My father is Jiajing

Chapter 389: The Jiajing Emperor's Balancing Skill
In the Yuxi Palace in the Western Garden, Emperor Jiajing was wearing a black Taoist robe and sitting cross-legged on a cushion in the temple with a solemn expression. Various Taoist instruments and portraits of the Three Pure Ones were placed around him.

The devout Emperor Jiajing really took fasting and praying as a serious matter.

Huang Jin, Chen Hong and others on the side were also dressed as little Taoist priests, wearing the scented leaf crowns awarded by Emperor Jiajing on their heads. They carefully added scented oil on the side and burned the "Qing Ci" collected from the Cabinet and the Six Ministries and the Hanlin Academy in a copper offering.

Emperor Jiajing meditated and prayed for a long time before slowly opening his eyes. "Huang Jin, what time is it now?"

Huang Jin glanced at the water clock beside him and replied, "It is already the Chou hour, Your Majesty."

The hour of Chou was the middle of the night. Emperor Jiajing stretched his body, got up from the cushion and went to the window sill in front of the temple. He enjoyed the cold air outside and took a deep breath of the cool air that made his body and mind feel refreshed.

Emperor Jiajing couldn't help but stretching himself, and then he said, "Today is the seventh day, right?"

Huang Jin replied: "In reply to the Emperor, it is the seventh day."

Emperor Jiajing asked again, "How is San'er doing as regent?"

Huang Jin replied: "Prince Yu has been diligently handling the memorials sent by the Ministry of Public Administration."

When Emperor Jiajing heard what Huang Jin said, he also laughed: "There are few serious matters in the memorials of the Ministry of Public Administration. They are all some boring and long four-six parallel prose memorials. What do you think of San'er?"

Huang Jin hesitated for a moment and said nothing.

But at this moment, when Chen Hong saw Huang Jin hesitated, he took the initiative to reply: "Reporting to the Emperor, the prince did read those memorials, but he also called the Tongzhengshi over and reprimanded him."

Huang Jin glanced at Chen Hong slightly, not knowing what he was feeling.

Emperor Jiajing, who was standing in front of the window enjoying the breeze, frowned slightly, but no one could see this movement.

Emperor Jiajing said in the same tone as before: "Why would San'er scold the Minister of Public Administration? Did Shen Kui do something wrong?"

When Chen Hong heard Emperor Jiajing asking another question, he suddenly felt happy and felt that he seemed to have figured out what Emperor Jiajing was thinking.

Chen Hong immediately replied, "I heard that the prince disliked the redundant and insufficient content of the memorials sent by the Ministry of Public Administration. That's why he called Shen Kui to reprimand him and told him to inform all ministries and yamen that they should not submit memorials written in four-six parallel prose anymore."

Emperor Jiajing was delighted when he heard this. He didn't expect Zhu Zaigui to have such a bad temper.

You should know that this format of memorials in four-six parallel prose is a literary style that has been passed down for thousands of years. Some important imperial edicts and documents on offering sacrifices to heaven were written in this beautiful four-six parallel prose.

This style of writing is not only well-balanced, but also has ups and downs in reading, which is very elegant.

Although this style of writing has been gradually phased out in daily government affairs, as the official style recognized and tacitly accepted by the court, this four-six parallel prose format is still frequently used in some court documents that are not particularly urgent.

In addition, some government offices and localities would regularly write such memorials and send them to the Ministry of Public Security to report on their work and the happiness of the localities after receiving the emperor's grace.

Therefore, although few people read this type of memorials, the Ministry of Public Security still received quite a few of them.

Now Emperor Jiajing let Zhu Zaigui act as regent. Although he did not give him actual power, he gave all the four-six parallel prose memorials that no one usually read to Zhu Zaigui to practice. But Emperor Jiajing did not expect Zhu Zaigui to be so bold. As soon as he became regent, he called the Tongzhengshi of the Tongzhengsi to reprimand him and told him not to write such four-six parallel prose memorials. He was really bold!

You have to know that Emperor Jiajing and all the emperors before him did not do this. The most they could do was to not read this stuff, but no one directly denied this literary style that has been passed down for thousands of years.

Emperor Jiajing laughed and asked, "How did Shen Kui react?"

Chen Hong replied, "Shen Kui refused at first, but under the repeated threats of the prince, Shen Kui gave in. He has sent the document to various government offices to suspend the use of four-six parallel prose in accordance with the prince's wishes. In the past few days, except for some stubborn people who still use four-six parallel prose to write memorials to the Transportation Department, some have already changed to vernacular."

When Emperor Jiajing heard this, he laughed again, "Oh, San'er is quite capable. He can even get someone to write a memorial in vernacular Chinese and send it to the Ministry of Public Administration."

Then Emperor Jiajing asked curiously, "How did San'er deal with those memorials that insisted on writing four-six parallel prose?"

Chen Hong replied, "Your Majesty will directly have the memorial sent back for rewriting, and ask the person who wrote it to copy the original text ten times and send it back, and also ask them to recite the entire text. If anyone cannot recite it, Your Majesty will have the Ministry of Public Administration inform all government offices of their names, and reprimand this person for being unlearned and unable to recite the memorial he wrote."

After hearing what Chen Hong said, Emperor Jiajing couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"My son has some of Taizu's style. It's really interesting."

After Emperor Jiajing finished his sigh, he said to Huang Jin, "Huang Jin, since San'er is good at supervising the country, let the cabinet and the six ministries send him some recent memorials about the disaster area in Huazhou and see how he handles it."

When Huang Jin heard that Emperor Jiajing was going to give Zhu Zaigui actual power of regent, he could not help but look up at Emperor Jiajing in surprise. This was not just an idle remark in the Ministry of Public Administration, but real power to govern the country. He did not expect that only seven days had passed and Emperor Jiajing had given it to Prince Yu.

Huang Jin originally thought that after Emperor Jiajing came out of retreat after praying for blessings in a few days, he would directly withdraw his decree of regent and let Prince Yu continue to be the idle king.

I didn't expect that there would be such an unexpected result.

Emperor Jiajing waited for a long time but saw no response from Huang Jin. He could not help but hum in displeasure. Huang Jin bowed quickly and said, "I obey your order. I will inform the cabinet right away."

Emperor Jiajing said, "Don't worry. What can we tell them in the middle of the night? It will be the same tomorrow."

Huang Jin replied nervously: "Yes, I understand."

Then Emperor Jiajing looked at Chen Hong and Huang Jin and said, "Let Chen Hong handle the affairs of the East Factory from now on. You just need to be the official seal bearer of the Imperial Household Department and serve me."

When Chen Hong heard that Emperor Jiajing was going to hand over the East Factory to him, she knelt on the ground excitedly and bowed loudly: "Thank you very much, Your Majesty, for your grace. I will definitely serve you wholeheartedly and manage the East Factory well!"

Emperor Jiajing snorted twice, not wanting to pay attention to Chen Hong and Huang Jing. He shook the wide sleeves of his Taoist robe and said, "Okay, everyone, go down. It's the middle of the night and I want to sleep."

Huang Jin and Chen Hong hurriedly bowed again and said, "I will take my leave."

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The next chapter will be posted before 12 o'clock.

(End of this chapter)