Chapter 221

Everything will end!

When facing Jiajing, the greatest strength of the scholar-officials lies in time!

No matter how heaven-defying your schemes are, Jiajing.

You are merely a mortal!

One day, you too will grow old, and you too will die!

But the scholar-officials are a vested interest group with clear divisions of labor, a class.

Wagering on lifespan.

Is never what the scholar-officials fear!

Watching the group of students before him gradually calm down.

Xu Jie's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled.

As long as they continue to wear him down.

Heaven's timing, Earth's advantage, and human harmony are all with the scholar-officials!

Just as the censors and Hanlin academicians were leaving the Xu family residence.

Xu Jie, amidst the crowd, quietly grabbed Zhang Juzheng's arm.

Gazing at Zhang Juzheng.

Xu Jie asked with some confusion,

"When Crown Prince Yu left the capital, who did he bring?"

Zhang Juzheng sighed and said,

"When Prince Yu departed, he brought only a squad of the Embroidered Uniform Guard; he didn't even bring his princess consort, let alone us."

The Embroidered Uniform Guard are all Lu Bing's men.

And the Lu family has operated in the Chengtian Prefecture for two generations.

Jiajing has entrusted the lives of himself and his son entirely into Lu Bing's hands!

Do not use those you suspect; if you use them, do not suspect them!

Hearing this,

Xu Jie's face could not help but show a trace of relief.

He was relieved that this year's Jiajing was already in his twilight years.

Such an Emperor.

Is too terrifying!

And under Xu Jie's arrangements,

the court, which had originally been in an uproar, suddenly fell perfectly calm.

……

……

The next day.

Within the Western Garden.

Jiajing looked at Chen Hong and asked, "How many people submitted memorials today?"

Chen Hong looked at Jiajing and whispered,

"Reporting to my master: none, not a single person submitted a memorial regarding the sea ban."

Hearing this, Jiajing immediately froze, then looked up at Chen Hong in disbelief and asked,

"What did you say?"

Chen Hong lowered his head and said,

"Master, not a single person submitted a memorial."

Looking at the memorials before him, Jiajing's old face grew longer and longer.

"Good! I still thought there were a few upright gentlemen left in my Great Ming Dynasty."

"Now it is clear; these people have long since formed a corrupt clique!"

Chen Hong looked at Jiajing, his mind completely baffled.

Why, when the ministers did not remonstrate or obstruct, was Jiajing instead so angered?

Chen Hong's thoughts were much like Zhu Qizhen's.

Zhu Qizhen in the chat group looked at the scene before him with a puzzled expression and asked,

"Great-Grandfather, Great-Great-Grandfather, what is going on? Shouldn't this be good news? It means all the officials agree to open the seas!"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Qizhen with a puzzled expression and could not help but scold,

"Are you really the ancestor of this child?"

"With a brain like yours, how could you have given birth to such a child?"

In the end, it was Zhu Di who doted on Zhu Qizhen.

After all, there was still a "good holy grandson."

Zhu Di, loving the house and thus the crow on its eaves, also took great care of Zhu Qizhen.

"Do you think this child has smashed the officials' rice bowls, and yet not a single scholar-official in the entire court has let out a fart; is that normal?"

Zhu Qizhen slapped the table and said,

"That is certainly not normal!"

Zhu Di continued,

"Then what do you think it signifies that the court is so quiet, with not a single memorial submitted?"

Zhu Qizhen froze upon hearing this.

Then, suddenly enlightened, he said,

"Does this mean the upright scholars in court have already formed their own faction?"

Zhu Di nodded slightly and said with a sigh,

"I fear it is not merely a matter of forming their own faction."

"The civil and military officials throughout the court have likely long since become a single, unified body."

"Moreover, think again: why are they dragging this out? What are they waiting for?"

Hearing this,

Zhu Qizhen's eyes suddenly brightened.

Then he hurriedly said,

"They are waiting for this child to die!"

"So even if an edict is issued now, they will not execute it; instead, they will drag it out!"

"Just as Huang Zicheng and the Jianwen Emperor waited to reduce the fiefs during the Taizu era, and just as Great-Grandfather waited to raise an army to quell the Jingnan Rebellion!"

The chat group immediately fell into dead silence.

Everyone's gaze focused on Zhu Qizhen.

The corner of Zhu Di's mouth twitched slightly; looking at Zhu Qizhen in the chat group, he gritted his teeth and said,

"If you don't speak, no one will think you're mute!"

At this moment, everything seemed to have returned to the starting point.

Meanwhile, at the other end, Jiajing in the Western Garden grew even more gloomy.

Staring fixedly at Chen Hong's face, after pondering for a long time, he spoke in a low voice,

"Chen Hong!"

"This servant is here."

Jiajing stiffened his neck and whispered,

"Summon Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Yan Song to the hall!"

"Yes!"

Daring not to say more, Chen Hong immediately went out to draft the edict.

Fortunately, all three had already entered the Grand Secretariat and were in the Grand Secretariat duty quarters nearby.

After receiving Jiajing's edict,

the three hurriedly rushed to the Western Garden.

Although Jiajing was no longer pretending to be a spirit in the Pure Abode,