My father is Jiajing

Chapter 494: The Benevolent Prince Yu
Compared to Li Chunfang's excitement, other people in the main hall were even more envious.

Especially Chen Yiqin and others who came later were so envious that their eyes were sore. They even thought that if they could have come to Prince Yu's Mansion a few years earlier, they might at least have reached Hai Rui's current position.

Of course, compared with those people who came out of the Hanlin Academy, Hai Rui still has some shortcomings.

After all, at the beginning, Emperor Jiajing only gave him a hint and ranked him among the second-class Jinshi, but when it came to the Hanlin Academy examination, Emperor Jiajing no longer paid attention to him.

Therefore, Hai Rui was unable to enter the Hanlin Academy smoothly, but went to the Ministry of Revenue to observe government affairs.

But during this year of observing government affairs, Hai Rui also relied on his own abilities to sort out the entire Ministry of Revenue, making the then Minister of Revenue extremely happy. Later, he left the Ministry of Revenue and became a subordinate official of Prince Yu's Palace, the Chief Judge.

As a result, in this position, Hai Rui once again confronted Yan Shifan, who was at the peak of his power, and escaped unscathed. He was then promoted by Emperor Jiajing to the position of Censor of the Censorate, in charge of supervising the Beijing Special District.

Later, because of his good work, Hai Rui was sent to Shanxi as an inspector to supervise the reconstruction work after the Huazhou earthquake and the business development of the Northern Construction Bank in the northern region.

These achievements are extremely remarkable, so Hai Rui was transferred back to the capital and appointed as the deputy chief of the Beijing Special District, in charge of the construction and anti-corruption work of the Beijing Special District. With such resume and ability, anyone can see that Hai Rui is being trained to be the next chief of the Beijing Special District.

When Zhang Juzheng seizes upon a certain plan and becomes successful in the future, Hai Rui will also be directly promoted due to the chain effect.

Therefore, no one present looked down on Hai Rui, and no one relied on his or her status as a Hanlin scholar to despise Hai Rui for being just an ordinary Jinshi.

You have to know that whether these people will eventually become ordinary or not will ultimately depend on Zhu Zaigui's intentions.

Zhu Zaigui is willing to give more opportunities, even if he is temporarily ordinary, as long as he has the opportunity to gain experience, he will not be ordinary.

Therefore, in addition to envy, the people present also placed their future aspirations on Zhu Zaigui.

Because they also clearly felt the changes in Zhu Zaigui. If Li Chunfang could really be successfully promoted to the Minister of Works, then two of the six ministries of the court would be indirectly controlled by Zhu Zaigui.

Such forces have forced even the current cabinet elders to view the current changes in the political situation with a serious eye and attitude.

Otherwise, God knows where the next step will be.

After all, Zhu Zaigui still bears the important task of regent, and it is perfectly legitimate for him to participate in state affairs. Who dares to say no?
Therefore, the Zhu Zaigui of today is no longer the Zhu Zaigui of the past. He not only has the reality of the title, but also the power of the title.

All he needed to become the crown prince was a formal enthronement by the imperial court.

Therefore, when facing Zhu Zaigui, even an old minister like Yan Song had to bow his head and hunch over to salute and put himself in the right position.

Otherwise, the consequences will be disastrous.

Just when Li Chunfang was excited, everyone was envious, and everyone was happily celebrating the New Year's Day in Prince Yu's Mansion, another heavyweight figure came to pay New Year's greetings.

Meng Chong hurriedly came in from outside the main hall and bowed, "Your Majesty, the Minister of Justice Zhao Wenhua is here to wish you a happy new year. Should I let him in?"

When everyone in the hall heard the name Zhao Wenhua, they all fell silent for a moment. They looked up at each other in astonishment, and finally looked at Zhu Zaigui who was sitting in the upper seat.

Zhu Zaigui peeled a tangerine and said, "Since he's here, let him in."

When Meng Chong heard Zhu Zaigui's instructions, he quickly turned around and went to the front of the mansion to invite Zhao Wenhua in.

At this time, Li Chunfang and Gao Gong looked at each other tacitly.

Regarding Zhao Wenhua's arrival, the two people who were least surprised were Li Chunfang and Gao Gong.

Li Chunfang was the agent who represented Zhu Zaigui to make a secret appointment with Zhao Wenhua, and Gao Gong was the person who recommended Zhao Wenhua as the Minister of Justice after Zhu Zaigui made a suggestion.

Although they knew different causes and consequences, they were both extremely smart people and could figure out all the key points in an instant.

Although Zhang Juzheng and others were somewhat surprised and confused, they appeared to be relatively calm.

They just didn't expect that the first day of the Lunar New Year this year would be so lively. Even Yan Song's adopted son came to pay New Year's greetings to Prince Yu. This was really something special!

Zhao Wenhua, led by Meng Chong, came to the main hall of the palace. As soon as he entered the hall, Zhao Wenhua ignored the gazes of other people in the hall and bowed directly to Zhu Zaigui and said, "Your Highness, I, Zhao Wenhua, wish you a happy new year."

Zhu Zaigui laughed and said, "Minister Zhao, please get up and sit down. Today is New Year's Day. There is no need to be formal. Just eat, drink and chat. I have instructed Meng Chong to prepare a table of sumptuous meals early in the morning. When the time is almost up, we can warm up some rice wine and have a small meal together."

After hearing what Zhu Zaigui said, everyone followed Zhao Wenhua and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Zhu Zaigui watched Zhao Wenhua sit down. Zhao Wenhua also sat on the chair in the hall with a bit of nervousness and calmness. It was obvious that at this moment he had already regarded himself as a member of Prince Yu's Mansion.

Zhu Zaiqi asked, "Has Lord Yan gone over there?"

Zhao Wenhua bowed slightly and replied, "I went there early in the morning, but I was not able to get in."

Zhu Zaigui exclaimed in surprise, "How could that be? Could it be that Lord Yan has other ideas?" Zhao Wenhua said, "It has nothing to do with Lord Yan. It was Yan Shifan who had someone stop me from entering."

Zhu Zaigui sighed, "How could Yan Shifan do this? No matter what, you are the adopted son of Lord Yan. It's New Year's Day, and he actually stopped you from entering the mansion to pay New Year's greetings. This is really wrong!"

Zhao Wenhua explained, "It is like this, Your Majesty. Yan Shifan was angry that I took Yan Maoqing's position. He originally wanted to promote Yan Maoqing to the position of Minister of Justice, but he did not expect that I was transferred from the Ministry of Works and ruined his plan."

Zhu Zaigui chuckled and said, "What do you mean by his arrangement? The court has its own laws for official positions. He can arrange whoever he wants. Who does he think he is? Since Yan Shifan is so ungrateful, Minister Zhao doesn't need to dwell on this matter. After the New Year, find a time and opportunity to pay respects to Lord Yan and explain the situation."

After hearing Zhu Zai's words, Zhao Wenhua also stood up and bowed slightly to Zhu Zai, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your guidance."

Zhu Zaigui looked at Zhao Wenhua who had stood up, and said enthusiastically, "Please sit down. Today is the New Year, so there is no need for so many formalities. Just sit together and chat. In the afternoon, I have arranged some acrobatic performances in the palace, which are also very good. When the time comes, we can eat melon seeds, tangerines, and watch acrobatic performances like we are doing now, and spend the happy time of the New Year."

When everyone heard Zhu Zaigui's arrangement, they responded yes, and then continued the tea party with mainly casual chatting as they did at the beginning.

In order to prevent Zhao Wenhua from appearing isolated among this group of people, Zhu Zaigui also made a point of finding more topics to talk to Zhao Wenhua.

Zhu Zaigui asked, "What is Yan Maoqing busy with in the Ministry of Justice now?"

Zhao Wenhua replied, "Yan Maoqing is a lackey of Yan Shifan. Naturally, the things he is busy with are all Yan Shifan's orders. In the past two days, he has been urging me to ask the East Factory for people, but I did not agree."

Zhu Zaigui asked again knowingly, "Why didn't you agree to his request? Is it because the person Yan Maoqing wants is more difficult to deal with?"

Zhao Wenhua said, "It's not a difficult problem, but I don't understand why Yan Maoqing has been keeping an eye on the imperial prisoners in the East Factory Prison. You should know that for imperial prisoners like this, neither the Ministry of Justice nor the Dali Temple has the right to intervene without the order of Your Majesty. We can only wait until the East Factory completes its investigation and Your Majesty feels that it can be handed over to the Three Judicial Departments for conviction, and then our Ministry of Justice will intervene."

"But the crime of this imperial prisoner has not yet been determined by Your Majesty, and before that, the people and issues involved in this imperial prisoner were also quite complicated. Therefore, as the new Minister of the Ministry of Justice, I naturally cannot rashly send a letter to the East Factory to bring the imperial prisoner to the lobby of the Ministry of Justice without clarifying the relationship between the previous and the next."

"What if there is something I haven't noticed? If I misjudge and miscarry the criminal, wouldn't that bring discredit to the court's laws? Therefore, I think I should wait and see, and not rush to arrest the criminal."

Zhu Zaigui suddenly realized and said, "The criminal you are talking about should be the big pirate Wang Zhi who was escorted back to Beijing by Hu Zongxian, right?"

Zhao Wenhua replied: "That's exactly the guy!"

Zhu Zaigui hummed, "The case this man is involved in is indeed confusing. According to Hu Zongxian, Wang Zhi accepted the surrender and came ashore under the imperial edict. Logically speaking, the court should appease such a person who was given the imperial edict, use the policy of appeasement to make him an example, and appease more pirates to achieve the effect of peace in the southeast."

"But according to Wang Bengu, Wang Zhi was an unforgivable criminal, and he was determined to investigate his crimes to serve as a warning to others and deter the villains. So he risked the wrath of the world and the loss of his reputation, and used fraud and entrapment to capture Wang Zhi who came to pay him a visit."

"So, let me ask you a question. Regarding the arrest of Wang Zhi, can Wang Bengu be ridiculed in the Shilin community for committing fraud and entrapment?"

At this time, whether it was Zhao Wenhua or other people in the hall, they all pricked up their ears and began to listen quietly.

Obviously, Prince Yu must have something else in mind when he said this.

Zhao Wenhua chose his words carefully and said, "According to my understanding, no one in the literati circle seems to ridicule Wang Bengu for luring Wang Zhi into a trap. On the contrary, some people say that he deliberately lured Wang Zhi into a trap in order to steal the credit from Hu Ruzhen."

Zhu Zaigui suddenly said "oh" again, how could he not know about this?

This happened during his "house arrest", when Zhang Juzheng, together with his teacher Xu Jie, Gao Gong and others, came up with this action. The purpose was to divert attention and rescue Zhu Zaigui from the state of house arrest.

At this moment, Zhu Zaigui also looked at Zhang Juzheng and asked, "Mr. Zhang, is this true?"

When asked by Zhu Zaigui, Zhang Juzheng said with a righteous look, no matter whether it was true or not, "Yes, Wang Bengu knew that Wang Zhi had accepted Hu Ruzhen's imperial edict, and he took advantage of Wang Zhi's visit to Hangzhou to lure him into captivity. This was clearly an attempt to rob Hu Ruzhen of his credit for fighting the Japanese invaders in the southeast."

"So, we spoke out for justice and reported Wang Bengu's greed for merit. The reason why we reported him like this is that we are worried that future imperial censors and inspectors will follow suit and use the imperial tour granted to them by the court to arbitrarily interfere in local affairs. If this happens, who among the future provincial governors will dare to do anything?"

After listening to Zhang Juzheng's words, Zhu Zaigui nodded in agreement and said, "Mr. Zhang is worried. From the current situation, it seems that Wang Bengu is indeed greedy for credit by luring Wang Zhi. Moreover, some time ago, Hu Zongxian also reported to the court in a memorial that the Japanese pirates on the southeast coast are gradually becoming chaotic because they have lost Wang Zhi's suppression."

"Once these Japanese pirates really think that Wang Zhi is dead, the imperial court's appeasement of them is just to lure them ashore and take the opportunity to kill them. In this way, the war in the southeast, which could have been resolved peacefully, will probably continue for a few more years."

"If these years continue, not to mention how much more money the court will have to spend on suppressing bandits and resisting Japanese pirates, the people who have lived on the southeast coast for generations will have to suffer a few more years of war. This is also contrary to the court's basic policy of protecting the people."

"So, I think this case must be handled with great care. Killing people is easy, but solving problems is not so easy. Although Wang Zhi is indeed guilty of a crime that deserves death, for the sake of peace for the millions of people in the southeast, sparing his life is an act of mercy that can only be done out of necessity."

"Otherwise, if the war in the southeast continues, people will continue to die in the southeast. Even if all the Japanese invasions and pirates are pacified in the future, these dead people will never be resurrected. Therefore, for the lives of the people in the southeast and for the early restoration of peace in the southeast, it is not a bad idea to keep Wang Zhi's head on his shoulders for the time being."

After hearing what Zhu Zaigui said, everyone in the hall couldn't help but stand up and bow, saying, "Your Majesty is kind and benevolent. This is a blessing for the people of the southeast!"

Zhu Zaigui chuckled, "I am not a benevolent person. I just want the people in the southeast to have less war and live a stable life as soon as possible. Otherwise, how could I be kind to such a vicious pirate leader? So according to my inner thoughts, I would like to deal with Wang Zhi as soon as possible."

"But unfortunately, I cannot be so impulsive, nor can I act on impulse. As the regent, I can only put my personal feelings and likes and dislikes behind the interests of the court and the world. Only in this way can I live up to your majesty's trust!"

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Asking for a monthly ticket~~
(End of this chapter)