Light Dance Jiajing

In sharp contrast is Zai Ji. He and Meng'er have the same birthday. Seeing that the palace was busy preparing for Meng'er's birthday, but had completely forgotten about him, how could Zai Ji feel at peace? Many people knew that it was also his birthday, but looking at the eyes of the palace servants, one could tell that these servants had only two attitudes: ridicule and pity. Zai Ji hated everyone so much that he wanted to bite them. He howled silently at the moon like a lonely wolf.

Zai Ji watched coldly as everyone presented various gifts to Mian'er in order to curry favor with her. This time, not only the harem, but even the court officials did not shy away from sending gifts to the inner palace. The second assistant Yan Song got a coral tree that was more than one meter tall from somewhere. The whole tree was vermilion in color, which made it look rich and festive. The emperor was very pleased and praised Yan Song greatly. This set the tone, and gifts from both inside and outside the court were sent to Mian'er's palace in an overwhelming manner.

Mei'er received so many gifts that her hands were overwhelmed. The birthday gifts prepared by the officials were based on themes such as happiness, longevity, and auspiciousness, including jade, wood carvings, porcelain, jewelry, gold ornaments, etc., which were countless. Mei'er thought about how to raise money every day in the cold palace. Now, with just one word from the emperor, priceless treasures came flooding in. She felt very complicated, but she was not happy. At the same time, a well-known name made her even more uneasy. Yan Song, such a notorious figure, has now become the second assistant. It was not the first day that Yan Song came to curry favor with her, and she never said anything in return. Now seeing that Yan Song's position as the second assistant was becoming more and more stable, Mei'er felt like a thorn in her heart. She asked the emperor bluntly: "Others may not know who Yan Song is, but don't you know it? He is a famous traitor in history. Why don't you punish him and promote such a person to a high position?"

The emperor pulled Mei'er to the desk and pointed to a pile of memorials piled up on the side and said, "Take a look." Most people would not dare to read the emperor's memorials, but Mei'er did not have such scruples. She did not understand why, so she just looked at him suspiciously and picked up one to read. After she finished one, she picked up the next one. In a short while, she had read most of the memorials in the pile, and her brows were furrowed deeper and deeper. She slammed the memorials shut, too lazy to read any more. These memorials were all submitted to the emperor by the censors, listing all the crimes of Yan Song. Some accused him of corruption and abuse of power, some accused him of deceiving the emperor and his superiors, some accused him of competing with the people for profits, and some accused him of forming a clique to disrupt the government, and so on. These people strongly stated Yan Song's crimes, and some even listed how much land he had occupied in which year and month.

Meng'er looked at the emperor in confusion and asked, "The evidence is irrefutable, why don't you punish Yan Song?"

The emperor pulled Mei'er aside and said, "I know who Yan Song is, so I'm naturally on guard against him." Then he shook his head gently and said, "You don't understand politics. Have you ever thought that someone who can enter the cabinet and reach this position might be a saint?" Mei'er's eyes were a little confused. The emperor knew that she simply didn't understand these things, so he simply said bluntly, "There is no one in this position who is not ruthless and does not use tricks. Let's put it this way, how can he get up without stepping on his predecessor? The struggle here cannot be explained in a few words." The emperor pointed to the pile of memorials and said, "There are countless people who have impeached Yan Song, and they are nothing more than forming factions and corruption. Is this Yan Song's patent? ? Which of these censors is not someone's disciple? Which one of them is unorganized? You have to know that if you have no one to help you in the court, you will die faster than anyone else. You can't not take sides. What's more, it's not a big deal if it can be written in the memorial to make a point. You have to see the purpose clearly. The reason why I use Yan Song is because there are too many people who impeach him. The more enemies he makes, the more handles he has. The more he needs me to protect him, so how dare he not be loyal and obey orders? "He doesn't care how much Yan Song has embezzled. It's all under his nose. It's not easy to deal with him. What he cares more about is forming a party. So many ministers have joined forces to impeach Yan Song. What else can they do but collusion?

Mei'er was speechless after hearing this. She only felt that what the emperor said made some sense, but is there no one else available except Yan Song? Mei'er thought about it and asked. The emperor said, "Of course it's not just Yan Song. I have my eyes on him. If you say that these ministers have been spoiled, when I first ascended the throne, these people relied on their merits to make things difficult for me. They wanted me to be obedient and be their puppet. They often blocked the palace gate and made trouble. They would not stop until I was beaten. Think about it, if it were Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, would they dare to do it? History is written by civil servants. The most narrow-minded and narrow-minded are these people. I don't care about being scolded as a tyrant. Isn't it scolding me for not attending court? You should know that not attending court does not mean not doing anything. I don't want to be their puppet. I use Lu Bing. Jinyiwei will report to me about the affairs of the world. It's not their turn to make decisions. As ministers, they can only execute."

Meng'er couldn't help but re-examine the emperor. For a moment, she felt that he was so experienced that he made people feel unfamiliar. She blamed her for always keeping him in a distant memory, but that young boy was no longer there. Now everyone in the world was like a toy in his palm, as if he was at ease. But Meng'er thought about it and felt that something was wrong. He had some reasons, but Yan Song's foothold was getting more and more stable. This was not a good thing. She thought about it for a while and thought of the Prime Minister Xia Yan. She asked the emperor: "Yan Song is still the second Prime Minister. Prime Minister Xia Yan is always better than him."

The emperor nodded and shook his head and said, "The struggles in the court are nothing more than power and party struggles. Xia Yan is capable, but he has become more arrogant as he gets older. Xia Yan is a capable minister, and so is Yan Song. I employ people based on whether they can get things done, and they must be absolutely obedient. Some people ridicule Yan Song as the prime minister of Qingci, but isn't Xia Yan? Isn't Zhang Cong? Don't listen to what others say. As an emperor, you can't trust anyone. Do you understand?"

Meng'er thought it made sense and was about to be convinced by him. However, she had a deep prejudice against Yan Song. She thought that Yan Song could get things done, but that was only for you. Although Meng'er was not familiar with this period of history and did not know what specific bad things Yan Song had done, based on his infamous reputation, even if the civil servants who wrote the history had selfish motives, they could not confuse right and wrong. Yan Song was the number one treacherous minister in the Ming Dynasty. How could he be a good person?

Meng'er said unhappily: "You are being selfish by saying that. Are you allowing the treacherous ministers to cause harm just for your own benefit?"

The emperor saw that Meng'er was angry, but he didn't want to conflict with her over these things. This matter had nothing to do with Meng'er. In fact, there were some things he was not convenient to say to Meng'er. The ability of a minister is important, but the position is the key. Yan Song is completely on his side. No matter what the emperor wants to do, right or wrong, Yan Song can help him pave the way. Yan Song's corruption is known to the world, and this is exactly where he is smart, because the only thing the emperor can tolerate from his ministers is greed for money, and Yan Song has principles. First of all, he doesn't greedily take the money from the national treasury, and then he doesn't greedily take the emperor's money. Not only that, he also makes money for the emperor. Yan Song bears all the infamy, so how can he not protect Yan Song?

The emperor saw Meng'er pouting and glaring at him, thinking that he was being foolish. Why did he say all this to Meng'er? Why did he have to force her to come around? It didn't matter whether she liked Yan Song or not. So he changed his expression and coaxed her, "No, I'm also observing Yan Song. If I catch him doing something wrong, I will definitely not let him off easily."