The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty

The meeting ended.

In the end, Li Dongyang vomited blood and fell into a coma and became lonely.

The explanation given by the imperial court to the suffering master, Zhongshan Marquis, was that Li Zhaofan was sent to prison for torture, and that the Chaling Li family was about to be investigated by the imperial censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

This time, Li Dongyang, the chief minister of the cabinet, has a notorious reputation.

His collusion with the eunuch Liu Jin was directly exposed to the public by Tang Hao. Not only was he despised and excluded by the civil servants and officials, but he was also directly deprived of most of his power.

Not to mention that the Hanlin Academy that he originally held in his hands was gone, because his collusion with eunuchs was not tolerated by the scholar-bureaucrats. Therefore, Li Dongyang, the chief minister of the cabinet, would also be alienated from the civil servants and gentry, and would inevitably be criticized, criticized, and impeached in the future.

Perhaps only the Huguang Township Party under his command would consider the powerful position of the party leader, hoping to use his guidance to rise to the top and take a further step in his official career.

As for other civil servants and gentry, whether the chief minister of the cabinet can still command them depends on their mood.

After all, the current cabinet is not the cabinet of Zhang Juzheng's era, and the six ministries can still compete with the cabinet!

After the court meeting, the officials retreated one after another, and as they went down to court, the shocking changes that happened today will inevitably spread throughout the capital in an instant, and then radiate to the entire Ming Dynasty!

At that time, Li Dongyang will be truly stinky and notorious!

Tang Hao originally wanted to go home directly. After all, the Tang family had just made a fuss and there were still many hidden dangers that needed to be solved. However, as soon as he walked out of the hall, he was called by Zhang Yong. He could only bite the bullet and followed Zhang Yong to the emperor's palace. .

At this moment, Zhu Houzhao was the only one in the palace, and all the eunuchs and maids had been driven out.

Even after Tang Hao entered, the door was closed by the soldiers.

When Zhu Houzhao saw the visitor, he coldly put down the "Di Jian Tu Shuo" in his hand and stared at Tang Hao without saying a word.

Seeing His Majesty the Emperor's posture, Tang Hao couldn't help but smile bitterly in return.

After thinking about it, he still sighed, knelt down on the ground and saluted solemnly, without any carelessness in the past.

Zhu Houzhao still didn't speak, and the two of them were in a stalemate, and the atmosphere became extremely solemn.

I don't know how long it took, but the young emperor couldn't stand this weird atmosphere and spoke out.

"The cold nature of Li Dongyang is really impressive!"

"You and I have worked together to force him to this point, and he still refuses to take the initiative to resign and become an official. Now he is in trouble!"

When Zhu Houzhao spoke, he actually mentioned business matters.

Following these words, Tang Hao also gave a serious answer.

"Li Dongyang is different from Liu Jian, he is a pure politician!"

"Politician...?" Zhu Houzhao nodded thoughtfully.

"Yes, Li Dongyang is a politician!"

Tang Hao said solemnly: "Politicians only value the power in their hands, and anything else is something they can discard."

"For example, if his stepson Li Zhaofan is asked to make a choice in private, Li Dongyang will definitely abandon this stepson without hesitation and push him out to take the blame!"

"But because I raised it openly in the court, in full view of everyone, Li Dongyang found it hard to speak, so he eventually vomited blood and fainted to escape!"

Hearing this, even Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but shake his head.

"What a despicable person who is greedy for power!"

Speaking of which, Li Dongyang's health has long since failed. He had asked to resign many times during the Hongzhi period, but Emperor Hongzhi did not agree. I don't know what kind of mentality this scholar Li had at that time.

It happened that during the Zhengde period, he began to make trouble. He was forced to this point and was unwilling to resign.

Tang Hao had no sympathy for such people.

Not to mention the Huguang Township Party that Li Dongyang single-handedly promoted, how much national interest was occupied and how much land was annexed. Just look at the time that Tang Hao left Beijing for more than a year and went to sea. Li Dongyang colluded with Liu Jin to disrupt the originally good court situation. If the world is turned upside down, he deserves death!

"Whether he resigns or not, it actually means nothing."

"After today's incident, Li Dongyang's charge of colluding with eunuchs will be confirmed. Even if he cannot be directly brought down, he will still be ostracized by civil servants and gentry because of his status as eunuchs. The chief minister of the cabinet is just a clay sculpture. The chief assistant has no power at all!"

Tang Hao chuckled lightly and said: "I hope he can stand firm longer and continue to be the chief assistant of this clay sculpture, so that Yang Tinghe will have more time to grow."

"If in another two or three years, when Li Dongyang can no longer hold on, and Xie Qian is old, Yang Tinghe will be able to take over as the chief minister of the cabinet!"

Zhu Houzhao smiled inexplicably when he heard this, and asked meaningfully: "Are you so optimistic about Master Yang?"

In fact, the emperor couldn't quite understand why Tang Hao was so optimistic about Yang Tinghe.

You must know that he sent Jin Yiwei to investigate secretly. There was never any contact between Tang Hao and Yang Tinghe. Even this "Emperor's Illustrated Book" was suddenly sent to Yang Tinghe's house by Tang Hao. The two had never even met. !

In this case, why does Tang Hao think so highly of Yang Tinghe?

"Because Yang Tinghe is His Majesty's division commander, it is better for him to be in charge of the cabinet than other civil servants."

Tang Hao gave an ambiguous answer. He couldn't tell Zhu Houzhao that he was from a later generation and knew Yang Tinghe's talents and abilities, right?

Historically, Yang Tinghe had a good reputation and was compared to famous officials such as Zhou Bo in the Western Han Dynasty and Han Qi in the Northern Song Dynasty.

The two ministers briefly exchanged a few words, but found that they had nothing to say again, and fell into a long silence for a while.

Another long period of time passed, and Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but speak first.

"How is the situation going out to sea this time?"

"Mostly it's not bad. The main objectives have been achieved."

Tang Hao didn't hide anything and spoke in detail.

As he spoke, Zhu Houzhao's eyes also showed a look of longing.

He, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, also longed to go on a long voyage, ride the sea, and see the vast blue ocean.

It's a pity that just because he is the Ming Emperor, Zhu Houzhao may never have the opportunity to go to sea in his life!

"First, I led my troops to eliminate the Japanese pirates along the coast of the Ming Dynasty, and slaughtered the Japanese pirate lairs entrenched on Tsushima Island in one fell swoop. In the next ten or twenty years, no Japanese pirates should dare to go out to sea to plunder my Ming Dynasty! "

"Well, well done!" Zhu Houzhao answered in the affirmative.

"Secondly, Zuo Yidao has recorded all the information about my trip to sea. This route is basically in our hands. Next, we only need to invest funds to build warships. Soon we can regain the strength of the navy. , and then went on a long journey to sea."

This was one of Tang Hao's main purposes of going to sea, to control this route eastward to Ryukyu, Jeju Island and the Japanese Kingdom, to reshape the Ming Navy, and then use the navy to control ocean trade.

Zhu Houzhao also had a smile on his face after hearing this. He now also knows the profits of ocean trade. Being able to control a way to make money is a happy thing for any emperor, not to mention that it is a steady stream of money. Way to make money!

"Thank you!" Zhu Houzhao comforted him in a warm voice.

"Third, that is the matter of the Jeju Racecourse. I think the North Korean envoys should have arrived in the Ming Dynasty, right? According to our previous plan, the Jeju Racecourse has now belonged to the Ming Dynasty. However, North Korea still did not give up and sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty. Trying to fight one or two.”

"They have arrived a long time ago!" Zhu Houzhao also smiled, "But I sent people to lock them up in the Huitong Hall. I asked for an interview many times but they were all rejected. Anyway, we are not the ones who are anxious now. Let's wait for a while. It’s okay to leave them alone.”

"I thought that I would finalize this matter after you come back, but I didn't expect... I will summon Cheng Xiyan in a few days to implement the matter directly!"

Zhu Houzhao hesitated, but in the end he did not mention the rift between the two, but casually announced a solution to the North Korean mission.

Tang Hao nodded after hearing this.

Daming is indeed not in a hurry, or there is no need to be in a hurry.

Anyway, the Jeju Racecourse is already in its hands. Could it be that North Korea really dares to send troops to attack?

On the contrary, the Li family's North Korea gave Ming a clue because of an internal coup.

If they want to stabilize the foundation of Li's rule in Korea, they must let Li Yi be canonized by the Ming Dynasty. Only in this way can Li Yi have legitimacy, otherwise he will be a rebellious minister.

As time goes by, or the Ming Dynasty sends an envoy to disturb it, the foundation of Li's rule in Korea will be shaken. Those Korean scholar-officials are not inferior to the Ming Dynasty scholar-officials.

After talking about these things, the two fell silent again.

"Yang Yiqing is different from Liu Daxia!"

"He has ability and temper. I don't know if he is the Minister of War. I don't know whether it is good or bad. I'm afraid there will be some trouble in the capital camp."

"It doesn't matter." Tang Hao shook his head, "Yang Yiqing is not Li Dongyang. He is a talented official who has been reused. It can be seen from the fact that he dared to lead an army to raid the Mongolian camp. He is a man who values ​​the justice of his family and country more than his power and status. people!”

Tang Hao didn't care whether Yang Yiqing was a member of the Huguang Township Party. What he really cared about was this person's stance.

For example, Liu Daxia, whose position is completely siding with the Huguang Township Party and the civil servants and gentry, uses his power to suppress the generals and nobles, and wishes to turn the entire Ministry of War into the exclusive preserve of the Huguang Township Party. This kind of person is also a person with a mouth. What a shout about the justice of the family and the country.

Another example is Xu Jin, who was also a ruthless man who led the army to fight. He personally led the army to regain Hami. He was not a rotten scholar who only shouted empty slogans, nor was he a sanctimonious hypocrite like Liu Daxia. Even if Xu Jin was keen on an official career, then It's human nature. As long as he is willing to do things in a down-to-earth manner, Tang Hao doesn't mind pushing him to the top.

Thinking of Xu Jin, Tang Hao couldn't help but asked curiously: "How did Xu Jin's mother pass away? Is it too much of a coincidence?"

"I guess it's the hands of an animal like Li Dongyang!" Zhu Houzhao sighed, "Even if an ordinary thief fails to steal, after being discovered by the owner, his subconscious reaction is to flee in a hurry. How can he still kill people? What's more, he is a murderer. The family of an important official in the court!"

"Ha! I have asked the Jin Yiwei to continue the investigation. None of the officials involved in this matter can escape!"

Tang Hao was silent for a while after hearing this, and his murderous intention towards Li Dongyang deepened in his heart.

The Ming Dynasty had constant internal strife, but basically maintained a certain tacit understanding, which was the unspoken rules of the court.

It is indeed common for two parties to start fights due to political disagreements, but there is no need to bring disaster to wives, children, and family members.

After all, no one can guarantee that he will have the last laugh. If his family is implicated in a court battle, then who would dare to be an official of the Ming Dynasty?

Li Dongyang broke all the rules this time. Not only did he collude with eunuchs, but he also killed Xu Jin's mother. No wonder he didn't care much about Li Zhaofan.

After talking about this topic, the palace suddenly fell into silence again.

Zhu Houzhao also discovered that this damn savage had no intention of admitting his mistake to him!

After all, he was too young, so he slapped the table and shouted: "Tang Hao, don't you have anything else to say?"

say what?

Tang Hao was stunned when he heard this, his face full of confusion.

When Zhu Houzhao saw this, he became even more furious. He pointed at his nose and cursed: "Why do you have to kill Feng'er, you bastard?"

"Did you know that I haven't been able to sleep well every night these past few days? Every time I close my eyes, I see the tragic scene of Feng'er's death. I really want to kill you!"

This is exactly what Zhu Houzhao is saying!

Because Feng'er's death was too miserable at that time.

Tang Hao's last violent throw caused the person to bleed from all his orifices and die with his eyes open!

However, this happened under Zhu Houzhao's eyes. He witnessed his lover being violently killed by Tang Hao. He was so frightened that he had nightmares every night and could not sleep at all. Every time, he gritted his teeth with hatred and thought. He must directly kill Tang Hao to avenge Feng Er!

When Tang Hao heard this question, his expression became extremely solemn.

"Your Majesty, the reason why I want to kill Feng'er is because I am not sure. Your Majesty is just on a whim, because you are curious about novels, so you hang out with Feng'er, or your Majesty himself has this hobby... "

"You bastard!" Zhu Houzhao grabbed the tea cup and threw it at it, but Tang Hao would not tolerate him and just turned his head to avoid it.

"If His Majesty is just looking for novelties, then by killing Feng'er, I will bury a thorn in His Majesty's heart. If someone else contributes in the future, His Majesty will be stung and will not do such a cowardly thing again."

"But if Your Majesty really has this hobby and prefers men to women, then..."

"You're the only one who has this hobby!"

Zhu Houzhao finally couldn't bear it anymore and yelled at Tang Hao.

At the end of the scolding, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but have red eyes.

"Feng'er is a miserable person!"

"Why did you have to kill him?"

"Your Majesty!" Tang Hao's tone became stern, "They are all miserable people!"

"Most of them were born in poverty, so they were sold to brothels by their parents. They received cruel training and were trained to look like neither men nor women. They were specially used for the abuse and pleasure of the powerful. Once they passed the age of beauty, they would be abandoned. I can’t even do any heavy work, so I can only starve to death on the streets!”

"Since Your Majesty knows that Feng'er is a poor person, why does Your Majesty still encourage such unhealthy tendencies? Once those eunuchs and eunuchs know that Your Majesty likes them, they will try their best to search for stunning women everywhere, even if they don't have them, they will let people Go and buy boys and train them immediately...Does Your Majesty want to create Feng'er with your own hands?"

Zhu Houzhao was startled when he heard this, and there were tears faintly streaming from the corners of his eyes.

"I...I never meant this!"

"But Feng'er...what's wrong with him!"

Tang Hao also sighed when he heard this.

"If I don't kill him, Your Majesty will fall into his old ways sooner or later!"

"Even if His Majesty is a womanizer, I will not say anything, but this violates ethics and morals, and will also affect His Majesty's ability to flourish!"

"Has Your Majesty forgotten the precedent set by Master Jingtai? In the end, he insisted on causing the monarch and his ministers to be separated, leaving the family alone and sadly dying of illness?"

The precedent of Emperor Jingtai is clearly there!

Zhu Houzhao was all too familiar with the fact that because Emperor Jingtai had no sons, he eventually died tragically in the palace. Whether he died of illness or was poisoned, not even Zhu Houzhao knew the truth.

But it is undeniable that in the Ming Dynasty at that time, except for a few people, all the courtiers wanted Emperor Jingtai to die!

Therefore, if he, Zhu Houzhao, loves Feng'er wholeheartedly, he may end up with the same miserable end as Emperor Jingtai!

At least they still had a son, but he died of illness.

He, Zhu Houzhao, doesn't have a son now. If he vents all his energy on Feng'er again, he will never think about having a man in this life!

Zhu Houzhao wiped away his tears and stared at Tang Hao sharply.

"You killed my beloved in front of me. How can I accept it?"

"Then if you are dissatisfied with me or harbor resentment in the future, will you still raise an army to cause chaos, break into the Qianqing Palace and chop off my head directly?"

Tang Hao smiled bitterly when he heard these words.

Is it finally here?

Liu Jin and Li Dongyang's plan finally worked!

Because of this incident, Zhu Houzhao really became jealous, suspicious, and even resentful of Tang Hao.

Tang Hao sighed, and then gave a firm answer.

"Your Majesty no longer believes in me, so you don't have to use me!"

"However, if Your Majesty wants to enrich the country and strengthen the army, please follow our previous plan!"

"Opening the sea and lifting the ban must be the national policy of the Ming Dynasty, and the profits from maritime trade can be used to drive the development of the Ming Dynasty. The routes of Ryukyu, North Korea, and Japan must be controlled by a confidant..."

"In addition, there are the soldiers of the Beijing army. Guo Xun's mediocre ability is better than his loyalty, but he must not lead the troops in a battle for the general. If there is a war, your majesty can select a general from the nine sides to lead the troops, or he can recruit the filial piety Xu Jintong in an urgent military situation. When soldiers go to war, they don't necessarily have to stick to those nobles. According to my observation, none of these nobles in Beijing are available! "

"In addition, Liu Jin's biggest ambition is to follow Wang Zhen's example. Please learn from these two experiences and lessons, and never give him a chance to regain power. Even if you want to suppress the civil servants and gentry, your Majesty has more That’s the way to go. There’s no need to let this mad dog damage His Majesty’s honor!”

After saying all this, Tang Hao kowtowed to Zhu Houzhao for the first time.

"I ask you to disarm and return to the fields, leave the capital and go to sea, and never return to the Ming Dynasty for the rest of your life, so as to relieve your majesty's worries!"

Zhu Houzhao felt as if he had been struck by lightning, and for some reason he was extremely panicked.

The savage left Beijing and went to sea, never to return to the Ming Dynasty!

I had forced him away with my own hands, so why was there a dull pain in my heart?

Isn't this the result you want?