unclear

Chapter 81

"..." Upon hearing Gu Xiancheng's question, the other five people couldn't help but be stunned. They looked at each other and were speechless for a long time.

After receiving the secret letter from Beijing and knowing that the emperor wanted to use the promotion and removal quotas of local officials as bargaining chips to make deals with several factions in the DPRK, everyone was thinking about their own and group interests, and who was behind the emperor. Control, no one focuses on the matter itself.

"What good will this do to the royal family? Even if the Holy One is deceived, what is the attitude of the Queen Mother and the Queen Mother in the palace?"

Seeing that several of his companions were deep in thought, Gu Xiancheng raised two new questions.The ancients said it well, no one gets up early if they are not interested in profit. If you clarify this issue, you can basically see the whole picture.

"Third brother, I'm afraid it's too late. There's an undercurrent surging in the palace right now. They're all looking at the external inspections at the end of the year. Someone will get there first before we can figure out the palace's attitude."

The question is a good question, and it is also very critical. I should have clarified it before making a decision, but Gu Yuncheng's two sentences disrupted the rhythm again.Not only the Donglin Party members want to find out, but other factions are also not stupid and want to find out too.

But the benefits provided by the emperor were so great that they could even determine the future life and death of a small faction.Under such circumstances, it is inevitable that some people will take desperate risks to maximize profits.As long as someone takes the lead, other officials will definitely not be able to just watch and suffer. No one can stop them if they are quick or slow.

"Alas... I lost the opportunity! I will personally write to the bachelor. I won't fight for the first place, nor can I fall behind Shen Jianwu. Let's take one step at a time. It seems that we have to make a move. Ji Shi, you and Brother Qi Xin and Brother Xuantai stayed behind to take care of the academy, while Xiao Fan and Cun Zhi went to the capital with me to celebrate the Spring Festival and take a look at Cun Zhi."

Gu Xiancheng looked at the river for a long time before speaking. His younger brother was right. Now there was no time to find out whether the emperor was true or false, or even the attitude of the palace. He could only choose between support and opposition.

But he didn't want to be so passive forever. In order to make a decision quickly, he simply didn't even stay in the academy. He wanted to take An Xifan and Gao Panlong north, and under the guise of visiting his friend Ye Maocai, the head of the Criminal Department, he sat in the capital and commanded the scene. The people who are hiding behind the emperor's back and doing small tricks cannot be found.

Since the onset of winter, the temperature in the capital has dropped sharply. At the end of November, most of the lakes and rivers inside and outside the city were covered with ice. The biting northwest wind blew up the loess and wreaked havoc every now and then, making the whole city look grim.

But what is even colder is the people's hearts. The news that Emperor Jingyang has reduced the royal family's expenses has long been spread. At this time, more than [-] royal family members across the country are waiting with trepidation for an edict that may or may not be given.No matter how brightly the charcoal basin and the fire bed burn, it is still difficult to ward off the cold.

In fact, there were more than [-] people, and they also had servants, servants, and officials in their homes. If all were taken into account, the number of people who lost their income, lost their official positions, and lost their jobs due to a single decree was estimated to be several times higher.

But the instigator, Emperor Jingyang, acted as if nothing was wrong. He went to the North Campus early in the morning to run laps with the young eunuchs. He also set an example and was not allowed to wear cotton-padded clothes. He claimed to use his body's heat to fight the severe cold.

"Long live the Lord, please wear some clothes, Feng Jing!" In the palace, the emperor really kept his word, and everything he said was right.But once the emperor made a mistake, the eunuchs around him would be in trouble.Wang An was the head of the personal eunuchs. He had to follow the emperor wherever he went every day. When he had free time, he would go to the ceremonial eunuch to get a massage.

"What's going on with the cabinet?" Hong Tao didn't refuse. He put on a mink cloak donated by North Korea and asked while wiping his sweat.His soul seems to have come through this life intact, but his body is not original. Even if he has been exercising in the palace since he was a child and can be considered healthy, it is just that compared with other emperors, he still lacks systematic training.

"According to Long Live Lord's wishes, several academicians are busy from morning to night every day, so that's about it." Wang An knew what the emperor was asking, but he really couldn't give a detailed answer.

Since the start of the external inspection, the cabinet immediately became busy. It was not busy inspecting the performance of officials and recommending them to the emperor, but busy writing a new law, the "Tianen Order".

Upon hearing this name, anyone with a little bit of historical knowledge can guess the general content.Yes, this new law is very similar to the favor order of the Han Dynasty. The former was intended to weaken the princes, while the latter was aimed at the royal family.

After nearly two months of weighing, the various factions in the imperial court still could not resist the temptation of huge interests. As the Taizhou faction represented by Li Zhi became the first to publicly express their willingness to cooperate, they all rushed forward and made the original faction feel unwelcome. His plan to reduce the vassal state was described as having great wisdom, vision and courage.

During that time, the emperor summoned a few today and a few tomorrow. He was not idle for more than half a month. He met almost one-third of the officials in the capital. Almost all of them were words of praise, and his ears almost felt calloused. .

Emperor Jingyang's behavior was even more unexpected. Not only was he not bored, he seemed to enjoy it. He chatted with officials he knew and didn't know with a harmless smile every day.It's a pity that the content doesn't have much practical content. It's just that you praise me as the son of an eternal emperor, and I praise you as the pillar of loyalty and patriotism. It makes people feel dizzy and want to vomit.

But Wang An knew very well that all the emperor showed was a fake face. Every time he returned to the Nuan Pavilion after summoning the foreign ministers, he immediately stopped smiling, holding a small notebook and writing furiously, showing a scary smile while writing. , still muttering something in his mouth.

It's a pity that at this time, even the emperor's favorite long-term attendant Wang Cheng'en couldn't get close and had to wait at the door. No one knew what was written in the small book, let alone what the emperor said.

As for the purpose of summoning so many ministers, Wang An must understand.It's a deal, a huge deal.The emperor wanted to use hundreds of local official positions to exchange for the support of the courtiers, support for significantly reducing the clan's benefits, and at the same time changing the ancestral laws. The end result was the grace order.

In order to draft this new law, the Supervisor of Ceremonies and the Cabinet have gone through a lot of troubles, both internally and externally. Every time the above terms are revealed, not only will the courtiers make noises, but they will also hear the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager, and the Empress Dowager. The scoldings of the royal concubines.

How should I put it? At that time, Wang An felt that if the quarrel continued like this, not only the chief ceremonial supervisor and the cabinet bachelors would be unable to withstand it, but even the emperor would have to back down.There are very few people who are willing to support it, but there are a lot of people who are against it.

But the emperor seemed to have known the result for a long time. He turned a deaf ear to the scoldings from the outer court and the inner court, and stubbornly pursued his own ideas.This set of grace edicts was not so much drafted by the Chief of Ceremonies and the cabinet's bachelors as it was copied from the draft given by the emperor, and then slightly polished and omitted.

(End of this chapter)