Bachelor

Chapter 467
While Ping Qiuli and Huang Jin were discussing the accounts of Yuxi Palace, at this moment, Emperor Jiajing was summoning Zhai Luan, the head of the Ministry of Punishment, at Yuxi Palace.

Ordinarily, the position of the head of the six departments is not high, and there is no way for ordinary people to be summoned by the emperor in person.But those who are familiar with the politics of the capital know that Zhai Luan is now in the limelight, and he is a trusted minister trained by the emperor and a candidate for the cabinet in the future.

Zhai Luan is fair and modest, he treats everyone with a lukewarm appearance, and looks like a maverick gentleman who has no friends and no party. It is precisely because of this that he has come into Jiajing's eyes.

Unlike the reticent and indifferent expression towards other courtiers, Jiajing today seemed a little enthusiastic, and did not sit on the futon, but sat in the study with Zhai Luan and talked: "Zhai Luan, I heard that you are Hongzhi year Jinshi."

"Yes, Your Majesty, Zhai Luan was a Jinshi in the 18th year of Hongzhi. He was conferred as a good scholar. He was reorganized and revised at the beginning of Zhengde, and then he was the head of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs." Di Luan sat upright on the chair, his whole body was like a pine tree.

"Recently, there was a vacancy for the left servant of the Ministry of Officials. Yang Tinghe recommended you. With your good looks, the ministers will not object." Jiajing was wearing a thick fur, which made people feel hot all over.What's strange is that there is not a single drop of sweat on his green face.

Zhai Luan also heard about this, and was quite excited in his heart.But his principle of life is that before everything is confirmed, he will never ask questions, everything should be adapted to the times, and there should be no urgency.

Hearing the emperor talk about this matter now, his expression remained the same, he only said: "Zhai Luan is not talented enough, if he is in an important position now, I am afraid that he will not be able to do it."

"No, no, if you Zhai Luan can't be the left servant, I'm afraid other people don't have the qualifications." The emperor sneered, obviously having great resentment towards the ministers: "I approve the appointment of Yang Shoufu. You And rest assured to be this official."

Zhai Luan could only nod his head: "Yes, I obey the order."

Both Jiajing and Zhai Luan were people who seldom talked. After that, the two of them seemed unable to think of what to say, and the room was completely quiet.

After sitting for a while, an old eunuch crept over and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, it's time to burn your feet."

Jiajing: "Okay."

Two eunuchs came over with a wooden basin, and the old eunuch took off the emperor's shoes and socks, put them in the basin, and rubbed them gently.The wooden basin is made of fresh pine wood, and when it encounters hot water, it emits a faint rosin.

Ordinarily, it is a very disgraceful thing to burn your feet in front of courtiers. If Yang Tinghe, Yang Yiqing, Mao Cheng and others were here, they would have been furious.But Zhai Luan still sat there calmly with his eyes downcast.

Although the emperor was burning his feet, his eyes fell on Zhai Luan intentionally or unintentionally. Seeing his behavior like this, Jiajing felt a little satisfied: this Zhai Luan is an open-minded person who knows the general idea and doesn't get entangled in details.This person's heart is much wider than that group of pedantic masters in the court, but he is a person worth using.

At this moment, the old eunuch under his feet stopped.

Jiajing noticed this, frowned and looked over: "What's wrong?"

"Your Majesty!" Tears welled up in the old eunuch's eyes and fell into the basin tick-tock: "Your Majesty, you must take care of the dragon's body. Your body..."

It turned out that as soon as he took off Jiajing's shoes and socks just now, the old eunuch saw red spots on the emperor's feet, and when he pressed his fingers, there was a deep pit, and it took him a long time to recover.

"Get out, get out, get out, mourn!" Jiajing was furious.

The three eunuchs hurriedly retreated.

Jiajing wiped his feet unhurriedly and began to put on his shoes.

Zhai Luan, who was silent for a long time, then slowly said: "Your Majesty should take good care of the dragon body. Your Majesty's body belongs to everyone in the world, not just you."

Jiajing sighed: "I'm very good. Fate, who can say for sure. Even a well-cultivated immortal will have three disasters and nine calamities. If he passes it, he will become an immortal. If he can't pass it, he will be ashamed." Annihilation. As the saying goes, there is great fear between life and death, so there is no smooth sailing in cultivation."

Seeing that the emperor started to behave in a godlike way again, Zhai Luan couldn't get in the conversation, so he could only calm down and listen.

All of a sudden, the emperor's words exploded above his head like a thunderbolt: "Zhai Luan, if one day I succeed, who of my two sons will be able to inherit the throne?"

Zhai Luan was almost breathless by the emperor's question, opened his mouth, and said after a long time: "This is your majesty's family matter, so it is naturally up to your majesty to decide."

"It's decided with one word, it's decided with one word...hehe..." The emperor sneered: "Sometimes I can't speak well, just take the crown prince as an example. Lixian. Zhai Luan, don't play sloppy with me, answer me now, what do you think should be done?"

Zhai Luan regained his composure in an instant: "Whether it is Lichang or Lixian, it is too early now. Lichang, the eldest prince is only two years old, and he is not yet an adult; Lixian, the two emperor characters are children, and the minister Clumsy eyes, can't see."

"Yeah, I can't tell, I can't tell, they are still children, the older one can only talk and walk. The younger one is still a baby and can't speak. But the people behind them can't wait, they are going to fight .Since there is no family matter in the emperor's house, family affairs are the world's affairs. You have to choose one. Only when the crown prince is certain can people's hearts be stable."

Jiajing sighed and touched the red spots on his neck, and said: "On the one side is my most beloved Concubine Zhang, and my most trusted Huang Jin, and look at the baby in the swaddle, although it is still young, it is full of cleverness, I love him deeply. But if he is appointed, the ministers may not agree."

"That's true. The eldest prince Zhu Zaicheng was born to the empress, so he should be established as the crown prince. Even if the eldest prince is a fool, lame or blind, the ministers will support him." Zhai Luan said: "This is the so-called The axioms and the great gift of humanism."

"Great gift of human relations, yes, great gift, just such a word of courtesy, the ministers have already forced me not to be reunited with the late emperor, and now they are targeting my son." When Jiajing thought of his eldest son, his face was full of disgust : "I think Zhu Zaidu seems to be a fool. He can't say enough words. He is two or three years old. He giggles when he sees people. He doesn't look like an emperor. However, I am also afraid of the cabinet and the six ministries. Well, today I am not so much asking which of your two children can be the crown prince, but rather asking you whether I should choose to compromise with the ministers or choose... This is not as simple as setting up a crown prince. Tell me, who should I choose as the prince?"

"It's all good." Zhai Luan thought that the emperor recruited him today to ask about He Gong's case, but he didn't want to mention the issue of the crown prince, so he could only tell the truth and say what he thought.

Jiajing was a little dazed: "Is everything okay?"

"It's all good." Zhai Luan replied, "It would be a good thing to choose the eldest prince as the crown prince. The eldest prince has a good character and will be a generous king in the future. He will be supported by all officials and can maintain the stability of the political situation. But this is just a successful monarch; if the second prince is appointed as the crown prince, there will be a big conflict among the ministers after succeeding to the throne in the future, but the second prince is smart, and he will be a wise monarch for generations to come."

After Jiajing heard this, it took him a long time to say: "Only you dare to tell the truth in front of me. Huang Jin and Sun Dan have bad intentions and cannot be trusted anymore."

He sighed, his face flushed suddenly, and he gasped for breath.

Zhai Luan was a little worried: "Your Majesty, did you send the imperial physician over?"

Jiajing touched a red pill from his body and swallowed it. After a while, the redness on his face suddenly faded and turned into a normal color: "No need, I just went crazy. Zhai Luan, get ready, and use the etiquette left Enter the cabinet as a servant."

Hearing these words, Zhai Luan's heart was shocked. Judging from this, he was about to join the cabinet.Judging from the current situation, there are only four ministers in the cabinet. Among them, Yang Shoufu is very old. It is foreseeable that he will be honored to serve in the next two years. The reason why Yang Yiqing joined the cabinet is probably to succeed Yang Tinghe, and he is the only one who has Sufficient qualifications and prestige to take up the important position of Yuanfu.

As for Jiang Mian, he is older than Yang Tinghe, and now he is showing signs of fainting, probably retiring earlier than Yang Tinghe.

As for Mao Ji, he is just a day-to-day, and everyone treats him as an invisible person.

From this point of view, in the next two or three years, the cabinet will need to add a large number of new people.

According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty to enter the cabinet as a prime minister, one needs to be from the Imperial Academy, and the courtiers recommend him and the emperor nods.According to these two rigid conditions, in fact, the candidates for the cabinet of the Jiajing Dynasty in the next few decades are ready to come out.But Yang Yiqing, Yang Shen, Wang Yuanzheng, and finally Sun Dan.

Zhai Luan was originally a good scholar, and he was an editor of the Imperial Academy. He got along well with his colleagues, and it was no problem for everyone to recommend him. Now that the emperor nods, his entry into the cabinet is a certainty.

That is to say, in the future, at least within ten or twenty years, the candidates for the five ministers of the cabinet will be determined.

Yang Yiqing is estimated to be the best candidate for the next first assistant.However, he is also very old and is a transitional figure.Who will be the future chief minister?

Zhai Luan was deeply scheming and scheming, so he immediately set his mind on the position of chief assistant.Yang Shen, according to his prestige, talent and qualifications, he shouldn't have any problem being the chief assistant.However, Yang Ting and his father and son were at odds with the emperor, so there was no problem for Yang Shen to join the cabinet.But if you want to be the chief assistant, His Majesty won't trouble you!

So, what about Wang Yuanzheng?No, no, he doesn't have enough talent and prestige to hold back the scene.

Doing the math, I, Zhai Luan, may really be able to take the position of Yuanfu.But... what about Sun Dan?

Zhai Luan suddenly became awe-inspiring. This talent is outstanding, he is also a scholar leader, he has close ties with the veterans such as Zhao Jian, Qiao Yu and others, and he has Bi Yunzuo as his wing...there are also a group of students who hold important positions in the palace ...not to be underestimated.

Personally, Zhai Luan and Sun Dan have a good relationship, but when it comes to future power struggles, things have to be looked at from another perspective.

Zhai Luan made calculations in his mind, and he had a plan, and slowly said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, we really need to make early plans for the establishment of the crown prince. After all, for the officials, if the crown prince is not established for a day, all officials are uneasy, and the common people disturbed."

Jiajing stared at Zhai Luan up and down, his eyes full of suspicion, and suddenly said: "Zhai Luan, do you also want to be a lobbyist here? Tell me, which faction do you belong to?"

Zhai Luan knew that he couldn't deal with it well, let alone joining the cabinet as prime minister, he might not be able to escape from Yuxi Palace today.From ancient times to the present, it is a taboo for people to talk about such important matters as the establishment of a reserve. How many people are on it, and there are not many of them.

He took a breath, looked at the emperor calmly, and said: "Whoever your majesty appoints as the prince is your majesty's family business. I only have your majesty in my eyes. I will naturally do what your majesty says. As I said just now, this kind of Naturally, major events should be based on His Majesty's will, and have nothing to do with other people, and there is no need for anyone to make irresponsible remarks."

"That's a good point." The emperor thought deeply, "It's my own business to establish who I will not establish. However, some flies always want to find a place to bite, but they are very annoying."

Zhai Luan continued to calmly say: "So, what Your Majesty needs to do now is to let everyone..." He had already spoken a little blatantly.

Emperor Jiajing became excited and interrupted Zhai Luan's words: "What I need to do now is to make everyone shut up. It doesn't matter if they fight on their own, and don't involve both of my sons. After a hundred years, I will still be there." The sky is watching my two sons fight each other, and imitate Xuanwumen's actions? I will never give them this chance." He gritted his teeth, and his expression became ferocious.

Seeing that he had successfully planted this seed into the emperor's heart, Zhai Luan heaved a sigh of relief, knelt down and kowtowed: "Your Majesty is wise, I will retire."

"Go!" The emperor waved his sleeves.

When Zhai Luan retreated, the emperor took out another elixir from his sleeve and swallowed it into his stomach. After a long time, he felt that elixir melted in his stomach, turning into a ball of fire that rose from his stomach and shot straight into the sky. .His whole body was on fire, and his eyes were red.

He gritted his teeth and growled in a low voice: "Sun Dan, Huang Jin, you can make a fuss. It doesn't matter if you fight yourselves, and you will also implicate my two sons. I will not let you go, okay, okay, if you want to make trouble , I will separate you so that you will not see each other several times in a year, and see how you continue to quarrel."

He strode to the long case and opened the drawer, took out a roster of officials, flipped through it, and said, "Jiangnan Manufacturing still lacks a sitting eunuch, Huang Jin, you can go and stay there. Nanjing is the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties. A prosperous place. Huang Ban, if you stay there for a few years, I will not treat you badly. As for you, Sun Jingyuan, I really have nothing to do with you. Sichuan still lacks a governor, so you should go and clean it up for a while In [-], I returned all your kindness. When I establish a crown prince in the future and the court is stable, you can come back, it can be regarded as a kind of protection for you."

After muttering this passage, Jiajing didn't pass on the message to his attendant, he just picked up the pen and wrote two copies of the Zhongzhi to release Sun and Huang, and threw them into the drawer, planning to find an appropriate time to announce it again.

……

Taoist Wang Li stayed by the emperor's side for the past two years, and he became fatter and his skin became whiter.But the whole person still looks tall and burly, with a majestic aura naturally.

Standing in front of him, for some reason, Chen Hong always felt a little afraid.

He looked around, the courtyard where Wang Li lived was originally used by Emperor Wu Zong to make weapons.Emperor Zhengde was fond of military affairs, and he had no confidence in the weapons and armor made by the Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, he simply opened up a courtyard in Xiyuan and built several small blast furnaces for making weapons.

Now, it has been almost three years since Wu Zonglong controlled the guests, but two young craftsmen among the group of craftsmen stayed with Wang Daoren and became firework boys.And those small blast furnaces also became Wang Xianchang's alchemy furnaces.

Now, the steel charcoal in the alchemy furnace is burning vigorously, and the flames inside have completely turned white, showing a terrifyingly high temperature.

Seeing Chen Hong coming here, Wang Li smiled and said, "Grandpa Chen is not serving the Supervisor of Ceremonies, so why did he come here in the poor way?"

Chen Hong pretended to be nonchalant and said: "Over there, since His Majesty took back the power to appraise reds, there is nothing to do, so he has been appointed as a concierge. My godfather, Eunuch Huang, is bored too. He has been dozing off in the supervisor of ceremonies these days. Chen Hong is also bored. I heard that Sun Dan sent a lot of ore to you a while ago for you to make alchemy. I admire Wang Shenxian's methods, and the ore sent by Sun Jingyuan is naturally unusual. But I don't know what kind of elixir the fairy has cultivated in the past few days. Chen Hong was curious and wanted to come here to open his eyes."

He continued: "Your Majesty's skills have become more and more refined in the past few days. If there is a good elixir, it may help him to a higher level. If the immortal master really develops a new elixir, Chen Hong can go to report the good news to His Majesty. Get some rewards. Hehe, don't make jokes, Immortal Elder."

"Oh, that's it." Wang Li took a deep look at Chen Hong: "You came at the right time. The green stone sent by Sun Jingyuan is indeed a rare and good thing. Pindao melted this thousand catties of ore. Finally, one or two essences were purified. After that, more than 100 kinds of natural treasures were supplemented. After seven or seven days, a batch of elixir was finally produced. I can't find it anymore, and this pill is also a masterpiece."

Hearing what Wang Li said, not only Chen Hong was greatly surprised, but also the eyes of several young eunuchs who came with him widened, and they all said: "If we can see this kind of top-grade pill, it will be considered a rare treasure. luck."

So he asked Wang Shenxian to take it out to open everyone's eyes.

Wang Li suddenly sneered: "This kind of medicine has several disadvantages. After it is practiced, it needs to be stored in an iron box one inch behind, so it cannot be popular. There are so many people here. Xiao Xiao went to Liufen. Eunuch Chen, you are someone close to Eunuch Huang, so if you want to see it, it’s okay, but other people want to see my elixir, hehe!" After finishing speaking, without talking nonsense, he walked towards the house go.

The eunuchs looked at each other in blank dismay, all extremely embarrassed.

Only then did Chen Hong cough: "Father-in-law, please wait a moment, Chen Hong, let me go and have a look first."

The eunuchs said helplessly: "Eunuch Chen, hurry up, we just wait here."

When he entered Wang Daoren's secret room, there was no one around, Wang Li took out an iron box: "Eunuch Chen, this is the newly refined elixir, please have a look."

Chen Hong opened the thick cover, only to find two scarlet blood-like elixir inside, bright red, crystal clear and lovely.He picked one up and looked at it in front of his eyes, only to smell a tangy fragrance, and unconsciously said: "What a elixir, what a elixir."

"The main reason is that the materials are hard to come by." Wang Li said calmly.

While looking at the pill, Chen Hong pretended to be indifferent and said, "Your Majesty has been very angry recently, and I don't know if this medicine is hot and dry. If it is dedicated to Grandpa Long Live, I don't know if he will be able to use it."

"Oh, why is Your Majesty so angry?" Hearing something in Chen Hong's words, Wang Li noticed something, and carefully looked up and down at the clever ghost in front of him.

Chen Hong sighed, pretending to say casually: "It's not because of the flood in Huai'an."

"Isn't that matter already settled? It's nothing more than Wang Shu corrupting Hegong's money, and many officials in the court took advantage of him. Just deal with Wang Shu and let everyone withdraw the money." .By the way, Eunuch Huang seems to have gained a lot too. With Eunuch Huang's status in His Majesty's mind, it's not a big deal."

Chen Hong shook his head again and again: "As far as this case alone is concerned, it's actually not a big deal. In the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, according to the salaries of hundreds of officials, if they don't greedy for a penny, I'm afraid the whole family will starve to death. Besides, no matter who There are no three friends, four friends, no relatives. When you become an official and people beg you, whether you do it or not, people have to be human. If you do something, according to the way of the world, people will always come to thank you. If you don't accept it, it's unreasonable, it's too hurtful. If you accept it, a corrupt hat will be buckled, and you might lose your head if you don't do it. Hey, this official, we don't think it's easy to do, that degree is not good It’s easy to grasp. As Mr. Sun said before, everything has two sides, and we have to look at the problem dialectically.”

Wang Li smiled and said: "Little Eunuch Chen can see it clearly, he is really a famous teacher and a great disciple!"

Chen Hong: "No, it's a trivial matter that the godfather and his old man were involved in the Nanhehe project. The problem is that some people have slandered in His Majesty's ears, saying that the godfather and Mr. Sun intend to intervene in the establishment of the reserve. This But I violated His Majesty's big taboo! Now it's alright, my poor godfather will be dispatched to Jiangnan for manufacturing, and Mr. Sun will go to Sichuan to be tamed. One is my godfather and the other is my mentor. When I think of If I don’t see them for several years, I feel sad for a while.”

When Wang Li heard this, his body shook, his eyes were as bright as a knife, and he stared at Chen Hong in a daze: "Really, how do you know?"

"Ah, I made a slip of the tongue." Chen Hong then put on a look of panic: "Prince Wang, just pretend that I didn't say anything. If this matter gets out, I'll lose my head."

Wang Li chuckled: "It doesn't matter if you don't say it, Wang Li is an outsider, and he doesn't have any interest in such mundane things."

"But it's true." Chen Hong said with a bit of embarrassment: "Immortal Elder, for some reason, our family feels kind to you as soon as we see you, just like seeing our own elders, and we can't hide anything." He stuck out his tongue in shame: "To tell you the truth, only I know about this. Just now I peeked at an imperial decree written by His Majesty's imperial pen, on which there are new appointments of godfather and mentor. Heaven knows, earth knows, you know and I know, please don’t say anything about it.”

Chen Hong kept bowing, as if he was very scared, but secretly his eyes kept rolling: Wang Xianchang is originally a teacher's person, as long as you tell him about this, the teacher will know.Now the capital is about to rain, and the past two years have been a period of great personnel changes. If you leave the capital, your mentor will never come back again in this life. What are you talking about about joining the cabinet, what about the first-class official residence?This matter must be told to the mentor, so that he can prepare early.It's a pity that the teacher didn't know how many people were staring at him, so there was no way to report to him.It was me, Chen Hongling, who came up with such a good idea.

(End of this chapter)