marquis of jingan

Chapter 694 Provoking Discord
It was night, and His Majesty the Emperor finally returned to Ganlu Palace from Zhaode Palace.

In the Ganlu Hall, a thick stack of documents has already been piled up, but today's documents are much less than usual.

Usually there are at least four or five stacks of documents.

The reason why today's workload is reduced is because the emperor greeted Zhongshu in advance, saying that he was unwell, and asked Zhongshu to only send important and important matters.

Due to the reduced workload, His Majesty the Emperor only spent more than an hour today to finish processing these documents, and then he brought the information about Zhu Gui that Gao Ming had prepared from the corner of the desk.

While yawning, the emperor finished 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 how you view the affairs of Guangdong?"

The emperor gave a "hmm" and said lightly: "It is not a trivial matter that concerns the governor of a province. I can't use Shen Qi's letter to move the second-rank officials of the imperial court."

It is not difficult to find out about Zhu Gui's corruption.

Obviously, the emperor already knew about the corruption of ink by this feudal official, but compared to the stability of the court, corruption is not a big deal.

It's not even a reason to overthrow a big official in the frontier.

If it is so serious, no one in the court can have a safe and clean ass.

Eunuch Gao was silent for a while, and then said: "Your Majesty, according to the time calculation, this letter was written by Bachelor Shen not long after he arrived in Guangdong. According to common sense, it should..."

"It's not a personal grudge."

"That's for business."

The emperor glanced at Gao Ming faintly, and said with a smile, "You mean, you want me to support Shen Yi, don't you?"

Gao Ming quickly shook his head, lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, what Shen Xueshi did may not be for personal grievances, but because of some corruption, he wants to change the border of a province. , did not support Xueshi Shen's idea..."

The emperor rubbed his brows, and then said lightly: "He didn't ask me to change the governor of Guangdong, he just suggested to me that the five city bureaus along the coast should completely break away from the local government offices in the future, and the city bureaus should be replaced by those in the palace. As for arresting smugglers, the five guards of the capital are in charge."

"This is to limit the authority of the local government..."

The emperor yawned, a little sleepy: "But who will limit the authority of the coastal capital?"

Gao Ming was silent for a while, and then said: "Your Majesty, if you follow what Xueshi Shen said, you won't get any benefit if the local government is inside. In the future, you will inevitably support merchant smuggling secretly, and even... slander the king's government."

"This servant thinks that Bachelor Shen is a bit too young..."

The emperor raised his eyebrows and looked at Gao Ming: "I am also very young."

Eunuch Gao immediately bowed his head: "This servant made a slip of the tongue..."

"I understand what you said."

His Majesty the Emperor put down the Zhu Gui dossier in his hand, and glanced at Gao Ming: "Shen Qi may not be ignorant of this truth, otherwise he would not have tried to catch Zhou Yishan in Zhejiang, and he would not have made a fool of himself in Fujian." Cheng Tingzhi has a green head."

"He just threw the problem to me."

The emperor slowly opened his mouth and said: "If I want to deal with Guangdong, then he will do as I said. If I just let it go, after a few years the Guangdong Municipal Bureau of Shipping and even several other municipal bureaus have failed, and I will also be with him." no problem,"

Speaking of this, His Majesty's tone was also full of helplessness: "In the final analysis, it is because the atmosphere in the officialdom is not correct."

The Great Chen court has been around for more than 100 years. Even if it is calculated according to the history after the Nandu, it has been more than 60 years. For more than 60 years, there has been a stable vested interest group. It became an unwritten rule.

This is "unhealthy atmosphere".

The emperor can kill one or two officials or even dozens of officials, and can remove hundreds of officials from their posts, but the newcomers come up, honestly, after a year or two, they will probably look like this in the future.

Difficult to reverse from the root.

Thinking of this, His Majesty touched his chin, then looked up at the sky outside, and said slowly: "It's too late today."

"Well, tomorrow..."

He looked at Gao Ming, and said calmly: "There will be no court meeting tomorrow, so you go to Zhang's mansion, invite Zhang Jing to me, and say that I have something to ask him."

Gao Ming's gaze shifted, he lowered his head slightly and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

…………

In the morning of the next day, Prime Minister Zhang Jing, who had served for more than four years, was invited into the palace again. Accompanied by Gao Ming, he walked all the way to the gate of Ganlu Hall.

Eunuch Gao led the way ahead, and said with a smile: "Old Xiangguo is hale and hearty, and his demeanor remains the same as before."

"old…"

Zhang Jing, whose hair was mostly gray, sighed, and shook his head helplessly: "The neck is buried in the ground, Eunuch Gao, don't make fun of this old man."

"Old Xiangguo is joking."

Eunuch Gao turned sideways slightly, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty has always missed the old Xiangguo."

Zhang Jing lowered his head slightly, and said with a smile: "The old man also misses His Majesty very much, and I just took this opportunity to bid farewell to Your Majesty and return home."

Gao Ming lowered his head slightly, but did not answer.

Soon, Zhang Jing arrived at the Ganlu Palace, and saw His Majesty the Emperor who was reading a book. The old Xiangguo made a gesture to salute. stop."

Zhang Jing bowed his head to thank him.

At this time, the two monarchs and ministers looked at each other, and they both saw some emotion in each other's eyes.

Emperor Hongde was raised by Zhang Jing. When the emperor first came to the throne, he was just ten years old. He was still a child. The Queen Mother Sun and several prime ministers of Zhongshu Province worked hard to maintain the court.

Now, that immature boy back then has grown into a young emperor.

And the emperor was filled with emotion.

Back then, one of the two prime ministers he was a little afraid of had gray hair now.

After the two of them exchanged pleasantries for a while, the emperor asked Gao Ming to serve tea to the old man, then sat back in his seat, and said with a smile: "Old Xiangguo is old, originally I shouldn't disturb the old man's cleanliness, but yesterday I met someone It is difficult to make a decision on this matter, so I invite the old Xiangguo to enter the palace to ask about politics."

Zhang Jing lowered his head slightly and said, "If Your Majesty doesn't think the old minister is too old and dull, the old minister is willing to share His Majesty's worries."

The emperor nodded, and after sorting out his thoughts, he said slowly: "A few days ago, I received a secret report that someone impeached Zhu Gui, the governor of Guangdong, for corrupting the law and causing harm to the local..."

The emperor looked at Zhang Jing quietly, and asked, "What does Xiangguo think?"

"Naturally send someone to check."

Zhang Jing replied without hesitation: "Once it is found out, it will be investigated according to the laws of the country, and no mercy will be given!"

"I thought so too."

The emperor shook his head slightly, sighed and said, "But, I'm working on the Guangzhou Shipping Department in Guangdong now, and I need the political situation in Guangdong to be stable. Zhu Gui has been in Guangdong for many years. At this time, shouldn't it be inappropriate to touch him?"

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 first, replace Zhu Gui, and leave him alone for the time being. When the situation in Guangdong stabilizes in the future, we can find someone else to take over the post of governor of Guangdong." 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, "If you want to change it, can you change it?"

Zhu Gui is a student of Zhang Jing and a member of the so-called "Zhang Party", and the position of the head constitution of a province is very important to any force.

"Your Majesty is the Ninth Five-Year Supreme, the father of all the subjects in the world. The officials of the court can be replaced by whomever your Majesty wants."

The old man lowered his head slightly and said, "As long as the situation in Guangdong is stable, Zhu Gui can be exchanged."

The emperor chuckled, and looked at Zhang Jing: "Old Xiangguo might as well guess, who secretly reported Zhu Gui."

The old man's face was calm, he said slowly: "I guess it's Shen Yi, a student of the Hanlin Academy."

Seeing Zhang Jian's expression was calm, the emperor asked with a smile, "Isn't the old Xiangguo angry?"

Everyone in Jiankang City knew that Shen Yi had a good relationship with the Zhang family.

And Zhu Gui is a student of Zhang Jing, which is also known to everyone.

It stands to reason that Zhang Jing would be more or less furious because of this incident, and even furious.

"Go back to Your Majesty."

Zhang Jing stood up from his chair and said: "The old minister has been away from the court for many years, and the affairs in the court have nothing to do with the old minister. As for your Majesty's question about this matter, the old minister is angry..."

"If you're angry, it's because the old minister can't teach himself well, and he has a student like Zhu Gui."

When the emperor heard the words, he clapped his hands with emotion.

"Old Xiangguo is dedicated to the public, and I deeply admire it."

he said with a smile.

"Then, we will do as the old Xiangguo said."

(End of this chapter)