"I have met the Duke of Guo, I have met the Duke of Ming!"
In the flower hall of the Zhu Mansion, Xu Youzhen looked at Zhu Yi in surprise with the jade trees in front of her. After hesitating for a moment, she still raised her hands and bowed.
To be honest, Xu Youzhen was very surprised to see Zhu Yi at this time and in this scene.
At the morning of the morning meeting, Duke Cheng Guo was naturally present, but this was a struggle between civil servants, and these noble and military officials had always stayed away from these matters.
More importantly, in Xu Youzhen's impression, Zhu Yi and Zhu Jian, although they were one of the most important forces among the emperor's party among civil servants and nobles, had never been in harmony.
There was even a vague conflict before. Logically speaking, in this situation, Zhu Yi should not show up anyway...
Therefore, after a brief hesitation, Xu Youzhen turned her doubtful eyes to Zhu Jian aside.
Zhu Jian naturally knew what Xu Youzhen was wondering about. He glanced at Zhu Yi lightly and said in a tone of neither sadness nor joy.
"The Duke of Guo has followed the emperor's holy order and came to discuss the matter of replenishing the prince's palace. It happened that this morning, we wanted to recommend Du Ning to Zhan Shi's palace. Although it failed, it is still the same thing. So, I will
I have left the Duke here to wait for you to come over."
Although it was only more than two years since the original proposal to move south, Xu Youzhen was no longer the novice who entered the officialdom rashly.
The ups and downs one after another, from being depressed to finding a glimmer of hope, and walking on thin ice every day, long ago gave Xu Youzhen the ability to observe words and emotions.
Just by listening to Zhu Jian's tone, he knew that Mr. Zhu Ge, from the bottom of his heart, actually did not want Zhu Yi to come over.
It's just that it was done as a last resort due to the so-called 'Holy Order of the Supreme Emperor'.
Since the two sides had not settled their differences, Xu Youzhen felt relieved and nodded to indicate that she understood.
Zhu Jian didn't have any reaction and asked about the business directly.
"What did Chen Shangshu say?"
Hearing this, Xu Youzhen recounted the conversation between him and Chen Xun with a bit of anxiety. Of course, he must have picked it up.
For example, during the conversation, Xu Youzhen didn't pour out all Chen Xun's advice and instruction to him with such a lackluster expression.
Zhu Jian was concerned about how Chen Xun would explain the previous agreement. As for the other matters, there was no need to bring them out to delay Mr. Zhu Ge's time.
"...So what Chen Shangshu means is that since the chief minister is still in the cabinet, the previous agreement will naturally be abandoned. However, with the efforts of the lower officials, he promised to discuss it with Yu Cifu and recommend some talented people to Zhan Shi.
Mansion."
Originally, Xu Youzhen thought that in the face of such a reply, even if Zhu Jian was not furious, he would at least scold Chen Xun for being dishonest.
However, what he didn't expect was that after listening to Xu Youzhen's narration, Zhu Jian looked very calm, as if he had expected it, and only said one sentence lightly.
"Old fox!"
On the other hand, Zhu Yi smiled and shook her head and said.
"Mr. Zhu Ge, I have said before that Qingliu is not so easy to win over, and Chen Xun is not so easy to be plotted. Now, you have finally seen it, right?"
In fact, Zhu Jian had already planned to help Du Ning betray him in the imperial examination.
In other words, Zhu Jian had already planned to win over Du Ning and let him enter the East Palace.
When Zhu Yi sought Zhu Jian's support in order to regain his title and hoped that he could speak out in the court, Zhu Jian's condition was to drag Du Ning into the East Palace after his restoration.
As for the purpose, of course it is very simple.
Wrap up the Qingliu lineage under the banner of Donggong!
It should be said that Mr. Zhu Ge's political skills were sufficient. At that time, everyone was not optimistic about his proposal. They felt that Du Ning had always followed Chen Xun's footsteps and was neutral between Nangong and Qianqing Palace, and even had a faint tendency to do so. Due to the wishes of the Qianqing Palace, it was felt that it was not appropriate to allow Du Ning to enter the East Palace.
However, Zhu Jian was the only one who insisted.
Even for this reason, he gave up Zhu Yi's proposal to recommend two of his confidants to the East Palace in exchange for Zhu Yi's promise.
Unfortunately, before this promise could be used, Du Ning himself refused the job of taking over the Imperial Academy and chose to take up a post in Beijing.
With a trace of regret in his eyes, Zhu Jian spoke.
"It's just expected. Now that Qingliu is declining, Chen Xun must be more cautious. Du Ning is his most valued successor. Chen Xun knows best what the East Palace represents. How could he let Du Ning do this? How could he be easily involved in the fight between the Supreme Emperor and the Emperor?"
Hearing this, Xu Youzhen couldn't help but feel a little confused and asked.
"Ming Gong means that Chen Shangshu had no intention to fulfill the contract from the beginning? You already knew that? Then you still..."
At the end of the conversation, he seemed to feel that something was wrong and stopped talking hastily.
However, Zhu Jian did not blame Xu Youzhen for saying the wrong thing. Instead, he accepted the words with a smile.
"Since I already knew this, why did I try so hard to impeach Wang Jiugao in court?"
Xu Youzhen swallowed her saliva and looked at Zhu Jian carefully to make sure that he was not questioning her, and then nodded lightly.
At the same time, Zhu Yi on the side also showed a hint of curiosity.
Seeing this situation, Zhu Jian shook his head and said.
"There is nothing surprising about this. If we don't talk about anything else, let's just talk about Wang Jiugao. If he can become the chief minister of the cabinet, how can he be overthrown so easily?"
Seeing Zhu Yi's confused look in front of him, Zhu Jian sneered secretly.
When it comes to court politics, what do these nobles know?
"The cabinet is different from the yamen next to it. It has less power and less power. It is based on the emperor's favor. All the connections in the court and the clear influence are all empty."
"In the cabinet, not having the Sacred Heart is the biggest fault, but having the Sacred Heart is as stable as a rock."
"So if you want to bring down Wang Jiugao, what you really need to do is not to charge him with anything, let alone worry about how many people will impeach him. What you really need to do is to make the emperor no longer trust him."
"But this is extremely difficult to do!"
After saying this, Xu Youzhen not only didn't seem to understand, but became even more confused.
He secretly glanced at Zhu Yi, only to find that the other person's behavior was similar.
So, Zhu Jian continued to explain.
"Wang Jiugao was promoted by the emperor himself. He is different from me. When he was promoted, there were still many vacancies in the court, but the emperor put him in the cabinet. Naturally, it has deep meaning."
"It stands to reason that the cabinet coordinates internal and external affairs and controls the voting process. If it wants to further gain a say in the court, the most important thing to do is to develop contacts in the court and train younger generations. However, Wang Jiugao has been the chief minister of the cabinet for so long. You see,
Is it time for him to do this?”
this……
Xu Youzhen recalled it, hesitated for a moment, and shook her head.
Although his official position was not high, he had many connections in the court thanks to Chen Xun.
Of course, these connections are of little use to a certain heavenly official.
However, it is still okay to drink and have fun, chat, and exchange news from time to time.
If you think about it carefully, Wang Ao has been in the capital for so long, and what he has done is basically to strengthen his control over the cabinet, but when it comes to wining over courtiers, training younger generations, and expanding his influence in the court, he has basically done nothing.
It is somewhat reasonable to say that this is because he has been away as a governor all year round and has no connections in the capital.
But the problem is that Wang Ao has been transferred to Beijing for a long time, but he has never promoted anyone close to him. This must be said to be strange.
On the other hand, Zhu Yi, who was on the side, vaguely understood something after hearing Zhu Jian's words, and asked tentatively.
"What Mr. Zhu Ge means is that the emperor promoted Wang Jiugao because he had no connections and influence in the court. Wang Jiugao himself knew this, so he has been focusing on cabinet affairs but not cultivating his own influence in the court.
Connections?”
Zhu Jian did not expect that Zhu Yi would be the first to understand.
He glanced at Xu Youzhen with a slightly dissatisfied look, but still nodded and said.
"This is a long story, but to make it short, the root cause is that the emperor seems to have a faint tendency to suppress the cabinet and does not want the cabinet to become powerful. Therefore, the election of Wang Jiugao is just as the Duke of Guo said
, what matters most is that he has no power in the court."
"Wang Jiugao should have always been very aware of this, so he has always been very cautious. No matter how he wielded power in the cabinet, he never tried to win over people in the court, nor did he try to promote his local confidants to the court.
middle."
"Of course, people have weaknesses. This can be seen from the palace examination. Wang Jiugao knows very well that it will only become more and more difficult to maintain his transcendent status just by relying on the power of voting and cabinet discussions. Therefore, he still can't bear it.
Stop and start to put your hand into the clear stream."
"It's a pity that he was still too cautious and did not take action himself, but asked Jiang Yuan to come forward. Otherwise, this matter alone could kill him!"
"But……"
At this time, Xu Youzhen finally understood. After hesitating for a moment, he raised his head and asked.
"Ming Gong, if that's the case, when you impeached him, why didn't you impeach him for plotting against the Imperial Academy and forming a party?"
"Because he didn't do it!"
Zhu Jian also had a trace of regret on his face, sighed, and said.
"In the palace examination case, I and Zhang Min were willing to help Jiang Yuan. Zhang Min turned a blind eye because he had a nephew from a good family who failed in his studies. He happened to be taking the imperial examination, and the examiner was a good friend of Jiang Yuan.
Turning a blind eye, as for me, I obviously want to pull Jiang Yuan into the cabinet to help me stabilize my position, but in fact, it falls on Wang Ao."
"Once things are done and Jiang Yuan takes charge of the Hanlin Academy, then Wang Ao will not be able to help himself. He will use Jiang Yuan to recruit disciples and even recruit people from the Hanlin Academy to join the cabinet."
"At that time, no matter whether he succeeds or not, he will definitely arouse the emperor's disgust. Unfortunately, during the palace examination, Jiang Yuan chose a waste like Cheng Zong, but the emperor saw the clues and failed miserably."
"Jiang Yuan was defeated. As the person who acquiesced to him doing this, Wang Ao would definitely be very vigilant. At this time, the emperor entrusted the Hanlin Academy to his hands. In fact, it was a bait to test Wang Ao.
Will you take the opportunity to recruit disciples?"
"However, since Wang Ao is vigilant, he will not be fooled. During this period of time, although he has been temporarily in charge of the Hanlin Academy, he has not gotten too close to Hanlin Qingliu. He is very slippery. If he wants to win at this point,
Impeaching him would only be based on suspicion, so I could only do the next best thing, impeaching him for taking power in the cabinet, hoping to provoke the emperor to question him. But obviously, Wang Ao's peace of mind during his time in the Hanlin Academy,
It dispelled the emperor's doubts about him..."
"So in the end, Wang Ao temporarily gave up control of the cabinet in order to obtain the emperor's leniency. This was the real game in the court this time."
After saying this, Zhu Yi and Xu Youzhen looked thoughtful at the same time.
The water in the court is really bottomless!
If explained in this way, then everything makes sense.
Wang Ao had long been wary of the imperial examination, so he cut off all previous arrangements early and returned to the position of chief minister who had just arrived in the capital and had no connections.
If he has this point, then he is a chief assistant who meets the emperor's expectations. As long as this point does not fail, then no matter what the people who secretly plot against him do, he can calmly deal with it, and at most he will only give in temporarily.
This court turmoil seemed dangerous to Wang Ao, but in fact, he had already hidden his trump card.
"However, since Mr. Zhu Ge has known this for a long time, and also knows that if Wang Ao cannot be defeated, he will be harmed. Moreover, Chen Shangshu will definitely not let Du Ning enter Zhan Shifu as promised, but you still do this
Yes, could it be..."
After a while, Zhu Yi was the first to raise his head and said thoughtfully.
However, although the words were addressed to Zhu Jian, his eyes fell on Xu Youzhen for some unknown reason.
Feeling the gaze of the Duke, Xu Youzhen felt a little strange and asked with a frown.
"Is it what?"
Then, a strange smile appeared on Zhu Yi's face, she looked at Zhu Jian again and said.
"Could it be that Mr. Zhu Ge had no intention of letting Du Ning join Zhan Shifu?"
"What?"
At this time, even Xu Youzhen was startled and looked up at Zhu Jian in surprise, only to see a calm face on the other side, without any disturbance.
After a moment, Zhu Jian nodded slightly, looking at Zhu Yi with a little admiration in his eyes, and of course, a hint of hidden fear, and said.
"This is natural. I just said that even if Qingliu declines, he still has a wide range of connections in the court. Chen Xun is one of the Seven Qings. As Du Ning is his favorite disciple, Chen Xun will not let him get involved easily.
In this muddy water.”
"What's more, even if Chen Xun is willing, the emperor will not sit idly by and ignore it. This has been verified by the court this morning."
No wonder……
Recalling the emperor's sudden inquiry to Du Ning in the morning, Zhu Yi suddenly understood and said.
"So, Mr. Zhu Ge, your real purpose is actually just to get Chen Shangshu to come forward and recommend officials to enrich the East Palace?"
"Mr. Zhu Ge, you tricked everyone this time."
"but……"
Looking at the extremely calm Zhu Jian in front of him, Zhu Yi asked with a mocking smile on his lips.
"Just for such a small thing, pay such a high price?"
"Mr. Zhuge, it seems that the gain is not worth the loss, right?"
This chapter has been completed!