It was already one-third dark. Zhu Ping'an stood at the table by the window, reached out and opened the window. The slightly cool evening breeze blew towards him, and the remaining trace of drunkenness completely disappeared.
The condition is just right now, and we should not waste this good time.
Zhu Pingan spread out rice paper in the cool breeze, ground the ink, picked up the pen and dipped it in the ink, and analyzed his current situation on the rice paper. It is said that knowing the enemy and knowing yourself can win a hundred battles. Many people often focus on analyzing their opponents, but forget to analyze themselves, which results in them being in a disadvantageous position when the two sides confront each other head-on. The so-called winning a hundred battles is nothing more than using one's own strengths to attack the opponent's weaknesses, so we must know both the enemy and ourselves. The information I got from Zhang Siwei and Wang Shizhen today can help me analyze better.
In fact, his current situation ultimately stems from that memorial.
Zhu Ping'an left the word "Zouzhe" in the center of the top of the rice paper, and then wrote the word "Jiajing" at the beginning of the second row.
Regarding the memorial, the most important factor that should be considered first is Emperor Jiajing. No matter how powerful Yan Song is and how he controls the government, the real master and the only master of the Ming Dynasty is Emperor Jiajing. Why did Emperor Jiajing practice alchemy and seek immortality? It was to be able to control the Ming Dynasty forever. His desire for power is beyond doubt. How to deal with the memorial is ultimately up to Emperor Jiajing. No matter what the conclusion of the petition of the Ministry of Justice is, it must be reported to Emperor Jiajing for a decision.
No one knows what decision Emperor Jiajing will make, and no one can guess for sure. After all, Emperor Jiajing is a man who takes drugs and practices Taoism, and he becomes weird and weird. He also likes to be mysterious so that his subordinates and ministers cannot guess what he is thinking.
Even Yan Song was not completely sure that he could figure out Emperor Jiajing's situation, and Yan Shifan, the genius who was known for understanding Emperor Jiajing best, did not dare to say so either.
Of course, even if Zhu Ping'an, who came from modern times, had read all the records about Emperor Jiajing in historical books and unofficial histories, and even if he had used his historical advantage to be familiar with Emperor Jiajing's personality, hobbies, and habits, it would not have been possible.
There are psychologists in the world who can guess a normal person's every move with 100% accuracy, but they cannot guess what the hell the meaning of an abnormal human being's simple, silly grin is.
The elixir that Emperor Jiajing took every day contained heavy metals and various strange substances. Who knows if it would affect the nerves over time...
However, although we cannot guess it clearly, we can still analyze it a little.
It was completely dark outside. Zhu Ping'an filled some oil into the oil lamp, lit the lamp to illuminate the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone on the desk, then left two spaces after the word Jiajing and wrote the word "Shangge".
"Reward" is an indispensable factor in analyzing the attitude of Emperor Jiajing, and it is also a topic that cannot be avoided in the memorial. The reward was issued by Emperor Jiajing last year, after the Gengxu Incident when the Mongolian leader Altan Khan led his army to the foot of the capital. As soon as Altan Khan left the capital, Emperor Jiajing issued a reward.
The reward rules are as follows: if you capture one enemy, you will be promoted one rank and rewarded 20 taels of silver. If you do not want to be promoted, you will be rewarded 50 taels of silver. If you recruit one strong man, you will be rewarded 5 taels of silver. If you recruit three people, you will be promoted one rank, and the above rewards will be increased. If you capture a well-known enemy, you will be promoted three ranks and rewarded 300 taels of silver. If you capture a great enemy leader and offer him as a tribute, you will be given the title of Earl and rewarded 10,000 taels of silver.
Emperor Jiajing did this to boost military morale and encourage soldiers and civilians to perform meritorious deeds and kill the enemy, but he was also angered by Altan Khan.
Zhao Daying, who was impeached by Zhu Ping'an, was one of the first beneficiaries of the reward issued by Emperor Jiajing. Yan Song promoted Zhao Daying from a hundred households to a thousand households in one fell swoop, and one of the grounds for that was the reward.
Emperor Jiajing was once complacent about the effect of the reward. Zhu Ping'an's impeachment of Zhao Daying also made Jiajing embarrassed to some extent.
The expected effect, but it didn't work...
So, to some extent, Zhu Ping'an was at a disadvantage to Emperor Jiajing in the matter of memorials.
However, it depends on the angle from which you look at it. Zhao Daying killed innocent people to claim credit, and "borrowed" the heads of ordinary people to collect the reward. The reward of Emperor Jiajing did not say that he would use the heads of ordinary people to collect the reward! The reward said that he would use the heads of enemies to collect the crime. Zhao Daying's deception of the emperor can be said to be deceiving the emperor, which can be completely classified as the crime of deceiving the emperor. This deception of the emperor by Zhao Daying gave Emperor Jiajing a much greater stimulation than Zhu Ping'an's.
Moreover, Zhu Ping'an's memorial was not directed at Jiajing's reward, but at killing innocent people to claim credit.
Angle is important.
You should pay more attention to this aspect.
After the word "Shang Ge", Zhu Pingan wrote the words "Zhao Zhou" in another line. Zhao Zhou refers to Zhao Jin, the censor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and Zhou Mian, the doctor of the Military Selection Department of the Ministry of War. The treatment of Zhao and Zhou by Emperor Jiajing had a great impact on his own situation. Not only did they get imprisoned and dismissed from their posts, but also the speed with which Emperor Jiajing dealt with them. It can be said that Emperor Jiajing dealt with the two very quickly. Almost as soon as Emperor Jiajing saw the memorial, he imprisoned them. However, Emperor Jiajing had read his own memorial for so many days, and he did not deal with it as quickly as he did with the two. Does this mean that Emperor Jiajing treated his memorial differently from Zhao Zhou...
When Zhu Ping'an was writing calligraphy under the lamp, the two maids in the ear room watched him from afar, with surprise in both pairs of eyes.
"It's so late, why is Uncle still reading and writing?"
"My son-in-law is so hardworking. Young Master Zhou in the mansion would have been sleeping like a pig at this time, or he would have been doing some dirty and improper things."
"My son-in-law is already the top scholar, why is he still reading and writing? He is so hardworking. If he works so hard, he will definitely become a higher official in the future."
After being surprised, the two girls blushed and bit their ears, imagining their happy life in their brother-in-law's backyard. They agreed to stick together in the backyard and look after each other... They were looking forward to it, imagining it, and then fell asleep happily.
Tick, tick…
In the dead of night, the sound of rain hitting the ground and the window in the breeze, soaking the rice paper on the desk by the window. At this time, the rice paper was already densely packed with words, and several outlines could be vaguely seen, "Jiajing", "Yan Song", "Zhao Daying", "Ministry of Justice"...
When a drop of rain hit Zhu Ping'an's forehead, Zhu Ping'an realized that it was raining outside. He put down his brush, stretched his waist, moved his wrists, and looked out the window. In the pitch-black night, he couldn't see the trajectory of the rain, but he could hear the sound of rain falling on the ground, leaves, flowers, and windowsills. The breeze was still blowing, bringing a dusty smell to his nose.
Rainwater cleanses heaven and earth;
I guess the sky and the earth will be much cleaner tomorrow.
He closed the window, completed the writing on the rice paper, checked for omissions and filled them in, went over it again, memorized every point he had written, then folded the rice paper and brought it close to the candle to light it, pinching a corner and watching it burn, and only threw it on the ground when it was about to burn his fingers.
This piece of paper cannot be seen by anyone else...
After the fire was completely burned, he carried the oil lamp to the bedroom, placed it on the table, washed up quickly, took off his clothes, extinguished the oil lamp with a lamp cap, and lay down on the bed to sleep quietly.
The next day, the rain had stopped and the sky was slightly bright. Zhu Ping'an had already gotten up and washed. His official uniform, hat and other accessories were hanging by the bed.
Once you arrive in the capital, it’s time to go to the Ministry of Justice.
While Zhu Ping'an was washing up, several Jinyiwei were already waiting outside the gate of Yan's mansion, waiting for the message. The Jinyiwei, who were so majestic in the past, were now like pugs seeing a tiger, nodding, bowing and acting cute as they waited outside the gate of Yan's mansion.
Crunch
The side door of the Yan residence opened, and a man in his forties who looked like a butler walked out, picking his teeth as he walked out. He didn't even look at the Jinyiwei at the door, "What do you want?"