The Prosperous Era of Longwan

The weather in the capital was still cold in February. At Yinshi, the night ban in the capital had been lifted, but there were still very few pedestrians on the streets.

At this time in previous years, there should have been people on horseback and sedan chairs on the streets of the capital rushing to go to court. However, the current Emperor Jiajing has not been in court for many years. Therefore, although the current officials in the capital also get up early, they do not go to court. No need to rush to the Forbidden City against the stars.

But today seems to be different. Many figures suddenly appeared on the street where there were no people in the past. They divided into several groups and ran around the various gates and market intersections in the capital, constantly posting stickers in their hands on the walls.

In the past, people who posted things like this were mostly government officials, but they would go out and post a circle in broad daylight and be done with it. They would not come out in the middle of the night to do such things.

Seeing them coming and going in the middle of the night and moving furtively, you can naturally tell that what they posted is definitely not a beautiful article.

An hour later, when the sun illuminated the entire capital, there were more and more pedestrians bustling on the road.

But at this time, most of them were in a hurry. They had to run around for the day, and naturally they didn't have time to notice any difference between the streets and yesterday.

Until the major city gates of the capital were opened, people from outside the city poured into the city, filling the entire streets. The city of Beijing once again regained its vitality and became as prosperous and lively as before.

Not long after, passers-by discovered the stickers posted at the city gates and major intersections. Although literate people could not fully recognize what was written on them, they could even guess roughly what the stickers said. What.

However, these people all fell silent immediately after reading the words on the sticker. They ignored the people around them who were busy asking him to explain the specific meaning and decisively got into the crowd.

Soon more and more people gathered around the sticker, attracting many readers who were shopping around to watch.

They were no better than the passers-by who could read a little before. They were shaking their heads in front of the onlookers and reading the content on the stickers. But halfway through, their voices suddenly became quieter. Only a few simple-minded and pushy scholars were still there. The content on the sticker was read aloud, but the ordinary people who understood the meaning quickly dispersed, leaving good seats to those behind them.

In just half a day, the content of the sticker had already spread on the streets of Beijing.

Although everyone was very frightened by what was written on the sticker, they still couldn't help but reveal the secret they had just learned in front of people they knew well.

"Have you heard? Some people are complaining about Prince Yu. They say that the emperor did not make Prince Yu the crown prince because it was the traitorous prime minister Yan Song. He deceived the emperor's trust and planned to make Prince Jing the crown prince."

"There is such a thing. Where did you get the news?"

"Go to the streets and see. Someone posted stickers on the streets to expose this matter."

In fact, this is not a secret. In the past, we have spread similar topics when we were free. But today, I saw that the sticker said "nose and eyes". Many people believed what it said, and only a few old people heard it. When he heard the news, there was a look of worry on his face.

For a time, there was a lot of discussion in the capital, and the only private discussion spread quickly to the villages and towns around Beijing through the mouths of the people entering and leaving the city gates of Beijing, and gradually spread outward.

On the way back to the city, Lu Bing issued an emergency order to immediately confiscate the stickers posted everywhere. The people in the capital must not be allowed to continue spreading rumors like this.

In fact, not only Jin Yiwei discovered the news about the stickers, but the Bingma Division, Shuntian Mansion, and even the Daxing and Wanping county offices already knew about it, not to mention Dongchang.

The other party was able to put stickers all over the huge city of Beijing overnight. It was obvious that they were well prepared and not just a spur-of-the-moment move.

As the order was conveyed, Jin Yiwei, Yamen servants and soldiers and horses were all dispatched to forcibly disperse the crowd of onlookers, tear off the stickers and take them all back to the Yamen.

Naturally, such a big incident is not just a matter of destruction. We also need to investigate and analyze the clues on the stickers to find out who is behind the scenes.

There were rumors on the streets of the capital that Yan Song wanted to murder King Yu and support King Jing. As a Beijing official, he naturally learned about it from his subordinates at the first time. Most of the officials in the capital could smell something different behind the scenes through this incident. It means someone is going to cause trouble.

The Metropolitan Procuratorate was a mad dog raised by the imperial court, but after the emergence of such major market rumors, it uncharacteristically did not take any action, and no one filed a petition for impeachment.

But this is actually not surprising. Zhou Yan, who is currently the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, heard the news and immediately summoned all the censors in Beijing and strictly ordered not to participate in the matter.

Zhou Yan was a Jinshi in the second year of Jiajing. He had witnessed the entire political struggle in the Jiajing Dynasty after the Dali Conference. Naturally, he knew that this sticker incident may represent the beginning of another fierce political competition in the Jiajing Dynasty. Under his leadership The Metropolitan Procuratorate must not be used as a weapon.

So Zhou Yan publicly said at the rally, "I really have no control over whoever wants to get involved, but you should be careful about your future."

This was Zhou Yan's naked threat.

As the saying goes, county magistrates are not as good as current officials. The imperial censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate have freedom of speech and can impeach other officials. If you go and write a letter to impeach, then Zhou Yan will send you to patrol Yunnan and Guizhou, and it will be great fun.

Transportation is inconvenient these days, so naturally no one wants to leave the capital and go to remote places like Yunnan and Guizhou, thousands of miles away.

As for other yamen such as the Ministry of Rites, the officials also gave similar hints to their subordinates. After all, no one made the big-character poster this time. Now, whether they are officials who support King Yu or officials who support King Jing, they are still I was wondering, wondering if the incident was caused by the other party.

Such news was naturally reported to the ears of Emperor Jiajing by Dongchang immediately, and then Jinyiwei also reported the matter secretly.

"Are there any memorials about King Yu and King Jing?"

Emperor Jiajing looked calmly at Gao Zhong below and asked.

"Reporting to your Majesty, in the trends sent by the cabinet today, I did not see any memorials about Prince Yu and Prince Jing."

Gao Zhong replied hurriedly.

"Any memorials about them will be sent to me for review as soon as possible."

Emperor Jiajing just said something very plainly. The courtiers still didn't understand who made the big-character poster this time. Emperor Jiajing was also muttering at this time.

After Gao Zhong took today's memorial away, Emperor Jiajing asked Huang Jindao again: "Who did King Yu and King Jing come into contact with these days? What words did they say?"

There is no smoke without fire, and everything happens for a reason. Emperor Jiajing also became suspicious of his two sons. Who finally couldn't hold it anymore and came up with such a way to test himself.

"The two highnesses have not gone out in the mansion in recent days, and have not had contact with outsiders."

Huang Jin immediately bowed and replied.

"Check again."

Emperor Jiajing just gave an instruction and then started today's practice.

By this time, the news of the mutiny in Nanjing Zhenwu Camp had not yet reached the capital, and the messenger was still rushing on the road in the wind and snow.

Although all the stickers posted were confiscated by the sergeants and government officials in the capital in just half a day, the rumors in the market continued.

Guo Xiyan sat on the chair, listening to the news from her close servants who was basically satisfied.

Although he failed to cause major turmoil in the officialdom, public doubts and fierce external opinions had already taken shape. What's more, he wanted to take the lead and calculated from the beginning that the officials in office might not dare to take action without authorization due to doubts.

One day later, Guo Xiyan put on his official uniform and went to the General Affairs Department to submit the memorial that he had considered for three days.

The memorials he wrote were naturally based on the theory of "safeguarding the reserve".

He bluntly stated in his memorial that the emperor once had an edict to "establish an emperor and establish a crown prince", and people from generation to generation congratulated each other with "establishing a crown prince".

The so-called "establishing a crown prince" means establishing a crown prince. The crown prince is also called the "Crown Prince", "Crown Prince" and "Guo Ben".

However, it is difficult to "establish a reserve", so it is better to mention "secure reserve". The so-called "secure reserve" is to ensure the safety of King Yu.

In order to ensure the safety of King Yu, the emperor and the prime minister, the second king and the prime minister, the prince and the prince, the emperor and the prince must trust each other and get rid of suspicion.

He also made an in-depth discussion of the core human relations and power distribution in the court between the two kings and the prime minister, between the two kings, and between the emperor and the two kings. He proposed that the emperor should summon the two kings and Yan Song respectively to give instructions; King Yu stayed in Beijing, King Jing went to the fief as soon as possible and other specific suggestions.

Guo Xiyan used falsehood to attack reality. On the surface, he said that he was afraid that the prime minister and the prince would doubt each other.

On the surface, he showed concern for Yan Song, but in fact, he charged him with shaking the "national foundation", which made Yan Song difficult to resist.

Guo Xiyan's memorial fell into the hands of Luo Longwen. Although he felt that it would be difficult for Yan Song to submit the memorial, Guo Xiyan submitted the memorial through formal channels and the General Affairs Office had already filed it. He had no way to hide it directly, so he had to He went to the cabinet alone with the memorial.

When he arrived at Yan Song's duty room, he learned from the clerk that Yan Shifan had not arrived yet, so he had no choice but to have someone notify him. Then he entered the room and handed Guo Xiyan's memorial to Yan Song.

Such a thing cannot pass through the hands of others. If it falls into Xu Jie's place, there is no telling what will happen.

Of course, Xu Jie might not vote, but hand it over to the next door.

However, although Xu Jie always maintained respect for the Yan family in front of others and behind the scenes, Yan Shifan told Luo Longwen many times that he should be careful about Xu Jie's son.

Xu Jie was sent to another place by his father Yan Song. He didn't expect that he would be able to return to the court after going around for a long time. In the absence of a suitable candidate, Yan Song was forced to choose him as the only one. The candidate was successfully elected to the cabinet.

Xu Jie was Xia Yan's disciple. He never dared to forget this easily, so he was always on guard. However, Xu Jie was cunning enough and could never find a reason to kill him.

"En Xiang, this is a memorial written by Guo Xiyan, the former Zuochunfang Zuozhong of Zhanshi Mansion, proposing Prince Yu as the crown prince."

After receiving the notice, Luo Longwen stepped into Yan Song's duty room, handed Guo Xiyan's memorial to Yan Song, and then briefly explained the content of the memorial.

"Guo Xiyan? He didn't return to Jiangxi?"

After all, Guo Xiyan is also a fellow from Jiangxi. In last year's official assessment, Guo Xiyan was a bit proud of his talents and was disliked by many colleagues, so Yan Song did not choose to help him.

I thought that this fellow countryman should go back to his hometown, but he didn't expect that he was still in the capital.

"Eun Xiang, take a look. Those stickers from the past two days may have been posted by him."

Luo Longwen analyzed in a low voice that he got through Yan Shifan's connections, talked to his father, and got the official position of Zhongshu Sheren. Later, he was sent to the General Affairs Department by Yan Shifan, so now he sees Yan Song always responded with kindness.

After Yan Song heard Luo Longwen's words, his gray brows furrowed, and then he opened the memorial and read it carefully.

Not long after, he finished reading Guo Xiyan's memorial. Thinking of the reactions from all parties and his memorial, Yan Song did not believe that it was written on the spur of the moment by Guo Xiyan after hearing the news.

"I didn't expect Xiyan to have such a strategy, haha."

Although Yan Song was smiling, Luo Longwen still saw murderous intent in his fierce eyes, which really made Yan Song angry.

I don't know how to be an official, I can't stay in the officialdom, and I actually hate me. It's your business to make suggestions and establish a throne, but you go around and talk about the king, be suspicious of each other, and guarantee the king's favor. Safety, why do you have so much peace of mind?

Sima Zhao's heart is known to everyone on the road.

However, like Luo Longwen, Yan Song could not suppress this memorial. Now the news of this memorial has probably spread among the six departments and major yamen in the capital.

It was just that Yan Song was thinking a little too much at this time, and then Yan Song drew up a note: "I would like to present my courtesy to you for detailed discussion."

When it comes to the matter of establishing a crown prince, it is natural that the Ministry of Rites will discuss and decide before reporting it to the cabinet, so Yan Song's vote can be said to be satisfactory.

He put the memorial among the memorials waiting to be sent to the Supervisor of Ceremonies, and chatted with Luo Longwen for a few words, and Luo Longwen withdrew knowingly.

The memorial arrived at the Supervisor of Ceremonies and was in the hands of Gao Zhong. Gao Zhong did not dare to delay after reading the memorial and the draft, and hurriedly sent it to Emperor Jiajing of Yongshou Palace.

After reading Guo Xiyan's memorial and Yan Song's proposal, Emperor Jiajing's face instantly turned cold.

Yan Song asked the Ministry of Rites to discuss it in detail. I am the emperor, and I have the final say on who should be established or not.

"write down."

Emperor Jiajing glanced at Gao Zhong and said contemptuously: "You will take a look and see what you want to do. How about just saying goodbye to the suburban temple according to his words?"

Gao Zhong held the pen in his hand, but did not dare to put it down easily.

Huang Jin on the side hurriedly bowed and said: "Your Majesty, write this, Mr. Ge"

"No matter what he does, they can decide who is the crown prince. They only need to discuss it with the Ministry of Rites. Why bother reporting it to me? If you have the result, report it directly to the ancestral temple. Just write it like this without changing a word."

Emperor Jiajing said angrily, with a very unkind tone, "Send someone to send the memorial to the cabinet directly, ask them to discuss it with the Ministry of Rites, go directly to the ancestral temple, and say I am right."

When Guo Xiyan's memorial was sent back to the cabinet, Yan Song was immediately shocked.

"Dad, you are so confused, how can you predict your intentions?"

At this time, Yan Shifan was on duty and became anxious when he saw the memorial of criticizing Hong.

He could tell that his father thought that someone might have instructed Guo Xiyan to write this memorial, so he drafted it like this.

Yan Song was also confused at this time. Now it seems that he really thought too much at that time, and the palace did not know about it at all.

"I'm so confused. How should I submit my vote? It's up to you."

At this time, Yan Song could only choose to trust his son, Yan Shifan, who was known as a "ghost" to make the decision.

Yan Shifan read the memorial and did not hesitate to write and draft it again: "The intention is doubtful. The current meeting of the three legal divisions of the Ministry of Rites has made it a public decision, and the punishment has been dismissed."