Chapter 198

Before Jiajing arrived.

The Viceroy of the Southeast, Hu Zongxian, had already secretly memorialized, preparing to offer amnesty to Wang Zhi, the master of the Five Peaks fleet, on the condition of opening maritime trade.

Wang Zhi, among the great families of the Southeast, was in fact equivalent to their overseas general sales agent.

By bringing Wang Zhi ashore under amnesty, Jiajing could directly control the Southeastern great families' overseas sales network, while Wang Zhi could thereby wash himself clean and come ashore.

Both sides appeared to achieve a win-win.

But the essence was that it kicked aside the Southeastern great families who were hiding on the dry shore, secretly supplying Wang Zhi.

Jiajing originally believed that with Hu Zongxian's hundred thousand elite land and sea troops in the Southeast,

nothing would go wrong.

As long as his imperial edict reached Yu Hang and he arbitrarily appointed Wang Zhi to some position like Commander Assistant, the matter would be as good as done.

Who could have thought Wang Zhi would be so brazenly lured and captured on the street by a sixth-rank civil official?

After the luring capture, he was forcibly executed without even reporting to the Ministry of Justice for final approval!

Inside the chat group, Zhu Yuanzhang's expression gradually grew gloomy.

What opening of the seas.

It was merely a pretext to placate Longqing.

Before Jiajing passed away, he must have entrusted something to Longqing; otherwise, it would not have been necessary to announce the opening of the seas in the first year of Longqing.

Just at this moment, Jiajing in the chat group could not help but let out a bitter smile.

"Xu Jie, ah Xu Jie, in the end, you won a move!"

"I was ultimately defeated by your hands!"

"I finally understand why you were so cautious before me."

Having spoken, a trace of ruthlessness suddenly appeared on Jiajing's face, followed immediately by a face full of helplessness.

Inside the chat group, Zhu Qi remained utterly confused and muttered quietly,

"No, Great-Grandfather, is it that your son is too stupid? How can I not understand a single word?"

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Zhu Qi and then snorted impatiently,

"Why? Why? Don't ask me; ask your good Great-Great-Grandfather!"

Zhu Di in the chat group could not help but shiver.

"Father, how does this involve me again..."

Zhu Yuanzhang forcibly squeezed out a smile and looked at Zhu Di, asking,

"So you are saying, what was the Grand Secretary of that dynasty's cabinet doing?"

Zhu Di lowered his voice hesitantly,

"Hey, what's so hard about this? Knowing they couldn't fight us Zhu family, they relied on their good health to outlast us Zhu family emperors, waited for the young ones to come up, and just muddled through by dealing with them..."

Is there any solution to Jiajing's move of overturning the table by relying on the Great Ming ancestral regulations?

There is no solution.

Jiajing's layout in the Southeast fully demonstrated Jiajing's talent as an Emperor.

With the Viceroy of the Southeast, Hu Zongxian, stationed in the Southeast to coordinate the overall situation,

and below him, two fierce generals, Qi Qi Jiguang and Yu Yu Dayou, operating both land and sea.

This is sufficient proof that Jiajing had the insight to recognize people and knew who could get things done.

Fighting on the front lines, even if Wang Zhi, Mao Mao Haifeng, and these Japanese pirates were all tied together, they would not be a match for this dream team.

Yet in the court, how many times did those scholar-officials of the Southeast impeach Hu Zongxian?

But Jiajing never listened once, never believed once.

And when was Hu Zongxian punished?

After Wang Zhi was forcibly killed by Wang Bengu, in the forty-first year of Jiajing, the Grand Secretary Xu Jie hinted to the Jin Ling Military Bureau Remonstrator to label Hu Zongxian as part of the Yan faction.

This time, Jiajing issued an edict: Hu Zongxian was stripped of all official posts and ordered to return home to live in idleness.

Was this punishment unjust?

Not unjust at all.

Precisely because of Hu Zongxian's momentary negligence, which caused Jiajing's nearly ten years of cultivation in the Southeast to nearly collapse, leaving Hu Zongxian with his life was already considered a lenient punishment.

However, in history, Hu Zongxian was still executed during the Jiajing reign.

But opening the history books and looking closely at this timeline, it is already very worthy of contemplation.

Hu Zongxian was stripped of his official posts in the forty-first year of Jiajing.

By the time he was truly imprisoned, it was already the forty-fourth year of Jiajing.

And Jiajing passed away at the end of the forty-fifth year.

Starting from the forty-fourth year of Jiajing, Jiajing's governance gradually began to become strange, and the history books only left behind a few scattered words.

In the first month, the alchemist Wang Jin forged a talismanic scripture, created a pill of immortality, and the Imperial Physicians presented the Ten-Section Brocade fitness method.

In the third month, Yan Yan Shifan was beheaded, and "evidence" of Hu Zongxian's crimes was discovered.

In the tenth month, Hu Zongxian was arrested and brought to the capital.

In the eleventh month, Hu Zongxian committed suicide.

In the forty-fifth year of Jiajing, in the second month, Hearing Hai Rui submitted the "Memorial on State Security" to bitterly scold Jiajing.

Apart from this, there were no major events in the court.

It can be seen that in these final two years, the faction of the pure stream led by Xu Jie had effectively controlled the court situation, even controlling Jiajing.

And Jiajing's strategy had only one fatal weakness.

That is, Jiajing was advanced in age.

Wear down Jiajing to death!

Thus, turning his gaze toward the Prince of Yu, who was easily controlled by the Pure Stream faction, naturally became the best Method to break the deadlock!

127, Xu Jie:? Is this how the script was written?

Everyone knows that Jiajing firmly believed in "Two Dragons Shall Not Meet" throughout his life.

But if one truly opens the history books.

When Jiajing was on his deathbed, the ministerial lineup he left for that Prince of Yu was nothing short of extravagantly luxurious.

Even the so-called Three Yang Grand Secretariat left by Zhu Zhanji might not have been as luxurious as the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers of the early Longqing era.

Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng—these three need no introduction; any one of them, placed in another dynasty, could be counted as a savior prime minister.

Even Li Chunfang, the most mediocre among the nine Grand Secretaries.

was one of the rare Zhuangyuan Grand Secretaries in the entire Ming dynasty.

If it were merely about selecting people, that would simply be Jiajing's keen eye for talent.

But if one truly examines it carefully.

Jiajing not only selected the people but even considered the factional divisions within the Grand Secretariat.

For instance, Xu Jie and Zhang Juzheng were master and disciple; Gao Gong and Guo Pu were fellow townspeople; Zhao Zhenji and Li Chunfang acted as mediators in the center.

As long as the Prince of Yu understood a bit of the art of balancing power, he could skillfully navigate the court among the Grand Secretaries.

It was just that on the very day Jiajing drew his last breath.

Xu Jie, the Grand Secretary Chief, detected Jiajing's layout, blocked Gao Gong, the Deputy Grand Secretary, outside the palace gate, summoned his disciple Zhang Juzheng into the palace to draft Jiajing's last will, and simultaneously elevated Zhang Juzheng into the Grand Secretariat, placing him behind Gao Gong in rank.

If the Prince of Yu had merely reprimanded him slightly, causing Zhang Juzheng to enter the Grand Secretariat a few years later, the subsequent events would not have occurred.

It is just a pity that this Prince of Yu, who had been constantly duped by "Two Dragons Shall Not Meet."

did not react at all for a Yishiban Society.

After ascending the throne, the Prince of Yu, seeing Xu Jie's partisans everywhere in the court and the country, could only choose silence is golden and speak as little as possible.

After seizing Xu Jie's compromising evidence.

he demoted Xu Jie at the fastest possible speed.

This demotion only made things worse.

The various factions originally suppressed by Xu Jie could no longer hold back.

The court and the country clashed into a single mess; the Prince of Yu, knowing he was no match for these "experts," inevitably turned his gaze toward the long legs of the harem.

Inside the chat group, Jiajing's face was iron-green.

His brain was still operating at high speed.