novelonline Chapter 1295 The Emperor Falls Ill
Chapter 1295 The Emperor Falls Ill
Chapter 1295 The Emperor Falls Ill
Two months ago, Zhang Zhi was appointed as the Secretary of the Central Secretariat.
Cai was indeed both happy and angry.
He was glad that Zhang Zhi, the little follower who had followed him for many years and whom he had watched grow up, had finally become the prime minister today.
What made him angry was that Zhang Zhi had suddenly surpassed him.
Zhang Yue was fine, but what virtue and ability did Zhang Zhi have that he was ranked above him? Judging from the current situation, after Zhang Yue resigned as prime minister, Zhang Zhi would immediately follow suit and replace Zhang Yue as the right prime minister.
Why?
Becoming the right prime minister and ruling the country is what Cai Que has always dreamed of.
Anyone who stands in the way must be eliminated.
Cai Que held the paper written by Zhang Zhi in his palm.
Xing Shu asked, "What is the content of this letter from Lord Cai?"
Cai Que said: "It's just a trivial matter. Yes, what do you think of Zhang Zizheng?"
Xing Shu considered and said, "I have never had any contact with Zhang Zizheng, but I heard that he is a decent person and can be considered loyal and honest. However, if he wants to replace Lord Cai and become the right prime minister in the future, he is really overestimating his own abilities."
Cai Que closed his eyes and stretched out his hand to press his forehead repeatedly, then opened his eyes and said, "After all, Zizheng and I have an old friendship. I watched him grow up. I don't want to deal with him unless it is absolutely necessary."
Xing Shu heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Lord Cai is so kind and benevolent. He really repays evil with kindness."
"In fact, Zhang Zizheng is more tolerant than Zhang Sanlang, and he has an old friendship with Mr. Cai, so they can get along well in the future."
Cai Que glanced at Xing Shu, who had been promoted by him to be the Deputy Director of the Jiabu Department.
This person has successively supported Sima Guang and Zhang Yue, and now his son Xing Jushi is also a disciple of Lu Gongzhu. Could it be that he wants to speak for Zhang Zhi? This person seems to be betting on both sides, but he also seems to want to reconcile the conflicts among the four parties.
"What brought you here today?" Cai Que asked.
Xing Shu said, "Your Majesty, I have heard that Your Majesty has been drinking deer blood frequently and has been a bit excessive. I am a little worried."
"This is a palace matter. Who told you this?"
Xing Shu said, "I have heard that I have been in contact with the Empress Dowager's nephews, Gao Gonghui and Gao Gongji."
Cai Que said: "Your Majesty's body is not very healthy to begin with, and now you are drinking deer blood frequently, which is not a good way to maintain your health."
"But why do Gao Gonghui and Gao Gongji associate with you?"
Xing Shu was shocked when he heard Cai Que's harsh words, and immediately said, "Empress Dowager Gao and Concubine Zhu don't get along. I think the Gao family is worried that once the sixth prince inherits the throne, the Empress Dowager will not be around in the future, and the Gao family will be wiped out."
Cai Que nodded and said, "I am deeply grateful to your majesty for your kindness. I will repay you even if it means risking my life. Although the Sixth Prince is still young, he already has the qualities of a wise and enlightened emperor. If, I mean if, your majesty is in trouble, I will swear to help the Sixth Prince ascend the throne!"
"Why don't you pretend to use words to test Gao Gonghui and Gao Gongji's views on Prince Yong and Prince Cao!"
"If the two of them have any ill intentions, report to me immediately!"
Xing Shu felt relieved when he heard this and said, "With Lord Cai in charge, there is nothing for the country to worry about."
After Xing Shu left, Cai Que looked at Zhang Zhi's handwriting and thought to himself, was this written by you or by your uncle?
……
After staying to make a reply that day, Zhang Yue went down the stairs and met Cai Que.
"Zuo Cheng, what's the important matter?" Zhang Yue asked.
Cai Que said: "I just happened to be passing by. Please allow me to walk with you for a while!"
Zhang Yue thought that Cai Que had become more respectful towards him since that beating.
Zhang Yue said, "Your Majesty has already made a decision on the Huguang issue. Given time, it will be possible to make the world more prosperous from Suzhou and Huguang to Huguang. If this matter is accomplished, it will go down in history. However, it will take three to five years for this matter to bear fruit. I'm afraid we won't see any results. I'll have to trouble you to be fair in the future."
Cai Que said: "The development of Huguang will benefit the present and future generations. It is also a decision made by Your Majesty. How dare I not do my best? I am only afraid that I am not talented enough and not worthy of the task."
Zhang Yue smiled and said, "Why do you have to say that? Sun Quan encouraged Lu Meng to learn, and Lu Meng was eager to learn. That's why Lu Su said that a scholar will be revisited after three days of absence. Later, Lu Meng was indeed put to great use."
Cai Que was stunned when he heard this. Was Zhang Yue trying to add more burden to himself?
Zhang Yue added: "Zhizheng, you have watched my nephew grow up, and I will have to trouble you to take care of him in the future."
"I really don't deserve the Prime Minister's praise."
Cai Que thought to himself, could it be that Zhang Yue pushed Zhang Zhi to replace him? Or did the emperor have some change of heart?
Cai Que couldn't see through all this. Could it be that he had misunderstood Zhang Yue and Zhang Zhi?
Zhang Yue was always gentle in his actions. He did not take any harsh actions even against his political enemies Lu Huiqing, Yuan Jiang, Li Chengzhi and others. He only demoted them to other states.
Of course, Zhang Yue’s gentle approach is closely related to the political environment.
For decades, when a high-ranking official committed a crime, the most he could do was demoted to a prefecture governor, and he could be re-employed at any time. Therefore, when it came to the level of prime ministers, everyone was gentle in their actions, and they did not dare to resort to many despicable means.
What if you use some tricks but fail to kill the enemy, and the enemy returns to the court, you may be old and dead, but don’t you have descendants and relatives? What will they do? Aren’t they afraid of revenge?
Therefore, when the prime ministers took action, they would stop at a certain point, and everyone would fight without breaking up.
Therefore, compared with the high-risk jobs of the prime ministers of the Han and Tang dynasties, the life of the prime ministers of the Song Dynasty was quite comfortable.
The general environment is like this, but there are exceptions. If there is only one exception among the prime ministers from Renzong to the Shen Dynasty, it may be Cai Que.
Cai Que had done so many dirty jobs and handled so many major cases for the emperor over the years, including the recent Chen Shiru case. As the son of the prime minister, any prime minister would have given him a free pass, and even the emperor had no intention of killing him.
But he Cai Que was determined to kill him.
How could Cai Que not know that those who do not give room to others will not be given room to maneuver by others?
But it was too late for him to turn back at this point.
Cai Que was of course well aware of Zhang Yue's methods. Zhang Yue always used the method of pulling and beating.
He hits you once to see your reaction. If you are satisfied, he will pull you back. If you are not satisfied, he will hit you again.
Because of Zhang Zhi's handle, Cai Que decided to wait and not release it until it was absolutely necessary.
At this moment, Zhang Yue glanced at Cai Que, believing that the other party had understood what he meant.
The emperor did not immediately appoint Cai Que as the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, but instead appointed Zhang Zhi as the Minister of the Secretariat. This move was quite meaningful. Zhang Yue was worried that Cai Que was dissatisfied with Zhang Zhi, so he had to hint something to him. But he could not say it out loud, after all, the appointment of the prime minister was the grace of the emperor, and he could not show grace on behalf of the emperor.
So Zhang Yue nodded slightly and used the example of Lu Meng.
He told the matter of Huguang in the name of entrusting someone to tell Cai Que secretly.
This way, Cai Que would be prevented from going to extremes. Zhang Yue had always been merciful to others, and who knows, maybe something might happen to him in the future and he would fall into Cai Que's hands.
In fact, Zhang Yue didn't need to do it himself to deal with Cai Que. First of all, he might not win if he did it himself, because Zhang Yue couldn't cross the bottom line, but Cai Que could.
Secondly, when dealing with evil people, it is usually God who takes action. Only fools take action themselves.
In fact, Zhang Yue has secretly set many traps for Cai Que over the years.
To be precise, people like Zhang Yue and Cai Que can no longer be described as good people, bad people, gentlemen, or villains.
Zhang Yue often felt that if there were no power struggles, he might be more gentle, courteous and tolerant than anyone else.
It's a pity that when they reach their position, they have no choice but to do what they want. Cai Que is probably the same.
Zhang Yue and Cai Que were walking and talking when suddenly a eunuch arrived and said, "My Lords, it's bad. His Majesty has fainted."
Zhang Yue and Cai Que were both shocked when they heard this, and immediately wanted to leave under the guidance of the eunuch.
Cai Que asked, "Wait a minute, where did Your Majesty faint?"
The eunuch said, "It was at the banquet for the new Zhaorong! Your Majesty..."
"How is your Majesty?"
The eunuch said, "Your Majesty, I drank a cup of deer blood this morning!"
Cai Que stamped his feet and said, "It's deer blood again! You don't know that His Majesty is too weak to take it..."
The eunuch said: "How many lives do we have? We dare not persuade them!"
Zhang Yue glanced at Cai Que and said, "You know this matter very well, but you didn't tell anyone about it, so you asked the eunuch to tell it."
Zhang Yue said: "Now that things have come to this, there is no point in saying more. Let's go see His Majesty first."
Zhang Yue and Cai Que hurried to the emperor's bedroom. Along the way, Zhang Yue secretly glanced at Cai Que's expression and saw that he was indeed very nervous.
It’s not that Cai Que’s acting is good. Zhang Yue understands that the other party’s emotions are absolutely from the heart and not pretended.
Cai Que was actually more loyal to the emperor than himself. And with the emperor's ability to judge people, he would not promote someone who was not loyal to him to be prime minister.
Cai Que is a man who values friendship and loyalty.
It's a pity, as they say, 'After all the hardships, brothers are still there, and a smile when we meet can wipe out all the grudges.' People can reconcile, but it is difficult to reconcile as before.
He and Cai Que would never be able to have the same deep friendship as when they were classmates at the Imperial College.
Zhang Yue sighed secretly in his heart, and when he reached the palace gate, the eunuch tried to stop him.
But Cai Que glanced fiercely, and several eunuchs were forced to step aside when they saw two more prime ministers coming.
At this moment, Concubine Zhu had already arrived, and the Queen was still on her way.
The eunuch at the side reported: "Your Majesty has woken up after the imperial physician's acupuncture."
Zhang Yue and Cai Que were overjoyed and entered the hall immediately, only to see the emperor lying on the bed with a wound under his lip. Fortunately, he had woken up, but was staring at the ceiling of the hall with lifeless eyes.
Although there were many doctors and eunuchs in the palace, no one dared to speak at this moment. They stood around the emperor's bed about five or six feet away.
Zhang Yue carefully looked at the emperor's face, then stepped forward to the bed and asked, "Your Majesty, are you alright?"
The official said slowly: "I will be at ease for a while."
Seeing that the official spoke weakly, Zhang Yue decided not to go through the motions and talk nonsense and got straight to the point.
Zhang Yue said: "Your Majesty, the dragon's health will surely turn misfortune into fortune. You need to arrange for the prime ministers of the three ministries to be on duty tonight!"
The official nodded.
Zhang Yue's eyes fixed, and he asked again, "Does your Majesty want the Prince of Yan'an (the sixth prince) to come in and serve the medicine?"
The official found it difficult to say anything at this moment, and just shook his head tiredly.
After Zhang Yue finished saying these words, he immediately left.
After leaving the palace, Cai Que followed Zhang Yue closely and asked, "Why didn't the Prime Minister ask the Prince of Yan'an to serve medicine in front of the emperor?"
Zhang Yue glanced at Cai Que and became furious. Damn it, it’s as if you, Cai Que, are the most loyal person in the world.
Zhang Yue finally said, "Your Majesty has already said no, how can I ask again?"
"You and I will go to the capital hall to consult the left prime minister!"
"it is good!"
Cai Que thought to himself, Zhang San, Zhang San, do you think I don’t know what you are thinking? His Majesty is ill now, and you, Zhang San, must be the happiest person in the world!