Chapter 305 Zhu Gaojie: The scorching fire is about to be extinguished.
"That's it for now, let's eat first."
In this awkward atmosphere, Zhu Gaojie took the lead in breaking the deadlock.
The old man was silent for a moment and said, "Okay."
He said hello to Tang Cheng, and not long after, a line of palace maids lined up carrying wooden boxes with withered flowers and placed the food on the dining table.
Different from the simple meals in the past, today's lunch is extraordinarily sumptuous.
Shrimp with pepper and vinegar, roast goose, grilled sheep head and hooves, goose meat, salted drum and mustard sheep tripe plate, garlic vinegar white blood soup... a total of twelve dishes and two soups. Knowing that the prince likes to drink, he also added a jar of crane.
New year tribute wine.
Normally, Zhu Gaojie would have mentioned Kuai Zi to show off, but today, neither he nor the old man had any appetite for such sumptuous delicacies.
He filled himself up with a glass of wine and drank to drown his sorrows.
Seeing this, Zhu Di also poured himself a glass, and the two of them started drinking.
After a few glasses of wine, he was a little tipsy, and the atmosphere could not help but relax a lot. Zhu Di asked: "I heard someone said that you threw a dead man in Xiangshan?"
Zhu Gaojie raised his eyebrows and said, "Dad's news is quite good. This happened not long ago, right?"
Zhu Di snorted coldly and said, "Do you really think that without the Jinyi Guards, I, the emperor, will be blind and deaf?"
What he said was also a reminder to the other party that he, the emperor, was not too old to faint. Even if he delegated power to the East Palace, he still had the solid foundation to control the court.
Zhu Gaojie immediately said: "Wang Quan, the Minister of Punishment, has been missing for half a month. The Jin Yiwei rummaged through the city of Beijing but could not find anyone. He was killed and buried in the cotinus forest of Xiangshan Mountain."
The old man frowned slightly: "There has been such a big mess, have you found out who killed it?"
"I killed him."
"?"
Zhu Di calmed down and asked, "Why?"
Zhu Gaojie said unhurriedly: "Wang Quan, in a few years, he has gone from being a chief officer to the position of minister of the Ministry of Punishment, which is extremely fast. Isn't my father curious about why he keeps rising through the ranks?"
"Just because he is the representative figure promoted by the left-behind party in Nanjing to oversee the country in Beijing!"
Zhu Di was a little confused: "Nanjing supervises the country's left-behind parties?"
"Nanjing Supervisor is my eldest brother."
Zhu Gaojie said quietly, "I am still King Qi. When my eldest brother was still the prince, the court was divided into three parties. One was the Northern Patrol Party. Before the capital was moved to Beijing, you often patrolled the North. These officials who followed you on the Northern Patrol
I followed you in the north and south, took control of the military, and now I am helping you manage the army in Beijing."
"The second party is the Hanwang Party. His party is more complex. Some are his old troops who followed him during the Jingnan period, and some are officials who were bribed by him later. The most typical one is Liu Rong, the former censor of Zuodu, but later
When the sun sets on the King of Han, the party of the King of Han will naturally be wiped out."
"The last party is the Nanjing Left-Behind Party. My eldest brother has been in charge of the country for many years. His party members are all over the world, but the most concentrated place is Nanjing. These people follow my eldest brother and work diligently."
"Although my eldest brother has lost power now, the Nanjing Left-Behind Party still exists. Although it is slightly more decadent than before, the Centipede is still alive and its foundation is still there. It is still an extremely strong party. The most troublesome thing is, because
My eldest brother has ruled Jiangxi, and the left-behind party has escaped his control."
Zhu Di felt a little ridiculous: "You mean, the Ming Dynasty now has a force that is not controlled by the court, but is deeply entwined in the court?"
Zhu Gaojie nodded: "Not bad."
The old man asked: "Then why have I never heard of the existence of this force?"
"The left-behind party is mainly entrenched in Nanjing. It is deep-rooted and has no power or water. Especially after the boss took over the vassal state, they were leaderless for a long time and almost fell apart."
Zhu Gaojie said, "They don't have a strong purpose, so they haven't taken any big actions, but they are still consciously supporting officials within their own party, and Wang Quan, the Minister of Punishment, is the representative official they supported in Beijing.
.This is not a difficult task for them. Their power is spread all over the world. If they operate it casually, they can bring political achievements to Wang Quan. They are not short of money and power. In this way, Wang Quan can be easily promoted to Minister of Justice.
position."
Zhu Di asked: "In that case, how did you know about this party?"
"Although the left-behind party is well hidden, official changes, especially transfers like the Minister of Justice, have to go directly to the Wenhua Palace and be reviewed and approved by the emperor or the supervisor. If you put some thought into it, it is not difficult."
Zhu Gaojie thought for a moment and said, "Father, how long has it been since you last dealt with government affairs?"
Zhu Di: "..."
He touched the tip of his nose, trying to hide his embarrassment.
Good guy, it turned out that it was because he left all government affairs to the East Palace and had not dealt with government affairs for too long, which made his eyes and ears dull.
This also filled Zhu Di's mind with questions:
He had only been out of government for two years, and the court was already somewhat out of his control. So how did Emperor Jiajing, who had not been in court for twenty-four years in the simulation, take over the power and strategize?
He couldn't figure it out. He had to say that Emperor Jiajing was really a god, and he had reached the pinnacle of mastery in the imperial arts. It was a pity that this man's talent was used in the wrong direction.
Zhu Di set his sights on Zhu Gaojie. Including himself, there were a total of sixteen emperors in the Ming Dynasty. No emperor could match Jiajing in terms of power and strategy, but Zhu Gaojiao could.
Moreover, Zhu Gaojie's talent is on the most correct path.
This is his son and the heir he trusts and values most.
Zhu Di thought for a moment and asked, "What is your plan for killing Wang Quan?"
"Lue the snake out of its hole."
"Elaborate."
"Snake, of course, refers to the Nanjing left-behind party."
Zhu Gaojie spoke eloquently, "The left-behind parties in Nanjing are hidden too deeply. If you want to find these people, it will be difficult to do so even if you use all the strength of the Jin Yiwei. Instead of working hard, it is better to use some cleverness."
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Although the left-behind party has a wide range of influence, it is not easy to support a third-level minister. It requires a lot of manpower, material, energy, and financial resources. They praise Wang Quan
They came here because they wanted Wang Quan to help them develop their power in Beijing, with officials protecting each other and interlocking with each other. Huge resources were spent to bring Wang Quan up and give them a good start. The value they will create in the future will be far greater.
Given the initial investment, this is a business that won’t make a loss no matter what you do.”
"But now that Wang Quan is dead, all their investment has been wasted. Dad thinks, if it were you who had to waste all your money on business, no matter how good your temper is, how could you bear it?"
Thanks to the fact that in the Yongle Dynasty, Zhu Gaojie was in charge of Beijing, the problem of party strife in the Ming Dynasty seemed to be negligible.
Today, there are six major parties in the Ming Dynasty that are not under the control of the emperor:
The North and South Beijing Xunqi factions, the northwest generals faction, the three northeastern provinces factions, the Qi King faction, the East Palace faction, and the Nanjing left-behind faction.
Unfortunately, five of these six major parties are Zhu Gaojie's faction.
The relatives of the two capitals in the north and south, headed by British Duke Zhang Fu, Cheng Guo Duke Zhu Yong, Anyuan Marquis Liu Sheng... all sided with Zhu Gaojie.
The northwest generals faction is the military center of gravity of the Ming Dynasty today, and is headed by Liu Rong, Marquis of Guangning, and Zhu Gaojie.
Most of the current high-level officials in the three northeastern provinces factions, Liaodong, Jianzhou, and Goryeo were promoted by Zhu Gaojie, and their loyalty is self-evident.
The King Qi faction was a force developed by Zhu Gaojie when he was in Nanjing. Its core members include Yang Rong, the chief minister of the cabinet, Su Wu, the imperial censor of Zuodu, Xia Yuanji, the secretary of household affairs, Lu Chaoyang, the tax superintendent, and Su Wen, the commander of Shandong capital...
The East Palace faction is a new force cultivated by Zhu Gaojie after moving the capital to Beijing. The most typical one is Shen Qingyu, who is in charge of the Jinyiwei, and Zhang Muzhi, the current second-in-command of the Jinyiwei...
Five of the six major parties are Zhu Gaojie's people. The isolated left-behind party seems a bit weak and inexperienced. There is no party struggle at all. The Ming Dynasty is my people. Who is qualified to play party struggle with me?
.
If it were the late Ming Dynasty, for a big party, let alone a minister, they would not take it seriously even if the cabinet scholar died. At worst, they would just replace him.
During the seventeenth year of Emperor Chongzhen's reign, the chief ministers of the cabinet changed nineteen times. This shows how fierce the party struggle was. Some officials even didn't even remember the name of their superiors before they were kicked out of office.
In contrast, the behavior of the left-behind parties can be said to be harmless to humans and animals.
Even so, Zhu Gaojie had no intention of letting the left-behind parties go.
The left-behind party is harmless to humans and animals because they are too weak and dare not show their heads in the face of Zhu Gaojiao's pressure. If their power is strong enough to threaten the imperial power, how can they still be harmless to humans and animals? Today Zhu Gaojiao kills one of their ministers, and tomorrow they will
Dare to clamor for a new prince!
】
The notorious Donglin Party, when it was still weak at first, simply wanted to show off its integrity, advocate practical learning, and resist the fierce party struggle in the court. But after they turned their backs and became the largest party in the court.
, the Donglin Party, which initially opposed party strife, became the party with the most fierce party strife, frantically suppressing other parties, and doing whatever it takes to fight for power.
The boy who slayed the dragon eventually became a dragon. For a country that cannot be destroyed by external forces, internal problems can easily topple it.
If the issue of party strife is not resolved, even if Zhu Gaojie leads the Ming Dynasty to destroy all the countries in the world and become the only empire, the empire will still decline rapidly after his death.
Zhu Di asked suspiciously: "Let's not talk about how you will destroy the left-behind party. Even if you destroy the left-behind party, can you really eradicate party strife in the Ming Dynasty?"
Zhu Gaojie shook his head: "No."
Zhu Di was puzzled: "Then if you destroy the left-behind party, what's the point?"
Zhu Gaojie was silent for a moment, and then slowly said: "The number of heaven is reversed when it reaches its extreme, and it declines when it reaches its peak. The end of the scorching fire is near."
"Everything in the world has its own natural law, from prosperity to decline. For example, from flowers blooming to withering, day to night, everything has its own natural law. Even the sun that has been hanging high in the sky from ancient times to the present day has its own natural law.
, will eventually burn out, it is just a matter of time. The sun will burn out one day, how can a dynasty established by mortals prosper forever?"
It is impossible to cure the problem of party struggle. Someone will have power, and when there is power, there will be party struggle. What Zhu Gaojie can do is to delay the process of the empire being corrupted by power and strive to extend the life of the Ming Dynasty.
And he accepted Yu Qian as his disciple, just to pave the way for the layout.
Zhu Di thought for a moment and asked, "How do you know the sun will go out?"
Zhu Gaojie said: "I have to give you some knowledge about stars, red giants, white dwarfs, and black dwarfs."
Zhu Di said decisively: "It's not necessary."
…
After Zhu Gaojie finished his meal, he left with satisfaction.
The emperor stared at his back, his eyes a little complicated.
Zhu Gaojie chatted here for a long time, even bringing up the topic of whether the sun would go out, but he did not say a word about Emperor Jianwen's whereabouts.
He was always sure that Zhu Gaojie must know the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen, but he refused to tell him!
Otherwise, in the simulation, how did the other party know the content of the last words written by the great ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang to Mu Cheng? Could it be that Zhu Yuanzhang entrusted it to Zhu Gaojie in a dream?
Isn’t this just nonsense?
The only possibility is that this boy had contact with Emperor Jianwen and learned the contents of the letter from Jianwen.
"If you don't want to tell me, I won't ask."
Zhu Di murmured to himself, "But I believe that you will tell me sooner or later, even before I die."
"I don't have much time, fourth child."
"This is my last wish."
…
After leaving the palace gate, Zhu Gaojie's expression turned cold.
He stood there and thought for a long time, then turned to the direction of the cabinet and found Yang Rong.
When Yang Rong saw him, he bowed and saluted: "His Highness arrived, but I was a bit far away to welcome you. I hope Your Highness will forgive me."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Okay, don't talk nonsense with me here, you know I never like these useless politenesses."
Zhu Gaojie said with a sullen face, "It has been a while since we moved the capital to Beijing. Have the yellow records been sorted out?"
Yang Rong shook his head: "The Yellow Book is still in the Huangce Treasury in Houhu, Nanjing, mainly because the Yellow Book is of great importance and cannot be touched lightly. Once something goes wrong during the transfer, the entire Ming Dynasty will have problems."
He was embarrassed to say that the cabinet had no plans to move the Yellow Book from Nanjing to Beijing.
The Yellow Book, which is a book that records taxes and servitude, records in detail the hometown, name, age, address, land and property, and assets. The household registration is divided according to occupation, which is mainly divided into three categories: civilian, military, and craftsman.
A total of four copies of the Yellow Book are made, and sent to the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Chief Envoy, the Prefecture, and the County. Each copy must be filled in by the person, or the household must report it to someone else to write it on its behalf. If there is any concealment of cheating, the parents will be executed and the family members will be exiled.
Externalize.
Houhu Huangceku is a national central archives warehouse built on Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing. All the land and household registration files of the whole country are stored here. There are tens of thousands of volumes, and the records are valuable. If you want to use Huangceku
Moving to Beijing requires a lot of manpower and material resources, and there are risks that cannot be ignored. If something happens during the moving process, beheading all the officials involved will not be enough to atone for the crime.
Zhu Gaojie said categorically: "You don't have to tell me this. I don't care what method you use. I'll give you two months to try your best to move Huang Ceku from Nanjing to Beijing."
"I raised you to your current position because I want you to help me with things. If you can't do it, what's the use of you?"
Today the old man mentioned Emperor Jianwen, and Zhu Gaojiu remembered that there was such a wild emperor floating outside.
In fact, it didn't matter to him whether Jianwen was still alive or not. He didn't take Jianwen seriously at all, but to the old man, it was very important.
This is a knot in the heart of the old man. If Jianwen is not found, even if the old man dies, he may not be able to rest in peace.
To get rid of this knot, Zhu Gaojie's idea was to start with the yellow book.