The news about Shu Liang came quickly. Not long after Xu Youzhen came out of Nangong, the secret memorial was sent to Zhu Qiyu. (Due to caching reasons, please visit the browser directly.\nCOM website to watch the fastest chapter updates)
"A golden sword?"
Zhu Qiyu looked at the secret music in front of him with a playful look on his face.
In his past life and this life, his good brother's methods were exactly the same.
"What did Xu Youzhen say?"
Leaning gently on the couch behind him, Zhu Qiyu asked casually.
So, Shu Liang replied.
"Going back to your Majesty, the matter is of great importance. Mr. Xu dare not take matters into his own hands. He said that he will obey His Majesty's orders. If Your Majesty needs it, he can hold this golden sword and expose the Emperor's rebellious intentions in the court."
"expose?"
Zhu Qiyu sneered, as if he had heard something funny, which aroused Shu Liang's surprise.
By now, he has probably guessed the whole story. It is certain that the Supreme Emperor has the intention to regain the throne. With this golden sword, it can be considered as proof.
Therefore, although Shu Liang felt that reporting to the court might not be able to completely substantiate the matter, it could still be considered a good strategy.
Even if the Emperor cannot be dealt with like this, it would be of great benefit to the stability of the court to let the ministers in the government and the public know that the Emperor has such ambitions.
But why does the emperor look so mocking...
Shu Liang felt inexplicably that the atmosphere in the palace suddenly became a little tense. He lowered his head slightly and did not dare to say more.
After a moment, the atmosphere around him relaxed, and the emperor's voice also sounded, saying.
"Tell Xu Youzhen to remember his identity, do whatever he has to do, and go ahead..."
Hearing this, Shu Liang was slightly startled, but he didn't say much, he just bowed and silently retreated.
Looking at Shu Liang's leaving figure, Zhu Qiyu also sighed.
One thing Mu Yong doubted was that Xu Youzhen was his, and this identity should have been discovered by Zhu Qizhen.
This is not surprising. In fact, when Xu Youzhen went to lobby Zhang Shi, Zhu Qiyu had already made this preparation.
However, he still wants to give it a try. In the next few years, he needs long-term stability, so it would be best if Zhu Qizhen can be dealt with before then.
But now it seems that his brother went to the grassland and his brain has improved a lot, or rather, he still lacks the courage to burn the boat.
Zhu Qiyu's various previous actions, starting from rectifying the academic system and now sending Yu Qian out of the capital, actually had two core purposes.
The first is to consolidate the court. In fact, this should be regarded as a privilege that only the emperor of the Ming Dynasty had in the past dynasties. That is, as long as he wants, he can quickly concentrate all the power in the court at any time.
The fundamental reason is that after Taizu withdrew from Zhongshu Province and deposed the prime minister, there was no longer any force above the court that could restrain the imperial power.
To this day, whether it is the cabinet, the six ministries, or the temples, supervisors, Jinyiwei, and Dongchang, all the power in their hands is actually a branch of the imperial power. In other words, what they do should originally be the responsibility of the emperor himself.
What they were doing was just that because the emperor was low on energy or unwilling to expend his energy, he just let them handle it for the time being.
However, once the emperor wanted to take back power, no matter which yamen or officials it was, there was almost no power to resist.
This is the reason why some emperors of the Ming Dynasty can safely act as governors. It is also the reason why emperors such as Jiajing, Wanli, and Chongzhen, who were powerless or weak before they ascended the throne, can quickly take control of the government after reaching the age of pro-government.
the fundamentals of.
From this point of view, Emperor Taizu's order that future generations should never have another prime minister is not without vision. Moreover, in terms of means alone, it is not known to be much better than the redundant officials and redundant personnel in the two Song Dynasties.
However, no matter how clever the method is, there is still a price to pay, which is why Zhu Qiyu was not willing to do it at the beginning.
As an emperor, it is not difficult to control the court. It is nothing more than establishing his own absolute authority. The ancestral system when the Ming Dynasty was founded has established the absolute advantage of imperial power. On this basis, the emperor who holds imperial power wants to establish his own
Authoritative and very easy.
But no matter how easy it is, it still requires specific means, and this method is also very simple, that is, drive all the disobedient people out of the court.
The more cruel methods are directly dismissal from office and killing people, which is generally seen in abnormal successions, such as Jiajing, Chongzhen, etc. Wanli also counts, but his situation is special. Although he succeeded to the throne normally, he is weak and has no prestige.
Naturally, this method is also needed to establish prestige.
In addition, the methods of an emperor who normally succeeds to the throne should be milder, but the essence is the same. The same goal can be achieved by replacing the lower tone and choosing a close associate.
The latter is what Zhu Qiyu is doing now. He suppresses science and education, banishes all Qingliu who like to talk wildly out of the capital, promotes his trusted ministers, and finally... finds reasons to transfer ministers who like to go against the holy will.
.
The purpose of all this is to completely control the court and make Qian Gang dictatorial.
However, the emperor is not a god, and cannot be omniscient and omnipotent. He is bound to make mistakes as a human being. Even Zhu Qiyu, who has hundreds of years of experience, dare not say that he will never make mistakes. In most cases, the conclusions drawn by the collective wisdom are definitely better than the arbitrary conclusions of one person.
is more perfect, this is the first.
The second is that Zhu Qiyu has to admit that it is easy for people to get lost in the feeling of having great power and being dictatorial. He himself made this mistake in his previous life, and almost all the emperors of the Ming Dynasty also made this mistake. The emperor who is now in Nangong,
This is a clear example. Just because he can act arbitrarily, he can do whatever he wants, insist on personal conquest, and can hand over all military and political power to an eunuch who does not know how to lead troops in war. This has led to
disaster.
In addition to him, another representative is Jiajing. Zhu Qizhen’s fault is that he is too enterprising, while Jiajing’s problem is exactly the opposite. It is that he is too obsessed with power. After stabilizing his position, he went to court
No one in the hall dares to disobey any of his wishes, so he can peacefully pray to immortals, do whatever he wants, and live his life according to his own wishes.
These two people are two extremes. Apart from them, there are also Emperor Chenghua, his good nephew in the previous life, and later Zhengde and Wanli. They are basically like this. The only exception may be Emperor Hongzhi, but Hongzhi also
He would act arbitrarily on Queen Zhang and his relatives.
Therefore, although this feeling is wonderful, Zhu Qiyu, who is living again, does not want to do this, because sooner or later, this feeling will make people get lost and forget their responsibilities to the country.
It's a pity that God doesn't follow people's wishes. The last time the Earth Dragon turned over, he realized that there were some things that he couldn't change, such as the occurrence of natural disasters. Considering the disasters that were about to happen in the next few years, he had to temporarily
, and completely control the court.
In this sense, dealing with Zhu Qizhen is just a side purpose. In other words, Nangong's hidden dangers are actually one of the problems that he must solve in the process of controlling the court.
In fact, this is indeed his second purpose, which is to, if possible, let Zhu Qizhen mobilize troops to completely eliminate this hidden danger.
Unfortunately, Zhu Qiyu himself understands that it is not realistic to achieve this goal at this stage.
No matter how much bait Zhu Qiyu laid, in the final analysis, he did not dare to lay the real bait, for example... deposed prince!
Regarding the East Palace matter, what he is doing now is actually releasing a series of signals to depose the prince. However, if you look closely, you will find that there is no substantive action.
There was no dismissal of the subordinate officials in the East Palace, nor was there any real proposal to depose the crown prince in the court. Then the emperor's legitimate son was born and favored, then the main hall was opened, and there were rumors in the capital. It just seemed like a storm was coming.
generally.
This level of bait is not actually enough to make Zhu Qizhen make up his mind and sink the boat. The matter of Jiaofangsi may still be possible, but now it seems that even with the matter of Jiaofangsi, the level is still not enough.
.
Otherwise, it would be impossible for Zhu Qizhen to hand over such a big matter to Xu Youzhen, who was obviously having second thoughts.
He did this for one purpose, and that was to take advantage of his plan. Zhu Qiyu could almost conclude that there must be something wrong with this golden sword.
If Xu Youzhen really presented the golden sword, then what would greet him would be the result of stealing the chicken but losing the rice. It might not be able to hurt Zhu Qizhen, but would injure himself.
Zhu Qizhen must have a way to prove that this golden sword has nothing to do with him. At that time, this golden sword and Xu Youzhen will become evidence that he, the emperor, deliberately framed the emperor.
So in fact, this is Zhu Qiyu's biggest difficulty now. He cannot lay the real bait, just like deposing the prince, which will inevitably cause long-term turmoil in the court and disperse people's hearts. Although it can stimulate Zhu Qizhen to the greatest extent, but
, the long-term internal friction caused by this is unacceptable to Zhu Qiyu.
But without these baits, it is really difficult to get the big fish out. Zhu Qiyu has long been aware of this, so it should be said that he has also expected the current result.
Therefore, there is another level of preparation for what he did.
That is, if Zhu Qizhen really doesn't take the bait, then Xu Youzhen's identity and... are actually another signal.
Zhu Qiyu raised his head and looked across the deep night to the Chonghua Hall of Nangong.
If nothing else, Zhu Qizhen should have noticed this...
…………
"What? Your Majesty, are you telling the truth? Then...Xu Youzhen..."
The next day, in the Nangong Palace, Zhang Shi and Zhu Yi stood at the bottom. After hearing the words of the Supreme Emperor, they suddenly opened their mouths in surprise.
Seeing this situation, Zhu Qizhen's eyes turned cold and he nodded.
"Yes, I can confirm that Xu Youzhen is the person sent by Qianqing Palace. He tried his best to gain your trust and mine. The purpose is to encourage me to raise troops to seize the throne. In this way, the emperor can seize the throne naturally.
If my position is compromised, even the Prince of the East Palace will be implicated and lose his position as Crown Prince."
"This is unreasonable. His heart is really to be punished!"
After saying these words, Zhang Xi almost jumped up. He didn't even care that he was still in Nangong, and his voice was extremely angry.
Of course, Mr. Zhang cannot be blamed for this. Zhu Qizhen had already noticed that something was wrong with Xu Youzhen, but Zhang Min truly believed him.
At this moment, when he discovered that Xu Youzhen had been using him before, how could he not become furious?
In contrast, Zhu Yi was not much better. After hearing what Zhu Qizhen said, his eyes widened and he was shocked.
However, if he thought about it this way, the vague weird feeling he had every time he saw Xu Youzhen could be explained...
Zhu Yi suppressed the shock in her heart and spoke.
"Your Majesty, what Governor Zhang said is reasonable. Xu Youzhen is so audacious and intends to frame your Majesty. It is really hateful. I wonder how your Majesty plans to deal with this person?"
"How to deal with it..."
Zhu Qizhen watched the reactions of the two people below with cold eyes. After a moment, he asked.
"You two are both my loyal ministers, so I want to hear your opinions on this matter."
Hearing this, Zhu Yi's heart tightened, but there was no strange color on her face as she said decisively.
"Your Majesty clearly knows that such rebellious people will naturally not be punished for their crimes. If Your Majesty allows it, I am willing to kill this thief on Your Majesty's behalf!"
These words were said with absolute certainty and coldness.
On the other hand, Zhang Xi was a little hesitant. However, seeing Zhu Yi's behavior, he hesitated for a moment and followed suit.
"I believe that what Duke Cheng Guo said is reasonable, and these thieves must be severely punished. Your Majesty, I and Duke Cheng Guo still have some weight in the court. If your Majesty allows it, I will do my best to bring Xu Youzhen to justice.
Put to death."
The tone is equally firm, but if you listen carefully, you can hear the difference between what Zhang Shi and Zhu Yi said.
Although both wanted to put Xu Youzhen to death, the way of expression was different. Relatively speaking, Zhu Yi was more decisive and directly used the word "kill". It was simple, direct, and the most aggravating, but the risk was
Also the largest.
You must know that Xu Youzhen is an official of the imperial court. It is not difficult to kill him. However, if he is good at killing imperial officials, even if he is in a palace like Duke Cheng, it will be difficult for him to escape unscathed.
Relatively speaking, Zhang Xi's statement was slightly reserved. Although the purpose was the same, Zhang Xi was obviously inclined to use court methods to suppress Xu Youzhen.
It should be said that this method is actually normal. The relationships above the court are intricate. With the power of nobles, if you want to fight against the entire civil service system, you may not be able to do it. However, if you just want to target Xu Youzhen,
For a bachelor of Youchunfang, it is not difficult. If you really plan carefully, even if you want to make him die, it is not impossible.
Facing the two people's statements, Zhu Qizhen narrowed his eyes, and the faint doubt in his heart was finally dispelled, and he waved his hand.
"I know your loyalty, but this matter should not be taken too hastily. After all, Xu Youzhen is a court official and has the emperor's backing. Although I have noticed his evil intentions, I cannot rush to alert the snake..."
This chapter has been completed!