After Empress Zhang left the Ganqing Palace, Zhu Youting sat on the dragon throne, pondering and silent. After a while, he asked Xiao Jing who was serving the side: "Eunuch Xiao, what kind of minister do you think Liu Shaofu is?"

Zhu Youzhang often had no opinion. In the past, he relied entirely on the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet and the Six Divisions. Now he was disturbed by his wife's words. He became suspicious of his ministers and couldn't help asking Xiao Jing's opinions, who had always been loyal.

Xiao Jing hesitated a little: "Your Majesty, I'm not afraid to speak casually!"

"You said that, no matter what you say, you are disrespectful to me or the prince, or you have criticized foreign ministers, I will forgive you for your sins, because I am asking you, you just need to answer according to the truth!" Zhu Youzhe said with confidence, and wanted to hear Xiao Jing's pertinent opinion.

Xiao Jing's breath was a little unhappy, and he said with difficulty: "I thought that in the past... the cabinet ministers were well-behaved and highly valued by His Majesty. The court handled all matters well. Many people praised him, saying that I had three virtuous assistant ministers in the Ming Dynasty, and three other capable ministers expanded their territory for His Majesty and protected the mountains and rivers..."

Zhu Youzhang heard that Xiao Jing praised Liu Jian too much, and waved his hand impatiently, saying, "I don't want to hear some clichés! You can just talk about it more pertinently!"

"yes!"

Xiao Jing was even more embarrassed and said stutteringly, "The Tatar soldiers invaded the capital, and Your Majesty's condition is not good, and the cabinet ministers take over the government. Many times, there are usurpation, especially after the crown prince was appointed as the governor, the cabinet never faced the crown prince's position as the governor, and there were many blame!"

Zhu Youzhang widened his eyes and shouted loudly: "What did you... say?"

Xiao Jing did not talk about the issue of Liu Jian's abuse of power in the past because he wanted to be good at everything and be a good old man, and did not want to destroy the good relationship between the emperor and the cabinet ministers. But now his own safety is threatened, and Empress Zhang is eyeing her, so she doesn't care about anything else and directly reveals everything:

"In the past, all conclusions were made by His Majesty's self-praise. Even if the old slave wrote on his behalf, he would make many mistakes on many issues, or discuss with the cabinet department."

"But after the capital is in danger, the cabinet will make another vote, which is mostly a tough word. The old slave has no right to decide. Once it violates the intention of the cabinet, the memorial will be submitted again as it is. It will be repeated again and again. It will not be based on the red criticism of the cabinet's text. The officials' etiquette will be miserable. The six ministries and the five military governors' offices dare not have any rebellion against the cabinet's ministry, otherwise they will be criticized..."

"There are internal officials who say that the ministers in the cabinet are even better than those in the prime minister..."

Before, Zhu Youzhang just sighed, not knowing how to reconcile the differences in knowledge between his wife and the chief assistant Liu Jian, but after listening to Xiao Jing's heartfelt words, he became more and more convinced that what his wife said was true. The Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, especially the chief assistant Liu Jian, was indeed a little abusing.

As the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he only had one son under his knees, and his son was naughty and willful. Of course, he would worry about problems after his son ascended the throne in the future. However, when his son performed well in this battle to defend the capital and even won the support of many ministers, Liu Jian still regarded his son as a naughty boy and was joking, and he did not agree.

Zhu Youzhang was undecided and frowned and said, "Now... how can you live?" Emperor Hongzhi was in a very conflicted mood at this time. He wanted to replace Liu Jian as soon as possible and eliminate the unstable factors, but he was afraid that doing so would have too much impact, which would directly lead to chaos in the court and the country during the inheritance of the throne.

Xiao Jing took out a memorial and said, "Your Majesty, this is a memorial made by Shen Zhongcheng before, asking for an order to transfer the troops outside the city to the city. He was bound by the cabinet department before, so the old slave did not dare to be negligent, so he made a decision to stay on him. Are you... reading the emperor?"

Xiao Jing left the memorial book on him, originally hoping to find an opportunity to present it to Zhu Youzhang, which is a manifestation of his dissatisfaction with Liu Jian's attitude of interfering in everything.

Liu Jian's previous report to Chen Xi requested his troops to enter the capital city. The pressure was actually equivalent to a quarantine. The ten thousand troops led by Chen Xi were left in Nanyuan outside the city at this time and could not enter the capital city. Liu Jian's reason was that he could not lead foreign troops into the city, so as not to cause any confusion.

But Xie Qian, among the cabinet ministers, thought this was inappropriate. He wanted to cross Liu Jian and directly submit a petition to the emperor, but because Zhu Youzhang coughed violently, he didn't have time to submit the report.

Xiao Jing believed that Chen Xi's troops were the first meritorious service in this battle. Without their performance, it might not be possible that the city was captured by the Tatars at this moment. Leaving the meritorious soldiers outside the city would really damage the majesty of the Ming court.

If Queen Zhang hadn't suddenly mentioned that Liu Jian's abuse of power, Xiao Jing would not have been preparing to submit the memorial submitted by Chen Xi for the time being, but now he has to consider whether he can gain the emperor's trust in the future. Queen Zhang is not a good thing. In addition to the love between husband and wife, Zhu Youzhang has not married a concubine in recent years, and it is also related to Queen Zhang's strength. In short, if he offended her, he will definitely not have a good life.

At this time, it is very necessary to properly express your attitude and stand firmly with the royal family. Therefore, Xiao Jing decisively took out the memorial and used it as his stepping stone. He thought very clearly that if the emperor had a strong trust in Liu Jian, he would temporarily suppress the memorial and protect Liu Jian's face. But now the emperor himself has doubts about Liu Jian, so he can't blame him for taking the blame.

Although Xiao Jing was a famous good man in the court, it does not mean that he had no brains. If he really had no brains, he would not be able to get on the position of eunuchs in charge of the seal. Xiao Jing knew how to protect himself very well. This was his experience of spending many years in the palace, and he had to leave a way out for himself every time. Sure enough, when the emperor saw the memorial submitted by Xiao Jing, his views on him changed immediately.

Zhu Youzhang had always said that he was in a bad spirit and could not read the memorial, but when it was really involved in the major issue of the stability of the imperial power, Zhu Youzhang read the memorial and read it carefully, and even read out the contents of the memorial and carefully figured out the meaning of it.

Zhu Youzhi put down the memorial in his hand for a long time and asked, "Eunuch Xiao, how did the cabinet make a decision on this matter?"

Xiao Jingqi replied in a vain: "Return to Your Majesty, the cabinet... suppress this memorial!"

Zhu Youzhang's face suddenly turned dark and he sneered: "The cabinet minister actually has the power to suppress the report, so it's really no different from the prime minister!"

In the Ming Dynasty, as a secretariat, the cabinet had no authority to intercept any memorials. If anything, the promissory notes must be drafted in the shortest time, submitted to the Silijian, and handed over to the emperor for review.

Even if the emperor has no time to read it, he will ask the eunuch of the Silijian to make redemptions as soon as possible. However, some inappropriate memorials will be left unpublished. However, that is the matter between the emperor and the Silijian and has nothing to do with the cabinet.

But in actual operation, the cabinet will occasionally accumulate memorials because it is too busy. The cabinet minister will make his own judgment based on the priorities of the matter. What should be written first and which ones can be slowed down. Even if important things are occasionally delayed, the emperor will not say anything.

But the problem is that the current matter involves the army, especially the arrangements and disposals of meritorious ministers, which are closely related to the current war against the Tatars, and there is no negligence at all. No matter how you look at it, this memorial should be submitted to the Silijian as soon as possible, and the emperor will decide whether to transfer troops into the city.

Even if the emperor or the Silijian did not want to transfer troops into the city, the Silijian should make a decision on the red mark, rather than the cabinet that intercepted Chen Xi's memorials without authorization.

Xiao Jing quickly took the opportunity to express his loyalty and said, "Your Majesty, I also realized that this matter is of great importance. I must urgently ask Your Majesty to leave it to Your Majesty to decide!"

Zhu Youzhang nodded and praised: "Eunuch Xiao, you did a good job. Of course, this military and national affairs should be left to me to decide. Unexpectedly, the cabinet actually intercepted such important memorials in private. It is really ridiculous! Oh, Eunuch Xiao, do you think I should transfer this army back to the capital?"

Xiao Jing was now more difficult to answer. He needed to guess based on the actual situation, which plan the emperor liked more.

After a while, Xiao Jing replied cautiously: "Your Majesty, I think that this line of troops helps the capital to solve the problem is a meritorious minister of the Ming Dynasty. If you leave him outside the city and ignore him, or even doubt him, it will inevitably cause speculation from the army to the court and lead to unstable morale."

"The old slave believes that the troops on this route should be transferred back to the capital quickly, but they cannot be allocated according to the original system. Instead, they should be transferred back in batches and assigned to different camps in the Beijing camp and guarding the nine cities!"

Xiao Jing is very capable, which is also the fundamental reason why Zhu Youzhang appointed Xiao Jing as the head of the Si Lijian. However, Liu Jian and others believed that Xiao Jing was just a rubber stamp character, and like a puppet, he only needed to cooperate with the cabinet to say "yes" or "no". Xiao Jing was unwilling to offend others, so he let it go, but in fact he was very independent.

After hearing Xiao Jing proposed such a solution, Zhu Youzhang's eyes lit up, slammed the table and praised loudly: "Eunuch Xiao's proposal is very good. He transferred this powerful army back to the capital, but transferred it in batches and distributed it to different Beijing camps. Haha, it can not only stabilize the hearts of the Ming soldiers, but also strengthen the combat strength of various Beijing camps, and kill multiple deaths..."

"Yeah, Eunuch Xiao, I will decide this matter personally. You should be unaware of it. Even if the cabinet asks you, you should be unaware of it. Do you understand?"

When Xiao Jing heard the emperor say this, he knew that the emperor wanted to protect himself. In this way, Liu Jian didn't know who was the person who presented the memorial behind the scenes. He might think that Chen Xi made a memorial on his own, or through some secret channels, such as the prince, and Xie Qian.
Chapter completed!