My father is Jiajing

Chapter 205: It seems that a KunKun has died

Xiyuan, Wanshou Palace.

Emperor Jiajing was fiddling with the whisk in his hand out of boredom, and seemed to be thinking about some problems in his mind.

"Read again what Zhang Juzheng said to San'er."

Emperor Jiajing then instructed Huang Jin to repeat what Zhang Juzheng said when he first met Zhu Zaigui.

Huang Jin replied yes, and then read again the secret report record of Zhang Juzheng's first meeting with Zhu Zaigui.

When Huang Jin finished reading, Emperor Jiajing smiled again, "Interesting, really interesting. The Hanlin Academy is really full of talent."

Then Emperor Jiajing seemed to remember something. He lowered his head and put the whisk in his hand aside. Then he lifted a corner of the cushion he was sitting on and pulled out a memorial that had been piled high.

Emperor Jiajing opened the memorial and read it again, then said to himself, "No wonder you said such a thing, it turns out it was you."

Emperor Jiajing looked at the "Memorial on Current Affairs" in his hand and finally remembered who this Zhang Juzheng was.

No wonder Xu Jie would so hard recommend this person to be a lecturer in Prince Yu's Palace. It turned out that he had long been impressed by Zhang Juzheng's talent.

Huang Jin listened to Emperor Jiajing's mumbling, and he whispered, "Your Majesty, do you want me to go and knock on the door?"

Emperor Jiajing waved his hand and said, "No need, let him teach me. I want to see what new ideas he can come up with from the edicts of the ancient wise emperors on governing the country."

Huang Jin smiled slightly: "The emperor is really kind, Zhang Juzheng is so overestimating his own abilities, yet the emperor can forgive him."

Emperor Jiajing said with a smile, "I am giving the young people a chance. Look at Yan Song, Zhang Zhi, Xu Jie, and others. They are so old, yet they are still pretending to be devoted. Aren't they just trying to stay and gain enough fame before fighting me?"

"I have seen through these people a long time ago. They are always talking about rules and regulations. How could I not know the rules? They like to use these to pressure me. Will I pay attention to them? What a joke!"

"If I don't know the rules, would I not exempt the summer and autumn taxes when Henan and Shandong are suffering from drought? The court is also a family, and they also need to make fire and eat. But the court can only receive so little money from the national treasury every year."

"They don't want to find a way to open up the court and get more money to maintain their dignity. Do they want me to run the country on an empty stomach?"

"They tell me the rules every day, but I don't know who taught them these rules?"

"Now that young people have ideas, I will definitely not stop them. I want to see how these young people do things. I hope they won't disappoint me."

After saying these words, Emperor Jiajing lay comfortably on the futon in the golden tent and stopped thinking about these things.

But some things just don't go as we wish.

Just when Emperor Jiajing wanted to relax, a young eunuch came hurriedly to report a news from outside the Western Garden.

The young eunuch braved the wind and snow and trotted all the way to the Wanshou Palace and reported to the guards in front of the palace gate.

After a while, Huang Jin came out and took a look at the little eunuch.

The young eunuch immediately handed a rolled-up note respectfully to Huang Jin.

Huang Jin took a look and said calmly, "Go down, you don't need to watch over me anymore."

Then Huang Jin took the little note and entered the inner chamber of Wanshou Palace.

Huang Jin whispered to Emperor Jiajing, "Your Majesty, Zhang Zhi is dead." Emperor Jiajing had no special reaction to the news and simply said "oh".

"When his family announces his death, let the Ministry of Rites handle it. As for the posthumous title... I'll think about it."

After hearing what Emperor Jiajing said, Huang Jin replied, "Yes, I'll remember that."

Zhang Zhi, the second prime minister in the reign of Emperor Jiajing, was well-known for his virtue. He could not stand Emperor Jiajing's practice of Taoism. Whenever Emperor Jiajing asked court officials to write poems, Zhang Zhi always "could not write well", and Emperor Jiajing was very unhappy with him for this. As a result, Zhang Zhi gradually lost the favor of Emperor Jiajing.

The person is gone now, but in the heart of Emperor Jiajing his death is like the death of an ordinary Kun Kun, which did not cause any waves at all.

But now that he was dead, Emperor Jiajing had to consider adding more people to the cabinet.

Otherwise, there would only be Yan Song, the Grand Secretary, in the cabinet, which would be very unfavorable to Emperor Jiajing's balance.

Therefore, at this time, the issue that Emperor Jiajing was considering was not what kind of grace should be given to Zhang Zhi after his posthumous name, but whether Xu Jie should be formally added to the new cabinet.

To be honest, Emperor Jiajing was actually quite conflicted when he appointed Xu Jie to the cabinet.

It is well known how much Emperor Jiajing hated Xu Jie in his early years.

Because of the "grand etiquette" incident, Emperor Jiajing killed many people.

Otherwise, considering that the impact was too bad and there was no way to resolve the situation afterwards, based on what Xu Jie said at the time, it would not be a pity to just beat him to death in the Meridian Gate.

Therefore, Emperor Jiajing could only carve Xu Jie's name on a pillar and write a sentence "Xu Jie is a villain and will never be employed again" to express his indignation.

But no one knew since when, this Xu Jie actually became sensible, his words became more pleasant to the ears, and his work became more reliable.

Therefore, Emperor Jiajing gradually put his prejudice to rest, accepted Xu Jie with the magnanimity of an emperor, and gave him new opportunities, which led to Xu Jie's current status and identity.

But even so, this does not mean that Emperor Jiajing really forgave him, otherwise, seeing that Zhang Zhi was useless, Emperor Jiajing would not have allowed Xu Jie to temporarily enter the cabinet to take orders.

But now that Zhang Zhi is gone, it is impossible for the cabinet to have only one grand secretary, otherwise wouldn’t it become a “sole prime minister”?
Besides, Yan Song was just "obedient" and was far from being "useful".

If Yan Song was the only one in charge of the cabinet, although Emperor Jiajing was not worried that Yan Song would threaten the imperial power, he was worried that the people below would become lazy and give up because they were unhappy with Yan Song.

Therefore, the cabinet still needs a "leader" who can consolidate the reputation of scholars. As long as there is such a "leader", these literati and poets cannot be lazy and they have to do what they should do.

Therefore, at this time Emperor Jiajing had to consider allowing Xu Jie to join the cabinet early.

After thinking for a while, Emperor Jiajing changed his posture and swung the Taoist whisk in his hand again.

"Forget it, let's talk about it next year. These few days won't make a difference anyway."

Emperor Jiajing put the matter behind him and said to Huang Jin, "Bring me an elixir. I suddenly feel that my thoughts are clear and I feel like I have made a breakthrough in my cultivation. I must seize this opportunity."

Upon hearing this, Huang Jin quickly poured out a slightly reddish amber-colored pill from the treasure gourd beside him, and carefully placed it in a hexagonal gold box.

Emperor Jiajing sat up straight, stretched out his hand, pinched the heavy metal elixir that had who knows how many ingredients added to it, swallowed it, then assumed the state of embracing the Yuan and guarding the One, and began to practice.

(End of this chapter)