Chapter 129 The thirty-eighth round of sending gold statues, the king used power to read the bills, and the empress dowager realized the vicissitudes of life

The next day, the news that Feng Bao was dismissed and banished to live in Nanjing was widely circulated in the capital.The officials were stunned, when another decree was sent to the cabinet in an instant, ordering Zhang Hong to take over as the supervisor of ceremonies, and Zhang Jing to be the admiral of Dongchang.Zhu Yijun also took great pains to arrange such an arrangement. According to his inner wish, he wanted Zhang Jing to take over Feng Bao's position, but he knew that doing so would inevitably cause huge criticism. Shangqian, it is difficult to convince the public if he is promoted too quickly, so he was only allowed to take over the East Factory.Historically, the status of the factory owner among the eunuchs was second only to that of the chief inspector of ceremonies. Although Zhang Jing was not satisfied with this position, it was not satisfactory.The first thing he did after receiving the seal of "Imperial Envoy Dongchang Admiral and Eunuch" was to copy Feng Bao's house according to the emperor's will.The gold and silver treasures of Feng Bao's family are countless, and the confiscation has not been completed for more than a month.Press this button, let's talk about Zhu Yijun's side. After getting rid of Feng Bao, within a month, he issued more than a dozen decrees one after another.The first decree is to re-appoint two upright officials, Qiu Jue and Hai Rui, who were resolutely not used when Zhang Juzheng was in power; Wu Zhongxing was edited by the Imperial Academy, Zhao Yongxian was reviewed, Wailang Aimu, member of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, Shen Sixiao, Jinshi Zou Yuanbiao, etc. were reinstated; Yingzhen, Zhu Hongmo, Meng Yimai, Wang Yongji, etc. were all recalled; the fourth decree was to dismiss Zhang Juzheng's most trusted protégé, Wang Zhuan, from the position of the Youdu Yushi, and denounced him as a hooligan to return to his original place; the fifth decree was to order Liang Menglong, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and Zeng Xingwu, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, who had just been reappointed, became officials; the sixth decree was to promote Yan Qing, the only minister of the Ministry of Punishment who refused to attach Zhang Juzheng to Zhang Juzheng, to be Minister of the Ministry of Officials; the seventh decree... In fact, there is no need to count them down. After reading these decrees, you can understand the emperor's mind: everyone trusted by Zhang Juzheng will be dismissed from office;At this point, the officials of the major yamen in the capital had to believe that the direction of the wind had changed—there had been signs since July that the emperor wanted to change course to drive out the "Jiangling Party", and now this rumor has finally become a terrible reality: Therefore, how many people who are determined to The competent officials who followed Zhang Juzheng to create the "Wanli New Deal" became in a state of panic all day long.They couldn't figure it out. How could the love between the sages and sages, who had been hailed by the people all over the world, turn into such an irreconcilable deep hatred in a blink of an eye? It was mid-October in a blink of an eye, and in two days it would be It's Snow Festival.Usually at this time, although the frost is getting heavier, sooner or later people will breathe white air from their mouths, but it is not too cold to stretch out their hands.This year was different. Two days ago, a sudden and violent north wind blew from Shanhaiguan, howling in the fields, like packs of hungry wolves, and savagely pounced on the city.The thick lead clouds pushed up by them covered the warm old sun in a blink of an eye.The temperature plummeted, and the soft ground became harder than iron.The city of Beijing, which was still noisy and crowded with sedan chairs yesterday, suddenly became gloomy and lifeless.This scene, at the same time, is very consistent with the mood of most of the officials.

Before the north wind blows, the alert dogs seem to know that the cold wave is coming. They run restlessly on the street and bark in panic.The one who is smarter than a dog is the eunuch of the Ouchi Care for Salary Division.Before the north wind that destroys the walls and tiles arrives, they heat up the earth dragons in the palaces and courtyards of the palace, and let the empress dowager, the emperor, and all the beautiful family members of the harem be surrounded by heavy curtains and embroidered curtains.There is no change in the climate at all. It was just dawn this day, and the north wind that was roaring like thousands of horses and horses gradually weakened, but the sky was still gray and full of haze.Zhu Yijun, who was sleeping in the Qing Palace, woke up from the heat, and the servant dressed him and washed him.Afterwards, he sipped a pot of milk, ate some snacks, and asked Zhou You beside him:

"Did the tribute boat from Nanjing arrive on time yesterday?" "It's here." Zhou You replied cautiously, "Early this morning, the signboard of the supply warehouse came to report that the tribute boat had docked at Zhangjiawan Wharf at You o'clock yesterday afternoon." Zhu Yijun looked out the window, and there was already a rustle of snow falling from the sky, and asked again: "Is the canal still frozen?" Zhou You replied, "If the north wind blows for another two days, the river will freeze." "Where are the items on the tribute boat?"

"According to the will of Long Live God, it has been moved into Da Nei overnight, and it is now stored in the warehouse of the supply warehouse." "Have you checked out the box, is there any damage?" "Checked, it's perfect." "Okay," Zhu Yijun said with a smile in his eyes, "You order someone to send the box to the Palace of Compassion, and I'll go there right away." Then, he asked Zhou You to go to Xinuang Pavilion to take out a cowhide protection with four corners wrapped in gold. book, and go to the Compassion Palace with him.

However, in the first few days after Feng Bao was dismissed, Zhu Yijun was always restless.First, he was afraid that Feng Bao would suddenly appear in front of him—this worry was completely superfluous, but after being a "little daughter-in-law" for many years, his mentality could not return to normal for a while; question.For this reason, he took special care of Zhang Hong, the newly appointed supervisor of ceremonies, and asked him to inform all the servants not to reveal their rumors in front of the queen mother, and those who violated the order would be severely punished.There were more than 10,000 eunuchs in the palace, and when they saw a giant like Feng Bao, the emperor withdrew as soon as he said it, who would stroke the tiger's beard, criticize the dragon's scale and wipe his own neck with a knife? Therefore, everyone kept silent.Feng Bao was escorted to Nanjing miserably all the way, but the Empress Dowager Li was still kept in the dark.Fortunately, at this time, she was busy with another important matter - preparing for the marriage of her second son Lu Wang, and she had no time to take care of it for the time being.Even so, Zhu Yijun also knew that paper could not cover fire, and this matter would be exposed sooner or later, so he had been thinking about how to report this matter to his mother.Later, I still listened to Zhang Jing’s suggestion, and quickly transported a pure gold Nine Lotus Avalokitesvara statue in the Forbidden City of Nanjing to Beijing by tribute boat as a gift to the queen mother. He said lightly that the uncooked rice had already been cooked anyway, so what else could the empress do except scold her? Zhu Yijun acted according to plan, and now the Nine Lotus Avalokitesvara statue has arrived in Ouchi safely. After sorting out the transcripts of Feng Bao's family assets, there are these two things.Zhu Yijun felt that it was time to have a showdown with his mother, so he came together this morning and thought about going to the Palace of Compassion.

As soon as I left the Qianqing Palace, I heard the white and hard snow rustling the roof, and a thin layer was spread on the ground.An officer on duty in Xinuang Pavilion came out with a broom and was talking about sweeping snow. When he saw the emperor, he panicked and didn't pay attention to his feet. He jumped more than a foot away and fell on his back. Seeing his grinning face, Zhu Yijun couldn't help it Laugh out loud.He originally said he was going to go to the Palace of Compassion and Peace, but he saw that the road was too slippery, so he followed Zhou You's suggestion and changed to a warm sedan chair.

At this time, the Ci Ning Palace was solemn and solemn, and in the empty courtyard, there was no sound except for fine snow grapples beating on the bare locust tree branches. I don't know where to hide.Upon receiving the news, the eunuch of the Palace of Compassion and Ning opened the two heavy vermilion lacquered gates long ago, and moved the threshold more than a foot high: the big sedan chair was directly carried into the courtyard, Zhu Yijun got off the sedan chair, and under the guidance of the servant He walked straight into the Nuan Pavilion next to the Flower Hall, where Empress Dowager Li was waiting for him.

Just as they were about to greet each other after sitting down, Zhou You played outside the warm pavilion, "Long Live Lord, the servants from the supply warehouse have delivered the boxes." "Take it apart and put it in the hall outside." "What box?" Queen Mother Li asked. "Stay for a while, the queen mother will know at a glance." While talking, she heard the noise in the yard, Empress Dowager Li got up and opened the window curtain, and saw seven or eight eunuchs hurriedly carrying a half-person-high mahogany box into the hall, and then walked over with Zhu Yijun.The box had been placed firmly on the tiled floor covered with tapestry. Zhou You took out the key to unlock the large copper lock on the box, and ordered someone to move out the Nine Lotus Avalokitesvara statue inside, and carefully remove the layers of silk wrapped around it. Cotton, and then temporarily on the coffee table.Seeing this statue of a Bodhisattva about two feet high, Empress Dowager Li put her palms together and said "Amitabha".When I approached and watched carefully, I saw Guanyin sitting on nine lotus flowers, smiling and concentrating, his face like a full moon.The two hands in the front are holding a clean bottle, and there are countless large and small hands stretched out from the back.Empress Dowager Li looked at it with sudden reverence and asked:

"Where did you invite this bronze statue of Guanyin from?" Zhu Yijun blinked mysteriously, and said with a smile: "Mother, look again, this is not a bronze statue!" "Ah?" Empress Dowager Li was just about to reach out to touch it, but suddenly felt disrespectful, so she bent down to take a closer look, and asked suspiciously, "It's not copper, maybe it's gold?" "The queen mother is right. This Guanyin statue is made of pure gold." "How much gold will it cost!" Empress Dowager Li exclaimed. "It's not too much, it only took six hundred taels of gold."

"Which temple can afford such a precious Guanyin?" "Where can there be in the temple?" Zhu Yijun said with emphasis, "This was specially transported from the Forbidden City in Nanjing, and it was collected by Emperor Hongwu." Hearing this story, Empress Dowager Li was even more surprised. She looked around at the eunuchs and asked puzzledly: "We heard that Emperor Hongwu was very frugal. How could he be willing to use pure gold to make statues of Bodhisattvas?" "Mother, this golden statue is not imperial." After explaining this sentence, Zhu Yijun suddenly had an idea, and added, "It was copied from the house of Emperor Hongwu."

"Copy the house?" Empress Dowager Li raised her eyebrows and asked curiously, "Whose house was copied?" "Shen Wanshan." Zhu Yijun paused each word, said a name, and then asked, "Mother, have you heard of Shen Wanshan?" "I've heard of it," Queen Mother Li nodded slightly, and replied, "He is a wealthy man in the south of the Yangtze River. It is said that Emperor Hongwu established his capital in Nanjing, and he even donated money to help build the city wall for dozens of miles!" "Hey, building this little city wall is nothing. To Shen Wanshan, it's just a drop in the bucket!" Zhu Yijun talked about money, his tone was full of envy, "Now Nanjing University also has two family heirlooms of Shen Wanshan. One is the Nine Lotus Avalokitesvara There is also a silver water basin, which is said to be about the size of a house, and can hold thirty tans of water at a time, and it is a large bath basin used by Shen Wanshan and his wives and concubines to take a bath together." "Oh, it's not false at all to think about lust when you are full of warmth," Empress Dowager Li sighed.After hearing this, Zhu Yijun felt that there was something wrong with the horse's mouth, and he was trying to figure out what the queen mother was thinking, only to hear her continue to ask. "Jun'er, why did you move this golden statue from Nanjing to Beijing?" Zhu Yijun replied according to the words he had thought up a long time ago: "I have heard for a long time that the queen mother is the living incarnation of Goddess Guanyin, so I thought that I should invite the best statue of Guanyin in the world from Nanjing and enshrine it in Cining Palace, with mother and queen day and night." "It's rare for you to have such filial piety." Empress Dowager Li examined Zhu Yijun and said solemnly after a long time of consideration, "It's just that this golden statue must not be placed in the Palace of Compassion." Zhu Yijun was taken aback, and asked, "Why?" "This golden statue was stolen from the house. We worshiped the Buddha devoutly for the sake of auspiciousness. If you think about it, it will be bad luck." "It turned out to be for this." Zhu Yijun took a deep breath, and quickly explained, "Mother, don't worry, when Emperor Hongwu invited this golden statue to Da Nei, he specially invited thirty eminent monks from the south of the Yangtze River to set up an altar for it." Congratulations, I did the ritual for three days. Since then, this golden statue can no longer be regarded as Shen Wanshan’s family collection, but has become an auspicious Bodhisattva owned by the royal family. This time, the Nine Lotus Avalokitesvara statue was invited to Beijing, out of Nanjing University Before, I also specially took care of a ceremony, and along the way, there were ten eminent monks escorting it." Empress Dowager Li smiled after hearing this, and said: "Since you say so, you can rest assured as a mother: the house on the right side of the hall is the abode where we copy scriptures every day, so please invite this statue of Avalokitesvara inside." To make offerings, a maidservant is assigned to serve the incense every day. Jun'er, what do you think?" "The queen mother's arrangement is very appropriate." Zhu Yijun said, turned his head and looked outside the window, the snowflakes were getting denser and denser, and then smiled, "There is nothing you can do in this weather. Queen mother, I will accompany you to the warm pavilion Sit down a little longer." "Okay," Empress Dowager Li replied with a smile while she was on the top of her head, "We have something to look for you." The two returned to the warm pavilion and sat down, and the maid made hot tea and served it.Zhu Yijun took a sip absently and asked: "Mother, what do you want to order?" The smile on Empress Dowager Li's face has never faded. Now she leaned on the chair of the grand master and said comfortably: "It's not a big deal. Mother has been worrying about your brother Lu Wang's marriage these days, and her head is dizzy." "Mother, don't overwork yourself. King Lu's wedding is in February next year, and there are still more than three months left. Whatever you want to do, let the servants do it, and you can use your mouth." "Some things can't be done by talking, and the slaves can't do it." "What can't the slaves do?" "For example, about jewellery," Empress Dowager Li said suddenly angrily, "Last month, you approved 200,000 taels of silver from the supply treasury to buy head jewelry for King Lu's wedding. The sum of money is not too small. I remember that when you got married in the sixth year of Wanli, you spent 200,000 taels of silver to buy head and face jewelry. Not only were the types complete, but everything was good. You only bought eight emeralds. Now it’s good. The emeralds have risen to 10,000 taels of silver each, and a piece of emerald moth costs 500 taels of silver. A phoenix crown only uses one emerald, inlaid with dozens of gemstones, and matched with it. The gold ornaments cost 40,000 taels of silver. If you bought the same headgear as you did back then, you spent 200,000 taels of silver at that time, but now you can’t afford 400,000 taels of silver. At first, we thought it was the servants who were doing things. It’s tricky, so I changed people to do it again, but the price quoted was about the same. There were three different people who were in charge of purchasing, and they all came back with their mouths flattened and complaining. Only then did we believe that the price of jewelry today remains high. We really don’t I understand, in just a few years, how the world has changed so quickly, tofu is sold for the price of meat." Empress Dowager Li talked a lot, and Zhu Yijun knew what the Empress Dowager meant, which was to ask him to approve an increase in the cost of head jewelry for King Lu's wedding.This is not difficult. Now that the national treasury is abundant, and no one is holding back, no one dares to interfere with how much money is spent.But Zhu Yijun had already learned how to control the pot. It was a "small matter", but he wanted to take the opportunity to make a big fuss. After a long time of speculation in his heart, he said: "Mother, there is a real reason why jewelry has become more expensive in the past two years." "What's the reason?" Queen Mother Li asked with wide-eyed eyes. "It's because Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao drove up the price of jewelry." "What did you say?" Queen Mother Li straightened up. Zhu Yijun repeated the words again, and Empress Dowager Li looked at her son blankly, as if she didn't know her son, and asked after a while: "Jun'er, why are you talking like that?" Zhu Yijun had lost his mind anyway, and he had to make his words clear today, so he stuck his neck and said: "Queen, you never asked us why we haven't seen our big companion, Feng Bao, for such a long time." "Yeah, we wanted to ask, but it was too late." "We dismissed him from the post of supervisor of etiquette." Zhu Yijun deliberately said it plainly, but Empress Dowager Li found a murderous look in his eyes that she had never seen before, and her heart was shocked, and she asked with a bit of panic and sullenness: "When was it removed?" "Just after the Double Ninth Festival." "It's been more than a month?" "yes." "Why are you telling me now?" "We don't want to hide it, but we just want to tell the mother after the truth is revealed." "What's up?" "Feng Bao's various misdeeds of being greedy for ink." "Ah!" Empress Dowager Li screamed instinctively.Immediately, it occurred to Feng Bao that on the day of the Double Ninth Festival, he came to the Palace of Compassion and Ning and told her about Zhang Jing secretly asking someone to go to Yunnan to buy Burmese bells.Originally said that he wanted his son to get rid of Zhang Jing, but in the end it was Feng Bao who drove him away. Empress Dowager Li frowned and thought about it, and asked angrily, "Did you do this after listening to Zhang Jing's instigation?" Waiting for something stupid?" Zhu Yijun had already figured out what was going on in his mother's mind, and replied calmly: "My queen, what Feng Bao told you that time is purely false. He deliberately fabricated the matter of Mian Ling in order to frame Zhang Jing." Empress Dowager Li sneered, and said: "Eunuch Feng is in charge of the supervisor of ceremonies, and manages the big house in an orderly manner. All the people who follow the official fire believe in him. If you say that he framed Zhang Jing, no ghost will believe it." Zhu Yijun replied: "My son has never doubted Daban, but this time he framed Zhang Jing, there is solid evidence." "how do you know?" "I would like to follow the ancient sage's precept, 'If you listen to one side, you will believe, and if you listen to it, you will understand'. Just after my mother came to Qianqing Palace on the Double Ninth Festival to ask her to punish Zhang Jing, my son ordered someone to investigate the matter immediately, and only then did I know the whole story. It turned out that It was Zhang Jing who held the evidence that Feng Bao had accepted a huge amount of bribes. His eldest companion was afraid that what he said would be harmful to him, so he acted preemptively. He knew that the most hated thing in his mother's life was the adultery between men and women. So he voted for him So, I made up the fact that Zhang Jing secretly asked someone to buy me a Burmese bell. The purpose was to arouse the wrath of the queen mother, and then use the queen mother's hand to drive Zhang Jing out of the palace. Poison really shocked me." Empress Dowager Li couldn't believe her son's words, and asked, "What evidence does Zhang Jing have for Mr. Feng?" "Does the queen mother still remember what happened to Pan Sheng?" Zhu Yijun asked. "Pan Sheng?" Empress Dowager Li frowned and thought for a while, then said, "Isn't this person the cabinet minister recommended by Mr. Zhang before he died? Later, someone sued him, saying that he was a corrupt man and had a very bad influence among scholars. and freed him again." "It's this person." Zhu Yijun replied, "When Zhang Juzheng was seriously ill, he sent his housekeeper to Beijing for activities and wanted to join the cabinet. His housekeeper was named Pan Yihe, and he hooked up with Feng Bao's housekeeper, Xu Jue. Through Xu Jue , he gave Feng Bao 30,000 taels of silver and Guser three pieces at a time." "Send so much money?" Empress Dowager Li gasped. "Yes," Zhu Yijun glanced at his mother's back, and continued, "Feng Bao got the bribe, so he spoke well for Pan Sheng everywhere. This matter failed, and he heard that the supervisory official who impeached Pan Sheng was Zhang Siwei's protégé. , and ran to the cabinet angrily to reprimand Zhang Siwei. Queen Mother, think about it, a dignified chief minister of the cabinet was humiliated by an eunuch. If this continues, what face does the court have?" Only then did Empress Dowager Li feel that the matter was important, but she still doubted it and said: "This may be Zhang Jing's one-sided remarks." Zhu Yijun replied: "When I first heard the news, I was just like my mother. I couldn't believe it. But, After confiscating Feng Bao's family property, facing so many pearls and treasures, you can't help but not believe it." "What are there?" Queen Mother Li asked. Zhu Yijun opened the gold-encrusted cowhide book on the coffee table, took out a secret booklet covering the two yamen gates of Dongchang and Dali Temple, and handed it to the queen mother with both hands, saying: "This is a copy of Feng Bao's family property, please have your mother read it." Empress Dowager Li took it, and saw that the transcript read: I look up to His Majesty the Emperor, I confiscated Feng Bao's property on September 11th, it took thirty-two days, and the inventory was completed yesterday. The property list is copied below: Two hundred and four hundred and twenty-six thousand four stones of white rice. One hundred and twelve thousand three hundred and two stones of yellow rice. There are thirty-one emerald orbs that are more than an inch, and five-seven emerald beads that are less than an inch. Two boxes of emeralds, totaling nine hundred and forty nine pieces. Fifteen boxes of other beautiful jade ornaments of various colors, totaling six thousand six hundred and ninety seven pieces. There are one hundred, three and six pieces of ancient se of various colors. There are 2,800, 29 antiques of various colors. There are 700 pieces of precious calligraphy and paintings from Tang, Song, Yuan and other dynasties, including Song Zhang Zeduan's "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival", Tang Huaisu's "Fish Fish Poster" and the book written by Li Houzhu in the Southern Tang Dynasty. Nine thousand six hundred and eighty-eight pieces of fine porcelain of various kinds. There are three private houses in the capital, five shop houses, with a total of four hundred and twelve rooms; one house in Cangzhou Prefecture and two houses in Baoding Prefecture, with a total of two hundred and seventy six houses. Cangzhou, Daming, Zhending, Baoding and other prefectures as well as Daxing and Changping counties have 217 land deeds, with a total land property of 1,050 hectares and 6 mu. After reading the list, Empress Dowager Li was already dumbfounded, with cold sweat dripping from her palms.She shook the list and asked puzzledly: "I heard that the Tongzhou warehouse is so big that you can run a horse, and one warehouse can only hold 300,000 dans of grain. How much space should Feng Bao need to load the more than 2 million shi white rice? Besides, he has such a big belly that he has to hide it at home. So much white rice?" Zhu Yijun laughed when he heard this, and replied: "A while ago, Zhang Jing reported to me about how much white rice was copied from Feng Bao's house, and how much yellow rice was copied from Feng Bao's house. After hearing this, I also had doubts like my mother did. Zhang Jing explained, I just learned that white rice refers to silver, and yellow rice refers to gold, and one stone is one tael. Don’t look at the corrupt officials who are tumbling in the eyes of money holes, but they want to avoid the words gold and silver, and use some cryptic words to replace them. .” "So, it's true that the silver copied from Feng Bao's house was more than two million taels, and there were hundreds of thousands of taels of gold?" "It's true." Zhu Yijun said with fire in his eyes, and the lingering hatred still persisted, "Except for the real estate and real estate, all the items on this list have been moved into Da Nei. I have issued an order to let The servants of the supply and use warehouse are all registered in the warehouse. Queen Mother, do you want to go and have a look?" "We are going to see and see, but not now." Empress Dowager Li was very upset at this moment.Despite the overwhelming evidence, she still couldn't accept this reality. After thinking about it, she asked again, "Jun'er, why do you want to copy Feng Bao's house?" Zhu Yijun pondered for a while, and then asked: "Mother, do you still remember the market we held on Danei Dongchang Street in the early summer of the sixth year of Wanli?" "Remember, how did you get involved with this?" "Although Zhang Jing proposed that market, it was managed by Feng Bao alone. He let the three of us, mother and son, have a fairy feast, which cost 10,000 taels of silver. At that time, I muttered in my heart, Feng Bao alone In the final analysis, the palm seal of Si Li is nothing more than our emperor's servant. He spends 10,000 taels of silver easily, but it seems to spend a few copper coins. His monthly salary is only more than 100 taels of silver, plus another 100 taels of silver. A lot of stone rice. One meal will eat up his ten-year salary. When we think about it, we feel that there is a ghost here." Empress Dowager Li thought about her son's words carefully, and asked, "So, you suspected Feng Bao four years ago?" "That's not it," Zhu Yijun said smugly, "This time his house was raided, which shows that our suspicion is justified. Queen Mother, do you know what the concept of more than two million taels of silver is? The tax revenue is not much more than this!" "Oh, we don't understand, where did Feng Bao get so much money?" "It's not all sent by officials." Zhu Yijun said and became angry again, "Recently, we even issued an order to dismiss more than a dozen ministers, such as Liang Menglong, Zeng Xingwu, Wang Zhuan and others. .” "Why, they all have something to do with Feng Bao?" "Not only are there ties, but there are many nasty things between them. Feng Bao has a book, and all officials who have given him gifts, what they gave him, and when they gave them are all recorded in detail in this book. Only this book records Yes, there are more than 700 officials who have given him gifts, and among the current second-rank ministers in the imperial court, only one person has not given him gifts." "Who is this guy?" "Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishments is Yan Qing. Such an upright official is really rare. Therefore, I made a decisive decision and promoted him to be Shangshu of the Ministry of Officials." "Why are Liang Menglong and the others dismissed?" "Just half a month before Feng Bao was dismissed, these three people gave him gifts respectively. We were really angry and dismissed them." Empress Dowager Li was silent for a long time, and sighed: "Feng Bao is just a eunuch, there are so many officials fawning on him, if..." "If he serves in the cabinet, wouldn't he be greedy for more?" Zhu Yijun rushed to say what Empress Dowager Li had swallowed without saying it.And added: "Compared to Feng Bao, Zhang Juzheng's family property will only be more than him, and it will never be less than him." Empress Dowager Li did not respond, Zhang Juzheng's meticulous expression appeared in front of her eyes.Zhu Yijun observed the subtle changes in the mother's facial expression and knew that she still had an indescribable nostalgia for Zhang Juzheng.Therefore, the fire of jealousy was ignited in his heart, and he stomped his feet and said angrily: "We checked and found that most of the officials who gave gifts to Feng Bao were Zhang Juzheng's cronies. Think about it, my queen, these people sent a lot of money to Feng Bao and gave gifts to Zhang Juzheng. donkey." This is the first time that Zhu Yijun has spoken to his mother in such an aggressive tone, and Empress Dowager Li finds it very unpleasant.Then he glanced at his son and said angrily: "Jun'er, how can you take this kind of thing for granted. Before Zhang Juzheng was alive, where did you hear that he was greedy for fame?" "Queen, why do you always protect him?" Zhu Yijun said angrily.Suddenly felt a slip of the tongue, and then covered up, "Zhang Juzheng had a very good relationship with Feng Bao during his lifetime, so people have to doubt it." Normally, if she was robbed like this by her son, Empress Dowager Li would have raised her eyebrows and had a fit.But now she heard her son's implication, and suddenly her cheeks flushed.In order to cover up, she lowered her head and pretended to drink tea. After a while, she talked about the matter and said: "The thing Mr. Zhang hated the most during his lifetime was that officials were greedy for ink. Before he died, he did not forget to punish corrupt officials. How could such a chief assistant be greedy for ink himself!" "I don't dare to agree with my mother's judgment," Zhu Yijun retorted sharply with a dark face, "Zhang Juzheng is not the kind of high-minded person. In fact, it is not uncommon in history to catch corrupt officials with one hand and accept bribes with the other. Therefore, I have made up my mind to issue another decree." "What are you doing?" "Copy Zhang Juzheng's house!" Empress Dowager Li stood up abruptly, and almost yelled, "Jun'er, don't forget that Mr. Zhang is your teacher. Without him assisting you in creating the Wanli New Deal, where would you be today!" As soon as Zhu Yijun changed his usual submissive attitude in front of his mother, his face fell down and he said viciously: "My mother, I can't remember many things that Mr. Zhang taught me, but there is one sentence I will never forget. He said, when a generation is enlightened, you must not have the kindness of a woman!" The corners of Empress Dowager Li's mouth twitched in pain, but she couldn't utter a word.I don't know how long it took before she sat down with tears in her eyes, and said absently: "Amitabha!"