The old father finally realized, belatedly, that the things he needed to worry about might be completely different from the things other emperors worried about!
Other emperors worried that their crown princes would grow up to be too successful or too unsuccessful, but he was worried that his crown princes would be too lazy.
When I was a child, I was too lazy to go to school; when I grew up, I was too lazy to attend court. Will I be too lazy to handle state affairs in the future?
Throughout history, there have been all sorts of crown princes, but none of them were lazy.
Not only was he lazy, but he also kept his distance and never made a proper appearance in front of the court officials!
What kind of behavior is this!
The emperor felt he could no longer tolerate Ye Jingchen.
“Jingming can enter the Ministry of Personnel without any problem, but the premise is that you also have to enter the court. You can choose any of the Six Ministries. If you don’t want to go to the Six Ministries, the Nine Temples and Five Directorates are also fine. Except for the Censorate, you can go wherever you want.” He said to Ye Jingchen in private.
This is how he has changed in the past few years. If it were before, he wouldn't have deliberately avoided Ye Jingming, the person involved, and would have said it to his face.
Now he's considering whether speaking frankly to Ye Jingming might embarrass him and damage their father-son/brotherly relationship.
"Why can't we go to the Censorate?" Ye Jingchen asked curiously.
The emperor's lips twitched. "What are you doing at the Censorate, the crown prince? Are you deliberately handing over your weaknesses to those censors so they can impeach you every day?"
There was one more thing the emperor didn't say.
"Don't you think you have any flaws?"
Even if someone has no flaws, the censor will fabricate a few flaws out of thin air. So what if someone as lazy as Ye Jingchen is in front of the censor? He would probably be full of flaws!
"Perhaps I can win people over with virtue and gain their trust?" Ye Jingchen didn't want to go to court, so he deliberately talked about random things to distract the emperor and find a breakthrough.
The emperor scoffed, "Absolutely impossible! Naïve!"
The duty of the censors is to find the faults of the emperor. If they stop looking, what is the point of their existence?
"Stop beating around the bush, choose one!" the emperor urged.
He had made up his mind and was determined not to let Ye Jingchen escape so easily.
“Father, you are in the prime of your life. Under your rule, the Great Yuan is peaceful and prosperous! What difference does it make whether I, the Crown Prince, enter the court sooner or later? After all, Father can shield us from all storms, can't he?”
The emperor was pleased with the praise. Although he had heard these words many times, there was a big difference between being praised by his subjects and being praised by his son.
Ye Jingchen's words not only praised him, but also indicated that he was not interested in that position, which he should be happy about.
There can only be one throne, and he is still very young. He absolutely does not want to see the crown prince become ambitious and overtake him, but this crown prince has neither ambition nor the desire to work hard, which makes him somewhat panicked.
No matter how long he stays in this position, he will eventually have to hand it over to the crown prince. If the crown prince is not capable, how can he face his ancestors?
"I can shoulder this burden for you for a while, but can I shoulder it for you forever? How can you treat the weight of a nation as a joke?!" the emperor said, exasperated.
"Father, what do you think of Jingming?" Ye Jingchen asked abruptly.
The emperor was stunned for a moment, his face turning somewhat ugly, and he raised his hand, "What do you mean by asking that? Are you asking for a beating?!"
"Your Majesty, I meant no other thing!" Ye Jingchen waved his hands repeatedly, seeing that the Emperor's reaction seemed to have misunderstood. "Your Majesty, I was simply asking what you think of Jingming!"
He's been in the book for so long and has never been beaten by the emperor. If he gets beaten because of this misunderstanding, it would be such a misunderstanding!
"You raised it yourself, don't you know that? Why are you asking me?" The emperor withdrew his hand and said irritably.
“I think Jingming is quite suitable for the Ministry of Personnel. After he has accumulated enough seniority in the Ministry of Personnel, we will ask Prime Minister Wang to retire and return to his hometown. Father Emperor will appoint Mr. Yan as Prime Minister and make Jingming the Minister of Personnel. What do you think, Father Emperor?”
These words, given Ye Jingchen's current status, were somewhat inappropriate.
Whether it's a high-ranking official or the current prime minister, both are pillars of the court. The changes in these important positions are not something a crown prince like him can interfere with.
But he not only intervened, he did so openly and honestly in front of the emperor.
The emperor was subconsciously displeased, but this displeasure was merely an instinctive reaction to the threat to his imperial power. After a moment, he began to objectively consider the feasibility of the matter.
But after only a moment's thought, he realized that this was not feasible!
Appointing a prince to a ministerial post would not be a loss for the emperor, but for Ye Jingchen, the crown prince, this idea would do more harm than good.
Although Jingming had also spent six years in the Wenhua Hall and had grown up under Jingchen's watchful eye, and the brothers had a harmonious relationship, Jingming was, after all, a prince, and naturally had a competitive relationship with Jingchen. Once Jingming became the Minister of Personnel, there would definitely be court officials who would be eager to attach themselves to him.
At that time, even if Jingming doesn't want to compete for the position, there will be court officials pushing him to compete for it.
This is the last thing the emperor wanted to see.
"No! Jingming cannot serve as a minister!" The emperor immediately rejected Ye Jingchen's proposal.
His reaction was exactly what Ye Jingchen expected.
Ye Jingchen anticipated that the emperor would have two reactions: one would be wary and apprehensive, since his proposal was a challenge to the emperor's authority.
The second option is to oppose his proposal, as is the case now.
The former implies that the emperor values imperial power more than paternal love. He only needs to make jokes and act shamelessly to give the emperor a way out, and the emperor will probably stop insisting that he attend court now.
If it's the second reaction, then he can continue talking to the emperor.
"What does Father think about sending Jingyu to the Ministry of Revenue?" Ye Jingchen asked with a smile, his smile becoming much more sincere.
It was worth all the years of his persistent efforts to build up his goodwill!
"The power of the Ji family far exceeds your imagination. Don't be reckless!" the emperor said without thinking.
"I think Jingyu is great. He's very well-behaved and innocent, and he values family ties," Ye Jingchen said with a smile.
The emperor naturally thought his own child was perfect in every way, but he dared not gamble with human nature.
Moreover, the Ji family is different from other aristocratic families; imperial power may not mean anything to them at all.
“Father, the first rule of the Ji family is that they must not interfere with secular imperial power. If they want to maintain their current transcendent status, they will never touch the imperial power. Therefore, we don’t need to be wary of them at all.”
“Jingyu has never met his maternal grandfather. In two more years, when he is a little older, Father Emperor might as well send him to Yongzhou to visit his maternal grandparents and show his filial piety to the two elders. If the two elders like him, they only need to give him a little something between their fingers, and that will be enough for him to live a life of wealth and leisure as a prince.”
"Of course, it would be a waste to leave him idle given his status. The Ministry of Revenue is a perfect fit for him. With him around, Da Yuan's annual commercial tax revenue might even double!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
