On the high platform, all the ministers had different thoughts, but no one dared to speak.
Although the elders of the Ming Dynasty are well aware of the current scene, don't forget that this is not a court after all.
If we put aside the real relationship between today's families, the current scene should actually be an extremely relaxed and happy scene.
The emperor personally presided over the spring hunting, and all the nobles and clan members whipped their horses and galloped, harvesting a lot, and even hunted a rare white tiger.
Although the process had some twists and turns, first Zhu Yi gave up the merits of the tiger hunting warrior and reported the truth truthfully, and then Prince Xiangling gave up the opportunity to hunt more prey and win the first place in the spring hunting in order to protect a few tiger cubs.
.
Brave, kind, upright, loyal.
These qualities can be found in this spring hunt, at least, that's what it seems on the surface.
Under such circumstances, the emperor waved his hand and generously made two promises to reward his ministers. This can be said to be a model of harmony between the emperor and his ministers.
Especially, when Zhu Yi's request seems to be trivial, if a group of ministers come out to refute it, it will inevitably make the envoys from all over the world talk about it and the people all over the world, which will damage the image of the imperial court.
So in fact, as the saying goes, there are too many eyes watching the spring hunting ceremony, so there are too many things that cannot be done.
The elders knew very well that if it weren't for this section, the emperor's character would never have been forced to this extent.
After all, the emperor currently sits on the throne, so the court's face must be maintained by the emperor.
Zhu Yi probably got this right.
Now it seems that it is still effective. No, the emperor has relented and hinted that he can ask for the title of Duke Cheng.
With so many people watching, the emperor said what he said, so it was impossible for him to make a mistake. However, thinking about Ren Li's fate, the days after he became the Duke of Guo were probably going to be difficult...
Everyone thought this way and felt that since the emperor had relented, Zhu Yi would definitely seize this opportunity.
However, this time, the young prince of Chengguo Palace once again surprised everyone.
I saw him kneeling on one knee and speaking righteously.
"Your Majesty, the title of Duke Chengguo was granted by Emperor Taizong. After my father's death, the imperial court did not allow me to inherit it. There must be a reason."
"The title and official position are official weapons of the imperial court. Although I want to revitalize my family, I still know that I am just a spring hunter. How dare I compare with the title of the Duke?"
"It is said that rewards and punishments are in order, and kings and ministers have their own duties. Your Majesty promised that ministers can make requests, but in the way of ministers, how can they act arbitrarily?"
"Therefore, I dare not ask for the title to be inherited. The title of the Duke of Chengguo is subject to the court's disposal. I only hope to serve the Tian family loyally and protect His Highness the Crown Prince. I ask for your permission."
Ah this...
After these words fell, the elders below were naturally surprised again.
After smacking their lips, the ministers looked Zhu Yi up and down, making sure that the person in front of them was the young prince who was still camping in various places not long ago, running around in order to get his title back, and not just talking about big principles.
The hard-working Confucian scholar.
However, why does this high-sounding and righteous statement seem so inconsistent with this person’s image?
For a moment, many ministers frowned, a little confused as to what Zhu Yi wanted.
Is it possible that he really gave up his own title in order to become a guard of the East Palace?
You know, there is no shop like this after passing this village. It is not easy to come across occasions like Chunlie where the emperor has to make concessions.
When he returned to the capital and reached the court, let alone getting his title back, the emperor would be considered broad-minded even if he did not abolish the Chengguo Palace.
"Good, good, good, you are truly a sincere, loyal and brave man, like your father!"
At this time, a sigh of relief suddenly came from above.
Everyone looked around, only to find that the Supreme Emperor on the throne had a complicated look on his face and spoke quietly.
As a result, the frowns of the ministers present deepened.
At this moment, what kind of chaos does the Supreme Emperor want to cause?
However, Zhu Qizhen obviously did not take into account the thoughts of the people below him. He sighed softly, turned to the emperor beside him, and said.
"Emperor, since General Zhu has this wish, why not just grant it?"
"Having such loyal and brave ministers in the imperial court is not only a blessing to the Ming Dynasty, but also a blessing to the Eastern Palace. Having such loyal ministers and good generals assisting the prince, you and I can rest assured."
After saying these words, the atmosphere present became more solemn.
If Zhu Yi was making a request just now, then as the Supreme Emperor, these words are actually more like a request.
The emperor made a promise first, and the emperor spoke last. With such a commotion, no matter from any angle, the emperor had no room to move around.
As expected, after the emperor heard this, his expression changed slightly, his eyes wandered over Zhu Yi and the Supreme Emperor for a moment, and then he suddenly put away all his emotions and smiled.
"The Supreme Emperor has spoken in person, how can I not give him this face?"
"Since General Zhu insists on this, I am right that you are not joking. From now on, General Zhu will go to the East Palace as an errand to serve the prince well and be loyal to the Tian family."
The emperor said these last two sentences with profound meaning, but Zhu Yi seemed to have not heard them and kowtowed.
"I thank Your Majesty for your grace!"
However, just when all the ministers thought that the matter was over, they heard the Supreme Emperor speaking again.
"Speaking of this matter, I remembered that when the late emperor was still alive, he had prepared a young army for the East Palace to practice martial arts. Now, the prince is about to leave the cabinet, and there are General Zhu who are proficient in riding, archery and horse training at home.
If the minister of Yuan Yuan comes to the East Palace to assist, we might as well let him be the commander of the young army. What does the emperor think?"
coming!
As soon as these words came out, all the ministers below immediately cheered up.
They had long been wondering why Zhu Yi was so persistent in wanting to serve in the East Palace, even to the point of letting go of the opportunity to have Duke Cheng Guo restored his title.
Now it seems that everything is just a cover. The real purpose of Zhu Yi, or in other words, the Supreme Emperor, is the young army!
No wonder Zhu Yi clearly stated his position as soon as he came up. No wonder he was willing to give up this great opportunity just to become a "guard" in the East Palace.
Yes, given Zhu Yi's status among the nobles, only the Supreme Emperor could allow him to do this.
After all, the Duke of Chengguo now relies on the British Duke, and the British Duke relies on the Supreme Emperor. Think about it at the beginning, the Supreme Emperor promised a heavy reward for Chun Wei's "first prize".
All signs indicate that this time, the Supreme Emperor may have had a premeditated plan.
Regarding the establishment of a small army, from the standpoint of civil servants, they naturally disapprove.
After all, as the same saying goes, the Young Army is different from the ordinary Shangzhi Guards. In addition to the hereditary imperial guards, the elites of the Beijing camp, and the noble children of various families join the Young Army.
The East Palace is the crown prince, the foundation of the country, and the future emperor. If he gets too close to these people, he will inevitably have thoughts of strangling Shi Yanran again.
Of course, from another aspect, the prince's excessive closeness to nobles is actually not what the civil servants want to see.
If Zhu Yi's request to serve in the East Palace just now can be regarded as a personal request, then the preparation of a young army for the East Palace is undoubtedly a government affairs of the court.
Therefore, almost without hesitation, among the civil servants, Yu Qian spoke out.
"Your Majesty, it is not appropriate to discuss political matters today during the spring hunting. Therefore, I believe that government affairs related to the East Palace should be discussed at court after returning to the capital."
It should be said that in front of so many people, Yu Shaobao still saved face for the Supreme Emperor, but he also pointed it out tactfully.
Government affairs related to the East Palace need to be discussed at the "Chaoyi"!
But in fact, this is just an excuse.
Anyone who has a little knowledge of the imperial court will know that the government affairs related to the East Palace are the most special among all the government affairs of the imperial court.
You must know that the prince is not the emperor, so generally speaking, there are three main ways for the prince to influence the government.
One is naturally that under special circumstances, he was ordered to supervise the country's governance. This situation happened many times during the Hongwu and Yongle years, and it is not uncommon.
However, now that the Eastern Palace is young and weak, while the Emperor is in his prime, this situation should not happen for at least ten years.
The second is more normal, that is, through the officials of the East Palace, speaking out in the court and then intervening in the government affairs.
This method has been used in all dynasties, and most princes have done this. In fact, this is also the reason why the Supreme Emperor's party always hopes that the prince will leave the cabinet as soon as possible to prepare for the palace.
As for the last method, the prince directly discusses the government affairs. This method is also very commonly used in many cases.
After all, although the prince did not manage government affairs during his stay in the East Palace, he did learn about government affairs. Since he wanted to learn, he naturally wanted to express his own opinions.
Moreover, the prince's status is special. He is half-king to his subordinates, but he is a minister to the emperor.
Therefore, in government affairs, the prince can also express his opinions in front of the emperor just like the ministers.
In fact, this is also the only way for the prince to appear in the court.
Studying outside the government is not only about reading and literacy like private schools, but more importantly, learning how to handle government affairs.
This is the most difficult thing for princes in all dynasties to do.
The prince is the heir apparent. In this case, he has the responsibility for the country. An ordinary prince can do nothing but entertain cats and dogs. As long as he doesn't get whipped by his father, it doesn't matter.
However, the prince must be upright in words and deeds, and this is the most basic thing.
After leaving the court to study, a very important task for the prince was to express his own opinions and views on classics, government affairs, and historical events.
To put it more bluntly, the actual meaning is that the prince needs to participate in government affairs, but he does not have the slightest decision-making power. In fact, the prince himself does not have any direct influence on government affairs and can only achieve his goals through other means.
But the embarrassment is that without the emperor's permission, the prince has no real power, but he must participate in government affairs. And like the emperor, he needs to be supervised by the court at all times. A slight mistake will lead to serious consequences.
The advice of the official of science and education.
It's okay if the prince is favored. With the emperor's support, he doesn't care what the official says, but...
Well, even if we don’t talk about the special relationship between the Tian family, the current His Majesty himself is a person who is cautious and self-disciplined, and listens to advice and accepts advice(???).
Therefore, even if the East Palace is favored, the emperor will never dote on him, he will only love him deeply and blame him deeply.
This is another special feature of the East Palace.
That is, the government affairs involving the prince are both state affairs and family affairs. The prince is also a king. When it comes to the affairs of the emperor, the ministers can only advise and make suggestions, but not make decisions.
In fact, under normal circumstances, except for major events that shake up the country, such as establishing a prince, leaving the cabinet to study, the prince's wedding, and deposing the prince, which require joint discussion between the monarch and his ministers, the daily government affairs of the East Palace are all decided by the emperor.
After all, under normal circumstances, the prince and the emperor are father and son of the Tian family. It doesn't matter if your own son is strict or lenient. However, if an outsider is not careful about the situation, he may offend both the father and the son.
Such is the case with the Young Army.
On a larger scale, this is government affairs, but on a smaller scale, this kind of special government affairs related to the East Palace actually depends to a large extent on the mood of the emperor.
As the saying goes, the prince is the crown prince, so it doesn't matter what others say about how he should be educated. The emperor has to say.
Anyone with a little knowledge of officialdom understands this truth, and Zhu Qizhen naturally understands it too.
However, precisely because he understood it, he couldn't let go of this opportunity.
There was one thing that all the ministers present had guessed wrong, that is, Zhu Yi made this request and it was not Zhu Qizhen who instigated it.
Now that Ren Li is in prison, the British government is eager to win over the Chengguo government, how can Zhu Qizhen stop him?
He was looking for Prince Xiang and came to hunt in the spring. He spent so much time and effort, but he actually wanted to restore the Duke of Chengguo's title to the throne as soon as possible.
However, Zhu Yi did not go according to his plan.
At the beginning, Zhu Qizhen was very angry and felt that Zhu Yi had made his own decision. However, when he heard about Dong Gong, he immediately understood why Zhu Yi did all this.
At the beginning, Zhu Yi promised to let the court completely determine the date when the prince would leave the cabinet, and then prepare a young army for the prince's palace to open a new path for the nobles.
He did the former, even though he paid the price of suspension pending investigation, but he did it after all.
As for the latter, it is precisely because Zhu Qizhen knows the special attributes of the East Palace that he understands how difficult this matter is.
Therefore, he did not blame Zhu Yi harshly, but he did not expect that Zhu Yi would be so sincere and loyal at such a young age that he would rather give up the chance of regaining his title in Chengguo Duke's palace to get this thing done.
In fact, the sigh Zhu Qizhen just made was not pretentious, but he truly felt that Zhu Yi was truly a loyal minister.
It can be said that everything that happened today has completely made Zhu Qizhen let down his guard against Zhu Yi. In fact, Zhu Qizhen was really touched by Zhu Yi's statement and actions just now.
Because of this, he felt that he could not waste the opportunity that Zhu Yi had finally won.
Glancing at Yu Qian lightly, Zhu Qizhen ignored him and continued to move towards Zhu Qiyu.
"Since Zhu Yi came first in the spring hunt, he should be rewarded rather than punished."
"What's more, after all, he is the son of Duke Cheng, with an extraordinary status. Now he is also the escort general, although he invited himself to be a bodyguard in the East Palace."
"However, if you really agree like this, wouldn't you be punished without reward? This will inevitably show that my royal temperament is narrow, which is not beautiful."
"Emperor, what do you think?"
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