Jingtai Fengyun: The First Absurd Emperor of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 670: The theory of Yi Chu comes to the table and the emperor’s cabinet reaches a consensus

Why is it ridiculous? Zhu Jian deeply wanted to accept the palace maid Wan Zhen'er as his concubine, but Zhu Qiyu actually tended to agree.

Half a month without words, time flies by.

Early in the morning on June [-]th, important cabinet ministers took the initiative to come to Ganquan Palace and request for pilgrimage.

Zhu Qiyu and Zhu Wenfang summoned everyone in the Qingyun Hall, and a long-lost figure appeared in the hall.

Prince Ji, the distinguished Duke of Jingguo, finally returned to the court. Zhu Qiyu greeted him for a long time before getting down to business.

This time, Wang Yining, the Minister of Rites, made the first report, respectfully presented the crown prince's letter to the emperor, and elaborated on the whole story.

Although Zhu Qiyu had known about it for a long time, he still pretended to be surprised: "The crown prince insists on abdicating the throne and demoting himself to the vassal king? He also wants to cancel the previous engagement?
Forget it, do you still want to accept the palace maid Wan Zhen'er as the princess? "

Wang Yining nodded affirmatively.

Zhu Qiyu touched Zhu Wenfang's head lovingly, and then asked the ministers: "What do you think, dear ministers?"

Everyone looked at the emperor's actions and were shocked: the emperor was no longer too lazy to pretend and made it clear that he wanted to change the crown prince.

Has the time finally come?From the birth of Prince Qi to the present, the emperor has endured for six years before taking action, which has gone beyond what the government and the public expected.

Most people in the cabinet are actually ready to accept Yichu.

The reason is simple. The emperor now has twelve sons, and King Yi only has one son left: Crown Prince Zhu Jianshen.

The father owns the world and should pass it on to the son.

No matter how unexpected an accident happens, it is impossible for all the emperor's twelve sons to die, and the throne will never be restored to the legitimate lineage anyway.

The most important thing is that the army and important ministers who were loyal to Xuan Temple and the orthodoxy were no longer there. Whether it was a mutiny or a coup, there was no way to start it.

And even if the ministers have no conscience, they still have to admit that today's emperor is unworthy of his father. If it were Xuan Miao's temper, he would have killed all the Zhengtong family.

It was merciful enough that the emperor could kill the crown prince easily and without leaving any trace, but he was still willing to go through the easy storage process.

Everyone had the courage to secretly glance at the emperor. There was obvious impatience in the emperor's eyes, as well as a trace of undetectable cruelty.

Seeing that everyone did not reply, Zhu Qiyu sneered and said: "Does anyone want to become an official? Please hand over the memorial and I will read it for you on the spot.

I have no other abilities, but I have loved writing the word "accurate" all my life. "

He Wenyuan, the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, took the lead in kneeling down and said: "Your Majesty, the father owns the world, and he passes it on to his sons. This is the law of heaven and earth.

King Kuang Yi has repeatedly committed serious crimes against the country, and the crown prince should have been deposed.This is the benevolence of the Holy One, which is maintained to this day.

However, changing the crown prince is not only the hope of the people in the world, but also the foundation for ensuring the stability of the country.

The minister begged the Holy One to comply with the people's will and change the crown prince's title to the crown prince in order to rectify the country's foundation. "

Zhu Qiyu sat upright and did not utter a word to refute.

Seeing that the emperor had made his attitude clear, Wang Wen, Wang Ji, Luo Tong, Zhou Chen, Chen Yi, Huang Pu, He Yi and others all knelt down.

The senior people in front all knelt down. Wang Yining, Xiao Tan, Yao Kui, Zhou Xuan, and Geng Jiuchou looked at each other and could no longer hold on.

There are currently fifteen bachelors in the cabinet, eight of whom have already knelt down. Xu Youzhen and Jiang Yuan, who are leading troops abroad, know without asking that they must support the emperor.

After a slight hesitation, Yao Kui also knelt down.Because after the Tumubao Incident, when the ministers were arguing about the succession to the throne, it was Yao Kui who stood up and scolded: The appointment of ministers in the imperial court is for the sake of the country, why are they doing this!

It was these words that finalized the decision to support Zhu Qiyu.After Zhu Qiyu succeeded to the throne, although he was not very close to Yao Kui publicly, Yao Kui was promoted to Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice and entered the cabinet at the age of 43. He was one of the fastest-promoted officials in the Jingtai Dynasty, not much worse than Xu Youzhen.

Yao Kui was also very reasonable. He supported the emperor's accession to the throne. If he did not support Yi Chu now, wouldn't he force the emperor's sons to die? How could a minister deceive the emperor like this?

Moreover, Yao Kui's political views are very consistent with those of today's people. They all want to suppress Buddhism, ban procurement, support military craftsmen, reduce labor force, support refugees, and save redundant expenses.

Especially on the issue of suppressing the Buddha, Yao Kui is a die-hard supporter of today's emperor.

Among the monarchs and ministers attending this small court meeting, there were only two people who hated Buddhism so much that they had toothaches. One was Zhu Qiyu and the other was Yao Kui.

After Yao Kui, Xiao Tan and Wang Yining also knelt down.

When Zhou Xuan and Geng Jiuchou saw that they were the only two brothers left, what was the point of holding on.Moreover, like Zhou Chen and Shen Yi, I belong to the hard-working group. On these issues of political stance, I can just keep silent and follow the crowd.

After everyone had finished kneeling, Zhu Qiyu declined in a feigned panic: "The Crown Prince has no fault, how can he arbitrarily change the situation? Let's put this proposal aside.

How could the prince's marriage be easily changed once it was decided?As for the prince who likes the palace maid Wan, he can make her his concubine. "

Everyone couldn't agree with this. Everyone knelt down and expressed their attitude. Emperor, you said it was not easy to save. Isn't that just a joke?

Human psychology is like this. You hesitate before taking that step, but after taking that step, you have to move forward firmly.

Since the reserve position must be changed sooner or later, it is better to do it today so as to quickly gain the power to intervene in the next emperor Zhu Wenfang.

Now that the name is unjust, the ministers have no control over anything related to Zhu Wenfang.

The ministers were heartbroken when they thought that Zhu Wenfang's first wife had already been decided, and her civil and military masters had already taught her, but Zhu Wenfang was only the crown prince of Qi, and the government and the public had no power to intervene.

Fortunately, the emperor did not take matters into his own hands, and the positions of the Prince's Third Master, Prince's Third Young Master, and Zhan Shifu's subordinate officials were all retained.

Now that Yi Chu has made it clear, what are you waiting for if you don't rush in to grab it?

Therefore, the ministers refused to stand up and insisted on asking the emperor to formally decide on Yi Chu.

But Zhu Qiyu just wanted to hold a closed-door meeting today to reach a consensus with the cabinet on Yi Chu.

We have to wait until next year to officially announce Yichu.

Next year will be the eighth year of Jingtai, which is not only the year of great achievements in martial arts, but also the beginning of civil rule.

At the beginning of the year, Japan was conquered, earning the court an additional income of 500 million taels per year; Majapahit was conquered, the old port was recovered, and overseas trade was comprehensively developed.

At this time, his prestige has increased a lot, and he can take advantage of the opportunity to send Zhu Qizhen away and depose Zhu Jianshen.

As for whether the common people and gentry will support it?

Zhu Qiyu had reserved a trick early on: permanently exempting the poll tax and carrying out corvee reform.

Such a huge benefit cannot be supported by the unbelieving common people and gentry.

In the Ming Dynasty, there is already a very serious hidden population.The reason why the powerful local gentry resisted the census was because they had to pay a poll tax.

There are also people who sell their sons and daughters, which is also closely related to the poll tax.

As for the corvee, it was a huge burden. Not only ordinary people suffered, but the gentry and powerful people were also tired of the corvee.

(End of this chapter)