My father is Jiajing

Chapter 529: Elder Xu Speaks First

After Xu Jie went to Wenhua Hall to express his gratitude, Lu Ben and Li Chunfang in the cabinet were still looking at each other in confusion.

Li Chunfang looked at the aging Lu Ben and asked quietly, "Mr. Lu, is the cabinet going to change from now on?"

When Lu Ben looked at Li Chunfang, who was much younger than him, he felt boundless emotion in his heart. This was the hope for the future.

Lu Ben said: "Maybe, this time Lord Xu finally became the mother-in-law, but I don't know what will happen in the future. But I am not young anymore, and everything in the future will be the business of you young people."

Li Chunfang chuckled. This old man spoke in a timid and cute way, and he never had his own real views and opinions.

Now that Xu Jie has finally become the Prime Minister, I wonder if this old man can stand up and display the authority of a Second Prime Minister.

However, from his performance just now and what he just said, Li Chunfang felt that this matter was serious enough.

It seems that the situation in the cabinet is really going to change. From now on, Li Chunfang will have to think more about how to play his due role in the cabinet headed by Xu Jie.

After all, compared to Xu Jie and Lu Ben who still just wants to be a good man, Li Chunfang's future depends on the big tree of Prince Yu.

His future is obviously brighter than Xu Jie's and more promising than Lu Ben's.

Xu Jie arrived at the Wenhua Palace, which was only separated from the cabinet by a wall, with an indescribable feeling. Looking at this palace, which was not very majestic, he felt an indescribable feeling of powerlessness.

Looking back on his past decades of ups and downs in officialdom, Xu Jie asked himself whether he had also experienced the tempering of water and fire, and the transformation from a passionate young man to the sophisticated man he is today.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to return to the capital and climb to his current position even though he was hated so much by Emperor Jiajing.

It can be seen that in order to achieve this point today, Xu Jie had already killed the energetic and passionate self.

Otherwise, how could he have so easily gained the trust of Yan Song, won the favor of Emperor Jiajing, and become the clean leader hoped for by scholars all over the world?
It can be said that because of these, Xu Jie's transformation at the time could be described as "reborn", oh no, it should be described as "completely unrecognizable".

Because in order to become who he is today, he has betrayed the passionate and energetic self of the past, and turned himself into a person like Yan Song who would do anything to achieve power and goals.

Now he has finally achieved his goal and stood at the top of all officials.

But when he really stood at this position and looked up, he found that he only needed a palace like Wenhua Palace, which was usually not very conspicuous, to look up.

Xu Jie respectfully walked to the gate of Wenhua Hall and politely said to the eunuch guarding the palace: "Please inform the prince that Xu Jie, a university student from the cabinet, has come to express his gratitude."

The eunuch guarding the palace gate didn't know what was going on. He looked at Xu Jie nervously, and knew that Xu Jie was the highest-ranking official in the outer court after Prime Minister Yan Song.

Therefore, this eunuch did not dare to take advantage of the fact that he was the eunuch guarding the Wenhua Palace and think that he was a dish. After all, he was not the eunuch close to Prince Yu who could hang around in front of Prince Yu every day. He was just an ordinary eunuch guarding. He was here today, and someone else might be here tomorrow.

Therefore, the guarding eunuch was still very respectful and fearful towards an important official like Xu Jie.

He said, "Please wait a moment, Lord. I will go and inform the prince right away."

Xu Jie looked at the eunuch guard who went to report. He still stood there respectfully and did not take a few steps forward while the eunuch guard went to report.

From this we can see that deep in Xu Jie's heart, he is now very in awe of the owner of Wenhua Hall.

The guard eunuch entered the Wenhua Hall and reported that Xu Jie was coming to express his gratitude. Zhu Zaigui said without even looking up, "Please let Lord Xu in."

The guarding eunuch immediately bowed, then carefully retreated out of the hall, came before Xu Jie, and told him that the prince had ordered him to enter the hall.

Xu Jie said politely to the guard eunuch, "Thank you for your hard work, eunuch."

Then Xu Jie walked slowly and respectfully into the Wenhua Hall.

As soon as Xu Jie entered the palace, he immediately bowed and said, "I, the cabinet minister Xu Jie, pay my respects to the regent."

Zhu Zaigui was a little surprised to see Xu Jie showing such a great courtesy.

Zhu Zaigui placed the red brush in his hand on the pen holder in front of him and made a surprised gesture of respect, "Please stand up quickly, sir. How can I let you perform such a great ceremony?"

When Xu Jie listened to Zhu Zaigui's words and heard that Zhu Zaigui actually called himself "Gu", all the hope in his heart disappeared.

He finally understood why Huang Jin asked him to come to Prince Yu to express his gratitude.

It turned out that Prince Yu had quietly begun to transform from virtual to real, and began to truly possess the supreme authority of the regent.

Xu Jie bowed again and said, "I am here to thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace in allowing me to serve as the chief minister of the cabinet."

Zhu Zaigui laughed and said, "This is what your majesty meant. When I learned about this, I was also happy for you. I hope you can create a new atmosphere, so as not to disappoint your majesty's grace and my expectations."

Xu Jie bowed again: "I will definitely live up to the kindness and expectations of the prince and your majesty, and I will definitely lead the cabinet well and be responsible for the political leaders of the world."

Zhu Zaigui hummed, "In that case, I'll be troubling you, Lord. People from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Ministry of Rites will come to me to discuss the solution to Yan Shifan's crime. You should stay here and listen, and give me and them some suggestions."

When Xu Jie heard this, he was shocked. It seemed that what was going to happen today was bound to be quite big and not small.

Xu Jie said respectfully: "I obey your command."

Then Zhu Zaigui waved to a servant in the hall and asked him to bring a chair over for Xu Jie.

After all, when Xu Jie met Emperor Jiajing before, he had a chair to sit on. Now that it was his turn, he certainly couldn't let Xu Jie just stand there.

Otherwise, if the officials, guards and servants coming and going in Wenhua Palace saw it, they would think that the current prince regent was dissatisfied with the prime minister.

Once they have such speculation and mentality, not only will Xu Jie's work become difficult, but it will also affect the stability of the court.

So sometimes respect is not really respect, but a show for the sake of stability.

As for whether it is true respect or not, it is actually not important.

After a while, just as Xu Jie was trying to adjust and adapt to the current relationship between the monarch and his subjects, Zhao Wenhua, Gao Gong, and Minister of Rites Yan Ne and others finally arrived at the Wenhua Hall.

After entering the hall, several people immediately found Xu Jie who was still inside the hall.

However, they were here to pay respects to Zhu Zaigui, so they did not greet Xu Jie. Zhao Wenhua, Gao Gong, Yan Ne and others bowed to Zhu Zaigui and said, "Your subjects pay respects to the Regent."

Zhu Zaigui looked at Zhao Wenhua, Gao Gong, Yan Ne and others who had also arrived. He also raised his head and said, "Thank you for your hard work. I suddenly summoned you here at this time because His Majesty has a new decree."

"Zou Yinglong, the Censor-in-Chief of Guangxi Province, submitted a memorial impeaching Yan Shifan for selling official positions, oppressing the people, and being unfilial during the mourning period. Your Majesty was furious and ordered me and you to discuss Yan Shifan's crimes together to serve as a warning to others."

When Zhu Zaigui said this, everyone present was shocked. They all knew that Yan Shifan’s bad deeds would one day be exposed, but they didn’t expect that this day would come so soon.

After all, two days ago, Shen Lian opened fire in the Jinyiwei lobby, but Yan Song and Yan Shifan, father and son, remained as steady as old dogs.

But I didn't expect that within less than two days, there would be such a big reversal. It can be seen that the impeachment memorial submitted by the Censor of Guangxi Province must be genuine.

Otherwise, there is no way to explain it.

Zhu Zaigui looked at the shocked expressions of the crowd and said, "Prince Jing and Shen Lian will be here later. I will circulate Zou Yinglong's memorial to you for your perusal. Let Elder Xu take a look first."

After saying this, Zhu Zaigui waved his hand and asked a servant to deliver Zou Yinglong's memorial impeaching Yan Shifan's crimes to Xu Jie who was sitting nearby.

Xu Jie took the memorial respectfully and bowed slightly to Zhu Zaigui.

At this time, Zhu Zaigui suddenly said, "Oh, there is one more thing. Your Majesty has officially promoted Xu Gelao to the position of Chief Minister of the Cabinet. He will soon be promoted to the position of Grand Secretary of Zhongji Hall. Tomorrow, this decree will be published throughout the country along with the court gazette."

After Zhao Wenhua and others heard Zhu Zaigui's words, they couldn't help but take a deep breath!
No one expected Xu Jie to make such rapid progress. They originally thought that even if Xu Jie wanted to make progress, he would have to wait until Yan Shifan fell and Yan Song left office.

I didn't expect that after such a short period of not seeing him, Xu Jie has become the Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace. This is really exciting.

You should know that although the Ming Dynasty had four palaces and two cabinets, in fact, most of the time there were only three or four people in the cabinet, and it was rare to fill six positions.

Therefore, according to the ranking of these four palaces and two cabinets, when some officials were promoted to Grand Secretary, they did not start from the lowest Grand Secretary of the Dongge. They would usually be given the Grand Secretary of the Wuying Palace as a base, and then be promoted to the Grand Secretary of the Wenhua Palace and the Grand Secretary of the Jinshen Palace.

Only after obtaining these two titles of Grand Secretary can one strive for the most important title of Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace among the four palaces and two cabinets.

Therefore, unless there are any special circumstances, the chief ministers of the cabinet almost all hold the title of Grand Secretary of Zhongji Hall.

Now Xu Jie has finally struck lucky and is going to become the Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace. Who among those present could not be envious?

Especially Yan Ne and Gao Gong, who were standing among the three, were so envious that their eyes were sore.

Because among the three of them, only Gao Gong and Yan Ne were from the Hanlin Academy, and both of them had the opportunity to enter the cabinet.

Now that Xu Jie has become the Prime Minister, but the two of them have not yet gotten admission to the cabinet, one can imagine their anxiety and envy.

So at this time, it was Zhao Wenhua, who was an ordinary Jinshi, who seemed the calmest.

After all, compared with Gao Gong and Yan Ne, Zhao Wenhua had never entered the Hanlin Academy.

So even though he was a Jinshi and had already sat in the position of Minister of Justice, if he followed the unspoken rule that "only Hanlin scholars can enter the cabinet", Zhao Wenhua would have no chance to enter the cabinet.

Therefore, compared with Gao Gong and Yan Ne's envy and anxiety, Zhao Wenhua's condition can be said to be extremely good.

There is no need to worry about when you can join the cabinet.

Xu Jie looked at Zhao Wenhua modestly, with a high and stern look.

Zhao Wenhua, Gao Gong and Yan Ne also looked at Xu Jie with envy at this moment. At the same time, the three of them bowed slightly to Xu Jie and said, "Congratulations, Lord Xu."

Xu Jie said modestly: "We are all working for the court. In the future, we will need you to work together and assist His Majesty and the prince."

After hearing this, Zhu Zaigui also interrupted and said, "Lord Xu is right. From now on, you must work together with Lord Xu and work together to complete the court's tasks. Don't let down the expectations of me and your majesty, as well as the expectations of the people of the world."

After hearing Zhu Zaigui's words, Xu Jie and others immediately bowed to Zhu Zaigui again, "We will remember your teachings."

At this time, Prince Jing Zhu Zaizhen and Shen Lian also arrived.

Zhu Zaizhen and Shen Lian entered the Wenhua Hall together. They were stunned for a moment when they saw that there were so many people in the hall besides Prince Yu, the regent.

But the two of them bowed to Zhu Zaigui without any hesitation.

Zhu Zaizhen: "I pay my respects to my brother, the regent king."

Shen Lian: "Your servant, Jinyiwei Assistant Shen Lian, pays respect to the Regent."

Zhu Zaigui looked at Zhu Zaizhen and Shen Lian and replied, "Brother Wang, please stand up. Mr. Shen, please stand up."

After the two of them stood up.

Zhu Zaigui also looked at everyone and said, "Now that everyone is here, I will not waste any more words. The Ministry of Justice and the Imperial Guards should immediately sort out all the files, witnesses, and evidence of the crimes committed by Yan Shifan, and immediately send people to arrest Yan Shifan and bring him to justice."

"The Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Rites, and the Cabinet should immediately convict Yan Shifan based on the evidence collected by the Ministry of Justice and the Royal Guards. Remember, this time only Yan Shifan will be convicted, and no other charges should be made against him, otherwise I will convict him of a serious crime!"

Zhu Zaigui directly stated in one sentence the key points of why he called the person here this time.

After hearing Zhu Zaigui's words, Xu Jie and others immediately bowed and said, "We obey your order!"

Zhu Zaigui looked at everyone and said, "Since everything has been explained to you, the Ministry of Justice and the Imperial Guards should take action first. Shen Lian, you must quickly mobilize your men and take my order to arrest Yan Shifan and put him in the imperial prison to await trial."

Shen Lian bowed excitedly: "I obey your order."

Then the attendant beside him wrote down what Zhu Zaigui had just said in a "Regent Order" and handed it to Shen Lian.

Shen Lian took the "Regent Order" with great respect, looking very excited.

Obviously, being able to capture Yan Shifan with his own hands was a very exciting thing for him, and he was willing to give everything for it!
Watching Shen Lian leave with his regent order, Zhu Zaigui said to Xu Jie: "Let's discuss Yan Shifan's crime now. Lord Xu will speak first."

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