Chapter 51 The twenty-fourth chapter elaborates on the extraordinary interest of Jingyan Palace and preaches the old news to the chief assistant Xie

Just after Mao, a small servant came to the cabinet to inform Zhang Juzheng, saying that Eunuch Feng was waiting in the west room of Wenhua Palace and wanted to discuss with him about the emperor's banquet.Zhang Juzheng explained to the secretary office the important matter at hand, and then walked over quickly.  Since the young emperor bypassed the cabinet and issued two decrees, the monarch and his ministers have not met in the past few days.However, the emperor rewarded Zhang Juzheng with a silver tattoo and issued an edict, which were published in the latest issue of the residence newspaper at the same time. These two completely different pieces of news aroused the great interest of the Beijing officials.Most people in the officialdom have a hobby of catching wind and shadows and guessing.In particular, they pay close attention to the actions and movements of powerful figures.Therefore, as soon as this issue of the residence newspaper arrived at the yamen, it was circulated one after another, and it was almost destroyed in less than a day.After such and such, it was widely concluded that Empress Dowager Li was somewhat dissatisfied with Zhang Juzheng.Between Li Wei, Zhang Rong, Xu Congcheng and other noble relatives and Zhang Juzheng, Empress Dowager Li would rather offend the latter than the former.With this conclusion, the awe of the officials towards the new chief assistant suddenly eased a lot, and those who had already become "shrinking turtles" became active again. But Zhang Juzheng himself does not think so.When he first heard the two decrees in Jixianglu, he was really confused for a while, but after calming down and thinking carefully, he felt that this was not the kind of "political crisis" that outsiders imagined.In doing so, Queen Mother Li did not shake her trust in him, but sought a balance between the country and the family.As long as the fundamental interests of the princes, marquis, and relatives are not affected and the emperor is not troubled by the great affairs of the court, the rest of the affairs are still left to the cabinet.Therefore, the emperor's decree was only to exempt the princes and marquises from the pepper and sumac salary, but not to overthrow them all.There is also the matter of filling Lu Tiaoyang into the cabinet. From the bottom of his heart, Zhang Juzheng also thinks that Lu Tiaoyang is the best candidate, because the cabinet ministers he needs are assistants rather than opponents.Lu Tiaoyang and Gao Yi are similar in their behavior, they are both far away from cliques and bureaucrats.The reason why he ranked Lu Tiaoyang third in the recommendation book was because Yang Bo and Ge Shouli were both veterans of the three dynasties, and their qualifications were far above Lu Tiaoyang, so they had to be ranked in this way in terms of etiquette and public opinion.Unexpectedly, it was wrong, and Empress Dowager Li insisted on helping the little emperor to pick out Lu Tiaoyang, who was at the bottom.Although each had their own ideas, the result was the same.From another perspective, this incident also dispelled Zhang Juzheng's worries, that is, the emperor did not find another way to add cabinet ministers, but still selected one of the people he recommended.After thinking about it in this way, Zhang Juzheng regained the mentality of "relying on Mount Tai to surpass the North Sea, who can give me up", and asked Wang Zhuan to summon Wang Zhigao and Wang Guoguang, two confidant ministers, to Jixianglu to discuss how to spend the night. difficulties.How to raise this money as soon as possible is Wang Guoguang's business.Zhang Juzheng thought that the really difficult thing was that Wang Song's son stabbed Zhang Dalang to death.If Wang Song's son is allowed to kill and pay for his life, he will definitely offend Shilin, because everyone feels that Wang Song's death was unjust.If Wang Song's son was sentenced lightly or even declared innocent, he would offend Eunuch Qiu and even Queen Mother Li.Through this meeting and conversation, Zhang Juzheng found that although the Empress Dowager Li was graceful, magnanimous and shrewd, it was still difficult to get rid of the usual problems of women-being suspicious by nature and acting as an agent with emotion.If this murder case is not handled properly, there is no guarantee that it will really be blamed on Queen Mother Li.The second king knew about Zhang Juzheng's difficulty, and Wang Guoguang sighed: "It's really not easy to cut tofu with a kitchen knife—both sides are smooth." There is only one way, and that is to delay." Seeing Zhang Juzheng's questioning look, Wang Zhigao continued, "The capital is in chaos right now, no matter what you do at this time, someone will stand up and pick their noses and eyes, the only surefire way is to delay. When Emperor Jiajing wanted to kill Hai Rui, it took more than a year for the tribunal to interrogate him. Time passed and the parties gradually forgot about it, so it was much easier to solve it. If the person handling the case was impatient, ten Hai Rui I'm dead." Zhang Juzheng understood and agreed to Wang Zhigao's handling.At this time, from the face of it, the Ministry of Criminal Justice was very active in handling the murder case of Wang Song's son. Not only did it agree on the personnel to be interrogated by the three judicial divisions, but every day there were papers submitted to the palace to report the progress... With careful planning, Zhang Juzheng has always controlled the overall situation despite the turmoil at the yamen gates in the capital.In the past two days, he was thinking about how to write a post to ask to see the emperor, but he didn't expect Feng Bao to inform him of the meeting first.He knew that there would be many important matters to be discussed in this meeting, so he immediately put aside what he was doing and came to the meeting.  At this time, the whole building is quiet, and the white sunlight reflects on the big yellow glazed tile roof of Wenhua Hall, and then reflects on the surrounding flowers and trees, making it more verdant and bright.On the brick road, there are occasional street patrolmen who pass by, and they have undergone strict training, and their steps are not too fast or too slow, and there is not much noise.Zhang Juzheng, who is so busy in the duty room every day, has no time to enjoy the lush autumn scenery.Now walking along the side flower garden of the Wenhua Hall, the tree-lined road is breezy, especially when he sees the garden full of cockscomb, hollyhock, poppy, phoenix and hosta. The ten sisters, Us, Chrysanthemum, etc. are all competing for beauty. The ground is open, and there is a feeling of a bird coming out of the cage.He rubbed his sore and swollen eyes, raised his lower abdomen and took a few deep breaths, and suddenly felt extra energetic again. About a hundred steps away from the west room of Wenhua Hall, Zhang Hong who was waiting at the door ran up and knelt down and kowtowed, and said in his mouth: "The servant Zhang Hong is waiting for Master Zhang, the chief assistant. Mr. Feng is waiting for you in the house."       old eunuchs are called old gentlemen, and court ministers are called old masters.Zhang Hong was in his twenties, and he had already reached the position promised by the supervisor of ceremonies with a dental plaque hanging from his waist.He sent letters to the cabinet several times, and Zhang Juzheng already knew him.But for some reason, he felt that this person was too well-behaved, so he didn't like it. At this moment, he motioned to Zhang Hong to get up, and asked perfunctorily: "How long has Mr. Feng been here?"

 "It's just arrived." It was not Zhang Hong who answered, but Feng Bao who was standing at the door of the West Room.I saw him wearing a bean green sitting python patch. The material is thin, soft and very drapey, and it looks like a high-quality silk product.He came out of the west room only after hearing Zhang Hong's voice.Zhang Juzheng stepped forward and praised: "Eunuch Feng is really particular about the material in this sticker, and it looks like everyone's style." "This is the new fabric of Qicaixia this year. Let's try to make it." Just this one, just wearing it blindly."Qicaixia?When Zhang Juzheng heard the store number, he immediately thought of that Hao Yibiao.Before going out this morning, You Qi reported to him that he had met with Hao Yibiao last night, and that Hao had agreed to buy pepper sumac. This should be good news. Those who keep saying they can’t sell pepper sumac can shut up now up.Zhang Juzheng has always been unwilling to deal with those wealthy businessmen, but the situation is different now.After receiving Feng Bao's words, he smiled and said: "I heard that Hao Yibiao, Qicaixia's boss, is a good businessman." "Not a businessman, how can he make such a big scene?" Feng Bao seemed to be casual Talking, in fact, there is another deep meaning, "Our inner court clothing bureau is not as good as him."  "The inner court has several weaving bureaus in the south of the Yangtze River. Are they not as complete as his Hao Yibiao?"  "Really not A few days ago, Empress Dowager Li wanted to make some autumn clothes for changing seasons. We ordered more than a dozen kinds of fabrics from the Garment Bureau, and selected a few from Qicaixia. As a result, the fabrics presented by the Garment Bureau She only took a fancy to one kind, but it was the colorful fabric, and out of the five she gave her, she took a fancy to four. Take a look, can this Hao Yibiao know how to do things?""Oh."

 Zhang Juzheng thought about it: "Hao Yibiao climbed up to Queen Mother Li again?" He suddenly felt that this person had to be guarded against. Feng Bao said again at this time: "Although this Hao Yibiao has a lot of money, he is also a man of morality. We heard that he has agreed to list a large number of pepper sumac. This is a good deed to appease the resentment of the Beijing officials." Yes, the ancients said that there is a way to steal, let alone merchants." Zhang Juzheng answered lightly, he did not want to discuss this matter with Feng Bao too much. Whilst talking, the two had come to sit down in the west room.Zhang Juzheng caught a glimpse of a mahogany box containing memorials on the coffee table in front of Feng Bao, and wondered what was in there. The two sat down, and before they had time to sip tea, Zhang Hong ran in and said:  "The slave was ordered by Mr. Feng, and he has been ordered to be on duty as the supervisor of the hall, the supervisor of Shangyi, and the third division of the bell and drum department." All the father-in-laws in charge of the yamen have been invited, and they are all waiting outside the door." "Let them in," Feng Bao ordered, and then said to Zhang Juzheng, "I invite you to come today to discuss the details of the emperor's banquet. The matter, first of all, is the addition and repair of the Wenhua Hall's furnishings, so I invited a few stewards of the internal bureau to discuss it..." Before Feng Bao finished speaking, the smile on Zhang Juzheng's face froze.He knew very well that this meeting today must involve spending money again.  Jingyan is to give lectures on the scriptures to the emperor.The reason why the word "feast" is added is that after the lecture, the emperor usually gives the lecturer and accompanying ministers a sumptuous meal of wine and food—this meal is different from the usual banquet, not only the participants Ministers and workers can eat. They can also bring their wives to eat together, and even bearers and attendants can sit at the table.Not only can you eat, but you can also take, not only food dishes, but also tableware and wine vessels.Beijing officials have a catchphrase called "eating scripture banquet", and they all take it as a blessing.Therefore, holding a sutra banquet is a major event for both the monarch and his ministers. Since Emperor Yongle, the feasts of successive emperors have been held twice a year in spring and autumn, from February to April in spring and from August to October in autumn.There are three major lectures per month, and every second lecture is called the Great Sutra Banquet; there are daily lectures every day, called the Small Sutra Banquet, which has become a custom.The Great Sutra Feast is the most grand, and each time there are two lecturers, one lectures on the Four Books and one lectures on the scriptures.The lectures had to be written in advance, and after being reviewed by the cabinet, they were transferred to Zhongshu for transcription, two copies of the original and one copy, and they were sent to the Supervisor of Rituals one day before the imperial court.The sutra feast was held in the Wenhua Hall as usual. On the night before the emperor’s Sutra feast, on the south of the throne floor in the Wenhua Hall, there was a golden crane censer on the left and right, and on the east and south of the left censer, there was an imperial case for lectures. All facing west.On the case, each manuscript of the lecture is placed, and a pair of gold rulers are pressed on it.On the day of the sutra banquet, in addition to serving the internal officials and lecturers, one Yingxun minister and cabinet bachelor, six ministers, the capital censor, Dali Temple minister, Tongzheng envoy, Honglu minister, Jinyi command envoy and four or more graders wrote lectures All officials are accompanied by attendants, and they all wear embroidered golden scarlet robes, which are first-class.The second-class officials are officials such as Zhanshu Hanlin, Shiyi Yushi, Gishizhong, and Xuban Mingzan, all wearing Yuanqing embroidered clothes.At three o'clock in the morning, the emperor drove from Qianqing Palace, whipped all the way, and was guided by twenty Han generals to Zuoshunmen.The emperor changed his court clothes here, and then entered the Wenhua Gate to enter the Wenhua Hall.Along the way, all the officials who had come earlier to participate in the sutra feast knelt down to greet them.Before the emperor entered the palace, forty guards of gourds went in and stood against the east and west walls.After the emperor ascended the seat, all the officials, led by the official Mingzan of Honglu Temple, entered the hall to salute one by one, and then took their seats.At this time, Ming Zanguan sang: "Enter the lecturer and get out of the line--", Jin Jin and the lecturer stood up, Ming Zan Guan sang again: "Exhibition of the book-official--", the exhibition of the book official went out to the horizon, and walked to the imperial case on his knees Previously, the Four Books Lectures...The establishment of the Jingyan was originally intended to teach the emperor the way of governing the country through the study of scriptures and books. Later, it became a kind of ceremony. The red tape need not be elaborated, and the extravagant arrangement is the best. .Zhang Juzheng felt that this was a bad habit, and wanted to restore the practical style of Jingyan in the Yongle period, but just now Feng Bao raised his head, and he knew that the little emperor's Jingyan had to go the old way again. During the conversation, the three stewards, Supervisor of the Palace of Duty, Supervisor of Shangyi, and Department of Bells and Drums, entered the room and knelt down to Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao who were sitting at the head.Feng Bao asked them to find a stool to sit down, cleared his cough, and said: "A few days ago, I discussed with you a few days ago about holding a sutra banquet for the Lord Long Live. Empress Dowager Li has a decree for this matter. Jingyan, 

This is the first time after Long Live God ascended to the pole, so it must be regulated in a decent way.All the ceremonies used and the objects to be purchased must be thoughtful.Today, under the order of the Empress Dowager Li, the old man invited Mr. Zhang, the chief assistant. You slaves, you have to report to Mr. Zhang what you have to do, do you understand? "" The slave understands. "The three eunuchs bowed together and answered. "Okay, let's talk separately," Feng Bao showed his majesty in front of the eunuchs. He pointed to the board of supervisory affairs in the Hall of Value, "Eunuch Wang, you talk first."Fourth prince In his teens, he looks like a down-to-earth person.The duty hall supervises the cleaning and display of each hall.The prince didn't make any detours, and said: "The furnishings in the Wenhua Palace follow the order of the Empress Dowager Li, and everything that needs to be updated will be updated. The servant checked it and found that there are spare parts in most of the object warehouses. There are also four reworked pieces. One is the imperial case, which has to be made of pineapple wood with four corners covered with gold; the other is the lecture case, which is also made of pineapple wood with four corners wrapped with silver; , I don’t need to go into details. The gold pedal is one foot and two inches high, two feet wide and three feet long, both of which must be made of pure gold.”  “Golden pedal?” Zhang Juzheng asked, not coming over for a while, “ Where is it used?"  The prince replied: "There are rules for making the imperial chair, which cannot be changed. But it is designed according to adults. , Under the imperial chair, there must be footrests."  "It doesn't have to be made of gold." Zhang Juzheng raised his voice suddenly.  "This..."

The prince faltered and looked at Feng Bao.Feng Bao chuckled, and said jokingly: "I heard that some rich people in the capital used chamber pots made of gold. It is common for Long Live Lord to use a golden stepping stool for the emperor's house." Zhang Juzheng only felt that it was hard to contain the anger, but he still held back and asked calmly: "How much gold will this cost?"  "About two hundred catties." Wang Gonggong replied.   "Mr. Zhang, is there any in Taicang?" Feng Bao asked.  Zhang Juzheng shook his head in embarrassment.Feng Bao didn't ask any more questions, and pointed to the Shangyi Supervision Brand: "Eunuch Hu, it's your turn."

Eunuch Hu raised his butt as a salute, and when he opened his mouth, his sissy voice was surprisingly coquettish: "The slave cares about the clothes of the Long Live Lord, and the Long Live Lord is going out to the Sutra banquet, and according to the rules, he has to wear a crown of xuan and clothes. This The specifications of the badge suit were determined in the eighth year of Jiajing. The crown on the head is a round black gauze cap with a covering board on the top, two feet four inches long and two feet two inches wide, with a black front and a round back. There are twelve colorful pearls and jades at the front and back, and the jade pendant and the king's hairpin are made of yellow, red, green, white, black and red six-color jade, with red tassels as the guide, and two large emerald jade beads the size of candied dates are used to cover the ears. This is the hat. Besides the clothes, the background color is black, and six colors have to be woven on top of the background color. The sun and the moon are on the shoulders, each with a diameter of five inches. The first three and the last four are like a curtain. The embroidery on the top is also six chapters, divided into four rows, two rows of Huo Zong Zao and two rows of Mi Fu. The middle is lined with plain yarn. The collar is Green collar with 12 lines of woven Fuwen. The knees are covered with the same color as the dress. One dragon is embroidered on the top and two fires are embroidered on the bottom. It is tied to a leather belt. Jade is used in front of the belt, but no jade in the back. Wearing it〖JP2〗 The ribbon is tied to cover it. Scarlet socks, red shoes, yellow tassels and black tassels, knotted white jade. Yamagata are engraved on the jade..." 〖JP〗 "Okay, okay," Feng Bao probably saw that Zhang Juzheng was getting impatient. , then interrupted Eunuch Hu’s words, “How to make this set of clothes, you follow the rules, you just need to say, how much money does this set of clothes cost?” Eunuch Hu swallowed, he was very sorry Unable to finish the sentence, unable to shake the knowledge in his belly, he licked his lips at this moment and replied:

“The two big emeralds alone cost eight thousand taels of silver.”“How about a set?” "Twenty thousand taels of silver." "Well, I got it," Feng Bao turned to the board in charge of the Bell and Drum Division, "Eunuch Liu, it's up to you to say it now."Shortly after the child molestation incident, Feng Baoyi became the Supervisor of Rites The palm print, the first one to replace Li Houyi, who was in charge of the Bell and Drum Division, and sent him to Nanhaizi to grow vegetables, and let this Eunuch Liu who told him to go left and dare not go right take over.Of the three eunuchs who came today, he is the least experienced.Therefore, when it was his turn to speak, he seemed extremely cautious: "Long live the Lord's sutra banquet, and the errand assigned to the slave is Chaole. The first time a big sutra feast, you must use Dale. You must be happy." Forty-six workers. The division of labor is two for Yinyue, four for flute, four for sheng, six for pipa, four for harp, twenty-four for stick drum, two for big drum, and two for banyan. These forty-six musicians The clothes of the musicians are all wearing curly feet, wearing red and colorful painted flower sleeve shirts, wearing gold-painted belts, and red and red knotted soap leather boots on their feet. The training of musicians has begun a few days ago. , but some musical instruments have to be purchased, and the forty-six sets of outfits have to be prepared early."  "It's not going to cost much, and it will cost two thousand taels of silver." Feng Bao said, "A few trivial things "You three, fill out the form and report all the items you want to buy and the silver you need."  "Back to the old man, the little ones have filled it out." 

Eunuch Wang took the lead to find out the declaration form stamped with the duty hall supervisor and customs defense, and the other two did the same.Feng Bao took a look at it and said, "It's none of your business, go ahead." The three father-in-laws kowtowed and retreated.Feng Bao handed the three bills to Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng read them carefully and said: "These expenses add up to another fifty thousand taels of silver."  "We've already saved all the ones in this province, and we can't save them," Feng Bao said with a sigh, "Mr. Zhang, you also know that Emperor Longqing spent a total of Three hundred thousand taels of silver. Except for the repair of the Wenhua Hall, it is mainly used for rewards. All participants have different degrees of rewards. This time, considering the emptiness of Taicang, the old man suggested to Queen Mother Li that as soon as the rewards are received, No, the total cost is only one hundred thousand.”“The one hundred thousand taels of silver is also very difficult to raise.”

Zhang Ju stroked his forehead with his hands, thinking about the expense in his heart.His original intention was to convince the emperor that this autumn's sutra feast should not be ostentatious, but be economical, so as to establish a clean and simple image of a holy king for the officials and people all over the world.But now it seems that it is obviously not the time to say this. The two decrees that bypassed the cabinet were always two shadows in his heart. If this knot was not resolved, he could only take a defensive position in everything he did.As he was thinking about it, Feng Bao spoke from the side again: "Mr. Zhang, we don't believe that you can't raise even one hundred thousand taels of silver. Doesn’t it mean that this year’s summer tax will be gradually released in Beijing in just two months.”  “The money has not yet arrived, and we are waiting to ask for instructions and transfer documents for money, and the household department has already received a large pile.” "I believe this, but at any time, using money for the emperor should be the first priority." Feng Bao suddenly choked up, then changed his tone, and said tactfully, "Mr. Zhang, we are not outsiders. No one heard the words. Tell me, at that time there was only two hundred thousand taels of silver in Taicang. Gao Gong would rather offend Zhu Heng and not pay for the construction of Chaobai River, but also use it to place jewelry for Empress Dowager Li. He can do this, Why can't you?"  Zhang Juzheng only gave a soft "hmm", and after a while of contemplation, he replied: "Thank you, Mr. Feng, for reminding you, never forgetting the past, and the guide for the future. Very big."  "Department of household?" Feng Bao sneered, stretched out his hand to open the mahogany box on the coffee table, took out a memorial and handed it to Zhang Juzheng, saying, "This is the paper on the impeachment of Wang Guoguang, you should read it first." Official document system of the Kingdom of China: title books for official affairs, and memorial books for private affairs. Those who play official affairs are called official documents when they are led by the officials of the Yamen, and those who submit them in the name of individuals are called manuscripts.The style of writing and paper size specifications for each memorial can be customized.Now what Feng Bao took out from the box was a six-button white cardboard book about seven inches long, and he knew it was a manuscript at a glance. Zhang Juzheng took over the manuscript and opened it. It was Nanjing Huke who gave the report to Gui Yuanqing in the matter, and severely impeached Wang Guoguang for the matter of the loss of salary of pepper sumac.The general idea is that Wang Guoguang, who was in charge of the household department, did not think aggressively about how to get more money to refill the treasury. Running around for a living, complaints are endless.At the beginning of the new emperor's ascension to the throne, such a bad policy would actually drive a separation between the monarch and his ministers, and distract the hearts of the people.The government has done nothing, and the court has lost all dignity.

So I implore the emperor to pursue the guilt of Wang Guoguang, in order to rectify the root cause and win the hearts of the people.  Zhang Juzheng read the manuscript carefully, and he did not show any expression on his face, neither flustered nor angry.Because it was all in his expectation.He has been in the vortex of political struggle for decades in his official career, how can he not see through the tricks inside.Generally speaking, if an opponent wants to overthrow a certain important minister in the court, he must first ask a lower-ranking official to write an impeachment paper to test the wind before the imperial court.If the divine will objected, only one pawn was sacrificed.If the holy will hesitates, let the higher-ranking officials submit the paper again; if the holy will is still undecided, then let the high-ranking officials submit the paper again until the goal is achieved.Now, the opponent first let the officials in Nanjing attack.If there is a gap to take advantage of, the second step must be that the speech officials in Beijing come forward, followed by the thirteen censors and the second official of the eighteen yamen.This trick is simple but effective.Zhang Juzheng knew in his heart that whether this matter could be resolved satisfactorily depends on the attitude of Queen Mother Li.  "Mr. Zhang, I've read the booklet, what do you think?" Feng Bao asked. Zhang Juzheng replied: "These people use pepper and sumac to break their salaries and make trouble. The original intention is to drive a wedge between the monarch and his ministers and oppose Beijing Cha." With a vicious smile, he said, "Mr. Zhang, as long as the Queen Mother and the Emperor trust you, no matter how noisy those crows' mouths are, it won't hurt a single hair of your hair." These words were clearly concerned, but implied threats.Zhang Juzheng didn't answer the question, he just said: "Puzheng wants to write a post to beg to see the emperor.""The emperor also wants to see you."

"Ah?"  "But I can't see you in a few days." "Why?" "The Empress Dowager Li will not let me see you." Going around and finally getting to the point.Zhang Juzheng asked worriedly: "Eunuch Feng, has the Empress Dowager Li had an opinion on the servant?" "This, the servant does not know." Feng Bao was playing tricks.   "Li Wei and the others sued, and Queen Mother Li seemed very angry." "Ah, that's a little bit. So, let's let you learn from Gao Gong." Feng Bao said meaningfully, "Today we come to see you, apart from the matter of Jingyan, and we are here to tell the story of Empress Dowager Li. The Queen Mother is very satisfied with the preface you wrote on behalf of the Queen Mother for the book "The Commandments of Women". In the next two days, 5,000 copies of the book will be printed and distributed to all yamen in Beijing and all prefectures and counties across the country. Yesterday afternoon, the Queen Mother was in Dongfang Ge told a story, let the old man tell you."  "Ah?" Zhang Juzheng was surprised again.  Feng Bao thought for a while, and said: "This story is about Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. The emperor is considerate of ministers, and respects Yao Chong very much. Every time he meets, Xuanzong will personally send Yao Chong to the door. Later, Xuanzong promoted Yao Chong to be the prime minister. This Yao Chong was a cautious man. One day, while Xuanzong was receiving him, he asked the emperor for instructions on the promotion of a Lang official. Xuanzong looked at the pillars in the palace without looking at them. Yao Chong glanced at him. Yao Chong said again and again, but Xuanzong didn't express his opinion. This time Yao Chong panicked and exited the hall in embarrassment. After he left, Gao Lishi, who was standing under Dan Chi, said, "Your Majesty first inherited the great cause." If the prime minister asks for something, you should say yes or no. Yao Chong repeatedly asked for instructions, but His Majesty did not say a word or look at him. I am afraid that Prime Minister Yao must be terrified." After hearing this, Xuanzong replied, "Since I have been promoted to Yao Chong As the prime minister, he should come to play when encountering major issues, and I will decide it together with him. If the official rank of Lang is very low, he Yao Chong should make decisions alone, why bother me.' After hearing this, Gao Lishi looked at him. Kong'er went to Yao Chong's office and told him the holy will, and Yao Chong's uneasy heart settled down. Since then, he has reported major matters and resolved small matters by himself. "After hearing this story, Zhang Juzheng felt a warm current in his heart.The profound meaning here is self-evident, the attitude of Xuanzong and Gao Lishi, compared to today, is the attitude of Empress Dowager Li and Feng Bao.In other words, due to the trust of Queen Mother Li and Feng Bao's mediation, he, the chief assistant, should bravely assume the responsibility of regent.Zhang Juzheng felt relieved immediately, and said solemnly and deeply: "Eunuch Feng conveyed the story told by Empress Dowager Li just now, which is based on "Old News of Ciliu Family" written by Tang Dynasty Li Deyu. From this, it can be seen that Empress Dowager Li has a wide range of reading and extensive knowledge." "The Empress Dowager Li likes to read in the palace. She likes two kinds of books most, Buddhist scriptures and historical works. She can read all day long." Having said that, Feng Bao asked again, "Mr. Zhang, what did the Empress Dowager Li say Do you understand the story?"  "The subject understands," Zhang Juzheng seemed to be answering the Queen Mother Li's question directly, so his attitude was respectful, "Thank the Queen Mother Li and the emperor for their trust in the subject, and also thank Feng Gongzu De Huaiyuan is helping me."  "The old slave only did his job, so there's no need to thank you," Feng Bao said modestly, and then said, "How to deal with Gui Yuanqing's booklet, you go back and draw up a ticket. Kill Show the chicken to the monkey, don't be soft-hearted."  "The empress dowager and the emperor trust their subordinates so much, even Juzheng can't repay them."  Zhang Juzheng couldn't help sobbing.   "Mr. Zhang's loyalty, the old slave will play the queen mother and the emperor when I go back," Feng Bao said here, and when Zhang Juzheng's mood stabilized a little, he asked again, "How can we reply to the queen mother about the Jingyan matter?" "The required silver taels, please raise them as soon as possible." Zhang Juzheng answered very simply, and seeing Feng Bao heaved a sigh of relief, he added, "However, Bugu has another suggestion, please pass it on to the Queen Mother." "Okay, what advice." "It's the first time for the emperor to have a sutra feast, and this is a big matter, so I'm afraid you have to choose an auspicious day carefully.""Mr. Zhang mentioned it well, and the queen mother believes it."   After all, both of them laughed tacitly.Just as they were about to bid farewell to each other, Zhang Hong suddenly saw Chen Yingfeng, who was in charge of the East Plant, come in.  "Why are you here?" Feng Bao asked in surprise. Chen Yingfeng knelt down and reported: "Eunuch Feng, I'm here to inform you that Tong Liben, head of the Ritual System Department of the Ministry of Etiquette, hanged himself."