Corrupt official in the Red Chamber

Chapter 182 Returning to Beijing
"Your Majesty, you have been working hard for many days, and Eunuch Xia is not here. Why not invite Concubine Jia to serve in the Yangxin Hall?"

The speaker was a scholar in his 30s.

The emperor glanced at him, and his somewhat gray face finally became rosy.

"What Mr. Zhou said is absolutely true."

Why is there another man in the inner courtyard of the palace?
It turns out that this person named Zhou is not a small person, he has quite a reputation in the world.

However, his reputation did not come from the articles of Confucius and Mencius, but from his maneuvering and cunning.

At the beginning, the man named Zhou served as an aide to several county magistrates. With his help, his bosses were quickly promoted one by one.

Later, his reputation gradually grew, and he even served as an aide to the governor of a province. His power was even higher than that of many fifth-grade prefects.

However, people are afraid of being famous, and pigs are afraid of being strong. As soon as he became famous, he was targeted by the imperial emissary.

As a result, a memorial was delivered to the Supreme Emperor.

The then Supreme Emperor became furious after receiving the memorial.

That's not bad.

A small staff master was actually able to control the governors of provinces one by one.

Therefore, the Supreme Emperor issued a decree and directly deprived him of his future.

At this moment, the man surnamed Zhou fell directly from the sky to the earth. Moreover, with the decree of the Supreme Emperor, which official would dare to ask him to be his staff?

Therefore, it was really a precarious life.

But later, his reputation for being resourceful and cunning was known to the emperor, who secretly sent someone to invite him to the palace to give him advice at any time.

And this man named Zhou indeed has two skills. Since he followed the emperor, he has tried his best to gain power for the emperor.

It was precisely because of this person's help that the emperor's position in the capital became more and more stable, and even many civil servants regarded the emperor as a living king.

This time the Supreme Emperor came out of the capital, and it was Zhou who came up with the plan. He wanted to seize the official position of Admiral of the Nine Gates from Jia Rui, and then secretly wooed Wang Ziteng to control the capital in one fell swoop.

In this plan, the original intention was to borrow Wang Ziteng's token to attack Jia Rui and make Jia Rui and Wang Ziteng suspicious of each other.

When the time comes, the emperor will deal with Jia Rui first. Then as long as the emperor publicizes that it was Wang Ziteng who helped the emperor get rid of Jia Rui, then Wang Ziteng will have no way out. He can only go to the dark side, follow the emperor, and rebel against the Supreme Emperor.

But I didn't expect that Jia Rui would be so stubborn. He first refused to hand over the official seal of the nine admirals, and later used the Supreme Emperor's gold medal to control the entire capital's army and blockade the palace.

And the secret decree they passed out has also disappeared. It seems that Wang Ziteng's side did not stand up to Jia Rui.

It can be said that the plan up to this point has completely failed.

Therefore, the counselor named Zhou Mingchang could only ask the emperor to recruit the virtuous concubine into the Yangxin Palace as a final bargaining chip.

Following the emperor's order, Concubine Xiande quickly came to Yangxin Hall.

In fact, Jia Yuanchun has already realized that something is wrong about what happened in the palace in the past two days. At this time, she should be wise and protect herself.

However, as the Jia Mansion arranged a certificate of submission for the emperor, Jia Yuanchun could only go to the dark side.

Therefore, as soon as the emperor passed the order, Jia Yuanchun hurried over.

But before Jia Yuanchun could salute the emperor, there was a burst of noise and chaos outside.

Then a eunuch stumbled in.

"Long Live Lord, something bad happened. Jia Rui led his troops and broke into the Yangxin Palace."

The emperor was shocked at first, but he quickly calmed down and waved to Jia Yuanchun.

Jia Yuanchun's eyes narrowed, but he still walked to the emperor obediently.

The emperor grabbed Jia Yuanchun's hand and said with a smile: "Let's go out and see what your clan brother wants to do?"

As he spoke, the emperor took Jia Yuanchun and walked out.

The other palace maids and eunuchs hurriedly followed, and the emperor and Jia Yuanchun, who were surrounded by them, came to the door.

When the emperor and others came to the door, they saw that Jia Rui and thousands of people had surrounded the Yangxin Hall. Jia Rui himself held a bright yellow imperial edict proudly and stood there. The entrance to the Yangxin Hall.

As soon as the emperor saw what Jia Rui was holding, he knew that he had no hope of turning around this time.

However, the donkey did not fall down. The emperor still maintained his airs and looked at Jia Rui calmly.

"Jia Aiqing, what do you want to do when you lead your troops into the palace? Do you want to assassinate the king?"

When Jia Rui saw the emperor coming out, with Jia Yuanchun clutching at his side, his eyes flashed, but he quickly took a step forward with a smile.
"I have come under the orders of the Supreme Emperor."

"Does the Emperor have any wishes?"

Jia Rui put away his smile and opened the imperial edict in his hand seriously.

"Edict of the Supreme Emperor: The Emperor is exhausted from taking care of state affairs. He has been ordered to recuperate in Yangxin Hall. Foreign ministers are not allowed to visit him. Jia Rui will act as his agent when it comes to China. I hereby express my gratitude."

After hearing this, the emperor nodded coldly and said:
"I am indeed tired during this period. I just want to take a good rest. I will leave the affairs of the court to Jia Aiqing."

After finishing speaking, the emperor took Jia Yuanchun into the Yangxin Hall.

Jia Rui looked at the emperor's back with a sinister look in his eyes, but he immediately covered it up. "Ma Tao."

"The subordinate is here."

"The people you personally led are in charge of the Yangxin Hall. No one is allowed to enter or leave without my order."

After Jia Rui said this, he stared at Ma Tao closely and warned him:
"If something goes wrong, watch your head."

Ma Tao shuddered, and immediately patted his chest to assure himself.

"Don't worry, Mr. Jia, as long as the general has three inches of energy, not even a mosquito can fly into the Yangxin Palace."

Jia Rui nodded with satisfaction, then led the people out of the palace and continued to sit in the Nine Admirals.

This action of Jia Rui made the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty in the capital very panic, especially the people of the emperor's line. They were all panic-stricken, fearing that Jia Rui would carry out a general purge.

Even the people on the Emperor's side were actually not satisfied with Jia Rui's actions.

You, Jia Rui, are too bold. You dared to imprison the emperor without the order of the emperor. What you are doing is no different from rebellion. Now we will tolerate you for the time being and wait until the emperor comes back to see how you explain.

On the third day after Jia Rui imprisoned the emperor in the Yangxin Hall, the Supreme Emperor finally hurried back.

At noon that day, Jia Rui took his generals, as well as the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, to meet the Supreme Emperor ten miles outside the capital.

The Supreme Emperor was on the royal chariot, watching Jia Rui kneeling on the side of the bypass with all the civil and military ministers, and smiled happily.

As expected, I did not trust Jia Rui wrong. At the critical moment, I had to rely on my own people.

Afterwards, the Supreme Emperor lowered the curtain of the sedan chair, gave a few instructions to Dai Quan beside him, and then Luan Jia set off again.

Dai Quan came out of Luan Jia and said to the kneeling ministers:
"The Supreme Emperor has decreed that all the ministers should follow Luan Jia into the capital without paying any courtesy."

After hearing this, Jia Rui and the civil and military ministers looked at each other, then stood up and followed Luan Jia into the capital on foot.

The Emperor's chariot drove straight into the palace through Central Street, and then stopped at Huangji Hall.

Then, with the support of Dai Quan, the Supreme Emperor led the eunuchs into the Huangji Palace and sat down on the throne.

However, Jia Rui and others did not dare to enter the palace without the imperial edict, so they could only wait outside the Huangji Palace.

Soon a eunuch came out to deliver the order, "Let all the ministers enter."

At this time, Jia Rui and other civil and military ministers dared to walk up the steps to the Huangji Hall, and then entered the main hall.

After entering the main hall, the civil and military personnel were arranged in order of Wen Dong and Wu Xi.

I don't know if it was intentional or not, but the ministers now seem to have begun to reject Jia Rui collectively. He seems to have no room for him.

Jia Rui's eyes flashed, and his face immediately showed an awkward and hesitant look, appearing at a loss.

The Supreme Emperor, who was sitting above, felt annoyed in his heart when he saw Jia Rui's embarrassed look.

These ministers were at both ends of the spectrum at critical moments and did not know how to be loyal to themselves, but they were so skillful in excluding meritorious ministers from the court.

"Jia Rui has great merit and can be ranked first among military generals."

Jia Rui glanced at the Supreme Emperor in fear, and when he saw the encouraging expression in his eyes, he cautiously stood at the front of the generals.

When the civil and military ministers saw this scene, they began to murmur in their hearts. Could it be that Jia Rui did not act privately this time, but was arranged by the Supreme Emperor? Otherwise, why would the Supreme Emperor not be afraid of Jia Rui at all, but still trust him like this?

You must know that the emperor is still the son of the Supreme Emperor and the master of Jia Rui. Jia Rui can imprison the emperor, which is unfaithful and unfilial from any angle.

However, judging from the current situation, the Supreme Emperor does not seem to have any intention of blaming Jia Rui. Instead, he thinks that he is a meritorious minister, which is a bit strange.

"I already know the causes and consequences of this change in the capital. From my point of view, it is just a misunderstanding."

Having said this, the Supreme Emperor stood up from the throne, walked back and forth a few steps on the imperial steps, and then said:

"Although Jia Rui was very disrespectful to the emperor this time, for the sake of his loyalty, he will forget about it this time."

Jia Rui quickly stood up from the class and fell to his knees.

"Your Majesty Jia Rui, thank you for your kindness."

The Supreme Emperor waved his hand and told Jia Rui to stand up.

"Passing the decree, the emperor comes to the Huangji Palace to have an audience."

As the little eunuch passed on the Supreme Emperor's will one after another, with a stick of incense, the emperor finally walked out of the Yangxin Hall where he was imprisoned and came to the Huangji Hall.

The emperor was actually trembling in his heart. He was finally going to see his father, and he didn't know if he would be deposed.

Thinking about the final fate of those deposed emperors, the emperor felt cold in his heart.

He cautiously entered the Huangji Hall and saw the civil and military officials of the entire court standing on both sides. The thorn in his side was Jia Rui, who stood at the top of the military generals.

Looking at this posture, the emperor did not punish Jia Rui, which made the emperor feel angry.

Am I your son, or is Jia Rui your son? Why are you so protective of him?
Although he was angry in his heart, the emperor did not dare to show it on his face. He still knelt down on the ground and kowtowed to the Supreme Emperor.

(End of this chapter)