Yang Yizhong nodded immediately, "I have already got a clue. I just went back last night when a smart person saw an opportunity. The former Taichang Temple Secretary Wang Shuzhan found me and said that these people from Yangzhou wanted to interfere in the matter of establishing the crown prince. He heard some rumors... It seems that Cai Mao and others are preparing to unite and ask for the establishment of the eldest son to flatter the Wu family... He is willing to get a list and make things happen!"
"Everyone in this group of people is smart... Only Concubine Pan is stupid!" Zhao Jiu frowned. "Tell Uncle Wang Zhan that I am reasonable. Once the matter is done, I have a good assignment for him... Let him transfer to the public cabinet first and become the president of the shipping company... If he can do this assignment smoothly before the Northern Expedition, it may not be impossible to make him a minister in the future and give him a position in the secret cabinet."
"Yes!" Yang Yizhong bowed his head in response.
Then, the emperor and his minister were silent again. After a moment, Yang Zhengfu carefully took the initiative to say goodbye.
Zhao Jiu watched the other party leave Xinggang and stand under the apricot tree beside the thatched pavilion with his hands behind his back, but his expression couldn't help but become gloomy again - as the person he trusted the most, he could say many things in front of Yang Yizhong that he couldn't say in front of other people, and show many feelings that he couldn't show in front of other people, but there were some words, some things, and some emotions that he couldn't fully express even in front of this person.
Zhao Jiu fell silent just now, his mood was so gloomy. On the one hand, he felt ashamed towards Pan and Wu, and felt sad that he could not stop these two people from being swallowed up step by step by the so-called feudal ethics, and being assimilated by things like the virtuous concubine and the queen, that is, gradually becoming the so-called fish eyes... On the other hand, wasn't it because he drew inferences from one instance and thought of himself?
Has Zhao Jiu been swallowed up by this era?
Have you been assimilated by this official identity?
If so, during this process, did he feel willing or accepting like the two women?
Is it worth it?
It seems worth it because of the overall situation of the world.
Zhao Jiu stood there for the whole afternoon and finally went back, hiding the sadness and shame of the day deep in his heart.
He became the official who controlled everything again.
The next day, Cai Mao was promoted to Hanlin scholar, and Ma Shen, the Minister of Justice, was assigned to inspect the spring plowing in the west of Beijing.
Three days later, as more and more people attached themselves to Cai Mao and rumors spread, Concubine Pan began to become visibly panicked and at a loss.
Fortunately, Emperor Zhao stayed in Concubine Pan's palace almost every day, which made the latter somewhat comforted.
Ten days later, in late January, the weather was getting warmer. Emperor Zhao, who spent his days shooting arrows, listening to intelligence and writing articles on original studies, saw that Concubine Pan was in great emotional fluctuations. Not wanting to delay, he simply used the weather as an excuse and impatiently asked Yang Yi Zhong to start the movement.
It can only be said that with Cai Mao's promotion and the government's ambiguous attitude, whether intentional or not, as well as the so-called establishment of the eldest son as the heir, the small group advocating the establishment of the eldest son of the emperor had become very strong...and these people were caught in a net by the imperial guards after a Cuju match. There were more than seventy people and more than fifty families, and eighty percent of them were old people who had returned from Yangzhou. They were all imprisoned on charges of alienating the royal family and plotting against the government. They were immediately tried by the Kaifeng Prefecture, and Cai Mao was executed immediately, and the rest were all exiled and their property was confiscated.
In total, he earned more than two million strings of cash.
Among them, documents worth hundreds of thousands of strings of national debt were still returned to women and children as usual.
After this case, Empress Dowager Yuanyou was terrified and almost wanted to resign her title. Unexpectedly, Emperor Zhao came early with Concubine Pan to pay her respects, and invited the other two empress dowagers, Prime Minister Lu Haowen, and four ministers to come. When the three empress dowagers and five ministers arrived, Emperor Zhao showed the jade seal he had obtained that day on the spot, explaining the whole story, saying that it had nothing to do with the empress dowager, but that it was the villain Cai Mao who used the prince to seek profit and power, and Concubine Pan was stupid enough to be used by him.
The Emperor spoke so frankly, and the other two Empress Dowagers also urged her, and only then did Empress Dowager Yuanyou feel a little relieved.
Then, the official took the iron mace and smashed the jade seal in public. Regardless of the surprise of the three empresses dowagers and five ministers, he shook hands with the pale Concubine Pan in person and told her that everything was fine and that she would never let Mingdao Palace down in her life, otherwise she would refuse the seal.
After a short pause, just as Concubine Pan was shedding tears, Zhao Jiufu asked the three empress dowagers for permission on the spot, and asked Prime Minister Lu Haowen to convey the message, stripping Concubine Pan of her title of noble concubine and demoting her to virtuous concubine.
The five ministers left, embellished the news and announced it, causing the court and the public to rejoice, all praising the emperor for his wisdom and for bringing harmony to the harem and stability to the country.
It is hard to say what the relationship is between the harmony in the harem and the stability of the world, but the fact is that before the unstable factors in the harem were exposed, the whole world already had a vague sense of stability and prosperity... This does not seem to have changed because of such an incident. After the Minister of Justice Ma Shen returned to the court and realized that he had been sent away, he just had a tantrum, and there was no substantial chaos.
In the spring of the eighth year of Jianyan, the country was peaceful and stable, and the overall situation was in sight. It seemed that only two or three years would pass, and the court would have accumulated enough wealth and military supplies to launch a large-scale northern expedition and achieve unprecedented success... at least that was the case on the surface.
PS: Thanks to slyshen for the silver alliance! Thanks to 不是绝顶不凌云 for the up-cute.
By the way, there is a book club activity this month, which is linked to Ji Cha’s "This is My Planet". You can go to the book review area to take a look... Finally, I continue to wish you all a happy new year!
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