My father is Jiajing

Chapter 519: A single stroke of the red pen can claim someone’s life
Gao Gong looked at Zhu Zaigui at this moment, his heart was filled with emotion and joy. Even if Zhu Zaigui was "criticizing" him with words at this moment, he was still happy to do so.

Because this moment was the result that Gao Gong had been waiting for for many years.

Although Zhu Zaigui has not yet been officially appointed as the crown prince, the power and status he possesses are greater than those of a legitimate crown prince, except that he is not as good as the crown prince in terms of clothing and etiquette regulations.

What’s more, there has been no living prince for more than ten years since the Jiajing period.

Therefore, at this moment, Zhu Zaigui is undoubtedly the real prince without the title of prince!

Gao Gong bowed deeply, "I will remember your teachings, Your Majesty."

Zhu Zaigui looked at Gao Gong's current condition and his heart was filled with emotion.

Because Zhu Zaigui also knew how bad Gao Gong's temper was according to the original historical records. Not only could he not get along well with his colleagues, he would even fight with his political opponents because of disputes. He did not seem like a cultured and magnanimous senior minister, but more like a street thug.

But this does not mean that Gao Gong was bad. You have to know that the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty liked to fight, and that was a tradition. Moreover, their fighting records were quite bloody, and they even killed people in front of the emperor.

This kind of hot-tempered personality and this kind of political fighting that starts at the slightest disagreement have only occurred in the parliaments of democratic countries that Zhu Zaigui knows of.

Therefore, it can be seen that the Ming Dynasty’s political version was many years ahead of later generations.

Unfortunately, they originate from within, and there is no supervision in the struggle. The final vicious consequence of the struggle is the constant party struggles, and even the national interests are sacrificed for the sake of party struggles.

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui also had to take precautions in advance and put an end to their desperate party struggles as soon as possible.

Of course, Zhu Zaigui would not want the ministers below to be harmonious. If they were all harmonious, wouldn't that mean that Zhu Zaigui would become their only target?

Therefore, they had to continue the small-scale struggle, but Zhu Zaigui would stop any struggle that exceeded the bottom line.

Zhu Zaigui continued to look at Gao Gong and said, "Mr. Gao, how is the current situation of the Ministry of Personnel? I remember that last year, His Majesty asked you to take charge of the officials' salaries and the housing provident fund for Beijing officials. How are these things going now?"

When Gao Gong heard what Zhu Zaigui said, he knew that Zhu Zaigui was not asking him about the result, but about the attitude of the current officials.

Gao Gong said: "I am still investigating and studying the living conditions of the officials in the capital, as well as their attitudes towards this matter. Therefore, a temporary plan has not yet been formed."

Zhu Zaigui nodded slightly, and then said: "This is not a small matter. It is a major matter that concerns two thousand officials in the capital, and Nanjing will definitely be watching the situation in the capital. So if this matter really goes ahead, it may be an important matter that will affect three or four thousand officials."

"So, if we want to collect opinions, we can't just collect opinions from the capital. Mr. Gao should discuss with Minister Guo Pu to see whether we should send a letter to Nanjing and ask the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel to simultaneously investigate the situation of Nanjing officials."

"See if they have any different opinions on this matter, so that you don't rush to come up with a plan that makes everyone unhappy. Isn't that a mistake on your part?"

Gao Gong bowed again and said, "Your Majesty, what you said is absolutely right. After I return, I will discuss this matter with Minister Guo and send a letter to Nanjing as soon as possible, asking the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel to investigate the situation of Nanjing officials."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Zaigui nodded with satisfaction.

This matter requires us to act in a proper manner and have a proper attitude. Otherwise, after these Beijing officials get the benefits, they will pretend to be noble and curse others, which is not a good phenomenon.

Therefore, in order to prevent the evil of human nature and to prevent these people from picking up the bowl to eat and then throwing it down to curse, sometimes some measures have to be taken, even if these plans are meant for them.

After all, human nature is like this. If we can't understand their human nature and do this job well, there will definitely be problems in the end.

After saying this, Zhu Zaigui turned his attention to Zhao Wenhua.

Whether it was Zhu Zaigui himself or Li Chunfang and Gao Gong who were present, their feelings towards Zhao Wenhua were actually quite abrupt.

Although Zhao Wenhua has changed his allegiance and joined Prince Yu's camp, it seems that Zhao Wenhua is still a close friend of Yan Song in terms of feelings and appearances.

But this time Zhu Zaigui also kept him in the conversation, which undoubtedly sent a clear and strong signal to the cabinet and officials that the current Zhao Wenhua is no longer the same Zhao Wenhua as before.

Zhao Wenhua can no longer be viewed from the perspective of the strict party.

At the same time, both the cabinet and the officials were shocked to find that this low-key prince regent had actually controlled three of the six ministries without their noticing.

Moreover, one of them is already the Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace, one of the cabinet's elders.

So at this time, whether it was the other elders in the cabinet or the officials in the capital, they could no longer look at Zhu Zaigui with a childish mentality.

Because the current Zhu Zaigui is no longer the ignorant prince they imagined. He already has his own solid team, and has methods and skills to control people that the officials are unfamiliar with.

Therefore, with this kind of mentality and understanding, they originally thought that Prince Yu's regent would allow them to relax, but it seems that this does not make them feel much more relaxed.

But even so, these officials were still happy to see this change.

After all, these officials had served as ministers under Emperor Jiajing for decades. Many of them had never even seen Emperor Jiajing. Moreover, this Emperor Daojun often came up with new tricks unexpectedly for his officials to guess.

This feeling was undoubtedly stressful and frightening for all the officials.

Because not all of them are talented enough to write brilliant Qingci, so it would be wrong for them to say that they are not envious when they see others getting promoted by writing Qingci.

Therefore, even if someone has to be replaced now, this is undoubtedly an opportunity for those officials who are not good at writing Qingci.

If what I have done or my character is appreciated by this prince who is the regent, then I may be able to achieve great success in the future.

However, this was just the wishful thinking of these officials. Even if Zhu Zaigui was optimistic about someone, he would not make any personnel or administrative changes during his tenure as regency in Wenhua Palace.

Now we still have to maintain the style before Emperor Jiajing and let the court continue to follow the previously established policies and guidelines. If there are any changes, they should be things that do not touch the essence of imperial power.

Otherwise, if he messed up and Emperor Jiajing thought that Zhu Zaigui, the regent, was just a child playing house and pretending to know everything, and was acting willfully. Then wouldn't all the hard work and forbearance over the years be in vain?

Therefore, during this period of time, Zhu Zaigui's idea was very simple: watch more and talk less.

So even if you have to talk about it, you should talk to the people on your side. Even if you have to do it, you should do it in the direction that you can control.

And this is the true meaning of Zhu Zaigui's regency this time.

Zhu Zaigui glanced at Zhao Wenhua, but he did not say anything like he did to Li Chunfang and Gao Gong. He just glanced at him.

After Zhao Wenhua was looked at by Zhu Zaiqi, he immediately understood what Zhu Zaiqi meant. Zhao Wenhua took the initiative to say: "Your Majesty, I have recently received a lot of evidence of officials' illegal activities, but the officials involved in these evidences are somewhat sensitive, so I don't know how to deal with them for the time being. I hope Your Majesty can give me some advice."

After hearing this, Zhu Zaigui's mind was as clear as a mirror. He pretended to be curious and said, "Which officials did Minister Zhao receive evidence of illegal activities?"

Zhao Wenhua hesitated for a moment, then said solemnly: "I have received a lot of evidence of illegal activities by some officials in the Ministry of Works."

When Zhao Wenhua said this, Li Chunfang, who was thinking of leisurely drinking tea, was shocked. He stopped what he was doing and stared at Zhao Wenhua with disbelief in his eyes.

You have to know that Li Chunfang has made a great contribution to Zhao Wenhua's success today.

Now Li Chunfang also serves as the Minister of Works. Zhao Wenhua made a big move on the first day that Prince Yu arrived at Wenhua Palace as Regent. What is he doing?

Moreover, even if we take a step back, before Li Chunfang took over as the Minister of Works, the previous Minister was Zhao Wenhua himself. Is he crazy?

Are you going to use a stupid tactic that will kill one thousand enemies but lose eight hundred of your own?

But looking at Zhao Wenhua, he doesn't seem to be that kind of person.

So at this moment, even though Li Chunfang was a little nervous, he did not immediately stand up to clarify or refute the matter. He also wanted to see what Zhao Wenhua could say.

Zhu Zaiqi also looked at Zhao Wenhua calmly and said, "Is it really from the Ministry of Industry?"

Zhao Wenhua immediately said, "Your Majesty, it's not from the Ministry of Works, but from some officials of the Ministry of Works."

Zhu Zaigui said "oh" again, and Li Chunfang on the side couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief after hearing this. It turned out that he was targeting the person and not the matter. This was much better.

So at this moment, Li Chunfang looked at Zhao Wenhua with a much more pleasing look in his eyes.

At the same time, Gao Gong couldn't help but glance at Zhao Wenhua silently. He also felt that what Zhao Wenhua said today was really interesting.

It takes talent to be able to say something like this by first criticizing and then praising.

No wonder he took a liking to Yan Song, who was then the chief academic officer of the Imperial College, at first sight and dared to bet everything on him and make him his godfather.

With this vision and decisive character, it would be hard for such a person not to get promoted.

Zhao Wenhua continued, "Recently, I have received a lot of information about the illegal acts of Yan Shifan, the Minister of Works. However, Yan Shifan was not only trusted and valued by Your Majesty, but he was also the only son of Lord Yan. So after seeing these evidences, I was a little nervous and silent. I don't know what to do."

"Moreover, as everyone knows, I am the adopted son of Lord Yan. Now that I have received so much evidence of Yan Shifan's crimes, I am at a loss for a moment. I don't know whether I should kill my relative for the sake of justice."

When Zhao Wenhua said this, Zhu Zaigui was happy. He knew that what Zhao Wenhua wanted to talk about was Yan Shifan's bad deeds, but he didn't expect that Zhao Wenhua was a person who would not wait until the next day to take revenge. In just a few days, he had collected a large number of Yan Shifan's crimes.

It seems that in Zhao Wenhua's heart, he also hates Yan Shifan, the second-generation rich man who relies on his father to do whatever he wants.

At the same time, the expressions on Li Chunfang and Gao Gong's faces also became interesting. They couldn't help but look at each other, as if asking each other what was going on?
After all, as Zhao Wenhua said, this matter can really be regarded as sacrificing one's own relatives for the sake of justice.

The phrase "killing one's relatives for the sake of justice" sounds like a good word, but in fact it is not a good word.

Once a person is associated with this word, his life may be ruined.

Not only will they fail to gain recognition from their relatives, but it will also be difficult for them to be trusted by their colleagues or superiors.

Because in the eyes of relatives, colleagues and superiors, such a person is someone who will do anything to achieve his goals.

After all, the stepping stones to their success are not from others, but from their own "relatives". It is understandable that such people are disgusting.

Moreover, in the ancient legal thought, if a relative committed a crime, it would not be considered a crime if the family members concealed it or helped to conceal it, with the exception of treason of course.

Therefore, it can be seen that Zhao Wenhua now wants to sacrifice his own relatives for the sake of justice, and he really cannot deal with Li Chunfang and Gao Gong.

But after the two looked at each other, they seemed to understand something.

It would be a bit far-fetched to say that Zhao Wenhua and Yan Shifan are relatives.

After all, Zhao Wenhua is worshipping his godfather, not his brother.

Therefore, his act of sacrificing his own relatives for the sake of justice is not so direct.

But if he really got rid of Yan Shifan, he would be considered to be sacrificing his own son for the sake of justice, after all, Yan Song only had this one son.

Zhu Zaigui looked at Zhao Wenhua with approval. His ideas and thinking were different from those of Li Chunfang, Gao Gong and others.

For scholars, sacrificing one's relatives for the sake of justice may be a moral shackle, but for a leader who cares about the world, it is commonplace.

You have to know that from ancient times to the present, among those heroic rulers who had difficulty ascending to the throne, which one did not have the blood of his relatives on his hands?

But as long as they succeed and make achievements that are recognized by the world, the relatives they killed will automatically be classified as mediocre or evil people by history, and naturally there will be great scholars to argue for them.

It is like Qin Shihuang threw his mother Zhao Ji's son to death in front of him, Emperor Wen of Han killed his uncle, Emperor Wu of Han killed his own son, and Emperor Taizong of Tang chopped his brothers to death and forced his father to abdicate.

And the Chengzu Emperor of this dynasty, under the banner of clearing the court of evil officials, made the little cutie Jianwen disappear without a trace. No one can say that what they did was wrong.

Of course, some of this is wrong, but what can we do about it? The heart of an emperor is the heart of a dictator.

To a dictator, nothing else is important except power and his own ideals.

Therefore, scholars like Li Chunfang and Gao Gong may think that it is not good to sacrifice one's relatives for the sake of justice, but in Zhu Zaigui's eyes, what is needed now is a lone minister who is not popular inside or outside to do the job.

Zhao Wenhua just happens to meet this definition, so let him continue to take a step further according to this need. It will be much easier in the future when he is used to deal with some officials who even Zhu Zaigui found difficult to deal with.

At least this kind of person can share the negative public opinion firepower with Zhu Zaigui, allowing Zhu Zaigui to be a good person while taking people's lives with a wave of his pen!

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