Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 3: Officials Pay Homage to the New Emperor

Zhu Houzhao saw that several officials showed regret. Except for the Minister of Personnel Ma Wensheng, the Left Vice Minister of Personnel Jiao Fang and the Left Vice Minister of War Xu Jin all shook their heads.

Zhu Houzhao was pleased, thinking that this showed that some of these civil servants were not unable to guess the cause of Emperor Hongzhi's death, some felt sympathetic towards his death, and some were not all dissatisfied with the three cabinet ministers.

Now, except for Empress Zhang who was still sobbing, neither Zhu Houzhao nor the officials were crying anymore, and the scene was stiff for a while.

"Your Highness, you have heard the Emperor's will. You must learn how to govern the country from the three ministers!"

Zhang Yu started talking again at this time.

Zhu Houzhao could hear the meaning of Zhang Yu's words. The implication was to remind himself to quickly say "I leave the world to the three elders", because only in this way can he get the support of the three elders, and the three elders will kneel down and call him "Your Majesty", and then all the officials will also call themselves "Your Majesty!"

Zhu Houzhao understood that this was a joint effort by the inner court and the cabinet to force him, the emperor, to submit and lower his posture.

In this way, it would be difficult for him to become an emperor who holds sole control of the government. After all, his momentum would be suppressed. If he is suppressed by the civil servants at this time, he would be completely suppressed in the future.

I want to be the emperor who has the final say, how can I let you get what you want!
Zhu Houzhao knew that if he seriously questioned them why they did not worship him, it would definitely go against his innocent and ignorant personality, so he hugged Empress Zhang like a child and burst into tears:
"Mother, they don't seem to want me to be the emperor. They want to give my father's kingdom to someone else. Look, they won't even kneel to me! Woohoo! Mother, are we going to be killed by them?"

People say that children speak without restraint. Although it was normal for a 15-year-old boy like Zhu Houzhao to hysterically say such horrifying words when his father passed away, for many officials, these were heart-breaking words.

No matter how much the civil servants and eunuchs dared to harm Zhu Houzhao, they would not dare to do anything to him openly!
Therefore, when Zhu Houzhao said this, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian, the cabinet ministers who were waiting for Zhu Houzhao to salute them first, were frightened and turned pale, fearing that they would be scolded by other officials and nobles who sympathized with the royal family and wanted to usurp power and cause chaos.

Even Zhang Yu, the chief secretary of the Imperial Household Department, was so frightened that he didn't know what to say.

After hearing this, the Minister of Personnel Ma Wensheng felt even more sympathetic towards Zhu Houzhao and Empress Zhang. Seeing the orphan and widow so frightened, he felt guilty towards Emperor Hongzhi and immediately knelt down:
"Your humble servant dare not! Your humble servant kowtows to the new emperor! Long live the emperor!"

The Minister of Personnel was a high-ranking official in charge of the power of selecting officials. He had always been the only official position that could compete with the Cabinet. Ma Wensheng was a veteran of four dynasties and had many students and old friends in the court. When he knelt, a large number of civil servants knelt down, including Jiao Fang, the Left Vice Minister of Personnel, Xu Jin, the Left Vice Minister of War, and others.

"Your humble servant pays respect to the new emperor! Long live the emperor!"

Zhu Houzhao was very pleased to see this, thinking that his goal had been achieved. He didn't need to ask the three elders of the cabinet for help first. He could let many civil servants pay homage to him first. Now let's see whether the three elders of the cabinet will still pay homage. If they don't, it means they don't want to make him the crown prince and want to monopolize power and deceive the emperor!
The chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Jian, the second minister, Li Dongyang, and the third minister, Xie Qian, were all so angry at this time!
But they were not angry at Zhu Houzhao, but at Ma Wensheng.

In their view, Zhu Houzhao was just a child talking nonsense. After all, any emperor with a little bit of sophistication knew that at this time there was no way he would not make the crown prince the emperor, otherwise there would be chaos in the world!
Originally, Zhu Houzhao had been talking nonsense, saying that the civil officials did not want to make him the emperor. The three cabinet ministers wanted to explain it to him and asked Zhu Houzhao to make a promise to follow the laws of his ancestors before kneeling down to him. However, the three cabinet ministers did not expect that Ma Wensheng and other officials would directly deprive them of the power to represent the civil service group and make them kneel down to Zhu Houzhao first.

The chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Jian, glanced at the second minister, Li Dongyang, and the third minister, Xie Qian, then sighed helplessly, and then knelt down as well: "Knowing the new emperor, long live the emperor!"

Li Dongyang and Xie Qian also knelt down and shouted "Long live Zhu Houzhao".

There was no other way. Since Ma Wensheng, a high-ranking official, had knelt, they had no choice but to kneel. Otherwise, they would be accused of being rebels against the Ming Dynasty! But what made them angry was that the first credit for supporting the new emperor was actually taken away by Ma Wensheng!
As soon as the three cabinet ministers knelt, the ministers and other officials who followed their party also knelt down.

Zhang Yu, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, also knelt down. As an internal official, he was still an internal official on the surface. Since all the external officials had knelt, it would be inappropriate for him not to kneel down.

In this way, Zhu Houzhao gained the support of all officials.

Zhu Houzhao continued to wipe his tears, pretending to be stupid and refusing to say "My dear ministers, please stand up". However, he was naturally happy about it in his heart. Now he had successfully made these old foxes pay homage to him without making any compromises, which could be said to be the first step to success.

Liu Jian played with his concubine for a long time last night, and his waist and knees were already sore. Now he couldn't stand kneeling on the ground anymore, so he had to plead with a tone:

"Your Majesty, the late emperor has just passed away, and the world is without a ruler. I hope Your Majesty will overcome your grief and ascend the throne as soon as possible and choose a day to ascend the throne!"

"I am so sad! Father, father! Whenever I think of you, I can't stop crying. I don't know why, but I want to cry enough!" Zhu Houzhao burst into tears and yelled.

Zhu Houzhao was so sad that Ma Wensheng and other ministers loyal to Emperor Hongzhi were very moved. However, Li Dongyang and others had to look even more miserable and could only kneel down obediently. The prince was kind and filial, and cried bitterly because of his father's death. As a minister, they had to let him cry enough and cry with him.

Li Dongyang couldn't stand kneeling any longer. The weather was hot and they were wearing thick clothes. Emperor Hongzhi was so frugal that he didn't even use ice cubes. Kneeling on the ground was like kneeling in a steamer. So he couldn't help but kowtow to Zhu Houzhao and said:

"Your Majesty, the whole world is hoping for peace and order. I beg Your Majesty to accept the change and ascend the throne as soon as possible. You should immediately ask the Ministry of Rites to confirm the date of your ascension!"

Xie Qian also hurriedly said: "It is as it should be. Your Majesty, please do not hurt the dragon's body and be considerate of your subjects!"

Zhu Houzhao was very proud. Seeing that most of the people had knelt down, and the three cabinet elders had also yielded and expressed their willingness to confirm the day of their ascension to the throne, he sobbed and said, "My dear ministers, please stand up. I don't know what to do. You can do it yourself."

Liu Jian and other cabinet ministers were pleased. They had originally suspected that Zhu Houzhao might be deliberately playing tricks on them, but when they saw that he still spoke in a childish tone and referred to himself as "this palace", they still thought that Zhu Houzhao was an ignorant child and would be easier to control in the future.

Seeing this, Ma Wensheng hurriedly reminded him, "Your Majesty, you should call yourself "I"! You are the emperor now, not the prince."

Zhu Houzhao nodded hurriedly: "Ma Aiqing is right. I will leave the matter to you. It is getting late today. I will go back to my room to rest."

Seeing that Ma Wensheng had stolen the limelight again, the three cabinet ministers Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and Xie Qian couldn't help but look cold and gave Ma Wensheng an unfriendly look.

Seeing this, Zhu Houzhao smiled secretly and thought, "It would be better to let Ma Wensheng fight with you, so that I can gain the advantage and control the government."

First post three chapters, and then update tomorrow
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(End of this chapter)