Chapter three hundred and forty-fifth: two evils, do your best
The bright silver moonlight shines through the window sill into the study room.
Yu Shiyue looked at Yu Qian's worried face and was speechless for a moment.
He knew the meaning of Yu Qian's words.
Things in the court are extremely complicated, and nothing has a single purpose.
Chen Yi, or rather the Emperor, concealed this document because he wanted to throw it out at the court meeting to silence most people, but it was by no means the only purpose.
After pondering for a moment, Yu Shiyue couldn't help but ask.
"Tingyi, look, what is the emperor thinking this time?"
Theoretically speaking, the cabinet is located between the inner court and the outer court, and Yu Shiyue is in the cabinet, so it should be easier to understand the emperor's thoughts.
But in fact, this is not the case. The current emperor does not have any special preferential treatment towards the cabinet and the six ministries.
In terms of the number of times he was summoned by the emperor, apart from Wang Wen, Yu Qian was the most summoned.
So most of the time, Yu Shiyue was more inclined to ask Yu Qian when trying to figure out the emperor's thoughts.
There were no outsiders here, but Yu Qian was still very cautious. The worry on his face became more and more serious. He was silent for a moment and then said.
"Brother Shichao, do you still remember the great court meeting at Zuo Shunmen?"
Yu Shiyue was startled and almost didn't stand up.
Of course he remembered that the great court meeting was the most thrilling one since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.
Anyone who has participated will probably not easily forget the scene at that time.
Although many people thought that the imperial court would be a remonstrance.
However, among the senior officials of the imperial court, there was always a consensus that the imperial meeting destroyed the normal order of the imperial court.
If not in the end, His Majesty King Tan succeeded in controlling the situation, then from then on, the inner court and the outer court would have completely turned against each other.
At least one of the people involved will definitely be banished or left out in the cold, and will not end well.
There is a price to be paid for attacking the imperial power!
The smooth transition that time was entirely due to the proper handling of the situation by King Tan at that time.
But the situation today is completely different from that then.
At that time, the artifact was empty and the court had no owner, except for an empress dowager who was inconvenient to show up and a prince who was supervising the country.
But now, there is a serious emperor on the throne of Fengtian Palace.
If anyone dares to do that again, it won't be as simple as being relegated.
Frowning tightly, Yu Shiyue stared at Yu Qian without blinking and asked solemnly.
"Is it possible that the trouble will be like this this time?"
Seeing Yu Shiyue so nervous, Yu Qian knew that he had misunderstood what he meant, and quickly waved his hand.
"Brother Shichao, sit down. Yu didn't mean that. Now that the world has changed, how can anyone dare to make such a big fuss again? Yu said that the shock to the imperial court from this mutual trade is probably no less than that The next great court meeting.”
This sounds a bit inconsistent, but Yu Shiyue understands it.
"Are you saying that this matter will eventually turn into a head-on battle between the inner court and the outer court?"
Yu Qian just took the last imperial meeting as an example, and he actually made it very clear.
That great court meeting was essentially a head-on collision between imperial power and ministerial power.
At that time, King Yin, who was the regent of the government, had been refusing to deal with Wang Zhenyu's party, which aroused the dissatisfaction of the civil and military officials. They demanded remonstrance at the court meeting and forced King Yin to deal with it immediately. He even got into a fight over a disagreement, during which Ma Shun was beaten to death. et al.
The essence of this matter is that civil and military officials are intimidating the imperial power, and it is a completely head-on collision that leaves no room for error.
This time there are actually signs.
On the matter of mutual trading, the emperor only communicated with two or three ministers and decided directly without consulting the civil and military officials.
This kind of arbitrary behavior by Gan Gang is essentially an erosion of the power of ministers.
If the emperor could decide such a major matter with just one word, then there would be no need for court meetings.
That's why Honglu Temple's memorial caused such a big reaction after it was handed over.
But discussions are discussions, and the struggle between imperial power and ministerial power is not just a head-on conflict.
For example, when he was in the cabinet, Gao Gu was very smart and pointed all his fingers at Wang Wen.
As long as Wang Wen is killed, it will still have the effect of attacking the imperial power.
In fact, in the long struggle between imperial power and ministerial power in the past, this method was adopted most of the time.
There was no direct conflict, but the ministerial power was maintained by destroying the spokesperson of the imperial power.
When the elders fight against their relatives, their nobles, and their eunuchs, they are essentially fighting for imperial power.
This is a limited struggle.
Therefore, even if the emperor fails in the struggle, he can only hold his nose and admit defeat, waiting for the next comeback.
However, head-on conflict is different.
Once it evolves into a head-on conflict, things will really get serious, and they will inevitably have to withstand the imperial power's counterattack, causing large-scale turmoil in the court situation.
This level of turmoil is not just about knocking off one or two marquises, but this kind of indifferent turmoil that affects the entire court. Large numbers of officials will be implicated at every turn.
This is what Yu Shiyue is worried about.
Today's imperial court has only been stable for a few months, how can it withstand such troubles?
Yu Qian was also a little unsure, and after pondering for a long time, he said.
"This is just Yu's speculation, but judging from the current signs, there should be no other explanation. The memorial of Honglu Temple was clearly published in various yamen, and the Tianguan and the Chief Assistant will definitely be pushed to the forefront."
"Now is the time for the Beijing Inspection. It is said that the standards set by Wang Jianzhai for this Beijing Inspection are stricter than before. In just over half a month, seven or eight censors from the Metropolitan Procuratorate have been arrested. He was demoted and moved to another place."
"Many ministers in the court, especially those from Ke Dao, are quite complaining. Now that something like this has happened, how can they not take the opportunity to criticize Wang Jianzhai?"
Yu Shiyue still frowned and said: "This is not surprising, but even so, it won't turn into a head-on struggle between the inner court and the outer court, right? Wouldn't your Majesty take action to stop it?"
Yu Qian sighed, his expression became more worried, and said.
"Yu is worried about this. It would be fine if the matter ends with Wang Jianzhai, but I'm afraid it will really get into trouble. It will not be easy to control this situation."
"More importantly, the description of the imperial store in Shen Yi's document was vague. I asked about it at the time, and he only said that it was a store opened by the inner shipping warehouse after confiscating the properties of Wang Zhen and others. He refused to say more, so Yu was worried..."
Yu Qian didn't say anything else, but Yu Shiyue already understood.
Shen Yi didn't want to say more, but it wasn't because he didn't know anything.
He didn't want to say it, it could only mean that the emperor wouldn't let him say it.
Based on Yu Shiyue's understanding of the emperor, the old man's refusal to speak must not be out of a guilty conscience. It is very likely that he did it deliberately and had already prepared a back-up plan.
Perhaps, the current scene of heated public sentiment is exactly what the emperor wants to see.
Yu Shiyue sighed heavily, with a trace of helplessness on his face, and said: "It has not been long since the situation of the court has been stable, but there are going to be troubles again. Why is your Majesty doing this?"
Yu Qian glanced at him and said calmly: "Counting the days, it has been half a year since your Majesty took the throne, right?"
Yu Shiyue nodded, but he didn't know why Yu Qian suddenly mentioned this.
But then, Yu Qian continued.
"After these days, His Majesty basically obeys the wishes of the officials when it comes to government affairs, except for a few moments. Do you think this is normal?"
Yu Shiyue was stunned and said nothing.
A trace of sadness appeared on Yu Qian's face, he stood up and looked out the window at the half-full moon, and spoke softly.
"The imperial power is majestic and inviolable. It always needs some stepping stones to stand firmer!"
A long silence followed. Yu Shiyue opened his mouth several times, but no words came out.
After a long while, Yu Shiyue managed to make a little sound, but it was extremely hoarse.
"Tingyi, is there no room for change?"
Yu Qian didn't look back, still looking at the full moon outside the window.
He was obviously standing not far away, but his voice seemed to be floating from a long distance away. His tone was still calm, with only eight simple words.
"Two evils give each other the power to do the best you can!"