Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 116 Warning
As soon as the Imperial Household Department received Li Mengyang's memorial, Liu Jin hurried to the Qianqing Palace with the memorial.

At this time, Zhu Houzhao had just gotten up and had just taken the little queen's hand away, but Liu Jin had already walked outside the lattice door: "Your Majesty! There is an important matter. Li Mengyang, the head of the Ministry of Revenue, impeached the Prime Minister, listed 24 charges against him, and accused the Performance Evaluation System of being a policy that harmed the people!"

Zhu Houzhao frowned after hearing this, and let Ruyi change his clothes. He then said to Liu Jin outside, "This Li Mengyang is really bold! Tell me what you think, how do you think he should be dealt with?"

"In reply to the emperor, I think the memorial should not be seen by the Prime Minister, otherwise he will be in a dilemma! Either confess his crime and be suspended from office, or he will not follow the rules and continue to implement the performance evaluation law. The imperial inspection cannot be stopped now. In my opinion, it is natural to intercept and destroy it!"

Liu Jin replied.

Zhu Houzhao had to admit that Liu Jin was a very capable eunuch. He was able to remain calm and have his own ideas when faced with such a major event. No wonder he was able to reform the government in the original history.

"Approved! Destroy this memorial! In this way, we will give Li Mengyang some face for the time being and leave him alone to prevent Ma Wensheng from finding out. If he dares to impeach us again, we will have to kill him! Those who dare to obstruct the new policy will not be tolerated! But we still have to send an eunuch to warn him. If he dares to discuss state affairs, slander court officials, and disobey his duties again, he will be beaten to death!"

As Zhu Houzhao was speaking, Ruyi was helping him put on clothes, and the little empress had gotten up at some point to help Zhu Houzhao get his shoes. Seeing that Zhu Houzhao did not lift his feet to put on his shoes, she took the initiative to tie his belt, but suddenly heard the words "beaten to death with sticks". She could not help but look at the fair-skinned young man in front of her in surprise, thinking, is the emperor going to beat others to death with the hot stick in his body? Will he use that stick to beat me?

Zhu Houzhao didn't notice the little queen's expression. After he finished speaking, he saw the little queen standing in front of him in a daze. He couldn't help but pout and scratched the little queen's nose: "Although it is spring now, it's not warm yet. Why don't you go to bed and lie down, put on your clothes and then come down, don't catch a cold!"

There were no antibiotics in that era, and Zhu Houzhao was really worried that the delicate little queen would get sick or have a fever or something.

"Emperor brother, don't hit Xiang'er with a stick. Xiang'er will obey your orders!" The little queen waved her hands and said with a pout.

Zhu Houzhao saw that she was cute and just pinched her face: "Why would I hit you with a stick? I love you so much, help the queen change her clothes!"

Zhu Houzhao's last sentence was directed to Ruyi.

At this time, Zhu Houzhao came out and waited for the little queen to go to the Cining Palace to visit the emperor, so he couldn't help but ask the little queen: "What did you talk about with your mother?"

"In reply to the Emperor, my mother asked Xiang'er to tell you that you should enter Xiang'er from the front and not from the back. That way, Xiang'er can get pregnant and her bottom won't hurt. Just think of it as the Emperor loving Xiang'er!"

The young queen's answer made Zhu Houzhao at a loss for words for a moment, but he did understand it immediately. However, he could not let the queen mother know that he had not broken the young queen's body at all, let alone what happened before and after. He only said: "I know. If the queen mother asks again, remember to tell her that I promised her that I would not be in the queen's body before I have a prince, and the same applies to the other two concubines."

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but complain inwardly after he finished speaking: "Mothers are really nosy!"

...Liu Jin also sent a young eunuch to find Li Mengyang.

Li Mengyang saw that it was an eunuch who came to see him, and thought that he was going to be punished, but he was not afraid of danger, and just cursed: "Eunuchs! Don't think that I, Li Mengyang, am afraid of you! It's nothing but death!"

"Minister Li is very strong. We are not here to blame you. We are just here to tell you that the higher-ups want to spare you this time. This is for your own good, for the good of everyone, and for the good of the entire court. As for you, just be an honest official in your ministry and pretend that this never happened!
However, if you still want to make trouble and try to shake the tree with an ant, according to the above meaning, you can only die! Don't refuse a toast and drink a forfeit. Goodbye!"

After the young eunuch finished speaking, he waved his whisk and left Li Mengyang.

Li Mengyang was not stupid. He naturally guessed that the eunuch coming to him to warn him meant that his memorial might have been intercepted by the Imperial Household Department, or even never reached the cabinet. Even if it had reached the cabinet, it had been deliberately hidden by Ma Wensheng and others in order to avoid the suspension of the imperial inspection and causing a big storm. After all, he was not an ordinary person. He was a leader in the literary world. If he was killed, there would definitely be a big storm. What's more, he was a person that the previous emperor was reluctant to kill.

Because of this, Li Mengyang became even more fearless: "How ridiculous! It's absolutely outrageous! Ma Junzhou is so lawless that he dares to intercept the memorial! How dare he deceive the emperor!"

There is a digression that needs to be explained here. Li Mengyang and other civil servants were not unaware that the emperor was behind Ma Wensheng and Liu Jin, but they could only fight against Ma Wensheng and Liu Jin, and take the opportunity to fight the emperor. However, they could not or did not dare to directly oppose the emperor. After all, the fate of Liu Jian and others was there.

What's more, the emperor is the father and the ruler, and they cannot directly point out the mistakes of the emperor and his father. Moreover, if they do not completely defeat the cabinet ministers and eunuchs of the Imperial Household Department who rushed to the front for Zhu Houzhao, they cannot fight the emperor.

Coming back to the topic, Li Mengyang knew that if he didn't think of a solution, his impeachment of Ma Wensheng would not be able to make a big deal, and he would not be able to stop the court's performance evaluation system, and he would not be able to get the name of a loyal hero that would be passed down through the ages!
Therefore, Li Mengyang decided to play a bigger game. He ran to the Imperial Ancestral Temple, but knelt outside it directly, shouting: "The late emperor! My ancestors of the Ming Dynasty! Please open your eyes and look at the Ming Dynasty today. Eunuchs and treacherous officials are colluding with each other, manipulating power, usurping the power of the throne, deceiving the superiors and the subordinates, so that the grievances of the subjects cannot be reported to the emperor, and the orders of the emperor cannot be passed on to the subjects. The government orders are not implemented, and loyal people die tragically in the wild. The country has no peace, the country has no peace!"

Li Mengyang kept crying and cursing Ma Wensheng, his words becoming more and more fierce each time. He cursed Ma Wensheng as an unforgivable traitor and even implicated Liu Jin and others, and even brought up the eunuch party.

The Imperial Ancestral Temple was a sensitive area, so more and more people knew about it, and soon the news reached the palace. Zhu Houzhao almost didn't understand it after hearing it, and asked in surprise: "Is this person really not afraid of death?"

"Your Majesty, Li Mengyang has a reputation for being upright and has a high prestige among scholars. He is also quite talented and a leader in the literary world. He is not afraid of death! And judging from his current behavior, he is probably trying to gain a name for a loyal hero that will be remembered forever!"

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but fall into deep thought after hearing this, and asked, "Does anyone in the cabinet know about this?"

Thank you for the reward of 100 Qidian coins from my friend,



(End of this chapter)