That night, His Majesty the Emperor finally returned from Zhaode Palace to Ganlu Palace.
A thick stack of documents has been piled up in the Manna Hall, but today there are much fewer documents than usual.
Normally there should be at least four or five stacks of documents.
The reason why today's workload is reduced is because the emperor informed Zhongshu in advance that he was not feeling well, and asked Zhongshu to only deliver reports and important matters.
Due to the reduced workload, His Majesty the Emperor only spent more than an hour today to finish processing these documents. Then he took the information about Zhu Gui that Gao Ming had prepared from the corner of the desk.
The emperor yawned while reading Zhu Gui's information, then looked up at Gao Ming and asked, "What do you think?"
Eunuch Gao lowered his head slightly and said, "Your Majesty is asking what you think of things in Guangdong?"
The emperor said "hmm" and said calmly: "It concerns the governor of a province. It is not a trivial matter. I cannot use a letter from Shen Qi to influence a second-rank official of the imperial court."
Zhu Gyu's corruption is not difficult to investigate.
Obviously, the emperor already knew about the corruption of this feudal official, but compared with the stability of the court, corruption was not a big deal.
It's not even a reason to bring down a feudal official.
If we really want to be so serious, then no one in the imperial court can have a safe and clean butt.
Eunuch Gao was silent for a while, and then said: "Your Majesty, according to the time calculation, this letter was written by Scholar Shen shortly after arriving in Guangdong. According to common sense, it should be..."
"It's not a personal grudge."
"That's for official business."
The emperor glanced at Gao Ming indifferently and said with a smile: "You mean, you want me to support Shen Yi, right?"
Gao Ming quickly shook his head and lowered his head and said: "Your Majesty, what Academician Shen did may not be for personal grudges, but for some corruption matters, he wanted to change the territory of a province. This idea is a bit too naive. Please tell me the truth. , and did not support Bachelor Shen’s idea…”
The emperor rubbed his brows, and then said calmly: "He did not ask me to change the governor of Guangdong. He just suggested to me that the five coastal shipping departments should be completely separated from the local yamen from now on, and the city shipping department should be replaced by the palace. People are sent to take the lead, and as for arresting smuggling, the five guards of the capital are responsible."
"This is to limit the authority of local government..."
The emperor yawned and felt a little sleepy: "But who is going to limit the power of the coastal capital?"
Gao Ming was silent for a while, and then said: "Your Majesty, if you follow what Academician Shen said, the local government will not be able to get any benefits. In the future, it will inevitably be overt and covert, supporting merchant ship smuggling, and even...slandering Wang Zheng."
"I think that Master Shen is a little too young..."
The emperor raised his eyebrows and looked at Gao Ming: "I am also very young."
Eunuch Gao immediately lowered his head: "My slave made a mistake..."
"I understand everything you said."
His Majesty the Emperor put down the Zhu Gui file in his hand and glanced at Gao Ming: "Shen Qi may not understand this truth, otherwise he wouldn't have found a way to catch Zhou Yishan in Zhejiang, and he wouldn't have made a fool of himself in Fujian. Cheng Tingzhi is a young man."
"He is leaving the problem to me."
The emperor slowly said: "If I want to deal with Guangdong, then he will do as he says. If I just let it go, in a few years the Guangdong Shipping Department and even several other shipping departments will be ruined, and I will follow him." no problem,"
Having said this, His Majesty the Emperor's tone was full of helplessness: "In the final analysis, the official atmosphere is unhealthy."
The Imperial Court of Chen Dynasty has been around for more than a hundred years, and even based on the history after the southern crossing, it has been over sixty years. Over the past sixty years, there have been stable vested interest groups, various vested interests are intertwined, and the officialdom There is a lot of corruption in the world and it has become an unwritten rule.
This is the "bad atmosphere".
The emperor could kill one or two officials or even dozens of officials, and remove hundreds of officials from their posts, but if new ones come in, after a year or two, they will probably still be like this in the future.
It is difficult to reverse it from the root.
Thinking of this, His Majesty the Emperor touched his chin, then looked up at the sky outside, and said slowly: "It's too late today."
"That's it, tomorrow..."
He looked at Gao Ming and said calmly: "There will be no court meeting tomorrow. I'll go to Zhang's house and invite Zhang Jing to me, saying that I have something to ask him."
Gao Ming's eyes moved, he lowered his head slightly and said, "Your Majesty, you are holy."
…………
The next morning, Prime Minister Zhang Jing, who had been in office for more than four years, was invited into the palace again. Accompanied by Gao Ming, he came all the way to the gate of Ganlu Hall.
Eunuch Gao led the way and said with a smile: "Old Xiangguo is in good spirits and his demeanor is still as good as before."
"old…"
Zhang Jing, whose hair was mostly white, sighed and shook his head helplessly: "My neck has been buried in the ground. Eunuch Gao, please stop making fun of me."
"Old Prime Minister's joke."
Eunuch Gao turned slightly sideways and said with a smile: "Your Majesty has always been thinking about the old Prime Minister."
Zhang Jing lowered his head slightly and said with a smile: "I also miss your Majesty very much. I just take this opportunity to say goodbye to your Majesty and return home."
Gao Ming lowered his head slightly and did not answer.
Soon, Zhang Jing arrived at the Manlu Palace and saw His Majesty the Emperor who was reading a book. The old Prime Minister made a gesture of saluting. His Majesty the Emperor quickly stepped forward, helped the old man up, and said with a smile: "Prime Minister, don't be too polite, sit down and talk. stop."
Zhang Jing bowed his head and thanked him.
At this time, the monarch and his ministers looked at each other, and they both saw some emotion in each other's eyes.
Zhang Jing watched Emperor Hongde grow up. When the emperor first ascended the throne, he was just ten years old and still a child. It was Empress Dowager Sun and several prime ministers from Zhongshu Province who worked hard to maintain the government.
Now, that immature child has grown into a young emperor.
The emperor was also filled with emotions.
One of the two prime ministers who he was somewhat afraid of back then has now turned gray-haired.
After the monarch and his ministers chatted for a while, the emperor asked Gao Ming to serve tea to the old man. Then he sat back in his seat and said with a smile: "The old prime minister is old. I shouldn't disturb the old prime minister's purity. I just met someone yesterday. It is difficult to make a decision on this matter, so I invite the old prime minister to come to the palace to inquire about the government."
Zhang Jing lowered his head slightly and said, "If your majesty does not think that the old minister is old and dim, I will be willing to share your worries for your majesty."
The emperor nodded, and after sorting out his thoughts, he said slowly: "A few days ago, I received a secret report. Someone impeached Zhu Gui, the governor of Guangdong, for taking bribes and bending the law, causing harm to the local area..."
The emperor looked at Zhang Jing quietly and said, "What does the Prime Minister think?"
"Of course I'll send someone to check."
Zhang Jing replied without hesitation: "Once it is found out, we will pursue it according to national laws and we will never be lenient!"
"I think so too."
The emperor shook his head slightly, sighed and said: "But, I am now in charge of the Guangzhou Shipping Department in Guangdong. I need the political situation in Guangdong to be stable. Zhu Gui has been in Guangdong for many years. Isn't it appropriate to touch him at this time?"
Zhang Jing thought for a while, then looked up at the emperor and said: "If that's the case, you might as well send someone to take over the post of governor of Guangdong and replace Zhu Gui. Don't deal with him for the time being. Wait until the situation in Guangdong is stable in the future.
It’s not too late to deal with him for a reason.”
"The border of a province..."
The emperor stared closely at Zhang Jing's expression and asked slowly: "Just change it?"
Zhu Gui is Zhang Jing's disciple and a member of the so-called "Zhang Party". The position of the first constitution of a province is very important for any force.
"Your Majesty is the Supreme Being and the father of all the people in the world. You can replace the officials of the imperial court with whomever you want."
The old man lowered his head slightly and said: "As long as the situation in Guangdong is guaranteed to be stable, Zhu Gui can be exchanged for it."
The emperor chuckled and looked at Zhang Jing: "Old Prime Minister, you might as well guess who secretly reported Zhu Gui."
The old man's face was calm, and he spoke slowly: "I guess it is Shen Yi, the bachelor of the Hanlin Academy."
Seeing Zhang Jian's expression remained calm, the emperor smiled and asked, "Isn't the old prime minister angry?"
Shen Yi's friendship with the Zhang family was well known to everyone in Jiankang City.
It is also known to everyone that Zhu Gui was a student of Zhang Jing.
It stands to reason that Zhang Jing would be very angry and even furious because of this incident.
"Return to Your Majesty."
Zhang Jing stood up from his chair and said: "I have left the court for many years, and the matters in the court have nothing to do with me. As for your majesty, whether I am angry or not..."
"If he is angry, he is also angry that I have failed to teach him well, and I have a disciple like Zhu Gui."
When the emperor heard this, he touched his palms with emotion.
"I deeply admire the old Prime Minister who is dedicated to serving the public good."
he said with a smile.
"Then let's handle this matter according to what the old prime minister said."
