?

With the struggle for the throne at a critical juncture, the emperor saw both of his sons as potential usurpers. Submitting this excessive tribute was tantamount to handing a knife to Yan Song and his cronies.

Confirming Prince Yu's crimes of "usurping power and coveting the throne" would effectively extinguish his hopes of winning the throne.

Of course, Prince Yu was his own son, so at most he was reprimanded and neglected.

The person in charge of this offering, who was originally the supervisor of the Guanglu Temple, was in charge of sacrificial matters. So the first person to be sent to the West Market to be beheaded would probably have to do so as well, and his family might also be implicated.

The original owner, a newly appointed scholar, had never seen anything like this before.

His superiors at the Court of Imperial Sacrifices shifted all the blame onto him. He stayed up for three days and three nights, searching through the entire "Collected Statutes of the Ming Dynasty," but still couldn't find a way to break the deadlock.

I also heard that recently, because of Yan Song's slander, the Emperor in the West Garden has become increasingly suspicious of Prince Yu. In one day, he demoted three officials under Prince Yu's residence. The pressure was so great that his heart stopped and he died suddenly in his duty room.

Chen Han cursed inwardly, but his face remained impassive. He took the tea from the old clerk Zheng Dianli beside him, took a sip, and suppressed the turmoil in his mind.

"Where's the order?"

Zheng Dianli was stunned for a moment, then quickly handed over a stack of crumpled papers from the table, looking miserable: "Supervisor Chen, this has been revised eight times already, but it's still not right no matter how I revise it."

"If we reduce the tribute, the Prince Yu's residence will object, saying that we have slighted His Highness's filial piety."

"If we don't reduce it, this blatant overreach will cost us both our heads!"

"Liu Shuzheng said that if a decision cannot be made before Shenshi (3-5 PM) today, he will send you and me to the Cabinet to report back."

"Go and report to Grand Secretary Yan, Supervisor Chen!"

Chen Han felt a chill run down his spine.

Yan Song, also known as Grand Secretary Yan.

The powerful backer behind King Jing.

If this list were to fall into Yan Song's hands, it wouldn't just be a matter of beheading.

Yan Song had a hundred ways to solidify his relationship with Prince Yu's mansion, then follow the clues to uncover a major treason case, and take the opportunity to uproot Prince Yu's faction.

Chen Han didn't speak, but looked down at the list of tribute items, the official documents from the Prince Yu's residence, and the reply that Si Yan had urged three times.

The deputy director of the office immediately activated his professional instincts at this moment.

He understands this kind of situation all too well.

Essentially, it's this: the leader (Prince Yu) wanted to build up his political achievements and improve his public image, so his strategist (Qingliu) came up with a terrible idea that crossed the line, and in the end, all the blame was shifted to the low-level staff who actually handled the task.

In his past life, he must have cleaned up his boss's messes like this at least eighty or a hundred times.

The key to breaking the deadlock has never been "whether or not to change the offerings", but "how to turn the over-the-top pot into a compliant prize".

They also had to absolve all those involved of responsibility, and even make the top leader (Jiajing) feel comfortable, so that their political enemies (Yan Song) could not find any fault with them.

He immediately spotted the key point: the list was stuck at the Shanggong Bureau's Yan Si.

The Siyansi (司言司) was in charge of official correspondence and document review between the inner court, the outer court, and the princes' residences. All memorials and tribute lists from the princes' residences to the emperor had to be checked and approved by the Siyansi before being submitted to the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs, and finally delivered to Emperor Jiajing of the Western Garden.

The female official in charge of the Siyan Division was Shen Zhiyu, a sixth-rank official.

In the original owner's memory, this Manager Shen was notoriously unyielding and strictly adhered to regulations. This list had already been returned by her three times, each time with only four words: "Inappropriate according to regulations."

Is this woman mentally unstable?

wrong!

As one of the four departments of the Shanggong Bureau, the Siyansi was stationed in the inner palace, far away from Jiajing's private villa, Xiyuan.

Since the Renyin Palace Incident, Emperor Jiajing has been afraid of women. From the twenty-first year of his reign to the present, a period of seventeen or eighteen years, he has returned to the Forbidden City a handful of times.

Although Shen Zhiyu was twenty years old, as a mid-level female official, she probably hadn't even met the Jiajing Emperor in her lifetime, so she wouldn't need to try to curry favor with him, nor would she be able to.

Moreover, given her age, she was already considered an older single woman. According to palace rules, she would have to be released from the palace in two years, so there was no need to make things difficult for her.

Upon realizing this, Chen Han instantly understood.

Shen Zhiyu was also put on the hot seat.

If she approves it, it means she helped Prince Yu cover up the overstepping of regulations. If Yan Song holds her accountable in the future, she will be the first to lose her head.

If we don't approve it, we'll offend Prince Yu.

Although the struggle for the throne was deadlocked, Prince Yu was two months older than Prince Jing and had the upper hand legally. As a female official in the inner court, she dared not gamble.

However, this situation, which is a dead end for others, is practically a free win for him, the deputy director of the office who has been dancing on the edge of the red line for years.

"Bring me a pen."

Zheng Dianli was stunned: "Supervisor Chen, you want to revise it again? It's already been revised eight times..."

"Stop talking nonsense, get the pen." Chen Han raised his eyes, instantly silencing Zheng Dianli, who quickly ground the ink and handed over the pen...