The atmosphere in the flower hall became more and more solemn.
Zhu Jian's words were obviously made out of anger, but they were not unreasonable.
It is true that Zhu Yi is right. The reason why the emperor is now arbitrary is because he has the ability to be arbitrary. It is very difficult to stop him by force, but the probability of success is very small.
However, now that things have happened, they actually have no way out.
Again, the most difficult thing to change in the court is the position. In the current situation, they dare not and will not change their court, and the emperor cannot truly trust them.
Therefore, they have to keep the banner of the Supreme Emperor.
The method proposed by Zhu Jian is indeed not very good, but his direction is correct.
Although it is said that the emperor always treated the emperor with courtesy and courtesy, and did not lack any food and clothing, he even tried his best to give in when the emperor repeatedly acted out of line.
However, in fact everyone knows that the relationship between the Tian family brothers is not good.
Moreover, the existence of the Supreme Emperor itself is a threat to the emperor. Therefore, once the emperor completely controls the court, he can decide all major issues with one word.
Then, it is unclear whether he still needs to maintain this false harmony of brotherhood and brotherhood.
So, this is actually a dead end.
Once the emperor and his ministers, this is a general trend. However, as old ministers, they know that this is a general trend, but they must stop it.
Because they are destined to be abandoned by the general trend.
Take Chen Mao as an example. When the Civil War just broke out, the imperial court urgently summoned him back to Beijing to take charge of the overall situation. Although he never participated in the battle in person, it did play a role in stabilizing people's hearts.
From this point of view, he has every chance to take charge of the Beijing camp and become the new generation of military ministers' talkmaker.
However, in the end he could only be an idle prince.
There were too many things he couldn't control. From Chen Mao's own perspective, even if we don't mention the late emperor's entrustment and the emperor's kindness to him, we only talk about the long-term friendship between Ningyang Houfu and other honorable ministers. , can it be thrown away?
Chen Mao was single-handedly promoted by the British Duke Zhang Fu. Now that the British Duke is in decline, can he stand by and do nothing, or even go against the British Duke?
There are also old friendships with the Marquis of Dingxi and the Marquis of Yangwu. They all followed the British government in advocating to welcome the Supreme Emperor back. Is Chen Mao going to break with them all?
He can't do it!
The emperor also knew that he could not do it, so he was destined to never be truly reused.
For the emperor, there are too many uncertainties in using an old minister of the supreme emperor. In such a large court, no one is indispensable.
Chen Mao has military exploits, qualifications, and abilities. These are all advantages, but they are not irreplaceable advantages.
Therefore, the emperor recalled Yang Hong, promoted Fan Guang, and promoted Li Xian to the Jin Dynasty.
Some of them have military exploits, some have qualifications, some have ability, or a combination of both. More importantly, they have clean financial status and can be used with confidence.
This is an inherent disadvantage and cannot be avoided.
The people present, except Zhu Jian, are basically all like this.
Therefore, after a short silence, Zhang Xi finally spoke.
"Master Guo, we all understand what you are saying, but it is not a good sign for Qian Gang to be arbitrary. Whether it is for the court or to protect the Supreme Emperor, we cannot allow the Emperor to decide everything with just one word. place."
"Besides, since the Duke has spoken out, I will also say a few taboo words today."
"The Emperor was deceived by Wang Zhen when he went on his own expedition, and he insisted on going his own way. Even if nothing else was mentioned, just for the sake of the country and the country, we would not repeat civil engineering affairs again. We cannot let the Emperor do this and let it go, right?"
After all, they were in-laws, so Zhang Shi's tone was relatively mild.
Some things are taboo when not mentioned, but if you really say them, the depressing atmosphere will gradually disappear.
With his words, he was speaking for Zhu Jian, but if you look carefully, he was actually protecting Zhu Yi.
You know, the battle of civil engineering is a topic that cannot be mentioned by the Supreme Emperor.
As Zhu Jian just said, their conversation can be discussed in private, but if it is brought in front of the Supreme Emperor, it will definitely incur the thunderous wrath of the old man.
Therefore, another meaning of Zhang Xi's words is actually to help Zhu Yi drag everyone into the water.
If Zhu Yi was the only one who mentioned the civil war in this conversation, then when the news reached the Supreme Emperor, it would naturally be Zhu Yi who would bear the wrath.
But if everyone talks about it, no matter what their opinions are, at least they are on the same page, and naturally there will be no one who is short-sighted and will gossip in front of the Supreme Emperor.
Because of this, Mr. Zhang went out of his way to mention the overall situation of the country and said something as upright and awe-inspiring as a civil servant.
Zhu Jian could naturally see this meaning, so he did not relax because of Zhang Shi's opening. On the contrary, he was even more displeased because of Zhang Shi's secretly accommodating and unhelpful behavior.
Zhu Yi looked at Zhu Jian's face and said without being polite.
"Why don't you tell me what to say in front of the Emperor? But at least I won't be like Mr. Zhu Ge, who takes action without wanting to understand. In the end, it will only cause a lot of trouble."
"you!"
Seeing that the other party was becoming more and more aggressive, Zhu Jian's face turned red, his beard and hair were spread out, and he kept saying.
"Okay, okay, okay!"
"In that case, I'd like to hear if the Duke of Guo has any clever ideas or strategies to avoid causing chaos!"
As he said that, he didn't even care about etiquette, took two steps back, sat on the chair, and looked at Zhu Yi with anger in his eyes.
Faced with this situation, Zhu Yi didn't care. After calming down his emotions, he spoke.
"Mr. Zhu Ge, I'm not denying that your actions to protect the Supreme Emperor are wrong. As the Second Master just said, the Emperor is arbitrary and decides everything with one word. This is not only detrimental to me, but also to the country and the country. What a good thing."
"However, even if you want to stop it, you must be strategic and not blindly conflict. To put it bluntly, in the past, Mr. Ge was too impulsive, so that he did bad things with good intentions and made his situation in the court worse.
It’s getting worse.”
The words were spoken in a gentle tone, but in Zhu Jian's ears, they sounded awkward.
However, at this point, he was too lazy to argue with Zhu Yi. He just looked at him coldly, wanting to see what the other party could say.
So, Zhu Yi turned around, faced everyone present, and said.
"As I said just now, the Emperor's foundation is no longer stable when he first ascended the throne. Now there are many of the Emperor's cronies in the court, and they all occupy important positions. Therefore, head-on confrontation will not work."
"For a long time, we have felt that the emperor is a person who cares about reputation, so our method has always been to create trouble in the court and obstruct the emperor, which is detrimental to the emperor."
"But we were all wrong!"
Zhu Yi looked serious and came up with a conclusion that surprised everyone present.
Seeing everyone looking at him with surprise and uncertainty, Zhu Yi continued to explain.
"Actually, there are clues about this. For example, the emperor often never conceals his hostility towards the emperor. Although he does a good job on the surface, in fact, the important officials in the court have a clear understanding of the relationship between the emperor and Nangong.
.”
"Just imagine, if the emperor really wanted the reputation of a brother and brother, would he do this?"
Therefore, many times, the more common things are, the easier they are to be ignored.
Everyone present, no matter what their purpose, is still considered to be in the Supreme Emperor's camp. Therefore, all they consider is how to safeguard the interests of the Supreme Emperor. Subconsciously, they treat the Emperor as a hostile party.
With this position, many things may not be judged objectively, but now, Zhu Yi's meaning is very clear. He hopes that they can jump out of their original position and look at the court and the emperor from a third-party perspective.
After thinking about Zhu Yi's words several times, Jiao Jing said slowly.
"The Duke is right. We all think that the emperor is limited by his reputation, so he often succumbs to court discussions in the court, but this may not be the case."
Seeing that someone understood what he meant, Zhu Yi stopped talking, so Jiao Jing continued to speak.
"The current emperor was appointed in the face of danger and ascended the throne to carry out his duties. It is not the ordinary situation where the father dies and the son succeeds. Therefore, the legal system is a problem. More importantly, the emperor has been on the throne for more than ten years. The ministers in the court have more or less suffered.
The grace of the great emperor."
"So after the emperor ascends the throne, unless he is a sycophant, he will immediately change the court. It will always be difficult for other ministers to command him."
"Therefore, if you want to stabilize the court situation and win the hearts of all the officials, you must be respectful to the Supreme Emperor, listen to his words and accept advice, and live in harmony with your ruler and ministers."
"To put it bluntly, the emperor is not afraid that the officials will cause trouble in the court, which will affect his reputation, but he is afraid that there will be another Zuo Shunmen incident!"
"good!"
Seeing that there were people who agreed, Zhu Yi suddenly looked confused, took over the conversation, and said.
"When the ministers were forced to remonstrate, Zuo Shun's men were beaten to death in front of Wang Zhenyu's party in public. It was certainly a very satisfying thing, but it also meant that the emperor, who was still King Xie at the time, was not enough to frighten the ministers. Although the leaders who followed later
The censors have all been sent to patrol the border, but this kind of thing will damage the emperor's prestige."
"That's why the emperor has been caring about his reputation and the public opinion of the government and the public for such a long time, just because he is afraid that something like this will get out of control again."
"But it's different now!"
"Times have changed, and now the emperor has many close ministers in the court. The former emperor's old ministers have been dismissed or demoted, and the emperor's weight in the hearts of the ministers has become more and more important. So in fact, at this time,
The emperor is already able to cope with all changes that occur in the court."
As he spoke, Zhu Yi glanced at Zhu Jian next to him and said.
"Of course, this also includes the officials who gathered together to cause trouble in the palace to remonstrate!"
"I still say the same thing, not to mention the current power of the emperor, whether these officials dare to do this, even if they dare, since the emperor has discussed it with many important ministers in the court before, then at this time, they will not
An important minister came forward to confront the emperor."
"In this case, as long as these officials dare to make trouble, they will definitely be greeted by the emperor's thunderous methods."
"To put it bluntly, nowadays, the court is no longer as short of people as it used to be. Relegating a group of restless and troublemaking officials will not affect the normal operation of the court."
"So, now, Mr. Zhu Ge still thinks that what I just said was an exaggeration?"
Faced with Zhu Yi's questioning, Zhu Jian finally fell silent.
He looked up at the young Duke Cheng Guo, and couldn't help but feel extremely complicated in his heart.
After so many years in the officialdom, Zhu Jian has already experienced that although he has emotions, he is not a person who will let his emotions disrupt his judgment.
Putting aside his relationship with Zhu Yi, I have to say that this Duke Cheng is indeed a character.
Even he had always had a vague feeling that something was wrong with this relationship, but he didn't understand it clearly. However, Zhu Yi was young and had just ascended to the throne, so he could have such insight. Is this the accumulation of a noble family?
After taking a long breath, Zhu Jian suppressed the emotions in his heart, and his tone became calmer, and he said.
"The Duke is right, I failed to consider it."
"However, since the Duke of Guo has this knowledge, come to think of it, he won't just refute me and have no other solution, right?"
"That's natural"
Although Zhu Jian's words calmed down the emotion, there was still a hint of provocation hidden in them. However, Zhu Yi still looked calm and said.
"Everything has a cause and an effect; if there is good, there will be bad."
"Although the emperor doesn't care about reputation, he still has weaknesses."
This sentence immediately lifted everyone's spirits.
So Zhang Min asked: "What is it?"
“Of course it’s political achievement!”
Zhu Yi said with a smile on her lips.
"Of course, to put it mildly, it will make the country stable and the country stable!"
There was a touch of sarcasm in his tone, which was a small joke and made the atmosphere relaxed a lot.
Well, this is what a henchman of the Supreme Emperor should look like.
The way Zhu Yi spoke just now, someone who didn't know it, would have thought he was a flatterer around the emperor...
"For this reason, I simply opened the skylight and spoke frankly."
After saying this, Zhu Yi still seemed to be hesitant. His eyes glanced around and fell on a certain boy serving beside him intentionally or unintentionally. Then he let out a long breath and said.
"The biggest shortcoming of this emperor now is that he is not in the right position!"
"It is true that the country was in danger and the situation was critical at the time. However, no matter how critical the situation is, the inheritance of the throne cannot be ignored."
"Not to mention that the Supreme Emperor was still in Yibei at that time and was safe and sound. Even if something happened, His Highness the Crown Prince was still in the palace."
"Even if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is young, King Xi can temporarily assist the government. After the crisis is over, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will ascend the throne or welcome back the Supreme Emperor. This is the right thing to do."
"However, at that time, a group of people led by Yu Qian and Li Xian, regardless of the ancestral family law and lineage, forged the imperial edict and forced the Holy Mother to issue an edict to support King Tan to succeed to the throne."
"If that's the case, then that's it. After all, it's a temporary act, and it's excusable. However, since the Supreme Emperor has returned, he is the emperor who was inherited by the late emperor. Since the crisis has passed, it is natural for him to avoid the throne.
Returning power and fulfilling justice, but..."
"Ahem..."
Zhu Yi's emotions became more and more agitated, so that what he said made everyone present feel frightened.
Seeing that the Duke became more and more sensitive as he spoke, Zhang Shi next to him coughed violently as if he had typhoid fever.
Seeing this situation, Zhu Yi frowned, but she did stop talking.
So, Zhang Xi stopped coughing and said helplessly.
"My lord, we should talk about these things later when we have the opportunity. What method have you come up with? Let's get to the point as soon as possible."