Da Ming: Father, step aside, I'll be the prime minister!

Chapter 78 Zhang Juzheng's Memorials
Huangji Palace.

"The frequent natural disasters are a warning from Heaven. It is possible that the sage has erred in his conduct, associating with treacherous ministers and acting recklessly, thus incurring Heaven's wrath and bringing calamities upon the people. The innocent people suffer greatly because of these treacherous ministers. Only when the sage issues an edict of self-reproach, moving Heaven's heart and comforting the common people, can this calamity be averted."

Yang Keli's recitation echoed throughout the hall, and for a moment all the court officials fell silent, turning their gazes to the Wanli Emperor on the throne.

"How dare you!" The Wanli Emperor slammed his fist on the table and stood up, pointing angrily at Yang Keli. "How dare you spout nonsense and slander me in this great hall!"

"I deserve to die ten thousand times!"

Surprisingly, Censor Yang Keli showed no intention of "remonstrating to the death"; he immediately prostrated himself on the ground.

"These are mere rumors circulating in the streets, not my own words. Since Your Majesty ascended the throne, you have worked diligently day and night. How could you possibly favor treacherous officials and be so dissolute?"

The sheep can stand, and the last few words are pronounced with great emphasis.

Emperor Wanli felt that the other party was mocking him, but he had no evidence, and the content was indeed taken from rumors circulating in the streets.

It's like punching cotton; there's really nothing that can be done about Yang Keli, who's openly "insulting" him.

Emperor Wanli's chubby face twitched; lately, attending court had become increasingly difficult for him.

For some reason, Minister Zhang became increasingly taciturn.

The officials in the court also seemed to shift their focus, their eyes revealing an undisguised dissatisfaction that made Wanli feel like he was sitting on pins and needles every time he attended court.

They didn't dare to point their fingers at the emperor and curse him like Hai Rui did, clearly the fate of Wei Yunzhen had already set an example for the court officials.

These were all shrewd people. Seeing that a direct confrontation wouldn't work, they started acting strangely and sarcastically all the time, leaving Emperor Wanli unable to vent his anger and without even a pretext to have his men flogged.

For a moment, he even missed Zhang Yunxiu. If the other party could attend court regularly and stand in the ranks of the court officials, surely he would have a way.

Emperor Wanli turned his gaze to Zhang Juzheng, the chief minister standing at the head of the court officials' line. In an instant, his figure changed and transformed into the appearance of Zhang Yunxiu.

Emperor Wanli was overjoyed and was about to call out "Zhang Shiyuan" when, unexpectedly, "Zhang Shiyuan" grinned and said to him.

"Your Majesty, let's bring all the officials of the court to Renmin First Pharmaceutical Factory to grind garlic!"

He shuddered and then snapped out of his reverie.

At this moment, the Second Grand Secretary, Shin Si-hang, finally stepped forward and spoke, bowing to the Emperor.

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger. With the plague raging and rumors spreading, I fear that the White Lotus Rebels may be taking advantage of this chaos to stir up trouble. To ensure the stability of the nation, I implore Your Majesty to order the Embroidered Uniform Guard to conduct a thorough investigation."

Emperor Wanli breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Shen Shixing with great appreciation. There was still someone in the court who spoke up for him.

He nodded slowly and said, "As you say."

After the court session, Emperor Wanli returned to the Qianqing Palace alone, and he no longer goes to the Kunning Palace.

Even if he were slow to react, he could still realize that he had been extremely careful in his actions, so how could he have let the news slip?
Zhang Cheng, that eunuch, was a bit cunning, but Emperor Wanli could see that imperial power was Zhang Cheng's only support, and that Zhang Cheng would never betray him.

That leaves only one person: Empress Wang, the head of the six palaces whom Emperor Wanli had always trusted implicitly.

Leaning back on the soft couch, Emperor Wanli felt a surge of unease and a sense of isolation and alienation from his family and friends.

In his agitated state, he subconsciously flipped through the latest issue of the Wanli Xinbao newspaper.

On the front page, the eye-catching words read: "In accordance with the decree of His Majesty the Benevolent and Wise Emperor, we will make every effort to advance all matters related to the prevention and control of the epidemic in the capital!"

Upon seeing this row of striking characters, Emperor Wanli felt his face flush red.

What the hell is Zhang Yunxiu doing?
But after staring at it for a long time, Emperor Wanli not only did not dislike it, but actually found it somewhat pleasing to the eye.
As he read on, he actually felt that this title was a thousand times, ten thousand times better than the memorials submitted by the court officials!
Upon closer inspection of the front-page headline, it was found that almost all of it described the experiences and methods used by Xianyifang in managing the plague.

There are also vivid pictures on it, several in a row. First, an old man with boils on his face, on the verge of death, enters Renmin Medical Hall and then receives careful care from the doctors in the medical hall.

At the clinic, the old man didn't spend much money. He received daily treatment and herbal medicine from the doctor. Most importantly, he had to wear a mask and use garlic extract, along with some herbal decoctions.
These are the so-called modern medical treatments that Zhang Yunxiu mentioned to him.

Emperor Wanli also noticed a detail: every citizen who entered the clinic to receive free treatment had to receive ideological education every day.

Phrases like "Forever loyal to His Majesty the Emperor," "Forever trusting the upright Lord Zhang Shiyuan," and "Forever loving the Ming Dynasty" are used. "Why do I feel a little embarrassed?"

For a moment, Emperor Wanli got goosebumps, but he couldn't help but feel comfortable looking at it.

Shiyuan! You are truly my loyal and trusted minister!
Thinking of this, Emperor Wanli felt a pang of sorrow. He recalled what he had seen and heard in the workshop laboratory that day, the "strange" protective suit he was wearing, and the miraculous changes in the petri dish.

Isn't this more comforting than the intrigue and backstabbing in the imperial court?

For a fleeting moment, he even felt a little envious of Yang Jishi.

What a wonderful thing it must be for this old man to be able to spend all his time in the lab researching and exploring all sorts of novel gadgets!

He quickly finished reading the newspaper, and Emperor Wanli sighed with lingering interest before getting up from the soft couch again.

Sitting before his desk, he looked at the empty Qianqing Palace and suddenly understood why emperors of the past always referred to themselves as "Guaren" (寡人, meaning "I, the lonely one").

Power is something people flock to, but it also gradually leads people to loneliness.

The Wanli Emperor looked at the stack of memorials on his desk, which almost covered his face. Suddenly, he felt a sense of weariness.

Suddenly, the veins on his forehead bulged.

"Get out! All of you, get out of here!"

His eyes blazed with fury, and he swept all the memorials on the imperial desk onto the floor.

Panting heavily, he looked at the memorials scattered on the ground and finally felt a little better.

Almost without hesitation, the Wanli Emperor took out a brocade box from under his desk. After opening the box, he looked at the mixed-hair brush lying inside, as well as various precious pigments such as cinnabar, azurite, gamboge, and rouge.

When he looked at these objects, Emperor Wanli's eyes lit up again.

He carefully took it out, spread a clean sheet of Xuan paper on the table, picked up the newspaper from before, and muttered to himself.

"This Zhang Shiyuan must have drawn it himself. His drawing skills are so bad. Look at this old man, he looks like an old woman. I have to draw it myself."

Suddenly, the emperor's chubby hands became nimble, sketching and drawing on the rice paper. The image of an old man leaped off the paper, even with a comical look, which was quite delightful.

As he painted, the worry on Wanli's face seemed to gradually disappear, replaced by a kind of obsession.

"Your Majesty~"

The shrill voice came from outside, which really startled Emperor Wanli.

"Your Majesty, a new memorial drafted by the Cabinet is awaiting Your Majesty's decision."

Upon recognizing the voice as Zhang Cheng, Emperor Wanli breathed a sigh of relief, tidied up the table, and then spoke.

"come in."

Zhang Cheng bowed as he entered the main hall. Upon seeing the memorial on the ground, his heart sank. He lowered his body even further and placed the memorial directly on the imperial desk.

"A few more"

Emperor Wanli's irritation rose again. He opened the memorial and was about to speak when he abruptly stopped.

He frowned deeply, slowly unfolded the memorial, and examined it more and more carefully.

Not long after, the emperor's face lit up with a look of delight, and he burst into laughter.

"Truly worthy of being called the Prime Minister! This is exactly what should be done! With the Prime Minister's decisiveness, what is there to worry about in resolving the plague?"

Almost without hesitation, he immediately took out a vermilion brush and wrote a line of words on it.

(End of this chapter)