My father is Jiajing

Chapter 242 The Panic Taoist Priest
After experiencing what happened to Prince Jing, Emperor Jiajing once again deeply realized what it meant that the world was not worth living.

Fortunately, at this time, in addition to King Jing, he also had a son.

Otherwise, Emperor Jiajing would not know what to do in the future.

Therefore, Emperor Jiajing had higher expectations for Zhu Zaigui, and his obsession with cultivating to become an immortal became even deeper.

Because Emperor Jiajing was not sure whether his child could bear such a precious fate as the son of the emperor, so now he had no choice but to focus on becoming an immortal and cultivate himself into an immortal, so that he would not be afraid of being held accountable after his death.

You have to know that his predecessor, the sonless cousin, had a bad reputation after his death.

Emperor Jiajing did not want to become the second cousin.

Therefore, the only two things that the current Emperor Jiajing is proud of are that he has a son and that he can pursue immortality.

But the problem now is that his sons are not very reliable. They die one after another, making Emperor Jiajing anxious.

Therefore, his obsession with becoming an immortal is now the last resort for Emperor Jiajing.

As long as he succeeds in becoming an immortal, whether he has a son or not will affect his future generations.

Therefore, it can be seen from this how strong Emperor Jiajing's expectations were, for he was afraid that he would really follow in his cousin's footsteps.

In Prince Yu’s mansion.

Because of the strict order of Emperor Jiajing, even Zhu Zaigui did not know what acute illness Zhu Zaizhen had.

However, Zhu Zaigui was not overly worried about this matter, because he also knew that Zhu Zaizhen would not die so easily.

If history had developed as it had, Zhu Zaizhen would have lived until the 44th year of the Jiajing reign and died in his fiefdom Deqing.

It is only the 30th year of the Jiajing reign. According to this calculation, Zhu Zaizhen still has at least 14 years to live.

Since there are still fourteen years left, he will definitely not die now.

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui also judged that Zhu Zaizhen might have suffered from a respiratory disease at most. However, it is not the spring season when flowers are in full bloom. So how did he get the respiratory disease?
Zhu Zaigui was also very puzzled by this.

However, as an elder brother, Zhu Zaigui should still show concern, so Zhu Zaigui asked Meng Chong to write a letter on his behalf, requesting that the medical officer from Prince Yu's Mansion be dispatched to Prince Jing's Mansion to diagnose and treat the disease, to see if he could be of any help.

However, the Jiajing Emperor kept the petition and sent Huang Jin to deliver the message, saying that the palace doctors had stabilized Prince Jing's condition and that rest was the main thing now.

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui's kind request was not approved.

"I hope that brother Zhen can take good care of his health."

Zhu Zaigui sighed while sitting in his study.

Also in the study were Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng.

Now when the two of them were free, they would appear together in Zhu Zai's palace and chat with Zhu Zai in the study about the current affairs of the capital, so that Zhu Zai could get familiar with the complicated personnel situation in the capital in advance. The Jiajing Emperor also acquiesced to this, and Zhu Zai himself was very sensible about these things. Even if he heard a lot about the things in the capital, he only expressed his own opinions and never instructed or asked Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng to intervene in any problems.

So now the study trio in Prince Yu’s Mansion was formed naturally.

When Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng heard Zhu Zaigui's concern for Prince Jing, they immediately replied, "Prince Jing is a lucky person, so there is no need to worry too much."

Zhu Zaigui nodded gently and said, "You two gentlemen are right. Please sit down. There is no need to stand around like this. There are only three of us in this small study room. There is no need to be so formal."

Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng thanked him slightly, then sat on both sides of the study.

At this time, Gao Gong spoke first: "Your Majesty, I have something to say that I cannot hide. I must say it today."

Zhu Zaigui looked at the outspoken Gao Gong and felt warm in his heart. He knew that when Gao Gong usually said such things, it was almost always because of him. Zhu Zaigui was extremely moved and had no way to repay such selfless heart.

Zhu Zaigui said, "Mr. Gao, please speak frankly."

Gao Gong took a sip of herbal tea and said directly: "Your Highness, Prince Jing is ill now. The expansion project of the capital is imminent and has to be launched. However, Yan Shifan and Yan Maoqing are not trustworthy. They can get one million taels of silver from the salt administration this year, but it is hard to say what will happen next year or the year after next."

"When the time comes, if they can't get the silver, the Ministry of Revenue will have to pay for it. If the Ministry of Revenue can't pay, then your Majesty will pay for it, but your Majesty's treasury will not be released so easily."

"Therefore, I believe that Your Majesty has distanced himself from this matter and must not take on the task of expanding the capital. Otherwise, the consequences will be truly unimaginable."

As soon as Gao Gong finished speaking, Zhang Juzheng on the side also said: "Your Highness, Su Qing's words are very true. Although Yan and Yan are smart, they are greedy. Your Majesty asked them to raise money for the capital expansion project. They can only raise 20% to 30%. What happens next is absolutely untrustworthy. Therefore, Your Highness, please do not get involved in this matter."

Zhang Juzheng now calls Gao Gong by his courtesy name, not the honorific "Gao Xueshi". The reason for this is that Zhang Juzheng was recently promoted. With Xu Jie's recommendation, Zhang Juzheng easily completed a triple jump and now became a fifth-rank official in the Zuochunfang of the Zhanshi Mansion. Of course, there is still a big gap between this official and the cabinet official.

But even so, whenever Zhang Juzheng went out, people would respectfully address him as "Mr. Zhang".

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng's rank is now temporarily on par with Gao Gong's.

Therefore, the name he used to call Gao Gong was also a normal name.

Zhu Zaigui looked at the two concerned teachers and couldn't help but sigh in his heart. How could he not know that this was a tiankeng?

Originally, Zhu Zaigui's plan was to wait for a year or two, until Yan Shifan and his men were no longer able to handle the situation, and then he would make his debut and clean up the mess.

As it turned out, man proposes, God disposes. Zhu Zaizhen failed at the critical moment and even became ill.

This fucking thing directly put Zhu Zaigui in a passive position.

Zhu Zaigui sighed and said, "It's too late. His Majesty ordered Eunuch Huang Jin to come to my house yesterday to announce the decree. I have been appointed by His Majesty as the chief official for the expansion of the capital. Although my status is noble, I don't have to take care of any affairs personally."

"But if the capital expansion project encounters any problems, I will be jointly responsible. There is no way around it. Moreover, Yan Shifan doesn't seem optimistic about my future. I think he will definitely give up in advance and throw the mess to me."

"So, this king is also worried!"

(End of this chapter)