Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 68 Li Dongyang has a bad feeling

Ma Wensheng had recovered his complexion and his breathing became regular. He no longer lay on the couch, but walked towards Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao also smiled at Ma Wensheng. Seeing that he was about to pay respect to him, he quickly supported Ma Wensheng and said, "My dear, there is no need to be so formal. Imperial physician, please feel the pulse of the Minister of State now."

Imperial Physician Li Yanwen hurriedly followed Zhu Houzhao's order and came over. After Ma Wensheng lay down again, he placed his index and middle fingers on Ma Wensheng's wrist, twisted his beard and pressed it for a while before saying, "Your pulse has returned to normal, and he is healthy again. Your Majesty's medicine is truly a miracle drug!"

Ma Wensheng's wife also smiled happily when she saw this. She hurriedly held the door handle and knelt down to pay her respects to Zhu Houzhao. Zhu Houzhao also hurriedly asked Qiu Ju to help the old lady up. At the same time, he also held down Ma Wensheng who was about to stand up and pay his respects to thank him. He just smiled and said, "God still blesses our Ming Dynasty. How can the cabinet minister leave before the Hetao is recovered? Even if I allow you to go, the late emperor would not agree. You should rest well in the mansion these days and don't make yourself unhappy again in the future!"

Zhu Houzhao said with a smile, and then he ordered Liu Jin who followed him seriously: "After returning to the Imperial Household Department, draft an edict. From now on, anyone who dares to disrespect the cabinet minister with words and causes the cabinet minister to have a heart attack will be punished for resisting the emperor!"

Liu Jin hurriedly obeyed the order and said, "Since this is the case, I would like to ask Your Majesty whether Li Dongyang and others should be punished. If they had not spoken ill of him, Ma Gefu would not be in this situation today."

"Your Majesty! It's better to have less trouble than more. It's because I'm not magnanimous enough. It has nothing to do with Li Binzhi. I hope Your Majesty will not involve too many people for my sake." Ma Wensheng started coughing again. Zhu Houzhao hurriedly ordered Qiu Ju to give Ma Wensheng some more medicine, and asked Qiu Ju to give the remaining nitroglycerin tablets to Ma Wensheng, and instructed: "If you feel heartache again, put one tablet under your tongue. If it's not enough, ask me for more!"

As for the matter concerning Li Dongyang and others, Zhu Houzhao did not mention it again in order to avoid irritating Ma Wensheng.

The imperial physician Li Yanwen also prescribed a recuperation prescription for Ma Wensheng. All in all, Ma Wensheng escaped unharmed this time, which was a blessing in disguise for Zhu Houzhao and even the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, the reform of the civil service system had to be put on hold for the time being. However, Zhu Houzhao was not in a hurry at this moment. It was only November of the eighteenth year of Hongzhi, and there was still early time.

Imperial Physician Li Yanwen was obviously very interested in the nitroglycerin tablets that Zhu Houzhao had given Ma Wensheng. He even took the courage to ask, "Your Majesty, I would like to ask you, what is the medicine that your Majesty gave to the cabinet assistant? Why is it so effective? And it can be cured by holding it under the tongue instead of taking it orally?"

Zhu Houzhao raised his hand and wanted to say that this was how nitroglycerin could produce nitric oxide in the human body, but he felt that he could not finish explaining it even in a day and a night, so he just said, "If you want to know, you can go to the Royal Industrial Experimental Base in the Leopard House with Qiu Ju to study. I will give you this opportunity!"

After saying this, Zhu Houzhao left Ma Wensheng's mansion and returned to the palace.

Ma Wensheng also personally escorted Zhu Houzhao out of the gate.

……

At that time, Li Dongyang had already started to host a banquet to entertain Yang Tinghe, and the two of them continued to chat and laugh while drinking.

"There is constant crying in Ma Wensheng's house. I think he is about to die. I will go to mourn him later. We have served in the same court for many years." Li Dongyang said, "Please feel free to leave at any time. You don't need to say goodbye to me."

Yang Tinghe nodded, and then his face became serious: "Minister, listen, there is no crying!"

At this time, a housekeeper also ran to Li Dongyang and said, "Master, your Majesty has gone to Ma Wensheng's residence. Just after leaving Ma Wensheng's residence, Ma Wensheng came out to see your Majesty off." Li Dongyang was shocked and said, "What's going on? Wasn't Ma Wensheng going to die soon? How did he come back to life? When did your Majesty go to his residence?"

"About half an hour ago, the master and Master Yang were in Bixiangxie, and I didn't want to disturb them."

The Li family’s housekeeper replied.

Li Dongyang was quite depressed for a while.

Yang Tinghe spoke first at this time, "It is not difficult to understand why your majesty suddenly came to the Ma Mansion. It is true that Ma Wensheng is seriously ill now, but acute illness is the easiest to treat. I believe he has taken some good medicine. Maybe it is some secret medicine from the palace sent by your majesty. Now that I think about it, our majesty really values ​​this cabinet assistant Ma! He broke the old rule that only Hanlin can enter the cabinet and directly promoted him to the cabinet. Now he even came to the mansion in person to send medicine and express his condolences. It is really a great favor from the emperor!"

"Ma Wensheng has always been obedient to the Emperor's wishes, and his flattery naturally made Zhu Houzhao very fond of him. If I had not resigned, I am afraid he would have been made the Prime Minister. However, I can foresee that our Majesty will dislike me more and more. But in order to prevent our clean stream from being driven out of the court by the muddy stream, I will not retreat before you enter the cabinet!
Now that you are the Grand Secretary of Zuo Chunfang, the next step is to enter the Ministry of Rites as a minister or the head of the Imperial Academy, and the next step is to directly enter the cabinet. At that time, I will help you, and you are Zhu Houzhao's master of the East Palace, so it is legitimate for you to enter the cabinet, but the only thing you have to be careful about is not to let Zhu Houzhao find out that you have anything to do with us. "

After Li Dongyang finished speaking, Yang Tinghe stood up solemnly and bowed, saying, "I understand!"

Yang Tinghe also knew that if he wanted to enter the cabinet next, he would need Li Dongyang's help. Moreover, he really wanted to inherit the legacy of Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian and others and become the new generation leader of the Qingliu. So he reminded Li Dongyang: "I have reliable information that the prince of Sanyuan (Wang Shu) will be reinstated as the Minister of Personnel. I wonder if the cabinet assistant knows about this?"

Li Dongyang couldn't help but smile bitterly, "If you hadn't told me, I really wouldn't have known. Although I'm now the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War are controlled by Ma Wensheng and Xu Jin, and Liu Jin is in charge of the Imperial Household Department. Your Majesty only summoned them to discuss matters, which made me, the Prime Minister, a mere decoration. I have no way of knowing about such a major event."

Yang Tinghe didn't know how to comfort Li Dongyang, so he just said, "I wonder if the Prime Minister has noticed another phenomenon. Wang Yue and others have been detained in the imperial prison, and His Majesty has not executed them. Prime Minister, do you think His Majesty is intentionally trying to create a big case, so he is strictly interrogating Wang Yue and others to force him to drag the officials from the outer court into the water?"

After Yang Tinghe said this, Li Dongyang's expression also became serious. He felt that Yang Tinghe's guess made sense.

At this time, Li Hong, the housekeeper of the Li Mansion, came back and came to Li Dongyang to report: "Master, I have already found out that Ma Yongcheng from the East Factory led the Jinyiwei out of the city to Shaanxi to escort Wang Shu to Beijing to serve as the Minister of Personnel."

"Shaanxi?"

Li Dongyang asked to himself, and then said in confusion: "Wang Shu is at best a veteran of five dynasties, why does he need a senior eunuch from the inner court to pick him up, and a sedan chair with 32 bearers and thousands of Jinyiwei?"

"What the cabinet minister means is that His Majesty had other intentions in sending Ma Yongcheng from the East Factory to Shaanxi. He claimed to be escorting Wang Shu to Beijing but actually wanted to do other things?" Yang Tinghe asked.

Li Dongyang seemed to have thought of something at this time. After Yang Tinghe reminded him that Wang Yue and others had not been executed, he became more certain. He stood up suddenly, his heart beating faster: "Not good!"

Just came back from the hospital, sorry for the late update, everyone should pay more attention to keep warm in the future, don't be as extravagant as the author
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(End of this chapter)