The Empress Dowager of the Zhang family did not expect Yang Shiqi to mention the inner court at this time, she was slightly stunned at first, and then a trace of anger flashed on her face.

Although the angry look on the face of the Empress Dowager Zhang flashed, it did not escape the eyes of Li Yuntian, who was standing in front of the bed, and was seen by Li Yuntian at a glance.

Li Yuntian had nothing to do at this time, he couldn't interrupt Yang Shiqi at this time, so he could only smile bitterly in his heart, it was obvious that the Empress Dowager Zhang would not agree to Yang Shiqi's dismissal.

On the surface, Yang Shiqi's negligence is reasonable and well-founded, and it is a move to worry about the country and the people, but in fact, it involves a collision between the monarch's power and the minister's power.

The civil officials in the court wanted to take advantage of the death of the Empress Dowager Zhang to defeat the inner court that represented the monarch's power in one fell swoop, so that the inner court could no longer restrain the Wenchen group, and the Empress Dowager Zhang wanted the civil official group to assist the young orthodox emperor, so it was difficult to refuse this request of the Wenchen group.

As long as there is the approval of the Empress Dowager Zhang, the next step for the civil official group is to abolish the inner court and return power to the civilian clique in accordance with the Empress Dowager Zhang's "decree", which is definitely not what the Empress Dowager Zhang wants to see.

In the history of China's more than 2,000 years of feudal dynasties, the civil official group of the Ming Dynasty had the most powerful power, and the emperor of the Ming Dynasty after the Yongle Emperor was also the most lenient to the civil officials, which made the emperor of the Ming Dynasty often criticized by those civil servants who wanted to win a clear name, and the strength of the ministers' power can be seen.

However, in the final Ming generation, the Wenchen group failed to really control the government, because the Ming Dynasty had a special institution than the previous dynasties - the celebrant supervisor, which is commonly known as the inner court.

Unlike the eunuchs of the Tang and Song dynasties, Emperor Xuande opened the Inner Book Hall to carry out systematic cultural education for the eunuchs, and trained them according to the requirements of cultivating civil officials, which made the eunuchs in the inner court have the ability to compete with civil officials.

It was under the control of the inner court that the civil official group of the Ming Dynasty failed to control the situation, and the power of the Ming Dynasty was always held in the hands of the emperor.

Although the emperor of the Ming Dynasty seemed to be negligent in government affairs and did not like to listen to the government, the central and local yamen of the Ming Dynasty have been operating in an orderly manner and have not had problems because of this.

Of course, there is the credit of the civil official group in carefully handling daily government affairs, but also the supervision of the inner court, and it is the mutual checks and balances between the inner court and the civil official group that make the Ming Dynasty stable.

Speaking of which, this is exactly where the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were clever, leaving the complicated daily government affairs to the courtiers and servants to do, while enjoying the pleasures of life themselves.

The reason why the eunuchs in the inner court will fly high and domineering, in a sense, also reflects the strength of the civil official group from the side, the emperor deliberately indulged the eunuchs in order to check and balance the civil official group, let the eunuchs fight the power of the civil official group, so that the power of the two sides is balanced.

Judging from the history of the Ming Dynasty, although the eunuchs had a lot of power, they were all dependent on their brothers, and they were not like Li Tang and other dynasties that could elevate the emperor and were always the emperor's servants.

Among the three powerful eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty, except for Wang Zhen, who was killed by angry generals, Liu Jin and Wei Zhongxian were all eliminated by the emperor, and Liu Jin and Wei Zhongxian did not have the slightest resistance to this, which shows that the eunuchs were only vassals of the emperor.

Otherwise, Liu Jin and Wei Zhongxian would be like the eunuchs of the Li and Tang dynasties, who could depose the emperor and set up a new son of heaven.

"Ahem......" Just as Li Yuntian was pondering how to play a round to ease the tense atmosphere of the scene, the Empress Dowager Zhang suddenly coughed violently, and a mouthful of blood spurted out of her mouth, interrupting Yang Shiqi's words.

"Quickly pass on the imperial doctor!" The orthodox emperor was taken aback when he saw this, and hurriedly rushed forward to support the Empress Dowager Zhang, and then shouted at the inner attendant at the door, and the inner attendant guarding the door hurriedly went to the outer hall to ask the imperial doctor waiting there.

The civil and military magnates at the scene showed concerned looks, and looked intently at the Empress Dowager Zhang, whose eyes were closed and fell into the arms of the orthodox emperor.

Yang Shiqi's eyes flashed with a hint of disappointment, he was almost able to finish the third way, and now it seems that the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family, who was already extremely weak, is now more than lucky.

"Alas!" Looking at the Empress Dowager Zhang who had passed out, Li Yuntian sighed secretly.

Li Yuntian didn't think that the Empress Dowager Zhang fainted for no reason, it was obvious that this was deliberately done by the Empress Dowager Zhang, he didn't expect that the Empress Dowager Zhang would use this hand to deal with the difficulties of the civil official group, judging from the physical condition of the Empress Dowager Zhang, I am afraid that it will be difficult for her to wake up after closing her eyes this time.

I have to say that this choice of the Empress Dowager Zhang is the most sensible, so as to not only protect the inner court, but also avoid tearing up her face with the civil official group.

The imperial doctors guarding the outer hall did not dare to slack off, and came to the bed to diagnose the Empress Dowager Zhang, and the orthodox emperor and Li Yuntian and others waited anxiously on the side.

"Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager is gone!" After some busyness, the sweaty imperial doctors knelt in front of the orthodox emperor one after another, and the leading imperial doctor said with sincere fear.

"The Empress Dowager!" Hearing this, Li Yuntian, Zhang Fu, Yang Shiqi and other civil and military magnates all knelt down in unison, and the palace maids and chamberlains also knelt down one after another, and the house suddenly cried and shook the sky.

"Spread my will, the Empress Dowager has worked hard all her life, and her funeral must be done in a beautiful manner." The Orthodox Emperor, Empress Dowager Sun, and Empress Hu then also knelt in front of the bed, and the Orthodox Emperor wiped his tears while shouting Song Dashan, who was kneeling behind him.

"Minions understand." Song Dashan kowtowed when he heard this, and hurriedly left to go to the funeral of the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family.

"The mountain rain is coming, and the wind is full of buildings!" With the departure of the Empress Dowager Zhang, Li Yuntian, who was kneeling behind the Orthodox Emperor, seemed to have smelled the smell of gunsmoke, and couldn't help but say secretly in his heart.

Looking at the serenely dressed Empress Dowager Zhang on the bed, the two lines of enthusiasm flowed down Li Yuntian's cheeks, the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family has always relied on him, and she also takes care of the Zhongwang Mansion, which makes Li Yuntian saddened by her departure.

The news of the death of the Empress Dowager Zhang soon spread throughout the capital, and the entire capital was then shrouded in a sad atmosphere, and the people respected the virtuous and virtuous Empress Dowager Zhang, so many people took the initiative to wear filial piety for it.

In the edict left by the Empress Dowager Zhang, he encouraged the Chinese military minister of the dynasty to assist Emperor Yingzong in implementing benevolent government, and his sincere and sincere tone moved the hundred officials.

In order to highlight the life of the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family, after the Ministry of Rites, the orthodox emperor honored her as "Sincere Filial Piety, Gong Su Mingde, Hongren, Shun Tianqi Shengzhao Empress".

Later generations have a lot of praise for the Empress Dowager Zhang, and it is recorded in the "Ming History Chronicle":

Xuan Huang Yan drives, and the new master is young. Wang Zhen is an old servant of the Qinggong Palace, as if he is conceited and cares about his life. At that time, Sanyang was still in power. The Queen Mother is virtuous, with Han Ma and Song Gao.

"Romance of the History of the Ming Dynasty" said: Wang Zhen used things to cause trouble to Yingzong, and the Empress Dowager made a candle and a traitor, so that the female official was about to be stabbed in the neck, and her wisdom was even more unattainable. It was the emperor's ministers who begged, and if they were not punished, the traitor did not go, and there were many delays...... If the Empress Dowager Zhang's family, she is especially a heroine?

In December, the Empress Dowager Zhang and Renzong were buried together in the Xianling Mausoleum, and attached to the Taimiao, and a generation of virtuous queens finally withdrew from the stage of history.

After the funeral of the Empress Dowager Zhang, Li Yuntian, who had been busy with funeral matters, could finally breathe a sigh of relief, and now the reform of the new military system of the Northern Zhudu Division is nearing the end, and the tax reform in Jiangnan is also coming to an end, which makes him rarely idle.

It is said that he is idle, it is not that Li Yuntian has nothing to do, he is in a high position and has to deal with a large number of official affairs every day, but the official affairs at hand are not as energy-consuming as the reform of the military system of the new army and the reform of taxation.

On the third day of the burial of the Empress Dowager Zhang, Wang Zhen was promoted to the eunuch of the ceremonial eunuch Bingbi by the orthodox emperor, and Song Dashan replaced Yang Qing as the eunuch of the imperial horse eunuch and officially took charge of the forbidden army in the palace, and Yang Qing was transferred to Nanjing to take up his post.

With the promotion of Song Dashan and Wang Zhen, the power structure of the inner court has undergone major changes, and Wang Zhen and Song Dashan have officially determined the dominant position of the inner court, so that Jin Ying and Wang Jin and other bigwigs of the original inner court have to be in awe of the two.

After all, once a son of heaven and a courtier, when the Empress Dowager Zhang was there, Jin Ying and Wang Jin and other cabinet elders would still be reused, but with the death of the Empress Dowager Zhang, the eunuchs around the orthodox emperor began to step into the stage of power, and they had to retreat and protect themselves.

The reason why the orthodox emperor did not let Wang Zhen replace Jin Ying and Wang Jin and others in the position of the celebrant was to take into account the qualifications and merits of Jin Ying and others, so he hoped that Wang Zhen could gradually control the ceremonial eunuch.

Jin Ying and Wang Jin are two smart people, naturally know that the back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves, although the orthodox emperor did not remove the two of them from their positions, but the two knew that the orthodox emperor wanted Wang Zhen to be in charge of the celebrant supervisor, so they handed over the affairs of the ceremonial supervisor to Wang Zhen, which made Wang Zhen high-spirited and proud.

Not long after Wang Zhen entered the celebrant eunuch, Wang Zhen's family moved to the capital and lived in a magnificent mansion, happily preparing for the New Year.

As far as Li Yuntian knows, the big mansion where Wang Zhen's family lives was given to him by an official of the Sixth Ministry, after all, not all civil officials have backbone, and not all civil officials can withstand the temptation of power, so in order to promote that official, he chose to take refuge in Wang Zhen, hoping that Wang Zhen would be able to say a few good words in front of the orthodox emperor.

Although Wang Zhen's behavior became more publicized after entering the celebrant prison, Li Yuntian now has no energy to pay attention to him, Yang Shiqi's eldest son Yang Ji has been escorted to the capital from Jiangxi, and because of the seriousness of Yang Ji's case, the three law divisions have been tried.

Li Yuntian checked Yang Ji's file, and felt very helpless in his heart, in the face of conclusive evidence, Yang Ji's evil deeds were exposed one by one, and he would inevitably die, which was definitely a huge blow to Yang Shiqi.