Chapter 681: The Imperial Banquet
At this point, even Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe finally felt that something was wrong. The pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info tried to test Emperor Zhengde several times, but he was tried to block back by Gu Dayong in front of the emperor.
Li Dongyang is also helpless, among the eight tigers, Liu Jin is ruthless, Gao Fengcheng is extremely deep, Zhang Yong cares about the overall situation the most, and this Gu Dayong is the one with the most hidden needles.
To deal with Liu Jin, Li Dongyang can use the imperial court to force him to back down slightly, Gao Feng and Zhang Yongzi needless to say, but Gu Dayong is useless.
All kinds of methods were used, but they were unable to talk to the emperor, and finally Gu Dayong saw that the time was almost up, and everything that should be said was said, so he ordered the court to be disbanded, and a cadre of people went to the side hall to wait for the convening of the imperial banquet.
The emperor, who had always been wooden, also got up at this time and said a word in person, and then left the platform with Gu Dayong's support.
The emperor wanted to leave, and Li Dongyang and the others were naturally helpless, so they could only go with him.
After the emperor left, the ministers of the ministries and the directors of the departments dispersed, and only a few scholars in the cabinet who knew the inside story stayed and discussed with Yang Yiqing.
"Di An, isn't the emperor strange today?" Yang Tinghe was more anxious, and seeing that there was no one to eavesdrop on, he asked Yang Yiqing directly.
Yang Yiqing was already among the Qingliu civil officials, and his reputation was outstanding, not much worse than Yang Tinghe. At this moment, he lived up to expectations and returned with a big victory, even if Yang Ting and Gui were the second assistants, they were also respectful to him, and they felt that Yang Yiqing might have any opinions on this matter.
Seeing Yang Tinghe's strange face, Yang Yiqing also smiled faintly, bowed, and said: "Jiefu, is this emperor strange or not, I think Xiya Gong and you are much clearer than me!"
"This is good!" Li Dongyang on the side also smiled, nodded and said, "Before I drove with my husband for a long time, his performance today was really strange!"
"That's right!" Seeing that Li Dongyang also nodded in agreement with the emperor's strangeness, Yang Yiqing couldn't help but think of Zhang Yong's confidence in Liu Jin's victory brought back from Liu Jin's mansion today, so he immediately used his internal force to quietly tell these things.
At the end, he said: "Back then, Xixian Gong led the Three Princes and Nine Qings, intending to depose the Eight Tigers headed by Liu Jin, but unfortunately the plot was not secret, and Liu Jin preemptively attacked, which led him to return to his hometown! Over the years, Liu Jin has been deeply rooted in the imperial court, and has become a chronic disease in the imperial court, and now that I have returned from a great victory, I will inevitably impeach him, but he has a chance to win, I may not understand it at first, but combined with the strange performance of His Majesty today, I think I know!"
Xixian Gong was the first assistant of the Hongzhi Dynasty and the head of the cabinet in the early years of Zhengde, Liu Jian. At that time, Hongzhi had just died, and Zhengde had just ascended the throne, and the power was in the hands of the cabinet.
During this period, the inner court was controlled by some upright eunuchs, and Hongzhi had been vigorously restraining the inner court from interfering in politics, and for a time, the inner court was unprecedentedly harmonious.
However, after Zhengde ascended the throne, he favored Liu Jin and others, and appointed them to high-ranking officials, and finally Liu Jin and others were ambitious, coupled with the support behind Empress Dowager Zhang, they also tried to seize the power of the inner court.
At that time, the head of the inner court was Wang Yue, and the governor of Dongchang was Fan Heng, all of whom were upright. Seeing that Liu Jin and others were trying to seize power, it was inevitable that the cholera government of internal officials would happen again, and they also got in touch with Liu Jian.
Liu Jian is an upright official, even if he faces Hongzhi directly, he does not hesitate to give a direct advice. Hearing that Liu Jin and others intended to seize the throne, he didn't want the inner court to change people, which would lead to renewed tension between the inner and outer courts, so he immediately contacted the six ministries and nine qing, and together with Wang Yue and Fan Heng of the inner court, he wanted to come to the front of the imperial court and bring down Liu Jin.
It's just that among these nine Qings, there happens to be Jiao Fang. He has always been on bad terms with Liu Jian, and he thinks that he is old, and if Liu Jian has been staying in the position of first assistant, he will never have a bright future.
So Jiao Fang came to Liu Jin's mansion that night, reported the matter to him, and also put it under Liu Jin's command.
After Liu Jin got the news, he came to the royal car with the Eight Tigers overnight to cry, and asked the emperor to send them to Nanjing for the elderly, so as not to cause a catastrophe.
Zhengde was young and vigorous at that time, and he felt that he had just ascended to the throne, but he just wanted to appoint a few trusted ministers, but he was interfered by the foreign court, and he was also angry in his heart.
Coupled with the instigation of Empress Dowager Zhang, either overtly or covertly, as well as his affection for Liu Jin and other Eight Tigers, he directly repelled Liu Jian on the second day, making this old minister of the Three Dynasties helpless, together with another university scholar Xie Qian, to blame Zhishi.
What Yang Yiqing said is exactly what happened. Li Dongyang was one of the three scholars at the beginning, and Liu Jian and Xie Qian were inseparable from each other, and Yang Tinghe was also in the court at that time, and he was even more familiar.
Hearing Yang Yiqing's words, the two scholars were taken aback, and nodded faintly, realizing that tonight's situation was similar to that day when Liu Jian led the six departments and nine secretaries, and joined the inner court to impeach Liu Jin and others.
The difference is that the real host this time is not himself, the first assistant, but the second son of Emperor Hongzhi and the younger brother of Emperor Zhengde.
Faintly thinking of what Yang Yiqing said about Zilong's decision to launch it immediately tonight, not waiting for tomorrow or even later, Li Dongyang felt that this was much slower than Liu Jian's movements.
At that moment, Li Dongyang couldn't help but say: "What does Di An mean, is this time Liu Jin the same as that time, in advance at His Majesty's place, doing a good job, waiting for us to go to the net?"
When Yang Tinghe heard this, he was shocked. He was not worried that he would fail to bring down Liu Jin and make him lose his official position and resign. What he was worried about was that this operation was really a collection of all the energy of the Ming Dynasty's civil and military officials, and if it failed again this time, Liu Jin would definitely not be able to check and balance it in the future.
So Yang Tinghe also looked at Yang Yiqing with some apprehension, and said, "Ah, what Xiya Gong said is true?"
Seeing that these two scholars of the current dynasty heard that Liu Jin had dealt with it, and they had already done a good job with the emperor, they were all a little chaotic, and Yang Yiqing had learned a lot about Liu Jin's prestige.
Now the Qingliu civil officials of the imperial court still need the guidance of these two scholars, and Zilong's plan to overthrow Liu Jin is also inseparable from the support of the Qingliu civil officials.
In addition, Yang Yiqing and the two university scholars have a very personal friendship, whether it is public or private, he has to appease the two college students. So he saw Yang Yiqing and said confidently: "Two adults, maybe you don't know Zilong enough, his plan tonight, not to mention nine out of ten, but there is a fifty percent chance of winning, even if His Majesty the Emperor will not directly agree, he also has a backup plan!"
In addition to telling the two scholars that they will launch tonight, Zilong strictly ordered individuals not to leak what they would do.
Among them, in order to prevent various possible situations, Zilong also prepared a lot of countermeasures, even the emperor was bewitched by Liu Jin, and re-trusted Liu Jin, Zilong thought of some possible countermeasures.
It's just that among them, there are some ways to say that it is a big rebellion, and it is better not to let these two scholars know.
Fortunately, these two scholars are very human, and they know Yang Yiqing well enough to know that he won't mess around, so they calmed down a little, and Li Dongyang said loudly: "
Although Zilong has a special identity, from the perspective of my many years of observation, he is a promising person.
Since you have all decided that tonight is the best time, I will cooperate with you. It's just that you have to think about it, if you lose this time, I'm afraid that we will all be greatly damaged, and even my husband and I will be blamed.
At that time, the imperial court will be the real ten thousand horses, and if Liu Jin is in control, we will no longer have the shame to face the first emperor under Jiuquan!"
For the gentle and benevolent Emperor Hongzhi, Li Dongyang is extremely respectful, and he has always wanted to repay the kindness of the first emperor in his heart. Therefore, this launch, he also thought about it for a long time.
"Xiya Gong, Jiefu, I, Yang Yiqing, hereby promise, if I don't succeed, I will become benevolent, even if I give up my Yang Yiqing's life, today Liu Jin will continue to play prestige in the court!" Yang Yiqing saw that Li Dongyang said seriously, and immediately hugged his fists and saluted, solemnly guaranteeing.
Seeing Yang Yiqing like this, Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe glanced at each other, and then they didn't say more, looked at each other and smiled, and retreated with Yang Yiqing.
Time passed very quickly, and from the end of the platform small pilgrimage meeting, the entire palace was in the midst of intense preparations for the celebration of the imperial banquet.
The Han generals and the forbidden army all stood at their posts without smiling, or patrolled back and forth, beware of any suspicious people who had infiltrated the palace.
The palace maids and eunuchs, like ants, rushed back and forth in groups, and on this platform, a shed was set up on the spot for tonight's royal banquet.
The delicacies of the mountains and seas, like flowing water, were constantly moved from the imperial dining room to various cases by the palace maids and eunuchs. At the second minute of the day, the civil officials, under the leadership of Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe, and the meritorious military attachés, under the leadership of the British Duke and the Chengguo Prince, slowly walked into the venue of the imperial banquet and found their place to sit down.
Because of the emperor's decree, all officials above the seventh rank in Beijing are eligible to participate. Therefore there were a great number of men, no less than five hundred.
Although the platform is vast, those important ministers are naturally not good to get involved with their subordinates. First, they are there, which will make the officials below unable to let go, and secondly, there are important things to talk about among the important ministers.
Therefore, this imperial banquet is divided into two banquets, the outer banquet is on the platform, and the inner banquet is in the Fengtian Hall not far away. Zilong and the others, who are pretending to be official positions at the moment, are only six or seven small military attachés, so they are not qualified to enter the Fengtian Palace, so they can only watch Yang Yiqing and the three of them enter the Fengtian Hall with dozens of important ministers.
It's just that today's real drama is going to happen in the internal banquet of Fengtian Palace, and Zilong, as one of the planners and executors of this action, naturally can't stay on the platform honestly.