"Eunuch Gao, what you said is wrong," Fan Jingwen retorted calmly, "What I meant is that the national treasury is in deficit, and I beg Your Majesty to allow Prince Ding and Prince Yong to be granted fiefdoms later. I have no intention of blaming Your Majesty."

"On the contrary, it is Eunuch Gao who keeps making irresponsible remarks and insinuating things about Your Majesty!"

Fan Jingwen comes from an upright imperial family and has forty years of experience in officialdom!

With just one sentence, he shifted the conflict between him and Gao Shiming back to Chongzhen.

Those present were all old foxes in the officialdom, and they secretly gave a thumbs up to Fan Jingwen's methods.

Gao Shiming suddenly panicked.

Although he was the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department and had a strong mind and brain, he was no match for Fan Jingwen.

After all, Fan Jingwen has tasted more salt than he has walked.

"I... When did I ever insinuate about Your Majesty? Fan Jingwen, stop slandering me!" Gao Shiming pointed at Fan Jingwen's nose angrily, trying to shift the conflict to himself.

"Your Majesty will be able to judge whether Mr. Fan has slandered you or not!" Fan Jingwen responded calmly.

The focus of the conflict shifted to Chongzhen again.

Although Chongzhen was speechless, he had no choice but to accept the reality.

Regarding the conflict between Gao and Fan, he could neither side with Gao Shiming nor with Fan Jingwen, and could only play the role of a peacemaker in the middle.

He coughed lightly and said, "One of you is in charge of the cabinet, and the other is in charge of the Imperial Household Department. There is no need to hurt the harmony."

"I am not against Eunuch Gao. I am just discussing the facts. I ask Your Majesty to postpone the enfeoffment of the fiefdom." Fan Jingwen raised his head while speaking.

"I second the motion."

"I second this motion."

The repeaters in the court expressed their opinions one after another.

The disputes between the emperor and his subjects were apparently caused by feudal fiefdoms, but in reality they were a struggle between imperial power and the civil service group.

Chongzhen wanted to use Zhu Cijiong to take back some of the military power.

The civil service group headed by the cabinet certainly disagreed.

The imperial court needs civil servants to govern the country, so the civil servant group will not disappear.

When the civil officials are strong, the imperial power is weak.

If the civil officials are weak, the imperial power may not be strong.

Chongzhen needs to handle the relationship between the two well.

Looking at the civil servants in the court, Chongzhen stood up and said, "Everyone, my son wants to get married and build a house, what's wrong with that? Liaodong is at war, but the Central Plains is peaceful! Children of ordinary people can get married and build houses, but my son can't?"

Fan Jingwen refused to give in. "But your majesty, the treasury is empty now! We can raise money to hold the wedding of Prince Ding and Prince Yong, but it is really difficult to raise the cost of building a palace. Please forgive me, your majesty."

"This is easy!" Chongzhen spread his hands and said, "As long as their titles of vassal kings are abolished, the national treasury will not have to pay for their weddings or their palaces, and you don't have to worry about it."

"Although Prince Ding and Prince Yong are guilty, their fiefdoms will not be abolished. Your Majesty, please consider this."

"Then give them money to get married and become a vassal!"

"Your Majesty, please forgive me! The treasury is empty and there is no money to transfer!"

"Okay," Gao Shiming, who had been frustrated before, began to roar: "You neither paid the two princes to go to their fiefdoms, nor agreed to the emperor abolishing the fiefdoms to save money. You did all the good things, and put all the bad things on the emperor. You are really good subjects of His Majesty!"

"This..." Fan Jingwen began to frown.

If you do not agree to abolish the feudal system, you will have to pay money to arrange the wedding of Prince Ding and Prince Yong and build a prince's palace.

But the treasury has no money.

By agreeing to abolish the feudal system, Chongzhen could take this opportunity to gain some military power.

Power is like water in a river.

Once the gap is opened, power will burst out and become uncontrollable.

What to do?

Fan Jingwen, who has always been experienced, was also in trouble.

Seeing that Fan Jingwen was in a dilemma, Gao Shiming immediately pursued him: "Master Fan, stop talking nonsense. Choose one of the two and hurry up."

"Eunuch Gao, this matter is of great importance and needs to be discussed before a decision is made."

"What's there to discuss when it's obvious?"

"If we abolish the feudal domain without any crime, the news will probably cause dissatisfaction among other feudal lords or nobles. Now the imperial court is sending troops to Liaodong, and we must not allow a fire to break out in the backyard!" Fan Jingwen explained the interests involved.

"Your Majesty," Fan Jingwen bowed again, "I think this matter should be put on hold for now and discussed again later."

The court was extremely quiet.

The way things turned out was beyond many people's imagination.

These people do not include Chongzhen.

He said slowly, "You don't agree to abolish the feudal system, and you can't afford to arrange the weddings for Prince Ding and Prince Yong, or to build a palace. What on earth do you want to do? Are you rebelling against me?"

"Your Majesty, please forgive me for your crimes. I am incompetent!" Fan Jingwen knelt down immediately.

Under his leadership, everyone in the court knelt down.

Officials can kneel down to show weakness as a sign of concession.

The emperor can't.

The only choice is to compromise or put forward a new point of view and discuss it with the ministers.

The emperor's compromise meant the decline of imperial power.

Just like the dispute over the national foundation during the Wanli period.

Wanli wanted to enthrone Prince Fu Zhu Changxun as the crown prince, but the ministers supported the eldest son Zhu Changluo as the crown prince according to the rule that if there is a legitimate son, the legitimate son will be appointed as the crown prince, and if there is no legitimate son, the eldest son will be appointed as the crown prince.

At the end of the debate, Wanli chose to compromise and made Zhu Changluo the crown prince.

In fact, Wanli could have chosen not to compromise.

He only needed to depose Queen Wang and enthrone Zhu Changxun's mother Zheng as queen.

This is in line with the rule of establishing the legitimate heir.

However, the matter of deposing the queen involved too many issues, and Wanli ultimately did not choose to do so.

Wanli's compromise made the court officials realize that although the rules were proposed by the emperor, they could use the rules to restrain the emperor's power.

Party strife was inevitable.

Chongzhen will not follow the old path of Wanli.

So instead of compromising, he came up with a new point of view.

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