The Warm Jade of the Red Chamber

Since ancient times, the relationship between the emperor and the Supreme Emperor has been difficult to define and get along with. In the 800-year history of the Dajing Dynasty, there has never been a Supreme Emperor. Even in the 17-year history of the previous dynasty, there was only one Supreme Emperor. The existence of the Taishanghuang is also very dramatic. He is called the Taishanger Emperor. He was coerced by his uncle to write the edict of the Zen throne when he was [-] years old, and the Zen throne was given to the emperor. Uncle, although he was honored as the Supreme Emperor by the emperor later, his existence was more like a joke. He was watched every day and lived like a walking corpse. He died young in less than two years. None stayed—of course, it was more likely that there was no chance to stay.

Therefore, it is impossible to say that the Supreme Emperor trusted Emperor Chunyou so much and had no fear at all when he took the Zen throne, that is why he hesitated for so long.

However, the life after the Zen position is not too bad, except for being too idle at the beginning, slowly, the Supreme Emperor gradually got used to it.And Emperor Chunyou did not disappoint the Supreme Emperor, he did not show the desire for exclusive power, even in many matters, he would still use it to discuss with the Supreme Emperor, so that the Supreme Emperor felt that he was still respected and had not been expelled from power. core.

Emperor Chunyou was taught by the Supreme Emperor himself, and the political opinions of the two are also very similar. The biggest difference is in the treatment of veterans and aristocratic families.The Supreme Emperor was very tolerant towards these old ministers or nobles from aristocratic families who followed him along the way, thinking of his affection back then.However, Emperor Chunyou didn't want to keep this group of moths—especially when they still had their own ghosts and were not really completely loyal to him.

However, Emperor Chunyou did not choose to confront these veterans and aristocratic families head-on, because that would only make the Supreme Emperor feel that he was too tough and dissatisfied with him.On this point, Emperor Chunyou learned a trick from Zhuang Ye, which is called showing weakness and pretending to be pitiful. The emperor's difficulty - this is the common ground between him and the Supreme Emperor, they can share common ideas.

Being an emperor has never been an easy task, especially when you don’t want to be a foolish emperor. When the Supreme Emperor heard Emperor Chunyou say that he could understand the embarrassment he had when he was emperor, it immediately resonated in his heart, and he was more able to understand the embarrassment of Emperor Chunyou .

Therefore, at this moment, the hearts of the most honorable father and son in the world are getting closer.

Since the Supreme Emperor was considerate of the actions of the two sons, and felt that the officials in Jiangnan had failed his trust, what they did was like slapping him in the face, which was really hateful.

Under such circumstances, how could the Supreme Emperor let them do what they did, ruin the reputation of his beloved son, and charge him with dereliction of duty, corruption, and abolition of public affairs for private reasons?

The Supreme Emperor and Emperor Chunyou both had the same idea, to protect Zhuang Ye, because the existence of Zhuang Ye was very important to both of them.

Emperor Taishang and Zhuang Ye, Emperor Chunyou and Zhuang Ye all have deep father-son and brotherly feelings, but Zhuang Ye is not just a son or brother to them.

Zhuang Ye is undoubtedly the patron saint standing beside Emperor Chunyou, but this does not mean that he is against the Supreme Emperor.

Zhuang Ye is more like the glue between Emperor Taishang and Emperor Chunyou. Zhuang Ye has a real brotherly affection for Emperor Chunyou, and true father-son affection for Emperor Taishang. Both of them are equally important to him. .

The Supreme Emperor has been an emperor for decades, and he is most aware of the erosion of power on a person's heart. Therefore, he still has reservations about his trust in Emperor Chunyou.However, he would not think that Emperor Chunyou would kill him. Firstly, it was because of his trust in the son who was brought up by himself, and secondly, because of the existence of Zhuang Ye.

As far as Emperor Chunyou is concerned, it is indeed impossible for him to do anything to the Supreme Emperor, because he knows very well that Zhuang Ye is indeed on his side, but Zhuang Ye's feelings for the Supreme Emperor are also very deep. If he really If he attacked the Supreme Emperor, then Zhuang Ye would definitely be at odds with him, which was definitely not a good thing for him.To put it bluntly, Emperor Chunyou needs Zhuang Ye, a victorious general, to guard his territory, even those brothers of Emperor Chunyou also need Zhuang Ye to restrain him.Moreover, even Emperor Chunyou himself could not overcome the hurdle in his heart.

The Supreme Emperor knew this truth, and Emperor Chunyou naturally understood it too.

Therefore, whether it is from his own heart or because he does not want Zhuang Ye to be dissatisfied with him, it is impossible for Emperor Chunyou to confront the Supreme Emperor head-on-his brothers have not given up yet, how can he hand over the handle to others? ?What's more, there is not much conflict between him and the Supreme Emperor's idea of ​​governing the country now, but there are different ideas in some places. According to Zhuang Ye's method, showing weakness and pretending to be pitiful may have unexpected effects?

Sure enough, on the second day after Emperor Chunyou talked with the Supreme Emperor, the minister who had impeached Zhuang Ye was passed on by the Supreme Emperor to Shoukun Palace. out.

Half a day later, the ministers who left the Shoukun Palace were almost all in a cold sweat. When they got home, they all took up their pens and wrote the notes. They all started to praise him.

With a sneer on his face, Emperor Chunyou looked at the people below whose attitudes had suddenly changed drastically, especially when he saw the dark complexion of the third loyal Prince Zhuang Sheng, he felt really happy in his heart—he wanted to bring down Zhuang Ye first. Broke his arm?What a beautiful idea!

Zhuang Sheng really didn't expect that Zhuang Ye's temperament of not playing cards according to the rules would reach this level, accepting bribes arbitrarily, but handing them over to the treasury after changing hands. Could it be that he really didn't worry about it and fulfilled Chunyou's favor? God, but ruined his own reputation?And the Supreme Emperor is really too strange, actually able to endure such a thing, and even came forward in person to defend Zhuang Ye in front of the ministers, so he praised him.

Because of this, even Zhuang Sheng's subordinates did not dare to hold on to Zhuang Ye's behavior of disregarding personal interests because of public affairs. Praise him as a saint in the world.

Under such circumstances, who would dare to question the Supreme Emperor's words: Didn't the bribes accepted by Prince Chengke go into the treasury?But why didn't they see a dime?Even the household department kept silent about this property that was only heard but not seen.

On the contrary, Emperor Chunyou also reduced the expenses of the harem and took out a large sum of money from his private treasury, claiming to build water conservancy irrigation projects and build large waterwheels in drought-prone areas.So it triggered another eulogy to Emperor Chunyou.

Zhuang Sheng really hated this and gritted his teeth: These two brothers, a sum of money, used it twice, and they both gained a good reputation, it's really hateful.

When Zhuang Ye returned to the capital, he could not help but feel the corners of his mouth twitch when he heard the overwhelming praise from Jingzhong.

It can almost be said that Zhen Wenyi and others who were summoned to Beijing following Zhuang Ye were scolded by the Supreme Emperor in the Shoukun Palace, and the sweat on their faces hardly stopped flowing.

When they heard the voice of praise for Zhuang Ye from Beijing, they knew that something was wrong. They never expected that Zhuang Ye would make such a move, and they hated him so much, but And there was nothing they could do—the most urgent thing they should think about was how to get themselves out, how to explain why the gift to Zhuang Ye could exceed their own salary by many times.

Compared with them, Zhen Wenyi was much calmer. Because of Zhuang Sheng's relationship, the Zhen family didn't think that they could bribe Zhuang Ye to please him, so when they gave gifts along with Da Liu, the gifts they gave were not out of line.If Zhuang Ye hadn't returned to Beijing to bring back a lot of evidence about the Zhen family's domineering and domineering men and women in Jiangnan, maybe Zhen Wenyi would have been entrusted by the Supreme Emperor to rectify the officialdom in Jiangnan.

Zhen Wenyi was able to do whatever he wanted in the south of the Yangtze River like a local emperor, and even dared to create obstacles for Emperor Chunyou's rule for Zhuang Sheng, wasn't it because of his relationship with the Supreme Emperor?But now that the Supreme Emperor was already dissatisfied with him, Zhen Wenyi did not dare to act rashly for a while, and could only watch as Emperor Chunyou used the name of rectifying the Jiangnan officialdom to plant nails everywhere in Jiangnan to shake the influence of the Zhen family on the Jiangnan officialdom.

The rectification of the Jiangnan officialdom this time was not a small move, but it did not exceed the bottom line. The number of people who were dismissed or demoted did not even reach half, and it would not affect the operation of government affairs. Those who are in their original positions or who have been demoted one level are lucky enough to not have the courage to oppose or obstruct them. They are even afraid that they will be implicated.

All of a sudden, Jiangnan's officialdom suddenly became clear.

Of course Emperor Chunyou and others knew that all of this was only temporary, but many things could not be resolved clearly at once, they could only be solved gradually.

However, to achieve the present effect, Emperor Chunyou already felt satisfied for the time being.

As for the Zhen family, after reading Zhuang Ye's investigation on the internal relationship of the Zhen family, Emperor Chunyou twitched his lips and issued an imperial decree, promoting Zhen Yingjia, the eldest son of Zhen Wenyi, to be a fourth-rank bachelor's servant and transferred to Beijing to serve in Beijing.

Zhen Yingjia couldn't feel happy about this obvious grace, but the imperial decree had been issued, but she couldn't resist it, so she had to bring her wife and children to Beijing to go to work.

The Zhen family's influence is mainly in the south of the Yangtze River. Zhen Yingjia is in the capital, beyond her reach, so she can't take care of many things in the south of the Yangtze River.In this way, if Zhen Yingxia stays in Jiangnan and by Zhen Wenyi's side, many things can only be carried out through him, and the power of Jiangnan's connections will gradually be controlled by Zhen Yingxia. This is really too bad for Zhen Yingjia It worked out.

Such a result was naturally something that Emperor Chunyou and Zhuang Ye liked to hear.Zhen Yingjia is calm and difficult to deal with, but Zhen Yingya is not a person of great wisdom. Only when the Zhen family is in Zhen Yingya's hands can they make big mistakes, and only then can they have the opportunity and reason to clean up the Zhen family.