King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 110 Intercession
Imperial City, the back hall of Jixian Pavilion.

After lunch, Zhu Jingyuan and several officials were sitting together drinking tea.

Among these officials, there are those who followed Zhu Jingyuan to edit books, and some officials who have been released from Jixian Hall.

Relying on Jixian Pavilion, Zhu Jingyuan has friendship with many officials, and many people come to see him every day.

"The Ministry of Criminal Justice has re-sentenced the case. Qian Ruiming and the others will be ransacked and exiled, and Hu Jin'an himself will be beheaded!"

"My lord, such a heavy sentence by the Ministry of Criminal Justice is really against the laws of the country. Although we have filed impeachments, there has been no news of it..."

"Your Highness is highly regarded by the Holy One. I am waiting to come here... but I want to ask Your Highness to come forward and come to the imperial court to intercede for Qian Liu and others!"

"The country has its own laws, and the prince has always been famous. Now is the time for the prince to support the law!"

Several officials spoke to each other, and the logic was clear layer by layer, obviously they came prepared.

Qian Ruiming, Liu Deyan and the others were working for Zhu Jingyuan after all, and now they ended up like this.

If Zhu Jingyuan refuses to intercede at this time, it will chill the hearts of those who follow him.

Once people lose their minds, it's not just that the team is difficult to lead, but also if you lose your reputation, whoever will follow you.

Putting down the teacup, Zhu Jingyuan straightened his sleeves, and said slowly: "I have been mediating their affairs, and I have been to the Ministry of Punishment several times. The Ministry of Punishment also has its own difficulties!"

Of course, everyone present knew what difficulties the Criminal Department had. That's why they came to Zhu Jingyuan.

The so-called untie the bell has to tie the bell. Everyone knew very well that the key to the matter lay with the emperor, but no one dared to go to the audience for this matter.

At this time, Zhu Jingyuan, as the prince and prince, should shoulder the hopes of everyone.

"I understand what you mean, and I have been thinking about this matter!"

"Although Qian and Liu are at fault, they are also loyal ministers of my Ming Dynasty. Such a severe sentence is really too much!"

"Even if you don't tell me, I plan to go to the palace today to meet the emperor and intercede for the two of them!"

The last sentence is of course a lie, if the group in front of him hadn't made the request, Zhu Jingyuan would have pretended not to know the past.

"Qian and Liu ended up today because they let themselves go and forgot the teachings of the sages..."

"I'm afraid there are many foolish people like them in the world!"

Zhu Jingyuan mentioned these things suddenly, obviously meaning something, and an official answered: "The world is getting worse, and when I read the books of sages and sages, I should help the people of the world!"

This remark caused everyone present to nod their heads again and again, which is what Confucianism pursues to rule the country and bring peace to the world.

"Duke Rongguo's Mansion in the capital city, have you all heard of it?"

It is somewhat insulting for Zhu Jingyuan to ask such a question. Although the Ningrong Second Mansion is lonely, it is not likely that no one will know about it.

Reminiscent of Zhu Jingyuan's words just now, some officials asked: "Is there something strange about this Rongguo Mansion?"

Zhu Jingyuan sighed, and said: "I heard people say that the sons and daughters of Rong Guogong's mansion are all grown up but still eat and live together. Do you think...is this plausible?"

Ever since he decided to clean up the Rongguo Mansion, Zhu Jingyuan ordered people to clean up the evidence.

This investigation also yielded a lot, there were simply too many messy things in the Ningrong Second House, Zhu Jingyuan chose the "trivial things" in the inner house.

It's not that he has a good heart, but because of those other things, other nobles have done a lot, and it will make many people uneasy, and it will offend more people for no reason.

The matter in the inner house is related to reputation, it is not important but can be sealed with a sword, which is just right for Zhu Jingyuan.

"No matter how you say it, the Rongguo Mansion is an honorable court. If you don't ask them to set an example for the world, at least they should strictly abide by the etiquette and have no shame in their hearts. But what have they done?"

"You say that the world is getting worse, this is the example in front of you!" Having said this, Zhu Jingyuan couldn't help shaking his head, looking extremely regretful.

Immediately, someone said angrily: "What happened to the Rongguo Mansion? It's really insulting to the gentleman, but Jia Zheng is still an official of the court, and he claims to be a saint's disciple..."

"These duplicity, treachery and hypocrisy, what is the face of being equal to me as a minister!"

Everyone already understood what Zhu Jingyuan meant, so they naturally followed suit and reached a consensus soon.

"Don't worry, my lord, this kind of disrespectful, righteous and shameful family, the minister will impeach him...to protect my Ming Dynasty's moral principles!"

Zhu Jingyuan smiled and said: "Kuangfu Fengji, I'm sorry for all of you!"

…………

After the conversation was over, the officials left, and Zhu Jingyuan entered the palace in a sedan chair.

Since he agreed to intercede, he had to go through this anyway.

When he came outside Qianqing Palace and asked the officials on duty, he learned that the emperor was discussing matters with Gecheng.

So Zhu Jingyuan waited outside the hall, and refused to go to the side hall to serve tea, just because he wanted to hear the content of the discussion.

It is reasonable to say that this is against the rules, but Zhu Jingyuan is highly valued by the emperor, so the eunuchs turned a blind eye.

It discussed the situation in the northwest, discussing when to send troops, which battalion of troops to move, and whether to mobilize guards to go straight to the army.

As a result, at the end of the discussion, the topic was on the Taishang Emperor's birthday, whether or not Junggar Khan should be called to congratulate him.

The final conclusion is that only the Beijing camp will be transferred to Gansu to guard, and then the Junggar Khan will be called to meet.

Zhu Jingyuan thought that the discussion was over and he was going to have an audience, but Chen Jinyun spoke again, pleading for Qian and Liu.

However, the final result was that Chen Jinyun, who was the prime minister, was severely reprimanded by the emperor, without saving him any face.

The power of cabinet ministers lies entirely in the emperor's trust, so it is very important to figure out the holy will.

Chen Jinyun's intercession at this moment was contrary to the emperor's wishes, so how could Zhu Xianming spare him lightly.

"You are my confidants, if you can't understand the holy will, how can you take charge of the government?"

"I won't pursue today's matter. If there is a next time... you can go home and take care of your grandson!" Zhu Xianming said coldly.

Such severe accusations made Chen Jinyun sweat profusely, even at his age.

But today's reprimand cannot be avoided, otherwise he will also face the ending of scattered hearts and unstable status.

Cabinet ministers must be trusted by the emperor, but if there is no support from the subordinates, then it is useless to have a title, and what they do or say is worthless.

"go out!"

The three cabinet ministers walked out of the hall, saluted Zhu Jingyuan and left.

"Let the sixth child come in!"

"My lord, the Lord sent you in!"

"Oh...Okay, okay!" Zhu Jingyuan came back to his senses and entered the hall with difficulty.

He was taken to the warm pavilion on the west side, where Emperor Zhu Xianming was sitting behind the imperial case, flipping through the newly revised Shizu Shilu.

"Lao Liu, what are you doing here?"

Zhu Xianming did not raise his head, and was still concentrating on the book, which made Zhu Jingyuan feel much more at ease.

"Father... my son just came here to ask, how do you feel about drinking the Tingxi Orchid tea that I gave you the day before yesterday?"

"good!"

"That's good!"

Putting down the book, Zhu Xianming looked at Zhu Jingyuan and asked blankly, "You came here to ask this?"

With Chen Jinyun's lessons learned from the past, although Zhu Jingyuan had already prepared a draft, he dared not mention half a word at this moment.

"Um...yes, my son is afraid that you might not be used to drinking, so I made a special trip here to ask!"

Zhu Xianming said in a deep voice: "You only ask when you've finished drinking, it's really timely!"

"My son will bring more next time. These tea leaves are specially made by..."

"Do you have anything else?"

Originally, Zhu Jingyuan planned to introduce how difficult it is to grow these tea leaves, and how hard he has worked so hard to obtain these extremely high-quality teas to honor.

Hearing the emperor's question, Zhu Jingyuan quickly replied: "No...it's all right!"

"If you have nothing to do, go for what you should do!"

"Yes……"

Zhu Jingyuan left again in a hurry. This time, the audience did not exceed 1 minute, which was unusually brief.

When he walked out of the hall, he saw an eunuch rushing towards him with an extremely anxious expression.

"What's going on, panic, what's the matter?" Zhu Jingyuan regained his composure.

"Reporting to the prince, it is an urgent military situation from Jinling..."

(End of this chapter)