My father is Jiajing

Chapter 478 What day is today?
Yu Huatian is now also a secret weapon in Zhu Zaigui's hands. Usually he stays in the imperial prison of the East Factory, but as long as he has time, he will transform himself into a shadow minion walking in the darkness.

Of course, he did not learn these skills by himself, but received professional training a long time ago when Huang Jin was in charge of the East Factory. Otherwise, it would be too much to expect him, a prison boss, to have the ability to be a spy and investigate people.

Therefore, as for the use of Yu Huatian, Zhu Zaigui also read the "instructions" given by Huang Jin in advance, and only gave Yu Huatian the task after understanding Yu Huatian's abilities.

Just when Yu Huatian was quietly following Xu Fan, Zhu Zaigui finally went to Lu Bing's mansion on behalf of Emperor Jiajing to pay tribute to this number one spy chief who could be regarded as a very powerful official in the history of the Ming Dynasty.

When Lu Bing's son Lu Yi saw Zhu Zaigui coming, he hurried to the front of the mansion to greet him under the guidance of the old housekeeper.

"Your Highness, I, Lu Yi, bow to you on behalf of my late father."

Zhu Zaigui looked at the not-so-old Lu Yi and showed a concerned and sad expression. He reached out and helped Lu Yi to stand up. "Brother Yi, please stand up quickly. I am following the order of His Majesty to pay tribute to Lord Lu. Please accept my condolences."

Zhu Zaigui's way of addressing Lu Yi was very clever. First, he did not call him by his real name, second, he did not call him by his courtesy name, and third, he did not call him by his official title. Instead, he used the more intimate "Yi Di".

This title seems simple, but it actually has a lot to it.

You have to know that with Zhu Zaigui's status, the people who could be called "so-and-so's brother" were either his own brothers or close relatives of the royal family whom he had never met.

However, according to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Zaigui would probably never meet any of his cousins ​​in his lifetime, so the only person in the entire Ming Dynasty who was qualified to be addressed by Zhu Zaigui was Prince Jing Zhu Zaizhen.

But now Zhu Zaigui also called Lu Yi by the same title, which surely moved the Lu family and made them re-evaluate Lu Yi's status and value.

You have to know that the elders of the Lu family had been secretly planning how to divide up the inheritance left by Lu Bing by tricking Lu Yi, the young and weak junior, the day after Lu Bing's death.

But if Lu Yi also clung to the thigh of the next leader of the Ming Dynasty like his father, then things would be difficult.

If Lu Yi grows up and gradually becomes as smart and shrewd as his father Lu Bing, it will no longer be a joke.

So when Zhu Zaigui called Lu Yi "Brother Yi", he also invisibly helped Lu Yi resolve a dirty dispute within the family.

Zhu Zaigui followed Lu Yi, who was in mourning, to the mourning hall in the main hall of the Lu Mansion. Looking at the memorial tablet that the Ministry of Works had rushed to make for Lu Bing overnight, he felt an inexplicable sense of wonder in his heart.

This seemed to be the second time that Zhu Zaigui went out to worship the "foreign ministers" on behalf of Emperor Jiajing. The first time he worshipped was to the Marquis of Guanjun "Zhu Wuji". Of course, the worship at that time was just a formality and there was no psychological waves. At most, it was just a complaint about Emperor Jiajing's bad taste.

But this time it was slightly different. Although Zhu Zaigui didn't care much about Lu Bing's life or death, this time he was actually worshiping a dead person, and a dead person who had a very close relationship with Emperor Jiajing.

So at this time Zhu Zaigui felt a little inexplicably emotional, because it turned out that even the emperor had no choice sometimes.

Even if someone you are close to and trust dies, you cannot go in person to see them for the last time.

From this we can see that the emperor can't necessarily do whatever he wants.

After the worship was completed, Zhu Zaigui spoke a few words to Lu Yi.

Zhu Zaigui said: "Lord Lu Wuhui and Your Majesty met in the residence of Chengtian, and they are as close as family. Later, when Your Majesty was on a southern tour to Chengtian, he encountered a fire disaster in Weihui Mansion, and it was Lord Lu Wuhui who risked his own life to save Your Majesty from the fire. Such a feat is unmatched in the world of Ming Dynasty."

"Now that Lord Lu Wuhui has passed away, you must be patient and tolerant. If you have any difficulties in the future, you must not forget to hide them. If you have to endure it alone, you can come to Prince Yu's Mansion and ask me to help you. Do you understand?"

Lu Yi listened to Zhu Zai's words, and tears of emotion came to his eyes again. He cried and said to Zhu Zai, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Zhu Zaigui patted Lu Yi's shoulder comfortingly again.

Of course, Zhu Zaigui's actions did not mean that he really thought highly of Lu Yi, nor did he really want to stage any drama of brotherly love with Lu Yi.

You have to know that Zhu Zaigui is a high-ranking prince of the Ming Dynasty. Even if Lu Yi is Lu Bing's biological son, it is impossible for him to continue the kindness of the previous generation and be on good terms with Zhu Zaigui.

However, Zhu Zaigui still performed this drama in Lu's mansion. His fundamental purpose was to let the senior Jinyiwei who were guarding Lu Bing's body in the mansion see his attitude. When Prince Jing was officially arranged to take charge of Jinyiwei in a while, these people would quickly understand who the real master was.

After leaving the Lu Mansion, Zhu Zaiqi looked back again and couldn't help but sigh in his heart, "An era is coming to an end."

Then Zhu Zaigui did not stop at all and directly asked Meng Chong to order the guards to drive the prince's carriage away from Lu Mansion.

After returning to the palace, Zhu Zaigui did not have time to rest for a moment before Gao Gong came to visit again.

Gao Gong was much more excited when he came this time than before.

Gao Gong rushed to Zhu Zaigui's study and saw Zhu Zaigui handling official business. He immediately bowed excitedly and said, "Your Highness, I, Gao Gong, greet you!"

Zhu Zaigui looked at Gao Gong who suddenly came and saw such a grand ceremony, and couldn't help but be surprised.

Zhu Zaigui put down the brush in his hand, stood up from his seat, came over to support Gao Gong and said, "Sir, why are you so polite?"

Gao Gong said excitedly: "I failed to understand your Majesty's deep meaning before, I hope your Majesty will forgive me."

Zhu Zaigui laughed when he heard this.

Zhu Zaigui said: "Mr. Gao is also doing this for my own good. After all, even though I am the regent prince, I still need to be cautious about some sensitive government affairs. Mr. Gao was able to advise me in a timely manner. This is true loyalty."

Gao Gong said: "I didn't know that the prince had already made up his mind at that time. It was wrong to judge the prince's mind with my own mean heart."

Zhu Zaiqi continued to smile and asked, "Did the palace send you a message?"

Gao Gong took a deep breath, suppressed his excitement and said, "Your Highness is wise, the palace did send a message to me."

Zhu Zaigui smiled and said, "That's a good thing. You should go find Xu Ge Lao and the others and ask them to help you and see if they can get your name on the list of candidates recommended by the court."

After hearing what Zhu Zaigui said, Gao Gong could not help but sigh and told the truth: "To be honest, Your Majesty, I am not familiar with Lord Xu, and I have a straightforward personality, which has never pleased Lord Xu. So I am afraid that I will not be able to get any help from Lord Xu for this nomination."

Zhu Zaigui actually knew about the delicate relationship between Xu Jie and Gao Gong a long time ago, but both sides were still able to save face, and they also had a common political opponent in the Yan Party.

So they seemed to be living in peace and harmony, just like a family.

But the real situation is that Gao Gong could not get into Xu Jie's core at all, and with Gao Gong's character, he would not lick Xu Jie's cold butt.

Therefore, when the critical moment came, Xu Jie would rather take the younger Zhang Taiyue with him to plan big things than say a word to Gao Gong.

Zhu Zaigui said: "You don't have to worry about this matter, I will help you handle it. When the time comes, you just need to perform well in the court recommendation, and no matter what the final result is, I will not blame you at all." Gao Gong was excited again when he heard this. He is now an old man, and he must be very excited to have the opportunity to make progress and want to seize it.

After all, apart from these things, other things are not that important to Gao Gong now.

For example, the issue of offspring that used to concern Gao Gong, but now he has become indifferent to it.

Although Li Shizhen helped him to regulate his body over the years, he also helped him to regain his former vigor and vitality when he was young.

But having a son is something that really depends on fate. It's not that if you do something right, it won't work out.

Therefore, although Gao Gong tried his best to take in several concubines over the years, he still got nothing in the end.

From this we can see that Gao Gong in this period of history was destined not to have his own son.

But these are not a big deal. After all, as a family of farmers and scholars like theirs, they will have no shortage of brothers and sisters.

Therefore, Gao Gong now accepted his fate and adopted a son from his brother so that he could take care of him in his old age.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

In the end, Gao Gong was still so excited that he bowed to Zhu Zaigui again.

Zhu Zaigui laughed and said, "This is not my grace, but your majesty's kindness and Mr. Gao's own efforts. If it weren't for your majesty's kindness and Mr. Gao's own efforts, even if I wanted to help you, it wouldn't be so smooth."

"So, if you want to thank someone, Mr. Gao, please go thank His Majesty. I can't accept your thanks here."

What Zhu Zaigui said is also true.

You know, if this was done, Gao Gong would be the future Minister of Personnel. Even without the title of Grand Secretary, he would still have some power as a cabinet elder, and even more than those cabinet elders with lower rankings.

After all, the Ministry of Personnel is truly the number one government office in the Ming Dynasty. It is many times stronger than the so-called number one Ministry of Rites which is not worthy of its name.

Therefore, any Grand Secretary who wanted to secure his position as the Prime Minister in the Cabinet, after successfully being promoted, the first thing they would think of was to arrange for one of their own to serve as the Minister of Personnel.

But unfortunately, in order to maintain checks and balances, many emperors often failed to get what they wanted even if their prime ministers were so well-intentioned.

Unless he met someone like Emperor Jiajing who was good at shifting the blame and designing political strategies, no matter how powerful Yan Song was, he would not be able to get one of his own to the important position of Minister of Personnel.

Now that Wu Peng is about to retire, Yan Song still wants to continue to push his own people to take over.

If Emperor Jiajing had not thought about seclusion for a long time at this time, perhaps his wish would have come true.

But now Emperor Jiajing not only wanted to retreat for a long time, but he was also dissatisfied with the increasingly old Yan Song. Otherwise, Emperor Jiajing would not have given more power to the second assistant Xu Jie.

Obviously, Emperor Jiajing was planning to resign from his position as prime minister, but as to when he would dismiss Yan Song and replace him with another person, this was something that no one was sure of.

Therefore, even though Yan Song is not as powerful as before, few people dare to confront him head-on.

Because no one can guess what the Sacred Heart is thinking.

If you guess wrong, the worst possible outcome is demotion or exile, or worse, it’s hard to say.

After seeing Gao Gong off, Zhu Zaigui did not remain idle.

Since Gao Gong and Xu Jie did not get along and the two could not cooperate directly, Zhu Zaigui could only find Zhang Juzheng as a middleman.

At the moment, Zhang Juzheng had no direct power struggle or interest struggle with Gao Gong, so the two of them got along very harmoniously and politely in Prince Yu's Mansion.

Zhu Zaigui asked Meng Chong to find someone to find Zhang Juzheng.

When Zhang Juzheng heard that Zhu Zaigui was going to summon him, he was writing a memorial about expanding the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture.

After all, he is now the Governor of Shuntian Prefecture, although he is not the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture who directly manages Shuntian Prefecture. However, if Shuntian Prefecture remains as small as it is now, it will also affect the power in Zhang Juzheng's hands and the high hopes that Zhu Zaigui has placed on him.

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng was also preparing to formally submit a memorial to the court in accordance with what Zhu Zaigui had instructed before, requesting the court to hold a formal meeting on the issue of Shuntian Prefecture's jurisdiction, so as to reconfirm the authority and functions of the Shuntian Governor.

Otherwise, this job wouldn't be very useful.

After all, Hai Rui had already made all the plans and was about to launch the Beijing-Tianjin New Road project, but he, as the Governor of Shuntian, had not yet figured out his specific jurisdiction and management powers. Wouldn't this make Hai Rui a laughing stock?

Therefore, at this time, no matter what, Zhang Juzheng had to establish his own authority before Hai Rui. Otherwise, if Hai Rui's task was accomplished but he did not contribute anything, wouldn't it seem that he, as a superior, was a bit incompetent?

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng had to complete the expansion of Shuntian Prefecture's jurisdiction before Hai Rui.

Now facing Zhu Zaigui's summons, Zhang Juzheng did not hesitate at all. He immediately followed the messenger and went to Prince Yu's Mansion without stopping.

When he met Zhu Zaigui, Zhang Juzheng did not hesitate to show his courtesy and bowed to him, "Your Highness, I, Zhang Juzheng, pay my respects to you."

Zhu Zaigui looked at Zhang Juzheng who was also paying homage with great ceremony, and couldn't help but laugh: "What day is it today? When Mr. Gao came over just now, it was the same, and when Mr. Zhang came to see me, it was the same. Is there any reason for paying homage today?"

Zhang Juzheng was embarrassed for a moment. In the past, when they entered Prince Yu's mansion to pay a visit, they always bowed and saluted. There had never been many grand ceremonies like this one. So when Zhu Zaigui asked this question with a smile, Zhang Juzheng was really a little embarrassed.

Zhang Juzheng said awkwardly, "It is my duty to pay respect to Your Majesty. Please don't be offended, Your Majesty."

Zhu Zaigui said, "Of course I am not surprised, I am just curious. Mr. Zhang, please get up soon and tell me if there is anything you need my help with."

Zhang Juzheng stood up and replied, "Your Majesty is wise and saw through my thoughts at a glance."

After that, Zhang Juzheng handed over the memorial he had just written about expanding the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture, "Please read it, Your Majesty."

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(End of this chapter)