"You! You! You!" Xia Yuanji and others were so angry that they were shaking all over. Jian Yi had a mouthful of phlegm stuck in his throat. His old face was bruised and he lost his breath. If the people next to him hadn't rescued him in time, he would have died. on the spot.
Naturally, Yang Shiqi would not stay here. As soon as his sedan came over, he bent down and got on the sedan, asking the bearers to carry him away quickly.
"A bunch of old losers!" Yang Shiqi snorted coldly as he sat down in the sedan chair and walked away from the group of gray-haired old men.
Yang Shiqi's sedan went straight into the palace and alighted at Qianqing Gate. Yang Rong also happened to come back, and when he got off the sedan, the two of them walked to Qianqing Palace together.
"Why did you propose to stop the court without saying hello today?" Yang Rong also had the same question. Obviously, as his closest comrade, he was also kept in the dark.
"I didn't mean to hide it," Yang Shiqi looked at Yang Rong and sighed, "I just don't want you to be involved." He lowered his voice and said, "Resigning from the imperial court is very likely to ruin a person's career. Youzi has gone, and if I am also deposed, I will have to keep you in the cabinet to assist the emperor, right?"
"Alas..." After listening to Yang Shiqi's explanation, Yang Rong's unhappiness disappeared. He looked at Yang Shiqi with a worried look and said: "Brother Shiqi, why are you doing this? You must have a clear conscience to be loyal to the emperor. Are you so desperate?"
"We swore together at the beginning to create peace for all eternity! For this oath, we paid so much, and Youzi even risked his life..." Yang Shiqi looked up at the gloomy sky, and said with an extremely determined and solemn expression: "So Even if we are defeated in this battle, we must win!"
"Brother Shiqi..." Yang Rong sighed and said with a look of shame on his face: "I'm not as good as you."
While talking, the two entered the Qianqing Palace. After returning from Changling, Emperor Hongxi had been recuperating from illness. He did not visit the court for nearly half a month. He only met with academicians every morning and evening to deal with some urgent military and state affairs.
Although he was ill, the emperor was still alarmed by the public ceremony in Qipantian Street. Seeing Yang Shiqi coming in, Zhu Gaochi couldn't hold back his anger and said: "I heard that you proposed to stop the court at the public ceremony, what are you going to do?! ”p>
"Your Majesty, I am not threatening the Emperor, I am providing weapons to the Emperor!" Yang Shiqi replied calmly.
"Oh?" Zhu Gaochi was stunned for a moment and asked, "How do you say this?"
"In the past, the British Duke roared at the Golden Palace, and the nobles cried and made trouble in the mausoleum, and even killed civil servants. The reason why the Emperor was unable to severely punish him was simply because they used the big hat of their ancestors to pin it on the Emperor's head, making the Emperor very passive. !" Yang Shiqi said in a deep voice: "In the final analysis, the Holy Emperor rules from the ground up and should be an arbiter of cause and effect, rather than going down in person and fighting to the death with nobles!"
"Oh?!" Zhu Gaochi's eyes clearly lit up. These words were like enlightenment, and he suddenly solved his long-standing doubts - Zhu Gaochi couldn't understand why Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong were making more noise than him. times, but still able to handle them with ease. No minister dared to be disrespectful to them, let alone roar before the king! Why did he fail like this? No one dared to challenge him, or even dared to point his nose and scold his mother, which ruined his prestige. This emperor acted extremely cowardly.
Originally, Zhu Gaochi only blamed himself for not having military power in his hands. But after listening to Yang Shiqi's words, he suddenly understood. It turned out that he was too impatient and had done all the ministers' errands. Naturally, he had to take responsibility for the ministers' rights and wrongs! What he should do most at this time
, in fact, it is to step back from the outside and be an arbiter. Let the civil servants and military generals fight, hide their own will in the ruling, and let the court become what they want.
This is actually the most basic emperor's mentality. He knew it well when he was a teenager. However, after years of suffering and ascending the throne, he was overwhelmed by too many emotions and actually committed a taboo of kings without knowing it.
Self-aware.
Now, as soon as Yang Shiqi woke him up, Zhu Gaochi suddenly felt clear and clear-headed. He was so happy that he stood up and clasped his fists at Yang Shiqi and said, "Bachelor, you have been taught!"
"You are just a fan of the authorities. With the emperor's wisdom, I don't need to talk too much, and I will wake up soon." Yang Shiqi was naturally humble, changed the topic, and returned to the topic: "Wei Chen calls on the civil servants to withdraw from the court, which is to give the emperor
An opportunity to punish the generals." After a pause, he said in a deep voice: "From the central to the local governments, the operation of the Ming Dynasty's regime depends entirely on the civil servants. Once the civil servants quit the court, the entire Ming Dynasty will be suffocated. Of course, the emperor must immediately restore the power of the court.
If it is to operate normally, then we must give an explanation to the civil officials! It is only natural that we ask the honorable nobles to hand over the murderer!"
"That's true, but that day, almost all the nobles participated in the murder. It was impossible for me to catch them all. In the end, I could only kill a few scapegoats, which would not help the matter." Zhu Gaochi was excited at first, but then calmed down.
"The emperor is very worried and cannot let them find a few scapegoats and just let this go." Yang Shiqi said with a deep look: "You should take the opportunity to deprive them of their right to discuss politics!"
"Oh?!" Zhu Gaochi looked at Yang Shiqi in surprise, only to realize that this was what he had planned! After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, although officials were divided into civil and military officials, with clear distinctions, military generals had the right to participate in and discuss politics once they reached the level of princes and counts.
During the imperial court, he stood at the forefront of the court and could give advice on everything. The emperor had to listen carefully and did not dare to turn a deaf ear to their opinions.
Under the Ming Dynasty's ancestral system, non-military merits could not lead to knighthood, so civilian officials never had the opportunity to comment on military affairs. For decades, they had been firmly suppressed by military commanders and could not stand up.
If the nobles are deprived of their right to participate in and discuss government affairs, the situation will be turned upside down immediately. Not only will the nobles no longer be able to interfere in government affairs, but civilian officials can also legitimately take military affairs into their hands. Because the military is the continuation of politics, and there will be no war.
How to fight is a military issue, but it is also a political issue...
"How to do it?!" Zhu Gaochi stared at Yang Shiqi closely, breathing heavily.
"It's very simple. The emperor only needs to issue a decree. All the nobles who were in Changling that day will be suspended from their posts, sit back and think about their mistakes, waiting for investigation." Yang Shiqi said lightly: "This is the proper intention to appease the civil servants, and it did not say who should be appointed.
The nobles should not object to this crime."
"Then what?" Zhu Gaochi nodded and asked. According to the rules, impeached officials should be suspended immediately pending investigation, let alone suspected of killing a court official...
"Then, there will definitely be various obstacles in investigating such a case. It is normal for the investigation to take a year and a half!" Yang Shiqi said solemnly: "Such a long time is enough for the emperor to transfer the power from the outer court to the inner court!"
"Moved from the outer court to the inner court?!" Zhu Gaochi's heart beat loudly at this word. Because six months after he took the throne, he had already personally felt the shortcomings of the outer court's political affairs! Everything must be brought to the court meeting.
After discussing with the emperor, not only was the efficiency inefficient, but the princes and ministers relied on their elders to act against them, and sometimes he, the emperor, had to take back his orders. This made Zhu Gaochi very uncomfortable.
If the decision-making power on major national affairs could be transferred from the court meeting to the inner court, and limited to discussions between the emperor and a few academicians, the efficiency would naturally be greatly improved, and the power of the country would be more tightly controlled in the hands of the emperor!
"Brother Shiqi, you are really my Kong Ming, ovary!" Zhu Gaochi reached out and took Yang Shiqi's arm, patted him hard several times, and said excitedly: "Listening to your words is worth ten years of reading! I thank you!"
"It's all what a minister should do." Yang Shiqi looked calm, as if he had just done a trivial thing.
"This matter is settled! Come on, let's discuss the details!" Uncharacteristically, Zhu Gaochi made the decision immediately!
Normally, His Majesty the Emperor would be very cautious about such actions related to the structure of the political power and the future of the government. But at this moment, he was hurt too deeply, angry too hard, and bullied too badly by the nobles, and he felt in his heart
Apart from how to weaken the nobles and monopolize power, there is no room for other ideas!
As for the balance issue, we have to wait until the civil servants and nobles can be on an equal footing. As for whether the academicians will have too much power, that is not an issue that the emperor is considering now. He is now afraid that the academicians will have too little power to help them.
Check and balance yourself!
The emperor and Yang Shiqi discussed the next steps enthusiastically. Yang Rong listened quietly and occasionally filled in the gaps. He was really shocked by Yang Shiqi's performance today! Originally, he and he were called Er Yang, and they felt that they were not mutually exclusive.
They are different, but looking at Yang Shiqi's actions today, I am actually beyond his reach!
On the way back from Changling, all the civil servants fell into despair, because at that time even His Majesty the Emperor had to compromise with the arrogant nobles. How could this not make people feel that their future was bleak, and that the civil servants would never be able to do so again?
Maybe turn over.
However, Yang Shiqi did not despair. He saw great opportunities in the great crisis. After returning to Beijing, he worked non-stop to organize various yamen to jointly hold public sacrifices to seek justice for the dead officials. In the face of justice, the chiefs of each yamen could not say no, and could not even be absent.
The public sacrifice was all used by Yang Shiqi and became a stepping stone for him to ascend to the position of civil servant leader!
Yang Shiqi used the public memorial meeting to mobilize the officials' sentiments of common hatred, twisted the scattered yamen into a rope, and then declared a stoppage of the government! Originally, Yang Rong thought that he would be criticized by the emperor, but Yang Shiqi turned his hands to cover up the clouds and rain.
, actually designed a golden avenue for the emperor to take the opportunity to deprive the nobles of their right to discuss politics and transfer the political power from the outer court to the inner court!
Yang Rong knew very well that Zhu Gaochi would never refuse this gift. In fact, no emperor in his right mind would refuse such an opportunity to monopolize power!
Yang Rong also knew very well that although Yang Shiqi's grand plan was for the emperor, it also involved serious private matters - what is the inner court? The cabinet and the eunuch yamen. And where is the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty, eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in politics.
, naturally only the cabinet and the emperor are left to discuss the country's affairs!