My father is Jiajing

Chapter 457: Undercurrents in the Capital
After staying in Prince Jing's Mansion for half a day, Zhu Zaigui left in the afternoon.

During the following period of time, Zhu Zaigui also silently watched some changes in the capital.

The first change that fermented was a series of changes derived from Emperor Jiajing's reward to Princess Jing.

Yan Maoqing, the top henchman under Yan Shifan, often came to visit Prince Jing's mansion on various pretexts. He had made great contributions in the administration of salt administration in Liangzhe, Lianghuai, Changlu and Hedong over the years, and Emperor Jiajing was generous in promoting him, making him the right vice minister of the Ministry of Justice.

As the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, his official position is neither high nor low, so he can be considered to have entered the upper echelons. As long as he has one more chance to take a step forward, he may be able to transform himself from a snake into a dragon and become one of the six officials of the Ming Dynasty.

However, for the promotion of this kind of officials, unless they are extremely lucky, they will be promoted to the top officials of the six ministries, and they may start from the six ministries in Nanjing.

So now Yan Maoqing is also actively performing and operating.

If there is no hope of promotion in the capital, he should find a way to transfer himself to Nanjing first, and get the treatment of a minister in Nanjing.

Unfortunately, the central government system of the Ming Dynasty was so sparse that each official had his own position. Once a position was finally found, no one knew how many people were watching it.

So Yan Maoqing worked hard for more than two years but never succeeded.

Now Yan Shifan gave Yan Maoqing such a task, asking him to be an official representative of the capital to get close to King Jing in exchange for greater political benefits.

Although Yan Maoqing knew that this matter might plunge him into an abyss from which there was no escape, when he thought about what he had done for Yan Shifan over the years, he was already doomed.

Therefore, he had no other choice but to go all the way and set an example to other members of the Yan Party in the capital. We must now clearly support Prince Jing!
So after he made this proof, and the Emperor Jiajing did not react or take any action, Prince Jing did not refuse at all and directly took all the benefits from Yan Maoqing.

The Yan Party officials in the capital who had been hesitant and afraid to show goodwill directly to Prince Jing's Palace have now become bolder.

During this period, he often came to Prince Jing's Mansion every few days to pay a visit to Zhu Zaizhen under the pretext of giving gifts to Princess Jing and the future Prince Jing.

Although Zhu Zaizhen was surprised by the enthusiasm of the court officials, he had been instructed by Zhu Zaigui before that he should accept all gifts from anyone who came to his house to pay a visit.

Therefore, during this period of time, Zhu Zaizhen received a lot of gifts, which were much more than all the salaries and rewards he had received since he established his government. It was simply dazzling.

But even so, Zhu Zaizhen did not lose himself. He was very clear that his foundation was not as solid as it seemed from the outside. Even if Princess Jing really gave birth to a son this time, he understood that he had no chance of that position.

So now Zhu Zaizhen is very calm. He accepts gifts and smiles when he sees people. Anyway, he will not make a promise, and of course no one will believe him even if he does.

After all, these officials have been in the political arena for decades, so who doesn’t understand these principles when it comes to making big promises?
They came to Prince Jing's mansion to give gifts and show goodwill, just to make themselves familiar with him. If Prince Jing really has the opportunity to ascend the throne in the future, then they will have a good relationship.

Therefore, the people who come to Prince Jing’s mansion to give gifts are not limited to the so-called Yan Party, but also include many so-called Qingliu.

After all, so many people went there, but Emperor Jiajing did not react at all, nor did he reprimand Prince Jing for having a private relationship with the ministers.

Therefore, in the eyes of everyone, this was another attempt by His Majesty the Emperor to balance the influence exerted by Prince Yu as Regency over the years.

This phenomenon further confirms what Yan Shifan said in some private occasions, that is, the emperor was dissatisfied with Prince Yu's regency and was ready to punish Prince Yu and give Prince Jing a chance.

After seeing this scene, Yan Shifan was also very excited, and couldn't help showing off to his father every day how wise and insightful he was. Although Yan Song felt that something was wrong, he was too old and lacked energy, and he couldn't think as carefully as before.

Moreover, he also understood what kind of person his son was. Even if he tried hard to figure out the mystery for his son, his son might not really listen to him.

Therefore, Yan Song now no longer placed the Yan family's future hopes on Yan Shifan, but on his grandson Yan Shaoting.

Yan Shaoting is Lu Bing's son-in-law. Lu Bing has been seriously ill this year, so Yan Song specifically instructed Yan Shaoting to serve Lu Bing medicine like a father and son, and to serve him until Lu Bing recovers.

But only God knows whether Lu Bing’s illness can be cured. Anyway, given the current situation, it is unclear whether Lu Bing can celebrate the New Year.

Moreover, Lu Bing had done a great favor to Emperor Jiajing. As long as Yan Shaoting could show enough filial piety in front of Lu Bing, if anything happened to the Yan family in the future, Emperor Jiajing might let Yan Shaoting go because of their past friendship with Lu Bing.

It can be said that although Yan Song was old, he still cared a lot about the younger generations of the Yan family.

As for the future happiness of his children and grandchildren, Yan Song would neither be able to see nor take care of them. Moreover, he had lived to such an old age and had served as the white glove of Emperor Jiajing for so many years.

If Emperor Jiajing could have thought of his good points, he might have given him a decent ending. But if Yan Shifan, this troublesome son, ruined everything, then that was fate.

After all, when Xia Yan died, Yan Song had already seen his future.

You must know that since the reign of Emperor Taizu and Emperor Chengzu, the Ming Dynasty had not killed the "head of all officials" for 150 years.

But now the emperor has taken action against Xia Yan, which means that the tacit understanding of the court for one or two hundred years has been broken, and the party struggles will become more and more intense.

By then, the party will unite to attack the dissidents, and there will definitely be a lot of people who will die.

Therefore, Yan Song never thought about how good his ending would be. He just wanted to live one day at a time and leave a bloodline for the Yan family.

At the same time, when all the officials in the capital were busy with the cold stove of King Jing, Hai Rui, who had been in Shanxi for several years, finally returned to Beijing to report on his work.

Hai Rui looked at the gates of the capital city after being away for many years, and he felt the same emotion as Hu Zongxian did when he returned from Zhejiang.

When Hai An drove his carriage along the streets of the Beijing Special District, Hai Rui would occasionally lift the carriage curtain to look out at the familiar yet unfamiliar Special District.

He was in charge of supervising the construction of this area's engineering foundation back then. Now, seeing that the special zone, which originally had only an outline, has been gradually fleshed out, Hai Rui feels proud of it.

Hai An, who was sitting in front of the carriage and driving it, said in surprise: "Master, the Beijing Special District is just as you said, with roads branching off to the left and right, without interfering with each other, and with flower beds in the middle, and sidewalks on both sides. It's amazing!"

Hai Rui laughed and said, "This was the idea that the prince had in mind back then. He asked me to leave space according to this plan. I never thought that after so many years, the prince would actually implement these arrangements."

Hai An also smiled and said, "The prince is wise and brave, and he is also a great benefactor to our family. Now the master's wives all have children, and this is all because the prince arranged for Dr. Li to treat the master and his wives. So the master will definitely be reused by the prince this time, and maybe you can even return to the Special Administrative Region to work."

Hai Rui looked at the streets of the Special Zone and couldn't help but feel excited. "I hope so."

(End of this chapter)