Chapter 258

This kind of disaster caused by poetry and prose is not uncommon in all dynasties.

Some are indeed because of different ambitions, which are shown in poetry and prose.

But some are forced to be attached, and the secret struggle of the political situation is hidden behind them.

There are many sharp-minded people in the imperial court; for them, whether the Prince of Beijing, Shui Rong, really has a rebellious heart, let's not talk about it for now.

It is just that this matter happened at a very subtle time.

Border troubles in Liaodong occur frequently, the inspection of the nine borders is urgent, and the official position of Nine Provinces Commander needs to be determined urgently.

The Prince of Beijing, Shui Rong, is just a popular candidate for the Nine Provinces Commander, recommended by the Cabinet and nobles, and has a high voice in the imperial court.

And his original style of wanting to welcome and refuse, and submitting a memorial to decline, also made this matter appear to be a matter of course.

But it just happened at this juncture, and such a thing happened.

At that time, officials who entered and exited the Wumen for public business saw with their own eyes that the Prince of Beijing's face was iron-blue and his shape was gray.

Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao left the two impeachment memorials in the middle and did not issue them, did not express his position, and the deterrence was born by itself.

The meaning is basically the same: the Prince of Beijing, Shui Rong, as a princely title, behaves falsely, has a narrow and evil heart, colludes with scholars, invites reputation, and suspects that he has a different heart.

Two candidates for the Nine Provinces Commander, one entered the palace to defend himself but was blocked, while the other was summoned into the palace to discuss the border troubles.

It turned out that the Cabinet and noble officials who recommended the Prince of Beijing, Shui Rong, either stopped speaking or defected on the spot.

After being swept by the Emperor, they were thrown aside with some boredom.

Saying that the Emperor is summoning the Minister of War, Gu Yankui, and is now discussing the war on the Liaodong border, and has no leisure.

The Minister of War, Gu Yankui, as the leader of the Ministry of War, studies military affairs, is mature and cautious, upright and good at appointing people, loyal and brave, and can take on the heavy responsibility of the Nine Provinces Commander.

"Reporting to the Emperor, according to the investigation by the eyes and ears of the Zhongche Division in the Beijing Wang Fu, the Prince of Beijing held an autumn chrysanthemum poetry banquet, and the person serving as the recorder of the poetry banquet was a Chen-surnamed guest in the Wang Fu."

The impeachment by the Censorate has its own holy decision; the clear will be clear, and the Prince of Beijing can do as he pleases.

The Deputy Chief Eunuch, Guo Lin, held a gray-white secret file in his hand; this was a secret report just submitted by the head of the Love Shenjing file of the Zhongche Division.

When the children in the market sang this short poem in their childish voices, it spread everywhere and gradually became known to everyone in the streets.

This kind of highly comparative news spread quickly, and court officials also learned through different channels that the holy heart's inclination was clearly revealed.

Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao flipped through the memorials reported by officials of various ministries in the early morning, several of which were strongly recommending Gu Yankui as the Nine Provinces Commander.

It was just that after waiting outside the palace for half a day, the Deputy Chief Eunuch, Guo Lin, sent a little yellow gate to pass the word.

And the Prince of Beijing, Shui Rong, in panic, requested to enter the palace to defend himself.

The imperial court was in an uproar; the officials in the Cabinet and nobles who had pushed the Prince of Beijing as the Nine Provinces Commander suddenly became out of order and collectively lost their voices.

The censors of the Censorate began to hear about the memorials, and two impeachment memorials against the Prince of Beijing, Shui Rong, appeared at the September Grand Court Meeting.

Great Zhou Palace City, Ganyang Palace.

At the court meeting the next day, many officials submitted memorials that border troubles in the north occurred frequently, the nine border towns needed to be inspected and rectified urgently, and the official position of Nine Provinces Commander was of vital importance.

In the market, the poem with the meaning of overstepping was spread, and the Prince of Beijing had asked the Chen-surnamed recorder about the origin of this poem.

According to that Recorder Chen, the number of poems and essays made by the participants at the banquet was considerable, but only a few good works were recited and appreciated at the poetry banquet.

The rest of the poetry manuscripts were collected by Recorder Chen, and after the poetry banquet was over, they were edited into a volume and given to the participants for appreciation.

According to Recorder Chen's recollection, the original manuscript of this poem was also among them, and the poem was signed as "Mr. Huxi of Wuzhou," but he did not leave his real name.

And it is common for poetry and prose to use aliases, but this alias is quite strange, and it is not clear who it is; at that time, the recorder official did not care.

And there were four people from Wuzhou who participated in this poetry banquet; after verification, these four people all denied that they were the authors of the poem.

These four people are famous scholars of Wuzhou and also have considerable fame in the Love Shenjing; without real evidence, the Prince of Beijing is not easy to embarrass them, and he is also afraid of ruining his own reputation.

Therefore, it is still unclear who wrote this poem.

Or perhaps the Prince of Beijing himself knows it well, but now that the incident has occurred, he is afraid that he will be difficult to extricate himself, and it is very possible that he is intentionally hiding it.

It is just that this short poem, which was unknown at the poetry banquet, is how it spread to the streets, but no one can say clearly.

The people of the Zhongche Division once asked those singing children; some children learned it from other children, while a few children said they heard it from a peddler, and the specifics could no longer be verified.

If the Emperor wants to clarify the root cause, in fact, take down those four Wuzhou famous scholars, and that Chen-surnamed recorder official, under the three woods, there will surely be a harvest."

Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao sneered: "It doesn't matter who wrote this poem; what matters is that it was written for the Prince of Beijing!"

"A princely title of a different surname, inheriting the title for three generations; is such a grace not enough?"

"He still doesn't know how to settle down, pretending to be polite to the virtuous, gathering famous people to drink, inviting reputation, and as a result, such things that damage his own face have occurred."

"If he had the extraordinary literary talent of Jia Cong, and the knowledge of the classics and history of Prince Jiasun, that would be it."

"Clearly, he is just a military noble who has read a few books and knows a few words, but he has to put on this literary style."

"He even considers himself a rising star of the Four Kings and Eight Dukes, and even things like the Ningguo Prefecture being stripped of its title, he has to take the lead in commenting, not knowing how to advance or retreat, not knowing what it means!"

Court officials recommended him as the Nine Provinces Commander, and he should wait for the holy decision, but he had to make a memorial to decline, create momentum to invite fame, and lead to a burst of flattery and praise from court officials.

"The upright and brave spirit of the military nobles has vanished, but he has learned the treacherous tricks of civil officials..."

Guo Lin listened to Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao's words, the more he said, the colder he became, and his words were full of sarcasm, and his heart could not help but feel a burst of horror.

He really didn't expect that the Prince of Beijing, known for his handsome demeanor, was as embarrassed and ugly as if he had been stripped naked in the eyes of the Emperor.

But thinking about it carefully, it is actually not surprising; the Emperor's wisdom is high, and he does not rub sand in his eyes; pretending in front of him can only expose his own ugliness.

Last time Ningguo was stripped of its title, the Prince of Beijing had obstructed this matter in the Ganyang Palace, talking eloquently, with gorgeous words, which Guo Lin saw with his own eyes.

I'm afraid that at that time, it made the Emperor disgusted, and finally he had to issue a decree to strip Ningguo of its title and seal it for three years to balance and ease it.

Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao asked again: "Did any court officials participate in the autumn chrysanthemum poetry banquet this time?"

"Reporting to the Emperor, there are people in the Cabinet and the Three Judicial Departments who received invitations, but no one attended the meeting, and many officials with literary fame in other government offices were invited to the banquet."

"There is also Jia Cong of the Rongguo Prefecture who received an invitation; it is said that the Prince of Beijing admired Jia Cong's literary name and attached great importance to this matter, specifically letting the Chief Steward visit and send the invitation personally."

"It's just that Jia Cong has been running between the firearm workshop and the Ministry of War recently and is very busy, and the Chief Steward visited three times and three doors before he met Jia Cong."

"However, Jia Cong said that he was busy with royal affairs recently and had no time to attend the meeting; it is said that the Prince of Beijing was very unhappy because of this."

Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao heard this, and his face eased slightly; he picked up a memorial that had already been picked out.

That was the memorial just submitted by Jia Cong, the supervisor of the Ministry of Works Firearm Division.

It was written that the English gunsmith Ma Siduo, recruited by the Firearm Division, had traveled in the Frankish country in his early years and met many Frankish gun and artillery craftsmen.

The Firearm Division can purchase ten newly cast Frankish cannons from the Frankish country at a price of 50,000 taels through his relationship, and this matter needs holy decision.

The memorial also explained the performance of the Frankish cannon in detail, and even had a strategy for subsequent improvement and imitation of this cannon.

Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao read this memorial carefully twice and placed it gently on the imperial desk.

Regarding the cognition of artillery, Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao had already paid attention to and understood it.

Ever since the establishment of the firearm camp in the Five Military Camps, Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao had the Zhongche Division secretly collect firearm intelligence everywhere.

He even sent elites to follow foreign merchant ships to travel to foreign countries to investigate the movements and status of distant barbarians, but the sea route was long, and it was difficult to predict when useful things could be brought back.

According to the hearsay information of the Zhongche Division, Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao had also heard of the Frankish cannon, which is said to be a new type of Western iron cannon.

But the Frankish country is separated from the Great Zhou by ten thousand miles; wanting to buy the other party's artillery without channels and information is no different from fishing for the moon in the sky.

But Jia Cong actually did it.

In the past two years, Jia Cong's brilliance has been too dazzling, and he is a descendant of the Four Kings and Eight Dukes Jia clan, and his city government and calculations are all a bit.

All these made Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao, who has always been deep and suspicious, hold an attitude of watching and seeing, and wait to see what happens after polishing for a few years.

If Jia Cong were just an ordinary official family child, even if he were a poor family child, Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao would use such a character without any scruples.

However, even so, even he, who has always had extremely high vision, had to admit that Jia Cong is an extremely outstanding talent, often able to do what others cannot, and can be said to be rare in his life.

The firearm industry of the Great Zhou is almost equivalent to being promoted by him alone.

He glanced at the impeachment and recommendation memorials on the imperial desk, his eyes condensed slightly, and said: "Guo Lin, pass the Cabinet attendants into the hall to draft the decree!"

(End of chapter)