Not even three minutes later, the sun was still hot.
On the east side of the Meridian Gate, in the cabinet room, three cabinet ministers were sitting at attention. In the lobby, there were more than a dozen chief officials of the six ministries and nine ministers. Outside the lobby, dozens of officials from various ministries were sitting in silence.
Except for Liu Daxia, the Minister of War, and Ma Wensheng, the Minister of Rites, basically all the main officials in the outer court have gathered here.
The usually noisy civil servants, even though dozens of people gathered here today, were silent and everyone was in awe.
Everyone is waiting, and they don't know what kind of result they are waiting for. They seem to be looking forward to the ending of the emperor's announcement, but they also seem to feel that such a result seems a bit boring.
The result that left them with no sense of participation was actually not what the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty wanted. Many officials of the Ming Dynasty were sometimes like this. They longed for recognition and a vigorous process. It seemed that only in this way could they reflect their integrity.
For the Ming Dynasty officials. But at the same time, they were afraid of this process.
They are such a contradictory group of people. They are eager to be in the spotlight, but they are afraid of being shot.
Outside the public room, several people walked quickly. The leader was an eunuch, an ordinary chamberlain in the Qianqing Palace. He held the imperial edict in his hand and walked quickly to the door of the cabinet room.
"The Emperor has an edict! Please invite the cabinet ministers Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian to take over the edict." It seemed that this was the first time that the eunuch had been entrusted with the task of delivering an edict. His voice was timid and trembling, but his voice was still loud.
Everyone inside and outside the public house seemed to have come alive, as if the clay and wood sculptures had come alive. They all stood up, their faces glowing with excitement.
Liu Jian straightened his clothes and strode out of the public house. Behind him, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian and a group of officials followed him and came to the sunshine in the yard. Everyone knelt on the ground.
"I will receive the order," dozens of officials said in unison.
"I have read the memorial, and I think that the memorial of the three great scholars was written with sincerity, and I admire their loyalty to the country. I bowed and reflected on myself, and felt guilty."
Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and others who were kneeling on the ground were overjoyed when they heard this. It seemed that the matter was going to be successful. After all, the emperor could not bear the joint memorial of the three bachelors, and the situation forced him to bow his head.
"...After careful consideration of the matters reported by the three great scholars, I believe that the people impeached by Qing and others did indeed behave inappropriately. However, most of what Liu Jin and others did was done under my instructions, not
I intend to bewitch and deceive you. I cannot marry my fault to someone else."
"In view of this, I give the following reply. First, I am willing to admit my fault. I will personally apologize at the court tomorrow morning to calm the grievances of the superiors and subordinates. Second, Liu Jin and others did derelict in their duties, but they are not treacherous. Even so, I plan to
Liu Jin and others were dismissed from their posts in the inner court and fined their salaries to be punished by self-examination."
"Thirdly, the late Emperor has made a final decision regarding the Zhang brothers, and it is not appropriate to dwell on the past. Zhang Yanling followed me on the tour, which was my order, and he cannot be blamed. However, Zhang Yanling did not dissuade me.
Dereliction of duty. I intend to fine him three stipends.
Months, give reprimands as a sign of punishment. I am very pleased and admire you, my three beloved ministers, for your loyalty and hard work for the Ming Dynasty. I ask your three beloved ministers to calm down your anger, be tolerant to each other, and lead hundreds of officials to kill.
Focus on government affairs and revitalize the Ming Dynasty."
When he was halfway through reciting the imperial edict, Liu Jian straightened up with a livid face, his eyes filled with disappointed anger.
After the eunuch who delivered the order announced the order, he smiled and said: "You three adults, please accept the order and thank me."
Li Dongyang said loudly: "I accept the order and thank you..."
"Can't take it!" Liu Jian said loudly.
Li Dongyang's voice stopped suddenly and he looked at Liu Jian in shock.
"Please, father-in-law, take the imperial edict back to the emperor. Please tell the emperor that what I want is not a perfunctory response, but a thorough attitude. The emperor's perfunctory behavior has chilled the hearts of the ministers. Please take back this imperial edict."
"What I want is to impeach the treacherous people around the emperor, not to tolerate them." Liu Jian said loudly.
"Yes, please take back the emperor's decree. I dare not accept this decree and cannot accept it." Xie Qian also said loudly.
"This..." The eunuch who delivered the order was at a loss. He had never heard of the emperor's imperial ministers refusing to accept the order. He didn't know what to do for a moment.
"My father-in-law, don't you understand? Please go back and report to the emperor. The emperor's attitude of shielding Zhang Yanling, Liu Jin and others is unacceptable. Please reconsider." The Minister of Household Affairs said loudly in Korean.
"Okay, okay, let's go back then. Let's go, let's go." The eunuch who delivered the order hurriedly turned around, urged the few young eunuchs who came with him, turned around and left quickly.
After the eunuch who delivered the order left, all the officials started talking about it.
Liu Jian returned to the public hall with a livid face, and Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, Han Wen and others also came in.
"Everyone, what do you think?" Liu Jian said in a deep voice.
"This is unreasonable. The emperor is obviously perfunctory with us. What is the difference between such an answer and no answer? We have been waiting for a long time, is this the result?" Xie Qian said angrily.
"My three lords, it seems that the emperor did not realize that our attitude was resolute this time. The emperor thought that we could easily deal with it just like before. It seems that we need to let the emperor know that perfunctory will not work, and it is absolutely impossible to protect Liu Jin and the others.
Impossible." Han Wen said loudly.
"Yes, the emperor's attitude is really infuriating. He would rather take the blame for them than punish them severely. This is really crazy. I find it incredible. I even suspect that the emperor was bewitched by Liu Jin and others.
I have lost my mind." Min Gui, the Minister of Punishment, said loudly.
"Tell me, this is probably Zhang Yanling's idea. Three bachelors jointly submitted the memorial, how could the emperor not understand the importance? If the emperor was perfunctory and refused in front of the three bachelors in the morning, why wait until now to spread the message like this?
His will? When Zhang Yanling came to the palace to see the emperor in the afternoon, it must be this guy who is causing trouble. This guy is eloquent and full of tricks, and we have him on the impeachment list. How could he not try his best to deceive the emperor and get away with it?" Minister of War, Ministry of War.
Xu Jindao.
Liu Jian frowned and pondered. Seeing Li Dongyang stroking his beard and saying nothing, he said in a deep voice: "Dongyang, why don't you speak? What do you think?"
Li Dongyang hurriedly said: "Mr. Liu, ladies and gentlemen, I think the emperor has expressed his intention to repent. The emperor is willing to apologize to all officials tomorrow morning. This is already a very good attitude. What we wanted before was for the emperor to realize
Is it my own mistake? Now that the emperor is willing to do this, why don’t we just go with the flow? Let’s
It is already extremely inappropriate to refuse to accept the decree. If we continue, I don’t know what the result will be. Otherwise, we can make another excuse and ask the emperor to demote Liu Jin to Nanjing as a human being and leave the emperor’s side. In this way, the emperor will accept it.
You’re wrong, Liu Jin and others can’t bewitch the emperor, so don’t they need to continue to fight?”
As soon as Li Dongyang finished speaking, Xie Qian stood up and said loudly: "Mr. Li, when things come to an end, do you want to back down? Are you afraid? We must eradicate the evil. If Liu Jin and others do not eradicate this time, they will relapse in the future. .You actually want to make peace with Xini again? Absolutely impossible. I firmly disagree. This time the matter must be completely resolved. Not only must Liu Jin and others be impeached, but the Eight Tigers must be completely eradicated to avoid future troubles."
Li Dongyang frowned and said: "Thank you, sir, don't get excited. I'm not being conciliatory. I feel that the emperor's imperial edict has obviously already been compromised. Considering that the edict was issued now, this is probably the emperor's limit. We must reach it. Our purpose is counterproductive."
Han Wen sneered and said: "Counterproductive? If we work together, we will be able to achieve our goal. The emperor is just taking a chance and wants to bargain. Since the emperor has made concessions, he will make concessions again. Liu Shoufu, I think I can negotiate with the six departments Officials are being sued. Not only are we going to sue, but we are also going to fight as a group and exert pressure. If the emperor continues to ignore it, then all the officials will be suing together and sit in silence in front of the Qianqing Palace. If the emperor doesn’t agree, we will never give up. ."
Liu Jian stood up slowly and said in a deep voice: "Well, Han Shangshu will lead the six officials to report again, and we will go to the Qianqing Palace to fight in front of the palace."
Li Dongyang said: "Master Liu..."
Liu Jian said in a deep voice: "Dongyang, there is no turning back. In this matter, we have no retreat. If we don't get rid of Liu Jin and others this time, we will have no chance in the future. There are so many people watching up and down, this We must never back down once. Dongyang, if you have other ideas, you don’t have to go to the palace. I will never blame you."
Li Dongyang stood up with anger, and when he was about to explain, Liu Jian was already walking. Xie Qian, Han Wen and other officials who were filled with indignation followed him out of the hall one after another. Li Dongyang had no choice but to follow up.
"They are all dizzy. Mr. Li, you don't have to join in the fun." A person next to him whispered.
Li Dongyang turned his head and saw Jiao Fang's thin and smiling face. Jiao Fang sat motionless on the chair with no intention of moving at all.
"Master Jiao, don't you plan to go?" Li Dongyang frowned.
"What am I going to do? I don't want to join in the fun." Jiao Fang said.
"But, last night, you did not have this attitude in the waterside pavilion of Liu Shoufu's back house. It was you who proposed to impeach Zhang Yanling as well. By the way, there was also Mr. Liu Yu, the censor of Zuodu. It seems that he has not been here until today. I didn’t see him.” Li Dongyang said.
Jiao Fang laughed, her eyes flickering, but she didn't answer. Li Dongyang's mind flashed with lightning, and he suddenly seemed to understand something.
…
In the back hall of Qianqing Palace, the eunuch who delivered the edict brought back the imperial edict and the reply from the outer court.
After Zhu Houzhao heard this, he shouted angrily: "How can this be reasonable? How can it be justified? How can this be repaid?"
"Your Majesty, these servants have already said that they will not accept the Emperor's goodwill. They may also regard the Emperor's goodwill as weakness and can be bullied. They have openly resisted the decree. Your Majesty, these officials in the outer court have become arrogant and domineering. There is really no emperor in my eyes." Liu Jin said softly.
Zhu Houzhao kicked over the chair and shouted: "Are they crazy? What do these guys want to do? Are they going to rebel? Uncle, what should I do?"
Zhang Yanling said in a deep voice: "Rebellion is not a problem, but it is just a precaution. Your Majesty, I'm afraid you have to draw up a decree for me so that I can leave the palace and act."
Just as Zhu Houzhao was about to speak, Gao Feng quickly stepped in and reported: "Your Majesty, three bachelors from the cabinet and dozens of officials from the six ministries have entered the palace. They have arrived at the gate of Qianqing Palace."
Zhu Houzhao said: "Oops, they are going to rush in. Stop them, stop them quickly."