Chapter 572 Fingering

In a blink of an eye, it was the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of May, and Songfu had a complete festival together. They got up early to take a wormwood bath and changed their spring shirts to watch the dragon boat competition on the Yongding River. When they returned home, they had prepared all kinds of zongzi, as well as cinnabar, male yellow and calamus wine. In the afternoon, there were also dry boat dragon lights to see. Song Nan, like an ordinary people in the capital, enjoyed this rare leisure and did not think about the affairs of the imperial court at all.

However, in the evening, when Song Nan returned to the house, a man was sitting in the front hall waiting for him, that was Zhang Yong, who had been promoted to the eunuch in charge of the seal. Seeing Song Nan coming into the house with a red face, Zhang Yong said jealously, "The marquis lives a very free life. Is this hidden in the city? Don't you care about the court?"

Song Nan smiled and said, "Duke Zhang, I've been working hard these years. It's easy to be in a better mood. After a quiet life, you come to tell me these words. Don't you think I'm happy?"

Zhang Yong said, "It's a mess outside. It's good for you to shake off your hands. Hey, our family really admires your style that you can afford to let go, but it can't be done if it goes on like this."

Song Nan motioned Zhang Yong to sit down, ordered someone to make tea and serve it, and said with a smile, "Don't beat around the bush. What happened? Otherwise, you won't come to me suddenly."

Zhang Yong smiled and said, "I can't hide anything from you. Even if the marquis falls asleep, he is a hundred times more shrewd than our family."

Song Nan said, "Don't pour my ecstasy soup. If you have something to say, fart quickly. In the evening, I will take my husbands to the river to set off the wind lanterns. Don't delay my time."

Zhang Yong sighed, "Marquis, I'm afraid you can't go. The emperor ordered me to invite Lord Song to the palace to meet."

Song Nan's heart moved and said, "The emperor invited me to enter the palace? Don't joke, didn't the emperor refuse to meet me twice? Why did you invite me to the palace now?"

Zhang Yong rolled his eyes and said, "Does the marquis still remember the emperor's hatred? It's not that you don't know the emperor's temper. After all, Liu Jin has been with him for more than ten years. He has been obedient in everything and never disobeyed the emperor's heart. This time happened too suddenly. On the one hand, the emperor hates Liu Jin for failing his grace, but on the other hand, he never forgets it. This is also human's normal.

Song Nan shook her head and said, "It's not that simple. The emperor is suspicious. Has the emperor said anything in private during this period?"

Zhang Yong shook his head and said, "That's not true. The emperor is much better. When he gave the banquet to the ministers today, the emperor seemed very unhappy that he didn't see you. After returning to the palace, he asked the Marquis Song that there were still a few days left to end his vacation, and he also said that he missed Marquis Song very much. Well, we were ordered to bring these many rice dumplings and wine as a reward for Marquis Song. Look, how many ministers can still be remembered by the emperor without going to the banquet and specially ordered someone to send rewards? I'm afraid that only the marquis will have this honor.

Song Nan stared at Zhang Yong and said, "Zhang Yong, if you beat around the bush with me again, I'm going to see you off. What's going on?"

Zhang Yong stared for a long time and said helplessly, "Well, the emperor only wanted us to invite the Marquis Song to the palace, but since the Marquis Song insisted on asking, it's okay for us to tell the marquis. During this period, the marquis closed the door to thank the guests. Yang Ting and the foreign court must have heard about it.

Song Nan said, "Of course, I'm not deaf and blind. There are some things I don't want to know, and naturally someone will come to report."

Zhang Yong nodded and said, "Although we don't know the reason why the marquis suddenly took leave, we also know that the marquis will never abandon himself because he was rejected by the emperor twice. I think the marquis must have some deep meaning.

Song Nan nodded and said, "What you guess is not too outrageous."

"After the fall of Liu Jin and his party members, the whole dynasty knew that it was the merit of the marquis, but they were talking about it behind their backs. This time, the biggest beneficiary was the foreign court, especially Yang Tinghe. After the great change of blood of the foreign court, it has become a piece of iron plate. Yang Tinhe has also become the first assistant of the cabinet. Many people are not worth it for the marquis."

Song Nan smiled and said, "Isn't it worth it? Do I have to be the chief assistant in the cabinet? How am I qualified? The foreign court was originally the world of civil officials. At this time, Yang Tinhe's behavior was actually not out of the cabinet. After the six departments of the cabinet removed Liu Jin's party, they would have a big change of blood. Yang Tinghe is duty-bound to blame for this matter. What is there?

Zhang Yong said, "That being said, the problem is that you don't know the virtues of the foreign civil servants. These people are not good. The appointments in April are often jointly recommended by dozens of people in the court. The emperor has no way to oppose it, and finally approved them one after another. The emperor also knew that some people were not qualified enough to hold important positions in the six departments of the cabinet, but Yang Tinhe said yes, and a group of civil servants said yes, and the emperor could do nothing about it.

Song Nan said, "The emperor can veto it, but in the end, these things are not too important. No matter who holds an important position, I'm afraid they will unite with Yang Ting and his surroundings."

Zhang Yong sighed and said, "These are fine. This time, our family also has the power of the Marquis Song to take charge of the inner court. Our family knows in our hearts that all this is because of the help of the Marquis Song, otherwise I Zhang Yong will not have today. We can swear that we will only be loyal to the emperor and Marquis Song in our life, and I don't care about anyone else. But the marquis knows that the court has to take an inch. At today's Dragon Boat Festival banquet, what Fei Hong, a university scholar, said made our family tremble.

Song Nan was surprised and said, "What did he say?"

"He said that the root cause of Liu Jin's disaster began with the unreasonableness of the internal court system, especially the power of the ceremonial supervisor to put on red, which is the biggest drawback of eunuchs to engage in politics. He hopes that the emperor can consider removing the right to put on red and avoid the possibility of officials in politics in the inner court."

Song Nan waved his hand and patted the table, which made the tea cup ring. Zhang Yong was shocked and said hurriedly, "Marquis, don't be angry, don't be angry."

Song Nan suppressed her anger and asked, "What are the other people's reactions?"

Zhang Yong said, "The other people in the cabinet echoed, but Yang Tinhe did not say anything. The emperor did not say anything at that time, but the emperor was obviously very angry."

Song Nan got up and paced and said coldly, "Yang Tinghe wants to take power alone, but he is too impatient. In just a month, can't he stand it?"

Zhang Yong said, "Yes, Yang Tin and deliberately did not speak, which created the illusion that this was not his idea. In fact, we speculated that Yang Tinghe must have instructed them to mention this matter at today's banquet to test the emperor's style."

Song Nan nodded and said, "You are very right. Yang Ting and Zhi are not small. If he succeed, the foreign court will have the power. However, since they are a temptation and do not have a formal report, they don't have to take his words. The emperor is right to ignore them."

Zhang Yong said: "Our family believes that this move is also unfavorable to the marquis. Obviously, Yang Ting knows that our family and the marquis are on good terms. The marquis is now prestigious in the court. He is afraid that the marquis and our family will join hands. If our family lose the right to wear red, we will not be able to restrain all the behaviors of the outer court. , I can only hope for the emperor's toughness.

Song Nan said, "Is the emperor asking you to invite me to the palace to discuss this matter? After all, it's just a casual talk at the banquet, and it's not time to think about countermeasures.

"Yes, the emperor did not say that he wanted to talk about this matter. The emperor wanted to ask the marquis to discuss two other things. The first was that Yang Tinghe and others proposed to demolish the leopard house and remove all the beasts and rare birds raised in Xiyuan out of the palace. The women in the leopard room also dispersed, saying that these things consumed the property of the court and consumed the emperor's energy. , it is Liu Jin's deliberate conspiracy, which cannot be retained.

Song Nan laughed and said, "Sure enough, they began to manage their own business. Did Yang Ting and forget Li Dongyang and Liu Jian's previous lessons?"

"What's more, they want to restore the deliberation system of the emperor in the morning and evening, and ask the emperor to restore the Japanese lecture system, saying that the emperor needs to work hard to govern, learn more policies to govern the country, and follow the example of the emperor's diligent governance of the country. The emperor of Zhongxing Daming is bound to blame."

Song Nan laughed and said, "Isn't this the emperor's life?"

"Also, the emperor is 18 years old. Yang Tinhe went to see the empress dowager and said that the emperor is no longer young, and no longer marriage will make the world uneasy, so the empress dowager made an order to find a queen for the emperor to get married as soon as possible."

Song Nan smiled and said, "This is a good thing, but there is nothing to say."

Zhang Yong hurriedly said, "The problem is that the cabinet was looking for a candidate for the queen, but the emperor didn't like the woman at all. The two sides were deadlocked. Yang Ting and invited the Empress Dowa to suppress the emperor and asked the foreign court officials to put pressure on her, which made a lot of trouble. The emperor has been unsmooth these days and has been thinking about it for a long time. Now only Marquis Song can give advice for him, so he ordered me to come and invite the marquis to the palace to discuss countermeasures.

Song Nan nodded slowly. At the critical moment, Zhengde could only rely on himself. There was Liu Jin before, but now there was no Liu Jin. What the foreign court did was not beyond his expectation. He began to point fingers at the emperor so quickly. It was a little surprising that Yang Tinghe acted so radically.