Chapter 7 Chapter 7 Struggle, or Forbearance?

Now let us adjust our breathing, the most troublesome brother in the three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty is finally about to appear. It is said that if the princes of the Qing Dynasty were not paying attention when they were studying, the master would immediately reprimand them: "Do you want to learn from Zhu Houzhao?!" Zhu Houzhao is not wronged to be regarded as a negative model by people hundreds of years later. From the perspective of learning attitude, he is really too bad. Zhu Youtang has been busy with everything in his life and missed everything, but he missed his precious son.Zhu Youtang's fate was not good, he only gave birth to two sons, and one died of illness. The only one left was Zhu Houzhao, so he was naturally regarded as his lifeline. In addition, his brother was unfortunate in his childhood, so he was afraid that his son would suffer, no matter what happened. They all depended on him, rarely punished, let alone beaten.

This is probably the common problem of all fathers in the world. Zhu Houzhao grew up in such an environment. He was not afraid of the sky and the earth. He could get whatever he wanted, and no one cared about him. This was natural. Even his father didn't care. Countless prodigal sons are made in this way. But Zhu Houzhao can't be regarded as a real prodigal son. According to historical records, he has an extraordinary IQ, is very smart, and knows right from wrong, good from bad, but this big brother has a lifelong hobby-playing. Play, how to play, how to play, turn over and over, turn upside down, howl, just for one word - play.

Please keep this premise in mind. Only by understanding these can you be fully prepared for what will happen next. Zhu Houzhao played in such a dark and dark way until he was fifteen years old. Suddenly, there was a loud cry in the palace one day, and he was told that his father was going to die, and he, Zhu Houzhao, would become the next emperor. Mr. Zhu Houzhao is not very clear about the meaning of this sentence. In his opinion, this is just adding an honorary title, and he lives as he should, without any change. But not long after, troubles came. Liu Jian, the first and assistant university scholar of the cabinet, couldn't stand it anymore, so he wrote a letter to hope that Zhu Houzhao would stop playing and be emperor, and he also listed in the book Zhu Houzhao's Several crimes, such as not sitting in the main hall, but wandering around to watch the excitement, riding a horse and rowing a boat without authorization, eating indiscriminately, etc.

Are these counts? It should be said that for Zhu Houzhao, these are indeed crimes, and Liu Jian has sufficient reasons: How good it is to stay at home, why run around, in case of being hit by bricks and tiles falling from the sky, it is very dangerous, there are three ups and downs, what will Daming Jiangshan do? It's not safe to ride a horse. What if I fall off?Not to mention boating, there was no life buoy in those days, and it would be bad if you fell into the water. For the sake of the Ming Dynasty, it is best not to engage in these dangerous activities casually. Don't eat things indiscriminately, although poisonous rice, rotten peanuts and the like haven't been popularized yet, if you eat bad stomach, Daming Jiangshan...

Probably this is what Liu Jian said for a long time, but Zhu Houzhao only had one thought about it: It's all nonsense! No one dared to take care of me when I was the prince, but now that I am the emperor, this old man dares to meddle in his own business! But after all, this old man is the number one person left behind by the old man, so he cannot be offended. So Zhu Houzhao showed a sincere and honest expression, and said honestly: "I understand, I will correct it in the future." But the naive Liu Jian didn't know that if he believed Mr. Zhu Houzhao's words, he would even be at fault for the Spring Festival.

After that, instead of seeing brother Zhu Houzhao hanging on the beam and stabbing his butt, working hard, he couldn't even go to the morning court, let alone the afternoon court, and he couldn't even find the shadow of this old man all day long. Now it was the turn of the Minister of Personnel, Ma Wensheng, and the Minister of National Defense, Liu Daxia. They had already sensed that something was wrong. In order to restrain the young emperor's behavior as soon as possible and lead him to the right path, they were ready to fight hard. Soon, the two wrote letters to persuade Zhu Houzhao, and said that if the emperor did not adopt their opinions, they would continue to write letters until the emperor corrected them.

Zhu Houzhao finally encountered the first test in his life. At the age of sixteen, he had never seen such a desperate posture of the two ministers, and he felt a sense of fear for the first time. But then a voice in his ear said to him: Your Majesty, you don't need to obey them, you have the power to order them! Zhu Houzhao happily accepted this opinion, and he immediately told the two ministers that you don't need to submit any more letters, because I won't let you do it now, you are laid off, pack your things and go home to take care of yourselves! Ma Wensheng and Liu Daxia never expected such a result. Not only were they not frightened, but they were also bitten back.After decades of hard work, it turned out to be such a result. Sadly, they left their jobs and went home.

The person who made that voice was called Liu Jin. Liu Jin, a native of Shaanxi, whose date of birth is unknown, is also a normal phenomenon. If there are people in the family who can read, read and remember their birthdays, they generally don't become eunuchs. This Mr. Liu was originally surnamed Tan, and he was a very strong and courageous person. Why did he say that?Because he is from the palace. Of course, his motivation for leaving the palace was not because he picked up martial arts secrets like the Sunflower Book, but because he wanted to find a job.People who cut themselves with a knife in order to find a job are naturally very strong.

What's more, there may not be a job in the palace. At that time, there were many people who wanted to be eunuchs, and you couldn't get in without any connections. Big loss.Those who dare to engage in this kind of venture capital investment are very courageous. This preparatory eunuch was lucky. An eunuch surnamed Liu took a fancy to him and arranged for him to enter the palace. After that, he changed his surname to Liu. To be fair, Liu Jin was a very pursuing eunuch. After he entered the palace, he studied hard and worked hard, and soon acquired a basic level of education, which was already very rare in the palace, so he was selected as Zhu Houzhao's attendant.

From Wang Zhen to Liu Jin, their fortunes remind us that no matter when and where, even if you become a eunuch, you should keep studying.Or as the saying goes: knowledge changes destiny. When Liu Jin saw Zhu Houzhao who didn't like reading and was just wandering around all day, he realized that a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity had appeared.As long as you can coax this playful boy, let him have fun as he pleases, and meet his needs, you can get everything you want! Of course, Liu Jin is not the only smart person, there are seven people who also discovered this shortcut to success.The eight of them were therefore awarded a very prestigious title - Eight Tigers.

Zhu Houzhao soon discovered that compared with those old men who scolded others all day long, he felt more comfortable with the obedient eunuchs around him.So he gave these people full trust, handed over the power in the palace to them, and allowed them to participate in the government and control the power of the country. With the emperor's support, Liu Jin began to expand his power. This Mr. Liu is really an extremely smart person. He fully absorbed the experience and lessons of the previous eunuchs, and extended his hand to a new field—— Civilian group. Mr. Liu is very clear that although he is favored, he is only an eunuch in the final analysis. If he wants to achieve long-term stability and stable development, he must win over a few ministers. Finding a few gristly scum isn't difficult. After careful observation, he found a suitable candidate-Jiao Fang, Minister of the Ministry of Officials.After contacting for a period of time, the two sides deepened their understanding, formed a consensus, and decided to work together and do evil together from now on. Jiao Fang, a native of Biyang, Henan Province, was born as a Jinshi, and was an Hanlin scholar, but if you regard him as a frail scholar, you will be very wrong.Back then, when Wan An was in charge of the cabinet, Peng Hua, a bachelor, recommended a candidate for promotion to a bachelor, but Jiao Fang was missed. When this brother heard the news, he immediately said that if I didn't become a bachelor, I would wait on Chang'an Road with a knife. Peng Hua was off work, and he was not finished until he was stabbed to death. When Peng Hua heard the news, he was so frightened that he added Jiao Fang's name, and the matter was settled. This brother Jiao is so fierce, he probably was in the Tao before he became a Jinshi, so it was a matter of course for him to be drawn into the group.In this way, Jiao Fang became a key member of Liu Jin's criminal group. Considering that it is a disgraceful thing to take refuge in a eunuch, Jiao Fang did not disclose her identity, and everything was done in secret. Liu Jin's actions finally aroused the vigilance of the civil servants group. The departure of Ma Wensheng and Liu Daxia also made them fully aware of the upcoming danger. Liu Jian is an experienced politician. Years of experience in the officialdom told him that if the situation is not cleaned up, the consequences will be disastrous. To get rid of the "eight tigers", the cabinet alone is definitely not enough. To win the final victory, it is necessary to mobilize all the power of the civilian group and launch a fatal attack. Based on this understanding, he found Han Wen, Minister of the Household Department, and arranged a careful plan. The next day, the offensive began. On this day, Zhu Houzhao received a memorial. He flipped through the content indifferently, but was immediately terrified! This memorial not only listed all kinds of inappropriate behaviors since he took the throne like a ledger, but also boldly pointed the finger at Liu Jin and others for the first time, saying that he could no longer tolerate it and that the "eight tigers" must be killed immediately. If they don't implement it, they will never give up. The author of this memorial is Li Mengyang, a well-known leader in the literary world. If you want to say that he is indeed well-deserved, his writing level is extremely high, and he quotes classics. In just a few thousand words, Liu Jin and others have been condemned as eternal sinners and social trash. But what Zhu Houzhao was afraid of was not the content of the memorial, nor the author of the memorial. He had seen this kind of thing many times and was used to it. What really scared him was the signature of this memorial—Six Parts and Jiuqing. Everyone knows the six departments, and the so-called Jiuqing refers to the six ministers who are the highest officials of the six departments, plus the highest officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the highest officials of the General Administration Department, and the highest officials of the Dali Temple, a total of nine people, collectively called Jiuqing. In layman's terms, this move means that all members of the government cabinet launched impeachment, threatening the emperor to agree to their conditions and demands. Liu Jian is worthy of being an old Jianghu. He saw through Liu Jin and others' fiction and reality at a glance, and did not entangle with them at all. Instead, he mobilized various ministries in the cabinet to directly threaten the emperor.He had already made up his mind, although the emperor was very fussy, after all he was only a child and couldn't help being threatened by adults, as long as he put on a desperate posture, he would obey. Liu Jian's idea was right. His move completely frightened Zhu Houzhao. Not long after he came to power, the following group of people made trouble collectively. If they don't agree to their request, if another collective strike occurs, the How to sing a play alone? He was ready to give in. When Liu Jin and the others heard the news, they were frightened out of their wits. They never thought that Liu Jian would be so ruthless that he would kill someone if he made a move.The eight people immediately got together for a meeting to think of solutions, but due to their limited IQ, they couldn't do anything after talking for a long time, so they had to cry. Zhu Houzhao’s environment was not much better. Compared with Liu Jian, he was still too young. Facing threats, he had no choice but to send Wang Yue, the supervisor of etiquette, to the cabinet to meet with several adults to determine a question-"What are you going to do before you give up? " Wang Yue hurried to the cabinet to meet the three adults, but unexpectedly saw two different reactions. He cautiously began to ask the opinions of several cabinet ministers. Before he could finish asking, Liu Jian took the case and expressed his opinion: "There's nothing to say, just arrest and kill those eight slaves!" Xie Qian, who was already very eloquent, was not polite, and said sharply: "For the country and the people, we can only kill them!" However, the remaining Li Dongyang remained silent. Facing the surprised eyes of Liu Jian and Xie Qian, he slowly said that the eunuchs who violated the law should be severely punished. Li Dongyang's strange behavior at this time did not attract Liu Jian and Xie Qian's attention. They put all their attention on Wang Yue and waited for the ceremonial supervisor's statement. Liu Jin was also considered unlucky, because he was the person Wang Yue hated the most. Everyone should know that the competition in the eunuch industry was very fierce, and Wang Yue naturally didn't like this colleague who was robbing his job. He fully accepted the opinions of the three cabinet ministers, and immediately returned to the palace to convey the cabinet's opinions to Zhu Houzhao. Zhu Houzhao didn't expect the cabinet to be so merciless, but he didn't want to drive away these obedient eunuchs, so he sent another person to the cabinet to negotiate again. This time he lowered his bottom line: agreed to drive out eight people, but hoped that they could Grace period of execution. The Cabinet's answer was simple - no. At the same time, Zhu Houzhao's statement was corrected-not driving away, but killing. Zhu Houzhao really had nothing to do, he could only continue to send a supervisor to the cabinet to negotiate. At this time, the "eight tigers" already knew the seriousness of the situation. They were terrified, and even took the initiative to find the cabinet, expressing their willingness to leave here for Nanjing by themselves and never interfere in government affairs. The cabinet simply ignored them. Liu Jin and the other seven people cried because they were forced to cry. It was a day of haste and chaos. The inspector of ceremonies in the palace hurried to the cabinet and hurried back to the palace. Zhu Houzhao was helpless. The verdict of fate to come. Surprisingly, at the same time, there was a debate in the cabinet. Liu Jian, the initiator of the plan, saw that victory was in sight, so he called a meeting of the cabinet and officials from various ministries to discuss the next step. Liu Jian's quick temper really lived up to his reputation. As soon as the meeting started, he slapped the table, wishing he could eat Liu Jin and others. Xie Qian and Han Wen were also very excited and wanted to kill the "eight tigers".At this time, Li Dongyang, who had been silent all this time, finally opened his mouth, but what he said really surprised the people present. Li Dongyang said that as long as the emperor can alienate and drive away the "eight tigers", there is no need to kill them, otherwise things may change. His suggestion aroused the dissatisfaction of Liu Jian and many people. The people at the meeting agreed that he was too weak and ignored his suggestion. Li Dongyang didn't say much, just sighed softly. In his opinion, these angry people ignored an important issue, but he was powerless. In this way, the cabinet agreed on the final policy: get rid of the "eight tigers" and never make any concessions. But Liu Jian knew very well that it was not easy to get Zhu Houzhao's approval for this policy. In order to achieve his goal, he decided to seek the help of one person——Wang Yue. During the negotiations, Liu Jian had keenly felt Wang Yue's hostility towards Liu Jin, and such details could not escape the eyes of the experienced Liu Jian.He immediately sent someone to contact Wang Yue, hoping to get his support. This proposal hit Wang Yue's heart, and he immediately mobilized the rest of the ceremonial supervisors to lobby Zhu Houzhao. The whole day's tossing has exhausted Zhu Houzhao. At the age of sixteen, he is no match for these old foxes who have been in officialdom for many years. So when Wang Yue and others spoke to him, he was already on the verge of collapse. "That's it, get them arrested, I agree." Zhu Houzhao finally compromised, and Wang Yue completed his mission. He sent someone to inform Liu Jian that it was getting late today, and he would start early tomorrow morning to completely eliminate the "Eight Tigers". Liu Jian, who has been tense all day, is finally relieved, because all the problems will be solved tomorrow, and he can sleep well tonight. When we were in elementary school, the teacher once taught us this sentence repeatedly: Today's things must be done today. What Liu Jian didn't know was that at that meeting, apart from the emotional majority and the hesitant minority, there was another person with ulterior motives who stood on the sidelines.This person is Jiao Fang. Liu Jin's work finally had results. Jiao Fang, who got the news, told the "eight tigers" about the plan formulated by the cabinet overnight. People are driven to a corner, and even if there is no way, they will find a way. Someone will come to arrest him tomorrow morning, and escape is impossible. In the whole world, where else can he run to?Things have come to this point, go all out! Liu Jin understood that there was only one way to save them now.So, he and the other seven people entered the palace overnight to meet their last hope - Zhu Houzhao. As soon as they saw Zhu Houzhao, the eight people immediately cheered up, sank into their dantians, and wept bitterly.At the juncture of life and death, the eight people cried very seriously and devoted themselves to their work. Zhu Houzhao was baffled by them, so he had to ask them to stop and finish talking. Only then did Liu Jin speak, and he pointed the finger at Wang Yue, saying that Wang Yue was in collusion with the civil officials and wanted to put them to death. Liu Jin is really a smart person. He didn't directly accuse the civil servants who attacked them, because he knew Zhu Houzhao's psychology very well. For this young man, civil servants were never his friends. The fundamental Wang Yue is their most terrifying enemy. As long as Wang Yue is assigned to the civil servants, Zhu Houzhao will naturally stand with them. Zhu Houzhao was moved. He hated those civil servants very much, but he succumbed to their coercion only because of the situation. After listening to Liu Jin's words, he realized that he was so dangerous. Even Wang Yue obeyed the command of civil servants. How do you live? But what can I do? Liu Jin saw through his thoughts, and added a crucial sentence: "The world belongs to His Majesty, and if His Majesty decides, who dares to disobey!" Zhu Houzhao finally came to his senses. It turns out that the final right of interpretation has always been in his hands. There is actually no difference between being an emperor and being a prince. As long as he wants, he can keep playing. He immediately ordered that Wang Yue and others be dismissed from the post of supervisor of ceremonies, and Liu Jin would take over, while the military affairs of Dongchang and the palace would be led by Gu Dayong and Zhang Yong from the "Eight Tigers". The matter ended like this, Liu Jin completed the reversal and became the final winner. Liu Jin fully understood the spirit of precious time. Instead of waiting until the next day, he arrested Wang Yue and others overnight and sent them to Nanjing. Then he put on the clothes of the inspector of ceremonies and waited quietly for the arrival of morning. the next day. Excited Liu Jian and Xie Qian rushed to the court excitedly. With the emperor's approval and Wang Yue's support, they were full of confidence and prepared to hear the final results of these eunuchs. But in the end, what they heard were several unexpected personnel transfer orders, and then they saw the triumphant Supervisor Liu. Liu Jian, who was forced to return home, couldn't hold it anymore. He immediately submitted a resignation application to Zhu Houzhao. Li Dongyang and Xie Qian also submitted their resignations with him. Soon, Liu Jian and Xie Qian's resignation requests were approved, but Li Dongyang was retained. That night, Jiao Fang told Liu Jin everything about the meeting, including Liu Jian and Xie Qian's decision and Li Dongyang's hesitation. Liu Jin made a judgment based on this point. In his opinion, the hesitant Li Dongyang was on his side. In this way, the three-person cabinet during the Hongzhi period finally came to an end, "Duan" and "Kan" left, and "Mou" stayed. When the day of parting came, Li Dongyang hosted a banquet for his two old partners on the outskirts of the capital. At the last banquet, Li Dongyang was so sad that he couldn't help crying.But the other two people didn't feel the way he did. Finally Liu Jian couldn't bear it anymore. He stood up and said to Li Dongyang seriously: "Why are you crying! Don't cry! If you were determined at that time, you could have left with us today!" Li Dongyang was speechless. Xie Qian also stood up, stared at Li Dongyang with contempt, and then left the table with Liu Jian without looking at him again. The silent Li Dongyang looked at the backs of the two, raised the remaining wine in his cup, and sprinkled it on the ground. Advise you to drink more wine, go west to Yangguan without any old friends! Sometimes, it takes more courage to live in humiliation than to die tragically.