Chapter 19: Fireworks
Perhaps it was some kind of political radar buzzing. Although he got the guarantee, Mu Qi was still a little hesitant and didn't even eat a few bites of breakfast the next day. He had just put down his bowl when the waiter rushed in and told him an important matter:
"Young Master Yan has arrived with a visiting card!"
The circle of nobles is different from that of civil servants. There has never been any private relationship between them. If they visit each other, it must be something big. Mu Qi was stunned for a moment, and immediately asked someone to invite him to the study. The young minister who came from afar didn't waste any words. He just said a few words of greeting and immediately said:
"Brother Mu, someone fired a shot at us!"
Mu Qi was stunned: "What?"
"This is the news sent to me by the Ministry of Public Administration. It said that this morning a secretary named Zhou Zhicheng submitted a memorial to criticize us for the tribute affairs we handled. His momentum was very fierce. This Zhou is also a relative of Xu Shaohu. I'm afraid he has bad intentions!"
The young cabinet minister was not shy and immediately took out a stack of white paper from his sleeve and handed it to Mu Qi. This was a copy of the memorial copied by Yan Dang's confidant at the Ministry of Public Administration. As soon as he got it, he rushed to the Duke's Mansion.
Mu Qi was a little surprised, but he didn't think anything of it. It was common for the Yan party and the Qingliu to argue with each other, and there was no need for him to get too involved; but after reading a few pages, his face changed rapidly - the memorial impeached them for being ambitious, greedy for money, and damaging the state. It was full of the Qingliu's clichés, which was nothing special; only half of it contained a killer trick:
"I implore Your Majesty to remember the virtues of our ancestors in cultivating culture and restoring the old system of Emperor Yingzong's Tianshun reign, and to dismiss these corrupt and selfish officials..."
The following is the content praising Emperor Yingzong for his cultural advancement. But there was no need for Mu Qi to read on - damn it, how could a memorial that publicly licked the "benevolence" of Emperor Guochao Baozong be a normal memorial?
It’s far from a cultural place, right? “If people from afar are dissatisfied, then we should cultivate culture and virtue to win them over”, right? How come Wen De of Baozong kept repairing the city walls and finally allowed the Oirat people to move outside the city walls of Beijing?
Could it be that going to Wala to study abroad and further his studies is also a part of the culture of the Baozong sect? You might as well say he went north to sell his ass—
No, this point cannot be used to slander the Baozong. Baozong has been captured, so why would Wala need to buy anything? If you don’t pay, you won’t sell. This issue cannot be ignored.
Of course, Baozong is a taboo in the country after all, and it will not be mentioned easily. This bastard named Zhou specifically mentioned the "old system of Tianshun", which clearly shows that he has ulterior motives. What is the "Tianshun old system"? After the restoration, Bao Zong, in order to win over the upper and lower levels, decentralized power on a large scale. He specially assigned the affairs of tribute and foreign affairs to the Hanlin Academy for concurrent management, which greatly increased the momentum of that group of scholars. In other words, this memorial was clearly intended to provoke a dispute between the Hanlin Academy and the two of them, and he was willing to scrap the entire tribute plan in order to drag the Yan Party into it!
The heart that fights for power and profit can be so dark!
Originally, the Duke's Mansion had no right to interfere in the division of power in the court; but that group of Hanlin scholars were well-read and arrogant, but they were completely clueless in actual practice; during the years they were in charge of tribute, they were fooled around by foreign envoys and even leaked a lot of military secrets. In terms of management effectiveness, they were even worse than the group of corrupt scholars in the Ministry of Rites who did things according to the rules. If Zhou Zhicheng's plan was well-planned and he really let them get involved, wouldn't all that Mu Qi had worked so hard to plan be wiped out in an instant?
Damn it, I can’t keep this person!
Mu Qi immediately made up his mind: "He is so arrogant and evil that it is hard to reason with him! Is it true that the more he does for the court, the more mistakes he makes? Brother Yan, we must not be lenient with such people!"
Yan Donglou was immediately overjoyed. The nobles and the civil servants are not in the same circle. As long as there is no treason, families like the Duke Mu’s Mansion don’t have to worry about impeachment. He made a special trip to see the Prince of Duke Mu, and what he was most worried about was that the Prince would stand idly by and leave him alone to fight the enemy. But I didn't expect that the prince would be so righteous and actually took the initiative to take it on!
In this case, he did not hide it and expressed his opinion directly:
"Brother Mu said everything I thought! Such a villain is stirring up trouble everywhere. In the future, he will definitely cause chaos in the world. We must fight back resolutely!"
Mu Qi couldn't help but feel relieved. Based on decades of experience, the moral level of the Yan Party is hovering in the range of personification; but the Yan Party’s level of bullying is improving with each passing day and is well-known. With teammates like this to cover him on both sides, there is no need to worry about not being able to send Zhou to the sidelines.
Of course, before starting a war, we must first find out the opponent's background. Mu Qi asked:
"This person is a relative of Lord Xu. Could it be that he also received instructions from Lord Xu?"
"It's hard to say." Yan Donglou pondered for a moment, then shook his head: "Logically speaking, Xu Shaohu wouldn't ignore his relatives, but Old Xu has already agreed to this matter in front of the emperor, so it's not good to just interfere. I don't think it's possible."
For thick-skinned and hard-hearted people like Xu Shaohu and Yan Fenyi, a normal oath is just like farting. But Xiyuan is in front of Taoist Feixuan after all. No one will care if you fart somewhere else, but do you dare to fart in front of the Master? Is it true that the Lord's thunder magic to subdue demons was practiced in vain?
Moreover, Yan Donglou had another consideration in mind. He personally led the Yan party to fight against Qingliu, and knew how deep and cunning Lord Xu was. If he really had to take action to stop it, the memorial he submitted would definitely not be such a rough, half-finished product. Apart from anything else, if Lord Xu had polished this memorial, even if Prince Mu did the reading comprehension a hundred times, trying to guess the feelings from homesickness to being unappreciated, he would definitely not be able to figure out the connotation of fawning on the Baozong clan.
This is what an expert does, and he can tell whether something is good or not with just one glance. As high-level players, they are familiar with each other's styles.
With an expert guaranteeing him, Mu Qi felt relieved, but he still wanted to remind him, "Even so, people who have connections with Lord Xu are always difficult to deal with."
The young cabinet minister smiled slightly, showing his composure. With Yan Donglou's viciousness, it was still a bit difficult for him to deal with Xu Shaohu, but it was easy for him to deal with such a small shrimp. He shook the memorial, pinched a mark on it with his fingernail, and then handed it to the prince:
"This person is stupid and shallow, and he has planted the key harm himself. Brother Mu, please take a look."
Yan Donglou brought up one of Zhou Zhicheng's crimes, accusing them of colluding with the forces in the palace to oppress the foreign envoys who came from afar, and daring to abuse their power, causing the envoys to tremble in fear and fawn in front of others...
Yan Donglou drew a heavy stroke on the word "亦".
"What does the '亦' in '亦献媚人前' mean?" The young cabinet elder laughed sinisterly, "'亦' means someone has already done it - as everyone knows, we only sent a few volumes of the imperial poems to the envoys of the vassal states. Is he deliberately implying that someone has been oppressed by the power in the palace and has been flattering others with the poems? Who is so pitiful?"
He was indeed the leader among the treacherous ministers. He immediately found out the sore spot after just one look at the memorial. Mu Qi admired him very much, but he still had to point out:
"Brother Yan's plan is brilliant, but the word 'also' alone can only lead to a salary deduction and reprimand, which may not scare him. Moreover, since it involves many people in the Hanlin Academy, the situation is even more difficult. We still have to take drastic measures to set an example for others."
A mere Jieshizhong is actually nothing big. What they were afraid of was that Zhou's repeated submissions would arouse the interest of those nerds in the Hanlin Academy and they would want to restore the glory of the Baozong era. The Hanlin Academy has always been known as the reserve prime minister, and it is difficult to resist easily. Therefore, we must strike early and strike small, take precautions in advance, and make the Hanlin Academy stay away and not dare to provoke us.
The young elder was very humble: "Please give me some advice, my lord."
"Young Lord, do you know that His Majesty had previously ordered the Hanlin Academy to write poems and articles to praise the merits of Emperor Taizong Wen?"
Yan Donglou let out an "oh" and his eyes immediately lit up: Yan's party was in high positions in the government, so of course they could get to know the secrets of the central government and knew that the emperor was making careful plans to move his own father into the Taimiao. In order to reduce the pressure from etiquette and law, the emperor resorted to bundling sales. He first created public opinion to influence the temple name and sacrificial specifications of Emperor Taizong Wen of the Guo Dynasty, Zhu Laosi. Then, when the Taimiao reform was a done deal, he shoved his own father into the temple with lightning speed. Using the fast to defeat the slow, wasn't that wonderful?
This whole set of silky smooth small combos flows smoothly, and the most critical step is to change the temple name of Emperor Taizong. So starting a month ago, the emperor had been praising Zhu Laosi's achievements at large and small meetings, secretly creating public opinion.
Yan Ge Lao got his start by organizing the Grand Ceremony Discussion. Yan Donglou certainly understood this routine and was very tempted:
"The prince is saying..."
Mu Qi smiled slightly, showing his calmness: "Young Lord, in the current situation, praising the merits of Emperor Taizong is a very risky thing."
Flattering the royal family is a skill that civil servants have acquired through long-term practice and become proficient at. But in history, Lao Deng had ulterior motives and made things very difficult - the so-called ancestor has merits and the ancestor has virtues, the temple names include ancestor and ancestor, and "ancestor" is above "ancestor". "Taizong" is already the top temple name, and if you want to praise the merits and virtues, you can only rely on the direction of ancestor. But the question is, why should Zhu Laosi be called "ancestor"?
According to common sense, the most appropriate temple name is actually "Shizu", praising Zhu Laosi for his "contributions to the founding of the country" and "rebuilding the world". This is very reasonable, and Tie Hanhan really made such a suggestion. However, the temple name "Shizu" implies a change in the royal lineage, with the minor clan replacing the major clan...
As everyone knows, Emperor Zhu Laosi of our dynasty is the absolute orthodox; the worthy successor of Emperor Gaozu; and the undisputed Son of Heaven (again, remember these three adjectives firmly, otherwise the nine clans will be very dissatisfied!). You secretly mentioned "change of lineage" and "small branch replacing big branch", what do you mean?
Who ordered you? Who is behind you? What is your motivation? The well-tested eunuchs of the East Factory can see at a glance that you are a remnant of Jianwen lurking in the court!
If you don't want to follow the path of Emperor Zhu Si, then follow the path of Emperor Jianwen!
In short, the old Taoist priest roared a few words of "You are disrespecting God!", and then ordered his men to drag Tie Hanhan out, spank him on the buttocks, and make him reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors.
After being frightened by the old Taoist's ruthless methods, some people looked up the old Taoist's previous remarks and discovered that the emperor once praised Emperor Zhu Si for "being in the period when the emperor's ancestors were first established and revived the country that was destroyed by Jianwen." So they were overjoyed and proposed a temple name "Xingzu" to present to him - this is the "revival" that you said yourself, so there should be no problem, right?
There is indeed no problem, but these people have forgotten a small detail: Emperor Jianwen's biological father, Prince Yiwen, was once given the temple name "Xingzong".
So what else is there to say? Naturally, he was dragged out again and beaten with thirty sticks.
For the same reason, temple names such as "Zhongzu" and "Liezu" that imply revival are no longer allowed to be used. As is well known, the fourth emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming dynasty was so filial that he moved heaven. His sincerity and affection were so deep that he was able to win the favor of heaven, causing the soul of Emperor Gaozu, who had died in the 31st year of Xuanwu, to be reincarnated and work hard (really worked hard) until the 35th year of Xuanwu. You keep emphasizing "rejuvenation", but did your dynasty perish during the Xuanwu period?
In history, such farce went on for a whole year, and the conflicts could not be resolved. Later, the eunuchs of the East Factory were all muttering in their hearts, wondering why more and more remnants of Jianwen's followers lurking in the court were being arrested. In essence, the old Taoist priest was just not a human being - the temple name with "Zu" originally meant founding a business, but the higher-ups wanted to emphasize Zhu Laosi's orthodox succession. Such a neurotic requirement is tantamount to designing a colorful black. It turned out that Lord Yan and his people were really good at licking things. They racked their brains and actually dealt with this pestilent Party A.
——The Yan Party was able to occupy the cabinet for decades, and its ability is indeed not exaggerated.
But could a mere Jieshizhong have the ability of Lord Yan? Mu Qi is full of confidence:
"Young Lord, since His Majesty has spoken, how can the people below not obey? Isn't the Ministry of Rites, which Lord Yan is in charge of, responsible for offering sacrifices to ancestors? In my opinion, the Ministry of Rites can issue an official document and let the idle officials join in the fun and write a few articles praising Emperor Taizong Wen! With this person's brain..."
Normally, a mistake in speech is fine. But given the critical situation now, if the wording in the article is still so unreliable, then the two of them with their eagle eyes will be able to immediately identify this remnant of Jianwen with ulterior motives!
A smart person like the young minister would naturally understand it immediately. He laughed out loud, very happy:
"Brother Mu, your opinion is great. I dare not disobey you!"
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